We're trying something new: skilling snacks!
As a Community Manager, I often receive questions on where to find more information about a certain topic, feature, or capability. I know: there are a LOT of resources out there (docs, learning paths, blog posts, videos, demos) and it can be hard to determine which one is "the best" for your needs. I'm happy to share that we've collected a massive inventory of the most up-to-date, helpful, and relevant resources from across Microsoft's video, learning, and documentation sites--and will be packaging these up into short, bite-sized topics on the Windows IT Pro Blog over the next few months. Each skilling snack is designed to be consumed in less than two hours so our hope is that this makes it easier for you squeeze in some new knowledge or skills during a lunch hour or no-meeting afternoon. With new snacks slated to be published weekly, we are interested in what topics are on your learning "to do" list--or what topics we can cover to help you better educate your colleagues, customers, or partners--so please leave a comment below and we'll work to feature that topic in an upcoming snack. We hope you find these skilling snacks helpful! Check out the first one, just published yesterday on security fundamentals!How can I find Windows 11 product key on my PC?
I recently encountered a problem and would like to ask everyone for help. I am currently using a Lenovo laptop with Windows 11. Recently, I need to reinstall the system for some reasons, but when I was asked to enter the product key, I was confused - I had no idea where my Windows 11 product key was! I tried to find Windows 11 product key in the settings, but I only saw a sentence "Windows is activated" without a specific key. I also searched for some methods online, such as using the command prompt wmic path softwarelicensingservice get OA3xOriginalProductKey, but no key was displayed after running it. My computer is pre-installed with the system, so there is no email or paper key card. Does anyone know any other way to find Windows 11 product key on the computer? Or are there any other reliable solutions to retrieve the key? Please give me some advice, thank you!
Upgrade to windows 11 Pro from unlicensed Home version
Hi I have build a computer and I downloaded unlicensed Windows 11 Home to a usb drive (from microsoft) and installed it as operative system. Then my manager bought a 11 pro license key (misunderstood each other) instead of windows 11 home license key. Now I try to write in the 11 pro license key but it doesn't work. I get an error message when I push next. I thought it would upgrade to pro automatically. So my question is: does this not work? what should I do? I don't want to reformat the computer since I have bought office package and another program.
Where is the "Never Combine taskbar buttons" fix for Windows 11 - We are in March of 2023
Where is the "Never Combine taskbar buttons" fix for Windows 11? It should have been fixed on Oct. 6th of 2021, but as this is Microsoft, they've been busy working on finding less creative ways to insert ads into their stuff and borking other things instead of addressing this basic/reasonable request from their users. Enough with the waiving of hands and the like. This OS has been out of over a year and a half and this usability request needs to be addressed fixed yesterday. You have the tools. What are you waiting on?
Updating Taskbar to not combine buttons
I've seen this question asked before but never found an answer, though I did find a question that said that it was being resolved in a future update. But that was answered almost a year ago. There have been updates since then. Where in the Settings is there an option to make sure the items displayed in the taskbar are not combined? Or was this never addressed/fixed? Can someone ELI5 if it does have a resolution? Thank you!Secure Boot Certificate Updates via InTune Policy
We are currently having issues applying the settings required to install secure boot cert updates using the InTune policy method. A brief overview to quickly explain : We are a reasonably large company managing a mix of over 10,000 Windows and iOS devices. Our Windows devices come from the supplier with the Professional edition of Windows pre-installed, this is then changed via an Enterprise key as part of our Autopilot enrolment process and activated via our users subscription license. To all sense and purposes Windows looks and feels like the Enterprise edition, indeed if you check using winver, system settings and activation status for example then Windows tells us that it is the Enterprise edition. However, if you check the licensing using slmgr /dli it shows that the licensing has been reverted back to the OEM Professional edition as pre-installed by the supplier on purchase. This may have always been the case but until very recently has gone unnoticed. Whilst testing the rollout of an InTune policy to allow secure boot cert updates as detailed here : Microsoft Intune method of Secure Boot for Windows devices with IT-managed updates - Microsoft Support , this is failing because the policy is rejected by licensing error : MDM PolicyManager: Policy is rejected by licensing, Policy: (ConfigureMicrosoftUpdateManagedOptIn), Area: (SecureBoot), Result:(0x82B00006) Unknown Win32 Error code: 0x82b00006 InTune reporting directly on the policy shows this as error 65000 We are able to change the key by using slmgr and a combination of MAK\KMS\OEM but whatever keys are applied this always reverts to being the OEM Professional key after the device has been restarted. I have seen that there is a group policy method for setting the required settings for the secure boot cert updates to work, this however seems a very backward approach by Microsoft in an area where they are trying to promote a cloud-first policy. Indeed since we rolled out Windows 11, we as an organisation have been moving anything that we can to cloud in readiness for retirement of our on-prem estate. Microsoft's response to my recent support request was that this is expected behaviour, which to all sense and purposes is not what i would class as a solution. Has anyone else had the same issues when using the InTune policy method, and was a solution found or did you have to return to the dark ages and resort to group policy? There seem to be lots of posts online referring to access to specific registry keys being blocked going as far back as 2024, the suggested script to resolve these permissions and suggested KB articles have not resolved the issue.What is the best PC backup software for Windows 11/10?
Hi everyone, hope to tap into the collective wisdom here. I've put off a proper backup solution for my Windows 11 machine, and I know I play with fire. Every "top 10" list feels like an ad, and I just want real-user opinions. I’m not a pro, so something reliable and user-friendly is key. I look for something that can handle both a solid system image (for a full disaster recovery) and regular file backups. Free is great, but I’m willing to pay a reasonable one-time fee for a "set it and forget it" tool that just works. What is the best PC backup software for Windows in 2026? Any horror stories to avoid? Major thanks for any help you can offer.
