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showing posts tagged with 'windows'
Windows SBS 2011 Server Backup cannot add additional disks to backup
edited by on October 3rd 2011, at 12:01
When adding additional backup disks to your Windows SBS 2011 server backup, you may get an error stating:

Quote
The filename, directory name, or volume label is incorrect.

The problem occurs with the SBS console and when running the Server Backup snap-in.

You can work around this issue by manually adding the backup disks via the wbadmin command line tool.

Connect the disk you wish to add to the system. Open up a command prompt.

Fetch a list of available backup targets by running:wbadmin get disks

You need the DiskID displayed of your backup disk.

Add the disk to the backup pool by running:WBADMIN ENABLE BACKUP -addtarget:"{DiskID}"

Replace the DiskID with the one you have,   ...
 
Time sync with an NTP server using w32time
edited by on October 3rd 2011, at 11:37
The following was tested on a Windows 2003 R2 with SP2, but it should work on every system with w32time installed.

Open up a command prompt (start, run, cmd.exe, you know).

Then punch in these lines:

net time \\your-server-name /setsntp:some-ip-or-pool.ntp.orgnet stop w32timenet start w32time

The way NTP works, the sync does not occur immediately, but it should be visible within a few minutes after w32time has started again.

Notice
If it doesn't work for you, check whether your time zone is correct, and whether the time of your server and the real time differs with over 3600 seconds. Ntpd would not sync if the difference was over an hour.

To query the current NTP servers  ...
 
Quick Launch bar in Windows 7
edited by on September 28th 2011, at 16:59
Since Windows 7, the Quick Launch bar has been removed from the taskbar, and the pinning of applications has been introduced as a replacement. Not everyone likes this new feature, or perhaps you want to have the old Quick Launch bar back anyway. Well, it can be restored, albeit with a bit of a workaround.

The Quick Launch bar in earlier versions of Windows in fact nothing more than a folder containing shortcuts. With this in mind, it's in fact quite easy to add the Quick Launch bar, in this case as a regular folder.

First, unlock the taskbar. You need this to move over the Quick Launch bar once it's added, and to access its settings to actually make the toolbar look like the old Quick Laun  ...
 
Use diskpart to extend NTFS partitions in Windows 2003
edited by on September 28th 2011, at 12:48
When running virtual Windows 2003 systems (e.g. in VMware), it's sometimes necessary to increase the size of the disks to add more storage to your machine. Starting from Windows 2008, you can perform an online increase of NTFS partitions using Storage Manager. In Windows 2003, it's also possible to perform an online extend by using diskpart from the command line.

First, make sure to extend the physical volume (e.g. by increasing the virtual disk size in VMware). Then open a command prompt and run diskpart without parameters.

To extend, you have to select the physical disk and volume. To know what to select, you can view the available disks and volumes.

List and select the physical disk:

  ...
 
Disable IP autoconfiguration (APIPA) in Windows
edited by on September 28th 2011, at 10:56
IP autoconfiguration (also known as APIPA) configures a network interface with an IP address if no fixed IP has been specified, and there's no DHCP server on the network. In this case, an automatic IP will be assigned out of a private range (usually 169.254.x.x). APIPA exists on all Windows version (safe Windows NT).

In case you wish to disable APIPA on a certain interface, you can use the Windows registry to do this. By default, APIPA is enabled on all interfaces, unless it is explicitly disabled.

Fire up regedit. Navigate to the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\ Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\adapter clsid, where adapter clsid is the ID of your adapter. If you only h  ...
 
Show desktop and Window switcher in Windows 7
edited by on September 24th 2011, at 15:53

For those using the Quick Launch bar in Windows 7 and have "misplaced" their Show Desktop and Window Switcher icons, can download the shortcuts in the attached archive to replace them.

 
Manually configure Exchange Online in Outlook
edited by on September 2nd 2011, at 12:49
If you are not able to configure Outlook using the Microsoft Online Sign-in Tool for some reason, there's a way to do it manually.

For this to work, you need the following:

a working internet connection (duh);

your username and password;

your storage location (usually closest to your HQ).

First off, we need the mailbox store server. To find this, you have to log in to Outlook Web Access. Your ICT department should already have given you information on how to do this. If not, use one of the following urls, depending on your location:

Asia Pacific (APAC): https://red003.mail.apac.microsoftonline.com/owa

Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA): https://red002.mail.emea.microsoftonline  ...
 
Recreate missing Show Desktop icon
edited by on August 30th 2011, at 12:13

If the Show Desktop icon is deleted from Quick Launch, the procedure below will recreate the file.

Open Notepad and enter the following text:

[Shell]
Command=2
IconFile=explorer.exe,3
[Taskbar]
Command=ToggleDesktop

Save the new file as Show Desktop.scf (note the SCF extension) then drag and drop the icon on the Quick Launch bar or whatever location you want the shortcut to appear.

 
Enabling Windows Auto-logon
edited by on August 25th 2011, at 13:42
It is possible to enable auto-logon for a computer running Windows, even if the account required is password-protected, or when it's a domain account.

To enable it, you need to set some things right in the registry:

Fire up regedit, and navigate to the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon.

Edit the entry DefaultUserName, and set it to the account you wish to log in with.

Edit the DefaultPassword, and set it to the password required to log in. If the value doesn't exist, create it (its datatype is REG_SZ).

Notice
If no DefaultPassword is specified, Windows automatically changes the value of AutoAdminLogon from 1 to 0, effec  ...
 
Fix EXE file association
edited by on June 27th 2011, at 11:59

In case of an infection with phony anti-spyware software (such as Anti Spyware 2009), where the EXE file association has been corrupted, use these Registry fixes to reset them to default behaviour.

Notice
Be sure to select the right file for your system. XP, Vista and 7 all have different settings.

 

 
Gather IBM DSA info from an ESXi server
edited by on June 23rd 2011, at 16:29
It is possible to gather DSA data from an IBM server running ESXi without having to boot with a bootable CD or reboot the server at all.

From any machine, Windows or linux, you can run the latest release of the DSA tool, then reference the ESXi server using commandline parameters when running the DSA tool.

In order for this to work, you need to put the ESXi server in remote technical support mode. This is done via the ESXi console.

Once activated, download and run the latest tool on your favourite platform (for Windows, choose the Windows version, etc.). Rather than opening running it by simply launching the application, fire up a command prompt and launch it with parameters.

>ibm_utl  ...
 
Windows XP TCP/IP simultaneous connections patch
edited by on June 17th 2011, at 13:54

Found this tool on some obscure site (don't even know where anymore). It's the most easy-to-use patcher to remove the TCP/IP simultaneous connections limit in Windows XP.

I've uploaded it on my site because I can't find the download link anymore*.

* If anyone has a problem with me mirroring it here, contact me through regular channels.

 
Daily automated reboot for Windows
edited by on June 14th 2011, at 17:03

For a daily automated reboot, create a cmd-script with this content.

@echo off
shutdown -r -t 5 -f -c "daily reboot"

Add it as a task in task scheduler, set to daily, weekly, or whatever you want.

 
Empty message body in Outlook with Exchange 2010 on 2008R2 terminal server
edited by on May 6th 2011, at 15:17
Had a problem with a client who is running Outlook 2007 with Exchange 2010 on a 2008R2 terminal server: each message sent from Outlook (composed by Outlook) had a blank message body. The recipient side would see it like this, and the empty message would be stored in the Sent Items folder of Outlook. This behaviour was system-wide, meaning that each user was experiencing this problem.

After some digging around, I found this link on the internet stating it could be related to the virus scanner. My eye was particularly caught by a post of someone who was running Avast 4.8 on TS (which was identical to what the client was running). After disabling scan outbound mail the problem was fixed.



I   ...
 
Seizing FSMO roles in a Windows-domain
edited by on May 2nd 2011, at 13:18
If for some reason, the PDC dies horribly, you are left with a semi-working domain. While the basic functionality will still be operational, certain aspects of the domain can no longer be reconfigured. If the broken DC can no longer be rescued, you need to transfer the five FSMO roles to a working DC as soon as possible as to ensure your domain will remain healthy.

If FSMO roles are not transferred time, it can have implications on the following items, depending on the roles that are located on the offline DC:

FSMO roleImplications of lossSchemaThe schema cannot be extended or reconfigured. This is not a problem unless you wish to perform a schema upgrade during the outage.Domain NamingPro  ...
 
Drive letter position in Explorer (Vista / 7)
edited by on April 27th 2011, at 12:18
You can reconfigure the position of the driver letter in Explorer in Vista and Windows 7.

Before (XP and earlier), the driver letter would always be shown as first. Since Vista, this behaviour has been changed, but can luckily be controlled by a registry setting.

To change the setting, fire up regedit, and edit/create a DWORD value, called ShowDriveLettersFirst in the root of the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer. This controls how drive letters are displayed in Explorer. The values are:

0 (default): displayed after the label;

1 (mixed): depending on the drive type, they are displayed before or after the label;

2 (none): show no drive lett  ...
 
How to get rid of the MBR rootkit
edited by on April 19th 2011, at 15:55
The latest trend in virii is the use of MBR rootkits to settle themselves in the unused (hidden) sectors of your harddrive, safe from any formatting or reinstallation of Windows. They cannot be removed by an antivirus as the rootkit directly interacts with the kernel upon boot, long before any antivirus system drivers are being loaded. The rootkit does not patch actual files or drivers, but rather does this dynamically upon booting Windows. A complete format of your system would not get rid of the MBR as it is hosted in the first sectors of your hard drive and therefore survive a format of a single partition.

More information can be found here: http://www2.gmer.net/mbr/.

There  ...
 
Delete a protected OU in Windows 2008 AD
edited by on March 9th 2011, at 09:36
Since Windows 2008, it is possible to protect OUs from being deleted accidentally. This feature is enabled by default when creating new OUs in AD Users and Computers.



If a container is marked as protected from accidental deletion, you get an error message when trying to delete it.



To unlock the OU, you have to enable Advanced Features from the View menu. This will provide you with extra stuff to set. One of these is the ability to turn off the accidental deletion protection.



Right-click the OU you wish to delete and select Properties. Navigate to the Object tab (which would not be present if Advanced Features wasn't enabled). Uncheck the checkbox saying Protect object fro  ...
 
Change the logical names of MS-SQL databases
edited by on March 8th 2011, at 10:24
It's possible to rename the logical names of MS-SQL databases through the SQL-prompt (osql.exe).

Log in to your database using osql:

> osql -S SERVERINSTANCE -d MyDB -U sa

First, query the current logical names; you will need them in order to rename them.

1> SELECT * FROM sysfiles2> GOfileid groupid size maxsize growth status perf name filename1 1 106224 -1 10 1048578 0 OldName_Data D:\SQL2000\Data\MyDB_Data.mdf2 0 128 -1 10 1048642 0 OldName_Log D:\SQL2000\Data\MyDB_Log.ldf

The name column specifies the logical names. Use the following SQL statement to rename them.

1> ALTER DATABASE [MyDB] MODIFY FILE (NAME = 'OldName_Data', NEWNAME = 'NewName_Data'  ...
 
Escaping entities in MS-SQL
edited by on March 8th 2011, at 10:09

Something to remember: escaping entities (e.g. when you have table or field names that are the same as reserved words) is possible using square brackets

Some examples:

CREATE TABLE [User] ...
SELECT * FROM [User]

I had to use this while renaming logical names, which had a dot in their name.

 
showing posts tagged with 'windows'
 
 
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