Category: Windows

How to Find Zombie Processes that Are Eating Your Memory in Windows

Luke Johnson

When working with serious hardware and big 3D models, computer memory management is an important thing. You want every byte of RAM to be doing a job for your system. So I was very interested to read this detailed write-up by randomascii where he describes ‘zombie handles’ that can hold or consume memory on your system. His post is very detailed, but I will go ahead and over-simplify it for you:

  1. Download findzombiehandles_prebuilt package from here (or clone the github here)
  2. Unzip it and open an elevated Command Window at that location
  3. Run FindZombieHandles

You should get a list of zombie processes and the parent executable that initiated them.

From here you could investigate further with Process Explorer or attempt to kill them with Task Manager or taskkill.

How to Map A Drive Without Mapping A Drive In Windows

Luke Johnson

In Windows, you will often use either Map Network Drive dialog or net use command to map a network drive. You can use that method with a shared folder trick to map a local folder as a drive too, as described here.

But there is an even easier way, that is more flexible in some ways. It is the subst command, and it basically tells your Windows system to refer to a folder as a drive letter. Its usage is very simple, for example:

 
subst J: "E:\some folder\J_DRIVE"

If you want that to show up as a ‘drive’ at each reboot, just put the above command into a CMD file and point to it from your Windows startup folder.

For your assistance, here is the path to your typical User Startup folder in Windows:

Free Tools To Find and Remove Duplicate Files

Luke Johnson

Recently I wanted to start ‘unduplicating’ some files in my Pictures folder on OneDrive. There are a lot of tools out there to look for duplicate files, but here were the two that I found to be the best:

The Auslogics Duplicate File Finder works really well and is very simple to use. All you need to do is

  1. put all of the files in one directory,
  2. select that directory, and
  3. press Search

Once you have the results, you can choose how to handle the duplicates.

Process Explorer Download and How to Find Out What is Locking Your Files

Luke Johnson

Process Explorer is a free and very powerful task manager that let’s you really see what is going on with your system… One of those things every IT person should have in their toolkit. You can get it here:

 Download Process Explorer (1.8 MB)

from this page

and here’s how to find out which process or program is locking a file or directory in Windows:

Go to Find > Find Handle or DLL. In the “Handle or DLL substring:” text box, type the path to the file (e.g. “C:\path\to\file.txt”) and click “Search”. All processes which have an open handle to that file should be listed.

Building A High Performance Portable BIM Workstation – Part 3 – Software Installation and Deployment

Luke Johnson

Setting up a BIM workstation can take some time. From unboxing to actually being ready-to-work you have to go through various ‘layers’ of installation, like:

  • updating Windows
  • installing major software packages
  • installing addins
  • installing useful system utilities that speed up your day

In a large, corporate IT environment, most of this is handled by an IT department, and usually these are set up as deployment images. However, in a small or medium office, you may have to do some of this work yourself.

With that in mind, I’m sharing my notes on the steps I took to get my Metabox portable BIM workstation up and running. I may start to put links against most of these steps as time allows, because I have posted about a lot of these programs before. Feel free to comment if you have any thoughts or advice.

Installation Order – from unboxing to System Image:

  1. Windows 10 Pro (preinstalled)
  2. Sign in with a new, temporary, local user admin
  1. Do Windows Update Fix (see below)
  1. Setup E: drive (secondary large HDD, change drive mapping)
  2. Login with Microsoft (personal Id)
  3. Place OneDrive onto E: drive
  4. Change PC name
  5. Move Windows Downloads folder to E: drive
  6. Samsung Magician install – test speed of SSD. Very nice.
  7. Install Office 365 64-bit (work Id)
  8. Login with both Ids
  9. Change OneNote backup storage location to E: drive
  10. Delete previous Windows installations using Disk Cleanup
  11. All Windows updates again
  12. Box Sync install
  13. 3dconnexion software install
  14. Ccleaner install
  15. Teamviewer install, setup, login
  16. Set Desktop Scaling to 150%
  17. Revit 2015 install (not entire suite) from IDSU2015 media, perpetual license
    1. Transfer activation via Export / Import to Autodesk Id
    2. Confirm activation
  18. Building Design Suite Ultimate 2016 (subscription)
    1. Revit 2016
    2. Navisworks 2016
    3. AutoCAD MEP2016
    4. Raster Design
    5.  (not entire suite) via Install Now
    6. Confirm activation
  19. Infrastructure Suite 2017 (subscription)
    1. browser download method
    2. Revit 2017
    3. Navisworks 2017
    4. Civil3D 2017
    5. Raster Design
    6. Confirm activation
  20. Install Revit 2016 SDK R2
  21. Download and install latest version of Autodesk Desktop App
  22. Install Locate32
  23. Change Desktop App storage location to secondary drive?
  24. Autodesk Updates
    1. 2015 Updates

2016 Updates

  • Revit 2016
    • Revit 2016 Release 2
    • Revit 2016 R2 Update 6 Fixes
  • AutoCAD MEP 2016
    • AutoCAD MEP 2016 Service Pack 1
  • Navisworks 2016
    • Navisworks Manage 2016 SP4
    • SP4HF1
  • AutoCAD 2016
    • AutoCAD 2016 Hotfix 4

2017 Updates

  • Revit 2017
    • Revit 2017 SP2 Fixes
  • Autodesk Vehicle Tracking 2017
    • Autodesk Vehicle Tracking 2017 SP1
  • Recap 360 Pro 2017
    • Update 2 v3.0.2.12
  • Map 3D 2017
    • Map 3D 2017 SP1
  • AutoCAD 2017
    • AutoCAD 2017 SP1
  • 3DS Max 2017
    • 3DS Max 2017 SP2

Install BIM 360 Glue desktop app

Install latest Glue addins (Revit 2015, 2016, 2017)

Bit of a strange dialog box menu disappearing issue… so:

  1. Reinstall Chipset drivers
  2. Install Extreme Tuning Utility (for CPU overclock)

Had to manually remove ‘old’ Bim 360 glue addin from 2016 install, %programdata% location

Navisworks Exporter updates

  1. Navisworks 2016 R3 Exporter install
  2. Tested ok

Revit addin install:

  1. RTV Exporter
  2. Bonus Tools
  3. Unifi
  4. Revitlookup?
    1. All versions?

Uninstall Dynamo 0.9.1 (from 2017 install)Install Dynamo 1.1Install Autodesk ScreencastInstall Revizto

  1. Download building models

Set up Outlook

Install Firefox

Install Github Desktop

Install 7-zip https://sourceforge.net/p/sevenzip/discussion/45797/thread/3097bf8b/

Install Bluebeam Revu and activate

Reinstall Box Sync (due to some sync errors)

Install FreeFileSync

IFC Exporter Addins for Revit

  1. 2016
  2. 2017

Install Tekla Bimsight

  1. Move BIMsight storage location to E: drive

Properties+ addin for Navisworks

  1. Version 2.1.0 covers 2015, 2016, 2017

Install Advanced RenamerExport the ‘currently installed programs’ list from CcleanerInstall NotePad++

  • XML tools plugin
  • Use Language – XML for dyf etc editing.
  1. Install Paint.Net
  2. Install drivesnapshot
  3. Ccleaner – cleanup, empty recycle bin etc
  4. Revizto
  5. Create system image – done


Windows Update Fix
All Windows Updates

  1. Failed!
    1. And rolled itself back
    2. And wifi died
  2. Reset the pc using Windows Reset
  3. Connected to Lan port (no need for drivers)
  4. Internet problems so:
    1. Download all metabox drivers (1.8 Gb)
    2. Install Chipset
    3. Install Killer Wifi (2 x reboots)
    4. Killer BT (1 x reboot)
    5. Airplane mode utility (1 x reboot)
    6. Intel Management Engine interface
    7. Control Centre Utility (1 x reboot)
    8. Now, use Fn + F11 to turn off sleep mode.
  5. Almost thought wifi was working, but then…
    1. IRQL_ error again, BSOD
    2. Reboot BSOD
    1. Reset PC again!
    1. Now, use this page first https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10
    2. Download 3gb and update
    3. Multiple restarts
    4. Finally windows is up to date

Other software installed:

  1. Install BD writer software
  2. Install imgburn
  3.  Install Collaboration for Revit 2016
  4. Install Killer network software (updated)

  5. 1-jpg-5367785

  6. Install Onetastic (for OneNote macros etc)
  7. Install Dynamo Studio

  8. 2-5758332

  9. Install Google Chrome (For Flux.io etc)
  10. Install JDK 64 bit

  11. 3-8519654

  12. Install Bimserver:
  13. bimserver-1.4.0-FINAL-2015-11-04
  14. bimserverjar-1.5.55
  15. Install Adobe Flash Player
  16. Install Oculus software
  17. Install Vive software
  18. Install Irfanview
  19. Install Unity
  20. Install Enscape
  21. Install Wix https://wix.codeplex.com/releases/view/624906
  22. Install Q-Dir

Other errors and notes:Boot error fix:

  1. Received the winload.efi error
  2. Disabled UEFI boot
  3. Restart
  4. Enabled UEFI boot
  5. Restart
  6. Working again

XTU Update error:

4-9006891

 

C:\ProgramData\Intel\Intel Extreme Tuning Utility\Temp
Or

Moving your Windows Temp folder so that Revit doesn’t Fill Up Your SSD with Temporary Files

Luke Johnson

Do you have a problem with your SSD getting maxed out by a bloated TEMP directory (%temp%) ? In Revit, you might have an issue with revittemp_ files, particularly if you are using massive federated models with lots of Revit links…

Maybe this is an ‘edge case’, but I’ve tweeted about this issue a couple of times:

Three big Revit instances. The revittemp files in %temp% folder cause disk space problems, even with 512gb SSD. pic.twitter.com/A0dpL6ca0u

— Luke Johnson (@lukeyjohnson) January 20, 2016

To stop this problem from affecting your main, system SSD hard drive disk space, you can move your Windows Temp directory. Here’s how:

Go to This PC, Properties:

temp1.png

Go to Advanced system settings:

temp2.png

Go to Advanced tab, Environment Variables:

temp3.png

Then for TEMP and TMP, edit the path:

temp4.png

And input a location on a larger, secondary hard drive:

temp5.png

Here are the same screenshots for TMP:

temp6.png

 

temp7.png

Then, restart your computer:

temp8.png

After restart, you should see files showing up in the new TEMP directory:

temp9.png

And when you open Revit file with links, you may see the revittemp_ files starting to appear:

temp10.png

Free Hash / MD5 Checker for Windows Shell

Luke Johnson

After installing, just right-click on any file and select ‘Create Checksum File…’, then open the .md5 file that was created.

HashCheck Shell Extension

What is Hash or MD5 checking?
A cryptographic hash function is a deterministic procedure that takes an arbitrary block of data and returns a fixed-size bit string, the (cryptographic) hash value, such that an accidental or intentional change to the data will change the hash value. The data to be encoded is often called the “message”, and the hash value is sometimes called the message digest or simply digest.

Basically, when you download something important off the Net, it lets you know that the file has not been corrupted or modified in some nasty way…