Windows on sigtar.com

change windows 2012 to core mode

Fri, 14 Aug 2015 00:00:00 +1200

Found yourself considering hyper-v? Microsoft has come a long way and is now becoming more popular as a serious contender in the hypervisor area. My preference is still VMware, but some businesses may find their Microsoft allegiance makes hyper-v a valid option.

Note, i do not consider Microsoft a “cheaper” solution in any circumstance. The current state of hyper-v, SDN options, clustering and VMM management falls very short of what VMware has out of the box. Anyhow, if you do choose windows, here is how you remove the GUI - hopefully saving you a little bit of RAM and reducing the running footprint open for attacks and vulnerabilities….

Finding orphaned GPO policies

Wed, 08 Jul 2015 00:00:00 +1200

I’ve used the following attached script to find orphaned GPOs.

It can do the following;

GPOs that exist within SYSVOL but not within the GPO management console.
Also vice versa - GPOs in management console but not in SYSVOL.

Very handy. GPO Check

SQL Server Setup - Error code 0x84B30002

Fri, 18 Jul 2014 00:00:00 +1200

SQL Server Setup has encountered the following error: No feature were uninstalled during the setup execution. The requested features may not be installed. Please review the summary.txt logs for further details.

Error code 0x84B30002.

Follow the below steps it may help to uninstall, Before follow this procedure please make sure you have some idea about registry

1. Open Registry Editor 2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\ 3. Browse Ids one by one and identify the GUIDs for SQL Server 2008 4. Run the below command for all SQL Server 2008 Guids one by one

SQL Express - Backup Plan

Thu, 26 Jun 2014 00:00:00 +1200

SQL express doesn’t have the luxury of SQL maintenance plans, but you can still write a SQL script to dump a database to a particular location and run it via task scheduler on a daily basis.

Create SQL query and save it to a particular location… (NightlyBackup.sql)

DECLARE @pathName NVARCHAR(512)

SET @pathName = ‘D:\SQL Backup\database_’ + Convert(varchar(8), GETDATE(), 112) + ‘.bak’

BACKUP DATABASE [database] TO DISK = @pathName WITH NOFORMAT, NOINIT, NAME = N’db_backup’, SKIP, NOREWIND, NOUNLOAD, STATS = 10

activate windows from command line - slmgr

Fri, 07 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +1300

Temporarily extend evaluation period (limited execution - see output below)…

C:\Windows\System32>cscript slmgr.vbs /rearm

C:\Windows\System32>shutdown -r -t 1

Show detailed license information…

C:\Windows\System32>cscript slmgr.vbs /dlv

License Status: Initial grace period Time remaining: 43200 minute(s) (30 day(s)) Remaining Windows rearm count: 0

Activate windows…

C:\Windows\System32>cscript slmgr.vbs /ipk xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx

C:\Windows\System32>cscript slmgr.vbs /ato

Will require access to the internet - most of the time the issues are either time sync or connectivity to internet.

Active Directory- redirect default Containers to Organisational Units

Thu, 19 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +1200

One really useful tidbit I picked up last week –

Redirusr & redircmp

Configures the default OU for computers and users so they don’t appear in the default containers when they are added (effectively meaning they only get root domain policies).

As you would guess – it helps keep the default AD containers clean by placing machines straight into an OU and also applying any policies attached.

windows 2012 change key from evaluation to standard

Mon, 12 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +1200

get current version;

dism /online /get-currentedition

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool Version: 6.2.9200.16384

Image Version: 6.2.9200.16384

Current edition is:

Current Edition : ServerStandardEval

dism /online /set-edition:ServerStandard /ProductKey:xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx /AcceptEula

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool Version: 6.2.9200.16384

Image Version: 6.2.9200.16384

Starting to update components… Starting to install product key… Finished installing product key.

Removing package Microsoft-Windows-ServerStandardEvalEdition~~31bf3856ad364e35~~amd64~~6.2.9200.16384 [==========================100.0%==========================] Finished updating components.

Starting to apply edition-specific settings… Finished applying edition-specific settings.

The operation completed successfully. Restart Windows to complete this operation. Do you want to restart the computer now? (Y/N)

windows 2012 - dedup

Wed, 07 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +1200

If you have some archive data that you would like to copy onto a win 2012 server, but dont know how to estimate the end volume size (if VM etc). Start small - about 1/2 of the total capacity of the drive. Robocopy the data onto the drive until nearly full, manually run dedupe, wait until complete, continue robocopy, repeat and rinse. There will be occasions where you will run out of disk space at that point its time to extend your disk.

powershell - move machine types to certain OUs in active directory

Thu, 11 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +1200

-------------- select additional parameters ----------------------

Get-ADComputer -Filter * -Properties ipv4Address, OperatingSystem, OperatingSystemServicePack | Format-table name, ipv4*, operatingsystem

-------------- move script -----------------

[cmdletbinding()]

param ( [parameter(mandatory=$true)] $TargetOU )

Import-Module ActiveDirectory $Domain = [ADSI]"" $DN=$domain.distinguishedName $SourcePath = "CN=Computers," + $DN $Computers = Get-ADComputer -Filter * -SearchBase $SourcePath if(!$Computers) { write-host "No Computers are found in default container" return } foreach ($Computer in $Computers) { if(!(Move-ADObject $Computer -TargetPath $TargetOU)) { $Status = "SUCCESS" } else { $Status = "FAILED" } $OutputObj = New-Object -TypeName PSobject $OutputObj | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name ComputerName -Value $Computer.Name.tostring() $OutputObj | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name SourcePath -Value $SourcePath $OutputObj | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name DestinationPath -Value $TargetOU $OutputObj | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name Status -Value $Status $OutputObj }

KMS count

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 00:00:00 +1300

Getting the KMS count up over the initial threshold is a pain when you only have one server or one workstation to start with. Typically you need at least 5 servers or 25 client machine requesting activation before it will work.

This guy here as created a nice .exe that will trick KMS into thinking it has received all the required requests…

http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/39665-KMS-Client-Emulator-for-Increasing-KMS-Server-Client-Count

KMS Client

Using netsh to create a transparent proxy

Tue, 16 Oct 2012 00:00:00 +1300

There are some good windows web proxies about. The only problem with them is they sometimes dont natively act as a transparent proxy. i.e. typically you’ll need to set your client machines to a specific IP and port.

I’ve used squid historically when setting up transparent proxies (mainly since it actually has a transparent mode) and this has worked well. Recently i thought i’d have a go at some of the windows solutions to see how they pan out.

Windows 7 - Moving to SSD

Tue, 16 Oct 2012 00:00:00 +1300

Want to move your current disk image onto a SSD drive?

Quick, easy and free. Also aligns disk sectors :)

Tidy up your current HDD - delete / move any unneeded items to an archive disk
Shrink the C volume to under the size of the SSD (you do not need to shrink as small as possible, just shrink just under SSD size)
Run Windows Backup (win7 backup is very good, i.e. image backup) onto external USB Drive
Remove your current HDD and install SSD
Restore via Windows Backup — Boot install DVD, and choose Repair your computer, then select recover from windows backup image (use the image you backed up onto your USB drive).
Reboot, then expand the C volume to consume the full space of the SSD

Done.

windows 7 - whats preventing my machine from sleeping?

Tue, 16 Oct 2012 00:00:00 +1300

Run this elevated command to find out;

powercfg /requests

HP Blade Switch - enable crossover

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +1300

HP GbE2c Ethernet Blade Switch for HP c-Class BladeSystem User Guide Click here to view the “HP GbE2c Ethernet Blade Switch for HP c-Class BladeSystem User Guide” (http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00701541/c00701541.pdf) HP GbE2c Layer 2/3 Ethernet Blade Switch for c-Class BladeSystem User Guide Click here to go to the “HP GbE2c Layer 2/3 Ethernet Blade Switch for c-Class BladeSystem User Guide” (http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00865010/c00865010.pdf)

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00700745/c00700745.pdf

Crosslinks

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00816246/c00816246.pdf

short stroking - v2

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +1300

I’ve run through this exercise again - my old findings here

4 x 500 WD Black drives – in one big RAID 0 (128K blocks)

and again only using 500GB of capacity (roughly 1/4 of each of the drives)

How to create an ISO quickly and easily in windows...

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +1200

get folder 2 ISO - portable app that does what is says. No limits just works. http://www.trustfm.net/divx/SoftwareFolder2Iso.php

enable TRIM in windows 7

Sun, 19 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +1200

This command will confirm if TRIM has been auto-enabled by windows 7

fsutil behavior query disabledeletenotify

DisableDeleteNotify = 1 (Windows TRIM commands are disabled) DisableDeleteNotify = 0 (Windows TRIM commands are enabled)

If you would like to force it on;

fsutil behavior set disabledeletenotify 0

windows w2k8 R2 64bit - 32bit ODBC for virtual center server

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +1200

You must create your ODBC connection using the 32-bit ODBC program. It is not as simple as running odbcad32.exe from the run / search bar.

you must run the following to get the actual 32-bit version;

%systemdrive%\Windows\SysWoW64\Odbcad32.exe

Populate this with the details and you should see it in the virtual center installer.

vmware - XP as a virtual guest

Thu, 06 May 2010 00:00:00 +1200

I’ve run into some issues lately with XP guests that are running off a IDE controller. If you want any kind of performance you must build your machine with the LSI drivers (parallel).

Here is a flp image with the required LSI drivers (Press F6 etc on xp boot)

http://communities.vmware.com/message/1499140#1499140

HDD short stroking - is it worth it?

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +1300

I’ve got some old 250Gb drives that are starting to show their age. I’ve currently got them setup in a 3x RAID 0 config which presents about 750Gb of space.

I’ve got everything on a single partition (meh, i’m lazy). I’ve done various speed tests in the current setup (with all space allocated), but i thought i’d re-image onto a short stroke partition.

I only use about 150Gb of space on my main machine (most of my data is on another box), so i’m going to try creating a 200Gb partition to test if this provides any kind of performance boost.

windows 2000 - ITMU / Windows Update Issues

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +1200

Get this when doing a windows update - Error number: 0xC8000408

First check the basics, ensure that windows update is a trusted site and the seucirty level is set corretely within the Zone - test with lower secuirty to see if that resolves the problem.

If that doesnt work try the following; 1) Added the user SYSTEM with every privilege to C: and subs 2) Stopped the “Automatic Updates” service 3) Renamed the C:\WINNT\SoftwareDistribution folder 4) Started the “Automatic Updates” service again

SCCM - installing client via GPO

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +1200

If you dont have sms / sccm client in your gold disk then GPO is the next best thing to get the SCCM client out into your environment.

This is a real nice and clean install script for IE 7 which i have modified to install SCCM. http://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/installing-application-using-vbscript

object.Run(strCommand, [intWindowStyle],[bWaitOnReturn])  

'INSTALL MS INTERNET EXPLORER 7 USING VBScript    
Set objShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
spath = objShell.CurrentDirectory

If fso.FileExists(spath & "\IE7-WindowsXP-x86-enu.exe") Then
	path = """" & spath & "\IE7-WindowsXP-x86-enu.exe" & """ /passive /norestart /update-no"
	objShell.Run(path, 1 ,True)
	i = 0
	'INSTALL MICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORER 7    
	i = objShell.Run(path, 1 ,True)
	If (i = 0) Or (i = 3010) Then 
		'WRITE EXIT CODE [0-success/3010-success&requires reboot] TO EVENTLOG
		objShell.LogEvent vbLogSuccess, sLogHeader & "Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 installation completed successfully." & VbCrLf & "Exit code: " & i
	Else
		MsgBox "The installation of Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 returned an error: " & i & VbCrLf & _
		"Please contact IT Support to report this error.", vbOKOnly
		objShell.LogEvent vbLogError, sLogHeader & "Installation returned failure code: " & VbCrLf & "Exit code: " & i
	End If

Else
	WScript.Quit (1)
End If

set fso = Nothing
set WSHShell = Nothing
Wscript.Quit

Using W2k3 R2 / W2k8 server as a NFS share for vmware

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +1200

This is something i do in the lab so all of my vm’s are able to access iso’s etc (very handy for quick builds). Quite handy doing it through windows since its easiey enough to setup a windows network share to the same location and update various files via that.

This site has some good clear instructions : http://vmetc.com/2008/02/19/create-a-nfs-share-for-vm-iso-files-with-windows-2003-server-r2/

On the Windows 2003 Server make sure “Microsoft Services for NFS” in installed. If not you need to add it under Add/Remove Programs, Windows Components, Other Network File and Print Services
Next go to folder you want to share and right-click on it and select Properties
Click on the NFS Sharing tab and select “Share this Folder”
Enter a Share Name, check “Anonymous Access”
In VirtualCenter, select your ESX server and click the “Configuration” tab and then select “Storage”
Click on “Add Storage” and select “Network File System” as the storage type
Enter the Windows Server name, the folder (share) name and a descriptive Datastore Name
Done. Now you can map CD iso’s to your various vm’s.

True Image - Machine cannot log into domain

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +1200

I’ve used true image for testing packages etc then reverting back to a standard image for further testing. But there can be a problem if the machine updates it domain password then you revert back to the original image. It will not let you logon to the domain if the passwords don’t match.

The way to prevent this is to disable password update so that hte machine does not change its password as per the domain policy.

DHCP Client - Error 5: Access is denied.

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +1200

I’ve had this on a few windows 2003 machines, where the “DHCP client” service refuses to start and prompts with an access denied window.

Unsure of the cause at this point (it may be a security patch), but here is the fix…

Give the local “network service” account full rights to the following registry key;

hkey_local_machine\system\currentcontrolset\services\dhcp

Now try starting the service, should work. In some cases you may also need to add the rights to the following key..

McAfee - Setting ePO via client package

Tue, 26 May 2009 00:00:00 +1200

I’ve been doing a bit of work recently on McAfee 8.7i enterprise and ePO 4. I wanted to push out the McAfee client via SMS straight after a gold disk build…

First you need to export the repository sitelist.xml and the various keys from your ePO server…

The security keys must be located in the same folder as the site list. Use ePolicy Orchestrator to export the files:

Export the siteinfo file:

Select Software | Master Repository.

Click Export Sitelist.

Save the file to a new location.

Export the security keys:

Select Configuration | Server Settings | Security Keys, and click Edit.

Select Master Agent-server secure communication key, and click Export.

Save the files to the same location as the siteinfo file.

WPAD - Web Proxy Autodiscovery Protocol

Sun, 17 May 2009 00:00:00 +1200

When using wpad there are some things that you should take note of;

DHCP wpad will override DNS wpad
DHCP 252 option can in some cases be slightly slower to resolve than DNS - there may be a patch for WinInet to resolve this.
You should always use lower case - wpad.dat (it is case sensitive)
DHCP will allow either a URL or a file location for wpad.dat

Within IE on the LAN settings tab if you have WPAD “automatically detect settings” enabled and also configure a proxy server the WPAD should override the manual proxy configuration.

Windows Cluster - removing orphaned .dll file

Tue, 05 May 2009 00:00:00 +1200

Recently i uninstalled scanmail off an exchange 2007 cluster environment but had issues when trying to reapply a newer version. The problem was related to an orphaned .dll file that scanmail had left behind, seems the uninstall was not as clean as i had hoped.

Within the cluster management MCC the cluster appears in a partially active state. If you go to cluster resource types you can see the .dll that hasn’t loaded properly (the orphaned file). To remove this issue make a note of the .dll that is not loading and its display name. Drop to a CMD and type the following…

sntp - fixing time issues within a windows domian

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +1200

I’ve had some problems with dcdiag failing on the advertising check, and this relates back to the DC not getting its time from the PDCE properly.

Fixing timesync is different according to the machine type…

If it’s a standard Domain Controller then behave as if its a member server (below)

If it’s a PDCEmulator then make sure you allow port 123TCP/UDP outbound on your firewall and configure the external sntp site by entering this at the command line (note: i use pool.ntp.org instead of default microsoft sntp)

Offine Files - Remove prompt about excluded files error

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +1300

You may get an error such as this popup during a offline files sync…

Offline files (\\server\share on server): Unable to make ‘archive.pst’ available offline on \\server\share\folder. Files of this type cannot be made available offline.

Microsoft have said that even if the file is in the excluded list then by design offline files will still complain about it when it tries to sync.

There is a way to remove the warning prompt for specific files; (you may need to update your machine to the latest support pack in some cases)

Diskpart - resizing virtual machine system volumes (windows)

Sat, 21 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +1300

Diskpart works quite well extending disk sizes - …unless its the system disk that you need to extend.

Luckily in the virtual world its somewhat easier to move your disks about. This is a quick list of the steps required to increase your system disk…

You will need to have another virtual machine available to boot into (windows 2003 etc)

Shut down the virtual machine with the system disk you wish to extend
Go into virtual machine settings and increase the system drive size to what you require
Now you need your spare w2k3 virtual machine or similar. While it is in a shutdown state add the system disk you wish to extend into this machine as another hard disk. Note: select “existing harddrive” and not the default option of “new harddrive”, and point to the system drive you wish to extend (It is possible to attach this disk as long it is not on and being used)
Power up the spare machine with the newly attached hard drive (the drive you wish to extend)
Logon, open up cmd prompt and type “diskpart”
Now you need to find and select your disk. Type “list disk” to see available disk numbers (most likely the last drive letter). Then type “select disk #” (# = the number you got from the list command)
Next select the volume, similar to above type “list volume” then “select volume #”
Type “extend”
Type “exit”
Done - shutdown the machine and disconnect the drive you just extended. Be carefull not to DELETE the drive, you only want to disconnect it.
Now you should be able to fire up the original machine and it will have a larger system drive.

There are obviously other 3rd party utilities to do this but this is handy to know and is actually quite fast.

Windows / Linux - File Migration Tools

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +1300

In Windows i use robocopy…

This is the syntax to copy from one location to another… (i like how robocopy uses UNC paths)

robocopy \\192.168.9.70\videos \\192.168.9.101\videos /e /r:2 /w:10 /sec robocopy \\192.168.9.70\software \\192.168.9.101\software /e /r:2 /w:10 /sec

Note: i always copy instead of the move. Run multiple times before switch over to shorten time for final sync. Always use the /SEC to copy over the NTFS permissions. I have had problems with the non X010 version of robocopy not copying NTFS permissions across. Check NTFS permissions before removing the source files. You can update files NTFS permissions with /SECFIX switch if required.

Windows - Port forwarding

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +1300

Just wanted to note here that there is a tool for windows to ‘port forward’ Its a command MS ships that enables IPv6 to work on IPv4, but can be used as a port redirector…. so as long as you have IPv6 support on your box, you can do this.

syntax as follows;

netsh interface portproxy add v4tov4 listenport=443 connectaddress=targetmachine connectport=3389

so the machine above listens on 443 and redirects traffic to 3389 on targetmachine.

Corporate Firewall - SSH and port 443 goodness

Sun, 08 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +1300

Things you’ll need; (basic instructions) SSH - either Linux or Open SSH for windows (set this up first and ensure its working!). I have only used Linux, so i do not know the details of setting up a Open SSH box on windows (good luck).

Router with pinhole or port forwarding abilities. – forward your external 443 port to internal 22 on your SSH box

Putty.exe - use this to test your SSH connection locally (you should be able to connect on port 22 locally or 443 externally)

fakeRAID vs Software RAID (windows)

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +1300

O.k. here is the latest from atomic magazine… I’m talking about RAID 0 (stripe) here.

Software RAID (i.e. windows stripe) is faster (both in throughput and seek time) than the “hardware” fake RAID built in to most new mother boards. Apparently it doesn’t matter about the stripe size of your raid either…. Software raid still wins??

I’m a bit skeptical about this, and will have to en devour on a few tests to conclude whether this is true or not…