Archive for the ‘Windows 10’ Category
Posted by jpluimers on 2026/09/24
A long time ago I mentioned remapkey.exe. It was part of various Microsoft Resource Kit versions and still available from the Wayback Machine at [Wayback rktools.exe: install, then run remapkey.exe as admin].
It however is unmaintained and does not support quite a few keys.
So for more than 20 years now, there has been the still maintained [Wayback/Archive] randyrants/sharpkeys: SharpKeys is a utility that manages a Registry key that allows Windows to remap one key to any other key.
The user interface is not as intuitive as remapkey.exe (which has source and target keyboard layouts), but supports more keys (including Print Screen) and is still maintained and allows to turn off keys completely (which can be useful with for instance the Caps Lock key).
Back when writing this, the most recent release was 3.9.4 fro 2022. You can find the most current at [Wayback/Archive] Releases · randyrants/sharpkeys.
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Posted in .NET, C#, Development, Power User, Software Development, Windows, Windows 10, Windows 11, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows NT, Windows Server 2000, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2022, Windows Vista, Windows XP | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2026/09/18
Need to figure out how to script [Wayback/Archive] How can I make WiFi passwords per-user rather than per-system? – The Old New Thing
This is hampered by the first link in the article generating a 404, the text of the link containing soft hyphens, a plain Google Search for script just failing.
Some links that I figured out which should help me:
–jeroen
Posted in Power User, WiFi, Windows, Windows 10, Windows 11 | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2026/05/25
A while ago, ejecting a CompactFlash card on Windows 10 failed with the dreaded message “The action can’t be completed because the file is open in COM Surrogate.”
I was in a hurry, and it was a long time since I bumped into a similar message, so I simply rebooted as I knew that for certainly would fix it.
Next time, these links will help me find which dllhost.exe process to kill:
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Posted in Power User, Windows, Windows 10, Windows 11 | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2026/05/07
A few years back this trick was shown to screw up %windir%\system32 [Wayback/Archive] Patrick Doyle on Twitter: “@SwiftOnSecurity @RoseAreaZero Delete any file in three easy steps: > takeown /F "example.ext" > icacls "example.ext" /grant "%USERNAME%":F > del "example.ext"“.
Like [Wayback/Archive] SwiftOnSecurity (@SwiftOnSecurity) / Twitter (see the long thread further below), I was expecting that Windows would either prevent you from doing this at all, or allow for easy recovery with System File Protection (now Source: Windows File Protection).
That didn’t prevent or recover it back then.
I wonder if that has been changed by now.
From the above Tweet:
Delete any file in three easy steps:
> takeown /F "example.ext"
> icacls "example.ext" /grant "%USERNAME%":F
> del "example.ext"
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Posted in Batch-Files, Development, Power User, Scripting, Security, Software Development, Windows, Windows 10, Windows 11, Windows Development | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2026/04/08
I could not find a reliable per-user setting that works with just logoff/logon for Windows 11 like I found for Windows 10 in Disabling the Windows 10 and Windows 11 news (and weather) feeds.
So (for now?) there is only a global Globally which needs admin rights and a logoff/logon sequence:
:: requires admin
reg add "HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Dsh" /v "AllowNewsAndInterests" /t REG_DWORD /d "0" /f
echo logoff/logon to apply the change, or restart Explorer
Via:
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Posted in Batch-Files, Development, Power User, Scripting, Software Development, Windows, Windows 10, Windows 11 | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2026/03/06
I might need this: [Wayback/Archive] Solved: CPU Xeon E5-1620 v.4 does not allow Windows 11 upgrade – HP Support Community – 8645349
You don’t download the ISO file to a USB stick.
You download it to your PC and use the free Rufus utility that I zipped up and attached in that discussion link I posted to transfer the ISO file to a DVD so that it is bootable.
You have to use the version I attached 3.18 because the newer Rufus versions removed the W11 hardware check bypass hack.
Try it again in the morning when you are ‘bright eyed and bushy tailed’ as we say in the USA.:
Related:
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Posted in Power User, Windows, Windows 10, Windows 11 | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2026/01/23
For my link archive: [Wayback/Archive] Identify virtual NICs in Hyper-V virtual machines – 4sysops
There are three simple steps to follow to make your VM’s NICs easy to identify. Here is an overview, before we discuss each step in more detail.
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Posted in Hyper-V, Power User, Virtualization, Windows, Windows 10, Windows 11, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2022 | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2025/12/29
I totally agree with [Wayback/Archive] Dustin (BusySignal) on Twitter: “when did the disk utility rufus become so awesome?” as Rufus 3.20 has added these Windows User Experience features when creating bootable Windows installation media:
- Remove requirement for 4GB+ RAM, Secure Boot and TPM 2.0
- Remove requirement for an online Microsoft account
- Disable data collection (Skip privacy questions)
- Set a local account using the same name as this user’s
- Set regional options using the same values as this user’s
So below are some links explaining more about this feature (and how it is implemented).
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Posted in Power User, Rufus, Windows, Windows 10, Windows 11, Windows 8.1 | Tagged: 1779, 1971 | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2025/12/03
This post from 2023 [Wayback/Archive] Launch Settings Pages using ms-settings URL shortcuts » Winhelponline
This list will tremendously help me quickly navigating directly to Windows settings pages.
In case the list is not complete, there are others lists – like [Wayback/Archive] Windows 11 ms-settings Commands (Settings URI Shortcuts) – which I found via the second query.
Maybe one day, I will merge the results of a few of those results. If so, a new blog post will follow.
Got the first via a late edit of my blog post gsudo (sudo for windows).
Queries:
--jeroen
Posted in CommandLine, Development, Power User, PowerShell, PowerShell, Scripting, Software Development, Windows, Windows 10, Windows 11 | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2025/09/05
Note that http://neverssl.com is the way to figure out if you are in a captive portal, see below.
In Windows 10, the name of the endpoint changed from msftncsi to msftconnecttest, presumably to make the purpose of the access more obvious in security and audit logs. Nobody will understand that NCSI stands for Network Connectivity Status Indicator.
[Wayback/Archive] Trouble connecting to Web sites and services because of certificate errors? Check if you’re being held captive – The Old New Thing
It refers to a few other interesting sites, for instance about modifying if/how NCSI detects internet connectivity:
As mentioned at the top: my blog post on http://neverssl.com: NeverSSL – helping you get online on WiFi networks requiring authentication
Other related blog posts:
–jeroen
Posted in Captive Portal, Internet, Power User, Windows, Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 | Leave a Comment »
