Archive for the ‘Tips & Tricks’ category

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

Tags: clear dirty bit for windows volume clear dirty bit in windows clear volume dirty flag set dirty bit on drive

3 Ways to Run Disk Error Check in Windows 10, 8 and 7

September 17th, 2016 by Admin

All versions of Windows come with a useful disk checking feature which can check the integrity of your hard disk, fix file system errors and scan for bad sectors. In this tutorial we’ll show you 3 ways to run disk error check in Windows 10, 8 and 7.

Method 1: Run Disk Check from Windows Explorer

Open Windows Explorer. Right-click on the drive you want to run the disk check on, and choose Properties.
Select the Tools tab. Under the “Error checking” section, click on the Check button.
Click on Scan drive button to run the disk check.

If your selected drive is a system partition that is being used, Windows will let you schedule a disk check on the next restart.

Method 2: Run Disk Check Using the Chkdsk Command Line

Open an elevated Command Prompt.
- In Windows 10/8, simply press the Windows key + X and select “Command Prompt (Admin)“.
- In Windows 7, click on Start, navigate to Accessories, right-click on Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.
You can run the chkdsk command to run the disk check. Replace C: with the letter of the drive you’d like to run a disk check.
chkdsk /f /r C:

The /f flag tells windows to fix any issues and the /r flag tells it to do a deep scan. It locates bad sectors and recovers whatever information is readable.

Method 3: Run Disk Check By Setting The Dirty Bit

Sometimes if your PC is not properly shut down or crashed, a dirty flag is set on the disk to force disk check to be run at the next reboot. Here is a simple way to set a dirty bit for your drive manually:

Open an elevated Command Prompt.
Type the following command and press Enter. Replace C: with the letter of the drive you want to set as dirty.
fsutil.exe dirty set C:
Reboot your computer and Windows will force a disk check on your specified drive.

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

Tags: run check disk from command prompt run chkdsk windows run windows disk check windows disk check

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:

To open the Settings app, you can click the Start button and then click Settings, or press Windows key + I keyboard shortcut.
Click on Update & Recovery.
Select Recovery in the left-hand menu. Under Reset this PC, click on Get Started.
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.
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”.
Click on Reset. Your PC will reboot automatically and begin the factory reset process. This might take an hour or more.

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:

When you’re on the login screen, hold down the SHIFT key, click the Power button in the lower-right corner and select Restart.
The computer will reboot and take you to the Choose an option screen. Click on Troubleshoot.
On the next screen, click on Reset this PC.
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.
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.
Click on Reset button to start restoring Windows 10 to factory settings.

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.

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.
On the Windows Setup screen, select your keyboard layout and language, and then click on Next.
On the next screen, click “Repair your computer“. Do NOT click “Install now“.
When the Choose an option screen appears, click on Troubleshoot.
Click on Reset this PC.
Click either “Keep my files” or “Remove everything,” depending on whether you want to keep your personal files untouched.
You’ll then be prompted to choose the target operating system.
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“.
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.
Click Reset and the factory reset process will begin.

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Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 10

Tags: reset windows 10 to factory default reset windows 10 to factory settings windows 10 factory reset

2 Options to Remove Network Icon from Windows 10 / 8 Login Screen

September 12th, 2016 by Admin

Looking for a way to disable or hide the Network icon from Windows sign-in screen? In previous posts we’ve explained how to remove the Power icon and disable the Ease of Access button available at login screen. Here we’ll show you 2 ways to remove the Network icon on Windows 10/8 login screen. This can prevent others from changing or disconnecting network without sign-in.

Method 1: Remove Network Icon on Login Screen Using Group Policy

Press the Windows logo key + R and type gpedit.msc in the Run box. Press Enter to open the Local Group Policy Editor.
In the left-hand pane, drill down to Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System -> Logon. On the right, find the “Do not display network selection UI” item and double-click it.
In the appeared window, click Enabled and then click OK.
Exit the Local Group Policy Editor and restart your computer. You’ll find that the Network icon is not displayed at the login screen or lock screen any longer.

Method 2: Remove Network Icon on Login Screen Using Registry Hack

Press the Windows logo key + R and type regedit in the Run box. Press Enter to open the Registry Editor.
In the left pane of Registry Editor, navigate to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System
Right-click on the System subkey on the left pane, then select New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name the newly created registry DWORD (REG_DWORD) as DontDisplayNetworkSelectionUI. Double-click on it and then change the Data Value from 0 to 1.
Close Registry Editor and reboot. After restart, you’ll find that Network icon is no longer present on your Windows login/lock screen.

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

Tags: Do not display network selection UI hide network icon in windows 10 remove network icon from login

Fix “The sign-in method you’re trying to use isn’t allowed”

September 12th, 2016 by Admin

“I am unable to login with any account even local administrator, while login it shows ‘The sign-in method you are trying to use isn’t allowed. For more info, contact your network administrator‘. Please help me out on this problem.”

sign-in-method-not-allowed

If your account is not granted the permission to log on locally, you’ll get such an error message at login. To fix this problem, we need to tweak the local security policy, or domain controller policy if you’re facing the same login issue with a domain user.

For Standardalone Computer:

Press the Windows key + R and type secpol.msc in the Run box. Press Enter to open the Local Security Policy window.
Expand to Security Settings > Local Policies > User Rights Assignment. In the right pane, locate the policy named Deny log on locally. Double-click on it to modify.
Check if your problematic user account or the user groups it belongs to is listed there. If it is there, select it and click on Remove.
When it’s done, click Apply and then OK. Reboot your computer and you should be allowed to log on to your account locally.

For Domain Controller:

There is also a corresponding security policy existing in domain controller that can cause the problem “The sign-in method you are trying to use isn’t allowed. For more info”. Follow these steps to fix it:

To get started, open the Group Policy Management. In Windows Server 2008, you can click Start, then select All Programs > Administrative Tools > Group Policy Management.
On the left hand side of Group Policy Management, expand Forest > Domains > your domain name, and then click Group Policy Objects. In the right-hand window, double-click on Default Domain Controllers Policy and select Edit.
This will open the Group Policy Management Editor window. Navigate to:
Computer Configuration > Policies > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > User Rights Assignments

In the right pane, double-click on Deny log on locally.
Check if your problematic domain account or the domain groups it belongs to is listed there. If it is there, select it and click on Remove.
Click Apply and OK to save your changes. Reboot your computer and you can then login without permission issues.

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

Tags: deny logon locally gpo the sign in method you are trying to use is not allowed the sign-in method you're trying to use isn't allowed

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

Click the Start button, and then select All Programs > Administrative Tools > Active Directory Users and Computer.
When the Active Directory Users and Computers MMC snap-in opens, expand your domain and click Users in the left pane.
In the right pane, right-click the name of the account, and click Reset Password.
Type and then confirm the new password. Click OK.

Method 2: Reset Domain Admin Password from Command Line

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

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

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

Method 4: Reset Domain Admin Password Using PCUnlocker

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

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

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Tags: reset domain administrator password reset domain password from command line windows server 2008 domain password windows server 2008 password reset

How to Change Lock Screen Timeout in Windows 10 / 8

September 8th, 2016 by Admin

The lock screen appears as a background image that is displayed when a user locks the PC. You need to tap any key or click the lock screen before you reach the login prompt.

windows-10-lock-screen

By default, the lock screen will automatically turn off the display after one minute of idle time. You might want to increase the idle time to make the lock screen stay longer, or set your PC to never turn off monitor. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to change the lock screen timeout in Windows 10 / 8.

Part 1: Add Lock Screen Timeout Setting to Power Options

To add the lock screen timeout setting to Power Options, you need to change the registry setting. Follow these steps:

Press the Windows key + R to open the Run box. Type regedit and hit Enter.
After the Registry Editor opens, navigate to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power\PowerSettings\7516b95f-f776-4464-8c53-06167f40cc99\8EC4B3A5-6868-48c2-BE75-4F3044BE88A7
In the right-hand pane, double-click the Attributes entry and change its value from 1 to 2 (Or set it back to 1 if you want to hide the lock screen timeout settings later).
Immediately after editing the registry, you will see a new option (Console lock display off timeout) to adjust in the advanced power settings for your power plan.

If you want to quickly make the registry changes without opening Registry Editor, simply open Notepad and copy / paste the following lines, save as any name with .reg extension.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power\PowerSettings\7516b95f-f776-4464-8c53-06167f40cc99\8EC4B3A5-6868-48c2-BE75-4F3044BE88A7] "Attributes"=dword:00000002

Then right-click on the .reg file and select “Open with” -> “Registry Editor” from the context menu. This will import your registry settings immediately.

Part 2: Change Lock Screen Timeout in Power Options

Open Control Panel in large or small icons view. Click on Power Options.
From the settings on the left-hand side, select Choose when to turn off the display.
Click Change advanced power settings.
Now, scroll down to Display, and expand it. You’ll see the new setting “Console lock display off timeout” that is only available after we’ve made the registry change above. As you can see, the lock screen timeout is set to 1 minute by default.
You can adjust the timeout for however many minutes you want, or set it to 0 so the lock screen will never time out and turn off the monitor.

Click Apply and then OK. Now you’ve successfully changed the lock screen timeout settings in Windows 10/8.

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Posted in Tips & Tricks, Windows 10, Windows 8

Tags: change lock screen timeout console lock display off timeout windows 10 lock screen timeout windows 8 lock screen timeout

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:

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.
Once booted to the Windows Setup screen, you’re prompted to select language and keyboard layout. Click Next.
Click Repair your computer at the bottom.
Select Troubleshoot from Choose an option screen.
Click Advanced options.
Click System Restore.
Click on the operating system you’re going to perform a system restore on.
When the System Restore wizard opens, click Next.
You’ll be presented with a list of previously created restore points. Select the restore point you want to restore to and click Next.
Confirm the restore point and click Finish.
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.
Your PC will restart and begin the system restore process. This may take a few minutes to revert back to the selected restore point.
After successful restoration, you’ll have a message saying system restore completed successfully.

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.

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

Tags: how to use windows 10 system restore roll back windows to restore point windows 10 system restore windows system restore point

How to Create System Restore Point in Windows 10 / 8 / 7

September 7th, 2016 by Admin

System Restore has been around since Windows 7. It’s very useful feature of Windows that helps you to restore your computer to previous working condition. If your computer gets messed up, corrupted or becomes unbootable, you can revert the operating system back to the recent restore point created. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to enable system restore and create a system restore point in Windows 10, 8 and 7.

How to Create System Restore Point in Windows 10 / 8 / 7?

Right-click on This PC (or My Computer) icon on your desktop and then select Properties from the context menu. For Windows 10, you might need to configure Windows 10 to display This PC icon on the desktop.
Click the Advanced system settings link on the left side of the screen.
Click System Protection tab. Make sure Protection is turned on for your system drive (most of the time it’s C:\ drive).

If protection is turned off, select the system drive and click Configure, next select Turn on system protection option in the resulting dialog.
To create a restore point manually, click on the Create button.
Enter a name or description for your new restore point, and then click Create button again.
Restore point creation are fast, it shouldn’t take longer than a few minutes.

Once the restore point is created, you will see the “Restore point was created successfully” message.

The above process is very simple to create a restore point in Windows 10, 8 and 7. Afterwards, you can use System Restore to restore Windows to your created restore point when your computer becomes damaged in future.

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

Tags: create a restore point in windows 10 create a system restore point create windows restore point windows system restore point

How to Turn Off Safe Mode without Logging into Windows

September 5th, 2016 by Admin

“I tried to restart my computer into Safe Mode using msconfig without thinking. Now I can’t log in because I couldn’t remember the Administrator password. How can I disable Safe Mode and start my PC normally?”

Stuck at Windows login screen but your computer keeps booting into Safe Mode? Is there a way to turn off Safe Mode without logging into Windows? If you could log into Windows, you can easily disable Safe Mode using Msconfig or Command Prompt. What to do if you forgot the Safe Mode administrator password? In this tutorial we’ll show you how to turn off Safe Mode by booting your PC with Windows installation disc.

How to Turn Off Safe Mode without Logging into Windows?

Boot your computer from Windows installation disc and press any key when prompted. If your computer still boots into Safe Mode, you need to enter into BIOS and change the boot sequence to CD/DVD first.
When you see Windows Setup, press the Shift + F10 keys to open a Command Prompt.
Type the following command and press Enter to turn off Safe Mode:
bcdedit /deletevalue {default} safeboot
When it’s done, close the Command Prompt and stop Windows Setup.

Reboot without installation disc, and your computer should boot in normal mode by default. This method works with Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7 and Vista.

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

Tags: disable windows safe mode get out of safe mode how to turn off safe mode windows 10 turn off safe mode windows safe mode boot