Archive for the ‘Tips & Tricks’ category

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Prevent Windows Update from Asking for BitLocker Recovery Key upon Reboot

October 13th, 2022 by Admin

BitLocker keeps asking for recovery key at startup? After installing a Windows update which updates UEFI or TPM firmware, it may cause your computer to prompt for BitLocker recovery key on the first or second restart. In such situation, there is almost no other choice than to find your BitLocker recovery key.

To save yourself a potential headache, you can prevent Windows update from asking for BitLocker recovery key upon reboot.

How to Prevent Windows Update from Asking for BitLocker Recovery Key

Before installing certain updates (such as KB5012170) which may cause BitLocker issue, you need to temporarily suspend BitLocker by following the below steps. It’s still not late if you’ve installed such update but have not yet restarted your computer.

  1. Open an elevated Command Prompt. Enter this command and press Enter to suspend BitLocker immediately. BitLocker will automatically resume after two reboots.
    manage-bde -protectors -disable %systemdrive% -rebootcount 2

    If you’re using Windows PowerShell (admin), enter this command instead:
    Suspend-BitLocker -MountPoint "C:" -RebootCount 2

  2. Now, you can install Windows updates to update or flash the BIOS or TPM firmware on your computer, and it should never prompt you to enter BitLocker recovery key during boot. After a reboot, you can open an elevated Command Prompt and run this command to get the number of reboots remaining before automatically resuming BitLocker.
    manage-bde -status %systemdrive%

  3. After the second reboot, BitLocker should automatically be enabled and the protection status is On.

    If you want to manually resume BitLocker to verify that it is enabled, use the following command:
    manage-bde -protectors -enable %systemdrive%

    For Windows PowerShell, run this command:
    Resume-BitLocker -MountPoint "C:"

That’s it!

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Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 10, Windows 11

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3 Methods to Change File Sharing Encryption Level in Windows 11

October 10th, 2022 by Admin

By default, Windows 11 uses 128-bit encryption to help protect file sharing connections, which is more secure than 40- or 56-bit encryption. If you need to share files between your PC and an old PC or MacBook which still uses 40- or 56-bit encryption, it’s necessary to adjust the encryption level and make them match each other. In this tutorial we’ll show you 3 methods to change file sharing encryption level in Windows 11.

Method 1: Change File Sharing Encryption Level via Settings App

  1. Press the Windows + I keys to bring up the Settings app. In the left sidebar, choose Network & internet. Next, click Advanced network settings on the right.

  2. Under the “More settings” section, click the “Advanced sharing settings” option.

  3. Expand the “All networks” section, you’ll see the “File sharing connections” drop-down menu. From there, you can choose to use 128-bit encryption (Recommended) or 40- or 56-bit encryption.

Method 2: Change File Sharing Encryption Level via Registry Editor

  1. Open Registry Editor and navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa\MSV1_0. In the right pane, you should see two DWORD entries: NtlmMinClientSec, NtlmMinServerSec. We need to change their value data.

  2. Double-click each of them and change their value data to 0 for using 40- or 56-bit encryption, or set their value data to 20000000 (in Hexadecimal) for using 128-bit encryption.

  3. Close Registry Editor.

Method 3: Change File Sharing Encryption Level via Control Panel

  1. Open Control Panel in Large icons view, click on the Network and Sharing Center category.

  2. Click the “Change advanced sharing settings” link in the left side pane.

  3. Expand the “All Networks” section. Under File sharing connections, you can then choose “Use 128-bit encryption to help protect file sharing connections” or “Enable file sharing for devices that use 40- or 56-bit encryption“.

  4. Click on the “Save changes” button.

That’s it!

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Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 11

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2 Methods to Prevent Editing Quick Settings in Windows 11

October 9th, 2022 by Admin

Quick Settings (previously known as “Action Center”) allows you to quickly access basic settings such as Volume, Brightness, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Airplane mode. When the Quick Settings panel opens up, you can click the pencil icon in the bottom-right corner to add, remove or rearrange items.

If you don’t allow others to edit or customize Quick Settings, here are 2 simple methods to prevent editing Quick Settings in Windows 11.

Method 1: Prevent Editing Quick Settings in Windows 11 via Group Policy

  1. Open Local Group Policy Editor and navigate to: Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Start Menu and Taskbar​. On the right pane, find the “Disable Editing Quick Settings” policy and double-click it to modify.

  2. Choose the “Enabled” option. Click Apply and then OK.

  3. Restart your computer to apply the changes. The next time you open the Quick Settings panel, you can still see the edit button (pencil icon) but it doesn’t work any longer.

Method 2: Prevent Editing Quick Settings in Windows 11 via Registry Editor

  1. Open Registry Editor and browse to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer. In the right pane, right-click the empty area and choose New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value.

  2. Name the DWORD value as DisableEditingQuickSettings. Next, double-click it to give it a value of 1. Click OK.

  3. Close Registry Editor and reboot your system. The pencil icon in the bottom-right corner of the Quick Settings panel is still present, but it doesn’t respond when you click it.

That’s it!

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Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 11

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How to Save File Explorer Search Results in Windows 11

October 8th, 2022 by Admin

Performing a search in File Explorer can take a long time depend on the number of files you have on your PC. If you need to repeat the same search again and again, it is very time wasting. You can improve productivity by saving the search results for future use. In this tutorial we’ll walk you through the steps to save File Explorer search results in Windows 11.

How to Save File Explorer Search Results in Windows 11

  1. Open File Explorer, then type your search query into the search field in the upper right corner and press Enter.

  2. After File Explorer shows you the results, right-click any blank area in the right pane of File Explorer, and choose “Show more options“.

  3. Next, select “Save search“.

  4. Navigate to the folder where you want to store the search and enter a search name, click on Save.

  5. You can see the saved .search-ms file in the destination folder, and it is XML format and can be opened with Notepad.

  6. The next time you need to repeat the same search in File Explorer, double-click on the saved search file, and the search results will show up in no time.

Conclusion

So this is how you can save the search results in File Explorer, so you can quickly bring them up without having to repeat the search again. If you just want to keep a list of the search result or print it out, simply select all results in File Explorer and choose “Copy as path“, you can then paste them in a text file.

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Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 11

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Add or Change Extensions for Multiple Files in Windows 11

September 29th, 2022 by Admin

Is there an easy way to add an extension to multiple files which do not have an extension? How can I change file extension for all files in a folder? Changing file extension one by one can be a frustrating task if you have to process a large number of files. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to batch add or change extensions for multiple files located in a folder on Windows 11.

Part 1: Add Extension to All Files in a Folder

If you need to append file extension to all files in a folder, just open an elevated Command Prompt. Use the cd command to navigate to the target folder. To add an extension to all files at once, run this command. Replace .jpg with your desired file extension.
ren * *.jpg

You can use this method to easily rename Windows spotlight images located in the directory: %LocalAppData%\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState\Assets.

Part 2: Add Extension to All Files without Extension

What to do if you have a folder with a bunch of images inside and you want to add .jpg file extension, but you need to exclude existing files which end with .doc or .txt?

To add .jpg extension to all files which have no extension, open Windows PowerShell as administrator and execute this command:

Get-ChildItem -exclude '*.doc','*.txt' | WHere-Object{!$_.PsIsContainer} | Rename-Item -newname {$_.name + ".jpg"}

The “-exclude” parameter allows you to specify certain file types which you wish to exclude from appending file extension.

Part 3: Change File Extension of All Files in a Folder

When you need to change file extension for all files in a folder, open Command Prompt as administrator and run this command:
ren *.old_extension *.new_extension

It will quickly rename all files with the new extension available in the command.

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Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 11

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Proven Way to Prevent Creating New Scheduled Tasks in Windows 11

September 26th, 2022 by Admin

How can I prevent users from creating new tasks in task scheduler? There is a group policy named “Task Scheduler – Prohibit New Task Creation“, but it works with Windows 2003/XP only.

In this tutorial we’ll show you a proven way to prevent creating new scheduled tasks from either Task Scheduler or Command Prompt in Windows 11.

Part 1: Prevent Creating New Scheduled Tasks in Windows 11

  1. Right-click the Start button from the taskbar, and then choose “Windows Terminal (Admin)“.

  2. If Windows Terminal opens with a PowerShell prompt, click the downward arrow in the title bar, and select Command Prompt.

  3. At the elevated Command Prompt, run the following commands to change permissions of the folder “C:\Windows\System32\Tasks” and grant read & execute rights to Authenticated Users only.
    cacls C:\Windows\System32\Tasks /P "Authenticated Users":R

  4. From now on, nobody can create a new task using Task Scheduler or elevated Command Prompt.

Part 2: Restore Ability to Create New Scheduled Tasks in Windows 11

Whenever you need to allow users to create new tasks again, follow these steps:

  1. Open an elevated Command Prompt, run this command to take ownership of the directory “C:\Windows\System32\Tasks“.
    takeown /f C:\Windows\System32\Tasks /r

  2. Next, execute these commands to reset the folder permissions to defaults, and change ownership back.
    icacls C:\Windows\System32\Tasks /reset /T /Q /C
    icacls C:\Windows\System32\Tasks /setowner "System" /t

  3. When done, users can create new tasks from either Task Scheduler or elevated Command Prompt.

That’s it!

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Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 11

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2 Methods to Change DPI Scaling for All Displays in Windows 11

September 21st, 2022 by Admin

By default, Windows uses a default display DPI of 96. If you find that the size of the text, icons and images is too small or bigger, you can consider increasing or decreasing DPI for your monitor. In this tutorial we’ll show you 2 simple methods to change DPI scaling level for all displays in Windows 11.

Method 1: Change DPI Scaling for All Displays via Settings App

  1. Open the Settings app by pressing Windows + I keyboard shortcut. Next, click Display on the right side.

  2. Click Scale under the “Scale & layout” section.

  3. Enter a scaling factor between 100 and 500 in the “Custom scaling” field, and click the tick button on the right-hand side to save your change.

    Here is the conversion table between DPI and scale factor/level:

    DPI Scale factor/level
    96 100
    120 125
    144 150
    192 200
  4. Click the “Sign out now” link to apply the new DPI.

    Whenever you need to use the default 96 DPI again, open the Settings app and navigate to System -> Display, click the “Turn off custom scaling and sign out” option.

Method 2: Change DPI Scaling for All Displays via Registry Editor

  1. Open Registry Editor and browse to the location: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop. In the right pane, double-click the DWORD Win8DpiScaling and change its value data to 1.

  2. Next, double-click the DWORD LogPixels to edit its value data. Enter a DPI value (in Decimal) of your choice from 96 to 480.

  3. You will now have to restart Windows to make the custom DPI take effect.

Whenever you need to disable custom DPI again, just open Registry Editor and browse to the same location, change the value data of Win8DpiScaling to 0. Windows 11 will ignore the LogPixels setting and use the default 96 DPI.

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Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 11

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How to Make Text Larger in Windows 11 without Changing DPI

September 19th, 2022 by Admin

Is there a way to change the system font without scaling in Windows 11? If you feel the default font is too small, you can consider increasing the font size on your screen, which can help reduce eyestrain. In this tutorial we’ll walk you through the steps to make text larger in Windows 11, without changing DPI or scaling.

How to Make Text Larger in Windows 11 without Changing DPI

  1. Press the Windows + I keys to open up the Settings app. Choose the Accessibility category in the left sidebar, then click Text size on the right pane.

  2. Drag the slider next to “Text size” to increase the system font size until the sample text in the “Text size preview” is easy to read.

  3. Once you have reached the desired font size, click Apply. Th new text size will be applied system-wide. No need to restart your computer.

That’s it!

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Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 11

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5 Methods to Open Local Security Policy Editor in Windows 11

September 13th, 2022 by Admin

Local Security Policy Editor can help you manage accounts policy, local policy, user rights assignment, and more. In this tutorial we’ll show you 5 fastest methods to open Local Security Policy Editor in Windows 11. Note that Local Security Policy Editor is not available in the Home edition of Windows 11.

Method 1: Open Local Security Policy Editor via Run

Press the Windows key + R together to open the Run dialog, then enter secpol.msc and click OK.

This should be the most common way to launch the Local Security Policy Editor.

Method 2: Open Local Security Policy Editor via Windows Terminal

Right-click the Start button on the taskbar and choose either “Windows Terminal” or “Windows Terminal (Admin)“.

When it opens the Windows PowerShell or Command Prompt tab, you can run the secpol.msc command to open the Local Security Policy Editor.

Method 3: Open Local Security Policy Editor via Search

Click the Search button on the taskbar, then type “Local Security Policy” in the text box at the top of the pop-up window.

The Local Security Policy Editor app will appear under the “Best match” section. You can open it with / without admin rights.

Method 4: Create a Desktop Shortcut to Open Local Security Policy Editor

Open File Explorer and browse to the directory: C:\Windows\System32. Click the Search box in the upper right-hand corner, type secpol.msc and press Enter.

Right-click the secpol.msc program which appears in the search result, and choose “Show more options” from the pop-up menu.

Select “Send to“, and then “Desktop (create shortcut)“.

You can then double-click the secpol.msc shortcut on your desktop to open Local Security Policy Editor.

Method 5: Using Local Group Policy Editor

Local security policy is a subsection of group policy. After opening Local Group Policy Editor, go to Computer Configuration -> Windows Settings -> Security Settings, and you can view and edit local security policy over there.

That’s it!

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Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 11

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