Windows 8.1 issues and fixes

[ronvp 92]

Thought I start a thread to consolidate Windows 8.1 upgrade issues.

 

Issue 1: Windows store not starting:  Basically, the store starts, shows the green screen and then immediately exits. There are many discussions for this on the web, but for me the only one that worked was running a powershell script to re-register the the store app:

 

Type Win key +r and paste the following to

 

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register $Env:SystemRoot\WinStore\AppxManifest.xml

 

 

[Starkadius 219]

Remove the “Folders” From This PC in Windows 8.1

 

 

 

Note: Make a backup of your registry or locations mentioned before continuing

 

1. Press Win key +r and type "regedit" then press enter
    
2. Navigate to the following two locations
   
   -HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\
   -HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace
    
3. Delete the following keys in both locations
   
   

   Desktop Folder – {B4BFCC3A-DB2C-424C-B029-7FE99A87C641}

   Documents Folder – {A8CDFF1C-4878-43be-B5FD-F8091C1C60D0}

   Downloads Folder – {374DE290-123F-4565-9164-39C4925E467B}

   Music Folder – {1CF1260C-4DD0-4ebb-811F-33C572699FDE}

   Pictures Folder – {3ADD1653-EB32-4cb0-BBD7-DFA0ABB5ACCA}

   Videos Folder – {A0953C92-50DC-43bf-BE83-3742FED03C9C}
    
4. Done. You should be able to see the changes immediately.

[ebr 15609]

Oops.

[Abobader 3323]

Oops.

 

 

ah well

[ScottIsAFool 517]

Oops.

Anyone who follows me on twitter will have seen the pains I was going through on Saturday to try and upgrade my RT. Grrrr!

[trooper11 63]

It is strange how some are having issues on RT devices. I wonder how widespread it really is.

 

The crazy thing is that I updated my Surface RT first thing on the morning it was available and it went without a hitch.

What could be the difference that causes it to affect some?

 

If anyone needs to restore their device, MS today is offering an ISO image of Win 8.0 RT.

[ScottIsAFool 517]

If anyone needs to restore their device, MS today is offering an ISO image of Win 8.0 RT.

yeah, i'll be giving that a go next. Then wait for them to offer up the 8.1 update again for RT devices 8-)

[trooper11 63]

MS has put the update back up and had an explanation for the problem:

 

http://winsupersite.com/mobile-devices/windows-rt-81-update-returns

 

 

Hopefully things can go smoother now for you guys affected.

[crashkelly 62]

Hoping this is the right place to post this as I was unsure about creating another Windows 8.1 thread.

 

Hopefully an easy question, but is it now considered "safe" to upgrade to Windows 8.1 where MB3 is concerned?

 

Been working with computers long enough to know that nothing is really "safe" when upgrading, in terms of Windows and not MB3  , but I was hoping to hear from others that things are working well

 

Thanks

[shaefurr 1339]

FlexRAID image previews not working in windows explorer

 

FIX: This is an odd problem, but it seems image previews only work when the storage pools value of "Removable=True", changing the value to false so Windows sees the drive as non removable seems to break the previews.

 

Edited October 30, 2013 by shaefurr

[ebr 15609]

One of the big problems I have with the Win 8 interface is it doesn't work well at all with multi-monitor setups.  I have four monitors on my workstation.

 

Does 8.1 do any better job of this?  Could I, for instance, have the start screen on one monitor and the desktop on the other three?

 

Of course, all the special positioning stuff doesn't work well either as I have to find the exact lower corners of my middle monitor.

[CWNashvegas 170]

8.1 does improve multi-monitor support, from what I understand. I found this: http://plugable.com/2013/10/15/multi-monitor-improvements-in-windows-8-1

[ebr 15609]

Interesting.  They didn't show or talk about the start screen itself though.  But it does look more promising than 8 was.

[CWNashvegas 170]

Yeah, it seems like the difference is more flexibility. In 8.0, you could have "all things start menu" on one screen, and desktop apps on the others, but opening any store apps using the charm on another screen would switch "all things start menu" to that screen instead. Now, there seems to be more options for what you want to put on which screen without those restrictions. 

 

Again, that is what seems to be the case. Plus the additional per-screen display options. My only 8 machine is my Dell Duo so I've never seen either in action on multiple displays.

[Redshirt 1487]

One of the big problems I have with the Win 8 interface is it doesn't work well at all with multi-monitor setups.  I have four monitors on my workstation.

 

Does 8.1 do any better job of this?  Could I, for instance, have the start screen on one monitor and the desktop on the other three?

 

Yes. The start screen will open on whatever screen you click the start button, and you can still interact with your desktop while the start screen is visible.

 

 

I've also got 4 monitors. The top, center and right (not in pic) are showing my desktops and it is better than win 8.

[crashkelly 62]

Yes. The start screen will open on whatever screen you click the start button, and you can still interact with your desktop while the start screen is visible.

 

 

I've also got 4 monitors. The top, center and right (not in pic) are showing my desktops and it is better than win 8.

 

Loving the whiteboard

[ebr 15609]

Thanks, Red.

 

Probably not moving off of 7 yet for my dev box though.  It works well and I don't have to buy WMC (or the OS).  There is really no benefit for me to move to 8.x but nice to know it will work better when I do.

[Starkadius 219]

Modern IE (Internet Explorer) not playing MediaBrowser videos

If you are receiving an "Invalid source" message when attempting to play an item and you have already installed the WebM plugin it might be that Microsoft's Video Decoder is disabled or the AAC decoder is not set to "Microsoft".

 

1. Download Win7DSFilterTweaker

 

2. Run and click "Ms Codec Tweaks"

 

 

3. Uncheck the two check boxes listing "Microsoft DTV-DVD Video Decoder" (one for 64-bit depending on the version of Windows you may have)

 

4.Click close and now go to "Preferred decoders"

 

 

5. Select "Microsoft" for the AAC decoder on both 32-bit and 64-bit

 

 

6. Attempt to play item

Edited November 10, 2013 by Starkadius

[Luke 39819]

wow, great find!

[thoror 6]

Modern IE (Internet Explorer) not playing MediaBrowser videos

If you are receiving an "Invalid source" message when attempting to play an item and you have already installed the WebM plugin it might be that Microsoft's Video Decoder is disabled.

 

1. Download Win7DSFilterTweaker

 

2. Run and click "Ms Codec Tweaks"

 

 

3. Uncheck the two check boxes listing "Microsoft DTV-DVD Video Decoder" (one for 64-bit depending on the version of Windows you may have)

 

4. Attempt to play item.

 

I have the same problem. Using windows 7 with IE 10, and also with IE 11, I cannot play videos in IE. It used to work, but I am not sure when it stopped working. However, a different computer with windows 8.1 has no problems playing videos in IE 11. I tried this tool, but the decoders were already enabled, and I even tried toggling it off then on again with no avail.

 

If anyone has any idea what might be the problem please help me out!!

 

Thanks

[Tikuf 663]

I have the same problem. Using windows 7 with IE 10, and also with IE 11, I cannot play videos in IE. It used to work, but I am not sure when it stopped working. However, a different computer with windows 8.1 has no problems playing videos in IE 11. I tried this tool, but the decoders were already enabled, and I even tried toggling it off then on again with no avail

 

I am working on it now

[thoror 6]

Oh thanks! I thought there was something wrong with my system. Been trying to fix it for three straight days now Now I can just wait for Tikuf to get the job done

[Tikuf 663]

Unfortunately I am not making much headway. I am going to have to start rolling back to see if it us or ie. 

[Cheesegeezer 3101]

Yes. The start screen will open on whatever screen you click the start button, and you can still interact with your desktop while the start screen is visible.

 

 

I've also got 4 monitors. The top, center and right (not in pic) are showing my desktops and it is better than win 8.

Love the logic board Red, I think I need to invest in one of those, rather than writing it on post it notes lol

[Luke 39819]

yea he's got quite the command center there.