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Windows 8/8.1

Update:Lenovo has only 4 GB memory and thus not good for development. I now owns HP Envy Touchsmart 15j with16 GB memory. Lenovo was updated to Windows 8.1 without problems. HP Envy has the problem with Windows 8.1 Update.

Due to Thanksgiving sale of $200 off, I just got Lenovo Twist S230U which has a touch screen and can become tablet by twisting the screen.  Here are the experiences.

Updated: 10/21/2014

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How can I see Nexus drive after Windows 8.1 update?

I used to be able to see Nexus 5 connected by USB cable. It was gone.Here is how after connecting USB cable to Nexus 5:

  
  1. Control Panel -> Device Manager  
  2. You will find Acer ADB Driver at the top.  
  3. Right click and Update Driver  
  4. Select "Browse my computer for driver software"  
  5. Select "Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer"  
  6. With "show compatible hardware" checkbox checked, two drivers should be shown.     
     (a) Acer ADB Interface (this was checked)     (b) MTP User Device  
  7. Check (b) option, not (a).  
  8. Immediately you will see Portable Dvices -> Nexus 5 in Computer Management
     and Acer ADB is now gone.

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How can I safeboot with network using command line?

Here is how (who could guess?)


  Enable:  
  bcdedit /set {current} safeboot network  shutdown /r
  Disable:    
  bcdedit /deletevalue {current} safeboot  shutdown /r

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Where is the error info when 8.1 update fails?

HP Envy failed to update to Windows 8.1. The error code was 0x80070004-0x4000D.  The error message is located in a weird place: C:\$Windows.~BT\Sources\Panther\setuperr.log. You have to run WSReset.exe to reinstall (you get the Update to 8.1 in Store).  I talked to Microsoft Support by chat.  He told me that my error code is one of their emerging issues at Microsoft and if he could not fix, then I had to talk to Level 2 Tech.   What he did was to disable all applications listed in TaskManager Startup.  Then, updated was successful.  The error message in setuperr.log seemed completely bogus.  If you have the same issue, you can try this.

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How can I change the company name and the registered owner in Windows 8?

There are two locations where Microsoft stores Company Name information and owner information.  The information is used, e.g. Visual Studio.

  
  1. HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current\  
  2. HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ 
  In both places, Key is RegisteredOrganization and RegisteredOwner

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How can I disable automatic snap to full screen

The most annoying feature of windows 7 and window 8 is the automatic snap to the full windowwhen you move your application to the side. Here is how to disable under Windows 8.

  
  1. Using your hand from the right corer (bring the mouse to the corner) to bring the Charm.  
  2. Search with Settings option.  Type "Snap"  
  3. It will find "Turn off automatic Windows arrangement".  
  4. Check "Prevent windows from being automatically arranged ..."

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How can I hide Recovery Partition?

I bought a new HP Envy Touchsmart laptop. It came with the Recovery parition assigned to the D.Since the C is close to 1 TB, I shrunk it to add another partition. Due to Recovery partitionbeing D, the new partition must be higher than E. There is a way to get the new partition D. Here is how.

  
  1. Windows Key and R will bring up a Run dialog.  
  2. "diskpart" to the command line  
  3. "list volume" to find the volume for the Recovery partition.  
  4. "select volume 2" (2 is the volume ### for the Recovery partition in my case)  
  5. "attribute volume set hidden" to hide the partition.  
  6. "attribute volume clear hidden" to restore.  
  7. now the drive D is gone.  You can assign D for your new partition.

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How can I change ATA mode to AHCI mode (win8)?

The SATA drive can be used in ATA mode or AHCI mode. If you have it in ATA mode andthe hard drive is rather new, then you want to change it to AHCI mode.It turned out that it is tricky. Fortunately Microsoft provided a way without editing the registry. Here is the link.http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2751461. Note that the procedure is different for Windows 7 (the link is in the page).

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How can I remove the Lock Screen for login?

You don't need the lock screen but go directly to password screen.

  
  gpedit.msc  
  Computer Configuration → Administrative Template → Control Panel → Personalization  
  Double click on Setting "Do not display the lock screen"'  
  Set the radio button for Enabled

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How can I add title to a tile group in Start screen?

I just noticed that my Lenovo Twist has a tile group named "Lenovo Apps". None of the other tile group has the title. Here is how to add a title to a tile group.

  
  1. Go to Start screen.  
  2. Shrink the size of the entire tiles by bringing the cursor to the right bottom and click     
     (or by pinching using two fingers on screen).  
  3. Move the cursor to a particular tile group (the tile group will have a shadow).  
  4. Right click to bring the pencil icon (Name Group) at the bottom of the screen.  
  5. Click on the pencil icon to edit the title.

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Lenovo laptop has the incompatibility with one of the important updates

The first issue I encounter was that Windows update came up with 11 updates to be installed. It turned out that one of the updates always failed. Due to this problem, I could not "Add Features" to Windows 8 Pro Pack (which converts Windows 8 to Windows 8 Pro with Media Center). It turned out that KB2756872 is incompatible with Lenovo laptop and you must hide it from Windows update window. After hiding I had no problem installing Windows 8 Pro Pack.

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