This tutorial will show you how to check the current health, SMART status, temperature, and estimated remaining life of drives in Windows 11.
S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology; often written as SMART) is a monitoring system included in computer hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives (SSDs), and eMMC drives. Its primary function is to detect and report various indicators of drive reliability with the intent of anticipating imminent hardware failures.
Reference:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/what-to-do-about-a-critical-warning-for-a-storage-device-258e0042-e091-277d-5fa6-3c710fba70d7
Option One: Check Health and SMART Status of NVMe SSD Drives in Settings
Option Two: Check Health and...
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Enable or Disable Drop Tray in Windows 11
This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable the Drop Tray feature for all users in Windows 11.- Brink
- Replies: 7
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Transfer Files and Settings to New Windows 11 PC using Windows Backup app
This tutorial will show you how to transfer your files, settings, and preferences from your previous (old) Windows 10/11 PC to your new Windows 11 PC during Windows Setup.- Brink
- Replies: 3
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Disable Automatic Windows Updates in Windows 11
This tutorial will show you how to disable Windows Update from automatically downloading and installing updates in Windows 10 and Windows 11.- Brink
- Replies: 33
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Enable or Disable Hidden Feature Flags in Windows 11
This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable hidden experimental feature flags in Windows 11.- Brink
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Create Windows 11 Bootable USB Installation Media
This tutorial will show you how to create a bootable USB flash drive used to install Windows 11 with UEFI support.- Brink
- Replies: 164
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Add or Remove "Learn about this picture" Desktop icon
This tutorial will show you how to add or remove the "Learn about this picture" desktop icon when using Windows Spotlight as your desktop background for your account in Windows 11 and Windows 10.- Brink
- Replies: 42
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Use SFC to Repair System Files in Windows 11
This tutorial will show you how to run the System File Checker (SFC) tool to repair missing, corrupted, and modified system files in Windows 10 and Windows 11.- Brink
- Replies: 25
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Download Official Windows 11 ISO file from Microsoft
This tutorial will show you how to download an official Windows Server ISO or Windows 11 64-bit or ARM64 ISO file from Microsoft.- Brink
- Replies: 607
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Repair Install Windows 11 with an In-place Upgrade
This tutorial will show you how to do a repair install of Windows 11 by performing an in-place upgrade without losing anything.- Brink
- Replies: 383
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Clean Install Windows 11
This tutorial will show you step by step on how to clean install Windows 11 at boot on your PC with or without an Internet connection and setup with a local account or Microsoft account.- Brink
- Replies: 302
Tutorials
Windows 11 tutorials, tricks, tips, and guides.
This tutorial will show you how to find the manufacturer, model, serial number, and version details of the motherboard in Windows 10 and Windows 11.
A motherboard is the main printed circuit board (PCB) used to connect all the parts of a computer together. The CPU, memory, hard drives, and other ports and expansion cards all connect to the motherboard directly or via cables.
You need to know the brand (manufacturer) and model (product) of the motherboard to look up its specs for which components it supports.
Knowing the motherboard version number can be helpful when looking for BIOS firmware updates from the manufacturer's support site.
The motherboard serial number allows the manufacturer to identify a product and get additional...
This tutorial will show you how to find the size (GB), speed (MHz), and type (DDR4) of system memory (RAM) you have on a Windows 11 PC.
Sometimes you may need or want to know how much, the speed, and what type of system memory (RAM) you have installed in your PC without having to open the case or install third party software.
Windows 11 minimum system requirements for RAM (memory) is 4 GB.
Reference:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/memory/memory-limits-for-windows-releases
Option One: Find RAM/Memory Size in Settings
Option Two: Find RAM/Memory Size and Speed in Task Manager
Option Three: Find RAM/Memory Size in System Information
Option Four: Find RAM/Memory Size in DirectX Diagnostic Tool
Option Five: Find...
This tutorial will show you how to find what GPU or graphics card you have on a Windows 11 PC.
A Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) is a single-chip processor primarily used to manage and boost the performance of video and graphics.
A graphics card (also called a display card, video card, display adapter, or graphics adapter) is an expansion card which generates a feed of output images to a display device (such as a computer monitor). Frequently, these are advertised as discrete or dedicated graphics cards, emphasizing the distinction between these and integrated graphics. At the core of both is the graphics processing unit (GPU), which is the main part that does the actual computations, but should not be confused as the video card as a...
This tutorial will show you how to add (assign) or remove (unassign) mount point folder paths for a drive or volume in Windows 10 and Windows 11.
You can mount (make a drive accessible) in a folder rather than a drive letter if you want. This makes the drive appear as just another folder.
When you mount an internal or external drive in an empty folder, you will be able to access the contents of the drive from the path of the folder. The contents of the drive will still physically be located on the drive. Anything you save into this folder will actually be saved to the drive.
You can mount a drive or volume with or without a drive letter as an empty folder.
You can use this folder's path to save, copy, move, etc... to the drive...
This tutorial will show you how to change a drive letter in Windows 11.
A drive letter is a single alphabetic character A through Z that has been assigned by Windows to a physical drive or drive partition connected to the computer to reference the drive by.
If you don't like the drive letter assigned to a drive, you can change it.
References:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/storage/disk-management/change-a-drive-letter
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-server/backup-and-storage/restore-system-boot-drive-letter
You must be signed in as an administrator to change a drive letter.
If you change the drive letter of a drive where Windows or apps are installed, apps might have trouble running or finding...
This tutorial will show you different ways to rename a drive or volume label to what you want in Window 11.
A volume label is the friendly name for a connected drive or volume.
An internal drive will usually be assigned Local Disk as its volume label by default.
A USB flash drive will usually be assigned USB Drive as its volume label by default.
A NTFS or ReFS volume label can be up to 32 characters in length, including spaces. NTFS volume labels retain and display the case that was used when the label was created. A FAT volume label can only be up to 11 characters in length.
You must be signed in as an administrator to rename a drive or volume.
You cannot change the name of a CD/DVD drive.
Option One: Rename Drive or Volume...
This tutorial will show you how to change the name of a printer in Windows 11.
When you install a printer in Windows, the manufacturer name and model number is often used as the printer name by default.
You can rename the printer to any name you like though.
You must be signed in as an administrator to rename a printer.
If you rename a shared printer, existing connections to this printer from other computers will break and will have to be created again for the new name.
Option One: Rename Printer in Settings
Option Two: Rename Printer in Properties
Option Three: Rename Printer in PowerShell
Rename Printer in Settings
This option is only available starting with Windows 11 build 26080 (Canary and Dev).
1 Open Settings (Win+I)...
This tutorial will show you how to set a default printer for your account in Windows 11.
A default printer is the printer that all print jobs are sent to by default unless otherwise specified.
Reeference:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/set-a-default-printer-in-windows-e10cf8b8-e596-b102-bf84-c41022b5036f
Option One: Set Default Printer in Settings
Option Two: Set Default Printer in Command Prompt
Set Default Printer in Settings
1 Open Settings (Win+I).
2 Click/tap on Bluetooth & devices on the left side, and click/tap on Printers & scanners on the right side. (see screenshot below)
Open Printers & scanners settings
3 Turn off Let Windows manage my default printer to be able to manually set a default printer...
This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off let Windows manage the default printer for your account in Windows 11.
Windows makes your default printer the last printer you used by default. This helps ensure the best printer is preselected in inbox print dialogs.
Reference:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/set-a-default-printer-in-windows-e10cf8b8-e596-b102-bf84-c41022b5036f
If you turn off Let Windows manage my default printer, you can manually set your default printer.
Option One: Turn On or Off Let Windows Manage Default Printer in Settings
Option Two: Turn On or Off Let Windows Manage Default Printer using REG file
Turn On or Off Let Windows Manage Default Printer in Settings
1 Open Settings (Win+I).
2...
This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off show notification if there are issues connecting a USB device for your account in Windows 11.
Windows will show a notification if there are issues connecting a USB device by default.
Reference:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/usbcon/usb-type-c-troubleshooting-notifications
Option One: Turn On or Off Notification if Issues Connecting USB in Settings
Option Two: Turn On or Off Notification if Issues Connecting USB using REG file
Turn On or Off Notification if Issues Connecting USB in Settings
1 Open Settings (Win+I).
2 Click/tap on Bluetooth & devices on the left side, and click/tap on USB on the right side. (see screenshot below)
Open USB settings...
This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off show notification if this PC is charging slowly over USB for your account in Windows 11.
If you charge your PC battery over USB, you might get a notification that says your PC is charging slowly.
This may happen if you’re using a charger that didn’t come with your device.
Starting with Windows 11 build 25252, Microsoft updated the battery icon’s tooltip to let you know if your device is charging slowly.
Starting with Windows 11 build 26052 (Canary and Dev), Microsoft adjusted the text in the notification when a PC detects a slow charger.
References...
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