Category Archives: Operating Systems

Operating Systems

How to Fix Windows Updates Error Code 80070570

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Problem:

You were applying Windows updates to a Windows server and got an error with code 80070570. You tried restarting your server several times but it seemed that the problem still persisted.

Solution:

1. Restart your server.

2. Open Command Prompt (Admin).

3. Execute the commands below.

net stop wuauserv
net stop bits
:: Removes all files from the directory
del /q C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\*
:: Recursively removes all nested directories
for /d %x in (C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\*) do @rd /s /q "%x"
net start bits
net start wuauserv
control update

4. Close the Command Prompt (Admin).

5. Click Check for updates link on the left.

6. Install updates.

7. Click Retry button if you encounter an error.

 

Operating Systems

How to Remove Automatic Block from Downloaded Files

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Problem:

After you download a file, you open its Properties and find that it is automatically marked with “This file came from another computer and might be blocked to help protect this computer.” warning and you have to unblock the file manually by selecting the “Unblock” check box.

Solution:

1. Open Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) as Administrator.

2. Go to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Attachments Manager.

3. Enable Do not preserve zone information in file attachments option.

What is zone information?

Zone information is the information about the zone of origin (such as restricted, Internet, intranet, local) of downloaded files.

By default Windows marks downloaded files with information about their zone of origin (such as restricted, Internet, intranet, local) to make risk assessments in order to warn users when they open or execute files which are marked as being from the Internet or Restricted Sites zone, unless the file’s zone information has been removed.

 

Operating Systems

How to Block Your Child from Certain Websites

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Motivation:

You have a child and do not want him to be able to install games from Microsoft Store or play online games on certain websites or run a specific program.

Solution:

I. Prevent your child from installing games Microsoft Store.
This method only applies to Windows 10 Enterprise and Windows 10 Education.

  1. Type gpedit in the search bar to find and start Group Policy Editor.
  2. In the console tree of the snap-in, click Computer Configuration, click Administrative Templates, click Windows Components, and then click Store.
  3. In the Setting pane, click Turn off the Store application, and then click Edit policy setting.
  4. On the Turn off the Store application setting page, click Enabled, and then click OK.

Note: Enabling Turn off the Store application policy turns off app updates from Microsoft Store.

Source: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/configuration/stop-employees-from-using-microsoft-store

II. Block all websites except some websites using one of the software below.

  1. Surfblocker.

III. Block certain websites in your modem settings in order to prevent your child from playing online games on these websites.

If you are using FTP GPON Modem then you can

  1. Click on the Access tab on the top,
  2. Click on the Filter tab on the left,
  3. Select URL Filter as Filter Type Selection,
  4. Select 1 as URL Index,
  5. Enter URL (host) (e.g. bluestacks.com or roblox.com),
  6. Select Enabled as Individual active,
  7. Click on the Save button.
  8. Repeat the procedure for other hosts with other URL Indexes (i.e. 2, 3, 4, etc.).

    IV. Block all Windows users from running certain programs.

    1. Type gpedit.msc in search box, then press Enter.
    2. Expand User Configuration > Administrative Templates, then select System.
    3. Double click the policy Don’t run specified Windows applications.
    4. Set the policy to Enabled, then select Show.
    5. Add the programs you would like to prevent the user from running to the List of disallowed applications. Use the name of the application launching file such as chrome.exe.
    6. Restart your computer.

     

     

     

    Operating Systems, Tech Devices

    Why Can’t You Install Windows 11 on Your Laptop?

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    Issue:

    You have a laptop.
    You want to install Windows 11 on the laptop.
    However you got an unexpected error saying that you should visit https://aka.ms/WindowsSysReq for detail.
    You visited the page but you are unsure what actually happened.

    Solution:
    1. The first common reason is that you do not have TPM 2.0 hardware.

      Open Settings > Update & Security > Windows Security > Device Security
      – If you do not see a Security processor section on this screen your PC may have a TPM that is disabled.
      – If you do see a Security processor section on this screen then click Security processor details, and verify that your TPM Specification sub-version is 2.0.
      If it is less than 2.0, your device does not meet the Windows 11 requirements.

      Trusted Platform Module (TPM) is an international standard for a secure cryptoprocessor, a dedicated microcontroller designed to secure hardware through integrated cryptographic keys. The term can also refer to a chip conforming to the standard.

      Trusted Platform Module provides
      – A hardware random number generator,
      – Facilities for the secure generation of cryptographic keys for limited uses.

      Usually you can enable or disable TPM in the BIOS of your laptop.
      If you have TPM 1.2, you can often update it to 2.0 by following the guide of your laptop providers. For example if you have a Dell laptop then you can check the guide here.

      If you get “The TPM is Owned.” issue when updating TPM 1.2 to 2.0 then you can check a guide here. (Press F12 after your laptop is reboot.)

    2. The second common reason is that your laptop processor has not been supported by Windows 11.

      Open Settings > System > (scroll down if needed) >  About.
      Search for processor name, e.g. i7-10610U.
      You should find your processor name here if it is supported. For example the Xeon E3-1505M processor has not been supported.

    3. You can also download PC Health Check app to verify these 2 issues or identify other potential issues.

    4. If you plan to install a fresh Windows 11 from an USB then you can ignore the processor support requirement.

     

     

    Operating Systems

    How to Allow a Remote Desktop User to Access CD/DVD

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    Problem:

    You log in a computer remotely as an administrator.
    However you cannot read or write any removable storage devices such as CD/DVD or USB flash memory drives.

    Solution:
    1. Type gpedit.msc in the Search box, press Enter.
    2. Go to Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Removable Storage Access.
    3. Double-click All Removable Storage: Allow direct access in remote sessions.
    4. Click Enabled.
    5. Click OK.

     

    Operating Systems

    How to Backup and Restore an EC2 Instance

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    Motivation:

    Any changes related to an operating system or an application in an EC2 instance may break its connection. You may try to stop, start, or reboot the instance many times but the problem may still persist. In this case, you may need to restore the instance to a previous stable version.

    Viruses, malwares or accidental deletion of data may also require a restore of an instance to a previous stable version.

    In order to restore an EC2 instance to a previous version you first need to create its backups either manually or automatically.

    Manually backup an EC2 instance:
    1. Click Volumes on the left menu.
    2. Click a volume, click Actions, click Create Snapshot.
    Manually restore an EC2 instance:
    1. Click Snapshots on the left menu, click a snapshot of an instance.
    2. Click Actions, click Create Volume.
    3. Let all default settings intact, click Create Volume.
    4. Repeat the first 3 steps for all the snapshots of the instance.
    5. Stop the instance.
    6. Click the instance, click Storage, scroll down and click on the link of /dev/sda1 device.
    7. Click Actions, click Detach Volume (or Force Detach Volume if the Detach Volume function does not work).
    8. Click Volumes on the left menu.
    9. Click on the volume created from the snapshot.
    10. Click Actions, click Attach Volume.
    11. Select the instance, set Device = /dev/sda1, click Attach.

    12. Detach and attach the remaining volume to the instance.
    13. Start the instance.

    Automate backup process for an EC2 instance:
    1. Go to AWS Backup service.
    2. Click Backup plans on the left menu.
    3. Click the Create Backup plan button, select a template (e.g. Daily-35day-Retention), enter a backup plan name (e.g. HuyBien_Backup_Plan).

    4. Click Backup plans on the left menu, click on a backup plan name.
    5. Scroll down to the Resource assignments section, click the Assign resources button.
    6. Enter a resource assignment name (e.g. HuyBien_Instances or HuyBien_Volumes), the scroll down to the Assign resources section.
    7. Select Resource ID for Assign by.

    8. Select appropriate resources. When you select an EC2 instance, AWS Backup will create backup for all EBS volumes attached to the instance, and then will attach them to an AMI that stores all parameters from the original EC2 instance.
    9. Click the Assign resources button.
    10. Wait for 1 day, then click on the Backup vaults link on the left menu, click a Backup vault name, scroll down to the Backup section to check for backups of the resources created by the backup plan execution.

    Configure backup process time:
    1. Go to https://www.thetimezoneconverter.com/, and convert your time to UTC, for example 1:00 AM Saint Petersburg = 10:00 PM UTC.
    2. Go to AWS Backup, click Backup plans, click on a plan name.
    3. Scroll down to Backup rules, select a rule, click the Edit button.
    4. Scroll down to Backup window, click Customize backup window and enter your times.

     

    Operating Systems

    How to Install Ubuntu and Windows as a Dual Boot

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    Motivation:

    You are want to install Ubuntu 18.04 and Windows 10 as dual boot for completing some machine learning tasks.

    Prerequisites:

    You need to have a 8Gb USB stick.

    Solution:

    Step 1: Go to BIOS, select the UEFI option in Boot List Option, disable the Enable Legacy option ROMS option, disable Secure Boot.

    Step 2: Install Windows 10 and create a free partition for Ubuntu.

    Step 3: Download the Ubuntu desktop 18.04 image.

    Note: The Ubuntu server 18.04 image may NOT contain driver for your wireless adapter network card.

    Download and use Rufus to create a bootable USB with Ubuntu.

    Step 4: Install Ubuntu. Select Something else in Installation type screen. Select the free partition. Click the + sign.

    Create an EFI partition and set its size to be 552MB if it does not exist.

    Create a Swap partition. Set its size to be twice as your RAM size.

    Create a Root partition. Set its size to be all the remaining free space to optimize your space.

     

     

     

     

    Operating Systems

    How to Remove Caches and Temporary Files in Windows

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    Motivation:

    You may want to remove caches to update an application status or fix some issues.
    You may need to remove temporary files to get some more free disk space.

    Solution:

    Try clearing files and folders in the directories below.

    • %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Temp
    • C:\Windows\Temp
    • C:\Users\All Users\Package Cache
    • C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download
    • C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\Temporary ASP.NET Files

    Sometimes you may get permission error when deleting files or folders. If this is true then try the following command before deleting these files and folders.

    takeown /f C:\Users\All Users\Package Cache /r /d y
icacls C:\Users\All Users\Package Cache /grant administrators:F /t
    Operating Systems

    How to Hide Your IP Location using VPN in Windows 10

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    Motivation:

    You have VPN credentials and want to hide your IP location for a specific purpose.

    Solution:

    • Setup a VPN connection using your VPN credentials.
    • Type and click View network connections in Search box to open the Network Connections window.
    • Right-click the VPN connection and select Properties in the menu.
    • Select the Networking tab.
    • Click the Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) row, then click the Properties button.
    • Click the Advanced… button.
    • Select Use default gateway on remote network option.

    Operating Systems

    How to Fix “The parameter is incorrect” Issue When Disabling the Sync Host OneSyncSvc Service

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    Problem:

    The Sync Host OneSyncSvc service was not started correctly and caused error in the Server Manager.

    You wanted to disable this service. However you got the “The parameter is incorrect” error message when disabling it.

    Solution:
    1. Click on the Search icon, type regedit, press Enter.
    2. Locate the key below
    Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\OneSyncSvc

    3.  Change the Start value from 2 to 4 (Disabled).

    4. Restart the server.