Dual Boot Linux (Ubuntu 22.04) and Windows 11 on Modern Systems – UEFI

In order to setup a dual boot of Windows 11 and Ubuntu 22.04 on a modern system that uses UEFI, follow these steps.

1. Install Windows 11 first leaving some unpartitioned space (at least 60GB is my recommendation) on the drive you're installing Windows on.
2. Boot up the Ubuntu installer.
3. During installation, you'll be presented with an Installation Type options screen.  Choose "Something else". 

4. On the next screen, you'll see a list of drives and partitions.  On the same drive you installed Windows, create 3 new partitions. 
   1. Create an EXT4 partition for the / mount point at least 40GB in size (this is the main drive for Linux files).
   2. Create a SWAP partition at least 18GB in size.
   3. Create an EFI partition at least 500MB in size.  This is extremely important in order to get grub to install properly. 
5. Leave the "Device for boot loader installation" set as the top level drive that Windows and Ubuntu was / is being installed on.  You should not select an individual partition here.

6. Complete the installation process. 
7. You might need to change the UEFI boot order in the BIOS of your system to boot Ubuntu / Linux first versus booting the Windows EFI partition.  Since you created an EFI partition for your Linux install, it should show up as a bootable option in the bios.  Set / adjust accordingly.
8. That's it!

Creating SSL PFX Certificate for IIS Windows

To create a PFX certificate file you can import into IIS on Windows from an openssl private key and certificate file on Linux, use the below command:

openssl pkcs12 -export -legacy -out iis_certificate.pfx -inkey your_private_key.key -in your_cert.crt -certfile your_chain.crt

Fix for Older SSH Keys Not Working on Windows Git

If your old SSH keys are not working on Windows after installing the latest Git client and tools, and you're being prompted to login (~/.ssh/config configuration being ignored), the fix is to add the following line to the bottom of the C:\Program Files\Git\etc\ssh\ssh_config file:

Host *
	PubkeyAcceptedKeyTypes +ssh-rsa

That's it.  It will work again. 

Similar fix for Linux: https://blog.eamster.tk/fix-for-ssh-keys-not-working-on-newer-versions-of-debian-ubuntu/

Getting Areca Backup to Work on Modern Systems

Unfortunately, Areca Backup hasn't been updated since 2015.  But, it still works great, and it's an awesome program that can compress and encrypt files into a backup archive that can be transferred to a NAS drive or uploaded to the cloud.  However, getting it to work on a modern system can be a chore.  After installing Areca Backup, when you try to launch the application, if nothing happens, you will need to perform both of the following fixes:

Install 32-bit Java first [Windows Offline], and then install 64-bit Java second [Windows Offline (64-bit)] if you have a 64-bit operating system.  Without the 64-bit version of Java, Areca will not launch on a 64-bit system.

The next step to getting Areca to run is to replace the "swt.jar" file in the lib folder found in the installation directory (default is C:\Program Files (x86)\Areca\) with this one:  http://dinofly.com/files/swt.zip

Once the original swt.jar file has been replaced in C:\Program Files (x86)\Areca\lib with the one linked above, Areca will now open and run properly.

Tested on Windows 7 x64, Windows 10 x64, and Windows 11 x64.

Blackbird for Windows (7, 8, and 10)

When it comes to Windows, getting rid of telemetry, keyloggers, and other spyware Microsoft has embedded in your operating system can be rather difficult.  Fortunately, there are a few utilities that can help you take back control over your privacy and security.  One of these utilities is Blackbird, and it is now my preferred privacy and security utility for removing the Microsoft bloatware and spyware that Microsoft has embedded in their latest versions of Windows (Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10). 

To use Blackbird, simply download and run the latest version from their site:

https://www.getblackbird.net/

If for some reason you can't download it from their official site, you can download the latest version from this mirror.

Fix for Mapped Network Drive Issues

After running Blackbird and using it to remove Microsoft's embedded spyware, your mapped network drives to your Network Attached Storage (NAS) drives may no longer work or load properly.  To fix this, download and extract this zip file (named blackbird_fix_smb1_nas_drives.zip) into the same directory where you unzipped the blackbird.exe file.  Then, double click on the "blackbird-network-issues-fix-including-smbv1.bat" file which will run scripts to fix your Server Message Block Version 1 (SMB1) settings.  Reboot your computer after running the batch file, and your NAS drives should work again.

Destroy Windows Spying

I used to use Destroy Windows Spying, but unfortunately, it hasn't been updated in a long time and is no longer being actively developed or maintained, and as such, Blackbird is now my preferred destroy windows spying utility!

Recreating a Lost or Removed EFI Windows Boot Partition

In case you remove an SSD with a Windows Boot Partition that boots an installation of Windows, you'll need to recreate the boot system to be able to successfully boot again.  To recreate the boot EFI partition on another drive or partition, perform the following:

1) Create or use an existing Windows installation disc or flash drive (you can use Rufus USB to format a flash drive with a Windows ISO)
2) Boot PC using your Windows installation media (a CD, DVD, flash drive, etc containing Windows installation files)
3) Press SHIFT + F10 on the first screen to bring up Command Prompt
4) Run the following commands and click Enter each time at Command Prompt:

diskpart
list disk
select disk N (N refers to the disk which contains the deleted the EFI System partition)
list partition
create partition efi size=200
format quick fs=fat32
list partition
list volume (find the volume letter which belongs to the installed Windows OS)
exit (exit diskpart)
bcdboot M:\windows (M refers to the volume letter of installed Windows OS)

Add any additional Windows installations by repeating the bcdboot command followed by the installation path for any other Windows installations you want added to the menu.  For example, I added my Windows 7 partition using the below command:

bcdboot P:\windows

You should now be able to boot Windows again without needing the old boot partition or drive.

Instructions were modified from this post.

Ryzen Windows 10 Random BSOD Fix

For the longest time, I could not figure out why I couldn't get Windows 10 to consistently install or run in a stable fashion for longer than a few minutes on my Ryzen 1700X or my Ryzen 3900X AMD CPU. 

After trying everything I could think of and pulling my hair out, I found a simple solution that appears to have worked!  Simply disable Link State Power Management in your Power Setting's active power plan.

Go to the "Control Panel" -> "Power Options" -> Click on the "Change plan settings" link for your selected power plan -> click on the "Change advanced power settings" link -> navigate to the "PCI Express" category -> find the "Link State Power Management" option -> set it to "Off" (for both on battery and plugged in).

In general, there are several reasons why a computer can suffer a catastrophic Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) issue, but in my case, it turns out I just needed to adjust some power settings to compensate for a storage controller bug found in some solid state hard drives.  Thanks Reddit users for helping me find the fix!

https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/cx3rpb/new_system_with_ryzen_and_windows_10_freezes/#t1_eykk63l

Destroy Windows Spying

Destroy Windows Spying is a great little utility that stops Microsoft from collecting some telemetry without your permission on Windows 7 and Windows 10.  It is an open source project hosted on GitHub.

Download and use Destroy Windows Spying for both Windows 7 and Windows 10. 

After you run Destroy Windows Spying, Skype may not work due to an overly aggressive hosts file entry.   To fix it, remove the following entry from the C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts file:

client-s.gateway.messenger.live.com

Obtaining Let's Encrypt HTTPS SSL Certificate on Windows

Install the .NET Framework version 4.7.2, and then:

Download ACME Windows Client – WACS

To obtain a certificate, run the WACS.exe with the following arguments:

wacs.exe --target manual --host {DOMAIN_NAME} --webroot {PATH_TO_DOMAIN_ROOT_LIKE_C:\zpanel\panel} --emailaddress {EMAIL_ADDR} --accepttos --validation filesystem --store pemfiles --pemfilespath C:\certs

Invalid resx File in C# .NET Solution on Windows XP Only

If a c# application you've developed that targets the .NET Framework version 4.0 crashes on Windows XP but does NOT crash on Windows Vista through Windows 10, it is most likely due to an embedded resource issue (in one of the .resx files in the solution).  Upon opening the solution of my problematic program in Visual Studio 2010 on Windows XP, I received an error similar to the following:

Invalid resx file. Command completed successfully. Could not load type...

I fixed the issue by deleting one of my icon (.ico) files from the solution that was 256 x 256 pixels and replaced it with the same icon with a size of 255 x 255 pixels.  While a 256 x 256 pixel icon file is perfectly valid in newer versions of Windows, the maximum size of an .ico file can only be 255 x 255 on Windows XP x86 SP3.  I still target XP machines since I have a Netbook with it that will always be running XP.