Bored SysAdmin's Blog

F/S: NEC MultiSync LCD2080UX 20" White S-IPS Monitor 1600x1200

noreply@blogger.com (BoredSysAdmin) — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 09:34:07 PDT

Details here : http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=75573

How to fix June 7/2011–VLK Windows XP Activation Issue – Clock sync Error

noreply@blogger.com (BoredSysAdmin) — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 12:22:56 PDT

This is borderline genius – Just turn the date one day earlier to June 6th and try activation again. After successful activation change the date back to 7th….

Thanks to Engless777 from Microsoft forums…

DIY NAS Update - $1050 for 16 TB (RAW)

noreply@blogger.com (BoredSysAdmin) — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 11:28:46 PST

$1050 for 16tb NAS

I been a bad boy and hasn’t posted anything useful for quite a while but I promised someone I’d do it and since hard drives prices recent prices reduction it seems good time to post an update and some explanations.

First on additional SATA controller – To function correctly it’ll probably need firmware upgrade as described in Newegg customer feedback.

Second Regarding : Hard drives – Unfortunately these amazing mammoths of storage aren’t really designed for any serious Raid usage, however their power savings could still used as an advantage in home media server, where performance isn’t main concern.

UnRaid – Is relatively new technology which could be perfect to be utilized in combination with green drives and it writes data without stripping to single drive and one more drive for parity. As advantage you get signle drive failure redundant and power savings (drives not used in write/read aren’t spinned-up. Cons are slower performance and slow array rebuild.
Software isn’t free and you’d need to get Pro version which costs now $110 (provide your own flash drive)

If you feel you still want to use regular Raid-5/Raid-Z arrays – FreeNAS (Free), however you’d want to extend the disk park idle time to hour or so by using WDIDLE3 tool. TLER couldn’t be anymore, however there are plenty of positive reviews of Tler-less drives working in software raid arrays.

Good luck.

Qty.	Product Description	Unit Price	Savings	Total Price
1	HEC Blitz Black Steel Edition ATX Mid Tower Computer Chassis Gaming Case w/ Front Blue LED 120mm Fan & Top 120mm Fan Model #:66RCBB Item #:N82E16811121096 Return Policy:Standard Return Policy In Stock	$64.99	-$25.00 Instant	$39.99
8	Western Digital Caviar Green WD20EARS 2TB SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive Model #:WD20EARS Item #:N82E16822136514 Return Policy:Standard Return Policy In Stock	$99.99		$799.92
1	ECS A780GM-M3 AM2+/AM3 AMD 780G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard Model #:A780GM-M3 Item #:N82E16813135233 Return Policy:Standard Return Policy In Stock Mail in Rebate	$64.99	-$15.00 Instant	$49.99
1	hec Zephyr MX-750 750W Continuous @ 40°C ATX12V V2.2 / EPS12V V2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Certified Active PFC HYBRID-SLI ... Model #:Zephyr MX-750 Item #:N82E16817339002 Return Policy:Standard Return Policy In Stock	$99.99	-$30.00 Instant	$69.99
1	Crucial 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model CT2KIT12864AA800 Model #:CT2KIT12864AA800 Item #:N82E16820148163 Return Policy:Memory Standard Return Policy In Stock	$39.99	-$5.00 Instant	$34.99
1	AMD Sempron 140 Sargas 2.7GHz Socket AM3 45W Single-Core Processor SDX140HBGQBOX Model #:SDX140HBGQBOX Item #:N82E16819103698 Return Policy:CPU Replacement Only Return Policy In Stock	$32.99		$32.99
1	SYBA SD-LP-PEX2IR PCI Express Low Profile SATA II (3.0Gb/s) Controller Card Model #:SD-LP-PEX2IR Item #:N82E16816124017 Return Policy:Standard Return Policy In Stock	$21.99		$21.99
Subtotal:				$1,049.86

New Egg shared wish list

WYSE – Worst Customer service EVER!

noreply@blogger.com (BoredSysAdmin) — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 11:31:46 PST

GGGGRRRRR!!!
In my day job – Sysadmin I do come across tech support frequently but the Wise guys really drive me nuts !!!! The first tech to answer the phone (after 10 hold) was complete retard and quickly escalated my seemingly simple issue to tech level 2.

Then asked when I should get reply from “level 2” –24 to 48 hours !!! O_O !!!
During the early hours morning next day I got email stating my ticket status is now “waiting for customer” ???

I assumed I got early phone call – level two tech was trying to reach me ? No such luck.

The wise guys used their online ticket status tool to ask me few support questions… Basically an online forum support ??

Who the f-k they think I am ? This is not evaluation unit – Fully paid off hardware, software (TCX) and even maintenance (? - Support ) for It – and all we get I OFFLINE, Once a day support chat? By this rate the simple issue will be resolved by next coming.

RRRRRR !!!! I SWEAR – NEVER AGAIN !!! F.U. WYSE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[/RANT] Sorry

Update:
It took almost week until this simple issue was resolved by surprising call with PRE-SALES engineer.
He barely gave me half an hour but it was fruitful enough to get me going. Still far from optimal.

I hate new IMDB Web Site Layout (Fix)

noreply@blogger.com (BoredSysAdmin) — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 16:06:39 PDT

Login with your account or create one.
Go to your account
”Update your site preferences” under personalize
Check:
Show previous title and name page design (reference view):

OK.

Done ! Enjoy sane IMDB.

How to Hack ESXi Host to get Remote Console [SSH]

noreply@blogger.com (BoredSysAdmin) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 11:08:37 PST

Here are the instructions for enabling SSH for ESXi host:

To enable SSH access in ESXi:

   1.      From the main screen on the ESXi host press Alt + F1.
   2.   At the next screen type:
      unsupported
      and give the root password when prompted.

3. Use a text editor to uncomment (that is, remove the hash symbol #) from the following line in the /etc/inetd.conf file, then save your changes:

# ssh stream tcp nowait root /sbin/dropbearmulti dropbear –I

   4.      Restart the inetd process by running:
      # cat /var/run/inetd.pid
      # kill -HUP <pid>

5. Verify that the ESXi host is accessible by SSH. To do this from the SSH client, log in to the ESX host:

      ~ # dbclient root@server
      The output appears similar to:
      Host '<server>' is not in the trusted hosts file.
      (fingerprint md5 c8:28:e8:2b:97:0d:36:79:b2:62:03:5c:95:f4:b9:10)
      Do you want to continue connecting? (y/n) y

root@server password:
Tech Support Mode successfully accessed.

Intruducing OpenFiler

noreply@blogger.com (BoredSysAdmin) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:01:08 PST

Hey Guys,

Wow, I didn’t posted anything new since August – Damn - I’m lazy :-)

I already mentioned FreeNas/OpenFiler software in some of older my posts about low cost DIY NAS boxes, but I guess its about time I try it myself in real environment.

Long story short, our IT director have decided to migrate all servers to blade system, so this leaving us with spare regular “old-school” servers, most of them proliant DL360 and DL380.
One particular one –DL380 G3 which used to be company’s central SQL, now was standing idle for few months or so, but Now time have come for the big – REPURPOSE !!

Original plan was to install Windows 2008 server, but after half day spent I gave up on this idea. Lack : DVD drive, 64bit support and no official drivers support was the final nail in coffin (I did managed to initiate install from pre-existing 2003, but past-install OS never could complete the boot)

Going back to 2003 server just seemed way to plain vanilla boring.

I said to my boss – Lets try OpenFiler – and he said – fire away !!

Today and later on I’d like to share some of my experiences and discoveries thru this mini-project from standpoint of mostly windows systems admin. Yea – I support ESX and Netapp – but most of command line changes are done by vendor’s support stuff :)

I promise to post soon about the install process.

How to identify ANY mysterious “PCI Device”

noreply@blogger.com (BoredSysAdmin) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 06:59:59 PDT

I get a lot of request to assist people with different pcs – from self built white boxes, laptops and netbooks to help them to identify and install right drivers for the “PCI Device”

To really help yourself guys and girls, just do couple of simple steps before asking for help.

Open your device manager and look for details tab on than “PCI Device” (Check out for Sample here)
Write down Hardware ID Tab info (or copy/paste it) into site below:

http://www.pcidatabase.com/

In example above note the first line:
PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_3059&SUBSYS_140117F2

In this specific example there is a hint, Windows was able to guess it’s Multimedia-audio controller, but lets do more scientific approach.

VEN stands for vendor and numbers after underscore are 1106. Quick search in database reveals its VIA Technology, but device search is even more detailed – 3059 – Notice the third line from top (Vendor ID 0x1106 – Via Technology). Also take a note of 3 last entries mentioning AC’97 Audio controller, since it’s probably what we looking for anyhow, but lets not jump the horse yet.

Click on the vendor name links and just scroll down till you find your device id (or just search for it :)

and there you go, device ID 0x3059 refers to VIA South Bridge VT8235.

VIA provides special website for drivers/final users support – ViaArena.com and few clicks – Drivers/Audio brings us to this page – and right there second line from top is our here – VT8235 or as Via calls it - VIA Vinyl Audio.

Enjoy!

DFI Lanpary NF4 SPD/IF in Windows 7/Vista

noreply@blogger.com (BoredSysAdmin) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 06:28:40 PDT

I’m still happen to be one of these old fools who think investing hefty amount of money should help to last your pc longer times without updates (given smart choices of course) and the motherboard in title is still powering my main pc running o/ced x2 3800 at humble (nowadays) 2.4Ghz. Not much, but still plenty for day to day stuff, even some occasional game or two.

My Windows XP was getting old and decided to put a new OS – its was long overdue.
Windows 7 Ultimate is the natural choice, since I got access to MSDN version of current RTM – basically same one you’d buy at store then it’s official out.

Install went without any glitches, with only a couple small driver issues, and one of them was Windows 7 recognized my onboard sound as Nvidia audio codec – given my chipset it Nvidia nForce4 – sound worked out of the box and most people won't even bother ever messing with it, except it was limited only to analog input/output and only stereo.

I use my creative card to process my day to day audio like windows sounds etc, but since it’s lacking real digital output – SPD/IF – I use the outboard sound card to output sound to my home theater.

DFI Lanpary NF4-Ultra used Realtek ALC850 audio codec, and in addition to “Karajan” module (basically slightly isolated 8 channel audio output) got coaxial SDP/IF Input and Output on board, which Windows 7 refused to utilize.

Initially my fight with drivers was fruitless and Realtek High Definition audio didn’t seam to fix the issue…

The fix:

Self Slap on forehead !!! ALC850 isn’t HD Codec, but AC/97 !!!!

Realtek does provide AC/97 for Vista/7 32/64 bit. Just install them, ignore the compatibility warnings and it’ll work fine.

p.s: Don’t bug for links, ffs just Google Realtek

Welcome to new Domain!!

noreply@blogger.com (BoredSysAdmin) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 16:26:09 PDT

Whoo Hooo!!!

Only year and half after opening this blog I finally received my first advertisement compensation. Let me assure you its not much, but I was enough to help me finance new domain name, which was luckily stilly available !!

I hope I’ll still be bored and have time to keep contributing to this blog !!

DIY: 3Tb NAS for under $380

noreply@blogger.com (BoredSysAdmin) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 05:43:34 PDT

This article is a quick update my older one titled “How-to: Mini DIY Project: 2TB NAS Box for $360 (Update 3)”.

Sorry, I’ll post items list today as picture since I’m busy (as in NOT Bored :(( ) so you’ll have to forgive me.

And of course, The main component is free ! Pick FreeNAS or OpenFiler and your set!

Class Action Suit is filed vs Amazon for selling Kindle damaging covers

noreply@blogger.com (BoredSysAdmin) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 09:27:32 PDT

A federal class action claims that a leather cover Amazon.com sells to protect its Kindle electronic reader actually damages the machine, and Amazon refuses to honor its warranty. The class claims the $30 Kindle cover has caused more than $5 million in damages.
The class claims the leather cover cracks the Kindles.
Lead plaintiff Matthew Geise says that 4 months after he bought the Kindle and spent $30 extra on the cover, the Kindle cracked where the Kindle Cover clips onto it. The complaint says Amazon refused to honor its warranty, telling him he must have "opened the Kindle backwards."

Amazon said it would cost $200 to repair the cracks, Geise says.
He says numerous customers have complained about the cover on Internet review sites, including one claim on Amazon.com stating, "This is garbage. The hinge caused a crack on the left side of my kindle, and Amazon has been horrible about helping with this issue. I am sorry, but if an accessory is purchased to PROTECT the product, the company should certainly be liable if it is the cause of the damage."

How to normalize Last.FM volume or how i stopped using Pandora

noreply@blogger.com (BoredSysAdmin) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:46:19 PDT

It’s no secret or news, Pandora went to bed with Sound Exchange and now they have to impose more limit in order to get more money to pay to Music Mafia aka RIAA.

Anyhow my 40 monthly allowance went by in less then week and I forced the choice between paying money or stop enjoying Pandora's great music selection.

I choose 3rd option – switch to Last.FM ! It doesn’t have stupid 1 hour limitations like Pandora got or monthly allowances.

I loaded Desktop client in swift, but was quickly disappointed and reminded why I choose to listed to Pandora at workplace first place.

Each song on Last.FM was played on different volume ! So ether you got very quiet old recording or next one blowing speakers away with some harsh guitar riffs very like TV ads always louder than content (this one is on purpose)

Last.FM team acknowledges the issue, but using the excuse of “To normalize our collection of several million tracks takes a lot of time”. While simple math could tell you this could be done on strong machines in matter of few weeks or less or Fully real-time.

Real-Time solution, is might not provide best results, but for crying out loud – on my $10 speakers on work pc I’d never hear the difference anyhow.

Now, enough with back story, lest get back to details:
On my work pc currently running Windows 7 RC x64 and my pc happened to have Realtek HD audio onboard sound card.

Windows 7 does provide built-in drivers for it and a decent control panel.

Open sound in your control panel and select Properties on “Speakers”.
Pick Enhancements Tab and check Loudness Equalization. Apply/OK

Your all set.

While this works for ANY sound in windows, it does help to enjoy last.fm radio at workplace without fear of making too much noise and disturb people around your desk/cube.

HUGE Win for Common Sense !!! [I Rule!]

noreply@blogger.com (BoredSysAdmin) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 05:44:49 PDT

As I predicted OVER A YEAR ago about using proprietary plugs for headphones is complete and utter rubbish, someone eventually came to their senses!!!

HTC saying they will be dropping the silly extUSB port, because nobody cared about about it, except HTC itself. I don’t remember my local BestBuy ever had in stock headphones with extUSB plug (Circuit City might had them – Gigitty-Gigitty)

We’ve seen HTC already wising up to this problem with the Hero, though we might have to trudge through a few more extUSB-only devices in the immediate future. Fine, whatever it takes, - you can even keep extUSB on there, if you insist - just give us a plain ol’ 3.5mm headphone jack, too

How to find out the Brocade Switch model Number

noreply@blogger.com (BoredSysAdmin) — Wed, 13 May 2009 13:11:44 PDT

Quite simple actually, but not as straightforward as one would expect… I guess it’s part of McData heritage.

Open web browser at http://hostname/SwitchInfo.html

Scroll down till you see in List of Ports: switchType: xx.x

Use table below to “decipher” the Model series

1.x = Brocade SilkWorm 1000 series
2.x = DS-16B / Brocade SilkWorm 2800 series
3.x = DS-8B / Brocade SilkWorm 2400 series
4.x = Brocade SilkWorm 20x0;
5.x = Brocade SilkWorm 22x0;
6.x = DS-16B / Brocade SilkWorm 3800 Series (Includes parity checking on all paths)
7.x = SCB
9.x = DS-16B2 / Brocade SilkWorm 3800 series
10.x = ED-12000B / Brocade SilkWorm 12000 switch blade
12.x = DS-32B2 / Brocade SilkWorm 3900 series
16.x = DS-8B2 / Brocade SilkWorm 3200 series
17.x = Brocade SilkWorm 3800VL series
18.x = Brocade SilkWorm 3000 series
21.x = ED-24000B / Brocade 24000 switch blade
22.x= Brocade SilkWorm 3016 2GB Embedded Switch for IBM and Intel Blade Servers
26.x = DS-16B3 / Brocade 3850 series
27.x = DS-8B3 / Brocade 3250 series
29.x= Brocade SilkWorm 4012 4GB Embedded Switch for HP Blade Servers
32.x = DS-4100B / Brocade Silkworm 4100 series
33.x = Brocade SilkWorm 3014 2GB Embedded Switch for Dell, Fujitsu-Siemens and Hitachi Blade Servers
34.x = DS-220B / Brocade 200E
36.x = PB-48000-18i / Brocade SilkWorm FR4-18i 48000 Director Blade
37.x = Brocade SilkWorm 4020 4GB Embedded Switch for IBM and Intel Blade Servers
38.0 = AP-7420
40.x= Fibre Channel Routing (FCR) Front Domain
41.x= Fibre Channel Routing (FCR) Xlate Domain
42.2 = ED-48000B / Brocade Silkworm 48000 series
43.x = Brocade SilkWorm 4024 4GB Embedded Switch for NEC Blade Servers
44.x = DS-4900 / Brocade SilkWorm 4900 series
45.x = Brocade SilkWorm 4016 4GB Embedded Switch for Hitachi Blade Servers
46.x = MP-7500B / Brocade SilkWorm 7500 series
47.x = PB-48K-16IP / Brocade SilkWorm FC4-16IP 48000 Director Blade
51.x = Brocade SilkWorm 4018 4GB Embedded Switch for Blade Servers
55.x = Brocade SilkWorm FA4-18 48000 Director Blade
55.2 = AP7600B / Brocade SilkWorm 7600 series
58.x = DS-5000B / Brocade SilkWorm 5000 series

Samsung NC20 – Ideal Netbook? (Updated)

noreply@blogger.com (BoredSysAdmin) — Fri, 08 May 2009 08:23:52 PDT

So, How’s exactly 12” screen sized netbook differs from MUCH more expensive 12” Ultra Portable Laptop?

Two Major differences: Weaker processor and less memory.

With first limitation – there isn’t anything we can do, but about second one we’ll see what we can do to bring $550 Netbook work more like double priced laptop.

Samsung NC-20 is build around Via components – 1.3Ghz Nano [Isaiah] Processor,VX800 chipset with integrated Chrome9 Video supporting DX9 and which officially supports up-to 4Gb of DDR2 Ram in two So-Dimms.

However Samsung chosen to implement only one memory slot, but is it means it’s limited only to 2gb?? I couldn’t find any evidence in ether way, but cnet source does mention such possibility.

VIA Nano CPU does support x64 bit instructions which makes it capable of running 64 bit OS and There is a confirmed Windows 7 x64 bit beta OS install here, except the forum poster was unable to find right video driver therefore the video part was using default sluggish driver – It should be fixed soon (I hope)

So, as it right now – I’m cautiously optimistic about it – Just imagine the possibilities: 12” Ultra-portable laptop with 4gb memory, running 64 bit Windows 7 with Aero… [all for $700]

P.S: At time of writing this article 4Gb of laptop DDR2 memory can purchased as low as $140

Update: Scratch all above !!! Just found deal breaker -

HP Pavilion dv2-1030us NoteBook AMD Athlon Neo MV-40(1.60GHz) 12.1" Wide XGA 4GB Memory 320GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3410 – Retail

Currently for $750 after rebate with dedicated ATI graphics and AMD 1.6Ghz Neo CPU, while NC20 is probably will have better battery life[reports mention up-to 7-8 hours], this HP kills NC20 in terms of performance easily.

How to print passport photo almost for free

noreply@blogger.com (BoredSysAdmin) — Fri, 01 May 2009 14:46:11 PDT

or How to stop overpaying money for the passport 2”x2” photos.

C’mon – we all faced it – School/University/Workplace or Government requires us to submit these 2”x2” photos and usually first place comes to mind is to visit local photo studio where you’d get charged arm and a leg for a that’s a really simple procedure and I want to show how I decided to defy the studios regime and do it myself.

Tools required:
Any point-and-shoot camera will do [shooting indoor most likely WILL require firing flash]
Any computer with any speed internet access – even dial-up will be enough

Optional tools:
Tripod for camera if you shooting yourself

Steps:
Take the shot of yourself against bright background – white doors will work well.
Transfer it to computer
Open your favorite web browser (any modern version will do) and go to http://www.epassportphoto.com/
Follow the steps and in end choose:
Download and Print –> Download the Passport Photo Sheet Image

Optional Step:
Open the result image in your favorite image editor – any will do, my favorite is IrfanView since it’s free and lighting fast.
ePassportPhoto will insert it’s own ad into place of 6th photo which I rather see as waste of 4”x6” photo sheet, so use simple select, copy and paste to make the sheet consist of only your photos.

Copy the result to USB Flash Drive or memory card [CF/SD will be probably more common]

Go to your nearest chain store Pharmacy [CVS/Wallgreens/Duane Reade etc..] and print this image on glossy 4”x6” – this is only place there you actually have to pay money :)

CVS charged me about $0.29 while Duane Reade whooping $0.49. Bear in mind I'm not planning to use ether to print large collection of photos – I just needed to print the passport photos right away.

Use Scissors or if you are lucky and office have on of these.

Important P.S: For some forms filled with government organizations you’d be required to use pencil to write on back of photo some details like your name etc. In my personal experience CVS uses Kodak machines and Kodak paper – it is impossible to use pencil to write on back of photo – while Duane Reade used Sony photo printer and Sony Paper and it is perfectly OK to write with pencil.

Microsoft Office 2007 SP2 Breaking Corporate Email

noreply@blogger.com (BoredSysAdmin) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 06:23:42 PDT

The Microsoft Office 2007 SP2 update was only released yesterday and is a major upgrade for that package. Most users, individual and corporate, tend to apply Office service packs right away as they aren’t released very often and are usually rock solid.

JKontherun reports already seeing in their comments that a number of corporate users are experiencing a major bug in SP2 that affects the ability to access the Global Address Book effectively rendering corporate email useless. One corporate user says the problem went away when Office 2007 SP2 was removed. I suspect we’ll see a rapid fix for this from Microsoft, I’m surprised a bug this big got through to release.

[Via Jkontherun]

huge Offtopic!! or why Pandora shocks me

noreply@blogger.com (BoredSysAdmin) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 08:49:33 PDT

Sorry for HUGE OFFTOPIC, but some things really drive me nuts !!!

Just now my Pandora web client [Internet streaming music] on my custom created station featuring mostly Hard Rock, Metal and some Alternative Rock played “I kissed a Girl” redo by band called “Attack Attack” –

WTF ??!!!!

What the hell pop/dance/crap track is doing there next to Metallica, AC/DC, Iron Maiden, Megadeath, Korn, Marlyn Manson and Rammstein ????

Sorry, but Pandora should Double Thumbs-Down for such selections…

Bored SysAdmin’s Blog Gets Google Page rank 2 !!

noreply@blogger.com (BoredSysAdmin) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 10:50:11 PDT

Whooo !! Please everyone raise your Champaign glasses and let me toast you guys – its was your interest and active participation.

Thank you all – occasional stumblers from Google searches, people how bookmarked my pages, stumbled-upon, spread the word in countless forum posts, included links in their own blogs, post commenters etc…

Too all people who copy&paste stuff from my blog without referencing back to me – thanks, but no thanks. Please be at least courteous to reference back to source.

Google Page Rank 2 is not much, but I think its a good start. This blog has been up almost a year now, and I can’t think of better present – well except one thing:

In right corner of the page there is Donate button and you all welcome to use it to help support the cite and allow to spend more time to improve and add new content. Even as much as $5 would be a welcome addition. As donation volume will improve I’ll consider removing advertisements from site entirely.

Thanks again to everyone and I hope I’ll still have time to blog this year.

Windows 7 natively supports Dual Screen Hi-Resolution Wallpapers

noreply@blogger.com (BoredSysAdmin) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 08:34:50 PDT

I’m happy to inform you my dear readers that Microsoft finally implemented support for dual-screen wallpaper in Windows 7 without use of tricks like XP’s splitting the image and using Web content controls to displace two separate images on each side.

Windows 7 makes this process a breeze – Simply pick your favorite hi-res picture (in my case 2560x1024 perfectly fit my work dual 17” lcd screens at 1280x1024 each) and select Tile in Picture Position.

That's it!

P.S:
For some great dual monitor 2560x1024 Wallpapers check links below:
http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~fine/Tech/desktop-images.html
http://www.prowallpapers.com/list/2560x1024/1
http://www.ewallpapers.eu/search_size/2560x1024-Dual-Monitor

Microsoft Windows XP and Network Level Authentication not supported – Real Solution [Not a way around]

noreply@blogger.com (BoredSysAdmin) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 07:44:36 PDT

Continuing series of my experiences with new Windows 7 I’d like to share solution for one more annoyance artificially created by our dear beloved Microsoft.

What is it Network Level Authentication ?

It’s a new and more secure way to establish RDP connection to remote host and which require less resources prior to completion of authentication process, thus making host more resilient to DDS attacks. Additional layers of encryption [TLS 1.0/FIPS 140-1&2] plus single-sign on is also a nice add-on.

Rumors have been around about Windows XP Service Pack 3 will enable ability to use NLA to connect to Vista/Windows 7/Windows 2008 Server hosts , but alas the miracle didn’t happened (almost).

Why almost? Because Microsoft did include required files to support NLA or more precisely it’s core component - the new Credential Security Support Provider (CredSSP) protocol, but “forgot” to enable it by default.

Luckily they left back door open to enable CredSSP on XP SP3, but it’s a bit tricky as it involves tweaking Windows Registry.

To enable NLA in XP machines; first install Windows XP SP3, then edit the registry settings on the XP client machine to allow NLA

Steps to Configure Network Level Authentication:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then press ENTER.
2. In the navigation pane, locate and then click the following registry subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa
3. In the details pane, right-click Security Packages, and then click Modify.
4. In the Value data box, type tspkg in new line. Leave any data that is specific to other SSPs, and then click OK.
5. In the navigation pane, locate and then click the following registry subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders
6. In the details pane, right-click SecurityProviders, and then click Modify.
7. In the Value data box, type credssp.dll . Leave any data that is specific to other SSPs, and then click OK. (add comma between last entry and credssp.dll)
8. Exit Registry Editor.
9. Restart the computer.

Now when you run remote desktop you will notice that Network Level Authentication is supported. To check this, right-click the top left hand corner of a remote desktop session and choose, Help > About

More info here and here

How to upgrade Window 7 Beta to RC/Retail [rTM] [Updated]

noreply@blogger.com (BoredSysAdmin) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 08:59:40 PDT

Here’s another fine example how Microsoft hates early software adapters – in order to upgrade to final retail version of newest operating system Windows 7 from it’s beta - MS suggests to downgrade to Windows Vista before upgrade ?! BOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Luckily for us they also give us geeks (aka IT experts) there is a way around operating system check during installation and here is the steps according to Microsoft, one will have to perform in order to bypass the OS verification.

Here’s what you can do to bypass the check for pre-release upgrade IF YOU REALLY REALLY NEED TO:

Download the ISO as you did previously and burn the ISO to a DVD.

Copy the whole image to a storage location you wish to run the upgrade from (a bootable flash drive or a directory on any partition on the machine running the pre-release build).

Browse to the sources directory.

Open the file cversion.ini in a text editor like Notepad.

Modify the MinClient build number to a value lower than the down-level build. For example, change 7100 to 7000 (pictured below).

Save the file in place with the same name.

Run setup like you would normally from this modified copy of the image and the version check will be bypassed.

These same steps will be required as we transition from the RC milestone to the RTM milestone.

Again, we know many people (including tens of thousands at Microsoft) are relying on the pre-release builds of Windows 7 for mission critical and daily work, making this step less than convenient. We’re working hard to provide the highest quality release we can and so we’d like to make sure for this final phase of testing we’re supporting the most real world scenarios possible, which incremental build to build upgrades are not. At the same time everyone on the beta has been so great we wanted to make sure we at least offered an opportunity to make your own expert and informed choice about how to handle the upgrade.

We’re always humbled by the excitement around the releases and by the support and enthusiasm from those that choose to run our pre-releases. We’re incredibly appreciative of the time and effort you put into doing so. In return we hope we are providing you with a great release to work with at each stage of the evolution of the product. Our next stop is the RC…see you there!

THANK YOU!

–Windows 7 Team

I ‘m going to try the procedure myself once the Windows 7 Release Candidate is out to see how it works.

Update:
I followed my own advice and updated my and my boss’s work pcs from Beta 7000 to RC 7100 without ANY issues. So workaround works. Confirmed.

Windows Server Administration Tools For windows 7 [Updated]

noreply@blogger.com (BoredSysAdmin) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 08:51:29 PDT

In case you got used to have DSA.MSC and DSite.MSC tools on you Windows XP workstation to manage Microsoft Windows 2003 Servers, and can’t live without them on your new Windows 7 Beta, unlike Windows Vista with got crappy batch file to fix broken install, Windows 7 gets its own Server Administration Package called:

Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7 [RC]

Which is basically same thing, but fully compatible to Windows 7.
Remember after finishing download & install, go to Control Panel/ Programs and features / “Turn Windows Features on or off” and Enable the tools you want from “Remote Server Administration Tools selection.

Enjoy!

P.S: Microsoft provided versions for both 32 and 64 bit systems.
P.S.S: I tried to install Adminpak.msi for Vista and fiddle with settings/permissions – Nothing really works – Don’t waste your time.

Update:
Original link was pointing to RSAT for beta, since then the tools updated for RC version.

Windows 7 (and Vista) Accelerated Wheel Scrolling Problem

noreply@blogger.com (BoredSysAdmin) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:12:17 PDT

Me and my boss decided to give Windows 7 Beta a test ride and the results are very positive for now, except very few small annoyances and one of them, like one mentioned in the title I’ll talk today.

Both Vertical and Horizontal scrolling works, but they weren’t accelerated. Not a huge deal, but once you had it working fine in Windows XP – I see no reason to give up and readjust.

It appears the problem can appear both in Logitech and Microsoft mice products and their corresponding drivers in current versions. Tweaking the settings 100 million times were fruitless, but as always solution was found on forums:

http://forums.techarena.in/vista-help/970194.htm#post4332525

In short version the idea is to switch your mouse driver with different one.

The solution worked perfectly, with only difference – I picked the Microsoft Sidewinder mouse, which is a perfect button wise match to my Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer 2.0 mouse, so I got all buttons to work plus I didn’t loose my horizontal scrolling – which I have to admit use very rarely.

P.S: Apparently the this way around applies only for Microsoft devices and its driver. Sorry Logitech owners…

If you found different fix and/or way around – don’t be shy and share with all of us