Windows 7 Gotchas/Tips/FYI

ZeroHour · January 12, 2010

Here I will attempt to make a list of know Windows 7 gotchas/tips/fyi with solutions. Eventually it will be in the wiki but for now a sticky will do.

Post your gotchas/solutions here and I will edit this post and link to your post.

If you subscribe to this thread you will get updates/changes.

Please only post gotchas and not question/thanks (you can use the "Thanks" button instead on the post)

Windows 7 Gotcha/Tips/FYI List:

Edited September 9, 2010 by ZeroHour

ZeroHour · January 12, 2010

User Profile cant be loaded after deleting profile directory (roaming or local)

I found this issue and it drove me nuts for a while. Basically we use roaming profiles here and I was trying to simply reset the roaming accounts profile before logging onto Windows 7 again to test some changes with a fresh profile but every time I logged in the user was given a temporary profile. Event log little help saying there was a problem with a path. The server would have created a new profile dir but would not populate it.

The solution:

Error message when you log on to a Windows Vista-based or Windows 7-based computer by using a temporary profile: "The User Profile Service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded"

Basically Vista/Windows 7 stores the profile location of users that log in to it by default. After deleting the folder Windows couldnt handle the fact there was no profile and would error rather then recreating the profile. After I cleared those keys though normal service was resumed. I think if you turn the GP setting to remove roaming profiles though it will prevent this issue.

When viewing redirected folders share you may see many "My Documents"

When Windows sets up a new redirected My Documents it creates a hidden desktop.ini file which means that when you browse the share/location from Windows you may see a huge amount of folders called "My Documents"/"Documents" rather then the folder name it should be (e.g. \\server\share\username as the path could look like \\server\share\documents)

The folders are correctly named but when Windows sees the existance of the hidden desktop.ini in each directory it displays the folder as "My Documents"/"Documents" rather then the real folder name. This can happen with any special folder I believe such as Favourites.

The solution:

Remove the desktop.ini file in each my docs redirected folder. This can be done with script or using Group Policy Preferences. You can also redirect to a sub folder which hides the issue (e.g. redirect to \\server\share\username\documents\)

How to remove Windows 7 libraries, homegroup & network etc from explorer

Credit to EJWill for the ADM and solution

In Windows 7 microsoft added a few new explorer/my computer categories such as Libraries and Homegroup. If you want to disable these there is not many easy ways but here are some tips/steps that can remove the links you dont need.

The solution:

From Post:

Using Windows 7 with Group Policy Management installed or a 2008 Server. Navigate too:

User Configuration/Policies/Administrative Templates/Windows Components/Windows Explorer/

Enable Disable Known Folders and add the following:

{2112AB0A-C86A-4ffe-A368-0DE96E47012E} - Music Library

{491E922F-5643-4af4-A7EB-4E7A138D8174} - Videos Library

{7b0db17d-9cd2-4a93-9733-46cc89022e7c} - Documents Library

{A302545D-DEFF-464b-ABE8-61C8648D939B} - User Libraries Folder

{A990AE9F-A03B-4e80-94BC-9912D7504104} - Pictures Library

{031E4825-7B94-4dc3-B131-E946B44C8DD5} - Another reference to User Library

From Post (ADM FILE):

You will need to paste this into a txt file with the extension '.adm'.

ADM files go into %windir%\inf. Then when modifying a group policy, goto Computer Configuration/Policies. Right click on Administrative Templates and click Add/Remove Templates....

You should be able to browse for your adm in here and add it to your policy.

In 2008 Server, a new folder will be created called Classic Administrative Templates (ADM) within the Administrative Templates folder. This will contain the imported adm.

CLASS MACHINE

CATEGORY "Windows 7 Explorer Navigation Items"
POLICY "Hide Libraries"
	KEYNAME "Software\Classes\CLSID\{031E4825-7B94-4dc3-B131-E946B44C8DD5}\ShellFolder"
	VALUENAME Attributes
	VALUEON NUMERIC 2962227469
	VALUEOFF NUMERIC 2961178893
END POLICY
POLICY "Hide Homegroup"
	KEYNAME "Software\Classes\CLSID\{B4FB3F98-C1EA-428d-A78A-D1F5659CBA93}\ShellFolder"
	VALUENAME Attributes
	VALUEON NUMERIC 2962489612
	VALUEOFF NUMERIC 2961441036
END POLICY
POLICY "Hide Networking"
	KEYNAME "Software\Classes\CLSID\{F02C1A0D-BE21-4350-88B0-7367FC96EF3C}\ShellFolder"
	VALUENAME Attributes
	VALUEON NUMERIC 2962489444
	VALUEOFF NUMERIC 2953052260
END POLICY
POLICY "Hide Computer"
	KEYNAME "Software\Classes\CLSID\{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}\ShellFolder"
	VALUENAME Attributes
	VALUEON NUMERIC 2962489612
	VALUEOFF NUMERIC 2961441036
END POLICY
POLICY "Hide Favourites"
	KEYNAME "Software\Classes\CLSID\{323CA680-C24D-4099-B94D-446DD2D7249E}\ShellFolder"
	VALUENAME Attributes
	VALUEON NUMERIC 2839544064
	VALUEOFF NUMERIC 2693792000
END POLICY
POLICY "Hide Control Panel"
	KEYNAME "Software\Classes\CLSID\{26EE0668-A00A-44D7-9371-BEB064C98683}\ShellFolder"
	VALUENAME Attributes
	VALUEON NUMERIC 2693791748
	VALUEOFF NUMERIC 2684354564
END POLICY
END CATEGORY;

Edited January 12, 2010 by ZeroHour

RabbieBurns · January 13, 2010

How to Re-Enable the Quicklaunch:

Right Click on the superbar>Toolbars>New Toolbar.

Paste this into the window: "%appdata%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch" (without quotes) and OK. Next unlock the taskbar in the usual fashion and shimmy the quick launch bar to your preferred area.

Right click on the word Quick Launch and untick "Show text" and "Show title" and there you go.

(Credit: originofsymmetry)

Edited January 13, 2010 by ZeroHour

6Foot2 · January 21, 2010

Fix: The Welcome screen may be displayed for 30 seconds during the logon process after you set a solid color as the desktop background in Windows 7 or in Windows Server 2008 R2 Edited January 22, 2010 by 6Foot2
Adjust thread formatting.

Gatt · January 22, 2010

When viewing redirected folders share you may see many "My Documents"
When Windows sets up a new redirected My Documents it creates a hidden desktop.ini file which means that when you browse the share/location from Windows you may see a huge amount of folders called "My Documents"/"Documents" rather then the folder name it should be (e.g. \\server\share\username as the path could look like \\server\share\documents)
The folders are correctly named but when Windows sees the existance of the hidden desktop.ini in each directory it displays the folder as "My Documents"/"Documents" rather then the real folder name. This can happen with any special folder I believe such as Favourites.

The solution:
Remove the desktop.ini file in each my docs redirected folder. This can be done with script or using Group Policy Preferences. You can also redirect to a sub folder which hides the issue (e.g. redirect to \\server\share\username\documents\)

I think 2008 R2 now has a Policy Object that can be set to stop this from happening

http://www.moorsidehigh.com/img/gpo-redirection.PNG

I haven't tried it as I have already restructured to use ZH's solution.. but if someone wants to test it.. (tried Googling it, but just get the above GP Text!)

EJWill · January 25, 2010

Black Desktop Background after applying Desktop Background via Group Policy

Only tested in Windows 7 on a 2008 Server environment.

Group Policy that is set to change the users desktop background, can on some occassions be rendered black. Regardless of using Active Desktop or not.

For some of us that have experienced this annoying "Feature", I have come across a simple solution that solves this issue. Last I heard MS was creating a hotfix to sort this problem out.

Using Server 2008 style group policy preference settings we can modify the registry settings much more easily. You can create this registry setting by modifying the group policy directly on the 2008 server or using Win 7's Group Policy Management.

User/Computer configuration > Preferences > Windows Settings > Registry

Create an registry setting to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop and modify the value Wallpaper (Value type: REG_SZ) to the location of your background picture.

That should then display the desktop background correctly.

MS have released a hotfix for this: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/977944/en-gb which is included in windows 7 sp1.

*Thanks to accura2000 for the link

Edited September 9, 2010 by ZeroHour

6Foot2 · March 22, 2010

I haven't got past redirecting the Start Menu for our Students and Start Menu and Desktop for our Staff however this seemed interesting enough to post here:

...Many Microsoft customers deploy Roaming User Profiles. In fact, many combine Roaming User profiles and Folder Redirection to get the best experience possible. However, one of the drawbacks with Roaming User profiles is the user must logoff before their settings are uploaded to the server. Folder redirection solves this problem for any of the known folders within the user profile namespace, such as Documents, Music, or Downloads—the data is highly available without requiring a user logoff. Now, if this could only occur with user’s registry settings.

Windows 7 solves this problem by allowing the User Profile service to upload the user’s registry settings of a Roaming User profile while the user remains logged on to the computer, or terminal services session (provided the session is hosted on Windows Server 2008 R2).

You enabled this feature using Group Policy. The policy setting Background upload of a roaming user profile’s registry file while user is logged on, is located under Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\System\User Profiles. The policy setting offers two configuration settings: scheduled or interval. The scheduled method allows you to configure a time of day (represented on 24 hour time) at which to upload the user’s registry settings. The interval method allow you to choose a specific interval (represented in hours) at which to upload the user’s registry settings. This method accepts an interval range between 1 and 720 inclusively. Both settings include a random delay that does not exceed one hour.

http://blogs.technet.com/blogfiles/askds/WindowsLiveWriter/BackgrounduploadingofUserRegistrySetting_8F44/image_2.png

Background uploading only occurs with Roaming User profile. Also, background uploading does not alter uploading the entire profile when the user logs off. It is important to remember that background uploading only uploads the user’s registry settings (ntuser.dat).

Now those subtle changes made in the registry can be uploaded to the server while the user remains logged on.

Source: Background uploading of User Registry Settings

EJWill · April 26, 2010

Group Policy change Windows Explorer default opening location on Pinned/Start Menu (From Libraries to My Computer)

Currently the only way to change the default opening location is to manaully modify each user's shortcuts to point to my computer et al. If a new user logged on, the shortcuts for them would still default to Libraries.

The way i've worked around this is to store a copy of a modified Windows Explorer shortcut (%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe ::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}, which opens up my computer) in the netlogon location of my domain share.

Then I create a batch file called explorer-shortcut.bat (can be anything ofcourse).

@echo off
xcopy "\\school.local\NETLOGON\system\Windows Explorer.lnk" "C:\users\default\appdata\roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories" /y

(replace school.local with your domain name)

Next I set up a group policy and set the script to run as the computer is starting up, by going too Computer Configuration -> Policies (If you're using server 2008) -> Windows Settings -> Scripts -> Startup. Then add the batch file to the startup list.

What this does is copy the modified shortcut to the deault user on the Windows 7 pc, which is then used a basis for all new users that log on. Which also creates a copy in the Pinned Start Bar.

ZeroHour · August 23, 2010

Mixed Group Policy for users/PC's of both XP and Windows 7

The easiest way to do this is with WMI filters which allows you to have separate GP for XP desktops and Windows 7 desktops.

To do this:

Load GPMC
Browse the the "WMI Filters" subfolder under your domain
Right-click -> New
Type a name (XP or W7) and then click Add
Do not change the namespace

Enter

Select * from Win32_OperatingSystem Where Version like "6.1%" and ProductType = "1"

(Apply to Windows 7 Clients only)

Select * from Win32_OperatingSystem Where Version like "5.1%" and ProductType = "1"

(Apply to XP Clients Only)

Save the filter
Now browse to the policy you want to restrict to a certain OS
Click the Scope tab
Click the policy where its applied and you should see a drop down for WMI filters at the bottom, select the relevant client the policy is to apply to.
Now the policy will only apply when the client is w7 or xp

OS Version:

6.1 = W7/2008 R2

6.0 = Vista/2008

5.2 = 2003/2003 R2

5.1 = XP

5.0 = 200

Product Type:

Client = “1”

Server running a Domain Controller role = “2”

Member server (server that’s not a DC) = “3”

NOTE: This WMI filtering approach can be used for computer policy filtering as well (W7 & XP machines in the same OU)

Edited August 24, 2010 by ZeroHour

ZeroHour · September 1, 2010

IE8 Printing/Print Preview and JAVA dont work for users

* Original credit to Psymon for this post

IE8 will display/print blank pages rather then correctly formatted pages due to a lack of a "Low" folder being created in the "Local" area of the logged in profile.

This has also caused Java to crash the tab in my experience when it also was triggered on a web page.

MS KB Article: You cannot print or print preview Web pages in Internet Explorer on Windows Vista or on Windows 7

To Fix:

Basically you need to make a folder in c:\users\{username}\Appdata\local\temp called "Low" which then needs a special permission applied to it. Due to the fact this folder is flushed out at log out (roaming at least) you will have to do this each time someone logs in.

A slightly modified version of a bat script created by Psymon is below which can be used as a user logon script and it will automatically create and set the correct permissions on the folder on logon.

@ECHO off
If not exist %localappdata%\Temp\Low (
echo.
echo Creating Low Folder...
mkdir %localappdata%\Temp\Low
)
echo.
echo Apply Integrity Level...
echo.
ICACLS "%localappdata%\Temp\Low" /setintegritylevel (OI)(CI)low
exit

This has fixed Java and also the print/print preview issue for us.

ZeroHour · September 9, 2010

How to show all icons in the notification area (disable hidden items)

*Original Credit to Psymon

The setting is available in group policy, named "Turn of notification area cleanup". When set to enabled it expands to show all the system tray items.

User Configuration\Administartive Templates\Start Menu and Taskbar\Turn off notification area cleanup

*Original Credit to p-dave for this post giving the reg key.

Using GPP, logon script or default profile set the following registry entry to 0 to disable icon hiding.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\EnableAutoTray = 0

Edited October 7, 2010 by ZeroHour

Shuriken1 · October 29, 2010

If you have followed the excellent guides on here for removing the various items of the nav pane that you don't want people having access to (Libraries etc), you may end up in a situation where, after first logon, your users have an empty nav pane on the left-hand side of their explorer windows. To default Explorer to not showing the nav pane, modify the following registry key. I have this set on my common gpo for all win7 PC's:

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Modules\GlobalSettings\Sizer\PageSpaceControlSizer

I have my GPO updating that binary value to:

A000000000000010030000

It is that bold zero that is changed to a one when you enable the Nav pane in Organise > Layout > Navigation Pane.

Setting it to zero unticks it in that Explorer menu so it suggests that it is correct. Process Monitor didn't highlight any other keys being changed when I did it either, so I'm guessing that's it. The numbers later in the binary string, I'm guessing, dictate the actual size of your nav pane, so I guess they could be different.

Just thought someone might want to know.

Shuriken1.

6Foot2 · January 31, 2011

Our Help Desk support staff was really perplexed. They were getting hammered by phone calls whenever a print driver was updated and the Windows 7 clients attempted to upgrade the print driver. Windows XP clients had no problems upgrading, so obviously there was a UAC issue.

After doing some research a new setting was discovered that by default was set to require elevated permissions to install a new or upgraded print driver. To allow users to update or install a new driver there are two new gpo settings that need to be configured for your users.

Both reside at the following location:

Computer Configuration / Policies / Administratice Templates / Printers

When installing drivers for a new Connection: "Do not show warning or elevation prompt"

When updating drivers for an existing connection: "Do not show warning or elevation prompt"

By setting both vales as defined above, users will now be able to connect and update their workstations without a Help Desk support visit.

Link: Paul Bergson : Windows 7/Vista clients require elevated privileges to install or update a print driver

seahorse · February 8, 2011

Mouse Cursor will move very slowly or sluggishly as if being held back.

The cause is apparently due to secondary network adapters without a connection intermittently being checked for a live feed. This is found when you main board has a certain Intel NIC.

The sollution is to either connect a live network cable or disable the network adapter until it is needed. That and a possible driver update. The effect is imediate.

Long installation times or sluggish behavior in Windows 7 / 2008

seahorse · February 8, 2011

The "Desktop Wallpaper" Group Policy setting is not applied in Windows 7 or in Windows Server 2008 R2

In an Active Directory domain network environment, you apply a "Desktop Wallpaper" Group Policy setting to the domain users. However, the setting is not applied to domain users who log on to client computers that are running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2.

The "Desktop Wallpaper" Group Policy setting is not applied in Windows 7 or in Windows Server 2008 R2

FragglePete · February 8, 2011

Stop Them Chaning Timezones

Caught me out this did, notice a few of our Computers had odd time stamps on some of the logs we keep.

Group Policy > Computer Configuration > Policies > Windows Settings > Local Polices/User Rights Assignment

Set a user group permission that can change timezone on the 'Change the time zone' setting. (ie Administrators Only).

Utility built into Windows 7 called tzutil.exe that allows you to set a timezone with a script if required.

Pete

Mr.Ben · April 28, 2011

You encounter a long logon time (Hanging at 'Applying Folder Redirection Policy') after you enable the "Do not automatically make redirected folders available offline" Group Policy setting in Windows 7 or in Windows Server 2008 R2 (including SP1)

This occurs when:

You deploy the 'Do not automatically make redirected folders available offline Group Policy' setting in a network environment.

You redirect multiple folders on a client computer that is running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 to a file server.

There is a hotfix for this problem that solved the problem for me:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2525332

FragglePete · May 16, 2011

When computer is locked, you have no idea who is logged in and locked the computer.

If you take a look in: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Policies/System there is a key called 'dontdisplaylockeduserid' which is set to '3' be default.

Changing this to 2 will show the Display Name of the user currently logged in.

Changing this to 1 will show the Logon Name and Display Name of tje current user who is logged in.

The default value of '3' will not show who is logged in.

Pete

googlemad · August 2, 2011

When viewing redirected folders share you may see many "My Documents"
When Windows sets up a new redirected My Documents it creates a hidden desktop.ini file which means that when you browse the share/location from Windows you may see a huge amount of folders called "My Documents"/"Documents" rather then the folder name it should be (e.g. \\server\share\username as the path could look like \\server\share\documents)
The folders are correctly named but when Windows sees the existance of the hidden desktop.ini in each directory it displays the folder as "My Documents"/"Documents" rather then the real folder name. This can happen with any special folder I believe such as Favourites.

The solution:
Remove the desktop.ini file in each my docs redirected folder. This can be done with script or using Group Policy Preferences. You can also redirect to a sub folder which hides the issue (e.g. redirect to \\server\share\username\documents\)
[/code]

Could you provide a little bit of guidance doing this using GPP? Not really sure where it needs to go e.g. Computer / User configuration and how high up the tree it needs to be...

Our home dirs are \\fileserver\staff$\%username%

Thanks

Shuriken1 · August 3, 2011

Could you provide a little bit of guidance doing this using GPP? Not really sure where it needs to go e.g. Computer / User configuration and how high up the tree it needs to be...

Our home dirs are \\fileserver\staff$\%username%

Thanks

Hi Googlemad,

Set up a Group Policy object and go into User Configuration > Preferences >Windows Settings > Files. In there, add a new File rule by right-clicking on the empty list and selecting New > File. Choose action Delete. Then in the Delete files field, put (in your case) '\\fileserver\staff$\%username%\desktop.ini'.

You might need to go through and delete the files once but once that's enforced, it should stop the file being created and thus, fix the problem.

Hope that help,

Shuriken1.

Finch7 · November 23, 2011

Hi Googlemad,

Set up a Group Policy object and go into User Configuration > Preferences >Windows Settings > Files. In there, add a new File rule by right-clicking on the empty list and selecting New > File. Choose action Delete. Then in the Delete files field, put (in your case) '\\fileserver\staff$\%username%\desktop.ini'.

You might need to go through and delete the files once but once that's enforced, it should stop the file being created and thus, fix the problem.

Hope that help,

Shuriken1.

Alternatively, if you use multiple folders for the user areas (i.e. staff, 07, 08, 09 ect...) I did exactly the same as above but deleted H:\desktop.ini (all home drives are H:\ here) and make sure to tick the common option "run in logged on users security context" (user policy)

Chuckster · May 9, 2012

A great important tip...

You experience the following 2 Event IDs

Event ID 6005

The winlogon notification subscriber is taking long time to handle the notification event (CreateSession).

Followed later with the Event ID 6006

The winlogon notification subscriber took xxx second(s) to handle the notification event (CreateSession).

This occurs if you're stuck at the Applying Computer Settings

Simply disabling (or setting it to Not Configured) "Run logon scripts synchronously” cures the problem.

This is found under Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\System\Scripts

Chuckster · May 9, 2012

You experience the following 2 Event IDs

Event ID 6005

The winlogon notification subscriber is taking long time to handle the notification event (CreateSession).

Followed later with the Event ID 6006

The winlogon notification subscriber took xxx second(s) to handle the notification event (CreateSession).

This occurs if you're stuck at the Applying Computer Settings screen prior to logging on.

Simply disabling (or setting it to Not Configured) "Run logon scripts synchronously” cures the problem.

This is found under Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\System\Scripts

sonofsanta · July 6, 2012

This one just caught me out for a few minutes.

If you are using a redirected Start Menu, and you want to allow users to pin shortcuts to the Start Menu themselves, your shortcuts must all reside inside the Programs folder of your redirected Start Menu folder. Given the layout of the Start Menu in Windows 7 everything displays as if it were in the Programs folder anyway; but any items not in this folder will not display Pin to Start Menu on the context menu.

The rest of your GPO settings have to allow this as well, of course.

earlyriser · August 21, 2012

So do I need to do both things? Disable Known Folders AND the ADM file? I've tried each individually, and the ADM file did remove the libraries feature from the navigation bar, but NOT from the open or save dialog boxes. Any help appreciated

Windows 7 Gotchas/Tips/FYI

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