IT Nota

Move the Users Directory to a Different Drive in Windows 8

This is a method that’s commonly used in a hybrid SSD–HDD solution, but it can be used in any settings for those who don’t want to store their Users directory in their main C: drive. And I like this solution better as it’s more straightforward than the registry hacks.

This post just shows quick steps on what to do without giving too much the why as it’s already best explained elsewhere that can be followed from the links provided at the bottom of this post.

What to Prepare

  • This should be obvious, but make sure you have either Windows 8 DVD or USB handy where you can boot from in case things go wrong.
  • Your target HDD must be formatted in NTFS.
  • All data backed-up (another obvious one).

Steps

  1. Delete all contents in LocalTemp folder in your C: drive (i.e., C:\Users\itnota\AppData\Local\Temp\*.*). I happened to encounter “Access denied” error while doing the robocopy and the system kept trying to copy one *.tmp file for three hours before I realized what it was trying to do. After cleaning out the whole Temp directory, the whole process took only a few minutes. Make sure you also exit all running applications before cleaning the whole folder.

  2. Boot into Command Line. Press “the Windows logo key”+C or point your mouse to either top-right or bottom-right corner, select Settings, and then click Change PC Settings.

    Windows 8 Settings

  3. Click General, then click Restart now.

    Change PC Settings Windows 8

  4. Once you see the blue screen shown below, click Troubleshoot, Advanced options, then select Command Prompt. (Images were taken from HowToGeek)

    Windows 8 PC Settings Options
    Windows 8 Troubleshoot

  5. The PC should reboot and show a command prompt window. And this is where things can be a bit tricky. You need to figure out which drive letter the SSD (source) and HDD (destination) have and they may not necessarily be the same as what you see in your Windows environment (as seen in File Explorer). So if you open File Explorer (“Windows logo key”+E), your C: drive may not be the C: drive in the command prompt Window. This is what you need to find out and make a note of it.

  6. The easiest way is just doing a dir command on each drive by typing:
    C:

    Then type:

    dir /p

    Repeat this for the destination drive. As an example from my own system, here’s what I found:

    DriveFile ExplorerCommand Prompt
    SSD (Source)C:H:
    HDD (Destination)F:G:

  7. Once you get this part figured out, start copying Users directory. I’m going from the example above, you need to substitute the drive letters according to what you find in your system.

    Type:

    robocopy /copyall /mir /xj H:\Users G:\Users

    Make sure there aren’t any errors in the FAILED column.

  8. Delete the Users directory from the SSD.

    rmdir /S /Q H:\Users

  9. The last part is to create a directory junction (soft link) from SSD to the HDD. And here’s another tricky part. While you use the drive letter of the source from the Command Prompt (H:), you cannot use the drive letter of your destination, instead, you have to use the drive letter of your destination from the Windows environment / File Explorer (F:).

    mklink /J H:\Users F:\Users

That’s it. Close the Command Prompt window and click Continue. Your PC should reboot and prompt you to log back in to Windows.

At the end of the process, you should be able to tell if it works. Just check your Users folder on C: drive and compare it with the new destination. The Users folder on C: should look like a shortcut icon, and the real Users folder on the destination (i.e. F:) is a regular folder. If you check the Properties, both should show the same size.

Windows 8 Users Folders Comparison

Troubleshooting

If you’re signed out as soon as you logged in, this might be caused by directory junction was pointed to a wrong drive, make sure you perform the last step right. But at this point, you won’t be able to fix it without rebooting from either Windows 8 DVD or USB.

Once the installation menu shows up, select Repair Your Computer and select Advanced options and Command Prompt. Delete the created junction (Step 8), and re-create it with the correct drive letter (Step 9).

Please share this post if you find it useful.

Known Issues

Certain Windows Security Updates (e.g., KB2781197) cannot be automatically applied after the change. Please refer to Windows 8 Updates After Moving User Profile on how to resolve this.

Further Reading

Move the Users Directory from SSD to HDD in Windows 8
Move the Users Directory in Windows 7

How to Make Links to Apple’s AppStore

Apple's AppStore

A special link that’s clickable on any iOS devices such as iPod, iPhone, or iPad and go straight to Apple’s Appstore can be built via iTunes Link Maker (Create links for the iTunes Store, the App Store, the iBookstore, and the Mac App Store).

The only thing we need to do is to search the app on the search box and click on the *device* App Link on the very right column of the table.

As an example, if we want to create a weblink for “Plants vs. Zombies,” we just need to type in the title in the search box.

iTunes Link Maker search box

As the search results are displayed, select the intended app whose link we want to create.

After clicking the link, just copy and paste the whole markup in the HTML With Link: dialog box. You can choose among three options on how the link will be displayed (Small button, Large button, or Text Only).

Linking to App Dialog Box

Click on the image for a larger version

The beauty of this, if it’s clicked from a non-Apple device, it will open an iTunes Preview page of the application.

Here’s the final link pasted on this very page in all three versions:

Small button
Plants vs. Zombies HD - PopCap

Large button
Plants vs. Zombies HD - PopCap

Text Only
Plants vs. Zombies HD – PopCap

Link

iTunes Link Maker

Filed Under: How To Tagged With:

How to Force WWW to Your Domain URL

One important aspect of SEO basics is that we use “WWW Resolve” on our domain name. While we know that domain.com and www.domain.com may be pointing to the same website, search engines don’t know that and they will treat them as two duplicate websites and that’s going to hurt your page ranking. So it’s important to redirect all requests from a non-preferred domain into one URL.

The first step to do it is to setup our .htaccess file under our website directory. Open the file and put this on the very top. If you use WordPress, make sure you put these codes outside any WordPress custom codes.

RewriteEngine On

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^itnota.com$
RewriteRule ^/?$ "https://www.itnota.com/" [R=301,L]

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^itnota.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$       https://www.itnota.com/$1 [R=301,L]

Once the file is saved, you can test it by typing your domain.com (without the ‘www’) in your browser, the ‘www’ should be added automatically.

As the next step, you can also set how search engines would display your domain URL on their search result. For Google, you can use your Google account and sign up to Webmaster Tools and in Configuration – Settings you can set your Preferred domain.

Preferred Domain

With these two settings, you can be rest assured that Google will know how to display your URL correctly in its search result, and other http requests that don’t include ‘www’ in your domain will be corrected with the .htaccess settings.

Further Reading

Preferred domain (www or non-www)

How to Activate Google 2-Step Verification

With a huge increase in email accounts getting hacked, you need more than just a strong password to protect them. Fortunately for Gmail users, Google provides a “2-step verification” that will tell you by either sending a text message to your registered cell phone if someone tries to gain access to your email. This feature has been out for a while but many people are still not aware about it.

Google 2-Step Verification is actually very easy to setup and doesn’t take too much of your time, you just need to link your Gmail account to your cell phone. Just follow these steps below to activate it:

1. Login to your Gmail and on the top right-hand corner, click on the little arrow next to your name and select Account link.
Gmail Account Setting

2. On the Accounts page, click on Security.

Gmail Accounts Tab

Accounts Tab

3. You will see your 2-step verification status. Click on the Edit button.

Gmail 2-Step Verification Screen

Security Tab

4. And you will see the splash screen to Start the setup. Click on the blue Start setup » button.

Gmail Verification Start Setup Screen

Start Setup Screen

5. Enter your cell phone number in the textbox and click on Send code button. You will receive a 6-digit verification code within a few minutes. If you’re outside the U.S., make sure you select your country of residence by clicking on the drop-down arrow next to the flag icon in the same textbox with the phone number.

Setup Phone Screen

Setup Phone Screen

6. Enter the code you receive from your cell phone into the Enter verification code box and click Verify.

Enter Verification Code Screen

Verify Phone Number

7. You can either check the Trust this computer box or not. Since I’m using a home computer, I want to trust my computer. Don’t check it if you login from a public or shared computer. Click Next » button.

Trust this Computer Screen

Trust this Computer

8. Once you click Confirm button, your 2-step verification should be activated now.

You will see a notice 2-step verification has been turned on for this account on the top part of your Gmail screen. You should also receive an email confirmation about your 2-step verification.

Please remember, virtually there is nothing that cannot be hacked, but at the very least by activating this verification, your Google account should be more secure than if it was only protected by a password.

How to Obtain WorksheetId Within a Google Docs Spreadsheet

If you try to save form data to Google Spreadsheets and you have more than one worksheets, soon enough you’ll run into this issue trying to figure out how to get the id of the worksheet you need to update. While I don’t know how to obtain this id programmatically, there’s a practical way to do it and it should only take about a minute of your time.

Using the simple Sheet 23 in this Registration GDocs as an illustration, it’s obviously not the first and the only worksheet within the Google spreadsheet.

GDocs active worksheet

The first thing you need to do is just go to the File from the menu and select Publish to the Web…
GDocs - Publish to the Web

On the new screen that pops out, just follow these 4 steps as pictured below.

  1. Select the sheet you want to obtain the id
  2. Click on Start publishing button
  3. Select either ATOM (recommended) or RSS from the Get a link to the published data option
  4. If you choose ATOM, the link should come out in this format:

    http://spreadsheets.google.com/feeds/list/[spreadsheet key]/[worksheet id]/public/values

    Copy down the worksheet id from the provided link in circle. In this case, it’s the “ocz” but it may be different on yours (e.g., od4, od6, od8, and et cetera).

GDocs - Publish to the Web options screen

Unless you want to publish your worksheet now, you need to make sure you click back the Stop publishing button.

Click Close and you’re done.

Further Reading

Getting Started with the Google Data PHP Client Library
Google Data Protocol
Saving Form Data to Google Spreadsheets Using PHP and the Google Docs API
Zend Gdata Library Downloads

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