Upgrade to Windows 11 on unsupported hardware

1. Download Windows 11 ISO
2. Disable networking
3. Mount the ISO
4. Open a Command Prompt and run:
• X:\sources\setupprep.exe /product server

Check for SMART status on Debian

 Install smartmontools and use smartctl:

sudo smartctl --all /dev/xxx

Unable to turn on BitLocker Error: System cannot find the file specified

Rename C:\Windows\System32\Recovery\REAgent.xml to REAgent.old 

Reference: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/3185720/unable-to-turn-on-bit-locker-error-system-cannot-f

Scan and repair corrupt Windows system files

Using elevated command prompt:

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

sfc /scannow

chkdsk /f /r

References:

• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/repair-a-windows-image?view=windows-11
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/dism-image-management-command-line-options-s14?view=windows-11

Adding a Samba user and setting the password

I almost always forget to add users to Samba group after enabling Samba. So here it is:

sudo smbpasswd -a <username>

Change service shutdown timeout in Debian

Make a change so that slow-non/responding services to terminate quickly during shutdown:

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system.conf

Uncomment and edit to:

DefaultTimeoutStopSec=5s

Reboot or reload with:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

Change GRUB boot delay

sudo nano /etc/default/grub

sudo update-grub