Boot USB Inside Windows With Virtual Box or VMware

This is a good tutorial link.

* * * Honestly, Virtual Box will work on larger variety of PCs * * *

But don't kid yourself. It is painfully inconsistent from PC to PC and Drive to Drive.

If you are just checking the "boot" of the drive Sordum Qemu Simple Boot (Symenu)

The ISOs in the drive will sort of boot but not fully.

MobaliveCD previously worked but something is screwy now.

Virtual Box

This is for me but you can look

1. plug in usb drive

2. win + x the k (opens Drive Manager)

3. note the # of the drive

4. open cmd as admin

cd %programfiles%\oracle\virtualbox

5. In cmd type this:

VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk –filename C:\usb.vmdk -rawdisk \\.\PhysicalDrive1

-usb.vmdk is the name and location of the disk you are going to create.

Don't change name of .vmdk now. Use whatever name later when creating the VB machine.

-PhysicalDrive1 is the number of the disk you plugged in.

cmd will complain about createrawvmdk being deprecated but it will work fine

6. start Oracle VB as admin

7. create new machine

8. name usb boot (or whatever)

9. windows 64

10, adjust ram and cpus

11. hard drive choose "use existing > go to C:\ and click the created usb.vmdk

It will be added to your VB folder as a .vbox file

Do not move or delete the usb.vmdk before completing the above.

I don't think it's needed after you create the .vbox machine

Boots Ventoy fine and MX runs but I can't boot with persistence. No biggie but curious.

VMware

- start VM as admin

- create a Windows machine

- name it Boot USB or something

- choose install later

- HD size doesn't matter you are going to remove it

- go to settings

- adjust CPU quantity and RAM (default is probably fine)

- remove the HD

- add HD

- choose physical and pick the number of the drive

Boot that baby up !

* VMware does not work properly on all of my systems. Reasons vary.

* Unless you add a drive the USB number will not change over time.

If it does change just remove the drive and add another with the right number.

* Oh, and yes, MX persistence works fine with all the irritating prompts of course. 

Clear Windows Password - Local Account

Boot to Debian based Linux

sudo apt install chntpw

navigate to windows/system32/config folder

open command prompt

chntpw -l SAM (will list users - use small letter "L" not number "one")

chntpw -u USERNAME SAM

1 clear password

then do logical progression

Let me count the ways of doing this

. . . but if you have a flash drive with Debian on it, why bother looking for another way?

Just apt get to it :)

Boot USB Flash Drives

After too many years of tapping F keys to access the boot menu, I forget the new Windows 10+ way.

Hold the shift key while clicking restart. Keep holding the shift for (we never know how long so just hold it).

. . . Now choose device to use and pick your USB drive.

On my Dell XPS 13 (and if it's going to happen anywhere it's this dang XPS 13) It would not see the drive.

I found that "fast boot" was on. I always turn this off but this was a recent clean OS install.

After turning "fast boot" off it worked.

Native USB slots

* The BIOS may not activate the USB slot to the keyboard if your keyboard is not plugged into a native slot. Addon cards or hubs may not activate early enough.

* If USB drive is not listed as a boot option also try a native motherboard slot.

Boot Option F Keys

Acer F12

Asus F8

Dell         F12

HP         Esc

Lenovo F12

Toshiba F12

Trinity Android Emulator

 I'm no big fan of Android emulators but this one is interesting and open source.

On Win11 it worked fine but would not start on Win10

It was suggested to do this . . . yet to try

turn pn hyper v and also install intel xham

https://github.com/intel/haxm

Ad Blockers are Not Allowed on YouTube

Just turn off add blocker for the YouTube site.

I tried other tricks but they didn't work.

Office 2010 Activation

The last non-bloat version of Microsoft Office is 2010. 

Good luck finding one to download. And if you find one it will probably be a retail version.

Only Volume versions can be activated with KMS

KMS_VL_ALL-49 works on both Windows and Office but it will not convert a retail version of Office to volume.

FrostRose was a older activator seemed to convert the Office install from retail to volume. At least this is how it appears to me. 

So if you try to activate with KMS_VL_ALL-49 and it reports failure because Office is retail, run FrostRose first. FrostRose portable is fine and causes Defender less freaking out. You may not even want KMS_VL_ALL-49 for Office and just use FrostRose. But if FrostRose gets zapped, KMS will now replace easily.

Why bother? KMS_VL_ALL-49 is simpler and has only a single dll to exclude. Not sure it will last longer but FrostRose would lose activation from time to time.

As always it's a moving target.

Now I see KMS_VL_ALL-50 floating around but I haven't found it anywhere I trust.

I don't think you can even buy a key for Office 2010 anywhere.