How can I convert m4a to mp3 on my Windows 11 PC?
Recently, I found that the audio files recorded with voice memos on my phone are all in .m4a format, although they can be played normally, but I encountered a lot of trouble when sharing them among my friends - some devices don't support direct playback, and uploading them on some platforms is also restricted. I've heard that MP3 is the most versatile audio format, and I'd like to ask you computer experts how to batch convert M4A files to MP3 format. I need to balance the ease of operation and conversion efficiency and worried that the sound quality will be drastically reduced. Is there a recommended safe and reliable conversion way to convert m4a to mp3 on Windows 11? Online tools are convenient, but I don't dare to transfer private files. Lastly, there are multiple files (about 50), is there a shortcut for batch processing?
WINDOWS 11 TASKBAR SYSTEM TRAY ICONS KEEP MOVING OUT OF HIDDEN MENU
Hi all I have been setting up a new laptop with Windows 11 25H2 Build 26200.6584 and when I move system tray icons to the hiden menu, about 40 or 50 seconds later windows unhides them and there appear back on the task bar. It is driving me mad as the task bar looks to cluttered. If it is a known bug, is there a fix for this? According to google searches, this is a known bug and none of the suggested fixes work.. I have tried: Re-arrange Icons via Drag-and-Drop. Restart Windows Explorer. Disable Fast Startup. Rebuild the Icon Cache using CMD window as admin I tried to delete the icon cache so windows had to rebuild it but taskkill /IM explorer.exe /F del /A:H "%localappdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer\iconcache*" start explorer.exe but it gave the error below. Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.26200.6584] (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. C:\Windows\System32>taskkill /IM explorer.exe /F SUCCESS: The process "explorer.exe" with PID 10720 has been terminated. C:\Windows\System32>del /A:H "%localappdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer\iconcache*" Could Not Find C:\Users\Kenny\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer\iconcache* C:\Windows\System32>start explorer.exe C:\Windows\System32>
Windows 11 23H2 → 25H2 in-place upgrade fails in SAFE_OS / MIGRATE_DATA
I'm trying to in-place upgrade a Windows 11 23H2 system to 25H2 and consistently get a rollback in the SAFE_OS / MIGRATE_DATA phase with 0x8007042B – 0x2000D. After a lot of analysis (Panther logs, SetupDiag, DISM, etc.), the failure always points to migration problems around Microsoft-Windows-TPM-Driver-WMI (CCSIAgent) and, secondarily, Microsoft-Windows-DirectoryServices-ADAM-Client (adammigrate.dll). I'd like to confirm whether this is a known 25H2 migration issue (especially on Education) and if there is any supported workaround short of a clean install. --- ENVIRONMENT - OS: Windows 11 Education 23H2, Build 22631.6276 - Edition: Education (confirmed via winver and Settings → System → About) - Target: Windows 11 25H2 (26200.6584, "2025 Update") - Upgrade method tried: - Windows Update feature enablement - Windows 11 Installation Assistant - Official 25H2 ISO (26200.6584.250915-1905.25h2_ge_release_svc_refresh_CLIENT_CONSUMER_x64FRE_en-us.iso) mounted locally → setup.exe - Hardware: - Motherboard: Gigabyte Z690 AORUS PRO (BIOS F31) - SSD: WD_BLACK SN770 NVMe (firmware 731130WD, WD Dashboard reports "Healthy", no errors) - TPM 2.0: Intel PTT (firmware TPM) enabled - Secure Boot: Enabled - BitLocker on C: OFF (fully decrypted) --- SYMPTOM Every full in-place upgrade attempt (23H2 → 25H2) behaves as follows: 1. Setup runs, copies files, reboots to SAFE_OS phase. 2. During MIGRATE_DATA, setup fails and rolls back to 23H2. 3. Message on screen: "0x8007042B – 0x2000D The installation failed in the SAFE_OS phase with an error during MIGRATE_DATA operation" In C:\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\Panther\setuperr.log / setupact.log, the failure is always in SAFE_OS / MIGRATE_DATA and includes: V2VArbitrate: Source migration unit <System>\Microsoft-Windows-TPM-Driver-WMI (CCSIAgent) is not supported on the destination machine and it will not be restored V2VArbitrate: Source migration unit is critical, arbitration will fail V2V Arbitration failed. Last error: 0x00000032 pSPExecuteApply: Apply operation failed. Error: 0x0000002C Apply (machine-independent apply, offline phase): Migration phase failed. Result: 44 ExecuteOperations: Failed execution phase Safe OS. Error: 0x8007042B On some runs, just before the TPM arbitration failure, there are also errors related to DirectoryServices-ADAM-Client: Failure while calling IPostApply->ApplySuccess for Plugin="Microsoft-Windows-DirectoryServices-ADAM-Client\adammigrate.dll"… Error: 0x80070002 Error READ, 0x00000002 while gathering/applying object: apply-success, Action,CMXEXmlPlugin, C:\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\ReplacementManifests, Microsoft-Windows-DirectoryServices-ADAM-Client\adammigrate.dll… However, the ADAM plugin errors are logged as "ignore" in some traces, while the actual rollback is always tied to the critical TPM-Driver-WMI migration unit. --- WHAT I HAVE ALREADY TRIED I've tried to rule out all the usual suspects and a bit more: 1. Health checks & storage - sfc /scannow → no integrity violations - DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth / CheckHealth / RestoreHealth → clean - chkdsk C: /scan → no file system / bad sector issues - WD Dashboard extended test → drive healthy, no SMART warnings 2. Drivers, TPM, AV, services - TPM: - Device: "Trusted Platform Module 2.0" (ACPI\MSFT0101\1) - Driver provider: Microsoft (inbox TPM driver), no OEM TPM drivers - pnputil /enum-drivers | findstr /i tpm shows only Microsoft TPM entries; any OEM/TMP-related oem*.inf were removed. - Legacy / problematic drivers: - Removed old Intel CougarPoint USB driver (oem25.inf) via pnputil /delete-driver oem25.inf /uninstall /force. - Antivirus / security: - McAfee WebAdvisor fully uninstalled. - Kaspersky products uninstalled via standard uninstallers and then cleaned with Kaspersky's kavremover in Safe Mode. - No Kaspersky services, drivers, files, or uninstall entries remain. - Currently only Microsoft Defender is active. - Telemetry: - Connected User Experiences and Telemetry (DiagTrack) service set to Manual and Running to avoid telemetry-related cancellation (0x800704C7). 3. Upgrade artefacts / component cleanup - Deleted: - C:\$WINDOWS.~BT - C:\$GetCurrent - C:\$WINDOWS.~WS - C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download - Ran: - DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup /ResetBase - Then again DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth and sfc /scannow 4. ISO & media verification - 23H2 ISO: Win11_23H2_English_x64.iso (official multi-edition ISO, SHA-256 verified). - 25H2 ISO: 26200.6584.250915-1905.25h2_ge_release_svc_refresh_CLIENT_CONSUMER_x64FRE_en-us.iso (official 25H2 ISO, SHA-256 verified). - Both mounted locally; upgrade run via setup.exe from the ISO (no third-party media tools). - Tried with Dynamic Update enabled and disabled (/DynamicUpdate Disable). 5. Compatibility scan vs full upgrade behavior - Running from 25H2 ISO: setup.exe /Compat ScanOnly /DynamicUpdate Disable → completes WITHOUT logging the earlier TPM-Driver-WMI / MIGRATE_DATA critical failures. - However, when running a FULL in-place upgrade (same ISO, same environment, DynamicUpdate disabled, "Keep personal files and apps"), the upgrade still fails in SAFE_OS / MIGRATE_DATA with the same TPM-Driver-WMI critical arbitration error and rollback. So, compatibility scan looks clean, but the real SAFE_OS/MIGRATE_DATA phase still hits the TPM-Driver-WMI migration problem. 6. ADAM / DirectoryServices-ADAM-Client state - DISM shows DirectoryServices-ADAM-Client feature as Disabled. - The ADAM migration plugin (adammigrate.dll) logs 0x80070002 during IPostApply->ApplySuccess on some runs. - As suggested in other cases, I have tried: - dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:DirectoryServices-ADAM-Client /norestart → reboot - dism /online /disable-feature /featurename:DirectoryServices-ADAM-Client /norestart → reboot - The ADAM error sometimes disappears or is logged as "ignored", but the TPM-Driver-WMI critical arbitration error persists and still causes rollback. 7. Attempt to repair TPM-Driver-WMI as a package (failed) Following the idea that TPM-Driver-WMI might be a partially removed servicing package, I: - Ran: DISM /Online /Get-Packages | findstr /i "TPM-Driver-WMI" → NO ENTRIES. There is no Microsoft-Windows-TPM-Driver-WMI-Package~… installed as a standalone package. - Mounted Win11_23H2_English_x64.iso as G: and searched for *TPM-Driver-WMI*.cab: → No such cab found anywhere in the ISO. - Mounted install.wim (index 4, Education) read-only and inspected Windows\servicing\Packages, and ran offline DISM /Image:... /Get-Packages | findstr TPM: → No Microsoft-Windows-TPM-Driver-WMI package or mum/cab. Only the component payload exists in WinSxS (amd64_microsoft-windows-tpm-driver-wmi_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.22621.1...), but there is no installable package to feed into DISM /Add-Package. So there is NO STANDALONE TPM-Driver-WMI package that I can re-add or repair via DISM; it appears baked into the base image. --- CURRENT SITUATION - TPM driver: Microsoft inbox, no OEM TPM drivers. - AV: only Defender. - Component store: DISM /RestoreHealth and sfc /scannow are clean. - Storage: healthy. - Telemetry service: running. - ADAM client: "enable → disable" cycle tried. - 25H2 compatibility scan: now passes without TPM migration errors. - Full upgrade: still fails in SAFE_OS / MIGRATE_DATA with: - Source migration unit <System>\Microsoft-Windows-TPM-Driver-WMI (CCSIAgent) is not supported on the destination machine and it will not be restored - Source migration unit is critical, arbitration will fail - V2V Arbitration failed. Last error: 0x00000032 - pSPExecuteApply: Apply operation failed. Error: 0x0000002C - ExecuteOperations: Failed execution phase Safe OS. Error: 0x8007042B At this point, the only remaining options I can see are: - In-place repair install of 23H2 using the 23H2 ISO (setup.exe → keep apps & data), to rebuild the whole servicing/migration stack, and then retry 25H2; - Or clean install 25H2 from scratch. Before I go down that path, I'd like to know: --- QUESTIONS 1. Is this a known migration issue in Windows 11 25H2 (especially for Education) involving Microsoft-Windows-TPM-Driver-WMI (CCSIAgent)? In other words, is the "not supported on the destination machine" for this migration unit an expected symptom of a current 25H2 bug or a misconfiguration on my side? 2. Is there any supported way to reset/repair/ignore the TPM-Driver-WMI migration unit on the source side, given that: - there is no standalone Microsoft-Windows-TPM-Driver-WMI-Package~*.cab in the 23H2 ISO, and - DISM /Get-Packages does not list such a package? 3. Is an in-place repair install of 23H2 the recommended next step in this scenario, or is the official guidance to perform a clean install of 25H2 when SAFE_OS / MIGRATE_DATA fails on a critical migration unit like this? 4. Is there any known difference between consumer vs Education/volume 25H2 media that could affect whether the TPM-Driver-WMI migration manifest is present on the target image? Any official guidance or confirmation (e.g., "this is a known issue; wait for an updated 25H2 image or cumulative update" vs "your 23H2 install is irreparably corrupted, clean install recommended") would be very helpful before I commit to a wipe-and-reinstall. Thank you in advance.
Th best windows backup software or utility for Windows 11/10 OS?
Hi everyone, I’m kind of a newbie here and I really need some advice. I want to make a full backup of my Windows 11 laptop because it has very important personal and work data on it. I’m a bit nervous about messing something up, so I'm looking for the simplest and safest method to let me easily backup Windows 11 to an external hard drive or SSD. I don't have much experience with windows backup software, so I prefer something easy to understand and not too technical. Ideally, I just want a way to back up the whole system so I can restore everything if my laptop crashes or the drive fails. What is the easiest utility you recommend for beginners on Windows 11? Built-in tools, external hard drives, or any beginner-friendly software suggestions would be really appreciated.
Clicking External Hard Drive
Recently i obtained a blank 10TB external hard drive and when i plugged it in it made a clicking sound. I thought there must be some way to fix it so i googled how to fix it and according to some websites and videos it was fixable by realigning the heads etc. I did not want to attempt this myself so i went to a local computer store and they said it was dead and nothing could be done. They did not even plug it in to try it. My wife said it was probably not worth there time and effort fixing it. So did I misunderstand the information i found online and it's not fixable or was the computer shop not helpful or not willing to help with this issue?
How do I pin a desktop shortcut to the Start Menu?
I have gone thru half a dozen "solutions" and they're all non-solutions. Most if not all lead to menus where the purported solution does not show, perhaps this is a question of versions. I created a shortcut on Windows11 Desktop. It is a shortcut to Windows Update. When clicked it runs correctly. The solution(s) I gathered say to right click the shortcut and expect a "Pin to Start menu" option to pop up. Well .... NONE did. Why is this seemingly simple and trivial functionality not failing on Windows 10? Would appreciate any guidance, tip or suggestion. Thanks in advance.Best method to move windows 11 to another drive SSD?
I have an older PC running Windows 11, but the internal SSD (128 GB) is running out of space. I want to move the entire OS, along with all my files and applications, to a new, larger drive. I'm not sure what the safest and most efficient process is for this. My goal is to make the larger SSD drive as the new bootable device without losing any data or settings. I would be grateful for step-by-step advice on recommended software to move Windows 11 to another drive any crucial pitfalls to avoid. My PC is a standard Windows 11 installation with no complex RAID setups. Thank you in advance for your guidance and expertise.Media Player does not show preview on seek bar
You know how you hover your mouse along the bottom of the seek bar and as you move along the seek bar you get a preview of the content at that location. Youtube videos have the same thing. Well Window 11 Media Player does not show the preview as you move the cursor along the seek bar. I see no way to enable this through some setting. The settings menu in Media Player has no setting for this. I am pretty sure this worked at some point in time, I know it worked on my old Windows 10 7820X system that I retired in March. How do I get Windows 11 Media Player to show a preview of the content as I move the cursor along the seek bar?How to safely format sd card on my windows 11 pc?
Hi guys, My first time to use a SD card (from my car dashcam) on my Windows 11 PC, and I need some help reformatting the SD card. It is a 128GB SanDisk SD card (64GB) to use with my car. However, after inserting it into my PC, I noticed that the card isn't showing up correctly in File Explorer, and my camera is giving me a "card error" message. I suspect the card might need to be formatted, but I'm not entirely sure how to choose a good sd card formatter software. I've heard there are different file system options (like FAT32, exFAT, NTFS), and I'm not sure which one is best for my use case—mainly transferring photos/videos and occasional file storage. Could someone guide me through the steps on how to format sd card on Windows 11? Also, if you could recommend the best file system for general use (photos, videos, and documents), that would be really helpful. Thanks in advance for your help!
