Advanced System Settings
Microsoft continues to dumb down the Control Panel GUI. To access the now missing” traditional” System control panel, go to Run and enter: SystemPropertiesAdvanced.exe
Category Archives: IT
Partitioning Disks in Linux
lsblk – List all disks & partitions attached (Can change after reboot) sudoparted /dev/sda mklabel gpt – Initializes the disk with a GPT partition [Destructive!] sudo parted -a opt /dev/sda mkpart primary ext4 0% 100% – Creates a new partition mkfs.ext4 -L datapartition /dev/sda1 – Format the partition as Ext4 Note: Partitions have a number appended to the… Read More »
Backdoor RDP
If you need to assist a remote user and nothing seems to work try this: Have them connect their VPN From a server on their network, connect via Remote Desktop to the PC by name If name is not registered in DNS, log into the router and get VPN client IP
Remote Connections
These PowerShell scripts list the remote IPs connecting on 443 , while filtering out local IPs and devices on ATT (107.77)
Carrier Network IPs
Cellular providers use specific IP ranges that can be filtered.
Mac O365 Password
If Outlook for Mac repeatedly asks for a password when connecting to an Office 365 e-mail account you need to: Open Utilities > Keychain > delete items referencing: “exchange” “adal” and “office”.
Default MS Store Apps
In Windows 10 the old (win8) tricks for removing Microsoft apps no longer work.Here are a number of useful powershell commands.
AnyConnect Password
The Cisco Any Connect Client does not allow you to save a password on the client. This code when saved as a .vbs file will let you get around this. Be warned that the client’s password is saved in clear text in the file. I hide the file in Drivers and create a shortcut to it with the… Read More »
SMG Queue – 450 4.4.1
If you are seeing the following error, on messages in the Symantec Messaging Gateway queue: 450 4.4.1 [internal] Connection Timed Out These messages are being interrupted during transmission. This leads to the sender receiving a delayed delivery notice. This is caused by something in the message being rejected by the Cisco router during inspection of the traffic. To… Read More »
VPN Interface MIA
If the Cisco VPN launches, but no window appears delete this file: C:\Program Files (x86)\Cisco Systems\VPN Client\vpnclient.ini
Exchange Permissions
You can list all users with Mailbox permissions with this in PowerShell: Get-Mailbox | Get-MailboxPermission | where {$_.user.tostring() -ne “NT AUTHORITY\SELF” -and $_.IsInherited -eq $false} | Select Identity,User | Export-Csv -NoTypeInformation mailboxpermissions.csv
PPI – Pixels Per Inch
The PPI of a monitor is a measure of its size in inches and the total number of pixels in the horizontal and vertical directions. It is important to account for PPI when choosing a monitor for a client to ensure a positive user experience. A 20-inch 4k monitor would be virtually useless, as the elements of the… Read More »
Naming Cloud Services
Choosing a name for your client’s cloud services comes with permanent ramifications. As this post explains there is no ability to change the name.
Autodesk License Mode
Issue: (Example – A trial install to network license) Your licensing type has changed and you need to change the licensing option within the program. Delete LGS.data file in the following folder: C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\CLM\LGS\ProductKey_ProductVersion.0.0.F
Home Ed. in a Domain
You can connect a Windows home edition PC to a domain as follows: Change the PCs workgroup to the domain name (pre-Windows 2000) Change the local username and password to exactly match a domain account. The PC should now have full access to Outlook, network shares and printers without entering credentials.
AutoCAD Interface Reset
If your toolbars vanish you can do the following to reset AutoCAD: From the Start menu go to > AutoCAD 20nn – English (Folder icon) > Reset Settings to Default Backing up the current interface is advisable if you have made extensive customizations. In some instances, Reset Settings to Default will be missing. More…
Safe Mode from CMD
If you need to put a system into safe mode you can do this from cmd then reboot: This will set the safemode switch: bcdedit /set {current} safeboot minimal with networking: bcdedit /set {current} safeboot network to put back in normal mode via dos: bcdedit /deletevalue {current} safeboot
Outlook AutoComplete
Copy the AutoComplete list The steps to export and import the AutoComplete list are different, depending on the version of Outlook that you are using.
Outlook Autocomplete
A freeware option that I used to use and still comes in handy is called NK2Edit from NirSoft, it does handle newer data just follow the instructions. Has the advantage of being able to edit the autocomplete data as well. There are also things you can do like importing nk2 files by launching outlook with the /importnk2 switch.… Read More »
Outlook Shenanigans
So outlook has stopped opening links or attachments and there have been no changes in the trust center and no recent windows updates…. Open Regedit and check the following key. “HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \.html”
Remote log off
I recently had a console session hang with just a white screen and no start menu on an Exchange Server. Not wanting to reboot the server and disrupt the entire office, I used the following to remotely log the admin out via PowerShell: (gwmi win32_operatingsystem -ComputerName $PCname).Win32Shutdown(4)
Issues Renaming a Domain Computer Part 1 of 2
If you get an error about multiple connections by the same user using different usernames; net use * /d
Issues Renaming a Domain Computer Part 2 of 2
So you have gone through part 1 and now get an error saying the directory service is busy! Is SQL Express or SQL installed? If so, from an elevated command prompt type: setspn -L computername Note any registered SPN in the format of MSSQLSvc/[Computer Name]:[Instance Name] Delete each of the SPN’s noted above. setspn –d [SPN Name] [ComputerName]… Read More »
High Sierra network issue
Full article here. Newer servers use SMB2/3 which has packet signing turn on. The net result is that copied/moved/renamed files never finalize the process. 2 sets of instructions below based on whether or not there already exists an nsmb.conf file or not.
Win7 updates not running
Update services are running yet the windows update control panel says that they aren’t when you try to check for updates. Disable windows update service and then stop it. At this point go to Windows\SoftwareDistribution and rename the folder to SoftwareDistributionOld. Enable windows update service and start. You should be able to check for updates now.
C Drive filling up regularly
Windows/Temp filling with cab_XXXX files. Deleting the cab_xxxx files only resulted in regeneration. Checking \Logs\CBS folder I found lots of .log and (some) .cab files It seems, that windows wasn’t able to zip (makecab.exe) one of the .log files. Solution was: in \Logs\CBS folder delete the oldest .log file (you can also delete them all) in \temp folder… Read More »
Network XP & 10
Hopefully this doesn’t come up often but when it does… Windows 10 no longer supports SMB1. It can be enabled (it is also a big security hole) Powershell as administrator: Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName smb1protocol more on the topic in general here.
Exchange13 Discovery
Prerequisites: The user that you are going to run the eDiscovery as must be a member of Mailbox Search Role and the Discovery Management Role Group (The discovery management Role Group will encompass the Mailbox Search Role) You will not see the eDiscovery or litigation hold options (The compliance management menu item on the left side of the… Read More »
Autodesk License via VPN
If AutoCAD fails to pull a license over a VPN you need to adjust the time out period that it tries to connect. Do this by adding a system variable and it fixes all Autodesk products. System>Advanced…>Environment Variables>System Variables>New variable name: FLEXLM_TIMEOUT Variable value: 10000000
Segmented Zip Files
7 Zip will segment files as it creates a compressed file with this command: cd “C:\Program Files\7-Zip” 7z -v500m a c:\backup\Filename C:\FolderToCompress Usage: 7z a -v{Size}[b|k|m|g] [<switches>…] <archive_name> [<file_names>…]
Site VPN 1/2 Connected
In a Site-toSite VPN setup between two Cisco ASAs you find that traffic stops passing between sites, however, the connection is established. In addition under Monitoring>VPN>IPSec Site-to-Site one side shows: Bytes Rx 0 / Tx increasing and the other ASA shows BytesRx increasing / Tx 0. While rare the fix is to: change nothing, save the configs and… Read More »
Prevent .DS_Store files
As each user of the Mac open terminal and execute the following, then log out and in: defaults write com.apple.desktopservices DSDontWriteNetworkStores true
Add an Exchange Relay
To relay through exchange server the following receive connector settings should be used: Set your Name and Port as needed. Under security check ONLY: Transport Layer Security (TLS); Externally secured (for example, with IPsec); Exchange Servers; Anonymous Users From Scoping REMOVE the 0.0.0.0-255.255.255.255 range. (WARNING: Skipping this will create an open relay) and add Static IPs for approved senders.… Read More »
Photo Viewer for 10
Some users prefer to use the old Windows Photo Viewer. If the PC was upgraded it is still available. For a system that was clean installed use this registry hack. This also addresses the fact that Outlook is missing from the “Share Pictures” feature of the new photos app.
Crossing the netmask
When a device has a static IP address and it is introduced to a new network with a different IP scheme it is possible to gain access to the device inorder to reprogram it.