Windows XP - Troubleshoot

• Access exFAT partitions from Windows XP

  How to install the Vista exFAT file system driver on Windows XP.

• Blaster Worm Remote Procedure Call (RPC) exploit

  Description of the Blaster worm and how to protect the operating system from its RPC attacks.

• Boot.ini switches used by the Boot Manager

  Boot.ini is used by the Boot Manager to determine the installed operating systems and what startup settings to use.

• Bypass the loading of programs at Windows startup

  Holding down the SHIFT key during Windows startup will stop applications from loading.

• Change the source path for the install files in Windows NT

  Configure the path to the location of the install files whether on CD-ROM or HDD.

• Changing hardware abstraction layer in Windows 2000 / XP

  Windows NT hardware abstraction layer can be changed if the motherboard doesn't support the one chosen by default.

• Checkpoints for fixing a bad or corrupt BIOS flash

  Description of different alternative ways for recovering from a bad BIOS flash.

• Checkpoints for fixing hardware conflicts

  Steps for finding what hardware devices that is causing problems.

• Checkpoints for fixing no BIOS POST

  Steps for fixing a computer which cannot perform BIOS POST.

• Configure MSN Messenger

  MSN Messenger is an application by Microsoft that allows one to chat with friends and family.

• Configure Windows NT boot manager for dual-boot

  Dual booting several versions of Windows can be useful if running software which is locked to certain version of Windows.

• Configure and troubleshoot Automatic Updates

  Troubleshoot and repair Automatic Updates when it fails to perform Windows Update.

• Configure and troubleshoot Background Intelligent Transfer Service

  Control how much of the bandwidth the Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) is allowed to use.

• Configure and troubleshoot COM+ Event System service

  How to repair a broken COM+ catalog and reinstall COM+ services.

• Configure and troubleshoot Distributed Transaction Coordinator

  How to reset the transaction log for the Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MSDTC) and reinstall MSDTC.

• Configure and troubleshoot Help and Support Service

  How to reinstall the Help and Support service if it fails to function properly.

• Configure and troubleshoot Print Spooler service

  How to configure the priority and logging level of the Printer Spooler service.

• Configure and troubleshoot Secondary Logon service

  How to use the Secondary Logon service to start an application with different user credentials.

• Configure and troubleshoot Windows Firewall and ICS

  How to get a non-working Windows Firewall service started with a configuration reset.

• Configure and troubleshoot Windows Management Instrumentation

  Description of how to repair the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) repository.

• Configure the behavior of the Automatic Updates service

  Control how and when Automatic Updates (AU) should contact the Windows Update services.

• Configure timeout for application termination

  Change when an application is considered as deadlocked and should be terminated.

• Control disk check at boot after incorrect shutdown

  Windows NT will perform a chkdsk at boot time after an improper shutdown.

• Convert FAT16 and FAT32 partition to NTFS

  Description of the different issues that can arise when converting from FAT16 and FAT32 partitions to NTFS.

• Copying files when the DVD or CD is scratched

  When the media is filled with bad sectors, then one can still try to recover the good bits.

• Creating a bootable USB stick

  How to make a DOS bootdisk on a USB pen drive.

• Description of Windows service wrappers

  Description of how Windows services are hosted within the same process.

• Disable Page Size Extension for AMD Athlon XP

  Configure the Page Size Extension feature of the processor which is used to for activate large pages support.

• Disable/Uninstall Windows Messenger in Windows XP

  Windows Messenger is an inter-message (IM) application created by Microsoft which is integrated into Microsoft Outlook.

• Enable Driver Verifier to troubleshoot faulty driver

  Driver Verifier can be used to stress device drivers and can detect if the drivers performs illegal operations.

• Fix a non-working Windows Update

  Possible steps for repairing Windows Update

• Fix blue screen of death with INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE

  Description of the different situations where Windows NT can fail to boot because it no longer can find the boot device.

• Graweg NetApi32.dll Exploit

  Description of the Graweg worm and how to protect against its SMB attacks.

• Include 3rd party controller drivers in the recovery console

  Modify the Recovery Console installation so it will load 3rd party drivers for your disk controller.

• Installing NtBackup in Windows XP Home

  NtBackup is not installed by default in Windows XP Home.

• Load registry hive for offline registry editing

  The registry editor is capable of editing an offline registry hive.

• Manually remove programs from the Add/Remove list

  How to manually uninstall an application and remove it from the Add/Remove list.

• Mapping network printer to LTP1

  How to solve access denied error when trying to map network printer to LPT1

• No boot device found or available

  Computer cannot start if no proper boot device exists, or if the active boot device fails.

• Open Command Prompt during the install phase

  It is possible to open a command prompt during the GUI part of the Windows install.

• Program startup order in Windows NT

  Description of where and in what order programs are loaded at startup.

• Rebuild icon cache to fix incorrectly displayed icons

  The icon cache can become corrupted and lead to icons being garbled.

• Recover Windows installation by repair or reinstall

  Different solutions for recovering a broken Windows installation.

• Recover deleted NTFS/FAT32 partition

  When deleting a partition then only the boot sector is modified, so by restoring the boot sector, then one will restore the partition.

• Reinstall printer drivers in Windows NT

  Changing printer drivers in Windows NT can cause problems, and can require that the old drivers are remove manually first.

• Repair the builtin disk defragmenter

  The disk defragmenter will fail to load if it not registered properly, or if the services it depends on are disabled.

• Reset Administrator password to recover access

  Deleting the password storage files to reset the Administrator password to recover system access.

• Restore boot manager when NTLDR is missing

  Windows NT will fail to boot if it cannot find the files used to load the boot manager.

• Sasser Worm Local Security Authority (LSA) exploit

  Description of the Sasser worm and how to protect against its SMB attacks.

• Save the WinXP Product Activation before reinstall

  How to backup the state of having performed Windows Product Activation.

• Troubleshoot problems with entering sleep mode

  Diagnose what is preventing your computer from entering sleep mode, or wakes it prematurely.

• Uninstall ghost devices or services using the Device Manager

  Description of ghost devices and how they can be removed in safemode.

• Uninstall or reinstall NetMeeting in Windows NT

  NetMeeting is an inter-message (IM) application by Microsoft which can create a virtual conference room for several users to chat and exchange documents.

• Unplug hardware if Windows fails to install properly

  Troubleshooting what is causing Windows not to install properly.

• Using Last Known Good Configuration

  The Last Known Good Configuration makes it possible to rollback to the previous good state of the system registry hive.

• Using Recovery Console in Windows 2000 / XP

  Recovery Console can be useful when performing system recovery.

• Using Recovery Console to restore registry files

  The Recovery Console allows one to restore the registry as part of system recovery.

• Using Windows File Protection in Windows 2000 / XP

  Windows File Protection is able to keep the system files intact when overwritten.

• Using the System File Checker in Windows 2000 / XP

  System File Checker is able to verify that system files are intact.

• Using the registry editor to change the service state

  How to use the registry editor to configure the state of the Windows services.

• Using the services management snapin to change the service state

  How to use the services management snapin to configure the state of the Windows services.