Fix Windows Update Install Error 0x80070020

You might have experienced a situation when you restarted your Windows 10 PC after an upgrade and you tried logging into your account but only a screen with a message saying, “Preparing Windows”. If the screen only stays that way, this indicates that Windows 10 is trying to complete the upgrade or waiting for some files to load up so that you can use your account. Some users also reported that when they tried logging into their accounts, they also get the same message on their screens. To resolve this issue, read on as this post will show you what you can do if your Windows 10 PC is stuck on the “Preparing Windows” screen. A lot of users have tried logging back into their account once more but to no avail as the same screen still greets them. And even when they tried the Ctrl + Alt + Del combo, it still didn’t work. This only goes to show that your account might somehow be corrupted.

Option 1 – Try booting your PC into Safe Mode

The first thing you can do to resolve the issue is to try booting your computer into Safe Mode and then log in using an Admin account. If it seems like your admin account has caused the problem, you need to create an admin account first and then log in after you reboot into the account and then log off. After that, restart your PC normally and check if the problem’s resolved or not. If not, refer to the next given option below.

Option 2 – Try to repair your corrupted profile via Registry

In this second option, you can try to repair the corrupted profile using the Registry but before you proceed, make sure to create a System Restore Point and then follow the steps below.

• Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
• Then type “regedit” in the field and hit Enter or click OK to open the Registry Editor.
• Next, go to this registry key: ComputerHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionProfileList
• Once you’ve opened the registry key, you should see a list of all the user profiles on your computer. Now click on each S-1-5 folder and look for the “ProfileImagePath” entry and double-click on it to check which user account it is related to. You will see a path like “CUsersACK” where “ACK” is the username.
• You should know which among the user account is corrupted. Just look for a key named “RefCount” and change its Value data to “0” and click OK. And if it isn’t available, simply right-click on the right pane and create it.
• After that, double click on the key named “State” and make sure that the Value data is “0” and click OK.
• Exit the Registry Editor and restart your computer to apply the changes made.

Option 3 – Try running the System File Checker

System File Checker or SFC is a built-in command utility that helps in restoring corrupted files as well as missing files. It replaces bad and corrupted system files with good system files that might be the cause why your screen is stuck at “Preparing Windows”. To run the SFC command, follow the steps given below.

• Tap Win + R to launch Run.
• Type in cmd in the field and tap Enter.
• After opening Command Prompt, type in sfc /scannow

The command will start a system scan which will take a few whiles before it finishes. Once it’s done, you could get the following results:

1. Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.
2. Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them.
3. Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them.

Option 4 – Try to repair hard disk errors using the Chkdsk utility

You can also run the Chkdsk utility to resolve the problem. If your hard drive has issues with integrity, the update will really fail as the system will think that it’s not healthy and that’s where the Chkdsk utility comes in. The Chkdsk utility repairs hard drive errors that might be causing the problem.

• Open Command Prompt with admin privileges.
• After opening Command Prompt, execute the commands listed below, and don’t forget to hit Enter right after you type in each one of them.
• chkntfs /t
• chkntfs /t:10

If you would like to read more helpful articles and tips about various software and hardware visit errortools.com daily.

Code 0x800488AB – What is it?

The Error Code 0x800488AB will appear when a user is in the Windows 10 Mail app and has provided an Outlook.com e-mail address. The mail app will give a message that the “account information is out of date” and it does provide an option to fix the issue. After clicking the Fix button, this error code will show up to the user. Common symptoms include:

• A dialog box will appear with the Error Code 0x800488AB
• Microsoft Windows 10 Mail App will not retrieve (or subsequently send) mail
• User cannot delete and re-add the Outlook email account in the Windows 10 Mail app
• User can still access and log in to various Microsoft websites, including logging into the Outlook Mail website

Solution

Error Causes

This error can be caused by a few different actions of the user when they have changed a password or a PIN number to access their Outlook mail. This error does have a relatively easy fix after the cause is determined and where the break-in information has occurred. A few of the causes may be:

• If the user changes their password on the Microsoft website and uses the alternative PIN login method to access the Mail App.
• The log-in information on the Microsoft website does not match the login information on the Windows 10 App.
• The login information was changed on the Microsoft website and was not updated to reflect on the Windows 10 Mail app.

The Microsoft website and Microsoft Mail app do not share the knowledge of the change in login credentials, therefore the log-in credentials appear to be incorrect when trying to access the Microsoft Mail app. It should be noted that a user may bypass the password option if they log in to the Microsoft Mail app while using the alternative PIN log-in method, thus still leaving the password undetected.

Further Information and Manual Repair

As is the case with all new technology and having a few wrinkles, the release of Microsoft Windows 10 is not left out. There have been a few discussions of errors and bugs, including Error Code 0x800488AB. As of right now, there are three different methods that can be utilized by any at-home user. These methods are rather simple and make sense when the problem has been identified.

Method 1:

Run the built-in Windows Store Apps troubleshooter:

1. Press the Windows Key and then type ‘troubleshoot’ and hit Enter
2. Select “View all” on the left panel and run the “Windows Store Apps” troubleshooter from the list displayed and see if it works.

Method 2:

Use the System File Checker tool to repair corrupted or missing system files:

1. Click Start.
2. Type cmd, and then press CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER to open the elevated command prompt (I.e. Command prompt with administrative rights).
3. The User Account Control window should appear, be sure that the action it exhibits is correct, and then press the Continue button.
4. Type or copy-paste the below command line into it without quotes:

“Sfc /scannow”

Method 3:

1. Press the Windows Key
2. Search for "Credentials Manager"
3. Click on Windows Credentials
4. Look for any reference to your windows account (generally your @outlook.com is listed)
5. Delete them.
6. Then select your account at the top of the start menu and select Log Out.
7. If using a Pin Code, switch to type input and put your password into the box.

When you go to Mail, and select "Fix Issues" it will detect your password and your account should sync with new emails. In some cases, depending on why this particular error code was caused, you may have to use a powerful automated tool to have it resolved.

Booting the Windows computer system includes loading it from the various boot devices such as drivers, network as well as USB drives when the computer is turned on. The instant the startup sequence is done loading the operating system the system hardware will be ready to perform some complex operations – in this process, the Boot Log in Windows 10 is a record that maintains the list of success or failure of many pieces of Windows 10 system during the booting process. In other words, the Boot Log is the one that keeps a record of all that has happened while loading from the computer storage system to the memory during the boot process. It is available for several devices like network, hardware devices, and the operating system which assist in detecting issues during the boot process and other issues with regards to troubleshooting. Through Boot Log, you’ll know which drivers were unloaded and loaded from the start of the system during the boot process. You have the option to either disable or enable this feature on your Windows 10 PC. Named as “ntbtlog.txt”, the log file lists all the successfully loaded processes and the unsuccessful ones during the boot process. It is saved to the drive C:Windowsntbtlog.txt. As mentioned, you can enable or disable this feature in two ways – the first one is by using the System Configuration or MSConfig while the second one is using the Command Prompt. In this post, we’ll show you how you can enable or disable Boot Log in Windows 10 either way.

Option 1 – Enable or Disable Boot Log using System Configuration

Enable Boot Log:

• Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
• Then type in “msconfig” and click OK to open System Configuration.
• After that, go to the boot tab and check the checkbox labeled “Boot Log” under the Boot options so that you can enable the Boot Log feature.
• Then click on OK to save the changes made.
• Next, click on the Restart button in the prompt window to get started with the Boot Log process.
• After restarting your PC, go to C:Windowsntbtlog.txt to open the boot log.

Note: As pointed out earlier, the log file contains a list of all the successfully loaded drivers and also the list of drivers that failed to load during the boot process and every time you restart the system, the boot log file will keep on updating and will eventually increase the list of entries. For you to locate the drivers and make your troubleshooting a lot easier, I advised disabling the boot log after troubleshooting. To disable the boot log using System Configuration, refer to the steps below. Disable Boot Log:

• Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
• Then type in “msconfig” and click OK to open System Configuration.
• After that, go to the boot tab and unmark or uncheck the checkbox labeled “Boot Log” under the Boot options so that you can disable the Boot Log feature.
• Then click on OK to save the changes made.

Option 2 – Enable or Disable Boot Log using Command Prompt

Enable Boot Log:

• Go to the Start Menu and then type in “command prompt” in the search bar.
• After that, right-click on the Command Prompt option and select the “Run as administrator” option.
• After opening Command Prompt, type in “bcdedit” and tap Enter.

Note: You have to find the Identifier of the current operating system first to enable the Boot log. You can find it under the Windows Boot Loader section in the “Description” field and in this case, it’s Windows 10. You can also find the operating system identifier under the Windows Boot Loader section next to the field name identifier.

• To check if the boot log entry is disabled or enabled, go check the “Bootlog” field under the Windows Boot Loader. And if it turns out that the “bootlog” entry is enabled, the entry will be “Yes”. Otherwise, the entry will be “No”.
• Next, type in the following command with the operating system identifier to enable the boot log.

bcdedit /set {identifier} bootlog Yes

Note: In the command given above, make sure that you replace the given system identifier with your computer’s system identifier. For instance: In this example, the identifier was replaced with the actual operating system identifier as current.

bcdedit /set {current} bootlog Yes

• Afterward, restart the system to start the Boot log process.
• After the restart, go to C:Windowsntbtlog.txt to open the boot log.

Note: Every time you restart your computer, the boot log file will keep on updating which will increase the size of the log eventually. So if you want seamless and easier troubleshooting, it is advised to disable the Boot log after you troubleshoot. To disable it using the Command Prompt, here’s what you have to do. Disable Boot Log:

• Go to the Start Menu and then type in “command prompt” in the search bar.
• After that, right-click on the Command Prompt option and select the “Run as administrator” option.
• Once the Command Prompt is opened, type in the following command and then tap Enter to disable the boot log feature.

bcdedit/ set {identifier} bootlog No

Note: In the command given above, you need to replace the given system identifier with your computer’s system identifier. For instance: In this example, the {identifier} was replaced with the actual operating system identifier as {current}.

bcdedit /set {current} bootlog No

• Now close the Command Prompt.

LINUX has become more than just a dedicated server Operating system, more and more it is gaining ground in home computers as well and as services like Steam and Gog are offering their titles for LINUX it is gaining more and more ground daily.

Why LINUX?

So, what makes LINUX so good? First of all security, no other Operating system has that high level of security like LINUX and that is the reason why it is widely used as a server. Other advantages are it is less resource hungry and its architecture is made in such a way that it does not has applications remains and traces which remain in the system, once an application is deleted from OS, it is deleted and every trace is removed from OS. Apple OS is based on LINUX kernel but made specifically for their hardware.

LINUX popularity

So naturally, the question pops up why LINUX is not more popular? One of the reasons is its difficulty, to work in LINUX you need to have some level of computer knowledge, Windows is more user-friendly and a lot of people prefer the ease of use to features. This is somewhat been fixed sort of speak in last years since we have LINUX distributions which aim to be more simple and user friendly but it is far from easy of use of one Windows. Another big reason was software support. Altho some powerhouse software has its LINUX versions and works just fine, even better than on Windows, your typical user applications lack and games were almost non-existent making LINU users rely on Windows emulation software for simple applications, and often it did not work properly. This has also changed for the better in later years but as with the previous point, it is still far from being Windows wide.

What is LINUX distro?

Linux comes in different versions called distributions. What this means is that the basic core of the Operating system is the same though all LINUX versions and all LINUX drivers and software will work on anyone, they will visually and feature-wise be different. Also, they will be more complex for use or they will have different hardware requirements. Choosing the right LINUX distribution is no easy task and we are here to help you by offering you certain points and guides in hopes to direct you on the right path.

What Do You Need the Distro for?

This might be perhaps the most crucial question when trying to decide which LINUX distribution you want to install. Depending on your preferences and goal like work, games, security, media you will need to consider the best distributions in the field of your preference. A very good place to get this kind of information is on DistroWatch. When on-site, navigate to the Distribution category search filter and choose the option best suited to your needs.

What Kind of Software Will You Be Using?

Like the previous question, this one is also your personal preference but it will make difference if you are planning to use a different type of software. If your plans are gaming for example you will want the latest and greatest LINUX kernel version for maximum hardware compatibility. If you are a regular desktop user you will aim for a distro that is updated constantly so you are working with the latest versions of Chrome or Firefox. In some cases, depending on your software you might want to run older but faster distribution.

What Kind of Hardware Will You Be Using?

If your computer is up to date you can run any distribution that you like but if it is an older rig your options might be a little limited. Now depending on the technical characteristics of your computer and its age it may come down to just a few available distributions which are specially tailored to run on old hardware. These kinds of distributions are lightweight and do not take much space but sadly can not offer you the latest and greatest in software but for usual everyday tasks like web browsing, word processing, email viewing, etc they work perfectly fine. You can have a great office machine with proper lightweight distribution offering you all that you need to be able to work.

How Much do you know about computers?

As stated before, LINUX is not as user-friendly as WIndows and your overall technical knowledge can play a big role in deciding which LINUX you want to adapt. If you are more of a casual user then avoid technical distributions which will require to manually tweak tons of stuff, go for more automated ones. If you are a power user however and enjoy wrestling with each detail then perhaps some distro with more command-oriented nature.

What Kind of Community Are You Looking For?

Now you might ask what does community has to do with the operating systems but the same as Windows, LINUX also can have some issues, and sometimes installing drivers will require certain steps to be taken. How it is much easier to find a solution when having a great community surrounding the project I suggest not dismissing this part when choosing your distro. Every community is helpful, but they’re all helpful in different ways. If you would like to read more helpful articles and tips about various software and hardware visit errortools.com daily.

What is Error Code 29?

Code 29 is a Device Manager error commonly seen whenever a hardware device driver reports a problem. This error code indicates that the resources needed for operation are not available.

The computer hardware basically requires drivers to interface with the operating system. Drivers comprise multiple components and are supplemented with other resources provided by the BIOS (a physical chip on the motherboard).

The BIOS contains a set of basic input and output instructions for the computer system to boot, load drivers, and more.

Its firmware provides resources that drivers require to interface with other essential components. However, when the firmware fails to provide the requested resources, the device drivers stop functioning; this results in error codes like code 29.

Error code 29 is usually displayed in the following format:

“This device is disabled because the firmware of the device did not give it the required resources” Code 29

Solution

Error Causes

Error code 29 may be triggered due to several reasons. These include:

• Outdated drivers
• Corrupted drivers
• BIOS misconfiguration
• The device firmware is corrupt
• Previous attempt to update the driver failed

To avoid inconvenience and to ensure your computer keeps working at its optimal pace, it is recommended that you repair error code 29 on your PC immediately. Delay may limit you from using certain hardware attached to your system properly.

Further Information and Manual Repair

To repair error code 29, you don’t have to hire a professional and spend hundreds of dollars. Here are some quick and effective DIY methods that you can try to resolve this issue in minutes even if you don’t have any technical background.

Method 1 - Reboot Your PC

Sometimes, error codes like code 29 may pop up on your computer screen due to some temporary glitch with the hardware. Rebooting can resolve the issue easily.

Therefore, before you do anything, try restarting your PC. It could be all you need to repair code 29. However, if the error code continues to persist, try the other methods given below.

Method 2 - Clear the CMOS

This may sound technical but it isn’t. To begin, with CMOS is an acronym for Complimentary Metal Oxide Semiconductor.

It is a term that is used to describe motherboard memory that contains the BIOS settings. Clearing CMOS helps reset the BIOS settings to their default manufacturer levels. It’s easy to do and is an effective troubleshooting step to resolve error code 29.

To do this, simply:

1. Enter the BIOS setup utility  by restarting your PC
2. Watch for an entering setup message
3. Enter the BIOS access key. Usually, the key is F2 or F12. However, the key may differ from manufacturer to manufacturer. You may want to check the manufacturer’s website first to find out the BIOS access key before you restart your PC.
4. ‘Reset BIOS settings’ to their default factory levels.

Method 3 - Enable the Device in the BIOS

Error code 29 may appear if a device is disabled. In such a scenario, simply follow the same steps as discussed in method 2, and in the advanced BIOS settings, look for disabled devices.

Enable the devices in the BIOS so that you use them easily.

This will hopefully resolve the issue. If it doesn’t, then this means the error code 29 is caused by either corrupted or outdated drivers. Try method 4 to resolve this issue successfully.

Method 4 - Identify the Problematic Device Drivers and Update them

Whether the error code 29 is caused by a misconfigured, corrupted, or outdated driver, simply update the new driver version to resolve. When doing it manually, you will first have to find and identify the problematic device drivers in the Device Manager.

You can access the Device Manager by going to the start menu and then simply typing Device Manager in the search bar.

Access the Device Manager and the properties to identify problematic drivers. Problematic drivers are normally displayed with a yellow exclamation mark.

Once you have spotted problematic drivers, simply update new drivers to resolve them. Though there is nothing technical about it but it may be time-consuming.

Method 5 - Install Driver Assist to Update Drivers Automatically and Regularly

A good alternative to manual driver update is DriverFIX. Simply download and install DriverFIX on your PC to update all problematic drivers in seconds. This is a cutting-edge program designed to resolve all kinds of device driver problems.

It is user-friendly and compatible with all Windows versions.

The intelligent programming system deployed inside this software program enables it to identify and detect all problem drivers automatically thereby sparing you from the hassle.

Furthermore, it also matches the drivers with the latest and compatible versions and updates them on a regular basis.

It takes the guesswork out of finding misconfigured and corrupted drivers and fixes driver-related problems and error codes like code 29 right away.

Click here to download DriverFIX to repair Device Manager error code 29 on your system without any hassle.

Upgrading your Windows 10 computer does not always go smoothly and you often encounter not just one but various errors so, in this post, we are going to cover several Windows 10 upgrade errors such as 80240020, 8007002C, 80246007, 80070004. All these upgrade errors are related to the Windows Update folder. Thus, you need to clear the Software Distribution folder, repair the System Image and fix System Health in order to resolve all these Windows 10 Upgrade errors. Before you get started on the steps to resolve these tons of errors, you have to disable your security program for the meantime, disconnect your peripherals, remove USBs connected to your PC and then make sure that your PC is connected to the main power supply. Once you have everything covered, carefully follow the options given below.

Option 1 – Delete Windows 10 Update Files 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. A lot of users tried deleting the files in this folder to fix the problem and so far it has worked. Like them, you can try clearing the Windows Update cache by simply deleting the contents of the folder named “SoftwareDistribution” since Windows apparently can’t clear and re-download the update contents once they are corrupted. Thus, deleting the contents of this folder will make Windows download the contents again which will fix the problem. To do that, follow the steps below.

• 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 stop bits

• After entering these commands, it will stop the Windows Update Service and the Background Intelligent Transfer Service.
• 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.
• Once all the contents in the Software Distribution folder are deleted, restart your PC and then go back to Command Prompt and input the following commands again.

net start wuauserv net start bits

Since the folder has already been flushed, it will be populated afresh the instant your restart your computer and open Windows Update.

• Now Open Settings and check for Windows Updates. Windows 10 should begin the download right away.

Option 2 – Try using the DISM tool

Running the DISM Tool helps in repairing the Windows System Image as well as the Windows Component Store in Windows 10. Using this built-in tool, you have various options such as the “/ScanHealth”, “/CheckHealth”, and “/RestoreHealth”.

• Open the Command Prompt with admin privileges.
• Then type in the following commands and make sure to hit Enter right after you type each one of them:
  • Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth
  • Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth
  • exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
• Do not close the window if the process takes a while as it will probably take a few minutes to finish.

Note: If it happens that the Windows Update client is broken, you need to run the following command to repair it then restart your PC and click on Update once again.

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /Source:C:RepairSourceWindows /LimitAccess

Note: The Windows Upgrade error, with error code 80240020 is an expected error message that happens when the upgrade requires customer user action. Thus, you need to do the following steps to resolve this particular Windows Upgrade error.

• Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
• Then type “regedit” in the field and hit Enter to open the Registry Editor.
• After that, navigate to this registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionWindowsUpdate
• Now right click on WindowsUpdate located in the left pane and then create a new key and name it as “OSUpgrade”
• Next, right-click in an empty space in the left pane and create a new DWORD and name it “AllowOSUpgrade” and enter “1” as its value.

Option 3 – Try running the Windows Update in a Clean Boot State.

Putting your PC in a Clean Boot state can also help you install Windows Updates or Upgrades without any trouble because, during this state, you can start the system with a minimum number of drivers and startup programs that will surely help you in isolating the root cause of the issue.

• 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” checkbox 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” checkbox.
• 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.)
• After that, try to install the Windows Updates or upgrade again.

If you have been using Windows for quite some time now then you’re probably aware of the BIOS or UEFI password. This password lock is the one that ensures you enter the set password even before your Windows PC boots up. However, there’s just one downside with the BIOS or UEFI password – there is no recovery option, unlike your Microsoft account. Worry not though for this post will guide you on how you can set or recover a BIOS or UEFI password on your Windows computer. The BIOS or UEFI passwords are stored at the hardware level which means that unless the OEM wants or has configured a way to recover the password, it is pretty much impossible to reset it. There are times when they are so strict that the only way to get through it by contacting customer care. Note that any Windows computer with this lock can’t be unlocked by trying to reinstall Windows. In this post, you’re going to have to remove the CMOS battery temporarily, clear unknown BIOS/UEFI passwords using the bios-PW website as well as call customer care. For more details, refer to the options provided below.

Option 1 – Remove the CMOS battery temporarily

In case you didn’t know, every motherboard comes with a CMOS battery which helps the computer system to keep the clock ticking and in making sure that the BIOS settings are not lost when the computer is powered down. Every time a computer is turned on, the CMOS battery ensures that the information is available for the computer to boot up. So when you remove the CMOS battery temporarily, say about 30 seconds or a minute, the settings will be lost. There are some motherboards that are built-in ways that when you remove the battery for long, it will reset everything including the password for the BIOS or UEFI.

Option 2 – Clear the unknown BIOS or UEFI passwords using a bios-PW website

If the first option didn’t work, you can try using this BIOS Password website at http://bios-pw.org/ to clear the password.

• When prompted by the BIOS, enter the wrong password a couple of times as doing so will lock you out of the system.
• After that, you will see a new number or code on the screen which will include a message about System Disabled [XXXXX] Service TAG [YYYYY].
• Next, open the BIOS Password website and enter the XXXXX code in it and make sure to tap the Shift + Enter keys or just enter.
• Now it will open multiple unlock keys which you can use to clear out the BIOS or UEFI lock on your Windows PC.

Option 3 – Call the customer care

If the second option still didn’t work, you have to call customer care and follow their suggestions for they will walk you through fixing the problem using the service tag or might suggest that you visit a service center to make things easier for you. Note: You also have the option to set a BIOS or UEFI password. Although it isn’t recommended, you still can do it if you really want to. Remember that the BIOS or UEFI interface varies from OEM to OEM so you must find something related to either PASSWORD or SECURITY. You will have the following similar options:

• Supervisor password – it’s the same as the master password that can change important system settings.
• User password – with this password, any user can change minor settings.
• Master password – you can use this password for a hard drive or as a general password.

There are several OEMs that offer micro-control where you have to enter the BIOS password. For instance, you’ll have the option to skip for a normal restart, or when you select a boot device while you might have to enter the password for unattended reboots or when your PC is powered on, etc. And if you are here to remove the password, you need to find a remove password option in the same section. You will be prompted to enter the set password once and if it’s correct, it will remove the BIOS password. After that, you have to save and exit the BIOS then restart your computer and check if the settings are properly applied.

If you got an error message saying, The INF file you selected does not support this method of installation while trying to install a driver using the “Install” option in the right-click context menu, read on as this post will guide you in fixing the problem. The INF file mentioned in the error message is a text file that’s divided into different types of formatted sections. Each one of the sections is designed for a particular purpose. For instance, one section is designed to copy files or to add entries to the registry. INF files are used to install drivers. However, if something is wrong, you might encounter this error while installing a driver on your Windows 10 computer. To resolve this problem, you can try to download the driver again from the official manufacturer website or check if the driver is compatible with your computer’s operating system architecture or you can also try installing the driver from the Device Manager. For more details, follow the given options below.

Option 1 – Try downloading the driver again from the official website of the manufacturer

Usually, you shouldn’t encounter this kind of issue no matter what installation method you used on your Windows 10 PC. However, there are times when the driver itself is corrupted for some reason which is why you are unable to complete the installation and receive an error message instead.

Option 2 – Try checking if the driver is compatible with the OS architecture

It is possible that you’re getting this error if you have a driver that is compatible with a 32-bit system and you are trying to install it on a 64-bit system and vice versa. Thus, you need to check if the driver you are trying to install is compatible with your operating system if you haven’t done it when you’ve downloaded the driver from the website of the manufacturer. To check the system architecture, in the Start Search, type “msinfo32” in the field and hit Enter to open the System Information window. From there, you should see all the information about your operating system. In addition, you can also search “system information” in the Cortana search box and look for the System Type entry and open it.

Option 3 – Try installing the driver from the Device Manager

If you have the driver files on your PC and you have to update a driver, refer to the steps given below to be guided on how to install the driver from the Device Manager.

• First, click the Start button and type “device manager”.
• Then click on the “Device Manager” from the search results to open it.
• From there, look for the driver you want to update, and then right-click on each one of them and select the Update Driver from the menu.
• After that, click on the “Browse my computer for driver software” option.
• Next, select the “Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer” option and then click the Next button.
• On the next screen, you should see the “Have Disk” option. Click on this option and then click on the Browse button to go to the location of the file. After that, you shouldn’t have any problem installing the INF file.

Option 4 – Try running the System File Checker Scan

The SFC or System File Checker scan could detect and automatically repair damaged system files that could be causing the “The INF file you selected does not support this method of installation” error. SFC is a built-in command utility that helps in restoring corrupted files as well as missing files. It replaces bad and corrupted system files with good system files. To run the SFC command, follow the steps given below.

• Tap Win + R to launch Run.
• Type in cmd in the field and tap Enter.
• After opening Command Prompt, type in sfc /scannow

The command will start a system scan which will take a few whiles before it finishes. Once it’s done, you could get the following results:

1. Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.
2. Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them.
3. Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them.

 Now restart your computer.

Resource hogging is a term when one single application or few of them are taking all system resources for themself causing extreme slow down in the computer and nonresponsiveness. It can be a very frustrating and time-consuming experience and it can cost you money if you can not finish work on time due to this effect. I believe that everyone has experienced at least one slowdown in their IT carrier because of resource-hogging applications and most users do not know how to deal with this. We are here to help you with this issue. Just to be aware that this method shown here is not a method to miraculously speed up your PC or anything similar, this is to be able to detect and recover from extreme slowdowns. Hardware components are still very important and if you can upgrade your computer if it is outdated, please do it because new applications will require a more modern system, and not any kind of tips and tricks will save you from outdated hardware.

Identifying resource hogging app

Now when we got that out of the way let's talk about slowdowns, it is no secret that sometimes an application has bugs and memory leaks that can cause this kind of behavior, and sometimes the application simply takes up too much memory for any other application to work normally. The most simple and straightforward way is to bring up a Windows task manager and inspect running applications and services. You can bring task manager by the key combination of CTRL + SHIFT + ESC If the system is in deep memory deficit you will have to wait for the task manager to open and show itself on-screen. Once opened, click on more details if that view is not opened by default. Once the view expands you will see all running applications with how much RAM memory have they taken and how much CPU they are using.

What to do with app?

Now you are presented with a choice on what to do with the problematic application. If you press the end task button on the bottom right, Windows will kill the application and its processes but any unsaved work inside the application will be lost and unrecoverable in most cases. Or you can try to remove smaller applications running to free up more memory and CPU in order for the computer to catch up. Any choice you make is up to you, but be very careful not to kill Windows essential service by mistake, that will cause immediate system instability with high chances of a system crash.