Windows 10

See also Windows 8

Download

• Windows 10 can be downloaded directly from microsoft server.

• ISO: https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/software-download/windows10ISO

Tips

• https://tech-latest.com/download-latest-windows-10-iso/

• Generate direct download link through https://shekharvaidya.in/msdl/#
• Go to Windows 10 download page using a non-windows pc (or change the broswer User Agent string to a non-windows one).

Known versions

• Win10_22H2_English_x64v1.iso (May 2023 Update) with hash bbb1b234ea7f5397a1906ee59187087c78374f35.

Recommended by Cactus (Diablo II loader) -- This version can be installed to work fully offline / isolated, w/ activation disabled forever.

   Dark Island Strategy (Going Dark)

   With this strategy, what we want to do is block Windows from accessing the internet, but we still want LAN communication (for sideloading games and other
   applications). If you don't need LAN communication, then you can just disable all of your network interfaces, and use an external drive to load apps into your
   airgapped machine. This would be the best approach, but a bit less convenient for sideloading. The LAN-only approach gives you a good balance of external
   isolation and internal convenience. You could also do this at the firewall level, but for me it's just one computer, isolated to just gaming. Security isn't the
   most important thing in this environment. We can just change the Network Adapter settings in the OS.

   You can do this even without reinstalling, but if you want to have a fresh installation of Windows 10 with no further updates being forced upon you by
   Microsoft, I recommend re-installing Windows 10 and make sure that you unplug your ethernet cable (and don't connect to wifi) before you start the installer.
   You must use Windows 10 Pro (or a higher edition) since this allows you to make a local offline account. Then follow the steps below:

   *    Start -> Settings
   *    Network & Internet -> Advanced network settings -> Change adapter options
   *    Right click your ethernet adapter interface -> Properties. (If you are on wifi, then select your wireless interface). Basically anything that will be
        connecting to your LAN and that you don't want internet access to work for.
   *    Uncheck Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv6) (or configure it if you need it). I personally disabled IPv6 completely because I just need IPv4 for this
        purpose, and I also don't want the machine to accidentally connect to the internet, if I ever enable IPv6 on my modem (and/or if the ISP also has working
        IPv6).
   *    Right click "Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)" -> Properties
   *    Check "Use the following IP address" (this should automatically also set Use the following DNS server addresses).
   *    Set the IP address to an IP on your local network that doesn't conflict with your DHCP (maybe a static ip outside of the DHCP range). The Subnet mask
        should automatically be set to 255.255.255.0. Leave the Default gateway and Preferred DNS Server empty.
   *    Press OK and Close

   That's basically it! Enjoy your life, be free, be happy. Let's play. Go dark!

   I've been using this approach using the Win10_22H2_English_x64v1.iso (2023 Update) with hash bbb1b234ea7f5397a1906ee59187087c78374f35 and it works great.
   Another thing to keep in mind is that since you are never allowing your OS to communicate to the outside world, Windows won't be able to reach its activation
   servers, which means that the activation timer won't start. You essentially have a free and legal copy of Windows. Not only that, but you also don't need to
   deal with forced updates, forced telemetry, and any other spying that's going on. With this set up, you get a beautiful, quiet, stable, and privacy respecting
   version of Windows 10, simply by disconnecting it from the internet completely.

Tips

Restart in BIOS

• Click Restart while holding Shift. This should go to advanced restart menu, and select UEFI thingy.

... this works only from LOGIN screen it seems...

• Press Win key, then search for bios. This should prompt for advanced start-up options.

Restart with USB

• Click Restart while holding Shift. This should go to advanced restart menu, and select restart in USB thingy.

... this works only from LOGIN screen it seems...

Keyboard shortcut

win-shift-s

Windows snip-it tool (new)

How-to

Disable / remove BitLocker

To remove BitLocker from drive C:

Disable-BitLocker -MountPoint "C:"          # Or: manage-bde -off C:
manage-bde -status
# Wait for completion

To be completed

Shortcut for sleep

• Press Win-X, then U, then S [1].
• Press Win-D to show the desktop and make sure no windows is in the focus, then Alt-F4. Select sleep.

Manage sleep

References: [2]

Use powercfg commands:

• powercfg /requests to show what applications are making requests, that prevents currently the PC to go to sleep.
• powercfg -lastwake to show the event that triggered the last wake up.
• powercfg -devicequery wake_armed to view which devices are allowed to wake the PC.
• powercfg -waketimers to view the wake timers.

To see power related events:

• Open event viewer.
• Select Event Viewer (Local) > Windows Logs > System.
• Right click System, and select Filter Current Log.
• In even source, select Power-Troubleshooter.

To prevent a device from waking up the PC:

• Go to Device Manager.
• Select the devices, then Properties.
• In the Power Management tab, uncheck Allow this device to wake the computer.

To disable Wake timer:

• Go to Task Scheduler.
• Select the task.
• Uncheck Wake the computer to run this task.

To disable all wake timers:

• Go to power options.
• Select Sleep, Allow wake timers, select Disable

To disable wake for maintenance:

• Go to Security and Maintenance
• Click the up arrow on the right of Maintenance.
• This opens up Automatic Maintenance.
• Uncheck Allow scheduled maintenance to wake up my computer at the scheduled time.

Set default browser via the Command-line

Reference:

• https://kolbi.cz/blog/2017/11/10/setdefaultbrowser-set-the-default-browser-per-user-on-windows-10-and-server-2016-build-1607/
• https://kolbi.cz/blog/2017/10/25/setuserfta-userchoice-hash-defeated-set-file-type-associations-per-user/

Create a script setbrowser.bat, and save it to %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup:

   "C:\Program Files\SetDefaultBrowser\SetDefaultBrowser.exe" HKLM "Google Chrome"

Create a symbolic link

In Power shell

if (Test-Path "C:\Users\$env:UserName\Some\Path") {
    new-item -itemtype symboliclink -path 'C:\Some\' -name SomeName -value "C:\Users\$env:UserName\Some\Path" -force
}

Add application to startup

• Win-R, type shell:startup, Enter, this opens up the Startup folder.
• Copy-paste the shortcut of the apps to start in that folder.

HDD/SSD to SSD migration (with dual bool)

In Windows:

• Disable hibernation (recommended): powercfg -h off (in admin shell).
• Make a recover media (mandatory). Better include system files.

In Ubuntu:

# https://superuser.com/questions/1030208/transferring-windows-10-to-new-hard-drive
sudo lsblk  # Find relevant devices
sudo dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb bs=16M status=progress

Reboot. Get blue screen. Boot in recovery media. Try auto-repair, but it fails. Go to command line:

sfc /SCANNOW /OFFBOOTDIR=C:\ /OFFWINDIR=C:\Windows # can also set a log file, but mostly useless

Exit. Try auto-repair again. Should run a chkdsk, but says it fail to fix. Reboot, it should work now.

Troubleshoot

Search bar not responding in start menu

• Reference [3].

Must disable Bing search:

REG ADD HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search /v BingSearchEnabled /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f
REG ADD HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search /v CortanaConsent /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

Microsoft Edge not opening

Error Code: STATUS_INVALID_IMAGE_HASH
sysfer.dll 

• https://textslashplain.com/2019/09/27/aw-snap-every-tab-crashes/.
• Update Symantec.
• Disable integrity brol. Update shortcut properties: msedge.exe --disable-features=RendererCodeIntegrity

Remove keyboard from Language Bar

Two keyboards appearing in the Language Bar even though only one listed in language preferences

• This is a bug [4]
• Add the keyboard again, and remove it.

Unpin permanently internet explorer from taskbar

We have the old IE icon in taskbar, and it keeps come back after restart.

Fix

• Follow superuser.com
• Go to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\LayoutModification.xml. Remove the line:

 </DefaultLayoutOverride>
   <CustomTaskbarLayoutCollection PinListPlacement="Replace">
   <defaultlayout:TaskbarLayout>
     <taskbar:TaskbarPinList>
     -- items were here - removed
     </taskbar:TaskbarPinList>
   </defaultlayout:TaskbarLayout>
 </CustomTaskbarLayoutCollection>

Remote desktop fail

When connecting to remote PC (running Windows 7):

An authentication error has occurred.
The Local Security Authority cannot be contacted

Remote computer: zavcwd0042.zav.st.com
This could be due to an expired password.
Please update your password if it has expired.
For assistance, contact your administraor or technical support.