Wednesday, 17 May 2017

How to Map a Shared Folder to Network Drive Using Group Policy



There are two methods for mapping a shared folder to a network drive (using GUI and group policy). I am focusing on the later method of using a group policy.

I assume you have already shared a folder with right permissions. You can check my recent article on setting correct permissions for a shared folder.
Map a Shared Folder to Network Drive
Step 1: Open the group policy management console.

Step 2: Right-click on your domain or any specific users OU for which you want to map the network drive.

Step 3: Click "Create a GPO in this domain, and Link it here".

Step 4: Give a meaningful name to the GPO.

Step 5: Right-click on the newly created GPO and choose Edit.

Step 6: Go to the following location.
User Configuration -> Preferences -> Windows Settings -> Drive Maps

Step 7: Right-click on Drive Maps and then click New -> Mapped Drive.

Step 8: On the General tab, choose 'Create' from the action drop down.

Step 9: Provide the shared folder location, check the Reconnect checkbox, and give a meaningful label as well as a drive letter.

Step 10: Go to common tab, and choose Run in logged-on user's security context option.

Step 11: Open the command prompt and execute the gpupdate command to update the group policies.

Map drive with group policy

Monday, 8 May 2017

[Windows 10 Tip] Change “Windows User” Username Displayed in About Windows



NOTE: The registry method given in this article will work for all Windows versions.



When we need to know which Windows version is installed in our computer, we usually open "About Windows" and check the installed Windows version. One can open "About Windows" using winver command in RUN dialog box.


If you open "About Windows" in Windows 10 operating system, you'll see following line at the bottom of the window:
This product is licensed under the Microsoft Software License Terms to:
Windows User


You might wonder why is it showing licensed to "Windows User" when you purchased the Windows 10 license using your name? Some users have reported that sometimes Windows 10 shows "user name" and "org name" strings in place of "Windows User" in "About Windows".



Actually in older Windows versions such as Windows XP, users were asked to provide registered username and organization name at Windows installation time and the same information provided by the user was displayed in "About Windows" and "System Properties" dialog box.
Now Windows 10 doesn't ask for this information at setup time and it takes "Windows User" by default to set as registered owner of the computer.



If you want to customize and change the default "Windows User" username showing in "About Windows" and want to replace it with your name or any other desired text string, you can do it with the help of a small registry tweak.
Today in this tutorial, we are going to tell you how to change registered owner and organization name in Windows operating system.



Check out following simple steps to change the username and organization name shown in "About Windows" dialog box:
1. Press "WIN+R" key combination to launch RUN dialog box then type regedit and press Enter. It'll open Registry Editor.
2. Now go to following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion
3. In right-side pane, look for following strings:


  • RegisteredOwner
  • RegisteredOrganization
"RegisteredOwner" string's value is set to "Windows User" and "RegisteredOrganization" string's value is set to blank.
PS: If "RegisteredOwner" and "RegisteredOrganization" strings are not present in Registry Editor, the default "user name" and "org name" strings are displayed in "About Windows" dialog box. To change the strings, you'll need to manually create both strings in above mentioned location.



4. Double-click on "RegisteredOwner" string and change its value to your desired text string for example your own name and click on OK button.
Now try to open "About Windows" using winver command in RUN dialog box and you'll see your own username in place of "Windows User":


5. Now in Registry Editor, double-click on "RegisteredOrganization" string and set its value to your organization name or anything else. We have set it to our website name:


Now again open "About Windows" and you'll see the new text string displayed below the username:


This method to change registered owner and organization will work in all Windows versions. Its not limited to Windows 10 only.


Thursday, 4 May 2017

How to Remove “Favorites” from Windows 7 Explorer Navigation Pane?


This tutorial will help you in removing "Favorites" item from the Navigation pane in Windows 7 as shown in following screenshot:

Simply follow these simple steps:
1. Type regedit in RUN or Start Menu search box and press Enter. It'll open Registry Editor.

2. Now go to following key:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{323CA680-C24D-4099-B94D-446DD2D7249E}\ShellFolder
3. Now you'll need to change value of "Attributes" DWORD value present in the right-side section. But Windows will not allow you to change its value as you won't have proper permissions. So take ownership of ShellFolder key .

4. Now double-click on "Attributes" DWORD value given in right-side section and change its value to a9400100

5. That's it. Log off or restart your system and "Favorites" will no longer present in Explorer window.
If you want to restore "Favorites" in Navigation pane, simply change value of "Attributes" DWORD to a0900100 using step 4.

NOTE: If you are using 64-bit edition of Windows, you may notice that Favorites icon is still present in "Browse" dialog box such as Save, Save as or Open in some 3rd party 32-bit programs. To remove Favorites icon from there, you'll need to perform the same steps in following key as well:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{323CA680-C24D-4099-B94D-446DD2D7249E}\ShellFolder

Just go to above mentioned key, take ownership of the key and in right-side pane, change value of Attributes DWORD to a9400100 to remove Favorites icon.