How to Fix Error 0199, Security password retry

OEM Partition, also known as System Reserved Partition, is placed by the OEM to help users recover their computers or bring back the original state of the computer when it was bought. If you’ve observed that a part of your hard drive says “Healthy (OEM partition)” in the Disk Management and it occupies space in GBs, then this means that it’s normal and there’s nothing to worry about except that part of the storage space is not available and even when you right-click on it, the only thing it displays is the Help menu. Thus, in this guide, you will be guided on how you can merge as well as delete an OEM partition in your Windows 10 computer. Since the Disk Management tool in Windows won’t let you merge or delete the OEM partition, you can just use the built-in command-line tool known as Diskpart. Note that you have to be extra careful when you run the commands as it could mess your computer up and before you proceed with the instructions provided below, make sure that you create a System Restore point first. Once you have that covered, follow the instructions below. Step 1: Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box and type “cmd” in the field and tap Enter to open the Command Prompt. Step 2: Next, execute this command to launch the Diskpart tool: diskpart Step 3: Execute this second command to view the list of the disks in your computer: list disk Step 4: Now select the disk you want to manage by executing this command: select disk x Note: In the command above, replace “x” with the letter of your disk. Step 5: After that, execute this command to display all the volumes or partitions: list partition Step 6: Now execute this command to select the partition you want to delete: select partition x Note: You have to replace “x” with the partition you want to delete. Step 7: Once done, execute this command to delete the selected partition: delete partition override Step 8: Afterwards, execute this command to merge the OEM partition with the adjoining value: Extend Note: if you only want to merge part of the partition, you need to use this command “extend [size=<size>]”. For instance, you want to extend its size by 5GB, then you need to type “Extend size=5000”. The size you set is the size you select from the OEM partition. This will extend the selected volume by size in MB or megabytes.

Dxgkrnl.sys is a file related to the Microsoft DirectX driver – a suite of technologies developed by Microsoft to provide hardware acceleration for heavy multimedia applications like 3D games as well as HD videos. However, there are times when you encounter Blue Screen errors for this system file which is quite a lot. So when you encounter a Blue Screen error that’s related to this file, then it could be that the dxgkrnl.sys file is infected with some virus or malware and this might go unnoticed since antivirus programs regard dxgkrnl.sys as a system file. Here are some Blue Screen errors related to the dxgkrnl.sys file:

• SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION .
• BAD_POOL_HEADER
• STOP 0x0000000A: IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL.
• STOP 0x0000001E:

KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED

• STOP 0x00000050:

PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA

To fix the dxgkrnl.sys Blue Screen error, here are some suggestions you have to check out.

Option 1 – Try running the DirectX Diagnostic Tool

Since the dxgkrnl.sys error has something to do with the DirectX Graphics APIs, you can run the DirectX Diagnostic tool to resolve the problem.

Option 2 – Try updating or re-installing DirectX

If the DirectX Diagnostic tool didn’t work, you can try to update or reinstall DirectX instead. This can help in fixing the problem because when you reinstall or update DirectX, it will replace the incompatible or corrupted components of DirectX from your computer.

Option 3 – Try to run the DISM commands

You might want to repair potentially corrupted files in your system as having them could also trigger the dxgkrnl.sys Blue Screen 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 dxgkrnl.sys Blue Screen error is now fixed.

Option 4 – Try updating or reinstalling your Graphics drivers

Updating or reinstalling the Graphics drivers in your computer can also help in resolving compatibility issues between the operating system and the driver that also cause this kind of BSOD error.

• First, boot your computer into Safe Mode.
• After that, tap the Win + R keys to launch Run.
• Type in devmgmt.msc into the box and tap Enter or click OK to open the Device Manager.
• After that, a list of device drivers will be displayed. From there, look for the Display Adapters and click on them.
• After that, right-click on each entry under the Display Adapters and select the “Uninstall Device” option from the menu.
• Now restart your computer.
• After restarting your computer, go to the Settings app and Check for Updates in the Windows Update section.

Note: You also have the option to go directly to the website of your graphics card manufacturers like NVIDIA, Intel, or AMD and go to the section called Drivers then check if there’s a new available update – if there is, download and install it.

Option 5 – Try to run the Blue Screen Troubleshooter

As you know, the Blue Screen troubleshooter is a built-in tool in Windows 10 that helps users in fixing BSOD errors like dxgkrnl.sys. It can be found on the Settings Troubleshooters page. To use it, refer to these steps:

• Tap the Win + I keys to open the Settings panel.
• Then go to Update & Security > Troubleshoot.
• From there, look for the option called “Blue Screen” on your right-hand side and then click the “Run the troubleshooter” button to run the Blue Screen Troubleshooter and then follow the next on-screen options. Note that you might have to boot your PC into Safe Mode.

Option 6 – Try disabling the SLI Technology in NVIDIA Control Panel

In case you don’t know, there is a technology called SLI that comes with the NVIDIA graphics cards. With the help of this technology, the usage of various GPUs is allowed on a computer and hence helps in triggering the Alternate Frame Rendering and boosts the Graphics Performance directly. This is why this option to disable the SLI technology is suitable in fixing the problem if you are using an NVIDIA Graphics card.

• Search for NVIDIA Control Panel in the Cortana Search box and then click on the related search result or you can also right-click on the NIVIA icon located in the system tray and then select the NVIDIA Control Panel to open it.
• After that, navigate to the 3D settings section.
• Then select the “Set SLI Configuration” option and click on the “Do Not Use SLI Technology” option.
• Now click on Apply located at the bottom-right corner of the window to save the changes made.
• Restart your computer.

Option 7 – Try turning off NVIDIA Surround

Note that this option is only applicable if your computer is using the NVIDIA Graphics card.

• In the Cortana Search box, search for NVIDIA Control Panel and click on the related search result.
• After opening the NVIDIA Control Panel, go to 3D Settings > Configure Surround, PhysX.
• Now uncheck the “Span displays with Surround” option and then click on the Apply and OK buttons to save the changes made.
• Restart your computer.

If you are using a Windows Update Standalone Installer to install Windows Updates in your Windows 10 computer but you suddenly encounter an error saying, “Installer encountered an error: 0x80096002, The certificate for the signer of the message is invalid or not found”, read on as this post will guide you on how you can fix it. This kind of error could be due to the vendor’s certificate that might have become invalid, compromised, or pulled. Aside from that, it is also possible that the update is not targeted at your OS version. You could get this error when you try to install an incompatible update or software on your computer. This error can also appear due to misconfigured system files or when you try to install BitLocker To Go Drive Encryption or BitLocker Drive Preparation Tool. To fix this error, you can try to run the standalone installer in Compatibility mode or enable the Windows Identity Foundation or run the Windows Update troubleshooter. Make sure to check if the error was resolved after every suggestion. It will help you learn what fixed the problem.

Option 1 – Try to run the installer in Compatibility mode

• Look for the setup file.
• Once you find it, right-click on it and select Properties from the context menu.
• After that, go to the Compatibility tab and mark the checkbox for “Run this program in compatibility mode for:” and from the drop-down list, select the Windows OS version you want the installer to run on.
• You also have to check the “Run as administrator” option.
• Now click the Apply button and then click OK to save the changes made and check if it has resolved the issue or not.

Option 2 – Try to troubleshoot compatibility

This option is almost the same as the first one except it is an alternative way of fixing the error 0x80096002 in case the first one didn’t work. In this option, you will troubleshoot the compatibility issue.

• Look for the setup file.
• Then right-click on it and select the “Troubleshoot compatibility” from the context menu.
• After that, click on the “Try recommended setting” option. Once the process is done, the error message should be gone.

Option 3 – Try to enable the Windows Identity Foundation

You might also want to enable the Windows Identity Foundation as some users reported that it helped in resolving the error for them. To do so, follow these steps:

• In the Windows Start Search, type “Turn Windows features on or off” and click on the matching result.
• This will open a list of Windows Features and from there, look for the Windows Identity Foundation.
• Once you found it, click on its checkbox and click OK to enable it and save the changes made.
• Now see if it has fixed the error or not. If not, you have to disable the feature.

Option 4 – Run the Windows Update Troubleshooter

Running the built-in Windows Update troubleshooter is one of the things you can first check out as it is known to automatically resolve any Windows Update errors like error 0x80096002. To run it, go to Settings and then select Troubleshoot from the options. From there, click on Windows Update and then click the “Run the troubleshooter” button. After that, follow the next on-screen instructions and you should be good to go.

So far we probably all know what are good new and exciting features that W11 is bringing to the table, let’s talk now about features that will be removed and are not there but we had them in W10

1. Taskbar, do not worry, it is still there but it will be locked hard only to the bottom, people is removed, applications cannot customize areas and some icons will not appear in the system tray.
2. Start Menu, No more named groups, cannot be resized, live tiles are history and pinned apps and sites will not migrate
3. Tablet mode is completely removed
4. Touch keyboard will not dock or undock on screen sizes bigger than 18 inches
5. The timeline feature is no more
6. The wallet is also removed
7. Cortana is not active on first boot experience and it is no longer pinned to the taskbar
8. Desktop wallpapers are not synched anymore when using an MS account
9. IE is disabled, IE mode in edge here to fill the gap
10. Math panel is removed with math recognizer as separate install on demand
11. News and interests are now Windows Widgets
12. Quick status is no longer on the lock screen nor in the settings
13. S Mode exclusive only to Windows 11 home edition
14. Snipping Tool continues to be available but functionality has been replaced with the Snip & Sketch tool functionality.3D Viewer, OneNote for Windows 10, Paint 3D, and Skype won't be installed anymore on new systems. They remain available when systems are upgraded.

It has been reported that there are systems out there with Windows 11 operating systems that do not use the whole RAM memory installed in the system. If by any chance you are one of the unfortunate users that has encountered this issue, fear not, we have a solution for you.

Run the Windows Memory Diagnostic tool

1. Press ⊞ WINDOWS + S to open the search menu
2. Type in Windows Memory Diagnostic tool
3. Click on the found app
4. Select Restart now and check for problems
5. Wait for the tool to finish

Memory Diagnostic tool is a built-in tool in Windows, it was designed to automatically find and repair memory issues and should be your first step toward resolving this issue.

Check page file

1. Press ⊞ WINDOWS + S to open the search menu
2. Type in View advanced system settings
3. Click on the search result
4. Click on settings under performance
5. Click on the Advanced tab
6. Click on Change under Virtual memory
7. Uncheck the box for Automatically manage paging file size for all drives
8. Then select the drive and check the No paging file option
9. Click on Set
10. Repeat for all drives on the system
11. Reboot the system for changes to take effect

If after reboot system still does not see and use whole available RAM, repeat this process and turn back ON paging. After you are done move to the next solution.

Modify usable RAM

1. Press ⊞ WINDOWS + S to open the search menu
2. Type in System configuration
3. Click on the search result
4. Go to the Boot tab and click on Advanced options
5. Check the box for Maximum memory
6. Enter the installed RAM on your system in the field box and click on OK
7. Confirm once again on the OK and close the System configuration window
8. Restart the system

If the provided solution has not worked, uncheck the Maximum memory checkbox and save the changes. Move to the next solution.

Change and modify the registry

1. Press ⊞ WINDOWS + R to open the run menu
2. Type in Regedit and press the OK button or hit ENTER
3. Click on YES if prompted by UAC
4. Locate the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory
5. On the right side find and double click on the ClearPageFileAtShutdown DWORD
6. Enter 1 under Value data and click on OK to save the changes
7. Close the registry and reboot the system

Enable memory remapping inside BIOS

In order to do this fix, you will need to enter BIOS on your system. How entering BIOS is different from system to system depending on your manufacturer, especially if it is a laptop this step you will have to do alone. Go to your motherboard manufacturer or laptop manufacturer and see how to enter BIOS.

1. Enter BIOS (80% of the time this can be done by pressing DEL or F12 while the system is turned ON)
2. Locate System Agent Configuration option
3. Select Memory Remap Feature and Enable it

Your BIOS might be different from ours and you might not have the System Agent Configuration option, in this case, go through the setting and try to locate Memory Remap Feature. If this feature is missing as well move to the next step.

Rearrange RAM modules on the motherboard

Sometimes RAM memory cannot be slotted properly or just purely switching them in slots can solve the issue. Take RAM out, clean memory slots, clean motherboard connectors for them, and place them back in a different order. If by any chance none of the methods worked, then the issue might be in the hardware itself, either memory banks themselves, motherboard, power supply, etc. If this is sadly the case, you will have to locate the issue and replace the faulty part. If you are not technical enough for this adventure, the best solution is to take a PC to a computer repair shop.

When Windows 11 update is available but you do not wish to restart right away because you are in the middle of using a computer, you can schedule a restart for up to 7 days. It is very easy and we will show you how to do it.

1. Press ⊞ WINDOWS + I to open settings
2. Click on Windows Update
3. At the top, under the Restart required to click on Schedule the Restart
4. Click the switch under Schedule a Time to turn it ON
5. Use the Pick a Time and Pick a Day menu to set time and day when you want to update
6. Go back to one screen and visually confirm that the date is set
7. Close the settings

The scheduled restart will be confirmed in a message on the Windows Update page.

If you are trying to access a particular file on your Windows 10 computer either to open, rename or delete it, and you suddenly encounter an error stating, “Could not find this item. This is no longer located in [Path]. Verify the item’s location and try again”, read on for this post will help you out in resolving this issue. If you are able to find and view a file on your computer, you should have clear access to it. And since you are seeing an error message when you try to do something about this file, you are not able to do anything with the file. There are times when this error pops up with the files created by third-party services and that the file’s extension is not defined properly. On the other hand, there are also other obscure causes for this error. To fix it, here are some suggestions you can try.

Option 1 – Delete the file using Command Prompt

If you wish to delete the problematic file and weren’t to, you can use Command Prompt.

• In the Start menu, type in “Command Prompt” to search for it or you could also click the search button right next to the Start menu and then right-click on the related result and select the option “Run as administrator”.
• Once you’ve opened Command Prompt, copy and paste the command given below and tap Entre after you do so. You also have to make sure that you key in the correct path where the file is located as well as its name.

rd /s \?X:badfolderpath Note: In the command above, “X” is the placeholder letter so you must input the letter that corresponds to the drive’s letter where the file is located.

• After that, you will see the “Operation completed successfully” message on your screen. If you don’t, check if you’ve really inputted the correct location of the file or its name.

Option 2 – Use a Command Prompt tweak to rename the file

If you don’t want to delete the file and only want to rename it, you can apply some tweaks using the Command Prompt. Make sure to follow the steps carefully.

• In the Start menu, type in “Command Prompt” to search for it or you could also click the search button right next to the Start menu and then right-click on the related result and select the option “Run as administrator”.
• After opening Command Prompt, type in “cd” followed by the path where the file is located with this format – “C:\Folder1\Folder2\Folder3”. However, you have to omit the problematic file this time. To put it simply, the last folder in the command must be the folder where the file is located.
• After inputting the command, tap Enter on your keyboard and then use the set of commands given below. Note that each command is a new line so you need to tap Enter after copying each line.
  • DIR /A /X /P
  • RENAME (the current name of the problematic file) (a non-problematic name)
  • EXIT

Note: Make sure that you only input the current name and the new name separated by a space. You must not write the brackets in the command. If everything goes well, you will now be able to operate the file like you used to before.

Option 3 – Use Command Prompt to delete the file without any extension

This option applies to cases where the affected file does not have any viable extension which means that Windows does not really know what to do with it and it only displays the “Could not find this item. This is no longer located in [Path]. Verify the item’s location and try again” error message. It usually occurs with the files created by browser plugins that are mostly from Mozilla Firefox. To delete these kinds of files, here’s what you have to do:

• Follow the first two steps from the previous option above so you can navigate to the location of the file accurately just be careful in inputting the folders.
• Don’t forget to tap Enter right after each command and then use the next command below so you can delete the affected file which has no extension:

del *.*

• After you’re done, open the File Explorer and then check if the file is now deleted or not.

Option 4 – Try using another workaround without using Command Prompt

This option is a lot like a workaround but it definitely gets the job done for you. It’s ideal for you if you do not want to deal with Command Prompt and only want to do everything in a graphical environment. To get started, follow the steps below.

• Look for the affected file or folder on your PC using File Explorer. Once you found it, right-click on it and select the “Add to archive” option from the context menu.
• Once the archiving options window pops up, look for the “Delete files after archiving” option and make sure that you select it then click OK to start archiving the folder or file. After that, you should now notice the file no longer exists.
• After that, delete the archive file as well.

Error Code 0xc1900106  – What is it?

One of the most common errors encountered by Microsoft users upgrading from Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1 to Windows 10 is the Error Code 0xc1900106. Microsoft users experience a failure in the installation process. Either they will be notified that the installation process was ended but failed or that Windows is not able to install the update.

Solution

Error Causes

More and more Windows users are having trouble upgrading their operating system to Windows 10. There are a lot of errors being encountered by users and one of them is the Error Code 0xc1900106. This error is normally due to the misconfigured system files. If a Windows user encounters this error, most likely their device has some registry problems.

Further Information and Manual Repair

Fixing error code-related issues could be best resolved to do manual repair methods. Applying repair methods manually can help Windows users address the root causes of the errors they encounter, as well as apply definite solutions to rectify the issue.

Most Windows users can be able to implement manual repair methods themselves but there are some cases where help from a Windows professional is needed. If you’re not a very tech-savvy person and not confident performing the manual repair methods yourself, it would be advisable to seek help from a professional Windows technician who is knowledgeable enough to address the errors or problems you are encountering. However, if you don’t want to resort to seeking help from a professional, you can also consider using a powerful automated tool.

In trying to fix Error Code 0xc1900106, here are the following manual repair methods you can take:

Method One: Custom Installation

1. Make a backup of your personal files
2. Users of Windows 8/8.1 should Refresh first then proceed to upgrade.
3. If the Refresh process does not work, reset your device then try again.
4. If resetting your device still does not work, you can proceed with a custom installation.
5. When your Windows installation media is ready, you need to choose to boot from CD, DVD, or USB drive to begin setup. (For example purposes, this article will discuss booting from DVD).
6. When your device is all set to boot from DVD, you will be prompted to Press any key to boot from CD or DVD…
7. Once you’ve pressed any key, the screen will show the Windows logo which might take a while. No need to worry though, as long as you can see the indicator, you’re good.
8. Choose your Language, Time, and Keyboard method from the drop-down menu then hit Next.
9. Click on the Install Now button then wait until Setup begins.
10. Tick on the I accept the license terms check box then select Next.
11. Choose Custom: Install Windows only (advanced)
12. Choose the Primary partition then select Next. You will be prompted by the following warning: The partition you selected might contain files from a previous Windows Installation. If it does, these files and folders will be moved to a folder named Windows.old. You will be able to access the information in Windows.old, but you will be able to use your previous version of Windows. Just click the OK button then wait as the Windows continue to install. Windows will restart once this phase of the setup completes and will reboot into setup once again.
13. At this point, Windows will detect and install your hardware. Once this finishes, Windows will restart again.

Method Two: Reset Windows Update Components

1. From your device’s desktop, hit Windows key + X to open the command prompt as admin.
2. Once the command prompt window appears, you can type or copy and paste the following commands (all at once):

net stop wuauserv net stop cryptSvc net stop bits net stop msiserver ren C:WindowsSoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old ren C:WindowsSystem32catroot2 catroot2.old net start wuauserv net start cryptSvc net start bits net start msiserver pause

3. Exit the command prompt.
4. After you reset the Windows Update components, see if you receive Windows Updates which includes the firmware updates for your computer.

Method Three: Ensure Windows is Updated

1. If you have an antivirus, make sure to disable it during the upgrade process.
2. Run Windows Update to check if the system is updated.
3. Ensure that the latest firmware and drivers are installed. To be able to do this, go to the computer manufacturer’s website or you can also try contacting company support.

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.

REevil is one of the most active and successful hacking groups connected to Russia and operating all over the world. The group recently demanded a huge bitcoin ransom for an attack targeting IT firm Kaseya in the USA. Since Tuesday blog and payment site run by REvil group cannot be longer reached without any kind of explanation or why. The reason behind the disappearance is unknown but has sparked speculation that the group may have been targeted deliberately by authorities. US President Joe Biden said he raised the issue with Vladimir Putin during a phone call on Friday, after discussing the subject during a summit with the Russian president in Geneva last month. Mr. Biden told reporters that he had "made it very clear to him...we expect them to act" on information and also hinted the US could take direct digital retaliation on servers used for intrusions. The timing of Tuesday's outage has sparked speculation that either the US or Russian officials may have taken action against REvil - though officials have so far declined to comment and cyber experts say sudden disappearances of groups are not necessarily uncommon. The development comes after a series of high-profile ransomware attacks which have hit major US businesses this year. The FBI accused REvil - also known as Sodinokibi - of being behind a ransomware attack on the world's largest meat processing company JBS last month.