Archive for the ‘Tips & Tricks’ category

How to Edit Offline Windows Registry from WinPE

August 7th, 2016 by Admin

When your computer no longer boots up or you’re unable to login to Windows, a registry hack might fix your problem. To access the registry for an unbootable Windows installation, you should use a WinPE bootdisk. In this tutorial we’ll walk you through the steps to load / edit offline registry hive from WinPE.

Before get started, we need to know the locations of Windows registry hives:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM: %windir%\system32\config\SYSTEM
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SAM: %windir%\system32\config\SAM
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SECURITY: %windir%\system32\config\SECURITY
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE: %windir%\system32\config\SOFTWARE
HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT: %windir%\system32\config\DEFAULT

How to Edit Offline Windows Registry from WinPE?

Boot your computer into WinPE. Open a Command Prompt and run regedit.exe to open the Registry Editor.
In the left pane of Registry Editor, highlight the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE hive (or HKEY_USERS).
Click the File menu and select Load Hive.
Browse to your Windows partition and select the registry hive which you wish to load. In my example, the registry hives are located in the directory D:\Windows\System32\Config.
Type a key name whatever you like (e.g. “OfflineReg“) and click OK. The name will be used to create a new node in the tree so one can browser the offline registry.
Now under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE key, you should see a new key named after the name you typed previously.
Expand the new key, browse to the desired key or value for editing. In my example, I browse to OfflineReg\Software\Microsoft\IdentityCRL\StoredIdentities and delete its subkey.
When you finish with the modifications, highlight the key you created previously (e.g. “OfflineReg“). Click the File menu and select Unload Hive.
This will unload the hive and all changes made will be saved to the offline registry.

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

Tags: access windows registry offline edit offline registry hive load windows registry offline offline windows registry editor

Windows 10 Fix: Your device is offline. Please sign in with the last password

August 5th, 2016 by Admin

“Hey, I keep running into this error message whenever I try to log into my PC: ‘Your device is offline. Please sign in with the last password used on this device‘. It’s a total nightmare, I’ve tried all the fixes I could find and none of them have worked so far. Please help!”

device-offline-sign-in-windows-10

When using a Microsoft account to log into your Windows 10 PC, you might get locked out of system and the sign-in screen doesn’t accept your Microsoft password, no matter online or offline. Check out this troubleshooting tutorial and you should be able to recover access to your Windows 10 computer.

Option 1: Check Network Connection Status

In most of cases, there might be a problem with your network connection and because of that you can’t connect to your Microsoft account. At Windows 10 login screen, click on the Network icon in the lower-right-hand corner.

You’ll see a list of available networks. Choose the network you need and click the Connect button. Once an Internet connection is established, you should be able to sign into your Microsoft account successfully.

check-network-connection

Option 2: Check Out Typed Password

The problem can also be caused when the input language of the keyboard is changed or the Caps Lock key is on. After typing your Microsoft account password at login screen, click the eye icon (also known as Password Reveal button) that appears at the end of password box and it will show your password.

If you have problem of typing the password correctly, you can click the Ease of Access icon from the login screen, use the on-screen keyboard to type your password.

Option 3: Convert Microsoft Account to Local Account Offline

Still couldn’t log into Windows 10 and it keeps saying your PC is offline? The last resort is converting your problematic Microsoft account to a local account. This is really useful if your Microsoft account has got hacked, or you think it has been blocked or suspended by Microsoft.

PCUnlocker is a bootable CD that can help you reset / bypass Windows user password, as well as converting your Microsoft account to a local one offline. Just boot your Windows 10 PC from the CD, the program automatically finds the SAM (Security Account Manager) file for your Windows installation and lists all your local users.

pcunlocker

From the user list, check the Description column for your Microsoft email address. As shown in the screenshot below, my Microsoft account pcunlocker@hotmail.com is connected to the local account stella. Select the connected local account and click on “Reset Password” button.

convert-microsoft-account

Click Yes to confirm you want to change the Microsoft account to a local account. Reboot your computer and remove the CD, then you can log into Windows 10 with the connected local account. Once logged in, you can optionally switch to a Microsoft account again and this time everything should work normally.

Option 4: Delete the StoredIdentities Registry Key

If you insist on using Microsoft account and still couldn’t fix your PC is offline error, give a try with this registry trick from the Internet:

Open the Registry Editor and navigate to the following key:
HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\IdentityCRL\StoredIdentities
Expand the StoredIdentities key in the left pane and delete the subkey that is named with your Microsoft account ID. When it’s done, close the Registry Editor.
Now access the Microsoft account page and login. Under connected device tab, click the Remove device link to remove your device which is running into this issue. Now try to log into Windows 10 and see if the problem is fixed.

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Tags: your device is offline sign in with the last password used on this device your device is offline windows 10 your pc is offline please sign in with the last password used

Fix: Cannot Change Desktop Background on Windows 10

August 4th, 2016 by Admin

Have you tried different methods of changing the desktop background to no avail? The option to change desktop background image is greyed out? You can select the background picture but the desktop still doesn’t show it? In this tutorial we’ll show you 2 ways to fix the problem “Cannot change desktop background on Windows 10”.

unable-change-desktop

Method 1: Using Group Policy

Open the Local Group Policy Editor in Windows 10.
Navigate to User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Control Panel -> Personalization. In the right pane, find the policy Prevent changing desktop background and double-click on it.
In the Properties window select the Disable option, and save the changes by clicking OK.
Restart your system and you should be able to browse and set your background image.

Method 2: Using Ease of Access Center

Open the Control Panel in Windows 10. Set the View by option to Large icons. Click Ease of Access Center.
Click Set up High Contrast to open the Make the computer easier to see menu.
Scroll down to the bottom and uncheck the “Remove background images (where available)” option. Click Apply and then OK to save your changes.

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Posted in Tips & Tricks, Windows 10

Tags: cannot change desktop background on Windows 10 cannot change windows 10 background picture cannot change Windows 10 desktop background

How to Change Default Location for Outlook Data File (PST & OST)

August 2nd, 2016 by Admin

Is there a way to change the default location of new .pst file when create a new e-mail account in Outlook? Different versions of Outlook use different default locations to store pst files. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to change default location for Outlook .PST & .OST data file using a registry trick. It works with all versions of Outlook, including Outlook 2016 / 2013 / 2010 / 2007 / 2003.

How to Change Default Location for Outlook PST/OST File?

Press the Win + R keys in a meanwhile to open the Run box. Type regedit and click OK.
When the Registry Editor launches, navigate to one of the following keys, depend on your Outlook version:
- Outlook 2016:
  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook
- Outlook 2013:
  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook
- Outlook 2010:
  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook
- Outlook 2007:
  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook
At the right-side pane, right-click on any blank area and select New -> Expandable String Value.
Name the newly created value as ForcePSTPath, then double-click on it. On the Edit String dialog, enter the new default location where you wish to store the PST file for Outlook new profile, and click OK.

Note: To change the default location folder of .ost files generated by exchange accounts, you can create an expandable string value and name it as ForceOSTPath.
Close the Registry Editor and restart Microsoft Outlook application. From now on, when you set up a new email account, Outlook will automatically create a new PST file in the new default location.

This method won’t affect the location of existing .pst files. If you want to change the location of existing pst file, follow these steps:

Exit the Outlook application. Locate your .pst file in Windows Explorer and move it to a new location.
Restart Outlook. An error dialog box appears that notifies you that an Outlook Data File (.pst) could not be found. Click OK.
It will open the Create/Open Outlook Data File dialog box. Browse to the new location, select the Outlook Data File (.pst) that you moved, and then click Open.
When you see a warning message, just ignore it by clicking OK. Now you’ve successfully moved your existing pst file to a new location.

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Tags: change default pst location change outlook data file location change outlook pst location move outlook pst location move pst file to new location

Convert Any Document to PDF Format with Windows 10 Print to PDF

August 2nd, 2016 by Admin

Do you want to convert Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, image, web page or any other document into a PDF file? Microsoft Print to PDF is a new feature comes pre-installed in Windows 10 as a virtual printer. Instead of printing on paper, it creates a PDF document from any document within any application, just as if it was printed.

Just open your document in any application that has printing capability, press Ctrl + P keyboard shortcut (or use the Print option from the menu). Now you should see Microsoft Print to PDF available in list of printers. Select it and click on Print. Choose where you want to save your PDF file and you’re done.

select-pdf-printer

If the Microsoft Print to PDF option is missing from the list of printers, or you’ve deleted it accidentally, you can restore it by following these steps:

Open the Control Panel in Large icons view. Click Programs and Features.
From the left panel, click on Turn Windows features on or off.
In the Windows Features dialog, uncheck Microsoft Print to PDF and click OK.
Reopen the Windows Features dialog, and this time check the Microsoft Print to PDF checkbox, and click OK. After reinstalling that feature, you should be able to see the Microsoft Print to PDF option on Windows 10.

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Posted in Tips & Tricks, Windows 10

Tags: microsoft print to pdf microsoft print to pdf missing print to pdf without software reinstall microsoft print to pdf

Hide User Name and Email Address on Windows 10 Login Screen

August 2nd, 2016 by Admin

When you turn on your Windows 10 machine it shows your account name or email address on the login screen. Many users might want to remove or hide the email address for privacy and security reasons. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to hide your user name and email address from Windows 10 login screen using Group Policy or Registry Editor.

display-user-at-login

Note: After making Windows 10 not show your name and email address on sign-in screen, you need to fill in both your username (or email address) and password in order to login.

Method 1: Hide User Name or Email Address on Windows 10 Sign-in Screen Using Group Policy

Press the Windows key + R keyboard shortcut to open the Run box, type gpedit.msc and click OK to open Local Group Policy Editor.
Navigate to:
Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options

In the right pane, find the policy Interactive logon: Do not display last user name and double-click on it.
In the Settings window select the Enabled radio button, and save the changes by clicking OK.
Just restart your computer. You should no longer see the last used username or other details like the email address on the login / logon screen. One thing to keep in mind while using this is that it will also hide all your accounts from the login screen.

Method 2: Hide User Name or Email Address on Windows 10 Sign-in Screen Using Registry Editor

Press the Windows key + R keyboard shortcut to open the Run box, type regedit and click OK to open Registry Editor.
Navigate to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
Find the entry “dontdisplaylastusername” on the right pane and double-click on it. This action will open the Edit Value Data window. Change the value data from 0 to 1, and click OK.
Just restart your PC, and you will no longer see the user name or email address on the Windows 10 login screen. If you want to revert back, simply change the value data of dontdisplaylastusername to 0.

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Posted in Tips & Tricks, Windows 10

Tags: hide email address on windows 10 login hide user account on windows 10 logon Interactive logon: Do not display last user name remove email address from windows 10 login screen

2 Ways to Set Windows 10 PC as Microsoft Account’s Trusted Device

August 1st, 2016 by Admin

Every time you try to access or edit the sensitive info related to your Microsoft account, you might need to enter the security code Microsoft sent to you for verifying your identity. If you set your PC as a trusted device associated with your Microsoft account, Microsoft won’t ask you to enter a security code any longer. This tutorial shows you 2 ways to add your Windows 10 computer as trusted devices for your Microsoft account, and remove a trusted PC that’s lost or stolen.

Method 1: Set Windows 10 PC as Trusted Device from the Settings App

If you use a Microsoft account for signing into Windows 10, you can make your computer a trusted device from PC Settings. Here’s how:

Press the Windows key + I to open the Settings app. Click on the Accounts icon.
Click on Your account on the left side, and click the Verify link on the right side panel.
Enter the alternate email address for your Microsoft account to receive a security code. Click Next.
Type in the security code that Microsoft sends to your alternate email account. Click Next.
Your current PC has now been added a trusted device associated with your Microsoft account. Go to the Settings app, and then Accounts, you should find the Verify link disappeared.

Method 2: Set Windows 10 PC as Trusted Device from Microsoft’s Online Website

Open your web browser on the computer you want to trust. Visit the Microsoft online website and sign in to your Microsoft account.
After successfully entering your email address and password, you’ll be taken to an account summary page. Click on the Security & Privacy tab, and click on the More security settings.
Enter the alternate email address to get a security code for verification. Click on Send code.
Enter the security code received, check the box “I sign in frequently on this device. Don’t ask me for a code” and click on Submit. You can now edit your sensitive info on this device whenever you want, without entering another security code.

How to Remove Trusted Devices from Your Microsoft Account

When your trusted device is lost or stolen, or you don’t use the device any longer, follow these steps to remove trusted devices from your Microsoft account:

Open your web browser on the trusted computer. Visit the Microsoft online website and sign in to your Microsoft account.
After successfully entering your email address and password, you’ll be taken to an account summary page. Click on the Security & Privacy tab, and click on the More security settings.
Scroll down to the Trusted devices section, and click on the Remove all the trusted devices associated with my account option.
Click on Remove all trusted devices to confirm.

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Posted in Tips & Tricks, Windows 10

Tags: add trusted device with microsoft account microsoft account trusted devices microsoft trusted devices remove trusted devices from microsoft account

Windows 10 Fix: “Compressed (zipped) Folder” missing from Send To Menu

July 31st, 2016 by Admin

Windows 10 comes with native support for zip files. In File Explorer, select and right-click on the folders or files you want to zip, select “Send To” -> “Compressed (zipped) folder” from the context menu. This will compress your selected folders/files into a single .zip file.

send-to-compressed-folder

However, the “Compressed (zipped) folder” might be missing from the right-click context menu. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to restore the missing “Compressed (zipped) folder” option from the Send To menu in Windows 10.

Part 1: Restore Compressed (zipped) folder shortcut

There is a copy of this shortcut in the default user profile in Windows 10. You can just copy it from the default user profile back to your personal profile and you are done. Here is how.

Open the Send To folder of the default user profile. To do so, press Win + R to open the Run dialog, and type the following command and press Enter:
%systemdrive%\Users\Default\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo
Right-click the Compressed (zipped) folder shortcut and select Copy from the context menu.
Now, type the following path in File Explorer’s address bar. This will open the Send To folder of your current user profile.
%userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo
Paste the shortcut you previously copied there.

Part 2: Fix the .ZFSendToTarget file association

If the above method is still not working, it’s possible that the .ZFSendToTarget file association is corrupt. Normally, the “Compressed (zipped) folder” shortcut is shown with a zip icon. If its association settings are corrupt, it might show with a generic icon and display ZFSendToTarget in the Type column.

zfsendtotarget

Here’s how to fix it:

Press Win + R and type regedit and press Enter.
When the Registry Editor opens, navigate to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.zfsendtotarget
Right-click on .zfsendtotarget key in the left pane and select Delete.
Next open an elevated Command Prompt. This can be done by pressing Win + X and select “Command Prompt (Admin)” from the Power User Menu.
Type the following command and press Enter.
assoc .zfsendtotarget=CLSID\{888DCA60-FC0A-11CF-8F0F-00C04FD7D062}
Reboot your computer and the “Compressed (zipped) folder” shortcut should now appear in the Send to menu.

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Tags: send to compressed folder missing send to compressed zipped folder missing in Windows 10

3 Ways to Stop Automatic Driver Updates in Windows 10

July 29th, 2016 by Admin

While plugging in a new device, Windows 10 automatically downloads and installs the device driver via Windows Update. Every time Windows 10 checks for OS updates, it will also update the device drivers. However, some drivers from Microsoft may not be fully compatible with the device driver you have installed and it might result in system instability.

In this tutorial we’ll show you 3 different ways to stop automatic driver updates in Windows 10. Note that the Local Group Policy Editor is not available to Windows 10 Home users.

Method 1: Stop Automatic Driver Updates Using Windows Settings

Open a File Explorer window. Right-click This PC from the navigation pane and choose Properties.
Click the Advanced system settings link located on the left hand side of the screen.
When the System Properties window opens, select the Hardware tab, and click the Device Installation Settings button.
You will be asked whether you want to automatically download manufacturers’ apps and custom icons available for your devices. Select No and click Save Changes.

This should stop Windows from automatically downloading and installing device drivers from Windows Update.

Method 2: Stop Automatic Driver Updates Using Group Policy

Press Windows key + R, enter gpedit.msc, and hit Enter to open Local Group Policy Editor.
Navigate to Computer Configuration –> Administrative Templates –> System –> Device Installation –> Device Installation Restrictions. In the right hand pane, find the “Prevent installation of devices not described by other policy settings” policy and double-click on it to modify.
To turn off automatic driver updates, select Enabled and click OK. This will disable all driver updates.

Method 3: Stop Automatic Driver Updates Using Registry Editor

Press Windows key + R to launch the Run dialog, enter regedit, and hit Enter to open Registry Editor.
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\DriverSearching. Double-click on the SearchOrderConfig entry on the right pane.
Set the value data to 0 and it will turn off automatic driver updates. A value of 1 allows downloads of driver updates. Click OK and reboot your computer for the changes to take effect.

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Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 10

Tags: disable automatic driver updates in windows 10 stop windows 10 driver update turn off automatic driver updates in windows 10

3 Ways to Disable Windows Key Shortcuts (Hotkeys) in Windows 10

July 28th, 2016 by Admin

Did you ever play a game in full-screen mode and accidentally press the Windows key? This might cause your game to minimize or exit full-screen mode. What to do if the Windows keyboard shortcuts conflict with some software shortcuts? In this tutorial we’ll show you 3 simple ways to disable Windows key shortcuts (hotkeys) in Windows 10.

After testing, the first two methods seem to disable only these keyboard shortcuts: Windows + D, Windows + R, Windows + S, Windows + A. It won’t disable the shortcuts like Windows + X, Windows + L, Windows + PrntScr or Windows + Tab in Windows 10. If you want to disable the single Windows key on your keyboard, the 3th method is your choice.

Method 1: Disable WIN+ Keyboard Shortcuts in Using Group Policy

Type edit group policy in the Search or Run box and press Enter. It will open Local Group Policy Editor.
Navigate to User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> File Explorer. In the right-side pane, double-click on the Turn off Windows Key hotkeys policy to edit it.
Select the Enabled option and click Apply and then OK.
Reboot the computer to apply the changes.

Method 2: Disable WIN+ Keyboard Shortcuts in Using Registry Editor

If you’re unable to access the Local Group Policy Editor, you can take help of Registry Editor for the same task. Just follow these steps:

Type regedit in the Search or Run box and press Enter. It will open Registry Editor.
Navigate to the following key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer. In right-side pane, right-click on the empty space and select New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value.
Rename the newly created entry as NoWinKeys and set its value to 1.
Close Registry Editor and restart your system. After reboot the WIN+ hotkeys will be turned off in your system. If you want to re-enable the WIN+ keyboard shortcuts, just delete NoWinKeys entry.

Method 3: Disable Windows Key Completely

This method allows you to completely disable the Windows logo key for all users in Windows 10, 8, 8.1 and Windows 7. Follow these steps to disable Windows key virtually:

Type regedit in the Search or Run box and press Enter. It will open Registry Editor.
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_ MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout. In the right-side pane, right-click on the empty space and select New -> Binary Value.
Rename the newly created entry as Scancode Map. Right-click on Scancode Map and click Modify. Type in the following value as the value data manually (copying and pasting will not work), then click OK.
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
03 00 00 00 00 00 5B E0
00 00 5C E0 00 00 00 00
Close Registry Editor and restart the computer. When you boot back into Windows 10, press the Windows key and nothing will happen. If you want to re-enable the Windows logo key, open the Registry Editor again and delete the Scancode Map entry.

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

Tags: disable keyboard shortcuts windows 10 disable windows hotkeys group policy disable windows key disable windows key shortcuts turn off keyboard shortcuts windows 10