Moving Windows Live Photo Gallery Managed Photos to Another Drive
Posted on December 22, 2011, under Software.
We recently purchased a better digital camera for our family’s use, which takes photos at a much higher resolution than our previous camera. I decided it was time to move all of our photos from the current hard drive they were on to a larger drive.
Below are the test steps I took to migrate the photos to a different drive, and have everything synced in Windows Live Photo Gallery 2011.
Test Setup
- I created a Windows 7 virtual machine using VMware Player, and attached a virtual second hard drive as E:
- I installed Windows Live Photo Gallery 2011
- I created a "Photos" directory on the C: drive
- I copied over some photos to use as samples, and tagged them with names and keywords
Remove the Original Library
Windows Live Photo Gallery (WLPG) uses the Pictures Library locations configured in Windows. I have my source photo directory located at C:\Photos. I needed to remove this from the Windows Pictures Library.
- Open the Pictures folder
- Click the "locations" link in the Pictures Library
- Then remove the directory you want to move
If you open up WLPG at this point, you should no longer see any of the photos or videos that are in this directory.
Copy or Move the Original Directory
I then moved the directory from C:\Photos to E:\Photos.
Add the New Pictures Library
Now I added the new location as a Pictures Library location in Windows.
- Open the Pictures folder
- Click the "locations" link in the Pictures Library
- Click Add, and browse to the new directory location
View in Windows Live Photo Gallery
Now, when I opened Windows Live Photo Gallery, I could see all of the photos, tags and all, but they are in the new location.
Enjoy!
Earth | Time Lapse View from Space | Nasa, ISS
Time lapse sequences of photographs taken with a special low-light 4K-camera
by the crew of expedition 28 & 29 onboard the International Space Station from
August to October, 2011.
Expand the virtual disk size of Windows 2008 Server with VMware Player / Workstation
Posted on October 27, 2011, under SharePoint, Software, Technology.
VMware Disk (~20 minutes)
For Workstation 7 and later and Player 3.x and later, you can increase the virtual disk from the GUI:
- Select the virtual machine from the Inventory.
- Click Edit Virtual Machine Settings.
- Click Hard Disk.
- Click Utilities > Expand, enter the new size, then click Expand.
Windows 2008 OS (~2 minutes)
How to extend the boot partition in Windows Server 2008
To extend the boot partition in Windows Server 2008, follow these steps:
- 1. Click Start, and then click Server Manager.
- 2. In the navigation pane, expand Storage, and then click Disk Management.
- 3. In the details pane, right-click the volume that you want, and then click Extend Volume.
- 4. Follow the instructions in the Extend Volume Wizard to extend the boot partition.
Reference: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/325590
Fix it: Help for Checking Your Windows Security Settings
Microsoft has small utility online you can run to check your Windows security settings:
Diagnose and fix Windows security problems automatically
What it fixes…
- Checks Windows security features and enables them if needed
- Phishing or Smartscreen filters
- User Account Control (UAC)
- Data Execution Prevention (DEP)
- Windows Firewall
- Antivirus protection status and updates
Install SharePoint Server 2010 SP1 with Office Web Apps
Posted on July 10, 2011, under SharePoint.
This post is a screenshot walk through of upgrading a standalone (with SQL Server) SharePoint Server 2010 installation to Service Pack 1, along with Office Web Apps.
I’m not sure that the first run on the Config Wizard needs to take place, but since there are some prerequisites to OWA SP1 if you don’t have SharePoint SP1 installed first, I’m doing them separate.
Download:
- Service Pack 1 for SharePoint Foundation 2010 (KB2460058)
- Service Pack 1 for Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 (KB2460045)
- Service Pack 1 for Microsoft Office Web Apps 2010 (KB2460073)
Order of Installation:
- Install the binary files for Foundation SP1
- Install the binary files for SP Server SP1
- Run the SharePoint Configuration Wizard
- Install Office Web Apps SP1
- Run the SharePoint Configuration Wizard
Update I: Here is an excellent write up on the steps and procedures for installing on a full farm.
OpenDNS Hijacks Bing Searches – Workaround
Update 8/15/2011: Thankfully, OpenDNS is no longer redirecting Bing searches. The Founder, David Ulevitch, posted on their blog in regards to ISPs hijacking searches. I posted a comment about OpenDNS’s behavior, and Mr. Ulevitch sent me a personal e-mail saying he understood the sentiments, and that’s why he directed the proxy to be shut down. I tested it, and sure enough – no more hijacking! I’m glad OpenDNS was able to take and act on feedback.
While I have loved the OpenDNS service for the last several years, this week it has started hijacking web searches I perform in IE’s address bar that should be going to Bing. I don’t like this. So far support is saying this is a change with IE9, but obviously IE9 has been out for quite some time, and this behavior is new.
You can even see the direct for yourself using this short video I made:
http://screencast.com/t/uBiL34Giq
Until OpenDNS receives enough attention that they look at changing this, there is a workaround…
Update I: In the OpenDNS forums, there is a post where others complain of the same behavior. A support person from OpenDNS vaguely says it is not a bug, but that there might be an issue with the proxy. They then closed the forum thread, directing people to support tickets. I have a ticket open, and so far they are saying it is my fault for not using my browser correctly.
Workaround
Internet Explorer lets you set custom search providers for the address bar, using a page Microsoft has set up on the IE Addons site:
Create your own Search Provider
Follow the instructions to create a new entry for Bing. In my case, I simply named it "Bing 2". Then click the "Install Search Provider" button.
You will be prompted to install the new search provider. Select that you want to use it as your default search provider.
Now when you search in IE’s address bar, your searches will correctly be sent to Bing.
Missing Site Column
Recently, I ran into an odd issue in a SharePoint environment where a Site Column disappeared on a custom Content Type. I could still see it in the View, and it was holding a value, but I couldn’t see it on the Content Type page or anywhere else. A colleague pushed me into PowerShell, and I was able to do a quick analysis of the Site Column and see that somehow it had been set to Read Only. Once I set the value of Read Only to false, the field appeared like normal.
1: $site = new-object Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSite("http://site")
2: $web = $site.RootWeb
3: $missingField = $web.Fields["FieldName"]
4: $missingField.ReadOnlyField = $false
5: $missingField.Update()
PDFsam – Split and Merge PDFs
I was looking for a free utility to merge PDF files, and came across PDFsam. So far it works great, and is Open Source. The only requirement is that you need to install the Java runtime. There is an Enhanced version which you can donate to get access to, but the features of the free Basic version met my needs:
- split your PDF documents (into chapters, single pages, etc.).
- merge many PDF documents or subsections of them.
- extract sections of your document into a single PDF document.
- mix alternate pages taken from two PDF documents in straight or reverse order into a single document.
- rotate pages of the selected PDF documents.
- visually reorder pages of a selected PDF document.
- visually compose a document dragging pages from selected PDF documents.
- save and load your environment to automatize your recurrent jobs.
- manage pdfsam settings and set an environment to load at start up.
In combination with the PDF creation abilities of Microsoft Office 2010 and the free CutePDF Writer, I think I’m set for now.
Change Your Amazon Password
If you haven’t changed your Amazon password in awhile, you should do so right away. Amazon changed the way they are storing passwords, as their previous method wasn’t as secure. See this article for details:
Maximum PC | Why You Should Change Your Amazon Password Right Away
Migrate from Outlook to Windows Live Mail
Posted on January 6, 2011, under Technology.
- Download and install the free MailStore Home application
- In MailStore Home, select "Archive Email", and select Outlook as the source
- Export to the "File System", using the EML format, in a temporary directory
- In Live Mail, use the Import Function, and select the "Windows Mail" format
- Select the temporary directory used in step #3
