How to Hide Your Hard Disk Partition in Vista

 

Have you ever wished to hide one or more hard disk partitions in your Windows Vista due to whatever reason for free?

As for myself, I just installed Windows 7 Ultimate (build 7000) and I don’t any ‘pro-active’ software (let say TuneUp Utilities, Defragmenter etc) or curious user who is curious enough to access this partition and modify it contents which may compromise Windows Seven file integrity and stability.

 

There is a method (playing with local group policy but it can’t hide my partition completely) so I need to use a bit more aggressive one J

Doesn’t matter what is your motive to hide your hard disk partition (privacy, security or simply because you hate to see that partition there :p), this trick would make your wish come true. Well, at least my wish comes true.

 

Steps :

 

Note :

1. If you want to hide your C: drive, use this method instead. CLICK HERE
   
2. This method only best to hide partition that doesn’t contain any Vista volume information, page files or your vista related installation software.
   
3. This method work best to hide your other operating system partition (which you don’t want Vista to see it) such as Win7, Ubuntu or even WinXP
   
4. This method also work best to hide your partition that contain your sensitive documents, picture, video etc)
   

 

From start menu, right click on Computer and left click on Manage

 

Click on Device Management (as circled). Your hard disk mapping may different, but that doesn’t matter.

 

Right click on partition that you want to hide and left click on Change Drive Letter and Paths (as for my case, I right click on Seven (H:) hard disk partition.

 

A new window as below wills popup. Click on Remove button.

 

Ignore this warning and click Yes button (Please note that you can’t hide any hard disk partition that contain Vista System Volume Information. If you want to hide your C: drive for example, you need to use other trick which you can watch here).

 

Note that in screenshot below, my Seven hard disk partition no longer has drive letter (previously H:) assigned to it.

 

A quick check from Windows Explorer clearly show that, partition Seven (H:) no longer exist. Nice.

 

What if I try to access it thru command line?

Sweet. So now, Seven(H:) completely hidden.

 

Now I need to make sure that even TuneUp Utilities can’t access Seven (H) partition.

What a relief J

 

 

 

Un-Hide SEVEN(H:) partition.

 

To un-hide your hidden partition, simply right click on that partition, and click on Change Drive Letter and Paths

 

 

A window like screenshot below will appear. Click on Add button.

 

Assign a letter for this partition (H for my case) and press OK button.

 

A quick check from Disk Management, note that that hidden partition is assigned H letter.

 

Double check at Windows Explorer exhibit, Seven (H) appears as normal.

 

Credit : Me

How to install WinXP on top of WinVista

All current notebooks or desktop PC come with Vista pre-loaded and for some reasons, you need to use WinXP but still want to keep your Windows Vista. So, how to tackle this problem.

Credit : howtogeek.com

 

Install Windows XP on Your Pre-Installed Windows Vista Computer

The question I am asked most often is “How do I install a dual-boot with Windows XP on my new Windows Vista computer?” The answer is that it’s not that difficult, it’s just very time consuming, and you need to own a copy of Windows XP.

Note that you should not attempt this if you aren’t ready to troubleshoot any problems that might occur.

The first issue we encounter is that computers with pre-installed operating systems take up the entire drive. Luckily Microsoft included the Shrink volume feature in Vista, so we can easily shrink the Vista partition down to make room for XP.

Open the Computer Management panel, which you can find under Administrative tools or by right-clicking the Computer item in the start menu and choosing Manage. Find the Disk Management item in the list and select that.

Now we’ll shrink our volume down by right-clicking on the main hard drive and choosing Shrink Volume.

Now you can choose the size that you want to shrink, which really means you are choosing the size that you want your XP partition to be. Whatever you do, don’t just use the default. I chose roughly 10gb by entering 10000 into the amount.

The next step might be confusing, because we need to change the cd-rom drive that’s invariably taking up D: at the moment, because we want to use D: for the Windows XP partition, but it’s already taken by the cd-rom drive. If you skip this step than XP will install onto the E: drive, which isn’t the end of the world, but it’s not quite as tidy.

Right-click on the cd-rom drive in the list and choose Change Drive Letter and Paths from the menu. 

Now we’ll change the CD drive to use E: by selecting that in the drop-down. 

Now we can create a new partition for XP to live on and make sure that the drive letter is set the way we want. If you do not create a partition now the XP install will do so automatically, but it’s easier and cleaner to do it this way.

Right-click on the Unallocated free space area and then select New Simple Volume from the menu.

Follow through the wizard and select whatever options you’d like, making sure to use D: as the drive letter.

Now you will need to close out of disk management and reboot your computer. This is because we can’t do the next step until we reboot. (you can try, but it won’t work)

So we’ve come back from rebooting… open up Computer from the start menu and then right-click on the D: drive and select properties. Give your partition a meaningful name like “XP”. It would be wise to name the C: drive to “Vista” at this point as well. 

 

Now you’ll want to pop your XP cd into the drive and boot off it. You may have to configure your BIOS to enable booting off the CD drive, or if your computer says something like “Hit Esc for boot menu” you might want to use that.

Once you come to the screen where you can choose the partition to install on, then choose either the unpartitioned space or the new partition you created. Whatever you do, don’t try and install onto your Vista partition! See how much cleaner it is now that we’ve labeled each partition distinctly?

 

We’ll assume XP is completely installed at this point, and you will have lost your ability to boot into Windows Vista, so we’ll need to use the VistaBootPro utility to restore the Vista boot loader.

 

Download and install VistaBootPro from vistabootpro.org

During the install you’ll be forced to install the .NET 2.0 framework. Open up VistaBootPRO and then click on the System Bootloader tab. Check the “Windows Vista Bootloader” and then “All Drives” radio buttons, and then click on the Install Bootloader button.

At this point, the Windows Vista bootloader is installed and you’ll only be able to boot into Vista, but we’ll fix that. Instead of manually doing the work, we’ll just click the Diagnostics menu item and then choose Run Diagnostics from the menu.

This will scan your computer and then automatically fill in the XP version.. click on the “Manage OS Entries” tab and then click in the textbox for Rename OS Entry, and name it something useful like “Windows XP”  or “The Windows That Works” 

Click the Apply Updates button and then reboot your computer… you should see your shiny new boot manager with both operating systems in the list! 

If you get an error saying “unable to find ntldr” when trying to boot XP, you’ll need to do the following:

• Find the hidden files ntldr and ntdetect.com in the root of your Vista drive and copy them to the root of your XP drive.
  
• If you can’t find the files there, you can find them in the \i386\ folder on your XP install cd
  

There’s more information on this forum thread, thanks to nrv1013

This is a critical piece of information: Windows XP will be installed on the D: drive, even in Windows XP… so you’ll need to keep that in mind when tweaking your system.

You can share information between the drives, but I wouldn’t recommend messing with the other operating system’s partition too much… it might get angry and bite you. Or screw up your files. What I do recommend is that you store most of your files on a third drive shared between the operating systems… you could call that partition “Data”.

I’m going to write a number of followup articles dealing with all of the issues with dual-boot systems, so subscribe to the feed for updates.

Turn On Hibernate Function in Vista

Scenario One:

You accidently delete hibernate file at ‘Disk Cleanup’ windows, which render your Vista hibernate function suddenly disappear from control panel. To make things worst, your hybrid sleep can’t work properly and obviously you are no longer can hibernate your PC or laptop.

 

Scenario Two:

You are using Vista x64 with 4 GB of Ram, and you found out that your OS control panel can’t turn it on or off this feature. No matter how many times you click on “Turn Hibernate Function ON or OFF”, it will always send you to “Power Edit Plan Setting”. How frustrating right.

 

Solution:

1. From start menu search bar, type cmd
   
2. Right Click on cmd.exe and choose Run As Administrator

1. From command prompt console/shell, type powercfg -h on

    

   

    

2. Press ENTER
3. Done

 

Extra :

Now you can turn on Hybrid Sleep (Sleep + Hibernate function)

1. Start Control Panel from start menu
2. Choose Hardware and Sound
3. Select Power Option
4. Click on change on plan setting
5. Click on Change Advance Power Setting
6. Set hybrid sleep to ON and configure Hibernate After as you desire.

 

Game and Vista

Read…. Read!
My take on gaming on Vista. Gaming on Vista. Gaming. Vista. Game. Vista. 

Reasons To Game On Vista [ Fully benefit gaming on Vista with 'Games For Windows' titles]

1. DirectX 10 
Got yourself a shiny new GeForce8/9 GPU ? Then its most likely to be ‘Vista Certified’ meaning true compatibility
and solid performance on Windows Vista. Suggestions for DirectX 10 games – Crysis, BioShock, Company of Heroes. Beware, you will need a high-end rig (nothing less) to play DirectX 10 games in their full glory. 

2. Games Explorer
Choose ‘Games For Windows’ titles – these titles assure you full compatibility with Windows Vista. Besides, it will fully support Games Explorer – your one stop for running games on your computer, with WEI score and links to the game website. Some games even have the menu options that take you straight to the configuration options window.

3. Xbox 360 Controller
The Xbox 360 Controller for Windows is the best gamepad you can ever have for a PC. It has the best feel and quality – its really really good. And its fully compatible with Windows Vista. No need for drivers. Most ‘Games For Windows’ titles support this controller. 

4. Widescreen Gaming
‘Games For Windows’ titles should (and is a criteria) to support widescreen display resolutions. So if you have a widescreen display (which you certainly will want as Vista gadgets are placed on the right hand side of the screen), rest assured that these games support widescreen resolutions. Crank tat’ resolution ! 

5. The future of gaming… 
Halo 2 for Vista remains the one and only game that supports Tray & Play. Pop the disc into the drive, and you can have the option to ’stream the game and install’ – - it installs the game while you play it ! Just like gaming consoles. Also, cross platform gaming (Shadowrun & Halo 2) is possible – - you can play in multiplayer modes from Windows opponents and Xbox 360 opponents. 

6. Parental Controls
If you are a parent, feel free to feel relieved. You can lock/unlock certain games with certain ratings. So, if you’re a good dad, you would lock GTA San Andreas from your kids. If you’re bad, just say the blood in the game is just ketchup and let them play games with senseless violence. You can almost have a time limit to using the computer.. you can try setting a time limit on your ownself – that way, gaming will no longer be addictive. 

Err… hail all parents ! 

Reasons You May Not Want To Game On Vista 

1. Old games, compatibility might be in question
Old games (like Rise of the Triad) that use Dos mode may not even install ! You can always try to use compatibility mode but it may not always work. Most old games work though, but some still don’t and won’t. You will have to use DosBox or similar software to play your old games. Some games (circa 2000) that ran on Windows 98 / XP may not work in Vista. Usually its always the case of using compatibility mode, but that may not always work. 

2. DirectX 10 / Performance ? 
I question the use of DirectX 10 in games… Vista does it job, but there is just a handful of games that support DirectX 10. BioShock with/without DirectX 10 – almost no difference at all. Crysis, there is a ‘tweak’ that allows DirectX 10-like visuals although still using DirectX 9 mode (game creator Cevat Yerli says ‘this isn’t the real DirectX 10 graphics…. ???? ).

Also, not to mention the demanding resources when using DirectX 10 unless you have a high-end gaming rig. Expect games to be ‘a little slower’ in Vista compared to XP. 

3. Games For Windows ? 
Not all game titles are under the banner of Games For Windows. This raises the question – - why not ? Why won’t game developers just get to this standard. Well, game developers Valve claim they have their own system even though it fully complies with all Games For Windows standards (widescreen resolution, Xbox 360 controller support). The Need For Speed franchise (and other EA titles too) has doged GFW altogether…. for reasons unknown. 

As for me….
When Crysis was released, I wanted to shoot my computer. There goes my near 5-digit priced gaming system. It could barely make Crysis run at High. Forget Very High. And (for me), forget DirectX 10. I abandoned PC gaming. Windows Vista was part of the reason too – - DirectX 10 was all the reasons for me to keep gaming on PC, but this was the one thing that just didn’t make me a happy gamer anymore. Its the future of graphics technology, right, but let’s just say I’d prefer gaming consoles. So yes, I am a uber happy Xbox 360 gamer and I use Windows Vista on 4 machines at homes to play MSN games.

That’s right. MSN games. Geometry Wars is my favorite. 

Game on!

Choose your destiny of gaming… 

MSN Games
http://zone.msn.com/en/root/default.htm

Games For Windows
http://www.gamesforwindows.com/en-US/Pages/index.aspx

Xbox 360
http://www.xbox.com:80/en-US/

 

Credit to : defaultname365

How To CleanUP Vista SP1 Junks

Either your Vista is preloaded with SP1 or not, you still can clean up several gigabytes of space which is reserve for SP1 uninstallation backup data. 

To do this, open the run dialog (Win-R) and type “vsp1cln.exe” (without quotes) and press enter.

This will remove the ability to uninstall the service pack (so make sure to test everything before running the cleanup), and it will cleanup 1GB worth of data off of your hard drive.

Ok, I love Vista

Author : Expertester

Contradict to my old post (Why XP not Vista) I finally fall in love with Microsoft Windows Vista and Microsoft Windows Server 2008 (as server and workstation).

However, this is not happening overnight. A lot of effort and time had been put to understand, learn and study how to fully utilize Vista potential. Vista is the current generation of operating system and I have to work alongside with it instead of keep fighting it in order to enjoy maximum benefits of Windows Vista, thus resulting better productivity.

Bear I mind, I do not compare Vista to any operating system directly, be it Windows XP, 98, 2000, OSX or even Linux. This post more or less, explains why I as a former Windows Vista hater / basher could fall in love with this Operating System.

• Security : Out of the box experience
• Speed
• Reliability
• Current Technology
• Matured driver
• New Networking Experience
• Advance Sleep
• Installation and Recovery
• Ultimate Package
• Bloated?
• My Documents Issue
• Aero
• I use Office 2007
• I have to use Ms Visual Studio
• Compatibility
• Games and DirectSound
• Stability
• DreamScene
• Fully Bake OS
• SuperSearch

X-Fi + Vista Start Kickin’

Recently, Creative release latest driver for their SoundBlaster X-Fi for Vista and Windows XP.

http://support.creative.com/Products/Products.aspx?catid=1&catName=Sound+Blaster

Surprisingly, these new drivers really kicking. I mean it.

Previously, I curse Windows Vista because it make my SoundBlaster X-Fi Platinum seem overprice. Lack of punch and treble. However, after update my x-fi soundcard with this latest driver, immediately I could tell the different.

Why Should I Consider Vista

Contradict to my previous post (Why XP not Vista … read here), why don’t we shift our paradigm and look at different perspective. And start to ask ourselves, why should we consider Vista instead of continue to use our old and trusty Windows XP.

Let put out think hat.

Standard De Facto

Latest PC and Notebook come with pre-installed Windows Vista (Either Home, Business or Ultimate). Unfortunately, not many of these manufacturers provide Windows XP driver which will cause a lot of troubles to loyal Windows XP hard die fan. They need to googling here and there to find compatible driver, just want to make it working. So, here is one critical question. Does that driver is highly optimize for your PC or notebook hardware. There is no point to install Windows XP (if the objective is speed) if the drivers for your computer hardwares are not optimize.

Why windows XP….not Vista

My PC got 3 OS. Vista, Ubuntu (Linux) and Windows XP. But most of the time (I could say, 95%), I use Windows XP SP3. So, as me (common user) use WinXP instead of the oooh and aaah Vista?

From my point of view…because I dont have strong reason to use Vista. Yes, it has all the bell and whistles, but I don’t use ‘em. The GUI absolutely pretty..but there is no impact on better productivity. In fact, with C2D processor, 2 GB of RAMS, 1 Tera of HDD, seem Vista still slow to my liking. After I installed SP1 for Vista, the OS seem less stable than before. Blue screen start to show up from time to time. Auto reboot is common thing. I could leave my XP for a week without restart (for downloading) but not for Vista. That is for sure. So, I start to have no reason to use vista. Instead, I am thingking right now to remove it permanently from my HDD to claim back the resource (hard disk space).