DISM Horror Show

 The dreaded "can't find source" error. Good Luck. Downloading the windows.iso and using the sources switch did not work for me. Using Media Creation Tool to "upgrade" did work.

*It's wise to have stuff backed up.

First I tried this . . .

Download win install ISO

To read index of versions in Windows.iso

Mount the ISO then cmd as admin:

dism /Get-WimInfo /WimFile:[drive_letter]:\sources\install.esd

To read more info about each version:

dism /Get-WimInfo /WimFile:[drive_letter]:\sources\install.esd /index:1 (or whatever)

If you want to export the wim version to match (change "IndexNumber")

dism /export-image /SourceImageFile:install.esd /SourceIndex:IndexNumber /DestinationImageFile:install.wim /Compress:max /CheckIntegrity

*This saves some room but not worth the trouble

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /AnalyzeComponentStore

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /Source:WIM:c:\install.wim:1 /LimitAccess

or

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /Source:e:\sources\install.esd /LimitAccess

Yes, I tried without /LimitAccess.

This is what I kept getting . . . And sfc /scannow would find errors it could not fix

(On one PC I get this error and can't get any fix to work.

Error: 0x800f081f

The source files could not be found.

Use the "Source" option to specify the location of the files that are required to restore the feature. For more information on specifying a source location, see https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=243077.)

So I did an "upgrade" with the Media Creation Tool which didn't really upgrade anything but did seem to reinstall the system and kept my installed programs with few alterations to the basic system. This is not a "reset" which will remove your installed programs. It seems Windows always has a way to install repair over the current version. Yes, sfc /scannow now gave a clean report.

(C:\WINDOWS\system32>DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool

Version: 10.0.19041.844

Image Version: 10.0.19045.2846

[==========================100.0%==========================] The restore operation completed successfully.

The operation completed successfully.)

CMD To Reboot To BIOS Settings or Safe Mode

CMD To Reboot To BIOS Settings

Instead of guessing which F key will magically boot to the BIOS settings.

Open an admin command prompt (be sure you are in system32 directory).

shutdown /r /fw

shutdown /r /fw /f /t 0

/r reboot

/fw boot to firmware interface

/f force shutdown

/t 0 no wait time

CMD To Reboot To Safe Mode

bcdedit /set {current} safeboot minimal

bcdedit /set {current} safeboot network

(Win10+ is hopeless at WiFi in safe mode so have a cable handy)

When leaving Safe Mode

bcdedit /deletevalue {current} safeboot

Bonus:

Safe Mode Launcher by Sordum is available in Symenu if interested.

Sticky Key Hell

 I bought my Acer Predator G9-791 in 2017

My first post about sticky keys was in 2021. I assume that is when it started.

11-APR-2023 I finally found the answer for this case.

All the suggestions did not help.

Turn off sticky keys in Ease of Access

Change the registry

Rename sethc.exe (this one disabled booting)

I finally said ENOUGH. I'm going to kill this thing.

Every time I booted Windows, sticky keys started. Sure, when I pressed two keys simultaneously it shut off but what the heck. The boot disable made me sure something was requiring sticky keys at boot.

Then I looked at something I never use. Acer's PredatorSense.

Oh, look what I found. This crazy thing was unchecked.

Remove MS Office Right Click Context Menu Entries

 Are you irritated by the MS Office or Libre Office right click context entries in the "new" option?

Open Regedit to

Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT

Do a search for shellnew

F3 to cycle through and manually delete the entries in appropriate shellnew folders.

Winaero has downloadable .reg files to delete MS Office entries. It says office 2019 but it worked on 2010 except for the Publish entry which I had to delete manually.

I had Libre Office installed for some reason and removed those manually. (They may reinstall with updates?) If I installed Libre often I would make .reg files to delete.

https://winaero.com/download-remove-office-2019-entries-from-new-context-menu-in-windows-10/

I don't know why I hated those entries because I seldom if ever access the new item on the menu. And now that I know how to blast them, I probably wouldn't bother.

Bonus: While you are at it, might as well grab Nilesoft.shell and get rid of that miserable Win11 context menu. You can easily turn it off and on while you are deciding which is better. It won't take long to decide.

Sticky Notes Classic

Before Windows 10 I used Sticky Notes occasionally, especially on remote desktops informing people what I did or what to do. With Win10 I found Sticky Notes so irritating I quit using it.

I finally added Sticky Notes Classic (through Winaero) and uninstalled the "new" Sticky Notes through Apps & Features. Just do it. Better late than never.

If the new Sticky Notes had any benefits, I didn't see it.

Classic can be downloaded on MajorGeeks also.

Symenu has a couple other sticky note alternatives as well.

I use Launchy or Super to launch most things. When I start typing "sticky" I don't want two versions requiring arrow keys to chose the right one.