Device and app repairs

Every card below runs the same way. The first two steps are the same for all of them; the other two are under each card, with what that card changes.

Each repair card writes back the Windows default unless its own description says otherwise. Most cards do not read a backup made by w0a, so they also help if some other tool was what changed your machine.

What to do

1. Open w0a
2. Go to the Fix page in the left menu

Audio

If sound cut out, devices are missing or apps play no audio, restarts the audio stack and returns the audio scheduling setting to the Windows default.

3. Type audio into the search box
4. Press the button on the Audio card

Mouse, keyboard and touchpad

If the pointer feels different, mouse/keyboard input stutters, or the touchpad dies while a mouse is connected, restores pointer acceleration, input queues and the touchpad setting to Windows defaults.

3. Type touchpad into the search box
4. Press the button on the Mouse, keyboard and touchpad card

Key repeat rate and delay

If a held key repeats too fast, or takes too long to start repeating, restores both values to the Windows defaults: half a second before repeat begins, fastest rate after that. Nothing to do with how long a single press takes to reach the game — this setting only governs a key that is held.

The two values it writes:

• HKCU\Control Panel\Keyboard\KeyboardDelay = 1 — the wait before repeat starts (0 = 250 ms, 1 = 500 ms, 3 = 1000 ms).
• HKCU\Control Panel\Keyboard\KeyboardSpeed = 31 — the repeat rate, fastest step.

Both are REG_SZ, that is, text. A tool that writes a DWORD over them makes the values invisible; Windows then falls back to its own internal default and the settings window stops agreeing with the actual behaviour.

What may have changed them: w0a's own Cut the key-repeat delay to the shortest step tweak, the Control Panel keyboard window, accessibility profiles, and some keyboard vendor software.

The setting is read once per session, so you may keep seeing the old behaviour until you sign out and back in.

3. Type repeat into the search box
4. Press the button on the Key repeat rate and delay card

Input queues

If a key press or a mouse movement occasionally does not register at all, restores the driver queue sizes to the Windows defaults. Writes 100 to the class drivers and deletes the values at the HID layer below them, where a clean Windows writes nothing at all. Needs a restart.

The values it writes and deletes:

• HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\mouclass\Parameters\MouseDataQueueSize = 100
• HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\kbdclass\Parameters\KeyboardDataQueueSize = 100
• ...\Services\mouhid\Parameters\MouseDataQueueSize — deleted
• ...\Services\kbdhid\Parameters\KeyboardDataQueueSize — deleted

Why the two halves differ: 100 is the class drivers' documented default. The HID layer below them carries a value of the same name, but a clean Windows writes nothing there — so those two are deleted rather than set to 100. "Restoring the default" of a value that does not exist would mean creating it.

A queue is not a latency setting. Making it bigger does not deliver a report sooner and making it smaller does not delay one; the queue is only the buffer between the driver and the thread reading it. A small queue drops reports when that thread stalls for a moment — on an 8000 Hz mouse that takes a few milliseconds.

The change is read when the driver loads, so it does not take effect until you restart.

3. Type queue into the search box
4. Press the button on the Input queues card

Printers and printing

If every printer disappeared, even 'Microsoft Print to PDF' is gone, or nothing prints at all, returns the Print Spooler service to the Windows default (Automatic) and starts it.

3. Type printers into the search box
4. Press the button on the Printers and printing card

Bluetooth

If the Bluetooth toggle vanished from Settings and Quick Settings, or headsets, controllers and mice will not pair, returns the Bluetooth services to their Windows default (Manual).

3. Type bluetooth into the search box
4. Press the button on the Bluetooth card

Spotify / Store apps

If Spotify or other Store apps will not open, or the Store no longer updates apps, re-registers the apps, resets the Store cache and restores automatic updates to default.

3. Type spotify into the search box
4. Press the button on the Spotify / Store apps card

Edge

If Edge starts slowly or shows 'Managed by your organization', removes the Edge policies, restoring default behaviour.

3. Type edge into the search box
4. Press the button on the Edge card

Windows Update

If updates stopped arriving, download very slowly, or Insider/Feedback Hub no longer works, restores update and diagnostics services to Windows defaults.

3. Type update into the search box
4. Press the button on the Windows Update card

Remote Assistance

If a Remote Assistance (msra) invitation cannot connect, restores the permission to ask for help to the Windows default (on). Works whichever tool turned it off. Quick Assist does not use this setting, so this card cannot help when Quick Assist is what fails.

3. Type remote into the search box
4. Press the button on the Remote Assistance card

USB port power settings

If a USB device keeps dropping out, is slow to wake, or you want to undo a priority change made on the USB Ports page, restores every input device's sleep and power-management permissions to the Windows default.

For input devices, Windows's real default is selective suspend off — that is what the driver's own setup file (input.inf) installs — so this card writes exactly that, not a generic "power saving on" state.

3. Type usb into the search box
4. Press the button on the USB port power settings card

Windows services

If you cannot print, Bluetooth will not connect, fingerprint sign-in stopped working or a troubleshooter will not open, restores the services an optimisation set to manual start back to the Windows default and starts the print spooler right away.

3. Type fingerprint into the search box
4. Press the button on the Windows services card

Scheduled tasks

Re-enables the compatibility and telemetry scheduled tasks an optimisation turned off. Windows' compatibility reporting comes back; it was off for performance, so turn it on here if something needs it.

3. Type scheduled into the search box
4. Press the button on the Scheduled tasks card

Device icons and names

If devices you plug in show as 'Unknown device' or get the wrong icon, lets Windows fetch device information from the manufacturer again.

3. Type device into the search box
4. Press the button on the Device icons and names card

Pen workspace

If the pen button does nothing or the Windows Ink tools will not open, turns the pen workspace back on.

3. Type workspace into the search box
4. Press the button on the Pen workspace card

Event trace sessions

If Performance Monitor, WPR or another event-log based tool cannot collect data, puts the boot-time trace sessions back to the Windows default.

3. Type trace into the search box
4. Press the button on the Event trace sessions card

Performance counters

If Performance Monitor finds no counter sets at all, or typeperf, Get-Counter or a monitoring tool that reads Windows performance counters sees no data, deletes the switch that turns counters off.

The value it deletes is Disable Performance Counters, under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Perflib. A clean install does not carry it at all — the card does not set it to zero, it removes it.

3. Type counters into the search box
4. Press the button on the Performance counters card

What puts that value there

An optimisation guide, or a tool following one. Earlier versions of w0a also had a checkbox on the Optimisation page that set it; it was off by default and has since been removed. If you ticked it and applied it back then, this card is what undoes it.

Still no counters after the card ran

If the switch is gone and Performance Monitor is still empty, the counter registry itself may be damaged. Windows has its own repair command for that — in a Command Prompt opened as administrator:

lodctr /R

It rebuilds the counter names from their backup. w0a does not run it for you: the command replaces the whole counter registry, which is not something a repair card should do quietly.

Device interrupt steering

Windows lets an administrator decide which processors service a device's interrupts. Two values say it, under HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\PCI\<device>\Device Parameters\Interrupt Management\Affinity Policy:

• DevicePolicy — 4 means "use the processor set below". Any other value ignores it.
• AssignmentSetOverride — the processor set itself, as a bit mask.

This card deletes both from every PCI device that carries them. It does not write a zero: on a machine Windows set up itself these values are simply absent, and absence is the default this card is putting back.

Two things put them there. A tuning tool or a guide — this is the change behind "pin your network card to core 4". Or an older version of w0a: its Latency Test page used to offer an Interrupt steering card that wrote the same two values. Today's w0a no longer writes them — the page only shows which processor ran the interrupts and which devices carry a fixed placement — and this card is how you take the old setting back.

Why it can break a device: Windows reads the policy when it decides that device's resources, which happens at boot. A processor set the device cannot reach leaves it without a working interrupt, and the device does not start — Device Manager shows Code 10. Nothing on screen connects the two events, because they are days apart.

The card deliberately does not touch MessageSignaledInterruptProperties in the key next door. That is where a device's message-signalled interrupt setting lives, w0a never writes it, and removing one somebody else set on purpose would leave the device worse than it was found.

It asks for a restart because the policy is only read at boot. Until then the machine behaves exactly as it did.

3. Type interrupt into the search box
4. Press the button on the Device interrupt steering card

Call audio ducking

If other sounds no longer dip when a call starts and you want the Windows behaviour back, removes the ducking preference so Windows returns to its default (other sounds reduced by 80% during a call).

3. Type ducking into the search box
4. Press the button on the Call audio ducking card

The setting itself

The value is UserDuckingPreference under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Multimedia\Audio. The ducking box on w0a's Optimizations page writes it as 3 ("do nothing"); the choice under Settings › System › Sound › More sound settings › Communications changes the same number. Deleting it returns Windows to "reduce the volume of other sounds by 80%". If you only want a different level, that tab is the place; this card is for putting the default back.

Preview updates

If the "get the latest updates as soon as they're available" toggle is stuck off, removes the value so Windows shows and follows its own default again.

3. Type preview into the search box
4. Press the button on the Preview updates card

The setting itself

IsContinuousInnovationOptedIn under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsUpdate\UX\Settings — the toggle Settings › Windows Update › Get the latest updates as soon as they're available (Windows 11 22H2 and later). The preview-updates box on w0a's Optimizations page writes 0; deleting the value puts the toggle back to the state Windows chooses on its own. This is not the Insider programme, and it does not stop the monthly security updates either way.

Windows Update drivers back

If Windows Update no longer offers drivers and you want it to, removes the policy that excluded them (ExcludeWUDriversInQualityUpdate) so Windows follows its own default again.

3. Type drivers into the search box
4. Press the button on the Windows Update drivers back card

The setting itself

ExcludeWUDriversInQualityUpdate under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate — the Group Policy that keeps drivers out of Windows Update's quality updates, which Microsoft documents for Pro, Enterprise and Education. The drivers box on w0a's Optimizations page writes 1 there; on Home the box is not shown. Deleting the value lets quality updates bring drivers again. Feature upgrades are outside this policy either way, and drivers you install yourself, from the manufacturer's site or its app, are not affected.

Show updates w0a hid

Shows again the Windows Update entries w0a hid from the Drivers page. Updates you hid yourself or with another tool stay hidden.

Unlike most repair cards, this one does not write a Windows default back: every update starts visible, so "putting the default back" would show every hidden update on the PC, including the ones you hid on purpose. It acts only on the updates w0a's own records say it hid, and each record is written before the hide.

3. Type show into the search box
4. Press the button on the Show updates w0a hid card

What the card's answer means

• "Shown again in Windows Update: N update(s) that w0a hid." — w0a asked Windows Update to show each update it had hidden, and each one read back as no longer hidden. When some were shown and some were not, the refusal line below follows on the same line.
• "Nothing to show — w0a has not hidden any update on this PC." — w0a's records hold no hidden update, so Windows Update was not asked anything. Updates you hid yourself or with another tool are not in w0a's records and stay hidden.
• "Nothing to show — the updates w0a hid are already visible, or Windows Update no longer offers them. Their records were cleared." — they were shown again outside w0a, or Windows has installed or replaced them since. Nothing changed on the PC; w0a only removed its own records.
• "N change(s) could not be made" — at least one update still reads hidden, or Windows Update did not answer. Its record is kept: press the card again later, or undo it from the Backups page.
• "Another repair is running." — only one card runs at a time, because several of them would undo each other's work. Wait for it to finish and press again.
• "Could not fix — see the error log." — the card did not finish. The reason is in %LocalAppData%\w0a\errors.log.

Where the hiding happens

On the Drivers page, Find updates to hide on the Windows Update card lists the driver and optional updates Windows Update offers; Hide next to one hides that update only. Security and cumulative updates are never listed. Microsoft's documentation describes hiding as temporary: it holds for that exact version, and Windows offers the next version when it arrives.

The same card shows whether updates are paused and until when, read from Windows' own pause settings. w0a never pauses or resumes updates; Open Windows Update opens Windows' own page for that.

Home and Pro

The pause in Windows Settings is there on every edition. The policies that defer updates or leave drivers out of quality updates are documented only for Pro and above, so on Home the Optimizations page does not offer the driver option. Microsoft's documentation of hiding an update names no edition limit.

Not measured on a real PC: whether Windows keeps a hide until the next version, as its documentation says, and whether Home and Pro behave the same.

If an update you expected to see again is still missing, you or another tool may have hidden it rather than w0a; this card leaves those alone. You can also undo a single hide from the Backups page. Write to us — tell us what the card printed.

Dynamic Lighting

If your RGB devices went dark or stopped following Windows after Dynamic Lighting was turned off, removes the switch so Windows drives them again.

3. Type lighting into the search box
4. Press the button on the Dynamic Lighting card

The setting itself

AmbientLightingEnabled under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Lighting — the master switch of Settings › Personalization › Dynamic Lighting (Windows 11 23H2 and later). The Dynamic Lighting box on w0a's Optimizations page writes 0 so that the maker's own software has the keyboard or mouse to itself; deleting the value hands the device back to Windows. If the lights are still dark afterwards, the maker's app is what drives them now — check its profile.

What the card's answer means

After you press it, the card writes a line underneath. Which line you get decides your next step.

• "Fixed — N setting(s) put back to the Windows default." — this was the broken thing and it has been put back. If the problem continues, see below.
• "Nothing to fix — this was already at the Windows default." — these settings were never changed. Whatever you are seeing has another cause, and pressing this card again will not help.
• "Nothing to fix — this component is not installed on this PC." — the thing this card repairs is not present on this Windows. Your edition may not include it, or it may have been removed earlier.
• "Fixed — N setting(s) restored. Restart the PC for full effect." — the setting is written, but Windows reads it at boot, so the difference shows after a restart. A card only prints this when what it changed genuinely needs one.
• "Fixed — N setting(s) restored. Sign out and back in for full effect." — the cheaper version of the same thing: what reads the setting is the session, so the machine does not have to go down.
• "Another repair is running." — only one card runs at a time, because several of them would undo each other's work. Wait for it to finish and press again.
• "Could not fix — see the error log." — the card did not finish. The reason is in %LocalAppData%\w0a\errors.log.

If it did not help

If the card said it fixed something and the problem is still there, these settings were not the cause. Write to us — tell us which card you ran and what it printed; the two together are what narrows it down.