Incorrect Profile Loading

If you have found yourself logging into your computer only to find that all of your desktop shortcuts are missing and your background isn’t the same, chances are Windows loaded the wrong user profile for you. Most times the profile that is loaded is a Temporary user profile. You can find out which profile you have loaded by Right-Clicking on the Start button and Clicking Explore.

 

As you can see, I have loaded the Administrator Profile.
Your profile that loads should be similar to your login name. For example, John Smith logs in as jsmith and should have profile called jsmith located under /Documents and Settings. If he logs into a domain, such as, “business”, he may see jsmith.business as his profile. It depends whether or not he logged in as jsmith on the local computer and the domain.

 

What happens if the profile I loaded is not my usual?
You can follow these steps to ensure the next time you log into your machine you load the correct profile.

1. Click Start > Run type Regedit press Enter
2.
3. On the left hand side navigate to the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > MICROSOFT > WINDOWS NT > CURRENT VERSION > PROFILE LIST
4. Select the folder where your profile image path is located. (i.e. jsmith)
5.
6. Double-Click ProfileImagePath and change the path to the correct profile which user JSMITH should open.
7.
8. Click OK and exit from the registry editor.
9. The user must logoff and log back in for the changes to take effect.

If you never want this to happen again and are looking for a permanent solution, you can try the following hack…

1. Save the Profile List registry key to a location on your hard drive by Right-Clicking and selecting Export.
2. Create a Batch File with the following information:
reg import C:\path\name.reg (Where you define the path and name.)

3. Add the batch file to your start-up script by editing the local computer group policy.

• Click Start > Run Type gpedit.msc > Enter
• Navigate to Computer Configuration \ Windows Settings \ Startup Script
• Add the location of the batch file to the startup script policy.

That’s it!

How to change file associations.

How do you change which program starts when you want to open a file? For example, if I were to double-click a .jpg (common image file), Windows would open Microsoft Picture Manager to manage that file type. Since I typically edit these types of files, I would like to open Adobe Photoshop instead, so for convenience sake, I would need to associate that type of file with Photoshop, allowing me to simply double-click the file to open Photoshop. Read below to find out how to change the file association settings.

How to change a file association?
1. Open My Computer or Windows Explorer, right-click a file for which you want to change the program that opens that file type, and then use either of the following methods to change which program starts:
• Click Open With to choose the program that you want.
• Point to Open With, and then click Choose Program to choose the program that you want.

2. Notice that the Open With dialog box appears. Use one of the following methods to select the program that you want to use to open this kind of file:
• In the Programs list, click the program that you want.
• Click Browse, locate and then click the program that you want to use, and then click OK.
• Click Look for the appropriate program on the Web to browse the Internet for the program that you want.

3. Click to select the Always use the selected program to open this kind of file check box if it is not already selected.

4. Click OK.

Note: You cannot use this method for a file that does not have a file name extension, or for a file that has a system extension, such as exe, .com, .bat, and so on. (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307859)

Windows won’t update after performing a Repair Install

So, you read my previous post about how to repair your windows installation, everything went well but now you can’t install Windows updates anymore. Luckily your problem has a fix. Here’s what to do…

You need to register Wups2.dll in Windows.

1. Stop the Automatic Updates service. To do this, follow these steps:
a. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.
b. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
net stop wuauserv

2. Register the Wups2.dll file. To do this, follow these steps:
a. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
regsvr32 %windir%\system32\wups2.dll
Note For a computer that is running Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
regsvr32 %windir%\syswow64\wups2.dll
b. Click OK on each verification message that you receive.

3. Start the Automatic Updates service. To do this, type the following command at the command prompt, and then press ENTER:
net start wuauserv

4. Exit the command prompt. To do this type exit, and then press ENTER.

 

You can find all scenarios and solutions in the following KB article by Microsoft, http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=943144.

How-to Repair a Windows Installation

Sometimes troubleshooting problems with your PC can lead you down a path of no return. For example, your Windows installation could have contracted a virus from the internet, the virus could have re-written Windows system files such as .dll’s, this type of virus could leave your system virtually inoperable.

 

So, how do you get all the Windows system files back to original state, without having to restore from backup? You simply use the Windows system disk and repair the OS. The Windows system disk should have shipped with your computer, and it may be labeled Windows XP Re-Installation CD.

 

Steps to Repair your Windows Installation:

1. Insert your Windows system disk into your optical drive. (cd/dvd)
2. Reboot your system.
3. When the system begins to start back up, force it to boot from your optical drive. The option to select a boot device will typically flash on the screen for a few seconds before Windows starts. (i.e. Press F12 or F10 key to select boot device.)
4. Once you have selected it to boot from your optical drive, the screen will turn blue and your system will prepare itself for a windows installation.
5. The next message you will see is the “Welcome to set-up” screen that will list the following options:
• To set-up Windows now press Enter
• To repair a Windows installation using recovery console, press R
• To quit set-up without repairing Windows, press F3

6. You want to press Enter to run Windows set-up. (Do NOT press R)
7. Accept the License agreement by pressing F8.
8. The next screen will list the Windows installations currently installed on your computer, you should only have one, but if not, simply choose the one you want to repair and press R. If Repair is not one of the options, you should END the set-up process.
9. Set-up will now start copying system files to the Windows installation you chose.
10. After the file copy is done, your system will reboot and continue with the installation screen. (You do NOT have to do anything.)
11. When the installation is complete the system will reboot for the final time. You can now take the Windows installation CD out of your optical drive, and Windows will boot normally.

 

This process will repair a Windows installation by replacing Windows system files to there original state. This is not a “fix-all” solution and in many cases should be treated as a last resort before attempting a complete Windows re-installation. A repair can assist you by helping you bring your machine back to life after a virus or program has damaged basic Windows functions, it will not rid you of your virus problem.

 

Conveniently display computer info on your desktop.

This is a very convenient tip that will not only help you but will help those individuals that work on your computer. It is called backinfo.exe and is part of a windows development pack. This little executable will reside in your C:\windows or C:\winnt folder along with a configuration file. Simply create a shortcut to the executable in your startup folder and you will see the results everytime you login.

I have displayed the computer name, number of processors and their speed, total ram, domain, ip address, and login date/time.

 

You can download backinfo.exe here and my sample configuration script here. (Right-Click links and choose Save As to download.)

Now the next time you need to know some quick facts about your computer or server, look no further than your desktop!

Faster Windows Shutdown

Faster Windows Shutdown with a Simple Download

If you are a Windows user you have certainly noticed that it can sometimes take a very long time to do something as simple as shutting down your computer. This article will explain why a shutdown can take so long and what Microsoft has done to fix the problem.

In an earlier article I explained why the Windows boot process can eventually become a several minute ordeal and how the prefetch cache plays an important role. Now with a simple download Windows has fixed the problem of shutting down your computer.

When you click Start> Shutdown to turn off your computer you are also telling all subsequent programs to close. For any operating system to properly shutdown it needs to sync the disk and flush all program memory. If an application is still open or did not close with the proper exit status, it is in a sense “hanging” and still partially resides in memory. These programs can become a nuisance when you need to shutdown because Windows will try to unload the profile until it eventually “times-out”. Waiting for the time-out is why shutdown times become annoying.

To address this issue Microsoft has developed a free utility that automatically cleans the user profiles and prevents the “time-out” wait. This utility is packaged in an installer and runs as a service. It will continually monitor users to log off and will reclaim those unused resources.

After the User Profile Hive Cleanup Service is installed, the next time you logoff or shutdown your computer it should be within seconds.

Unleash the VPN within.

Secure Remote Connection

Connect to your Windows XP computer using VPN

Have you ever gotten to meeting or drove three hours to your family function, only to realize you forgot your presentation or digital photos? If you have ever wished you could access your home documents from work, school, or a friends house then you should definitely check out the VPN capabilities Windows XP already has.

A Virtual Private Network or VPN is simply an encrypted connection between two remote computers or networks. There are many ways to accomplish setting up a VPN, but few know that Windows XP actually has a built-in VPN server. Having a VPN server will allow you to establish a secure connection to your home computer, this is more than just accessing your home computer you can access your entire LAN from IP Cameras, printers, or storage servers. This means that the remote computer will be virtually connected to your LAN, don’t worry though, because it is a Virtual Private Network so your connection is secured by encryption.

This article will show you the exact method of setting up your regular Windows XP machine into a fully functional VPN server.

XP VPN Set-Up

I will break the set-up into steps…

Step 1 - Go to Start / Settings (or Control Panel) / Network Connections

Step 2 - Start the New Connection Wizard

Step 3 - Click on the Next button

Step 4 - Select Set-Up advanced connection.

Step 5 - Click on the Next button.

Step 6 - Click on Accept incoming connections.

Step 7 - Click on the Next button.

Step 8 - At the LPT1 page, skip it and just click on the Next button.

Step 9 - Click on Allow virtual private connection.

Step 10 - Click on the Next button.

Step 11 - Add user accounts that ou want to be able to connect to your Windows XP computer.

Step 12 - Click on the Next button.

Step 13 - Highlight Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and click on Properties.

Step 14 - Determine how you want the remote computers to get their IP address.

Step 15 - You can Allow callers to access your local area network or internal LAN. Check this if you would like to access all of your computers or devices.

Step 16 - Under TCP/IP address assignment you can let your DHCP server hand out IP addresses or you can assign a range of IP’s within the scope of your subnet.

Step 17 - Click OK.

Step 18 - If you are behind a router you will need to foward port 1723 to your Windows XP IP address. You may also need to configure your router for PPTP Passthrough. Port usage for IPSec is 500, 50-51.

XP VPN Client Set-Up

Now you can use another remote Windows XP machine to connect to your LAN resources. Follow these steps on the remote machine to establish a connection:

Please note you will need to know the IP address of your VPN server or you will need to have a domain name (i.e. example.com).

Step 1 - Click Start / Control Panel.

Step 2 - Open Network Connections in the Control Panel.

Step 3 - Choose the Create a new connection item from the left-hand side of the window. (The Windows XP New Connection Wizard will appear on the screen.)

Step 4 - Click Next to begin the wizard, then choose the Connect to the network at my workplace item from the list and click Next.

Step 5 - On the Network Connection page of the wizard, choose the Virtual Private Network Connection option and click Next.

Step 6 - Enter a name for the new VPN connection and click Next. (This is just an identifier).

Step 7 - On the Public Network screen choose Do not dial the intitial connection option. This option requires that a connection to the internet already be established.

Step 8 - Enter the domain name or IP address of your remote VPN Server. (the one we just created above) Click Next.

Step 9 - In the Connection Availability screen choose an option and click Next. Choosing My Use Only will allow the VPN connection only for the current logged on user.

Step 10 - Click Finish to complete the wizard. You will now see the VPN Connection icon in the Network Connections window under the Control Panel. Double-click this icon to connect to your VPN server, you will have to enter your username and password for the remote VPN server. (this is the same username and password you use to login to your computer)

That’s it! You should now be able to access your home network from a remote computer. Once connected to your VPN server you can use Remote Desktop to login to your remote computer.