Archive for the ‘Windows 7’ Category

Trust Relationship Between Workstation and Domain Fails after you restore to a previous snapshot for either VMware or Hyper. This is because by default every 30 days the Active Directory(AD) server will change the machine key for each of its members. In a development environment where security is not important. This can cause a headache, causing you to unjoin then rejoin servers back to the domain. The other option is to disable this function.

  1. On the Domain Controller : Launch Group Policy Management -> Control PanelSystem and SecurityAdministrative ToolsGroup Policy Management
  2. Edit the default group policy or edit the GPO of your choice.
  3. Edit “Domain member: Maximum machine account password age” = 999   Located -> Computer ConfigurationWindows SettingsSecurity SettingsLocal PoliciesSecurity Options
  4. Edit “Domain member: Disable machine account password changes” = Enabled   Located -> Computer ConfigurationWindows SettingsSecurity SettingsLocal PoliciesSecurity Options
  5. Edit “Domain controller: Refuse machine account password changes” = Enabled   Located -> Computer ConfigurationWindows SettingsSecurity SettingsLocal PoliciesSecurity Options
  6. Lastly run “gpupdate /force” on all servers that need this change.

Resource links:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc781050(WS.10).aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc785826(WS.10).aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc781050(WS.10).aspx

If you ever have a need to monitor a website for uptime, one approach is to buy an application that can monitor websites. Ex http://www.ipsentry.com/ or http://www.eventsentry.com/ (relatively cheap software that I have used in the past). The other option is to use PowerShell. This script is meant to be run on a monitoring server. Once its running it will check all the URLs you set in the configuration section of the PowerShell script. If an error in encountered it will send an email. The PowerShell has comments in all the areas you would want to change. The base script comes from http://blogs.technet.com/b/otto/archive/2007/08/23/quick-and-dirty-web-site-monitoring-with-powershell.aspx , I made a few changes…  Added the forever loop, force sending emails, added the ability to send credentials, set interval, added additional comments. Thanks and let me know if you have any questions.

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function siteupdown{
## Display Help
if (($Args[0] -eq "-?") -or ($Args[0] -eq "-help")) {
   ""
   "Usage: SysinternalsSiteTest.ps1 -alert
<address> -log"
   "       -alert
<address>      Send e-mail alerts"
   "       -log                  Log results"
   ""
   "Example: SysinternalsSiteTest.ps1 -alert somebody@nospam.com -log"
   ""
   exit
}
 
## Create the variables
$global:GArgs = $Args
 
$urlsToTest = @{}
$urlsToTest["SP2010"] = "http://sp2010/Pages/default.aspx"
## Add more URLs for monidoting **Note URL cannot be rediriecting urls.
#$urlsToTest["TechNet Redirect"] = "http://www.microsoft.com/sysinternals"
#$urlsToTest["Sysinternals Home"] = "http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/default.mspx"
#$urlsToTest["Sysinternals Forum"] = "http://forum.sysinternals.com"
#$urlsToTest["Sysinternals Blog"] = "http://blogs.technet.com/sysinternals"
#$urlsToTest["Sysinternals Downloads"] = "http://download.sysinternals.com/Files/NtfsInfo.zip"
 
$successCriteria = @{}
$successCriteria["SP2010"] = "*press releases*"
## Add more success criteria here.
#$successCriteria["TechNet Redirect"] = "*Mark Russinovich*"
#$successCriteria["Sysinternals Home"] = "*Mark Russinovich*"
#$successCriteria["Sysinternals Forum"] = "*Sysinternals Utilities*"
#$successCriteria["Sysinternals Blog"] = "*Sysinternals Site Discussion*"
#$successCriteria["Sysinternals Downloads"] = "*ntfsinfo.exe*"
 
## Set Username Password and domain here
$Username = 'be'
$Password = 'password!!!1'
$Domain = 'gen'
 
## sets up the call
$webClient = new-object System.Net.WebClient
$webClient.credentials = New-Object System.Net.NetworkCredential($Username, $Password, $Domain)
 
foreach ($key in $urlsToTest.Keys) {
   $alert = $false
   $output = ""
 
   $startTime = get-date
   $output = $webClient.DownloadString($urlsToTest[$key])
   $endTime = get-date
 
   if ($output -like $successCriteria[$key]) {
      $key + "`t`tSuccess`t`t" + $startTime.DateTime + "`t`t" + ($endTime - $startTime).TotalSeconds + " seconds"
 
      if ($GArgs -eq "-log") {
         $key + "`t`tSuccess`t`t" + $startTime.DateTime + "`t`t" + ($endTime - $startTime).TotalSeconds + " seconds" >> WebSiteTest.log
      }
   } else {
      $key + "`t`tFail`t`t" + $startTime.DateTime + "`t`t" + ($endTime - $startTime).TotalSeconds + " seconds"
	  $alert = $true
      if ($GArgs -eq "-log") {
         $key + "`t`tFail`t`t" + $startTime.DateTime + "`t`t" + ($endTime - $startTime).TotalSeconds + " seconds" >> WebSiteTest.log
		 $alert = $true
      }
 
      if ($alert -eq $true) {
         Write-Host "Sending Email"
		 ## Set email settings Below. $emailFrom, $EmailTo, $smtpServer
		 $emailFrom = "email@nospam.com"
         $emailTo = "email@nospam.com"
         $subject = "URL Test Failure - " + $startTime
         $body = "URL Test Failure: " + $key + " (" + $urlsToTest[$key] + ") at " + $startTime
         $smtpServer = "smtp.nospam.com"
         $smtp = new-object Net.Mail.SmtpClient($smtpServer)
         $smtp.Send($emailFrom,$emailTo,$subject,$body)
      }
   }
}
}
## Makes the script run forever.
$i=1
for ($i -le 5; $i++)
{
## Change the number, to change check site interval. 1 = 1 seconds, 30 = 30 seconds, etc..
sleep 30;
siteupdown}
</address></address>

Posted by IsaacBlum at 19 February 2010

Category: Business, Conference's, For The Greater Good, Free Help, Microsoft, Windows 7

Tags: , ,

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=7d2f6ad7-656b-4313-a005-4e344e43997d&displaylang=en

To install the Administration Tools pack by using the Windows interface
  1. Download the Administration Tools package from the Microsoft Web site (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=137379).
  2. Open the folder into which the package downloaded, double-click the package to unpack the files, and then start the Remote Server Administration Tools Setup Wizard.
    Note
      You must accept the License Terms and Limited Warranty to install Administration Tools.
  3. Complete all the steps that are required by the wizard, and then click Finish to exit the wizard when installation is completed.
  4. Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click Programs.
  5. In the Programs and Features area, click Turn Windows features on or off.

    If you are prompted by User Account Control to allow the Windows Features dialog box to open, click Continue.

  6. In the Windows Features dialog box, expand Remote Server Administration Tools.
  7. Select the remote management tools that you want to install, and then click OK.
  8. Configure the Start menu to display the Administration Tools shortcut, if it is not already there.
    1. Right-click Start, and then click Properties.
    2. On the Start Menu tab, click Customize.
    3. In the Customize Start Menu dialog box, scroll down to System Administrative Tools, and then select Display on the All Programs menu and the Start menu. Click OK.

      Shortcuts for snap-ins installed by Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7 are added to the Administrative Tools list on the Start menu.

Posted by IsaacBlum at 8 October 2009

Category: Business, For The Greater Good, Free Help, Windows 7

Tags: , , , , ,

Thanks to the fine souls at vmware community and ftubio.

All the hard work can be downloaded here
*** Make sure to remove the ‘-zip.doc’ from the file name you will be left with ‘vsphere-client-files.zip’

1. Obtain a copy of %SystemRoot%Microsoft.NETFrameworkv2.0.50727System.dll from a non Windows 7 machine that has .NET 3.5 SP1 installed.

2. Create a folder in the Windows 7 machine where the vSphere client is installed and copy the file from step 1 into this folder. For example, create the folder under the vSphere client launcher installation directory (+%ProgramFiles%VMwareInfrastructureVirtual Infrastructure ClientLauncherLib+).

3. In the vSphere client launcher directory, open the VpxClient.exe.config file in a text editor and add a element and a element as shown below. Save the file.

3. Create a batch file (e.g. *VpxClient.cmd*) in a suitable location. In this file add a command to set the DEVPATH environment variable to the folder where you copied the System.dll assembly in step 2 and a second command to launch the vSphere client. Save the file. For example,

SET DEVPATH=%ProgramFiles%VMwareInfrastructureVirtual Infrastructure ClientLauncherLib
“%ProgramFiles%VMwareInfrastructureVirtual Infrastructure ClientLauncherVpxClient.exe”

4. (Optional) Replace the shortcut on the start menu to point to the batch file created in the previous step. Change the shortcut properties to run minimized so that the command window is not shown.

You can now use the VpxClient.cmd (or the shortcut) to launch the vSphere client in Windows 7.

Note that this workaround bypasses the normal .NET Framework loading mechanism so that assembly versions in the DEVPATH folder are no longer checked.

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