How to get Windows10 for free?

Windows 10 is officialy launched across the globe and its awesome.From the arrival of start menu combined with live tiles to new dynamic look,from performance to security,its best windows ever,you will love it. Microsoft vision of running Windows 10 on 1 billion devices promises to upgrade to Windows 10 for free and stay free forever.But you have to reserve your copy of Windows.

This is what Terry Myerson, Microsoft’s Executive Vice President of Operating Systems said :
"This is more than a one-time upgrade: once a Windows device is upgraded to Windows 10, we will continue to keep it current for the supported lifetime of the device – at no cost. With Windows 10, the experience will evolve and get even better over time. We’ll deliver new features when they’re ready, not waiting for the next major release. We think of Windows as a Service – in fact, one could reasonably think of Windows in the next couple of years as one of the largest Internet services on the planet".

Who are eligible to upgrade ?

If you are running genuine Windows 7 (with service pack1)or Windows 8, 8.1,you can get it free of cost and it will be a full version of Windows 10 not just trial.But if your computer is running Windows Xp or Vista,you have to buy Windows 10,

System requirements :

Processor :1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster processor
RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) for 32-bit or 2 GB for 64-bit
Hard disk space: 16 GB for 32-bit OS 20 GB for 64-bit OS
Graphics card:DirectX 9 or later with WDDM 1.0 driver
Display:800x600

In what time should i upgrade ?

Microsoft has announced that after its official release date which was 29 July 2015,you can upgrade within a year till 29 July 2016.After that you have to pay to get Windows 10 which means you have a full year to get Windows10.

How to upgrade ?

There are two option available :

1-Run the Windows 10 app  

Upgrade to Windows 10 is easy,Update your existing Windows 7 or 8 OS,Updates will ensure that  your OS is not lacking necessary files for example-service pack or other updates which are necessary to run Windows 10. Then it will download the Windows 10 app which will be visible in taskbar on completion. Run that app and reserve your copy of Windows, it will start downloading the installation files,these files are something around 3GB in size,when finished downloading,it will ask you to run the setup.Below is a screenshot of Windows 10 app after updating.

If you can't see Windows 10 app under taskbar after updating read this article:

Windows App Troubleshooter

2- Download Windows 10 Media Creation Tool .

If upgrading with Windows App doesn't work,Download "Media Creation Tool" which will allow you to manually upgrade your OS .It has two options: "Upgrade this PC and "Create installation media for another PC"

Here is a link to download Media Creation tool which is 17 MB in size .

Windows 10 Media Creation Tool


After running this tool,choose how you want to install Windows 10 .

1 -"Upgrade this PC now" will start downloading the setup files and after completion will ask you to run the setup.This doesn't need flash drive or DVD ,it will begin downloading installation files straight away.

2- "Create installation media for another PC" will ask you to choose which Edition you want to download like Windows 10 Home or Windows 10 Pro.This is second option if "upgrade this PC now" doesn't work for you.

Below is a picture which you can use to decide which edition you want to download.



You will be asked which media you want to use.

If using USB flash drive,remember to insert the USB flash drive into one of the USB port on computer if you can't see flash drive under setup,then click next and it will download and create Windows 10 installation media and you can run setup from it.

If using ISO file as a media,it will ask you to save the Windows 10 .iso file to your computer which could be save to any drive like C or D and setup will start downloading the .iso file.After that you have to mount that .iso file to USB flash drive or DVD .

Here is a link to mount an .iso file to USB. Install Windows with flash drive using iso .This is for  Windows 7 iso.You just have to select the Windows 10 .iso and it will work.

Intervlan Routing

One of the main topics in CCNA is Inter-vlan routing or Router on a stick is a method of routing between different Vlans.As you would have probably guess each vlan is a separate broadcast domain and can't communicate with other vlan even if they reside on the same switch.To enable connectivity between them, we need a router.Suppose you have created 5 vlans on a switch and each has separate IP address space.First ,we will assign hosts to vlans and create virtual interfaces on router,one virtual interface for one vlan.Virtual interfaces are not real interfaces like with physical interface which you can see Ethernet port on a computer or a laptop,router or switch but virtual interfaces which you can't see except in configuration,they don't exist physically,they are a function of a software which gives you felling like you are working on a physical interface.

This is the topology in which i have created 5 vlans on a switch and assigned pc to each vlan.IP address range for each pc is also different from other.If you configure IP address on each PC and try to ping ,they will not communicate as they are in different IP address space.PING is a tool to check the connectivity between two devices.It stand for Packet Internet Groper.I am using Packet Tracer by Cisco which is a network simulator program which gives you flexibility to make networks and test with different devices.

PC1 has an IP address - 192.168.10.1 

PC5 has an IP address-  192.168.10.67 

To configure IP address to pc,Click on a pc>Desktop>IP configuration>type the ip address.

To ping,Go to Command Prompt>type ping 192.168.10.65 (where 192.168.10.65 is the ip address of the host which we want to test the connectivity to ,which you can see is unsuccessful)

Steps to Intervlan Routing :

Connect one of switch interface to router

Create virtual interfaces on router.(one for each vlan)

Give them IP addresses in the same IP address range in which hosts reside.

Enable 802.q (standard which supports Vlans)with vlan number

Make interface trunk

Create Switch Virtual interface on switch(which we will talk about later)

Give hosts default-gateway of router's virtual interface

Now, we add router and our topology looks like picture given below-

Configurations on router :

Router>

Router>enable

Router#conf t

Enter configuration commands, one per line.  End with CNTL/Z.

Router(config)#interface fa0/0.10

Router(config-subif)#encapsulation dot1Q 10

Router(config-subif)#ip address 192.168.10.1 255.255.255.240

Router(config-subif)#interface fa0/0.20

Router(config-subif)#encapsulation dot1Q 20

Router(config-subif)#ip address 192.168.10.65 255.255.255.240.

Router(config-subif)#exit

Router(config)#interface fastEthernet 0/0

I show configuration for first two.

Let's dig deeper what this means.

Router(config)#interface fa0/0.10 (This is a command to create sub-interface on a router.Normally you would configure fa0/0 on a router but for sub-interface we add dot . and number which specify the vlan. For ex- fa0/0 is the physical interface on a router and .10 tells the router for which vlan this interface is created.In this case its 10,You can see i have associated  number 20 to second interface.

Router(config-subif)#encapsulation dot1Q 10

"Encapsulation dot1q" tells router to enable 802.q encapsulation and 10 is the vlan number.

Router(config-subif)#ip address 192.168.10.1 255.255.255.240.

This is the ip address of the interface itself.

Last, we enable the fa0/0 by no shutdown command.

Configuration on Switch :

Switch(config)#interface vlan 10

Switch(config-if)#ip address 192.168.10.2 255.255.255.240. 

As mentioned above,every vlan is a separate broadcast domain and switch should have some mechanism to know where this data is come form and where it is intended.We also need a virtual interface on switch (SVI)which is associated with a separate vlan.For 5 vlans,we will create 5 virtual interfaces .

So the configurations will be :

PC IP address : 192.168.10.1

Switch virtual interface : 192.168.10.2

Router virtual interface  : 192.168.10.3 

PC default-gateway  :  192.168.10.3

Make router's virtual interface a default-gateway for PC.

Need any help,leave a reply.

How to find your Public IP address?

In the previous post ,we discussed about how to find my IP address (private),In this post we will look at methods on how to find your IP address which is visible on the internet.Simple way to find out is to use ip address lookup. This tool will show your IP addess as well geolocation information.You can find out the location of another IP address as long as it is a valid public IP address.For ex-if you type 192.168.1.1 it will show you nothing.Another way to find out is to do it manually.There are various options available to connect to the Internet like DSL modem which works with phone line,CableTV internet(CATV)and so on.With DSL or CATV as a connection ,you will have Router or modem installed by your Internet Service Provider(ISP)at your home which connects your private and public networks.This is what it looks like :

 In the above network topology, 192.168.1.2 is my computer's IP address,192.168.1.1 is my router's IP address and 1.1.1.1 is my router's WAN IP address.Thing is that router has two interface,one facing your home and another facing the Internet.Private ip address for home and Public IP address for Internet.

Find out your IP address :

To know your public IP address ,you have to access your router's webpage.Press Windows logo+r >type ncpa.cpl>enter>right click on the connection which is connected>Status>Details and find your default-gateway address.When you know your default-gateway address ,open up the browser and type that IP address in the address bar and press Enter.





It will ask for username and password which by default in most cases are admin and admin or admin and password ,you can check your router's default username and password on Google.

This will open up router's webpage,This is my Asus DSL- N10E router ,To see what my Public IP address is, I click on Router Status>WAN.Steps will be different for your router.All you have to do is to find your default-routers address and type that address in the browser,type username and password and your router's interface is in front of you.

This public IP address is not static meaning if you shutdown your router and restart it after 5-10 mins,its ip address will change.Because ISPs use DHCP server to lease IP address to the clients when requested.

How to setup Cisco router as a DHCP server ?

In this post we are going to configure Cisco router as a DHCP server to provide dynamic address to hosts or computers.Every time a computer or hosts boots up,it will broadcast to check if there is a DHCP server which can lease an ip address to hosts.When hosts finds it,it will request to lease an ip address.That's the function of DHCP server-to allocate an IP addresses to computers.Weather it a PC or tablet ,DHCP functionality is same.Even our home routers also works as a DHCP server as well.So Let's start:

First ,go into global configuration mode :

Router>enable 

Router(config)ip dhcp pool <Pool1>  (where Pool1 is the name of the DHCP pool)
Router(dhcp-config)#network 192.168.10.0 255.255.255.0 
Router(dhcp-config)#default-router 192.168.10.1
Router(dhcp-config)#exit
Router#conf t

Where network 192.168.10.0 is your network and 255.255.255.0 is subnet mask for this network

Default-router's address is the address which the hosts used to send data to remote hosts,which is necessary if you visit internet websites.

If you find any difficulty configuring router as DHCP server,let me know and i will try to help.

Find your IP address

IP addresses are 32bit addresses which computers and devices used to communicate in computer network.These IP addresses are divided into classes which are A,B,and C and each class has range.For Ex-Class A ip address starts with 1 to 126 .For more info on IP address classes click here.
IP addresses are allocated by Internet Assigned Numbers Authority(IANA)which manages the allocation of these addresses globally. IANA has five regional authorities which allocates these IP address locally.For ex-American Registry for Internet numbers(ARIN)for United States,Canada...

What is my IP address?

To find out what your ip address is,Press windows logo+r>type ncpa.cpl>see which connection is connected,right click it >Status>Details.

 

To change the IP address,Click properties >Double click "Internet Protocol Version 4(TCP/IPv4)>click "use the following IP address>type any IP address you want under Private IP address range like 192.168.10.1.Another thing to understand is Subnet mask which is also prefixed for every class which we will talk about later but for now when you type ip address ,computer will fill the subnet mask field for you.Also don't forget to fill in the Default-gateway which is your router's Ip address.

In the above screenshot,you can see that my default'gateway is 192.168.1.1.You can see your default-gateway under "Details"

Private and Public IP address :

Private IP addresses are those which are not meant to be routed on the Internet.These addresses can be used inside your Local Area Network(LAN)(owned by you) for ex-in your home,office but they can't be routed on the internet.Interesting thing is that two neighboring homes can have the same private IP address but it doesn't affect the functioning of the network.You can change the private IP address whatever you like as long as they are valid addresses. Each class has its own private IP address range means you can configure any IP address from these range and your computer will not bite you.

Valid Private IP address range :

Class A :  10.0.0.0 - 10.255.255.255

Class B :  172.16.0.0 - 172.31.255.255

Class C :  192.168.0.0 - 192.168.255.255.

Public IP address are those addresses which are (not owned by you) routed on the Internet and are accessible from anywhere in the world.You can't have just any public IP address on your computer.These IP addresses are purchased.For ex-Google DNS server has IP address 4.4.4.4 which is a public ip address.Public IP address ranges are :

Valid Public IP address range :

Class A : 1.0.0.0 - 9.255.255.255

                11.0.0.0 - 126.255.255.255

Class B : 128.0.0.0 - 172.16.255.255

                172.32.0.0 - 191.255.255.255

Class C :  192.0.0.0 - 192.167.255.255

                 192.169.0.0 -223.255.255.255

Build 10240 is available to download

Microsoft has released its latest build "Build 10240" to slow and fast rings.This is said to be the last build before Microsoft will officially launch Windows10 on July 29 across the globe,You can upgrade to this build, if haven't already by going into settings>windows update>check for updates.The size of this build is somewhere around 2.2 GB (32bit)and 3.2GB(64bit).This Build doesn't include Windows Insider program which Microsoft extensively use to make 10 the "OS by people",Insider program wasn't included in previous build 10166 as well.But Microsoft said that they will provide options to user if they want to upgrade to final release as an Insider or not here,Edge Browser seems to be competing with Chrome but not as fast as Chrome is.Insider preview Desktop watermark is removed with clean desktop, Windows 10 logo is now visible under "About"which is cool.Let's see what change still to come on July29.

What are IP addresses ?

All the network devices in the world weather its a PC,Laptop or Android device needs to recognize them selves as who they are.To able to send data to another computers they use these IP addresses which is a 32 bit long address.You can check your computer's or laptop IP address by pressing the Windows logo key+run,type ncpa.cpl,this will open Network connections,whichever connection is connected right now,right click on it,click status.In android devices,you could see your IP address by going into Settings>About Device>Status.

How do we write them ?

Computers don's understand 50 or 55,it understand 0's and 1's which is a binary language.
ip addresses are 32 bits long and divided into 4 octet.Each octet is 8 bits long.
So an IP address is  :
32bit address
4 octet or Byte.
For Ex- 1.1.1.1
Every period after 1 is known as "dot".

What is Bit or Byte actually ?

A single bit is 1 or 0 where 1 means "On" and 0 means "Off".
A byte is 8 bits.
An Octet or byte is the same thing and can contain values from 0 -255 but any number between this range will be written as 0 or 1 even if its 255.You can't write 00000255.
The above given address starts with :
00000000.00000000.00000000.00000001  and values can go up to
00000000.00000000.00000000.11111111  in the last octet.

What they are?

IP addresses are divided into classes-A,B and C.
Class A: 1-126
Class B: 128-191
Class C: 192-223

Class A has first octet as Network part and last 3 octet is for hosts.
Class B  has first two octet as Network part and last 2 octet is for hosts.
Class C  has first three octet as Network part and last octet is for hosts.

127 is reserved for loopback address which computer uses to test itself.When troubleshooting Network connection problem,you will need to use this loopback address to see if TCP/IP stack is installed on computer and working.There are other classes D and E as well buy they are for Multicast and research purpose and we don't use them.


And how we are going to understand what's written in the octet.This language is for computer, for us to understand we need to convert this binary to decimal.

How binary to decimal conversion works :

Have you remember learning powers of 2 ?
20 =1
21=2
22=4
23=8
24=16
25=32
26=64
27=128

This is exactly what we need to understand.
Every bit in an octet represents a decimal value and we need to take that value and add that up.
For ex- 00001111 in binary means 4 bits from right are on and 4 bits next to it are off.We will add decimal value of those "On"bits and the resulting value is our answer.15 will the decimal value for the above given binary representation.How?

Add the decimal values of on bits :
8+4+2+1 = 15

If it was 10101010 ,

128    64    32    16     8      4      2       1
1         0      1      0      1      0      1       0

128+32+8+2 =170

Here is an example with all four octets:
01110000.11010100.11111000.01100011
We will add on bits,

01110000 =
128  64  32  16  8  4  2  1
 0      1     1   1   0  0  0   0  = 64+32+16 =112

11010100
128  64  32  16  8  4  2  1
 1      1    0     1  0  1  0  0 =  128+64+16+4 =212

11111000
128  64  32  16  8  4  2  1
 1      1    1    1   1  0  0  0  = 128+64+32+16+8= 248

01100011
128  64  32  16  8  4  2  1
  0     1    1    0   0  0  1  1 =  64+32+2+1 = 99

01110000.11010100.11111000.01100011 will be
112.212.248.99

How to install Windows10 when Windows update fails to install?

Windows update in Windows10 will install new builds as they are available to download and they are big in size 2GB or more.You begin downlod it and it stuck when installing it and you have to download it again .Well there is an easy way to install builds by converting downloaded files to .ISO files and burn them to USB or DVD.This is ideal for System which are running previous versions of Windows and couldn't run the windows10 setup or Windows update unable to install.

Steps :

First you have to check for updates and download them .
Find the folder where files are downloaded
Find the .esd file
Convert .esd file to .iso
Burn the ISO to USB
Boot from the USB

What are .esd files ?

ESD stands for Electronic Software Download which contains WIM file (Windows Imaging Format)This ESD image cant' be mounted.So we will convert this ESD file to ISO.

Where to find ESD files ?

After updates finish downloading,it will create a folder called $Windows.~BT which is hidden if you haven't selected "show hidden files and folder".If there is no folder "$Windows.~BT",go to Windows explorer>View>Options>Change folder and search options.

Select View>Show hidden files and folders.

$Windows.~BT folder in not visible if not already.Select Sources,find "Install.esd" file.

Download the ESD-Decrypter to decrypt this file into an ISO file.

ESD-Decrypter.

Extract the files to any drive you want ,I excrated in downloads folder.

Copy the install.esd file to this folder.

Click 'decrypt"and Run as Administrator.

Select option 1 :

It will begin decrypting this esd file to ISO.When finished ,burn the ISO to USB flash drive and boot from the USB.If you don't how to do that ,here is a tutorial.

Configure Vlans on Cisco Switch

Vlans stands for virtual Lans means you are dividing users based on function or category.For ex-Vlan10 for Sales department,Vlan20 for Accounts,Vlan30 for Logistics and so on.You can create as many as vlans you want with Cisco switch like 2-1005.An easy way to understand this -Assume an office building with 3 floors with each floor has 5 users.We can then create separate Vlans based on floors like Vlan 10 for floor 1,Vlan 20 for floor 2 and so on.I have name them as Sales,Accounts and Logistics.Separating users with Vlans will create separate Broadcast Domain which you can say a Network area in which users can communicate.Creating 3 Vlans will create three Broadcast domain and user in one Vlan can't communicate with the user in the other Vlan.To provide connectivity between different Vlans,we need a Router (also a Layer 3 device).We are not dividing users physically,its logical division.Its convenient for troubleshooting,administration.To enable communication between these Vlans,we also need to give those Vlans IP addresses which i am going to publish in the coming days.

Steps to create Vlans :
Switch>
Switch>enable
Switch#configure terminal    (or conf t)
Switch(config)#vlan 10
Switch(config-vlan)#name sales
Switch(config-vlan)#vlan 20
Switch(config-vlan)#name Accounts
Switch(config-vlan)#vlan 30
Switch(config-vlan)#name Logistics
Switch(config-vlan)#exit

Place hosts to specific vlans :

To place specific hosts into a vlans,we can use interface range fa0/1-5 command if there are more than one users or we can use interface fa0/1 to place a single host to a vlan.

In global configuration mode :
For single host -
Switch(config)#interface fa0/1
Switch(config-if)#switchport mode access
Switch(config-if)#switchport  access vlan 10

For multiple hosts-

Switch(config)#interface range fastEthernet 0/1-5
Switch(config-if)#switchport mode access
Switch(config-if)#switchport  access vlan 10

Switchport mode access command is used to make that interface an access port so that it can't negotiate trunking which we will cover later.

Install Windows7 with USB using iso image

Installing an operating system with USB is an easy way to install an OS onto your computer.Unlike DVD,you can use USB flashdrive to make it a bootable USB which is different than copying operating system setup files to USB and run it.There are two options available-First,run that setup which will open setup dialog ,which in some cases doesn't work.Second-change the boot sequence and let the installation begin from boot by placing USB drive as 1st boot device instead of hard drive.

Making a bootable USB flash drive from iso:

You need few things to start -

1-USB flash drive

2-Windows7 iso

3-Software which convert this iso to a bootable image

Steps :

Download Windows7 iso.(if you have Windows7 DVD,convert it to bootable flash drive here)

Download Windows7 USB/DVD tool from here  and install it.

Insert USB flash drive into USB port on computer.

Run the Windows7 USB/DVD tool

Browse to select the ISO file of Windows7

Choose media type-USB drive

Begin copying

Browse to computer,click on USB flash drive to view the copied files .

     

Steps to change the boot sequence:

On completion of the first step,restart your computer.When restarting,press F2, F12 ,Esc or Del key,depends upon the manufacture of computer to enter into BIOS.By default,Laptops and computer boot from hard drive where our OS is installed,we have to change the boot sequence manner to boot it from USB which we created.

This is the boot sequence in which hard drive is selected to boot OS from.

Click on boot to change the boot order.Press down arrow >enter to view the removable devices which should be USB flash drive.Use '+' arrow to move the USB drive as 1st boot device.On some devices pressing F5 or F6 will move USB up and down.

 Press F10 to save the  configuration.

 Now,computer will boot from the USB,press any key when asked to boot from the USB.

 

Last thing to do:

When Windows7 is installing,system will restart several times and you could see that it is asking you to run setup again and again because Windows hasn't completely installed yet from the first setup.Don't run it again,close the setup,installation will continue.When installation is completed restart you computer and change the boot sequence back to hard drive.

How to update Windows7

Updating your computer is a good practice to keep your system running smoothly.With ever growing vulnerabilities in computer networks and applications,Microsoft tries to keep its users safe.
On windows7,you can turn on updates by going into the start menu,control panel,windows update.Click "Check for updates"it will search for available updates to your system.After a while,you could see what updates are available.Click install update.
On Windows 8,press windows+r,type control and you will see control panel.In control panel click Windows update.
You can also change update settings to let update install itself:
Go to Control panel,Windows update,change settings
You can choose to Install updates automatically which will download update in the background and will let you know to restart or you can select "check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them" with this option you will be able to see what updates are available and which ones you want to download.

When done manually ,you can choose between important and optional update like language pack.

Restart your computer to finish the update.

 

 Windows update error

 Sometimes you can get an error saying updates were not  
 installed.This could be due to outdated version of Windows  
 update agent itself.To update windows update agent,download the  
 latest update agent for your system here:

Windows update agent

Even after installing latest update agent,you can't install update and see error like this,first try to run Windows update troubleshooter by Microsoft.Make sure you are connected to internet and your firewall is not preventing connection to update servers.