How to copy program settings from the registry of one Windows machine to another

Some programs still save their settings in the Windows registry. The instructions below will let you copy a part of the registry to another machine.

Important: Modifying the registry can have unintended consequences and may cause issues with your system. Always make sure to create a backup of your registry and a system restore point before making any changes.

  1. On the source machine:
    • Press Win + R to open the Run dialog.
    • Type regedit and press Enter to open the Registry Editor. If prompted by User Account Control, click “Yes” to proceed.
    • In the Registry Editor, navigate to the registry key you want to copy. For example, if you want to copy a key related to a specific software, it might be located under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ or HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\.
    • Right-click on the registry key you want to export (in the left panel) and select “Export.”
    • Choose a location to save the .reg file, give it a name, and click “Save.”
  2. Transfer the .reg file to the destination machine using a USB drive, cloud storage, or any other preferred method.
  3. On the destination machine:
    • Locate the .reg file you transferred from the source machine.
    • Double-click the .reg file to start the import process. If prompted by User Account Control, click “Yes” to proceed.
    • A warning message will appear, informing you that making changes to the registry can cause system instability. If you’re sure you want to proceed, click “Yes.”
    • A confirmation message will appear once the registry key has been successfully imported. Click “OK” to close the message.

Now, the desired part of the registry has been copied from the source machine to the destination machine.

Note: If any of the registry values include file paths, you might need to adjust these paths to match the file structure on your new system.

Flutter doctor: No Java Development Kit (JDK) found on Windows 11

The problem: When you run flutter doctor, you get a “no Java Development Kit (JDK) found” error:

The solution: Install a Java Development Kit, then set the environment variables

Download and install a JDK

The download link given by flutter doctor didn’t work when I tried it, but this one did.

Download the file and run the installer.

Add the JAVA_HOME environment variable and update the PATH

Now for the “fun” part: You may have to manually edit the JAVA_HOME and PATH environment variables on your Windows system. In the example below, I’m using JDK19. Please make sure to adapt the instructions so they match your particular setup.

  1. Locate your JDK installation directory. The default path is usually C:\Program Files\Java\jdk-19, but it can vary depending on your installation settings. Make sure to copy this path for later use.
  2. Right-click on the Windows Start button and select System.
  3. In the System window, click on Advanced system settings:
  1. In the System Properties window, click on the Environment Variables button near the bottom right:
  1. Under System variables, click on the New button.
  2. Enter the variable name JAVA_HOME. As the variable value, enter the path to your JDK installation directory from the first step:

For example, if your JDK is installed in C:\Program Files\Java\jdk-19, then the value should be C:\Program Files\Java\jdk-19.

  1. Click OK to save the new environment variable.
  2. In the System Variables list, locate the Path variable, and click Edit.
  3. In the Edit environment variable window, click New, and add %JAVA_HOME%\bin to the list. This ensures that the JDK executables are available in your system’s PATH.
  1. Click OK to save the changes to the Path variable, and close all remaining windows by clicking OK as well.

Please keep in mind that you will need to open a new Command Prompt window for the changes to take effect, as the environment variables are loaded when the Command Prompt is launched.

To verify the changes, you can run echo %JAVA_HOME% in a new Command Prompt window. This should display the path to your JDK installation directory. Running java -version should display the version information of your JDK 19 installation.

Finally, running flutter doctor should show that the “No Java Development Kit (JDK) found” error has disappeared:

DaVinci Control Panels app crashes? Try installing it on a different computer

Whenever DaVinci Resolve notifies me that a new firmware is available for the Speed Editor, the following happens:

  1. I open the DaVinci Control Panels software.
  2. It shows up like this for a few seconds (at most) and then disappears (crashes):
DaVinci Control Panels app showing a blank window before crashing

I was unable to resolve this problem on my PC. Instead, I’ve installed the Control Panels application on a different computer, where it worked just fine:

DaVinci Control Panels App working

Unfortunately this required installing DaVinci Resolve, too, which can take a while. It would be nice if Blackmagic made the Control Panels app available as a separate download.

This post is mainly meant to remind me to simply use this method the next time I want to do a firmware update. If you don’t like it, you can always try to get help on the official DaVinci Resolve forum.

How to cancel your NYTimes Basic Access subscription online

Update July 1st, 2023:

Original article from October 31st, 2022

Don’t feel like talking to a customer care advocate? Here’s how you can cancel your New York Times subscription online.

Step 1: Get an IP address from California

I used NordVPN (affiliate link, click to get 1 month free).

NordVPN Los Angeles

Step 2: Log in to you NYTimes account and navigate to the page that allows you to cancel you subscription

When accessing the page from California, you should now see a button to cancel online:

Cancel you New York Times subscription online without talking to a customer care advocate

If this button doesn’t appear, use a private window (incognito mode) and log in again (or switch to a different browser that you haven’t used with nytimes.com).

Step 3: Cancel online with just a few clicks

You may be shown special offers and messages to get you to stay, but all it takes to cancel are a few clicks:

That’s it. Why can’t it be that easy for everyone? I would be far more inclined to sign up for subscriptions if I knew that I could easily cancel them online.

Solution: Cannot access QNAP NAS from Windows

The problem: You cannot access the SAMBA (SMB) shares on your QNAP NAS from the Windows File Explorer and after you tried, access to the web interface also stopped working. The NAS is still accessible from other PCs on the same network.

The reason: Windows will first try to connect to your NAS using your Windows login credentials. If this fails too many times and Network Access Protection on your NAS is enabled, your PC’s IP address will be banned:

QNAP Network Access Protection

You can see the failed login attempts in the System Connection Logs (if enabled for SAMBA):

QNAP System Connection Logs

Solutions

There are many threads about this issue on the QNAP forum proposing various solutions, such as:

  • Creating a user account on the NAS with the same user name and password as on Windows.
  • Disabling Network Access Protection on the NAS.
  • Making all folders public.
  • Disabling all guest shares on the NAS to force Windows to show the network credentials dialog.

I tried a different solution which I found here. I left everything on the NAS unchanged. In the local group policy settings of my Windows PC, I enabled insecure guest logons for the SMB client. This allows the PC to connect to SAMBA shares which are not protected by a password (such as the Public folder on a QNAP NAS).

Note: The Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) is not available in all versions of Windows 10 and Windows 11. It is primarily included in the Professional, Enterprise, and Education editions of these operating systems. However, you can use a tool called ‘Policy Plus’ to add it to the home edition.

To start the Local Group Policy Editor, press your Windows key and start typing “group policy” (then select “Edit group policy”):

Alternatively, you can also press the Windows key and R, then type “gpedit.msc” and click on OK:

In the Local Group Policy Editor, the setting can be found under Local Computer Policy -> Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates ->Network -> Lanman Workstation -> Enable insecure guest logons:

Windows Registry editor

Note: The description says that “if you do not configure this policy setting, the SMB client will allow insecure guest logons.” This was not true for me on Windows 11 21H2, the setting had to be explicitly enabled. On other PCs running Windows 10, the described behavior was correct and the entire problem never appeared.

Now (and after the IP ban period has expired, of course) it was possible to access the NAS through the file explorer. Clicking on a protected folder brought up the Enter network credentials dialog:

Enter network credentials

Why did this work? Apparently, Windows only tried to use the current user credentials once when connecting to the NAS and then used guest access. As this resulted only in a single failed access attempt, the PC’s IP address was not banned.

For further support, please visit the QNAP forum

Update February 15, 2023: A previous version of this article mentioned making changes to the registry, however the screenshot showed the Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) and not the registry editor (regedit.exe). Many thanks to Daniel for the comment.

Update March 28, 2023: Added a clarification that the Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) is only available on certain editions of Windows and changed the title accordingly.