Unable to update Windows 10 fix

If you face this issue, running troubleshooter can most probably resolve it but since you have reached this page, you most probably have done that already.

So what you can do now is to go to Services app and turn off 

• Background Intelligent Transfer Services
• Cryptography Services
• Windows Update.

Next, run the troubleshooter again and this time, SKIP fixing 'pending updates' and just fix the database corruption. 

Once you see that the database if fixed, you can proceed to update using Windows ISO which you can download from here instead of using Windows Update app.

If you face the following issue during the update then you need to download Windows 10 1909 which you can do that by using Rufus. 

Once you have updated to 1909 successfully, then you can continue to use Windows Update app to update your Windows.

I will add the graphics when I have the time.

Teams meeting button missing in Outlook

If you are not able to find the Teams meeting button in your Outlook desktop app, then it most likely mean the Add-ins are not registered. You can check under Outlook Options 

If it is missing, then try to add it in manually by using the COM Add-ins option at the bottom.  

The location of the DLL are in the following folders, each for x64 and x86. Version number may be different depending on the version of Teams app you have installed.

%LocalAppData%\Microsoft\TeamsMeetingAddin\1.0.20244.4\x64\Microsoft.Teams.AddinLoader.dll

%LocalAppData%\Microsoft\TeamsMeetingAddin\1.0.20244.4\x86\Microsoft.Teams.AddinLoader.dll

If you tried adding them without success (which means it does not appear in the list), it means it is a permission issue. Copy the following and save it as .bat file and run it. If you get Access Denied error, then, you need to run it as as admin

@echo off

%SystemRoot%\System32\regsvr32.exe /n /i:user %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\TeamsMeetingAddin\1.0.20244.4\x64\Microsoft.Teams.AddinLoader.dll

%LocalAppData%\Microsoft\TeamsMeetingAddin\1.0.20244.4\x86\Microsoft.Teams.AddinLoader.dll

Maintaining user profile when moving from on premise AD to Azure AD

So your company has moved to Azure AD and you want to move the end point as well but disjoining from on premise AD and then joining Azure AD will create a new user profile which the users will curse you for.

While you can purchase software that does this, you can do it for free too. However, it will only work IF the username for AD and Azure are exactly similar (which it should, unless for technical reason because if not, then your design sucks) 

Here are the steps

1. Take note of the current user profile folder and HKEY_USERS key string in registry. 

2. Create a temporary local admin account on the system (if it do not already have one)

3. Unjoin the system from domain and restart

4. Login with a local admin account and rename the original user profile folder to something else (eg from bill.gates to bill.gates.ori)

5. Join the system to Azure AD with user account and restart

6. Login as user and open the just renamed current user profile (for rights). Log out once you are able to get in the folder.

7. Login as local admin again and 

a) rename the newly created profile (eg from bill.gates to bill.gates.tmp) and 

b) rename back the original user profile to what it was before (eg from bill.gates.ori to bill.gates) 

8. Go to the tmp profile folder. Show hidden files and copy ntuser.dat from temp profile to original user profile folder. It will replace the old ntuser.dat file. Log out

9. Copy the new HKEY_USERS key string and then rename it with a suffix (eg with .tmp)

10. Rename the original user HKEY_USERS key string with the new user profile key string

11. Login as user and remove temp local admin account and profile.

Windows 10 fail update boot loop

If your Windows 10 has been asking you to reboot frequently with a seemingly endless update, check if the update is successful. You can do this by going to 'View your update history' settings.

If you see repeated failure for a particular update, then it could be due to bitlocker encryption.

To turn off bitlocker you can simply search for bitlocker from the search bar and turn it off

To view the progress, you can click on icon on the taskbar

Once the decryption is completed, run the Windows update again and reboot when asked to. Your update should now complete successfully. You can then go back to bitlocker and turn encryption back on.

How to create an app from practically any website with Chrome

If you do not already know, Chrome has this feature where it can create shortcuts from practically any website and make it look like an app.

You may ask why do would anyone would want to do that since you can simply use bookmarks. Well the difference is bookmarks only exist in Chrome while shortcut 'apps' can be pinned anywhere in Windows like in start menu, taskbar etc. And it has its own little icon that make it look like a real app.

Below are the steps.

1. Go to any website you want to create a shortcut, then click on Chrome Settings > More Tools > Create shortcut

2. You can edit the name if you want to. Select Open as window then click Create.

3. Once you do that, a new window will open and the shortcut will appear in your Windows 10 start menu as shown below. You can pin it to your start menu and/or taskbar.

As you can see each one of those shortcuts has its own individual nifty icon as well.