Surface Pro 3 Pen Button Windows 10 Bug

Reading Time: 2 minutes

So I've got this lovely shiny Surface Pro 3. The Screen being al touchy, the OS being all Windows 10 Pro, and the pen button starting up the modern OneNote App. However, ,in windows 8.1 I had a choice between the modern App version and the Desktop version of OneNote. A quick review of the interwebs gave me nothing. So…

Let's investigate…when pressing the blue button, the modern OneNote App pops up…but I want the desktop OneNote App to start.

Let's remove the modern App since I am not going to use it anyway.

There is a nifty powershell command just for the purpose of uninstalling things that windows does not want you to uninstall. (Does not work for Edge)

Start Powershell as an Administrator and run the following:

Get-AppxPackage *OneNote*

If it generates output as in the screenshot it is installed, and piping the command to Remove-AppxPackage should remove the app.

Now, when pressing the button, a Windows store Dialog informs me of the fact that nothing can run an OneNote-cmd and I should consider installing a program that can. But wait…everything is in the registry. A quick search in the windows registry for 'OneNote-cmd' finds it here:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\onenote-cmd\

It was Empty. So adding the following keys: Shell\Open\Command. At the default I set the following: "C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~1\Office15\ONENOTE.EXE"

And presto, pressing the blue button opens OneNote for Desktop. You can also start other executables this way.

Back from LyncConf 2014

Reading Time: 3 minutes

20140217_015502923_iOSRobin Gilijamse and I attended LyncConf 2014 in Las Vegas last February. We had a really good time attending parties from the UCArchitects and several other sponsers. We enjoyed some real American food an explored the strip a bit. The weather even permitted a dive in the Resort pool and we generally had a really, really good time.

Keynote

Apart from the good times there where also some tech sessions we have attended. Kicking off with the Keynote was Gurdeep Singh Pall, the Vice President for Lync & Skype Engineering at Microsoft. During the keynote he suggested to replace ‘unified communications’ with the term ‘universal communications’. This signifies the direction Microsoft is heading with Lync. To create a communication platform that is available on any device, at any location and even transcends the boundary between consumer and enterprise platforms as Lync and Skype possibilities will be further developed.

20140218_175108000_iOSHe Announced Full HD video chat will become available between Lync and Skype this summer. Also native interoperability with Tandberg Video Conferencing devices is coming in the near future.

Furthermore they are aiming to create a consistent experience for work and personal situations by bringing Lync and Skype closer together.

Apart from the Tandberg en Skype – Lync video chat there are some more thing Gurdeep addressed. There is a javascript wrapper heading our way that will let you run Lync in a browser. There should be regular updates for the mobile clients. Lync Online will get PSTN dial-in/dial-out support and support for meetings with +1000 users.

More details on this can be found on this blogpost by Gurdeep.

Ecosytem

It became clear while roaming the Tech Expo there are quite a few developers and suppliers of applications and peripheral for use with Lync. From status lights you van put on your desk to Video Conferencing System, headsets, desk phones and Survivable Brach Appliances. It becomes apparent Lync is growing and business is booming.

Fortunately there are quite a few API’s so the number of options is expanding.

This creates opportunity for everyone to expand upon the existing technology and come up with their own solutions. Also it gives customers great choice in all kinds of third party solutions, ranging from headsets, presence lights, to monitoring software and big video conference systems.

Concluding

20140220_040650205_iOS Lync is serious business. The Ecosystem is getting better and better. Microsoft is going lengths to ensure Skype and Lync will deliver a seamless communication experience. A lot of third parties are creating products to enhance and expand the capabilities of Lync, both through software and hardware solutions.

At this moment Lync is available on a wide range of devices. The Android tablets will be added this year,  leaving out Linux and a new client for Mac OS X (they still have a somewhat functioning 2011 client though).

If Microsoft keeps this up, Lync will become a real Universal Communications Solution in the years to come.

Dirteam Bloggers at LyncConf 2014

Reading Time: 2 minutes

From Saturday February 15, 2014 to February 22, 2014, I will be in Las Vegas to attend LyncConf 2014. I’m very excited! Together with my colleague and fellow Dirteam blogger Robin Gilijamse, I will be getting all the ins and outs on the subject of Microsoft Lync and Unified Communications.

The 2014 Lync Conference will be held at the Aria Resort and Casino (Las Vegas, what did you expect) at the Las Vegas Boulevard.

Last year I went to TechEd Europe 2013 in Madrid with Sander Berkouwer and Maarten de Vreeze. That was the first big Microsoft event I attended. It was totally awesome, despite the funny hotel. So this will be my ‘big’ second event.

I passed my ‘Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE): Communications’ last December with some instructional help from Robin Gilijamse. Therefore, I was granted the opportunity to go by my employer.

If everything goes according to plan, I will be a lot more knowledgeable on troubleshooting and reading Lync logs. Also I'm planning to get more information about the various voice options and Survivable Branch Appliances (SBA).

Our flight will leave from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (AMS) in the morning and we’ll be making a short stop at Detroit (DTW). I heard it was freezing over there. Usually it is freezing in the Netherlands this time of year, although not at the moment. Fortunately, Las Vegas is +20 degrees Celsius. After our short stop in Detroit, we’ll be arriving at Las Vegas (LAS) at 16:54 local time.

Viva Las Vegas!

Las Vegas Strip 2009

Hope to see all you fellow Lync enthusiasts there!

SkyDrive crashes on my domain machine

Reading Time: < 1 minute

I while ago I wrote about restoring your Win-X menu when this did not show up after migrating from a Windows 7 member client to a Windows 8 member client. And by member client I mean active directory member.

It turns out this problem still exists in Windows 8.1. Also in Windows 8.1 there seems to be a problem with your SkyDrive (OneDrive) integration. As in some cases it turns out that your SkyDrive will crash and not sync.

So here is a nice script to fix your Win-X menu and Skydrive:


*** START OF SCRIPT ***

reg add

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CLSID\{8E74D236-7F35-4720-B138-1FED0B85EA75}\ShellFolder /v Attributes /t reg_dword /d 0x00100000 /f

reg delete "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\WinX-fix-%COMPUTERNAME%" /f >NUL 2>NUL

reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\WinX-fix-%COMPUTERNAME%" /v Version /t REG_SZ /d "1" /f

reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\WinX-fix-%COMPUTERNAME%" /v StubPath /t REG_SZ /d "\"%ProgramFiles%\windows-8-fixes\fixWinX.cmd\"" /f

Reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer" /v DisablePersonalDirChange /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

xcopy /S /C /I /Q /H /R /Y "%PUBLIC%\..\Default\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\WinX\**" "%LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Windows\WinX"

*** END OF SCRIPT ***


If for any reason the service formally known as SkyDrive is not working after the script above, try the following


Reg add "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer" /v DisablePersonalDirChange /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f


Also, this script can be incorporated into your deployment image, but also be deployed through active directory. Remember that this is a CMD script, and this can also be done trough PowerShell cmd-lets.

Just remember you need to run this with administrative privileges.