Some notes on using Windows 11

Created: December 06, 2021 Last Modified: August 30, 2022 Category: windows Print this page Back to Home

Summary

This post contains some notes on using Windows 11. See also the tutorials from the ElevenForum and maybe also those from the TenForum which may be applied not only for Windows 10 but also Windows 11.

Full right-click context menu
Clear System Tray Icons Cache
Backup/Restore/Delete Wireless Profiles via netsh
Backup/Restore VPN settings
Backup and Restore Windows partitions with Clonezilla
C:\usr\snmp\persist\snmpapp.conf keeps appearing
Firefox show MOZILLA_PKIX_ERROR_OCSP_RESPONSE_FOR_CERT_MISSING error when entering a support.microsoft.com page
Vim
VPN connection error The parameter is incorrect
MSEdgeRedirect
ZaDark - Dark Theme for Zalo

To enable full context menu, run

reg add "HKCU\Software\Classes\CLSID\{86ca1aa0-34aa-4e8b-a509-50c905bae2a2}\InprocServer32" /f /ve

and restart the explorer process.

To enable the default Windows 11 right-click context menu, run

reg delete "HKCU\Software\Classes\CLSID\{86ca1aa0-34aa-4e8b-a509-50c905bae2a2}" /f

Clear System Tray Icons Cache

reg delete "HKCU\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\TrayNotify\IconStreams" /f
reg delete "HKCU\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\TrayNotify\PastIconsStream" /f

Backup/Restore/Delete Wireless Profiles via `netsh`

Backup to current folder: netsh wlan export profile folder=.\.
Restore from current folder to all users: for /r .\ %%f in (*.xml) do (netsh wlan add profile filename="%%f" user=all).
Delete all wireless profiles: netsh wlan delete profile name=*.

Backup/Restore VPN settings

Backup: Go to %appdata%\Microsoft\Network\Connections\ and backup the Pbk folder.
Restore: Restore the copied Pbk folder.

Backup and Restore Windows partitions with Clonezilla

I use GPT partition table.
I use a Arch Linux live USB with pre-installed Clonezilla to backup my Windows EFI boot partition and the main Bitlocker-encrypted partition containing the whole system. I also keep a copy of the following information:
- Recovery key of the Bitlocker-encrypted partition.
- The PARTUUIDs of both partitions, which can be obtained via blkid in Arch Linux.
- The disk layout (you can get by running fdisk -l in Arch Linux). This is necessary in case you have a new disk and want to restore Windows to that disk.
I saved Windows partitions as Clonezilla images. You may also backup the whole disk, not just the partitions.

After cloning with Clonezilla, verify that the PARTUUIDs of the partitions are matched. If this is not the case, follow this instruction to change their PARTUUIDs. I made a copy of an example for a disk with GPT partition table. Here, /dev/sda2 is the partition whose PARTUUID will be changed. Instead of using a random PARTUUID as in the example, enter the saved PARTUUID.

$ sudo gdisk /dev/sda
[sudo] password for mook: 
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.5

Partition table scan:
  MBR: protective
  BSD: not present
  APM: not present
  GPT: present

Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT.

Command (? for help): x                                       # enter x to change to experts menu

Expert command (? for help): c                                # enter c to change PARTUUID
Partition number (1-2): 2                                     # enter the number of the partition you want to change
Enter the partition's new unique GUID ('R' to randomize): r 
New GUID is 76349364-D66C-4C19-B422-237A0D2DB9F5

Expert command (? for help): m                                # enter m to go back to main menu

Command (? for help): w                                       # enter w to write the change to disk

Command (? for help): q                                       # enter q to exit gdisk
$

In some cases, the UEFI boot entry may change and fails to load the correct Windows partition. Follow this instruction to re-create a “Windows Boot Manager” with efibootmgr. I made a copy of an example here, where /dev/sdb2 is the Windows EFI partition.
```
sudo efibootmgr -c  -L "Windows Boot Manager" -l "\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi" -d /dev/sdb -p 2
```

`C:\usr\snmp\persist\snmpapp.conf` keeps appearing

The folder C:\usr appears in my C:\ drive and even when I removed it, after rebooting Windows, it appears again. It contains a single directory persist and that directory has only one file named snmpapp.conf with the following content.

#
# net-snmp (or ucd-snmp) persistent data file.
#
############################################################################
# STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP 
#
#          **** DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE ****
#
# STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP 
############################################################################
#
# DO NOT STORE CONFIGURATION ENTRIES HERE.
# Please save normal configuration tokens for snmpapp in SNMPCONFPATH/snmpapp.conf.
# Only "createUser" tokens should be placed here by snmpapp administrators.
# (Did I mention: do not edit this file?)
#




engineBoots 1
oldEngineID 0x80001f8880340200006dc1b46100000000

From this page, I figure out that this is because I added a Kyocera printer to my list of printers in Windows.

Firefox show `MOZILLA_PKIX_ERROR_OCSP_RESPONSE_FOR_CERT_MISSING` error when entering a support.microsoft.com page

See this page for more details. To fix the issue, follow this workaround:

Open a tab and type about:config in the address bar.
Once in, type ocsp in the config search bar.
Toggle the parameter security.ssl.enable_ocsp_stapling from true to false.

Vim

See this page for the installations and configurations in Arch Linux.

Installation

Via Chocolatey
```
choco install -y vim python3
```
My $VIM directory (obtained by openning Vim and run :echo $VIM) is C:\tools\vim.
Copy C:\tools\vim\vim82\gvimrc_example.vim to C:\tools\vim\_gvimrc.
Nerd Fonts is nice and useful. I have to convert OTF fonts to TTF (e.g., see this python script) in oder to use these fonts with GVim. In particular, I use the MonacoB Nerd Font Mono font which I installed by downloading the OTF fonts from this repository and converting them to TTF fonts. My converted fonts are here.

Plugins

I use pathogen to manage Vim’s plugins. Simply download pathogem.vim and place it at the folder C:\tools\vim\vim82\autoload where Vim is installed. Add execute pathogen#infect() and filetype plugin indent on " Load plugins according to detected filetype to C:\tools\vim\_gvimrc. Create the folders %userprofile%\vimfiles\autoload and %userprofile%\vimfiles\bundle to store plugins managed by pathogen.
vim-colors-solarized can be installed by cloning its repository from GitHub and place at %userprofile%\vimfiles\bundle. Add
```
syntax enable
set background=dark
colorscheme solarized
```
to C:\tools\vim\_gvimrc.

vimtex can be installed similarly. My configuration for this plugin is as follows. Replace <your-username> with your username in Windows.

" settings for vimtex
let g:tex_flavor = 'latex'  
let g:vimtex_fold_enabled = 1
call deoplete#custom#var('omni', 'input_patterns', {
    \ 'tex': g:vimtex#re#deoplete
    \})
let g:vimtex_quickfix_mode = 0
" Disable custom warnings based on regexp
let g:vimtex_quickfix_ignore_filters = [
  \ 'Underfull \\hbox*',
  \ 'Overfull \\hbox*',
  \ 'Package hyperref Warning*'
  \]
" settings for sumatraPDF
let g:vimtex_view_general_viewer = 'C:\Users\<your-username>\AppData\Local\SumatraPDF\SumatraPDF.exe'
let g:vimtex_view_general_options
 	\ = '-reuse-instance -forward-search @tex @line @pdf'

Additionally, set the inverse search command line (from the SumatraPDF’s menu, choose Settings > Options...) in SumatraPDF as C:\tools\vim\vim82\gvim.exe --remote-silent +%l "%f". This page contains detailed settings for Texmaker and TeXstudio.

vim-airline and vim-airline-themes can be installed similarly. My configuration for these plugins are as follows.
```
" settings for airline
let g:airline_theme='solarized'
let g:airline_solarized_bg='dark'
```

Shougo/deoplete.nvim, roxma/nvim-yarp, and roxma/vim-hug-neovim-rpc can be installed similarly. Note that these plugins require some Python packages, so run pip install msgpack pynvim in a cmd. My configuration for these plugins are as follows.

" python
let g:python3_host_prog='C:/Python310/python.exe'
 
" deoplete settings
let g:deoplete#enable_at_startup = 1 " use deoplete for autocompleting
call deoplete#custom#var('omni', 'input_patterns', {
 	 \ 'tex': g:vimtex#re#deoplete
 	\})

SirVer/ultisnips and honza/vim-snippets can be installed similarly. Some other plugins are

Extra configurations

set encoding=utf-8
set fileencoding=utf-8
set termencoding=utf-8

" Taken from https://learnvimscriptthehardway.stevelosh.com/chapters/07.html
" edit Vim configurations
nnoremap <leader>ev :split $MYVIMRC<cr>
nnoremap <leader>sv :source $MYVIMRC<cr>
nnoremap <leader>egv :split $MYGVIMRC<cr>
nnoremap <leader>sgv :source $MYGVIMRC<cr>

" edit Vim configurations
nnoremap <leader>ev :split $MYVIMRC<cr>
nnoremap <leader>sv :source $MYVIMRC<cr>
nnoremap <leader>egv :split $MYGVIMRC<cr>
nnoremap <leader>sgv :source $MYGVIMRC<cr>

set grepprg=grep\ -nH\ $*

" NERDTree
let g:NERDTreeWinSize = 20
let NERDTreeIgnore = ['\~$','\.pyc$','\*NTUSER*','\*ntuser*','\NTUSER.DAT','\ntuser.ini']
let NERDTreeIgnore += ['\.png$','\.jpg$','\.gif$','\.mp3$','\.flac$', '\.ogg$', '\.mp4$','\.avi$','.webm$','.mkv$','\.pdf$', '\.zip$', '\.tar.gz$', '\.rar$']
" Start NERDTree. If a file is specified, move the cursor to its window.
autocmd StdinReadPre * let s:std_in=1
autocmd VimEnter * NERDTreeCWD | if argc() > 0 || exists("s:std_in") | wincmd p | endif
" Exit Vim if NERDTree is the only window remaining in the only tab.
autocmd BufEnter * if tabpagenr('$') == 1 && winnr('$') == 1 && exists('b:NERDTree') && b:NERDTree.isTabTree() | quit | endif
" Close the tab if NERDTree is the only window remaining in it.
autocmd BufEnter * if winnr('$') == 1 && exists('b:NERDTree') && b:NERDTree.isTabTree() | quit | endif
" If another buffer tries to replace NERDTree, put it in the other window, and bring back NERDTree.
autocmd BufEnter * if bufname('#') =~ 'NERD_tree_\d\+' && bufname('%') !~ 'NERD_tree_\d\+' && winnr('$') > 1 |
	\ let buf=bufnr() | buffer# | execute "normal! \<C-W>w" | execute 'buffer'.buf | endif
" Open NERDTree on each new tab.
autocmd BufWinEnter * if getcmdwintype() == '' | silent lcd %:p:h | NERDTreeCWD | wincmd p | endif

autocmd BufEnter * silent! lcd %:p:h " move to current folder

set tabstop=4
set softtabstop=0 
set noexpandtab
set shiftwidth=4

set showmode " Show current mode in command line
set incsearch " Highlight while searching with / or ?
set hlsearch " Keep matches highlighted

set splitbelow             " Open new windows below the current window.
set splitright             " Open new windows right of the current window.

set cursorline             " Find the current line quickly.
set wrapscan               " Searches wrap around end-of-file.

" A syntax for placeholders
" Pressing Control-j jumps to the next match.
inoremap <c-j> <Esc>/<++><CR><Esc>cf>

syntax enable " enable syntax highlight
set background=dark
colorscheme solarized
set gfn=MonacoB_Nerd_Font_Mono:h13:cANSI:qDRAFT " Other nice fonts may be Inconsolata, DejaVuSansMono
set nu " line numbers
set wrap " text wrap
set lbr
set ai " autoindent

" Autocomplete brackets
inoremap { {}<Esc>ha
inoremap ( ()<Esc>ha
inoremap [ []<Esc>ha
inoremap " ""<Esc>ha
inoremap ' ''<Esc>ha
inoremap ` ``<Esc>ha

" Rainbow brackets
let g:rainbow_active = 1

" Press Ctrl+C for copying a line
vnoremap <C-c> "*y

set clipboard+=unnamed  " use the clipboards of vim and OS
" set paste               " Paste from a windows or from vim
set go+=a               " Visual selection automatically copied to the clipboard

" folding
set foldmethod=syntax
set foldnestmax=3
set nofoldenable
set foldlevel=2

" Put all temporary files under the same directory.
" https://github.com/mhinz/vim-galore#temporary-fil```
set backup
set backupdir   =$HOME/vimfiles/backup/
set backupext   =-vimbackup
set backupskip  =
set directory   =$HOME/vimfiles/swap/
set updatecount =100
set undofile
set undodir     =$HOME/vimfiles/undo/
set viminfo     ='100,n$HOME/vimfiles/info/viminfo

" Syntastic settings
set statusline+=%#warningmsg#
set statusline+=%{SyntasticStatuslineFlag()}
set statusline+=%*
let g:syntastic_always_populate_loc_list = 1
let g:syntastic_auto_loc_list = 1
"let g:syntastic_check_on_open = 1
let g:syntastic_mode_map = { 'mode': 'passive', 'active_filetypes': [],'passive_filetypes': [] }
let g:syntastic_check_on_wq = 0

" Use ctrl-[hjkl] to select the active split!
nmap <silent> <c-k> :wincmd k<CR>
nmap <silent> <c-j> :wincmd j<CR>
nmap <silent> <c-h> :wincmd h<CR>
nmap <silent> <c-l> :wincmd l<CR>

" vim-jekyll
let g:jekyll_post_dirs = ['_posts']
let g:jekyll_post_extension = '.md'
let g:jekyll_site_dir = '_site'
let g:jekyll_post_template =  [
	\ '---',
	\ 'layout: JEKYLL_LAYOUT',
	\ 'title: "JEKYLL_TITLE"',
	\ 'author: JEKYLL_AUTHOR',
	\ 'categories: ',
	\ '  - MAIN_CAT',
	\ '---',
	\ '',
	\ '* TOC',
	\ '{:toc}',
	\ '']

" Taken from https://vim.fandom.com/wiki/Insert_current_date_or_time
" If buffer modified, update any 'Last modified: ' in the first 20 lines.
" 'Last modified: ' can have up to 10 characters before (they are retained).
" Restores cursor and window position using save_cursor variable.
function! LastModified()
  if &modified
    let save_cursor = getpos(".")
    let n = min([20, line("$")])
    keepjumps exe '1,' . n . 's#^\(.\{,10}[Ll]ast[ _][Mm]odified.*: \).*#\1' .
          \ strftime('%a %b %d, %Y  %H:%M %Z') . '#e'
    call histdel('search', -1)
    call setpos('.', save_cursor)
  endif
endfun
autocmd BufWritePre * call LastModified()

Colors in Windows Command Line Prompt

See this guide for more details.

Depending on which colorscheme you like, clone lifepillar/vim-solarized8 or jacoborus/tender.vim to %userprofile%\vimfiles\bundle, as we did for other plugins.

Add the following to C:\tools\vim\_vimrc.

" If you have vim >=8.0 or Neovim >= 0.1.5
if (has("termguicolors"))
  set termguicolors
endif

set background=dark
"colorscheme tender
colorscheme solarized8
  
" settings for airline
" let g:airline_theme='tender'
let g:airline_theme='solarized'
let g:airline_solarized_bg='dark'

Using `vim-latex-suite` instead of `vimtex`

Clone vim-latex/vim-latex and place it at %userprofile%\vimfiles\bundle.
To avoid confliction, comment out settings for vimtex in C:\tools\vim\_gvimrc.
Add the installed folder of SumatraPDF (in my case is C:\Users\<my-user-name>\AppData\Local\SumatraPDF) to Windows’ Path environment variable. As before, set the inverse search command line for SumatraPDF (if it has not already been set) to use with GVim.

My settings for vim-latex-suite:

" settings for vim-latexsuite
"let b:suppress_latex_suite = 1 " suppress the loading of Latex-Suite
let g:Tex_DefaultTargetFormat = 'pdf'
let g:Tex_CompileRule_pdf = 'latexmk -pdf -interaction=nonstopmode -synctex=1 $*'
let g:Tex_UseMakefile = 0
let g:Tex_ViewRule_pdf = 'SumatraPDF' " don't place a path here, otherwise forward-search may fail

VPN connection error `The parameter is incorrect`

From this page.

Run the following commands as Admin

netsh int ip reset
netsh int ipv6 reset
netsh winsock reset

Open Device Manager, Find Network Adapters, Uninstall WAN Miniport drivers (IKEv2, IP, IPv6, etc), Click Action > Scan for hardware changes. The adapters you just uninstalled should come back.

MSEdgeRedirect

From its homepage,

A Tool to Redirect News, Search, Widgets, Weather and More to Your Default Browser This tool filters and passes the command line arguments of Microsoft Edge processes into your default browser instead of hooking into the microsoft-edge: handler, this should provide resiliency against future changes. Additionally, an Image File Execution Options mode is available to operate similarly to the Old EdgeDeflector. Additional modes are planned for future versions. No Default App walkthrough or other steps, just set and forget.

I installed the tool via Chocolatey using choco install -y msedgeredirect.I also set startpage.com as my default search engine via the URL https://www.startpage.com/sp/search?query=. (Just put %s after = if you want to set up with Firefox in iOS.)

ZaDark - Dark Theme for Zalo

See this page or this page for more information. Basically, just download the latest ZIP archive, extract it, close Zalo (if it opens), and run the EXE file.