Windows XP svchost bug - finally a fix

For the past several months, we have been checking on a bug in Windows XP that has caused SVCHOST to push the CPU of a PC up to 100 percent usage for some users. Microsoft tried in November to fix the issue but was unsuccessful. However, the company pledged to continue to work on fixing the bug, which it stated was due to "Windows Update Agent processing long lists of superseded updates."

On Tuesday, Microsoft depreciated legacy security updates for Internet Explorer that had been replaced by more recent ones. We did this to improve customer experience, reducing the time Windows Update requires to check existing updates before installing new ones. This action was purely to improve update performance and does not affect customer security.

The update came less than three months before all software patches for Windows XP from Microsoft will end on April 8th, although the company will continue to provide antivirus signatures for the OS until July 2015.

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Windows Server 2012 R2 & HP Proliant Microserver

Windows Server 2012 R2 hangs on 'Getting devices ready 84%'
Fails to Complete the installation on HP MicroServer Gen7 (N36L, N40L & N54L)

The MicroServer N36, N40L and N54L all share the same embedded NC107i PCI Express gigabit NIC. The NC107i uses the Broadcom BCM5723 chip which doesn’t have an updated driver included with the Server 2012 R2 installation media. The lack of drivers will get you stuck at 84%...

The current workaround is to disable the on-board NIC and install another card.
Flash the custom BIOS to unlock the hidden BIOS screens
Install a supported NIC in the PCIe slot (Joe used the Intel EXPI9301CTBLK
Go into the BIOS and change the settings to match
Boot Settings -> Embedded NIC Port 1 Control – [Disabled]
Boot Settings -> Wake-On LAN – [Disabled]
Chipset -> Atheros AR8132M NIC – [Disabled]
After a reboot, Server 2012 R2 should install fine.

Fall back to R1 or...., here's a solution for you!

Download this driver and add it to the $WinPEDriver$ folder of your media installation kit.
Disable Embedded NIC Port 1 Control in BIOS
Install Windows Server 2012 R2
Add a Server name
Reboot into BIOS to Enable the NIC
This should get you working, have fun!

HP have documented this as a known issue and are currently working with Microsoft to resolve prior to the official release of R2.

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Disable Automatic Private IP Addressing - APIPA

APIPA is Enabled

APIPA sometimes is tricky, giving us IPs in a range of 169.254.0.1 to 169.254.255.254
When a DHCP server fails, APIPA gives you an IP address. The client then verify that it's address is unique on the network by using ARP queries. Whenever a DHCP server sends the DHCPOffer packet, the clients requests a dhcp lease, thus leaving the APIPA addressing.

The best way to solve this is by heading to the registry editor and change a DWORD value to zero.

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameteres
IPAutoconfigurationEnabled: 0

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HRESULT 0xc8000222 when trying to install any version of .netFramework

This will occur mostly on Windows 7, never happened on Windows 8: 'Installation Did Not Succeed' .NET Framework has not been installed because: HRESULT 0xc8000222

There is a common problem with windows update and the .netframework. We'll have to clean the SoftwareDistribution folder before we proceed.

Click Start and Run:

cmd

This will open the well known Command Prompt, then type:

net stop WuAuServ

This will stop the Windows Update service. Make sure you're the admin.
Click Start and Run again, this time type %windir% and press Enter.
Look for the SoftwareDistribution folder and rename it to SwDist.old.
Now go back to the Command Prompt and start the Windows Update.

net start WuAuServ

That was it. Re-run the netFramework and it should work.

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Watch live tasks running on remote pc

This will work only if you have pstools installed on both of computers.

@echo off
set /p comp=Type IP or HOSTNAME:
echo.
IF "%comp%"=="" GOTO Error
c:\pstools\pslist \\%comp% -s
echo.
pause
GOTO End
:Error
echo No IP inserted.
echo.
pause
:End

 Save it as batch file and run it.

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RDC authentication bypass

This is not a hack.

1. Open up a command prompt and type mstsc.exe.
   
2. Click on Options drop down menu to access advanced options about the connection.
   
3. Save the connection settings by clicking Save As..., somewhere in your desktop.
   
4. Right click this .rdp file now and open it using notepad
5. Find authentication level:i:2 and turn it into authentication level:i:0.
   
6. Add enablecredsspsupport:i:0 at the end of the text file.
   
7. Then, open the rdp file which we've just edited and connect to the remote computer.
8. If it asks you for a password, enter the password of your local user account.

done!

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Icon not displayed correctly? Rebuild the icon cache.

This will work for Windows Vista, 7 or 8.

This is the default location of icon cache database
C:\Users\User-Name\AppData\Local\IconCache.db

Fire up cmd as an Administrator and give the following commands by turn:

ie4uinit.exe -ClearIconCache
taskkill /IM explorer.exe /F
DEL "%localappdata%\IconCache.db" /A
shutdown /r /f /t 00

This will force the IconCache.db to rebuild. 

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Export - Import a DHCP database on a Windows Server

Moving to another server? Backing up a windows server? Here you go:

1.

netsh dhcp server export c:\dhcpbackup.txt all

2. do not create a new scope in the dialogue, we're restoring a backup, remember?

3. after you disable your old dhcp server:

4.

netsh dhcp server import c:\dhcpbackup.txt all

Problems found:
If:
"An Internal Error Occurred"
then:
delete the following entries inside the txt before restoring:

006 DNS Server
015 DNS Domain Name

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Control a windows service remotely

Too many standups moving inside a networking environment to control services on different windows machines. This post will show you how to control a service remotely.

Let's find out what's the name of the service which we're trying to control, to do so:

sc.exe \\HOSTNAME query

sc.exe is a service control application included in windows to control services in a remote computer.
The previous command will query the computer 'hostname' to show all of it's available services and statuses.

Now, it's time to control the service:

sc.exe \\HOSTNAME stop "NAMEOFSERVICE"

The full available control commands are available at "sc.exe /?"

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Unable to connect to network - Rebuild the TCP/IP stack

There's a bug when you just connect to a network but no packets are sent, nothing is happening, you havent got an IP address and nothing seems to be working... is the NIC broken? Check below how to fully reset the TCP/IP stack in order to get some things working back again:

1. Go SafeMode & Networking.
2. Delete these keys from regedit:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Services/Winsock
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Services/Winsock2

1. Open the nettcpip.inf file in your %winroot%/inf folder
   (%winroot% is usually c:/windows).
2. Find the [MS_TCPIP.PrimaryInstall] section. Change the Characteristics value from 0xA0 to 0x80.
3. Open the properties of the network connection you want to fix. In the General tab, click on the Install button. Click on the Have Disk button, and point the location to %winroot%/inf. After that select TCP/IPv4.
4. Now you are able to uninstall TCP/IP, do it and reboot.
5. Go back to your network connection, and install TCP/IP again & reboot, things must be working now.
6. Open cmd and type the last thing to reset the txtlog:

netsh int ip reset resetlog.txt

Are you connected now? :)

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How-to remotely enable RDC in a LAN

Are you an administrator of a network who`d like to sit in his chair a bit longer without the disturbing movements inside that place? How about working remotely without effort? heh, enable Remote Desktop in this LAN easily:

1. Log into a windows machine as an Administrator and start Registry Editor.
2. Click on File menu and choose Connect to Network Registry.
3. Type the host name of the remote computer or browse computers over the network by clicking “Advanced” button, then click ok.
4. Find HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server.
5. Find fDenyTSConnection, 1 = disabled, 0 = enabled, choose wisely :)
6. You have turned RDP on in the remote machine.

There's also another, faster method:

reg add "\\COMPUTERNAME\hklm\system\currentcontrolset\control\terminal server" /f /v fDenyTSConnections /t REG_DWORD /d 0r

Change the underlined COMPUTERNAME with the target network computer, hf.

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Useful console commands for Windows

Here is a list of console commands for almost any version of Windows:

Accessibility Options: access.cpl
Add Hardware: hdwwiz.cpl
Add / Remove Programs: appwiz.cpl
Administrative Tools: control admintools
Automatic Updates: wuaucpl.cpl
Wizard file transfer Bluethooth: fsquirt
Calculator: calc
Certificate Manager: certmgr.msc
Character: charmap
Checking disk: chkdsk
Manager of the album (clipboard): clipbrd
Command Prompt: cmd
Service components (DCOM): dcomcnfg
Computer Management: compmgmt.msc
DDE active sharing: ddeshare
Device Manager: devmgmt.msc
DirectX Control Panel (if installed): directx.cpl
DirectX Diagnostic Utility: dxdiag
Disk Cleanup: cleanmgr
Disk Defragmenter: dfrg.msc
Disk Management: diskmgmt.msc
Partition manager: diskpart
Display Properties: control desktop
Properties of the display (2): desk.cpl
Properties display (tab "appearance"): control color
Manager vérirficateur drivers: check
Event Viewer: eventvwr.msc
Verification of signatures of files: sigverif
Findfast (if present): findfast.cpl
Folder Options: control folders
Fonts (fonts): control fonts
Fonts folder windows: fonts
Group Policy: gpedit.msc
Internet Properties : inetcpl.cpl
IP Configuration: ipconfig
Keyboard Properties: control keyboard
Local Security Settings: secpol.msc
Local Users and Groups: lusrmgr.msc
Logout: logoff
Properties of the mouse: main.cpl // control mouse
Network Connections: ncpa.cpl
Notepad : notepad
Screen Keyboard: osk
Monitor performance: perfmon.msc
Power Options: powercfg.cpl
Printers and Faxes: control printers
Regional and Language Options: intl.cpl
Editor of the registry: regedit
Remote desktop connection: mstsc
Security Center: wscui.cpl
Console management services: services.msc
Shared folders: fsmgmt.msc
System Configuration Utility : msconfig
System File Checker (SFC =) (Scan Now): sfc /scannow
SFC (Scan next startup): sfc /scanonce
SFC (Scan each démarraget): sfc /scanboot
SFC (back to default settings): sfc /revert
SFC (purge cache files): sfc /purgecache
SFC (define size CAHC x): sfc /cachesize = x
System Properties: sysdm.cpl
Task Manager: taskmgr
Telnet client: telnet
Windows firewall: firewall.cpl
Windows Management Infrastructure: wmimgmt.msc
Protection of the accounts database: syskey
Date and Time Properties: timedate.cpl

Commands for scripting or fast editing some pesky things... hf.

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Looking for Windows Explorer tabs? Then use this

Clover is an extension of the Windows Explorer, to add multi-tab functionality similar to Google Chrome browser. After install Clover, you will be able to open multiple folders within the same window, and you can also add folder bookmarks.

Clover can work either in XP, 7 or 8.

Convenient Tab page
Just remember that Ctrl + T to open the page, and Ctrl + W to close the page, Ctrl + Tab to switch pages, the work efficiency far more than doubled!

Seamless integration with operating system
Clover as a BHO plug-in, integrated into Windows Explorer, to keep your usual habits, without having to learn new software operation, and immediately you can use.

Lightning-fast bookmarks bar
Press Ctrl + D to add the current path, or drag the folder into the bookmarks bar. No longer around to look for the folder to access, instant reach, how happy!

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BSoD Resolution #1: Driver Power State Failure

0x000009F is the error code after you see the DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE message ruining your work at 3am in the morning with a blue screen.

Straight to the minidump folder, we grab the minidump.dmp file and head to WinDbg to investigate the fact at a closer look. In my case i'll be using a dumpfile i had stored some time ago when i was asked to identify crash problem in an office.
So i loaded the file into windbg and used !analyze -v to see some more details of the problem.

The result is shown below:

Do we need to say something more? I immediately called the guys at the office to update their drivers.... which actually were from the following link.

This conclues #1 resolution. Thanks for reading, more to come.

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BSoD Resolution #0: How to setup your environment

Today i'm feeling like starting a series of windows blue screen of death resolutions, maybe later on this will include some sort of video...

So, yesterday night while i was working, my cellphone rings - "Alex i can't work" that's all he knew though he demanded it to be done asap.

-Ok, give me access to your machine.

While we were talking he said that the problem was happening every ten minutes or so, his screen turned blue and the computer restarted. What had to be done? As soon as i heard the word blue i ran into C:\windows\Minidump to check for the dump files but minidump folder was empty! By default this option is enabled but if your computer is sort of tweaked, then this could be disabled for some pesky reasons.

In Advanced System Protection under Start-up and Recovery settings you will find the system failure options that can deal with such things.

Though, if this is already enabled then you should take a look at the pagefile options because if you have pagefile disabled - you won't be able to get minidump files.

Now we had to reproduce the fact to get a dump file - simply wait.
*Theres also another method of reproducing BSoDs but that's not in our list at the moment HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\i8042prt\Parameters
DWORD -> CrashOnCtrlScroll with value of 1.
Then hold rCtrl and hit ScrLk twice.


As soon as the system is crashed and a dump file has been written in the directory you've set up, grab that .dmp file and open it using WinDbg.

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Open files with unknown file extension

You recently downloaded a file which seems to be 'unreadable' by your system. How are you gonna solve the problem? Let's say it's an exercise from your university in xqt format... what's the program to read such files? How about a software that integrates into context menu and shows you how to open files?

Here comes OpenWith to deal with those things, for almost any file on your computer, the OpenWith.org Desktop Tool will tell you what type of file it is, and show you free programs that will open the file. It will even download them for you!

Download OpenWith

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Windows 8 lies when you shutdown

Qualitatively, people say they prefer to shut down because they want to have their PC completely “off” so that it uses no power – either to preserve battery life or to reduce their energy use. Hibernate is also a good option for this since it similarly has no power draw, and many people really like it. However, it’s clearly not for everyone, since one of the other things we’ve heard is that many people want to turn their PCs on and have it be a “fresh start” rather than running all of the stuff from their previous session. Sleep/resume is the best option for fast on/off transitions on today’s PCs, but it still consumes some power in order to preserve the contents of RAM, which means battery drain – even if it’s only a little bit on a well optimized system. All of this is happening with the backdrop of how we all use our mobile phones today, which is almost never restarting them, and always using what feels closest to a sleep-like state.

This is what they actually did, they turned 'Hibernation' into 'Shutdown' in the menu - in very few words.




But if you really want to make a proper shutdown of your system to change hardware? What can you do?
There's a new command in shutdown executable that lets you add full shutdown in your sessions by applying the /full command.
Fire up a terminal and type shutdown /s /full /t 0 then check what actually happens.

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How to: Disable UAC in Windows 8

It started back when i wanted to launch lineage on my brand new install of windows 8 enterprise N edition, tried to launch then got an error of l2.exe stopped working.., first thing i thought was UAC, where i tried to disable it but unfortunately it was unsuccessful.

How am i going to be aware that lineage will not play on Windows 8 ( talking about h5 or earlier ) before searching online.., so i played a bit with UAC in the latest windows version in order to disable it completely.

Let me explain.., 

1. You start off by typing 'UserAccountControlSettings' in Run in order to go into UAC's menu then set it to 'Never Notify'.
2. then, you move into registry editor by typing 'regedit' in Run again and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System. There's a DWORD there named 'EnableLUA' which we must set to 0.
3. now we have to restart our computer to reload registry.
4. By default, windows 8 is not granting user with administrator rights so we have to take ownership or the files of the entire C:\ drive, to do that you got to have a custom patch installed on your system for easier implementation. 
5. Download Ownership and run InstallTakeOwnership.reg and head to C:\ drive
6. select all folders, right click & hit Take ownership. After that, 
7. right click on Windows dir and Properties.
8. Security tab, advanced and Enable Inheritance.
9. Search for Owner name then Change, Advanced, Find Now and select your account that you're currently logged in and press ok. Back on the
10. advanced security settings, click Add, Select a Principal, Advanced, Find and select your account again, hit ok, again ok, Full Control, Show Advanced Permission and apply it to: This folder, subfolders and files, hit ok and apply, yes and continue.
11. Back into Regedit again at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System and revert 'EnableLUA' back to 1.
12. Restart your computer, 
13. navigate to C:\ and Take Ownership again,
14. lastly, run RemoveTakeOwnership.reg file to make system as it was in the beginning.

After these steps, you should have disabled UAC completely from your Windows 8 system.

Cheers. :)

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So, what's coming to existing lumia devices?

Nokia announced some features that existing Lumia 610, 710, 800 and 900 will receive.

 Nokia is not forgetting their existing devices, they said that they would bring 7.8 instead of 8 version of windows phone so now we clearly see their move towards the update.
The new features announced are:

• The new start screen windows phone 8 has.
• A ringtone maker application that will allow the user to create personal tunes.
• Bluetooth file-transfers for media files.
• Update the contact share application to support bluetooth sharing.

That's all for now folks, see ya at the next update cycle :p

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Nokia Lumia 920 photo challenge begins...

Nokia Lumia 920 photo challenge begins...i see it coming!

The phone actually uses the light for focusing instead of flashing the picture, after that it applies a 'fix' 'as is' to the picture itself, that's what makes pictures so great even in the dark. It's very impressive.

Official Nokia Lumia 920

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