Questions tagged [windows-7]
For questions specific to Windows 7. Use [windows] instead for questions involving Windows in general.
6,197
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176
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What can I do if I forgot my Windows password?
I got a brand new Windows 7 machine, installed the operating system, created one account and forgot its password. What can I do?
There is no external CD, the operating system is loaded from somewhere ...
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207
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7
answers
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Where can I download Windows 7 (legally from Microsoft)?
I just bought a serial for Windows 7 on-line from the Microsoft store (the most painful shopping experience EVER!). I selected that I wanted to download my version of Windows 7 after purchase. After ...
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127
votes
1
answer
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Windows Activation FAQ: How do language, version, 64-bit or 32-bit, and source affect ability to install and transfer Windows licenses?
We get a lot of questions on Super User about Windows activation and licensing. This question is an attempt to answer the most common questions in one place with a canonical answer.
When reinstalling ...
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562
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13
answers
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Windows 7 SP1 Windows Update stuck checking for updates
I installed Windows 7 fresh and installed SP1. Now, when I try to check manually for Windows Updates it just hangs on the Checking for updates screen.
I tried running the tools in How do I reset ...
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164
votes
16
answers
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How can I read my hard drive’s SMART status in Windows 7?
How can I read the S.M.A.R.T. state of my HDDs while using Windows 7, either automatically or manually?
- 1,873
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5
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Windows Starter Edition, Home and Home Premium do not include gpedit, how do I install it?
I want to make some changes to Windows that require using the Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc).
Unfortunately the Group Policy Editor is not included with the Starter Edition, Home and Home Premium ...
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67
votes
3
answers
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How can I reinstall Windows 7 if I lost my installation DVD? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Where do I download Windows 7 (legally from Microsoft)?
I have lost my Windows 7 installation DVD, but I do have the license key. How can I get a Windows 7 DVD? Can I download ...
- 1,276
132
votes
9
answers
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How can I repair the Windows 8 EFI Bootloader?
I installed Windows 7 and Windows 8 in EFI mode on a hard disk some days ago. Today, the bootloader got missing/corrupted.
I currently have the Windows 8 installer on a flash drive and tried using ...
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125
votes
8
answers
220k
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How to shrink Windows 7 boot partition with unmovable files
I have just bought an HP laptop with Windows 7 (64 bit). It has a 500 GB HDD with three partitions: a small hidden system partition, a 12 GiB HP recovery partition, and a 450 GiB C:...
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68
votes
7
answers
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Install Windows 7 from USB flash drive
I have an ISO image of the Windows 7 installation DVD, but I can't burn it to CD or DVD. I have an empty flash drive with plenty of space. Is there any way I can put the ISO image on it and install ...
user5828
16
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0
answers
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How do I troubleshoot a Windows 7 freeze or slowness? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What are the first steps for diagnosing a slow machine?
I have a new pc with windows 7 which freezes randomly. I hit every single key on the keyboard and it works again. Is ...
- 169
88
votes
4
answers
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Windows using too much RAM, how to diagnose resource hog
I have 16GB of system RAM. On startup with no applications open except the task-manager Windows is using about 3gb of RAM. I looked in the processes tab, but nothing seems to be out of the ordinary. ...
- 1,703
36
votes
2
answers
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Why is my USB drive showing corrupted data when plugged as an internal SATA drive?
I have a 3TB Seagate Backup Plus Desktop USB 3.0 drive, which works fine when in its enclosure, but when I get it off its enclosure and directly plug it as an internal SATA drive, it's just not ...
- 1,730
33
votes
8
answers
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Why is all my extra RAM marked as "hardware reserved" in Windows 7?
I have a new HP Z800 Workstation, running Windows 7 Enterprise 64 bit. Z800 Specs are here.
The machine has 4GB of RAM -- windows reported 1.99GB available, 2GB was "hardware reserved". I added ...
- 1,286
348
votes
7
answers
1.4m
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Why does virtualbox only have 32-bit option, no 64-bit option on Windows 7?
I have downloaded and installed the newest virtualbox 4.3.20 for my Windows 7 (64-bit OS), but when I want to install 64-bit Linux, the New->Create Virtual Machine only displays 32-bit option, no 64-...
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votes
2
answers
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Windows says RAM ran out while there is still 4 GB of physical memory available
This System Information is from Process Explorer. There is still physical memory available but the system shows nearly no RAM left.
Task Manager also shows that about 74% of total RAM is used.
Since ...
- 401
24
votes
11
answers
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Is there way to enable more than 4 GB RAM in 32-bit Windows OS?
I upgraded my PC to 4 GB RAM and I get only 3 GB. Windows 7 32-Bit consider that I've 4 GB RAM but didn't use more than 3 GB.
Someone told me that MS Windows 32-bit doesn't support RAM larger than 3 ...
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67
votes
5
answers
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How do I get permissions to delete files on Windows 7?
I updated my laptop's OS from Windows XP to Windows 7. There are some leftover files from Windows XP on the computer now. If I try deleting them I get the following error:
You need permission to ...
- 953
43
votes
3
answers
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How to diagnose slow booting or logon in Windows? [duplicate]
When I start my PC, it boots into Windows (Windows 7 32-bit) quite happily, I login and the main Windows screen appears. At that point, however, the system is extremely unresponsive for up to 5 ...
- 581
144
votes
9
answers
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Is it safe to delete from C:\Windows\Installer?
I've been looking on an XP machine what is using all that diskspace, and it turns out C:\Windows\Installer is high up there on the list of directories that use the most diskspace.
It seems to contain ...
- 2,456
105
votes
6
answers
349k
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Turn off display in Windows on command
Is there a way to turn off the display in Windows (7), preferably without using additional software?
Powershell script works fine, but leaves command-line window after turning on the display.
- 1,059
37
votes
9
answers
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How can I enable PAE on Windows 7 (32-bit) to support more than 3.5 GB of RAM?
I know that Windows XP 32-bit can be configured, through PAE, to support more than 3.5 GB of RAM. Is there a good tutorial to do this with Windows 7 32-bit?
As to why I don't simply use 64-bit ...
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5
answers
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How to enable 4GB in my Windows 7 64 bit?
I have the following machine configuration:
Intel Core 2 Duo E6300
1 x 2048 MBytes memory chip
2 x 1024 MBytes memory chip
1 x Radeon HD 4870
Motherboard : Gigabyte 945P-S3
Windows 7 RTM 64-bit
In ...
- 195
138
votes
10
answers
680k
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How do you remove a default program association for file types in Windows 7?
I somehow have set the default file type association for a file type in Windows 7. It doesn't appear to be possible to delete it from the "Change the file type associated with a file extension" ...
- 4,267
12
votes
1
answer
14k
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How to repair a broken .EXE file association [duplicate]
After (hopefully) scrubbing viruses out of a Windows 7 installation (after deciding not to simply run over the laptop repeatedly with my car), I've got everything almost back to normal. The only ...
- 887
22
votes
5
answers
47k
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Can I install Windows OS (Windows 7) on a removable USB hard drive? [duplicate]
I wanted to take a sneak peek at Windows 7 so I thought of installing it. I have Windows Vista on my laptop which came pre-installed with it. I didn't want to mess with it.
So I created a partition (...
- 1,528
11
votes
2
answers
12k
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direct ethernet connection between two wirelessly connected Windows 7 laptops
I've got two systems that are right next to each other, and connected wirelessly to the same router. I want to connect the two of them together with an ethernet cable - both have gig-e and ...
- 130k
108
votes
3
answers
70k
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Is there any way to hide taskbar labels and not combine taskbar buttons?
There are three options for customizing taskbar buttons in Windows 7:
Always combine, hide labels
Combine when taskbar is full
Never combine
Is there any way to hide labels and not combine taskbar ...
- 2,789
84
votes
16
answers
259k
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Turning DisplayPort monitor off disables monitor completely
I have 2 monitors connected to a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660:
Left is 1920x1080 via DVI (Samsung SyncMaster 2443BW)
Right is 2560x1440 via DisplayPort and is set to Primary (Samsung SyncMaster SA850)
I ...
- 2,297
53
votes
8
answers
141k
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Selectively disabling UAC for specific programs on Windows 7
I have some programs running on start-up like Everything. UAC prompts every time the Windows starts. How can I set a program to make sure that no intervening prompt would appear during start-up?
- 55.6k
30
votes
13
answers
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How to diagnose computer lockups and freezes?
I built a desktop computer a couple years back with the following specs:
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 Yorkfield 2.5GHz 6 MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor BX80580Q9300
Motherboard: EVGA 122-...
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votes
5
answers
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I Cancelled Microsoft 10 Reservation and uninstalled KB3035583 but Window 10 is still trying to install
I cancelled the Microsoft Windows 10 Reservation and uninstalled KB3035583, but Windows 10 is still trying to install.
After I uninstalled KB3035583 and restarted my laptop as instructed, I could ...
- 121
164
votes
17
answers
625k
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How do I synchronise two folders in real-time in Windows 7?
I want to synchronise two folders in real time under Windows 7.
Basically, I want to monitor a folder and synchronise each change (new files, changed files, deleted files) to another drive. It has to ...
111
votes
5
answers
461k
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How can I move the page file to another physical disk location?
I would like to know exact instructions for moving the page file from 1 disk location to another disk in Windows 7. I.e. from an SSD to a non-SSD drive.
I've spent about two hours searching - Google,...
- 5,788
12
votes
4
answers
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Why does copying the same amount of data take longer if spread across many separate files?
I noticed that copying 24Mb worth of data from one folder to another took about 30 seconds because (I'm assuming this is the reason) it was over 1,000 separate files. Copying 24Mb shouldn't take so ...
- 645
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vote
2
answers
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Pending Sector issue. Does this mean the HDD is failing?
My speed fans smart test said I have 5560 pending sectors. Does this mean the HDD is failing?
The computer is a Toshiba Satellite P755-S5390
I have had it since 2012. I have recently gotten BSODs so ...
326
votes
11
answers
323k
views
Menu select item stuck on screen after context or command menu has closed
Periodically when I select a menu command, the label or selected option gets "stuck" on screen and won't go away. I can close all open applications, including whichever one I was using when it got ...
- 6,842
90
votes
11
answers
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How do I disable "you need to format this disk" message in Windows Vista/7?
I've started using TrueCrypt to encrypt a partition on an external USB hard drive. I've opted for using a raw partition as opposed to a file container.
But here's the annoyance. Whenever I connect ...
- 1,003
71
votes
3
answers
232k
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16 GB USB flash drive capacity down to 938 MB
After writing the FreeNAS IMG to a 16 GB USB flash drive, I can now only use 938 MB. I used the Win32 Disk Imager tool to write the IMG to the device. Then later, when I inserted the the USB drive ...
- 20.9k
58
votes
6
answers
75k
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How does Windows 7 licensing work for running the OS as Virtual Machines?
I plan on buying Windows 7 Ultimate Edition to run on an old Pentium 4. I also want to run Windows 7 virtual machines inside Windows 7. My question is two fold:
Do I need a license for each Virtual ...
- 3,104
49
votes
2
answers
109k
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Change Windows 7/8/10 system language - welcome screen, login, etc
Changing an admininstrator user language is pretty straight-forward, but it does not change the language of the Boot screen, Welcome screen, Login screen, etc...
Pretty much anything that's not on ...
- 1,511
44
votes
9
answers
49k
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Automatically login and lock
I want to configure Windows 7 to login automatically after the computer is switched on. That's not because I'm lazy and don't like typing passwords. That's because I want programs that are configured ...
- 1,933
22
votes
3
answers
34k
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How to diagnose Blue Screens in Windows 7 (64bit)
Using programs like WhoCrashed and BlueScreenView you can see the BSOD and the errors but how do you tell exactly what's causing the BSOD?
I'm not sure if it's because of bad hardware, bad driver ...
ritch0s
19
votes
5
answers
244k
views
Clean install of Windows 7 Pro 64-bit on a UEFI laptop with GPT partition?
I’m currently pulling out hairs about a problem with my wife’s new Samsung Book 9 laptop.
it comes preinstalled with Windows 8. She wants Windows 7 Pro.
I’ve board a Windows 7 Pro 64-bit for her and ...
- 981
6
votes
2
answers
15k
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4 GB of RAM installed but only 2.97 GB usable. What gives? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Where did the other .8 GB of RAM go?
I just bought a used MacBook on eBay that came installed with 4 GB of RAM. The first thing I did was installing Windows 7 using Boot ...
- 189
4
votes
1
answer
5k
views
Problems scheduling a task on windows7
I have trouble to schedule a task I wrote.
Basically I created a .bat file which executes an R script (script.R). When I double click the .bar file, it gets executed. I can see a result file and also ...
- 153
99
votes
10
answers
144k
views
Insert Unicode characters via the keyboard [duplicate]
I am familiar with inserting an ASCII character into a text document by using Alt + ASCII code on the numeric keypad keys (e.g., Alt+130 inserts an é character).
Is there a similar way to insert a ...
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71
votes
4
answers
39k
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Which special variables are available when writing a shell command for a context menu
When extending the Windows' shell context menu (e.g. for adding an 'Open command here' prompt on directories), a 'command' key needs to be created in the registry.
The value of this 'command' key ...
- 813
45
votes
6
answers
50k
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Why can't a 64 bit OS run a 16 bit application?
Why is it that:
a 32-bit OS, when installed on a 64-bit CPU, can run old 16-bit applications,
but if you install a 64-bit OS it can't run those applications directly and need some sort of emulation (...
Bob
42
votes
1
answer
180k
views
Attempting to Install MSU hotfixes results in "Searching for updates on this computer..." to last forever
I am attempting to install two hotfixes manually from Microsoft - one addresses the svchost.exe extreme memory usage problem, and the other addresses the slow Windows Update problem.
This system is a ...
- 1,031