Tag Archives: How To

How to Disable AutoReboot on Windows to Prevent Continuous Rebooting

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I worked on a Windows XP computer recently. This computer kept on rebooting continuously. I did not get a chance to see the blue screen of death for the error message for diagnostic purposes. While there are instructions available on how to disable AutoReboot when the computer can still boot normally, those instructions did not work in this case because the computer could not boot up at all.

With the help of Ultimate Boot CD(UBCD) for Win, I was able to modify the registry of the sick computer and stop it from continuous rebooting. Here are the steps:

  1. Download the CD image from this site on a working computer.
  2. Burn the CD image to a CD.
  3. Boot the sick computer using the CD. It usually involves pressing a function key during start up. Consult your machine’s user manual to find out which key to press.
  4. Launch UBCD for Win.
  5. Click on Start -> Programs -> Registry Tools -> RegEdit.
  6. Click on HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE to select it and then click on File -> Load Hive… .
  7. Browse to C:\Windows\System32\config\ and select system. Click on OK. Name it LocalSystem.
  8. Once the registry hive is loaded, browse to this key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\LocalSystem\ControlSet001\Control\CrashControl\AutoReboot
  9. Double click on the key and change the value to 0.
  10. Click on File -> Unload Hive … .
  11. Reboot the machine. Now the computer won’t start continuous rebooting again, and you should be able to see the error message.

Windows 7: How to Disable Ctrl + Alt + Del on Logon Screen

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We just got an Asus Eee Slate EP121. It came pre-installed with Windows 7 Home Premium edition. Since it was going to be used in an Enterprise environment, I wiped the hard drive clean and installed the Enterprise edition of Windows 7. When the tablet booted up the first time, I noticed a problem. The machine required me to press Ctrl+Alt+Del to log on. I had to connect a USB keyboard and use that to log on. Fortunately, the Eee Slate comes with a wireless keyboard, so it will not be a problem if you have the keyboard paired and ready to use. However, it can be a problem if you are out in the field without either a wired or wireless keyboard handy.

There is a way to disable the pressing Ctrl + Alt + Del requirement, through the Local Security Policy. Here are the steps:

  1. Click on the Windows logo.
  2. Enter secpol.msc and press Enter.
  3. Local Security Policy shows up. Expand Local Policies and then Security Options.
  4. Scroll down on the pane and double click on Interactive logon: Do not require CTRL + ALT + DEL.
  5. Click on Enabled and click on OK.
  6. Reboot the computer. You do not have to press Ctrl + Alt + Del on the log on screen any more. 

How to Convert WPA Passphrase to Key for Embedded Devices

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I recently changed my home wireless router’s encryption from WEP to WPA Personal. Most of my computers and wireless-enabled devices could connect without a problem except for an old set-top media player. The player did support WPA Personal, but it just wouldn’t connect. When I looked at the router’s status, I could see the player trying to connect. However, it only connected for a few seconds before suddenly disconnecting.

After I entered the passphrase several times, I then realized the media player only took  a WPA key. There was no way to input a passphrase to the player.  Some routers do generate the key for you, but mine does not support it. I needed a way to convert the passphrase to key.

I found a web page that converts the WPA passphrase to key for you. The calculation is done using Javascript on your computer, so your WPA passphrase is not transmitted to the server after processing. If you are still worried about the potential leak of your passphrase, you can save the webpage on your computer. Disconnect your computer from the network and run the Javascript-enabled page for conversion. Here is the link.

WPA Passphrase to Key Calculation

After I entered the converted key into my media player, it connected to the wireless network and worked  right away. This is very useful if you have wireless-enabled devices that only take a WPA key but not a passphrase.

 

How to Send an International Fax for Free

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Even though the internet is popular now, there are still a lot of people without internet access. Both telephone and fax are still the main communication tools for those people. Traditionally, the cost to send an international fax is not trivial. You need a fax machine or a computer with a fax modem. You also need to have an analog phone line. If you do not have a long distance phone plan for the country you want to fax to, the phone bill could be substantial.

There are some companies that offer internet faxing. There is no need to purchase any equipment and no subscription is necessary.  You can send an international fax for a nominal fee just by using your computer. Some companies even send the fax for you for free. Here is a company called freepopfax.com that I tried, with great results.  Just visit the site. Enter your email and upload your document to fax. You do not need to enter a credit card number or any other personal information. When the fax is done, you receive a confirmation email from them. If you are worried that they will spam your email account, you can use those one-time-use emails from sites like mailinator. The only catch is that they add some ads in the fax. Here is a sample output.

The service offers free international faxing to 40 countries. Give it a try if your country is supported.

How to Rename Windows Computers and Move Them to a New Domain using Netdom

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We have been busy with our Windows domain migration lately. When we first started, we did everything manually. We went to a workstation, renamed the machine and rebooted. Also, we waited until the machine booted up and moved/joined the workstation to the new domain. We had to reboot the machine again and wait for it to boot up to continue other migration tasks. This process got tedious quickly and it was very time consuming. It took about 20 minutes for the first two steps for every machine, and we had over 100 machines to migrate!

So I put on my programmer’s hat and started to look for an automatic solution. I found that the command line tool netdom on the Windows server renamed computers and moved them nicely. I could create simple batch scripts to automate the process.

First, I made a working folder on the server and created one text file and two batch files. I named the first file computers.txt. The text file  had a list of computer names to be migrated. The first column was the old name and the second column was the new name. So the file looked like this:

oldname1 newname1
oldname2 newname2
oldname3 newname3

The first batch script does renaming. It reads the list of names provided by computers.txt and calls netdom to rename the computers. I named this script batch-rename.bat. The credential here is a Domain Admin account in the old domain.

@echo off
for /f "tokens=1-2" %%A in (computers.txt) do (
  echo Rename computer from %%A to %%B
  netdom renamecomputer %%A /newname:%%B /force /reboot:60 /userd:oldadminusername /passwordd:oldadminpassword
)
pause

The second batch file, batch-move.bat, moves the computers from the old domain to the new domain. The credential provided is a Domain Admin account in the new domain

@echo off
for /f "tokens=1-2" %%A in (computers.txt) do (
  echo Move computer %%B to new domain
  netdom move %%B /domain:newdomain.mycompany.com /ou:"OU=Computers,DC=newdomain,DC=mycompany,DC=com" /userd:newadminusername /passwordd:newadminpassword /reboot:60
)
pause

Using the new process, now I only need to double click on batch-rename.bat and wait for the computers to reboot. When every computer is ready, I double click on batch-move.bat, and I am done. There was no longer a need to visit each computer and wait for account logon and logoff anymore. I was able to migrate tens of computers in less than 30 minutes.

How to Configure Polaris Office to Edit Google Docs or Box.net Documents

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Asus Transformer comes with an exclusive Office application: Polaris Office. The application lets you create/edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents. If you have a Google Docs or Box.net account, it even lets you edit the documents directly. Here are a few easy steps on how to set this app up.

  1. Tap the icon on the top right corner and tap on Add account.
  2. Tap the account type of your choice.
  3. Type in the account credential and tap OK. The account will be added under the account list.

File System Browsing Tutorial for Windows 7

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I have a popular post about fixing Any Video Converter’s profile problem by copying one file from one directory to the other directory. A few readers have responded saying that they do not know how to browse the file system and copy files. In this tutorial, I am going to show you how to browse the file system under Windows 7.

By default, there are a lot of hidden directories on Windows 7. The first part of the tutorial shows you how to enable viewing of hidden files and directories. The second part of the tutorial shows you how to browse a directory.

  1. Click on the Windows Explorer icon on the task bar to invoke it.
  2. Click on Organize -> Folder and search options.
  3. Click on the View tab and click on Show hidden files, folders, and drives. Uncheck Hide extensions for known files types and Hide protected operating system files (Recommended). You will be prompted with a warning. Just click on Yes to continue. When done, click on OK.
  4. Now the Window Explorer is ready for you to browse. Here is our example directory: C:\Users\amida\AppData\Roaming\AnvSoft\Any Video Converter\ . Note that this is just an example; your machine does not have this directory. The first letter of the directory path “C:\” denotes the drive. We need to first get to this drive. Click on Computer to show all the drives available. Then, double click on Local Disk (C:) to browse the C drive.
  5. The first level of the directory is Users, so we double click on Users to browse to C:\Users .
  6. The second level of the directory is amida, so we double click on amida to browse to C:\Users\amida .
  7. You can follow the same procedure for the 3rd to 6th levels of the directories, and you’ll finally be able get to your destination directory: C:\Users\amida\AppData\Roaming\AnvSoft\Any Video Converter\ .

To avoid accidental deleting of system files, you might want to repeat step 1 ~ 3 and restore the default viewing settings when you are done browsing.