How to enable hidden Education Themes for Windows 11

Microsoft has released a new Education Theme for students. Using this theme, you can more personalize your desktop with some great wallpaper.
By default, this theme is hidden, but you can enable this option on your Windows 11 device. Important note: you need to have Windows 11 22H2!

1.) Open ‘regedit’
2.) Navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\PolicyManager\current\device
3.) Create a new ‘Key’ with the value ‘Education’
4.) Create a new ‘DWORD (32-bit) Value’ with the value ‘EnableEduThemes’
5.) Set the value to ‘1’ (Hexadecimal)
6.) Restart your device
7.) After restarting your device, make sure you’re connected to the Internet

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First look at Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview 2 Build 10074

Microsoft has released a new version of Microsoft Server 2016 Technical Preview 2, so I’ve installed this version immediately within my Hyper-V environment. After starting the setup, you’ll see there’re two versions:

  • Windows Server Technical Preview 2
  • Windows Server Technical Preview 2 (with local admin tools)

The difference between theese two versions is the User Experience. In previous version of Windows, it was called Windows Server Core Edition. So the version without the local admin tools, the user has no option to enable/install the graphical user interface (GUI).

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After the installation, you’ll see that there’s a difference between the User Experience. One version, the Server Manager is available and the other version has only a command prompt available. You’ve to manage this server from another server with the Remote Server Administrative Tools (RSAT). The version with the admin tools included, there’s a possibility to enable the Graphical User Interface (GUI).

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After a reboot, the server is turned on with a Graphical User Interface (GUI) and it looks pretty cool!! And YESSSS, the start menu is back again 🙂 What a great time for some users!! With this new version of Windows Server, there’s is a complete new “world of bits and bytes”….

How to: Configure a “Boot to desktop” group policy for Windows 8.1

New in Windows 8.1 is the “Boot to Desktop” feature, where the user can choose not to boot to the Windows Tiles, but directly to the desktop! That’s a really nice feature if you ask me! How can we centrally configure and manage these feature for all my users or just a group of users? Exactly, through a group policy with User Preferences. It’s a user settings, so you could also use RES Workspace Manager for example.

1.) Navigate to your Group Policy Management Console
2.) Create a new Group Policy and disable the Computer Settings
3.) Open the policy and navigate to User Configuration / Preferences / Windows Settings / Registry
4.) Create a new Registry Item
5.)  Choose for Hive “HKEY_CURRENT_USER” and Navigate in the Key Path to:
Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StartPage
6.) The Value name is “OpenAtLogon
6.) Choose the Value type “REG_DWORD
7) The Value data is:
Boots to Desktop = “0”
Boots to Start Menu = “1”
8.) Attach the group policy to a organizational unit(s) and login to your Windows 8.1 machine!

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