Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Windows Product Activation (WPA) for Windows XP

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,1151566,00.asp


WPA.DBL--The Keeper of the Keys

The WPA.DBL file resides in the Windows\system32 directory and holds the hardware configuration information and activation state of the current Windows XP installation. The WPA.DBL file is actually an RC4-encrypted database of the expiration info of your installation, the confirmation of activation, the hardware configuration at activation time, and the current hardware configuration. When you first install Windows XP, this file is approximately 2K in size--not much more than a stub file. When you activate Windows, this file grows to approximately 12K-13K, recording the hardware status of your machine. At each boot, Windows analyzes your current hardware and compares it to the stored configuration information to see if it has changed. When you make hardware changes, Windows makes a note of the changes in the WPA file, but keeps the original configuration for reference. If you make too many changes, Windows XP will reset the WPA.DBL file back to its original non-activated (2K file size) state, and you have to reactivate.
As mentioned above, the WPA.DBL file can be backed up to permit activation if you reload Windows XP. You can also experiment with different hardware configurations, as we did in preparation for this article. You would back up WPA.DBL for each configuration change, so you can roll back whenever desired, similar to what developers may do frequently, as mentioned above. If you save a copy of the WPA.DBL file at each change of hardware, you can roll back to almost any state.
One caveat, from our testing--we found that the WPA.DBL was not protected similar to other system files. If you delete the file, you need to reactivate. The WPA.DBL is also not included in Windows XP's system restore mechanism.

XP : Reinstall XP Without Microsoft's Product Activation

After reinstalling XP, often you will be asked to reactivate your software. The tip keeps the user from having to reactivate.


After you have activated your XP software for the first time, you never need to do so again. Each time you reinstall XP, keep a copy of your wpa.dbl file. This file can be found in your \windows\system32 folder.
After reinstallation replace the wpa.dbl back into the windows\system32 directory and forget about reactivation.

Install Recovery Console from the Windows XP cd

Using the Recovery Console requires the Windows XP CD. After installation the Recovery Console runs from a local drive and the CD is not needed.

Note: The Recovery console is installed into Boot.ini. When the PC is booted the choice to start recovery console is displayed.

1. Insert the Windows XP CD.
2. Click Start.
3. Click Run.
4. Type CMD.
5. Type D:(Replace D with the drive letter containing the Windows XP CD).
6. cd\i386
7. winnt32 /cmdcons
8. Follow the on screen instructions.

 

XP : See the state of ACTIVATION

Quick method to see if a system has been activated or not.

1. Click Start
2. Click Run
3. Type the following in the textbox and then hit OK:

%SYSTEMROOT%\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe /A

 

NTLDR or NTDETECT.COM Not Found


If you get an error that NTLDR is not found during bootup,
If you have FAT32 partitions, it is much simpler than with NTFS.
Just boot with a Win98 floppy and copy the NTLDR or NTDETECT.COM files
from the i386 directory to the root of the C:\ drive.
For NTFS:
  1. Insert and boot from your WindowsXP CD.
  2. At the first R=Repair option, press the R key
  3. Press the number that corresponds to the correct location for the installation of Windows you want to repair.
    Typically this will be #1
  4. Enter in the administrator password when requested
  5. Enter in the following commands (X: is replaced by the actual drive letter that is assigned to the CD ROM drive.
    COPY X:\i386\NTLDR C\:
    COPY X:\i386\NTDETECT.COM C:\
  6. Take out the CD ROM and type exit

Corrupted or Missing \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG

If you get the error:
Windows could not start because the following files is missing or corrupt
\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM or \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SOFTWARE
  1. Insert and boot from your WindowsXP CD.
  2. At the first R=Repair option, press the R key
  3. Press the number that corresponds to the correct location for the installation of Windows you want to repair.
    Typically this will be #1
  4. Enter in the administrator password when requested
  5. cd \windows\system32\config
  6. Depending on which section was corrupted:
    ren software software.bad or ren system system.bad
  7. Depending on which section was corrupted
    copy \windows\repair\system
    copy \windows\repair\software
  8. Take out the CD ROM and type exit.

HAL.DLL Missing or Corrupt


HAL.DLL Missing or Corrupt

Added 2/9/03
If you get an error regarding a missing or corrupt hal.dll file, it might simply be the BOOT.INI file on the root of the C: drive that is misconfigured
  1. Insert and boot from your WindowsXP CD.
  2. At the first R=Repair option, press the R key
  3. Press the number that corresponds to the correct location for the installation of Windows you want to repair.
    Typically this will be #1
  4. Type bootcfg /list to show the current entries in the BOOT.INI file
  5. Type bootcfg /rebuild to repair it
  6. Take out the CD ROM and type exit.

NTLDR is Missing.

Issue

NTLDR is Missing.

Related errors

Below are the full error messages that may be seen when the computer is booting.
NTLDR is Missing
Press any key to restart
Boot: Couldn't find NTLDR
Please insert another disk
NTLDR is missing
Press Ctrl Alt Del to Restart

Causes

  1. Computer is booting from a non-bootable source.
  2. Computer hard disk drive is not properly setup in BIOS.
  3. Corrupt NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM file.
  4. Misconfiguration with the boot.ini file.
  5. Attempting to upgrade from a Windows 95, 98, or ME computer that is using FAT32.
  6. New hard disk drive being added.
  7. Corrupt boot sector / master boot record.
  8. Seriously corrupted version of Windows 2000 or Windows XP.
  9. Loose or Faulty IDE/EIDE hard disk drive cable.
  10. Failing to enable USB keyboard support in the BIOS.

Solutions

Computer is booting from a non-bootable source
Many times this error is caused when the computer is attempting to boot from a non-bootable floppy disk or CD-ROM. First verify that no floppy diskette or CD is in the computer, unless you are attempting to boot from a diskette.
Note: This error has also been known to occur when a memory stick is in a card reader and the computer is attempting to boot from it. If you have any card reader or flash reader make sure that no memory stick is inside the computer. Additionally disconnect all USB drives, cameras, ipods, iphones, etc. from the computer.
If you are attempting to boot from a floppy diskette and are receiving this error message it is likely that the diskette does not have all the necessary files or is corrupt.
If you are attempting to install Windows XP or Windows 2000 and are receiving this error message as the computer is booting verify that your computer BIOS has the proper boot settings. For example, if you are attempting to run the install from the CD-ROM make sure the CD-ROM is the first boot device, and not the hard disk drive.
Second, when the computer is booting you should receive the below prompt.
Press any key to boot from the CD
Important: When you see this message press any key such as the Enter key immediately, otherwise it will try booting from the hard drive and likely get the NTLDR error again.
Note: If you are not receiving the above message and your BIOS boot options are set properly it's also possible that your CD-ROM drive may not be booting from the CD-ROM properly. Verify the jumpers are set properly on the CD-ROM drive.

Windows XP users
  1. Insert the Windows XP bootable CD into the computer.
  2. When prompted to press any key to boot from the CD, press any key.
  3. Once in the Windows XP setup menu press the "R" key to repair Windows.
  4. Log into your Windows installation by pressing the "1" key and pressing enter.
  5. You will then be prompted for your administrator password, enter that password.
  6. Copy the below two files to the root directory of the primary hard disk. In the below example we are copying these files from the CD-ROM drive letter, which in this case is "e." This letter may be different on your computer.

    copy e:\i386\ntldr c:\
    copy e:\i386\ntdetect.com c:\
  7. Once both of these files have been successfully copied, remove the CD from the computer and reboot.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Replace Remap Non Working Keys Function on Laptop Keyboard on Windows

There are times then our default keyboard keys do not work. If this happens with desktop pc then it is easy to change the keyboard. At the same time here is no cheap way by which a laptop user can change the default keyboard except buying one external.
There are many keys in windows that have specific functions. These keys are also called the Function keys which occurs from F1 to F12.

With the fact that these malfunctions never happen with prior information, if you find a non functional key at time of need MapKeyboard will be of great help.

MapKeyboard is a free and portable application for windows. Remaping keyboard keys may sound too difficult a task but this utility makes it extremely simple. It provides a virtual keyboard on your desktop. You can select any key that you want to remap. Then you have to select a key with which you want to remap the existing key.

Once the key is remapped, you have to logoff once for the changes to appear. You can view all mappings done on the virtual keyboard. It also provides options to rollback to default settings.

http://www.inchwest.com/mapkeyboard.htm


Tuesday, March 22, 2011

9 reasons why Internet Explorer 9 is much slower than Chrome 10

In my personal browser benchmark test Internet Explorer 9 turned out to be much slower than Chrome 10.
Microsoft listens to their customers. Or perhaps I should say they listen to what the media tell their customers. Every week or so, another computer magazine or blog posted a new browser benchmark where Internet Explorer always came off as the slowest browser. The times of browser benchmarks are now history. Since Internet Explorer is now by far the fastest HTML viewer and JavaScript executer, no one needs those benchmarks any more. It is boring if Microsoft wins. They always do. Well, almost always.
Internet.Explorer.9.Logo Google.Chrome.Logo
As far as my browsing experience is concerned, Chrome is still a lot faster than Internet Explorer 9. When it comes to browsing speed, the performance of the rendering or JavaScript engine is negligible. I have said that many times before, and I won’t get tired of repeating it. For a knowledge worker like me, other features are by far more important to speed up my daily work on the web.

1 Bookmarking

One of the things I do most often with a browser is to bookmark pages. I need to do this as quickly as possible so I won’t lose my focus. With Internet Explorer, I need three clicks; with Chrome, just one. That makes Chrome 10 three times faster than Internet Explorer 9.

2 Bookmark star

Often, before I finish work, I check all open tabs to see if there are any pages that I might need the next day. Sometimes I don’t remember if I already bookmarked a page or not. This also happens if I again stumble across a useful page. In Chrome, the star icon beside the address bar tells me immediately if I already bookmarked the page; a click on the star shows me which folder the bookmark is in. In Internet Explorer, I have to browse through my hundreds of bookmarks first for this purpose. This makes Internet Explorer a hundred times slower than Chrome.

3 Search in bookmarks

Again, the bookmarks. Well, they are important for a knowledge worker. Now, tell me, am I just blind or did the IE developers really forget the search function in the Favorites sidebar? I don’t have to tell you how much time it can take to browse through all favorites until finally finding the important one I bookmarked last month, deep down in a folder where it doesn’t really belong. How many times slower is Internet Explorer here? I don’t know. Maybe indefinitely, if I don’t find the bookmark at all.

4 Title bar

Okay, this is a minor issue. But it still bothers me. To place the tabs bar at the top of the browser was a very smart idea of the Google developers. Why was Microsoft too anxious to steal this feature and did just waste this valuable space in the title bar? Yes, it means only little additional space for the web page. However, if you work on laptop or netbook this little extra page can be very valuable, especially if you use web apps often. Scrolling a web page up and down to interact with the web app can get on your nerves and can slow down a browser considerably.

5 Tabs space

The size of the available space for tabs in Internet Explorer is much too small. It usually takes about 20 minutes on a normal work day before I have so many tabs open that I can no longer distinguish them in Internet Explorer simply because the visible part of the HTML title is too small. You can show the tabs on a separate row (right click a tab). However, this takes away even more valuable screen space. Since the default tab bar configuration is no option for a knowledge worker and taking into account the wasted space in the title bar, I have considerably less space available for the web page than with Chrome. These simple layout differences boost Chrome’s performance with many web apps on devices with small screens and this without the need of fancy hardware acceleration.

6 Extensions

Browsers have become platforms. No, I am not talking about web apps. I don’t really like those and you know that by now. I am talking about add-ons or extensions. I think, the number of available extensions is essential for the success of a browser. Microsoft is usually quite good when it comes to creating an ecosystem around a software product. Somehow they have problems with Internet Explorer here. The availability of just one add-on can be a killer feature if you can’t find something comparable for an alternative browser (Internet Explorer). I don’t really know how far ahead Chrome is here. But if I search for SEO add-ons for Chrome, I get about 100 hits. If I do the same for Internet Explorer, I get about 0 hits. There is no doubt that many of these little browsers helpers save me a lot of time which increases browser speed considerably.

7 Superbar

I don’t really find the Windows 7 Superbar so super and in combination with Internet Explorer, it really gets on my nerves. Every time I switch back to the browser window, the Superbar shows me my myriad of open tabs and expects me to find the page by just looking at those super-tiny thumbnails. In most cases, I just want to access the last page viewed anyway. If I can’t find the page in the thumbnails immediately, I just click any tab and then try to find the right tab in IE’s tab bar. So this extra click-click-click game with the Superbar costs me significantly more time than in Chrome and often is the reason that I lose the focus on my work.

8 InPrivate browsing vs. Incognito

InPrivate browsing in Internet Explorer and the equivalent Incognito feature in Chrome are useful features. I don’t just use this feature if I want to browse a site without being recognized. Usually, when I log on to security-sensitive sites, I open the web site incognito so none of the many plugins I use gets a chance to snoop my password. What I miss here in Internet Explorer is being able to start InPrivate browsing by right-clicking a bookmark or a link in a web page. Yes, I can copy the URL, open an InPrivate window, and then paste the URL. In Chrome, this procedure can be accomplished with just a click. This is what I call browser performance.

9 Zoom

I read a lot and try not to strain my eyes too much. This is why I zoom almost every web page I open. Chrome definitely has the better and faster zoom function. It takes two "clicks" with the mouse wheel until the web page reaches the ideal size—that is, when it uses all available space of the browser window. With Internet Explorer 9, it usually takes much longer to get the font size I prefer. Again, Internet Explorer 9 came off last in an important browser benchmark discipline.
I am still a Microsoft fan boy. But it is not my fault that the Google guys just understand the web better. So I’ll just wait for Internet Explorer 10 and see if it will be as fast as Chrome 25.

Saturday, March 05, 2011

Wednesday, March 02, 2011

Restoring Windows 7 from a Backup System Image

In my Working with System Image Backups in Windows 7 article I described the steps needed to be taken in order to successfully create a System Image backup of your Windows 7 computer.
new_win7_windows_backup_26
new_win7_windows_backup_29
Note: Remember, Windows 7 is still under development. The version used for these screenshots is beta build 7000, and things might (and probably will) change with RTM.
So first thing first – you must make be 100% sure that this is the only means to repair your system. Why? Well that’s because when you restore your computer from a system image, it's always a complete restoration. You cannot choose individual items to restore, and all of your programs, system settings, and files are replaced with those on the system image.
If you’re perfectly sure that a restore is the only way to get your computer back to business, you now have 3 options to start the restore operation:

Option 1: Restore using Recovery

This only works if your computer is still working and you can access Control Panel > Backup and Restore, or if you want to restore your system image backup onto a different computer.

Option 2: Restore Using a Windows Installation or System Repair Disk

If you cannot access Control Panel > Backup and Restore, you can restore your computer using a Windows installation DVD or a system repair disk (if you have previously created one).
To use this option, insert the installation disk or system repair disk into your computer’s CD/DVD drive.
Next, restart your computer using the computer's power button.
If prompted, press any key to start Windows from the installation disk or system repair disk. If your computer is not configured to start from a CD or DVD, check the information that came with your computer. You may need to change your computer's BIOS settings.
restore_system_image_1
restore_system_image_2
restore_system_image_3
Choose your language settings, and then click Next.
restore_system_image_4
Click Repair your computer.
restore_system_image_5
Momentarily, a Windows installation is located.
restore_system_image_6
Note: This seems a bit strange, but the drive letter attached to the found installation is not C: but E: instead.
restore_system_image_7
If you need to add disk drivers, press the “Add Drivers” button.
restore_system_image_8
Looking at the disk drive list you can clearly see that for the recovery, Windows has assigned a different drive letter for the original C: drive.
restore_system_image_9
Going back to the recovery, select the Windows installation you want to repair, and then click Next. You will be prompted to choose a recovery tool. Select “System Image Recovery”.
restore_system_image_10

Option 3: Restore Using the Advanced Boot Option

Use this option if you do not have the installation disk or system repair disk.
To use this option, restart your computer using the computer's power button.
Next, repeatedly press F8 to gain access to the Advanced Boot options of Windows 7. If you see the Windows logo you will need to reboot and retry.
restore_system_image_19
restore_system_image_20
Select a keyboard language and press Next.
restore_system_image_21
Enter an administrator’s username and password to begin the recovery process.
restore_system_image_22
When inside the Advanced Boot options, click the arrow keys to select “Repair Your Computer” and press Enter.
restore_system_image_101
Continuing the restore operation
No matter how you started the System Recovery, when inside, click on System Image Recovery.
Windows will search for the backup media.
restore_system_image_11
You will be prompted to select your backup media. The default is to select the last backup. You can change this setting and manually select a different backup media.
restore_system_image_12
Next, you can choose additional options such as to format and repartition the computer’s hard disk, or to automatically scan and repair disk errors.
restore_system_image_13
restore_system_image_14
Press Finish and Yes when ready to commence with the restore.
restore_system_image_15
restore_system_image_16
The recovery begins, and a progress bar will indicate how long you need to wait.
restore_system_image_17
When finished, the computer will automatically reboot, and you will be able to use it.
restore_system_image_18
Done!

Restoreing Windows 7 Image

Working with System Image Backups in Windows 7

Open Backup and Restore by going to the Control Panel and typing “backup” in the search box. One of the results will lead you to it. new_win7_windows_backup_110
You can also type “backup” on the Start Menu search box, and again, one of the results will lead you to it.
new_win7_windows_backup_25
You can also run the following command from the Run or search box option:
sdclt.exe
Naturally, you’d want to perform a manual or scheduled backup of files and folders on your computer. So when you set up a backup by using the Backup and Restore tool, you can let Windows choose what is backed up or you can select the individual folders and drives that you want to back up.
new_win7_windows_backup_61
Read more about this in my Backup and Restore in Windows 7 - What it should have been in Vista! article.
Note: If the destination drive is formatted using the NTFS file system and has enough disk space, a system image of your programs, Windows, and all drivers and registry settings will automatically be included in the backup.
new_win7_windows_backup_71
However, this article is about working with System Image backups, so we’ll click on the “Create an Image Backup” link on the left hand side of the Backup and Restore tool.


new_win7_windows_backup_251 Backup and Restore will look for a backup destination. Read more about this in my Disk Considerations when using Windows 7 Backup and Restore article.
Choose your backup destination and press Next.
new_win7_windows_backup_261
Read and confirm your settings by clicking on the “Start Backup” button.
new_win7_windows_backup_27
Creation of the system image will begin, and you’ll notice the progress bar.
new_win7_windows_backup_28
new_win7_windows_backup_291
Note: Unlike regular file and folder backups with Backup and Restore, a System Image uses a VHD file type for the backup media.
new_win7_windows_backup_33
When finished, you’ll get a confirmation window.
new_win7_windows_backup_32
Next, make sure you safely keep this backup, you’ll need it in case your computer stops working and you decide to restore it. Read my upcomoing "Restoring Windows 7  Systems with System Images and Backup and Restore" article for more information.
Note: You can also create a System Recovery Disk for use when the system is so badly messed that it cannot boot even in safe mode. More on that in a separate article.
new_win7_windows_backup_30