Network Connections list empty after installing Acronis Backup & Recovery 10

Symptoms:

The list of Network connections is blank after installing Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 on Windows Vista/Server 2008 x64.

Cause:

Installation of Acronis Agent incorrectly modifies permissions for the DCOM netman service and changes its configuration in the Windows registry.

Solution:

Follow the steps in Acronis KB 2980 and restart machine.
(Thanks to Acronis for resolving this!)

Error message: "Invoke or BeginInvoke cannot be called on a control until the window handle has been created" when Installing SQL Server 2008

Applies to: SQL Server 2008 on Windows 7/Server 2008 R2
Error message:

Invoke or BeginInvoke cannot be called on a control until the window handle has been created.
(as described in Microsoft KB article 975055)

Workaround:

"Generally, if you just rerun it won't hit the issue again." (Source)

Hyper-V admin console: The computer 'localhost' failed to perform the requested operation because it is out of memory or disk space

Error message:

The computer 'localhost' failed to perform the requested operation because it is out of memory or disk space.

Workaround:

Locate and kill the running "WmiPrvSE" process.

(Thanks to sAnTos for the tip).

 

Event ID: 7026: The following boot-start or system-start driver(s) failed to load: storflt

Message:

Log Name:      System
Source:        Service Control Manager
Event ID:      7026
Level:         Error
Description: The following boot-start or system-start driver(s) failed to load: storflt

Resolution:

This event can be safely ignored.

Source & further information: KB 971527

Unable to edit DCOM settings for IIS WAMREG admin service on Windows Server 2008 R2

If you try to fix…

Event ID error messages 10016 and 10017 are logged in the System log after you install Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
(KB 920783)

… you will notice that you cannot change any settings in Component Services and all controls are greyed out. This is by design.

Workaround:

1. Take ownership of the registry key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AppID\{61738644-F196-11D0-9953-00C04FD919C1}
2. Add permissions for you to edit the key (Full Control)

(Thanks to Wictor Wilén for the tip.)

How to hard reset a NOKIA cell phone

Type *#7370#

Be aware:

• All data and settings will be lost.
• The device will revert to factory settings.

Note: The default security code for your Nokia device is 12345.

Where is the Wireless Switch on a Dell Latitude E4300

The Next Corner knows where it is:

"on the Dell Latitude E4300, the wireless switch is located on the right side of the laptop, just under the only USB port of the machine. See picture of the Wireless Switch below:"

Solution for: "Cannot open TWAIN source" (Canon)

Error message:

• "Cannot open TWAIN source"

Affected products:

• Canon scanners like the "CanoScan LiDE 60"

What does not hep:

• Updating/reinstalling CanoScan toolbox or drivers
• Trying other USB ports

Workaround/Solution:

• Shorten your "PATH" environment variable. If the resulting variable is "too long", the TWAIN error will occur. After shortening the path, scanning will immediatly work (no restart required.)

(Thanks to “Graf_d” from this thread for providing the solution)

CustomValidator for Checkboxes in ASP.NET

Situation:

The RequiredFieldVadlidator cannot be used to validate ASP.NET Checkboxes.

Workaround:

Use a CustomValidator. All you need is implement the ServerValidate event of the Custom Validator to validate that the check-box is checked/unchecked. Read more: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa479013.aspx

A computer stops responding during shutdown if BitLocker is enabled on the system drive

Symptoms

When shutting down the screen turns black and nothing happens whilst the computer fan and other devices are still running.

Assumption

You have BitLocker enabled for the system drive.

Solution

Hotfix available by Microsoft: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/975496/en-us

(Thanks to Kay Giza for this tip.)

Two and a half reasons *not* to use BitLocker

I had to disable BitLocker for two (and a half) reasons:

1. It’s not that easy anymore to create a backup image of BitLocker-protected drives.
   You can still do sectory-by-sector copies which require more space and time to create and restore.
   http://kb.acronis.com/content/1734
2. You cannot boot natively from a VHD if this VHD is placed on a BitLocker-protected drive.
   My laptop has only a single hard drive and you can can’t boot to VHD on network or removable drives.
3. If your laptop is not equipped with a TPM you need to insert a USB stick every time before you can boot your laptop.

10 free online Tutorials on Silverlight using Blend

(via techpreacher)

These tutorials are for everyone wanting to get to know Silverlight and Expression Blend quickly.  The tutorials have been created to learn about the features of Silverlight by simply drawing, resizing, dragging and dropping elements on the design surface of Blend. No code or prior Silverlight knowledge needed.

The content is provided at a high-level to cover a wide array of topics in a short time. Links to more detailed information are provided at the end of each tutorial.

	1. Drawing an emoticon in Expression Blend First steps in getting to know the tools and workspace in Blend
	2. Element Transformations Learn to use Scale, Rotate, Skew and 2.5D Transformations
	3. Get Started with Animation A Quick Overview on Creating Time-Based Animations
	4. Playing Video with the MediaElement Using the flexible MediaElement control as a reusable Surface
	5. Arranging Pictures to Learn Layout Use the Grid, StackPanel, ScrollableViewer and Border to position Images
	6. A Look at Text in Silverlight Learn about Displaying Text, Font Properties and Embedding Fonts
	7. Import an Adobe Photoshop File into Blend Convert the assets from a Photoshop file into Interactive Controls
	8. Styling and Skinning Controls Customize the Look by Setting Properties and Building Templates
	9. Styling and working with Design-Time Data Explore how Templates and Bindings are used to display dynamic data
	10. Giving Behaviors a Test Drive A brief overview and walkthrough of the Behaviors included with Blend

Enable BitLocker without a TPM on Windows 7

Problem

You receive an error that BitLocker will not work if no compatible TPM hardware is present.

Workaround

Use an USB stick (that always have to be inserted before booting your machine).

Steps

1. Open group policy editor: Start » gpedit.msc
2. Navigate to:
   • Computer Configuration
   • » Administrative Templates
   • » Windows Components
   • » BitLocker Drive Encryption
   • » Operating System Drives
3. Double-click Require Additional Authentication at Startup.
4. Click Enable.
5. Done!

More information:

• BitLocker Drive Encryption - Windows 7 Drive - Turn On or Off with no TPM

How to Backup and Restore your Windows Live Messenger emoticons?

There are several apps out there that promise you to work with the most recent version of Windows Live Messenger (Version 2009, 14.0.8089.726).

My recommendation:

ConCon Messenger Content Retriever

 

Download: http://concon.110mb.com/

It saves all emoticons into one .mco (= .cab) file, which makes restoring them very easy.

Workaround: Windows SDK Configuration Tool complains about missing Visual Studio

When trying change the default SDK…

Symptoms

Error Message:

"Your system does not have Visual Studio 2005 or Visual Studio 2008 installed"

Workaround

• Option 1: Use the command-line version of Windows SDK Configuration Tool: e.g. “WindowsSdkVer.exe -version:v7.0” (no quotes)
• Option 2: Change the OS Display Format to English (United States).

You can read the full story here.