Wednesday, January 31, 2018

How to get past login/locked screens on second pc using Synergy

I have restarted the second computer and am the screen to press Ctrl-Alt-Delete so I can log in to it. This action however only works for the server machine and not the client. How do I resolve this issue. Synergy is in fact working though because I can take the cursor over to the client pc.

Can I still make my Microsoft Office 2010 Starter work again after an Office trial I installed has expired?


I have Microsoft Office 2010 Starter on my Windows 7 laptop when I bought it. At some point, I installed a trial version of Microsoft Publisher 2010. Now, neither Word Starter nor Excel Starter would even startup.


I've read in here (yeah, Yahoo! Answers, I know..) that, since the trial period expired, it also affected my Starter installation.


Is there any hope of salvaging my Office Starter?


I don't want to buy MS Office, even if it's just the Student edition. I would also prefer not to install OpenOffice (yet another office suite?!), since I already have Lotus Symphony installed (it's what we use at work, but I'm not satisfied at how it handles files created from MS Office, because the formatting changes, more often than not).


Answer



Do you have a pre-publisher trial backup ?,
Is your machine an OEM with a recovery partiton or recovery disks ?, these will return you to factory settings and all the software that came with it.
You can then reactivate 'office starter', update all software reinstall programs and copy your documents, etc back onto your computer.
Sorry I could not think of or find an easier way.


linux - how to download dropbox files using wget command?




Seems I can only download dropbox files using explorer such as chrome and firefox. If I use wget to download, then I would get a file which is in html format. Why?



For example you can open this link





You would not get the content of this file, why? The following is part of test.txt to download it, this is not the content of test.txt at all.



So is it possible to download Dropbox files using wget rather than explorer?




document.observe('script:loaded', function() {
SharingModel.init('test\x2etxt', Util.from_json('\x7b\x22item\x5fid\x22\x3a\x20\x22\x22\x2c\x20\x22secure\x5fhash\x22\x3a\x20\x22\x22\x2c\x20\x22subpath\x22\x3a\x20\x22\x22\x2c\x20\x22tkey\x22\x3a\x20\x22mx9eqve5l2ipgyk\x22\x7d'))
SharingModel.init_file()
$('emsnippet-9911dfc627e1d541').innerHTML = 'test\x2etxt'.em_snippet(50, 0.750).escapeHTML();
$('emsnippet-add7879f5d805012').innerHTML = 'test\x2etxt'.em_snippet(20, 0.750).escapeHTML();
$('emsnippet-981ac0639529f983').innerHTML = 'test\x2etxt'.em_snippet(20, 0.750).escapeHTML();
FilePreview.init_text('https\x3a\x2f\x2fdl\x2edropbox\x2ecom\x2fs\x2fmx9eqve5l2ipgyk\x2ftest\x2etxt', 0) });
} else if (window.jQuery) {
jQuery(function () {

SharingModel.init('test\x2etxt', Util.from_json('\x7b\x22item\x5fid\x22\x3a\x20\x22\x22\x2c\x20\x22secure\x5fhash\x22\x3a\x20\x22\x22\x2c\x20\x22subpath\x22\x3a\x20\x22\x22\x2c\x20\x22tkey\x22\x3a\x20\x22mx9eqve5l2ipgyk\x22\x7d'))
SharingModel.init_file()
$('emsnippet-9911dfc627e1d541').innerHTML = 'test\x2etxt'.em_snippet(50, 0.750).escapeHTML();
$('emsnippet-add7879f5d805012').innerHTML = 'test\x2etxt'.em_snippet(20, 0.750).escapeHTML();
$('emsnippet-981ac0639529f983').innerHTML = 'test\x2etxt'.em_snippet(20, 0.750).escapeHTML();
FilePreview.init_text('https\x3a\x2f\x2fdl\x2edropbox\x2ecom\x2fs\x2fmx9eqve5l2ipgyk\x2ftest\x2etxt', 0) });
}


I cannot get test.txt with command




wget https://www.dropbox.com/s/mx9eqve5l2ipgyk/test.tx


ls -l
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mirror mirror 30K Sep 6 15:01 test.txt

Answer



The link in your question is not the link to the file, is a link to the Dropbox page of this file.
If you want to use wget to download it, you should copy the link to direct download from the menu that drops when pushing the download button to the right.




In my case, that worked fine.
However, sometimes problems in downloading links from outside the browser relate to parameters other than the link itself. A common element that does not exist when you simply copy the link are the site cookies.



Try this cool FF add-on to get the correct wget links



And also, especially if we are talking about a known workstation and not a casual one, you can of course install the Dropbox client. This will be the easiest way, just let your box be part of your file structure and eliminate the need of complicated downloads.
See this askubuntu.com post, and the Dropbox download page.


windows 7 - How to change file permissions when you don't have permission to change file permissions?


I often (like just this morning) have a situation where I need to delete or replace a file that may be located in folders like C:\Windows. When I try to do this I always get access denied. Every resource I can find shows me step by step how to modify the permissions, I already know how to do this. The problem is when I try to modify permissions and it tells me access denied. I don't have permission to modify the permissions! This happens even when I launch Windows Explorer or CMD as Administrator (my account is Admin), and even when I tried using cacls. UAC is at the lowest possible setting so it never bugs me. What's the deal Windows 7? Why can't I own all my files? It's so annoying that sometimes I actually boot Linux to go edit/modify a Windows file! Ok rant over, but can anyone solve this for me?


Answer



Have you tried taking ownership over the file. Instructions for hand right click menu here.


Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Advice on laptop battery life




I am planning to buy a laptop and, as I have never had a laptop of my own before, I have started to read up on the best way to charge a laptop so as not to damage battery life.
Is it all right to charge it to 100%, unplug the charger, let the battery drain to something like 30% and then repeat? Furthermore, does using the laptop while the charger is plugged in harm the battery? I believe that it doesn't, but I just want to make sure that this is the case.
EDIT: I am referring to Lithium-ion batteries.


Answer



You need to know that:




  • Rechargeable Lithium-Ion batteries have a limited life and will gradually lose
    their capacity to hold a charge, and this is irreversible.

  • Lithium-Ion batteries continue to slowly discharge (self-discharge) even when
    not in use or while in storage.

  • Avoid completely discharging batteries.


  • Lithium-ion batteries don't like being charged all the way up and run all the
    way down. Better to do little recharging here and there.

  • Experts advise that after 30 charges, you should allow lithium-ion batteries
    to almost completely discharge once, but never totally.
    (But I don't think that most people bother with it.)

  • You can leave your laptop plugged in all the time, and you cannot
    overcharge it. Most laptops are smart enough to cut the battery out of
    charging once it's full.


How to import/export VPN settings in Windows 7?


I have a VPN connection configured on my Windows 7 PC, and I'd like to export these settings to another computer.


I could simply tell the other user which settings to use, but I don't want to share my password. Ideally, I would just go on the other computer, set everything up, check the "Remember password" box and voilĂ .


This way, the other user would be able to use the VPN connection, without knowing the password. Unfortunately, the other user is pretty far (another country), so doing things in person is not an option.


Is there a way I could do this ?


I'm using Windows 7 built-in VPN client, but am open to using any (free) alternative if it could solve my problem.


Answer



Personally, I think that connecting to his computer using some sort of remote desktop solution will serve your purpose the best.


All you need to do, is setup a remote connection between the two systems, connect to his desktop and configure his connection as if you were right there next to him.


Personally I find that the FREE version of LogMeIn is excellent and works wonders around firewalls and deep NAT networks.


Good luck!


windows 7 - Powering Off Hard Disks, is a life saver or life depleter?



Hardware description and problem introduction:




I'm a Home user and I use Windows in a Home PC, I have 4 internal hard disks connected and running, 1 hard drive is for the OS, and the other hard drives are 'secondary' (They are single partitions, any RAID).



For life circumstances I need to keep my PC ON every 24 hours of every day of every week of every year (I don't have money to buy expensive things such as NATs), the PC does not sleep and does not hibernate and does not turn off, but like I've said, I'm a home user, please don't threat this question like an intensive working PC of a company.



The hard drive that stores the OS is working every minute all day, the others hard drive aren't but I access to those secondary hard drives like 20 times each day to navigate through their folders.



I would like to be sure that I'm doing things the most safe possible that I can, I would like to keep alive the life of my hard drives the maximum time possible, so taking the information that I've explained above I would like to know if in my circumstances it's better to turn off the power of the secondary hard drive devices to save power or not, in the power management configuration that provides Windows.



I ask this also 'cause I'm confused about opinions, an expert hardware 'mechanic' (I don't know the English word, sorry) said me that turning off the power of drives is not the most safer decission IN ANY CIRCUNSTANCES 'cause it depletes the total life time of the device each time that the device re-initializes, for example when a disk is turned off automatically by Windows and then I open the Explorer to navigate inside the hard drive folders it needs to wait some seconds to turn on the device to list the folders, and he said me that those insignificant seconds at the end depletes/waste away the total life time of the disk, and it's safer to don't turn off the power of the devices NEVER.




The question:



Then, what is better and safer for me? let windows power management turn off devices when they are not working, or keep on the power every time?



If turning off the power of the devices at the end it's a life-time consumer then why Windows puts an unsafe checkable option in the power management?



I'm very worried about the future state of my hard drives by let Windows turned them off/on every day 20 times when I need to read those secondary hard drives, so I'm only searching and I only can accept an answer of a professional hardware expert that could clarify my question.


Answer



This is really an opinion based question, so not sure of its suitability, and the answer is, as always "it depends" - on a lot of things. Some of the key elements include -





  1. How often do you access the drive ?
    I know you said 20 times per day, however does the OS also access them directly, and are the 20 times per day spread throughout the day ?


  2. What environment is it stored in ?
    If there are extremes in temperature, it may be that running the hard drive constantly provides a more constant environment making the drives less prone to failure.




On the flip side, drives are mechanical devices and eventually wear out. There is no "one correct" answer - save as to ensure you have good backups (and RAID1 helps - not sure if you have RAID one, it sounds like you have more RAID0 or JBOD)



Of-course, laptop drives are aften turned off to save power.




I disagree with your "Mechanic" that turning the drive off and on is a bad idea in any circumstances, although he is probably correct in your particular circumstance - When you turn on a drive there is an inrush of current, and the drive spinning up causes stress on it, so it might be an idea to avoid doing this too frequently.



My inclination would be to keep the drives spun up and to install S.M.A.R.T monitoring tools (as well as doing backups), but there is no silver bullet. If you are very concerned about wear, try putting a fan on the drives - although don't be paranoid about temperature [within reason]. Historically higher temperatures were believed to correlate to failure - but that is no longer as true as it used to be.



I also put to you that consumer drives are designed to be turned on and off - and particularly "green" drives. This article is on point and may be worth a read.


Monday, January 29, 2018

windows 7 - HP Laptop, corrupted graphics, not booting Win/Linux, possible system board problem?






My friend has a HP Pavilion dv2699ea (dv2500 series - somehow _shrugs_) that has stopped working. It's a Core2Duo laptop with a Nvidia GPU. The unit is no longer under warranty.


Problems first started a few days ago with the laptop showing corrupted graphics in Windows and BSOD'ing after a few minutes of use. I tried booting to an Ubuntu LiveCD which worked for a while before succuming and crashing as well. The freezing/graphics corruption/BSODing does seem somewhat heat related (CPU runs at ~95'c under load) however I believe that if it is heat related, then it's already damaged components inside.


Now the system has corrupted graphics on bootup[1], including booting Ubuntu[2], and neither operating systems will boot at all (Windows can sometimes get logged in before showing a black screen and becoming unresponsive. Ubuntu just looks like [3] after X starts). (See comment below for links.)


The fact the problem occurs both under Linux and Windows says to me this is not a driver issue. I have run Memtest which passed fine and none of this seems HDD related as I managed to get ~30GB of data off the system before it finally gave up the ghost.


She has been using it repeatedly without giving it adequate ventilation for years (i.e. on the bed, or on a pillow), so it's my opinion that the system board has probably warped over years of cooling/heating and that's causing this current problem. If that is the case, then I can buy a replacement system board and fit it myself, saving about £200 over the cost of an out-of-warranty HP repair. Of course, I don't want to make her spend £100 on a replacement part for it to be the wrong thing, hence asking for a second opinion here!


Hopefully I've covered all the bases here. I'm a former IT support guy myself, so I've tried all the dumb stuff (driver updates, examining memory dumps from BSODs [one 'unrecoverable hardware error', three relating to the graphics card], etc).


Thanks in advance.


Answer



I would search on youtube for HP DV9000 blank screen fix. A massive amount of computers HP and Compaq computers with Nvidia GPUs had recalls because the chips got so hot they melted their own solder and the pins no longer made contact. There is actually a class action lawsuit over the issue. If your chip got that hot you may have the same situation. It is a somewhat delicate procedure but it works, I have done it myself. The youtube videos on the subject show you all you need to know.


Monitoring programs internet connection

I'm using Windows XP, without antivirus software. I'm connected to the internet via router. Everytime when I start PC, immediately after, I see that my PC connects with over 20 IPs from diffrent countries,(IPs are externally, not localy LAN) almost connections using same port! I'm not opening any programs myself. I wonder how can I see what programs or threads are trying to open connection, and what port are using, and more useful information.. I already found a software to analyze connections, but it gives me only IP Source, IP Destination, Time, Lenght .. But I need almost to see which program opened this connections, which ports are using.

Sunday, January 28, 2018

How can I reset administrator password on Server 2003 that's running in VMWare on a Mac?


I've got a virtual machine for Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition that I don't know the password for. It's running on VMWare for Mac.


Any ideas how to reset/retrieve the password?


Answer



I've had success using Ophcrack:


http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/


It has a live CD that you can boot from.


Fedora says my disk is full, but it isnt

What is happening? I got a fancy ultrabook to work. It has one of those hard drives that has 500gb of hard disk and 20gb of solid state drive.


I've mounted the main OS partitions on the solid state. /, /root and the swap partition


The /home is on the hard disk but fedora is dumb and is not understanding this and tells me my disk is full.


Is there a way of telling that to Fedora 'Hey, don't count home space, because it's in a different hard drive' ?



  • sdb = solid state

  • sda = hard disk


THis is my df -h


Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sdb3 20G 20G 0 100% /
devtmpfs 3.9G 0 3.9G 0% /dev
tmpfs 3.9G 1.2M 3.9G 1% /dev/shm
tmpfs 3.9G 3.9M 3.9G 1% /run
tmpfs 3.9G 0 3.9G 0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs 3.9G 36K 3.9G 1% /tmp
/dev/sdb2 477M 89M 359M 20% /boot
/dev/sdb1 200M 9.4M 191M 5% /boot/efi
/dev/sda6 401G 36G 345G 10% /home 36G!!!

troubleshooting - Unable to progress on Windows XP to Vista upgrade

I'm trying to upgrade Windows XP Pro to Vista Ultimate, and I don't want to do a clean install. The upgrade gets most of the way through the last step in the list of tasks (after about two hours) and then aborts with the following error:



The upgrade was not successful.



It then restores the system back to XP.


When I look in the setuperr.log file (in C:\$Windows.~BT\Sources\Panther, created during the upgrade), the last error in the file is the following:



2009-10-31 21:17:55, Error [0x080390] MIG Failure while calling IPostApply->PostApply for Plugin={ServerPath="%windir%\system32\drmmgrtn.dll", CLSID={743B7FD2-8427-4b7d-B330-A95618DE2BFC}, ThreadingModel=Apartment}.
Error: 0x80070057



I've searched the net for all of the keywords in that error, but haven't found a solution. I've also called Microsoft and paid for a support case, but so far they haven't been able to figure it out either.


I did, however, find a related question, Troubleshooting failed upgrade to Windows 7? about upgrading from Vista to Windows 7.


The file mentioned in the error, drmmgrtn.dll, wasn't on my machine. I can see that it's part of the Vista install (in C:\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\dlmanifests\microsoft-windows-mediaplayer-drm-dl) so I'm assuming that the installer is trying to load it but can't for some reason.


Looking at the properties of the file, I can see that it's called DRM Migration DLL, from Microsoft. I tried removing every program I could think of that might interfere with DRM, but it always fails at the same place with that same error.


I've also done the following:



  • Used msconfig to boot into Selective Startup mode, with only Microsoft services running.

  • Uninstalled AVG Anti-Virus, Nero, Nvidia display driver, Power DVD, and Windows Media Player.

  • Copied the contents of the Vista install DVD to the hard drive and run it from there.

  • Checked Event Viewer, but found no errors at the time the installation was aborted.


Anyone have any other ideas to try?

How to activate Windows XP from Windows 7 compatibility mode on MacOS Parallels 5


  • I am running Parallels Desktop 5.0.9344 for Mac.
  • I am running Mac OS 10.6.3 10D2094
  • I have bought a retail copy of Windows 7 professional specifically because I need the XP compatibility.
  • Windows 7 is installed and working.
  • I have problems with the XP activation

Windows7 'Virtual PC' does not run under Parallels (strange error about Server Execution failed 0x80080005).


I have used the Parallels Transporter to convert the "Windows XP Mode Base.vhd" file into a parallels Virtual Machine.
This copy of XP now starts normally, however it records itself as unregistered. There was a KEY.txt file in the same directory as the .vhd file; although this file contains a valid-looking activation key, it does not appear to activate the instance of XP. I have also tried to enter the Windows 7 activation key; this does not work either.


I have tried calling the two phone numbers; an automated system asked me to enter 56 digits through the telephone and then accused me of being a pirate.


I believe it may be possible to install Windows 7 via Bootcamp, start Windows XP under Virtual PC, activate it and then import this activated .vhd into Parallels; but that seems a long way round, and is far from certain.


What can I do to get Windows XP running under Mac Parallels Desktop ?


Answer



The XP Mode VHD will only accept that key if it's running in a Windows 7 version of Virtual PC. It will not take that key otherwise. Also the license does not entitle you to run the XP Mode VHD from anything else (just in case you're thinking about asking for a way around this little 'feature').


You can still use a valid XP Retail key to activate Windows however.


networking - Is it possible to have 2 routers connected to a switch by their LAN ports for multiple connection options?

My goal is to be able to have a client connected using a wired Ethernet connection to a switch and have the choice between two networks using the one cable.


The basic setup I have goes like this:


wide demo pic


At the moment the Tp-Link router is connected to the switch by it's WAN port, but I can change the cables around as per anyone's suggestion.


The Tp-Link router is on a separate subnet. My idea is to have a server and a few clients on the Tp-Link subnet so they can all talk to each other and for that network to be separate from my main network (ATT). This way the devices on the Tp-Link subnet can not "see" the devices on my main network. I then want to connect my laptop to one cable so that it can function on my main network, but then I can toggle to the Tp-Link subnet to manage the server on it.


Example:


I plug my laptop into a cable that connects to my switch. I can click on the network icon and see 2 separate wired networks (as though my laptop had more than one Ethernet port, but only one is connected). I can then choose which network I send data through (toggle between the two networks). This would be analogous to switching between WiFi networks detected by a single WiFi adapter.


How might I achieve this?


If there is any other information I can add please comment and let me know.

How can I truly and permanently for all applications in Windows 7 remap a key combo to a key not necessarily on the keyboard?

I tried using AutoHotKey to map Win + , (that is, the windows key and the comma key) to <, but it won't work for all applications. What are the reasons for this, and what can I do about it? Examples of an applications where it doesn't work are Cygwin, vim, emacs (not necessarily started from cygwin) and for operating systems launched inside of VirtualBox. Interestingly, most of the applications where it doesn't work actually exhibit different behavior from each other (they display different characters).


The reason I want to do this remapping, by the way, is because I am using a keyboard (American) which physically has one less key than the keyboard map that I would like to use (Norwegian).

Did svchost.exe behaviour change in Windows 10 Creators Update (Build 1703)?


Today I upgraded to the Creators Update by running setup from the ISO mounted locally. When I got back to my computer I opened Task Manager and saw my memory usage was a lot higher than it was previously (it's now almost 6GB memory usage at idle after logging in instead of 2-3GB with the previous Windows build) - the processes tab revealed that there were upwards of 60 different instances of svchost.exe running. This 6GB figure is just for process memory - not including memory used for caching or "standby".


I ran tasklist /svc to get a listing of which services were in which processes and it lists almost every svchost.exe instance as only having one running service contained within (with the exception of a handful of instances that are running a few system services).


Here's my output:


Image Name                     PID Services
========================= ======== ============================================
System Idle Process 0 N/A
System 4 N/A
smss.exe 440 N/A
csrss.exe 612 N/A
wininit.exe 700 N/A
csrss.exe 708 N/A
services.exe 776 N/A
lsass.exe 784 KeyIso, Netlogon, SamSs, VaultSvc
svchost.exe 888 PlugPlay
svchost.exe 908 BrokerInfrastructure, DcomLaunch, Power,
SystemEventsBroker
fontdrvhost.exe 936 N/A
svchost.exe 1000 RpcEptMapper, RpcSs
svchost.exe 104 LSM
winlogon.exe 544 N/A
fontdrvhost.exe 420 N/A
svchost.exe 1072 DeviceInstall
dwm.exe 1136 N/A
svchost.exe 1164 BFE, CoreMessagingRegistrar, MpsSvc
svchost.exe 1424 lmhosts
svchost.exe 1432 W32Time
svchost.exe 1440 nsi
svchost.exe 1448 wudfsvc
svchost.exe 1528 hidserv
svchost.exe 1628 Dhcp
svchost.exe 1716 Dnscache
svchost.exe 1748 EventLog
WUDFHost.exe 1792 N/A
svchost.exe 1908 TimeBrokerSvc
svchost.exe 1952 NlaSvc
NVDisplay.Container.exe 1968 NVDisplay.ContainerLocalSystem
svchost.exe 1324 Themes
svchost.exe 1596 ProfSvc
svchost.exe 1944 EventSystem
svchost.exe 1052 netprofm
svchost.exe 2116 StateRepository
svchost.exe 2256 SENS
svchost.exe 2296 AudioEndpointBuilder
svchost.exe 2304 FontCache
(etc)...

I know you can configure individual services to run in their own instance of svc with the sc config type= own command, but to my knowledge I've never run this command.


I took a quick look at Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services and it looks like the Type key values for most of these services is missing the flag bit at 0x10 which controls if a service runs in its own svchost.exe instance or not. I wonder what could have effected this change.


Has anyone else observed this behaviour before or after installing Windows 10 Creators Update? If it is a default configuration change, will it have any implications on system performance or stability?


I suspect it will increase system stability because if a service crashes it won't bring down other services - but this comes at a massive cost of RAM - but I've never experienced a service crashing on me - or at least ever noticed it (instead the worst problem I've had is with wuauserv consuming 100% CPU for hours on end - and that's not a problem process isolation will solve).


(I just noticed: they finally added an address bar to the Registry Editor!)


Answer



Yes, this is a change in the Creators Update if you use a PC with more than 3.5GB of RAM. Here all services run in their own svchost.exe to better see which service causes issue or prevent crash of other services if a service crashes a svchost.exe.



If your PC has 3.5+ GB of memory, you may notice an increased number
of processes in Task Manager. While this change may look concerning at
first glance, many will be excited to find out the motivation behind
this change. As the number of preinstalled services grew, they began
to get grouped into processes known as service hosts (svchost.exe’s)
with Windows 2000. Note that the recommended RAM for PC’s for this
release was 256 MB, while the minimum RAM was 64MB. Because of the
dramatic increase in available memory over the years, the
memory-saving advantage of service hosts has diminished.
Accordingly, ungrouping services on memory-rich (3.5+ GB of RAM) PCs
running Windows now offers us the opportunity to do the following:



  • Increase reliability: When one service in a service host fails, all services in the service host fail. In other words, the service host
    process is terminated resulting in termination of all running
    services within that process.


  • Increase transparency: Task Manager will now give you a better view into what is going on behind the scenes. You can now see how much CPU,
    Memory, Disk & Network individual services are consuming.


    enter image description here


  • Increase security: Process isolation and individual permission sets for services will increase security.




So, don't worry, this is a good change in v1703 and everything is fine.


But there is a way to revert it. This was discovered by an user of a website that deals with Windows tweaking.


So, run regedit.exe, go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control and create a 32Bit DWORD SvcHostSplitThresholdInKB and set it to a large number (larger compared to your install RAM).


Saturday, January 27, 2018

linux - Restore bootloader after Ubuntu has been installed

I've installed Ubuntu. Windows doesn't boot anymore and doesn't appear in the GRUB menu. I've tried to install the Windows bootloader via recovery console from a Windows DVD as it's said here.



Bootrec.exe /fixboot

Bootrec.exe /fixmbr


Nothing happened, and GRUB keeps loading Ubuntu. Automatic repair from the Windows DVD failed (didn't give me a readable message, though). I've tried to edit 40_custom script, but couldn't save any changes.



Is there a way to get my Windows back?

installation - Is it possible to get Windows 10 upgrade as an ISO image (to make a bootable install disk from)?


The Windows 10 upgrade, free to users of earlier Windows versions, is out on July 29. The upgrade is being made available via Windows Update as an automatic download and install, if the user has opted in.


However, my preference is to obtain the upgrade as a .ISO file so that I can burn a DVD from and boot my machine to install from the disk, on top of the existing installation.


2 particular reasons I like the install disk approach:



  • I like the "fresh start" that this process gives. When I've done previous upgrades with install media for XP to 7, Vista to 7 and 7 to 8.1, I've selected the option for Windows to wipe the hard disk when doing the upgrade. This option has always been available in the Windows installer (because at that stage the Windows installer had detected the previous OS for eligibility and the install is ready proceed and it offers this option).


  • Having an install disk means I can re-install from scratch (provided I have re-installed the previous qualifying OS first - which I do to a bare minimum without installing any drivers of that OS, just enough to register its license key). The 2 cases 1) where I have had to re-install are a jerkiness seen and the remedy for reinstalling the graphics card driver did not work, but re-install of the OS did. 2) other case is where I had to replace a motherboard and therefore do a reinstall so that the new drivers for this were picked up, install media approach being best here for stability I feel. (My license was OEM so I had to telephone microsoft to go through the automated re-assignment of the license for the new motherboard and that procedure worked out fine.) Malware infection would be another reason for reinstall though that has not been an issue for me as I have used ant-malware/virus software.



Do you know if the Windows 10 upgrade will be available as a .ISO image?


I've done some research so far, but these are 3rd-party articles which look credible but I'd prefer a definitive official position. My research so far is:


Update


I've accepted @Moab's answer and upvoted. That's great. To further support the answer and discussion here, I'd also like to add a few tips for doing clean installs in general:



  • Before a clean re-install (where the hard drive OS partition or whole drive is wiped/deleted/formatted), make sure you de-register/de-authorise any applications and/or content, e.g Adobe applications and iTunes or ebook content. This will ensure that the the number of authorised machines for the license is accurate so that when re-installing, you won't be refused by the vendors if they think you already have the maximum licenses

  • Backup your files obviously

  • Tip to quicken the re-install process, particularly if a previous Operating System must be present before the new incoming OS wipes the disk. Do the bare minimum to install the previous OS: install and register the license, don't bother with the drivers - as you're going to install a new OS over this anyway and install the drivers for that.

  • If you think you might want to repeat the re-install at a later date, a step to quicken the process would be to take a drive image (Ghosting) of the previous OS and use that instead of going through the install process. The tool I'd suggest is Runtime's DriveImage XML (I don't work for them by the way)


Update 2


The link is now available to create media:


Installing Windows 10 using the media creation tool
The media creation tool can be used to upgrade your
current PC to Windows 10 or to create a USB or DVD and
install Windows 10 on a different PC.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows-10/media-creation-tool-install


Important note: When are about to do a clean install of Windows 10 you can only do this over a Windows 10 installed by the upgrade route and this must be activated. Also make sure that the clean install media is for the same architecture as that in the Windows 10 from upgrade. So if your Windows 10 upgrade was 64bit, then your clean install must also be 64bit. When you boot with the install-DVD, the installer will check for the current OS, before providing you with the option to do a clean install whereby you can delete/format all partitions (the whole disk) and then create a new partition for the clean install.


Answer



From Microsoft Community, Frequently Asked Questions: Windows 10:



I have multiple computers, do I have to download Windows 10 on each computer?


You can download a .ISO file and upgrade each computer offline. The ISO should be available by the time Windows 10 launches.



However, from How to: upgrade from previous versions of Windows using Windows 10 ISO file on the same Microsoft Community:



Please be aware that you cannot use the free upgrade offer to perform a clean install on first attempt. You must first upgrade from the qualifying version of Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1 (whether you do it through Windows Update or using the .ISO file). Ensure the upgrade is completed successfully and then ensure that it is activated. You can then proceed to do a clean install by using recovery media or using the Reset function in Start > Settings > Update & Security > Recovery > Reset this PC (Get Started).



(Note that Microsoft Community posts are in general not written by Microsoft employees.)


partitioning - How to remove the windows 7 bootloader from my OEM partition?

I have a laptop with an OEM partition containing the files for a recovery of Windows XP. In the past I've used this OEM partition by setting it active and let the computer boot it. It would automatically start its recovery procedure.


What I've done to end up in the situation that I have now:
I have deleted all partitions on the harddrive except the OEM partition. I installed Windows 7 to this harddrive, which worked perfectly, however, since the OEM partition was active it has installed its bootloader to this partition. (Windows 7 seems to install it's bootloader on another partition when it gets the chance). Since I didn't want to bootloader to be on the OEM partition I have made a partion other than the OEM partition active and again deleted all partitions except the OEM partition. Then I reinstalled windows 7 and it has created a seperate partition for it's bootloader.


So now I have the Windows 7 partition, a 100MB partition created by the Windows installer containing it's bootloader, and the OEM partition. However the OEM partition still contains the previous bootloader which no serves no purpose any more. In fact, if I now turn the OEM partion active it will start that bootloader rather than initiate the OEM recovery procedure. How can I remove this Windows 7 bootloader from the OEM partition and restore the OEM partition's recovery procedure?

windows 7 - How can I automatically keep folders clean?



I've just wiped my laptop and am starting to move files back on to it now. How can I keep certain folders clean automatically? For example, is there an easy way to automatically deletes all of the contents in a folder older than 2 weeks, and have this process run daily? That would really help in keeping things like my downloads folder from filling with junk.



This is on Windows 7 64-bit.


Answer



You create batch script that deletes content of download folder. And then create windows version of cron and run it on designated intervals.




Batch to delete contents of my folder.



FOR /D %%i IN ("D:\myfolder\*") DO RD /S /Q "%%i" DEL /Q "D:\myfolder\*.*"


Delete folders older than N



forfiles -p "C:\what\ever" -s -m *.* -d  -c "cmd /c del @path"



Forfiles documentation: http://ss64.com/nt/forfiles.html



And cron for windows:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308569


hard drive - Choosing bootup HDD?

I have a seagate barracuda 2TB and i believe 7200RPM. In the two computers I tried it on I can boot off of it but a good percentage of the time (today it was 7/8) I CANNOT boot from it. Usually the disk isnt seen by the motherboard but sometimes it is seen and it fails elsewhere


How do I know which HDD is suitable for booting? I called my mobo manufacture for support. They told me the problem is the disk (I tried two seagate barracuda, both had same problems) and I need a lower density disk. But I imagine I may have the problem with a 1TB or even 512gb.


How do I know which HDD is suitable for bootup without fail?


Motherboard: asus p8z68-v lx
Disk ST2000DM001-9YN164

Friday, January 26, 2018

Can I use the Windows 10 command prompt to recover some files?

I'm currently working on a PC that's got a virus. Neither Windows' GUI loads, nor safe mode. None of the repair options work either.


I was wondering if I could use the command line to move the clients' photos and media to an external HD.


I have full access to the command line but nothing else.


I have to do a factory restore, but my client only wants their photos. Or is there a third-party program to recover them after a factory reset?


There are no restore points either.

My external keyboard and mouse both drop-out / stutter / halt in Ubuntu on Macbook Pro


I've installed Ubuntu 16.04 LTS on my Macbook Pro 12,1. Details below.


It's hard to replicate or debug this issue, but as best I can describe it: occasionally when typing on an external keyboard, keys will stop being registered. For example, in that sentence, I had to retype the last four letters of "registered" because the keyboard stopped recognizing my input. The same occurs with my mouse. I will be moving it, and it will stop moving momentarily. I do not experience this issue with this the external keyboard/mouse in any other OS, and all keyboards and mice I have tried plugging in experience this issue. I am realizing that I have only tested this in 1 USB port ("top-right") and will report if my results vary plugged into another USB port.


As best as I can tell, this behavior is totally random. I cannot force the bug to occur, and I have no idea where to even start with debugging it. Google searches yield inconclusive results that I don't think apply, for example I don't think I lack processor power, RAM, etc.


How can I fix this issue, or at least, what paths can I begin to investigate to debug this issue and find the cause?


Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
Memory: 7.7 GiB
Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-5257U CPU @ 2.70GHz × 4
Graphics: Intel® Iris 6100 (Broadwell GT3)
Os Type: 64-bit
Disk: 37.0 GB

Edit: I expect this is possibly a driver issue, as I plugged in my mouse/keyboard combo usb into the left USB slot, causing the keyboard to work fine but the mouse to work just plain weirdly. Certain parts of the screen it'll be fine, other parts it'll drag down in speed, as if the DPI was changing or something. I'm not sure how to solve, still, will continue to explore.


Edit 2: A mouse-only external USB plugged into the top-right USB port is functioning normally. Still no keyboard "hang" now that the keyboard is plugged into the left port. I have yet to experience mouse hang in the right USB port. I suspect that it's the specific brand of mouse/keyboard combos I had plugged into the top-right usb that was causing issues (hp mouse/keyboard combo).


Answer



I have not discovered why this happens, however this is my hack to fix it:



  1. Remove your external keyboard/mouse usb dongle.


  2. Turn off the power switch on your keyboard and mouse.


  3. Plug in the USB dongle.


  4. Power on the keyboard/mouse.



Thursday, January 25, 2018

windows 7 - W7x86 USB Reinstall; "Setup was unable to create a new system partition" issue

I am running an Acer AspireOne AOD250. Doing a clean reinstall of W7x64 Ultimate. My problem is very similar to this one, except that I am installing from a USB as the Acer AspireOne does not have a CD/DVD drive.


What I have tried;



  1. Extracted HDD

  2. Ran it using an enclosure on another computer.

  3. Ran "diskpart">"list disk" and got the following


(I have no way of taking screenshots from the acer as the previous OS has already been wiped so bear with me and the alternate format of the information documented below.)


Disk####; Disk 0, Disk 1, Disk 2


Status; Online, Online, Online


Size; 149GB, 14GB, 3774MB


Free; 0B, 0B, 3774MB


Disk 0 is the Internal SATA HDD on the AspireOne


Disk 1 is my 16GB Toshiba Flash Drive with W7x86 Installation on it


Disk 2 is ??


(I am doing this for a friend who put a pirated version of W7Pro on it before). Also this Disk 2 doesn't come up in the "Install Windows; Where do you want to install Windows?" dialog, which baffles me and makes me wonder if it has something to do with the system partition creation/recognition problem that I am having.



  1. select disk 0


  2. Used both 'clean' and 'clean all' respectively on several different tries.


  3. create partition primary


  4. active


  5. Got the same picture as the link mentioned above "Setup was unable... etc.".


  6. Tried to make the System drive both in my other computer and in Win7 Installation Setup to no avail.


  7. Bios is set to boot from the flash-drive first and HDD second.


  8. To be sure; I am not getting the confirmation dialog about making the system partition when I delete and format the 150GB drive in W7x86 setup. Instead the computer just formats the computer and then when I hit next gives me the "Setup was unable...etc" error.


  9. Also, when I formatted the drive with a System drive and activated it and then also added the regular primary partition, the same error was given when I went into windows install and selected the primary partition 'Setup was unable...'.


  10. Just to see what it would do, I even selected the 180GB active system partition once and hit next and it gave me an expected 'Not enough room to install Win7 error'.



I am stumped and frustrated. I would start swearing about the stupid engineers at Microsoft, except that as a Mechanical Engineer myself, I know that 90%'ish of the time people who do that are just too ignorant to get the answer they need/ or to understand the reason things are designed the way they are.


Thanks for any help that anyone can give me. And as I am someone who is on the Autistic spectrum specific responses are much easier for me to understand then general instructions (step-by-step specifics if you have the ability and time...or applicable links to step-by-steps). Sorry for the length of my post.


Addendums/Replies: I downloaded the drivers for the Acer Aspire One AOD250, and made sure to load the compatible W7x86 SATA driver and install it in the W7x86 Installation. It didn't seem to make a difference, but I could have done it improperly.

bash - Finding and renaming files


I have about 1000 files containing the character * in the name. I need to find these files and replace the * with a -. I am working with HP UX v11. I am using the following command


find . -type f -name '*\**' -exec bash -c 'f="$1"; mv "$f" "${f//\*/-}"' - '{}' \;

I am told it works but for me it renames the complete file to - instead of replacing the *.


GNU bash, version 2.04.0(1)-release (hppa2.0w-hp-hpux11.00)


Answer



Try this command find command:


find . -type f -name '*\**' -exec bash -c 'f="$1"; echo mv "$f" `echo "$f"|tr "\*" "-"`' - '{}' \;

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

office365 - How to install .Net Programmability support for Office 365 ProPlus?


I installed Office 2013 from portal.office.com of my company account.


But as Office 365 installation is via One-click that there is no option to install .Net Programmability support.


Is there any way to install .Net Programmability support for Office 365?
Thanks.


Answer



I don't see a method for doing this. Even the Office Deployment tool used for offline installation do not offer the options to deploy it.


The problem now is that Microsoft has been removing all the MSI (rational installer) based Office executables. You won't find these anywhere unless you have a TechNet or MSDN subscriptions (I'm not sure if they are available from VLA portals). The trial installation seems to still be available and you can sign in and activate them via your O365 logon.


I would suggest uninstalling the click-to-run version and then downloading the trial and install it the old fashioned way.
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-office-professional-plus-2013


You will be asked to activate it and can select your organizational account. Using this method you should be able to restore ".Net Programmability support."


windows 7 - CPU at 100% all the time.

I took the big step and disabled all the resources and after rebooting the cpu returned to normal. While I proved the culprit was there I have no idea which one is the problem. Does anyone know which one is the problem?

installation - Unable to re-install Windows 7 on a Dell Optiplex 745

During the install I receive the error code 0x80070714 with the error string "Windows cannot install required files. Make sure all files required for installation are available, and restart the installation." This occurs at the end of the Expanding Windows files... process.


The only change from the previous re-install (the machine already had Win7), was that I had enabled bitlocker. So after the first failed re-install attempt I disabled TPM in the BIOS (and set everything to factory defaults). After the second failed re-install attempt I used a program called WipeDrive to nuke the HD. But I'm still getting the install failure.


As a sanity check, I attempted to install Vista, and the install completed without a problem.


Therefore my question is, what is the 0x80070714 error code, and how can I get past it?

connection - Need help identifying some cable connectors and their use case


Answer



1 is micro usb b, or mini usb b. https://www.cablestogo.com/learning/connector-guides/usb


2 I have a feeling it might of been for a 'fax printer' combined type unit. So the RJ-11 would go to a phone line, giving a printer (with serial connectivity if it needed a modem) phone capability.


3 - yes, extension cord, for things that are far away ;)


4 - the added pins are likely ground pins - so they can all terminate to the same point.


5 - That's not VGA, it's 9 Pin DSUB. It looks like it may of been for connecting to a printer, or some other kind of embedded device, but this is always going to be guess work.


6 - As answered in chat by Journey Man Geek, that is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMS-59. So yes, 2 monitors to a single port on a graphics card.


This is also a great resource for identifying ports: https://removeandreplace.com/2013/04/13/computer-ports-learn-the-name-and-location-of-the-connections-on-your-desktop-computer-or-laptop/


Tuesday, January 23, 2018

data recovery - Hard drive makes clicking noise after being exposed to water







So my apartment building burned down, but my computer was not exposed to direct flame. It is a mini-ITX case with vents on the top, so it was filled with soot and ashes.



The hard drive was located at the bottom of the case and was buried in ashes. The computer may have been subjected to water damage when they were putting out the fire.




After I got my stuff back, I took the computer apart and cleaned it out with canned air and did not touch it for two weeks. Now I can boot the computer from CD fine, but the hard drive keeps making clicking noises.



Anyone have any advice on how I can recover data from the disk?

windows xp - How can I change my language/keyboard input language system-wide temporarily?

I currently have two languages set up; English and Dutch. The only difference is in keyboard input. The Dutch one uses the French/Belgian AZERTY layout and the English one uses the Irish/English QWERTY layout (@ = Shift+').


When a Belgian colleague needs to use my computer, I switch the language to NL (Dutch) (therefore the input to AZERTY) using the language bar, but it seems to be application-specific. (I.e: After changing the input to AZERTY for my colleague, if he then clicks on another program it switches back to QWERTY for that program).


Is there a way I can quickly switch between the two comprehensively yet temporarily?

Reseting Vista Admin Password from Installation DIsk

I am trying to reset the admin account password that I forgot for an old Vista machine. Because I don't have a password reset disk, I have resorted to attempting to run net user from the command line of the recovery environment on the vista install disk. However, net user sees only the users (guest, administrator) from the live environment and refuses to recognize the users on my Vista install. I am wondering if/how I can switch it so it sees the users on my local install?

macos - Mac OS X not reporting directory sizes correctly?


In Finder, I've noticed that if I duplicate some .app files (in the Applications folder), Finder will show that the duplicate .app file is not the same size as the original. This file size discrepancy does not happen for all .app files that I duplicate, but it seems like the larger the .app file, the more likely that the duplicate will not show the same size as the original. Here are some examples:


GarageBand.app - 381.7 MB
GarageBand copy.app - 373.2 MB
iMovie.app - 695.3 MB
iMovie copy.app - 635.4 MB
Install Xcode.app - 1.81 GB
Install Xcode copy.app - 1.57 GB

Now I am new to Macs, and after I noticed this file size discrepancy problem, I discovered that .app files are actually not files - they are really directories, but Finder displays them as if they are files. So I thought maybe the duplication process did not copy all of the contents of the original .app directory and that explained the difference in "file size". But then I downloaded and installed DeltaWalker, which is a file/folder diff tool, and DeltaWalker said that the duplicate .app directories were exactly the same as the original .app directories. So the duplication process worked perfectly, and it therefore seems to be a problem with Finder reporting file sizes.


I also checked the sizes of the directories in Terminal, using the "du" command, and that too shows discrepancies in sizes between the original and duplicate directories:


du -k /Applications/GarageBand.app/
212868 /Applications/GarageBand.app/
du -k /Applications/GarageBand\ copy.app/
397880 /Applications/GarageBand copy.app/
du -k /Applications/iMovie.app/
629644 /Applications/iMovie.app/
du -k /Applications/iMovie\ copy.app/
700500 /Applications/iMovie copy.app/
du -k /Applications/Install\ Xcode.app/
1771864 /Applications/Install Xcode.app/
du -k /Applications/Install\ Xcode\ copy.app/
1772228 /Applications/Install Xcode copy.app/

Also, it's not just .app directories. I duplicated my /Developer/Library directory, and here's what du said:


du -k /Developer/Library/
320784 /Developer/Library/
du -k /Developer/Library\ copy/
399868 /Developer/Library copy/

So can anyone explain why Mac OS X doesn't seem to report directory sizes correctly? Is it a bug (hard to believe for something so simple), or am I missing something (being a new Mac user)?


(I'm running Mac OS X Lion 10.7.2)




UPDATE in response to elofturtle:


What is most strange about this is that Finder has no consistency. I just made 2 duplicates of the GarageBand.app, and then made 2 duplicates of one of the duplicates. Finder displays every single duplicate with a different size:


GarageBand.app - 381.7 MB
GarageBand copy.app - 357.6 MB (duplicate of GarageBand.app)
GarageBand copy 2.app - 353.9 MB (duplicate of GarageBand.app)
GarageBand copy 3.app - 378.2 MB (duplicate of GarageBand copy 2.app)
GarageBand copy 4.app - 329.1 MB (duplicate of GarageBand copy 2.app)

Also note that "GarageBand copy 3.app" is larger than "GarageBand copy 2.app", while "GarageBand copy 4.app" is smaller than "GarageBand copy 2.app". That has to be a bug in Finder.


Here's what "du -k" says about all of them:


212868  /Applications/GarageBand.app/
397880 /Applications/GarageBand copy.app/
397880 /Applications/GarageBand copy 2.app/
397880 /Applications/GarageBand copy 3.app/
397880 /Applications/GarageBand copy 4.app/

At least it says all the duplicates are the same size, but they're not the same size as the original.


Answer



The differences came from different reasons: different ways of counting, different tools, compression and what looks like a bug.


The first difference in size you see seems to be a bug in the Finder. The file sizes shown by the Finder are somehow calculated in real time and cached in .DS_Store files. For some reason, while duplicating a big application/folder, the Finder calculates its size during the copy process and caches the, then incomplete, size. It then shows that size as greyed in the Finder windows, grey meaning the Finder knows the content has changed since it's last size calculation but it hasn't recalculate it yet.


The only way I've found to make it recalculate correctly the size is by deleting the .DS_Store file in the Application folder, then quitting the Finder (from the Activity Monitor for example) and relaunching it again (from the Dock Icon). If you don't delete the .DS_Store file, it still stays out greyed. Maybe waiting some time (hours, days, reboot, ...) will make the Finder do it by itself.


After that, you should see that all sizes reported by the Finder are the same.


So yes, it looks like a Finder bug, at least in OSX Lion (tested with 10.7.4 here, Finder version 10.7.3). You can also see this thread which reports same kind of behavior.


Then, let's consider the du tool. At first, I thought the difference we see could be explained by the difference between logical and physical sizes of items being copied. Logical size is the real size of the item, meaning every single bit of information it contains added up together. Physical size is the size of the item on the disk, where each information bit is written on a disk sector.


For example a file containing a single character would end up having a 1 byte logical size, but a 512 bytes or even 4096 bytes physical size when actually written to disk. The physical size is usually larger than the logical size (and depends on the actual sector/block size of the disk or the file system). This is explained into more details in this other thread. Logical size could be larger in the case of sparse files, but HFS+ doesn't seem to support such a feature.


du shows only the physical size (and you can tell it what a BLOCKSIZE is). You can see that the size reported by du is always bigger (or, exceptionally, the same) as the original. This is because of file system and disk space fragmentation. When you copy over a file (actually here a bunch of files, as an Application is a directory) new sectors are being allocated on the disk and, as fragmentation occurs, the number of blocks used is usually higher than that of the original item. Some people call that File Slack.


Now, back to the Finder. If you open up the get info window of the Applications you duplicated, you'll see that the Finder is actually reporting both the Logical and the Physical size of the item you selected. Which then makes sense. You'll even be able to compare the Physical size reported by the Finder and the one reported by du if you do a bit of math.


Why doing some math? Because the Finder shows the file sizes in kB, MB or GB where du reports them in kiB, MiB or GiB. Those are the IEC binary prefixes which should be used to calculate and display units of digital information.


But, actually, I'm not sure File Slack is involved here, there's something else. HFS+ volumes allow compression, done transparently, and Apple uses that for the original items installed by the OS. Then, when files are copied using standard tools, compression is not used anymore (as a default, to be backward compatible). If you want to keep compression on those files, you need to use the ditto command instead of cp or any Finder action. This is explained in this review.


Here is the output of copying iTunes.app using the different techniques. You'll see that ditto makes the Application exactly the same size, preserving compression, where cp doesn't. And you can even remove the binary for the arch you don't need, then reducing the whole size):


antoine@amarante:/Applications$ du -ms iTunes.app/
281 iTunes.app/
antoine@amarante:/Applications$ cp -a iTunes.app/ iTunes-copy.app/
antoine@amarante:/Applications$ ditto iTunes.app/ iTunes-ditto.app
antoine@amarante:/Applications$ ditto --arch x86_64 iTunes.app/ iTunes-64.app
antoine@amarante:/Applications$ du -ms iTunes*
236 iTunes-64.app
289 iTunes-copy.app
281 iTunes-ditto.app
281 iTunes.app

Thanks to @DanPritts for his answer on my complementary post.


Monday, January 22, 2018

linux - xrandr would not detect my second monitor

I am using linux, have 2 monitors and 1 laptop (3 screens in total) in my setup.


xrandr detect 2 displays (laptop + 1 ext monitor) and I get the same output on both external monitors.


$ xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 8 x 8, current 3840 x 1080, maximum 32767 x 32767
eDP1 connected 1920x1080+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 309mm x 174mm
1920x1080 60.0*+ 59.9 48.0
1680x1050 60.0 59.9
1600x1024 60.2
1400x1050 60.0
1280x1024 60.0
1440x900 59.9
1280x960 60.0
1360x768 59.8 60.0
1152x864 60.0
1024x768 60.0
800x600 60.3 56.2
640x480 59.9
DP1 connected 1920x1080+1920+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 527mm x 296mm
1920x1080 60.0*+ 50.0 59.9
1920x1080i 60.1 50.0 60.0
1600x1200 60.0
1600x900 60.0
1280x1024 75.0 60.0
1152x864 75.0
1280x720 60.0 50.0 59.9
1024x768 75.1 60.0
800x600 75.0 60.3
720x576 50.0
720x480 60.0 59.9
640x480 75.0 60.0 59.9
720x400 70.1
HDMI1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP2 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI2 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
VIRTUAL1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

I already checked posts around internet, but that cant really help since alreayd xrandr doesnt see my second external monitor.


I am expecting to have 2 DP detected, but not, only 1 is detected.


Thanks for the help.

Windows batch file not running when I double click, how to restore association with cmd.exe?

Windows 8 64-bit. The user I'm logged in as has admin rights. When I open a cmd windows the window title even says "Administrator: cmd.exe".


So, I set my .bat file association to have the .bat file opened in Notepad++, and now I can't set it back to run the bat file when I double click on it. I've tried several web pages which told me to edit the registry to no avail.


When I do try to merge a .reg file into my PC, I get an error "You do not have permissions" or something. My user is not "administrator" but my user "chuck" does have admin rights. It always has.



  1. I tried this method, the .reg file merged without error this time, but when I double click on a .bat file it still opens in Notepad++. I downloaded the file to change the .bat file assoc only. Do I have to restart the PC?


  2. I also tried making the registry edits here: click here. It didn't work either.


  3. The .bat file extension cannot be changed in the Associate File Extension with a Program in the Control panel. When I try to associate cmd.exe with a .bat file I get an error like "You cannot associate that program with this file."


  4. I found this link but there is no .bat file entry under FileExts. Also on this link I have no no UserChoice key to delete for HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.b‌​at\UserChoice.


  5. Rebooted PC, I still have the same problem. I will make sure Notepad++ is not restoring associations with itself each time it runs. EDIT: As far as NPP preferences are concerned, it does not register .bat files.



Any more ideas? I have been dealing with this for 3 months off and on now.


NOTE: Some fixes for this problem work on Windows 7 but DO NOT work on Windows 8.




UPDATE: Fixed it. I had to



  1. Make a shortcut to regedt32.exe on my desktop.

  2. Right click shortcut and do "Run As Administrator", even though my user has admin rights.

  3. Search the whole registry for the string "notepad" whereon I found the sneaky little thing here: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\\**Roaming**\OpenWith\FileExts\\.bat and deleted the UserChoice item.

  4. Reboot windows.

deployment - Windows 10 Imaging and Configuration Designer error when trying to start a project

I'm trying to create a new image project following the directions from this link:


https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/dn916105(v=vs.85).aspx


After clicking "Finish" on step 9, ICD prompts me with the error message in the screenshot below.


ICD Error


I've tried the same steps on multiple computers using Windows 10 and 7, both 32bit and 64bit. I've also rebuilt my Win 10 media using the media creation tool.


I posted the same question on TechNet and was asked to check the ICD.log at c:\users[you user account]\Documents\Windows Imaging and Configuration Designer (WICD)[Project name]. I have multiple project folders from all of my attempts at creating new project. Each folder has an empty 0KB ICD.log file.


So far I haven't received any advice passed that. Are there any additional logs that would be useful to review? Or should I not be using ICD at all?

Sunday, January 21, 2018

iso image - Where can I download Windows 7 x64 Polish ISOs?


I've recently bought an SSD drive and I want to reinstall Windows 7, but my notebook (ASUS K73SV) didn't come with a Windows 7 DVD, but a recovery partition on HDD. It's okay, but it comes with too much bloatware. I want to reinstall from a clean ISO, but there's the problem...


There are no Polish ISOs.


Digital River holds most ISOs, but not Polish (at least I wasn't able to find one). I don't have a TechNet/MSDN subscription, so I can't download it from there. Even torrents won't lend me a legit ISO. Is there any other place I can try to download from, without buying a key from Microsoft or TechNet subscription? I need exactly Windows 7 Home Premium x64 Polish ISO.


Or, if someone has a TechNet subscription, he could get me a direct download link from there, they're available as long as someone is a subscriber.


Answer



I'm afraid I don't think you can



Unfortunately, none exist, if you need to work in Polish, you will
either need to purchase a localized version of Windows 7 in your
native language or consider doing an Anytime Upgrade to Windows 7
Ultimate then download the Polish language through Windows Update.



If it came already installed, I think you need to contact the OEM direct


Source


Windows 10 File Explorer crashes when I want to open the Control Panel


I am having problems trying to copy and paste files in Windows 10 and I can't open the control panel. I am getting the following error message:



Windows Explorer has stopped working
Windows is checking for a solution for the problem



And a few moments later..



Windows Explore is restarting



But after that the error is not resolved.


Here is the error log message from the Event Viewer:



Faulting application name: explorer.exe, version: 6.2.10586.589, time
stamp: 0x57cf9743
Faulting module name: shellex.dll, version:
16.0.0.694, time stamp: 0x56cc98f5

Exception code: 0xc0000005

Fault offset: 0x0000000000007f3b

Faulting process ID: 0x%9

Faulting application start time: 0x%10

Faulting application path: %11

Faulting module path: %12

Report ID: %13

Faulting package full name: %14
Faulting package-relative application ID: %15



I think this problem began when I upgraded Kaspersky.


Answer



The file shellex.dll crashes your explorer:


Faulting module name: shellex.dll, version: 16.0.0.694, time stamp: 0x56cc98f5

Doing a google search shows that the file is indeed part of Kaspersky. Look again for a new update.


windows - Disable restart after update prompt for server 2008 R2


I run server 2008 r2 as my desktop OS.


I am trying to disable the annoying restart prompt that comes up after installing updates. The most I can postpone it to is 4 hours.


I have tried disabling “Re-prompt for restart with scheduled installations” and enabling “No auto-restart [...] for scheduled Automatic Update installation” in Computer Policy -> Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Windows Update in gpedit.msc, to no avail.


I have looked at various guides, and nothing seems to work.


I do want automatic updates, and I have it set to notify me immediately, and allow me to choose what to download and install. I just don't want this nagger screen to keep coming up, for various reasons.


Is there a fix?


Please don't respond with a lecture about why I should restart automatically, as your assumptions may not be valid.


Answer



From Disable Windows Update restart nag:



To stop this service, open Command
Prompt (Start>Run>cmd>Enter) and type
the following command sc stop wuauserv. This will not prevent
Automatic Updates from starting at the
next boot. So don't worry, you'll keep
getting Windows updates. Just don't
forget to restart eventually.



From disable Automatic Update restart prompts using Windows Computer Policy
(was this the one you mentioned in your post?):



Start / Run / gpedit.msc / Local Computer Policy / Computer Configuration / Administrative Templates / Windows Components / Windows Update / and disable Re-prompt for restart with scheduled installations.



You can use a freeware product to Disable Windows Update Restart Alert Message With WindowsUpdateSilencer:



If you want to get rid of Windows
Update notification then here is
WindowsUpdateSilencer useful tool
which runs in the background and will
automatically silence all Windows
update notifications.



(I have never used this program and can't vouch for it, especially on Server 2008.)


Saturday, January 20, 2018

windows 10 - Why is my "Committed" memory so much higher than my actual RAM space?

http://i.imgur.com/cilRmfD.png




I have run two virus scans and neither of them have found anything so far (Malware Bytes and Avira Rescue). During gaming I will get Windows popups saying that my system is low of memory and recommends closing the game. This can also happen while browsing. My computer seems to become sluggish a lot and will hang up often, such as when clicking a link from a messenger program to open in my browser.



I am unsure what is causing this. My memory usage on the processes tab doesn't add up to such a high percentage of my actual memory.






As a side note, is my Disk Usage supposed to spike up to 100% sometimes? Research seems to say so.

Install Additional Printer Drivers (x86) on Vista (x64) - Can't find suitable (x86) ntprint.inf

I have a printer connected to my computer that I'd like to share on my home network - shouldn't be a problem.


The computer the printer is connected to is running Vista Ultimate x64. The computers I'm trying to share with are x86 Windows XP Professional and x86 Vista, so I need to install additional (x86) drivers.


Printer sharing


I checked the box to add x86 printer drivers and then it asked for the location of the drivers. I browsed to the location and clicked OK.


Add additional drivers


It then prompted "Please provide path to Windows media (x86 processor).


Locate ntprint.inf


When I click "Browse..." it wants the location of a file named ntprint.inf


It looks like it's asking for a Windows (x86) installation disk. I put one in but I can't seem to find this file on the 32-bit Vista install disk


Where is the proper place to find this file?

windows 7 - Running out of RAM without having any program to blame


Sine some weeks I'm regularly running out of RAM. I'm using Win 7 64 bit with 8 GB of RAM
I am not running a huge amount of programs only skype, spotify and chrome but my RAm usage is always at around 80% wich was different some months ago.


Windows constantly tells me it has to close skype or some other program because it's running out of RAM.


The problem is it is not one particular program that is using up the RAM neither it's the combination of them. When I sum up the memory usage of all tasks I end up with about 1.2 GB.
I tried closing all programs and RAM usage was still at ~55% (>5GB)


I have tried running some anti Virus software but it didn't help.


Is there any way I can find out why RAM usage is so high and how can I change this. I know it all used to work before and for some reason windows is just wasting ram for no real reason.


Answer



Chrome is a memory hungry program. The more tabs you have open, the more ram it will consume.


That said, with 8 GB of ram, you definitely should not get memory messages.


This means one of the following things may be going wrong.


Windows creates a swapfile to store swap memory in. This file, by default, is located on your C drive, root. If there is little space left, (less than 2 gb) the swapfile is not getting big enough and windows may give this error. So check where the swapfile is located and if there's sufficient space left.


It may be that one of your RAM banks has gone bad. You can do an extensive memory test to make sure they're working correctly.


And in case that doesn't do it either, I've seen something in windows gone bad (was unable to find any cause, but this error would pop up with not any program open either, no virusses or spyware or anything on the machine, no processes open) and a windows reinstall fixed it. You could attempt to do that if all else fails.


Windows 7 64bit crash during gameplay. Caused by drivers ntoskrnl.exe and hal.dll

I'm having trouble with a computer that I built a little less than a year ago (Christmas 2012). I have just recently been getting the blue screen of death while playing Banner's new expansion called Chivalry: Deadliest Warrior.


The BSOD only occurs while playing the game and it has happened 4 times today. I've downloaded a program called BlueScreenView from www.nirsoft.net and it is showing me that the first 3 crashes were caused by the driver hal.dll and the 4th was caused by the driver ntoskrnl.exe.


I'm unsure of what to do now as my knowledge of computer software is very limited. I have run across a couple of things on the internet, like re-install the VGA driver, but that doesn't seem like the answer because in the report I have generated it is telling me that Microsoft developed all 4 of these drivers and they are part of the operating system (not NVIDIA). Below are copies of the blue screen report. Can anyone help me?


ntoskrnl.exe


111513-5912-02.dmp 11/15/2013 8:11:55 PM DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL 0x000000d1 000000000000007d 0000000000000006 0000000000000008 000000000000007d ntoskrnl.exe ntoskrnl.exe+75bc0 NT Kernel & System Microsoft® Windows® Operating System Microsoft Corporation 6.1.7601.18247 (win7sp1_gdr.130828-1532) x64 ntoskrnl.exe+75bc0 C:\Windows\Minidump\111513-5912-02.dmp 4 15 7601 293,416 11/15/2013 8:12:31 PM


hal.dll


111513-5912-01.dmp 11/15/2013 12:31:17 AM 0x00000124 0000000000000000 fffffa80070ef028 00000000be200000 000000000005110a hal.dll hal.dll+12a3b Hardware Abstraction Layer DLL Microsoft® Windows® Operating System Microsoft Corporation 6.1.7601.17514 (win7sp1_rtm.101119-1850) x64 ntoskrnl.exe+75bc0 C:\Windows\Minidump\111513-5912-01.dmp 4 15 7601 293,400 11/15/2013 12:31:46 AM

audio - ffmpeg wav to pcm and back (invalid data found)



I'm having problems getting ffmpeg to convert wav to pcm.



I want to convert



A WAV file pcm_s24le, 44100 Hz, mono, s32 (24 bit), 1058 kb/s


to




A RAW (PCM) file s16le, 48000 Hz, mono


I've tried even doing it in two steps:



ffmpeg -i step0.wav -sample_fmt s16 -ac 1 -ar 48000 step1.wav
ffmpeg -i step1.wav -f s16le -acodec pcm_s16le -ac 1 -ar 48000 step2.pcm



However, when I try to verify the conversion was correct:



ffmpeg -i step2.pcm -ar 48000 -ac 1 -f s16le step3.wav


I get



step2.pcm: Invalid data found when processing input



What am I doing wrong?
Thanks.



P.S. Software and file in question:



This is the ffmpeg version:



ffmpeg version n4.1.3 Copyright (c) 2000-2019 the FFmpeg developers
built with gcc 8.2.1 (GCC) 20181127
configuration: --prefix=/usr --disable-debug --disable-static --disable-stripping --enable-fontconfig --enable-gmp --enable-gnutls --enable-gpl --enable-ladspa --enable-libaom --enable-libass --enable-libbluray --enable-libdrm --enable-libfreetype --enable-libfribidi --enable-libgsm --enable-libiec61883 --enable-libjack --enable-libmodplug --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopencore_amrnb --enable-libopencore_amrwb --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopus --enable-libpulse --enable-libsoxr --enable-libspeex --enable-libssh --enable-libtheora --enable-libv4l2 --enable-libvidstab --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libwebp --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libxcb --enable-libxml2 --enable-libxvid --enable-nvdec --enable-nvenc --enable-omx --enable-shared --enable-version3

libavutil 56. 22.100 / 56. 22.100
libavcodec 58. 35.100 / 58. 35.100
libavformat 58. 20.100 / 58. 20.100
libavdevice 58. 5.100 / 58. 5.100
libavfilter 7. 40.101 / 7. 40.101
libswscale 5. 3.100 / 5. 3.100
libswresample 3. 3.100 / 3. 3.100
libpostproc 55. 3.100 / 55. 3.100



And in case it's the file, that's the problem - I am trying to convert "kick-808.wav" downloaded from http://99sounds.org/drum-samples/


Answer



In FFmpeg the input options go before the input file. So to open a raw PCM file you need



ffmpeg -ar 48000 -ac 1 -f s16le -i step2.pcm step3.wav


This is not an issue opening a file with a container format (e.g. wav), as these informations are part of the container headers.


Friday, January 19, 2018

Ubuntu installation on USB flash drive will not boot

Here's the partitioning I've done during Ubuntu install:
https://youtu.be/BcRnqqybMIQ



  • installing OS: Ubuntu 14.04 64bit AMD64

  • device: Asus x205ta

  • Ubuntu bootable USB drive created and BOOTIA32.EFI obtained from Internet inserted to /EFI/BOOT/ directory in bootable USB drive.

  • Currently trying to install ubuntu to a 2nd flash drive. My intention is to keep this 2nd flash drive connected to ASUS X205TA at all times and create dual boot system. (Windows 8.1 w/ bing + Ubuntu 14.04)

  • Partitioning during installation is shown in the above video.

  • /dev/sdb is the 2nd flash drive (Sandisk Ultra 32 GB)

  • created three partitions

    1. swap (2 G)

    2. ESP (EFI system partition) (~100 MB)

    3. ext4 space for Ubuntu (remaining space)



Bootloader installed in ESP so that UEFI will recognize it.


After installing this way, ASUS x205ta failed to boot Ubuntu from 2nd drive.


I'm guessing since the UEFI is 32-bit, I should also copy the BOOTIA32.EFI that I used to recognize the first flash drive also into ESP in the second flash drive.


However, I cannot access this partition. It doesn't have any format.


enter image description here


'Disk2' is the 2nd flash drive where Ubuntu is installed. For some reason all the partitions do not have file format. ESP should be the smallest partition among those three partitions but since it doesn't have any file format I can't even access it to copy/paste BOOTIA32.EFI.


How can I get this Ubuntu flash drive bootable?

linux - Shred File without overwriting blocks



AFAIK, a file on a file system has two components.




  1. The pointer that stores the directory path of the file. Also stores the list of sectors/blocks on the disk that the file is composed of.

  2. The real sectors/blocks on the disk that store the file data.




When deleting a file, the pointer is removed without any changes to the blocks. But the list of blocks are marked free to be used whenever data is written. Considering no overwritten data,




  • If the pointer is completely removed, How can Recovery programs recover files?

  • From what source these Recovery programs get the list of blocks the deleted file is composed of?



And,





  • Can I shred file without overwriting its blocks? By completely clearing list of blocks that file to be deleted is composed of.

  • Can I make file recovery impossible of already deleted files by not overwriting free space? By completely clearing list of blocks that deleted file is composed of.



Consider a fragmented filesystem like ext4 on a 512 Byte physical sector sized disk. File Recovery is pretty much useless when a deleted file's list of blocks cannot be known. If such thing is possible maybe it gives the disk little more life.


Answer




If the pointer is completely removed, How can Recovery programs
recover files?





It looks at disk blocks which aren't marked as being used by any file in the filesystem and examines the contents for non-random data. Eg known file format headers or text.




From what source these Recovery programs get the list of blocks the deleted > file is composed of?




Start with a list of all the blocks that are marked as used and look for all the others. However some filesystems do record the block chain for recently deleted files to aid in recovery





Can I shred file without overwriting its blocks? By completely clearing list of >blocks that file to be deleted is composed of.




It would still be discoverable if a block contained some recognisable data, eg a JPEG header, and that allowed the rest of the image to be recovered.




Can I make file recovery impossible of already deleted files by not overwriting >free space?





No , the data is still on disk and may be detectable.




By completely clearing list of blocks that deleted file is composed of.




My knowledge of filesystems is a little out of date but they used to store the link to the next block in the end of the previous block, so you only had to recognise one block of data and got the rest of the file from that point onward. The main index table only had to store the location of the first block int he file. I don't know if this applies to modern (eg. NTFS/EXT4) filesystems.


windows - File system corrupt after attempting to repair NTFS partitions using TestDisk

Primarily I'm looking for:



  • Details of what TestDisk means by "Warning: number of bytes per sector mismatches 2048 (NTFS) != 512 (HD)"


  • Analysis or suggestions regarding what probably went wrong and how to best undo/recover from it.


  • Suggestions on good (preferably free) software tools for partition / disk editing and recovery



But any ideas, information or suggestions on how to best deal with this would be appreciated.


Responses that boil down to giving up (hire a data recovery company, restore from backups, you can't recover from this, etc) are not going to be productive. I just started this process and have recovered data under much worse conditions in the past so I'm not going to give up on this after only a couple hours. The circumstances are different and I'm very unfamiliar with current tools though which is why I'm seeking advice.


I have a 6 TB drive using GUID partition structure that contained 1 small reserved and 1 large NTFS partition. Windows stopped recognizing these and was displaying the entire disk as RAW in Disk Management. TestDisk could see the partitions (it displayed the reserved one twice) and could even list the files on the NTFS partition.


After having TestDisk write the partition data the NTFS partition is now displayed as Unallocated in Disk Management and even TestDisk can not display the file contents! I think it wrote the wrong partition data for the NTFS partition (see the before & after backup logs below).


Decided its best to stop making changes and seek advice before proceeding.


I've got a 6 TB RAID 5 disk in my home server that's using HighPoint RocketRAID card. The power supply on the system died and it was off-line for awhile. Just replaced the power supply and everything seems fine except the 6TB drive now appears as RAW in Windows Disk Management instead of containing my NTFS data volume. The OS (Windows Server 2012 Standard) was on a different drive and boots fine.


Tried several recovery software tools to get the partition and/or data back. Both TestDisk (open source) and Active Partition Recovery (commercial) could see the partitions (1 small reserved, 1 large data) and could list my files. I paid for Active Partition Recovery and tried it since it seemed the most straight forward to use. Unfortunately it stopped during the restore partition process one prompt after where it requires a commercial license saying it can't recover the partition because its already active or live or something. Completely bogus, I'll be seeking a refund or a charge back (FYI).


TestDisk after running Analyze over night displayed a list of my files then allowed me to perform data recovery. I've discovered that you can "stop" the Analyze once it displays the partitions (which is almost immediate) instead of leaving it to run multiple hours which doesn't seem to change its results. I'm guessing / hoping that's fine to do because I updated to version 7 of TestDisk (was running 6.12), ran analyze again and stopped it to proceed.


TestDisk could have copied the data to a different location. Unfortunately I don't have 6 TB of disk space available to copy the data off so I tried writing the partitions and fixing it in-place. When I got to the repair partition options I had it "Write" the partition data to disk. It completed and said I needed to reboot to see the changes.


After rebooting Windows Disk Management now displays 2 small partitions and 1 big chunk of unallocated space. This is obviously wrong and the NTFS data is not accessible at all. Even TestDisk can't display the file contents and now shows "Can't open filesystem. Filesystem seems damaged." after performing Analyze.


Below is all of the relevant information I can think of which might help resolve this issue. I'm very experienced with system administration and such but have no experience with TestDisk and haven't had to manipulate / recover partitions in 10+ years so I'm stale and my memory is fuzzy on the topic.


Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated. If there are other tools that would help me recover the data I'm open to that (as long as they aren't expensive, though free would be preferred).


1406052104 Disk /dev/sdd - 6000 GB / 5588 GiB - CHS 729572 255 63
1 : start= 34, size= 262144, Id=00, P
2 : start= 264192, size=3130388480, Id=00, P

1406053772 Disk /dev/sdd - 6000 GB / 5588 GiB - CHS 729572 255 63
1 : start= 2048, size= 204800, Id=00, P
2 : start= 206848, size=125829120, Id=00, P

I didn't write it down but the entire drive showed as a single RAW entry


Disk 3, Basic, 5588.81 GB, Online
100 MB RAW, Healthy (Primary Partition)
60 GB RAW, Healthy (Primary Partition)
5528.71 GB, Unallocated

I didn't save this. I believe it displayed the 1st reserved partition twice (with identical start and stop positions) and then the NTFS partition once. It also displayed number of bytes per sector mismatches warnings and I believe the numbers were the same before and after.


TestDisk 7.0-WIP, Data Recovery Utility, June 2014
Christophe GRENIER
http://www.cgsecurity.org
Disk /dev/sdd - 6000 GB / 5588 GiB - CHS 729576 255 63
Current partition structure:
Partition Start End Size in sectors
Warning: number of bytes per sector mismatches 2048 (NTFS) != 512 (HD)
1 P MS Data 2048 206847 204800
Warning: number of bytes per sector mismatches 2048 (NTFS) != 512 (HD)
2 P MS Data 206848 126035967 125829120

This is a RAID 5 disk implemented in hardware using a HighPoint RocketRAID card. RAID is configured using the card, not in Windows Disk Management. So Windows just sees this as a single large 6 TB drive and the fact that its a hardware RAID should be irrelevant.


Note that this is the complete log containing multiple runs. The run that performed the write begins with Tue Jul 22 11:27:07 2014 or just search for "write!"


Tue Jul 22 11:26:54 2014
Command line: TestDisk
TestDisk 7.0-WIP, Data Recovery Utility, June 2014
Christophe GRENIER
http://www.cgsecurity.org
OS: Windows Server 6.2.9200
Compiler: GCC 4.7, Cygwin 1007.25
Compilation date: 2014-06-21T09:12:27
ext2fs lib: 1.42.8, ntfs lib: 10:0:0, reiserfs lib: 0.3.1-rc8, ewf lib: 20120504
disk_get_size_win32 IOCTL_DISK_GET_LENGTH_INFO(/dev/sda)=80022134272
disk_get_size_win32 IOCTL_DISK_GET_LENGTH_INFO(/dev/sdb)=1000204886016
disk_get_size_win32 IOCTL_DISK_GET_LENGTH_INFO(/dev/sdc)=750156374016
disk_get_size_win32 IOCTL_DISK_GET_LENGTH_INFO(/dev/sdd)=6000941727744
disk_get_size_win32 IOCTL_DISK_GET_LENGTH_INFO(\\.\PhysicalDrive0)=80022134272
disk_get_size_win32 IOCTL_DISK_GET_LENGTH_INFO(\\.\PhysicalDrive1)=1000204886016
disk_get_size_win32 IOCTL_DISK_GET_LENGTH_INFO(\\.\PhysicalDrive2)=750156374016
disk_get_size_win32 IOCTL_DISK_GET_LENGTH_INFO(\\.\PhysicalDrive3)=6000941727744
disk_get_size_win32 IOCTL_DISK_GET_LENGTH_INFO(\\.\C:)=80019980288
disk_get_size_win32 IOCTL_DISK_GET_LENGTH_INFO(\\.\D:)=104857600
disk_get_size_win32 IOCTL_DISK_GET_LENGTH_INFO(\\.\E:)=64424509440
disk_get_size_win32 IOCTL_DISK_GET_LENGTH_INFO(\\.\L:)=1000202043392
Hard disk list
Disk /dev/sda - 80 GB / 74 GiB - CHS 9728 255 63, sector size=512 - INTEL SSDSA2M080G2GN, S/N:CVPO002501NH080BGN, FW:2CV102HA
Disk /dev/sdb - 1000 GB / 931 GiB - CHS 121601 255 63, sector size=512 - Hitachi HDT721010SLA360, S/N:STF607MH3HMXPK, FW:ST6OA3AA
Disk /dev/sdc - 750 GB / 698 GiB - CHS 91201 255 63, sector size=512 - ST3750640AS, S/N:5QD4KVRD, FW:3.AAK
Disk /dev/sdd - 6000 GB / 5588 GiB - CHS 729572 255 63, sector size=512 - HPT DISK 0_0, FW:4.00
SIGINT detected! TestDisk has been killed.
Tue Jul 22 11:27:07 2014
Command line: TestDisk
TestDisk 7.0-WIP, Data Recovery Utility, June 2014
Christophe GRENIER
http://www.cgsecurity.org
OS: Windows Server 6.2.9200
Compiler: GCC 4.7, Cygwin 1007.25
Compilation date: 2014-06-21T09:12:27
ext2fs lib: 1.42.8, ntfs lib: 10:0:0, reiserfs lib: 0.3.1-rc8, ewf lib: 20120504
disk_get_size_win32 IOCTL_DISK_GET_LENGTH_INFO(/dev/sda)=80022134272
disk_get_size_win32 IOCTL_DISK_GET_LENGTH_INFO(/dev/sdb)=1000204886016
disk_get_size_win32 IOCTL_DISK_GET_LENGTH_INFO(/dev/sdc)=750156374016
disk_get_size_win32 IOCTL_DISK_GET_LENGTH_INFO(/dev/sdd)=6000941727744
disk_get_size_win32 IOCTL_DISK_GET_LENGTH_INFO(\\.\PhysicalDrive0)=80022134272
disk_get_size_win32 IOCTL_DISK_GET_LENGTH_INFO(\\.\PhysicalDrive1)=1000204886016
disk_get_size_win32 IOCTL_DISK_GET_LENGTH_INFO(\\.\PhysicalDrive2)=750156374016
disk_get_size_win32 IOCTL_DISK_GET_LENGTH_INFO(\\.\PhysicalDrive3)=6000941727744
disk_get_size_win32 IOCTL_DISK_GET_LENGTH_INFO(\\.\C:)=80019980288
disk_get_size_win32 IOCTL_DISK_GET_LENGTH_INFO(\\.\D:)=104857600
disk_get_size_win32 IOCTL_DISK_GET_LENGTH_INFO(\\.\E:)=64424509440
disk_get_size_win32 IOCTL_DISK_GET_LENGTH_INFO(\\.\L:)=1000202043392
Hard disk list
Disk /dev/sda - 80 GB / 74 GiB - CHS 9728 255 63, sector size=512 - INTEL SSDSA2M080G2GN, S/N:CVPO002501NH080BGN, FW:2CV102HA
Disk /dev/sdb - 1000 GB / 931 GiB - CHS 121601 255 63, sector size=512 - Hitachi HDT721010SLA360, S/N:STF607MH3HMXPK, FW:ST6OA3AA
Disk /dev/sdc - 750 GB / 698 GiB - CHS 91201 255 63, sector size=512 - ST3750640AS, S/N:5QD4KVRD, FW:3.AAK
Disk /dev/sdd - 6000 GB / 5588 GiB - CHS 729572 255 63, sector size=512 - HPT DISK 0_0, FW:4.00
Partition table type (auto): EFI GPT
Disk /dev/sdd - 6000 GB / 5588 GiB - HPT DISK 0_0
Partition table type: EFI GPT
New options :
Dump : No
Align partition: Yes
Expert mode : No
Interface Advanced
hdr_size=92
hdr_lba_self=1
hdr_lba_alt=11720589311 (expected 11720589311)
hdr_lba_start=34
hdr_lba_end=11720589278
hdr_lba_table=2
hdr_entries=128
hdr_entsz=128
1 P MS Data 2048 206847 204800
NTFS, blocksize=4096, 104 MB / 100 MiB
2 P MS Data 206848 126035967 125829120
NTFS, blocksize=4096, 64 GB / 60 GiB
Analyse Disk /dev/sdd - 6000 GB / 5588 GiB - CHS 729572 255 63
hdr_size=92
hdr_lba_self=1
hdr_lba_alt=11720589311 (expected 11720589311)
hdr_lba_start=34
hdr_lba_end=11720589278
hdr_lba_table=2
hdr_entries=128
hdr_entsz=128
Current partition structure:
Warning: number of bytes per sector mismatches 2048 (NTFS) != 512 (HD)
1 P MS Data 2048 206847 204800
Warning: number of bytes per sector mismatches 2048 (NTFS) != 512 (HD)
2 P MS Data 206848 126035967 125829120
$MFT has invalid magic.
ntfs_mft_load(): Failed.
Failed to load $MFT: Input/output error.
Failed to startup volume: Input/output error.
$MFT has invalid magic.
ntfs_mft_load(): Failed.
Failed to load $MFT: Input/output error.
Backup partition structure
partition_save
search_part()
Disk /dev/sdd - 6000 GB / 5588 GiB - CHS 729572 255 63
NTFS at 0/32/33
Warning: number of bytes per sector mismatches 2048 (NTFS) != 512 (HD)
filesystem size 51200
sectors_per_cluster 2
mft_lcn 8533
mftmirr_lcn 2
clusters_per_mft_record -11
clusters_per_index_record 1
NTFS part_offset=1048576, part_size=104857600, sector_size=512
NTFS partition cannot be added (part_offsetNTFS at 0/32/33
Warning: number of bytes per sector mismatches 2048 (NTFS) != 512 (HD)
filesystem size 51200
sectors_per_cluster 2
mft_lcn 8533
mftmirr_lcn 2
clusters_per_mft_record -11
clusters_per_index_record 1
MS Data 2048 206847 204800
NTFS, blocksize=4096, 104 MB / 100 MiB
NTFS at 12/223/20
Warning: number of bytes per sector mismatches 2048 (NTFS) != 512 (HD)
filesystem size 31457280
sectors_per_cluster 2
mft_lcn 786432
mftmirr_lcn 2
clusters_per_mft_record -11
clusters_per_index_record 1
NTFS part_offset=105906176, part_size=64424509440, sector_size=512
NTFS partition cannot be added (part_offsetNTFS at 12/223/20
Warning: number of bytes per sector mismatches 2048 (NTFS) != 512 (HD)
filesystem size 31457280
sectors_per_cluster 2
mft_lcn 786432
mftmirr_lcn 2
clusters_per_mft_record -11
clusters_per_index_record 1
MS Data 206848 126035967 125829120
NTFS, blocksize=4096, 64 GB / 60 GiB
Search for partition aborted
Results
P MS Data 2048 206847 204800
NTFS, blocksize=4096, 104 MB / 100 MiB
P MS Data 206848 126035967 125829120
NTFS, blocksize=4096, 64 GB / 60 GiB
gpt_change_part_type
Change partition type:
P MS Data 206848 126035967 125829120
NTFS, blocksize=4096, 64 GB / 60 GiB
Change partition type:
P NTFS 206848 126035967 125829120
NTFS, blocksize=4096, 64 GB / 60 GiB
P MS Data 206848 126035967 125829120
NTFS, blocksize=4096, 64 GB / 60 GiB
Can't open filesystem. Filesystem seems damaged.
interface_load
Disk /dev/sdd - 6000 GB / 5588 GiB - CHS 729572 255 63 Tue Jul 22 11:29:32 2014
1 P Unknown 2048 206847 204800
2 P Unknown 206848 126035967 125829120
interface_write()
1 P MS Data 2048 206847 204800
2 P MS Data 206848 126035967 125829120
write!
No extended partition
You will have to reboot for the change to take effect.
Analyse Disk /dev/sdd - 6000 GB / 5588 GiB - CHS 729572 255 63
hdr_size=92
hdr_lba_self=1
hdr_lba_alt=11720589311 (expected 11720589311)
hdr_lba_start=34
hdr_lba_end=11720589278
hdr_lba_table=2
hdr_entries=128
hdr_entsz=128
Current partition structure:
Warning: number of bytes per sector mismatches 2048 (NTFS) != 512 (HD)
1 P MS Data 2048 206847 204800
Warning: number of bytes per sector mismatches 2048 (NTFS) != 512 (HD)
2 P MS Data 206848 126035967 125829120
$MFT has invalid magic.
ntfs_mft_load(): Failed.
Failed to load $MFT: Input/output error.
Failed to startup volume: Input/output error.
$MFT has invalid magic.
ntfs_mft_load(): Failed.
Failed to load $MFT: Input/output error.
search_part()
Disk /dev/sdd - 6000 GB / 5588 GiB - CHS 729572 255 63
NTFS at 0/32/33
Warning: number of bytes per sector mismatches 2048 (NTFS) != 512 (HD)
filesystem size 51200
sectors_per_cluster 2
mft_lcn 8533
mftmirr_lcn 2
clusters_per_mft_record -11
clusters_per_index_record 1
NTFS part_offset=1048576, part_size=104857600, sector_size=512
NTFS partition cannot be added (part_offsetNTFS at 0/32/33
Warning: number of bytes per sector mismatches 2048 (NTFS) != 512 (HD)
filesystem size 51200
sectors_per_cluster 2
mft_lcn 8533
mftmirr_lcn 2
clusters_per_mft_record -11
clusters_per_index_record 1
MS Data 2048 206847 204800
NTFS, blocksize=4096, 104 MB / 100 MiB
NTFS at 12/223/20
Warning: number of bytes per sector mismatches 2048 (NTFS) != 512 (HD)
filesystem size 31457280
sectors_per_cluster 2
mft_lcn 786432
mftmirr_lcn 2
clusters_per_mft_record -11
clusters_per_index_record 1
NTFS part_offset=105906176, part_size=64424509440, sector_size=512
NTFS partition cannot be added (part_offsetNTFS at 12/223/20
Warning: number of bytes per sector mismatches 2048 (NTFS) != 512 (HD)
filesystem size 31457280
sectors_per_cluster 2
mft_lcn 786432
mftmirr_lcn 2
clusters_per_mft_record -11
clusters_per_index_record 1
MS Data 206848 126035967 125829120
NTFS, blocksize=4096, 64 GB / 60 GiB
Search for partition aborted
Results
P MS Data 2048 206847 204800
NTFS, blocksize=4096, 104 MB / 100 MiB
P MS Data 206848 126035967 125829120
NTFS, blocksize=4096, 64 GB / 60 GiB
P MS Data 206848 126035967 125829120
NTFS, blocksize=4096, 64 GB / 60 GiB
Can't open filesystem. Filesystem seems damaged.
gpt_change_part_type
Change partition type:
P MS Data 206848 126035967 125829120
NTFS, blocksize=4096, 64 GB / 60 GiB
Change partition type:
P NTFS 206848 126035967 125829120
NTFS, blocksize=4096, 64 GB / 60 GiB
interface_write()
1 P MS Data 2048 206847 204800
2 P MS Data 206848 126035967 125829120
simulate write!
New geometry
Disk /dev/sdd - 6000 GB / 5588 GiB - CHS 182394 255 63 sector_size=2048
Analyse Disk /dev/sdd - 6000 GB / 5588 GiB - CHS 182394 255 63
file_pread(7,4,buffer,3130703844(729575/254/60)) lseek err Invalid argument
Bad GPT partition, invalid signature.
Trying alternate GPT
Current partition structure:
Bad GPT partition, invalid signature.
Trying alternate GPT
$MFT has invalid magic.
ntfs_mft_load(): Failed.
Failed to load $MFT: Input/output error.
Failed to startup volume: Input/output error.
$MFT has invalid magic.
ntfs_mft_load(): Failed.
Failed to load $MFT: Input/output error.
search_part()
Disk /dev/sdd - 6000 GB / 5588 GiB - CHS 182394 255 63
NTFS at 0/8/9
filesystem size 51200
sectors_per_cluster 2
mft_lcn 8533
mftmirr_lcn 2
clusters_per_mft_record -11
clusters_per_index_record 1
MS Data 512 51711 51200
NTFS, blocksize=4096, 104 MB / 100 MiB
NTFS at 3/55/53
filesystem size 31457280
sectors_per_cluster 2
mft_lcn 786432
mftmirr_lcn 2
clusters_per_mft_record -11
clusters_per_index_record 1
MS Data 51712 31508991 31457280
NTFS, blocksize=4096, 64 GB / 60 GiB
Search for partition aborted
Results
P MS Data 512 51711 51200
NTFS, blocksize=4096, 104 MB / 100 MiB
P MS Data 51712 31508991 31457280
NTFS, blocksize=4096, 64 GB / 60 GiB
P MS Data 51712 31508991 31457280
NTFS, blocksize=4096, 64 GB / 60 GiB
Can't open filesystem. Filesystem seems damaged.
interface_write()
1 P MS Data 512 51711 51200
2 P MS Data 51712 31508991 31457280
simulate write!
New geometry
Disk /dev/sdd - 6000 GB / 5588 GiB - CHS 729576 255 63 sector_size=512
Analyse Disk /dev/sdd - 6000 GB / 5588 GiB - CHS 729576 255 63
hdr_size=92
hdr_lba_self=1
hdr_lba_alt=11720589311 (expected 11720638439)
hdr_lba_start=34
hdr_lba_end=11720589278
hdr_lba_table=2
hdr_entries=128
hdr_entsz=128
Current partition structure:
Warning: number of bytes per sector mismatches 2048 (NTFS) != 512 (HD)
1 P MS Data 2048 206847 204800
Warning: number of bytes per sector mismatches 2048 (NTFS) != 512 (HD)
2 P MS Data 206848 126035967 125829120
$MFT has invalid magic.
ntfs_mft_load(): Failed.
Failed to load $MFT: Input/output error.
Failed to startup volume: Input/output error.
$MFT has invalid magic.
ntfs_mft_load(): Failed.
Failed to load $MFT: Input/output error.
search_part()
Disk /dev/sdd - 6000 GB / 5588 GiB - CHS 729576 255 63
NTFS at 0/32/33
Warning: number of bytes per sector mismatches 2048 (NTFS) != 512 (HD)
filesystem size 51200
sectors_per_cluster 2
mft_lcn 8533
mftmirr_lcn 2
clusters_per_mft_record -11
clusters_per_index_record 1
NTFS part_offset=1048576, part_size=104857600, sector_size=512
NTFS partition cannot be added (part_offsetNTFS at 0/32/33
Warning: number of bytes per sector mismatches 2048 (NTFS) != 512 (HD)
filesystem size 51200
sectors_per_cluster 2
mft_lcn 8533
mftmirr_lcn 2
clusters_per_mft_record -11
clusters_per_index_record 1
MS Data 2048 206847 204800
NTFS, blocksize=4096, 104 MB / 100 MiB
NTFS at 12/223/20
Warning: number of bytes per sector mismatches 2048 (NTFS) != 512 (HD)
filesystem size 31457280
sectors_per_cluster 2
mft_lcn 786432
mftmirr_lcn 2
clusters_per_mft_record -11
clusters_per_index_record 1
NTFS part_offset=105906176, part_size=64424509440, sector_size=512
NTFS partition cannot be added (part_offsetNTFS at 12/223/20
Warning: number of bytes per sector mismatches 2048 (NTFS) != 512 (HD)
filesystem size 31457280
sectors_per_cluster 2
mft_lcn 786432
mftmirr_lcn 2
clusters_per_mft_record -11
clusters_per_index_record 1
MS Data 206848 126035967 125829120
NTFS, blocksize=4096, 64 GB / 60 GiB
Search for partition aborted
Results
P MS Data 2048 206847 204800
NTFS, blocksize=4096, 104 MB / 100 MiB
P MS Data 206848 126035967 125829120
NTFS, blocksize=4096, 64 GB / 60 GiB
P MS Data 206848 126035967 125829120
NTFS, blocksize=4096, 64 GB / 60 GiB
Can't open filesystem. Filesystem seems damaged.
interface_write()
1 P MS Data 2048 206847 204800
2 P MS Data 206848 126035967 125829120
simulate write!
Analyse Disk /dev/sdd - 6000 GB / 5588 GiB - CHS 729576 255 63
hdr_size=92
hdr_lba_self=1
hdr_lba_alt=11720589311 (expected 11720638439)
hdr_lba_start=34
hdr_lba_end=11720589278
hdr_lba_table=2
hdr_entries=128
hdr_entsz=128
Current partition structure:
Warning: number of bytes per sector mismatches 2048 (NTFS) != 512 (HD)
1 P MS Data 2048 206847 204800
Warning: number of bytes per sector mismatches 2048 (NTFS) != 512 (HD)
2 P MS Data 206848 126035967 125829120

hard drive - Leaving bad sectors in unformatted partition?

Laptop was acting really weird, and copy and seek times were really slow, so I decided to scan the hard drive surface. I have a couple hundr...