Understandnig reason for Windows upgrade failing (like BSOD)

If windows upgrade fails, like with a blue screen of death, it flashes the error a minute or so, and then rolls back the upgrade. 

The error shown may not have much details and in most cases will not help figure out what went wrong.

In such cases SetupDiag can be of help

In latest version of windows upgrade install, SetupDiag runs automatically after upgrade failures. The results can be found in below location

%windir%\logs\SetupDiag\SetupDiagResults.xml

This log is in a much more understandable format compared to pouring over all the setup log files

More about SetupDiag and how to manually run this tool, please see here

 

Note:

Most of the time, upgrade failures are due to driver compatibility issues. In such a case, you should be able to see the driver details and dll linked to it in the above log file. Once you know which driver is causing issue, you may want to open windows "Device Manager" and completely un-install the device before attempting upgrade again

IIS, Setting StatusCode (in code) will not send Response.Write message back to client

IIS 7 to IIS 8.5, if you set StatusCode (in code) other than 200, and send a response via Response.Write, the message will not be sent to the client. 

To override, and send the message set in Response.Write

 add a line like below

 Response.TrySkipIisCustomErrors = true;

this is not an issue with IIS 10+

iPad keyboard is too small and is floating around

To change the size to big (normal keyboard), use two fingers at the sides and drag outwards. It will change bigger and then snap to the bottom to full size!

Games cannot be run in Windows Sandbox, with DirectX error (no gpu support from host)

To allow games to be played via Windows Sandbox, do the following. The below configuration will allow Virtual Gpu in Windows sandbox and map a folder from your system to the sandbox system so you can copy or view from one to other. By default virtual gpu is not enable and hence most of the directx apps wont run and give errors

1. Open notepad
2. Paste the below in notepad
3. <Configuration>
     <VGpu>Enable</VGpu>
     <MappedFolders>
       <MappedFolder>
         <HostFolder>C:\Games</HostFolder>
         <ReadOnly>false</ReadOnly>
       </MappedFolder>
     </MappedFolders>
   </Configuration>
   
4. Copy your game files/folders in C:\Games
5. In notepad, select in menu File -> Save As
6. Change "Save as type" to All Files (*.*)
7. Enter the file name as Sandbox.wsb
8. Save in a location that you remember (Example in Desktop)
9. Close notepad
10. Double click Sandbox.wsb (in Desktop assuming this is where the file is saved)
11. Once Sandbox loads, in the sandbox Desktop, there should be a folder called "Games"
12. Double click this folder and run the game executable

This is how my config looks 

In case you do not have Windows Sandbox enabled (ie; Getting error How do you want to open this file while clicking to open)

1.  Start -> Turn Windows features on or off
2. Check "Windows Sandbox" 
3. Press OK

 

 

Some of the errors while vgpu was not enabled:

Failed to create Direct3D Device. Please check that your drivers are up-to-date. Alternatively try switching your computer to a lower resolution to reduce graphics memory requirements.

Faulting module name: d3d10warp.dll, version: 10.0.19041.546, time stamp: 0x2bbb3470
Exception code: 0xc0000409
Fault offset: 0x002d6b32
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\d3d10warp.dll