Surface Pro (1st gen) not sleeping since Windows 10 upgrade

I started noticing my Surface Pro (1st gen) was not going to sleep since the upgrade to Windows 10 and was draining my battery. I checked many power options, but found the Surface Type Cover Filter Device Driver was missing.

Note: I am using a Surface Type Cover and not a Surface Touch Cover. If you have a Surface Touch Cover and having issues with the device not sleeping, it may be worth trying this, though do so with caution!

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Microsoft Second Shot

Microsoft are currently offering a second shot to resit any MCP exam taken between July 12 2015 and January 12, 2016 if you don’t pass on your first attempt. You must reschedule your free retake within 30 days of failing your MCP exam.

See here for more details: https://www.microsoft.com/learning/en-us/second-shot.aspx?WT.mc_id=MSLS_secondshot

Might be encouraging for those thinking of going for the MCSA or MCSE!

Windows 10 install error 80240020

For those getting a Windows 10 install error 80240020 when trying to install Windows 10, try the following:

  1. Browse to “C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download”
    • Delete everything in this folder. – This will delete any corrupt files.
  2. Run command prompt as an administrator and type the command “wuauclt.exe /detect now” followed by enter.
  3. Go to your control panel and then Windows update – check for updates and it should start re-re downloading Windows 10.

Failing that, see this Microsoft article:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/insider/wiki/insider_wintp-insider_install/how-to-do-a-custom-installation-of-windows/38adfa8c-32f8-4354-8c53-13b5f2cf7e44

Good luck!

Windows 10 Technical Preview – Upgrading and Start Menu

I decided to be brave and upgrade my Surface Pro to the Windows 10 Technical Preview. Upon successfully installing I immediately clicked on the windows button… only to notice the start screen/metro interface launched instead of the start menu, little confused.

It seems, well in my case you need to turn the start menu on.

Head to the Control Panel and open Taskbar and Navigation, click the Start Menu tab, tick Use Start menu instead of the Start screen.

EnableStartMenu

 

Click ok, you will need to logoff and then log back in for the changes to take effect. Then BOOM clicking the windows button will now bring the start menu up. 🙂

 

MCSA Server/SQL 2012 electives changes

Microsoft has made some changes to the MCSA for Server 2012 and SQL 2012 by introducing electives. This I feel is good idea as it allows you to pick an exam that may be more relative to your job role. So in my case I will be taken the following mandatory exams:

70-410: Installing and Configuring Windows Server
70-411: Administering Windows Server 2012

and then I can decide to do 70-409: Server Virtualization with Windows Server Hyper-V and System Center.

Taken from http://borntolearn.mslearn.net/btl/b/weblog/archive/2014/09/15/electives-for-windows-server-2012-amp-sql-server-2012-mcsa-certifications-now-available.aspx

For MCSA: Windows Server 2012 > Exams 410 and 411 are required. You can choose one of the following exams to fulfill the requirements for the third exam in the path:

  • Exam 346: Managing Office 365 Identities and Requirements
  • Exam 409: Server Virtualization with Windows Server Hyper-V and System Center
  • Exam 412: Configuring Advanced Windows Server 2012 Services
  • Exam 462: Administering Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Databases

For MCSA: SQL Server 2012 > Exams 461 and 462 are required. You can choose one of the following exams to fulfill the requirements for the third exam in the path

  • Exam 411: Administering Windows Server 2012
  • Exam 412: Configuring Advanced Windows Server 2012 Services
  • Exam 463: Implementing a Data Warehouse with Microsoft SQL Server 2012
  • Exam 483: Programming in C#

MCSA electives Server 2012

 

 

2008R2ClearCache

Server 2008 R2 clear DNS cache to get Internet working on clients

First week of new job and going rather good as well as experiencing some strange behaviour… one of our clients had an unusual error with the Internet not working on all client machines. They were attached to the network fine and the server had Internet access.

Seems there may be a bug in Server 2008 R2 which may require the DNS cache to be cleared… and boom the clients had Internet access….

Within DNS Manager, right click “Cached Lookups” and select “Clear Cache”.

2008R2ClearCache

Upon a further inspection it seems this may be related to KB  968372:  Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 DNS Servers may fail to resolve queries for some top-level domains

I haven’t tried the above fix, but will be worth a try if the issue happens again.

Microsoft Access error – You do not have the necessary permissions to use the…

When trying to open an Microsoft Access 2003 database that has security features enabled you may get the following Microsoft Access error displayed “You do not have the necessary permissions” on newer versions of Access:

You do not have the necessary permissions to use the ‘.mdb’ object. Have your system administrator or the person who created this object establish the appropriate permissions for you.

You do not have the necessary permissions

To overcome this slight problem, you need to create a shortcut and link the MDW (Microsoft Access Workgroup information file) with the MDB .

You will need to create a new shortcut Right click New > Shortcut>. When asked type the location of the item. You will need to enter the following, replacing MDB/MDW> to where your files are located and the version of Office you are using. It may be worth opening notepad so you can get the path right and then copy and paste.

* Please note the quotes are required

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\MSACCESS.EXE" ".mdb" /wrkgrp ".mdw" /user

Replace Office14 with your version of Microsoft Office that is installed. To find this, browse to “C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\ and note the “Office” folder.

You do not have the necessary permissions

So for example, a correct path would look like:

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\MSACCESS.EXE" "c:\test.mdb" /wrkgrp "c:\test.mdw" /user

Before creating the shortcut, you can test if this will work by going Start > Run and pasting the path into the run box and clicking ok, if this fails then the shortcut will fail. Check the quotes and path to ensure they’re correct. Once it opens via the run box you can then create the shortcut.

Now when opening the newly created shortcut you should see the database open as normal and presented with a login screen.