Browsing Category Windows 7

How to Create a Virtual Hard Drive in Windows 7

A Virtual Hard Disk allows multiple operating systems to reside on a single machine. This method enables everyone to test software on different operating systems without the cost or hassle of installing a second hard disk or creating a separate partition on a single hard disk. The ability to directly modify a virtual machine’s hard disk from a host server supports many applications, including:

Moving files between a VHD and the host file system
Backup and recovery
Antivirus and security
Image management and patching
Disk conversion (physical to virtual, and so on)
Life-cycle management and provisioning
Mapped in the network

One of the new features in Windows 7 is the ability to create Virtual Hard Disks.

1. Right-click on My Computer and select to Manage. Alternately you can type diskmgmt.msc into the Start search box and enter.

2. In the Computer Management screen select Disk Management then click Action and Create VHD from the dropdown.

3. Browse to the directory you want the disk to reside, choose the size you want it to be, and select dynamic or a fixed. If you want the disk to expand in size as you add files to it, then choose Dynamically expanding. Check Fixed size if you want a specific size and for it to stay that way.

4. In Disk Management you will see the virtual drive listed in blue as unallocated space.

5. Right-click and select Initialize Disk. To begin using it.

6. In the initialize disk box just keep MBR selected and hit OK.

7. Now create a volume by Right-clicking the unallocated space and select New Simple Volume.

8. Click next on the Simple Volume Wizard

9. Choose the amount of space you want to use for the volume. leave it default to use the full volume.

10. Assign it a dive letter from the drop down that is not currently being used.

11. Format the new volume as NTFS, FAT32, or FAT.

12. Click on Finish and the wizard is complete.

If you have AutoPlay enabled it should pop up for you to open up your new virtual hard disk. You will also see it listed under My Computer.

How to Create a User Account in Windows 7 and Vista

With user accounts, several people can easily share a single computer. Each person can have a separate user account with unique settings and preferences, such as a desktop background or screen saver.

To Create a user account:

1. Click on the Start button.

2. Click on the Control Panel menu option.

3. Click on the Add or remove user accounts control panel.

5. In the Manage Accounts control panel. This screen shows all the accounts currently on your computer.

6. To create a new account, click on the Create a new account option.

7. You will now be at the Create New Account screen.

8. In the New account name field enter the name of the new account that you would like to create.This could be a person’s first name, full name, or whatever other designation you would like to give.

You then need to decide which of the two types of accounts you would like to create.

An Administrator account has full access to the computer and can make all changes, install software, and create and delete accounts.

The Standard user and has limited privileges as to what settings and changes it can make to the computer. It is suggested that for all users, you set them as a Standard User account and have one administrator account that you can logon to as needed. This will protect your computer from malware and other harmful activities.When you have finished selecting a name and the type of account you wish to setup, click on the Create Account button.Your new account will have been created and you will see it listed in the Manage Accounts screen.

9. As you can see the new user, named New User, has been created. Now when you re-start Windows 7 or Vista, you will see the additional account listed in the logon screen

How To Transfer Files & Settings From Windows 7 To Windows 8

The easiest way of migrating Windows 7 settings, local drives, and other required data to new Windows 8 PC. Windows 8 final Version is not released, the steps involved in transferring data from Windows 7 to Windows 8 would probably not change.

In this Tutorial We will use an External Hard Drive or USB Flash Drive to save the settings,then move them to Windows 8 PC.

To Save Files and Settings To External Hard Drive or USB Flash Drive:

1. Launch Windows Easy Transfer in Windows 7 from Start Search. A utility that allows you to copy files, system and user settings from one PC to another.

2. It will open the Windows Easy Transfer wizard, click Next to choose the target location.

3. Select the third option, to move your system settings along with files to external hard drive. Plug-in the external hard disk, and then Select An external hard disk or USB flash drive option to proceed.

4. Select This is my old computer option to transfer files and setting from current PC.

5. In this step, it shows currently logged-in User profile and Shared Items options, allowing you to choose the folders from both User Profile and Shared locations.

Note: You can customize the default folder and file section by hitting Customize. The Customize link present in User Profile section lets you pick Documents, Music, Pictures, Videos, Program Settings and Windows Settings, whereas the Shared Items section’s Customize link will open a Shared Items menu, allowing you to choose the shared items that are to be moved.

In order to manually pick User profiles’ folders, and files from hard drive partitions, click Advanced to open Modify your selections dialog. It presents a simple file browser to select the Windows folders and local volumes which are to be transferred. After the Windows folders and local volumes are selected, click Next.

6. Once you’ve selected the files, it will ask you to enter the password to secure the transfer process.Click save.then Select the Destination Drive. When the destination folder is selected, it will start copying the settings and selected folders. The time it takes to complete the copying process depends upon the volume of selected data.

7. Window 7 Easy Transfer wizard will save all the settings, user folders, and files from hard disk partitions in a MIG file.

Note: External hard disk formatted with FAT-32 file system does not support saving file larger than 4GB. So, before you select the external hard disk destination, make sure that it’s formatted to NTFS file system.

Once copied, Now, eject the external hard disk, and move to PC running Windows 8.

To Transfer Settings And Files On New PC Running Windows 8:

Just like previous Windows versions, Windows 8 comes with Easy File Transfer utility to help you move the data from old to new PC, and to restore the saved data in MIG file to original locations.

1. Open Windows Search from Windows 8 Start hover menu, enter easy transfer in search bar, and then click Apps. Now, launch Windows Easy Transfer utility from main window. If you don’t find the Windows Easy Transfer, then install Windows update to install all the additional Windows 8 components.

2. In Windows Easy Transfer wizard, select An external hard disk or USB flash drive option to restore data and settings saved in MIG file.

3. Choose This is my new computer option.

4. It will now ask you to plug-in the external hard disk where the MIG file is saved. Plug-in the external hard drive and select Yes to specify the Windows Easy Transfer file.

5. On selecting the MIG file, it will ask you to specify the password. Enter the password to restore the data, and click Next.

6. Once access is granted, it will ask you to choose what to transfer from old PC. You can select the files and settings that are to be transferred to your new PC.

7. While transferring files and settings from your old PC, it may ask you to enter the password of your old PC to transfer the protected content. Once correct password is entered, it will immediately restore the system and personalization settings of old PC including user account details, desktop theme and numerous other settings.

8. After all the files and settings are restored from old PC, you can take a look at the files that were transferred during the process, and applications which you might want to install.

Unlock Hidden Windows 7 Themes

There is a number of themes hidden from Windows 7 users. Only the United States theme is shown but there are actually four more themes hidden from view.

The MCT directory within the Globalization directory is hidden so it will not display even if show hidden files and folders is enabled. Accessing all the themes is easy to do once you know where to find them.

1. Navigate to C:\Windows\Globalization\MCT.

2. Once you have reached the MCT folder you will see five directories as listed below:

MCT-AU
MCT-CA
MCT-GB
MCT-US
MCT-ZA

3. Open the Theme folder in the selected region folder.

4. Select the theme file to use it.

5. Enjoy your new regional themes!!

NOTE: Once you select a theme, Windows 7 will save it so that you will be able to change or select this theme again from within the normal Personalization window location.

How to Pin The Windows 7 Recycle Bin To The Taskbar

Windows 7 does not allow you to pin Recycle Bin on the taskbar by default. In order to pin it on the taskbar you have to do few tricks. In the end, you will have the Recycle Bin shortcut pinned on the taskbar.

1. Right click anywhere on your desktop and select New and then shortcut.

2. In the Location of the item box type the following path,

explorer.exe shell:RecycleBinFolder

3. Click Next.

4. Type a name. you can always keep Recycle Bin.Then click Finish.

5. Now your shortcut will be created in the desktop but it will not have the correct icon.

6. Right click on the shortcut, select Properties. Then, click Change Icon.

7. Change the icon file to:

%SystemRoot%\system32\imageres.dll

8. Hit Enter and select the Recycle Bin Icon and click OK.

Now drag the new shortcut onto the taskbar and it will be pinned. Once the shortcut is pinned, you can remove the original on the desktop if you want.

Note: you can’t drag files over it to delete them.

How to Convert an External Hard Drive or Flash Drive from FAT32 to NTFS

Most external drives are shipped with FAT32 file system, which means they can’t handle large files larger than 4 GB in size , like a virtual machine. If you try and copy a file, you’ll get an error “The file is too large for the destination file system”

Using command prompt

In our example, the drive letter is H: so in the command type this:

convert H: /FS:NTFS

The conversion might take a while, depending on how big is your Drive.

Second option: Go to My Computer right-click on the drive and choose Format. Then select NTFS in the file system drop-down.

Note: Not a Good idea if you are going to share the Drive with a Mac.

Increase the Speed of Thumbnails in Windows 7.1

Increase the Speed of the Taskbar Thumbnails in Windows 7

By default there is a slight delay when hovering your mouse over a Taskbar Thumbnail. Here is a registry hack that will allow you to speed it up.

Registry Hack

Type regedit into the search box in the Start Menu and hit Enter.
Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced and right-click to create a new DWORD 32 bit and name it ExtendedUIHoverTime.
Now double-click on it and give it a Decimal value of “1″ click OK, close the Registry Editor, then logoff and log back back on for it to go into effect.
When you come back, you’ll notice when you hover your mouse over any thumbnail of an open app/program on the Taskbar the preview pops up instantly without delay

To Slow it Down:

If for some reason you want to slow it down you can do that too. Just change the Decimal value to 1000 which is milliseconds. Then the delay will be longer. You can change the value to whatever you want for your needs.

How to Disable Scan and Fix for Removable Drives in Windows

When you connect a removable device to your Windows PC, Sometimes it prompt “Do you want to scan and fix removable disk”. This usually happens if the device was not properly disconnected from a system in a previous session.The proper way to fix this is to Scan and fix (recommended) – scan the disk for file system errors.

How to Disable It:

Click on start then, go the Control Panel > Administrative Tools.
Then click in the Services.
Find the Shell Hardware Detection,Right click and select Properties.
In the General Tab,click on the startup type drop-down menu and change it from automatic to disabled.
Restart your Computer.

Note: By disabling scan and fix you will also be disabling your AutoPlay functionality.

Disable Automatic Reboot During System Crash

Windows 7 and Windows XP, after a system crash or blue screen they tend to restart. Sometimes an automatic reboot can fix the problem so you don’t have to worry about the actual error. But In some cases, it’s good to be able to actually see what the error message is that causing the crash.

Here is How to Disable Automatic Reboot in the System properties in Windows 7, XP

In Windows 7, you can turn off the automatic restart after a system crash by going to System properties.

Right-click on My Computer and choose Properties.
Click on Advanced System Settings on the left hand menu.
Click on the Advanced tab and then click on Settings under Startup and Recovery.
Uncheck the Automatically restart box under the System failure heading.
Click OK and close all the previous windows.

Now when the system crash occurs, you will be able to see the entire message.

Open Command Prompt From the Right-Click Menu

How to Open Command Prompt From the Right-Click Menu in Windows 7 and Vista:

Hold down the Shift key and right-click on the desktop or
Select a folder you want to open in the command prompt
Right-click on it while holding the Shift key.
Select Open command window here.

How to Add Run to the Start Menu Windows 7 and Vista

In Windows XP the ”Run” command was visible, when you would click the “Start” button. In Windows Vista and later the “Run” command is not visible when you click the “Start” Orb. This can easily be changed by following these instructions:

1. Right click on the Windows Task bar and choose Properties.

2. Task bar property menu will open. Click the “Start Menu” tab

3. Click on the “Customize…” button and scroll down until you see the “Run command”

4. Click the box beside “Run command” and then click “OK”

5. You should now be able to see the “Run” command when you click the “Windows Start Button”

Enable Remote Desktop in Windows 7 or Vista

Important note: Remote desktop is only included in the Professional, Business, or Ultimate versions of Windows. Home editions do not have remote desktop.

Click on Start right-click the Computer icon and choose properties.
Click the Remote Settings link on the left hand side.
Click the bottom radio button. If you need to connect from an XP/2k machine, click the “Allow connections from computers running any version of Remote Desktop” radio button.

Don’t worry about the firewall rules, Vista or Windows 7 does that for you automatically. If you are running a firewall other than default, you should configure it to open port 3389.

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