Windows 8 thoughts & opinions: incomplete?

[Mystere]

I have no idea what you mean by "Networked to another PC". Do you mean a VPN?

Have you disabled the Wake On Lan functionality? Have you disabled Wake Events in Power Management?

 

[rdwray]

I made sure that was disabled. The work around they came up with is: "powercfg -requestsoverride driver \FileSystem\srvnet system" - powercfg -energy returns "srvnet preventing sleep"; srvnet being part of the networking system. The problem here is that this cannot be run if you are not @ a elevated command prompt when eliminates the use of a bat file even with a administrator enabled shortcut.

 

[mbratch]

My problems started when I wanted to pin certain things to my new start menu so I could have everything accessible, but I found out pretty quickly that you can only save "apps" there.

What the heck are you talking about? Of course you can pin other things there. You can pin any application there (desktop or tile), you can pin web site links. You can pin folders. You can pin all kinds of things. This is simply not true, and it seems a large part of your rant is based on this false assumption.

The OP is right, unless you happen to stumble upon the registry hack that allows you to pin other things besides apps. So, yeah, you can. But not out of the box. And, oddly and to the OP's point, there's no user configuration setting to do this. You just have to stumble upon the hack online. Not something most people would necessarily do.

 

[Mystere]

I made sure that was disabled. The work around they came up with is: "powercfg -requestsoverride driver \FileSystem\srvnet system" - powercfg -energy returns "srvnet preventing sleep"; srvnet being part of the networking system. The problem here is that this cannot be run if you are not @ a elevated command prompt when eliminates the use of a bat file even with a administrator enabled shortcut.

Why do you feel the need to run this from a shortcut? And you most certainly can run it from an administrator enabled shortcut.

Does this feature not "stick" past a reboot? Why not run it from startup as a task?

 

[Mystere]

My problems started when I wanted to pin certain things to my new start menu so I could have everything accessible, but I found out pretty quickly that you can only save "apps" there.

What the heck are you talking about? Of course you can pin other things there. You can pin any application there (desktop or tile), you can pin web site links. You can pin folders. You can pin all kinds of things. This is simply not true, and it seems a large part of your rant is based on this false assumption.

The OP is right, unless you happen to stumble upon the registry hack that allows you to pin other things besides apps. So, yeah, you can. But not out of the box. And, oddly and to the OP's point, there's no user configuration setting to do this. You just have to stumble upon the hack online. Not something most people would necessarily do.

No, the original poster is not right. You can pin more than just "apps" to the start page.

 

[mbratch]

What the heck are you talking about? Of course you can pin other things there. You can pin any application there (desktop or tile), you can pin web site links. You can pin folders. You can pin all kinds of things. This is simply not true, and it seems a large part of your rant is based on this false assumption.

The OP is right, unless you happen to stumble upon the registry hack that allows you to pin other things besides apps. So, yeah, you can. But not out of the box. And, oddly and to the OP's point, there's no user configuration setting to do this. You just have to stumble upon the hack online. Not something most people would necessarily do.

No, the original poster is not right. You can pin more than just "apps" to the start page.

OK, maybe a couple of things. But not many. It's quite fussy and tightly specific about what you can pin out of the box. That was one of the things I first noticed as a limitation in Windows 8. There were numerous items I could access at the click of a mouse on a desktop that I couldn't do on the Start screen. For example a folder link or document. That's why this exists: http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/15624-pin-start-files-windows-8-a.html

 

[rdwray]

I'll bite, give me the shortcut that will run this on a command and return that it did not fail. The srvnet does not stick. I have seen "references" that say this can be controlled in "services", but no one has given which one or how.

 

[Mystere]

I'll bite, give me the shortcut that will run this on a command and return that it did not fail. The srvnet does not stick. I have seen "references" that say this can be controlled in "services", but no one has given which one or how.

When I put your command in a .cmd file, and set the Administrator bit on the settings, it promps me for administrator privs and runs without error.

By the way, this problem is not unique to Windows 8, it was common on Windows 7 as well. For instance.

[Solved] Computer will not automatically enter sleep mode. ever - general-discussion - windows-7

This is only a problem if another device on your network is accessing your media files as a media server. Most people would not want their computer to go to sleep when that was happening, which is why by default it blocks sleep. If you don't want other devices to access your media, you can block it in Network and Sharing center under Advanced sharing and multimedia, or like I said.. just run it at startup as a task as administrator.

 

[Mystere]

OK, maybe a couple of things. But not many. It's quite fussy and tightly specific about what you can pin out of the box. That was one of the things I first noticed as a limitation in Windows 8. There were numerous items I could access at the click of a mouse on a desktop that I couldn't do on the Start screen. For example a folder link or document. That's why this exists: http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/15624-pin-start-files-windows-8-a.html

Not many? The *ONLY* thing you can't pin to the start menu by default are documents. That's it. Everything else you can, and that's a lot of things. apps, folders, control panel items, mmc snap-ins, shortcuts, etc.. are all pinnable by default.

If you really must pin a document, then create a shortcut to it and pin the shortcut, or use the hack you mention.

 

[rdwray]

It prompts for a password - right/wrong? I have not had any problems with Win7 or XP on networking and sleeping. As I said, this is another work around that should not exist, one of many that is required for Win8 to be a productive device. MS needs to do a major update or put it in the pile with ME and Vista. It appears this was an experiment, that is why they sold it so cheap.

The link surround "media streaming" which is not enabled. Now, if the free mutimedia center that MS provided is causing the problem, then is another issue - bug.

 

[Mystere]

And like I said, *I* do not have this problem in Windows 8. Just because you didn't have that problem on Windows 7 doesn't mean anything. Windows 7 *DID* have this problem, as evidenced by the link I provided (and there are many more if you search for "srvnet sleep"). This is not specific to Windows 8.

I don't now what you mean by "the link surround "media streaming" which is not enabled" means.

 

[mbratch]

OK, maybe a couple of things. But not many. It's quite fussy and tightly specific about what you can pin out of the box. That was one of the things I first noticed as a limitation in Windows 8. There were numerous items I could access at the click of a mouse on a desktop that I couldn't do on the Start screen. For example a folder link or document. That's why this exists: http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/15624-pin-start-files-windows-8-a.html

Not many? The *ONLY* thing you can't pin to the start menu by default are documents. That's it. Everything else you can, and that's a lot of things. apps, folders, control panel items, mmc snap-ins, shortcuts, etc.. are all pinnable by default.

If you really must pin a document, then create a shortcut to it and pin the shortcut, or use the hack you mention.

I'll have to go back and undo the hack and see what it was I saw initially. But just about anything I right clicked on did not give the "pin to start" option. I know it says that folders are supposed to be pin-able (I assume that means folder links, too). For some reason, I recall having some problem with it...

 

[rdwray]

srvnet and streaming media were in the discussion. The problem exists on Win8 and evident by the discussion and it exists on this machine. To start doing work arounds and hacks to get an OS to work is the fault of the manufacturer, not the user. They provide the means to link PCs together and it should work; if not, then they need to fix the bug.

 

[Mystere]

srvnet and streaming media were in the discussion. The problem exists on Win8 and evident by the discussion and it exists on this machine. To start doing work arounds and hacks to get an OS to work is the fault of the manufacturer, not the user. They provide the means to link PCs together and it should work; if not, then they need to fix the bug.

Something that does not work as you want is not a bug.

Something that does not work as it was designed to is a bug.

Most people do not want their computer to sleep when another computer is accessing their media files. This is the designed behavior for the vast majority of users. Because you don't like that behavior, does not make it a bug. It works as it was designed to.

My understanding is that there are some devices which "lock" the server and are constantly accessing it, I think certain versions of the Xbox do this. THAT might be a bug, but it's a bug with the Xbox rather than Windows, as Windows is doing what its supposed to.

 

[rdwray]

If it doesn't work, it is a bug if the system is designed to allow implementation.

OK, maybe a couple of things. But not many. It's quite fussy and tightly specific about what you can pin out of the box. That was one of the things I first noticed as a limitation in Windows 8. There were numerous items I could access at the click of a mouse on a desktop that I couldn't do on the Start screen. For example a folder link or document. That's why this exists: http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/15624-pin-start-files-windows-8-a.html

The "Pin to start" and "Pin to taskbar" exists on just about everything. You can also create shortcut for apps and pin them if desired; I had one and deleted it because it restarted the app on every click. And that is another problem. If I start an app and try to use alt+tab to switch to the desktop when the app has just started, it will not work.

 

[mbratch]

The "Pin to start" and "Pin to taskbar" exists on just about everything. You can also create shortcut for apps and pin them if desired; I had one and deleted it because it restarted the app on every click. And that is another problem. If I start an app and try to use alt+tab to switch to the desktop when the app has just started, it will not work.

Yes I need to go back and check. I'm referring specifically to "pin to Start" (not "pin to taskbar"). The most common things I keep on the desktop are documents, folders, and folder links. I know the files won't pin (which I remedied with the registry hack). I thought I had issues with the other items, too, but now I need to double check.

 

[Mystere]

If it doesn't work, it is a bug if the system is designed to allow implementation.

Except that the system is *NOT* designed to allow implementation in these specific circumstances. It may be cliché, but it is in fact a feature, not a bug. It just doesn't work how you want it to.

Have you tried adding the runas command to your batch file? You can even save the credentials so that it doesn't request them every time.

runas /savecred /user:administrator

You need to set a password for the administrator account, of course (by default, there isn't one, as administrator is not allowed to login without a password)

 

[rdwray]

If it doesn't work, it is a bug if the system is designed to allow implementation.

Except that the system is *NOT* designed to allow implementation in these specific circumstances. It may be cliché, but it is in fact a feature, not a bug. It just doesn't work how you want it to.

Have you tried adding the runas command to your batch file? You can even save the credentials so that it doesn't request them every time.

runas /savecred /user:administrator

You need to set a password for the administrator account, of course (by default, there isn't one, as administrator is not allowed to login without a password)

I use to program industrial computers to control processes. If I went and programmed a system that had a flaw in it because I did not implement a control variable, what do you think that customer would tell me?

 

[Mystere]

You keep saying its a flaw. It's not. IT IS SUPPOSED TO DO THIS. IT IS BY DESIGN. IT IS INTENDED.

How many times does one have to say it? It is doing what it is supposed to do.

 

[mbratch]

A behavior in software could legitimately be considered a flaw even if it is behaving as designed. The design itself could be flawed (design doesn't align with requirements), or the requirements upon which the design is based could be flawed (the requirements don't actually align with user expectations).