Windows Tips

Infopackets Reader William B. writes: " Dear Dennis, I am running a server virtual machine inside of Virtualbox and it's been quite slow. I've read that VMware Workstation has twice the performance (roughly). Out of curiosity, I tried to export my ... current virtual machine in Virtualbox using the Open Virtualization Format (.OVF or .OVA) but I get an error every time I try to export: ' Could not create the exported medium Server-disk001.vmdk (VERR_IO_CRC) .' I am not sure what to do and would like to export this virtual machine off of Virtualbox so I can give VMware Workstation a try. " My ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Jack L. writes: " Dear Dennis, For the last 4-5 months when I try to do a Windows 10 update to download and install ' 2024-01 Security Update for Windows 10 Version 22H2 for x64 based Systems ' ( KB5034441 ) the update downloads, ... but when it starts to install (before I restart the computer) it constantly gives the following error code ( 0x80070643 ). Are you able to remedy this problem? " My response: I asked Jack if he would like to use my remote desktop service , and he agreed. Below I will discuss my findings. How to Fix: 2024-01 Security Update for Windows 10 Fails to ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Calli P. writes: " Dear Dennis, I we just upgraded our server machine which includes all brand new hardware. The new server hardware will act as a Hypervisor, and are currently using Virtualbox to run our 'server' virtual machine. ... After copying over the server virtual machine to the new hardware, however, Virtualbox won't boot the virtual machine, stating ' Nonexistent host networking interface , name Intel I210 Gigabit Network Connection (VERR_INTERNAL_ERROR)', with an E_FAIL error 0x80004005 . I am not sure what to do and I need help! " My response: I asked Calli if she ... (view more)

(Note that the solution below applies to any Windows 11 machine that needs to stay up and running without a reboot after updates, and not just one running VMware Workstation). Infopackets Reader Calli P. writes: " Dear Dennis, We recently upgraded ... our server machine to an AMD Ryzen 9 with 16 cores and 32 threads. The old machine was very outdated (only 4 core). The role of the new server is the same as the old - to be a Hypervisor - which runs VMware workstation. Inside of VMware Workstation is a virtual machine which we regard as the Server virtual machine, which runs our ESC software for ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Calli P. writes: " Dear Dennis, We own a heating and cooling business and have a server that uses a Windows 10 virtual machine on VMware workstation. The virtual machine runs a program called ESC Connections Server that allows us ... to book appointments (among other things) from our workstations and also remotely on our phones. The ESC Server and virtual machine are both mission critical. That said, I understand that Windows 10 will only be supported until October, 2025 and would like to upgrade it to Windows 11. The problem is that our virtual machine was built using the MBR ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Fred J. writes: " Dear Dennis, Like you, I use an on-premise version of ConnectWise ScreenConnect to provide technical support to my clients. A recent security vulnerability ( CVE-2024-1709 ) this past February forced me to ... upgrade ScreenConnect to their latest branch (currently version 23.9) in order to patch the system. Prior to that, I was using an old Linux version of ScreenConnect from 2016. A few weeks after the upgrade, however, the 'Administrator' user I use to log into my on-prem ScreenConnect is locked out because bots keep hitting my login page in order to guess ... (view more)

What's one of the best one-stop video/image quality enhancement and editing software available for Windows? Answer: Digiarty's VideoProc Converter AI! From the makers of WinX DVD Ripper and WinX Video Converter comes VideoProc Converter: a ... multi-award winning software program that is a one-stop video/image processing program that allows you to restore and enhance video image quality in 1 click, convert video/audio, rip DVDs, edit video, download videos, video to GIF maker ... plus much more! The latest version of VideoProc Converter AI includes the ability to upscale old pictures and video ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Stuart V. writes: " Dear Dennis, Both my wife (Suzanne) and I are running Windows 22H2 (version 10.0.19045) on a shared home network. Suzanne's printer is an older HP 4250 Laser Printer (circa 2015) which she has connected to her ... PC via USB connection, and is marked as a 'shared printer'. However, when I try to connect to her printer (via This PC -> Network -> Her Computer -> Right click HP 4250 -> Connect), it gives me an error 'Windows cannot connect to the printer. Operation failed 0x0000011b '. I have tried everything I can think of but can't fix this. Can ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Steve G. writes: " Dear Dennis, I just upgraded my PC to Windows 10 and I noticed that Windows Media Player no longer plays DVDs in Windows 10 . In Windows 7 it worked without a problem. I researched this issue and it appears that ... this 'feature' was removed on purpose because newer PCs and laptops do not have DVD players. As such, Microsoft has dropped all support for Windows 10 DVD playback in Windows Media Player. I plan on purchasing a thin ultrabook laptop (with no DVD player) soon. As such, I'd like to convert my DVDs into AVI or MP4 (for example) so I ... (view more)

Repair your corrupt outlook data file (.pst) with Outlook PST Repair Tool Personal Storage Table (PST) files are vulnerable to damage or corruption for various reasons, such as large size or oversizing, abrupt system or application shutdown, ... malware/virus intrusion, drive errors, etc. When the PST file is damaged or corrupt, it cant be opened in Outlook, leading to inaccessible mail items. If the PST file is not repaired, it may lead to data loss. Microsoft provides an Outlook PST file repair tool called Inbox Repair Tool or SCANPST.EXE . The tool is installed with MS Office installation. The ... (view more)