Archive for December, 2015

Move the Entire User Profiles to Another Drive in Windows 10, 8 and 7

December 30th, 2015 by Admin

There are times when moving Windows user profiles off the default location is necessary, especially if there is no enough space on the system partition. In this tutorial we’ll walk you through the steps of moving the entire Users profile directory (for example, C:\Users) to another drive in Windows 10, 8 and 7. This method will also change the default profile location so any new users that’re created later will have their profiles located under your new location.

How to Move the Windows User Profiles to Another Drive?

Before getting started, you need to create a temporary administrator account, which can be deleted after moving the user profiles.
Log in to Windows with the temporary administrator account. Open Windows Explorer and browse to the root path of your system drive. Right-click on the Users folder and copy the entire folder to the new location (e.g. from C:\Users to E:\Users).

During the copying process, there are some temporary files that are locked and would not copy. Just skip those files.
Press the Windows key + R to open the Run box. Type regedit and hit Enter to launch the Registry Editor.
In the left side of Registry Editor, locate and then click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList
In the right pane, we need to modify the value for these entries: Default, ProfilesDirectory and Public. Replace %SystemDrive%\Users with your new profile directory, such as E:\Users. After modifying the values, it should look like as the following screenshot.
Expand the ProfileList node at the left side, you’ll see several subkeys (starting with ‘S-1-5-‘) that are named with the SID of your user accounts. Open each subkey and check the ProfileImagePath entry. If it’s pointed to your old profile folder, change the value to the new user profile location (e.g. C:\Users\Tom to E:\Users\Tom).
Now close the Registry Editor. Restart your computer and log in as your usual user. Everything should be working correctly except for programs that use a hardcoded user profile location.
Now you can then rename or delete the original user profile and remove the temporary administrator account. From now on, any new user that logs to this computer will also have his/her profile stored in the newly specified location.

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Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8

Tags: change windows profile path change windows user profile directory move windows user profile

How to Rename User Profile Directory in Windows 11, 10, 8 and 7

December 27th, 2015 by Admin

In previous post we’ve explained how to rename Windows administrator or guest account. However, just rename a user account and Windows won’t automatically rename the associated user profile folder. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to manually rename user profile directory in Windows 11, 10, 8 and 7, if the name of your user account folder is not what you want.

How to Rename User Profile Directory in Windows 11, 10, 8 and 7?

To make sure your renaming of user profile folder is consistent across the entire installation of your Windows and does not break anything, follow these steps:

Log on to another Administrator account that is not the account being renamed.
Open the Windows Explorer and browse to the C:\Users folder. Right-click on your user account folder and rename it to whatever you like.
Press the Windows key + R to open the Run box. Type regedit and hit Enter.
When the Registry Editor opens, navigate to the following registry location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\
Under the ProfileList subkey you will find a few subfolders (starting with ‘S-1-5-‘) that are named with the SID of Windows user accounts. Find the SID for your user account whose profile folder you just renamed. You can simply open each subfolder and check the ProfileImagePath path for the correct one.
In the right-pane, double-click the ProfileImagePath value and change the user profile path to your desired name. In my example, I renamed the account folder from C:\Users\Tom to C:\Users\Tom_New.
Close the Registry Editor window. Logout of the Administrator account and log in with your user account. Everything should work fine – all your apps and files should be intact and your user folder should have been renamed.

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Posted in Tips & Tricks, Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8

Tags: change windows account folder name change windows user profile name rename user account folder rename windows profile folder rename windows user folder name

3 Ways to Create New Administrator Account in Windows 10

December 26th, 2015 by Admin

The best practice for fixing Windows account issues is to create another account with administrative rights. When the account you used everyday is corrupt or you forgot the password, you can then log in to the alternate admin account for troubleshooting the issues. In this article we’ll show you 3 ways to create a new administrator account in Windows 10.

Method 1: Create Administrator Account from Command Prompt

To get started, you need to open an elevated Command Prompt in Windows 10. Press the Windows key + X to open the Quick Access menu and click Command Prompt (Admin).
Type the following commands to create a new local account and then join it to the Administrators group. Replace Jack with the name of your new local admin account.
net user jack /add net localgroup Administrators jack /add
Now you’ve successfully added a new local administrator account in Windows 10.

Method 2: Create Administrator Account from PC Settings

Click on the Start button to open the Start menu. Select Settings.
The PC Settings window should open. Click on Accounts.
From the left pane, click on the Family & others tab. Next click on Add someone else to this PC.
Enter the name for your new local account, password and password hint. Click Next.
Once you’ve clicked Next, you’ll be taken back to the Accounts screen and but now you can see the new account. By default, the newly-created account is a standard/limited account. From there click on the new user account you just created and then Change account type.
When the pop-up window appears, change the account type from Standard User to Administrator and click OK.
So, this was about how to add a new administrator user account in Windows 10 computer.

Method 3: Create Administrator Account from the Local Users and Groups Console

Press the Windows key + R to open the Run box. Type lusrmgr.msc and press Enter.
When the Local Users and Groups console opens, right-click on Users on the left pane and select New User….
Type the name for your new local account, password. Uncheck the “User must change password at next logon” option. Click on Create and then Close.
Now you can see the newly-create account on the right pane. It’s a limited account and we need to add it to the Administrators group. Double-click on the new account.
When the Properties window opens, click on the Add… button.
In the Select Groups window, type Administrators into the object names box. Click OK.
Now you’ll see your new account is also a member of the Administrators group. Click Apply for the changes to take effect.
Reboot or log off. You can then sign into your new administrator account and perform admin tasks.

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Tags: add administrator account in windows 10 add windows administrator account create administrator account in windows 10 create windows 10 administrator account create windows administrator account

2 Options to Delete $WINDOWS.~BT Folder After Windows 10 Update

December 25th, 2015 by Admin

There is a folder named $WINDOWS.~BT on the root of my C:\ drive. It is a hidden folder and is 2 GB in size. What is its purpose? Is it safe to delete it?

The $WINDOWS.~BT folder is a temporary folder created by Windows Update, which contains update logs and files downloaded by the Windows update process. By default, the $WINDOWS.~BT folder is hidden. It exists at the root of your system drive. To see it, enable viewing hidden folders in Windows 10.

$windows-bt

The $WINDOWS.~BT folder can be safely deleted. However, you can’t delete that folder the normal way. In this article we’ll show you 2 ways to delete the $WINDOWS.~BT folder to reclaim your hard disk space.

Option 1: Delete $WINDOWS.~BT Folder Using TakeOwnershipPro

Download and install the freeware TakeOwnershipPro on your computer. After installing, it will add the take ownership shortcut to right-click context menu.
Browse to the root path of your system drive. Right-click on the $WINDOWS.~BT folder and select TakeOwnershipPro. This will grant you full permissions to access the $WINDOWS.~BT folder.
Now you can delete the $WINDOWS.~BT folder the normal way.

Option 2: Delete $WINDOWS.~BT Folder Using Disk Cleanup

To clean the $WINDOWS.~BT Folder folder, open This PC, right-click your local C: drive and then select Properties from the context menu.
Click on Disk Cleanup.
Next click on Clean up system files. It will perform a scan of your computer’s hard drives to determine what files can be cleaned up and how much storage space they use.
When it is finished scanning the Disk Cleanup program will open again, but this time with some extra options that you can select as shown in the image below. To delete the $WINDOWS.~BT folder you have to check the option labeled “Temporary Windows installation files” or “Previous Windows installation(s)“.
Click OK and the Disk Cleanup wizard will clean out everything in the $Windows.~BT folder. If there is a lot of data to delete, please be patient while they are removed from your hard drive.

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Tags: $WINDOWS.~BT $WINDOWS.~BT windows 10 delete $windows. bt windows 10 delete $WINDOWS.~BT

How to Change or Remove User Account Picture in Windows 10 / 8

December 22nd, 2015 by Admin

At Windows login screen you can see a list of user accounts with a small picture next to each one. Actually, the same account picture is also shown at the top of the Start menu (or Start screen), and you can click it to log off and switch user accounts.

windows-10-account-picture

In this article we’ll show you how to change the user account picture in Windows 10/8, restore the default user picture (avatar) or delete your old or current account picture.

Part 1: Change Account Picture for Windows 10/8 Account
Part 2: Reset/Restore Account Picture to Default
Part 3: Delete Your Old Account Picture
Part 4: Hide or Remove Current Account Picture

Part 1: Change Account Picture for Windows 10/8 Account

Unlike previous versions of Windows, Windows 10 and Windows 8 don’t include an option to change the account picture from the User Accounts applet in Control Panel. Now, you have to change it from PC Settings. Here’s how:

Click the Start button or press the Windows logo key on your keyboard. This will open the Start Menu (or Start Screen).
Right-click on the account picture at the top-left corner of the Start menu, and then select “Change account settings“. If a Start screen is shown, right-click on the account picture at the top-right corner of the Start screen and select the “Change account picture” option.
Windows presents the PC Settings screen shown below. From there you can see your current account picture. Click on Browse button and select your favorite picture to set as new account picture.

Part 2: Reset/Restore Account Picture to Default

After changing the account picture, you might later find that there is no option to restore the profile picture to default. In Windows 10/8/7, the default account picture images are stored in the hidden system folder: C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\User Account Pictures. Here’s how to reset account picture to default in Windows 10/8:

Click the Start button or press the Windows logo key on your keyboard. This will open the Start Menu (or Start Screen).
Right-click on the account picture at the top-left corner of the Start menu, and then select “Change account settings“. If a Start screen is shown, right-click on the account picture at the top-right corner of the Start screen and select the “Change account picture” option.
Click on Browse button under your current user avatar. When the Open dialog appears, type the following path in the address bar and hit Enter.
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\User Account Pictures
There, you will be able to pick the default user image.

Part 3: Delete Your Old Account Picture

If you changed your Windows user account picture several times, the previous account pictures will also be shown on the right side of your current account picture.

show-old-account-pictures

If you don’t plan to use them again, there is no reason to keep them there. But Windows 10/8 provide no way to remove old user pictures. Here is very simple way to delete the old user account pictures:

Open the File Explorer.
Type the following path at the address bar, replacing username with the name of your Windows account.
C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\AccountPictures
Here you will get all those images what was ever used as your profile picture. Delete all the old images that you do not want to keep. That’s it! Your user picture cache is clean now.

Part 4: Hide or Remove Current Account Picture

Is there a way to hide or remove the user picture at the login screen? How to disable the user account picture from the Start menu? Follow these steps and you can hide/remove current account picture completely in Windows 10/8:

Open the File Explorer.
Copy and paste the following path in the address bar of File Explorer. Press Enter and you can see all built-in default account pictures. Delete all images.
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\User Account Pictures
Now you have to clean the cached account images. Copy and paste the following path in the address bar of File Explorer. Press Enter and you’ll see a folder with the name of your account’s SID.
C:\Users\Public\AccountPictures

Just rename the folder or delete it. If you want to delete that folder, you need to firstly take ownership of the folder using the freeware TakeOwnershipPro.
Log off or restart your computer. You’ll see the account picture disappeared from Windows login screen.

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Posted in Tips & Tricks, Windows 10, Windows 8

Tags: change account picture in windows 10 change windows account picture delete windows account picture disable windows account picture hide windows account picture remove windows account picture reset account picture to default reset windows default account picture windows account picture

4 Ways to Rename Windows Local Administrator or Guest Account

December 21st, 2015 by Admin

How to change Windows administrator account name? The built-in administrator account is one of the most Windows accounts targeted by attackers. To improve security on your computer, you should rename the administrator account to less common name because this lowers the risk of brute force attacks.

In this tutorial we’ll show you 4 ways to rename Windows 10/8/7 user account, including the local administrator and guest accounts.

Method 1: Change Windows Account Name from Command Prompt

How to rename a Windows account from Command Prompt? Well, you can use the net user command to either reset a user password or activate a disabled/locked account, but it doesn’t support renaming user account. To rename a Windows account, we need to use the WIMC command. Here’s how:

Open an elevated Command Prompt. In Windows 10 or 8, press the Windows key + X and select “Command Prompt (Admin)” from the power user menu.

If you’re using Windows 7 or Vista, click Start, then All Programs -> Accessories, right-click Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.
At the Command Prompt, run the following command for renaming the administrator account, replacing Admin with your desired name.
wmic useraccount where name='Administrator' rename 'Admin'
You’ve successfully changed the built-in administrator account name.

Method 2: Change Windows Account Name in Computer Management

Press the Windows key + R to bring up the Run box. Type compmgmt.msc and hit Enter.
The Computer Management console should open. Expand System Tools -> Local Users and Groups -> Users and you’ll see a list of local user accounts in the right pane.
Right-click on the local account you wish to rename, and then select Rename from the drop-down context menu.
Once you click on the Rename option, you will be able to edit the account name. Type in the new name you want to give the account and press Enter.

Method 3: Change Windows Account Name from Control Panel

First of all, you need to open the Control Panel applet. Set the View by option to Large icons and then click User Accounts.
On the User Accounts window, click the “Change your account name” link.
Now you can change the account name to something of your choice. When done, click on the Change Name button.

Method 4: Rename Windows Administrator/Guest Using Local Security Policy

This method only allows you to rename the built-in local administrator and guest accounts in Windows.

Press the Windows key + R to open the Run box. Type secpol.msc and press Enter.
The Local Security Policy Editor should open. Navigate to Security Settings -> Local Policies -> Security Options.
In the right pane, find the policy “Accounts: Rename administrator account“, and double-click on it to open the respective policy setting.
Simply enter the new administrator account name and click OK. Your Administrator account has now been renamed to the one you entered.

Note that you can also change the name of the built-in Guest account because there is also a local policy “Accounts: Rename guest account” for guest account.

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Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista

Tags: change windows account name change windows administrator name rename windows account rename windows administrator account rename windows guest account

2 Options to Change / Customize Date & Time Format in Windows 10

December 18th, 2015 by Admin

Have you inherited a computer with the date in the wrong format? How can I change the date & time format displayed in Windows 10 taskbar? Depending on your personal needs, you may wish that Windows displays the full date instead of the short date format. In this tutorial we’ll show you 2 methods to change date & time format in Windows 10, customize the format to match your specific needs.

Method 1: Change Date and Time Format Through PC Settings

To get started, right-click the bottom-right corner of the screen where the time and date are displayed in the system tray. After that select Adjust date/time.

adjust-date-time

It will open the PC Settings charm that displays the pre-defined date/time formats.

Click the drop-down button and select the date/time format you want. If your format is not included in the drop-down list, you have to use the method below to customize the date/time format through Control Panel.

Method 2: Change Date and Time Format Through Control Panel

Press the Windows key + X and you’ll be presented within the Quick Access window. Click Control Panel.
When the Control Panel opens, set the View by option to Large icon. Click Date and Time.
The Date and Time box should open. Click on the “Change date and time…” button.
After the Date and Time settings window opens, click on the “Change calendar settings” link.
Now you can see the pre-defined date formats. Click the drop-down button and check whether the format you wish to change is available or not. If it is not included in the drop down list, you can customize the format by entering required date format (for example, DD-MM-YYYY). Make sure that you are entering in a right format with proper notations. You can find the meaning of notations below the date format. Click on Apply and save your settings.
Now you can see the date/time on your taskbar at the bottom-right corner in your own desired format.

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Tags: change date and time format in windows change date and time format in windows 10 customize date format in windows 10

4 Ways to Enable Built-in Administrator Account on Windows 11 / 10 / 8

December 16th, 2015 by Admin

The built-in Administrator account is hidden & disabled by default in Windows. There is always a built-in Administrator account associated for every Windows installations. It’s a super administrator account that gives you some extra privileges over the normal administrator account. In this tutorial we’ll show you 4 ways to enable the built-in Administrator on Windows 11 / 10 / 8.

Method 1: Enable Built-in Administrator from Command Prompt

Press the Windows key + X to open the Quick Access menu, and then select Command Prompt (Admin). If you’re running Windows 11, choose “Windows Terminal (Admin)” instead.
In the Command Prompt, type the following command and press Enter.
net user Administrator /active:yes
As soon as you execute the command, the super built-in Administrator account is enabled, and you can access it by switching the accounts.

Method 2: Enable Built-in Administrator from Computer Management

After opening the File Explorer, right-click on “This PC” (or “This Computer”) on the left navigation pane, and then select Manage.
When the Computer Management window opens, expand System Tools > Local Users and Groups > Users.
In right-side pane double-click on Administrator account. It’ll open its Properties window. Uncheck the “Account is disabled” option.

Click Apply and then OK.

Method 3: Enable Built-in Administrator Through Local Security Policy

Press Windows key + R to open the Run box. Type secpol.msc and hit Enter.
When the Local Security Policy window opens, expand Local Policies > Security Options. In right-side pane, double-click on the policy “Accounts: Administrator account status” and set it to Enabled.

Click Apply and then OK.

Note: Local Security Policy Editor is not available on home editions of Windows.

Method 4: Enable Built-in Administrator without Logging In

All the above methods are fairly simple, but they work assuming you can still log on to Windows 10/8 with admin rights. What to do if you’re locked out of your computer? Follow the procedure described below and it allows you to activate the built-in Administrator account without logging in:

Boot your problematic computer from Windows installation DVD. Make sure that your PC’s BIOS (UEFI) Setup is configured to boot from a DVD and that UEFI and Secure Boot are disabled.
After booting into the DVD media, you’ll see the Windows Setup screen.

Just press SHIFT + F10 to open a Command Prompt.
In the Command Prompt, type the following commands one by one, press Enter after each. That will make a copy of the utilman.exe file, and then replace utilman.exe with cmd.exe. In most cases, Windows 10 or 8 is located on drive d:\. If that’s not your case, make sure you replace d:\ with the drive letter of the partition where Windows 10/8 is installed.
copy d:\windows\system32\utilman.exe d:\ copy /y d:\windows\system32\cmd.exe d:\windows\system32\utilman.exe
Now type wpeutil reboot and hit Enter to reboot your computer. Eject the DVD media and let your computer boot from local hard drive.
Wait until Windows boots to the login screen. Click the Ease of Access button in the lower-left corner of your screen.

Since we replaced the utilman.exe with cmd.exe, a Command Prompt should open now.
At the Command Prompt, type the following command to activate the built-in Administrator account:
net user Administrator /active:yes
Close the Command Prompt and reboot your computer. You can sign in to Windows 10/8 with the newly activated Administrator account.

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Posted in Tips & Tricks, Windows 10, Windows 8

Tags: activate windows administrator account activate windows built-in administrator enable administrator account windows 10 enable administrator account windows 11 enable built-in administrator enable windows administrator account enable windows administrator account from command prompt enable windows administrator account without logging in enable windows built-in administrator account

How to Install / Uninstall OneDrive in Windows 10

December 15th, 2015 by Admin

In previous post we’ve already explained how you can disable OneDrive from File Explorer in Windows 10. But what if you don’t want the OneDrive service in your system at all? To save system resources, you might consider to uninstall OneDrive completely instead disabling it only.

Unfortunately there is no option in the graphical user interface to uninstall OneDrive in Windows 10. So here we’ll show you how to install / uninstall OneDrive from Command Prompt.

Part 1: Uninstall OneDrive in Windows 10

Press the Windows + X key combinations to open the Quick Access menu. Select Command Prompt (Admin).
At the Command Prompt, type the following command and hit Enter to terminate any process of OneDrive:
taskkill /f /im OneDrive.exe
To uninstall the OneDrive from Windows 10 64-bit, issue the following commands:
%systemroot%\SysWOW64\OneDriveSetup.exe /uninstall

If you’re running the 32-bit version of Windows 10, type this command instead:
%systemroot%\System32\OneDriveSetup.exe /uninstall

Part 2: Install OneDrive in Windows 10

If at any time later you want to use OneDrive again, you can install it from Command Prompt. Here’s how:

Press the Windows + X key combinations to open the Quick Access menu. Select Command Prompt (Admin).
To install the OneDrive in Windows 10 64-bit, issue the following commands:
%systemroot%\SysWOW64\OneDriveSetup.exe

If you’re running the 32-bit version of Windows 10, type this command instead:
%systemroot%\System32\OneDriveSetup.exe
Upon completing the installation, restart the computer and you can then use OneDrive again.

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Posted in Tips & Tricks, Windows 10

Tags: install onedrive reinstall onedrive uninstall onedrive uninstall windows 10 onedrive windows 10 onedrive

2 Options to Disable or Remove OneDrive in Windows 10

December 15th, 2015 by Admin

OneDrive (previously known as SkyDrive) is Microsoft’s cloud based storage service and it is tightly integrated into Windows 10. Once you launch File Explorer, you can access the OneDrive app from the left navigation pane. However, not everyone likes OneDrive. Some may prefer other similar cloud storage services such as Dropbox, Google Drive, Apple iCloud Drive. In this post we’ll show you how to disable / remove OneDrive in Windows 10, using either group policy or registry trick.

Method 1: Disable OneDrive Using Group Policy

Press the Windows + R key combinations to open the Run box. Type gpedit.msc and press Enter.
After the Local Group Policy Editor opens, browse to:
Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> OneDrive
In the right pane, double click on policy named Prevent the usage of OneDrive for file storage and set it to Enabled.

If you decide to re-enable OneDrive functionality in future, double-click on this policy and set it back to Not Configured.
Restart your computer and now you’ve completely disabled OneDrive functionality in Windows 10/8.

Method 2: Disable OneDrive Using Registry Trick

However, Windows Home edition doesn’t contain Local Group Policy Editor. If you are using Home edition of Windows 10, you can take help of Registry Editor for the same task. Just follow these simple steps to disable OneDrive:

Press the Windows + R key combinations to open the Run box. Type regedit and press Enter.
In the left side of Registry Editor, navigate to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows
Right-click the “Windows” Key and then select New -> Key, name it OneDrive.
Now in right-side pane, create a new DWORD entry DisableFileSyncNGSC and set its value to 1.

To re-enable OneDrive functionality in future, just delete the DisableFileSyncNGSC entry.
Close Registry Editor and restart your computer to take effect. That’s it!

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Tags: disable windows 10 onedrive remove onedrive from windows 10 explorer remove windows 10 onedrive windows 10 onedrive