registry

Install MSI Packages With Logging via the Right-Click Menu

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.msi with logging context menu - registry

When a software installation that uses the Windows Installer Package fails, you enable Windows Installer logging and re-run the setup to capture the output to a log file for troubleshooting. Logging can be done using the Registry Editor, the Group Policy Editor, or the msiexec.exe command with the required parameters.

The first two methods are documented in the article How to Enable Windows Installer Logging. The third method uses the msiexec.exe command-line parameter. Here is an example:

msiexec /l*v "%temp%\verbose.log" /i "C:\Users\Ramesh\Downloads\7z465-x64.msi"

This starts the 7-Zip .msi installation (7z465-x64.msi) and records all the results, including verbose output, to a log file named verbose.log in the %TEMP% folder.

Do you find it difficult to type the entire command-line every time you need to log application setups? You can implement this in the context menu for .msi files to launch the installation with verbose logging.Read more

Fix Error “There was a problem starting PhotoViewer.dll” When Editing Image Files in Windows 7

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After upgrading your Windows Vista computer to Windows 7, when you right-click on a JPG/JPEG image and click Edit, the following error message may appear:

There was a problem starting C:\Program Files\Windows Photo Gallery\PhotoViewer.dll

The specified module could not be found.

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How to Increase the Taskbar Thumbnail Preview Size in Windows 7, 8 and 10

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Until last week I was thinking that increasing the taskbar thumbnail window size is not possible natively in Windows 7 (and Windows Vista). After doing a bit of hacking around the registry, I found that Windows 7 has the ability to increase the thumbnail preview size natively, plus much more, through registry edits which I’m … Read more

How to Disable Full Row Select in Explorer in Windows 7?

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I’m writing this article specifically for Windows 7, because the FullRowSelect registry value that you used in Windows Vista, doesn’t work in Windows 7. (REF: Enable or Disable Full Row Select feature in Explorer in Windows Vista). After some of our readers reported that setting FullRowSelect to 0 doesn’t do anything in Windows 7, I decided to have a look at this issue. Playing with different bitmask values, I finally got what I wanted – to disable full row select feature in Windows Explorer (Details mode) in Windows 7, but with a minor side-effect which is explained in the later part of the article.Read more

How to Find Current Wallpaper (Desktop Background) File Location in Windows 7

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Desktop Background Slideshow is a neat little feature in Windows 7 which helps you shuffle your desktop background from a image file store folder, at predefined intervals. But, as Windows doesn’t show the file name of the currently displayed wallpaper, it becomes a problem if you have thousands of images in a store folder and you need to find the file name and the directory location of the currently displayed wallpaper.

Here is a small script which adds the Desktop Background File Location option in the Desktop context menu, which opens the current wallpaper file’s target folder and selects the file.Read more

How to Add UAC Shield Icon for a Right-Click Menu Item in Windows

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Most users customize the right-click menu by adding additional verbs in the registry in order to launch programs or scripts. Windows 7 (and higher) lets you add the UAC Shield icon for static context menu items. If a verb you add to the right-click menu launches a program which runs elevated by default, then it’s a good idea to add the UAC shield icon so that users know that the task requires elevation.Read more

Fix for Desktop Icons Layout Not Getting Saved Upon Restarting Windows

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Windows saves the desktop icon layout when the user logs off, and the setting is read during logon. Recently I came across a case where the desktop icons rearrange to their default positions after a restart or logoff/login cycle.

This turned out to be a Permissions issue with a registry key, which kept Windows from writing to it. Here are some fixes for this issue, which apply to all versions of Windows, including Windows 10.Read more