Tag: windows 7

Defragsvc Slowing down Computer

I’ve been having troubles with defragsvc slowing down a copy of Windows 10 hosted on VMware Esxi.  It was putting the hard disk at 100% usage which caused major lag for all the other computers trying to access the VM.  I changed the settings so that the defrag only happens once a month but it wouldn’t stop this existing defrag.

Then again, was it really defragging?  The numbers showed 0% fragmented yet the defrag kept running?  I tried to stop the service but it wouldn’t let me.  I tried it via the commandline and it said it wasn’t running.  Thought that was weird.  Eventually I found some information on how to permanently stop it at windowssvc.com.

Open a command prompt. (Run a command prompt as Administrator in Windows vista/7/8)
Copy red command line and Paste.
sc stop “defragsvc”
sc config “defragsvc” start= disabled

I look forward to seeing if this stays disabled or if it improves my server.  Solutionreach was also maxing my drive and I just can’t figure out why.  It only happens on Wednesdays and I don’t see anything in the settings that sets Wednesday apart from any other day.  I disabled it and later is when defragsvc started to cause issues.  This is all happening on just one computer.  I haven’t run into this issue anywhere else.

Fixed SNMP Security Flaw using a Print Server

I kept receiving a highly critical security message about SNMP on the security reports.  Been seeing it for a long time but I couldn’t figure out how to solve it.  It seems like Windows 7 would not print unless SMNP was enabled.  No matter what setting I changed it wouldn’t print.

I read about setting up a print server.  I had set one up before but never used it.  What I did was I enabled CUPS in the Ubuntu 12.04 server and setup the print server using CUPS.  My problem in the past seems to have been that I didn’t know how to use the print server.  I found these great instructions and it seems so simple now.

Basically you have to add the printer that is located on the print server.  You added by the IP address.  For example it could be \\192.168.1.100\konica if “konica” is the name of the print queue and “192.168.1.100” is the print server IP address.

With that all fixed I now have no SNMP issues!

Mapped Drives will not stay connected in Windows

I would think that the process of mapping drives would be a mature and simple process in Windows.  Taking into account all the years that Windows from XP through Windows 8 there is no reason for these random hardships.  The difficulties with mapped drives is so random that one can’t pinpoint the issues.  For example, client buys 1o computers all the same and 1 out of the 10 computers won’t keep the network drives connected.

One of the first fixes to mapped drive connections is to use the net use command in a batch file.  There is plenty of sites out there that explains in detail how to use the net use command.  However, I have found a minor detail not described in earlier postings.  When creating a batch file be sure to use all lower-case.  At least in my situation with 2 Windows 7 computers the net use command would not work in upper-case.

Secondly, I’ve had issues with the mapped network drive batch files consistently working.  From the Technet website I used this info to manually delete the drives because a reboot and a normal disconnect would  not work for me.

 
Steps:

a. Click Start, click Run, type REGEDIT, and then click OK.

 

b. Locate and click the following registry subkey:

 

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\NetCache

 

c. Click Edit, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.

 

d. Type SilentForcedAutoReconnect , and then press ENTER to name the value.

 

e. Double-click SilentForcedAutoReconnect .

 

f. In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.

I also have had issues getting the persistent flag to work properly. Yes, I have tried just cutting and pasting.  Here is what I had to do on 2 different Windows computers to get the connections to work.

  1. Created the batch file to map the network drives.  I set it up in task manager with a 30 second delay after computer startup.
  2. The 2nd computer required me to put in a batch file to delete the current mapped drives on reboot and then another task to connect them after a 30 second delay.

There are just a lot of options out there that it can be a real time consuming issue.  Right now I am looking at 6 open tabs in Chrome with info on mapped drives and I used each tab to figure out how to resolve this issue.

 

A required CD/DVD device driver is missing, usb installation Windows 7

A required CD/DVD device driver is missing.  This is an error message you do not want to see when doing a clean install.  It’s even scarier when you are using a jump drive and not a dvd to do it.  I had to make sure I added this one to my blog.  Unfortunately, I left it sitting in drafts.  I probably wasted probably an hour and a half on this stupid error.

When installing Windows 7 from a USB I continuously got this error message saying “A required cd/dvd device driver is missing.  I felt it strange for two reasons.  The first being i was using USB and not a cd/dvd drive.  The second being I have used this particular flash drive numerous times without fail.

I searched many different sites looking for an answer but I kept being pointed in the wrong direction.  Thankfully the answer turns out to be quite simple.

Unbeknownst to me, you can’t use a USB 3.0 plug to install from a USB 2.0 device.  I had no idea the notebook even had USB 3.0 which made it more frustrating to me.

Obviously the error message is too generic and not very intuitive but remember if you see it, it may be as easy as choosing a different USB port.

How to Disable “opening these files might be harmful to your computer” Windows 8

This also applies to Windows 7.

I found the answer to this question on a technet forum.

Here is the deal: You go to copy or delete some files on a mapped network drive and you get this annoying warning as a popup that says “opening these files might be harmful to your computer.”

I’m thinking that’s fine I know what i am doing so lets click through the warning. Can I? Nope.

You have to go into Control Panel –> Internet Options –> security –> intranet sites –>advanced and then add the name or IP (I added the IP) of the mapped drive.

How to install Windows without the original factory CD

How does a person install Windows on a computer if the customer lost the original CD? Another way to put it is you need to do a clean install of Windows and the client looses the original Windows restore disk. It happens all the time to me. You have a key but you don’t have the media!

Well, my days of tracking the software down may be over. It looks like OEM versus Retail keys are not locked to their specific versions with Windows 7. (possibly with Vista also) Unfortunately, I have found no info that says an easy way to do this with Windows XP.

Here is a link on how to go about doing it:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/windows-os-software/428068-legal-windows-7-download-links-just-like-vista-before.html

Create a Bootable USB Drive for Windows 7

These directions were posted by “Arnie” in the comments saction of www.withinwindows.com

They work great! Especially since the Microsoft Tool was pulled and didn’t work for me anyways.

An other way to create a bootable USB drive to install W7 from is:
Format the drive from a Vista/W7 machine:
CMD
FORMAT F: /FS:NTFS (where F: is of course your USB drive)

Activate the first partition on that drive:
Start DISKPART
LIST DISK
SELECT DISK x (where x is the drivenumber shown from the previous command)
SELECT PARTITION 1
ACTIVE
EXIT

Mount your newly downloaded ISO from Microsoft with Daemon tools or other mount-tool
Place a W7 bootsector on the drive:
Z: (where Z: is your cdrom drive where the ISO is mounted)
CD \BOOT
BOOTSECT /NT60 F:

Now copy all of the files of the mounted cdrom to the USB drive
XCOPY Z:\ F:\ /S/E

Now boot from the USB drive to install W7!