Archive for the ‘Others’ category

How to Clear or Hide Recent Files in Windows 10 Explorer

December 6th, 2015 by Admin

When you open the File Explorer in Windows 10, you’ll see a list of recently used folders/files. This feature is useful for you to quickly access your frequently opened folders/files, but it also exposes your recent activities to others when you are on a shared computer or a public computer.

quick-access

In this tutorial we’ll show you how to clear or hide the recent files in Windows 10 File Explorer.

Option 1: Remove/Clear Recent Files from Windows 10 Explorer

By default, Windows 10 keeps track of recently opened documents and files generally. Here is a simple way to permanently remove / clear recent folders/files from Windows 10 Explorer:

  1. Open File Explorer. It includes two sections: Frequent folders and Recent files.
  2. Right-click on the recent folder or file you want to delete, and select Remove from Quick access.

    remove-from-quick-access

Option 2: Hide Recent Files from Windows 10 Explorer

This method allows you to hide all recent folders/files from appearing in Quick Access of Windows 10 File Explorer. Here’s how:

  1. In File Explorer, go to the View ribbon section and click the Options button.

    file-explorer

  2. Once you’re in the Folder Options window, click General tab.
  3. Under Privacy at the bottom of the window, uncheck “Show recently used files in Quick access” and “Show recently used folders in Quick access“.

    folder-options

  4. Click Apply and OK. The recent files and frequent folders will immediately disappear from File Explorer.

Note that re-check the option “Show recently used files in Quick access” and it will also make your recent files appear in File Explorer again.

Fix: Windows 8.1 Update (KB2919355) is not applicable to your computer

November 25th, 2015 by Admin

Unable to install Windows 8.1 Update (KB2919355) on your computer? Even if you’ve enabled automatic update in Windows, you might find out that KB2919355 doesn’t appear in the list of available updates. If you download KB2919355 directly from Microsoft’s online website and then install it manually, Windows Update Standalone Installer will fail with the error message “The update is not applicable to your computer“.

update-not-applicable

KB2919355 is essentially a service pack released for Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2, but Microsoft has decided not to call it “service pack”. It is officially known as “Windows 8.1 Update”. In this article we’ll show you an effective way to install Windows 8.1 Update on Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 without such a problem.

How to Install Windows 8.1 Update (KB2919355) Successfully?

  1. Press the Windows key + X to open up the Quick Access Menu. Next click Control Panel.
  2. Click the View by option at the top right of the Control Panel. Set it to Large icons. Click on Windows Update.

    control-panel

  3. Click the Change settings link on the left side of the Windows Update window.

    windows-update

  4. Under Important updates, check the “Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them” option from the drop-down menu. Click OK.

    windows-update-settings

  5. When come back to the Windows Update window, click on the Check for updates link in the left pane. The search may take some time, depending on how many updates are waiting.

    check-for-updates

  6. When the search is finished, click the link that says how many important updates are available.

    available-updates

  7. In the list of available updates, select the update KB2919355, then click Install and you’re done! However, if the update KB2919355 doesn’t appear in the list of available updates, check ALL important updates and click Install.

    install-windows-updates

  8. After installing all available important updates, open your Web browse to download the Windows 8.1 Update from Microsoft’s website:

    At the download page, select your language and then click the Download button.

  9. Windows 8.1 Update contains six separate files: clearcompressionflag.exe, KB2919355, KB2932046, KB2934018, KB2937592 and KB2938439. You just need to select the file contains KB2919355 and click Next to begin downloading.

    KB2919355

  10. Now double-click on the update KB2919355 you’ve downloaded and it should be able to be installed successfully.

    install-kb2919355

Install .NET Framework 3.5 on Windows Server 2012 with / without CD

November 24th, 2015 by Admin

Today, there are lots of applications available that require .NET framework installed to run, including SQL Server. When try to install .NET framework 3.5 on a computer running with Windows Server 2012 (R2) or 2008 (R2), you might receive one of the following error messages

“The request to add or remove features on the specified server failed. The source files could not be downloaded.”

“The source files could not be found. Use the “Source” option to specify the location of the files that are required to restore the feature.”

failed-install-net-framework

This problem happens because the computer cannot download the .NET framework from Windows Update, or you specify a wrong alternate source path. So here we’ll walk you through the steps of installing .NET framework 3.5 on Windows Server 2012 (R2) with / without a install CD.

How to Install .NET Framework 3.5 on Windows Server 2012 (R2)?

First of all, open the Server Manager in Windows Server 2012 (R2). Click Add roles and features.

server-manager

On the Before you begin page, click on Next.

add-roles-and-feature-wizard

On the Select installation type screen, select Role-based or feature-based installation and click Next.

installation-type

Select the local server you want to install .NET 3.5 framework onto and click Next

server-selection

On the Select server roles page, do not select any role and just click Next.

server-roles

On the Select features screen, check .NET Framework 3.5 features and click Next.

add-net-framework-feature

On the Confirm installation selections page, you will get a warning “Do you need to specify an alternate source path? One or more installation selections are missing source files on the destination server.

confirm-installation

Here you have two choices:

  • If your computer has Internet connection, just ignore this warning and click Install. The wizard will try to connect to Microsoft’s online server and download the missing files from Windows Update.
  • If your computer has no Internet connection, you have to specify the alternate source path. Click the Specify an alternative source patch link at the bottom of the above screenshot. Then enter path of the source files from Windows Server 2012 installation CD.

    alternate-source-path

    In my example, it’s D:\sources\sxs, where D: is drive letter of my installation media. Click OK and then click Install to begin installation.

Once .NET Framework 3.5 has been installed, the screen will tell you Installation succeeded.

installation-progress

Click Close to exit the wizard. That’s it!

How to Upgrade to Windows 10 without Using Windows Update

November 18th, 2015 by Admin

Windows 10 is available to public as a free upgrade to every qualified computers running a genuine copy of Windows 8.1, 8 or 7. (Enterprise editions do not qualify.) Just download the official Media Creation Tool from Microsoft and it allows you to upgrade to Windows 10 as well as create installation media such as bootable USB or DVD drive. This tutorial will show you how to upgrade your current or another computer to Windows 10 directly without using Windows Update.

How to Upgrade Your Computer to Windows 10?

Head over to Microsoft’s website to download the 32-bit or 64-bit version of Media Creation Tool. Pick the 64-bit version if you want to run Media Creation Tool on Windows 8 or 7 64-bit OS. Otherwise opt for the 32-bit version.

If you don’t know whether you’re running Windows 32-bit or 64-bit, right-click on “My Computer” or “This PC” icon on your desktop and select Properties, the field labeled System Type will indicate if you are using a 32-bit or 64-bit OS.

system-type

Run the Media Creation Tool and follow the steps below to upgrade your current computer or another PC to Windows 10.

Option 1: Upgrade Current Computer to Windows 10

  1. Run the Media Creation Tool and then select the Upgrade this PC now option.

    upgrade-this-pc

  2. The Media Creation Tool will download Windows 10. When it’s done, accept the EULA, you’ll be presented with three options:
    • Keep personal files and apps
    • Keep personal files only
    • Nothing
  3. Select the first option to ensure your PC upgrades and you keep your files and applications. Windows 10 will start installing and after a few reboots and customization you’ll be upgraded.

Option 2: Upgrade Another Computer to Windows 10

  1. Run the Media Creation Tool and then select the Create installation media for another PC option.

    create-installation-media

  2. Select the language, edition and architecture (32 or 64 bits) of Windows. Make sure your selections match those of the computer(s) you wish to upgrade. So, if you currently have Windows 8 Pro (32-bit), choose Windows 10 Pro 32-bit.

    select-os-edition

  3. Select USB flash drive. If you plan to burn this to DVD instead, select ISO file and, after the process is over, you’ll have to use a DVD burning program to write the ISO to disc.
  4. Click Finish when the process is complete. If you don’t plan to upgrade to Windows 10 right away, you can remove the drive and stop here.
  5. Insert the created CD or USB flash drive into the computer you want to upgrade, and then run setup.exe. Follow the on-screen instruction to complete the upgrade process. If the software asks you for a product key, you are using the wrong edition of Windows 10 to upgrade.

Auto Shutdown Windows 10 / 8 As You Expect

September 25th, 2015 by Admin

Sometimes you might want to schedule Windows to shutdown automatically after a specified amount of time. For example, let’s say you’re downloading a big file at night. You know it will take about one hour for it to be complete, but it’s too late and you must sleep now. You don’t want to leave your laptop running overnight.

Here I’ll show you 2 methods to set up auto shutdown in Windows 10 and 8, and instruct your computer to automatically shutdown after a given amount of time, or at a specified time.

Method 1: Auto Shutdown Windows 10/8 After a Certain Amount of Time

  1. Press the Windows key + X opens the Quick Access Menu. Click on Command Prompt (Admin).

    win+x-menu

  2. Using the shutdown command you can set your computer to automatically shutdown after the amount of time you specified. For example, if you want to shutdown computer exactly after 120 seconds, type the command as follow:
    shutdown /s /t 120

    auto-shutdown

  3. Once you execute the command above, the system will force close all running applications and shutdown after 2 minutes.

Method 2: Auto Shutdown Windows 10/8 At a Specified Time

But sometimes you might want to schedule your Windows computer to shutdown at a specified time. For example, if you have a habit of listening music on your laptop before bed, you might have the tendency to fall asleep but forgot to turn off your computer. To avoid this, you can configure your PC to shutdown automatically at midnight. Here’s how:

  1. You’ll need to open up Task Scheduler to create a schedule task. Press the Windows key + R and type taskschd.msc in the Run box.
  2. The Task Scheduler window will come up. Select Create Basic Task from the Actions panel on the right.

    task-scheduler

  3. Enter a meaningful name and description of the task you are going to create, and then click on Next.

    create-basic-task

  4. Select the radio button “Daily” and click on Next to continue.

    task-trigger

  5. Now enter the starting date and time. Also, make sure that you are choosing for the task to reoccur every day.

    when-to-start-task

  6. Select the radio button “Start a program” and click on Next.

    task-action

  7. Click on Browse button to locate shutdown.exe under the system folder c:\windows\system32. Enter /s as the application argument which forces your Windows computer to shut down.

    shutdown-task

  8. Go through the summary, and if everything is fine, click on Finish.

    finish-task-creating

    Now you have successfully configured the automatic shutdown at night.

Fix Boot Failure: a proper digital signature was not found

August 10th, 2015 by Admin

I have a Toshiba P850/02c with windows 8. This morning it did an automatic Windows configure update but then on restarting, I got the error message “Boot Failure: a proper digital signature was not found. One of the files on the select boot device was rejected by the Secure Boot feature.” and stuck on there. Now I am unable to boot to the desktop. How can I fix the issues?

boot-failure

This is probably due to the “Secure Boot” feature currently on all new Windows 8/8.1/10 computers. Secure Boot is a new feature that improves the security of Windows. To fix this boot failure, you have to disable the Secure Boot option in the UEFI firmware.

How to Disable Secure Boot?

To disable the Secure Boot option, you have to access to the UEFI setup.

In UEFI setup, try to find a menu labeled “Security” or “Security Settings.” Once you navigate to it, head straight down to “Secure Boot”. There’s a possibility that you might have a “Secure Boot” option immediately when you arrive at the security menu, so look out for that also. Once you see a “Secure Boot” option, disable it. Then reboot the PC to check if that fix the issue.

How to Decrypt BitLocker-Encrypted Drive from Command Line

July 30th, 2015 by Admin

If you still have admin access to your Windows computer, you can decrypt the BitLocker-encrypted drive easily from the Control Panel:

  1. After opening up the Control Panel, click the System and Security link.

  2. click on BitLocker Drive Encryption to launch the BitLocker configuration panel.

  3. Find the drive on which you want BitLocker Drive Encryption turned off, and click Turn off BitLocker.

  4. A message is displayed, informing you that the drive will be decrypted and that decryption may take some time. Click on Turn off BitLocker to begin the decryption process.

Sometimes things would get a bit tricky if your computer won’t start or you lost admin access to your Windows account. You might need to boot off your PC from a WinPE bootable disc and decrypt the hard drive through the command line utility – manage-bde. Here’s how:

  1. Open the Command Prompt as administrator.
  2. Type the following command to unlock your BitLocker drive with 48-digit recovery key:
    manage-bde -unlock D: -RecoveryPassword YOUR-BITLOCKER-RECOVERY-KEY-HERE

    If your BitLocker recovery key is stored in a file on an external drive, then use this command:
    manage-bde -unlock D: -RecoveryKey "PATH_OF_YOUR_BITLOCKER_RECOVERY_KEY_FILE"

    If you can remember your BitLocker user password, type the following command. After pressing Enter, you’ll be prompted to enter the user password.
    manage-bde -unlock D: -Password

  3. Next turn off BitLocker Encryption:
    manage-bde -off D:

  4. Now you have unlocked and disabled BitLocker.

Problem with Using Chntpw to Reset Password

July 29th, 2015 by Admin

I tried to reset the password of Windows 7 Using chntpw command in Ubuntu. The program appears to work exactly as expected, and doesn’t display any errors, and acts like it’s done everything properly when blanking or changing a password. However, when Windows is loaded, no change has been made – the password has not been blanked or changed.

Chntpw, also known as Offline NT Password & Registry Editor, is a free Linux tool that allows you to reset or edit Windows user passwords stored in the SAM database. Here are a list of problems you might experienced when using chntpw to reset a lost Windows password:

  • Chntpw boots for a short while and ends up in a kernel panic “Kernel panic – not syncing: Attempted to kill init! And then it stops booting.
  • Failed to blank or change password. Chntpw said successfully clear the password. But when you try to login from Windows it does not seem to be changed.
  • Unable to mount the hard drive that that contains the Windows registry hives. Get the mount issue “Windows is hibernated, refused to mount. NTFS: Yes, but hibernated.“, or crash with “VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block.
  • Chntpw: Unable to open/read a hive, exiting..
  • Chntpw hangs in a loop, or fail to boot even if your computer is configured with UEFI and Secure Boot.

What to do if chntpw doesn’t work on your computer? You can get around all these issues with the third-party Windows password bypass tool – PCUnlocker, or use the following methods: