Hiren's Boot USB Stick

Hirens Boot CD 15.2 USB

1. You need a USB stick of at least 1GB
2. Download Hiren's Boot CD 15.2 from here
3. Download Universal USB Installer from here

FPS and hardware usage OSD in games

Install Rivatuner statistics server

Install HWInfo32/64 in settings you have OSD(RTSS - rivga tuner statistics server) and select what you want

Also right click in system tray on hwinfo and select settings and select auto log in.

If you want current hour on-screen to keep track of how much you play install MSI Afterburner (also comes with riva tunner server)

You can use MSI Afterburner as well for osd :

You can see some videos recorded with both hwinfo and msi aferburner on my YouTube channel : Red Sun

Windows does not log in or logs off automatically

Open regedit locally if you can boot in safe mode, or on a network computer and select File-> Connect Network Registry.
If that does not work boot of a Hiren's boot cd and open Registry Editor PE.

Navigate to :
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

And verify and/or create them if the are not - string value -
 - Shell with value explorer.exe
 - Userinit with value - C:\Windows\system32\userinit.exe

You will  be able to boot to windows but beware that most certain your system was and it still is infected with virus/malware.

Msvcr100.dll is missing from your computer

It is a file required by applications written in visual studio and requires the :
C++ Redistributable Package 2010

Normaly that would fix it, but on the 64 bit you have to install both the 64 and 86 versions.
vcredist_x86.exe and vcredist_x64.exe from microsoft website.

If that still fails just www.dll-files.com and download the dll and copy it next  to the exe file (not the launcher) of the game/app.

If you receive  The application was unable to start correctly (0xc000007b) - the error code meas "bad image" witch means one or more dll is corrupted or only x64 or x86 version is available - in this case.

Install drivers in windows

Link for big manufacturers support pages with drivers:

Fujitsu Siemens : http://support.ts.fujitsu.com/download/Index.asp

Acer : http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/drivers 

Dell : http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Products/?app=drivers

HP : http://www8.hp.com/us/en/drivers.html

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IF you have a PCI and Parallel port yellow in device manager and you de not have an uninstalled card, you have to install :
Intel Active Management Technology - PCI port (LMS-SQL),  Paralele port (HECI)
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USB 2.0-CRW   = (Card Reader)
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Install drivers in windows 7 and 8 that are not available through windows update ( not recommended bad system stability - but last resort if you want newer operating system for old hardware) 

First open in Internet Explorer : http://catalog.update.microsoft.com/  and install the asked add-on.

Search the driver, for example "mobility radeon x1600" driver that is not available through windows update in windows 8.1 . You will experience boot start-up problems with x1600 on windows 8 if you do this but it's the only way to get max resolution.
Download the x86 or x64 driver accordingly to your system. It will be a .cab file.
Extract it and install it manually by opening Device manager and right click and Update driver software, Browse my computer for driver software, and select the folder where you extract it.

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Windows XP SP2 - Could not install audio driver

"Driver Installation Failed: Could not find the MEDIA device for this driver"

You need to get the UAA hotfix from Microsoft. (This is for SP2 -- it is included in SP3.)

UAA Download Link : http://support.microsoft.com/kb/835221

Windows update - related errors

Windows could not search for new updates - windows 7

While running windows update you receive :
Windows could not search for new updates - windows 7

The problem is with computer date, that causes the windows update server to interpret it as an expired certificate. Just change the date to current date and try again.

 

Windows Update error - WIndows XP SP2 

“The website has encountered a problem and cannot display the page you are trying to view. The options provided below might help you solve the problem”

  Most probably because of windows xp sp2.

• Download newest version of Windows Update Agent for Windows XP (32-bit): http://download.windowsupdate.com/WindowsUpdate/redist/standalone/7.4.7600.226/WindowsUpdateAgent30-x86.exe

Optionally (should be done automatically by the windows update agent installer)  : 

1. Stop Windows Automatic Update Service (net stop wuauserv)
2. Stop Background Intelligent Transfer Service (net stop bits)
3. Run Windows Update Agent setup: WindowsUpdateAgent30-x86.exe
4. Start Windows Update service (net start wuauserv)
5. Start Background Intelligent Transfer Service (net start bits)

 

Windows Experience Index scores in Windows 8.1

Step1 :
Open a cmd and type "winsat prepop"
This will run the benchmark and store the results on your PC as XML files.
Step2 :
 Open the Windows Powershell and type "Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_WinSAT"

WinSPRLevel : is the base score and is  the lowest of the scores and represents the Rating in windows 7

The maximum score is 7.9

Cmd System error 5 has occurred. Access is denied. windows 8

Open START - All Programs - Accessories - Command Prompt
Right click and select Run as administrator.


START - Down arrow on the bottom left of the screen - scroll to the right side - Under Windows System - Right click and select Run as administrator on Command Prompt

Automate windows customisation

Scriptable windows commands :

http://www.autohotkey.com
http://www.macrocreator.com

Inno Setup is a free installer for Windows programs.
General useful silent install switches :
http://unattended.sourceforge.net/InnoSetup_Switches_ExitCodes.html  

Control Panel Command Line Commands in Windows :
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/tipstricks/a/control-panel-command-line.htm

CONTROL [cpl],,[page]
CONTROL [/name] [/page]
CONTROL [-name] [-page]

ex :
control /name Microsoft.ActionCenter
control /name Microsoft.DateAndTime
control /name Microsoft.ActionCenter /page pageSettings

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ee330741%28v=vs.85%29.aspx#canonical_names

Windows does not boot in normal or safe mode, stuck at some driver - run chkdsk

Most of the time is file system integrity problem (system file/driver) caused by a forced shutdown either by losing power or forceful shut down by the power button.
You get more chances to get this if you close it while it was doing updates.
It can also be cause by a bad sector on one of the mentions files, or virus alteration of files.


To fix-it you have to run a chkdisk.
Boot from a hiren's boot cd and select chkdisk, after restart and it will boot to windows normally.

If that did't work you can try to check if you find a 0 bytes file in C:\Windows\System32\drivers, usually is random letters, numers file.

Stop CHKDSK every time at start-up dirty partition

If a partition is marked as dirty it will not be cleared.

Type :
fsutil dirty query d:
 Volume - d: is Dirty
You can also set the dirty bit if you want by : fsutil dirty set d:


CHKNTFS /X d:
 /x = not to check the volume at start-up

chkdsk /f /r d: 

You can manually remove the dirty bit :

Download a hdd hex editor : DMDE GUI for Windows

Select Logic/disks volumes, select the volume and press Open volume.

ALT+C = volume cluster selection + ENTER
CTRL+S = Search string --- and paste in the hex part:

03 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 80 00 00 00 18  - no dirty bit
03 01 01 00 00 00 00 00 80 00 00 00 18  - win xp, win 7
03 01 01 01 00 00 00 00 80 00 00 00 18  - win 8

CTRL+E = edit 

Give credentials from command line while accessing network resources or map network drive

You try to copy a folder from a network location :

robocopy -E \\computername\folder\ D:\  

and you receive :

Logon failure: unknown user name or bad password.

To fix it type first :  

net use \\computername\ipc$ password /USER:username

To map a network drive :

net use n: \\computername\sharedfolder password /user:username

If you receive : 

A specified logon session does not exist. it may already have been terminated.

This behavior occurs when the "Do not allow storage of credentials or 
.NET Passports for network authentication" Network access policy is 
enabled.
 

gpedit.msc

 Windows Settings -> Security Settings -> Local Policies -> Security Options

Network access: Do not allow storage of credentials or for network authentication  

Disable. 

Windows 7 auto login and prevent user password from expiring

User profile service failed the logon User profile cannot be loaded
How to disable user password from expiring.

Windows 7 auto login :
To activate windows autologin directly from windows type in run : control userpasswords2
You will get this window :

Then select the user you want to autologin and deselect : Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer. , press Apply and you will be ask for the password. Type the password ( it can also be blank ) and OK.

Windows 7 user polices :
In windows home and home premium you do not have the Local Users and Groups (Local) available.
You can try to open it by typing : lusrmgr.msc

To disable the password expiration type at a command promt (cmd) :
wmic useraccount set passwordexpires=false

will set the passwordexpire attribute to all accounts to false.

If you also have autologin activated you will not be able to log in with no user.
To prevent this loop keep pressed the SHIFT key while booting windows or change bios time or reset bios by removing battery so the user password is not expired anymore.

AsusSetup pop-up error - C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Temp\ 132218 Log.iniis lost

At start-up on a limited user account, or if you clean the temp folder you get :

To fix-it you have to delete the schedule task : i-Setup105832
Open Task Scheduler - In Control Panel under Administrative Tools, or type Task Scheduler in Start menu.

Configure a software raid 1 mirroring in windows 7

You need to use a HDD as big or bigger then the one you want to mirror, one identical would be best.

Open Disk Management either by accessing Computer Management by Right click - on My Computer - and select Manage - then select under Storage - Disk Management
or type in Run - diskmgmt.msc

IF you want to make a mirror to your active windows hdd you MUST start first with the System Reserved partition (100MB NTFS) or convert the whole hdd to dynamic first.
(if you start mirroring from the second, third etc partition you will not be able to mirror the System Reserved partition unless you wipe the hole hdd and reinstall windows)

Right click System Reserved partition and select Mirror volume - select the empty disk press OK and then you will be asked if you want to convert the two HDD to dynamic disks.
Select OK.
Wait for each mirrored partition to sync or it will take many hours to sync them in parallel

This will only work with MBR formated HDD - and for booting/installing Windows you must select in BIOS - boot options Legacy Mode (not UEFI).
If you chose to install windows with GPT partitioning style it will create some system reserved partitions that are not visible in disk management so you will be unable to mirror them.

RAID 0 - stripping for performance
RAID 1 - MIRRORING
RAID 10 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcCfVYZa0k0