Category: Windows

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Windows 10 – Don’t panic

Windows 10 is here!

Windows 10 is a great OS, so don’t be afraid to upgrade. It is fast and really simple to use. Don’t be daunted by the start menu, just begin typing what you are looking for (after you click start). Instant search is great, and much quicker than looking for the apps/settings/programs manually.

If you do upgrade and have any issues, just give WCS a call. We are here to help. We have been testing the developer release of Windows 10 for months, and can help with everything from installation to backup.

If you have registered for Windows 10, but not yet been given the option to upgrade (and can’t wait), just head here –> https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

  1. Download Microsoft’s Media Creation Tool, then Launch it when it finishes downloading.
  2. Select the “Upgrade This PC” option and click Next.
  3. Let the Creation Tool run through its process. It should walk you everything needed to get your shiny new OS.

We think Windows 10 is a great step forward (and they brought Solitaire back too). Best of all it is free.

 

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Removing a child domain that no-longer exists

 

Rarely, a situation may arise where a child domain has been created in Active Directory, and the DC in that domain is no longer available. You are then left with a situation where you can’t contact the domain to either remove the objects, or the domain itself.

  1. Remove all the DNS entries for the missing DCs and the child domain. Make sure you get the GUID entries too.
  2. Fire up ntdsutil and connect to the operations master:

ntdsutil: metadata cleanup
 metadata cleanup:
 metadata cleanup: connections
 server connections:
 server connections: connect to server yourdomain.local
 Binding to london …
 Connected to london using credentials of locally logged on user
 server connections:
 server connections: quit
 metadata cleanup:
 metadata cleanup: select operation target
 select operation target:
 select operation target: list domains
 Found 2 domain(s)
 0 – DC=yourdomain,DC=local
 1 – DC=child,DC=yourdomain,DC=local
 select operation target:
 select operation target: select domain 1
 No current site
 Domain – DC=child,DC=yourdomain,DC=local
 No current server
 No current Naming Context
 select operation target:
 select operation target: quit
 metadata cleanup:
 metadata cleanup: remove selected domain

You may find that you cannot delete the child because servers still exist.

In that case:

ntdsutil: metadata cleanup
metadata cleanup:
metadata cleanup: connections
server connections:
server connections: connect to server yourserver.yourdomain.local
Binding to london …
Connected to yourserver using credentials of locally logged on user
server connections:
server connections: quit
metadata cleanup:
metadata cleanup: select operation target
select operation target:
select operation target: list sites
Found 1 site(s)
0 – CN=Default-First-Site-Name,CN=Sites,CN=Configuration,DC=yourdomain,DC=local
select operation target:
select operation target: select site
Site – CN=Default-First-Site-Name,CN=Sites,CN=Configuration,DC=yourdomain,DC=local
No current domain
No current server
No current Naming Context
select operation target:
select operation target: list servers in site
Found 1 server(s)
0 – CN=rogueserver,CN=Servers,CN=Default-First-Site-Name,CN=Sites,CN=Configuration,DC=yourdomain,DC=local
select operation target: select server 0

 

You should then be able to back out (quit) and remove the server  (remove selected server). If you get a warning about a domain not being selected, then list them (list domains), and select the domain (select domain x).

 

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Server 2012 Remote Desktop Services VDI Installation Fails

There are a few articles explaining how easy it is to set up RDS or VDI in Server 2012.

Well it may not be so easy, depending if you have installed windows updates (specifically KB2821895 ) or you have chosen VMware to host the RDS server.

As of today, if you cannot install RDS on Server 2012 and you have installed windows updates including KB2821895, you will find that you cannot remove it, and have to rebuild the server to get Remote Desktop Services and VDI to install.

Rebuild the VM and install the RDS roles you need before updating the server!

If after that, you still get a failure, and you are running ESX 5.1 as a host for this server, you may get this error: “Hyper-V cannot be installed: A hypervisor is already running“. You must enable nested VM’s by editing the VMX file

Shut down the host and add these lines:

hypervisor.cpuid.v0 = “FALSE”
mce.enable = “TRUE”
vhv.enable = “true”

The next thing to consider is: did you build the .VHD from another machine (or even VMware Workstation and use something like the (free) Starwind V2V Image Converter to convert from .VMDK)?

If you did, you may want to create a VM on the 2012 HyperV server and start it. Install the latest version of integration services from the Action menu when connected to the VM in Hyper-V.

So, you have managed all of the above, yet you STILL can’t complete the Remote Desktop collection to complete.

I had got through the first reboot of the RDS/VDI installation, but kept getting errors at the last stage (Creating the Remote Desktop Collection). I had tried to manually create the collection (using the tasks drop-down) in server manager->Remote Desktop Services->Collections, but no joy. The event log showed:

“Remote Desktop Virtualization Host failed to verify domain connectivity of the virtual machine” with Event ID 8464

You may also find that if you boot the VM in Hyper-V, that you will get information via DHCP, but you will only be able to ping the host, and not the internet or other servers.

This one took quite a while to figure out. You may see this if you happen to be running the Hyper-V server on ESXi/vSphere (Not a supported configuration strictly speaking).

You need to edit the VMware vSwitch  that the Windows Hyper-V VM is running on (and all others if you run vSphere and ever want to vMotion or migrate the VM). You must enable/accept Promiscuous Mode on the vSwitch.

I hope this article helps, and saves hours and hours of stepping through configuration issues with Server 2012 VDI.

 

 

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Error when removing Exchange 2003 – Bridgehead connectors already removed, but Exchange setup thinks they exist.

You are trying remove Exchange 2003, but you get an error similar to “you cannot remove a server that is a target bridgehead for a routing group connector. This server is a target bridgehead for the following connections”.You have removed the connector in ESM.

You have run the Remove-RoutingGroupConnector command on the Exchange 2007/2010 servers

(If you struggle with this step and get an error because you have bi-directional connectors, such as: Remove-RoutingGroupConnector : The operation could not be performed because “RGC NAME” matches multiple entries. Run this command:

get-routinggroupconnector -Identity “RGC NAME” |Remove-RoutingGroupConnector)

You still continue to get the error on the 2003 server.

You have checked in ADSI Edit and the connector isn’t there.

Have you checked the exchange services? Did you disable them for a while to check that Exchange would be OK to remove from the environment? Are they still disabled?

Re-enable them, and start them up. You should be able to remove Exchange 2003 now.

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vSphere – Problems with licencing and MAC addresses after 5.1 ESXi host upgrade

After upgrading an ESX cluster from vSphere 5.0 to vSphere 5.1 a VM failed to reboot.. Instead, an error message was issued:

Failed to start the virtual machine.  Module DevicePowerOn power on failed.  Could not set up “macAddress” for ethernet0. Invalid MAC address specified.  00:0C:29:A0:B0:1D is not an allowed static Ethernet address. It conflicts with VMware reserved MACs.

Troubleshooting

The VM used to run on VMware Server and was transferred later to the ESX infrastructure. It acts as a license server. The services installed are tied to the MAC address of the LAN adapter, Therefore, in the past, the virtual MAC address was assigned statically. Unfortunately the selected MAC address was in the range of VMware’s dynamically assigned addresses. That wasn’t a problem for previous ESX versions, although the method is not recommended. Since version 5.1 addresses in the range 00:0c:29:x:x:x are strictly reserved for dynamic allocation. In the VMX file of the VM, however, was the following entry:

I first put the adapter address in the vSphere Client to “dynamic” and on the next reboot I got an address from the range 00:50:56:x:x:x. The VM did start, but the license service stopped working. So I shut down the VM and edited the VMX file, by entering the original value for the MAC address.

ethernet0.address = "00:0C:29:A0:B0:1D"

Bug exchange

So I got a new error:

“00:0c:29:xx:xx:xx is not an allowed VPX assigned Ethernet address. Invalid MAC address specified. Failed to configure ethernet0.”

The problem was, that the changing from “static” to “dynamic” in the virtual machine settings the addresstype changed to “vpx” automatically.

ethernet0.addressType = "vpx"
ethernet0.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:xx:xx:xx"

At this point one has to understand, how addresses are generated.

  • generated : automatically generated by the MUI (MAC address starts with 00:0c:29)
  • vpx : generated automatically by vCenter (MAC address starts with 00:50:56)
  • static : manually assigned MAC address

A correct configuration must look like this:

ethernet0.addressType = "generated"
ethernet0.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:xx:xx:xx"

(*) Please replace xx:xx:xx with desired bytes. Don’t enter xx:xx:xx into your VMX file! (Thanks for the hint, Al) :-)

After that, you can boot the VM normally again. If you look at the settings, you’ll see the correct MAC address.

MAC is still being generated

In some cases I could see, the correct MAC in the VM settings (while the VM was powered off) in the first place (as shown above), but after starting the VM the MAC has been regenerated. This was due to the UUID of the VM.

Here you have to adjust the last three bytes of uuid.bios to the last three bytes of the desired MAC address. On next boot of the VM you may be asked, whether you have copied or moved the VM. Here you have to choose the “I moved it” selection, because otherwise a UUID and a MAC will be generated on random.

The easiest way to fix the issue is to make a copy of the VMX file with the VM still running on a non upgraded host. Update the copy of the VMX file with the ethernetX.addressType, ExthernetX.generatedAddress and the uuid.bios values (for all the vNics attached), shut down the VM, upload the new VMX, and power the VM back on. This will have your licencing VM off for a very small amount of time.

Once powered up, you can vMotion it over to a 5.1 host and then upgrade the 5.0 host at leisure.

 

(credits to www.elasticsky.de for some of the content)

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Stop your cursor jumping around in Windows 7

If you use Windows 7 and you have a touchpad on your laptop, you might find that the cursor jumps around while typing. It is a common issue with the Synaptics touchpad drivers (normally fixed by reinstalling them).

If that doesn’t work, simply install and run this neat application called TouchFreeze http://code.google.com/p/touchfreeze/ and the problem will be gone!

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Spiceworks – It’s everything IT

If you run, manage or maintain a computer network, Spiceworks is something you probably should be aware of.
“Spiceworks is the complete network management software, helpdesk, network configuration & IT reporting solution designed to manage everything IT in small & medium businesses.”


Spiceworks now has both an iPhone & Android app for remote management of devices & tickets.

I have been using Spiceworks since version 1.6, & I use it as a full helpdesk ticket system, and my main troubleshooting and network overview tool. The network inventory, which also includes timeline change tracking of devices, and many other useful tools for network administrators is invaluable. VMware & ESX Servers are also supported.
Spiceworks is totally free, supported by unobtrusive & useful IT related advertisements.
A summary of features are below, taken straight from the Spiceworks homepage (hyperlinked):

Inventory Your Network

Monitor Your Network

Run an IT Help Desk

Manage Configuration Changes

Map Your Network

Troubleshoot Network Problems

Be an MSP

Join an IT Pro Community

I really can’t give this product enough credit for what it does and the time it saves.
The community behind Spiceworks are also very knowledgeable, when you need help with pretty much any IT related issue.

You should also check out the “unofficial” SpiceWorks site, which has the latest unreleased news and hints, managed by Andy (akp982), a very active member/friend from the Spiceworks Community.

Click the button below, and try Spiceworks for yourself.
Set It Free!

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Tech Article – Accessing files over WiFi without a Router, Android & PC

Here is the situation: You have an Android device and a laptop. You want to transfer files from either the Android device to a laptop (photo’s for example), or from your laptop to the Android device (the latest ROM/Music etc.)

This is very easy, using a wireless router on your home LAN. But what if you are on the road, or at a friends house for example?
The solution is surprisingly simple.

First of all, convert your laptop (or wireless enabled PC) into an Access Point using Connectify for Windows

Connectify allows you to do all sorts of cool things, such as sharing a wired internet connection with multiple devices, as a LAN repeater etc. Check out their website for full details. It is pretty simple to set up, and you can choose whether you want to share the Windows PC’s internet, or just get file access in the setup wizard.
Once Connectify is installed and running, connect your Android device over WifFi using the password you set.

You now have two options, connecting to your Windows PC from the Android device, or vice versa.

Option one – Access files on your Android device from your Windows PC (You need a ROOTED device for this method):
Download the SambaFilesharing app from the Android Market and install it. Enter the relevant information for username and password in the app. Once the app is set up and enabled, simply open an Explorer (not Internet Explorer) window and type in the address bar “\[android ip]” – (minus quotes and replace [android ip] with the IP shown on the Samba Fileshare screen. You will be prompted for the username/password you set in the app and then have full access to your SD card on the Android device, just like a normal folder on your PC.

Option two – Access files on your windows PC from your Android device:
You will need to have a user account and password on the PC in question in advance for this method.
Download the AndSMB app from the Android Market and install it.
Add a new “server using the same IP details as above, but for the last set of digits, use 1, so xxx.xxx.xxx.1, where the xxx are from the IP, either showing on the Connectify status, or the Samba FileShare app.
Use the windows username and password you set earlier, save the settings and click connect.

You will now be able to see the files on your Windows PC. Clicking “Device File browser” at the top of the AndSMB app will now allow you to upload and download files from whichever folders you have selected in each view. You can switch back again, by pressing “SMB File Browser”.

A really simple way to transfer files both ways from both devices, anywhere & without cables.