Category Archives: Win7View

Notes on Windows 7, Win7 compatible software and hardware, reviews, tips and more.

Benchmarking, Device drivers, Hardware Reviews, Recent Activity, Troubleshooting, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows 11

Win10 Rollback Works But Thunderbolt Issues Continue

October 21, 2021 Ed Tittel 2 Comments

Big Sigh. I’ve been trying to get the Thunderbolt 4 firmware updated on the snazzy new Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 they sent me, but to no avail. Today, I observed that Win10 rollback works but Thunderbolt issues continue. Something gets weird when the PC reboots to do the firmware install. I see a short (and tiny) error message long enough to know it’s there, but definitely not long enough to read it, or interpret its significance.

When Win10 Rollback Works But Thunderbolt Issues Continue, Then What?

First, the good news. I elected to roll back my Windows 11 update on this machine and it not only went well, it finished in under 3 minutes. That’s amazing! It also confirmed that the Windows.old snapshot is of whatever vintage and state the OS was at the time of upgrade. All my account stuff remained clear and workable, thank goodness.

Now, the bad news. I remain unable to complete the firmware update successfully. That means Thunderbolt sees no devices on either of the PC’s two USB-C/Thunderbolt 4 ports. Bummer! It also means I’m sending this fish back to the pond (Lenovo, that is) with a request to return it when THEY can fix this driver issue. For me, Thunderbolt 4 is a big deal. I don’t think I can review this system without a working and capable Thunderbolt 4 connection for me to test performance, throughput, and so forth.

That said, the USB-3 Type A port is remarkably fast. I get better performance out of my old, tired mSATA drives on this machine (Samsung EVO SSDs in Sabrent mSATA enclosures) than I’ve ever seen before.

Do All Things Come to He Who Waits?

I guess I’ll be finding out. Tomorrow, I’ll fire off an email to the reviews coordinator, explain my situation, and let them know I’m sending the laptop back. It will be absolutely fascinating to see how they respond. I’m hopeful I’ll get a fixed (or replacement) laptop soon. If and when I do, I’ll start posting madly about what I see and learn. Right now, I just can’t go forward with a major subsystem on the fritz. Hope that makes sense…

Benchmarking, Hardware Reviews, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows 11

Loaner Laptop Poses Weird USB Situation

October 18, 2021 Ed Tittel 2 Comments

I took delivery of a nifty new laptop here at Chez Tittel late last week. Among the zillions of other things going on around here, I’ve been fooling with this machine since it arrived. This loaner laptop poses weird USB situation, though: I get faster throughput from its USB-A 3.2 Gen1 port than either of its USB4 Type-C/Thunderbolt 4 ports. Throughput is about 10X faster on the USB-A port than on USB-C. That’s not how it’s supposed to work. Go figure!

Driver Issues Explain How Loaner Laptop Poses Weird USB Situation

Once I realized what was going on. I jumped into Device Manager. Sure enough there’s an issue with the ThinkPad Thunderbolt Retimer Firmware. Whaddya bet this could impact USB-C/Thunderbolt 4 timing?

And then, things get more interesting. Lenovo Vantage thinks the firmware update is already installed. Device Manager shows “Firmware update was unsuccessful.” Attempts to uninstall/reinstall don’t work, and manual installation of the downloaded firmware package N32TT02W.exe from Lenovo Support don’t work either.

I need some firmware juju. So I’m contacting Lenovo Support to see what they can tell me. I’ll admit I got fooled when Vantage told me the update was installed (and didn’t check DevMgr until later). Now, it looks like I’ll have to roll the machine back to Windows 10 so I can make sure the update gets properly applied. And then, I’ll roll forward again to Windows 11. Just another day in the life, here in Windows-World!

Checking Updates, Post Install

It hasn’t eluded me that checking the firmware install before upgrading to 11 would have been a peachy idea. I’m not one to rush into such things normally. But I wanted to see how the new PC would work with the new OS. I guess I’m starting to understand there’s at least one good reason why Lenovo didn’t send me the device with Windows 11 already installed.

As I look around the Lenovo site, I see they have Thunderbolt drivers for Windows 11 aplenty. It’s just that they don’t have one for my X1 Carbon Gen 9 laptop just yet. Live and learn, dear readers: that’s why I’m going to try to do.

Hardware Reviews, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Troubleshooting, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows 11

Bad Move: Opening MSA in Default Admin Account

October 16, 2021 Ed Tittel 4 Comments

I admit it. I screwed up, and then I paid the price. Yesterday I got a new review PC delivered. It came from Lenovo: a new X1 Carbon Gen 9 PC. That unit feature an i7 4core CPU, 16 GB RAM, and 512 GB NVMe SSD with Thunderbolt 4 support. Typical for review units, it opens into a local admin account. Inside that account I made a bad move: opening MSA in default admin account. Alas, this caused all kinds of problems. Let me explain… (I’ll add that MSA is a common acronym for “MS account” aka “Microsoft account.”)

What Happens After Bad Move: Opening MSA in Default Admin Account

My MSA picture got associated with the local account. That was my first cluethat something was off. On other loaner units, I’ve always been careful to set up a second account for my MSA. Then I give it admin privileges and work from there after that. This time, I logged into the Microsoft Store inside the local account. Big mistake.

As soon as I set up my MSA as a separate account, the Store quit working. The associated error code clearly explained it was an MSA login problem. Apparently, the MS Store decided that if it couldn’t distinguish a local account from an MSA, it wouldn’t open for either account on that machine. None of the usual repairs (uninstall/reinstall Store) did any good, either.

Cleaning Up the Mess

Forunately, I had to take a break to go see the “Friday Night Lights.” It was homecoming night at my son’s high school, and the Boss and I wanted to drink in the pageantry and celebration. While I was away from the munged review unit, I realized what I needed to do:

1. Set up another local account
2. Give that local account admin privileges
3. Delete the problem default account

This took a while to orchestrate and set up. I had to be reminded that the “Family account” sub-menus is where one sets up local accounts on Windows 10 and 11. After making sure my MSA and the other local account were properly privileged, I deleted the problem account. And immediately, the MS Store returned to working order. Self-inflicted wounds smart a little extra when one realizes who’s to blame for the hoopla.

Stay tuned: I’ll have a lot to say about this new loaner unit in an upcoming “First Looks” piece early next week. I’ll tease some planned topics to whet your interest, though:

1. Thunderbolt 4/USB-C proves surprisingly speedy
2. Interesting issues with Secure Boot and clean install attempts
3. Unit shows up with Windows 10 installed, not Windows 11
4. Timing and experience in upgrading to Windows 11
5. Interesting issues with Windows Hello

Be sure to check back in when that “First Looks” item appears. Cheers!

Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Tips, Tricks and Tweaks, WED Blog, Windows 11

Windows 11 ADK Is Now Available

October 12, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

If you know where to look, the Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) is now out for Windows 11. Indeed, you can find it in MS Docs at Download and install the Windows ADK. That’s why I assert that the Windows 11 ADK is now available in this item’s title. What does this buy you and your organization? I’ll explain…

If Windows 11 ADK Is Now Available, Then What?

The ADK includes collection of potentially useful and valuable tools designed for at-scale Windows deployments. These include access to:

WinPE, the Windows Preinstallation Environment that provides runtime support before an OS has loaded. It’s used to support Windows installation and also provides the foundation for WinRE (Windows Recovery Environment). Basically, it’s a stripped-down and self-supporting portable version of Windows (11 in this case). Note: WinPE is a separate add-on to download and install after installing the ADK.
Volume Activation Management Tool (VAMT): works with Windows Office and other Microsoft products for volume and retail activation using Multiple Activation Keys (MAKs) or the Windows Key Management Service (KMS). Works as an MMC snap-in with the Microsoft Management Console (MMC).
User State Migration Tool (USMT) delivers a customizable user-profile migration capability that can capture user settings for Microsoft office versions 2003, 2007, 2010, and 2013 (separate tool for 2016 also available). The tool covers a broad range of migration scenarios (described here).
App-V (Application Virtualization) is still supported, but MS calls out EOL for April 2026, and now recommends using Azure Virtual Desktop with MSIX app attach instead.

From a different perspective, the ADK includes support to assess, plan for and execute large-scale Windows deployments. Assessment comes from the Windows Assessment and Windows Performance toolkits. Deployment tools include WinPE, Sysprep, and other items that can customize and distribute Windows images.

It’s Early in the Lifecycle…

Organizations are mostly still considering Windows 11 deployments, though some pilots are underway. Grab yourself a copy of the new ADK and you can get to know it, as your organization starts pondering and investigating its Windows 11 options and timetables. Cheers!

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

Clean Install Still Cuts Gordian Knot

October 11, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

The old, old story of the Gordian knot traces back over 2 millennia. It’s meant to illustrate that difficult problems may be overcome by a variety of means. Usually, as with the original story itself, some of them are drastic. When unable to untie the knot, Alexander the Great drew his sword and cut it through instead. He lost the rope, but solved the problem. And so it is with some Windows problems, where a clean install still cuts gordian knot issues that other repairs cannot address.

If Clean Install Still Cuts Gordian Knot, What Made it Necessary This Time?

I’ve been helping a friend over the past two weekends try to solve an iCloud to Outlook synchronization problem. To his credit, he put in two lengthy calls with MS Support, and performed an in-place upgrade repair install. His primary symptoms were:

1. Unable to download iCloud from the MS Store
2. If installed manually, unable to get iCloud and Outlook to synchronize. Interesting but weird error messages about “no default Outlook profile” suggested possible fixes, but none of those worked.

After attempting numerous manual repairs and tricks last weekend without success, I showed up this weekend planning to perform a clean install on his wife’s laptop, a Dell Latitude 7155 (i5, 4th gen Intel CPU). It took me somewhat longer to get the disk cleaned up and a pristine image laid down on her NVMe SSD than I had thought it would.

But once a clean Windows 10 image was installed and updates applied, I was able to download iCloud from the Store. Next, I revisited office.microsoft.com and re-installed Office 365. The acid test followed immediately thereafter: I attempted to synch with iCloud for messages, contacts, and other Outlook items.

To nobody’s particular surprise, it worked. But gosh, it sure took a while to get everything ready (Macrium Reflect came in hand indeed). And it took longer to install and update the OS image than I was expecting. But in the end, the outcome was as desired. So far, we’ve put about 7 hours into this repair effort. Alas, it’s still not quite done just yet.

One More Thing…

I mounted the Macrium backup to make it available for copying older files to the rebuilt desktop. But because of permissions problems I wasn’t able to access some key stuff. So, I’m going back in one more time to fix those and grab the additional stuff my friend needs. Hopefully, that will be as routine as I anticipate. In the meantime, I’m boning up on the ICACLS command so I can reset permissions wholesale, and make everything one might need from the backup available in one go.

At the end of the day, it’s nice to know the tried-and-true methods work like they’re supposed to. I can only guess that some vital plumbing between the Outlook and iCloud APIs got munged in the old runtime environment. By creating a new, pristine one, we have apparently fixed what was broken. Old school still rules. Good-oh!

Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Software Reviews, Tips, Tricks and Tweaks, Updates, WED Blog, Windows 11

Start11 Gets v0.9 Update

October 7, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

Some running Windows 11 who might want an alternative to the native Start Menu. For those folks, Stardock’s latest Start11 release offers a nice option. Please understand this is NOT free software. Those upgrading a Start10 license must pay US$4 for the bits; first-time buyers must pony up US$5. Either way, it’s a pretty good deal IMO. As a long-time user, when Start 11 gets v0.9 update, I pay attention. Others may not be so inclined.

When Start 11 gets v0.9 update, What Do You Get?

Start11 gives users a pretty broad range of functions for a small price. It allows them to make the Start Menu look like the ones from Windows 7, 8 or 10 (and of course, 11 as well). Here’s the UI “pick a version/layout” control:

You can pick from Windows 7, 8 (Modern style), 10, and 11 styles for the Start Menu layout, look, and feel.

You can pick an icon for the start button, and position the start button at left or center in the taskbar (or even up top). As for the taskbar itself, Start 11 offers a number of controls, including blur, transparency and color; the ability to apply a custom texture; right-click menu controls (which bring back the old Windows 10 style right-click pop up), and a bunch of tweaks for taskbar size and position, plus separate positioning controls for primary and secondary monitors. I like it, myself.

Search can be tweaked in a variety of ways, including disabling built-in search. Search result filtering can use icons, search can peruse file contents and well as names, and more.

Alternate Menus Appeal to Some

I know plenty of purists who want to use only native. built-in Windows controls and utilities. I am not such a person. If you are, Start11 will have no appeal to you. But if you’ve got users who want to be productive right away and already know their way around an earlier Windows version, Start11 can be a real blessing.

Right now, I’m running one machine with native facilities only, another with Start10 on Windows 11 (it works), and this one with Start11 set to run in modern layout mode. I’m watching for issues and gotchas, and will keep readers posted. I’m glad I feel comfortable getting around Windows11 using a variety of menuing tools and techniques. I remember being baffled, bothered and bewildered when Windows 8 first came out. Thank goodness, that’s no longer an issue.

Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Software Reviews, WED Blog, Windows 11

Windows 11 Gets Nifty New Paint App

September 29, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

As soon as I read about it online at WinAero, I jumped into the Store to visit Library → Updates on one of my two Dev Channel PCs. And indeed, a new version of Paint awaited me there. One quick update later, and I saw for myself that Windows 11 gets nifty new paint app. My quick scrawl appears on the canvas in the lead-in graphic for this story, and the update offer in the screencap that follows.

The latest Paint version gets a Windows 11 style makeover.
[Click image for full-sized view.]

MS Store Update Means Windows 11 Gets Nifty New Paint App

If you look at the lead-in graphic for the story you’ll see right away that Paint has had a thorough makeover. The top-line ribbon features new-style icons and controls. The Colors elements are all in circular — not rectangular — swatches. There’s not much new inside, except for the Text tool (upper right corner under the Tools heading). But the new iteration is cute, fun to look at, and as easy to use as ever.

Behind the scenes, though, there’s still some catching for Microsoft to do. The “Editor Colors” window remains unchanged with square outlines around basic and custom color areas.

The base app has been reworked, but the color palette hasn’t caught up yet.
[Click image for full-sized view.]

So far, it looks like the new Paint version is off to a good start. I’ll be curious to see how this unfolds as October 5 comes and goes. Some of the necessary catch-up work looks likely to come after that, based on what I see right now. But, as usual, time will tell — as will the contents of next Tuesday’s public release. Stay tuned!

Hardware Reviews, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, USB devices, WED Blog, Windows 11

Dual NVMe Enclosure Supports RAID

September 15, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

Whoever built this product clearly saw me coming. After upgrading both of my older desktops, I find myself looking for ways to use their now-idled NVMe drives. One is a Samsung OEM 512GB NVMe from the 2014 vintage PC, and the other is a Samsung 950 EVO 1TB NVMe from the 2016 model. As it happens, Sabrent has an offering for just that. In fact, its dual NVMe enclosure supports RAID, too.

What Dual NVMe Enclosure Supports RAID Means

Thanks to built-in RAID support, this enclosure offers faster throughput than a single-drive configuration. It even handles Thunderbolt, so I can use it in my newer docks and on my newer laptops and desktops. At a list price of US$249 my initial though was: “Ummm. No!” But after I visited the Amazon page and saw it was marked down to US$149 (about double the price of two phantom-powered Sabrent Thunderbolt 3 NVMe enclosures) that response changed to “Ummm. Yes…”

The specs claim speeds up to 1,500 MB for single drives, but up to 2,500 MB for drives in RAID configurations (I’m guessing that means striped or mirrored, rather than JBOD). Watching some of the videos that Sabrent provides on how to set things up, my guess is confirmed.

Should I Take the Plunge?

Now, I have to decide if I want to further raid the exchequer to cover an additional US$149 outlay, on top of the ~US$1,300 I’ve already spend to get my production desktop hardware refresh funded. I’ll have to chew on this for a little while, and perhaps ask “the Boss” for permission. Should I indeed buy into this device, I’ll review it in a future blog post.

In the meantime, I must consider how deeply I feel like digging into available funds right now. That’s a perennial problem for hardware junkies like myself, and one I’ve wrested with before. Stay tuned: I’ll keep you posted.

Hardware Reviews, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, USB devices, WED Blog, Windows 11

USB-3/C Header Cable Mystery

September 14, 2021 Ed Tittel 2 Comments

OK then. I’ve got the parts for my second hardware refresh. I now understand I may have been rooked. The Asrock B550 Extreme4 mobo comes with a perfectly serviceable 19-pin USB 3.1/3.2 header block on the motherboard, but no cable to match. And upon looking around, I find precious few such cables available at any price. To me, this poses something of a USB-3/C header cable mystery. It’s a mystery I’d like to solve before I start building.

Solving USB-3/C Header Cable Mystery

The situation raises an interesting question: should such cables come with the mobo or the case? In my case (pun intended) I’m recycling something that predates USB-C and USB 3.2/Thunderbolt 3 or higher. Thus, I’m purchasing the 5.25″ drive bay plug-in shown in the lead-in graphic. It needs a 19 (sometimes called 20) pin connector to get from the mobo header to the front panel device.

Thing is, I can’t tell if the device includes any cables or not. I can tell, having just checked, that the Asrock mobo includes no cables except for some SATA cables for hooking up such drives. To span the distance from the front panel to the back of the motherboard, it looks like I need to buy 3 (!) 15 cm cables to be sure to get from the bottom and back of the case to the top and front. Sigh.

When in Doubt, Spend More $$$

Just to be safe, I’m going to order the cables along with the front-panel device. If that device includes cables I’ll be sure to email Amazon to get them to update the product info. It’s currently silent on that all-important subject (to me, anyway).

And indeed, these are the kinds of conundrums that face people like me trying to refresh hardware in anticipation of meeting Windows 11 hardware requirements. I can’t see any point in having an unused high-speed USB header on my motherboard without making those ports easily accessible. Stay tuned: I’ll let you know how it all turns out.

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

Trick Restores Missing Chrome Scrollbar

September 9, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

OK, then. Here’s an oddity for my fellow Tenforums users (and possibly other heavy Chrome users). In navigating the forums there daily, I jump from forum to forum in order of appearance. Within each forum I read over new threads, as well as old threads with new content. Sometimes when I use the “Previous Thread” link at the bottom of each page to get to the next oldest item, that page comes up without a vertical scrollbar at the right-hand edge. Recently, I discovered that a certain trick restores missing Chrome scrollbar. Let me explain…

What Trick Restores Missing Chrome Scrollbar?

For a long while when the scrollbar disappeared I would switch between normal window and maximized window using the control at its upper right corner. When the normal window appeared, it would always have a scrollbar. And when I reverted to the maximized (full-screen) version, it would get its scrollbar back. This was a viable workaround, but a little too distracting to please me.

The trick I discovered last week is to use the down arrow to move the cursor deeper (downward) into the open web page. After the screen has to refresh to accommodate more new content at the bottom, the scrollbar also reappears. This takes little time, and is nowhere near as distracting as the two mouseclicks needed to revert to normal page size, then go back to full-screen mode. If you ever find yourself in this situation, try this approach. As it now works for me, it may do likewise for you.

What’s Causing This Bizarre Behavior?

I’m working on a dual-monitor rig. I run Chrome in the left-hand window with desktop extended across both monitors. My best guess is that sometimes, when I transition from one page to the next, the maximized view somehow “eats” the vertical scrollbar at the far right of the screen. Here’s what my layout looks like in Settings → System → Display.

With a Chrome windows on display 1 maximized, its right edge might sometimes impinge on display 2 territory.

Such is my theory, anyway. That said, I’m glad to have found a quick and easy workaround that keeps me chugging along without interrupting my concentration or workflow. These are the kinds of adjustments and adaptivity one must practice to do one’s job, and get things done, here in Windows-World.