How to install unsigned driver (if you have to) in Windows 10?

If you tried to install a unsigned driver in Windows 10, you would hit the wall. There is no settings to allow unsigned drivers like in old Microsoft Operating Systems. This is the guide to show you how to enable unsigned drivers (& risk making Windows 10 unstable).

Follow the stops to enable the Unsigned Drivers in Startup Options:

1. Reboot the computer with these command

SHUTDOWN.exe /R /O /F /T 00

/R is for Reboot

/O is to reboot to options menu

/F is force the reboot

/T is timer – we set to reboot right away

 

2. After reboot to Options screen, Choose Troubleshoot.

3. In Troubleshoot screen, Choose Advanced Options

4. in Advanced Options screen, choose Startup Settings

5. In Startup Settings, Click Restart.

6. After reboot, click 7 or F7 to disable driver signature enforcement.

7. Selecting option results a reboot  one last time.

Now try installing that unsigned drivers.

Outlook removes some (extra) line breaks in (text) emails

If you are pissed off that Outlook is removing line breaks from text emails, you came to right place. Apparently It’s feature in Outlook to remove line breaks. When Outlook removes the line breaks, we get this message: “We removed extra line breaks from this message”.

Click on then message and selecting “Restore line breaks” shows the original text message as it is. But what is the permanent solution?

Solution: Go to Outlook: File –> Options –> Mail –> Message Format (section). Uncheck the option for Remove extra line breaks in plain text messages.

Office 365: Map “OneDrive for Business” to a network location in Windows computers

To map the OneDrive for Business cloud drive on Windows, you have to tweak IE settings before you mount the cloud drive. With mapped network location, you don’t have to keep any offline files and easy to upload files by drag and drop to network location.

It sometimes disconnects time to time and you have to reconnect it with same steps below.

1. Modify the IE Settings

         a. Open Internet Options in Control Panel

         b. Go to Security Tab

         c. Click on Sites button and add the following sites to Trusted Sites

                        i. https://login.microsoftonline.com

                        ii. https://portal.office.com

                        iii. https://*.sharepoint.com

                        iv. https://outlook.office365.com

                        v. https://outlook.office.com

        d. Close all dialog boxes

2. Get the URL for OneDrive for Business

        a. Open IE and go to https://portal.office.com

        b. Enter your credentials and check the box for

        c. Click on OneDrive Icon to open cloud drive

        d. Copy the URL from the address box and add Documents in the end like below example.

https://<your Office365 tenant name>-my.sharepoint.com/personal/<your username>_company_com/Documents

e.g, https://contoso-my.sharepoint.com/personal/JohnDoe_contoso_com/documents

3. Map network location in File Explorer (My Computer)

           a. Open File Explorer (or My Computer in older Windows) and select This PC on the left side tree.

           b. Click on Add Network Location button in the ribbon (or right click on empty space in File Explorer and select Add Network Location).

           c. Click Next on Add Network Wizard window

           d. Click to select Choose custom network location and click Next

           e. Copy and paste modified URL as above (e.g., https://contoso-my.sharepoint.com/personal/JohnDoe_contoso_com/documents). And click Next.

          f. Enter a name for your network location and click Next and Finish to complete the wizard.

           g. You will find the mapped network location in My PC section.

If the Network Location disconnected for some reason, try reconnecting it with the same steps above. I usually save my OneDrive for Business URL in a text file for quick reference.

Office 365: Map “OneDrive for Business” to a network location in Windows computers

To map the OneDrive for Business cloud drive on Windows, you have to tweak IE settings before you mount the cloud drive. With mapped network location, you don’t have to keep any offline files and easy to upload files by drag and drop to network location.

It sometimes disconnects time to time and you have to reconnect it with same steps below.

1. Modify the IE Settings

         a. Open Internet Options in Control Panel

         b. Go to Security Tab

         c. Click on Sites button and add the following sites to Trusted Sites

                        i. https://login.microsoftonline.com

                        ii. https://portal.office.com

                        iii. https://*.sharepoint.com

                        iv. https://outlook.office365.com

                        v. https://outlook.office.com

        d. Close all dialog boxes

2. Get the URL for OneDrive for Business

        a. Open IE and go to https://portal.office.com

        b. Enter your credentials and check the box for

        c. Click on OneDrive Icon to open cloud drive

        d. Copy the URL from the address box and add Documents in the end like below example.

https://<your Office365 tenant name>-my.sharepoint.com/personal/<your username>_company_com/Documents

e.g, https://contoso-my.sharepoint.com/personal/JohnDoe_contoso_com/documents

3. Map network location in File Explorer (My Computer)

           a. Open File Explorer (or My Computer in older Windows) and select This PC on the left side tree.

           b. Click on Add Network Location button in the ribbon (or right click on empty space in File Explorer and select Add Network Location).

           c. Click Next on Add Network Wizard window

           d. Click to select Choose custom network location and click Next

           e. Copy and paste modified URL as above (e.g., https://contoso-my.sharepoint.com/personal/JohnDoe_contoso_com/documents). And click Next.

          f. Enter a name for your network location and click Next and Finish to complete the wizard.

           g. You will find the mapped network location in My PC section.

If the Network Location disconnected for some reason, try reconnecting it with the same steps above. I usually save my OneDrive for Business URL in a text file for quick reference.

Microsoft Word is not printing background paper color

By default Microsoft Office programs will not print the selected paper (background) color, because the background color is like a place holder to be printed on a color paper.

If you really wan to print the background color,

• Go to File and Options
• Select Advanced
• scroll to Show document content section and check the box for Show background colors and images in Print Layout view

 

 

• Next scroll down to Print section.
• check the box for Print in background

• Click OK to close and go back to the document.
• Try printing it now.

How do you find Windows version information?

The easiest way is,

• Click Windows Key + R to open Run dialog
• Type WINVER and press Enter

Windows Version is displayed in a dialog box.

If you are in PowerShell, Type this: [Environment]::OSVersion.

Windows: How to Add/Remove Startup programs?

If you want to add or remove any startup programs in Windows 10, there is no straight forward way. Somehow Microsoft Windows Team thought let the users manage the Startup items are a bad idea.

To Add or Remove Startup programs on your user profile:

• Click Windows Key + R to open Run dialog
• Type Shell:Startup Shell:Startup  and press Enter

This will open the Windows File Explorer to the Startup folder.  Now you can delete or create short cut for your programs to start with Windows.

To Add or Remove Startup programs for All Users

• Click Windows Key + R to open Run dialog
• Type Shell:Common Startup Shell:Startup  and press Enter

Use Skype for Business with older Lync Servers (Fix for error: Server version is incompatible)

Skype for Business 2013 or 2016 will throw this error if you try to use it with older Lync servers.

Cannot sign in because the server version is incompatible with Skype for Business.

Fix: Add DisableServerCheck registry key. Reboot your computer (to reload the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE registry hive). Your Skype for Business client will work after reboot.

Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Office\16.0\lync
Name:  DisableServerCheck
Type: DWORD
Value: 1 (00000001)

You may download this file (right click the downloaded file and select Merge to add to the registry).

Office: “Add to dictionary” option greyed out

I have helped someone with their Word (& PowerPoint) for not able to add custom words into Dictionary. When the user selected an word and right click, the option for Add to dictionary is greyed out like below picture.

Fix/Solution: Add a Custom Dictionary and select a language in Proofing options.

1. Click File –> Options
2. Select Proofing –> Custom Dictionaries
3. Select the CUSTOM.DIC and a Language (English (United States) in my case) if not selected. If you don’t see your language, add it.

4. That’s all. Click OK’s to close all dialog boxes. Your problem is fixed. You can now add words into custom dictionary.

Excel: Paste multi-line text into a cell

If you copy and paste multi-line text into a Excel cell, Excel pastes into multi-row or multi-column data. This blog tip is to show how to paste a text into a cell and preserve the tabs and paragraphs into the same cell.

Solution:

1. Copy your multi-line text (Control-C)

2. On Excel, Select the cell and click on Formula bar and paste text. OR Select the cell, press F2 and paste the text. 

Hope it helped you. Enjoy