Fixing Error 0xC1900208, 0x4000C in Windows

One of the most critical processes in the Windows 10 operating system is the Explorer.exe. And there are times when you might encounter an error that says, “System call failed”. You can encounter this error when you try to launch File Explorer, and in such case when the File Explorer does not work, it could cause issues in accessing folders and files on your computer. This kind of error pops up when the explorer.exe system file has become corrupted or if there is some process that interferes with its smooth functioning. To fix this error, you can try to restart the explorer.exe process, run both the System File Checker scan and DISM tool. You could also put your computer in a Clean Boot State or uninstall any programs you’ve installed recently. For more details, follow each one of the given suggestions below.

Option 1 – Try to restart the Explorer.exe process

The first thing you can do is try to restart the Explorer.exe process. To do so, refer to these steps:

• First, right-click on the Taskbar and select the Task Manager.
• Next, expand the Task Manager window to see all the active processes.
• From there, look for the Windows Explorer process, right-click on it and select Restart.
• After that, check if the error is now fixed.

Option 2 – Run System File Checker scan

If restarting the explorer.exe process didn’t work, you can also try running the System File Checker or SFC scan to fix the error. System File Checker is a command utility built into your computer that helps restore corrupted files and missing files. Refer to the following steps to run it:

• Hit the Win + R keys to launch Run.
• Type in cmd in the field and tap Enter.
• After opening Command Prompt, type in this command: sfc /SCANFILE=c:windowsexplorer.exe

Note: If you are using a 64-bit Windows operating system, enter the “sfc /SCANFILE=C:WindowsSysWow64explorer.exe” command instead.

• Wait until the process is completed and then restart your computer.

Option 3 – Run the DISM tool

You might also want to run the DISM tool. This tool is known to repair potentially corrupted files in your system as having them could also system issues like the “System call failed” error. To repair these corrupted system files, you can run the DISM commands:

• Tap the Win + X keys and click on the “Command Prompt (Admin)” option.
• After that, input each one of the commands listed below sequentially to execute them:
  • Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth
  • Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth
  • Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

• Once you’ve executed the commands given above, restart your computer and check if the problem is now fixed.

Option 4 – Try running the Check Disk utility

• In the Windows Search box, type “command prompt” and from the search results, right-click on Command Prompt and select “Run as administrator”.
• After opening Command Prompt, type this command and tap Enter: chkdsk c: /f /r
• The command you entered will start to check for errors and fix them automatically. Else, it will throw an error message saying, “Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another process. Would you like the schedule this volume to be checked the next time the system restarts? (Y/N)”.
• Tap the Y key to schedule Disk Check the next time your computer restarts.

Option 5 – Put your computer in a Clean Boot State

As pointed out, there are some instances that some conflicting programs installed in your computer might be the one that triggers the “System call failed” error to appear when you try to open File Explorer. To identify which program is causing the problem, you need to put your computer in a Clean Boot State. To do so, follow the steps below.

• Log onto your PC as an administrator.
• Type in MSConfig in the Start Search to open the System Configuration utility.
• From there, go to the General tab and click “Selective startup”.
• Clear the “Load Startup items” check box and make sure that the “Load System Services” and “Use Original boot configuration” options are checked.
• Next, click the Services tab and select the “Hide All Microsoft Services” check box.
• Click Disable all.
• Click on Apply/OK and restart your PC. (This will put your PC into a Clean Boot State. And configure Windows to use the usual startup, just simply undo the changes.)
• Once your computer has restarted in a Clean Boot State, perform your scan again and see if it now works, and then start to isolate the problem by checking which one of the programs you installed recently is the root cause of the problem.

Option 6 – Try to uninstall the programs you’ve installed recently

In case you don’t know, freeware software packages aren’t always free as some of them could contain malicious software that can cause serious damage to your computer. Thus, if you have installed a program recently prior to getting the “System call failed” error, then you have to uninstall that program.

• Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
• Then type “appwiz.cpl” in the field and tap Enter to open the Programs and Features in Control Panel.
• Next, arrange the list of installed programs in the order of the installation date.
• After that, look for the problematic program and right-click on it, and then select Uninstall.
• Once the process is done, restart your computer and see if the error is fixed.

In the latest news, Microsoft has reached a deal to purchase Activision Blizzard for 67.8 billion. Now franchises like Warcraft, Starcraft, Overwatch, Call of duty, Diablo are now the property of Microsoft and I am sure that some of these games we can expect to be included in the Xbox game pass. This is the second large game company acquisition by Microsoft, Acquiring Bethesda first and a big hit to Sony since Xbox will now have more games in its catalog and as exclusives. Of course, the sale has to go through the standard closing conditions and completion of regulatory review and Activision Blizzard’s shareholder approval before it’s finalized. Assuming that all goes well, the deal is slated to be completed during the fiscal year 2023, which is July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023.

Microsoft has officially announced details about the newest upgrades to its office 365 suite moving forward along with its new OS release. It seems that Microsoft has listened to its user base and feedback since Word, Excel, and PowerPoint are getting much-needed redesign taking into account many suggestions from the community. The new office should feel more like an application suite guiding focus on the interconnection of applications themselves providing users with a much more natural experience of using them.

The new office features so far

From Microsoft themselves:

“This Office visual refresh is based on feedback from customers who asked for a more natural and consistent experience within and between your applications, specifically on Windows. With this update, we deliver an intuitive, coherent, and familiar user interface, using the Fluent Design principles, across all your applications: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Access, Project, Publisher, and Visio. We aligned this visual refresh with the design of Windows 11 to provide seamless experiences on your PC.”

It is always refreshing to hear when a company listens to its user base and actually does what is needed instead of trying to invent the wheel.

How to switch

Since beta is already rolling and if you have an active 365 subscription to office suite visual refresh will be automatically available to all Office insiders running beta channel builds. It can be turned on and off using the coming soon feature in the top right corner of the menu in any application. Just click on the megaphone icon to open the coming soon pane and apply settings to all office apps. Note that The Coming Soon feature is not available in Access, Project, Publisher, or Visio. If you turn on the visual refresh in any of the 4 apps mentioned above (Work Excel, PowerPoint, or OneNote), it will also be available in these 4 apps.

Difference themselves

The Home tab menu still has a familiar look with a few tweaks. For example, accessing frequently used Word commands will be a lot easier. By navigating to Designer > Show Quick Access Toolbar, users can add a customizable shortcut ribbon to Word that houses conveniently placed options. Also, the office will not match your Windows operating system color theme so if you have a dark theme enabled, the office will also have a dark color theme. Color palettes are more neutral, corners are a bit softer but customizable ribbons are a win here for me.

Conclusion

There was not much said other than visual upgrades and small tweaks that were supposed to make your life easier but then again Windows 11 itself is in the same boat. I am not sure if this is a great update offering just some visual tweaks and focus on workflow mechanics or just being plain lazy and trying to cash in visuals as a completely new product.

Error Code 0xc0000142, What is it?

Error code 0xc0000142 is an error code that affects Windows 10 users. It often occurs when users attempt to run Windows applications. The message in the application error box allows users to recognize the error as it states that “the application was unable to start correctly (0xc0000142).” Common symptoms of this error code include the following:

• Inability to start applications
• Inability to completely run Windows applications
• The appearance of error code 0xc0000142 message box

Error Causes

Error code 0xc0000142 in Windows 10 is often caused by issues related to startup programs, corrupted files or other applications. To address this issue, the source of the issue needs to be located. But how will users be able to do this while the error code is present?

Further Information and Manual Repair

To fix error code 0xc0000142 users will need to employ at least one manual repair procedure. This may include checking your system for corrupt files through tools like Microsoft’s System File Checker (SFC). If you are uncertain of your skills or prefer to get professional support, contact a Windows repair technician to assist you.

The top three methods to resolve error code 0xc0000142 include the following:

Method One: Perform a Clean Boot

A clean boot is one of the most basic procedures you can run to solve a Windows-based error code of this nature. It works by identifying whether or not conflict among startup programs is preventing Windows applications from running properly. This occurs through a clean boot process involving Windows using a minimal set of drivers and startup programs when you reboot.

Here is what you’ll need to do:

• Step one: Go to Start and type msconfig
• Step two: Right-click and select System Configuration
• Step three: Select Service tab and click Hide all Microsoft Services then click Disable all.
• Step four: Click Startup tab within the System Configuration dialog box.
• Step five: Select Open Task Manager
• Step six: Within the Startup tab of Task Manager, select Disable for each Startup item, then close Task Manager.
• Step seven: Click OK on the Startup tab of System Configuration.
• Step eight: Restart your computer.

This method resolves software conflict arising when you attempt to update, run a program or simply use your operating system. However, if error code 0xc0000142 remains unresolved after you restart your machine, follow the next step below.

Method Two: Run a System File Checker Scan

System File Checker (SFC) is a utility tool built into the Windows 10 operating system, as well as other versions of Windows, to detect and repair corrupted system files. Since corrupted system files can result in error code 0xc0000142, run this tool by following the steps below:

• Step one: Go to Start and type Command Prompt or CMD.
• Step two: Right-click and select Administrator
• Step three: Check for and repair corrupted system files. Simply type sfc /scannow. (Be sure to place a space between “sfc” and “/scannow”).

Once these procedures are followed, the System File Checker tool will automatically scan your machine, and find and repair corrupted files. If this is the source or underlying cause of error code 0xc0000142 on your system, the error code will be resolved. However, if the source of the issue is not due to corruption in our system or is simply a more complicated issue try the next method highlighted below.

The speed at which the CPU runs varies depending on any Windows laptop or desktop. And in case you don’t know, the CPU does not run at full speed all the time as it depends on how the operating system distributes the load so it works accordingly. However, there are instances when it runs at full speed especially if your Windows 10 computer is on a heavy workload. But if you find that even when your computer is already on a heavy workload and the CPU is still not running at full speed, then you need to look into this situation. To verify that your CPU’s speed, you can use any CPU stress test tool. This kind of issue is common on laptops compared to desktop computers since laptop runs on battery. The Intel Processor on laptops uses the Speed Stepping Technology which means that when you are doing some small tasks on your laptop, the processor’s speed is reduced. On the other hand, if this happens when you are using a heavy application, it can be due to a low charge on the laptop’s battery. Thus, Windows will try its best to keep the computer running for as long as possible by reducing the CPU speed or processor. But there are times when you are ready to sacrifice battery to make sure that the work gets done on time. To achieve that, here are some options you can check out.

Option 1 – Try setting the processor state to the maximum in Power Options

• Type “control” in the search box to view the classic Control Panel as well as the popular options.
• Next, click on Power Options > Change plan settings > Change advanced power settings.
• Then navigate to Processor power management > Maximum processor state.
• Now select 100% when it is on Battery and Plugged in.
• After that, expand the System cooling policy option and make sure to set it as Active to make sure that the battery won’t overheat.
• Finally, apply the changes made to all the profiles of the power management and restart your computer. This will ensure that your CPU will run at maximum power at all times.

Option 2 – Try to update or disable the Intel Power Management driver

The next option you can try is to update or disable the Intel Power Management driver. The Intel-powered computers have dedicated software that controls CPU speed and Fan speed when it needs to save battery. You can try disabling it temporarily and check if there are any changes with the CPU fan speed.

• First, restart your computer by holding the Shift key to boot your computer into Troubleshooting or Advanced mode.
• Next, go to Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Command Prompt.
• Then change the directory to C:/Windows/System32/driver and then rename the file named “Intelppm” by entering the “ren intelppm.sys intelppm.sys.bak”.
• Now restart your computer.

Note: If you were not able to find the drivers in C:/Windows/System32/driver, check if they are available under C:/Drivers/IntelPPM. After that, the CPU speed should change now with the Intel driver missing from the system. And in case you want to enable it, simply follow the same steps given above and rename the file again.

Option 3 – Try disabling the IPPM using the Command Line or Registry Editor

• Command Prompt:
  • Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box and type “cmd” and tap Enter to open Command Prompt.
  • Next, type this command and hit Enter: sc config intelppm start= disabled
  • The “sc config” command you entered modifies the value of a service’s entries in the registry as well as in the Service Control Manager database.
• Registry Editor:
  • Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box and type “Regedit” in the field and hit Enter to open the Registry Editor.
  • Next, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesintelppm.
  • From there, double click on the intelppm and change the Start key value to
  • Now close the Registry Editor and reboot your computer.

Note: The steps given will make sure that the CPU will run at maximum power at all times.

Default applications in previous Windows versions were a pretty straightforward process. The user went to the settings application and picked for each category which application he would like to choose from the list of installed ones. In Windows 11 things are little changed. In this article, we will show you how to choose the default internet browser inside Windows 11, and sadly it is a more tedious task than in previous versions.

Choosing default browser in settings

As in previous versions of the Windows operating system you will need to use the settings application in order to change your default Internet browser. Previously, in Windows 10, a variety of general categories like email, web browser, and photo viewer were all listed under the Default Apps section of the Settings panel. It was easy to click on one of those categories and click on the option you like best from the small pop-up suggestion window. In the Windows 11 Insider Build, you’ll see a gauche list of an individual file or link types that you’ll need to specify your preferred browser for. The types include: HTM, HTML, PDF, SHTML, SVG, WEBP, SHT, FTP, HTTP, and HTTPS. There are additional optional types you can specify your preferred browser for as well. The issue here is in order to use a single browser which most users do you will have to go through each file type and set your preferred one. I am really not sure why this was introduced or why it has to be this way, all I can do is hope that in the final release of Windows 11 this feature will be rolled back as it used to be and that you could set your default browser in just one simple click.

FLoC is Google’s alternative to third-party cookies and is based on machine learning. This will allow the browser, any browser, to anonymously study how users are browsing and then group them into ‘cohorts’. Following this, you will be served ads based on your cohort and not on your individual data. So, you are still going to be targeted with ads but in a more anonymous manner. Google claims that this will improve user privacy since this “federated learning” happens on the user’s device and artificial intelligence-based learning involves sharing lesser users than what happens with third-party cookies. If something like this gets widely adopted by ad companies and services, it should “protect users” from tracking methods that are more intrusive than third-party cookies, like browser fingerprinting.

Who is against it?

Privacy-focused browsers DuckDuckGo, Brave, and Vivaldi have all warned users against FLoC and have said that they are going to block it on their end. Brave says that Google FLoC has a design that does not respect the customer’s privacy and consent. It has been designed to provide browsing behavior and interest data with any website that users may interact with, and this process does not involve fully informed consent. Vivaldi, another popular Chromium-based web browser, has also made its stance clear regarding the status of FLoC. The company said in a Reddit thread that the FLoC experiment does not work in Vivaldi. It happens because for FLoC to work, some features need to be enabled under the hood, but Vivaldi does not provide those options. The company also added that it plans to stop the entire FLoC component from being a part of the browser, regardless of how Google may implement it. Considering that Brave and Vivaldi have been privacy-focused browsers since their beginnings, the decision to stay away from FLoC is not surprising.

Recently, a number of users reported that their Google Chrome browser does not remember any accounts, login sessions, as well as passwords. So if you are one of the users who experience the same problem, then you’ve come to the right place as this post will guide you on what you can do your Chrome browser does not save passwords, remember accounts and login sessions in Windows 10. This issue in Chrome could be caused by a lot of factors. It is possible that there is a setting in Chrome that prevents the browser from saving any data. It is also possible that the Google Chrome profile or the Cache folder for Chrome has become corrupted. Moreover, a third-party antivirus program could also be blocking the browser’s functionality in saving data. Whatever the cause is here are some suggestions you could follow that will help you fix the problem but before you do that, you can try to update your Chrome browser to its latest version first. If it didn’t work, then proceed to the given options below.

Option 1 – Try to clear browser cache

• Open your Google Chrome browser.
• After that, tap the Ctrl + H keys. Doing so will open a new panel that allows you to delete the browsing history and other data in your browser.
• Now select every checkbox that you see and click on the Clear data button.
• Then restart your Chrome browser and check if you can now complete the download again.

Option 2 – Try to delete the cache files for Google Chrome

The next thing you can do is to delete Chrome’s cache files or its store information which helps it in loading cached webpages faster when you pull them up. However, if it turns out that the cache files are corrupted, then it’s no wonder why Chrome is unable to save passwords. To fix this, you can try to delete the cache files for Google Chrome webpages and you can do it by following these steps:

• First, open Google Chrome.
• Next, open this address in Chrome – chrome://settings/clearBrowserData
• After that, go to the Advanced tab and select all time as well as the first four options.
• Now click on the Clear data option and then restart the Chrome browser once the cache has been cleared.

Option 3 – Try allowing Google Chrome to keep local data

If the option to keep local data is disabled in Google Chrome’s settings, it won’t be able to store local data in the browser. Thus, you need to enable it by following these steps:

• Open Chrome and enter this address – chrome://settings/clearBrowserData
• After that, drag the toggle button off for the “Keep local data only until you quit your browser” option.
• Once done, restart Google Chrome and check it fixed the problem or not.

Option 4 – Try to enable the setting that offers to save password

As you know, a lot of websites offers users a choice to save a password and you can also do the same with the Chrome browser. You just have to enable this particular setting by going to the address, chrome://settings/passwords. From there, drag the toggle button for the setting Offer to save passwords, off.

Option 5 – Try to create a new profile for Chrome

If your user profile in Google Chrome ends up getting corrupted, it is most likely the reason why Chrome is unable to save passwords. Thus, you need to create a new user profile. How? Follow the steps below.

• First, click on the account icon located at the top-right corner of the profile.
• Next, go to the Manage People section and select Add Person > Add.
• After that, enter the details to add the new account and then restart Chrome.

Option 6 – Reset Chrome

Resetting Chrome can also help you fix the problem. This means that you will be restoring its default settings, disabling all the extensions, add-ons and themes. Aside from that, the content settings will be reset as well and the cookies, cache, and site data will also be deleted. To reset Chrome, here’s what you have to do:

• Open Google Chrome, then tap the Alt + F keys.
• After that, click on Settings.
• Next, scroll down until you see the Advanced option, once you see it, click on it.
• After clicking the Advanced option, go to the “Restore and clean up option and click on the “Restore settings to their original defaults” option to reset Google Chrome.
• Now restart Google Chrome.

Option 7 – Try to clean reinstall Chrome

There are instances when programs leave files behind after you’ve uninstalled them and the same thing can happen to Chrome so before you reinstall Chrome, you have to make sure that you have deleted the User Data folder. To do so, refer to the following steps:

• Hit the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
• Next, type “%LOCALAPPDATA%GoogleChromeUser Data” in the field and hit Enter to open the User Data folder.
• From there, rename the default folder and name it something else, e.g. “Default.old”.
• After that, install Google Chrome again and check if the issue is now fixed.

We have gathered and want to share with you all of the Windows 11 wallpapers if you would like to place them on your desktop now and now wait for the official W11 release. Hope that you will like some of them and I hope to see you again on errortools.com Download Windows 11 Wallpapers here!

And here is the preview of them

For PC users that are blind or have low vision, the Narrator accessibility feature in Windows 10, lets you use your PC without a display or mouse to complete common tasks – it reads and interacts with things on the screen, like text and buttons. The narrator can be used to read and write an email, browse the internet, and work with documents. In Windows 10, there are a lot of options for Narrator that you can customize. You can change its keyboard shortcuts, personalize Narrator’s voice, enable Caps Lock warnings, and more. You can choose the voice for the Narrator, adjust the speaking rate, pitch, and volume. To change the default audio output device used to play the voice of the Narrator in Windows 10:

• Press the ⊞ WINDOWS + I
• From the Settings menu, click Ease of Access.
• Click Narrator on the left pane.
• In the Narrator window, on the right pane, toggle the button to On to enable Narrator if required.
• Scroll down to the Personalize Narrator’s voice section.
• For the Select where you hear Narrator’s voice option, click the drop-down and select the audio output device you want from the list. Please know that you will not be able to choose if you do not have multiple audio output devices connected to your Windows 10 computer.
• Exit Settings when done.

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