Category Archives: Windows 10

Networking, Recent Activity, Tips, Tricks and Tweaks, Troubleshooting, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows 11

Bringing Offline Printers Back Online

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Something odd is still fiddling with my local switch domain. Fortunately, it only affects my office here at Chez Tittel. The usual symptom is that my LAN-attached Samsung ML-2850 shows up in Devices and Printers. But it is grayed out and shows status as offline (see lead-in graphic, middle right and bottom). When that happens bringing offline printers back online requires a specific drill.

How-to: Bringing Offline Printers Back Online

I use Nir Sofer’s great little NetBScanner tool to confirm or establish the IPv4 address the Samsung uses. (Lately, it uses192.168.1.133.) I right-click the offline printer (labeled Samsung ML-2850 in the lead-in graphic). Then I select “Remove device” from the resulting pop-up menu. After that, I must confirm that removal by responding “Yes” to a prompt window that reads “Are you sure you want to remove this device.” Done!

Next, what has been removed gets reinstated. This means clicking “Add a printer” from the top-line menu, then clicking “The printer that I want isn’t listed” when the automated search fails to find the Samsung ML-2850. Next, I click the radio button next to “Add a printer using a TCP/IP address or hostname.” Then I double-check NetBScanner to confirm that the ML-2850’s IP address remains unchanged (aha! It’s moved to …134, so that’s what I enter).

I leave the default “use currently installed driver” option selected and click “Next” again. Then I shorten the printer name  to SamML-2850. Because the printer is network-attached, there’s no need to share it (this is required only for USB or other purely device-specific printer connections).

And when I print a test page, Presto! The printer is once again back online. Good stuff!

Bringing Offline Printers Back Online.restored

After removing and re-installing (after double-checking IP address) the Samsung networked printer is back online. Goody!
[Click image for full-sized view]

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Dell Display Manager Pops Outta Nowhere

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OK, then. Yesterday, I fired up a local account on my production PC while investigating the new Firefox Store app’s behavior. When I did so, that account asked me if I wanted to install Dell Display Manager. That explains this story’s title: Dell Display Manager pops outta nowhere. I’d never heard of it before, nor seen it mentioned in other Dell apps. (For example, Dell Update Control or Dell Support Assistant, both familiar because the Dell Optiplex 7080 Micro that’s a family daily driver PC at our house.)

Good News When Dell Display Manager Pops Outta Nowhere

“OK,” I said to myself, “let’s give this a shot.” That turned out to be a good move. It’s kind of a pain to use the monitor’s own built-in control buttons to manage brightness, contrast, color profiles and so forth. The Dell Display Manager (which I’ll call DDM going forward) does all this on the Windows desktop. Much, much easier and more user-friendly.

My only question is: Why hadn’t I heard of this tool sooner? As a regular at TenForums and ElevenForum, people talk about monitors a lot. And some of those folks are also MVP-equivalent on the Dell forums as well. Yet I managed to remain not-so-blissfully unaware of the tool until now. And to think I’ve been buying Dell monitors since the mid-to-late 1990s!

If You’ve Got Dell Monitors, Use DDM

The home page for the utility includes  a download link for the tool. It’s entitled “What is Dell Display Manager?” and provides a useful and informative overview of its capabilities. As the page says, the tool is for standalone monitors only and “is not applicable to laptops.” Indeed, they have different display management tools. But since we currently have 4 Dell monitors here at Chez Tittel, this ends up being a useful and valuable item for my admin’s toolbox. If you’ve got Dell monitors, but didn’t already know about (or use) DDM, do yourself a favor and grab a copy today. You won’t be disappointed. Good stuff!

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Device drivers, Recent Activity, Updates, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows 11

Nvidia Game Ready vs Studio Drivers

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In visiting the GeForce application to check for Nvidia drivers yesterday, I noticed a new pop-up in the options menu for driver selection. It appears in the lead-in graphic for this story. At present, it distinguishes between Nvidia Game Ready vs Studio drivers. “Hmmm,” I wondered, “what’s up with that?” I soon found out. Here’s the scoop.

Who Cares About Nvidia Game Ready vs Studio Drivers?

I’m glad you asked! For sure, all the important details are included in the NVIDIA Studio FAQs. And indeed, they’re worth reading end-to-end for those with NVIDIA graphics cards and concerns about which way to go. The simple dichotomy is: if you are mostly a gamer and want to keep up with new game releases, use the Game Ready drivers. If you are mostly a creative professional who wants to run graphics apps, use the Studio drivers. However, if you want to go both ways, you can. But that requires uninstalling one and installing the other to make that switch. Bit of a pain, actually.

To be more specific, here’s how the FAQs document ‘splains things:

  • If you are a gamer who prioritizes day of launch support for the latest games, patches, and DLCs, choose Game Ready Drivers.
  • If you are a content creator who prioritizes stability and quality for creative workflows including video editing, animation, photography, graphic design, and live-streaming, choose Studio Drivers.

GeForce Experience Lets You Pick

By default most people use the Game Ready Drivers (NVIDIA abbreviates them GRD). But if you click the vertical ellipsis to the right of Check For Updates (see lead-in graphic) the radio buttons that let you choose between GRD and SD (Studio Driver) popup. Voila! This is where you decide which fork in the driver path you’ll take.

Make the selection that works best for you, and take that fork. Just for the record, the SD version is best understood as follows. Basically, it’s a slightly back-rev, more fully tested, and more stable GPU driver that emphasizes reliability and functionality over speed and support for newly introduced gaming-specific features.

I’m switching my production desktop to the SD fork. My son, who’s a gamer of sorts, is sticking with the GRD fork. If any interesting distinctions between these two paths emerge, I’ll let you know. Stay tuned!

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Backup/Restore, Recent Activity, Updates, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows 11

Macrium Reflect 8 Free Version Now Available

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Yes, I know. There have been alternate downloads (e.g. Softonic) for Macrium Reflect 8 Free available for 30 days and longer. This week, however, Paramount Software UK — the maker of Macrium Reflect — is offering an “official” free download of the well-known and respected backup/recovery toolset. Hence my title, which proclaims Macrium Reflect 8 Free version now available. Good stuff

With Macrium Reflect 8 Free Version Now Available, Grab One!

I’ll confess cheerfully and unreservedly, I was converted to MR through my association with TenForums. I’ve been using MR about as long as I’ve been a member there. And indeed, I concur with prevailing opinions there (and at its sister site ElevenForum.com) that MR Free is sufficient to meet the backup needs of most ordinary users.

Because I believe in supporting makers who do good work, I own a 4-pack license for the commercial version of MR8 released earlier this year. But now, I can — and will — upgrade all of my other test and experiment machines to the free version directly from the source.

Macrium 8 Has Windows 11 Covered

The program has been reworked and revamped, especially in light of Windows 11. It supports use of WinPE 11 rescue media, and works well with the new OS. It supports removable media imaging and cloning, and uses VSS to support imaging of running Windows 10 and 11 instances. It’s got great backup exploration tools, and can mount its backups as VMs via Hyper-V.

In all seven years I’ve been using MR, it’s never failed me when it comes to restoring a backup or repairing damaged Windows boot facilities. MR7 was a great tool. MR8 is even better. If you’re not already using it, grab a copy of MR8 today. If you’re using MR7, it’s time to upgrate to MR8 (even on Windows 10 PCs). Cheers.

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Windows Web Experience Pack Mysteries

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Recently, Microsoft Store has installed a new app on all of the Windows 11 machines I’ve checked. It’s named the Windows Web Experience Pack. It only has the name in the Description field, is categorized under “Utilties & tools,” and the support and website URLs on its store page link to Microsoft.com. So when, I say I’ve encountered some Windows Web Experience pack mysteries, I’m not kidding. In fact, it’s definitely more mysterious than not.

A List of Windows Web Experience Pack Mysteries

1. You can’t find this utility with a search. I tried.
2. Check out the whole Store page. There’s a Windows 10 logo in the Screenshots pane. System Requirements, however, specifically state “Window 11 version 22000.20 or higher.” WTF?
3. No description or working links for documentation. A search at docs.microsoft.com turns up zilch,  as well.
4. When you click on the “Open” link on the Store page, nothing happens. Nothing shows on the Processes or Details tabs in Task Manager either (at least, not as far as I can tell).
5. WinAero puts things best when it stays “Because there is no official word from Microsoft on what WWEP does, we can only speculate that this component is responsible for updating core web components in the OS used by Store apps.”

We know it’s something aimed at all Web browsers, because otherwise it would be Edge-focused and -specific. But beyond that we don’t much about it all. It’s a “mystery pack” much like the Recent Windows Feature Experience Pack and the Online Service Experience Pack introduced earlier this year.

One Mystery Resolved

Turns out you can also find the Web Experience Pack in Windows 10. Here’s a link to that Store page. Its system requirements are 2004/19041.0 or higher. Thus, it obviously originated with Windows 10. I think that explains the logo at the top of the Windows 11 version’s Store page. Somebody copied it over from the Windows 10 version and changed nothing except for the system requirements. Even the reviews for both versions include all the same stuff.

What About the Others?

Good question! I’ve got my curiosity up now, so I’ll keep digging around. But these “packs” seem extraordinarily opaque to those outside the inner circle of Windows architects and developers. This is definitely another case of “wait and see how it all turns out.” Stay tuned: I’ll keep you posted.

Note Added November 4

One of my WIMVP buddies — Shawn Keene — informed me that you can simply type “web” into the Run box (WinKey+R) and it will open File Explorer to that folder automagically. I tried it. Sure enough: it works. Use this as your shortcut for exploring. Thanks, Shawn.

 

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Windows Wallpapers Live Elsewhere

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Here’s something I didn’t know, that you may not have known, either. Wallpaper images for both Windows 10 and 11 live in a separate folder hierarchy under C:\Windows\Web. That hierarchy appears as the lead-in graphic for this story. The parent folder spec is C:\Windows\Web. In Windows 11 each of the four subsidiary folder contains 2 or more images, all suitable for wallpaper use. When I say Windows wallpapers live elsewhere, I mean they live in their own private directory, as indicated.

If Windows Wallpapers Live Elsewhere, Visit Them

I spelunked around the four-folder hierarchy and found 37 images therein. Many of them are based on those twisting laminar surfaces that have come to stand for Windows 11. I copied all of them into a single directory so I could find them all in one place. The next screencap shows a listing of those images by filename. You’ll probably want to set a similar view to Extra Large or Large icons, so you can identify them by visual content (I did it this way for compactness).

WWindows Wallpapers Live Elsewhere.details

What to do With Windows Wallpapers

Overall, they’re an astonishing collection of images and graphics. Microsoft operates an image service named Spotlight, that curates over 4,000 high-quality professional images of nature, cities, objects, and more. All of these work well for desktop backgrounds and lockscreen images. I have an older app from Timo Partl (no longer in the Store, alas) that does a great job of visiting the Spotlight connection and downloading anything I don’t already have locally to a target directory. For those of you who, like me, like lots of variety in your lockscreens and backgrounds, this provides a trove of beautiful eye-candy of amazing variety and great quality.

I’m adding these wallpapers to that collection. I assume that means they’ll show up occasionally, as the forces of random selection dictate. Check out the 11 wallpapers and feel free view them as and when you like. Cheers!

Note Added Nov 4

I got a great tip from my fellow WIMVPs about this–namely Shawn Keene. He observes that if you open the Run box (WinKey+R) and type “web” into the box, then hit OK, it will open a fresh instance of File Explorer to that directory. Very handy!

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PowerToys v0.49.0 Gets Video Conference Mute

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Clint Rutkas and his team have been talking about it for months. I’ve been waiting to check it out myself. That’s right: in its latest release, PowerToys v0.49.0 gets video conference mute capability. Right now it’s available through GitHub, though I expect it’s just a matter of time before it comes via the Microsoft Store. The new control page in settings serves as the lead-in graphic for this story.

What PowerToys v0.49.0 Gets Video Conference Mute Means

I run at least 4 different video conferencing platforms regularly: Zoom, Teams, Blue Jeans, and Google Meet. From time to time, I’ll get invited to another, similar platform for online meetings. Each of them offers a mute capability, but each one uses a different control in a different place in its app window.

What I like about Video Conference Mute in PowerToys is that it offers one single set of controls for mike and camera, for all such apps. Here’s the set of keystrokes it uses:

PowerToys v0.49.0 Gets Video Conference Mute.keys

Keys to toggle the mike and video together, or separately. Good stuff! (Source: PowerToys built-in Welcome docs)

For those already using PowerToys, an update is in order. For those not already using the tool, you can simply run the installer and it will set you up. Then, right-click the PowerToys icon in the notification area to open its UI, and go to the VCM pane. There you simply need to move the slider labeled “Enable Video Conference Mute” to on (as shown in the lead-in graphic if you exercise the option to view it on its own web page). It’s just that easy. I already liked PowerToys a lot, but this latest and long-anticipated addition just made me like it a whole bunch more. Check it out.

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WU Delivers New PC Health Check Version

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For Windows 10 and 11 users alike, those who try to run PC Health Check (PCHC) may experience an interesting initial impediment. Instead of running whatever version of the tool may already be installed, Windows will install the latest version. Numbered 3.1.210929003-s2, it shows up on all my updated Windows 10 and 11 PCs. Apparently, WU delivers new PC Health Check version as a routine part of the update process.

Why WU Delivers New PC Health Check Version, In Brief

My best guess is that MS wants to make SURE all Windows PCs have the latest version of PCHC at their disposal. WU itself offers to run the tool as part of its routine update checks now. As you can see in the lead in graphic (at bottom) this means the installer runs to remove the old version, then loads and configures the new one automatically. Only then, can you tell (at top) that the latest PCHC version is running.

It came as something of a surprise to me to invoke PCHC on my PCs, and get the installer first instead. Looks like this is one update that MS does not leave to user discretion. Here it comes, ready (and like it) or not!

PCHC Goes to All Players…

Even on my Surface Pro 3, which WU correctly labels as “unfit for 11” I still get an offer to get PC Health check as shown here:

WU Delivers New PC Health Check Version.no11

This 4th-gen Intel laptop with no TPM will never run Windows 11. Yet WU still hopefully proffers PCHC.
[Click image for full-sized view].

I’m bemused. There are no “things I can do in the PC Health Check app” that will ever bring Windows 11 to the old Surface Pro 3. Am I wrong to read the language shown above as extending some glimpse of hope that things might turn out otherwise? Nah. It’s just a teaser. Good thing I’m running this system to keep track of Windows 10 as it runs out its tether to the 2025 EOL on purpose, eh?

Note Added 00:30 Later…

Just saw a very nice story on this phenomenon from Liam Tung at ZDNet. It’s entitled Windows 10 users get PC Health Check app for diagnostics and troubleshooting. Worth a read it makes some interesting points, and provides a quick way to remove PCHC for those so inclined. That tip reads “Users can uninstall PC Health Check by going to Apps → Apps & Features → App list (Windows PC Health Check) → Uninstall. (I substituted the right arrow entity for Mr. Tung’s less-elegant > (right caret/greater than sign) in this rendition.)

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Windows 11 Upgrades Gain Momentum

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This morning (October 26) Twitter is ablaze with reports of qualified PC getting the “Windows 11 offer” via WU. I just checked my eligible PCs still running Windows 10 (all both of them). The Intel i7 11th gen machine gets the offer; the AMD Ryzen 5800X does not. So, as Windows 11 upgrades gain momentum the coverage remains partial. I guess, it’s just a bigger piece of the overall pie.

Twitter Sez: Windows 11 Upgrades Gain Momentum

But gosh, I see dozens of posts on Twitter this morning from people with all kinds of PCs indicating they’ve accepted the offer. Most report a successful install. Some report hanging, of which most seem to involve the post-GUI install phase somewhere between 80 and 100% complete.

FWIW, such issues have been common with other new Windows versions. One could argue — and MS often does — that the whole point of the “gradual rollout” they now follow is to ensure the highest likelihood of success to those who get “the offer.”

What I Do if WU Upgrade Hangs

This hanging has happened to me often enough in my 7 years as an Insider that I’ve got a step-by-step approach to trying various fixes:

1. Power off and restart. Often, the install will pick where it left off and continue to completion.
2. If rollback happens after restart, I try using the setup.exe from an ISO equivalent to the current install version. That has worked for me in most (9 out of 10) cases.
3. If a standalone/local installer won’t cut it, that often indicates driver or hardware issues. I’ll often roll back and wait for the next upgrade or a new ISO to come along. For those who MUST get to Windows 11, the only thing left to try is a clean install from the same ISO as in Step 2. This works for 9 of the remaining 10 hard cases.

But as I’ve recently learned with the Lenovo X1 Carbon Gen 9 that has a Thunderbolt Firmware issue I can’t fix for love or money, even a clean install doesn’t ALWAYS work. That’s why I’m sending that one back to Lenovo with a “Thunderbolt doesn’t work” note in the box. Sometimes, the forces of darkness do prevail. I can only add that I *HATE* when that happens.

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Heavy Update Traffic Complicates Fleet Management

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Wow! It’s been quite a week here at Chez Tittel. It never fails but when I get busy with paying work, the frequency of and/or workload in handling Windows updates goes up, too. Including a loaner unit, I have 11 PCs to take care of right now. And this week has seen a Preview CU for production Windows 10, a release for 21H2 Windows 10, and various updates and upgrades for Windows 11 Insider Previews in all 3 channels (Release Preview, Beta and Dev). Hence my summary, that heavy update traffic complicates fleet management.

When Heavy Update Traffic Complicates Fleet Management, Get Busy!

As I check update history on my PCs, I see one or more items this week on all of them. Around here that’s about as busy as things can get. Fortunately, except for a firmware update issue on a loaner PC — which has nothing to do with MS updates AFAIK — it’s all been pretty routine and trouble-free. All it takes is paying attention and a little time.

I also use a couple of tools to keep up with applications and suchlike as well. PatchMyPC is a free updating tool that keeps up with most of my stuff. SUMo (Software Update Monitor) Lite is a free scanning tool that tells me what else I need to update (but leaves me on my own to get that done). I try to run these once a week, or as time permits. Lately, there hasn’t been much free time to spend on updates, but it’s getting done now, as I think of it.

The “Clean-as-you-Go” Principle

In keeping up with my PCs, I try to do a little bit every time I use them, so I don’t have to deep clean at longer intervals. A little bit of clean-up and update on an ongoing basis works better for me as a maintenance regime that periodic, scheduled (but longer) update/clean-up sessions.

Here in Windows-World, you can pick whichever regime makes most sense for you. I’ve got my routine and I’m sticking to it!

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