Sometimes you might want to check for which Windows “edition” is installed on a computer. Let’s say you’ve made an app that you want to be free for personal use, but want to force enterprises to pay a licensing fee if they want to use it in their environment.

A quick and dirty registry key check performed in the startup sequence of your application can be enough to find whether the Windows “edition” installed is Home Basic, Home Premium, Ultimate or Enterprise.

To determine which Windows Edition a computer is installed with, simply check the value of the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\EditionID

A simple example (in pseudo code) to test for this registry key value in C#:

• First, use the Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey class (click the link for details about the class at MSDN)
• Then use OpenSubKey to open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion
• You then call GetSubKeyNames to fetch the names of the subkeys under CurrentVersion
• Call GetValue for the key value you want, which in this case would be EditionID
• Check if the value matches Enterprise. If the value is a match, you might want to display a warning or ask for a serial key to allow the user to use the application

There’re more potentially helpful registry keys under the CurrentVersion path, here’s a list of a few of them (I chose to leave out the most obscure ones):

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\CurrentBuild

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\CurrentBuildNumber

The current build number. Both of these keys have the same value whenever I have checked. My Windows 7 SP1 Ultimate has a build number of 7601.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\CurrentVersion

The current “version” of Windows. My Windows 7 SP1 Ultimate has the version number “6.1″.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\InstallationType

The installation type. Has the value of “Client” on my computer. Can be “Server” on servers like Windows 2008 R2.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProductName

The “marketing name” of the current Windows installation. On my computer the value is “Windows 7 Ultimate”.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\RegisteredOrganization

Empty value on my PC, this value is usually populated with the company name in an Enterprise installaton.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\RegisteredOwner

Contains the name of the “owner”. Usually the same as the first user name that is created during setup, or company name in an Enterprise install.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\CSDVersion

The name of the latest service pack installed, if any. Can be empty if no service pack is installed. On my PC the value is “Service Pack 1″.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\CSDBuildNumber

The build number of the latest service pack installed, if any. Can be empty if no service pack is installed. On my PC the value is “1130″.

LogParser method:

If performing many queries against the registry or other parts of the system, check out the little known Microsoft tool Log Parser. Log Parser can query the registry, file system, system event log or even values inside of XML and CSV files.

To use LogParser within C#, you need to build an Interop Assembly from the Logparser.dll COM server using the following command (correct the path to your installation of Log Parser, for exampe to “Program Files (x86)” on 64-bit systems):

tlbimp "C:\Program Files\Log Parser 2.2\LogParser.dll" /out:Interop.MSUtil.dll

Example usage:

using System;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using LogQuery = Interop.MSUtil.LogQueryClass;
using RegistryInputFormat = Interop.MSUtil.COMRegistryInputContextClass;
using RegRecordSet = Interop.MSUtil.ILogRecordset;

class Program
{
public static void Main()
{
RegRecordSet registryRecords = null;
try
{
LogQuery qry = new LogQuery();
RegistryInputFormat registryFormat = new RegistryInputFormat();
string query = @"SELECT Path from \HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion where Value='Enterprise'";
registryRecords=qry.Execute(query, registryFormat);
for(; !registryRecords.atEnd(); registryRecords.moveNext())
Console.WriteLine(registryRecords.getRecord().toNativeString(","));
}
finally
{
registryRecords.close();
}
}
}

Code example source

Old Dusty

I wanted to print a document the other day, so I switched on my dusty and trusty inkjet printer, only to find a nice red blinking error on the display greeting me. The message was something along the lines of “Printing is impossible, replace yellow ink cartridge”.

I tried printing in black & white (greyscale actually), by specifiying this in the print options (click to see how), but a friendly popup message just stated something along these lines: “Cannot retain printing quality, please replace ink cartridge yellow”.

So I couldn’t print in black and white because my yellow ink was empty?! I couldn’t believe it. Or rather, I could, seeing how printer manufacturers are almost giving away printers for free, they have to make money somehow - why not in sleazy ways like this?

Checking the black cartridge, which is double the size of the colored ones, it was still half full (or half empty, whichever you prefer). Only the yellow one was completely empty. So, what is a man to do?

A little googling later, the eureka moment came along soon enough: Black Electrical tape!
 

You Need This

As it turns out, Brother printers check the ink levels by shining a sensor light at a special “window” in the cartridges, similar by design in all their printers.
 

Lazar: Mr. Bond, bullets do not kill. It is the finger that pulls the trigger. James Bond: Exactly. I am now aiming precisely at your groin. So speak, or forever hold your peace.

So I gave it a shot: I simply pressed the cartridge against the palm of my hand almost like a gun, using a finger to hold it in such a way that the window protruded (as seen above), then simply taped it over using a piece of black electrical tape (as seen below). The light from the sensor is now reflected back, and the printer thinks the cartridge is full! (Note: I first tried using scotch tape, which failed miserably, though I speculate it might work if you color it black using strong black ink.)
 

"Eureka!" he said (Click to view larger version)

Now shut up and do your job!

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Intel X25 SSD: Sometimes not showing up to the party

There’s a lot of people who have had issues with their SSD not showing up in the list of available hard drives when installing Windows 7, and today I got to be one of them. I wanted to do a fresh install of Windows 7 on an Intel X25-V SSD (40GB), but the disk just wouldn’t show up.

This particular disk was used as a swap disk in a different system, so I figured it might have some problems related to formatting. Changing from IDE mode to ACHI mode did not do anything. (For Intel SSDs, IDE mode is required for the Intel software to work).

After looking around for a solution on the interwebs, I found two possible solutions, listed by “ease of use”. The second one worked for me, as I happened to have a bootable USB with GParted on hand, but the first one should work too.

Solution 1: Using Diskpart during Windows 7 Setup

1. When Windows 7 Setup has loaded and the language selection dialog is showing, press SHIFT + F10 simultaneously. This opens a command prompt:
   
2. Type “diskpart” and hit ENTER.
3. Type the following commands one by one – hit ENTER for each of them to run the commands:
   1. list disk (to show the ID number of the hard disk to partition, normally it’s Disk 0)
   2. select disk 0 (change 0 to another number if applicable)
   3. clean
   4. create partition primary
   5. select partition 1
   6. active
   7. format fs=ntfs quick
   8. exit
4. Type “exit” again to close the command prompt window.
5. Continue Windows 7 setup as usual. The disk should now show up in the list.

Solution 2: Using GParted “Live USB” or “Live CD”

1. 

   Gnome Partition Editor

   Either Download Tuxboot and follow the instructions to create a bootable USB, or download the CD ISO image and burn it to CD using any DVD burning application that supports loading and burning ISO’s. I suggest using the freeware image burning tool ImgBurn for this.

2. Make sure that your USB or CD/DVD-ROM device is on the top of the boot priority list in the BIOS. Sometimes, a USB disk will be not be recognized as a “removable disk”, rather a hard drive and must then be moved up the list in the separate “hard disk boot priority” list (if available). Some computers also have a special button you can press to bring up a boot device selection menu.
3. Tuxboot should start up. Just hit enter when it asks for keymaps and such during loading.
4. Information about your disks and partitions should now show up. Select your SSD from the right hand drop-down list if you have more disks installed and connected.
5. If you have an existing partition on the disk, right-click on it and select delete (this was enough for my disk to work). Alternatively, if it just says “unallocated space“, right click and create a new NTFS partition. Basically you’re doing the same then as in the first solution above, only using a different tool.
6. Hit “Apply” so that the changes actually will be made. Wait until it is done.
7. Double-click the Exit icon and select Shutdown. Unplug/unload your GParted USB/CD.
8. Try Windows 7 Setup again, and the disk should now be available in the list!

DVI is not DVI! This DVI Connectors chart will help you figure out which type of DVI cable or DVI adaptor you need.

Thunderbird <3 Exchange

EZUNIX.org has provided a nice guide for those of us that would like to use the Thunderbird mail client with the notoriously incompatible Exchange 2007 Server.

The guide is even available as a downloadable PDF document.

Also worth mentioning is the fact that Thunderbird 3 now comes with calendar support!