Windows Tips and Tricks

How to fix "network location cannot be Reached" error in Windows XP

2011-01-10T23:34:00.000+05:30

Sometime we face issue in accessing network share of other computers through UNC path e.g. \\192.168.1.1 .

we get following error even if network is working fine and the same share cane be accessed from other machines.

Error Message : The network location cannot be Reached. For information about network troubleshooting, see Windows Help.

Please find below solution If you face issue of getting above error message when accessing any network share through UNC path (e.g. \\192.168.1.1)

Run Registry Editor (regedit.exe), and check the following registry key:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NetBT\Parameters]
Please find if the "TransportBindName" value exists. If either of them does not exist, create it. If either one is incorrect, change the data. The values should be like this:

Name: TransportBindName
Type: REGSZ
Value: \Device\
Under the same registry key ([HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NetBT\Parameters]), if you find the "SMBDeviceEnabled" value exists and is 0, it means Direct Hosting is disabled. You may change it to 1 to turn on it unless there are requirements that this should be disabled.

Name: SMBDeviceEnabled
Type: REG_DWORD
Value: 1
Go to Start--> Run--> Type Services.msc and make sure that " Computer Browser " and " Workstation " services are running.

This should resolve above error.

Sumit

Linux Tips and Tricks: Configure Linux Samba Server as a Primary Domain C...

2010-12-28T00:59:00.000+05:30

Linux Tips and Tricks: Configure Linux Samba Server as a Primary Domain C...: We can use Samba as a Primary Domain Controller and can add windows machines in that domain

Block Website in Windows without any additional Software

2010-12-26T13:01:00.002+05:30

There are three different methods to block websites in windows 7 without installing any additional software.

Method 1: Use Parental Control

Method 2: Use Content Advisor in Internet Options. Go to Internet Options . You should see a "Content" tab; click it and configure it and add sites to block and set content advisor password

This method will only be useful if you are using Internet Explorer as a browser.

Method 3 : This is the simple and easy method to block any site in windows 7.

The best way to do this is by telling windows to resolve wrong ip address ( e.g. 127.0.0.1) for particular site which you want to block . Follow below steps to do so.

Step1 : Go to Start--> All Programs--> Accessories--> Right Click on " Notepad " and click on " Run as Administrator ". This will open Notepad with administrative privilege.

Step2 : From the Notepad , click File--> Open-> point to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts file and click on Open.

Step3 : At the bottom of the file, add the line as shown below for each site which you want to block.

127.0.0.1 www.website1.com

127.0.0.1 www.website2.com

127.0.0.1 website3.com

Step4 : Once you are done with above, Save and close the file.

Now sites which you listed in hosts file will no longer be accessible on that computer.

Sumit

Access / Mount Linux NFS share under Windows 7

2010-12-23T15:36:00.002+05:30

Windows 7 has inbuilt Client for NFS which enables Windows-based computers to access files on Linux/UNIX Network File System (NFS) servers.

By default Client for NFS Feature does not install when you install Windows 7. You need to install it manually. Follow below steps to enable windows 7 to mount NFS shares.

Go to Start--> Run --> Type " appwiz.cpl " and press ENTER. It will open " Program and Features " having list of all installed softwares. You can open this from Control Panel also. From Control Panel, click on " Program and Features".

Now from the left pane click on " Turn Windows features on or off ". It will open up the box having list of all features which are available in windows 7. Scroll Down and find out feature named " Service for NFS ". Once you find it , expand it and click the Checkbox to enable the feature. Select both sub features " Administrative Tools " and " Client for NFS " and click on OK.

Now you can access NFS shares directly from Run Menu same way you access other windows shares . Start--> Run --> \\ipoflinuxserver\nameofnfsshare and press ENTER and it will open up the NFS share OR you can map it as a network drive the same way you do for any windows share !!

This is beneficial to users who are working in heterogeneous environment who frequently need to use both linux and windows shares.

Sumit

Using Problem Step Recorder ( PSR) in Windows 7

2010-12-19T23:19:00.001+05:30

Microsoft has introduced Windows 7 with lots of new powerful features and one of such powerful feature is inbuilt utility called PSR (Problem Step Recorder) which will capture the screen and record mouse click actions and keyboard strokes you have performed on the computer.

Here is how to use PSR (Problem Step Recorder) in Windows 7

Go to Start => Run => Type “ psr ” and press ENTER , you will be presented with the small box having controls such as Start Record, Stop Record, Add Comment.

Click on “ Start Record “ button to start recording your mouse clicks and keyboard strokes.

You can also add comment in between if you want by clicking “ Add Comment “ button.

Click on “ Stop Record “ button to stop recording. Once you stop recording, PSR will prompt you to save the zip file which will contain MHTML file inside in it having all of your recorded activity. You can open this file in Internet Explorer, it will show you sequence of all events which you performed.

You can change setting by clicking “ Setting “ button.

This utility will help End User to explain their technical problem/issue better to Tech Support and it will be good enough for tech support team to understand and diagnose the problem which you are experiencing.

It can also be used to make step by step guide documents for application/software installation/configuration. (For example, Step by Step Guide for installing/configuring Active Directory)

--
Sumit

Set Automatic Login in Windows XP or Windows 7

2010-12-17T00:29:00.001+05:30

We may need to set automatic login on our windows 7 or windows XP machine.

Here is how you can set Automatic Login in Windows XP or Windows 7 .

Go to Start--> Run--> and type “ control userpasswords2 “ and press ENTER. You will get the advance control panel of User Accounts ! as shown below.

You can instruct windows here to login automatically when you start your computer.

Uncheck the box “ Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer ” and click on OK button, it will give you prompt to enter the username and password which you want to use to login automatically. Enter desired username and password and click OK

That’s it ! Now next time you boot up your computer, you will be automatically logged in with your desired username and password !

Sumit

How to Fix Generic Host Process for WIn32 Services Error

2010-12-16T22:59:00.004+05:30

Sometime we get Generic Host Process for Win32 Services error and sometime svchost.exe error in windows XP constantly and if we click on " Don’t Send " button, computer gets hang and we end up in rebooting it.

This may be problem of corrupted Windows Update in Windows XP.

Follow the steps below to get rid of above error message.
1) Re-Register Windows Update DLLs

Click on Start, Run, and type CMD and click ok

In the command window type the following commands one by one to re-register windows update dll files

REGSVR32 WUAPI.DLL

REGSVR32 WUAUENG.DLL
REGSVR32 WUAUENG1.DLL
REGSVR32 ATL.DLL
REGSVR32 WUCLTUI.DLL
REGSVR32 WUPS.DLL
REGSVR32 WUPS2.DLL
REGSVR32 WUWEB.DLL

This will re-register all windows update related dll files.

2) Remove Corrupted Windows Update Files

At the command prompt, type the following command and press Enter

net stop WuAuServ

type cd %windir% and press Enter

In the opened folder, type the following command and press Enter to rename the SoftwareDistribution Folder

ren SoftwareDistribution SD_OLD

Restart the Windows Update Service by typing the following at the command prompt

net start WuAuServ

3) Clear Winsock state

Go to command prompt and type following commands

netsh winsock reset

netsh interface reset all

Close the command prompt

4) Restart Windows XP

After restart, run windows updates and make sure you have all critical windows updates/patches applied on your windows XP machine and also make sure that you have Service Pack 3 installed for Windows XP.

Although this method may not solve all of the issues with a SVCHOST.EXE Application error, but I have found it fixed the problem with the most of the time.

Sumit

Backup / Restore Auto Complete names in Outlook

2010-12-16T00:42:00.004+05:30

Mostly all outlook users are habitual to convenience of outlook's autocomplete feature which is autocompleting recipient names as you begin to type them and we mostly never add those addresses permanently in address book .

But sometimes we may need to move to another computer or we may need to format our windows operating system for some reason. In such cases, we normally copy/backup only PST files and Address books, but neither PST file nor address book file keeps a copy of email addresses which you unknowingly stored in outlook's autocomplete cache.

Here is how to backup/restore Auto Complete names in outlook.

Close all running Outlook instances.
On the computer which is having autocomplete names, go to C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook folder
Copy the file profilename.NK2 . Here profilename is the name of outlook profile e.g. if my outlook profile name is sumit then file would be sumit.NK2 or it will be Outlook.NK2 if your outlook profile name is "Outlook" . If you are using Windows 7, then you can locate this file under C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Outlook folder.

Paste the file to the same location as above to the respective computer on which you want to populate the autocomplete feature. If the outlook user profile name is different on new computer where you are moving .NK2 file, then you MUST rename the file with the same Outlook user profile name after you copy it to the correct folder. For example, if you copied sumit.nk2 from the original computer with an Outlook user profile name of sumit, and if outlook profile name on the new computer is sumitnew , then you must rename sumit.nk2 to sumitnew.nk2 on new computer.

Open Outlook and you will be able to see the same autocomplete names which you were able

to see earlier !

Sumit