Archive for 'Windows 7'
Winsock is a great utility to reset and repair Winsock. It’s probably the best and quickest fix for all connection problems
Fix Winsock Manually on Windows 7
1. Open up the command line utility and enter:
netsh winsock reset catalog (resets winsock entries)
netsh int ip reset reset.log hit (resets TCP/IP stack)
2. Reboot your PC
Fix Winsock via Batch
This could come in handy if you forget the commands and you can no longer go online to look them up.
Download WinsockFix.bat for Windows 7
Download that file and to run it right-click on winsockfix.bat and click on “Run as administrator”.
To Fix:
Delete the poqexec entry from the SetupExecute value,
To delete the poqexec entry from the SetupExecute (REG_MULTI_SZ) value, you must clear the value. To do this, follow these steps:
- Restart your computer and start pressing the F8 key on your keyboard. You have to press F8 before the Windows logo appears. If the Windows logo appears, you have to try again by waiting until the Windows logon prompt appears and then shutting down and restarting your computer.
Note On a computer that is configured to boot to multiple operating systems, you can press the F8 key when the Boot Menu appears.
- Use the arrow keys to select Repair your Computer in the Advanced Boot Options area, and then press Enter.
If you are prompted, select the Windows 7 installation to be repaired, and then click Next. - Select the language and a keyboard input method, and then click Next.
- Select a user name, type your password, and then click OK.
- Under System Recovery Options, click Command Prompt, and then press Enter.
- At the command prompt, type the following commands. Press Enter after each command.
Reg load HKLM\BaseSystem C:\Windows\System32\config\SYSTEM
Reg Delete “HKLM\BaseSystem\ControlSet001\Control\Session Manager” /v SetupExecute
Reg add “HKLM\BaseSystem\ControlSet001\Control\Session Manager” /v SetupExecute /t REG_MULTI_SZ
Reg unload HKLM\BaseSystem
- At the command prompt, type exit, and then press Enter.
- Restart your computer.
In Windows 7, like Windows Vista, when you install the operating system, you are asked to enter a user name which will be the primary local user that will use this system.
Like in Windows Vista, in Windows 7 the built-in Administrator’s account is disabled by default. Furthermore, this account is not associated with any password.
The new user which is created during the installation is configured to be a member of the built-in Administrators group, and in fact, can be used for any management task. That use is in fact equivalent by all means with the original built-in Administrator account.
However, there may be situations where one would like to use the built-in Administrator account instead of that “new” user. One of these might be when you’re building a system for cloning purposes, and would like all cloned machines to be able to use the built-in Administrator’s account.
Note that since that account does NOT have a password, enabling it without properly setting a password for that account will open a serious security opening on your system!
There are basically 2 easy methods of enabling the built-in Administrator’s account and 1 advanced method.
Method #1 – Using the Local Users and Groups Snap-in
To enable the built-in Administrator’s account by using the Local Users and Groups snap-in please follow these steps:
Open Local Users and Groups. You can do so by typing lusrmgr.msc in the Start search box or in the Run command and pressing ENTER. Or, you could open Computer Management by right-clicking Computer in the Start menu and selecting Manage.
Expand System Tools > Local Users and Groups > Users.
Right-click the Administrator account and select “Set Password”.
In the”Set Password for Administrator” click “Proceed”.
In the”Set Password for Administrator” enter the Administrator’s desired password twice, and click “Ok”.
Next, enable the Administrator’s account. Right-click the Administrator’s account and select “Properties”.
Un-chek the “Account is disabled” check-box. Click on the “Ok” button.
Administrator’s account is now enabled and configured with a password.
Method #2 – From the Command Prompt
To enable the built-in Administrator’s account by using the Command Prompt please follow these steps:
1. Click Start and type CMD, then press Enter. It is best to run the Command Prompt as an Administrator. To do so, right-click CMD and select “Run as Administrator”.
When prompted to allow the Command Processor to run, click on “Yes”.
BTW, you can also hover over the CMD line and press CTRL + SHIFT + ENTER to invoke the “Run as Administrator” shortcut.
In the Command Prompt window, type:
net user
Note how the Administrator account is there, yet the new user account has not been yet created.
To set the Administrator’s account password:
net user *
Then enter the required password and confirm it.
To enable the Administrator’s account:
net user administrator /active:yes
Method #3 (Advanced Users) – During the Installation Process
There is a 3rd method which advanced users can use. This method can be used during the installation process itself.
During the installation, after being prompted to configure the new user account, you will be able to set the new account’s password.
At that phase, press SHIFT and F10 keys together. A Command Prompt window will appear.
In the Command Prompt window, type:
net user
Note how the Administrator account is there, yet the new user account has not been yet created.
To set the Administrator’s account password:
net user *
To enable the Administrator’s account:
net user administrator /active:yes
Close the Command Prompt window and continue with the installation process.
If you log off you will now see the Administrator’s account as a valid logon option.
I’ve had Windows 7 beta installed on my Lenovo S10 for a few weeks now and I’ve been constantly plagued by a problem with my wireless connectivity. I set up my wifi connection to my router, and I selected the checkbox to automatically connect to the network whenever it is in range. I could connect and disconnect from my wireless network all day long. The problem would occur when I rebooted or shutdown. When the machine would come back up, I’d have to manually connect to my wireless network again! All the settings were there except for that checkbox to automatically connect. Every reboot would reset that checkbox to be blank. Which meant that every reboot would force me to manually connect again!
Finally, I think I found the solution. I searched high and low in the registry and couldn’t find an appropriate registry setting to change that would force this automatic connection. That meant that Windows must be storing the connection profile in a different place. After using some file access monitoring tools, I narrowed it down to an xml file. If you’re having a similar problem, either in Windows 7 or Vista, try the following steps:
1. Go to the Start menu -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools. Double click on the Services icon to open the Services management console.
2. Scroll to the bottom of the Services console until you see WLAN AutoConfig. Right click on it and select Stop from the menu. Wait until the service is stopped.
3. Now, open Windows Explorer and go to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Wlansvc\Profiles\Interfaces. You should see a directory or directories in there with long names like {FBDADD33-7552-4D1E-B3B0-71C6128AFE14}. If you have multiple directories in here, then you’ll have to hunt for the correct directory. Follow the next steps for each directory you have until you find the directory you need.
4. Inside the directory with the long name, there will be an xml file with another long name. You can double click on the xml file to open it and see it’s contents. Inside the xml file are the settings for your wireless connection, including the name and various configuration settings. If you have multiple directories from step 3 above, then you can open each xml file in each directory until you find the one that matches your wireless name.
5. Once you find your xml file, open it in Notepad. There will be one setting in that file that reads <connectionMode>manual</connectionMode>. Change the word “manual” to “auto”, without the quotation marks. Save the file. Don’t change the name or the location.
6. Now that the file is edited, we need to make sure that the SYSTEM account can’t change the auto setting back to manual, which is what was happening to me. So we need to change permissions on the file to deny SYSTEM and Administrators from being able to write to the file. Right click on the file you just saved and select Properties. Click on the Security tab. Click the Advanced button. Click on the Owner tab and click on the Edit button. Select your user account in the list and select Apply. You now have full ownership of the file.
7. After taking ownership, go back to the Permissions tab. Click on the Edit button. Remove the checkmark from the “Include inheritable permissions from this object’s parent”. A dialog window will pop up. In Vista, click on the Copy button. In Windows 7, click on the Add button.
8. Now you can edit all the permissions easily. Highlight the SYSTEM account in the list and click on the Edit button. Check the box to DENY full control. All checkmarks underneath Full Control will move from Allow to Deny. Now, we can’t deny ALL permissions because the system needs to be able to READ the contents of this file, so we need to move some of the checkmarks back over to the Allow column. Check the box to Allow the following permissions: Traverse folder / Execute file, List folder / read data, Read attributes, Read extended attributes, and Read permissions. Pretty much any permission that says “Read” is good to go. Just deny all the other settings that would allow SYSTEM to write or modify the file.
9. Do the same things in Step 8 for the Administrators account. After you’ve changed the permissions for those two accounts, you can apply and OK your way out of all those windows.
10. Go back to the Services management console and start up the WLAN AutoConfig service again. Right click on the service and select Start from the menu.
Now, your wireless connection should start up and connect automatically and it should survive a reboot. My wireless connection is listed as Access Point. I’m not sure if these settings would work for Adhoc networks or other connection types, but it’s worth a shot. Any questions, let me know in the comments.
