Apr 6, 2009

How To Avoid BSOD 0x7B When Moving Hard Disk From One Machine to Another

Windows 2000 and XP produces a blue-screen of 0x7b after you transfer a Disk from one motherboard to another. The reason for it, is the difference in the IDE Disk controller.
Windows will only boot successfully using the same IDE controller of the same manufacturer (i.e. Intel, VIA etc..). It’s not that the Windows plug’n'play mechanism can’t handle the change, but that Microsoft doesn’t really want us to take one Windows from an old system and move in to a new one. so logically it is programmed to produce an error message.
To successfully make the change, you have 3 options to choose from:
  1. Run a Repair installation to make Windows reinstall on its hardware.
  2. Find a new motherboard that contains a chipset from the same manufacturer.
  3. Run the following cool procedure…. :))
Thankfully, there’s a working workaround straight from Microsoft’s Knowledgebase (KB314082). What we will basically do is to tell Windows that it already “knows” all of the generic IDE types from all vendors. that way, when it will boot up, it will only install the new hardware and not refuse to boot because it is missing the old one.
The procedure described in the article takes you through extracting some drivers from the I386 and importing some registry data from a text file to the system.
But as you all already knows- I like Automation!!
so I’ve writen a script called UpdateIDE that checks whether you run it on a Win2000/XP/2003 and does the patching needed for the HD relocation.
What you basically need to do is:
1. Run the script while the disk is still installed on the original machine.
2. Shutdown, Relocate the disk to the new system & boot.
3. Windows will do it’s hardware recognition magic and you’re up & running :)
While working in Microsoft’s IT team back in 2002, I’ve used this tool to create a master Ghost image that I could deploy on all the laptops brands & models we’ve had to support.
But What Can I do if my old Motherboard is Dead?
If you can’t run the script on your original machine beforehand, we’ll have to you another working system.
1. we’ll connect the drive as a secondary disk on a working machine (so it will appear as drive “D” for example….)
2. we will have to make the file copying manually. according to your Windows version (2K/XP), copy & rename these 4 files as follows:
  • atapi.xp –> d:\windows\system32\driver\atapi.sys
  • pciide.xp –> d:\windows\system32\driver\pciide.sys
  • pciidex.xp –> d:\windows\system32\driver\pciidex.sys
  • intelide.xp –> d:\windows\system32\driver\intelide.sys
* The d: stands for the drive letter as it appears on your system.
3. Using RegEdit, we will load the System hive of the drive we’ve connected, and we will import the registry data to it.
a. open RegEdit, stand on Local Machine.
b. in the File menu choose “Load Hive”. now browse and select the file:
d:\windows\system32\config\system.name it as “OldSys”. it will now appear as another hive in Regedit.
c. to import the registry data found in the file Merge.xp (or merge.2k) we will first need to update it to fit the new situation:
Open the file Merge.xp using Notepad. Run a Find & Replace from “\SYSTEM\” to “\OldSys\”
Now save the file as: Merge.reg
Double-click on it to make the actual import process.
d. when finished, stand on the “OldSys” hive and choose “Unload Hive” from the File menu.
That’s it! now replace the drive into your new system and boot to victory!
Note: if you’re changing your system from and old IDE drive to a brand new SATA drive, this procedure can only work if your Bios can turn off the “SATA Native mode” and emulate it to be recognized as an IDE drive.

Apr 5, 2009

Default Passwords of Hardware Devices

The following sites keeps a database of the default username+passwords that are originaly used by the manufacturers of different hardware devices.
you can use it to find out how to login to an unknown router or wireless-AP you found. there's always the chance that the original password was replaced but you can usually to a reset procedure by pressing an external button for a few seconds to flush the user settings and restore factory-defaults.
note the security risk that comes from keeping the original passwords unchanged!!
the list:

Apr 1, 2009

Office 2003 Activation Wizard disappears when you use the telephone option to activate a Microsoft Office 2003 license

The Microsoft Office 2003 Activation Wizard disappears when you use the telephone option to activate a Microsoft Office 2003 license.

To resolve this behavior, follow these steps:
  1. Click Start, and then click Run.
  2. In the Open box, type the following location:
  3. Click OK.
  4. In the Windows Explorer Data folder, click Folder Options on the Tools menu, and then click the View tab.
  5. Under Advanced settings, click to select the Show Hidden Files and Folders option, click to clear the Hide Extensions for Known File Types check box, and then click OK.
  6. Right-click the opa11.dat file, and then click Delete.
  7. Close the Data folder, and then start any Office 2003 program to start the Office 2003 Activation Wizard.
Reference: MS-KB 875452


Download the file and extract the Outlook PST files.


Download: OutlookHolidays2010.rar

Windows Mobile: Fix Daylight Saving causing appointments appear in the wrong hour

After the change of clock to the Daylight-Saving appointments might show a one hour difference in the mobile calendar between Outlook calendar.
use the following fix to update the Windows Mobile device.
this fix was provided by Microsoft Israel - read provided readme file for more details.

Download: MobileDaylight2008.rar

Outlook: How to open blocked attachments in Outlook like VBS, MSI etc..

for obvious security risks, Outlook by default block certains risky file extensions.
the lists of block file types are:


you can unblock it by using the following tweaks:
Office 2003: Out2k3 Dis_AttachBlock
Office 2007: Out2k7 Dis_AttachBlock

Close Outlook.
Download and run.
Run Outlook.

Office: How to change the Office Serial / Key after installation

Use the following Scripts to force Office to pop-up a wizard for replacing your serial.
you can use this method to fix the the Office Genuine Update warnings by replacing the bad serial with a new genuine one.

Close all running Office Applications, Download and run the script.
Office 2003: ReplaceOfficeSerial2003
Office 2007: ReplaceOfficeSerial2007
Afterwards, open an Office application, like word, and a wizard will come-up asking for a serial.
Note: you can use this method manually for different products from the Office family (like Visio, Publisher etc.) just open RegEdit and goto:
"HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Office\{Office GUID}\Registration\"
then delete the "DigitalProductID" and the "ProductID" values.

It works like magic!

Outlook: How to minize Outlook to the system tray

Download and run this: MinToTrayOutlook.reg

This tweak will affect Outlook 2002/2003.

Office: How to disable the annoying Clipboard Manager in the SysTray

Download and run: DisableClipboardMgr.reg


Outlook Error when opening TIF Attachment files




1. Use REGEDIT.EXE to locate the following key:



(Note: There may be a different number than 177)


3. Restart Microsoft Outlook.

Credit goes to JacksonTechnical

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