Tutorials

How to Create or Download a Windows 8 and 8.1 ISO If you purchased Windows 8/8.1 and have a "retail" Windows 8/8.1 product key, then this tutorial will show you how to create or download an upgrade Windows 8 ISO or full Windows 8.1 Update ISO file directly from Microsoft. exclamation-triangle You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to do the steps in this tutorial. You will need to have your Windows 8 or 8.1 product key number from your retail box package OR online order information in the confirmation email for your purchase. For example, if you purchased Windows 8 or 8.1 online using the "Windows 8/8.1 Upgrade Assistant". . A Windows 8 product key will not directly activate Windows 8.1 Update. To be able to clean...

Windows 8 Tutorials Quick Reference Index A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z A: 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) Windows 8 System Type How to Tell if You Have a 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) Windows 8 Abort Shortcut - Create in Windows 8 How to Create an "Abort" Shortcut in Windows 8 About Windows - View for your Windows 8 PC How to View System Information about your PC in Windows 8 and 8.1 Accent Color and Background Theme - Change in Windows Phone 8 How to Change Accent Color and Background Theme in Windows Phone 8 Accessibility Tool to Launch - Change in Windows 8 and 10 How to Change Accessibility Tool to Launch in Windows 8 and Windows 10 Accessories Desktop...

How to Create a Hyper-V Virtual Machine in Windows 8 and 8.1 The Hyper-V technology provides an environment that you can use to create and manage virtual machines and their resources. Each virtual machine is an isolated, virtualized computer system that is capable of running its own operating system. This allows you to run multiple operating systems at the same time on the same physical computer. This tutorial will show you how to use the built-in Hyper Virtualisation (Hyper-V) in Windows 8 Pro or Windows 8 Enterprise to install and run a guest OS. You will need to enable the Hyper-V components as detailed under Preparation first before proceeding. Note that not all systems will support this, so if yours doesn't, you won't be able...

How to Run "SFC /SCANNOW" Command at Boot or in Windows 8 and 8.1 The SFC command scans the integrity of all protected system files and replaces incorrect versions with correct Microsoft versions. This tutorial will show you how to run the sfc /scannow command at boot or in Windows 8 to attempt to repair corrupted or modified system files. If you get the Windows Resource Protection Could Not Start the Repair Service error when trying to run SFC, then make sure that the Windows Modules Installer service is enabled, click/tap on Start, and set to Manual. Services - Start, Stop, and Disable in Windows 8 OR Copy and paste the command below in the elevated command prompt, and press Enter. After the Windows Modules Installer service...

How to Remove "Windows Media Center" and go Back to Windows 8 Pro For some reason or another you may decide to remove the Windows 8 Media Center Pack from your computer. However, since the Windows 8 Media Center Pack has changed your product key, the normal means of removing it is to do a full reinstall of Windows 8 Pro. This tutorial will show you how to remove the added Windows 8 Media Center Pack to go back to just Windows 8 Pro without Media Center while not losing your settings, files, or apps. You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to do the steps in this tutorial. You will need to have the Windows 8 Pro installation media (either a DVD or the .ISO) along with your old Windows 8 Pro product key to be able to...

How to Repair Install Windows 8 and 8.1 without Losing Anything Windows 8 introduced the option to refresh and reset your PC to repair or reinstall Windows 8 with as needed. These new features are great for what they are intended for, but there are some drawbacks to them. When you reset your PC, it will basically give you a clean install (retail) or factory recovery (preinstalled OEM) of Windows 8 afterwards. You will lose everything from your current Windows 8 installation. When you refresh your PC, this basically repairs Windows 8 by reinstalling it while keeping your files, Store apps, most of your settings, etc..... However, all installed 3rd party desktop apps will be removed. If you like, you could create a custom refresh image...

How to Add "Scan with Windows Defender" for Files and Folders in Windows 8 and 8.1 This tutorial will show you how to add "Scan with Windows Defender" to the context menu for you to be able to scan any file or folder in Windows 8, Windows RT, Windows 8.1, and Windows RT 8.1. When added, you will be able to right click or press and hold on any file or folder, then either click/tap on Send to and/or Scan with Windows Defender to scan it. This will open a command prompt showing you the scan results, then you can press any key to close the command prompt. EXAMPLE: "Scan with Windows Defender" in Context Menu in Windows 8 EXAMPLE: "Scan with Windows Defender" in "Send to" Context Menu in Windows 8 Add or Remove "Scan with...

How to Create a "Run" Command Dialog Box Shortcut in Windows 8 This tutorial will show how to create or download a Run shortcut that opens directly to the Run command dialog box on your desktop in Windows 8. The default keyboard shortcut to open the "Run" command dialog box is: Windows + R EXAMPLE: "Run" command dialog box To Download a "Run" Shortcut for Windows 8 1. Click/tap on the Download button below to download the ZIP file below. Run_Shortcut.zip https://www.eightforums.com/attachments/run_shortcut-zip.8631/ 2. Save the .zip file to the desktop. 3. Open the .zip file and extract (drag and drop) the Run shortcut to the desktop. 4. For the first time that you run the shortcut, uncheck the Always ask before opening...

How to Restore Default File Extension Type Associations in Windows 8 and 8.1 This tutorial will allow you to restore the default registry entries and program associations for the file extension type and protocol of your choice in Windows 8, Windows RT, Windows 8.1, and Windows RT 8.1. This can be helpful for example when a file extension type opens with the wrong program by default, has the wrong icon, or is missing or corrupted in the registry. Downloading the .reg file for the selected file extension below, will restore that file extension back to default for all of these items above. Default program associations for file extensions are a per user setting by default, so you will need to be logged on to the effected user account to...

How to Restore Default Services in Windows 8 and 8.1 This tutorial provides you with registry downloads that will completely restore any of the default services and their settings you want in Windows 8, Windows 8.1,and Windows 8.1 Update. This can be handy if a service was deleted by mistake, is missing, or had it's properties set improperly. You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to do the steps in this tutorial. Services are located in the registry location below. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services If you did not delete a default service, then you might consider doing a full scan of your system at boot with a program like Windows Defender Offline to help make sure that your system is clean...

How to Enable or Disable Built-in Elevated "Administrator" Account Windows 8 and 8.1 This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable the hidden built-in elevated Administrator account in Windows 8, Windows RT, Windows 8.1, and Windows RT 8.1. You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to do the steps in this tutorial. Standard user (Users) - The standard account is an unelevated restricted user account then can be a local account or Microsoft account. It can help protect your computer by preventing users from making changes that affect everyone who uses the computer, such as deleting files that are required for the computer to work. It is recommend to create a standard account for each user instead of an administrator...

How to Use BitLocker Repair Tool to Recover a Drive in Windows 7 and Windows 8 The BitLocker Repair Tool (Repair-bde) is a command-line tool included with Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 7, Windows Server 2012, and Windows 8. This tool attempts to repair or decrypt a damaged BitLocker-encrypted volume using the supplied recovery information to reconstruct critical parts of the drive and salvage recoverable data to another volume. This tutorial will show you how to use the BitLocker Repair Tool to recover your data from a damaged encrypted operating system (OS) drive, fixed data drive (ex: internal volume/drive), or removable data drive (ex: USB drive) in Windows 7 and Windows 8. You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to...

How to Add Safe Mode to Desktop Context Menu in Windows 7 and Windows 8 Safe mode is a troubleshooting option for Windows that starts your computer in a limited state. Only the basic files and drivers necessary to run Windows are started. The words "Safe Mode" appear in the corners of the display to identify which Windows mode you are using. This tutorial will show you how to add a Safe Mode cascading desktop context menu with options to restart in normal mode, safe mode, safe mode with networking, and safe mode with command prompt in Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1. You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to add, remove, and use the Safe Mode context menu. Normal Mode = (Default) This starts Windows normally...

How to Turn On or Off Auto-unlock of BitLocker Encrypted Data Drives in Windows 8 Once a data drive has been protected with BitLocker, access to the drive is authenticated before the contents are displayed. A fixed data drive that has been encrypted by BitLocker will either automatically be unlocked, or prompt for a smart card or password depending on how you configured it before being unlocked. Encrypted fixed data drives can be configured to automatically unlock when you sign in to Windows 8 after the operating system drive has been unlocked. To be able to automatically unlock fixed data drives, the OS drive that Windows 8 is installed on must also be encrypted by BitLocker. When removable data drives encrypted by BitLocker are...