Accessing Windows shares

I've come across problems accessing Windows shares, specifically, where \\server\share doesn't work but \\ip\share does. I resolved this through SFC (see previous blog post), but deleting the CSC cache is also often suggested, as per:

https://superuser.com/questions/384981/can-access-windows-share-by-ip-or-fqdn-address-but-not-by-hostname/

Run SFC on external (or other) drive

Useful info on running SFC on an external (or second installed) drive:

https://www.ghacks.net/2017/05/21/run-sfc-scannow-on-external-drives/

sfc /scannow /offwindir=d:\windows /offbootdir=d:\

 

Logs in Linux

Most logs are in /var/log/, including /var/log/apt/history.log (log for apt). Use zless for reading .gz files (zless /var/log/apt/history.1.gz).

Windows 10 apps not launching

I recently came across a problem with a new Windows 10 install where included apps (Calculator, Photos, etc) would not launch - at times even the Start Menu wasn't working. There are many possible solutions to this, though based on comments, many of them either don't work or even make the situation worse.

What worked for me was to check and fix permissions for the following:

In regedit.exe:
Right click on HKEY_Users and select Permissions...
Make sure that "All Application Packages" exists and has Read Permission.
Repeat for HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT

Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. Check the subkeys HARDWARE, SAM,SOFTWARE,SYSTEM. Make sure that All Application Packages has the Read permission.

Other possible solutions are offered in this MS post.