Walker News » Howto

How To Download Original Windows 7 ISO Image And Official SHA1 Checksum?

Walker — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 15:53:37 +0000

Let’s say you have a genuine Windows 7 product key and a damaged Windows 7 DVD (or later the Windows 7 SP1 ISO image that you haven’t own except the faulty pre-service pack DVD).

Without a TechNet subscription, you might think of getting Windows 7 ISO image from unofficial sites or P2P networks. But, how to prove that is original untouched Windows 7 ISO image?

Well, if we believe that everything on TechNet website is trustful and free of errata, then you can confirm the Windows 7 ISO image file integrity by comparing the image file SHA1 / CRC checksum calculated by your favorite Windows file verification software (e.g. HashCheck Shell Extension or digestIT 2004) with the official checksum published on TechNet site – if matched, then the ISO image is considered genuine, clean, not tampered :-):

Actually, why can’t Microsoft open the access of official Windows 7 ISO image download link to general public since it is secured by product key and activation, just like Office 2010?

Hotkey To Select Alternate Boot Drive Of VMware Virtual Machine

Walker — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 15:42:10 +0000

There is a hotkey or keyboard shortcut to select alternate boot devices of VMware virtual machine via Boot Menu, i.e. without having to change default boot drive in BIOS of the said VM.

Again, however, if the VMware software (in my test case, this is VMware Server 2.0.2) is running on a powerful host, it will be hard to send the hotkey successfully to virtual machine during its boot-up process (as the time for it to accept keyboard shortcut lapses at a glimpse):

If you’re fast and the virtual machine can senses the ESC keypress for Boot Menu, then you’ll see this alternate boot devices selection:

Otherwise, refers to previous post on how to configure VMware virtual machine to automatically boots into BIOS setup screen. Have fun.

How To Rename Virtual Machine On VMware Server 2?

Walker — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 14:10:19 +0000

Ever wonder how to change the name of an existing virtual machine on VMware Server 2.0.2? Well, it is always not too hard, if you have to give the virtual name a new name that describe it better :-)

1) Connect to VMware Server 2 with your favorite web browser.

Says the VMware Server v2 is running on remote host with IP 192.168.1.111 and default setup, then points the web browser to:

https://192.168.1.111:8333/ui/#

2) After login, click to select the virtual machine of interested in the Inventory pane on the left:

3) On the right pane, look for Commands module and select “Configure VM”.

3) In the VM Configuration dialog box, go to General tab and there you can change the virtual machine name. After clicking OK button, the old name on Inventory pane automatically refreshed to new one, as seen on Win7-IE8.

How To Boot VMware Virtual Machine Into BIOS Setup Screen?

Walker — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 12:20:46 +0000

Similar to a physical IBM-compatible PC, it is possible to access VMware virtual machine BIOS configuration utility, if you have to do so.

Using VMware Server 2.0.2 Build 203138 as reference, there are two ways to boot its virtual machine into Phoenix BIOS Setup Utility mode:

Manually press F2 to enter BIOS setup

The chance you won’t get this work is high if VMware Server 2 is running on a high performance machine :-)

As shown, you can press F2 shortly after the virtual machine powered on or soon after it boots up.

Auto boot into BIOS setup mode on next machine boot

This great alternative allows one to access the virtual machine BIOS utility at ease.

The configuration set virtual machine to automatically boots into BIOS setup screen on next boot-up (once only):

1) Uses web browser to connect and login to VMware Server 2.

2) On the left pane is Inventory (of virtual machines). Click on the one of interested to select it. Next, at the right pane, locate Commands module and choose “Configure VM”:

3) After the VM Configuration dialog box appears, go to Power tab and look for “Bios Setup” – there is an option that said “Enter the BIOS setup screen the next time this virtual machine boots”.

Tick the check-box and click OK button to save settings. Reboot or power on the said virtual machine and wait for the result :-)

How To Use SC Command To Disable Windows 7 Beep Sound?

Walker — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 16:18:37 +0000

Yes, it is certainly possible to just turn off or disable Windows 7 beep tone service without mute the System Sounds entirely as what was described in previous post.

Here, you need to type a bit instead of using mouse click. The sc program bundled with Windows 7 (as well as earlier Windows OS) allows one to interact and configure Windows service on command prompt:

Open an elevated command prompt window to execute the following sc command examples.

To check current configuration of beep sound service (as shown in the screenshot above):

sc qc beep

To check current status of beep tone service:

sc query beep

To temporarily disable / turn off Windows 7 beep sound:

sc stop beep

For permanent solution, i.e. to turn off or disable the Windows 7 beep tone persistently across each reboot:

sc config beep start= disabled

Again, I suggest disabling it temporarily whenever it is disgusting or annoying. If you find it reasonable to turn it off permanently, just do so with the sc command instead of breaking the system speaker physically :-)

Customize Windows 7 Control Panel To Display All Icons Or Applets

Walker — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 17:25:39 +0000

How could you customize the Windows 7 Control Panel appearance so that all available icons or applets can be seen at one glance?

If not mistaken, the default Control Panel layout in Windows 7 and Windows Vista is arranged by categories. Well, this view could be best or better for some users, definitely not to all.

Personally, I prefer the classic view as the one I used to see in Windows 95. If you like that too, there is an option to easily switch between category view and classic view:

Yes, that easy – just set the “view by” option on top-right corner to either “large icons” or “small icons” will do.

How To Turn Off Or Disable Windows 7 Beep Sound?

Walker — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:57:33 +0000

There is an easy way to turn off the beep sound in Windows 7, if you find it annoying. For example, the beep tone is disturbing and unnecessary while using Putty via Citrix.

I hate the beep tone that caught everyone’s attention whenever the backspace key pressed accidentally as I am using Putty program in Citrix environment.

Knowing that I might need it occasionally, but definitely not during the Citrix session, so I find this graphical way to turn it on and off at wish, instead of disable the beep sound permanently:

Uses Volume Mixer to disable beep sound in Windows 7

This is perhaps the easiest trick if the little sound control appears in Notification Area (previously known as System Tray).

Right click the speaker icon and select “Open Volume Mixer”.

In the Volume Mixer dialog box, you can lower down or mute the “System Sounds” volume only without affecting other volume controls, e.g. music can still play aloud, voice chat via Windows Live Messenger or Skype is still as usual, etc.