Windows middle-button scroll icon!

I was trying to find an icon for this to put in a document, but couldn’t find one with the circle and all 4 arrows, so I made my own.

In case anyone else needs one, here you go.

It’s not perfect, but good enough for internal tech docs.

Easy (lazy) way to get your serial number for your Dell, or other OEM system?

Need your serial number?  Laptop’s docked, or workstation not easily accessible?

Here’s an easy way to get your vendor serial number:

1. Start a command prompt, click start, type “cmd”, hit enter
2. type “wmic bios get serialnumber”

This will return your Dell, Lenovo, etc serial number.

Note: If you have a custom or home built system, you’re not likely to get an serial number, you’ll probably see something like  “system serial number” or “to be filled in by o.e.m”

VMware Workstation 12.5 now available

What’s New

• Support for Windows 10 Anniversary Update
• Support for Windows Server 2016

Also included are bug fixes, security updates, and performance improvements.

Full Release Notes here: http://www.vmware.com/products/workstation.html

Download: http://www.vmware.com/products/workstation.html

 

Dell Windows Recovery Images via the web

There are apparently a lot of people that don’t know about this, (or maybe google)?, so here’s a little publicity for Dell.

You can download the Windows recovery image for your Dell computer here:

http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/OSISO

All you need is your service tag…and having purchased your Dell with Windows.

Here’s the full text of the site:

Recovery Image of Microsoft Windows

Download the recovery image

Download a recovery image of Microsoft Windows Operating System customized for your Dell product. Dell customization of the Windows image includes:

• Updated patches that address common issues for Dell systems.
• Dell support information.

The image provided in this download was configured to be bootable from either a DVD or USB.
Note: The recovery image contains the version of Windows that came installed on your computer. If you have upgraded your operating system, you will need to reinstall the upgrade after you have restored your system to the factory settings.

---

Identify your Dell PC

To ensure that we provided the correct image available for your Dell PC, provide the Service Tag of the system to which the image will be installed.

Dell’s Hosted Recovery Image is designed to work with Dell systems. It is not designed to be supported on non-Dell PCs.

Restoring the Quick Launch Menu (and Windows Explorer) for Windows 7 and 10

(this is an updated repost of an article I have on my deprecated http://www.essjae.com website)

One thing I really had grown accustomed to is the Quick Launch menu and easily opening multiple Windows Explorer windows across my 2 and 3 monitor setups and seeing the Drives view.

Both of these have been noticeably missing since Win 7.

Step 1: Get back the Quick Launch menu

• Right-click the Taskbar, select Toolbars–>New Toolbar.
• In Folder text box copy and paste the following:     %userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch
• Right-click the Taskbar, uncheck Lock the Taskbar, and right-click on the new Quick Launch toolbar. Uncheck Show Text and Show Title, click View–>Small Icons
• Drag the toolbar divider all the way to the left of the taskbar to position it next to the Windows Orb, adjust the spacing on the taskbar as necessary
• End result:   (minus the Explorer icon)

Step 2:

• Add Windows Explorer in Win 7
  •  Click the Orb, then All Programs–>Accessories
  • Right-click to select and drag Windows Explorer () to the Quick Launch toolbar, then release
  • Select Copy Here from the pop-up menu
  • Right-click the Windows Explorer icon (), then click Properties
• In Windows 10
  •  select and copy %SystemRoot%\
  • Click the Win icon or press the Win key and then paste %SystemRoot%\
  • Press Enter
  • Find explorer.exe, right-click and drag it to the Quick Launch bar
  • Right-click the Windows Explorer icon (), then click Properties
• Add the following to the end of the command in Target:     /e,
• The command should look like this:  %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /e,

• Click OK
• Now, when you click on the Windows Explorer icon you’ll see this:

• • 

Windows Update fix for corruption errors like 0x80070002

Microsoft KB 947821 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/947821)

If you’ve gotten one of those cryptic 0x800xxxxxx Windows Update errors, Microsoft finally has a fix for Vista and higher, no XP solution.

Fix Windows Update corruption errors such as 0x80070002 and 0x80070057

Windows Update corruption errors prevent Windows updates and service packs from installing. For example, an update might not install if a system file is damaged. If the error you see is in the following list, try the solution in this article.

0x80070002 | 0x8007000D | 0x800F081F | 0x80073712 | 0x800736CC | 0x800705B9 | 0x80070246 | 0x8007370D | 0x8007370B | 0x8007370A | 0x80070057 | 0x800B0100 | 0x80092003 | 0x800B0101 | 0x8007371B | 0x80070490

 

Windows 8.x and Server 2012 Rx

To resolve this problem, use the inbox Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) tool. Then, install the Windows update or service pack again.

1. Open an elevated command prompt. To do this, swipe in from the right edge of the screen, and then tap Search. Or, if you are using a mouse, point to the lower-right corner of the screen, and then click Search. Type Command Prompt in the Search box, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator. If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Allow.
2. Type the following commands. Press Enter after each command.
   Note It may take several minutes for each command operation to be completed.
   • DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Scanhealth
   • DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
3. Close the command prompt, and then run Windows Update again.

DISM creates a log file (%windir%/Logs/CBS/CBS.log) that captures any issues that the tool found or fixed. %windir% is the folder in which Windows is installed. For example, the %windir% folder is C:\Windows.

 

Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows Server 2008

See the KB link for the download you need. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/947821

Dell e6540 Windows Experience Index (WEI)

Retrieve XPMode data on Windows 8 KB2724115

How to retrieve data from a Windows XP Mode virtual machine on Windows 8

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2724115

The KB provides the info needed to retrieve data from XPMode to migrate to Windows 8.

Summary // With the end of extended support for Windows XP in April 2014, Microsoft has decided not to develop Windows XP Mode for Windows 8. If you’re a Windows 7 customer who uses Windows XP Mode and are planning a move to Windows 8, this article may be helpful to you. When you upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 8, Windows XP Mode is installed on your machine, however Windows Virtual PC is not present anymore. This issue occurs because Windows Virtual PC is not supported on Windows 8. To retrieve data from the Windows XP Mode virtual machine, perform the steps listed in the More Information section.

Windows 7 USB/DVD download tool

The Windows 7 USB/DVD download tool is a great little utility I just discovered (its been around for years, but I never found it) when googling for a tool install Windows 7 from USB.  In short, you can easily take a Windows ISO image and quickly make a bootable USB flash drive to install Windows.

This is the first thing I’ve gotten from the Microsoft store and if this is the type of things they’ll have, I’ll definitely be a fan!

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/html/pbPage.Help_Win7_usbdvd_dwnTool

 

 You can do it manually also (this is how I used to do it)

Start a cmd prompt as Administrator

Type “diskpart”, and press enter

Type “list disk”, press enter and find your USB drive (make sure you get the correct disk, since it will be formatted!)

Type “select disk #”, press enter– where # is the disk from step 3

Enter the following commands followed by enter

• clean
• create partition primary
• select partition 1
• active
• format fs=ntfs quick
• assign
• exit

Now from the command prompt, change to your mounted Windows 7 installation ISO or DVD drive.  If your ISO is mounted to V:, change to the V: drive.

change to the boot directory, “cd boot”

type “bootsect /nt60 x:”  where x: is the drive letter of your USB drive. You should get a “successfully updated ntfs filesystem message” if it worked.

finally, copy all the files from the DVD/ISO image to the USB drive.

Dell’s Latitude ST Tablet – how NOT to build a slate

I picked up a refurbed Dell ST from Dell’s outlet figuring it would be a nice little Win7 slate to go along with my aging Toshiba M400 convertible.  My M400 was a wonderful tool when I returned to SFSU to complete my computer engineering degree.  I used it to take notes, annotate PDFs from class, and complete homework.

I was in for a huge disappointment.  The ST is woefully underpowered with it’s Atom CPU and 2GB of RAM.  I have the 32GB SSD version. 

There are no buttons except power, volume, and a rotation lock. Get stuck on boot, need to “press any key,” “f1” or “f2” and don’t have a USB keyboard handy?  You’re out of luck! 

Compared to an iPad or Android tablet its slow, hot, has an inaccurate touch and pen digitizer.  If you want to run Aero, forget about doing anything else.  Switching Performance setttings makes it usable.

Windows 7 Experience index:

Processor: 2.2

Memory: 4.2

Graphics: 4.3

Gaming graphics: 3.0

Primary hard disk: 7.3