Channel 9 - Entries tagged with Troubleshooting

Defrag: TPM & Bitlocker, Search Service, How to Pick Wifi Hardware

Larry Larsen — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 17:16:24 GMT

Microsoft tech troubleshooter extraordinaire Gov Maharaj and I help walk you through troubleshooting solutions to your tech support problems. If you have a problem you want to send us, you can use the Problem Step Recorder in Windows 7 (see this for details on how) and send us the zip file to DefragShow@microsoft.com. We will also be checking comments for problems, but the email address will let us contact you if needed.

[00:15] Is there a way to start Windows Device Manager faster?
[02:39] I get error "Incompatible TPM device" when using Bitlocker.
[06:55] In on Morto worm and how it works. Are machines on home network with no password at risk?
[09:39] How exactly does Search Service work? Best practices for searching folders. [link]
[11:58] Can I move the User folder to a non-system partition? [link]
[14:15] What to look for when picking a WiFi card.
[17:45] What to look for when picking a WiFi router.
[19:24] How to run pinned icons as elevated?
[20:15] Is it possible to downgrade to another version of Windows?
[21:32] How to control media on a PC from distance. [link]
[25:52] Can I select which access point in a group my computer connects to?
[27:19] WiFi card in laptop appears to be working but can't see a network.
[29:50] Hearing noise from unused platter drive in SSD laptop. Cause?
[32:15] Adding apps to the Windows 7 Explorer Favorites List.

Defrag: SSD Questions, Tagging Files, Mirroring Drives, Hardware Hacks

Larry Larsen — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 21:23:33 GMT

00:20 Eric Meijer and Charles interview Gov Maharaj.
04:12 All About SSDs - How do you know TRIM is enabled?
07:00 Is there any benefit to a defrag on an SSD?
08:42 What's the fastest way to connect a SSD
09:44 Can I tag text files like I do pictures in Windows 7?
12:53 Monitor no longer wakes from sleep.
14:42 Can I mirror my C: drive to another drive as a backup while Windows is running?
18:32 Will a "low level format" fix a thumbdrive that has bad sectors?
22:21 Deleted Thumbs.db and Desktop.ini, now having problems.
27:12 Windows crashes non-responding app too soon, is there a way to make it wait longer?
30:30 Hacking hardware - our pick of the week is Sugru.

Defrag 001: Startup Slow Downs, Can't Boot, Blue Screens, Homegroup, IE Logins

Larry Larsen — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 20:20:48 GMT

Today I'm joined with Microsoft tech troubleshooter extraordinaire Gov Maharaj to help walk you through solutions to your tech support problems. In an effort to help solve future problems we're going to look at these issues beyond just fixing them and drill down into how Gov would actually troubleshoot these problems. In our next episode we'll be pulling tech support issues in part from the comments here. We're happy to take on problems with Windows, Office, WP7, or other Microsoft products, so if there are nagging issues you could use a hand with, let us know here.

In this episode of Defrag:
1:35 - Troubleshooting Windows 7 Start-up Slowdowns. (Sysinfo, Autoruns, Startup Delayer)
10:23 - Windows won't boot.
15:00 - Blue Screens (WinDBG)
26:12 - Troubleshooting Homegroup
28:48 - Problems logging in to sites with Internet Explorer.

Brian Peek's PDC Laptop Leak Fix

Larry Larsen — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 21:48:00 GMT

Brian Peek picked up a PDC Laptop on eBay and found that the latest accelerometer driver (v1.00.00.16) wasn't correctly closing handles, resulting in his machine having 5 million handles open. So he did what any self-respecting Niner would do, he disassembled the code and created a fix. If you happen to have a PDC Laptop, you can download the application and the source code here. Additionally, you can find more details and code samples on Brian's blog. Keep in mind the suggested way to obtain drivers is through Windows Update, so your mileage may vary, caveat emptor, etc.

Melur Raghuraman: Inside Windows 7 - Diagnostics and Troubleshooting

Charles — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:41:00 GMT

Windows Development Manager Melur Raghuraman and team have taken troubleshooting and diagnostics to a whole new level in Windows 7. For one thing, Windows 7 uses managed code "natively" as PowerShell has become the de facto language used for creating diagnostic algorithms that live inside of diagnostic packages. So, when something goes wrong eventually a PowerShell script runs and diagnosis happens.

You've probably already noticed the information flag that appears in your task bar notification area when Windows wants to tell you something important. Well, in order for Windows 7 to inform you of a problem and its solution it must first diagnose the issue and collect troubleshooting steps. Sometimes, and more so than ever before, Windows will simply fix the problem and let you know about it - this is a trend that will only become more common over time and with each iteration of Windows going forward. This troubleshooting fabric has both client and server (cloud) components.

How does this all work, exactly? What's the story?

Tune in. Lots to learn here. The new troubleshooting and diagnostics capabilities in Windows 7 marks a signficant step forward in the evolution of Windows supportability. Of course, you, the human user, can write your own diagnostic scripts - so you'll be more efficient when you need to diganosis and then fix some computer problem.

Michael Fortin: Windows 7 Efficiency

Charles — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 20:42:00 GMT

The Windows 7 project involved very efficient software engineering planning and execution. It is no surprise that an equivalent level of efficiency exists throughout the OS (efficiency in how the OS deals with faults, threads, memory management, power management, process management, window management, graphics, audio, local search, diagnostics, and on and on - truly excellent, and efficient, engineering).

Michael Fortin is a Distinguished Engineer in the Windows Core Operating System Division. His team builds the technologies that help make Windows 7 reliable, stable and performant, which are core ingredients in any highly efficient general purpose operating system. You'll hear us talk about Windows 7 as a very efficient general purpose operating system quite a bit over the coming months. In fact, if I had to sum up Windows 7 in one word it would be Efficient.

Michael's team also builds the troubleshooting and diagnostics systems in Windows, including the internal mechanisms that construct fault data packages and sends them to cloud-based components which receive data from millions of clients running Windows 7. Michael's team is a global team - engineers are located in multiple places around the world including a stellar team of engineers located in Beijing, China (you'll meet them in the future right here on C9).

You may remember Michael from his last interview on Channel 9 that covered his work on Vista's SuperFetch and ReadyBoost technologies. Yep, these great technologies are alive and well in Windows 7 and have evolved to meet the needs of the evolving system and help add to the overall efficiency of Windows. (There, I wrote "efficiency" again...)

Over the past year or so, Michael's team has received, analyzed and acted upon a very large amount of data sent from Windows 7 Beta and RC running on a variety of PCs with a variety of hardware and software configurations in place. This data was used to construct new system features, like the Fault Tolerant Heap, and to engineer updates to existing mechanisms to make them more robust or performant or reliable or stable... You will meet some of his team here on C9 in the future and we will dig into many of the mechanisms Michael touched on in this conversation (Fault Tolerant Heap, Troubleshooting and Diagnostics, etc).

Here, Michael and I chat about the work his team has done, the engineering philosophy that has driven efficiency into Windows at all levels (from the kernel to the shell), the knowledge his team has gained about how Windows is used in the wild, what the most common problems have been and the solutions that are based on this important telemetry data. So, for all of you out there who chose to send fault data from your PC to Microsoft - THANK YOU. You truly have helped, in a fundamental way, to make Windows 7 the most efficient general purpose operating system from Microsoft to date. Yeah. True story.

Enjoy.

New Microsoft Fix It Blog

Sarah Perez — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 17:55:00 GMT

Have you ever come across a Knowledge Base (KB) article or been presented with a Windows Error Reporting (WER) solution and asked yourself, “Why can’t Microsoft just fix this for me?” Today, KB articles and WER solutions provide lists of steps that can be followed to resolve your problem, but tomorrow could be different. That’s the promise being delivered by the new Microsoft Fix It Team – a group of engineers whose goal is to automate the steps in Microsoft’s KB articles and WER solutions so that you can click a button and have your issue resolved.

The blog, already in action, is updated with the KB articles that already have automated solutions available. For an example, see this one. You’ll notice when you scroll down to “Method 3” there’s an option to click the “Fix it” button which will automatically resolve the issue.

I have to admit, this pretty awesome. Seriously.

Troubleshoot Network Connections with Your Mobile Phone

Sarah Perez — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 12:17:00 GMT

From Enterprise Mobile, there comes an application for Windows Mobile users that allows you to troubleshoot network connections right from your Windows Mobile device. The app is called the Windows Mobile IP Utility and it lets you run the following commands: ping, trace route, ping sweep (ping a sequential range of IPs), speed test, and ipconfig. The utility will also log all your results into a text file which you can then save or share with others. The Windows Mobile IP Utility works on both Windows Mobile 5 & 6 devices that have the .NET Compact Framework 2.0 installed. (Thanks to Jason Langridge for the tip!)