Maintaining and Troubleshooting Microsoft Windows › 2020 › ...May 07, 2020 · Title: Maintaining and Troubleshooting Microsoft Windows Author: Pam Taylor Created Date: 5/25/2020

Maintaining and Troubleshooting Microsoft WindowsTroubleshoot Windows

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Event Viewer (Slide 1 of 2)

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Event Viewer (Slide 2 of 2)

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• Principal Windows log files:

• System Log

• Security Log

• Application Log

• Setup

• Event types:

• Information

• Warning

• Error

• Critical

• Successful Audit

• Failure Audit


The System Configuration Utility (Slide 1 of 5)

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Troubleshooting Tips for Windows System Issues (Slide 1 of 3)

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• For slow performance:

• Wait for these processes to complete.

• If the process or system continues to be unresponsive, you can either restart the service or kill the task process.

• If killing the process doesn't restore system performance, try restarting the computer.

• If the service or process becomes unresponsive again after restarting, disable it and check with the software vendor for any known problems.



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• Consider these troubleshooting techniques and solutions:

• Apply updates.

• Defragment the hard drive.

• Examine power management issues.

• Check for underpowered components.

• Disable application startup.

• Disable Windows services and/or applications.

• Perform a security scan.

• Check the configuration of anti-virus software.



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• If a service fails to start:

• Try to start the service manually.

• Verify the service has sufficient privileges.

• Verify any dependent services are started.

• Check system files and scan for malware.

• Try reinstalling affected application.

• Re-register software component using regsvr32.

• Check whether the service is supposed to run.


Troubleshooting Tips for Application Issues (Slide 1 of 2)

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• If an application crashes:

• Try to preserve any data being processed.

• Give the process time to become responsive again.

• If necessary, kill the process.

• Try to recover data from temporary files or folders if necessary.

• Attempt to identify whether the cause is in the data file.

• If you can’t determine the cause, try to uninstall then reinstall the application.

• If available, in Programs and Features, use the Repair option.


Troubleshooting Tips for Application Issues (Slide 2 of 2)

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• If you are having printing issues:

• Use the printer's property dialog to try printing a test page.

• Open the print queue and check for stalled print jobs.

• Restart the print spooler service.

• Check for any driver updates or known issues.

• Check permissions configured on the printer.

• Check for disk problems on the partition hosting the spool folder.


Blue Screens and Spontaneous Shutdowns (Slide 1 of 2)

BSoD: This indicates an error from which the system cannot recover.

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• Use System Restore

• Safe Mode

• Rollback Driver

• Remove new hardware or program

• Check seating of hardware and cables

• Run diagnostics, chkdsk, scan for malware

• Record stop error code and search Microsoft Knowledge Base for known fixes and troubleshooting tips


Blue Screens and Spontaneous Shutdowns (Slide 2 of 2)

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Troubleshooting Tips for File and Memory Corruption (Slide 1 of 3)

Windows Resource Protection: A Windows feature that prevents essential system files, folders, and registry keys from being replaced to help prevent application and OS failure.

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• System File Checker

• sfc /scannow

• sfc /scanonce

• sfc /scanboot



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Troubleshooting Tips for Boot Problems (Slide 1 of 2)

POST: A hardware checking routine built into the PC firmware.

MBR: Sector on a hard disk storing information about partitions configured on the disk.

Boot sector or VBR: Loads the boot manager, which for Windows is bootmgr.exe.

BCD: Windows stores information about operating systems installed on the computer in a boot configuration data store.

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Troubleshooting Tips for Boot Problems (Slide 2 of 2)

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• Boot process

• Verify the boot process is functioning normally

• Failure to boot/Invalid boot disk

• No OS Found

• bootrec /fixmbt

• bootrec /fixboot

• bootrec /rebuildbcd

• Graphical interface fails to load/Black screen

• Try pressing Windows+Ctrl+Shift+B to test whether the system is responsive

• Slow boot/Slow profile load

• Check for corrupt profile


Safe Boot (Slide 1 of 4)

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• Safe Mode loads only basic drivers and services needed to start the system.

• You can add in drivers and app services one by one to see where a problem occurs.

• It’s also helpful when you are running analysis and recovery tools.

• Default display resolution for Safe Mode is SVGA (800x600).

• Different ways to access Safe Mode:

• System Configuration utility if you can sign on to Windows.

• Advanced Boot Options menu in Windows 7.

• Power→Shift + Restart in Windows 8 and 10.



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WinRE and Startup Repair (Slide 1 of 2)

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WinRE and Startup Repair (Slide 2 of 2)

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System Restore (Slide 1 of 4)

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System Repair and Reinstall (Slide 1 of 4)

Image: A duplicate of an operating system installation (including installed software, settings, and user data).

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• System Restore

• System Repair

• Recovery Image

• Removable hard drive

• 2:1 compression is ideal but may be lower

• Keep image up-to-date or use with separate data backup

• Use with Advanced Boot Option or System Image Recovery



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Guidelines for Troubleshooting Windows Issues (Slide 1 of 6)

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• Examine log files and Event Viewer to get information about what has happened on the system.

• Use the System Configuration Utility to modify system settings and files that affect the way the computer boots and loads Windows.

• Use Task Manager to attempt to locate a reason for slow system performance.

• Use Event Viewer to attempt to determine why a service fails to start.



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• If an application crashes:

• Try to preserve any data that was being processed.

• See if the process will become responsive again or if you need to kill the process.

• Attempt to recover data from temporary files or folders if the process was killed.

• Examine Event Viewer logs.

• If the application repeatedly crashes, uninstall then reinstall the application or if available, use the Repair option in Programs and Features.



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• If there are printing issues not related to printer hardware or network connectivity, examine Windows settings and check the following:

• Use the printer's property dialog box to try printing a test page. If this is successful, there must be an application or file-specific problem.

• Open the print queue and check for stalled print jobs.

• Restart the print spooler service.

• Check for any driver updates or known issues.

• Check permissions configured on the printer.

• Check for disk problems on the partition hosting the spool folder.



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• If the user experiences frequent BSoDs:

• Use System Restore or, (if you can boot to Safe Mode), Rollback Driver.

• Remove a recently added hardware device or uninstall a recently installed program.

• Check seating of hardware components and cables.

• Run hardware diagnostics, chkdsk, and scan for malware.

• Make a note of the stop error code and search the Microsoft Knowledge Base for known fixes and troubleshooting tips.



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• If the user experiences file or memory corruption:

• Use sfc to verify system files and restore them from cache if corrupt or damaged.

• Use the Windows Memory Diagnostics tool to test memory chips for errors.

• If the user is experiencing boot problems, determine the failure point.

• Try booting into Safe Mode to troubleshoot by loading only minimal required components.

• Try booting from the product media, a repair disc, or a recovery partition.

• Use System Restore to rollback system configuration changes.



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• Rollback updates that are causing issues by uninstalling them.

• Open Programs and Features.

• Select View installed updates.

• Select the update that is causing the problem, then select the Uninstall button.

• Rollback troublesome device drivers.

• Open Device Manager.

• Right-click the device having the problem and select Properties.

• Select the Driver tab.

• Select the Roll Back Driver button.

• If all else fails, determine whether you need to perform a system restore or reinstall Windows.

Activity


Discussing Windows Troubleshooting

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Activity


Using Windows Troubleshooting Tools

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Reflective Questions


1. Which Windows performance management tools would you expect to use most in your workplace?

2. Have you ever recovered a severely compromised Windows system? If so, then describe your experience.

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Documents

Maintaining and Troubleshooting Microsoft Windows › 2020 › ...May 07, 2020 · Title: Maintaining and Troubleshooting Microsoft Windows Author: Pam Taylor Created Date: 5/25/2020