Run Hyper-V and VirtualBox on Windows 10

I have been using VirtualBox for long time and have setup quite a few VMs for development and testing purposes. I upgraded to the Windows 10 Pro for my main work laptop, and began working with Hyper-V, which is available on a client OS since Windows 8. Since I use virtualization to do software testing as well development work on daily basis, I was eager to see what Hyper-V could do. Hyper-V have impressed me so far. It performs well and stays out of my way when I’m not using it.

However, as I have a lot of my previous work in VirtualBox, and rather than try to make all the old VMs work with Hyper-V, it made more sense to continue using them on the original platform (VirtualBox). The challenge is that VirtualBox and Hyper-V cannot run at the same time. Only one hypervisor can run at a time, and since Hyper-V runs all the time, VirtualBox always fails as it only runs when launched.

The workaround (there’s always a workaround, isn’t there?) is to disable Hyper-V when you want to run VirtualBox. I found a few different ways on the web to accomplish this, including altering the registry, and running a command. But the only one I found that worked involved changing the boot configuration using bcdedit.

If you run bcdedit with no arguments, you should see a property called hypervisorlaunchtype. This will be either set to off or auto.

To disable Hyper-V in order to use VirtualBox, open a command prompt as administrator and run the command:

bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype off

You’ll need to reboot, but then you’ll be all set to run VirtualBox. To turn Hyper-V back on, run:

bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype auto

and then reboot.

Windows 10 Recovery Drive Creation Issues | @PCWorld

When you can’t create the Windows 10 Recovery Drive, try these three fixes

The words you don’t want to read: “We can’t create a recovery drive on this PC.” These workarounds should help in most situations.

If you’re running Windows 10, you need to create a recovery drive—a bootable flash drive that will allow you to restore your system from a restore point, an image backup, or through a complete reinstall.

There’s no single solution to this problem. A fix that works for one person won’t necessarily work for another.

But first, a quick review on creating a recovery drive: Plug in an empty flash drive with a capacity of 4GB or more. Then open Control Panel’s Recovery tool, click Create a recovery drive, and follow the prompts.

And yes, you do want to back up system files necessary for a full reinstall.

If you try those directions and get a “We can’t create a recovery drive…” error, try these solutions:

Scan for problems

Your PC may be suffering from a corrupted system file. Here’s how to find out and hopefully fix it:

Type cmd in the Search field. In the search results, right-click Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.

Once you’re inside the command environment, type sfc/scannow and press Enter. The System File Checker (SFC) program will examine Windows files and replace any that appear to be corrupt. This scan rarely takes more than 10 minutes.

After the scan, try again.

Try another flash drive

Yes, it’s obvious, but a lot of people overlook the obvious. You can buy a 4GB flash drive for less than $5, so there’s really no excuse.

Create an install drive instead

A Windows 10 install drive is very much like a Windows 10 recovery drive. The major differences are that the install drive defaults to reinstalling Windows, and doesn’t know the details of your particular Windows installation.

First, you’ll need to download the media creation tool. Be patient; it’s a big file. Once you have it, plug in your flash drive, launch MediaCreationTool.exe, select Create installation media for another PC and follow the prompts.

When you boot from this drive, the Windows Setup wizard comes up. On the second page of the wizard, ignore the big “Install now” button and click Repair your computer in the lower-left corner. That brings you into an environment nearly identical to the Recovery Tool.

But if you do a complete reinstall, there’s a possibility that it will require you to enter your Product ID number—the proof that you can legally run Windows 10 on this machine. So take a precaution now: Download and run Nirsoft’s free and portable ProduKey. Save the displayed numbers in a safe place.

Article by Lincoln Spector via When you can’t create the Windows 10 Recovery Drive, try these three fixes | PCWorld.

Stop Skype Automatically Starting Up on Windows 10 Boot?

Whether you’re on a Windows system or a Macintosh, there’s little more frustrating than the parade of apps that seem to start up every time you boot your computer. Worse, many of them are hidden behind-the-scenes, little “helper apps” that enable certain functions, listen for incoming queries, etc. For some, it’s almost impossible to figure out what they do and some of those might well be malware of some sort of another. It stinks!

Even benign programs like Skype, a very helpful video chat application, can exhibit the same sort of behaviors, starting up even if you don’t have an account and sitting on the Taskbar on your new Windows 10 system even if you never want to use the program. Any one program likely doesn’t have that much impact on your performance, but when you get 4, 5 or more starting up automatically, that’s going to have an impact on how your computer works.

Let’s just focus on your specific complaint, however. Skype automatically starting up on Microsoft Windows 10.

Read more at http://www.askdavetaylor.com/stop-skype-automatically-starting-up-on-windows-10-boot/#k4GOE4cZFYwDFDes.99

via Stop Skype Automatically Starting Up on Windows 10 Boot? – Ask Dave Taylor.