Archive for the ‘Others’ category

8 Ways to Open Computer Management in Windows 10

September 19th, 2016 by Admin

Computer Management is a handy console included in Windows that allows you to view event logs, partition your hard drive, manage the devices and services, etc. In this article we’ll show you 8 ways to open Computer Management in Windows 10.

Option 1: Open Computer Management from Start Menu

Click the Start button, select All Programs -> Windows Administrative Tools, and then click on the Computer Management shortcut.

open-compmgmt-via-start-menu

Option 2: Open Computer Management by Right-clicking My Computer

Right-click on This PC icon on your desktop (or on the left pane of File Explorer), select Manage from the context menu. This will launch Computer Management in Windows 10.

right-click-this-pc

Option 3: Open Computer Management from Run

Press the Windows logo key + R to open the Run box. Type compmgmt.msc and press Enter to open the Computer Management console.

compmgmt

Option 4: Open Computer Management by Pressing Win + X Keys

Press the Windows logo key + X to open the power user menu. Then click the Computer Management shortcut.

power-user-menu

Option 5: Open Computer Management from Command Prompt

Open the Command Prompt in Windows 10, type compmgmt.msc and hit Enter.

open-compmgmt-via-cmd

The Computer Management console will start immediately.

Option 6: Open Computer Management Using Cortana Search

The fastest way to open Computer Management in Windows 10 is to use the Cortana Search. Click on Cortana Search box from the taskbar, enter the words “computer management” and then click the Computer Management shortcut.

search-computer-management

Option 7: Open Computer Management from Control Panel

Open Control Panel in Large or Small icons view. Click Administrative Tools.

administrative-tools

A new window will open. From there you can click on the Computer Management shortcut.

computer-management-shortcut

Option 8: Create a Computer Management shortcut on Your Desktop

Right-click on any empty space on your Windows 10 desktop. Select New -> Shortcut from the right-click context menu.

new-shortcut

When the Create Shortcut wizard opens, type compmgmt.msc in the shortcut location box and click Next.

shotcut-location

Next just type any name for your created shortcut and click Finish.

name-the-shortcut

You’ll see the Computer Management short on your desktop.

How to Manually Clear or Set Dirty Bit on Windows Volume

September 17th, 2016 by Admin

When a dirty bit is set on a volume, Windows automatically performs a disk checking the next time the computer is restarted. You can run the chkntfs command at the Command Prompt to check if a volume is dirty, but there is no way to clear the dirty bit unless you let Windows go through disk scanning at boot.

disk-dirty

In this tutorial we’ll show you how to manually clear or set the dirty bit for a NTFS & FAT32 volume in Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista and XP. The procedure requires you to use a disk editor software such as WinHex. If you want to edit the dirty bit for a system volume currently in use, you need to use a WinPE bootable CD to boot off your PC.

How to Manually Clear or Set Dirty Bit on Windows Volume?

To get started, open WinHex as administrator rights. Click the Tools menu and select Open Disk.

open-disk-with-winhex

When prompted to select a drive for editing, choose the logical volume you want to edit the dirty bit on, and then click OK.

edit-logical-volume

For FAT32 Volume:

Click on “Boot sector” at the directory browser. The dirty bit for FAT32 volume is located at offset 0x41. If this volume is dirty, the bit should be 01. Just change 01 to 00 and then save your changes back to disk, now you’ve successfully cleared the dirty bit.

fat32-dirty-bit

For NTFS Volume:

Click on $Volume at the directory browser. The offset location of the dirty bit is slightly different on every NTFS volume. To locate the dirty bit, look for a hex string of 13 bytes, beginning with 03 01, ending with 80 00 00 00 18. You should be able to find a match within the first or second sector.

ntfs-dirty-bit

The dirty bit is the 3th byte of the hex string that I’ve circled with red line. To set a dirty flag on the drive, just change it to 01. Or change it to 00 if you want to clear the dirty flag.

When it’s done, commit the change to the disk.

3 Ways to Reset Windows 10 Computer to Factory Settings

September 13th, 2016 by Admin

If your computer becomes sluggish, or freezes or hangs randomly, you might consider doing a factory reset. This will bring your Windows 10 laptop or desktop to the state when it was first turned on. In this tutorial we’ll show you 3 ways to reset Windows 10 computer to its factory default state, even if your computer is locked out or unbootable.

factory-reset-windows-10-pc

Method 1: Reset Windows 10 PC to Factory Settings After Logging in

After logging in to Windows 10, you can reset your computer to factory default settings using the Settings app. Follow these steps:

  1. To open the Settings app, you can click the Start button and then click Settings, or press Windows key + I keyboard shortcut.
  2. Click on Update & Recovery.

    update-security

  3. Select Recovery in the left-hand menu. Under Reset this PC, click on Get Started.

    get-started-pc-reset

  4. A new window will appear with two options: Keep my files or Remove everything. The former option will keep your personal documents, photos and music files intact. But both options will remove all your apps, programs and settings.

    choose-an-option

  5. if you chose “Remove everything” in the prior step, you now have the option to “Just remove my files” or “Remove files and clean the drive.” In most cases, select “Just remove my files”. If the computer is going to be recycled or given to someone else, select “Remove files and clean the drive”.

    clean-the-drive

  6. Click on Reset. Your PC will reboot automatically and begin the factory reset process. This might take an hour or more.

    reset-this-pc

Method 2: Reset Windows 10 PC to Factory Settings from The Login Screen

If you forgot Windows 10 password and couldn’t log on to your computer, you can also perform a factory reset from the login screen. Here’s how:

  1. When you’re on the login screen, hold down the SHIFT key, click the Power button in the lower-right corner and select Restart.

    shift-restart

  2. The computer will reboot and take you to the Choose an option screen. Click on Troubleshoot.

    troubleshoot

  3. On the next screen, click on Reset this PC.

    reset-this-computer

  4. You’ll be presented with two options: Keep my files or Remove everything. If you’re not concerned about your personal files, click on the latter option.

    keep-or-remove-files

  5. If you choose to remove everything, you’ll also see a new option asking if you want to clean the drive, which means it will not only delete everything, but will try to securely erase everything so that data cannot be recovered.

    fully-clean-drive

  6. Click on Reset button to start restoring Windows 10 to factory settings.

    reset-windows-10-to-factory

Method 3: Reset Windows 10 PC to Factory Settings Using Install Disc

When your computer becomes crashed or unbootable, then you’re unable to perform a factory reset using the above methods. In this case, you need to use your Windows 10 installation DVD to access the Factory Reset option.

  1. Boot your computer with Windows 10 installation DVD. You may have to change the boot sequence in your BIOS if booting from a CD/DVD is not enabled.
  2. On the Windows Setup screen, select your keyboard layout and language, and then click on Next.

    windows-setup

  3. On the next screen, click “Repair your computer“. Do NOT click “Install now“.

    repair-your-computer

  4. When the Choose an option screen appears, click on Troubleshoot.

    troubleshoot

  5. Click on Reset this PC.

    reset-this-computer

  6. Click either “Keep my files” or “Remove everything,” depending on whether you want to keep your personal files untouched.

    keep-or-remove-files

  7. You’ll then be prompted to choose the target operating system.

    choose-target-os

  8. If you want to restore only the drive on which Windows 10 is installed, you should click on “Only the drive where Windows is installed“. If you want to factory reset all the drives on your Windows 10 computer, you should click on “All drives“.

    reset-which-drive

  9. Now you’ll be presented with two options: Just remove my files and Fully clean the drive. If you choose “Fully clean the drive”, it will erase your files and data thoroughly.

    fully-clean-drive

  10. Click Reset and the factory reset process will begin.

    reset-windows-10-to-factory

4 Ways to Reset Domain Admin Password on Windows Server 2008

September 9th, 2016 by Admin

How can I change domain password from command line? Have you forgotten domain administrator password? In this tutorial we’ll show you 4 ways to reset domain admin password on Windows Server 2008 domain controller.

Method 1: Reset Domain Admin Password Using Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in

  1. Click the Start button, and then select All Programs > Administrative Tools > Active Directory Users and Computer.

    active-directory-users-and-computers

  2. When the Active Directory Users and Computers MMC snap-in opens, expand your domain and click Users in the left pane.
  3. In the right pane, right-click the name of the account, and click Reset Password.

    reset-domain-password

  4. Type and then confirm the new password. Click OK.

    enter-new-domain-password

Method 2: Reset Domain Admin Password from Command Line

  1. To get started, you need to open an elevated Command Prompt. Click the Start button, and then select All Programs > Accessories. Right-click on Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.

    run-cmd-as-admin

  2. At the Command Prompt, you can run the net user user_name new_password /domain command to change your domain user password. For example, if you wan to change the password of the user Tom to P@ssword123, run the below command:
    net user Tom P@ssword123 /domain

    reset-domain-password-from-command

  3. Now you’ve successfully reset your domain administrator password from command line.

Method 3: Reset Domain Admin Password by Pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del

  1. When you’re logged into Windows Server, press the Ctrl+Alt+Del key combination, you will still see this task menu. Click Change a password.

    ctrl-alt-del-screen

  2. Type your old password followed by a new password as indicated, and then type the new password again to confirm it. Press Enter or click on the blue arrow pointing right.

    change-domain-password

  3. You should then receive a message stating that you have successfully changed your password.

Method 4: Reset Domain Admin Password Using PCUnlocker

  1. Download PCUnlocker Enterprise (distributed as .zip format) and save it to your desktop. When the download is complete, right-click on the .zip file to extract it.
  2. After extracting, burn the PCUnlocker ISO file to your USB flash drive using ISO2Disc – an excellent utility that helps to create bootable CD/USB flash drive from ISO file.

  3. Next insert the USB flash drive into your Windows Server machine. Restart the server and enter into BIOS Setup: set the USB as first boot device. After booting from USB, it’ll take you to the PCUnlocker application.
  4. Switch the recovery mode to Reset Active Directory Password. The program will display your domain accounts stored in the Active Directory database. Choose an user and click Reset Password.

    pcunlocker

  5. Click Yes to confirm and your domain user password will be changed to Password123 immediately.

    reset-forgotten-domain-password

    Reboot the server without USB, you can then log in to Windows Server 2008 domain controller successfully. That’s it!

Recover Unbootable Windows 10 or 8 with Restore Point

September 7th, 2016 by Admin

What to do if your Windows computer has become corrupt, unusable or unstable? Most of the time, it’s very difficult to find out the exact cause of the problem and we’re suggested to roll back all recent changes to the operating system. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to recover unbootable Windows 10 or 8 system with your previously-created restore point.

How to Recover Unbootable Windows 10 or 8 with Restore Point?

When your computer is crashed, unbootable or it’s not working as you expected, you can use System Restore to restore your computer to the latest restore point. Follow these steps:

  1. Boot your computer with Windows 10/8 installation DVD. If you don’t have a install disc, you can use a working PC to download the ISO file from Microsoft and create a bootable USB drive for Windows Setup.
  2. Once booted to the Windows Setup screen, you’re prompted to select language and keyboard layout. Click Next.

    windows-setup

  3. Click Repair your computer at the bottom.

    repair-your-computer

  4. Select Troubleshoot from Choose an option screen.

    troubleshoot

  5. Click Advanced options.

    advanced-options

  6. Click System Restore.

    system-restore

  7. Click on the operating system you’re going to perform a system restore on.

    select-operating-system

  8. When the System Restore wizard opens, click Next.

    system-restore-wizard

  9. You’ll be presented with a list of previously created restore points. Select the restore point you want to restore to and click Next.

    select-restore-point

  10. Confirm the restore point and click Finish.

    review-restore-steps

  11. A dialog box will pop up to ensure you really want to perform a system restore. It can’t be undone. If you’re sure, click Yes. This starts your system restore.

    confirm-system-restore

  12. Your PC will restart and begin the system restore process. This may take a few minutes to revert back to the selected restore point.

    restoring-files

  13. After successful restoration, you’ll have a message saying system restore completed successfully.

    system-restore-completed

    Click on Restart and your computer should boot successfully into Windows. You’ll still have all of your documents, but might be missing a couple of programs that you’ll just need to reinstall again.

4 Ways to Uninstall Updates in Windows 10

September 4th, 2016 by Admin

If you installed an update that is causing severe issues with your PC, you probably want to uninstall or remove it. So here we’ll show you 4 ways to remove & uninstall updates in Windows 10.

Method 1: Uninstall Windows 10 Updates from Control Panel

  1. Open the Control Panel in Large icons view, and then click Programs and Features.

    programs-and-features

  2. Click View installed updates in the left pane.

    view-installed-updates

  3. This displays all updates installed on the system. Select the update that you want to remove, and then click Uninstall.

    uninstall-windows-updates

Method 2: Uninstall Windows 10 Updates from Settings

  1. Open Settings app by pressing the Windows key + I hotkey, or clicking Settings from the Start Menu.
  2. Click Update and security.

    update-security

  3. Click Windows Update on the left side, and click on the Advanced options link on the right side.

    advanced-update-options

  4. Click the View your update history link to see all updates installed on your Windows 10 PC.

    view-update-history

  5. Click the Uninstall updates link.

    uninstall-updates

  6. This opens the Installed Updates window of Control Panel. Locate the problematic update and click Uninstall.

    uninstall-windows-updates

Method 3: Uninstall Windows 10 Updates Using Command Prompt

  1. Open an elevated Command Prompt by pressing WIN + X keys and select “Command Prompt (Admin)” from the Quick Access menu.
  2. At the Command Prompt, type the following command to view all installed updates:
    wmic qfe list brief /format:table

    view-updates-via-cmd

  3. To uninstall an update, you can use WUSA (a built-in Windows utility for managing Windows updates). For example, to uninstall the update KB3172729, you can type this command line and press Enter.
    wusa /uninstall /kb:3172729

    uninstall-update-via-cmd

  4. When you see the Windows Update Standalone Installer dialog box, click Yes to confirm and it will uninstall your selected update.

    333

Method 4: Uninstall Windows 10 Updates Using a Batch File

If you want to uninstall multiple updates silently, you can create a batch script (.bat) to run the WUSA commands in the background, by adding /quiet and /norestart option. Change the KB number as needed.

@echo off
wusa /uninstall /kb:3172729 /quiet /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:3074686 /quiet /norestart
END

This will run the uninstall without any open windows, and will not prompt for a reboot. After all updates have been removed, you can restart the system manually, or set your computer to reboot automatically by adding the shutdown -r command to the end of the batch file.

Revert Windows 10 Updates by Going Back to Previous Build

September 2nd, 2016 by Admin

Windows 10 keeps freezing after installing the Anniversary Update? Just upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10 and the login screen doesn’t accept your original password? If you face new issues with your PC’s hardware or software, you can roll back to a previous build of Windows. This tutorial will show you how to revert Windows 10 updates and go back to previous build from Windows 10 login screen.

How to Revert Windows 10 Updates by Going Back to Previous Build?

From Windows 10 sign-in screen, click on the Power button at the bottom right. Hold down the SHIFT key and select the Restart option.

windows-10-login

When the blue Choose an option screen appears, click Troubleshoot.

troubleshoot

At the Troubleshoot screen, click Advanced options.

advanced-options

Click Go back to the previous build.

go-back-to-previous-build

Select the Administrator account that you use and know the password of.

choose-an-account

Enter the password for the selected account and then click Continue.

enter-password-for-this-account

Click on Go back to previous build.

restore-previous-build

The computer begins restoring your previous build of Windows. The roll-back process can take as short as a few minutes to about half an hour depending on the speed of your computer.

roll-back-to-previous-build

When it’s done, you can check the build number of Windows by pressing the Windows key + R and typing winver in the Run box. In my example, the build number changed from 10.0.14393 to 10.0.10240.

windows-build-number

Note that once rolled back, you might have to reinstall some apps, and some of the settings may also be lost.

Fix Operating System Not Found When Booting Windows 10 / 8

August 19th, 2016 by Admin

While booting Windows 10 or 8 computer, you might receive the following error message:

“Operating system not found. Reboot and select proper boot device.”

This issue can be caused by various reasons, such as MBR (Master Boot Record) or DBR (DOS Boot Record) is damaged, the BCD (Boot Configuration Database) is corrupt, or your system partition is not active. In this tutorial we’ll guide you how to troubleshoot the problem of operating system not found / missing in Windows 10 or 8.

Solution 1: Enable / Disable UEFI Secure Boot

Most Windows 10/8 computers come with UEFI firmware and Secure Boot enabled. The operating system installed on a GPT partition can only be booted in UEFI mode. If you configure a UEFI system to boot in Legacy mode, you’ll get the error message that saying operating system is missing or not found. If you installed Windows 10/8 on a MBR disk, it also cannot boot in UEFI mode.

When you get the error message “Operating system not found or missing” during boot, try to change the boot mode from Legacy to UEFI, or turn off UEFI and Seure Boot, it might fix your problem. To learn more about how to change the boot mode, please check these articles:

Solution 2: Fix MBR/DBR/BCD

To fix the corrupted MBR, DBR or BCD, you just need your Windows installation DVD. Follow these steps:

  1. Start your problematic PC, insert your Windows DVD and hit a key when you are asked to to boot from DVD. It is possible that you have to change the boot order in your BIOS to boot from DVD.
  2. After a few minutes, you’ll see the Windows Setup screen for specifying your keyboard and language settings, just click Next.

    windows-setup

  3. On the next screen, click “Repair your computer” in the lower left.

    repair-windows-10

  4. When the Choose an option screen appears. Click Troubleshoot.

    troubleshoot

  5. Click Advanced options.

    advanced-options

  6. Click Command Prompt in the Advanced options screen.

    command-prompt

  7. At the Command Prompt, enter the following commands one after the other and hit Enter after each:
    bootrec.exe /fixmbr
    bootrec.exe /fixboot
    bootrec.exe /rebuildbcd

    fix-os-not-found

  8. Reboot your computer. This should hopefully make your problem go away!

Solution 3: Mark Windows Partition Active

When the computer is turned on, the BIOS will look for an active partition to boot. If your system partition is not marked as active, you’ll also receive the error message “Operating system not found or missing”. Here’s how to make your Windows partition as active:

  1. Boot your computer from Windows installation DVD. Open the Command Prompt again by the above method.
  2. At the Command Prompt, type diskpart and press Enter. Then type list disk. You will see the list of disk currently attached to your computer. Now type in select disk n, where n is the disk number. In my example, I would type select disk 0.

    diskpart

  3. Now type list volume to get a list of all the partitions on your selected disk. Find the partition where your Windows is installed and type select volume n, where n is number of your Windows partition.

    list-volume

  4. To mark your selected partition as active, just type active and press Enter.

    mark-volume-active

  5. Close the Command Prompt and reboot your computer. Hopefully your problem has been resolved now!

2 Ways to Set Windows 10 PC to Never Sleep

August 12th, 2016 by Admin

It could be quite annoying if your computer goes to sleep at all the wrong times or if you have trouble coming out of sleep state. In this tutorial we’ll show you 2 ways to put your computer to never sleep & disable sleep mode in Windows 10.

Method 1: Set Windows 10 PC to Never Sleep Using Control Panel

  1. Open the Control Panel in Windows 10. Change your view to either Large icons or Small icons. Look for and click on the Power Options.

    power-options

  2. This will bring you to a place where you can choose your power plan. From the left hand side of the window, select Change when the computer sleeps.

    change-when-pc-sleep

  3. From the drop down box next to Put the computer to sleep, select the amount of time you would like Windows 10 to wait before entering sleep state. If you want to stop Windows 10 from going to sleep, select Never from the list. From there, you can also see an option for making your computer never turn off monitor display.

    put-pc-never-to-sleep

  4. When done, click the Save changes button to exit.

Method 2: Set Windows 10 PC to Never Sleep Using Settings App

  1. To get started, open the Settings app by pressing Win + I keys together, or clicking on the Start button and selecting Settings.
  2. From the Settings window, click on System.

    settings

  3. Select Power & sleep on the left pane. Under the Sleep option, select Never from the drop-down list. You can also click the Screen drop-down list and then select Never if you want your PC to never turn off screen display.

    set-pc-never-to-sleep

  4. That’s it! Your PC will never go to sleep mode again.