Personal IT Experiences » Windows

Microsoft Patching and Updates

Scott — Thu, 06 May 2010 12:59:52 +0000

For the occasional Microsoft updates and patches delivered via web browser….

This is the website *I’ve* always relied upon for OS updates. Up until last year, this URL provided a very obvious link to Microsoft Office updates. WIndows update web site:

And this is the website I should have been using to grab Microsoft updates, including the updates for Microsoft OFFICE products:

Click through a few buttons and pop-up messages.

Turn on or off your wireless LAN card from a command line or batch file

Scott — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 17:53:24 +0000

My trusty Dell C640 laptop with Windows XP doesn’t have a built-in function key sequence for disabling the wireless LAN card.

On a Intel support forum, I ran across this thread and I followed the suggestions for installing the Microsoft DevCon utility and launching an on or off batch file. I’m now using an on and off batch file in conjunction with the free version of the Keybreeze utility

Microsoft Group Policy Diagnostic Best Practice Analyzer (GPDBPA)

Scott — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 02:33:02 +0000

The GPDBPA tool is a stand-alone program that an administrator can run
from a Windows Server 2003-based system or from a Windows XP-based
system. You can use the tool to do the following:

•	Perform a proactive health check on the Group Policy environment to detect common configuration errors that frequently generate support incidents.
•	Collect diagnostic information and initial data from an environment, and then automate some analysis of that data.
•	Obtain a snapshot of the Group Policy configuration for archiving. This data may be a useful reference if a future problem occurs.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940122

What Microsoft Uses For Vista Anti-Virus

ptsnorth — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:02:59 +0000

Meaningless technical tidbit, but if Computer Associates (CA) is good enough for Microsoft’s coders, why not the rest of us? Mark Russinovich in a recent blog posting.

Citrix PS 4.5 Enterprise — Error 10001

ptsnorth — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 22:03:55 +0000

It turns out my encounter with this error was due to a “bad” install of .NET 2.0. I could not perform a security update of .NET 2.0. I ignored the security update error and proceeded to perform the Citrix PS 4.5 install. Near the end of the Citrix server component installation, the installer began uninstalling all of the PS 4.5 server software components. The Citrix error returned after the uninstall was 10001.

In my earlier blog post I described how I uninstalled and reinstalled .NET 2.0 (a requirement for PS 4.5). After I reinstalled and patched .NET 2.0 I was able to perform a satisfactory PS 4.5 server installation.

Removing .NET Framework With 3rd Party Utility

ptsnorth — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 21:56:46 +0000

Windows 2003 Enterprise R2 SP2. When patching the server’s .NET 2.0 for security update – encountered an error message. Rebooted and attempted to patch once again – same error. Tried to uninstall .NET 2.0 from the Add/remove control panel applet. Could not uninstall – another error message.

Found this link (read Daniel’s reply) and then downloaded the utility from this link. The utility performed the “cleanup” after I selected .Net 2.0 from the pull down list. Other .NET versions listed in the utility were 1.1, 2.0. 3.0 and 3.5.

After the cleanup, reboot the server, launch Windowsupdate.microsoft.com and download and reinstall the .NET 2.0 framework. After the install, reboot. Don’t forget to obtain the .NET 2.0 security update after the reboot and then reboot once again for good measure.

Obtaining Previous Versions Of Acrobat Reader

ptsnorth — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 12:36:09 +0000

Looking for older versions of the free Acrobat Reader (7.x and 8.0)? Begin here and walk the directory tree to find the version you want:

ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/win/8.x/8.0/enu

Recovering Missing Volumes After Restoring A Ghost Disk Image

ptsnorth — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 03:42:14 +0000

Experienced this problem with HP DL360 servers w/ 2-72GB disks, RAID 1.

After restoring a Windows 2003 DISK image (GHOST image) to the server, able to boot and work with drive C:. Unable to see and access drives E: and F: also thought to have been restored in the DISK image.

Solved by using DiskPart this way:

At a command prompt, type Diskpart
Type List Volumes
Missing volumes are seen, but they don’t show labels or drive letter assignment
Type Select Volume 2
Type Assign
You’ll see an affirmative message.
Type List Volumes
Does the drive letter appear along with a volume label? Good.
Type Select Volume 3
Type Assign
You’ll see an affirmative message.
Type List Volumes
All drive letters appear with their volume labels?
Type exit and close the command prompt.
Reboot the server to verify drive letters appear normally.

Extract Individual Files From An .MSI Installer File

ptsnorth — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 17:29:23 +0000

Works from a command prompt. It extracts files and maintains their target directory structure just like a new install.

Less MSIerables Utility

Active Directory Group Policy (GPO) Backup, Restore, Copy and Import

ptsnorth — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 16:37:03 +0000

Backing up a GPO copies the data in the GPO to the file system. The backup function also serves as the export capability for GPOs. A GPO backup can be used to restore the GPO to the backed-up state, or to import the settings in the backup to another GPO.

Using the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) in a Windows Server 2003 Active Directory Environment

Obtain Microsoft Supported Hotfixes Without A Phone Call

ptsnorth — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 13:38:55 +0000

Need a “supported hotfix is available…” fix that isn’t generally available on the technet web site? Are you dreading having to call and navigate the Microsoft call prompter (or HP enterprise support) to obtain a supported hotfix? Submit a simple web form to Microsoft and receive a link to the download.

Spat’s WebLog (Steve Patrick) : Get a hotfix — without having to call MS…

A New AD Domain Unjoin Utility

ptsnorth — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 14:20:29 +0000

It will unjoin a machine from a Windows domain and not even start to ask the domain for permission or even tell it it did so, zip, out of the domain, have a nice day. You will find that this will likely be faster than NETDOM for any unjoin ops. It allows you to specify connection creds and will also allow you to specify a reboot.

New Utility – Unjoin V1.1.0

Microsoft Solution Accelerators

ptsnorth — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 21:36:58 +0000

Prescriptive guidance and automation for cross-product integration
Proven tools and content so you can plan, build, deploy, and operate with confidence

Solution Accelerators

Shopping For New Vista PC Hardware?

ptsnorth — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 14:49:36 +0000

Solid “core” recommendations when shopping for new desktop PC hardware.

What I look for in a Vista PC | Ed Bott’s Windows Expertise |

The Windows Vista Master Driver List

ptsnorth — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 14:42:50 +0000

Drivers for common hardware types in a single location.

The Vista Master Driver List | Ed Bott’s Windows Expertise |

Join Two Text Files Together From A Command Prompt

ptsnorth — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 21:00:50 +0000

No third party utilities required.

Merge two file names ( may.csv and may1.csv ) into a new file called may2.csv, use the following from a command window:

copy/b may.csv +may1.csv may2.csv

How do I merge or join files from the command line?

Hardware Requirements for SQL Server 2005 Express

ptsnorth — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 14:34:00 +0000

Processor — A minimum of a 600-MHz processor is required and a 1-GHz processor is recommended.
RAM — A minimum of 256 MB of RAM is required and 512 MB of RAM is recommended.
Disk Space — A minimum of 170 MB of free disk space is required, with the Microsoft .NET Framework V2.0 as a prerequisite.

Upgrading MSDE 2000 to SQL Server 2005 Express

Active Directory Explorer

ptsnorth — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 16:02:36 +0000

Active Directory Explorer AD Explorer is an advanced Active Directory AD viewer and editor. You can use AD Explorer to easily navigate an AD database, define favorite locations, view object properties and attributes without having to open dialog boxes, edit permissions, view an objects schema, and execute sophisticated searches that you can save and re-execute.

AD Explorer also includes the ability to save snapshots of an AD database for off-line viewing and comparisons. When you load a saved snapshot, you can navigate and explorer it as you would a live database. If you have two snapshots of an AD database you can use AD Explorers comparison functionality to see what objects, attributes and security permissions changed between them.

AD Explorer works on Windows 2000 and higher.

Active Directory Explorer v1.0

Mount A Stored DVD Image From Your Hard Drive

ptsnorth — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 11:59:32 +0000

Alcohol 52 is emulation software allowing users to play CDs DVDs without the need for the physical disc. Notebook users and PC Game players would benefit the most from Alcohol 52%. It supports 25 plus languages and can handle up to 6 virtual CD DVD-ROM drives, all at once. The reading speed of a virtual CD-ROM is 200X.

Example use: Trying to install the Windows Vista Automated Installation Kit to access the Windows PE utilities. This WAIK download saved to a hard disk is stored as vista_6000.16386.061101-2205-LRMAIK_EN.img (note the .img file extension). Mount the WAIK image via the Alcohol 52 interface.

Alcohol 52% Free Edition

Windows XP – Fat32 Windows Partition Size

ptsnorth — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 03:38:21 +0000

Have a 40GB external USB drive you’re trying to use with Ghost? If you format the external drive with the XP formatting tool, the maximum size XP will format it to is 32 GB. To format the drive to a full 40 GB, use Windows 98 or ME formatting tools — yes that means booting into one of those operating systems.

From a XP command prompt type:

format X:/fs:fat32

Retaining NTFS Permission When Moving User Folders To New Drive Share

ptsnorth — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 20:58:39 +0000

Moving a large group of terminal server user home folders from one clustered hard drive share to another on a SAN. If you try to manually copy or “move” the home folders, the NTFS permissions on the new home folders are not retained and users are not able to access their directories on the new hard drive share properly.

Solved by:
Creating a backup of the original home directories using ntbackup.exe and then restoring them on the new hard drive share. The original NTFS permissions are retained for all files and folders.

After restoring the home folders to the new location, return to the old home drive share and delete the previous home folders.

If you have difficulty deleting folders and files from the old home drive share because of errors like this “Cannot delete file: Access is denied”, then use a utility like Unlocker. It’s a free delete utility and works quite well.

Don’t forget to update the terminal server home folder location in each user’s profile. Use ADModify.net for bulk account changes like this.

Making Bulk Changes To Active Directory Users With ADModify.NET

ptsnorth — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 16:16:37 +0000

This article provides a step-by-step guide to making bulk changes to users in Active Directory using the ADModify.NET tool.

Making bulk changes to Active Directory users with ADModify.NET

ADModify.Net Support Tool Utility

ptsnorth — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 16:14:24 +0000

Having difficulty locating the Admodify.net utility? Try the URL link below.

Admodify – Download

Free Windows XP Defrag Utility JkDefrag v3.16

ptsnorth — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 03:35:59 +0000

Free (released under the GNU General Public License) disk defragment and optimize utility for Windows 2000/2003/XP/Vista/X64. Completely automatic and very easy to use, fast, low overhead, with several optimization strategies, and can handle floppies and USB disks/sticks. Included are a Windows version, a commandline version (for scheduling by the task scheduler or for use from administrator scripts), a screensaver version, a DLL library (for use from programming languages), and versions for Windows X64.

JkDefrag v3.16

Windows XP Retrieve Accidentally Deleted Files

ptsnorth — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 17:13:27 +0000

Undelete Plus is a quick and effective way to retrieve accidentally deleted files, NTFS files, files removed from the Recycle Bin, in a DOS window, from a network drive, from Windows Explorer with the SHIFT key held down. Free utility software that does not have to be “installed” before using.
Undelete Plus. Free file recovery software. Retrieve accidentally deleted files

When Was The GPO Last Refreshed?

ptsnorth — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 20:51:12 +0000

If you’re creating and troubleshooting the effects of group policies (GPO) on your computer, there is a command line utility you can download and install called GPTime.exe. It’s one simple executable that I unzipped and copied into the same folder as the Win2k3 Resource Kit tools. The resource kit folder is already included in the path statement of my computer.

Download GPTime.exe

Configure your group policy then perform a gpupdate /force to apply the group policy change. After the update is completed, run gptime.exe to see when the group policies were really updated on the computer.

What Group Policies Have Been Applied?

ptsnorth — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 19:57:47 +0000

In Windows XP or Windows 2003, open an entire command window and type -> GPUpdate . All of the current policy settings affecting your computer (or server) and your account are displayed.

You can also see a history of the application of group policies by inspecting the registry.

To inspect the group policies applied to your local computer, use Regedt32 to navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy\History

To inspect the group policies applied to your account, navigate to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy\History

Each sub-key represents an installed Group Policy Extension and each Group Policy Object is a subkey numbered from 0, the first GPO applied.

JSI Tip 2487. What group policies have been applied?

Overcoming The 4,095 MB Paging File Size Limit In Windows

ptsnorth — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 18:30:42 +0000

To get a complete memory dump from computers that have 4 GB RAM or more, it is still necessary to use the /MAXMEM switch in the Boot.ini file. One of the page files on the system partition must still be 1 MB larger than the amount of RAM installed in the computer to successfully create a memory dump.

How to overcome the 4,095 MB paging file size limit in Windows

User Profile Hive Cleanup Service

ptsnorth — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 18:24:10 +0000

Using roaming profiles in your Windows terminal server environment? This is a Microsoft utility you can’t forget to install and schedule to use regularly.

Download details: User Profile Hive Cleanup Service

Add Or Remove An Administrative Template

ptsnorth — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 18:14:23 +0000

Simple Microsoft how-to to install an .adm file in your GPO.

Add or remove an Administrative Template (.adm file)