Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Manual registry rollback help

Friday, July 9th, 2010

This was grabbed from, thanks!

http://www.winhelponline.com/blog/restore-registry-hives-system-restore-snapshot-xp/

This article describes how to restore the registry hives from a recent System Restore snapshot in Windows XP, in the event of registry corruption that prevents your Windows XP computer from starting. If the registry hives become corrupted, the following errors are displayed when starting up.

Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM
Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SOFTWARE

Here are the methods that you can use to fix this problem, short of reinstalling Windows:

Method 1: Perform a System Restore Rollback Offline

You can perform a System Restore rollback offline using ERD Commander’s System Restore Wizard. For more information, see our article Perform a System Restore rollback on a non-bootable Windows XP Computer. This is probably the easiest method. If you need to restore the registry hives manually for some reason, use Method 2.

Method 2: Restore registry hives from the System Restore store folder

The System Restore snapshots are stored in a folder named System Volume Information. Each snapshot folder stores the registry hives, system files and other data. Microsoft Knowledgebase article 307545 tells you how to restore the registry from the Windows\Repair directory, and then restore the most recent registry hives from the System Volume Information folder. A brief synopsis of that article follows:

Part I

  • Start Windows XP Recovery Console.
  • Copy the five registry hives (SYSTEM, SOFTWARE, SAM, SECURITY, DEFAULT) from C:\Windows\System32\Config to C:\Windows\Tmp, adding the .bak extension.
  • Delete the five registry hives from C:\Windows\System32\Config
  • Copy the five registry hives from C:\Windows\Repair folder to C:\Windows\System32\Config

With this done, you should be able to start Windows XP using the registry that was created during the initial setup of Windows XP. As a result, any changes and settings that occurred after the Setup program was finished are lost.

Part II

  • Start Windows XP in Safe mode
  • Explore the System Volume Information folder in the drive where Windows XP is installed. If you’re denied access to the folder, read this article to know how to gain access to the System Volume Information folder.
  • Double-click the _Restore… folder, and locate the recent restore point, identified by the Restore Point Sequence ID (RP1, RP2, RP3 and so forth…). Because you used the registry file that the Setup program created, this registry does not know that these restore points exist and are available. A new folder is created with a new GUID under System Volume Information and a restore point is created that includes a copy of the registry files that were copied during part one. Therefore, it is important not to use the most current folder, especially if the time stamp on the folder is the same as the current time.
  • Double-click the folder named snapshot
  • Copy the five registry hives to C:\Windows\Tmp

Part III

  • Start Windows XP Recovery Console
  • Copy the five registry hives from C:\Windows\Tmp to C:\Windows\System32\Config
  • Start Windows XP
  • Perform a System Restore rollback.

Easier Method

If you find the steps in 307545 tedious, you can accomplish the task using a bootable live Windows CD like BartPE or ERD Commander Boot CD. Here are the instructions for ERD Commander Boot CD.

Using the ERD Commander Boot CD

ERD Commander is part of the Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset (DaRT) whose 30 day evaluation is available here (MSDaRT50Eval.msi – 64.2 MB). We’ve covered MS DaRT earlier in article Perform a System Restore rollback on a non-bootable Windows XP computer. Follow steps 1-7 in that article to create a ERD Commander Boot CD.

1. Insert the ERD Commander Boot CD into the drive and restart the system

2. Boot the computer using ERD Commander Boot CD. You may have to set the boot order in the BIOS first.

3. Select your Windows XP installation and click OK.

4. Double-click the My Computer icon on the Desktop

5. Open the C:\Windows\System32\Config folder

6. Rename the five registry hives (SYSTEM, SOFTWARE, SAM, SECURITY, DEFAULT) by adding .bak extension to them.

5. Double-click the drive-letter where Windows is installed.

6. Open the System Volume Information folder, and double-click the _restore{…} folder.

7. Locate the recent snapshot, identified by the Restore Point Sequence ID (RP1, RP2, RP3 and so forth…). The highest number indicates the most recent snapshot, and the lowest number indicates the oldest snapshot. Choose the one that you want to restore. Alternately, you can also sort the System Restore snapshots using the Date column.

8. Double-click the appropriate folder (say, RP20) and double-click the folder named snapshot

9. Select the following files (Use the CTRL key to select multiple files.)

  • _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SAM
  • _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SECURITY
  • _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM
  • _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE
  • _REGISTRY_USER_.DEFAULT

10. Right-click the selection and choose Copy to…

11. Select C:\Windows\System32\Config as the destination path, and click OK.

The items will be copied now.

12. Open C:\Windows\System32\Config and rename the hives, as follows:

  • Rename _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SAM to SAM
  • Rename _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SECURITY to SECURITY
  • Rename _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE to SOFTWARE
  • Rename _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM to SYSTEM
  • Rename _REGISTRY_USER_.DEFAULT to DEFAULT

13. Remove the ERD Commander Boot CD and restart Windows XP. Now that you’ve only done a registry rollback. To complete the procedure, click Start, and then click All Programs. Click Accessories, and then click System Tools. Click System Restore, and then click Restore to a previous RestorePoint. Complete the System Restore process.

Outlook 2010 and Google Calendar Sync

Friday, June 4th, 2010

http://www.venukb.com/2009/12/15/google-calendar-sync-with-outlook-2010/

This link above was very helpful in how to modify your Office 2010 install to work with Google Calendar Sync.

Kurt Rein
Mobile Computer Wizard
619 255-1215 Office


Dual Display Windows 7 Wallpaper Desktop Span

Monday, April 5th, 2010

Unsure if this has been something that I have overlooked or not… If not it seems to be some form of bug/flaw; however, I was able to get it to work…

OK I had to rant about this. I have spent to much time trying to get this to work only to locate what seems to be a bug in MS or MS & my Video card drivers (which are current).

I have dual displays and wanted a single image to span across both. It is understood they image needed to have a width that totaled both displays then select to tile the image. Seems simple enough.

A number of post have been seen online of people that could not get this to work and even post that it was a known issue that did not have a fix. Horse Hockey to this…

If I set a image as my background by right clicking on the file, then go to the desktop properties and (control panel, personalization, desktop background) and select tile–the image tiles on the monitor.

So a 2880×900 image shows up for times on a dual display that has both monitors setup at 1440×900 (two images show up on both screen)

Now if I DO NOT right click on the image and select set as desktop background ; HOWEVER, just go to control panel, personalization, desktop background and BROWSE to the exact same image that was open (2880×900) select this file and then select the tile display it WORKS!!! One single image shows up spanned across both screens!!!

Just to make sure I was not going crazy I can go back open the file with any viewer or even just right click on the file and select set as desktop background and the image will tile showing multi copies. Talk about something that wasted way to much of my time!!!!! But  at least both displays look nice now…

Thanks for reading the rant… Hopefully this helps others now.

Restore .BFK Files on Windows 7

Tuesday, March 30th, 2010

Restoring from NTBackup .BFK backup files from Windows XP on Windows 7 requires a small utility downloaded from Microsoft. Here are the installers:

Windows 7 – 32bit:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=a71845fd-4496-439c-ab31-be73498ad3fe

Windows 7 – 64bit:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=d9a3d988-bd82-41ca-acf4-39dea08ff7ab

Source page:   http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=974674

(you can get the NTBackup Restore for Vista on there as well, if needed)

-chip

Windows 7 Backup and Drive/Image mounting help

Tuesday, March 30th, 2010

I’ve seen the Todo, and it seems decent if a freeware option is
needed.. but from the FAQ:  A: No, EASEUS Todo Backup doesn’t support
incremental backup or schedule backup.  This might be a deal breaker
for some.

Also, you mentioned that Win 7 will only image your C:\ if there is an
attached to a USB, but thats not correct. It does image to any local
hdd, including internal hdds, and even other partitions on the main
harddrive. The deal is:

a)  your other partitions or hdds cant be marked as ’system drives’..
ie: your computer has stored the boot information on that disk.

If you go to command prompt (run as administrator) and type bcdedit,
it’ll probably say under boot manager that the partition is E:
In disk manager, make sure that c: is marked as active, then in an
administrator prompt type
bcdboot c:\windows /s c:
this will move the boot files to the c drive. then reboot and the
other drive should no longer show as a system drive. more in depth
overview:
http://www.hanselman.com/blog/SwitchingMyWindows7BootDiskFromDToCWithBCDBootRatherThanBCDEdit.aspx

b)  some application/game installed a system service on the partition
you would like to save your image too, and therefore, Windows will not
let you use that partition as a destination. To fix this, find out
what’s installed on that partition, uninstall it, and re-install it on
your C:\

c)  also, make sure you aren’t storing your pagefile.sys on the
destination partition.

Much of that info above was taken from:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/w7itproinstall/thread/b8e726fc-9f95-4416-9212-7e24b01a111c

I HAVE imaged my Win7 to internal drives (non USB). When I had a dual
booting machine, my E:\ would not show up as a destination, but I had
to switch the bootloader from e:\ to my c:\ and make sure C:\ was
active, and e:\ was no longer flagged as a System Drive in the Disk
Manager.

I haven’t tested network yet, but the help file says that it should
backup/image to a network drive as well without problems.  I shall try
this later.

- Show quoted text -

On Fri, Mar 26, 2010 at 2:52 PM, Kyle Hanson (Mobile Computer Wizard)
<kyle@mobilecomputerwizard.com> wrote:
> I’ll take a crack at it this weekend!
>
> Kurt Rein <kurt@mobilecomputerwizard.com> wrote:
>
>>Free tool…  sounds great.  Anyone used it.  Kyle, it’s the one I was
>>talking about.
>>
>>I’m trying to figure out if it only goes to discs…. or if it goes to
>>networked drives too.  FYI all, I learned that Win7 Pro DOES backup to a
>>netowrk drive, but does NOT do images unless attached to a USB drive,
>>locally.
>>
>>
>>http://www.todo-backup.com/
>>
>>If anyone plays around with it , or has already, let me know.  I’m trying to
>>not futz with it now in lue of doing other shit, I should have done!
>>
>>
>>
>>Kurt Rein
>>Mobile Computer Wizard
>>858 345-0382 Cel
>>619 255-1215 Office
>

Chip Warner
Mobile Computer Wizard, Inc

office: 619-225-1215

http://www.mobilecomputerwizard.com

Autoplay Scanner and Camera Wizard does not run when a network scanner is used

Friday, February 26th, 2010

One of kind problem.  Use the ‘autofix’ from Microsoft.  It needs to run, restart, run again, restart, it’s a circus!

The registry entries and also the MS autofix eventually make it work, but It’s so many restarts and re-runs, it’s undocumentable.

MS   ‘autoplay repair wizard’  comes from
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c680a7b6-e8fa-45c4-a171-1b389cfacdad&displaylang=en

- Hide quoted text -

http://www.the-pc-guru.com/Windows_Scanner_and_Camera_W.php

Solution

Check that autoplay / autorun is properly configured:

  • Start the Registry Editor (click Start, Run, type regedit and click OK).
  • Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\ Services\CDRom.
  • Select the folder CDRom.
  • In the right-hand pane, check that the value AutoRun is set to 1. If not, double-click AutoRun and set it to 1.
  • Expand HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer.
  • Select the folder Explorer.
  • In the right-hand pane, check that the value NoDriveTypeAutoRun is set to 0×00000091 (145). If not, double-click NoDriveTypeAutoRun and set its value to 91 (Base Hexadecimal.)
  • Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon.
  • Select the folder WinLogon.
  • If a value named allocatecdroms is present, select it and then delete it.
  • Download and run the file fixautorun-xp.reg to make these Registry changes without using the Registry Editor.
  • Restart the computer after making these changes.
  • Connect the camera to the computer.
  • Open My Computer.
  • Right-click the drive corresponding to the digital camera.
  • Select the AutoPlay tab.
  • Select Pictures from the drop-down list.
  • Click Select an action to perform, then select the action Copy pictures to a folder on my computer using Microsoft Scanner and Camera Wizard.
  • Click OK.

If the Camera and Scanner Wizard still does not start:

If the Camera and Scanner Wizard does not start every time the digital camera is connected:

  • This is probably a driver problem that prevents the camera from being detected as such each time.
  • You can usually work around this issue by disconnecting the camera, waiting a few seconds and then trying again.

If the Scanner and Camera Wizard does not run when a network scanner is used, and your computer operating system is Windows XP SP2:

  • Open Control Panel, Windows Firewall.
  • Select the Exceptions tab.
  • Click Add Port.
  • In the Add a Port dialog box, for Name type Scanner and Camera Wizard.
  • For Port number, type 21.
  • Ensure that the TCP radio button is selected.
  • Click OK.

Avast Antivirus 5 is bad times.

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

Avast 5 is bloated, busy, pushy and did a number one of my clients PC’s.

Here’s some fun quirks:
Firefox runs super slow, and barely loads pages at all.
The interface is NOT viewable in full via MCW5601, just a heads up.
It adds a UAC like feature to EVEN an XP pc, that also, is not viewable remotely.

This was all done on a 2003 ish PC and it sucked.  I read many others posting that their computer was newer, faster and better and Avast Antivirus 5 was still a pain.  Version 4.8 still works, but they will hound you until you ungrade.

Kurt Rein
Mobile Computer Wizard
858 345-0382 Cel
619 255-1215 Office

Cox Email in Outlook Express

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

I had a client who’s cox email in outlook express would not work. Nothing changed and the password was correct and stored. Cox made up a policy where they had to go on the webmail to setup extra security questions. Did that, and the email started working again. I’m sure it will come up again soon.

Kurt Rein
Mobile Computer Wizard
858 345-0382 Cel
619 255-1215 Office

Data Recovery Tools

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010

512/Utilites/Data_Recovery/

RecoverMyFilesv3-9

Is the best one in there.

Great hard drive data scrubber to destroy data

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010

http://www.harddriveeraser.org/ is a great free utility to scrub a drive before you reuse it or donate it.  http://www.recyclesandiego.org/ does a free weekly drop off to get rid of your old computers.

Kurt Rein

Mobile Computer Wizard