Month: July 2016

  • Boot Windows 10 into Safe Mode when it does not start anymore and F8 is not enabled

    Many tutorials explain how to reboot in Safe Mode. But they usually need you to already be in a Windows session for that. What if Windows doesn’t start well anymore and the usual F8 doesn’t work? Well, you can enable the classic Boot Menu via the Command Prompt of a Recovery Drive.

    Click to Read More

    In my case, the Graphic Cards’ drivers were corrupted. So Windows was actually still booting but I couldn’t do anything as not having access to the UI. I had to restart in safe mode to remove those drivers and reinstall them. But without a UI, impossible to change Windows’s Startup Options…

    Typing F8 during Windows boot didn’t gave me access to the Boot Menu as, since Windows 8, the boot so fast that there is no way to interrupt it anymore – except if you have enabled F8 explicitly, sacrificing a couple of seconds during startup. This can be done by opening an elevated Command Prompt and executing:

    • bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy legacy

    To undo this reopen the elevated Command Prompt and type:

    • bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy standard

    If F8 is not enabled, you can force Windows to present you the Boot Menu using a Recovery Drive (or USB Key):

    • If you don’t have a Recovery drive yet,
      • Go to another Windows 10 PC (a x64 if your PC is a X64, or x86 otherwise)
      • Search for “Recovery Drive” in the Windows Start Menu/Screen
      • And Select “Create a Recovery Drive” (No need to back up system files to the recovery drive).
    • Boot your other PC on that Key (depending on you BIOS, you can use F8, F12, … to access to Device Boot Menu. See a list here).
    • Select your Keyboard and enter the “Troubleshoot” Menu.
    • Enter next the “Advanced Options” Menu.
      • Notice that with this Windows Recovery Drive, you won’t have the “Startup Settings” menu in the “Advanced Options”. This one is only available when you reboot your PC with the “Advanced Startup” Options or when Windows failed to boot twice and enter the Repair mode automatically (NB.: You can obviously use that trick to access the Startup Settings and boot is Safe Mode: boot the PC and switch it off when Windows is starting).
    Recovery Advanced Options
    Recovery Advanced Options with Startup Settings
    • So, no choice here but enter the “Command Prompt” menu
    • In there, type: bcdedit /set {bootmgr} displaybootmenu yes
    • Type next: exit
    • And shutdown completely before rebooting your PC.
    • You should now be prompted to select your OS. Press F8 there to access other Boot options 😉

    Et voilà.

    Once everything is back to normal with your Windows, run a command Prompt as Admin and disable the Boot Menu by typing:

    • bcdedit /set {bootmgr} displaybootmenu no

    Loading

  • Windows 10 Search can’t find any applications

    I am a big fan of Windows’ search feature since Windows 7. So, I was really frustrated when searching stopped to work this morning on my Windows 10. Fortunately, I have been able to fix it easily by deleting a key of the registry.

    Click to Read More

    1. Open a Run prompt by typing Win + R
    2. Execute “Regedit” via that run Prompt
    3. Open the Task Manager by typing Ctrl + Shift + Esc
    4. In the Task Manager, open the tab “Details”
    5. Kill all “Explorer.exe”
    6. In “Regedit”, locate and delete the entry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderTypes\{ef87b4cb-f2ce-4785-8658-4ca6c63e38c6}\TopViews\{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}
    7. In the Task Manager, open the menu File > Run new task, and type “Explorer”

    Et voilà, the Search feature should now work fine again.

    Loading

  • How to connect a bluetooth headset with a samsung tv UE48H6500

    Yes, this is possible. But you have to enable the support for «Bluetooth headphones» via a hidden menu.

    Click to Read More

    To access the samsung hidden menu:
    – Switch off the tv with your remote
    – Press the key «Info»
    – Press the key «Menu»
    – Press the key «Mute»
    – Switch on the tv and wait for a few seconds

    The hidden menu is now appearing on the screen. With the keys «up» and «down» you navigate between entries (submenus or settings). With the key «ok» (Enter) you enter a selected submenu or edit a setting. With the key «Return» you exit the submenu or the edit mode. With the keys «Left» and «Right» you change the value of a setting in edit mode.

    To enable the support for «Bluetooth headphones»:
    – select the entry «Option»
    – select the entry «MRT option»
    – select the setting «BT support»
    – change the value of that setting to set: ON
    – exit that setting
    – exit the submenu
    – select now the entry «Engineer Option»
    – select the setting «BT_AUDIO_ON_OFF»
    – change the value of that setting to set: ON

    And now switch off the tv. Voilà. The feature should be enabled. To access it, switch on the tv and press the key Menu. Then go to > Sound > Speaker Settings > Bluetooth headphones. From there you can search for Bluetooth devices and pair them.

    Later, to reconnect a Bluetooth which is already paired, use the key «tools» and in «Speaker Select», pick «Bluetooth headset». If it does not connect immediately, switch off and on your headphone and retry changing the “Speaker Select”. Notice that you must do this before starting any application like Plex or Netflix in the SmartHub.

    Loading

  • Boot from USB Key on a Toshiba Satellite to reinstall Windows

    It can be tricky… And here is the trick: disable the Secure Boot and use CSM Boot mode instead of UEFI. Once you don’t need to boot from the key anymore, reset those settings.

    Click to Read More

    Ccomplete details are available here: https://aps2.toshiba-tro.de/kb0/TSB2B03F30002R01.htmNotice also: while the “TOSHIBA” logo appears once the laptop powerd on,

    • Press [F2] key to enter the BIOS Setup Menu.
    • Press [F12] key to access the boot menu.

    I did need that to reinstall Windows 7 x64 SP1 on a old Toshiba as the CD/DVD reader is broken.

    I did create the bootable USB Key using Rufus 2.9: https://rufus.akeo.ie/

    Within Rufus, I did use a “MBR Partition Scheme for Bios or UEFI”.

    Finally, I had issue to install Windows with the key connected on the USB 3.0 port (the one which is blue) : “A required CD/DVD driver is missing”. I did solve that issue plugging the key on a USB 2.0 port and restarting the PC.

    Loading