Category Archives: Tech Devices

How to Sync Content between your MacBook and iPhone over Wi-Fi

Motivation:

You want to sync content between your MacBook and iPhone over Wi-Fi.

    Solution:
    1. Connect your iPhone to your MacBook using a USB or USB-C cable.
    2. In the Finder on your MacBook, select iPhone in the Finder sidebar.
    3. Click General tab in the button bar.
    4. Select the Show this iPhone when on Wi-Fi checkbox.
    5. Click Sync button.
    6. Unplug your iPhone from your MacBook.
    7. Restart both devices.
    8. From now on, when your iPhone and MacBook connect to the same Wi-Fi you will see your iPhone device in the Finder sidebar, and you can sync content between them without having to use a cable.
    9. Sometimes if your MacBook cannot find your iPhone then just restart your MacBook and it will find your iPhone device again.

     

     

    How to Transfer Data from iPhone to iPhone without using iCloud

    Motivation:

    You want to transfer all your data from your old iPhone to your new one without using iCloud.

    Prerequisites:
    1. Your iPhones must run iOS 16.2 or later (i.e. iPhone 5S or later)
    2. Your iPhones must have Bluetooth enabled.
      Solution:
      1. Plug your old and new iPhone in.
      2. Place them next to one another.
      3. Turn on your old iPhone, connect to the Internet, enable Bluetooth.
      4. Turn on your new iPhone.
      5. On your new iPhone, choose your language, then select your country or region, then tap on Continue on Apperance screen.
      6. On your old iPhone, you should see a pop-up screen asking if you want to ‘Use your Apple ID [[email protected]] to set up your new iPhone’. Tap Continue.
      7. Pick up your old iPhone and position the camera view so it overlaps with the circular blue pattern that appears on your new iPhone. Aternatively you can select manual authentication and enter code generated on your old iPhone to your new iPhone.
      8. On your new iPhone, follow the instructions on the screen to transfer data from your old iPhone to your new iPhone.
      9. The transfer process is complete when you see Transfer Complete message on your old iPhone.
      10. It will then take some time to download apps to your new iPhone.
      11. On your old iPhone, open Microsoft Authenticator app if you are using it. Open Settings. Then enter your personal Microsoft account to act as your Recovery account. Then enable iCloud Backup.
      12. On your new iPhone, delete Microsoft Authenticator app. Then reinstall it. Open MS Authenticator app. Select Restore from backup option. Log in your personal Microsoft account. For some accounts, you may need to manually tap Action required  and follow the instructions to complete the transfer.
      13. On your old iPhone, open Google Authenticator app if you are using it. Tap three bars on the top left. Then tap Transfer accounts. Then tap Export accounts. Tap Next.
      14. On your new iPhone, open Google Authenticator app. Tap three bars on the top left. Then tap Transfer accounts. Then tap Import accounts. Tap Scan QR code. Hold your phone on the QR code on your old iPhone for a minute.

       

       

       

       

      How to Back Up and Restore Photos and Music on MacBook

      Motivation

      You want to back up and restore your photos on a MacBook.

      Solution:

      To back up your images:

      1. Quit Photos app.
      2. Go to /Users/yourname/Pictures.
      3. Copy Photos Library.photoslibrary to your backup location.

      To restore your images:

      1. Quit Photos app.
      2. Copy Photos Library.photoslibrary from your backup location to your MacBook.
      3. Hold down the Option key and double-click the Photos app.
      4. In the Choose Library dialog, select your Photos Library.photoslibrary.
      5. Click Choose Library button.

      To back up your music:

      1. Quit Music app.
      2. Go to /Users/yourname/Music.
      3. Copy Music Library.musiclibrary and Media folder to your backup location.

      To restore your music:

      1. Quit Music app.
      2. Copy Music Library.musiclibrary and Media folder from your backup location to your MacBook.
      3. Hold down the Option key and double-click the Music app.
      4. Click Choose Library… button.
      5. Select your Music Library.musiclibrary.
      6. Click Choose button.
      7. You may also go to Music > Settings… > Files  and change Music Media folder location.

       

       

      How to Make Windows Use Dedicated Graphics Card

      Problem:

      You have a laptop with 2 graphic cards: one is built-in graphics card (e.g. Intel(R) UHD Graphics), and the other is a dedicated graphics card (e.g. NVIDIA Quadro P520).

      However it seems that Windows does NOT use the dedicated graphics card.

      Verification:

      You can verify this issue by

      1. Opening a video file, then
      2. Opening Task Manager,
      3. Going to Performance tab, and
      4. Checking the percent usage of GPU 0 (i.e. Intel(R) UHD Graphics) and GPU 1 (i.e. NVIDIA Quadro P520).
      Solution:
      1. Open Device Manager and uninstall the dedicated graphics card driver.
      2. Go to https://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us.
      3. Set Product Series to Quadro Series (Notebooks).
      4. Set Product to Quadro P520.
      5. Set Operating System to Windows 10 64-bit.
      6. Click the SEARCH button.
      7. Download and install the latest driver.
      8. That’s all. Please do let Windows automatically select a graphic processor for a task to avoid potential performance issues.
        Typically Windows only uses a dedicated graphics card for heavy graphics tasks.

       

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

      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.

       

       

      How to Reconfigure ASUS Modem Wi-Fi Router

      Issue:

      You have an ASUS modem Wi-Fi router.
      You already configured it in the past. Now you want to reconfigure it but you cannot access it via http://router.asus.com/.
      You already tried to restart the router several times but the problem still persists.

      Solution:
      1. Perform a hard reset of the router.
      2. Connect to the default 5G Wi-Fi network of the router.
      3. Go to http://router.asus.com/.
      4. Check and update the firmware.
      5. Reconfigure the router.

      Note: If you configure the LAN information of the router manually then remember to set up an IP address for DNS Server1 (e.g. 8.8.8.8)  and DNS Server2 (e.g. 8.8.4.4).

       

      How to Fix iPhone Internet Connection Issue

      Problem:

      You iPhone can connect to a Wi-Fi router.
      The Wi-Fi router does have an Internet connection. Other devices can connect to the Internet using this Wi-Fi router.
      However you iPhone cannot connect to Internet.

      Verification:
      1. Tap on Settings, then tap on Wi-Fi.
      2. Tap on the Wi-Fi network name.
      3. Scroll down to IPV4 ADDRESS section.
      4. Ensure that Configure IP = Automatic, IP Address = 169.X1.X2.X3 (X1, X2, X3 can be any number), Subnet Mask = 255.255.0.0, and Router may be empty.
      Solution:
      1. Reboot your Router.
      2. If the problem still persists then please reset your iPhone by tapping on Settings > General > Reset > Reset All Settings.

       

       

      How to Convert MP4 or MKV File to MP3 or M4A File

      Motivation:

      You have downloaded some MP4 or MKV video files.

      You want to extract audio parts so that you could copy them to your iPhone to listen to them while turning off the display of your phone.

      Procedure:

      • Download this portable application to your Windows.
      • Unzip the files to a location.
      • Open Mp4ToMp3_64.exe.
      • Click on the Add files button to add MP4 or MKV files to the application.
      • If you want to extract the original audio (for example the M4A format) then select Try extract original audio stream option below the Audio section on the right panel.
      • Click the Convert button.
      • Copy the MP3 or M4A files to your phone.

      This procedure can be used for extracting audio from M4B (Apple audiobook file format) file to M4A or MP3 file too.

       

      How to Install a Clean iOS

      Motivation:

      You want to sell or give away your iPhone. You want to ensure that the new owner will not access any of your data.

      You may also need to give your iPhone to a technician to fix the broken display of your iPhone. You want to ensure that the technician cannot access any of your data.

      You may also have so many buggy applications on your iPhone and want to increase stability and performance of your iOS.

      Procedure:

      • Import your Photos to a MacBook.
      • Create a backup of data. It is best to let your iPhone synchronize everything with iCloud, including Photos and Contacts.
      • Turn off Find My iPhone.
      • Plug your iPhone to a MacBook.
      • Open Finder. Click on your iPhone on the left panel.
      • Click Restore iPhone… button.
      • Click Backup button.
      • Click Restore and Update button. Click Next button. Click Agree button.
      • Follow the instructions to install a clean iOS to your iPhone.

      Post Installation Configuration:

      • Setup your iPhone.
      • Activate your iPhone.
      • Setup Face ID.
      • Restore your Apps & Data from iCloud backup.
      • Synchronize music to your iPhone.
      • Go to Settings > Generals > Software Update > Automatic Updates. Turn off Automatic Updates.
      • Go to Settings > Generals > Display & Brightness > Text Size. Drag the slider to the right to increase text size.
      • Go to Settings > Messages. Enable iMessage.