Knight-time Ramblings

Azure Cloud Shell - Profile Modifications for non-US Regions

noreply@blogger.com (stryqx) — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 03:46:00 +0000

Azure Cloud Shell is a handy tool, but some of the non-configurable/non-persistent defaults are annoying. en-US locale is one such setting - those date formats are truly awful.

Here's my approach to fix this for Powershell sessions by modifying the session profile. The prompt is modified to ensure the locale is set for each interactive prompt, as setting the CurrentCulture by itself doesn't persist for the session - just for the current pipeline :-(

mkdir -p ~/.config/PowerShell
@'
# Force Australian culture for the entire session
$newc = [System.Globalization.CultureInfo]::new("en-AU")
[System.Threading.Thread]::CurrentThread.CurrentCulture = $newc
[System.Threading.Thread]::CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture = $newc
[System.Globalization.CultureInfo]::CurrentCulture = $newc

# Override the prompt to re-apply culture before every command
function prompt {
    $newc = [System.Globalization.CultureInfo]::new("en-AU")
    [System.Threading.Thread]::CurrentThread.CurrentCulture = $newc
    "PS [en-AU] $($ExecutionContext.SessionState.Path.CurrentLocation)> "
}

# az-local helper to convert UTC to AEST
# examples:
#   List VMs with Local Times:
#     az vm list -o json | az-local | Format-Table Name, timeCreated
#   Check Resource Groups:
#     az group list -o json | az-local | ft name, tags

function az-local {
    param([Parameter(ValueFromPipeline)]$InputObject)
    process {
        $InputObject | ConvertFrom-Json | ForEach-Object {
            $obj = $_
            # Find any property containing 'time' or 'Date' and convert it
            $obj.PSObject.Properties | Where-Object { $_.Name -match "time|date" } | ForEach-Object {
                if ($_.Value -and $_.Value -is [string]) {
                    if ($dt = [datetime]::TryParse($_.Value, [ref][datetime]::MinValue)) {
                        $_.Value = [System.TimeZoneInfo]::ConvertTimeFromUtc([datetime]$_.Value, [System.TimeZoneInfo]::FindSystemTimeZoneById("AUS Eastern Standard Time")).ToString("dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss")
                    }
                }
            }
            $obj
        }
    }
}
'@ > $PROFILE
. $PROFILE

Modify 'en-AU' and 'AUS Eastern Standard Time' to match your regional settings.
The language tags to use can be found here - Available Language Packs for Windows | Microsoft Learn.
The timezones you can use can be found by running 'tzutil /l' on a Windows device and using the second line of each entry in the call to FindSystemTimeZoneById.

The az-local function helps you convert the UTC times that the 'az' commands generate. See the examples in the comment section in the code above on how to use this.

If your cloud sessions are ephemeral (no storage account mounted), then you'll need to copy-paste this each time you launch a cloud session.

Working Around the Broken Out-Of-The-Box Mess When Using Azure Cloud Shell for M365 Management

noreply@blogger.com (stryqx) — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 13:40:00 +0000

Azure Cloud Shell is a great idea, but it's that weird cousin no-one wants to associate with.

A perfect example is try accessing it with Device Code Flow blocked on the tenant and wanting to do something pretty simple, like view an Exchange mailbox using Get-EXOMailbox, and look at command output using your regional settings.

Microsoft's answer to the above is "get f*cked, this won't work out of the box and have fun deciphering the errors and navigating the wrong answers served up by AI chatbots". This is because at the end of the day, Microsoft don't properly test workflows when updating siloed components, nor do they document systems and components and workflows well, nor do they properly obsolete/deprecate their documentation (which means AI chatbot answers can suck hard). Unfortunately bolting on Copilot to everything in a vain attempt to make everything suck less won't work until they fix the primary root cause, which is concise + consistent + up-to-date documentation which is structured well.

The core problem is that the Az module is pre-loaded, in an effort to help you do something useful from the get-go. This is good, as it's pretty feature rich for most of the Azure components, but sucks if you're primarily trying to administer M365 resources such as Exchange Online or PowerShell.

First off, at some point you're going to see the following warning:

WARNING: You're using Az version x.x.x. The latest version of Az is y.y.y. Upgrade your Az modules using the following commands:
  Update-PSResource Az -WhatIf    -- Simulate updating your Az modules.
  Update-PSResource Az            -- Update your Az modules.

And the thing to realise here is this is meaningless in Azure Cloud Shell, as you cannot update the Az module. This should be an easy fix for the Az module maintainers by adding a test for $ENV:POWERSHELL_DISTRIBUTION_CHANNEL being set to 'CloudShell' and not printing the warning, but apparently this has been too difficult since it was reported in December 2024 and is still an open issue :-(

The next problem here is that launching 'Connect-ExchangeOnline' throws this really helpful error:

OperationStopped: ObjectStore transient error: Query executes failed. BatchStatusCode: PartialSuccess. Error message: .

I'll save you the hassle of figuring this out - the error's being raised because Cloud Shell can't launch an MFA-aware login dialog in a browser for you. Such a helpful error message. Even as a programmer it's completely and utterly useless, so whoever was responsible for that really shouldn't have been paid that week/month they were working on it. Complete incompetence.

It took a few extra chatbot prompts (in Google Gemini, because Copilot was being obtuse) to figure out how to get around this. The fix was to add -DisableWAM to the command:

Connect-ExchangeOnline -DisableWAM

And finally I was able to get a Powershell session to Exchange Online, although I did have to exempt the logged in user from the Conditional Access Policy blocking Device Code Flow first (a whole other blog post on how craptacular Conditional Access can be).

Right, time to examine those mailboxes - this should be easy!

Yeah, no.

This is what I got instead when trying to run 'Get-EXOMailbox':

Get-EXOMailbox: Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.OData.Core, Version=7.22.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35'. The located assembly's manifest definition does not match the assembly reference. (0x80131040)

Sigh, of course. I mean just working cleanly out of the box would be too much to ask for.

Again, Copilot started me on a wild goose chase, so I gave up on that and used Gemini again.

Gemini figured out the error was due to the fact that the Az module had loaded an older version of Microsoft.OData.Core, and that the ExchangeOnlineManagement module was unable to load the newer version.

After some persistence by telling Gemini to ignore the -UserPrincipalName parameter and to add the -DisableWAM parameter, Gemini was able to provide me with a function that launches PowerShell as a child process with no profile, allowing me to load the ExchangeOnlineManagement module cleanly without the Az module pollution, and to enter the interactive prompt in the child process.

I then fleshed out the function to get rid of the idiotic US date formats and to also bring back PSReadLine, because no-one wants to revisit their 80's tty experience :-)

With all that said and done, here is the function:

function Connect-EXOClean {

    pwsh -NoProfile -Command {
        
        # Set culture to en-AU
        $newc = [System.Globalization.CultureInfo]::new("en-AU")
        [System.Threading.Thread]::CurrentThread.CurrentCulture = $newc
        [System.Threading.Thread]::CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture = $newc
        [System.Globalization.CultureInfo]::CurrentCulture = $newc

        # PSReadLine is kinda handy
        Import-Module PSReadLine
        Import-Module ExchangeOnlineManagement -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
        
        try {
            Write-Host "Connecting to Exchange Online (WAM Disabled)..." -ForegroundColor Cyan
            
            Connect-ExchangeOnline -DisableWAM
            
            Write-Host "`n--- ISOLATED SESSION ACTIVE ---" -ForegroundColor Green
            Write-Host "Type 'exit' to disconnect and return to Cloud Shell." -ForegroundColor Yellow
            
            # Enter the interactive sub-prompt
            $Host.EnterNestedPrompt()
        }
        finally {
            # This block runs even if the session crashes or you exit the nested prompt
            Write-Host "`nClosing Exchange session safely..." -ForegroundColor Gray
            Disconnect-ExchangeOnline -Confirm:$false
        }
    }
}

To use, type in 'Connect-EXOClean', and when you're finished, type in 'exit'.

Feel free to change 'en-AU' for your local region/culture, so your EXO commands return dates/times in your format and not en-US.

Hope this helps others who'd like to use Azure Cloud Shell for M365 management without constantly having to fight it.

Fixing the Piece of Sh*t that is OneDrive on Azure Virtual Desktop when the Profile Disk Inevitably Corrupts

noreply@blogger.com (stryqx) — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 08:27:00 +0000

Profile Disks with FSLogix and Cloud Cache-only (due to lack of Azure AD-only support for Azure Files) can be pretty crappy, given FSLogix provides no pre-mount or post-mount offline chkdsk to ensure file system integrity of the profile volume. This lack of integrity checking invariably breaks things, such as OneDrive sync, which relies on a clean file system. Performing the offline chkdsk is made harder due to the fact the FSLogix VHDX won't mount using Powershell/Disk Manager/diskpart, so the only option is to use an AVD session host to log in to the impacted user, and performing a force-unmount chkdsk of the profile disk that's loaded for the impacted user.

Sometimes the profile is so borked it won't mount. The only option at this point is to look in C:\ProgramData\Fslogix\Cache for the impacted user, then copy an older .VHDX and .meta file for the impacted user back into the blob storage container used for the cloud cache (can check all the session hosts for different versions), or recreate the profile by renaming/deleting the blob storage container used by the impacted user.

TODO: weekly/monthly copy of the cached profiles to a separate Azure VM/storage disk, as this is easier than implementing a backup system for page blobs, given Microsoft can't be bothered providing a backup/restore framework for this.

Have the impacted user log into an AVD session host

Create a text file named '<user>.txt' in the user's profile folder

Make sure all apps are closed (browsers, Office, OneDrive)

Don't bother with ondrive.exe /reset - it rarely fixes the problem, as it doesn't do a proper reset

Log on to the AVD session host as an admin user

From an elevated Command Prompt, run 'mountvol'

You'll need to iterate over the entries listed as NO MOUNT POINTS

dir \\?\Volume{GUID}\\Profile

^ - if it's a profile disk, the first line with show 'Volume in drive \\?\Volume{GUID} is Profile-<user>', and the profile folder contents should list the '<user>.txt' file created earlier

Once you've identified the impacted user profile, run 'chkdsk /f \\?\Volume{GUID}'

^ - Answer Y to a force dismount

Chkdsk will repair the NTFS volume, fixing the underlying problem preventing OneDrive to sync and also fixing up any Office-related file system corruption

Sign out and sign back in to the impacted user on an AVD session host

Quit OneDrive and any other Office apps

Control Panel > User Accounts > Credential Manager > Windows Credentials

- Remove any Microsoft_OneDrive entries and Office entries

- Only virtualapp/didlogical needs to be there

Use Task Manager to end explorer.exe for the impacted user

Run Regedit from Task Manager > File > Run New Task

- Rename HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\OneDrive to OneDrive.OLD

- Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace and delete the GUID entries for the OneDrive tenant entries ("OneDrive - <M365 name>" and "<M365 name>")

Run CMD from Task Manager > File > Run New Task

- Cd c:\Users\<user>

- Ren "<M365 name>" "<M365 name>.OLD"

- Ren "OneDrive - <M365 name>" "OneDrive - <M365 name>.OLD"

- ^ - gets the old OneDrive folders out of the way

- Cd AppData

- ren Local\OneDrive OneDrive.OLD

- ^ gets rid of old cache + settings

Run explorer from Task Manager > File > Run New Task

The desktop shell will come back up, and now you can re-run OneDrive, sign in as the user and re-sync user content and sync document libraries.

Fixing Exchange Admin Center > Mail Flow > Rules in Incognito Mode

noreply@blogger.com (stryqx) — Thu, 09 Dec 2021 06:24:00 +0000

Yet another example of Microsoft's inability to provide a polished implementation of, well, anything.

To overcome the HTTP 500 Something Went Wrong frame you get when trying to access Exchange Admin Center > Mail Flow > Rules in Incognito Mode, Microsoft helpfully mention that this is a problem in a yellow info banner and to fix this enable third-party cookies. Yep, all of them. Hmm, no thanks.

To save you some time, here's the cookies you need to add to the allow list:

chrome://settings/cookies

Sites that can always use cookies:

[*.]microsoft.com

[*.]microsoftonline.com

[*.]office.com

outlook.office365.com

You'll still get the yellow info banner, but at least the Rules will now be displayed.

Fixing DISM /restorehealth Issues on Windows 10, Server 2016 / 2019

noreply@blogger.com (stryqx) — Thu, 01 Jul 2021 08:20:00 +0000

My notes on repairing broken systems that no longer install updates.

When /restorehealth fails, check the following:

Perform chkdsk /f on Boot volume

Clear \Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download after stopping Windows Update service

Set UseWUServer to 0 in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU if WSUS is being used

Perform DISM /startcomponentcleanup to see if superseded component is causing the problem

Perform DISM /restorehealth to see if problem is fixed

Examine C:\WINDOWS\Logs\DISM\dism.log for errors

Examine C:\WINDOWS\Logs\CBS\CBS.log for errors, especially missing Catalogs

Perform Google Search for associated KB Articles/Updates for missing catalogs

Download update from Microsoft Update Catalog site

Unpack the update with the following command:

Expand <update>.msu -f:* c:\temp

Add the update package to the SxS store with the following command:

Dism /online /add-package /packagepath=c:\temp\<update>.cab

If the missing catalogs are no longer present, or are horribly broken, remove from registry

- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Component Based Servicing\Packages

- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Component Based Servicing\PackageDetect

- Backup/export keys first!

- Search for package as well; search on the package listed in CBS.log as 'CBS Catalog missing'

- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Component Based Servicing\ComponentDetect

- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Component Based Servicing\PackageIndex

- The reference link for the CBS registry edits - Windows 10 V1703: Fix for DISM error 0x800F081F

STOP 0x74 on Windows Virtual Machines

noreply@blogger.com (stryqx) — Wed, 27 Jan 2021 07:28:00 +0000

So I've been running into this a fair bit of late.

After chasing down the rabbit hole on the first one, worrying about virtual disk corruption, malware, legacy drivers (it was a P2V image), underlying host physical memory problems, the resolution was surprisingly simple - increase the virtual machine startup memory by 1GB.

Turns out the boot-time drivers had increased in number/size (looking at you anti-malware drivers) and the dynamic memory boot-time driver doesn't kick in early enough to allow the SYSTEM registry hive to be loaded properly.

So if you run across this in a virtual setting check the VM's startup memory size and bump it up.

RDP to Windows 7/8.1/10 - "An Internal Error Has Occurred" or Black Screen Upon Connection

noreply@blogger.com (stryqx) — Wed, 27 Jan 2021 07:20:00 +0000

I've had this error pop up from time to time. Most of the time turning off Persistent Bitmap Caching fixes the problem.

It can also fix the problem where you initiate an RDP connection but are presented with a black screen but a fully functional RDP session (confirmed if you use an RMM tool/VNC on the server to shadow the RDP session).

Or for those of you who like to edit saved .RDP files in Notepad:

bitmapcachepersistenable:i:0

Windows Server Essentials 2016 In-Place Upgrade

noreply@blogger.com (stryqx) — Tue, 02 Jan 2018 23:57:00 +0000

If anyone else is dumb enough like me to in-place upgrade their 2012 R2 Essentials install to 2016 Essentials, then there's some extra steps you'll need to take:

After the first reboot, log in, try to open the Dashboard, then leave the login for 30-45 minutes. This should be long enough for .NET Framework to compile the necessary assemblies. Don't try anything else at this point. Reboot.
Get the latest Cumulative Update installed by downloading it from the Windows Update Catalog. Most of the problems I encountered were due to way too many bugs shipped with the RTM build.
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows Server\Logs needs Modify access for the NetworkService account
You may need to reinstall the Essentials Connector for all clients, but especially for an On Premises Exchange Server. You'll also want to disable then enable the Exchange Server Integration.
You'll need to make a backup of HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Server
You'll then need to change the assemblies version from 6.3.0.0 to 10.0.0.0 under this key (i.e. look for Version=6.3.0.0 and change to Version=10.0.0.0)
You'll need to restore the Disabled Tasks under Microsoft\Windows\Windows Server Essentials

Backup Cleanup, Consistency Check, Macintosh Status Check and Save CEIP Data all have invalid Triggers and Actions
You'll need to get these settings from a clean 2016 Essentials install

Set Up a Sophos Access Point on a Sophos Firewall in a Different Subnet

noreply@blogger.com (stryqx) — Tue, 02 Jan 2018 23:42:00 +0000

My first experience with a Sophos Access Point was a painful affair, as the Access Point (an AP55) was on a subnet sitting behind a separate router and the subnet’s DHCP server wasn’t the XG Firewall.

After way too much mucking around I finally came across the following article:
How to troubleshoot registration issues for the Sophos Access Point

The upshot was to add Option 234 to the DHCP scope, with Option 234 pointing to the IP address of the XG Firewall you want the Access Point to register with.

For completeness I also placed the Access Point onto the same subnet as the XG Firewall and it also failed to register with the XG Firewall, as the DHCP server for the subnet was a Windows server. After adding Option 234 to the DHCP scope the AP55 showed up on the XG Firewall.

Throttle WSUS Bandwidth During Business Hours

noreply@blogger.com (stryqx) — Thu, 03 Sep 2015 11:56:00 +0000

I keep forgetting the appcmd syntax to set/unset maxBandwidth so I can throttle overall WSUS downloads. This gives me the benefit of reducing link congestion during business hours, and providing maximum link utilization out of hours.

rem Apply Bandwidth throttle to WSUS Administration site

%SYSTEMROOT%\System32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe set config -section:system.applicationHost/sites "/[name='WSUS Administration'].limits.maxBandwidth:76800" /commit:apphost

rem Remove Bandwidth throttle from WSUS Administration site

%SYSTEMROOT%\System32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe clear config -section:system.applicationHost/sites "/[name='WSUS Administration'].limits" /commit:apphost

Pop the first one into a script and use Task Scheduler to turn it on prior to business hours. Pop the second one into a script and use Task Scheduler to turn it off after business hours. You could of course use the first script with a higher maxBandwidth setting if you want out of hours to still be throttled, just not so much as business hours.

Creating a Bootable Mac OS X Mavericks ISO

noreply@blogger.com (stryqx) — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 23:39:00 +0000

I'm never going to remember this next time I have to do it - saving it for posterity (and the ability for me to find it easily).
The original reference is found at http://forums.appleinsider.com/t/159955/howto-create-bootable-mavericks-iso#post_2412005. Thanks CrEOF!

# Mount the installer image

hdiutil attach /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app/Contents/SharedSupport/InstallESD.dmg -noverify -nobrowse -mountpoint /Volumes/install_app

# Convert the boot image to a sparse bundle
hdiutil convert /Volumes/install_app/BaseSystem.dmg -format UDSP -o /tmp/Mavericks

# Increase the sparse bundle capacity to accommodate the packages
hdiutil resize -size 8g /tmp/Mavericks.sparseimage

# Mount the sparse bundle for package addition
hdiutil attach /tmp/Mavericks.sparseimage -noverify -nobrowse -mountpoint /Volumes/install_build

# Remove Package link and replace with actual files
rm /Volumes/install_build/System/Installation/Packages
cp -rp /Volumes/install_app/Packages /Volumes/install_build/System/Installation/

# Unmount the installer image
hdiutil detach /Volumes/install_app

# Unmount the sparse bundle
hdiutil detach /Volumes/install_build

# Resize the partition in the sparse bundle to remove any free space

hdiutil resize -size `hdiutil resize -limits /tmp/Mavericks.sparseimage | tail -n 1 | awk '{ print $1 }'`b /tmp/Mavericks.sparseimage

# Convert the sparse bundle to ISO/CD master
hdiutil convert /tmp/Mavericks.sparseimage -format UDTO -o /tmp/Mavericks

# Remove the sparse bundle
rm /tmp/Mavericks.sparseimage

# Rename the ISO and move it to the desktop
mv /tmp/Mavericks.cdr ~/Desktop/Mavericks.iso

Reset 30 Day Grace Timer for Windows XP/Windows Server 2003

noreply@blogger.com (stryqx) — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 11:25:00 +0000

I had to do this today as part of recovering a system from hardware failure. This won't be the last time I'll have to do this, so documented for the next time...

rundll32.exe syssetup,SetupOobeBnk

iOS 3CXPhone Settings for Internode

noreply@blogger.com (stryqx) — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 11:21:00 +0000

This is the 3CXPhone profile settings on my wife’s iPhone 4S to connect to her Internode NodePhone account (so I don’t forget it for next time):

Name: Internode
Display: Internode
Username: <NodePhone number>
ID: <NodePhone number>
Password: <NodePhone password>
Internal PBX Address: 203.2.134.1
External PBX Address: 203.2.134.1

Microsoft Online Speed Test Alternative

noreply@blogger.com (stryqx) — Mon, 06 May 2013 00:39:00 +0000

I keep forgetting this, but the old Microsoft Online Speed Test tool that was at http://speedtest.microsoftonline.com/ is no longer active.
The alternative tool to use is the Office365 Lync Online Transport Reliability IP Probe (TRIPP) tool, located here:

Amsterdam, NL: http://trippams.online.lync.com
Blue Ridge, VA: http://trippbl2.online.lync.com
Dublin, IE: http://trippdb3.online.lync.com
Hong Kong: http://tripphkn.online.lync.com
San Antonio, TX: http://trippsn2.online.lync.com
Singapore: http://trippsg1.online.lync.com

This tool performs the same set of tests that the now defunct Speed Test tool did. Oh, and Java is required to run the tests, so make sure your Java install is up-to-date with the Web plugin enabled.

Can’t Start Hyper-V VMs with Event ID 12140, 12010 and 12030

noreply@blogger.com (stryqx) — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 09:12:00 +0000

Had a few Hyper-V host systems today that after rebooting failed to restart the VMs that were set to auto-restart. No updates had been installed – the reboots were due to power environment changes.

Attempting to restart them from Hyper-V Manager simply resulted in the VM status quickly changing from Off to Starting then back to Off.

Digging though the Event Logs (Applications and Service Logs | Microsoft | Windows | Hyper-V-Worker | Admin) resulted in this:

Log Name: Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-Worker-Admin Source: Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-Worker Date: 4/02/2013 1:42:57 PM Event ID: 12140 Description: 'hyper-vm1': Failed to open attachment 'E:\hyper-v\VHDs\hyper-vm1.vhd'. Error: 'A device attached to the system is not functioning.' (0x8007001F). (Virtual machine ID 9F3157AA-4875-45C5-BAE4-3D7D5C432B8A)

Log Name: Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-Worker-Admin Source: Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-Worker Date: 4/02/2013 1:42:57 PM Event ID: 12010 Description: 'hyper-vm1' Microsoft Emulated IDE Controller (Instance ID {83F8638B-8DCA-4152-9EDA-2CA8B33039B4}): Failed to Power on with Error 'A device attached to the system is not functioning.' (0x8007001F). (Virtual machine ID 9F3157AA-4875-45C5-BAE4-3D7D5C432B8A)

Log Name: Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-Worker-Admin Source: Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-Worker Date: 4/02/2013 1:42:57 PM Event ID: 12030 Description: 'hyper-vm1' failed to start. (Virtual machine ID 9F3157AA-4875-45C5-BAE4-3D7D5C432B8A)

And this one from Hyper-V-VMMS/Admin (Applications and Service Logs | Microsoft | Windows | Hyper-V-VMMS | Admin):

Log Name: Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-VMMS-Admin Source: Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-VMMS Date: 4/02/2013 1:37:05 PM Event ID: 14098 Description: 'Storage Virtualization Service Provider' driver required by the Virtual Machine Management service is not installed or is disabled. Check your settings or try reinstalling the Hyper-V role.

It was this second one that helped me track down the problem. I subsequently found Microsoft Knowledgebase Article 2013544 which listed a similar scenario and recommended changing the FSDepends driver from Manual start to Boot start as follows:

Start Registry Editor
Navigate to the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\FsDepends
Under the FsDepends key, change REG_DWORD value “Start” from 3 to 0
Restart the server

The reason is supposedly due to a timing issue between FSDepends.sys (nested volume dependency management driver) and VHDMP.sys (VHD parser and dependency property provider driver), typically triggered by third party backup programs that load tape drivers. This wasn’t the case in my situation, but changing FsDepends from Manual start to Boot start ended up resolving my VM startup problem.

Installing .NET Framework 3.5 on Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8

noreply@blogger.com (stryqx) — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 07:53:00 +0000

If you're getting an installation error code of 0x800F0906 while trying to install .NET Framework 3.5 on a Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012 system, it's because the initial installation source isn't available and you're most likely using WSUS without an appropriate Group Policy Object to redirect to an alternate installation path.

There are a few ways of handling this - use the installation media and DISM to install it, set up a GPO to use Windows Update as an alternate installation path, or copy the WinSxS folder off the install media to a network share and configuring a GPO to use this share as an alternate installation path.

If you have the installation media and you need to only do this for a single PC, then the following command will work:

dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:NetFX3 /Source:D:\sources\sxs

You may need to replace D: with the drive letter containing the installation media.

To configure a GPO to use Windows Update, open up Group Policy Management, create and edit a new GPO. Go to Computer Configuration, Policies, Administrative Templates, System. Open up "Specify settings for optional component installation and component repair", change the setting from Not Configured to Enabled and tick "Contact Windows Update directly to download repair content instead of Windows Server Update Services (WSUS)". Click OK, close the Group Policy Management Editor window and link the GPO to an appropriate container in AD, then run gpupdate /force on the affected computer.

If you want to configure a GPO to use a network share, copy the \sources\sxs folder from either a Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012 DVD/ISO to an appropriate location on a server (e.g. \\server\install\win8sxs), then create and edit a new GPO as outlined above. Instead of enabling the WSUS option though, put the network path to the SxS folder in the field for "Alternate source file path".

Microsoft also have a knowledge base article on this here - Error codes when you try to install the .NET Framework 3.5 in Windows 8 or in Windows Server 2012

Microsoft Camera Codec Pack Update for Windows 8 and Windows 8 RT – Woot!

noreply@blogger.com (stryqx) — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 00:28:00 +0000

Microsoft have released an update for Windows 8 and Windows 8 RT that provides support for device-specific RAW formats, allowing you to preview these files in Explorer as well as display them in any program that uses the Windows Imaging Codecs.

The Microsoft Camera Codec Pack provides support for the following device formats:

Canon: Digital Rebel XT, Digital Rebel XTi, EOS 10D, EOS 20D, EOS 30D, EOS 40D, EOS 50D Digital, EOS 60D, EOS 300D, EOS 350D, EOS 400D, EOS 450D, EOS 500D, EOS 550D, EOS 600D, EOS 1000D, EOS 1100D, EOS 5D, EOS 5D Mark II, EOS 5D Mark III, EOS 7D Digital, EOS D30, EOS D60, EOS Digital Rebel, EOS Kiss Digital, EOS Kiss Digital N, EOS Kiss Digital X, EOS Kiss F, EOS Kiss X2, EOS Kiss X3, EOS Kiss X4, EOS Kiss X5, EOS Kiss X50, EOS Rebel T1i, EOS Rebel T2i, EOS Rebel T3, EOS Rebel T3i, EOS Rebel XS, EOS Rebel XSi, EOS-1D, EOS-1D Mark II, EOS-1D Mark II N, EOS-1D Mark III, EOS-1D Mark IV, EOS-1Ds, EOS-1Ds Mark II, EOS-1Ds Mark III, PowerShot G2, PowerShot G3, PowerShot G5, PowerShot G6, PowerShot G9, PowerShot G10, PowerShot G11, PowerShot Pro1, PowerShot S90, PowerShot S95, PowerShot SX1 IS
Nikon: 1 J1, 1 V1, Coolpix P6000, D1H, D2H, D2Hs, D2X, D2Xs, D3, D3s, D3X, D4, D40, D40x, D50, D60, D70, D70s, D80, D90, D100, D200, D300, D300s, D700, D800, D800E, D3000, D3100, D3200, D5000, D5100, D7000
Sony: DSLR-A100, DSLR-A200, DSLR-A230, DSLR-A300, DSLR-A330, DSLR-A350, DSLR-A380, DSLR-A500, DSLR-A550, DSLR-A560, DSLR-A580, DSLR-A700, DSLR-A850, DSLR-A900, Alpha NEX-3, Alpha NEX-5, Alpha NEX-5N, Alpha SLT-A55/A55V, Cyber-shot DSC-R1
Olympus: C-7070 Wide Zoom, C-8080 Wide Zoom, E-1, E-3, E-10, E-20, E-30, E-420, E-450, E-520, E-620, EVOLT E-300, EVOLT E-330, EVOLT E-400, EVOLT E-410, EVOLT E-500, EVOLT E-510, PEN E-P1, PEN E-P2, PEN E-PL1
Pentax (PEF formats only): *ist D, *ist DL, *ist DS, K10D, K20D, K100D, K100D Super, K110D, K200D, K-5, K-7, K-r, K-x
Leica: DIGILUX 3, D-LUX 4, M8, M8.2, M9
Konica Minolta: ALPHA-7 DIGITAL, DiMAGE A1, DiMAGE A2, DYNAX 7D, Maxxum 7D
Epson: R-D1
Panasonic: Lumix DMC-G1, Lumix DMC-GH1, Lumix DMC-GF1, Lumix DMC-LX3, Lumix DMC-LX5
Casio: EX-FH20
Kodak: EasyShare Z981, EasyShare Z1015 IS
Samsung: NX11

The update can be downloaded from here:

An update that adds Microsoft Camera Codec Pack support to Windows 8 and Windows RT is available

Hyper-V Integration Components for FreeBSD – Patchfiles

noreply@blogger.com (stryqx) — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 10:22:00 +0000

Call me old fashioned, but I’d much prefer a patchset than having to install a version control package and suck down a source code check out. So please find a patchset for the Hyper-V integration components for the following versions of FreeBSD:

FreeBSD 8.2 Hyper-V Integration Components Patchset

FreeBSD 8.3 Hyper-V Integration Components Patchset

FreeBSD 9.0 Hyper-V Integration Components Patchset

FreeBSD 9.1-BETA1 Hyper-V Integration Components Patchset

Download the patchset, then issue:

patch –p –d /usr/src < <patchsetfile>

to patch the source tree, followed by:

cd /usr/src; make kernel KERNCONF=HYPERV_VM INSTKERNNAME=kernel.HYPERV

to install the Hyper-V enabled kernel to /boot/kernel.HYPERV.

Before booting to the Hyper-V enabled kernel it’s best to use GEOM labels to mount the partitions. Follow the instructions here to do this. This makes it easy for you to quickly swap between a Hyper-V enabled kernel and a non-Hyper-V enabled kernel – the reason being the Fast IDE storage driver presents itself as a SCSI driver, changing the device node path which prevents /etc/fstab from working correctly.

It’s worth noting that although I’ve fixed the modules from compiling (compared with the git clone source I pulled down), loading them from a non-Hyper-V enabled kernel will cause a kernel panic. So you need the integration components compiled into the kernel via the HYPERV kernel option.

The other problem I’ve found is that the network driver mostly works for UDP traffic, but regularly stalls on TCP traffic. Hadn’t had a chance to debug it yet.

Very happy with the increased disk performance, the ability to get heartbeat information and the ability to cleanly shut down the guests from the Hyper-V host. Looking forward to KVP communication and a working network driver.

Hyper-V Integration Components for FreeBSD 8.2 has landed!

noreply@blogger.com (stryqx) — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 06:47:00 +0000

The Microsoft Openness Blog has just announced that the github repository for FreeBSD 8.2 Hyper-V integration components is now live! This is currently a public beta for evaluation purposes only, so expect some rough edges still.

Instructions for compiling the source code and installing the drivers can be found here. There’s also a mailing list for suggestions and code improvement.

This gives us heartbeat, time sync, shutdown and accelerated network, IDE and SCSI drivers for FreeBSD 8.2 on Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2008 R2 with the Hyper-V role. It’s a pity that this won’t land in time for inclusion into FreeBSD 9.1, but it would be good to see it hit –current and –stable in time for any subsequent releases.

Guess what I’m doing over the weekend? :-)

Agentless Bandwidth Testing on Windows

noreply@blogger.com (stryqx) — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 22:18:00 +0000

I needed BWping and HTTPing running on Windows for bandwidth and latency testing of some 3G WAN tails so I compiled them using Cygwin. They can be found here and here respectively.

I find QCheck to be a nice tool for bandwidth testing on Windows systems, but it does require a Windows system either side of the link you’re testing.

Null Routes on Windows 7

noreply@blogger.com (stryqx) — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 08:48:00 +0000

Null routes are a useful way to quickly discard packets from an unwanted address or network, especially when you’ve not got immediate or any access to the upstream/gateway router.

I had a client PC that was being hammered over a port forward from a router I had no administrative control. I logged a support request for the upstream router, but rather than wait two days to chase up the request, I added a null route to the client PC.

Typically I add a route to a non-existent IP on the network, but the upstream router was intercepting the ARP requests for the non-existent IP and forwarding on the packet.

I then tried adding a route for the host to point to the loopback address (127.0.0.1), but got a “The route addition failed: The parameter is incorrect” error. Helpful.

After trial and error I got the null route working by specifying the current default gateway address and the software loopback interface like this:

route -p add <IP address> mask 255.255.255.2555 <gateway address> if 1

You may need to use route print to check to see that the interface number for the loopback interface is 1. If the number isn’t 1, then use that number instead of 1 above.

If you’re looking at null routing for sshd/OpenSSH/RDP, then have a look at the ServerFault entries here and here.

Recovering from WinRM Authentication Lockout

noreply@blogger.com (stryqx) — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 09:36:00 +0000

If like me you’re silly enough to lock yourself out of WinRM by removing Kerberos and Negotiate authentication from the WinRM client, you’ll find it a bit difficult to reset the WinRM configuration, because WinRM uses itself to modify the configuration and reset itself (winrm invoke restore).

I wasn’t particularly interested in performing a restore on my laptop, so I went hunting for the registry location for WinRM’s client configuration. The best TechNet could provide me with was “The configuration information is stored in the registry” which is pretty crap, even by Microsoft’s standards.

Resorting to a registry search – thankfully I had added the remote end to the TrustedHosts list – I came up with the registry location:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WSMAN\Client

Setting auth_kerberos and auth_negotiate to 1

and restarting the Windows Remote Management (WS-Management) service got me up and going again.

Useful Network Connectivity Tool

noreply@blogger.com (stryqx) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 09:57:00 +0000

Off the back of my previous Windows Server Developer Preview problem I also came across the Microsoft Internet Connectivity Evaluation Tool. Quite useful for determining the NAT capability, ECN capability, TCP throughput, UPnP capability and multiple connection capability of your router.

Windows Server 8 Developer Preview - Networking Problem

noreply@blogger.com (stryqx) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 09:49:00 +0000

So I fired up a copy on a spare whitebox only to find HTTP and SMB outbound traffic timing out. Bizarrely ping and traceroute were working, so ICMP and UDP were working, as was inbound SMB connections – just not outbound. Did the usual tricks – upgrade network drivers, disabled NIC-based offloading and modified the usual suspects via netsh (Task Offload, Chimney Offload, RWIN tuning) to no avail.

It this point I compared the ‘netsh int tcp show global’ and ‘netsh int ip show global’ outputs with the defaults from a Windows Server 2008 R2 box and noticed that ‘ECN Capability’ in the TCP Global Parameters for Windows Server 8 Developer Preview was Enabled. I set this to disabled using:

netsh int tcp set global ecn=disabled

and outbound connectivity was established.

Images Are Fixed Now

noreply@blogger.com (stryqx) — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 14:37:00 +0000

I've restored all the blog images now. Did I mention I hate Picasa Albums?