Technological Tips & Tricks

My Windows 10 Printer Deployment Nightmare!

2016-10-20T12:19:00.001+01:00

Remember when adding Printers to domain computers was nice, simple and easy to do? No, me neither. But it was never as difficult as it now seems to be with Windows 10. Specifically speaking build 1511. Don’t get me wrong, I am sold on Windows 10. It’s fast, efficient and I use it on all my computers. That doesn’t change the fact that there are many issues when using it on large networks.

I help to administer two large domains over three sites within an educational establishment. One for Admin Staff and one for Students. We have thousands of clients and a couple of hundred printers. Over the summer after months of testing we made the move from Windows 7 to Windows 10 (1511) on the Student network. We have always added our printers by Group Policy. This makes it easier to add printers to every PC without having to go around each one individually. Up until then we had used a batch file in GP to copy a VBS script to the start-up folder on the client which subsequently added the printer via command line. It wasn’t perfect, but it worked. Most of the time…

Use Adobe Flash Player on Android Devices

2013-02-13T10:50:00.003+00:00

Is anyone else annoyed that Android has followed the Apple trend of trying to "kill off" Flash? That Adobe Flash Player is no longer available in the Play Store?

"Flash is Dead." We are told by Google. "HTML 5 is the way to go."

HTML 5 may be the way forward, and looks great, but many are very slow on the uptake in upgrading their websites. So, if you are like me, and still use websites on a regular basis that use Flash, when you view them on your Android device you can be bitterly disappointed.

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Add Custom Screensavers to Amazon Kindle 4

2012-06-07T14:57:00.002+01:00

THIS HACK IS FOR THE AMAZON KINDLE 4 (Non-Touch, Non-Ads).

I have a well known love of all things fiction, and books have always been a passion of mine. It was with more than a little apprehension that I finally laid my hands on the latest Amazon Kindle.

I have to confess, it is amazing. Armed with a crisp screen, and over 300 books I am in my element wherever I go. Although it will never replace my paperbacks, it will always have a special place in my heart.

Of course being a Techie, it didn't take long before I began to explore the device a little more. I have never been one for rooting/jail-breaking devices, but I did find a hack that allowed me to add my own custom screensavers. This hack is well known all over the web. I will be laying it out here step by step, but I will also be pointing out some issues I found along the way.

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How to Increase a Virtual Disk in VSphere 4

2012-04-12T11:02:00.002+01:00

Recently we have had a couple of incidents where we had run out of disk space on our Windows servers. Sometimes we were able to rectify this just with simple housekeeping: Removing programs no longer needed, or deleting profiles, and temp files etc.

There have been times though when this just isn't enough, and nothing short of a bigger disk will do. With vmware it is possible to increase the size of a non system volume quite easily with a few simple steps. It can also be performed without shutting the server down and zero downtime.

Note: Before attempting this you need to check 3 things.

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How to create a selfcontained Wireless Network

2012-01-27T12:31:00.002+00:00

This was a challenging project, put upon me by a friend and colleague who needed a web server that they could carry around with them. The goal was to have it accessible by wireless devices such as mobile smart phones (Android, Blackberry and iPhone etc), iPods, Playstation portables, and Nintendo DS'; without the requirement for either the server or the devices to be connected to the Internet.

For the purpose of a presentation and demo, the web server would contain a small mobile website that the devices could view at any location that the demo was taking place, and interact with, without having to worry about having Internet or even local network connectivity.

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Clear ReadOnly Disk in Windows Server 2008 R2

2011-11-21T09:51:00.003+00:00

We recently had an issue with a hard disk on one of our servers reporting that it was set to read only. It occurred after an unknown error with the system. Windows refused to allow us to write to the disk and stated that the "Media was Right-Protected."

We also found that the read only attribute was nowhere to be found on the properties of the disk, so that we could remove it. To cut a long story short, it can only be removed using the Diskpart Utility with the following commands.

Diskpart is run from the command prompt and launched by typing "diskpart" and hitting enter.

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Save Sent Items in folder of a shared mailbox in Outlook 2007

2011-09-12T13:32:00.001+01:00

We have a lot of users that access multiple mailboxes from within their own exchange account in Outlook. Attached as "additional mailboxes".

Mail can be sent and received from these mailboxes as long as the user has send of behalf of permissions. This is set in Exchange.

However, when a user sends an email on behalf of the additional mailbox, the sent email goes into the sent items of the person who has the additional mailbox attached (their own mailbox). And NOT the sent items of the additional mailbox.

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Use a Proxy Server on Android 2.3

2011-06-16T19:33:00.013+01:00

Like many other HTC Users, I am thoroughly enjoying the freedom and flexibility of my Desire HD. With the new Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) update last month, the usability has only made the experience even better.

As with many other Smart phone users, my phone has become an intricate part of my life and I take it everywhere with me. However where I work it is getting increasingly difficult to get a reliable signal. Or more importantly a HSDPA or even a decent 3G signal. Result: I have to opt for Option B; company WiFi.

The problem here is that my company's Internet connection goes through a proxy server and is heavily filtered. I have found dozens of similar complaints all over the Internet, with everyone asking "Can I set proxy settings for WiFi on Android." Every time I find a negative response. In addition the same people complain that no effort has been made by the Android developers to solve this issue.

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Windows Server 2008 R2 Update Issues and Role Errors

2011-04-19T11:00:00.002+01:00

For sometime now we have been finding that some of our Windows Server 2008 R2 servers were not installing Windows Updates.

Some servers would not even find any updates, and others would simply get to the "Downloading..." screen and never progress any further. In addition we would also get an annoying problem in Server Manager; where the Roles and features are usually displayed, the window would be blank with a message that simply said "Error."

Cannot Open an Anonymous Level Security Token in IE

2011-01-27T15:13:00.003+00:00

Recently I had an issue in Internet Explorer 8 on Windows 7 Enterprise 64 Bit, when logging into a web page. Every time I logged in with the correct credentials it would flash and NOT open the secure page. The credentials were correct and the same page opened correctly on another computer.

Upon investigation I found the following error. This was found in the bottom left hand corner of the status bar in Internet Explorer.

"Cannot open an Anonymous Level Security Token"

Using Local Internet Connection While Connected to a VPN

2011-01-06T11:39:00.004+00:00

Occasionally work has to be done "out of hours" by IT Professionals to avoid disruption to users. Sometimes this can be done from a remote site with our feet up, a hot cuppa and an episode of friends. During these times, nothing is more valuable than a VPN connection to your workplace. It gives you connectivity to everything on your network as if you were sitting in your office. All you need at home is an internet connection and a computer. Both of which all IT Professional's tend to have.

I am not going to take you through the configuration of the VPN at either end. We are going to assume that your VPN at work is configured and that you have a connection setup on your home PC.

One of the main problems we encounter while using a VPN is with general local web browsing. Connected to a VPN your computer will try and use the same web connection that your PC at work uses. This can prevent your local browser from displaying the latest footie results.
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Error When Trying to Install WSUS on Server 2008

2010-10-20T19:18:00.005+01:00

Due to one of our server's operating system corrupting on us, we had to rebuild it with a fresh install of Windows Server 2008 R2. This server amongst other things ran Windows Server Update Services for our entire network.

We got everything reinstalled and working fine from scratch until it came to installing WSUS.

Everytime we tried to install the "Windows Server Update Services" role it would fail almost immediately with the following error.

"The update could not be found. Either the update is not applicable to this computer or the update no longer exists. Verify that the update still exists and is applicable to this computer from your WSUS server or Windows Update."

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Change VMWare ESX/VSphere Host VLAN ID

2010-10-20T14:33:00.008+01:00

Recently we had an issue where we had not set the VLAN ID on 10 new VMWare VSphere servers. This resulted in us being unable to manage the VMWare hosts, the only way to resolve this was to change the VLAN ID manually on each of the hosts.

If you find yourself in this situation, you can use the following procedure to change the VLAN ID in VSphere/ESX.

Log on to a VMWare VSphere or ESX host with your ROOT account.

At the prompt enter: esxcfg-vswitch -l

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Setup Mobile Broadband on Dell XPS M1530

2010-10-05T11:29:00.015+01:00

A couple of years ago I bought my Dell XPS M1530 Laptop. At that time I had the chance to include mobile broadband with the package. Unfortunately if I had I would have been tied to a 12/18 month contract etc. With the amount I was already paying for the unit, I decided against the extra cost.

This resulted in the laptop coming without a HSDPA module.

It was a good job I did, as I found out the other day that the modules that are factory installed are "locked." Fixed to the Vodafone network.

Time passed and a friend of mine introduced me to his new USB T-Mobile 3G dongle. 3.6 Mbits of highspeed, wireless broadband awesomeness. Then came along smartphones and the ability to use them connected to your PC for access to the internet, via 3G networks. All this is great and works very well, but having an extra piece of hardware dangling from your laptop can be annoying if your moving around. It was time for plan B.
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Error Updating Dell Laptop BIOS

2010-07-09T11:31:00.004+01:00

Most of our Laptops are Dell Latitude's. As they come in for repair, we like to keep them up to date with the latest BIOS version. Most of the time this is a nice, smooth process.

Download from Dell
Login as Administrator on the Laptop
Run the BIOS Update
The Laptop reboots and updates
Job Done

However this morning on a couple of laptops that we had installed Windows 7 on: (I later found that although this is an OS issue, it is NOT specific to Windows 7) we got the following error.

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How to inject LAN drivers into WDS Server BOOT images

2010-06-21T16:29:00.003+01:00

We use WDS (Windows Deployment Services) to image large numbers of computers. Lately we have been using a Windows Server 2008 R2 WDS server with a Windows 7 boot image. However several times we have found that newer PCs/Laptops (manufactured after Windows 7) have trouble PXE booting in to the Windows 7 boot image, due to the lack of LAN drivers.
We found that these drivers need to be "injected" in to the boot image (a .WIM file) to enable the PC/Laptop to be imaged using WDS. After several attempts we found the following procedure worked quite well to achieve this.
Before You Start

You’ll need a full install of WAIK (Windows Automated Installation Kit,) as it contains the necessary tools to manage WIM files. This can be done on any system, but if you’re running WDS it is best to perform the injection on the WDS server.

Access Denied when adding delegates to Outlook

2010-06-08T16:35:00.007+01:00

We have a lot of Outlook Mail users that like to enable others to view and/or edit their Email and calenders etc.

This has always been fairly easy to do, by adding delegates to the list in TOOLS > Options menu.

However since Outlook Update 913807 was released the following error appears when attempting this.

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Changing the IP Settings and Hostname of an ESX VSphere Console

2010-05-19T15:37:00.013+01:00

For all beginner ESX VSphere Administrator newbies:

Changing the IP for the Service Console must be done from the physical console or through a remote console session. If you make changes through a network connection such as SSH, network connectivity to the Service Console disconnects because the Service Console's network interface changes.

To set an IP address:

First logon to the ESX Console

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Using Large external USB Drives on XBOX 360

2010-03-20T11:31:00.002+00:00

Like millions of other PC users I have hundreds of video files that I have created or acquired over the years. These are always available to me to play on my computer any time I like. However, on occasions I like to kick back and watch these on my big screen TV.

I can do this in several ways. Burn the files to DVD and play them though my DVD player, which is a waste of discs and RW's tend to be unreliable. I could connect my computer to my TV via a HDMI cable or use the Media Centre Connector on my XBOX 360. However both requires my Computer to be running and in the Media Centre option, my Xbox as well, along with my TV. My computer is pretty hefty and uses a 750 WATT power supply. It is NOT light on the electricity bill.

My alternative option is to use an External USB Hard drive from the USB port on my XBOX 360 console and navigate with my Media Centre Remote Control.

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Enabling Audio Input Monitoring in Windows Vista/7

2010-03-14T11:15:00.007+00:00

Now and then I like to plug my MP3 player in to the "Line-In" jack of laptop and play my music through my Laptop speakers. When I was using Windows XP, this was easy. I just plugged it in to the Line-In jack, unmuted the Line-In and away I went.

Control Panel > Sound > Playback > Speakers Properties > Levels tab

Since changing to a Windows Vista and most recently Windows 7 Enterprise, I discovered that the option to unmute the Line-In was no longer available. Microsoft in all their wisdom have switched it off by default for some sounds cards.

Simple File backup with Robocopy

2010-03-10T10:13:00.015+00:00

One of the main issues when using any computer is regular backup of your precious data to protect against corruption and accidental deletion. Microsoft has always provided their "Windows Backup" utility and it is generally very good for full system backups and restores.

But what if you want to backup just your personal data or certain files or folders and not others? What if you just want to restore one particular file? There are plenty of third party tools that will do the job, but some can be rather expensive. Besides, why buy what you already have.

Supplied in Windows Vista, 7, Server 2008 and Server 2008 R2, as well as the previous resource kits is a utility called "Robocopy." This is a small command line based tool (a bit like XCopy) that can be scripted and configured with exceptions, to copy selective data either once or on a schedule and even write to a comprehensive log file.

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Using XCacls on Server 2008

2010-03-01T12:58:00.006+00:00

Ever needed to change permissions on files and/or folders in bulk? But you don't want to sit there watching it and hitting continue every so often.

Well XCacls will do the job. It is a control list tool that will set permissions at file and folder level in bulk, and will even set the inheritence.

XCacls is a fairly old tool and can be downloaded from here.

To use this on Server 2008, you will need to do two things.

First after downloading and extracting the XCacls.vbs file, you will need to edit it.

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Delete a Service from a Windows PC/Server

2010-02-25T14:17:00.007+00:00

Occasionally when removing software, services remain installed on the PC/Server that are no longer required. These can be removed with a simple procedure.

First you will need to make sure the service is NOT running, by checking in the "Services" console. Stop the service if it is running. Then you will need to get the "Service Name" by viewing the service's properties.

Disable Skype Supernoding

2010-02-23T12:35:00.021+00:00

Skype is one of the most popular pieces of VoIP and IM software available. It is fast, free, good quality, fairly reliable and seems to work almost anywhere. It is also one of the few more secure pieces of communication software, using basic PGP Encryption for calls and instant messaging.

Skype operates on a peer to peer model, rather than a server to client model using is own Skype Protocol and proprietary VoIP Network. This means that the user directory is scattered between "nodes" in the network, rather than using an expensive, centralised infrastructure.

Each client has a list of "nodes" called the "host-cache." This is a list of IP Addresses and Port Numbers of "supernodes."
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Viewing PDF's in Browser when more than one version of Adobe Reader is installed

2010-02-16T10:58:00.008+00:00

Error: "The Adobe Acrobat/Reader that is running cannot be used to view PDF files in a web browser..."

The above error can occur when you have more than one version of Adobe Reader/Acrobat installed. For instance this may be because you have the Professional Version and the Free Reader on the same PC.

There is a simple fix by editing the registry setting that tells the web browser where to find Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader.

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