How to fix the application was unable to load a required component msvcp140_codecvt_ids.dll or any other Microsoft Visual Studio Libraray missing files

 VCRUNTIME140_1.dll, VCRUNTIME140_1.dll, msvcp140_codecvt_ids.dll and MSVCP140_CODECVT_IDS.dll are common issues with new applications.

luckily there is a very easy fix! You simply install the latest Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable (2015-2019) and it should fix your issues! This is 100% safe! vc_redist installers: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/h... NEVER manually place .dll files in the System32 and SysWOW64 folders if you do not know what you are doing! This could make the issue worse.

How to Use Google Fonts in Microsoft Word

 Google Fonts aren’t limited to the web. You can download and use them locally in apps like Microsoft Word. We’ll show you how to download and use these fonts on both Windows and Mac computers.

First, Download the Fonts

First, download the font or fonts that you want to use in your documents from the Google Fonts Library. You can download specific fonts or grab them all at once.

Let’s begin with downloading a specific font. Head to the Google Fonts site and select the font to download.

On the font’s screen, click “Download family” in the top-right corner.

If you want to download all fonts from Google Fonts, open Google Fonts on GitHub in your web browser. From there, scroll down to the “Download All Google Fonts” section and click the download link.

Now, Install Your Downloaded Google Fonts

The next step is to install downloaded fonts on your Windows or Mac computer.

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To do this, first, double-click the downloaded ZIP archive to open it. Then, double-click the font file (It usually ends with .ttf extension.) to open the font.

Note: Note: If there are multiple fonts in an archive, repeat the process for each font.

Your computer will open a preview of the selected font. If you’re on Windows, click “Install” at the top of this window.

Mac users need to click “Install Font” at the bottom of the preview window.

The selected font will now be installed on your computer.

Let’s Use Google Fonts in Microsoft Word

In Microsoft Word, you would use a Google Font the same way that you use any other font.

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To access the newly installed font in Word, open an existing document in Word or select “Blank document” on Word’s main screen to create a new one.

In Word’s editing window, on the Home tab of the Ribbon, look for the “Font” group and click the drop-down menu (which displays the current font name).

Scroll down the font drop-down menu, find your newly installed Google Font, and click it.

Click anywhere in your document to start typing with your selected Google Font.

And that’s how you bring and use Google’s web fonts locally on your Windows or Mac computer!

How to pin file to start menu windows 10

 Ok, this is a workaround that worked for me.

Any shortcut to a file you put in here:

C:\Users\*YourUserName*\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

will appear in the "All apps" list under the Windows "Start" button on the taskbar. (Note: "AppData" is a hidden folder, so from file explorer, you might want to go to "view" and put a checkbox beside "hidden items" first. Otherwise type the whole string into File Explorer to get to this folder.)

To pin a File, 
1. Right-click on the File you want to pin to the Start Screen.
2. Click "Copy"
3. Go to "C:\Users\*YourUserName*\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs"
4. Right-click again in the folder window, then click "Paste shortcut"
5. Go to your "All apps" list under the Start button, and scroll down to find the name of the File you just pasted.
6. Right click on this file from the "Apps list" and click "Pin to start".
7. Your done.

There is a registry hack to enable "Pin to start" from the Right Click menu. For those who don't mind editing the registry, 

Ok, as promised here is the Registry hack for Windows 10 that will save you about 4 steps in the previous method. This is a bit more elegant, but involves a registry edit.

First we want to create the Registry value to merge with the Registry. To do so, open up Notepad and copy and paste the below code just as it appears into a new text document.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\PintoStartScreen]
@="{470C0EBD-5D73-4d58-9CED-E91E22E23282}"

Save the text file to your desktop with a name like, "PinToStartHack.txt"

Now, Right-click on this text file and rename the file extension from ".txt" to ".reg", so your text file will now be called "PinToStartHack.reg"

Double click this file to merge its contents with your Registry.



Click Yes.




Click OK.


IMPORTANT: You'll only be able to Pin a Shortcut to any file, not the actual file itself. So you'll need to create the shortcut first, right-click it and choose pin to start, then delete the shortcut. So let's do that.

Right-click on the File you want to pin (My Holiday Plans.docx in the example below), and click "Create shortcut".

Next, right click on the shortcut you just created, and choose, "Pin to Start"



Once you have pinned the File, you can then delete the shortcut. (Right-click on the shortcut you created and choose, "Delete shortcut".)

Now, go to the Start Screen, and you should see your File as the last tile on the Start Screen.


Enjoy :-)

To Remove the Registry Hack

If for some unknown reason, you wish to delete the registry entry, just type "regedit" in the search bar, and run "regedit.exe". Then drill down to

"HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\PintoStartScreen"

Delete the "PintoStartScreen" folder item.

Close the registry editor.

How to FIX VirtualBox VM Session was closed before any attempt to power it on ?

 This tutorial contains instructions to fix the following error in VirtualBox: "Failed to open a session for the virtual machine. The VM session session was closed before any attempt to power it on" with Result Code: E_FAIL (0x80004005).

The VirtualBox error "VM Session was closed before any attempt to power it on" usually occurs when the user shuts down the host machine without shutting down the VM guest machine first.

How to FIX VirtualBox Error: "The VM Session was closed before any attempt to power it on".

Method 1. Discard VM's Saved State.

Method 2. Uninstall and Re-Install VirtualBox.

Method 1. Discard VM's Saved State.

The usually method to fix the "VM session session was closed before any attempt to power it on", is to discard the saved state of the Virtual machine. To do that:

1. Right click on the Virtual Machine and select Discard Saved State.

 

2. Then try to start the virtual machine. If the problem persists, continue to the next method below.

 

 

Method 2. Uninstall and Re-Install VirtualBox.

The next method to solve the "VM session session was closed before any attempt to power it on" problem in VirtualBox, is to uninstall and then to reinstall the VirtualBox application, especially if the problem appeared after a Windows Update.

1. Go to Control Panel & Uninstall VirtualBox. (Don't worry, the VMs will stay untouched).
2. Reboot your computer.
3. Download latest version of VirtualBox.
4. Right click on the downloaded file and click "Run As Administrator".
5. Follow the on screen prompts to install VirtualBox.

6. After installation, reboot your computer.
7. Open VirtualBox manager and start your Virtual Machine.
8. If the Virtual Machine opens fine, then proceed to install the Guest Additions and the Extension Pack (if needed).

How to Install OpenVPN Server on RHEL / CentOS 8 and configure Windows / Linux OpenVPN Client ?

 This guide will explain how to install and configure OpenVPN Server on RHEL / CentOS 8. A Virtual Private Network (VPN) allows you to traverse untrusted networks securely as if you were within a secure LAN network. OpenVPN is a full-featured, open-source Secure Socket Layer (SSL) VPN solution that supports a wide range of configurations.

With OpenVPN, you can easily set a secure tunnel that extends private network across a public network. All traffic being sent is encrypted and you can trust the information received on the other end. In this blog post, we will explore an easy way of installing and configuring OpenVPN server on RHEL / CentOS 8 server.

Install OpenVPN Server on RHEL / CentOS 8

There are two options of setting up OpenVPN server on RHEL / CentOS 8.

1.    Installing OpenVPN server manually – Time consuming

2.    Install OpenVPN server using automated scripts – Easy and quick

This guide will focus on using a trusted script to install and configure OpenVPN server. We will use openvpn-install script which let you set up your own VPN server in no more than a minute, even if you haven’t used OpenVPN before. It has been designed to be as unobtrusive and universal as possible.

Step 1: Add EPEL and Install git

Add EPEL repository to your RHEL / CentOS 8 system. It has openvpn package and dependencies required.

How to Install EPEL Repository on RHEL / CentOS 8

We also need git to pull the code from Github. Ensure it is installed.

sudo dnf -y install git

Step 2: Clone openvpn-install repository

Now clone the openvpn-install repository using git tool installed in Step one:

$ cd ~
$ git clone https://github.com/Nyr/openvpn-install.git
Cloning into 'openvpn-install'…
remote: Enumerating objects: 360, done.
remote: Total 360 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 360
Receiving objects: 100% (360/360), 104.04 KiB | 263.00 KiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (180/180), done.

Step 3: Run OpenVPN installer

Switch to the openvpn-install directory and run the installer script.

$ chmod +x openvpn-install.sh
$ sudo ./openvpn-install.sh

You will get a couple of prompts to change or confirm default settings for the installation.

Welcome to this OpenVPN "road warrior" installer!
 I need to ask you a few questions before starting the setup.
 You can leave the default options and just press enter if you are ok with them.
 First, provide the IPv4 address of the network interface you want OpenVPN
 listening to.
 IP address: 192.168.122.198
 This server is behind NAT. What is the public IPv4 address or hostname?
 Public IP address / hostname: vpn.example.com
 Which protocol do you want for OpenVPN connections?
    1) UDP (recommended)
    2) TCP
 Protocol [1-2]: 1
 What port do you want OpenVPN listening to?
 Port: 1194
 Which DNS do you want to use with the VPN?
    1) Current system resolvers
    2) 1.1.1.1
    3) Google
    4) OpenDNS
    5) Verisign
 DNS [1-5]: 1
 Finally, tell me your name for the client certificate.
 Please, use one word only, no special characters.
 Client name: computingforgeeks
 Okay, that was all I needed. We are ready to set up your OpenVPN server now.
 Press any key to continue…
 Updating Subscription Management repositories.
 Updating Subscription Management repositories.
 Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 7 - x86_64                                                                         189 kB/s |  16 MB     01:24   
 Last metadata expiration check: 0:00:54 ago on Wed 20 Mar 2019 07:23:31 PM EAT.
 Package epel-release-7-11.noarch is already installed.
 Dependencies resolved.
 Nothing to do.
 Complete!
 Updating Subscription Management repositories.
 Updating Subscription Management repositories.
 Waiting for process with pid 1906 to finish.
 Package iptables-1.8.0-11.el8.x86_64 is already installed.
 Package openssl-1:1.1.1-6.el8.x86_64 is already installed.
 Package ca-certificates-2018.2.24-6.el8.noarch is already installed.
 Dependencies resolved.
  Package                           Arch                    Version                           Repository                                           Size
 Installing:
  openvpn                           x86_64                  2.4.7-1.el7                       epel                                                522 k
 Installing dependencies:
  pkcs11-helper                     x86_64                  1.11-3.el7                        epel                                                 56 k
  libnsl                            x86_64                  2.28-18.el8                       rhel-8-for-x86_64-baseos-beta-rpms                   84 k
  compat-openssl10                  x86_64                  1:1.0.2o-3.el8                    rhel-8-for-x86_64-baseos-beta-rpms                  1.1 M
 Transaction Summary
 Install  4 Packages
 Total download size: 1.8 M
 Installed size: 4.6 M
 Downloading Packages:
 (1/4): pkcs11-helper-1.11-3.el7.x86_64.rpm                                                                              34 kB/s |  56 kB     00:01   
 (2/4): openvpn-2.4.7-1.el7.x86_64.rpm                                                                                  191 kB/s | 522 kB     00:02   
 (3/4): libnsl-2.28-18.el8.x86_64.rpm                                                                                    26 kB/s |  84 kB     00:03   
 (4/4): compat-openssl10-1.0.2o-3.el8.x86_64.rpm
.......................                

You need to set:

·       Server’s IP address to be used by VPN

·       The hostname of Server if inside NAT

·       OpenVPN protocol to be used – TCP or UDP

·       OpenVPN port

·       DNS Nameserver to be used with VPN

·       Name of first client profile to create

If the installation was successful, you should receive message similar to one below.

..............
 Check that the request matches the signature
 Signature ok
 The Subject's Distinguished Name is as follows
 commonName            :ASN.1 12:'computingforgeeks'
 Certificate is to be certified until Mar 17 16:24:47 2029 GMT (3650 days)
 Write out database with 1 new entries
 Data Base Updated
 Using SSL: openssl OpenSSL 1.1.1 FIPS  11 Sep 2018
 Using configuration from /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/pki/safessl-easyrsa.cnf
 Can't load /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/pki/.rnd into RNG
 140135296710464:error:2406F079:random number generator:RAND_load_file:Cannot open file:crypto/rand/randfile.c:90:Filename=/etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/pki/.rnd
 An updated CRL has been created.
 CRL file: /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/pki/crl.pem
 788
 success
 success
 success
 success
 success
 success
 612
 Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/openvpn@server.service → /usr/lib/systemd/system/openvpn@.service.
 Finished!
 Your client configuration is available at: /root/computingforgeeks.ovpn
 If you want to add more clients, you simply need to run this script again!

The main OpenVPN server configuration file is,/etc/openvpn/server.conf you are free to tune it to your liking.

$ cat  /etc/openvpn/server.conf

port 1194

proto udp

dev tun

sndbuf 0

rcvbuf 0

ca ca.crt

cert server.crt

key server.key

dh dh.pem

auth SHA512

tls-auth ta.key 0

topology subnet

server 10.8.0.0 255.255.255.0

ifconfig-pool-persist ipp.txt

push "redirect-gateway def1 bypass-dhcp"

push "dhcp-option DNS 192.168.122.1"

keepalive 10 120

cipher AES-256-CBC

user nobody

group nobody

persist-key

persist-tun

status openvpn-status.log

verb 3

crl-verify crl.pem

A  tun0 virtual interface will be created during the setup process. This is used by OpenVPN clients subnet.

$ ip addr | grep tun0
 3: tun0:  mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state UNKNOWN group default qlen 100
     inet 10.8.0.1/24 brd 10.8.0.255 scope global tun0

The default subnet for this interface is.10.8.0.0/24.OpenVPN server will be assigned 10.8.0.1 IP address:

Step 3: Generate OpenVPN user profile (.ovpn file)

After completing step 1 through 3, your VPN Server is ready for use. We need to generate VPN Profiles to be used by the users. The same script we used for the installation will be used for this. It manages the creation and revocation of user profiles.

Run script and select 1 to add new user.

$ sudo ./openvpn-install.sh

Looks like OpenVPN is already installed.
 What do you want to do?
    1) Add a new user
    2) Revoke an existing user
    3) Remove OpenVPN
    4) Exit
 Select an option [1-4]: 1
 Tell me a name for the client certificate.
 Please, use one word only, no special characters.
 Client name: user1
 Using SSL: openssl OpenSSL 1.1.1 FIPS  11 Sep 2018
 Can't load /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/pki/.rnd into RNG
 139966006863680:error:2406F079:random number generator:RAND_load_file:Cannot open file:crypto/rand/randfile.c:90:Filename=/etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/pki/.rnd
 Generating a RSA private key
 ……………………………………………………………………..+++++
 ……………………………………….+++++
 writing new private key to '/etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/pki/private/user1.key.SeCj8ncgaH'
 Using configuration from /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/pki/safessl-easyrsa.cnf
 Can't load /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/pki/.rnd into RNG
 139828629223232:error:2406F079:random number generator:RAND_load_file:Cannot open file:crypto/rand/randfile.c:90:Filename=/etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/pki/.rnd
 Check that the request matches the signature
 Signature ok
 The Subject's Distinguished Name is as follows
 commonName            :ASN.1 12:'user1'
 Certificate is to be certified until Mar 17 16:48:32 2029 GMT (3650 days)
 Write out database with 1 new entries
 Data Base Updated
 Client user1 added, configuration is available at: /root/user1.ovpn

The .ovpn OpenVPN profile file is placed inside /root folder.

$ sudo ls /root/ | grep ovpn
computingforgeeks.ovpn
user1.ovpn

Revoking OpenVPN user profile

To revoke a user profile, run the script and select 2.

$ sudo ./openvpn-install.sh
Looks like OpenVPN is already installed.
 What do you want to do?
    1) Add a new user
    2) Revoke an existing user
    3) Remove OpenVPN
    4) Exit
 Select an option [1-4]: 2
 Select the existing client certificate you want to revoke:
      1) computingforgeeks
      2) user1
 Select one client [1-2]: 2
 Do you really want to revoke access for client user1? [y/N]: y
 Using configuration from /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/pki/safessl-easyrsa.cnf
 Can't load /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/pki/.rnd into RNG
 140410149218112:error:2406F079:random number generator:RAND_load_file:Cannot open file:crypto/rand/randfile.c:90:Filename=/etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/pki/.rnd
 Revoking Certificate FAC5CC0C127D1242CC55BD31B7FB27D3.
 Data Base Updated
 Using SSL: openssl OpenSSL 1.1.1 FIPS  11 Sep 2018
 Using configuration from /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/pki/safessl-easyrsa.cnf
 Can't load /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/pki/.rnd into RNG
 139874879330112:error:2406F079:random number generator:RAND_load_file:Cannot open file:crypto/rand/randfile.c:90:Filename=/etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/pki/.rnd
 An updated CRL has been created.
 CRL file: /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/pki/crl.pem
 Certificate for client user1 revoked!

Uninstalling OpenVPN server on RHEL/CentOS 8

If you no longer need OpenVPN server, uninstallation can be done using the same installer script.

$ sudo ./openvpn-install.sh
Looks like OpenVPN is already installed.
 What do you want to do?
    1) Add a new user
    2) Revoke an existing user
    3) Remove OpenVPN
    4) Exit
 Select an option [1-4]: 3
 Do you really want to remove OpenVPN? [y/N]: y
 788
 success
 success
 success
 success
 success
 success
 Updating Subscription Management repositories.
 Updating Subscription Management repositories.
 Dependencies resolved.
....
Complete!
OpenVPN removed!

Step 4: Connect to OpenVPN Server from the client

You can use the VPN client of your choice to configure OpenVPN client on your operating system. For those who want to use Official OpenVPN client, go to the downloads page and get the latest release then install it.

Once Installed, on Windows, navigate to the directory with the ovpn profile, right click on the file name and select “Start OpenVPN on this config file“

For CentOS Linux users, you can use NetworkManager and openvpn plugin to connect to OpenVPN server.

Install NetworkManager on CentOS 7

CentOS 7 comes with NetworkManager installed and running, you only need to install openvpn plugin for you to be able to import .ovpn profile.

sudo yum install NetworkManager-openvpn NetworkManager-openvpn-gnome

How to Import OpenVPN profile (.ovpn) using nmcli

Once you have installed the required packages and you have OpenVPN profile generated, continue to import the profile.

In this example, I assume OpenVPN profile name is called myopenvpn.ovpn and is located under your $HOME. Import the profile using the command:

$ cd ~/

$ sudo nmcli connection import type openvpn file myopenvp.ovpn

Connection 'myopenvp' (464b7c20-8999-4699-a4d7-3233cd7ea91e) successfully added.

You can confirm if the profile was imported successfully using the command:

$ nmcli connection show

To start using the profile, bring it up using:

$ nmcli connection up myopenvpn

Connection successfully activated (D-Bus active path: /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/ActiveConnection/27)

To check the connection details using:

$ nmcli connection show 

$ nmcli connection show |  egrep -i 'IP4|IPV6'

Depending on how you configured your OpenVPN server routes push, you can check ones populated on the server:

$ ip route

Try access any network on the route to see if it’s working.

Conclusion

You have successfully installed the OpenVPN server on RHEL/CentOS 8. The computers at each end of the VPN tunnel will encrypt the data entering the tunnel and is decrypted at the other end. Check OpenVPN documentation for more configuration options.