Category Archives: Windows 8

Pin RDP Shortcut to Start Screen

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You can not directly pin a RDP connection to the start screen for some reason in Windows 8, even the native Windows 8 Remote Desktop Metro application you can not pin  a connection directly to the start screen. To work around this issue you will need to follow these simple steps.

Manually create a shortcut on, e.g., the desktop (right-click the desktop, select “New > Shortcut”), and enter the following command:

%windir%\system32\mstsc.exe "C:\Path\To\My\RDF File.RDP"

You will be able to pin this shortcut to the start screen or the taskbar, and remote desktop will now directly launch the connection.

Ghostscript Setup Windows 8 64 bit

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If you are supporting custom software or older line of business software that your organization needs to operate you might come across an issue with Ghostscript and windows 8 64 bit.

The issue is simply when you try to add the Ghostscript printer windows 8 will look like it is stuck in a loop, if you check the error logs you will find an error that look like this.
Log Name: Application
Source: Windows Error Reporting
Event ID: 1001
Level: Information
Description:
Fault bucket -1485095716, type 5
Event Name: PnPDriverImportError
Response: Not available
Cab Id: 0

Problem signature:
P1: x64
P2: E000022F
P3: ghostpdf.inf
P4: 9fa1429c89509ac5eb7661ffa0fa86850304a1fd
To install the Ghostscript printer follow these steps:

  1. Open your charms (the right side popup menu) and select “Settings” and Click on the last option on the list called “Change PC Settings”
  2. In the “General” category click the “Restart now” button under “Advanced startup”
  3. Then the system restarts it will show you several options, you want to select “Troubleshoot” then “Advanced options” and finally “Startup Settings”
  4. The system will reboot one more time and you will have a new listing of options, you will want to select option #7 “Disable Driver Signature Enforcement”
  5. After the system has finished restarting for the final time you will be able to add the Ghostscript printer to windows 8 64 bit.

The final item of note is that you must select “File: (print to file)” as the port for the printer as “LPT1” will not work.

You can download the latest version of Ghost script from this website http://www.ghostscript.com/.

Windows 8 and Browsers

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I have looked at how to use a browser on windows 8 in a way that feels proper to me. I have found that Chrome works well in Metro mode, but it Metro apps do not support plugins at this time. The good news for Chrome is since it uses pepper flash so will have no problem with flash unlike Firefox.

My issue is that I have dual monitors, this means that I want two browsers open at one time. I have not yet found a way of having two Metro apps open at one time on different monitors. So you might ask why I do not just open my browser in desktop mode? Well when you have a browser set as the default browser in Windows 8 it likes to open in Metro mode when launched from the start menu. I could set a browser that I do not use as the default, but this means that every time I open a link from my email or in a different application it will not open in the browser I want to use.

How to workaround this behavior.

Pin Browser to Taskbar

Pin browser to taskbar to open in desktop mode

I have noticed that if you are already in desktop mode when you click on a link it will open in desktop mode not Metro mode. You will still have the problem of opening your browser in desktop mode to start with. What you can do is pin your default browser to the taskbar, and to launch the browser go to the desktop from the start menu and then use the browser pinned to the taskbar instead of the start menu.