Archive for the ‘Windows 8’ category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

How to Change Default Web Browser in Windows 8 / 7

December 11th, 2014 by Admin

Is there a way to set Chrome as the default browser for all my applications? By default, Windows will launch the built-in Internet Explorer for you to access the Internet, when you click a link in an email or external application. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to change the default web browser in Windows 8.1, 8 and 7. Set Firefox, Chrome, Safari or whatever web browsers you like as the default.

How to Change Default Web Browser in Windows 8 / 7?

First you need to open the Control Panel. In Windows 8.1/8 you can press the Windows key + R to bring up the Power User menu and then select “Control Panel”, while navigate to Start -> Control Panel in Windows 7.

Under Control Panel, set the View by option to Small icons. Click on the Default Programs icon.

control-panel

Under Default Programs, click on the Set your default programs link.

set-default-programs

You’ll see all web browsers that you’ve installed in the left-hand pane. Just select the one you want to use as default browser, and then click on the Set this program as default link. Click OK and you’re done!

set-default-web-browser

Now you’ve successfully change the default web browser that Windows will use. If you click on a link included in a Word document, email or external programs, Windows will now open the link with your favorite web browser.

Comments Off on How to Change Default Web Browser in Windows 8 / 7 »

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

Tags:

Install Windows 8 from Hard Drive – without Using CD or USB

December 8th, 2014 by Admin

It’s super easy to install Windows 8 from a USB drive or a CD/DVD. But, what to do if you don’t have a USB drive in hand, or your optical drive doesn’t work properly? Here we’ll show you how to install Windows 8 directly from a hard drive, without using a CD or USB drive.

This method requires you to create a bootable hard drive from Windows 8 ISO image, so you can then install Windows 8 without formatting. It also works with Windows 10, Windows 8.1 and Windows 7.

Part 1: Copy Windows 8 Installation Files to Hard Drive

  1. First connect your hard drive to another working computer as a slave/second drive.
  2. Open the Disk Management utility by right-clicking on the My Computer icon on the desktop (or Start Menu) and selecting Manage from the drop down menu.
  3. The Computer Management console will appear as shown below. Click on Disk Management in the left-hand panel, you’ll see the attached hard drive shown as Disk 1. From there you can repartition your hard disk and create a primary partition for install Windows 8 later.

    disk-management

  4. Now we need to copy the setup files from Windows 8 ISO to your hard drive. This can be done using the freeware 7-Zip. After installing 7-Zip locally, right-click on your Windows 8 ISO image and select 7-Zip -> Extract files.

    decompress-win8-iso-image

  5. Next you need to specify where the destination should be. Click … button to select the root path of the attached hard drive. Click OK.

    7-zip-extract

  6. Now the extracting progress window will display.

    extracting-iso-image

    When this is done, the extraction dialog will automatically close. Now you’ve successfully copied all contents of Windows 8 ISO to your hard drive.

Part 2: Make Hard Drive Bootable

  1. Open the Command Prompt with admin privileges. In Windows 7, go to Start > All Programs > Accessories. Right-click on Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.
  2. In the Command Prompt, type in the following commands, and press Enter key after typing each command.

    Diskpart
    List Disk
    Select Disk 1
    List Partition
    Select Partition 1
    Active
    Exit

    set-partition-active

    The commands above will set the first partition of your attached hard drive as active.

  3. Next type this command to mark your hard drive as bootable:
    e:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt60 e:

    set-partition-bootable

    Assuming that e: is the drive letter of attached hard drive, where the Windows 8 installation files are copied to.

  4. At this moment your external hard drive is bootable and you can then use it to install Windows 8. Close the Command Prompt and shutdown the computer.

Part 3: Install Windows 8

Place the hard drive back into the target machine. Make sure that the BIOS is configured to boot from the hard drive. If you did everything correctly, you should see the blue Windows logo and setup will load. Install Windows 8 as usual (but don’t format your hard drive this time otherwise it will erase the Windows 8 setup files too).

After successfully installing Windows 8, you can then go to the system partition and optionally delete the Windows 8 installation files you previously copied from ISO image.

delete-setup-files

Comments Off on Install Windows 8 from Hard Drive – without Using CD or USB »

Posted in Tips & Tricks, Windows 8

Tags:

Windows 8.1 Displays Context Menu on the Left Instead of Right Side

December 5th, 2014 by Admin

If you’ve upgraded to Windows 8.1 or Windows 10, you may notice that the context menu is displayed at left side of where you click at, but in Windows 8, 7 or Vista the menu expands to right side by default. For example, when you right-click a file, the context menu may appear on the left hand side, rather than on the right-hand side. This misbehavior also happens with the drop-down menus in other applications.

right-handed-menu

This has to do with a Tablet PC Setting which controls how the menu items are displayed. This tutorial will show you how to set the context menu to open to the right side of where you click at in Windows 8.1 and Windows 10.

How to Set Context Menu to Open to the Left Instead of Right Side?

  1. Press the Windows key + R to bring up the Run box.
  2. Copy and paste shell:::{80F3F1D5-FECA-45F3-BC32-752C152E456E} into the Run box, and then press Enter.
  3. You should see Tablet PC Settings dialog box, regardless of your PC type. Go to the Other tab and check the box Left-handed.

    handedness

  4. Click OK. You should now see the context menu expand to right side.

    left-handed-menu

    This trick also works for Windows 8, 7 and Vista.

Comments Off on Windows 8.1 Displays Context Menu on the Left Instead of Right Side »

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

Tags:

Enable Hardware Virtualization VT-x/AMD-v in BIOS

December 3rd, 2014 by Admin

When you try to install Windows 8, you might receive an error message that says “This PC can’t run Windows 8 – Your PC’s CPU isn’t compatible with Windows 8“. To fix this problem you have to enable hardware virtualization VT-x/AMD-v for your CPU in BIOS.

cpu-not-compatible-with-win

On Intel platforms, you can normally turn VT-x on and off in the BIOS, whereas on AMD platforms, AMD-V is on all the time (at least I have not come across a BIOS which contains an option to enable/disable AMD-V).

How to Enable Hardware Virtualization in BIOS?

Usually, the VT-x feature is disabled by default in the BIOS for some reason. To enable it on your model, you have to find the option in your BIOS, it’s usually called “Hardware virtualization support”, ” Intel(R) Virtualization Technology” or something similar.

Here is how to enable Hardware Virtualization in BIOS:

  1. Power on your computer. Enter the BIOS setup by pressing F2, F12, Del or other key (The key may vary depending on your system model).
  2. Look for an option labeled by ‘Virtualization Technology’ or ‘Intel(R) Virtualization Technology’ under ‘CPU Configurations’, ‘System Configurations’, ‘Advanced’ or ‘Security’ tab and check if the option is enabled or disabled.
  3. Enable Intel Virtualization Technology (VT) or AMD-V depending on the brand of the processor.

    enable-hardware-virtualizat

  4. Save the BIOS settings. However, a warm reboot is insufficient for the change to take effect. You need to power off the machine and disconnect the power supply.

If you can’t find the hardware virtualization settings in BIOS, I highly recommend to check the manual or online guide of your motherboard vendor, and some old computers might don’t support virtualization technology (vt-x/amd-v) at all.

How to Confirm Hardware Virtualization is Enabled?

There is a tool available from Microsoft which can help you check if virtualization technology (vt-x/amd-v) is enabled on your Intel and AMD processor.

Download the Microsoft hardware-assisted virtualization detection tool

Installation is not required here, execute the EXE file and following result will appear.

virtualization-detection

However, this tool doesn’t work on Windows 8. To work around this problem, you can run this tool in compatibility mode by following these steps:

  1. Right-click on the EXE file (havdetectiontool.exe) and then click Properties.
  2. Click on the Compatibility tab.
  3. Compatibility mode lets you choose how to run the EXE file. You can choose anything from Windows 7 to Windows XP, as the virtualization detection tool works with Windows 7/Vista/XP.

    compatibility-mode

  4. click Apply then click OK to save the changes. You can then run virtualization detection tool on Windows 8 to check if virtualization technology (vt-x/amd-v) is enabled on your computer.

Comments Off on Enable Hardware Virtualization VT-x/AMD-v in BIOS »

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

Tags:

How to Burn ISO to Disc in Windows 10/8/7 without Any Software

December 2nd, 2014 by Admin

ISO files are frequently used to distribute CD or DVD images. For example, if you download a Linux distribution or WinPE image, what you’ll most likely download is actually a .iso file that needs to be burned to a disc. Since Windows 7, Microsoft has added native support for burning ISO image directly to disc without using any third-party tools. Here’s how you can burn ISO to CD/DVD from Windows Explorer or Command Prompt in Windows 10, 8.1, 8 and 7.

Option 1: Burn ISO to Disc in Windows 10/8/7 from Windows Explorer

In Windows Explorer, navigate to the ISO image file you want to burn. Right-click on it and select Burn disc image.

burn-disc-image

Windows Disc Image Burner will now open. You can choose which disk burner to use, if you have more than one, in the Disc burner drop-down list. Insert a blank disc in your DVD or CD burner, wait for a few seconds and click on Burn. If you check the “Verify disc after burning” option, it will verify the content of burned CD and ISO file which will require additional time.

disc-image-burner

After the burning process finishes, the DVD/CD tray will automatically open and you will see a confirmation message if the burning process was successful.

Option 2: Burn ISO to Disc in Windows 10/8/7 from Command Prompt

If the “Burn disc image” option is missing from the right-click context menu, you can also launch the built-in Windows Disc Image Burner from Command Prompt. Here’s how to burn ISO file to CD / DVD at the Command Prompt:

Open an elevated Command Prompt. In Windows 10 or 8, just press the Windows key + X to open the Quick Access menu and then click “Command Prompt (Admin)“.

At the Command Prompt, type the following command and press Enter.
isoburn.exe /Q [path to ISO file]

isoburn

Disc Image Burner will launch. Insert an empty CD and click the Burn button to begin burning the selected ISO image file. If you want to verify the disc for any errors after burning, check the option labelled “Verify disc after burning” option before clicking Burn button.

Conclusion

Disc Image Burner (isoburn.exe) is available in Windows 7 or later version of Windows. For Windows Vista or XP, you’ll need to install the third-party application to burn ISO files, such as ISO2Disc, ImgBurn, etc.

Comments Off on How to Burn ISO to Disc in Windows 10/8/7 without Any Software »

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

Tags:

How to Install Windows 8.1 on VMware Boot Disk Based on PVSCSI Adapter

November 24th, 2014 by Admin

VMware offers multiple types of virtual SCSI-adapters to use in your virtual machines. Based on your choice of operating system VMware will use Buslogic or LSI logic adapter by default. However, there is a Paravirtual SCSI controller that can improve performance for your virtual machines, especially in environments with high IO-loads. In this article we’ll walk you through the steps of installing Windows 8.1 on a boot disk based on PVSCSI adapter in VMware ESXi.

Part 1: Create A New Virtual Machine

  1. Open up your VMware vSphere Client and log into your server. Once you’ve gained access to the vSphere Client, right-click on your server IP address and choose New Virtual Machine.

    new-virtual-machine

  2. This will launch the Create New Virtual Machine wizard as shown below. Choose Custom for the configuration as we need to specify VMware Paravirtual as the SCSI controller of this VM later.

    custom-configuration

  3. Specify the name of the VM instance in the “Name and Location” section. In this example, I gave Windows 8.1 as the VM name.

    specify-vm-name

  4. This step prompts you to choose a datastore as the location of your virtual hard disk. In this example, there is only one datastore available with the name datastore1 in my VMware ESXi server.

    select-datastore-for-vm

  5. Next vSphere client asks for the version of virtual machine to be set up. This will only be a concern if you are using this machine with an older version of VMware ESXi. I would choose the latest version 8.

    virtual-machine-version

  6. Choose what operating system you would like to install on your virtual machine.

    specify-guest-os

  7. Next you are prompted for the number of processors. The value set here is what the virtual machine will think it has. You can allocate a maximum equal to the number of physical cores you have.

    virtual-cpu-number

  8. Next you can configure the amount of RAM to be allocated to the virtual machine.

    set-vm-memory-size

  9. Next you can specify if the number of NICs to be allocated to the virtual machine. Here I will leave it at the default value.

    create-vm-network-connectio

  10. Choose VMware Paravirtual as it is high-performance storage adapter that can result in greater throughput and lower CPU utilization.

    esxi-scsi-controller

  11. Next comes the step of setting up a virtual hard disk. You could alternatively use an existing virtual disk that you have created before, or create a new virtual disk.

    create-new-virtual-disk

  12. Choose how much disk space you would like to allocated from the datastore for this particular VM. In this example, the available disk space in the datastore1 is 40 GB. I’ll allocate 15 GB for the virtual disk of this VM.

    specify-virtual-disk-size

  13. Next I would need to specify how the virtual disk is connected. Select SCSI as virtual device node and click Next.

    virtual-device-node

  14. Your virtual machine is almost done. Review your settings and then click Finish. The VMware ESXi server starts to create the virtual machine.

    review-vm-settings

Part 2: Mount PVSCSI Driver to Virtual Floppy Drive

Because Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 don’t provide VMware PVSCSI driver directly on the installation media, we need to mount the PVSCSI driver to the floppy drive. Follow these steps:

  1. When the virtual machine has been created, right-click on it in the inventory and click Edit Settings.

    edit-vm-settings

  2. When the Virtual Machine Properties dialog appears, click Hardware tab and select Floppy drive 1.

    mount-floppy-image

  3. Select “Use existing floppy image in datastore“, browse to folder vmimages > floppies and then select pvscsi-Windows2008.flp. Click OK.

    select-pvscsi-driver

  4. Check “Connect at power on“. Click OK to save your changes.

    connect-floppy-at-power-on

Part 3: Install Windows 8.1

  1. Power on the newly-created virtual machine. On the toolbar on top of the screen, click the CD icon, mouseover CD/DVD drive 1, and then select your Windows 8.1 setup disc or Windows 8.1 ISO image.

    mount-windows-setup-iso

  2. After the VM boots from Windows 8.1 setup disc or ISO image, you’ll see the message “Press any key to boot from CD“. Press a key and you’ll get to the Windows Setup screen.

    windows-81-setup

  3. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation. However, when you come to the step which prompts you to choose a partition for Windows 8.1 installation, you’ll notice that it is unable to find any hard disks due to the lack of native driver support with VMware Paravirtual.

    select-partition-for-window

  4. In order to load the PVSCSI driver, click Load Driver. Browse to the Floppy Disk Drive (A:) > amd64 and click OK.

    locate-pvscsi-driver

  5. At this point you’ll see the VMware PVSCSI controller driver is detected, click Next to load the driver.

    install-pvscsi-driver

  6. Now you’ll then be able to see the hard disk.

    pvscsi-hard-drive

    Run through the rest of the Windows Installation as you normally would.

Comments Off on How to Install Windows 8.1 on VMware Boot Disk Based on PVSCSI Adapter »

Posted in Tips & Tricks, Windows 8

Tags:

How to Lock the Start Menu Layout from Being Changed in Windows 10

November 22nd, 2014 by Admin

With Windows 10, the Start button and the traditional Start Menu are back, and it’s much more customizable than it ever has been before. In our previous post we’ve covered how to customize the Start Menu in Windows 10. After personalizing and organizing the Start Menu, you might want to lock the Start Menu layout to prevent any accidental changes. Here are 2 simple ways to lock the Start Menu layout.

Method 1: Using GPO to Lock the Start Menu Layout from Being Changed

  1. Open the Local Group Policy Editor and go to: User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Start Menu and Taskbar. On the right-pane, double-click on the “Prevent users from customizing their Start Screen” policy to edit it.

  2. Select the Enabled radio button and click on Apply.

  3. That’s it! Restart the system and now you will be unable to Pin / unpin items to the Start Menu.

Method 2: Using Registry Hack to Lock the Start Menu Layout from Being Changed

  1. Press the Windows key + R to bring up the Run box. Type regedit and press Enter to open the Registry Editor.
  2. Navigate to the following registry key:
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies
    In left-side pane, right-click on Policies and select “New -> Key” and give it name Explorer.
  3. Now right-click on the right-side pane, and then create a new 32-bit DWORD and name it NoChangeStartMenu, and set the value to 1.

  4. That’s it. You will need to restart your system for the changes to come into effect. Your current user should be unable to rearrange the Start Menu layout, pin or unpin items to or from Start Menu. This trick also works with Windows 8.1 and Windows 8.

This method will lock the Start Menu layout only for your current user. If you want to lock the layout for all users, just navigate to the registry location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies, then repeat the same steps above to create a NoChangeStartMenu entry and it will work.

Comments Off on How to Lock the Start Menu Layout from Being Changed in Windows 10 »

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

Tags:

Fix the 0x000000C4 Error: Your PC Needs To Restart

November 19th, 2014 by Admin

When you try to install Windows 8.1 64-bit in Oracle VM VirtualBox / VMware Workstation, or boot a virtual machine from Windows 8.1 64-bit PE image, you might receive the following error message:

Your PC needs to restart
Please hold down the power button.
Error code: 0x000000C4
Parameters:
0x0000000000000091
0x000000000000000F
0xFFFFF8028E363A80
0x0000000000000000

0x000000C4

The problem exists only with the Windows 8.1 64-bit. The 32-bit version works fine. This problem is similar to the blue screen error 0x0000005D that we previously covered in this article: How to Fix Error 0x0000005D When Booting from Windows 8 Installation Disc.

If you got the 0x000000C4 error while booting an existing virtual machine from Windows 8.1 64-bit PE image, the temporary solution is changing your guest OS to 64-bit. This article has explained how to change the OS version in VirtualBox and VMware Workstation: VirtualBox and VMware Error 0x0000005D Fix: Your PC Needs To Restart.

If you got the 0x000000C4 error when you try to install Windows 8.1 64-bit in VirtualBox, please perform the following steps to resolve:

  1. First of all, you need to find the name of your problematic virtual machine in the VirtualBox Manager interface:

    oracle-virtualbox

    Or open an elevated Command Prompt, type the following command to list your virtual machine’s name:
    "c:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VBoxManage.exe" list vms

    list-virtualbox-vms

  2. Next paste following command followed by Enter:

    "c:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VBoxManage.exe" setextradata "virtual_machine_name" VBoxInternal/CPUM/CMPXCHG16B 1

    Replace virtual_machine_name with the name of the virtual machine name which you find in the step above.

    fix-virtualbox-bluescreen

  3. That’s it! Close the Command Prompt, and you can now install Windows 8.1 64-bit in VirtualBox without the blue screen error 0x000000C4.

Another workaround is upgrading VirtualBox to the latest version 4.3.18 which claims to have this issue fixed already. If you got the 0x000000C4 error with Windows Server 2012 R2, the solution is the same as for Windows 8.1.

Comments Off on Fix the 0x000000C4 Error: Your PC Needs To Restart »

Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 8

Tags:

Microsoft Tool to Download Windows 8.1 ISO and Create Installation Media

November 12th, 2014 by Admin

Ready to install or reinstall Windows 8.1 but you don’t have a installation disc? In the past, it’s quite difficult to grab a copy of Windows setup ISO image, even if you have a genuine product key at hand. And now, thanks to a new online tool from Microsoft – Windows Installation Media Creating Tool, which lets you to download Windows 8.1 ISO image and create a installation media right away.

To download and create a bootable CD or USB flash drive with the Windows 8.1 installation files, please follow the steps below:

  1. Head over to Microsoft’s installation tool webpage, and then click the Create media button to download Windows Installation Media Creation Tool (about 1.26 Mb).
  2. Once the file finishes downloading, double-click it to launch the Windows Installation Media Creation Tool. Connect your USB flash drive (at least 4 GB of space should be available) or insert a blank DVD.
  3. This program allows you to select your desired language, Windows 8.1 edition and system architecture (32-bit or 64-bit). As far as editions are concerned, you can get Windows 8.1, Windows 8.1 Pro, the N versions of both operating systems, or a single language Windows 8.1 version.

    media-creation-tool

  4. After clicking the Next button, you’ll be presented with two options to save the installation file: create a Windows 8.1 installation USB drive or save the setup ISO image for later user. If you don’t have a USB drive at hand, you should select the 2nd option to save the installation ISO image on your PC which can then be burned to a DVD.

    save-windows-installation

  5. Click Next to download or create the install media. This will take a while depending on the speed of your Internet connection and Windows 8.1 edition that you’re downloading.

    download-installation-file

    Once this is done, you can use the USB flash drive to perform a clean install of Windows 8.1 right away, or burn the ISO image to CD/USB with the freeware ISO2Disc.

Comments Off on Microsoft Tool to Download Windows 8.1 ISO and Create Installation Media »

Posted in Free Software, Tips & Tricks, Windows 8

Tags: