Windows
Developers | |
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Microsoft | |
Release dates | |
Windows | November 20, 1985 |
Key points
- The most popular and widely supported family of operating system among PC gamers.
- Backward compatibility is high, with newer versions of the operating system capable of running decades old software with minimal issues.
- Have transitioned over to periodical major upgrades biannually since the introduction of Windows 10.
Resources
- Official support
- Windows 10 Update history
- Microsoft Update Catalog - Allows for manual download of updates or device drivers. See related KB article.
Communities
- Microsoft Community - Official community for everything related to Microsoft
- /r/windows10 - Subreddit dedicated to Windows 10
- /r/windows - Subreddit dedicated to Windows in general
General
Command Prompt
The Command Prompt is the command-line interpreter provided by Microsoft for Windows systems and is the not-as-powerful equivalent of the shell in Linux and Mac OS. It can be accessed by going to 'run' and typing 'cmd.exe' or by running a 'Batch file'.
Admin Command Prompt
Windows 8 and later |
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Task Manager
The Task Manager is an application built into Windows that allows for the managing running processes as well as providing information about computer performance.
It can be accessed by any of the following ways:
- Right-click on the taskbar of Windows and select Task Manager.
- Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete and select Task Manager.
- Press Ctrl+⇧ Shift+Esc to open it directly.
Device Manager
The Device Manager is an application built into Windows that allows for the management of device drivers. It can be accessed from the Control Panel.
Registry Editor
The Registry Editor allows users to edit the Windows registry. It can be accessed by going to 'run' and typing 'Regedit.exe'.
Basic Editing |
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Advanced Search |
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Notes
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Blue Screen of Death (BSOD)
A Blue Screen of Death (a.k.a BSOD or Bluescreen) is an error screen that Windows produces when it encounters an error that it cannot recover from.
DirectX
DirectX is a collection of APIs for Windows that allows programs to interact directly with hardware.
.NET Framework
The .NET Framework is a software framework for Windows that is required for games built in .NET-aware languages (such as C# or Visual Basic), including those that use XNA. Different games may require different versions of .NET Framework. A list with download links to all versions may be found on MSDN. Windows 8 and 10 users may want to read this.
DLLs
DLL stands for "Dynamic Link Library". DLL files (.dll) are Windows exclusive library files containing code and data that can be used over several applications.
While they can save time for developers, these files can cause problems for the end-user (commonly referred to as "DLL Hell").
Windows 10
Game Bar
The Game Bar allows easy recording of gameplay video (default ⊞ Win+G when in any game). It is enabled by default in Windows 10. Unfortunately, some games suffer from sporadic but severe FPS drops when the bar is enabled.[citation needed]
Disable Xbox DVR[1] |
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Notes
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Modify the registry[2] |
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Download, extract and run this registry hack file. Notes
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Disabling driver updates
- Driver updates can only be disabled before they are actually downloaded.
- Not all driver updates will be listed at first, however they can be disabled gradually.
Instructions[citation needed] |
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Notes
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Issues unresolved
SafeDisc protection doesn't work with Windows 10
Previous Windows of versions included a compatible version of secdrv.sys
for the Macrovision safedisc DRM, but Windows 10 does not, rendering games requiring SafeDisc unplayable. According to a Microsoft representative "Safedisc is not supported on Windows 10" and people will have to wait for Macrovision to come out with an updated secdrv.sys.[3]
Screen recorders, overlays, injectors won't work with Windows Apps
See Windows Store article for this and other Windows Apps related issues.
Issues fixed
Alt F4 doesn't terminate frozen applications
Use SuperF4 |
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Older Games Missing .dll File on Windows Vista and later
- Some .dll files have different names on Windows Vista and later.
Copy DLL to folder |
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DirectDraw is broken
This issue actually first materialized in 8.1,[4] unfortunately there is little more that can be done than use a DDraw wrapper:
- DgVoodoo 2, a glide wrapper, also has a DDraw wrapper built-in.
- Direct3D 8 has a very similar issue on 8.1 and later as well[5], however the ddraw wrappers (with an exception to the ones that include a d3d8.dll) do not fix the issue as D3D8 doesn't use ddraw, being the first version of DirectX to deprecate it. Instead use a patched d3d8.dll, the DX8 to DX9 convertor or the d3d8to9 wrapper.
- Users of Windows Vista and on-wards actually benefit from a DDraw wrapper due to it no longer being hardware accelerated on such systems, however the built-in DDraw wasn't completely broken until 8.1.
Older games refuse to start on Windows 8 and later
Install DirectPlay |
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Note: Normally Windows 8+ automatically detects if an application needs DirectPlay or other legacy components when it launches and prompts the user to install DirectPlay, but this requires a certain combination of services to be active such as the Diagnostic Policy Service which are sometimes disabled by the user. |
Force CPU affinity
- Prevents processes from using other CPU cores than the ones allowed, which can work around threading synchronization issues that might exist.
Provisional solution: Task manager |
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Notes
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Permanent solution: customized shortcut |
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Notes
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Permanent solution: flag game executable |
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Notes
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Use PsExec |
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Notes
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Use RunFirst |
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Notes
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4-Gigabyte Tuning
Windows XP and Server 2003 (x86 only): edit boot configuration file[6] |
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Windows Vista and later (x86 only): edit boot configuration database[7] |
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Notes |
Force IMAGE_FILE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE flag in executables |
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Notes
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Shoddy coded applications mess system-wide registry setting
Edit key ACL |
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Notes
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Codec hell
Reset DirectShow filters |
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Notes
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Missing codecs
Install ffdshow[11] |
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QuickTime for Windows is no more[citation needed] |
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Game files missing after upgrading or refreshing Windows
- Upgrading or refreshing your Windows installation will move some files and folders to a
Windows.old
folder on the system drive.
Retrieve files from windows.old[12] |
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Non-Unicode applications might not work properly
- This is most commonly an issue with Japanese games and visual novels, and may prevent a game from being installed, launched, or even work properly (may have scrambled text or bugs).
- Locale Emulator/Microsoft AppLocale runs the application with the correct localization without affecting the rest of the operating system.
Use Locale Emulator |
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Instructions
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Use Microsoft AppLocale |
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Instructions
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Change non-Unicode language system-wide[13] |
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Instructions
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IPX protocol deprecated
- IPX was a LAN protocol commonly used with older programs, especially games. Unfortunately it was removed entirely from Vista and later with no indication of returning.
Try a wrapper[citation needed] |
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Try one of the following:
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Copy support files from Windows XP[14] |
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What you need: a working installation of Windows XP sp2. Step 1. Ctrate a new folder c:\temp Step 2. Copy the following files to the directory c:\temp *and* to the corrsponding vista directories: Note: You might need to open up an "elevated" command prompt, "run as administrator", (to get write access to directories). Windows\System32\drivers\nwlnkipx.sys Windows\System32\drivers\nwlnkflt.sys Windows\System32\drivers\nwlnkfwd.sys Windows\System32\drivers\nwlnknb.sys Windows\System32\drivers\nwlnkspx.sys Windows\System32\rtipxmib.dll Windows\System32\wshisn.dll Windows\System32\nwprovau.dll Windows\inf\netnwlnk.inf (*) Windows\inf\netnwlnk.pnf (*) (*) The directory "inf" is hidden Step 3. Go to "manage network connection" (in control panel-> network). Right click your LAN adapter connection, click "install", "protocol", "Add", Do not select the IPX that is already in the list, be sure to select "have disk". Navigate to "c:\temp" and select file "netnwlnk.inf", now select "WLink IPX/SPX/NetBIOS". You will get a warning it's not verifyable, install anyway (or not..). If you get an error message about a missing module, you forgot to copy the above files to the windows 7 directories. Step 4. Reboot computer.
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Lowered volume when using background Metro/UWP apps
Instructions[citation needed] |
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Microsoft removed the MIDI Mapper
Starting Windows 8.1 and later, Microsoft removed the ability to change the default MIDI device, at least officially
Modify the registry[15] |
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Go to: "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Drivers32" |
Use a MIDIMapper replacement[16][17] |
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Use the CoolSoft MIDIMapper or KaleidonKep99's (A.K.A. Riccardo Loi) ReactOS MIDI Mapper (no longer availible). |
Error connected with "dxgmms2.sys" error with DirectX 8 or older games
This happened after the November 2015 update on Nvidia video cards that do not support DirectX 12 hardware features. Issue was resolved with Windows update KB3140743.
"To use this, you need to upgrade Windows" notification on Microsoft Store pages
Ensure Windows 10 is Version 1511 or later (run winver
from the start menu search box to verify).[18] The update can be installed through Windows Update (if listed) or manually from Get Windows 10.
Backward compatibility
Compatibility mode
- See Windows Compatibility Mode for information on how to use the built-in backward compatibility mode of Windows.
DOS compatibility
For modern versions of Windows (both 32-bit and 64-bit), it is recommended to use DOSBox.
- If you're having trouble getting DOS games to run on older versions of NT (XP & 2000) checkout The Sierra Help Pages.
- In the transition from Windows 9x to NT based versions, DOS compatibility was temporarily maintained, at least for 32-bit editions.
Other information
Running previous Windows versions bundled games on newer ones
Speed up loading of web pages in Windows
- Windows ships with Automatically detect settings enabled by default for compatibility reasons. This option allows automatic configuration of Internet connectivity in networks that supports it by using the DNS or DHCP services of the network. However support for this type of automatic configuration is almost only found within corporate or academic networks, and the feature is as such not usually required for home or small network users.
- The feature have in some instances been found to add noticeable delays when loading content from the Internet, and is therefor recommended to be disabled unless the network requires it.
- Disabling this feature affects all applications that relies on the internal IE subsystem of Windows, such as Google Chrome, Steam, and more.
Instructions[19] |
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Notes
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References
- ↑ How to fix CS 30 FPS cap after Windows 10 anniversary update! :: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive General Discussions
- ↑ Verified by User:Hawaii_Beach on 2016-10-09
- ↑ Microsoft Community Forums :: Age of Mythology - Windows 10
- ↑ https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/games_windows_10/directdraw-emulation-still-broken-in-windows-10/5a619148-cf1e-4813-b733-997b996b9567
- ↑ https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=47772
- ↑ /3GB (Windows Drivers) - Microsoft Developer Network
- ↑ BCDEdit /set (Windows Drivers) - Microsoft Developer Network
- ↑ The oft-misunderstood /3GB switch – The Old New Thing
- ↑ Kernel address space consequences of the /3GB switch – The Old New Thing
- ↑ Windows Vista File and Registry Virtualisation – Richard's Weblog
- ↑ Tomb Raider 6 Modding Thread - www.tombraiderforums.com
- ↑ Retrieve files from the Windows.old folder - Microsoft Windows Help
- ↑ Change the system locale - Windows Help
- ↑ https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/82727f50-9e1b-4fcf-8a38-e45567938ec4/ipx-on-windows-7?forum=w7itpronetworking
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfbbzN9XuPw
- ↑ http://coolsoft.altervista.org/en/blog/2013/03/what-happened-midi-mapper-windows-8
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQQDJ6tQH_o
- ↑ Can't buy Quantum Break in Windows 10 - Microsoft Community
- ↑ Reddit Gaming Subreddit - Make Big Picture Quicker