Windows 10

This category contains posts about Microsoft’s latest Operating System – Windows 10.Windows 10’s always been interesting, as every new major update will usually include additional features.

Remove BitLocker Encryption from a drive via Windows 10/11 Home Edition

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remove bitlocker encryption in home edition

BitLocker is a full-volume encryption feature included with Microsoft Windows. Unfortunately, windows Home Editions don’t have BitLocker Drive Encryption (BDE). However, suppose you have a hard drive that’s already encrypted using BDE. In that case, Windows 11/10 Home Edition can use the drive if the user has the 48-digit BitLocker recovery password or the recovery key.

The “Manage BitLocker” Control Panel applet doesn’t exist in Windows 10/11 Home Edition. Still, you can unlock that drive and disable BDE on a device running any edition, including Windows 10 Home using the command-line tool named manage-bde.exe.

remove bitlocker encryption in home edition

This article tells how to unlock a BDE-encrypted drive and remove the BitLocker Drive Encryption from a drive using Windows 11/10 Home Edition. Of course, this assumes that you have the BDE encryption key/48-digit recovery password.Read more

[Fix] File History “The parameter is incorrect” Error

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file history not working - element not found error

File History may have been working all these years correctly. But, of late, you may have noticed that File History backups stopped working even though the File History settings page says the feature is turned on.

To make it work again, users may attempt to clean up old versions of File History backups to free up the disk space. However, doing so may cause the error “The parameter is incorrect.” Here’s the full error message verbatim:

File History Cleanup

Could not clean up File History data

The parameter is incorrect.

file history not working - element not found errorRead more

Photos App Freezes When Importing Pictures from iPhone/Android or Camera

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import photos freezes

When you attempt to import photos from your iPhone/Android mobile or your camera using the built-in Photos app, the Photos app may freeze in the middle of the transfer. The import wizard may stall after displaying the number of photos on your mobile/camera.

import photos freezes

This issue occurs especially when there are a large number of images on your mobile or camera.

In some cases, you receive the following error (when importing photos from your iPhone:)

Something went wrong. Your files might not have been imported. Try again.

Read more

[Fix] Error “Windows Photo Viewer can’t display this picture”

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windows photo viewer cannot display image - not enough memory - icc profile metadata

When you try to preview an image file (JPEG/PNG) using Windows Photo Viewer, the preview would be blank and the following error message is displayed:

Windows Photo Viewer can't display this picture because there might not be enough memory available on your computer. Close some programs that you aren't using or free some hard disk space (if it's almost full), and then try again.

windows photo viewer cannot display image - not enough memory - icc profile metadata

It’s a misleading error message, as in most cases, it may not have anything to do with the system memory. The Windows Photo Viewer error is caused due to color profile metadata (ICC_Profile) embedded into the JPG image(s).

(You can reproduce the issue by transferring images from your Android/iOS mobile and previewing the image using Windows Photo Viewer on your computer. Another possibility is that your system has multiple video cards and the issue happens on the secondary graphics card only. Switching over to the primary video card may resolve the error.)

However, other utilities like IrfanView, GIMP, or the built-in/modern Photos app would be able to open the image correctly. This issue is limited to Windows Photo Viewer (and perhaps Windows Live Photo Gallery) only.Read more

How to Recover Deleted Files Using Windows File Recovery (WFR)

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windows file recovery - store app from Microsoft

Did you accidentally delete an important file? Have you wiped clean your hard drive? Unsure of what to do with corrupted data? Windows File Recovery can help recover your personal data.

Windows File Recovery (WFR) is a command-line app from Microsoft. It can help you recover lost files deleted from your local storage device (including internal drives, external drives, and USB devices) that cannot be restored from the Recycle Bin.Read more

“Turn on fast startup” option missing in Windows 11/10

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fast startup option missing

Fast Startup is a feature in Windows 8/10/11 that speeds up the boot process significantly. With the Fast Startup feature enabled, when the user shuts down the computer, what happens under the hood is a hybrid shutdown sequence.

However, on some computers, the Fast Startup and Hibernate features will be missing. When you open Power Options in the classic Control Panel, the “Turn on fast startup (recommended)” option may be missing.Read more

How to Disable Preview for Certain File Types in Explorer Preview Pane

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disable preview for selected file type

The preview pane in File Explorer shows you the preview for various file types in Windows 10 and Windows 11. Windows comes with a built-in set of preview handlers. In addition, third-party applications add their own handlers that can generate previews for their proprietary file types.

disable preview for selected file type

Windows allows you to turn on or off previews by enabling or disabling “Show preview handlers in preview pane” in Folder Options.

You may want to disable preview generation for a specific file type to improve performance. But, there is no built-in setting to disable preview generation (in the preview pane) for chosen file types. However, there is a handy tool that can accomplish the task.

This article tells you how to disable preview for certain file types in the Explorer preview pane.Read more