Tech Tweaks

Easily reset your Windows 10 / 11 password without any extra disks

2024-08-29T13:07:00.003+05:30

Easily reset your Windows 10 / 11 password without any extra disks

This is a very simple method which can be used to reset your Windows user password which is forgotten.

1) Get the Windows Advanced Startup options:

To get the Windows Advanced startup options without any extra tools, just reset your computer few times and it will take you to the troubleshooting screen. Once you get the screen, click

Troubleshoot --> Advanced options --> Command Prompt

Once you get the command prompt, navigate to c:\windows\system32 folder (or to the partition where you have installed Windows operating system)

Now rename the utilman.exe to another name:

# ren utilman.exe utilaman.exe.old

# copy cmd.exe utilman.exe

Now restart your computer

At the login window, click on the "Ease of Access' option from the right bottom corner of the screen

This will open the command window and provide the command below:

# control userpasswords2

This will open a window with user details. Select the user you want to reset the password and click on 'Reset Password'

Provide the new password and click OK.

Now restart your computer and login with the new password!!

Isn't that easy?

Change Network Profile in Windows Server 2012

2014-04-25T18:27:00.001+05:30

Open PowerShell

To view currently assigned profile, enter command below:

Get-NetConnectionProfile

Result:
------
Name             : Network
InterfaceAlias   : Ethernet 2
InterfaceIndex   : 16
NetworkCategory : Public
IPv4Connectivity : Internet
IPv6Connectivity : LocalNetwork

To change to Private
---------------------

Get-NetConnectionProfile | Set-NetConnectionProfile -NetworkCategory Private

or Public

Drupal migration to IIS 7, Fixing URL Redirection, 404 error for Drupal

2014-03-25T15:39:00.001+05:30

After migrating Drupal site from Apache to IIS, there was an issue with URL Redirection and ended up in 404 error.

To fix the issue, import the .htaccess file to IIS. Below are the steps...

1) Make sure URL Redirection is installed on your server
2) Once you have the URL Rewrite module installed, the next step is to open the IIS Manager and browse to your Drupal website.
3) Double click the URL Rewrite icon to continue
4) You'll now enter the URL Rewrite module settings. All we'll be doing for this task is using the import function, so click on the import rules.
5) Next step is to select the mod_rewrite .htaccess file to import. To do this click on the browse button on the right hand side of the configuration file field.
6) Select your Drupal .htaccess file and then click the import button to import your rules.
7) Once the .htaccess file is imported click the apply link in the top right hand corner of the screen, and you'll be returned to the main URL Rewrite module screen. From here all you need to do is rename the module to something more descriptive (e.g. Drupal) and make sure the rule is enabled from the context menu using the right mouse button.

(Applying above things fixed my issue. Below are some more steps that I found in another blog)

----------------------------
The final two steps you'll need to do is modify the request filtering in IIS so that functions like multiple word search strings work properly without giving you a 404 error, and to manually force Drupal to use Clean URL's as when using Microsoft's URL Rewrite module the REQUEST_URI variable is not supported as it is when using ISAPI Rewrite 3 from Helicontech.

To modify the request filter in IIS 7 open you ApplicationHost.config file and search for the following;

Then add this before the closing ">" character;

allowDoubleEscaping="true"

Save this, and your IIS config is complete.

Next, open your Drupal settings.php file and place the following code on a new line.

$conf['clean_url'] = 1; // 1 enables, 0 clears clean_url

Once you save this you should be all set to use Drupal's clean URL feature on IIS 7 using the new Microsoft URL Rewrite module. Any comments or feedback on the article, please feel free to post a comment below. If you'd like any specific support for your environment, then please post a new thread in the forums.

Website Re-direction Methods, 301 Redirect

2013-08-23T16:15:00.000+05:30

301 Redirect (Various Methods)

IIS Redirect

In internet services manager, right click on the file or folder you wish to redirect
Select the radio titled "a redirection to a URL".
Enter the redirection page
Check "The exact url entered above" and the "A permanent redirection for this resource"
Click on 'Apply'

ColdFusion Redirect

<.cfheader statuscode="301" statustext="Moved permanently">
<.cfheader name="Location" value="http://www.new-url.com">

PHP Redirect

Header( "HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently" );
Header( "Location: http://www.new-url.com" );
?>

ASP Redirect

<%@ Language=VBScript %>
<%
Response.Status="301 Moved Permanently"
Response.AddHeader "Location","http://www.new-url.com/"
%>

ASP .NET Redirect

JSP (Java) Redirect

<%
response.setStatus(301);
response.setHeader( "Location", "http://www.new-url.com/" );
response.setHeader( "Connection", "close" );
%>

CGI PERL Redirect

$q = new CGI;
print $q->redirect("http://www.new-url.com/");

Ruby on Rails Redirect

def old_action
headers["Status"] = "301 Moved Permanently"
redirect_to "http://www.new-url.com/"
end

Redirect Old domain to New domain using htaccess redirect

Create a .htaccess file with the below code, it will ensure that all your directories and pages of your old domain will get correctly redirected to your new domain.
The .htaccess file needs to be placed in the root directory of your old website (i.e the same directory where your index file is placed)

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.newdomain.com/$1 [R=301,L]

Please REPLACE www.newdomain.com in the above code with your actual domain name.

In addition to the redirect I would suggest that you contact every backlinking site to modify their backlink to point to your new website.

Note* This .htaccess method of redirection works ONLY on Linux servers having the Apache Mod-Rewrite moduled enabled.

Redirect to www using htaccess redirect

Create a .htaccess file with the below code, it will ensure that all requests coming in to domain.com will get redirected to www.domain.com
The .htaccess file needs to be placed in the root directory of your old website (i.e the same directory where your index file is placed)

Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine on
rewritecond %{http_host} ^domain.com [nc]
rewriterule ^(.*)$ http://www.domain.com/$1 [r=301,nc]

Please REPLACE domain.com and www.newdomain.com with your actual domain name.

Note* This .htaccess method of redirection works ONLY on Linux servers having the Apache Mod-Rewrite moduled enabled.

How to Redirect HTML

Please refer to section titled 'How to Redirect with htaccess', if your site is hosted on a Linux Server and 'IIS Redirect', if your site is hosted on a Windows Server.

WordPress, IIS 7, 7.5 : Download failed. Destination directory for file streaming does not exist or is not writable

2013-08-23T16:06:00.001+05:30

WordPress issue on IIS 7.5

Download failed. Destination directory for file streaming does not exist or is not writable
========================================================================

Add this line of code anywhere in the root file: wp-config.php

/* Setup a temporary folder for uploading and updating */

define( 'WP_TEMP_DIR', ABSPATH . 'wp-content/tmp/') ;

Now create a new folder named “tmp” inside: /wp-content/ and update permissions for IIS users to 'modify' the folder.

Reset Administrator Password in Windows Server 2008

2012-06-16T19:40:00.001+05:30

- Boot from your Windows 2008 Installation CD
- Click 'Repair your Computer' option
- Follow through until you get the option 'Open the Command Prompt' -> Click it and open the Command Window
- Type in the following Command:

"Move C:\Windows\System32\Utilman.exe C:\Windows\System32\Utilman.exe.bak"

Now copy 'cmd.exe' and rename to 'Utilman.exe'. Here is the command for that:

COPY C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe C:\Windows\System32\Utilman.exe

Now go ahead and 'Reboot' your PC

At the logon screen -> Click the 'Ease of access' icon

This will open a command prompt window where you can reset the 'Administrator' password

Commands for that below:

net user administrator *

Press Enter

Type in the new password and confirm it

Note: You won't see the password as you type it, but its there in the memory..

Once you log in to your PC normally, delete the 'Utilman.exe' file and rename 'Utilman.exe..bak' to exe..

:)

CODEIGNITER URL REWRITING ON IIS 7

2012-05-30T15:45:00.000+05:30

Below configs helped me fixing issue with pages other than homepage which was giving a 404 error because of url rewrite issue.

Make sure URL Rewrite module is installed on IIS.

Open IIS Manager -> go to your site -> “URL Rewrite” so double-click it.

In the top-right click “Add Rule(s)”

Select “Blank Rule” under “Inbound Rules” and click OK.

Enter “Strip index.php” in the Rule Name text box.

Enter “^(.*)$” into the pattern text box.

Expand Conditions and add a rule each for “Is not a file” and “Is not a directory”
Under Actions, in the Rewrite URL text box enter “index.php/{R:1}” and untick “Append query string”
Click “Apply”

Edit your CI system/application/config/config.php file and set $config[‘index_page’] = “”;

Good Luck :)

Custom Run Command

2012-05-09T14:07:00.000+05:30

Create your own Run Command
========================

Step 1: Go to “Start,” “Run,” and type regedit.

Step 2: Navigate to the following:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Apps Path

Step 3: Create a new folder/key under Apps Path. (Right-Click Apps Path and click “New,” “Key.”)

Step 4: Title the new folder/key the name of the application, e.g. firefox.exe.

Step 5: Right-Click the default string value and click Modify.

Step 6: Change the value to the path of the executable you are attempting to run. E.g. C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe.

Step 7: Create a new “String Value” by right-clicking under the default value and select “New,” “String Value.” Name it Path and enter the value as the same path you previously entered.

Step 8: Done! Now, all you need to do is go to “Start,” “Run,” and type the name of your command!

(I haven't tested it yet, if u guys find any probs, pls comment)

Set adodb connection in Windows Server 2008

2012-05-02T21:07:00.003+05:30

Use the below tool for setting Adodb connection in Windows 2008 Server

c:\Windows\SysWOW64\odbcad32.exe

:)

Enable ASP error on IIS7

2012-05-02T18:49:00.003+05:30

As a result of security paranoia, ASP's default behavior of sending script errors (including line number and code snippet to the browser has been turned off . So instead of seeing the typical error you would see ASP throw, you will now see this:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An error occurred on the server when processing the URL. Please contact the system administrator
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To revert back to IIS6- behavior, simply run the following command:
%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd set config -section:asp -scriptErrorSentToBrowser:true

Enjoy :)

Client does not support authentication protocol requested by server; consider upgrading MySQL client

2012-02-06T21:16:00.000+05:30

Website was developed in .NET framework and DB in MySQL.

In my scenario, client was using 'ByteFX.Data.MySqlClient.' to establish the connection to db.

Issue was because, new kind of password encryption was not support in this case. So need to update DB user password to use old method.

Solution :

Login to MySQL

Reset the password using command :

SET PASSWORD FOR ''=OLD_PASSWORD('');

Eg: SET PASSWORD FOR 'tradsigns' = OLD_PASSWORD('abcdefg');

:)

Set ODBTP Connection (Connect to MS SQL server from Linux Web Server)

2012-02-01T15:27:00.002+05:30

You need to install ODBTP client service in MS SQL Server machine when you try to connect to a MS SQL Database from a Linux Web Server.

Error often showed on this is:

Warning: [ODBTPERR][0]Unable to connect to server (Connection refused)

Solution:
------------
Download the package from http://sourceforge.net/projects/odbtp/

Installing the ODBTP Service on Windows NT / 2000 / XP Pro
===========================================

1. Create a directory for ODBTP service executables, i.e.,
"md C:\ODBTP".

2. Copy odbtpctl.exe, odbtpsrv.exe and odbtpsrv.ini into directory.
These files are stored in /winservice.

3. Open a command prompt window, change to the directory where you
put the service executables, and then run the following commands:

odbtpctl install
odbtpctl start

Note: Once installed, the service can be stopped / started via
the Windows Service Control Manager.

Make sure that the service is set to start 'Automatic'

Do below things on the Linux Box

=======================

Installation of ODBTP PHP Extension

--------------------------------------

Static Version:

1. Make a directory called "odbtp" under the /ext

directory.

2. Copy all files from /php/ext/odbtp to

/ext/odbtp.

3. "cd" to and run ./buildconf.

4. Run ./configure and include the --with-odbtp option along

with any other desired configure options.

5. Make and install PHP.

Shared Version:

1. Change to the directory /php/ext.

2. Open the file Makefile with a plain text editor, such as vi, and

change the value of PHP_INCROOT, if necessary.

3. Run "make".

4. Copy the file php_odbtp.so to a location where it can be loaded in

a PHP script with the dl() function.

Example PHP scripts that can be used for testing are contained in

/php/examples. The file odbtptest.sql can be used

to build the table and stored procedures used by the init.php,

list.php and rollback.php scripts.

***************************************************

Access Plesk Database

2011-11-21T16:01:00.001+05:30

Below are the ways to access different types of Plesk database

MS SQL:

The database can be accessed using the following CLI command:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\80\Tools\Binn\osql –E

Or you can use the Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio Express

MySQL

Run the following command in 'command prompt'

cd %plesk_dir%\MySQL\bin

mysql -P8306 -uadmin -p psa

MS ACCESS DB (JET)



Use any utility that can used with MS ACCESS (.mdb) files





The Plesk database file is located in %plesk_dir%\admin\db\psa.mdb





Thanks :)

Find Database type used by Plesk

2011-11-21T15:51:00.001+05:30

Here is the way to find which type of database is used by Plesk to store its information:

Run Registry editor by typing 'regedit' in the Run prompt

Find the below key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\PLESK\PSA Config\Config

For X64 OS

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\wow6432node\PLESK\PSA Config\Config

Under this, find the value

"PLESK_DATABASE_PROVIDER_NAME"

It could be any of the below 3 types:

- Jet (MS ACCESS)
- MySQL
- MSSQL

Update Hardware Changes in Plesk 10.x Health Monitor

2011-11-11T14:33:00.001+05:30

Sometimes, when you add new hardware to your server, those changes may not get reflected on the Plesk panel. Here is a method to manually update it.

Windows

Go to Command Prompt and enter these:
cd %plesk_bin%
php.exe -d auto_prepend_file="" "%plesk_dir%\admin\plib\scripts\setup-health-monitor.php"

Unix

# /usr/local/psa/bin/sw-engine-pleskrun /usr/local/psa/admin/plib/scripts/setup-health-monitor.php

:)

Retrieve SQL Server 2008 Product Key

2011-11-05T04:21:00.001+05:30

Open Power Shell and Paste the foll: script:

-------------------------------------------------
function Get-SQLserverKey {
    ## function to retrieve the license key of a SQL 2008 Server.
     param ($targets = ".")
    $hklm = 2147483650
    $regPath = "SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Setup"
    $regValue1 = "DigitalProductId"
    $regValue2 = "PatchLevel"
    $regValue3 = "Edition"
    Foreach ($target in $targets) {
        $productKey = $null
        $win32os = $null
        $wmi = [WMIClass]"\\$target\root\default:stdRegProv"
        $data = $wmi.GetBinaryValue($hklm,$regPath,$regValue1)
        [string]$SQLver = $wmi.GetstringValue($hklm,$regPath,$regValue2).svalue
        [string]$SQLedition = $wmi.GetstringValue($hklm,$regPath,$regValue3).svalue
        $binArray = ($data.uValue)[52..66]
        $charsArray = "B","C","D","F","G","H","J","K","M","P","Q","R","T","V","W","X","Y","2","3","4","6","7","8","9"
        ## decrypt base24 encoded binary data
        For ($i = 24; $i -ge 0; $i--) {
            $k = 0
            For ($j = 14; $j -ge 0; $j--) {
                $k = $k * 256 -bxor $binArray[$j]
                $binArray[$j] = [math]::truncate($k / 24)
                $k = $k % 24
         }
            $productKey = $charsArray[$k] + $productKey
            If (($i % 5 -eq 0) -and ($i -ne 0)) {
                $productKey = "-" + $productKey
            }
        }
        $win32os = Get-WmiObject Win32_OperatingSystem -computer $target
        $obj = New-Object Object
        $obj | Add-Member Noteproperty Computer -value $target
        $obj | Add-Member Noteproperty OSCaption -value $win32os.Caption
        $obj | Add-Member Noteproperty OSArch -value $win32os.OSArchitecture
        $obj | Add-Member Noteproperty SQLver -value $SQLver
        $obj | Add-Member Noteproperty SQLedition -value $SQLedition
        $obj | Add-Member Noteproperty ProductKey -value $productkey
        $obj
    }
}

---------------------------------------

Now enter the below command

Get-SQLserverKey

Press Enter (may be twice)... Details will be shown in the Power Shell Window itself.. It worked for me :)

Error on Plesk File Manager (FileList::init() failed: ls_dir_wrapper() failed: Unable to logon user)

2011-02-04T17:41:00.000+05:30

The issue happened to me on Plesk 10. Here is the work around:

Make sure that the account associated with the domain is active on the server. If it is disabled, you just need to enable it from the Computer Managements --> Users

If account is enabled, the most possible reason of the issue is that the password of domain owner account is not synchronized with corresponding record in Parallels Panel database.
To fix that take the following steps:

1. Retrieve the password of the domain owner from Parallels Panel database with the command below (where USER1 is an owner of the domain, it can be taken from the error):

C:\> "%plesk_bin%"\dbclient --direct-sql --sql="select  su.login, a.password from accounts a, sys_users su  where  a.id=su.account_id and su.login='USER1'"



login       password

USER1       p@ssw0rd

2. Synchronize system password with accordance of retrieved one as follow:

C:\> net user USER1 p@ssw0rd

Good Luck

Export Data Sources (ODBC)

2011-01-18T00:35:00.000+05:30

1. Start regedit.exe
2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ODBC\ODBC.INI
3. Select the desired Data Source folder --> Right click it --> Export
4. Save it.

5. Go to your target machine
6. Copy the saved 'reg' file to target machine
7. Double click it to restore.

Note : Take a backup of your current ODBC folder before applying the exported registry settings.

Reset / Forgot Coldfusion 6, 7 and 8 Administrator password

2010-12-06T13:19:00.001+05:30

For ColdFusion 6 MX, ColdFusion 7 MX, and ColdFusion 8:

Stop the "ColdFusion MX Application Server" Service
Open the "neo-security.xml" file contained at %CFMXInstallRoot%\lib
Find the line: var name='admin.security.enabled'
boolean value='true' and change the true to false, then save the file
Start the "ColdFusion MX Application Server" Service
Go to the ColdFusion Administrator again and set a password (http:\\localhost\administrator)

To set the password

Go to 'Security' --> CF Admin Password

Enable 'Use a Cold Fusion Administration Password'

Set the password --> Submit changes

Cannot connect to WAMP from network machines

2010-12-03T15:59:00.001+05:30

In the new version of WAMP, it seems that the permission to connect to WAMP server has been disabled from another machines in the network. Here is the work around for it.

- Find the file 'httpd.conf' (normal path is c:\wamp\bin\apache\Apache2.2.11\conf)
- Find the below lines

# onlineoffline tag - don't remove
   Order Deny,Allow
   Deny from all
   Allow from 127.0.0.1

Replace it with

# onlineoffline tag - don't remove
   Order Allow,Deny
   Allow from all

Restart WAMP service and it will work ...

Retrieve / Recover Plesk Admin Password (Windows)

2010-11-02T16:18:00.000+05:30

Log on to your webserver
Go to start -> run -> cmd c:\cd "%plesk_bin%"
(The %plesk_bin% here stands for c:\program files\swsoft\plesk\admin\bin folder in case of 'by default' installation)

Now give the command plesksrvclient -get you will get your Plesk password in a popup. Coooool.... isnt it ?

Migrate / Move Plesk License Key (Windows)

2010-11-02T16:02:00.001+05:30

Follow the steps to migrate the Plesk control panel license key ..

1) Log in to the source server
2) Take Command window
3) Go to Plesk Bin folder (usually the command "cd %plesk_bin%" takes you there)
4) Give the command "keymng --fetch >> c:\license.psa" (You may change the location as your wish)

Now open the Plesk control panel which needs the new key..

Go to "Server --> License Management --> Upload Key"
Browse for the fetched key and upload it...

Thats it...

Disable inheritance of web.config

2010-09-23T12:41:00.003+05:30

This is helpful when we need to use a different web.config for a virtual directory and not to inherit any settings from the web.config of root folder.

Add the below tag to root web.config

<system.web>

...

</system.web>

</location>

Overcome file upload issue / limit in ASP pages, Change attachment size for Mail Enable

2010-09-23T10:27:00.001+05:30

By default, on ASP pages the file upload limit is set to 200KB. Here are the steps to increase the limit in IIS6 and IIS7

This update can be applied to change the attachment limit in Mail Enable webmail interface.

IIS 6
------
In IIS6, we need to edit the "metabase.xml" to change the limit

1 - Before you can edit the metabase.xml file you must tell IIS to allow you to edit the file. In IIS, right click the name of the server and select properties. Check "Enable Direct Metabase Edit".

2 - Find the metabase.xml file located in C:\windows\sytem32\inetserv and open the file in Notepad.

3 - Search for AspMaxRequestEntityAllowed and increase the value. The default value is 204800 (200K). Setting the value to 1000000 will allow 1 MB file uploads.

4 - You may now wish to uncheck the IIS property called "Enable Direct Metabase Edit".

IIS7
----

Here we can do this as a Server wide property or configure it for each domain

1 - Open Up IIS Manager
2 - Click on ASP
3 - Expand Limits Properties
4 - Change the default 200KB to a bigger value.

To change the value for a single domain, find and edit the ASP property by going on to that domain only.

Restart IIS

Extra Memory for your Windows 7 or Vista

2010-09-17T09:30:00.002+05:30

You can use an USB flash memory as an additional memory on your Windows 7 or Vista Operating system. Just plug it in and try the below settings:

• Right-click the USB flash memory drive letter and select “Properties”.
• Click the “Readyboost” tab at top in the Properties window.
• Now in the list of options, select “Dedicate this device to ReadyBoost.”
• Optionally, you can choose “Use this device” and dedicate a specific amount of Readyboost memory on the USB drive.
• Click the “OK” button.

Give a try and enjoy the performance :)