Posted by jpluimers on 2011/06/16
Sometimes when you want to release a network drive you get an error message that something still uses it:
C:\>net use h: /d
The device is being accessed by an active process.
More help is available by typing NET HELPMSG 2404.
Finding out about that something is the trick.
Luckily, Process Explorer allows you to search for handles pointing to resources that start with \device\lanmanredirector, as ASK-LEO explains.
–jeroen
Posted in Power User, Windows, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2011/05/27
Sometimes you want to know the Windows Version and Service Pack number.
A GUI version is very simple: run winver.exe, it will give you dialogs like these ad the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 310104 explains.
A console version can be done in several different ways:
–jeroen
via: [WayBack] windows command line: can I tell Service pack number? – Super User.
Posted in Power User, Windows, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP | 1 Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2011/05/02
Most external USB HDDs you buy are way bigger than 32 gigabyte, and factory formatted with NTFS.
Nowadays, many devices (TVs, modems, routers, etc) support attaching HDDs, but not all of them support NTFS, but most of them support FAT32.
My brother has such a TV. He has mental retardation (they have euphemisms for that; he basically has an IQ < 50, which in his means he can live on his own but needs daily visits from people that help him with the more complex things in life).
I’m his legal guardian (Dutch: curator), so my wife and me take care of some of those things.
This included getting his TV to recognize a USB HDD so he can watch his favourite TV series I recorded for him (Knight Rider, Top Gear, etc).
Windows NT and beyond cannot format FAT32 in an easy way.
They can from the commandline using the format command: use FOMAT X: /FS:FAT32 for that, it is slow and as soon as you add the /Q parameter to speed things up, it imposes the 32 gigabyte limit.
Microsoft suggests botting Windows 98 or Windows Me, but those have too many limitations (lack of USB support, no 48-bit LBA, imposing 137 gigabyte HDD limit, etc).
Luckily, Ridgecrop Consultants Ltd has a FAT32FORMAT tool and accompanying GUI wrapper. They format any HDD using FAT32. Their tools work at least in Windows XP and up (I haven’t tested Windows 2000 and NT 4).
Problem solved: my brother can happily watch his favourite TV series I recorded for him :)
–jeroen
Posted in About, Personal, Power User, Windows, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2011/03/11
A few tools for mounting ISO CD/DVD images:
–jeroen
Posted in Power User, Windows, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP | 2 Comments »
Posted by jpluimers on 2011/02/18
Every once in a while I need to copy a bunch of filenames to the clipboard.
This is where the freeware tool [WayBack] ClipName comes in action: it can copy them in various formats (and works much better than the similar [WayBack] ClipPath, which can only copy them as CSV)
Quote from the ClipName page:
ClipName is also a Context Menu extension copying the full pathname of the right-clicked file to the clipboard. This new version supports copy of multiple filenames either as a space separated list or as a CRLF separated list. DOS filenames (8.3) can now also be copied as well as the URL encoded name and the UNC name for remote files. Clipname supports a Copy command for filenames without including any path, URL Encoding for multiple selections and style encoding for Microsoft Word, Microsoft OneNote,… A version running under Windows Vista 64-bit is now available. It also allows to copy the UNC name for local files and folders. Version 1.3 adds the capability of copying the target URL for Internet Shortcuts from Windows Explorer and from within the IE Favorites bar.
It comes both in 32-bit x86, and in x64 versions.
–jeroen
via
Posted in Clipboard, Power User, Windows, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP | 2 Comments »
Posted by jpluimers on 2011/02/11
Searching how to increase your Windows XP NTFS partitions of Virtual Machines running under VMware Workstation 7 gets you a truckload of links trying to get you to do all sorts of command-line like vmware-vdiskmanager and such.
That was indeed the case up till VMware Workstation 6.5, but from version 7 on, it has become much easier.
But the links with difficult steps keep appearing at the top of the search queries.
Hence this blog entry: increasing the NTFS partition size in a Windows VM is easy!
The increase is a two step process:
Step 1 has become much easier since VMware Workstation version 7, you can do it from within VMware Workstation now.
Dinesh describes this small process very well in his Expand Disk in VMware Workstation 7 blog post. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in *nix, Power User, VMware, Windows, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP | 1 Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2011/02/07
Google Chrome integrated a PDF viewer that is far less functional than Adobe Reader.
In fact: if you had Adobe Reader as PDF viewer, Google Chrome will just use their own.
One of the things I use a lot is the multi-page view (2 page next to each other; fits nicely on a 1920×1200 screen).
It is actually pretty easy to switch back: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Google, Power User, Windows, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2011/01/10
ISO 8601 is a great format for date and time (and combined) values.
It allows for both interchange of information, and ease of sorting values.
Recently, I had to create some backup and logging scripts for a 3rd party turn-key installation at a client.
You know: the kind of installation where the 3rd party manages to break their own scripts, but at the mean time close the system so much, that you cannot do anything but standard batch-file scripts.
The system runs partially on a Workstation that is based on a Dutch version of Windows XP, and a server that runs an English version of Windows Server 2008.
Recipe for some twiddling in order to keep the scripts working on both systems, and not to get bitten by localization.
This answer to a StackOverflow question got me a nice head-start: it was said to work in both the English and Portugese versions of Windows.
This post is the process to get correctly function batch-files towards the end of the post.
Of course, we Dutch are persistent enough to have yet different output for the %date% pseudo variable and the date and date /t commands.
The same holds for the %time% pseudo variable and the time and time /t commands.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Batch-Files, Development, ISO 8601, Power User, Scripting, Software Development, Windows, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP | 4 Comments »
Posted by jpluimers on 2010/10/14
A while ago, I moved a single CPU Windows XP VM from VMware Workstation to ESXi 4.1 using the standalone VMware vCenter converter.
In ESXi, I increased the CPU count from 1 to 2, and wanting to to for 4 (since I had been running Windows on a quadcore CPU before).
Well, that turned out to be harder than I thought… Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in ESXi4, Power User, Reference, Virtualization, VMware, VMware Converter, Windows, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP | 6 Comments »
Posted by jpluimers on 2010/09/01
From a batch-file I recently had to start Windows Explorer, at the same time select a specific file or directory.
This turned out pretty easy: use the /select command-line switch from Windows Explorer.
In fact, Windows Explorer has a few command-line switches, and the “explorer” commandline parameters “/n” “/e” “/select” “/root” “/start” site:microsoft.com query will find quite a few topics about it: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Power User, Windows, Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 9, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, 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 Vista, Windows XP | 1 Comment »
The Wiert Corner - irregular stream of stuff 