Archive for the ‘Windows 8’ category

How to Show Previous Logon Activity on Windows Welcome Screen

January 5th, 2017 by Admin

How to view users logon activity in Windows? Do you need to know the time of the last login? In this tutorial we’ll show you how to deploy a GPO in Windows to display information about previous logons during user logon. This feature works on all computers running Windows 10/8/7, Windows Server2008 or later.

Method 1: Show Previous Logon Information with Group Policy Editor

Press the Windows key + R to open the Run command box. Type gpedit.msc and press Enter.
In the Local Group Policy Editor, drill down to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Logon Options.

On the right panel, find the “Display information about previous logons during user logon” policy and double-click it.
Select the Enabled option. Click OK and restart your computer.
The next time you log into Windows, after entering your password, you will see the following screen that shows you the time of last successful logon and unsuccessful logon attempts. Click OK and it takes you to the desktop.

Method 2: Show Previous Logon Information with Registry Hack

If you have a Windows Home edition, you need to use the following registry hack to enable the “Display information about previous logons during user logon” policy on your computer.

Press the Windows key + R to open the Run box. Type regedit and press Enter.
When the Registry Editor opens, navigate to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
Look for the REG_DWORD value DisplayLastLogonInfo in the right panel. If it doesn’t exist, right-click the empty space and choose New > DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name the new value DisplayLastLogonInfo.
Double-click DisplayLastLogonInfo and then change the value from 0 to 1. Click OK. (If you don’t want Windows to show previous logon information after sign-in, just change the DisplayLastLogonInfo value back to 0)
Close Registry Editor and restart your computer. The next time you log into your Windows account it will display last interactive logon information on the welcome screen.

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

Tags: Display information about previous logons during user logon display information about the last interactive logon

Fix: “User must change password at next logon” option greyed out in Windows

December 29th, 2016 by Admin

When you try to change or reset the password of a user account, you might find the checkbox “User must change password at next logon” is greyed out, so you can’t choose this option.

user-must-change-password-next-logon

In this tutorial we’ll show you how to enable the “User must change password at next logon” option that is greyed out for Windows local or domain user account.

For Windows Local Accounts:

Open the Computer Management. Expand System Tools, then Local Users and Groups, then Users. Right-click on your local account and select Properties from the context menu.

local-account-properties

This will open the Properties dialog box. Uncheck the “Password never expires” box and you’ll then find the “User must change password at next logon” option is enabled. Click Apply and then OK.

windows-password-never-expires

For Active Directory User Accounts:

In Windows Server with Active Directory installed, open the Active Directory Users and Computers MMC snap-in (start->run->dsa.msc). Right-click on your domain user and select Properties.

domain-account-properties

Click the Account tab. Under the Account options section, uncheck the “Password never expires” checkbox and click OK.

domain-password-never-expires

Now you should be able to reset the password and force the domain user to change it at next login.

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

Tags: User must change password at next logon user must change password at next logon greyed out

SysKey: Lock & Unlock Windows PC with USB Drive

December 6th, 2016 by Admin

Is it possible to set up a USB Drive to log into Windows without installing any software on the PC? SysKey is a built-in Windows utility that allows you to set up a Startup Key/Password to protect the SAM (Security Accounts Management) database. You can store the Startup Key to USB drive. Whenever the computer boots up, you will have to insert the USB drive to login.

In this tutorial we’ll walk you through how to enable SysKey in Windows 10/8/7/Vista/XP, and use a USB drive as a key to lock & unlock your computer.

How to Lock & Unlock Windows PC Using SysKey?

Syskey (also known as SAM Lock Tool) was introduced since Windows NT. It’s so old that it only stores the Startup Key on the A: drive. So you need to assign the drive letter A: to your USB flash drive before following the steps below.

Press the Windows key + R to open the Run box. Type syskey and press Enter.
Click the Update button.
Choose the System Generated Password option, and then select Store Startup Key on Floppy Disk and click OK.
You will be asked to insert a disk into drive A: to save the Startup Key. Make sure you change the drive letter of your USB drive to A: and click OK.
After Windows writes the Startup Key into your USB drive, you’ll receive the message that the disk is now required to start up the system. Open your USB drive and you can see a single file named StartKey.Key, which is 16 bytes big.
Every time you computer boots up, you’ll be presented with the Startup Key Disk dialog which requires you to insert your USB drive. Without the USB drive, you’re unable to get past to access Windows login screen.

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

Tags: how to use syskey lock windows with usb syskey unlock computer with usb windows startup key

Fix: Right-Click Context Menu Not Showing / Responding in Windows

November 16th, 2016 by Admin

Mouse right-click not working on your desktop or Windows Explorer? Whenever you try to right-click anything on the desktop or in Windows Explorer / Start Menu, you might see no response at all and the context menu won’t open. In this tutorial we’ll show you several methods to fix the problem of right-click context menu not showing / responding in Windows 10, 8 and 7.

Method 1: Enable Windows Explorer’s Context Menu Using Group Policy

There is a chance that your Windows Explorer’s context menu is disabled by group policy setting. Here’s how to tweak it:

Press the Windows key + R to open the Run box. Type gpedit.msc and press Enter.
In the Local Group Policy Editor window, navigate to: User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components, and then click on File Explorer (or Windows Explorer).
On the right side of the window, scroll down until you see the setting “Remove Windows Explorer’s Default Context Menu“. Double-click on it to modify.
Select either Not Configured or Disabled, and click OK. Reboot your computer and see if the right-click context menu now works.

If you have no access to Local Group Policy Editor, please use this registry hack instead to enable Windows Explorer’s context menu:

Press the Windows key + R to open the Run box. Type regedit and press Enter.
In the left pane of Registry Editor, browse down to the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
Double-click the 32-bit DWORD value NoViewContextMenu on the right hand side, and set it to 0. (it will disable Windows Explorer’s context menu if you set NoViewContextMenu to 1)

Method 2: Remove Third-Party Shell Extensions from Context Menu

The right-click menu not showing issue might be caused by Shell Extensions. To fix it, try to disable all third-party shell extensions from the right-click context menu. This can be done using the software CCleaner.

ccleaner

Head over to the Piriform website and download the free version of CCleaner. After running CCleaner, click the Tools section in the left hand side. On the right hand side, click Startup and then click Context Menu. From there you can disable or delete any third-party shell extensions.

Method 3: System Restore

If you still couldn’t get the right-click context menu to work, restoring your system back to a previous working condition will be your good choice. To learn how to perform a system restore, please check out this article: Recover Unbootable Windows 10 or 8 with Restore Point.

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

Tags: right click not responding windows 10 right click not working on windows

2 Ways to Mount and Unmount VHD / VHDX from Command Line

November 2nd, 2016 by Admin

Virtual hard disk (VHD / VHDX) is a disk image file format for storing the complete contents of a hard drive. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to mount and unmount VHD / VHDX file from Command Prompt and PowerShell.

Method 1: Mount and Unmount VHD/VHDX from Command Prompt

This method allows you to mount and unmount VHD/VHDX file in all versions of Windows, including Windows 10 / 8 / 7 and Windows Server.

Open the Command Prompt in Administrator mode.
At the Command Prompt, type diskpart and press Enter to access the command-line disk partitioning utility.
Before mounting or unmounting virtual disk, you need to specify the location of your vhd/vhdx file. Type the following command and hit Enter.
select vdisk file="[location of vhd]"
You can now mount or mount your VHD/VHDX file using the below commands:
- To mount VHD/VHDX file, type attach vdisk and press Enter. You can see a new virtual hard drive in your Disk Management and Windows Explorer.
- To unmount a virtual hard disk, type detach vdisk and press Enter.

Method 2: Mount and Unmount VHD/VHDX from PowerShell

In Windows Server 2016 / 2012 / 2008, you can also mount and unmount VHD/VHDX file using the PowerShell cmdlet. Here’s how:

Open the PowerShell as Administrator.
When the command-line window opens, you can run the Mount-VHD cmdlet to mount your vhd/vhdx file.
Mount-VHD –Path "[location of vhd]"
To unmount your virtual hard disk, just run the Dismount-VHD cmdlet instead.
Dismount-VHD –Path "[location of vhd]"

If you get the error message like “Mount-VHD is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet“, you need to add a feature named “Hyper-V Module for Windows PowerShell” to your server.

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

Tags: mount vhd powershell mount vhd windows 10 mount vhd windows 7 mount vhdx command line

How to Disable Any Shortcut Keys in Windows 10 / 8 /7

October 31st, 2016 by Admin

Is there a way to disable certain keyboard shortcuts in Windows? Sometimes or even frequently you might press a hotkey accidentally that can disrupt your productivity. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to use the freeware AutoHotkey to disable any certain global hotkeys (keyboard shortcuts) in Windows 10 / 8 / 7.

How to Disable Any Shortcut Keys in Windows 10 / 8 /7?

In this example, we’ll demonstrate how to disable the [Windows] + [+] hotkey in Windows 10. Just make a few changes with the AutoHotkey script and you can disable other keyboard shortcuts as well.

AutoHotkey is a free, open-source automation and scripting tool for Windows platform. Go to AutoHotkey’s website and download the installer.
After the download is complete, double-click the installer. When you’re asked to choose the installation type, select Express Installation.
When the installation is complete, click Exit. Now it’s time to create your first script.
Right-click any empty space on your desktop (or any directory), and then select New -> AutoHotkey Script from the context menu.
Name the script file whatever you like, then open it up with your favorite text editor or NotePad.
Place your cursor at the end of the last sentence and press Enter. Copy and paste the following line which tells AutoHotkey to disable the [Windows] + [=] / [+] shortcut key.
#=::Return

In this case, the # symbol represents the Windows key. Here’s an example script to disable Alt + Tab, Windows + Tab, Left/Right Windows key:

; Disable Alt+Tab !Tab::Return
; Disable Windows Key + Tab #Tab::Return
; Disable Left Windows Key LWin::Return
; Disable Right Windows Key RWin::Return
Save the script file. Right-click on it and select Run Script. Now press the [Windows] + [+] keyboard shortcut and you’ll find nothing happen. This way allows you to temporarily disable your desire shortcut keys by running the script manually.

If you want to permanently disable the shortcut key, you can create a scheduled task to run your AutoHotkey script when your PC starts up.

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

2 Ways to Turn On or Off Screen Saver in Windows 10 / 8 / 7

October 20th, 2016 by Admin

Screen saver is a nice way to protect your computer from prying eyes when you walk away without locking it. After a short time of inactivity, screen saver will automatically lock the screen and apply password protection. But sometimes screen saver will bother you while playing movie. In this tutorial we’ll show you 2 ways to turn on or off screen saver in Windows 10 / 8 /7.

Method 1: Turn On / Off Screen Saver from Screen Saver Settings Dialog

Right-click the empty space on your desktop and select Personalize.
It now opens up the Personalization settings. Click on Lock screen in the left pane, then click the Screen saver settings link in the right pane.

If you’re running Windows 7, simply click on the Screen Saver link at the bottom of the window.
Once Screen Saver Settings dialog is launched, you can customize the screensaver and change the idle time before the screen saver is activated. If you want to turn off screen saver, just set the screen saver as None and Uncheck the box to On resume, display logon screen.
Click Apply and then OK.

Method 2: Turn On / Off Screen Saver Using Group Policy

Press Windows key + R and type gpedit.msc and hit Enter. This will open the Local Group Policy Editor.
Navigate to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Control Panel > Personalization. Double-click on the policy labeled “Enable screen saver“.
Set it to Disabled if you want to turn off screen saver. After disabling, all the screen saver settings options will be greyed out. If you want to turn on screen saver later, you need to set that option to Enabled.
Click OK and reboot your computer for the changes to take effect.

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

Tags: disable screensaver windows 10 turn off screensaver windows 10 turn on screensaver windows

Fix: Screen Saver Settings Greyed out in Windows 10 / 8 / 7

October 17th, 2016 by Admin

Unable to change screen saver settings? All screen saver options are greyed out or disabled? This problem is caused by a group policy setting that got screen saver disabled. In this tutorial we’ll show you 2 simple ways to fix this problem in Windows 10, 8 and 7.

screen-saver-greyed-out

Method 1: Fix Screen Saver Settings Greyed out Using Group Policy

Press the Windows key + R to open the Run box. Type gpedit.msc and press Enter.
In the left pane of Local Group Policy Editor, navigate to:
User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Control Panel > Personalization
In the right pane, locate the following two policies:
- Enable screen saver
- Password protect the screen saver
Double-click on each policy to modify, set both of them to Not Configured. Click Apply and then OK.
Reboot your computer and you should be able to change the screen saver settings.

Method 2: Fix Screen Saver Settings Greyed out Using Registry Hack

Press the Windows key + R to open the Run box. Type regedit and press Enter.
In the left pane of Registry Editor, navigate to the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Control Panel\Desktop
Delete both ScreenSaveActive and ScreenSaverIsSecure in the right pane. Reboot your computer and the screen saver settings should be editable from now on.

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

Tags: screen saver settings greyed out screensaver on resume greyed out unable to change screensaver settings windows 10 screensaver greyed out

How to Export and Copy Local Group Policy Settings to Another PC

October 14th, 2016 by Admin

“I am editing local group policies here and would prefer not to edit each machine manually. How do I export the policy, and then import it to other machines? Please help!”

LGPO.exe (Local Group Policy Object Utility) is a small command-line utility released by Microsoft, which allows you to export and import local group policy easily. It’s really convenient if you want to make a backup of local group policy, or import it later on another computer.

This tutorial shows you how to use Microsoft’s command line tool LGPO to export / backup local group policy settings, and import them into another computer.

Download LGPO from Microsoft

Download the LGPO zip archive from Microsoft’s website. Unpack it locally and copy the resulting LGPO.exe file to C:\Windows\System32. Afterwards you can open an elevated Command Prompt for running the LGPO command to automate the management of local group policy.

LGPO

Export Local Group Policy Settings

To create a backup for local policy policy settings on your local PC, run this command at Command Prompt:
LGPO.exe /b backup_path

backup-local-group-policy-via-cmd

A new folder with GPO GUID appears in the target directory. It will contain all local policy settings for this computer. You can restore this backup to your local machine at any time you need it, or import it later into another computer.

group-policy-backup

Import GPO into Another PC

To restore Local Group Policy settings from the backup, import them by running the following command:
LGPO.exe /g backup_path

import-group-policy-via-cmd

Once imported, restart your computer for the local group policy settings to take effect.

Conclusion

This method can help you easily deploy local group policy settings to other computers. As we all know, the Local Group Policy Editor is not present in Windows Home edition so you’re unable to edit the group policy locally. The LGPO utility makes it possible to copy the group policy settings from Windows Pro/Enterprise to Windows Home.

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

Tags: export local group policy settings windows 10 export local group policy to another computer export windows local group policy import local group policy windows 10 local group policy object utility

How to Enable USB Write Protection in Windows 10, 8 and 7

October 1st, 2016 by Admin

Worry about someone copying files off your PC via USB drive? The most common solution is to disable or restrict the usage of USB ports. In this tutorial we’ll show you another way to enable write protection of all USB drives that are connected to your Windows operating system.

How to Enable USB Write Protection in Windows 10, 8 and 7?

Press the Windows key + R to open the Run box. Type regedit and press Enter.
This will open the Registry Editor. Navigate to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control
Right-click on the Control key in the left pane, select New -> Key. Name it as StorageDevicePolicies.
Select the StorageDevicePolicies key in the left pane, then right-click on any empty space in the right pane and select New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name it WriteProtect.
Double-click on WriteProtect and then change the value data from 0 to 1.
The new setting takes effect immediately. Every user who tries to copy / move data to USB devices or format USB drive will get the error message “The disk is write-protected“. We can only open the file in the USB drive for reading, but it’s not allowed to modify and save the changes back to USB drive.

So this is how you can enable write protection to all connected USB drives. If you want to disable write protection at a later time, just open Registry Editor and set the WriteProtect value to 0.

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

Tags: enable write protect usb drive how to enable usb write protect