Troubleshooting Windows( Comptia Objective 3.1)

Question 1

When it comes to troubleshooting Slow System Performance what are some important tools you can use?

Answer 1

• Task Manager. Here you can check for high CPU utilization and I/O( Input/Output). Here you can see what app or process is taking up the most amount of CPU usage.
• The performance tab of the Task Manager will allow you to view a graphical breakdown of your systems memory, cpu, disk, ethernet and bluetooth usage and look for spikes.
• If you think that a system slow down is related to software or applications that may be running on your system you may want to run a Windows update to look for the latest patches and drivers available for install.
• Disk Space. Windows requires your system have adequate storage to run properly. So you will want to check for available space and run a defrag if your system has a HDD( Not required for SSD) which can help speed up read/write speeds.
• Laptops may be using power-saving mode and can be throttling the CPU to help conserve battery life and are designed to also slow down when the system becomes busy.
• IF after performing these checks you find the slowdowns are constant and or you see a bunch of applications/ processes running that you don’t recognize then you may want to consider an anti-virus and anti-malware scan to check for viruses/malware.

Question 2

You may commonly run into an issue with Windows where in the taskbar it says “ Limited or no connectivity: The connection has limited or no connectivity. You might be unable to access the Internet or some network resources. The connection is limited”. If you see this message what process should you follow to resolve this?

Answer 2

• First check for local connection issues such as wireless signal issues, disconnected cable. You may want to check the IP address configuration and or try a reboot to fix the issue.
• Next you will want to check for external issues such as a wireless router rebooting or being turned off. In these scenario you will want to ping your default gateway and external IP address( website etc).

Question 3

How can you go about troubleshooting Boot errors in Windows?

Answer 3

• This may be presented to you as a message that states “ Can’t find operating system” OS missing.
• Sometimes you may see this message after having installed multiple other operating systems and having your system setup for dual boot. in this instance the Boot loader may have been replaced or changed during the installation process.
• Sometimes the boot error may be caused by something very simple such as attempting to boot from a drive that doesn’t contain an OS on it. E.G. trying to boot from a USB drive or DVD Drive due to a BIO configuration which can be easily changed.
• Sometimes Windows Startup repair can be useful to confirm where along the boot process the issue is occurring.
• Other times in Windows if may be necessary to manually modify the Windows Boot Configuration Database( BCD) to fix the boot issue. Formely boot.ini. From the command prompt inside the Recovery console you can run the command “boot rec /rebuildbcd” which will rebuild the boot configuration database and search for any iterations of windows which can be added to the bootlist the next time you start up your system.

Question 4

What types of issues can Windows Startup repair be used for?

Answer 4

• Used to fix an issue where you receive a message stating “ Missing NTloader or NTLDR” (old boot loader from older versions of Windows) then an application may have overwritten the existing bootloader or media may be attempting to boot from these old style loaders. In this instance you can Run startup repair or manually replace and reboot using the “boot rec /rebuildbcd” command inside the Recovery Console to fix this issue. May also want to disconnect any removable media when booting up the system.
• Used to fix an issue where you receive a message saying “ Missing Operating System”. This occurs because Boot Configuration data may be incorrect. or you can again manually configure BCD store.
• Used to fix another issue where Windows keeps booting into Safe Mode and Windows is not starting normally. Running Startup Repair can help fix this issue.

Question 5

How can application crashes be troubleshooted?

Answer 5

• Frequently in Windows you may see an application that just stops working and may provide an error message or the message may just disappear and bring you back to the desktop.
• In this situation it is a good idea to check the Event viewer as it often includes useful information related to these crashes or perhaps use reliability monitor which will provide a history of application problems and check for resolutions.
• If this situation can’t be resolved either using event viewer or Reliability Monitor then you may want to reinstall the application or contact the application support team.

Question 6

What are Window Blue Screens of Death?

Answer 6

• Startup and shutdown BSOD( Blue Screen Of Death) often caused by bad hardware, bad drivers or a bad application and can be a sign of a serious issue.
• A solution can be to use a last known good configuration via system restore or Rollback driver to one that was working before. Can also try booting into Safe mode.
• If your system has recently been moved or you have installed new hardware then you may want to check and see if the hardware needs to be reseated or removed is possible.
• You can also Run hardware diagnostics which are provided by the manufacturer and is often built into the BIOS to check for any hardware related issues.

Question 7

What is often the cause of getting a Black screen on startup instead of the Operating System? How can it be remedied?

Answer 7

• When you get no login dialog and no desktop when booting up this is often caused by a bad driver or an Operating System File corruption.
• To help resolve this issue you could try booting into VGA mode by pressing F8 on startup to get your startup options and then select VGA mode. This will startup the system using generic video drivers.
• If you think the issue is related to the operating system itself then you could run the System File Checker(SFC) from the Recovery Console this will replace any corrupted files with the proper files allowing you to regain access to the Operating System
• After Starting system into VGA mode using generic drivers you could then update the driver in Safe Mode downloading from a known good source.
• As a last resort you could try Windows Startup Repair/Refresh or recover Windows from a known good backup.

Question 8

What is the first thing you should do if you start having an issue with your printer?

Answer 8

• Print or scan a test page. This functionality is built into Windows and is not an application. You can just go to your list of printers under Devices and Printers and choose the print test page there or from the Properties page of the printer driver itself.
• Next step when troubleshooting printer issues would be to Use the diagnostic tools that are web based and built into the printer itself or you could download specific diagnostic tools from the printer vendors website.
• Another option for Diagnostics would be to find generic diagnostics from a third party that are part of a Live CD pack.

Question 9

If your OS is starting but a piece of hardware is giving you a problem what can do what to troubleshoot this issue?

Answer 9

• If a device is not starting check Device Manager and Event Viewer. This is often caused by bad driver. If this is the case you will want to remove or replace the bad driver in question.

Question 10

If when starting up your system you receive a message saying “ One or more services failed to start: how would you go about troubleshooting this?

Answer 10

• In Windows there are many “services” that run in the background that you wouldn’t ordinarily interact with, if you receive this message then something has gone wrong with one of these background services.
• You can try to start the service manually in the services window which can be accessed via the Task Manager and other methods.
• You may also want to check the account permissions inside of that service as the username and password may have been changed or deleted.
• May also want to check for any service dependencies, some services are dependent on other services to start first before they can operate
• If this is a Windows service we can check the Services utility for any executables being called by that service and we can make sure that executable is still on the system.
• If the service in question is a application service that has stopped working then it may require and uninstall and reinstall of that application to get it working again.

Question 11

If you start your computer and notice it’s taking longer than normal to boot this time or it hangs with no activity or drive lights then how would you troubleshoot this issue?

Answer 11

• You can access the Startup tab inside the Task Manager in Windows 10( open Windows startup menu and type msconfig in the search box in prior versions of Windows) and see what applications are enable to startup when the system is booted.
• From here you can disable applications one by one until you find the problematic application that is slowing things down. Or you could decide to disable all of the apps and add them back in one by one.
• Inside the startup tab it does list a description of impact on startup for a brief overview.

Question 12

If you notice that a workstation system is slow in loading a profile this can often be caused by?

Answer 12

• When you use a roaming profile( Your load your desktop no matter which system on the network you use) Your desktop follows you to any computer and changes are synchronized to that system.
• If there is an issue with the Network latency to the domain controller then you may have issues with slow login script transfers, the system may be slow to apply computer and user policies and it may require hundreds or thousands of LDAP queries.
• This can also be caused by the workstation picking a remote domain controller instead of the local one. This is usually caused by issues with local infrastructure and can usually be resolved by contacting the Windows Active Directory team.

Question 13

What are the various Advanced Recovery environment options inside Windows?

Answer 13

1. System Restore
2. Go back to a previous Windows version( Windows 10 only)
3. System Image Recovery( restore from a image level backup)
4. Startup Repair
5. Command prompt
6. UEFI Firmware settings( Windows 10 and 8)
7. Startup Settings( Windows 10 and 8)
8. Windows Memory Diagnostic( Windows 7 only)

Question 14

What are the various Windows Startup Settings options?

Answer 14

1. Enable debugging
2. Enable boot logging
3. Enable low resolution video (VGA mode)
4. Enable Safe Mode
5. Enable Safe Mode with Networking
6. Enable Safe Mode with Command Prompt
7. Disable driver signature enforcement
8. Disable early launch anti-malware protection
9. Disable automatic restart after failure.