Prevent Windows From Restarting Your PC After Windows Updates

Using the Group Policy editor:

Have you seen that message in Windows 10 that tells you your computer is going to reboot and there is not a thing you can do about it except save your work?

Here’s how to make sure that never happens again. This tip works for Windows 8 and 7 as well.

Press the Win + R keyboard combination to bring up the run dialog then type gpedit.msc and press enter.

When the Local Group Policy Editor opens, navigate to:

Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Update

On the right hand side you will see a setting titled:

No auto-restart with logged on users for scheduled automatic updates installations

Double click on it.

From here you will need to enable the setting by changing the radio button from “Not Configured” to “Enabled”, then clicking apply.

As always, I recommend you force a Group Policy update so that the changes will reflect immediately.

That’s all there is to it.

Using the Registry:

If your version of Windows 8 doesn’t ship with the Group Policy editor, you can always use the registry to disable these reboots. Again press the Windows + R keyboard combination to bring up a run box – type regedit then hit enter.

Now navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU

Note: If you don’t see the Windows Update or AU keys you may have to create them.

Then create a new 32-bit DWORD called NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers.

Then double click on it and give it a hex value of 1.

Note: Reboot is requered.

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Office 2010 Activation Failure: Unspecified Error 0x80070190

On a new install, when attempting to activate Microsoft Office 2010 receive error: 

"An unspecified error has occurred. Your request cannot be processed at this time.
Please try again later. (0x80070190)"

To activate Office 2010, please use OSPP.VBS.

a. Open an administrative command-prompt
b. Run one of the following command-lines based on your Operating System:

x86
cscript "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\ospp.vbs" /act
x64
cscript "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14\ospp.vbs" /act

You should see something similar to the following.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14>cscript ospp.vbs /act
Microsoft (R) Windows Script Host Version 5.8
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

---Processing--------------------------
---------------------------------------
Installed product key detected - attempting to activate the following product:
SKU ID: fdf3ecb9-b56f-43b2-a9b8-1b48b6bae1a7
LICENSE NAME: Office 14, OfficeProPlus-MAK edition
LICENSE DESCRIPTION: Office 14, RETAIL channel
Last 5 characters of installed product key: XXXXX
<Product activation successful>
---------------------------------------
---------------------------------------
---Exiting-----------------------------

DONE.

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Importing the nk2 file in Outlook 2010

In general, you can just move the nk2 file to your new computer but if your new computer is running Outlook 2010, then additional actions are needed as Outlook 2010 no longer uses an nk2 file for caching but stores these addresses in the Suggested Contacts folder in the Outlook mailbox itself.

When you upgrade to Outlook 2010, the nk2-file is automatically imported upon starting Outlook 2010 for the first time. When you create a new Outlook mail profile or when using Outlook on a new computer, you can import an existing nk2-file in the following way.

1. Copy the nk2-file to the following folder:

• Windows Vista and Windows 7
C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Outlook
• Windows XP
C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\Application Settings\Microsoft\Outlook

2. Rename the nk2-file to the name of your mail profile.

To find out this name use the Mail applet in Control Panel and click on the Show Profiles… button.
By default, your profile is called “Outlook”. So in that case you would call your file “outlook.nk2”.

3. Start Outlook with the /importnk2 switch:

• Windows Vista and Windows 7
Start-> type: outlook.exe /importnk2
• Windows XP
Start-> Run: outlook.exe /importnk2

4. Outlook will now process the nk2 file and import it into the Suggested Contacts folder. Outlook will automatically append .old to the nk2 file.

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Moving the nk2 file for Outlook 2002, 2003 and 2007

When you are currently using Outlook 2002, 2003 or 2007 and you’ll also be using that on your new computer, then all you have to do is copying the nk2-file to the correct location on the new computer. Sometimes you’ll need to rename the file though so it will match the name of the new mail profile.

1. Copy the nk2-file to the following folder:

• Windows Vista and Windows 7: C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Outlook

• Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\Application Settings\Microsoft\Outlook

2. Rename the nk2-file to the name of your mail profile.

To find out this name use the Mail applet in Control Panel and click on the Show Profiles… button.
By default, your profile is called “Outlook”. So in that case you would call your file “outlook.nk2”.

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NTLDR is missing. Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to restart

After switching on your computer or after restarting Windows XP you receive a NTLDR is missing error message and cannot get into Windows. This article describes several possible solutions to solving the NTLDR is missing error and gets your Windows XP up and running again.

Explanation:

The NTLDR is missing error message is usually caused when the following conditions exist although there are other causes of NTLDR errors:

1.    The primary partition is formatted with the FAT32 file system

2.    The computer starts by using INT-13 extensions

3.    The heads value in the FAT32 BIOS Parameter Block (BPB) does not match that of the physical disk drive

Resolutions:

Step 1 – Remove non bootable media

·         Remove any floppy disks, CD’s or USB sticks from your computer and restart.

·         If NTLDR is missing error appears again, proceed to step 2

Step 2 – Copy new system files

1.    Boot the computer using a Windows 95/98/ME startup boot diskette or bootable CD

2.    Backup MSDOS.SYS by issuing the following commands at the command prompt (pressing ENTER after each command):

attrib -h -r -s c:\msdos.sys

rename msdos.sys msdos.old

3.    Now copy new system files across by issuing the following command and pressing ENTER at the command prompt:

sys c:

4.    Rename MSDOS.OLD back to MSDOS.SYS by issuing the following commands and pressing ENTER after each at the command prompt:

attrib -h -r -s c:\msdos.sys

copy msdos.old msdos.sys

5.    Remove the boot disk/CD and insert your Windows XP CD

6.    Restart the computer by pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL

7.    Ensure you boot the system from the CD.  The system will then boot into the Windows XP Setup.

8.    At the welcome screen press ‘R’ to enter the Recovery Console

9.    At the recovery console, select your Windows XP installation and enter your Administrator password if requested

10. At the command prompt issue the following commands and press ENTER after each command:

fixboot

fixmbr

11. Remove your Windows XP CD and restart the computer

12. If the NTLDR is missing error appears again after reboot, proceed to Step 3 below.

Step 3 – Windows Repair

1.    After Step 2 above, it is sometimes necessary to run or re-run the Windows XP Setup repair process

2.    If step 2 did not solve you issue re-insert your Windows XP CD and run Windows Setup again

3.    If NTLDR is missing error appears again, proceed to Step 4 below.

Step 4 – Download & Run BCUPDATE2

Occasionally this NTLDR error is caused by too many files in the root folder and an issue with an out of date windows version.

BCUPDATE2 is an official Microsoft fix for the NTLDR problem but is difficult to find and cannot be downloaded directly from Microsoft without first contacting support.

This can be solved by downloading and running BCUPDATE2.EXE as follows:

1.    Download BCUPDATE2.EXE from here: http://www.proposedsolution.com/downloads/download-bcupdate2/

2.    Copy BCUPDATE2.EXE into the root folder of a Windows 95/98/ME boot diskette or CD

3.    Boot the computer using the boot diskette or bootable CD

4.    At the command prompt issue the following command and press ENTER: bcupdate2.exe C: /F

5.    When prompted to update the volume press Y

6.  After you receive a confirmation message, remove your bootable diskette or CD and restart your computer.

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