Matt Williamson's Blog

Create A Windows Right-Click Context Menu Shell Integration Item

Matt Williamson — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:53:00 GMT

I just installed Notepad++ on my win7 box and despite checking the 'Context Menu Entry' option during setup it fails to appear when I right-click files. It's easy enough to add yourself (on Windows 7, XP or Vista) with a few registry entries:

Run regedit.exe
Expand HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*
Right click shell and add a new key called Notepad++ or whatever you want.
Right click your new key and add another key called command.
Double-click the (Default) value in command to add the following path as the value data:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Notepad++\notepad++.exe" %1

Don't Install Virtual PC 2007 SP1 on Windows 7

Matt Williamson — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:27:00 GMT

You'll need to uninstall Microsoft's Virtual PC 2007 Service Pack 1 on your Win7 machine if you see the following errors:

Cannot start Windows Virtual PC Host Process

Virtual PC 2007 SP1 is not supported on this version of Windows.

HP ProLiant Server Motherboard Batteries

Matt Williamson — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:58:00 GMT

It's pretty tough finding the right motherboard battery if you don't have the dead one in hand. I couldn't find much information on the web and I tried to look on the motherboard for the battery code but couldn't find that either. Finally figured it out...

HP DL585 G1, G2 - CR2032 Battery
HP DL360 G1 - CR2032 Battery
HP DL380 G1 - CR2450 Battery

HP 5i Smart Array Windows Server 2008 R2 No Device Driver Found

Matt Williamson — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:41:00 GMT

I'm installing Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 on an HP DL585 G1 server with a built-in Smart Array 5i RAID controller. But during setup the installation routine doesn't recognize any of the logical drives configured on the 5i controller. I browsed to the HP site and found the corresponding download page (below), chose the appropriate operating system and downloaded the device driver executable. I ran the .exe and extracted the files to a local folder and then burned them to CD. I then inserted the disk in the server and clicked the 'Have Disk' button, browsed to the correct device driver and continued with installation.

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/DriverDownload.jsp?prodNameId=266599&lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=329290&prodSeriesId=374803&taskId=135

I guess it's worth noting that the BIOS definitely recognized both of my RAID controllers (6400 and 5i) as I was able to configure both. But only the 6400 devices were visible during Windows installation, until I used the drivers disk as noted above, which actually contains both the 6400 and 5i drivers.

PS - Used ImgBurn to burn the files to disk, a great free utility!

Windows 7 Juniper Remote Desktop Error

Matt Williamson — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:31:00 GMT

If you use Juniper and you've recently upgraded to Windows 7, you might receive the following error:

Windows Terminal Server Proxy. An internal state error has occurred. The remote session will be disconnected. Your local computer might be low on memory.

Don't worry, you're not low on memory! Just enable less secure remote desktop connections on your Win7 machine:

Network access for Distributed Transaction Manager (MSDTC) has been disabled.

Matt Williamson — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:23:00 GMT

A local winform application is blowing up on me with the following errors:

System.Transactions.TransactionManagerCommunicationException: Network access for Distributed Transaction Manager (MSDTC) has been disabled. Please enable DTC for network access in the security configuration for MSDTC using the Component Services Administrative tool. ---> System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x8004D024): The transaction manager has disabled its support for remote/network transactions. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x8004D024)

System.Transactions.TransactionManagerCommunicationException: Communication with the underlying transaction manager has failed. ---> System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x8004D02B): The MSDTC transaction manager was unable to pull the transaction from the source transaction manager due to communication problems. Possible causes are: a firewall is present and it doesn't have an exception for the MSDTC process, the two machines cannot find each other by their NetBIOS names, or the support for network transactions is not enabled for one of the two transaction managers. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x8004D02B)

Modify your Local DTC Properties

Open Component Services.
Computers -> My Computer -> Distributed Transaction Coordinator -> Local DTC -> Properties.
Security Tab -> Enable Network DTC Access, Allow Remote Clients, Allow Inbound, Allow Outbound, No Authentication Required.

Verify Windows Firewall Access

Control Panel -> System and Security -> Allow a program through Windows Firewall -> Allow Distributed Transaction Coordinator for your domain and/or local network.

If this issue pops up again in the future, make sure your domain's GROUP POLICY isn't overriding your settings!

Outlook 2007 "No Default Mail Client" Error

Matt Williamson — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:36:00 GMT

I was forced to install Office 2003 after I had already installed Office 2007 and when I launched Outlook this morning it bombed out with:

"Either there is no default mail client or the current mail client cannot fulfill the messaging request. Please run Microsoft Office Outlook and set it as the default mail client."

An error launching Outlook, what a way to start the week ;) At least the fix was easy and, actually, it was unusually satisfying. It's not often that running some diagnostic utility actually fixes the problem. Run the Microsoft Office Diagnostics tool from the start menu and it will identify and fix the problem. Outlook 2007 will then start normally.

Windows 7 Domain Client Login Error

Matt Williamson — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:17:00 GMT

I added my Win7 laptop to my new domain and was prompted to reboot. After restarting, I entered my domain credentials and my logon failed with the following error:

"The security database on the server does not have a computer for this workstation trust relationship."

Huh? So I had to login with my local credentials and do some Google searches. I found a post saying to check the local Administrators group members and delete anything that looked suspicious. Sure enough, something wasn't right:

So I deleted that mystery user, removed the computer from the domain. Restarted. Logged back in, tried again and unfortunately the same thing happened. I was stumped for a while before I discovered the problem...

After adding the machine to the domain, restarting, and logging in as a domain user the network utility was defaulting to my old wireless network which was using the same exact domain name. The fix was to remove the computer from the domain and then, before re-adding it to the domain, delete all wireless networking settings except for the correct network.

Visual Studio 2008 Team Foundation Work Item Error

Matt Williamson — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:37:00 GMT

I just finished setting up my Windows 7 workstation. I installed VS2008 Development Edition, SP1 and then the VS2008 TFS Team Explorer. I went to open up my work items and received the following error message:

"Could not load type 'Microsoft.TeamFoundation.WorkItemTracking.Client.WorkItemTypeDeniedOrNotExistException'"

It seems I should have installed the Team Explorer before I installed Visual Studio 2008 SP1. Re-installing SP1 solved the issue.

http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=356083

The CheckedListBox Control: A Microsoft Blunder

Matt Williamson — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:27:00 GMT

I'm developing a new .NET 3.5 winform application and in a preferences dialog there is a group of options that will be selected with checkboxes. I opened up the toolbox and started the cursor towards a GroupBox control when I noticed the newer CheckedListBox and thought, "Man, it sure is nice having the latest development tools, I bet this is the better way to do it."

So I create the control and fill it with the dozen or so checked preferences I need. Then, imagine this crazy scenario, I want to iterate through the checkboxes! I retrieve the preferences from the database and now I want to check each box that should be checked. After trying, failing, and then researching the issue it turns out:

The CheckedListBox Items property is not a collection of CheckBox controls, and can't be cast as one either.
The CheckedListBox contains a CheckedItemsCollection, but no UncheckedItemsCollection.

~~After spending the time to make these discoveries I've found the numerous ways to solve the problem, so I understand it's possible, but I've got to say it's very poorly implemented.~~

UPDATE: I assumed it should function as a group of Checkbox objects. It doesn't. My bad.

Server 2008 R2 ESXi 4.0 Console Crash, Freeze, Hang

Matt Williamson — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:34:00 GMT

I've been experiencing random hangs with the VMWare ESXi console when performing normal tasks in my Windows Server 2008 R2 virtual machines. The bug is the SVGA Display Driver that was installed when I added the VMWare tools to the virtual machine. Simply open device manager to uninstall/delete the display driver and then reboot. To prevent the issue from ever occurring, choose 'custom' during the VMWare Tools installation and uncheck the SVGA driver.

Hopefully this is all ironed out once Server 2008 R2 in ESXi is out of experimental mode.

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/windowsserver2008r2general/thread/bc0f3c12-eda7-440d-a228-213a8d0b956c

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1011709

Upgrade a Home Network to a Small Business System with pfSense

Matt Williamson — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:11:00 GMT

I really love the opportunities this blog has helped me create. I was recently contracted by UK-based Packt Publishing to write a technology-focused article on networking, pfSense, or basically any topic of my chosing. And so I did.

http://www.packtpub.com/article/upgrade-home-network-to-small-business-system-pfsense

I chose the topic, which is similar to the article I published on my own almost a year ago, because I think it's the most crucial step I've taken to advance my understanding of networking. Hopefully with Packt's help I'll be able to reach a wider audience with this article. Thanks for the opportunity, and keep them coming!

Cablevision / Optimum Online (OOL) Blocked Ports

Matt Williamson — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 00:04:00 GMT

I've been trying to get my webserver online here at my new place for most of this afternoon. After a few different tests I came to conclusion that my ISP is blocking certain outgoing ports. I found a few posts online mentioning the same problem and was starting to come to the sad realization that I may have to upgrade to "business class" service. Fortunately, I called customer service and was pleasantly surprised by the result.

The tech support rep was nice enough to read me the list of blocked ports he had on file:

25
80
135
137
138
139
445
1080
3128
8080

Personally, I think a few are missing off that list. I tried some FTP, HTTPS and RDP tests and found the following ports also blocked:

21
443
3389
33890
33891

The good news, however, is that if you subscribe to the "Online Boost" service (which I do) you can enable port 80 and port 25 through your Optimum.net online account like so:

The best news is that it also opened up the HTTPS 443 port. So even though RDP is still blocked, I can still remote into any machine through my Terminal Services secure access server. I'm also pleased to see DynamicDNS support. I don't need it as my firewall already takes care of that but still it's a nice touch. And for those with insatiable curiosity like myself, the Web Hosting tab is nothing special. A basic wizard to set you up with some free disk space and help you register a domain name and all that.

Windows 7 SSD Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) 0x0000007b

Matt Williamson — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 22:33:00 GMT

I've got a Lenovo Thinkpad T61p running Windows 7 on a newly installed G.Skill Falcon 128MB SSD. If that wasn't cutting edge enough, I was trying to run triple monitors while it was docked in a Lenovo Advanced Dock with a PNY Quadro FX 570 PCI-E video card for a total of 3 DVI ports. Unfortunately, everytime I'd try and configure the monitors the system would crash and after rebooting I would see the "Starting Windows" animation and then a blue-screen of death. I tried all the system utilities to try and fix the system, but it would blue-screen each time, I could never get back to the login screen.

I actually attempted this 4 different times; 4 separate Windows 7 installation and configurations, being ever so careful to configure the display adapters in the "perfect order". I even made a Acronis disk image before attempting the graphic card installation... which of course ended in a blue screen but what I couldn't explain was I re-imaged the disk and then STILL GOT THE BLUE SCREEN!

So after all this madness and frustration I ripped the video card out of the dock, gave up on multiple monitors and went with a plain old installation. Everything has been fine for over a week and then at 9am this morning it happened. My fiance calls and says she got the bluescreen of death after only editing a Word document while checking out Facebook. And after each reboot it goes right to the blue screen of death... I shuddered inside... I'm so done with this...

So before tearing the solid state disk out of my computer and demanding a refund I did a few searches on Google. I came across an unrelated post but I thought it was worth a shot...

CHANGE THE BIOS SATA SETTINGS FROM AHCI TO COMPATIBILITY

Well hallejulah... this solves the BSOD 0x0000007b INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE error.

Bob's Discount Furniture Review

Matt Williamson — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 20:52:00 GMT

We just moved back to the northeast (woo hoo!) and item one on the agenda was new furniture. Our new place is pretty nice and we're at a point in our lives where the garage sale deals and Ikea furniture just aren't very exciting any more. We've decided we're going to start acquiring some nice pieces gradually, instead of the cheap stuff all at once. First on the list was a bedroom set and a couch.

We tried to visit every store in the area within a reasonable distance. We started at Raymor & Flanigan and the adjacent Ashley Furniture. We then moved on to Macy's Furniture Outlet and were beginning to realize we were going to have to spend more than what we budgeted to get what we wanted. As we weighed our options we heard a radio ad for Bob's Discount Furniture and decided to check them out.

To sum it up, we found exactly what we wanted at a price we were comfortable with. I'd rate the quality well above Ikea and a bit below Macy's while the price was well below Macy's and a bit above Ikea. We settled on the Avondale bedroom set with a Black Label queen mattress with "Eurotop". The bed is extremely comfortable, my only hope is it lasts and at the moment I don't have any reason to believe that it won't. The furniture is sturdy and well built for the price. I tested sitting on the end tables and jumping on the bed, both of which took my 200+ lbs without a wobble. My only complaint is two of the pieces were missing a foot pad and would rock, but that was easy to fix and otherwise the installers were fast, professional and on time.

For our couch we went with the Vice Versa sectionals and bought 2 corner and 2 armless peices to form an L shaped couch. The couch is wonderfully firm and comfortable and the throw pillows are surprisingly well made. As with the bedroom set the only problem was yet again the foot pads. We've got most of the couch sitting on hardwood and these things were just sliding all over the place. It took about a half hour to replace all the plastic feet with rubber shoes but it worked like a charm!

As I mentioned before, my only concern with self-proclaimed discount furniture is if it will stand the test of time. We couldn't be happier with our purchase at the moment, so let's just hope it lasts. And if it doesn't, I'll update this post!