Category: Windows 8

Wireless instability

I upgraded to a (hand me down) Dell Latitude E6530 not long ago.  I loaded it with Windows 8.1 (and Classic Shell, because one must).  I kept having wireless trouble – dropping off of networks.  It wasn’t isolated to my home.  What I believe I’ve determined is that, in a nutshell, Windows handling of N networks kind of sucks.  I disabled N and since then have been rock solid.

Navigate to your network adapters, right click on the wireless and choose Properties.  Beneath the adapter description choose Configure:

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Choose the Advanced tab, then locate 802.11n Mode.  Switch the Value to Disabled and OK  your way out of all.

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Windows 8 net shares: “An extended error has occurred,” “System error 2148073478”

So if you attempt to path to a share (eg: \\10.92.22.44\myshare) and are met with An extended error has occurred, or you use a DIR command with a network path and receive Invalid Signature, or your NET USE attempt is met with System error 2148073478 has occurred, here’s a fix.  Turn off required secure negotiation.  Copy the following into a text file and name it whateveryouwantto.reg.

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Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanWorkstation\Parameters]
"RequireSecureNegotiate"=dword:00000000

Double click the file to insert into the registry.

Or if you like, add it manually: open regedit and path to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanWorkstation\Parameters.  Create a DWORD value named RequireSecureNegotiate and leave it set to the default 00000000.

Windows 8 – Classic Shell and the Auto Reboot Irritation

I’ve moved on to Windows 8 on my primary laptop and desktop because, well, time marches on. Microsoft did well with 7. 8, not so much. 9 will probably be better. But I have to admit that things seem peppier on 8, especially my virtualbox vms. That may just be the byproduct of a fresh build though.

Two things I absolutely have to do with a fresh 8 install are to wrest control of the UI from the poorly conceived desktop-for-a-tablet, and stop the damned thing from force rebooting after updates.

When it comes to the UI, Classic Shell is your savior. And it’s free! Can’t recommend it enough.

Stopping the auto-reboot is a simple reg hack. In the editor, head to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU

Create the dword value NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers with a hexi value of 1. Or even easier, slap the below into a text file, rename it .reg and double click it to insert into the registry:

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Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU]
"NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers"=dword:00000001