Fix Windows Update error 0x80096004

When your computer is slow, you don’t have much choice but to wait until it gets done with a task at its own pace, albeit a slow one. So if you want to switch user accounts on your computer a couple of times daily, then a slow computer can get really irritating. What makes system processes slow is that the accounts have some programs or applications running and resources allocated to them. And besides, if your computer is already low on performance, it will kill the natural fluidic flow of the user. But worry not, for this post will guide you in switching user accounts with the help of some minor tweaks in your Windows 10 computer. To disable or enable Fast User Switching, you have two methods to do that using the Registry Editor and the Group Policy Editor. Either way, refer to the instructions laid out below.

Option 1 – Enable or disable Fast User Switching via Registry Editor

• Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
• After that, type “Regedit” in the field and tap Enter to open the Registry Editor.
• Next, go to this registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesSystem
• Then right-click on System and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value and name this newly created DWORD as “HideFastUserSwitching”.
• Now double click on it. If you want to enable Fast User Switching, input “0” as the value, and if you want to disable it, input “1” as its value.
• Restart your PC to successfully apply the changes made.

Option 2 – Enable or disable Fast User Switching via Group Policy Editor

Take note that this option will not work if you are using the Windows 10 Home edition since the Group Policy Editor does not come with Windows 10 Home. Refer to the steps below to enable or disable Fast User Switching using Group Policy Editor.

• Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box and then type in “gpedit.msc” in the field and hit Enter to open the Group Policy Editor.
• Next, navigate to this path inside the Group Policy Editor: Computer ConfigurationAdministrative TemplatesSystemLogon
• Now double click on the configuration listing labeled as “Hide entry points for Fast User Switching” to open the configuration page.

Note: On the configuration page, you will see the following description:

“This policy setting allows you to hide the Switch User interface in the Logon UI, the Start menu, and the Task Manager. If you enable this policy setting, the Switch User interface is hidden from the user who is attempting to log on or is logged on to the computer that has this policy applied. The locations that the Switch User interface appears in the Logon UI, the Start menu, and the Task Manager. If you disable or do not configure this policy setting, the Switch User interface is accessible to the user in the three locations.”

• From there, you can choose to enable or disable the Fast User Switching depending on your preferences. After you’ve selected, click OK and exit the Group Policy Editor.
• Now restart your PC to apply the changes made successfully.

Error Code 0x80248014 - What is it?

Error Code 0x80248014 is an error that is particularly associated with the Windows 10 operating system. It generally appears during the Windows Update process and can interrupt the update installation, causing it to fail.

Common symptoms include:

• Inability to download, install, or run updates on the Windows 10 operating system
• The vague message that appears when the error occurs
• Inability to finalize purchases made from the Windows Store
• Inability to run a check to see if updates need to be installed

The resolutions available for Error Code 0x80248014 include the use of the command prompt and delving into the settings for Windows. While most users should be able to navigate the resolution methods on their own if you do not feel comfortable undertaking these steps on your own or if you aren’t able to resolve the error fully using these methods, get in touch with a qualified Windows repair technician who is familiar with issues in Windows updates.

Solution

Error Causes

There are several common culprits that can make Error Code 0x80248014 appear on your Windows device. The most common ones include problems with your connections, interference on the server, or problems in the settings for the Windows Store itself from which the updates are downloaded.

If you believe that your error relates most specifically to the Windows Store, you may want to jump directly to method two in order to attempt to resolve the issue.

Further Information and Manual Repair

There are a number of ways that you can try to resolve Error Code 0x80248014 on your Windows 10 operating system. The first will attempt to reset the issue using the command prompt, while the second attempts to address the issues that are associated directly with the Windows Store.

If you do not feel comfortable taking the steps below, be sure to get in touch with a qualified Windows repair technician to assist you.

Here are the top two methods to resolve Error Code 0x80248014 on the Windows 10 operating system:

Method One:  Attempt to Resolve the Error Using the Command Prompt

To use this method, employ the following steps in order:

• Step One: To begin, open up the Start menu and select the option for the Command Prompt, choosing to run it in Admin mode.
• Step Two: Put in the commands below, hitting the Enter key after each one:
  • net stop WuAuServ
  • %windir%
• Step Three: Open up the Windows folder on your local hard drive. Look for the folder labeled “SoftwareDistribution” and change the name to “SDold”.
• Step Four: Go back into the Command Prompt as an administrator and enter this command:  “net start WuAuServ”.
• Step Five: Attempt to run your check for Updates again.

You may want to reboot your computer after running the steps above to ensure that the changes that you’ve made are fully applied to your device.

Method Two:  Reset Your Windows Store Settings

In some cases, Error Code 0x80248014 can appear on a device when the settings for the Windows Store have been altered or cannot be successfully read by the machine in question. If you believe that this is the case on your machine, you can run a simple command to renew your Windows Store settings.

To attempt to reset your Windows Store settings, open up your search bar and type in the following phrase “wsreset.exe,” then hitting Enter. Running this command will reset your Windows Store settings to their defaults.

After you reset your Windows Store settings, it may be a good idea to reboot your computer to ensure that all changes have fully taken effect on your device. Once this has been done, you can open the Windows Store back up and try to download or install the programs that you were attempting to purchase when the error code occurred.

If you are still experiencing the effects on your Windows 10 operating system or if you have not been able to follow the steps above to completion, it may be time to get in touch with a qualified Windows repair technician to assist you with the error resolution process.

Method Three: Use An Automated Tool

If you wish to always have at your disposal a utility tool to fix these Windows 10 and other related issues when they do arise, download and install a powerful automated tool.

When performing a Windows Backup to the NAS device (backup to a network share) that is running Samba, fails with an error message The backup failed, The version does not support this version of the file format (0xC03A0005). The problem occurs because of a conflict with the VHD file that is created by Windows Backup and is mounted during the process. There are three types of VHD files:

1. Fixed,
2. Expandable
3. Differencing

If the VHD file is a sparse file that is not supported by the native VHD driver, the mounting will fail, and you will get this error. An example VHD file is one that keeps expanding depending on the backup size. The problem occurs only in the case of  File Level backup (file/folders in a volume) but not on the block level backup as the vhd file is never mounted. However, in the case of File Level Backup, the vhd is mounted, created by Windows Backup, which does not support the mounting of sparse files.

The solution is to use Strict Allocate: option in the smb.conf file

Login to SMB using SSH. Open the configuration file using the VI editor located at /etc/samba/smb.conf. If the option is not there, you can manually add strict allocate = yes which will make sure there are no sparse file that is created.

Google Docs has cemented itself as a great free alternative to Microsoft Office Word. Most of the time people just share links to google Docs among themselves but sometimes you need to save and download files.

Luckily Google docs let you download easily files in various formats including PDF as well. In this short tutorial we will explain how can you download your Google document as a PDF file.

Saving Google Docs as a PDF

Open the Google document inside the browser and click on the File drop-down menu. In the file drop-down menu go to Download and choose PDF document. Next, choose the location where you would like your file to be saved and click on SAVE.

And that's all that needs to be done. Also, you can edit PDF files as well in google docs if you need to.

Recently, a lot of users reported getting several error messages when they upgraded their Windows 10 computers. One of these error messages users encountered during a Windows 10 upgrade is the Error 0x8007002C-0x4001E. if you are one of the users who is facing this error, read on as this post will help you fix it. When you encounter this error, you will see the following error message on your screen:

“We couldn’t install Windows 10 We’ve set your PC back to the way it was before you started installing Windows 10 0x8007002C-0x4001E, The installation failed in the SECOND_BOOT phase with an error during PRE_OOBE operation.”

To resolve the 0x8007002C-0x4001E, The installation failed in the SECOND_BOOT phase error, here are some suggestions that might help.

Option 1 – Try flushing the SoftwareDistribution and Catroot2 folders

You have to stop a couple of services such as BITS, Cryptographic, MSI Installer, and Windows Update Services. And to do that, you need to flush the contents in the SoftwareDistribution folder. The Software Distribution folder in the Windows operating system is a folder that can be found in the Windows directory and is used to store files temporarily which might be required to install the Windows Update on your PC. Thus, it is required by the Windows Update and maintained by WUAgent. Aside from that, it also contains all the Windows Update History files and once you delete them, you will most likely lose the Update history. As a result, the next time you run the Windows Update, it may result in a longer detection time.

• Open the WinX Menu.
• From there, open Command Prompt as admin.
• Then type in the following command – don’t forget to hit Enter right after typing each one of them.

net stop wuauserv net start cryptSvc net start bits net start msiserver

• After entering these commands, it will stop the Windows Update Service, Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS), Cryptographic, and the MSI Installer
• Next, go to the C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution folder and get rid of all the folders and files thereby tapping the Ctrl + A keys to select them all and then click on Delete. Note that if the files are in use, you won’t be able to delete them.

After flushing the SoftwareDistribution folder, you need to reset the Catroot2 folder to restart the services you just stopped. To do that, follow these steps:

• Type each one of the following commands.

net start wuauserv net start cryptSvc net start bits net start msiserver

• After that, exit Command Prompt and restart your computer, and then try to run Windows Update once more.

Option 2 – Select the Keep your files option

You can also select the option to perform an in-place upgrade and opt for the “Keep my files” option during an installation as it might make the process a lot smoother and if you need to perform a clean install, you can do so once the setup is completed.

Option 3 – Try to run the Windows Update Troubleshooter

Running the built-in Windows Update troubleshooter could also help you resolve the 0x8007002C-0x4001E, The installation failed in the SECOND_BOOT phase error. 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.

Option 4 – Try to run Microsoft’s online troubleshooter

Aside from the Windows Update Troubleshooter, you can also run the online troubleshooter of Microsoft as it can help you with Windows 10 upgrade errors.

Option 5 – Perform a clean install

If none of the options worked, you can try to clean install Windows 10. Just make sure that you have the ISO from the official Microsoft Website and then a bootable USB drive to install Windows 10 again. Take note that this will delete all the data from your drive where Windows 10 was installed previously.

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 Windows Defender program can both scan and monitor almost the entire folder on a Windows 10 computer. So if you have a folder that may have files that could trigger an alarm to Windows Security, then it would be better if you add an exclusion to Windows Security. Note that it is okay to do this as long as you’re certain that the contents of the folder you want to exclude are safe and that Windows Defender is only throwing out warnings for nothing. This way, Windows Defender won’t scan those folders in the future. And besides, there are also some Windows folders and files that you may exclude from the Antivirus scans, especially if you want to save your scan time. This kind of feature also comes in handy when you trust a file type or folder or any process that you believe is safe but the Windows Security considers as malicious. To exclude a folder or a file or process or a file type from the Windows Security scan, here are some steps you can follow. Make sure to do them carefully. Step 1: Search for “Windows Security” in the Search box and then click on it from the search results to open it. Step 2: Next, click on Virus & threat protection > Manage settings > Add or remove exclusions. Step 3: After that, on the next screen, click on Add an exclusion > Folder. It will show you a list that includes File, Folder, File Type, and Process. Step 4: Now click on “+Add and exclusion” on the next window and then select a folder you want to exclude and click OK to add it in the Exclusions list. Step 5: Click on the down arrow button to remove it and then click on the Remove button. Note: If you want to only ignore a few file types, it’s better if you configure your antivirus program to ignore these files with a specific extension. This way, it will ignore all of them no matter what their location is. Also keep in mind that when you select a folder, all the subfolders in it will also be excluded from the scan. Thus, you need to understand what you’re about to do. Once you’re done excluding the folder, it is recommended that you protect the folder using the Controlled Folder Access since this folder is not monitored for threat. The Controlled Folder Access will ensure that an external program does not alter it. This way, you can be sure that even though this folder is not included in the scan, it is still secure.

Windows 10 is undeniably one of the great operating systems and the same thing can be said about a lot of computers that are running it. However, there are instances when things don’t go as you expect them to be. One of the many issues you might face when using Windows 10 is the inability to upload any pictures over the web. If you are facing this issue right now, you are not alone for a lot of users have suffered from the same problem at least once. Even though it might seem like a minor problem, some users find it inconvenient especially the ones who often upload pictures online. Worry not though for this post will guide you on what you can do if you aren’t able to upload any images to websites on your Windows 10 computer. To get started in troubleshooting the problem, here are some suggestions that might help:

Option 1 – Try to clear browser cache and try downloading again

There are times when some data in the browser is conflicting with the loading of the website and triggers some problems like not being able to upload pictures to websites. And so you can try to clear your browser’s data. This might be a very basic solution but oftentimes it works in fixing this kind of odd problem in your browser.

Option 2 – Open your browser in Incognito Mode

The next thing you can do to fix the problem is to try opening the web page in Incognito Mode. When your browser is in this mode, it will work without extensions. This would help in fixing the problem especially if it was caused by some extension or toolbar in your browser. All you have to do is open any web page in Chrome and tap the Ctrl + Shift + N key combination to open a window in Incognito Mode.

Option 3 – Try to disable and get rid of the problematic extension

The next thing you can do after trying the Incognito mode in your browser is to see if a browser extension is the one that’s causing the problem. And if you have installed a lot of browser extensions, then identifying which one is the culprit may take a while but not too long. Once you’ve identified the culprit, you can get rid of that browser extension and see if you can now upload pictures on websites.

Option 4 – Try to reset your browser

You might also want to reset your browser as it could also help in resolving the issue. To reset your browser, here’s what you have to do:

Google Chrome

• 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.

Mozilla Firefox

• Open Mozilla Firefox and tap Ctrl + Shift + A to access the Add-ons Manager.
• In the Extensions, menu Remove the unwanted extension.
• Restart the browser and tap keys Alt + T.
• Select Options and then move to the General menu.
• Overwrite the URL in the Home Page section and then restart the browser.

Internet Explorer

• Launch Internet Explorer.
• Next, click the wrench icon for Settings.
• Then click Internet Options.
• After that, go to the Advanced tab.
• From there, click the Reset button. This will reset Internet Explorer’s settings to their default condition.
• Now click OK to save the changes made.
• Restart your computer.

Option 5 – Update your browser or switch to another one

The last option you can try is to update your browser. You can do it by checking for any available updates from its official site and then install it. However, if updating the browser did not help, you might want to consider switching to another browser.

As you know, storage devices are an important part of the computer system for porting, saving, and extracting data files. And for you to differentiate between storage devices on your computer system, each one of the storage devices is labeled with a unique number referred to as Disk Signature for identification. The unique disk identifier is stored as a part of the MBR or Master Boot Record. Disk signature is used by operating systems in order to identify and set apart different data storage devices and hard disk drives in the computer for data access. These days, Disk cloning has become a regular practice in upgrading to larger hard disk drives. Drives are cloned in order to produce a similar copy to use both the original drive and cloned copy together. Moreover, lots of virtualization tools are being used to virtualize the physical hard disk drives to create virtual hard disk drives and several virtual machine clones that are created with the existing virtual hard disk drives. And since these are identical copies, chances these copies may have identical disk signatures. As a result, when you use both disks that have identical signatures at the same time you run into the Disk Signature Collision problem. This kind of problem does not often occur as the Windows system does not really allow two disks to function simultaneously when they have the same disk signature. When you encounter a Disk Collision problem in your Windows 10 computer, you may see the following error messages:

• The boot selection failed because a required device is inaccessible
• The disk is offline because it has a signature collision
• This disk is offline because it has a signature collision with another disk that is online

You can fix the disk collision problem by changing the disk signature which you can achieve using the command line utility diskpart in Windows PowerShell or Command Prompt or using Windows Disk Management utility. To fix the disk collision problem, you can make use of the command-line utility called diskpart in Windows PowerShell or Command Prompt to view and change the signature, or can make use of Master Boot record in the Windows Registry. You can also make use of Windows Disk Management Utility to change the signature. Simply follow the given options below to change the disk signature either way.

Option 1 – Change Disk Signature via Diskpart

• Type “command prompt” in the Windows Search bar and then right-click on the related search result and select the “Run as administrator” option.
• After that, type the “diskpart” command and hit Enter to open Diskpart.
• Next, type the “list disk” command to display all the disks available in the system.
• Next, take note of the problematic disk number with the status Offline from the list and then type the “Select disk x” command where x is the offline disk to select the offline disk. For instance, if you type “select disk 1”, it will display the “Disk 1 is now the selected disk” message.
• Now type the “Uniqueid disk” command to display the disk signature and to change the disk’s signature and set the disk online, type the “unique disk ID= (New signature)” where (New signature) is the new ID in hexadecimal. For instance, you can set the new id as “unique disk ID= 1456ACBD”.

Note: If you have given the wrong format ID, the command prompt will display the following error:

“The specified identifier is not in the correct format. Type the identifier in the correct format: in hexadecimal form for an MBR disk or as a GUID for a GPT disk.”

• After you’re done, the disk will be online, and then restart your computer.

Option 2 – Change Disk Signature via Disk Management Utility

• Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box and then type “diskmgmt.msc” and hit Enter or click OK to open Disk Management.
• Next, right-click on the disk that is marked as Missing or Offline.
• After that, select the Online command from the drop-down menu.
• Then from the selecting option Online, Windows will generate a new disk signature.

A surprisingly large amount of things present at your home can and do interfere with your wi-fi signal making it weak so devices are dropping it, having trouble connecting, or being slow.

Hello and welcome to our latest article where we will take a look at all things that are present in a lot of homes but are very bad for your WI-Fi signal.

Bad router placement

Having a router in a bad position can have some really large effects on WI-Fi signal strength and its availability. Usually, we do not give great attention to where we are placing our router but it has been proved over and over again that being close to certain objects does indeed have a great influence on the wireless signal strength and performance.

So, what are these objects and bad positions where we could place the router and effectively kill his Wi-Fi capabilities?

Fish Tanks

Water will block all radio waves including Wi-FI signals and waves themselves, so having a router next to the aquarium or any large source of water is a bad idea. You should always look at water as something bad for your Wi-Fi and move your router away from it as far as possible.

Bookshelves

Paper is another story and example of the dampening effect on radio waves. Did you know that various patterns of paper are used in silent rooms and recording studios in order to eliminate sound reflection from surfaces? Well besides absorbing sound waves, the paper also absorbs Wi-Fi signals and if you have a large bookshelf with a lot of books packed one beside another you just have a great wall of signal absorbing.

Mirrors

The problem with mirrors is in their coating that goes over the glass in order to turn it into the mirror, that coating is metal and as such, it is absorbing signals in large amounts. If you have an old or high-quality mirror that has a silver coating things are even worse since silver will absorb even more waves than modern cheap ones.

TV

Yup, TV is also on this list and for a similar reason as a mirror, although TV does not have coatings of metal, they have something even worse: a large metal plating on the back. Metal plating is there to produce structural integrity of the TV set and provide it with shielding from electromagnetic waves and as such it will prevent Wi-Fi waves as well. Do not place the router behind your TV.

Things that influence signals in homes

Any kind of metal decoration

Now when we covered mirrors and TV because of the metal they have, we must take a look at the metal itself. Any kind of metal stuff that you might have like baskets, figures, statues, frames, etc will effectively block your signal.

Kitchen appliances and Home utilities

Kitchen appliances like refrigerators, microwaves, ovens, stoves, etc. along with home appliances and utilities like dishwashers, washing machines, dryers, etc are large metal objects enclosed in a metal cage that will block signals from spreading further and it is no secret that most kitchens have weaker Wi-Fi because of this reason.

Home gyms

This is a logical conclusion as to everything explained so far if you have a workout room or small gym at home it is probably filled with weights that are metal and have mirrors inside, all of that will interfere and block signals.

Things blocking your Wi-Fi that you have no easy control over

Walls

Thick walls will dampen signals, thick walls from bricks will dampen even more and concrete walls will kill it almost completely. Any kind of metal reinforcement wiring inside walls will reduce and kill signals as well.

Floors and ceiling

This is somewhat important if you have a floor beneath or under the room where is your router located, but for the same reason how walls are blocking your signal floor and ceiling can do it as well, especially since most of the time they are made of some stronger material like concrete with metal fence inside.

Heating systems

If you have a heating system that is composed of metal radiators with water inside, then in terms of Wi-Fi signal strength you have an aquarium but in a metal box, and as such it will greatly reduce signal strength.