Tag Archives: Windows 10

Operating Systems

How to Install Windows on your MacBook using Boot Camp

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Motivation:

You have a MacBook and you want to use an application that only works on Windows.

Prerequisites:

  • Boot Camp requires MacBook model which has an Intel processor. Please ensure that your MacBook model is one of the following models listed here.
  • On your MacBook, click Apple icon, then click About This Mac, and ensure that an item labeled Processor, not Chip, is shown, as described here.

Procedure:

1. Update your MacBook
  • Ensure that your macOS is up-to-date and does not have any issue.
  • If you want to reinstall macOS then you can hold down Command+R after powering your machine on.
2. Install Windows on your MacBook using Boot Camp

On macOS:

  • Finder > Shift+Command+u > Boot Camp Assistant
  • Select 350Gb (or another appropriate size) for Windows. Use Windows 10 version 1909, April 2020 or Windows 10 version 1709, November 2017.
  • Remove unnecessary macOS applications (e.g. Numbers, Pages, Garage Band) if you want to use as much as possible storage for Windows.
  • Install Windows 10.
    – DO NOT USE Disk Management to create new partitions during Windows installation. Only use Disk Management to format an existing partition when installing Windows.
    – During the next boot into OS X, the OSXRESERVED partition is removed and put back into the Core Storage container of the OS X partition.

On Windows:

  • Install Boot Camp drivers.
  • Click Boot Camp icon. Click Boot Camp Control Panel… > TrackPad > Tap to Click > Apply > OK.
  • Change Computer Name, disable System Protection, enable Remote Desktop, activate Windows.
  • Optionally press Win + R and type “msconfig” then click OK. Then Select the Boot tab and delete unnecessary OS boot item.
  • Turn on Automatic Logon
    Command Prompt (Run as Administrator) >> netplwiz
  • Disable Hibernate
    Command Prompt (Run as Administrator) >> powercfg.exe /hibernate off
  • Power management > Change plan settings > Change advanced power settings
    >> Hard disk > Turn of hard disk after > Never
    >> Sleep > Sleep after > Never
  • Adjust System > Display > Brightness and color.
  • Uninstall unnecessary apps.
  • Use Disk Management to shrink the BOOTCAMP partition and create a new DATA partition. Use 150Gb (153600MB) as the amount of space to shrink.
  • Check and install Windows updates.
  • Copy portable apps.
Installing developer’s tools:
  • Turn the following Windows features on: ASP.NET 3.5, 4.7, Internet Information Service, Telnet Client
  • Install Hyper-V, create an external Virtual Switch for Internet access
  • Install Total Commander, Remote Desktop Connection Manager
  • Install Firefox
  • Install MS SQL Server 2008 R2, MS Office 2007 SP3 (Display >> Scale and layout: 175%), MS Project 2016, MS Visio 2016, Visual Studio 2010, Visual Studio 2015, Adobe Acrobat Pro DC v15.8, Adobe Photoshop CC 2015, TortoiseSVN 1.11.1
  • Install Python 3.6.8, TensorFlow, Keras
3. Remove Windows from your MacBook using Boot Camp

On Windows:

  • Delete all Windows Data partitions, then Extend the Boot Camp volume (C:\) using Windows Disk Management.

On macOS:

  • Finder > Shift+Command+u > Boot Camp Assistant > Continue > Restore
  • If you get any problem with Boot Camp Assistant then delete Windows Boot Camp partition using Disk Utility: Finder > Shift+Command+u > Disk Utility > Partition.
  • If you get a “Ghost” partition after deleting Windows Boot Camp partition using Disk Utility then please use the following procedure to remove it:

Execute below command:

diskutil list

Find EFI IDENTIFIER (e.g. disk0s1).

Execute 2 below commands:

sudo mkdir /Volumes/efi
sudo mount -t msdos /dev/disk0s1 /Volumes/efi

Navigate to /Volumes/efi/EFI. Delete all directories (i.e. Microsoft and Boot) except the APPLE directory.

Execute below command:

diskutil unmount /Volumes/efi
4. Repair or update Boot Camp drivers on Windows
  • Download and install 7-Zip.
  • Download Brigadier 0.2.4.
  • Run Brigadier to automatically detect your Mac model and download the right Boot Camp drivers for Windows 10, and extract them (using 7-Zip) to the same location where Brigadier executable is located.
  • Find and double-click on Setup.exe to run it.

 

Operating Systems

How to delete the Windows.old folder

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Motivation:

After a major update Windows 10 leaves a folder named Windows.old in the system drive. You may remove it to save disk space and prevent potential harmful exploits.

Solution

Method 1:

  1. Click in Windows’ search field, type Cleanup, then click Disk Cleanup.
  2. Click the “Clean up system files” button.
  3. Wait a bit while Windows scans for files, then scroll down the list until you see “Previous Windows installation(s)“.
  4. Check the box next to the entry.
  5. Click OK.

Method 2:

  1. Open a command prompt (cmd.exe) as Admin
  2. Execute 3 below commands:
takeown /f C:\Windows.old /r /d y
icacls C:\Windows.old /grant administrators:F /t
rmdir C:\Windows.old /s /q

takeown: takes ownership of a folder.

icacls: grants permissions to a user against a folder

rmdir: deletes a folder

3. If some files still cannot be deleted then please restart your computer and re-excecute the above 3 commands.

4. If some files still cannot be deleted after the restart then please execute 3 below commands:

icacls C:\Windows.old /T /Q /C /RESET
icacls C:\Windows.old /grant admin:F /t
rmdir C:\Windows.old /s /q

admin: your current logged in username.

5. If some files still cannot be deleted then please click Cortona icon, type msconfig, click on System Configuration link, click Boot tab, select Safe boot check box,  select Minimal option, click OK, restart your computer and then execute the 3 commands in the 2nd step and the 3 commands in the 4th step.

Operating Systems

How to find a string in files

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Motivation:

Find a string in all files in a directory without having to install an external program that may decrease system security.

Method 1:

  1. Open a command prompt (cmd.exe)
  2. Go to the directory and
  3. Execute below command:
find /i "search string" *.*

/i: ignores the case of your search string.

Examples:

find /i "app files were copied" *.*
find /i "were copied" *.log

Method 2:

  1. Open a command prompt (cmd.exe)
  2. Go to the directory and
  3. Execute below command:
findstr /s "search string" *.*

/s: searches for each word in your search string.

or execute below command:

findstr /C:"search string" *.*

/C: searches for exact match of your search string .

Examples:

findstr /s "Integrated Security=true" *.cs
findstr /C:"app files were copied" *.log
Operating Systems

Quick Format vs. Full Format

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Question:

What is the difference between Quick Format and Full Format?

Which option should you choose when formatting a drive?

Answer:

When you choose to run a Full Format on a volume (or partition), files are removed from the volume that you are formatting and the hard disk is scanned for bad sectors. The scan for bad sectors is responsible for the majority of the time that it takes to format a volume.

When you choose to run a Quick Format on a volume (or partition), format removes files from the partition, but does not scan the disk for bad sectors. Only use this option if your hard disk has been previously formatted and you are sure that your hard disk is not damaged.

Question:

What is the difference between MBR disk and GPT disk?

Which option should you choose when initializing a new external drive?

Answer:

MBR (Master Boot Record) disk allows you to install older operating systems. However it can only recognize up to 2TB space, and allows you to create up to 4 partitions.

GPT (GUID Partition Table) disk does not allow you to install older operating systems. However it can recognize more than 2TB space, and allows you to create more than 4 partitions.

When initializing a new external drive, probably you should initialize your disk as a GPT disk unless you want to install an old operating system on your external disk.

If you need to convert a disk to GPT while installing Windows then you can press Shift + F10 or Fn + Shift + F10 to open Command Prompt when you arrive the Windows Edition Selection screen. Then follow the procedure below.

Enter diskpart.exe, press Enter.
DISKPART> list disk
DISKPART> select disk 0 -- the disk should be selected, the number may be different in your machine.
DISKPART> clean
DISKPART> convert gpt
DISKPART> exit

In order to detect hard drive model, serial number and size use the command below.

wmic diskdrive get model, serialNumber, size

 

Problem:

How to solve Windows Server 2012 (R2) Extend Volume Greyed Out issue?

You are trying to extend partition with Disk Management snap-in Windows Server 2012 (R2), but you find the option to Extend Volume greyed out.
Solution:

Reason 1: The cause is disk partition style. Your disk partition is MBR style that supports only up to 2TB.

Solution for reason 1: Convert MBR to GPT disk for using un-allocated space beyond 2TB.

Reason 2: The un-allocated space is not contiguously behind the target partition that you want to extend.

Solution 1 for reason 2:

Step 1: Backup the partition (e.g. D:) behind the target drive (e.g. C:) you want to extend. Right-click on the D: partition and select "Delete Volume" in the drop down list.

Step 2: Once you have D: partition delete, it will turn into an unallocated space and be automatically merged with other unallocated space that is next to it if have. Now you can right-click on C: drive and "Extend Volume" option is available.
Solution 2 for reason 2:

Use a third-party application to merge the partitions, e.g. AOMEI Partition Assistant Server Edition.

 

Operating Systems, Software Engineering Curriculum

Topic 1 – Operating Systems

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Why do I need to learn about operating systems?

Because you will develop your software using an operating system or for an operating system.

What can I do after finishing learning operating systems?

You will be prepared with skills that help you prepare environments for your your programming journey.

You will be prepared with knowledge that helps you understand programming terminologies.

You may even be inspired to learn programming to solve problems.

How many operating systems should I know?

As many as possible. We recommend that you learn how to work with Windows first. Then you learn about basic concepts of an operating system.

How do I learn to use operating systems?

Please read
– this Andy Rathbone (2015). Windows 10 For Dummies. John Wiley & Sons book, or
– this Andy Rathbone (2021). Windows 11 For Dummies. John Wiley & Sons book and this Ciprian Adrian Rusen (2022). Windows 11 All-in-One For Dummies. John Wiley & Sons book.

How about other operating systems such as macOS, Linux or Unix?

If you have a Mac then you can read this Pogue David (2019). macOS Mojave: The Missing Manual. O’Reilly Media book.

If you have a PC with Ubuntu, or Linux, or Unix then you can read this Mark G. Sobell (2015). A Practical Guide to Ubuntu Linux. Prentice Hall book.

After that please read these Introduction to Computing Principles lecture notes.

After that please read this Abraham Silberschatz et al. (2018). Operating System Concepts. Wiley book.

Terminology Review:

  • Central Processing Unit (CPU).
  • Random-Access Memory (RAM).
  • Hard Disk Drive (HDD).
  • Solid-State Drive (SSD).
  • Programs.
  • Basic Input/Output System (BIOS)
  • Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI).
  • Boot Loader.
  • Operating System (OS).
  • Monolithic Structure.
  • Microkernels.
  • User Mode.
  • System Calls.
  • Kernel.
  • Kernel Mode.
  • Processes.
  • Threads.
  • Process Synchronization.
  • Memory Management Unit.
  • Logical Address.
  • Physical Address.
  • Paging.
  • File System.
  • Security and Protection.
  • Networks.
  • Virtual Memory.
  • Virtualization.
  • Virtual Machines.

Once you finish learning about operating systems please click Topic 2 – Introduction to Computer Networks to continue.