Force Windows Activation Dialog to Show
I was working on a friend's system last night I was having problems activating it.
First of all the Windows Activation icon was totally missing, and second it never would pop up and ask me if I wanted to activate windows. If I looked into the event log I could see errors that windows needed to be activated.
The history of the machine is somewhat cloudy. It stopped booting about a week ago, so my friend ran a Windows XP repair from the boot disk. Unfortunately he used an old Windows XP SP1 disk. This had the unfortunate effect of creating a Frankenstein version of windows with DLLs from SP1 and SP2 mixed around....so this probably had a lot to do with why the activation screen was not showing.
After doing some google searches I found a way to force the Windows Activation dialog to show. This can be done by calling this from the command line:
%systemroot%\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe /a
Unfortunately when I call this Windows came back and told me it was already activated. This was puzzling. I was getting errors running automatic updates (Saying I was not activated), but Windows Activation still thought everything was great.
I thought that if I could just get windows to run updates...I could get the system back to normal
After doing some more searching I found a way to reset Windows Activation. To un-activate windows you simply need to drill down to this registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current
Version\WPAEventsSee the value "OOBETimer"? Modify any of the hex codes in this value and click OK. (If you are thinking about doing this yourself....you are doing it at your own risk!)
Now my friends copy of windows 'knew' it was not activated, and I could re-activate.
After that I could start downloading patches and installing updates again. When all of the patches completed the system worked perfectly.
Posted By:
Steve Wiseman on Friday, August 31, 2007
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Encrypt your files the free and easy way
I have been playing around with the open source utility TrueCrypt.
What is it?
It is encryption software that can:
-Create a virtual disk within a file and mount it as an actual drive letter
-Encrypt an entire hard disk partition or a storage device such as USB flash drive.
-Provide encryption that is real time and transparent.
There are two main ways to create an encrypted disk. You can encrypt an entire disk, or you can create a virtual disk within a file.
The first method has its risks, since converting a drive will erase everything that is on it. The second method is great for experimenting - you simply create a file somewhere on your hard drive and map it.
I downloaded the latest version and installed it on my system. Within 5 minutes I was able to create an encrypted volume and start using it. The beauty is everything is contained in a single file. That way you can easily move it around your network, or put it on a flash drive.
There are lots of options that the program offers, and it can be confusing the first time you look at it. I will save you time and walk you through creating an encrypted volume and map it to a drive letter.
Start out by downloading the latest version and extract the zip file.
Run the setup, and just use the defaults
After you have installed it, you will find a TrueCrypt icon on your start menu. Launch the program and you will be shown a list of drive letters. We want to create a new volume, so click on 'volumes', and then the option 'create a new volume'
The first option you see is one of the coolest features TrueCrypt offers - Hidden volumes.
A hidden volume can be created within the free space of an existing TrueCrypt volume. It has its own separate file system and password. This way you can put 'fake' important files on the visible volume, and the real stuff on your hidden volume.
When forced to give up the password you simply reveal the visible volume password....and according to TrueCrypt there is no way for anyone to determine if a hidden volume exists, or if it is random data in the empty space.
I will leave creating a hidden volume as an exercise for the reader - lets move forward and create a standard TrueCrypt volume and click Next.
I have to admit, the interface here is confusing. To create a new volume file you click on the button that says "Select File"...you are not selecting any file. You simply browse to the folder you want to create your volume file and type the name.
After you have selected the location and name of your volume file (I suggest using the extension .tc) Click next, and pick the encryption type of your choice. If you don't know what to use...then stick with AES. It is sufficient for most applications.
Pick the size of your encrypted volume...and click next
Most important part - pick your password for the volume. Don't forget it...if you do it will be hard if not impossible to get your data back.
Pick your file system type and click format. I picked NTFS so I could set permissions on the files and folders within it. You may want to stick to FAT if you need to access the same files on older systems, or Linux.
Now that you have formated the volume you can click on exit. Now select the file for mapping. You can do this by clicking on the 'select file' button on the bottom right. Browse and find the .tc file you created earlier.
Pick a drive letter above by clicking it once, and then click the 'Mount' button
It will ask you for a password
And now your encrypted volume is mapped
You can use the new drive like any other - but with this you can keep your data safe and still carry it around on a USB drive.
Posted By:
Steve Wiseman on Thursday, August 30, 2007
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Free New Zealand Daylight saving patch released for Widnows NT/2000/XP/2003
We have just released an update to our free daylight saving patch to include support for the New Zealand timezone changes.
You can download it from here (Scroll down to the middle of the page)
The Windows 98 patch has not been updated yet. If we get enough demand for it we will make the change.
At the same time our Network Administrator program has been updated (It helps you easily distribute the patch across you network)
You can also download it
from here (At the top of the page)
The nice part is Network Administrator can be used to check your machines and see if they are updated. So even if you only have XP and 2003 workstations Network Administrator will let you know if the MS DST patch is installed.
Windows 2000, and NT will have no patches released by MS...so if you have one of those systems still running and you are in New Zealand this is an easy way to fix them.
Posted By:
Steve Wiseman on Wednesday, August 29, 2007
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Windows Vista SP1 beta to be released soon
Microsoft has just announced that they will be releasing a beta SP1 for vista soon (To a very limited group). A few top items that will be resolved in this service pack:
* Support for Direct 3D 10.1
* support for Secure Digital (SD) Advanced Direct Memory Access (DMA) to improve transfer performance and decrease CPU utilization
* Performance tweaks lessening the amount of time it takes to copy files, shut down and resume Vista machines
* Support for ExFat, the Windows file format for flash memory storage and other consumer devices
* Improvements to BitLocker Drive Encryption to allow not just encryption of the whole Vista volume, but also locally created data volumes
* The ability to boot Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) on an x64 machine
* Improvements to battery life by reducing CPU utilization be “not redrawing the screen as frequently, on certain computers”
* Improvements to Interneet Explorer 7 performance by reducing CPU utilization and speeding JavaScript parsing
I don't see much of anything that makes me happy on that list. Not one of them was something I had in mind when thinking about what needs to be fixed in Vista. Hopefully they will resolve some of these issues
(Update) I have found some links with more info about SP1:
Vista SP1 Whitepaper
Announcement from Vista Team
Posted By: Steve Wiseman on Wednesday, August 29, 2007
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Try out Windows 2008
Microsoft has released Windows 2008 for public beta testing. You can get a copy of Beta 3 by going here
Currently the most intriguing development to me is that virtualization will be included with the operating system. Here is an excerpt about these developments from Microsoft:
-With its built-in server virtualization technology, Windows Server 2008 enables you to reduce costs, increase hardware utilization, optimize your infrastructure, and improve server availability.
-Built-in virtualization to virtualize multiple operating systems—Windows, Linux and others—on a single server. With virtualization built into the operating system and with simpler, more flexible licensing policies, it's now easier than ever to take advantage of all the benefits and cost savings of virtualization.
-Centralized application access and seamless integration of remotely published applications. Improvements also add the ability to connect to remote applications across firewalls and without the use of a VPN, so you can quickly respond to the needs of your users, regardless of their location.
-New deployments options to provide the most suitable method for your environment.
I have not started playing with 2008, but I would imagine that any virtualization technology they include will be pale in comparison to what VMWare offers. It will be interesting to see if there are any improvements that are not yet seen in the Microsoft Virtual Server product.
Posted By: Steve Wiseman on Tuesday, August 28, 2007
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Daylight Saving Time Patch - New Zealand Update
Update: Full and final patch has been released
We have around 100 beta testers right now and are looking to cast a wider net. If you have Windows machines in New Zealand, or know someone who does...please send us an email to try out a beta of our DST update. (support@intelliadmin.com)
We will send you a download link, and instructions on how to test it.
It is actually very stable, and has been tested on NT 4, 2000, XP, and 2003. We just want to be double sure we have covered all situations before releasing the update.
Please note that MS will not be releasing any patches for NT4, or 2000...so this is probably the only free method of updating those machines in NZ.
Posted By: Steve Wiseman on Tuesday, August 28, 2007
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Can't Create File - Outlook Error, and a the Fix
I have been seeing this message on and off with attachments for some time now in outlook:
Can't Create file: VoiceMessage.wav. Right-Click the folder you want to create the file in, and then click properties on the shortcut menu to check your permissions for the folder
In this case it was a voicemail. Sometimes it is a PDF file, other times it is a BMP. The only connection I started to notice was the name of the file.
After some research I discovered that Outlook saves every single attachment you download - in a temp folder. If the same file name exists, it simply appends a number like this:
The only problem is that it gets stuck at 100. Once you have had 100 attachments with the same name you get the error message I described.
The trick is finding *where* outlook is storing all of this. Microsoft decided that they would create a random folder name to keep viruses and maleware from finding this folder and exploiting it to their advantage.
The folder path can be found under this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Security
See the variable on the right named "OutlookSecureTempFolder" - That is your path
Now that you know where the files are you can simply clear them out from time to time, and the error will go away.
Still, I am a little irritated that this problem has not been fixed by know in a service pack, or a patch. Hopefully Outlook 2007 does not have the same issue.
Posted By:
Steve Wiseman on Tuesday, August 28, 2007
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Windows DST Patch for New Zealand
Update (8/30/2007) - We have released our patch (Find out more here)
We have been getting quite a few requests to update our free DST patch for NT4, 2000, XP, and 2003 to include the recent changes to the New Zealand daylight saving time.
The work is still in progress and we will be releasing an update to our free patch within days. The progress on the patch was delayed slightly by some mis-information provided by Microsoft.
We were testing our patch using the manual test procedure provided by Microsoft. Look at it below:
Yes it looks perfectly normal. It matches what you would think if you are looking at North American DST changes. Unfortunately it is wrong. If you go to the
New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs website you see this:
This means DST rolls over at 2:59AM NOT 1:59AM!!!
Argg!!! This is serious business. I wish Microsoft would treat it that way. This same type of thing was happening all over the place when the North American TZ change was happening. Hopefully this page will be updated soon. Couldn't MS check and make sure this info was correct before posting it?
BTW - Their patch does roll over at the correct time...You just can't test that using their incorrect time.
Posted By:
Steve Wiseman on Monday, August 27, 2007
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Increase Exchange 2003 Maximum Message Store Size
I have gotten the call more than once. A frantic call...that an Exchange server was no longer running. When I get in front of the server I see that the server store will not mount....I usually find out the store has run into a size limit.
The first thing I check is the size of the message store. Exchange has a limit (What used to be a hard limit) of 16 GB.
There was a temporary fix that would allow the store to exceed 16 GB, and work up to 18 GB. Why was it temporary? Because if you wanted to go past the 18 GB limit it was time to buy the $Enterprise$ edition.
Sure there were options. One thing you could do was defrag the store. Usually this would win you a few megabytes. The other solution was to get users to clear out their mailboxes. Considering the price of the Enterprise edition, this was the usual course of action.
Finally with Exchange SP2 Microsoft increased the limit to 75 GB. The trouble is this is not turned on by default. By installing SP2 you only increase the current maximum to 18GB (From the old 16GB).
To increase the maximum store size you need to update a registry key. Specifically this one:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeIS\[Server name]\Private-[Mailbox Store GUID]
Lets look at that key. Two sections are determined by settings specific to your server. [Server Name] is the hostname of your server, and [Mailbox Store GUID] is a unique identifier for your message store (This is randomly generated during install).
Take a peek at the registry path for mine (My server's hostname is DCSERVER1)
Now when you get to this key, you need to create a new DWORD value named "Database Size Limit in Gb" - Exactly what I have in quotes here with spaces and all. Set it's value to 74.
Whoa - 74GB...why not 75 GB? Hmm good question. I bet you will be emailing me some late night telling me you hit the 75GB limit. If so you are hosed. If you set it to 74GB it allows you to temporarily change the limit to 75 GB...free some space, and reset back to 74 GB. Be smart. Give yourself an easy escape and set it to 74 GB.
Restart Exchange, and the changes will take effect.
Keep in mind that you must have Exchange SP2 installed for this to work.
Posted By:
Steve Wiseman on Sunday, August 26, 2007
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See if your computers are ready to run Vista, and Office 2007
The Windows Vista Hardware Assessment is a tool released by Microsoft that will allow you to scan your network and determine what computers are ready to run Vista, and Office 2007.
Using WMI it creates a detailed inventory of each computer, and will provide recommendations for hardware upgrades.
The latest version can be downloaded from here
The nice part is that it does not require the deployment of agent software on the computers being inventoried and assessed.
The bad part is that it downloads and installs SQL Server 2005 (Express Edition). So I would take care in picking the machine you will install it on. Why? Because I have seen a few cases where one application that uses SQL Express clobbers another app that is also using it.
It can store information, and generate reports for up to 25,000 computers. To successfully complete inventory, you will need local admin rights, and make sure you enable the "Remote Administration" and "File and Printer Sharing" firewall exceptions on each computer.
It will take about 2 to 3 seconds for each system (Could be longer or shorter depending on your network speed). Once it has completed it will generate two detailed reports. One of them is in Excel, and the other is in Word.
After looking through the reports you will have a good idea of how many systems need to be upgraded before they are Vista ready.
It is a nice tool that I recommend using if you are thinking about upgrading your network to Windows Vista.
Posted By:
Steve Wiseman on Thursday, August 23, 2007
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Setup custom alerts in MS Outlook
All emails that come from customers are tagged by our server (It actually looks up email addresses from our order info database), and sent to a special email address. That way we can get to a customer's email as fast as possible. Unfortunately it is difficult to keep checking a separate accounts, so most of the time we have it go to our regular account - but have outlook flag it with a different color.
This works great unless we are in a heavy coding session and don't check our email for hours...only to find out a customer had an urgent issue that needed to be answered right away.
I have found a simple solution. Turn off the standard audio alerts in Outlook, and create a custom rule that looks at the 'TO' field. When Oulook sees a message with the matching address it will play a special wav file that you have picked.
How do you do it (This is for Outlook 2003)? Well first lets turn off the standard alert. Click on Tools, then options.
The options window will be shown. On the first tab, click on the "Email Options" button.
We will need to drill down ever further. Click on "Advanced Email Options" on this form.
So now we have it. Un-check "Play a Sound" on this form, and keep clicking OK until all the forms are closed
Ok. So now our alerts are disabled. Lets setup a rule to have it play a special sound each time we receive an email for Customer.Support@intelliadmin.com
Click on tools, then "Rules and Alerts". When the form appears, click on "New Rule". We want to create a custom rule, since none of the predefined rules will work for us. Yes - we want to check messages when they arrive. Click Next
Scroll down and find the rule that says "Sent to people or distribution list". And actually, you could create any rule you would like...look for a subject line, or a specific sender. Whatever you would need a special alert for.
In this case I setup the rule by clicking on the underlined "people or distribution list" at the bottom. Then I just typed in
Customer.Support@intelliadmin.com. Click Next
Scroll down and find the option that says "Play a sound"
Click on the underlined "Play a sound" and you can select the sound you would like to play when the rule is matched.
Click next past the exceptions page (Unless you want to add an exception to this rule) and click finish.
Now an alert will only chime when someone sends mail to Customer.Support@intelliadmin.com
Posted By:
Steve Wiseman on Thursday, August 23, 2007
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Find failed services
One of the things I hate to see when booting up a system is that a service failed to start.
This usually means combing through the event viewer to identify the service that failed. It can be annoying because of the time you need to spend looking through unrelated events.
I wanted a way to speed up this process since I see this problem frequently in the field.
One of the tricks I use is to open service manager and sort by start type. Then I look through all of the services that are set to automatic...and make sure they are started.
I wanted to get this same information as fast as possible, so I created a script that will go through all services on a system and spit out the ones that are set to automatic and have not started.
You need to run it from the command line, and use the cscript.exe engine to execute it...like this:
cscript.exe ListFailedServices.vbs
(
Download the script here)
Lets look at the output from one of my problem systems:
Notice that there are a few services here. Sometimes it is normal...yes normal that a service will start automatically and then stop. After you use this script for a while you will instinctively know what Microsoft (And others) services do this.
In this case I know right away that McAfee is having trouble. It should not stop...so now I can start getting to business and figure out why it didn't start.
The script is not perfect. Sometimes manual services are started by other services at startup, and those will not show up with the script. Still - it is another tool that will help you save time when diagnosing a problem.
Posted By:
Steve Wiseman on Tuesday, August 21, 2007
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Reset your Microsoft Office 2003 Serial Number
From time to time I will come across a machine that has a pirated office serial number. Microsoft checks your serial number before allowing you to download updates for Windows, and Office.
The problem is that there is no way within office to just update your serial number (With a legitimate one) without uninstalling, and reinstalling the software.
Since I started getting tired of looking at progress bars I researched to see if there was a way to update it without the reinstall...and it turns out it is actually not too hard.
You simply need to drill down to this registry key (As always backup your registry before messing with it):
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\11.0
\Registration\{90110407-6000-11D3-8CFE-0150048383C9}
See the two values: ProductID, and DigitalProductID? Delete them.
Now run launch any office application, and you will be prompted for the new serial number.
Now you can update the serial without waiting through a re-install.
Posted By:
Steve Wiseman on Monday, August 20, 2007
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Get your hotfixes - via the web
Hotfixes are patches Microsoft has released but has not done enough regression testing to make sure they are perfect. Many times you will come across a KB article that describes a bug or problem and find out there is a fix...a Microsoft Hotfix.
This means you need to call a 800 number, tell someone the KB number and they will email you the patch. It is totally free, and they don't ask you anything else but the KB number and your email address.
It is not hard to call MS and get the free fix, but honestly this can be a real pain...especially if you only have an Internet connection and no easy access to a phone. It might sound silly - but it is a reality. I have been in many server rooms with no phone access (Cell or land line)
Microsoft has heard the chorus of complaints, and they now allow customers request hotfix patches via the web. The submission form can be found here:
https://support.microsoft.com/contactus2/emailcontact.aspx?scid=sw;en;1410&WS=hotfixSimply fill out the form, and you will receive the hotfix via email within a few minutes.
Posted By:
Steve Wiseman on Saturday, August 18, 2007
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Vista - What happened to the Net Send Command
On occasion I will use the 'net send' command to fire off a quick message to anyone working on our servers. Usually in the form of a script that will notify everyone I am about to reboot. I was surprised to find it didn't work at all when running under Vista (Well not that surprised)
After some digging around I found that Vista now has a new way to do this - the MSG command (I suspect the msg command has been around before that...but this is the first Windows OS where net send has been removed). Here is the syntax:
MSG {username | sessionname | sessionid | @filename | *}
[/SERVER:servername] [/TIME:seconds] [/V] [/W] [message] username Identifies the specified username.
sessionname The name of the session.
sessionid The ID of the session.
@filename Identifies a file containing a list of usernames,
sessionnames, and sessionids to send the message to.
* Send message to all sessions on specified server.
/SERVER:servername server to contact (default is current).
/TIME:seconds Time delay to wait for receiver to acknowledge msg.
/V Display information about actions being performed.
/W Wait for response from user, useful with /V.
message Message to send. If none specified, prompts for it
or reads from stdin.
If you wanted to send a single message to the server named 'Server2003' it would look like this:
C:\msg /server:Server2003 console "Server will be rebooted shortly - Please save your work asap!"
Now I can reboot my servers without giving someone a nasty surprise :)
Posted By: Steve Wiseman on Thursday, August 16, 2007
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Receive Hotmail/Live mail in Outlook 2003 and 2007
For a while now it has been impossible to receive your free hotmail (Now called live mail) in Microsoft Outlook.
They added a restriction that only paid accounts could receive mail this way. It was very annoying since every other free email service provides a way to get mail in Outlook (Usually via POP3).
Finally they have fixed this situation, and released a new and improved Windows Live/Hotmail Outlook connector. It works with Outlook 2003, and 2007.
The install is very simple. (Download it here). Download the connector and run through the setup.
Once it is installed a new connection option will show up in the Outlook account setup.
Or...just launch Outlook and it will prompt you the first time you run after the Connector install. Simply fill out your live/hotmail username and password.
The first time you launch it you will be prompted for a password. You can force it to remember (And it actually does!)
Now you can get your free hotmail/live email in Microsoft Outlook. The only restriction is that you cannot synchronize your calendar unless you have the paid version.
Posted By:
Steve Wiseman on Thursday, August 16, 2007
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Write programs with notepad
I have been using the EICAR test virus to test different anti-virus products.
The EICAR test virus is a simple string that you can paste into notepad and save as test.exe...then if all is working properly your AntiVirus will popup and tell you it found a virus.
This is what it looks like:
X5O!P%@AP[4\PZX54(P^)7CC)7}$EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE!$H+H*
To be honest I hadn't really looked carefully at this file. I have been using it for years to verify that anti-virus was working properly.
Until today - I accidentally ran the test. I had my anti-virus turned off and I executed it from the command line. I thought it was just a random string of characters...but it is a functional program! It echoed back to me "EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE!"
So I researched and discovered it was a carefully crafted assembly language program. It was designed to only have assembly language op-codes that could be represented by standard ASCII characters. If you are interested...here is the assembly code:
POP AX
XOR AX,214F
PUSH AX
AND AX,4140
PUSH AX
POP BX
XOR AL,5C
PUSH AX
POP DX
POP AX
XOR AX,2834
PUSH AX
POP SI
SUB [BX],SI
INC BX
INC BX
SUB [BX],SI
JGE 0140
45 49 43 41 52 2D 53 54 41 EICAR-STA
4E 44 41 52 44 2D 41 4E 54 NDARD-ANT
49 56 49 52 55 53 2D 54 45 IVIRUS-TE
53 54 2D 46 49 4C 45 21 24 ST-FILE!$
INT 21
INT 20
Now here is the fun (And totally useless ;) ) part. You can make the program say other stuff too...and once you do that it will no longer be detected by any anti-virus programs.
Lets try it.
Cut and paste this:
X5O!P%@AP[4\PZX54(P^)7CC)7}$--------====Hello World====--------$H+H*
Into notepad, and save it as test.exe somewhere on your hard drive. Now if you run it at the command line you get...
--------====Hello World====--------
The trick is...if you want to make your own you need to keep it the exact number of characters. *OR* recalculate the "JGE 0140" assembly code and convert it back into ASCII...I will leave this as an exercise for the reader :)
Posted By:
Steve Wiseman on Tuesday, August 14, 2007
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Remote Desktop 2 for OSX Released (BETA)
It has been a long time coming. Finally Microsoft has dusted off the old code for the Mac version of Remote Desktop. I have been suffering with version 1.0 for some time now - and it was severely lacking in features.
The new beta is quite stable and includes the following:
Universal Binary Runs natively on both Intel-based and PowerPC-based Macs.
Remote Desktop Protocol 6.0 Provides better compatibility with Windows Vista, improved security features, and many other improvements.
Multiple Sessions (FINALLY!) Lets you connect to multiple Windows-based computers at the same time.
Improved User Experience Provides a true Mac experience and improved usability.
Improved Customization Options Lets you change application preferences, including keyboard shortcuts, while you are running a session. Changes take effect the next time that you connect.
Dynamic Screen Resizing Lets you resize your session window or switch to full-screen mode during a session.
Improved Printing Support Supports all configured printers on your Mac. No longer limited to PostScript printers.
If you didn't know already I use Mac OSX all the time. All of my Windows work is done through virtualization (VMWare) and it works quite well for me. The last application that I really was having trouble with was Remote Desktop. I didn't think MS was ever going to update it.
If you are running Mac OSX, and would like to try it out, here is the beta link
Remote Desktop Beta
Posted By:
Steve Wiseman on Monday, August 13, 2007
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Enable Ctrl-Alt-Delete in Vista
I have been getting tired of the Name+Icon login style of Vista for some time now. I want to force users to press CTRL-ALT-DEL, then type their username and password.
There are a few reasons for this. I have account names that I don't want others to see. If they know that the username exists, that gives them one more piece of the puzzle.
Secondly, forcing CTRL-ALT-DEL adds another level of security. Why? Because this feature is difficult to implement without having administrative access to the system. This means as long as my machine has not been infected with something then I know that I am typing my username and password into Vista, and not some password capture program.
I searched around to see if there were settings I could change to make this happen. The easiest solution I came up with is accomplished by changing two registry settings.
First lets start out with clearing out username field. I want it to show me a blank username and password screen when logging in.
This registry key does the trick:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
Find the value named 'DontDisplayLastUserName' and set it to 1 (If you don't see it, then create a new DWORD item with this value)
Now when you logoff you will see the new login screen:
That fixes that. Now lets force CTRL-ALT-DEL. This can be enabled by drilling down to this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
Find the value named 'DisableCAD' and set it to 0 (If you don't see it, again...create a new DWORD item with this value)
Now when you get to the login screen you will be forced to hit CTRL-ALT-DEL to login
Ahh...Finally the Vista login is the way I like it.
Posted By:
Steve Wiseman on Monday, August 13, 2007
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Compress files automatically
Microsoft has included file compression with windows since Windows 2000. I am not talking about the built-in zip compression either (That actually started with XP). What I am talking about is the silent folder and file compression that works on the fly with the NTFS file system.
If you have never used it...you may have seen a folder or file in windows that looks like this (If you are using XP or 2003):
See the blue folder? The blue means the folder is compressed. Windows 2000 doesn't have any visual indicator. You can find out by going on the advanced attributes tab of the folder or file's properties...like the one below
And the "Compress this folder.." checkbox is checked, so I know that compression is turned on for this folder.
Now back to the original title of my article "Compress files automatically". I have a script that runs every night, and it generates a large log file. The log has a list of all files that I backup, and other synchronization info. Since it runs each day it can start eating up space rather quickly.
I wanted a way of compressing only the new files I created, but still leave the files in the same folder alone. This is actually very easy to do.
You can compress a file or folder by calling the
compact command from the command line or a batch file. Here are all of the possible arguments for this command:
COMPACT [/C | /U] [/S[:dir]] [/A] [/I] [/F] [/Q] [filename [...]]
/C Compresses the specified files. Directories will be marked
so that files added afterward will be compressed.
/U Uncompresses the specified files. Directories will be marked
so that files added afterward will not be compressed.
/S Performs the specified operation on files in the given
directory and all subdirectories. Default "dir" is the
current directory.
/A Displays files with the hidden or system attributes. These
files are omitted by default.
/I Continues performing the specified operation even after errors
have occurred. By default, COMPACT stops when an error is
encountered.
/F Forces the compress operation on all specified files, even
those which are already compressed. Already-compressed files
are skipped by default.
/Q Reports only the most essential information.
filename Specifies a pattern, file, or directory.
Used without parameters, COMPACT displays the compression state of
the current directory and any files it contains. You may use multiple
filenames and wildcards. You must put spaces between multiple
parameters.
To compress my log file I simply needed to add one line to my script:
REM -Custom log generating program that I run
REM -you would have something of your own here
GenerateAccessLog.exe > %1
REM -Here is where the magic is...simply compress the specified file
REM -The specified file is the first argument supplied to the batch file
compress /c %1
Since log files compress nicely...they now only eat up 1/10th of the space.
Posted By:
Steve Wiseman on Friday, August 10, 2007
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Set default printer from a script
I helped do some IT work at an Insurance company over the weekend. A friend of mine is an IT manager there. I will take any chance I can to poke around a real life corporate network (Instead of playing around with a farm of Virtual Machines)...so it was worth the extra work.
One of the problems they had was a dead printer. We needed to move a group of users to an alternate one and needed an easy way to set the default printer without knowing all the passwords to everyone's account.
After a quick search I came up with this VB Script:
Set WSHNetwork = CreateObject("WScript.Network")
WSHNetwork.SetDefaultPrinter "[PRINTER_NAME]"
We updated the script so [PRINTER_NAME] was the name of the printer we wanted as our default. To find the correct name, simply open the Printers and Faxes icon in the control panel.
Use the exact words you see under the printer. So for example, if I wanted to set the Laserjet 4500 as my default, the script would look like this:
Set WSHNetwork = CreateObject("WScript.Network")
WSHNetwork.SetDefaultPrinter "HP Color LaserJet 4500"
Then I saved the script to a network shared and named it update.vbs (Share name was \\serverdc\printer)
In the users logon script I added this line:
cscript.exe \\serverdc\printer\update.vbsNow when the users login they will have the new printer as their default.
Posted By:
Steve Wiseman on Thursday, August 09, 2007
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Windows XP SP3 (Beta) Released to testers
Microsoft has quietly released a beta version of Windows XP SP3 to a small group of testers. Microsoft has acknowledged the release, but will not specify what updates will be included in the final version.
Microsoft said it is looking at the first half of next year for the final release, but said this is only a preliminary date - and declined to commit to anything specific.
A third service pack for Windows XP may seem silly at this point, but many businesses are staying away from windows Vista so it is important that Microsoft remains committed to this version of the operating system.
Posted By:
Steve Wiseman on Wednesday, August 08, 2007
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Set IE default home page from a script
Once and a while we visit local customers. It is a great way to see our software working in the real world, and find out what we can do to make our products better. Many times I will be asked to solve an issue (That has nothing to do with our software)
This week while visiting a customer I was asked if there was a simple way to create a batch file (No VB Script) that would reset the default home page of IE 6. For various reasons they could not use Active Directory, nor could they use VB Script.
I started to play around with the command line options of regedit, and discovered it was not going to work. After some research I came across the reg.exe command. It seems like it is built into XP, 2003, and Vista. It is perfect for what I needed.
It allows you to modify/delete keys from the command line. Here is what I came up with:
I saved it as UpdateIE.bat. Now I can simply call it like this:
UpdateIE "http://www.intelliadmin.com"
It updates the local users IE home page, and very easy to add to a login script
(Below is the script source so you can copy and paste it)@echo off
set key=HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main
set value=Start page
set data=%1
reg.exe add "%key%" /v "%value%" /d "%data%" /f
Posted By:
Steve Wiseman on Tuesday, August 07, 2007
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Add a new email domain to Exchange 2003
I had a question from a reader this week - Steve. I was wondering. Do you know how to add a new domain to an exchange 2003 server without going into each user account?
It just happens that I added IntelliAdmin.org to our Exchange server a few weeks ago. The thing that strikes me about exchange is how different it is from most email servers. Most of the time adding a new domain to an email server is a trivial task. Under Exchange you will not find a simple "Add New Domain" button. Still, it is not difficult to do once you know how.
Open the Exchange System Manager, and drill down to the "Recipient Policies" under Recipients. See the default policy on the right. Double click on it
The default policy properties page will open. Move to the "E-Mail Addresses (Policy)" tab. You will see the current list of domains. We want to add a new domain...so click on "New"
A list of options will be shown. Since we want a new internet email address we want to pick 'SMTP' as our option
Now simply enter the name of the new domain with the @ sign in front of it.
Click OK. You may notice that the newly added domain is *not* checked. Check it and click Apply. You will be prompted with this message
Click yes to apply the new domain to all user accounts.
Now you can receive mail at the new domain. Just make sure you setup your DNS records so outside mail servers know where to send the mail.
Posted By:
Steve Wiseman on Tuesday, August 07, 2007
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Backup your files using Remote Desktop
I had a problem for the last few weeks. I can no longer download or upload EXE, ZIP, COM, or VBS files via FTP. Recently the hosting provider has had some serious virus troubles and they have instituted a new policy. All EXE, ZIP, VBS, and COM files are blocked.
So now I have a huge collection of files that I can't get out...short of them burning a CD and sending it to me.
I really like this provider, and I understand their trouble. It is true that most websites never have a need to provide exe files for download. To get around the problem I created an interesting solution. I like it so much I use it for many other remote sites that I manage. (Please note this will only work for 2003, XP, or Vista)
To get started open your Remote Desktop client. Click on the options button, and move over to the resources tab. See the checkbox towards the bottom that says "Disk Drives" Check it. This will tell the Remote Desktop client to share your local drives with the server you are connecting.
Now go back to the general tab and enter the name of server you want to connect....and click connect. Once you are connected go into My Computer and make sure your local drives are available...like this:
See the drives named XX on LAPTOPJS...those are drives on my local laptop. Now here is the tricky part. I hate using explorer to copy a large number of files. Why? Because most of the time it will fail half way through the copy - with no way to resume.
I wanted to use robocopy. It is a free command line utility from Microsoft in the Windows resource kit. You can download it from
hereThe trouble is I couldn't get to my shared drives from the command line. You would think you could use a path like this: \\laptopjs\c to get to the C drive...but no luck with that.
Eventually I came across some obscure documentation from MS that noted you can access these drives by using the hard coded hostname \\tsclient
This actually was better than I thought, because I could then use the same script for any machine that connected to the server.
Here is what I did. I created a script that looked like this:
robocopy.exe c:\website \\tsclient\c\website_backup /e /r:0 /w:0
Run robocopy with no arguments to see all of its optionsPut it into a batch file and made a shortcut on the desktop
Now I just need to RDP into the server...double click on the icon and it downloads an updated copy of the website.
Best of all - since I am using robocopy it only downloads files that have changed since the last time I ran the script.
Posted By:
Steve Wiseman on Sunday, August 05, 2007
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Force Windows 2003 to look like XP
Like I was saying yesterday I now have a Windows 2003 server as a simple router for friends and family at my cabin up north. The trouble is, I don't really need to have more than one computer up there. There is no reason why I can't surf and check my email on this server - it is not like I am going to ruin anything if the server dies.
So on that note, I wanted to make my server look and feel like Windows XP - particularly with the XP Theme
It was easier than I thought. Simply open the service manager (You can do this by clicking on start, then run, and type services.msc...now click OK). Scroll down to the service called "Themes"
Double click on it. Change the service startup type to "Automatic", and start the service.
Now you can go into the display settings of the control panel and turn on the standard windows XP theme.
Now my Windows 2003 server looks and feels a lot more like Windows XP.
Posted By:
Steve Wiseman on Friday, August 03, 2007
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Disable the Windows 2003 Shutdown Tracker
I have a machine that runs at a cabin up in northern Michigan. For the longest time it was a Windows 2000 server. It is a simple file server, DHCP, and a NAT device for a few neighbors that use it via wireless.
I finally made the plunge and upgraded it to Windows 2003. Before I brought it back up there I realized I might have a problem. Once in a long time the machine needs to be rebooted. My neighbors only know how to do this by following a specific set of instructions. Click Start, then Shutdown, Etc.
Now with Windows 2003 The user is prompted with this:
I don't even want to start thinking of the retraining I would need to do just to get the machine rebooted :(
Since I have been living with this inconvenience for years I didn't think to check and see if there was a way to turn it off...after a few quick Google searches I found out how.
To disable the shutdown event tracker you will need to open the Group Policy Object Editor. You can do this by clicking on start, then run. Type: gpedit.msc and press the OK button.
The GPOE will show you a list of options. Drill down to this area:
Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System
Now look in the pane on the right.
See the option that says "Display Shutdown Event Tracker"
Double click on it to change the option. Now change it to disabled.
Click OK and from now on you won't be bothered by the shutdown tracker.
Posted By:
Steve Wiseman on Thursday, August 02, 2007
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