If you use Realtek Bluetooth drivers, you may be having issues with updating your Windows 10 operating system. That itself is due to the safeguard hold that was put into place in May of 2019 by Microsoft because of outdated driver versions. Microsoft states, “You will need to update to driver version 1.5.1012 or later to remove this safeguard hold. Any earlier version of the driver is affected by this issue.”

On November 15th, however, Microsoft removed the hold with affected versions, according to their statement on Microsoft Docs. And you can install Windows 10 after updating the Realtek Bluetooth drivers. This process can take up to 48 hours, so don’t be discouraged if you’re not able to install right away.

If you need to download and install the drivers manually to disable the compatibility hold, here’s the step-by-step process:

• Download both of the Realtek Bluetooth radio drivers to your preferred folder: Driver 1, Driver 2. Note: We recommend downloading them to your Documents folder.
• Open File Explorer. If there is no file explorer icon in the task bar, select the search box and enter file explorer and select it.
• Within File Explorer, go the the Documents folder or the folder you downloaded the drivers to.
• Find and double click or double tap on the file named 068de0d6-6ac2-473a-8cbd-bd449cd5c97c_942eec5828662eecc6b98cc2706658bf2433717c.cab
• Select CTRL+a on the keyboard. This should select all of the files
• Right click or long press on any of the files and select Extract.
• Select the New folder button and rename it Realtek Bluetooth.
• Select the Extract button.
• In File Explorer, select the back  button to go to the location you downloaded the drivers into.
• Find and double click or double tap on the file named f2748416-7753-49c6-9185-56f4986f490b_e98e0d664b7e874011b8e3752046ca61f3475295.cab
• Select CTRL+a on the keyboard. This should select all of the files
• Right click or long press on any of the files and select Extract.
• If you are in the folder named Realtek Bluetooth, then select the New folder button and type Realtek Bluetooth 2.
• Select the Extract button.
• In the search box on the taskbar, enter device manager, then select Device Manager.
• Find Bluetooth and expand it.
• Find the Realtek device and right-click or long press on it.
• Select Update Driver from the context menu.
• Select the Browse my computer for driver software button.
• It should default to your Documents folder, if this is where you saved the drivers then just select the Next button. If you did not save the drivers to your Documents folder, select the Browse button and find the folder you downloaded the drivers to and select OK.
• It should now find the updated drivers and install them. Wait for this to complete and select Close.

Karls Technology is a nationwide computer service company with offices in many major cities. This blog post was brought to you from our staff at the Frisco Computer Repair Service, if you need computer repair in Frisco, TX please call or text the local office at (469) 299-9005.

Yesterday, Brandon LeBlanc from Windows Insider Program announced a new release of PowerToys v0.12.

If you’ve never heard of PowerToys, LeBlanc states that, “it’s a set of utilities for power users to tune and streamline their Windows experience for greater productivity.” Apparently PowerToys was revamped from Windows 95 and is specifically for Windows 10 on GitHub.

Microsoft received lots of feedback from the Windows Insiders for this particular feature and seem to be eager to see how it all pans out for the public.

One certain PowerToy is the PowerRename. This allows you to group a handful of files and rename them in a short amount of time.

LeBlanc finishes the blog post with two more utilities, FancyZones and Dark Mode Support. He states, “The next big improvement is with FancyZones, a window manager that’s designed to make it easy to arrange and snap windows into efficient layouts for your workflow. We made the editor multi-monitor aware, targeted globalization bugs, and corrected other high priority issues. Lastly, we’ve started to add in support for Dark Mode where appropriate.”

I can definitely see businesses applying these utilizations to their workload. You’re able to choose your layout and adjust according to what works best for you. It just makes things easier.

If you’d like to install PowerToys, head over to GitHub and download the PowerToysSetup.msi installer.

For help updating, restoring or dealing with any Windows 10 issues, call us at 1-800-620-5285.  Karls Technology is a nationwide computer service company with offices in many major cities. This blog post was brought to you from our staff at the Denver Computer Repair Service, if you need computer repair in Denver, CO please call or text the local office at (720) 441-6460.

Windows slipped up a little again this week. Microsoft released an update that included an improvement to Windows Autopilot devices. However it was sent to the wrong version.

According to Chris Merriman, an associate editor at the INQUIRER:

For anyone that doesn’t know, Autopilot is a system from the company’s InTune imprint, used to roll out Windows in a business environment. If you’re not in a business environment, and at the IT admin end, you’re usually never going to see it. In fact, according to the notes for the patch:

“Windows Autopilot update is not installed on Windows 10 Pro or a later version when the device is not registered or configured for Windows Autopilot deployment. Windows Autopilot update is never offered to Windows 10 Home.”

Thing is, it was. In fact, it was sent to Home devices and Pro devices that weren’t registered for Autopilot.

The issue has apparently been found and dealt with, but it is urged that you don’t install it unless it’s necessary – which it probably isn’t.

Microsoft Docs says this in regarding adding devices:

“Before deploying a device using Windows Autopilot, the device must be registered with the Windows Autopilot deployment service. Ideally, this would be performed by the OEM, reseller, or distributor from which the devices were purchased, but this can also be done by the organization by collecting the hardware identity and uploading it manually.

If an existing device is already running Windows 10 version 1703 or later and enrolled in an MDM service such an Intune, that MDM service can ask the device for the hardware ID (also known as a hardware hash). Once it has that, it can automatically register the device with Windows Autopilot.

For instructions on how to do this with Microsoft Intune, see Create an Autopilot deployment profile documentation describing the “Convert all targeted devices to Autopilot” setting.

For help with Windows 10 issues, call us at 1-800-620-5285.  Karls Technology is a nationwide computer service company with offices in many major cities. This blog post was brought to you from our staff at the Mesa Computer Repair Service, if you need computer repair in Mesa, AZ please call the local office at (480) 240-2950.