Free service to view\remote control - join.me

Very simple to use with Windows, Mac, Android and IOS support. Join.me allows you to share your screen with 1 or more people. No sign in or software installation required, though there are Apps for Android and IOS.

http://join.me

The presenter (on a Windows PC):

Joining (from an iPad):

In action on a PC:

In action on an iPad:

Problem When Maximising Chrome

Had an issue appear recently. When I maximised my Chrome browser, it was slightly wider than the screen. This meant that the wrench icon slightly moved off the screen, but more importantly, the right side vertical scroll bar was positioned off the screen. I could resize it manually, but this was just slightly inconvenient.

This is how it looked:

I am running the developer version so it may well be a bug introduced in this version (12.0.742.12 dev-m):

I discovered that removing the theme caused the browser to behave as expected:

Problems using iPad on Office 365 Beta

I had some problems connecting my trial iPad to the Office 365 beta. I put all my credentials in but the iPad kept prompting for a server. I entered the server name as used by the Outlook account, but this didn't seem to work. Seems that m.outlook.com has now worked fine.

Thanks to this post:
http://community.office365.com/en-us/f/148/t/301.aspx

TomTom Data used by Police to set Speed Traps

Another misuse of data gathered from members of the public. The reported case was in the Netherlands, but I wonder if the same case is true in the UK?

You can find a statement from TomTom here:
http://www.tomtom.com/page/facts

Physical vs Virtual Steelhead appliance from Riverbed

We're currently looking at WAN acceleration products, particularly virtualised ones.
Here's a video on the Steehead appliance from Riverbed:
http://blog.riverbed.com/2010/07/demo-video-how-fast-is-virtual-steelhead-compared-to-the-steelhead-appliance.html

iPhone or iPad Tracker

There has been a little bit of a storm recently about the iPhone\iPad tracking database that was recently discovered on the device, and on computers used to backup the device.

I've used an OSX App to take a look at the data on an iPad I'm evaluating.

I live in Felixstowe and commute to Huntingdon, with the odd bit of work in Peterborough and Cambridge.

This is the data collected around my commute:

Note the odd one near Norwich and the ones around the North East of London? Well, I haven't been there since I've had this device. Notice also that the points seems to cluster around larger towns - I've used Waze on this iPad while driving so I was a bit surprised that the dots didn't follow the route that I use, the A14.

Here's a zoomed in part around where I live. The dots appear to be in a regular grid with only one small dot on my house:

It seems that the iPad\iPhone is only storing an approximation of your devices location.

The App I used can be obtained here:
http://petewarden.github.com/iPhoneTracker/

They also have a nice FAQ:
http://petewarden.github.com/iPhoneTracker/#faq

Links to news stories here:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/04/20/secret_iphone_location_tracking/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/04/22/apple_iphone_location_tracking_analysis/

Transfer of Blog progress...

Slow.

I'm having to move each post by hand, and after about 50 or so I get hit by Captcha word verifications:

This is slowing it down a little bit, so I'm about 100 out of 300 copied.

Dropbox have access to your encrypted files

Many, many, people use DropBox to share files between computers and each other.

I think you seriously have to question a service whom have access to the encryption keys of these files and can release them without the judgement of a court, indeed, even to protect thier own "property" rights.

Apparently this is a recent change, and you can read the DropBox privacy policy here.

Interesting article on passwords

http://redd.it/grfny - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:ASDA in Ipswich

Please standby...

Trying to transfer my posts from http://cs.thefoleyhouse.co.uk to here...

Convert Windows 7 from KMS to MAK License Keys

Installed some Windows 7 Professional VM's to find that they had defaulted to KMS licensing.

It was relatively easy to convert from KMS to MAK with the following command lines:

1. Install the product key (replace with your key):
   slmgr /ipk XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX
2. Activate:
   slmgr /ato
3. Display license information:
   slmgr /dli

Thanks to this post for most of the help:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/winserversetup/thread/1db5b305-510c-4800-ab1f-e0647cc8a877

FOG (Free Opensource Ghost) Multicast problem

I managed to get FOG up and running on everything bar multicast - I thought it might be something to do with VirtualBox until I dicovered a configuration gotcha.

If you set a MYSQL password, the installation instructions tell you to change the password in /var/www/fog/commons/config.php.

What I got was the following error message in /opt/fog/log/multicast.log:

Failed to connect to database, will try again in next iteration.

After trying mysql -u root -p to debug the password and altering the connection_timeout to 5000 as suggested elsewhere, I finally found the fix here:

http://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/show/373

Turns out I had to edit the file here as well:

/opt/fog/service/etc/config.php

Having done this, I was able to run a multicast session great!

Ubuntu boot error in VirtualBox - piix4_smbus 0000.00.07.0: SMBus base address uninitialized - upgrade bios or use force_addr=0xaddr

Been having an annoyance with Ubuntu and other Linux distro's running in VirtualBox for while. It didn't seem to have an impact on functionality, but it possibly had an impact on speed of boot.

I managed to find the answer here:
http://finster.co.uk/2010/11/16/virtualbox-piix4_smbus-error/

Essentially, you do the following:

• Start a terminal 
• sudo vi /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf 
• Add the line blacklist i2c_piix4 to the end of the file and save 
• sudo update-initramfs -u -k all 

You might want to optionally remove unneeded kernal images before updating the initramfs to cut down on how long that part takes.

Unable to add search provider to IE8

This has been bothering me for a while on my server, and only just had some time to do something about it.

 I found the answer here:
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Web%20Search/thread?tid=4d9cc69c2ac5abd3&hl=en

The contents of the registry entry:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ TypeLib \ {EAB22AC0-30C1-11CF-A7EB-0000C05BAE0B} \ 1.1 \ 0 \ win32

Was set to:
C:\WINDOWS\system32\shdocvw.dll

Instead of:
C:\WINDOWS\system32\ieframe.dll

Windows Live Messenger 2011 - 0x80048820 Logon Failure

I don't use Windows Live Messenger much, but after the install of the recent IE9 RC, I noticed that the darn thing wouldn't sign in properly.

I did the usual Google-Fu and tried stuff ranging from deleting cached contacts folders, repairing the install, removing and reinstalling, checking IE proxy settings to re-registering various DLL's all without luck.

I then tried logging (under Options > Connection > Logging) and got the following:

1aec            Messenger:              Zone_Voice (voicevideoplatformlogon.cpp:66): ERROR: [OnLogonResult called with an failure hrLogon] "" failed with 0x80048820 in .
1aec            Messenger:         Zone_LogonState CUIManager::OnLogonResult hr=[0x80048820] m_dwUILogonFlags=[2]
1aec            Messenger:                 Zone_UI CUIManager::OnLogonResult@0270CEC8: enter
1aec            Messenger:         Zone_LogonState CSignInUIController::OnLogonError> hrError=[0x80048820]
1aec            Messenger:         Zone_LogonState CLogonErrorHandler::DisplayLogonErrorDialog> hrError=[0x80048820] s_fDisplayingLogonError=[0]

I did a bit of network tracing, and found that messenger was trying to use my work proxy. Strange for several reasons:

• I wasn't connected to my work VPN
• I didn't have any proxy settings in IE9
• Work blocks messenger, so it could never have worked like that

After a little more head scratching, I remembered using the "netsh winhttp" commands to set a proxy to try and fix some VPN proxy issues we had, and when I checked, I could still see the winhttp proxy settings set.

Entering the following command cleared the proxy, and allowed messenger to run:

• netsh winhttp reset proxy

IE9 Beta Crashes on every page with Intel Express 4 Chipset Graphics

I have a Dell Lattitude E5400 running Windows 7 x64 and decided to try the IE9 beta that has just been released. Unfortuneatly, the browser crashed on every page load. After some investigation I found it was caused by my graphics driver. The E5400 uses the Intel GMA graphics driver from the Express 4 chipset.

Problem driver version was 8.15.10.2141.

Working driver version is 8.15.10.2202.

You can get the new driver here:
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/download.aspx?url=/19336/a08/Win7Vista_64_151711.exe&DwnldId=19336&lang=eng 

Connnect bug is here:
https://connect.microsoft.com/IE/feedback/details/599630/running-internet-explorer-9-with-gpu-accelleration-crashes-the-browser

Exchange 2007 Backup Woes

We use Exchange 2007 and backup using CommVault Simpana 8.0. We had an issue with a store that ran out of disk space, and then dismounted. The store logs were moved to another drive and the store mounted again. From this point on, backups (full or incremental) failed with CommVault with the following error:
Error Code: [28:163] Description: The Exchange server returned the following error message: [0x50d] - [Unknown]. Api: [HrESEBackupSetup()], Item: [Fourth Storage Group]

NTBackup could backup the store but took 20 hours compared to ComMVaults just over 2.

Investigating the event log produced an event id 9840 with error 1293:
An attempt to prepare the storage group 'Fourth Storage Group' for backup failed because the storage group is already in the process of being backed up. The error code is 1293. (Note that if a backup was recently aborted, then it may take several minutes for the system to detect the aborted backup and initiate backup cleanup procedures, so this message may be generated if an attempt was made to backup a storage group before a previous backup attempt had fully terminated.)

Turns out, the store filled during a backup leaving the backup in progress flag set. NTBackup works because it uses the old Exchange backup API's, not the VSS backup used by CommVault.

The fix was to dismount and then mount the affected store. 

Ubuntu x64 10.04 - Inital issues

Decided to upgrade to Ubuntu 10.04 using an in place upgrade - This failed horribly. There were several errors to do with likewise-open (my laptop belongs in a Windows AD domain). The final one told me that it had left my distro in an unusable state (some 3 hours into the upgrade).

I took the opportunity to reinstall the x64 version of 10.04 but ran into a few issues.

1. The Citrix ICA client install is complicated somewhat by the x64 architecture. The ICA client assumes you're running an x86 environment with 32 libs and a 32bit browser. It's fairly easy to work round - See the previous post.

2. The Cisco VPN client is a bit flakey. I can connect fine from the command line using vpnc, but the Gnome GUI hardly ever works. Sometimes it asks me for the password, only to fail the connection. Sometimes it doesn't ask me anyhting, just tells me the connection has failed. Sometimes it does nothing at all. I would prefer to use the GUI because you get a nice visual app showing if you're connected to the VPN or not.

Citrix Receiver on Ubuntu 9.10 x86

1. Install libmotif3
sudo apt-get install libmotif3

2. Create libXm.so.4 as needed by the Citrix receiver
cd /usr/lib
ln -s libXm.so.3.0.2 libXm.so.4

3. Download the Citrix receiver as a TGZ file from www.citrix.com

4. Extract this to a tmp directory and install
cd ~/Downloads
mkdir /tmp/citrix
cp linuxx86-11.100.158406.tar.gz /tmp/citrix/
cd /tmp/citrix
tar xvf  linuxx86-11.100.158406.tar.gz
sudo ./setupwfc

5. Follow the prompts - This is quite straight forward

6. Stop the EULA showing (As a blank dialog box)
 touch ~/.ICAClient/.eula_accepted

This now allows me to run Citrix apps through the web interface using Firefox.

Things still to fix:
Fix ugly Citrix GUI font
Authenticate to Xenapp View
Run access in Chrome

Changes for x64:
I had to download libmotif3 manually and copy stuff into lib32
This post helped a lot:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=333534

Get Device Manager to show non-present devices as hidden devices

Start a command prompt and set the following variable:

set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1

Start Device manager from the command line:

devmgmt.msc

On the view menu, click Show hidden devices.
More info here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315539

Error installing Dell OpenManage Server Administrator 6.1.0

First I had an error saying Windows Remote Management wasn't installed. I got it here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=845289ca-16cc-4c73-8934-dd46b5ed1d33&DisplayLang=en

Second problem was this error:

"The installer has detected that HTTPs Listener is not enabled for Windows Remote Management. Enable HTTPs Listener for Windows Remote Management to use Standards Remote Management capabilities. See "Remote Enablement Requirements" section in the Installation and Security User's Guide for detailed information. Note: Remote Enablement is applicable only for systems that support Server Instrumentation."

This led to this post:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa384372(VS.85).aspx

The fix was to run:

winrm quickconfig

This enabled an HTTP listener, but not an HTTPS one. Re-reading the above url, this worked:

winrm quickconfig -transport:https

ActiveSync - Guest only

To force an ActiveSync to allow guest only access (therefore with no prompts) carry out the following registry edits:

HKLM \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft\Windows CE Services

Add a new DWORD Value called ‘GuestOnly’ with a value of ‘1’

Blog off the air - Oops!

My blog has been off the air for a while. I moved the blog to a new server and recreated the domain.

Turns out the account used to run the blog needed modify access to C:\Windows\Temp - Looks ok for now!

Transistion to Cloud Servers

I'm moving all my locally hosted content to cloud based servers. So far I have moved my email to Google Apps For Your Domain and I have created a new blog (no content yet) to replace this one.

The Gmail move went pretty well as all I had to do was update MX, SPF and some CNAME records. The only non-working part was the start page as Google seem to have dropped support for this. I had actually setup apps before this limitation was implied, and I can activate the start page but it just doesn't work. There are others who mention this and the work-round seems just to use a Google Sites page if you want this. In fact there's quite a complete template for sites, just for this. I don't really need it anyways.

The blog will move slower. I have moved it off to a smaller sevrer for now and I'm trying to find a way to export the posts from CommunityServer to Blogger. I may just have to use the smaller server to setup redirects to the new blog.

Latest hotfix for DPM 2007

I think I explained earlier that my DPM 2007 product does not get updated by Microsoft update.

I tried reseting Windows Update components, but that didn't help:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971058

I've discovered I'm a little bit behind on hot fixes, and that Microsoft have released KB976542 on October 23rd 2009.

This seems to include all the hotfixes posted since DPM 2007 SP1:

• KB961502
• KB963102
• KB968579
• KB970867
• KB970868

Still, looks like DPM 2010 will soon be here.

Wireshark on Snow Leopard

Nasty startup problem solved thanks to Nick Klienschmidt.

Run:

cd /Library/StartupItems

sudo chown -R root:wheel ChmodBPF 

http://kleinsch.com/2009/10/03/wireshark-chmodbpf-errors-on-snow-leopard/

Belkin N1 Expresscard with DLink DIR-615

I was supplied with a DLink DIR-615 router as part of my Virgin Media package. Tried connecting my personal laptop using a Belkin N1 Express card (F5D8071), but it just wasn't happy. This same card would connect with a Belkin Vision N1 quite happily (surprise, surprise).

Anyway, I downloaded the Vista drivers and they worked fine. Find them here:
http://en-us-support.belkin.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/468

My card was the 3000 version.

Creating a dynamic distribution group with advanced filtering on Exchange 2007

In Exchange 2003, it was very easy to build a dynamic distribution group with the GUI. Exchange 2007 is much more limited unless you use Powershell. I needed to create a dynamic distribution group targeting a particular server, as long as the user mailboxes didn't have a forwarding address. The reason for wanting to avoid the mailboxes with forwarding addresses is we still have Quest's Exchange Migration Wizard creating forwarding details for users on the legacy Exchange system.

The process is a two part process:

• Create the dynamic distribution group
• Set the filter criteria for the distribution group

To create the dynamic user, type the following all on one line in the Exchange Powershell console (don't type in the bold italic comments):

New-DynamicDistributionGroup 'The applett

-Name "Group name" 'What the group should be called

-IncludedRecipients MailboxUsers 'Just include users with mailboxes

-OrganizationalUnit "domain.com/ou1/ou2" 'Where to create the dynamic distribution group
e.g. New-DynamicDistributionGroup -Name "Group name" -IncludedRecipients MailboxUsers -OrganizationalUnit "domain.com/ou1/ou2"

To set the filter:

Set-DynamicDistributionGroup 'The applett

"Group Name" 'What the group is called

-Notes "Blah blah blah" 'Description

-RecipientFilter {ServerName -eq 'ServerX' -and ForwardingAddress -eq $Null} 'Mailbox exists on ServerX and the forwarding address is empty

-RecipientContainer "domain.com/ou1/ou2" 'What container the recipients are under - It can just be the domain

e.g. Set-DynamicDistributionGroup "Group Name" -Notes "Blah blah blah" -RecipientFilter {ServerName -eq 'ServerX' -and ForwardingAddress -eq $Null} -RecipientContainer "domain.com/ou1/ou2"

Once set with Powershell, they can be viewed by the GUI, but not changed. Beware that the preview button does not take account of the -RecipientContainer parameter - It will show you all users in the domain that match.

Inspiration from:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb123796.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb738157.aspx

DanW

Windows 7 on an HP DV9000 (DV9292EU)

I've been having a bit of an install fest this weekend with Windows 7 Ultimate on my HP DV9292EU, Windows 7 Enterprise on my Work laptop and Android (!) on my trusty ASUS eeePC 701. All went fine except the HP laptop which had three unknown devices in device manager after the install.

One was labeled as a co-processor. I don't know what it was, but downloading the NVidia Nforce 430 drivers from here solved it:
http://www.nvidia.co.uk/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-uk

Select Legacy, NForce 4 and then one of the 430 drivers. It downloaded this file which worked for me:
15.49_nforce_winvista_win7_32bit_international_whql.exe

The two other device were labeled Base System Devices and proved to be some sort of Ricoh devices.
Downloading the Windows 7 drivers from the Lenovo site fixed these for me!
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/WIN7-BETA.html#rmcr

It now all looks good!

Google Wave invites

These are looking really hard to get - Any one have one?
Please send an invite to Karl.Foley@gmail.com.

How-To Prepare A Certificate With Subject Alternative Names Using Exchange Powershell

1. Use powershell from an Exchange 2007 box to generate a certificate request (all on one line and replace italics with your details):

New-ExchangeCertificate
-GenerateRequest:$true
-Path C:\NewCert.req
-DomainName fqdn1.domain.tld,fqdn1,fqdn2.domain.tld,fqdn2
-PrivateKeyExportable:$true
-FriendlyName "fqdn1.domain.tld"
-IncludeAcceptedDomains:$False
-Force:$true
-SubjectName "CN=fqdn1.domain.tld,OU=Department,O=Organisation,L=Location,S=County,C=GB"

2. Request a certificate from your AD certificate server, (http://yourcertserver/certsrv). This needs to be an advanced request, using the request file generated above, and for a web server. Download it to your local drive as C:\CertNew.cer.

3. Import the certificate into your Exchange server using:

Import-ExchangeCertificate C:\NewCert.req

4. On the Exchange server, use the MMC certificate snap-in, export the certificate. Export it with the private key to a PFX file. Make sure you target the computer certficate store when loading the MMC. Use a password to protect the exported certificate.

5. On the target server, load the certificate MMC, again targeting the computer store and import the pfx file.

6. Using the IIS console, switch your webserver to the new certificate.

7. You can delete the original certificate from your Exchange server if you wish.

Vista\2008 SP2

This has been RTM for a while, and I was expecting it to show up on Windows Update today, but it didn't. I downloaded it from Technet but just noticed it on the Microsoft main site here.

I particularly like the combined Vista\2008 32bit\64bit DVD here.

How to get the latest build of Chrome

Hacked off by the fact that IE8 had stopped responding my system, and not wanting to reboot right now, I decided to start using Chrome again.

I had been using the beta builds before but forgot how to get them.

You can find out how here:
http://dev.chromium.org/getting-involved/dev-channel 

Isinteg fails to run on Exchange 2007 with Error: FULLCHKMGR::EcReadRowCountGlobalFlag failed with error JET_wrnColumnNull

I had a corrupted mailbox, so created a temporary store to move the mailbox into. I then wanted to run an isinteg on this store before returning the mailbox back to the original store.

The first part went ok, but when I went to run isinteg I received the following error in the logfile:
Error: FULLCHKMGR::EcReadRowCountGlobalFlag failed with error JET_wrnColumnNull

Searching around prodeuced a few solutions, but none in English! I found the following post:
http://www.spurius.nl/?p=46

My Dutch isn't very good, but I surmised that the command to run was:
isinteg -s servername -fix -test rowcounts

I ran this, and indeed I could then run an isinteg with -test alltests. Thanks to whoever that blogger is!

Feb 2009 Hotfix Package for DPM 2007 (KB963102)

For some reason, my DPM server doesn't seem to pick up on updates from Microsoft, so I occasionally scan download.microsoft.com for any updates.

Today, I found a new hotfix download for DPM 2007:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=8a551a13-270e-46c0-91ee-4a6d3d8bf034

It patches some issues detailed here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;963102

Can anyone tell me how to make DPM 2007 register with Windows update on this server?

Communicator 2007 Automatic Sign-in Failure

In my case this was caused by lack of DNS entries.
Just creating a sip CNAME to my OCS 2007 server was enough, but there are others you can create.

I found a tool that helps you troubleshoot DNS issues here.

A\CNAME records:
  sip.domain.com
  sipinternal.domain.com
  sipexternal.domain.com

SRV Records:
  _sipinternaltls._tcp.domain,com
  _sipinternal._tcp.domain.com
  _sip._tls.domain.com

Communicator 2007 Fails to download corporate address book

In my case, this was caused by https certificate problems. The certificate had been generated during the install, but had not been applied to the IIS server.
Can also be caused by firewall issues with ports or IIS MIME issues for dabs (application\dabs) or lsabs (application\lsabs).

OCS 2007 Activation Problem

Failure to activate OCS 2007 during installation.
This can be based by having a space ( ) or quote (") character in the service account passwords.
Looks like the setup program does not quote the password correctly, so fails when either of these two charaters are used.

DPM 2007 SP1 Real Soon

Launched at the start of December 2008 apparently.
I'm not clear as to how the Hyper-V protection will work though - Will we have to pause Hyper-V guests or not during protection?

More details here:
http://blogs.technet.com/jbuff/archive/2008/11/24/what-is-new-for-protecting-sharepoint-with-dpm-2007-sp1-technet-edge-video.aspx

Unable to complete configuration wizard for System Center Essentials 2007

The confugration wizard was generating the following error:

Date: 12/10/2008 00:23:47
Application: System Center Essentials
Application Version: 6.0.1251.0
Severity: Error
Message:
: Verification failed with [1] errors:
-------------------------------------------------------
Error 1:
: Failed to verify Override [OverrideForRuleMicrosoftSystemCenterEssentialsInternalScheduledDiscoveryForContextMicrosoftSystemCenterRootManagementServer6c1cc55796f6477f97fbe53bcdb1154f].
Override [OverrideForRuleMicrosoftSystemCenterEssentialsInternalScheduledDiscoveryForContextMicrosoftSystemCenterRootManagementServer6c1cc55796f6477f97fbe53bcdb1154f] is a duplicate to Override [OverrideForRuleMicrosoftSystemCenterEssentialsInternalScheduledDiscoveryForContextMicrosoftSystemCenterRootManagementServere2f7dfce1adc45e0adbcbf63664743af] defined within the same ManagementPack. Please remove any one of the duplicate overrides.
-------------------------------------------------------
Failed to verify Override [OverrideForRuleMicrosoftSystemCenterEssentialsInternalScheduledDiscoveryForContextMicrosoftSystemCenterRootManagementServer6c1cc55796f6477f97fbe53bcdb1154f].Override [OverrideForRuleMicrosoftSystemCenterEssentialsInternalScheduledDiscoveryForContextMicrosoftSystemCenterRootManagementServer6c1cc55796f6477f97fbe53bcdb1154f] is a duplicate to Override [OverrideForRuleMicrosoftSystemCenterEssentialsInternalScheduledDiscoveryForContextMicrosoftSystemCenterRootManagementServere2f7dfce1adc45e0adbcbf63664743af] defined within the same ManagementPack. Please remove any one of the duplicate overrides.
: Failed to verify Override [OverrideForRuleMicrosoftSystemCenterEssentialsInternalScheduledDiscoveryForContextMicrosoftSystemCenterRootManagementServer6c1cc55796f6477f97fbe53bcdb1154f].
Override [OverrideForRuleMicrosoftSystemCenterEssentialsInternalScheduledDiscoveryForContextMicrosoftSystemCenterRootManagementServer6c1cc55796f6477f97fbe53bcdb1154f] is a duplicate to Override [OverrideForRuleMicrosoftSystemCenterEssentialsInternalScheduledDiscoveryForContextMicrosoftSystemCenterRootManagementServere2f7dfce1adc45e0adbcbf63664743af] defined within the same ManagementPack. Please remove any one of the duplicate overrides.
: Override [OverrideForRuleMicrosoftSystemCenterEssentialsInternalScheduledDiscoveryForContextMicrosoftSystemCenterRootManagementServer6c1cc55796f6477f97fbe53bcdb1154f] is a duplicate to Override [OverrideForRuleMicrosoftSystemCenterEssentialsInternalScheduledDiscoveryForContextMicrosoftSystemCenterRootManagementServere2f7dfce1adc45e0adbcbf63664743af] defined within the same ManagementPack. Please remove any one of the duplicate overrides.

I found this closed bug:
http://connect.microsoft.com/OpsMgrFeedback/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=286212
(Didn't help)

Then I found this, which did...
http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=2253298&SiteID=17

System Center Essential OpsMgr Error 0x80004005

After an install of SCE 2007, the OpsMgr service would not start and kept throwing an 0x80004005 error.

Found another blog with a fix:
http://blogcastrepository.com/blogs/brian_tucker/archive/2008/01/16/scom-opsmgr-2007-health-service-error-0x80004005-event-id-7023.aspx

It was a little different in my case, I had to remove LMIRfsClientNP from the registry key:
HKEYLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\NetworkProvider\HwOrder\ProviderOrder

D-Link DCS-6620G - HTTP 400 Bad Request

After the install of Silverlight - My D-Link DCS-6620G camera started returning HTTP 400 Bad Request errors.

After a bit of investigation, I found this:
http://silverlight.net/forums/p/7452/77779.aspx

Locating the key, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Accepted Documents, I removed a couple of XML document type I figured that I would never use.
Everything now works fine.

Kaspersky Internet Security 7 will not install

I'd forgotten this one... Something gets left in the registry so that the Kaspersky install keeps giving you this error:
"You must restart your computer before proceeding with the installation."

Download and apply this registry fix from Kaspersky.

More details here:
http://support.kaspersky.com/kolt/?eid=207694096

Network connection keeps stopping in Windows Vista Ultimate x64

I've recently had an issue with my main desktop machine losing network connectivity overnight. No other machines are affected, only my desktop one. The problem computer is connected via wired ethernet to a Netgear GS105 Gigabit switch. The lights on the switch stay on, so there appears to be nothing wrong with the physical connection but the system still can contact nothing on the network.

What has worked as a fix, was to go into the network connections, disable and then enable the LAN connection. The computer will then work fine for another 24 hours.

After some searching, I read this:
http://forums.techarena.in/vista-help/791873.htm

Which then led to this:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927168

Now, each time the connection has stopped working, I have had my Windows Mobile 6.0 phone plugged in, synchronising and charging. I wondered if this was the same as Internet Connection Sharing as the phone is given an IP and can access the network via my desktop computer. When I had network problems with my network camera, I do remember switching on RSS (receive side scaling) as part of the changes made to the IP stack.

I've disabled RSS for now using the command:
netsh interface tcp set global rss=disabled


I'll followup with any further lockups or not!

Poor performance with D-Link DCS-6620G and Microsoft Windows Vista - Solved

I recently bought a D-Link DCS-6620G IP camera to replace a failed Panasonic one. I found the performance to be terrible. After running a network capture I discovered the following:

My Vista desktop would send two TCP SYN requests with ECN and CWR flags set.
The camera would resond to each of these with a TCP RST.
My Vista desktop would then send a TCP SYN request without ECN and CWR flags and the camera would then respond normally.

This problem also meant that I could not add the camera to D-Link D-ViewCam Monitor as the request to add a camera failed with an unable to connect message.

After a bit of reading, I discovered the CWR and ECN flags were being set because I had ECN enabled in my IP stack. I verified this by running:

netsh interface tcp show global
Querying active state...
TCP Global Parameters
----------------------------------------------
Receive-Side Scaling State          : enabled
Chimney Offload State               : disabled
Receive Window Auto-Tuning Level    : disabled
Add-On Congestion Control Provider  : none
ECN Capability                      : enabled
RFC 1323 Timestamps                 : disabled

Running the following, disabled the setting:

netsh interface tcp set global ecncapability=disabled
Ok.

And...

netsh interface tcp show global
Querying active state...
TCP Global Parameters
----------------------------------------------
Receive-Side Scaling State          : enabled
Chimney Offload State               : disabled
Receive Window Auto-Tuning Level    : disabled
Add-On Congestion Control Provider  : none
ECN Capability                      : disabled
RFC 1323 Timestamps                 : disabled

The camera is now working very well.

Microsoft DPM 2007 - Enable colocation of data on tape

If you have multiple storage groups with the same data retention policies, you can now colocate the data on the same tapes as long as you have installed theDPM 2007 feature pack. Most useful if you have a single drive rather than a library.

It's not settable in the GUI, but the following Powershell command turns it on:
Set-DPMGlobalProperty -DpmServer -OptimizeTapeUsage $true

More details here. 

Update Rollup 3 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1

This (KB949870), was applied by Windows Update last night, and I woke up to no incoming email. On investigation, I found that there was no smtp (25) port open, and that the Microsoft Exchange Transport hadn't started after the reboot.

I attempted to manually start the service, but no joy as it timed out after 30 seconds. I reviewed the event logs, nothing there, tried again and it worked. Did a trawl back through the event logs when the server restarted, and again nothing. There were some eventid 3001\3003 from the EvntAgnt (log file not at end) so I may be missing some logs.

The only other issue I can think of, is that this is a single server Exchange 2007 installation - I.e. The transport service is running on the same server as the mailboxes rather than on a separate edge server. I would think this receives no testing by Microsoft!

I will have to monitor this the next time I reboot. Is anyone else having this issue?

DPM 2007 Feature Pack - Out!

The feature pack that is supposed to fix quite a few issues was released on the 1st July. I seemed to have missed it even though my DPM server is subscribed to Windows Update.

Found out about it here:
http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/archive/2008/07/01/dpm-2007-rollup-update-now-available.aspx

Details from Microsoft here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=e9e1fe35-b175-40a8-8378-2f306ccc9e28&DisplayLang=en
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=ad5cd1a2-9b87-4a2c-90a2-9dbaf1024310&DisplayLang=en

Configure Server 2008 Time

I used the command:
"w32tm /config /manualpeerlist:"uk.pool.ntp.org europe.pool.ntp.org" /syncfromflags:manual /reliable:yes /update"

More details here:
http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver/en/library/f3d6b66c-5fdc-4a77-a901-5efbcb4d4bb71033.mspx?mfr=true

Active directory permissions inheritance being cleared

I've been having an issue for some time where certain users and groups were having thier AD inheritance flag cleared and an arbitary set of permissions made.

It turns out that this is by design. Because the users belonged to a group, which belonged to Print Operators, thier permissions were being set to match the System\AdminSDHolder object. The PDC emulator runs an hourly process which copies the permissions from AdminSDHolder to these protected objects.

The following article describes how to remove Print Operators from this protected list of groups. The article talks about a hotfix, but this is only relevent for Windows 2003 SP1. Windows 2003 SP2 already has this change.

You can find the article here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/817433/en-us

A couple of great Media Center addons

Just wanted to share a couple of excellent Media Center addons I have found recently
.
The first, called WebGuide4, allows you to access your Media Center PC through a web interface, including mobile:
http://www.asciiexpress.com/wiki/

The second allows access to BBC iPlayer, ITV Catch Up and Channel 4 Catch Up from within Media Center:
http://www.milliesoft.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9&Itemid=11

DPM 2007 Agent failing to protect Windows Vista SP1

I recently modifed my DPM 2007 installation to backup my local users folder on Windows Vista Ultimate x64. This would not work and kept producing the following event logs when I attemted to manually sync the share:

Log Name:      Application
Source:        Application Error
Date:          15/06/2008 08:50:37
Event ID:      1000
Task Category: (100)
Level:         Error
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:      Cartman2.thefoleyhouse.co.uk
Description:
Faulting application DPMRA.exe, version 2.0.5820.0, time stamp 0x46f990f7, faulting module kernel32.dll, version 6.0.6001.18000, time stamp 0x4791ada5, exception code 0x80070002, fault offset 0x000000000002649d, process id 0x1ff8, application start time 0x01c8cebaac1ac7c8.

After some research I found the following fix:
http://www.eggheadcafe.com/software/aspnet/31450629/cant-create-recovery-poi.aspx

You have to create the following DWORD registry key with a value of 1:
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\kernel\obcaseinsensitive

Windows Vista Ultimate x64 Component Registration Problem

My Media Center PC randomly decided to stop working. After a lot of searching and trying I finally found this:

http://mymce.wordpress.com/2006/11/30/a-component-registration-failurea-critical-process-failurea-tuner-not-found-error/

The steps were:

1. Close Media Center
2. Click on the Start menu, choose run and type cmd
3. Execute the command regsvr32.exe atl.dll
4. Execute the command C:\WINDOWS\eHome\ehSched /unregServer
5. Execute the command C:\WINDOWS\eHome\ehSched /service
6. Execute the command C:\WINDOWS\eHome\ehRecvr /unregServer
7. Execute the command C:\WINDOWS\eHome\ehRecvr /service
8. Execute the command C:\WINDOWS\eHome\ehRec.exe /unregServer
9. Execute the command C:\WINDOWS\eHome\ehRec.exe /regserver
10. Execute the command C:\WINDOWS\eHome\ehmsas.exe /unregServer
11. Execute the command C:\WINDOWS\eHome\ehmsas.exe /regserver
12. Restart Media Center

Thanks so much guys!

DPM 2007 DPMRA Error 10048 (0x2740)

After rebooting my Exchange server because of DNS issue, the DPM protection stopped. Further investigation found this in the event log:
The DPMRA service terminated with service-specific error 10048 (0x2740).

Google found this:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/947682

Essentialy you use 'netstat -oan' to find the PID of the process using port 5718 or 5719, which are both required by DPMRA.
Then use 'tasklist' and 'tasklist /svc' to discover which process it is. In my case, it was the MS Exchange Information Store.

I fixed it by stopping all Exchange services, starting DPMRA and then restarting Exchange.

It's kind of weird that MS Exchange can use the DPMRA ports when DPM is speciffically for protecting Exchange (amongst other things).

How to re-create the Show Desktop icon on the Quick Launch toolbar

Create a text file called Show Desktop.scf containing:

[Shell]
Command=2
IconFile=explorer.exe,3
[Taskbar]
Command=ToggleDesktop

More details here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/190355/en-us

How to enable user environment debug logging in retail builds of Windows

I've found this quite useful in debugging slow logins or incorrect application of group policy.

Create the following DWORD value:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\UserEnvDebugLevel

Set:
0x00030002 - Masses of debug info
0x00010001 - Normal

It logs to:
%Systemroot%\Debug\UserMode\Userenv.log

More details here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/221833

DPM 2007 Internal error code: 0x80990A93

When changing the PG (Protection Group) that my server belongs to, I normally get this error message:
DPM cannot protect \\CHEF2.thefoleyhouse.co.uk\Optical Drive\. The recycle bin, the System Volume Information folder, non-NTFS volumes, DFS links, CDs, Quorum Disk (for cluster) and other removable media cannot be protected. (ID: 38)

Today, it suddenly changed to:
DPM cannot access the path \\CHEF2.thefoleyhouse.co.uk\Optical Drive\ because part of the path has been deleted or renamed.
Check the path and enter it again.
ID: 36
Details: Internal error code: 0x80990A93

It took me a little while to realise that this was because I had removed the DVD from the drive! I thought I'd broken something by reinstalling the DPM client!

SQL Database missing from DPM 2007

Having fixed my SQL 2005 issues with DPM 2007, I found my main production SQL database was missing from the list of resources available to be protected. When attempting a normal SQL backup, I got an error message telling me that the Full Text Index was missing.

I recreated the Full Text Index, (got lost when changing SQL versions - No backup, that's what DPM was supposed to do!), and everything worked great.

The thing I learned here was, if DPM is having problems protecting a resource, try another backup type for more information on the error!

DPM SQL Issues

I had the following scenario:

• DPM 2007 Running on Windows Server 2003 R2 SP2 (x86)
• SQL 2005 Standard (x86) running on Windows Server 2008 (x64)

DPM would not protect the SQL databases, and kept giving errors that the protection was "inconsistant". There were lots of SQLVDI errors in event viewer, including a BADMEM error.
To cut a long story short, I found the fix was to replace the x86 version of SQL 2005 with an x64 version.

Windows Vista SP1 x64 - Multiple Taskeng processes consuming resources

I think I've found the cause, with not a little help, of all my multiple taskeng processes that have been plaguing my x64 SP1 Vitsa box:

1. Open Task Scheduler from Administrative Tools
2. Delete any User_Feed tasks
3. Type 'msfeedssync enable' at the command line to recreate

http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=3087879&SiteID=17

Thanks guys!

Blog Tags were not working

I've added the following to web.config to allow these to work:





I added it just before the  tag.

How-to Enable antispam updates on a single Exchange 2007 server

There is a handy little script that you can run from the Exchange Management Shell:
InstallAntispamAgents.ps1

To update manually:
Get-AntspamUpdates

To update automatically:
Enable-AntispamUpdates -UpdateMode Automatic

How-to Allow a distribution group to receive mail from the internet

Found the answer here:
http://exchangepedia.com/blog/2007/07/new-distribution-groups-do-not-receive_31.html

Use the following command in Exchange management shell:
Set-DistributionGroup "Group Name" -RequireSenderAuthenticationEnabled $false

Moved to new server

We are now running on Server 2008.

Let me know of any issues please!

Virtual Server on Server 2008

You must remember to add the CGI service role to IIS 7.0:
http://www.hostingforum.ca/838516-virtual-server-2005-sp1-vista-x64-vswebapp-exe-being-downloaded-instead-executed.html

How-to Create antispam reports

There are a number of reports avaiable in Exchange Management Shell.

You must first change into the scripts directory (cd C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\Scripts) and then try the following:
get-AntispamFilteringReport.ps1
get-AntispamSCLHistogram.ps1
get-AntispamTopRecipients.ps1
get-AntispamTopRBLProviders.ps1
get-AntispamTopBlockedSenders.ps1
get-AntispamTopBlockedSenderDomains.ps1

How-to grant Sendas for Distribution Groups

Found the answer here:
http://exchangepedia.com/blog/2007/03/how-to-assign-sendas-right-using.html

Run the following in Exchange Management shell:
Add-AdPermission "Distribution Group Name" -user "Mailbox Name" -AccessRights extendedright -ExtendedRights "send as"

How-to Backup Exchange 2007 on Server 2008

After all the hassle of getting Exchange 2007 setup yesterday, I found that I had no way to backup my Exchange 2007 server running on Server 2008. For whatever reason, Microsoft do not supply NTBackup and there is no in-built way of backing up Exchange 2007 when run on Server 2008.

Now, I could opt for a third party backup program or use Microsoft DPM, but for my 4 user network, this is a little bit of an overkill.

After some research, I found this article on how to install NTNackup on Vista:
http://www.petri.co.il/installing_windows_xp_ntbackup_on_windows_vista.htm

I followed this by copying the following binaries from my old server (C:\Windows\System32\) to my new server (C:\Program Files\NTBackup\):

• ntbackup.exe
• ntmsapi.dll
• vssapi.dll

I installed the removable storage manager from server manager:

• Start Server Manager
• Click Features
• Click Add Features
• Select Removable Storage Manager
• Click Install

When NTBackup starts, you will see an error regarding removable storage, but I just ignored this and clicked "Do not show this again"

Upon running NTBackup, I could see drives and system state, but no Exchange!

I then found this:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/275876

I copied esebcli2.dll from my old server (C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\Bin) to my new sever (C:\Program Files\NTBackup)

I ran regedit and changed the esebcli2 key from C:\Program Files\Micrsoft\Exchange Server\Bin\esebcli2.dll to C:\Program Files\NTBackup\esebcli2.dll.

I ran NTBackup and backed up my Exchange store to disk!

Exchange 2007 on Server 2008

What a day!

I've learnt a hard lesson today. Never unbind IPv6 from Server 2008 if its running Exchange 2007.

I had some problems adding some Vista laptops to a Server 2008 domain today. I couldn't determine if it was SP1 RC1, UAC being turned off or IPv6. The computers would not join the domain using the GUI. I had to manually extract the XP SP2 version of netdom and use that, after manually creating the computer accounts in the domain.

All was well until I restarted the Server. The Exchange Transport Service hung in "starting" and I could not connect to the Exchange server using the Power Shell or Console. I kept getting AD errors from these tools, and lots of errors about the Exchange AD Topology service not being able to contact AD.

To cut a long story short, I flattened the server and started again - Only to discover that IPv6 wasn't the problems with the workstations joining the domain, but it was the problem for Exchange 2007!

I never did get to the bottom of the problem joining the domain though. At least I have a work round now - Use XP SP2 Netdom!

Problems installing and using Exchange 2007

I'm upgrading my Exchange 2003 organisation to Exchange 2007 this weekend, as a reinforced learning experience for when I begin to deploy Exchange 2007 for a major customer.

I had a couple of problems:

1. A setup error occured: "[ERROR] Access to the path 'D:\Setup\ServerRoles\Common\64' is denied"
2. When I re-ran setup, it installed, but there were no routing group connectors between the old routing group "First Administrative Group\First Routing Group" and the new routing group "Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT)\Exchange Routing Group (DWBGZMFD01QNBJR)".
3. I created the routing group connectors, and moved a mailbox, but mail would not flow. Kept getting 5.7.1 Relay Denied errors from the new organisation.

I found a few references:

Setup error:
http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=2746265&SiteID=17
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/943507/en-us

How to install Exchange 2007 into an Exchange 2003 organisation:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb124350(EXCHG.80).aspx

How to remove Exchange 2007 roles:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb124115(EXCHG.80).aspx

For some reason, my new Action Pack came with Exchange 2007 SP0 and not SP1.
I've downloaded Exchange 2007 SP1 and will reinstall this when I have removed Exchange 2007 from the server.

Exchange 2007 SP1:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=44C66AD6-F185-4A1D-A9AB-473C1188954C&displaylang=en

Exchange 2007 SP1 Release Notes:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=5770BD59-376E-42EC-B940-BE6225CD97FF&displaylang=en


NB:Just what does FYDIBOHF23SPDLT and DWBGZMFD01QNBJR mean?They are shifts of "EXCHANGE12ROCKS". First one, add 1 to each character, second one, deduct 1 from each character.

Server 2008 Hyper-V Service vmss failing to start

With the latest RC1 refresh, you have to install Server 2008 with the default language settings in order for the vmss service to start properly.

Details here:
http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=2585027&SiteID=17

Running Windows Server 2008 under Xen on OpenSuse 10.3

I've just bought a 2xQuad Core Zeon, Dell Poweredge 1900, with 16GB RAM. This is for some heavy duty Hyper-V testing in Windows Server 2008 but I thought it'd be fun to run it under OpenSuse 10.3 first.

The result:

Click the above image for a full size one.

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Core - Demos

The are some nice core demos over at Keth Coombs' blog.

Catch them here:
http://blogs.technet.com/keithcombs/archive/2007/11/04/windows-server-2008-core-screencast-series-watch-all-eight-parts-here.aspx

How-To Create an Outlook Profile Automatically

We need a way of creating users Outlook profiles automatically. They can run this the first time they login, or at any other time to recreate thier profile.

First download the files here.

The files are stored in a shared directory.
We created a directory in SYSVOL so that all users could access them.
The path would be something like \\YourDomainName\SYSVOL\YourDomainName\Scripts\OutlookFirstRun.
They could be stored in a standard shared folder if you prefer, just edit the path in the scripts.

OutlookFirstRun.au3:
This is an AutoIT script that you need to edit and compile to an .EXE using Auto IT (Freeware).
It can be found at http://www.autoitscript.com/

Outlook.ico:
The outlook icon for compiling OutlookFirstRun.exe.
We used this so that the program looked the same as Outlook.

DisplayName.vbs:
This is a VB script that writes the users display name to a file.
We write it to F:\Display.txt, as F:\ is the users home directory.
Again, you can change this.

Outlook.prf:
This is a file that contains settings to be imported into outlook.
It sets up the users profile for them.

Functional description:
Instead of launching Outlook.exe, the user launches OutlookFirstRun.exe. You have to arrange for this to happen. We use Ericom to publish this as a terminal server application but you could create an MSI or use the RunOnce registry key. The program could be included in your build Ghost image for example.
OutlookFirstRun.exe calls DisplayName.VBS.
DisplayName.vbs reads the users display name from AD and creates as an Environment Variable %DISPLAYNAME%.
OutlookFirstRun then launches Outlook.exe and imports Outlook.prf.
Outlook.prf must be edited to contain your Exchange server name and any additional changes.
We don’t use cached PSTs for example, as we’re running in a terminal server farm environment.

Feel free to use these files - Distributed under GPL-v3.

Event ID 1058 and 1030

On several AD installations with multiple domain controllers I have seen servers continuosly logging event 1058 and 1030.

Running "dfsutil /PurgeMupCache" followed by "gpupdate /Force" always seems to fix it.

You obtain DFSUTIL from the support tools (SUPTOOLS.MSI) from the server installation CD located in \Support\Tools I think

How to enable hibernate in Windows Vista

Apparently, Windows Vista prefers to use a bastardisation of standby and hibernate as a default, storing memory contents to disk as well as low powered state in RAM.

It doesn't help much if you want to power down your machine to transport it to another location though!

To re-enable hibernate use the following command as an administrator:
    powercfg -h on

See this KB article for more information.

Moving Windows Sharepoint Services Databases in SQL 2005

I was migrating an old WSS 2.0 site on SQL 2000, to WSS 3.0 on SQL 2005, and didn't like where the default databases were being created.

I detached the databases, moved them to thier new location, and re-attached them.
This changed the owner from "NT Authority\Network Service" to my account.

I used the following SQL code to change the owner back:
  USE whichever_database
  EXEC sp_changedbowner 'NT Authority\Network Service'

Thanks to Kalen Delaney for that!

Printing to Canon MP530 from Eee PC 701

I bought a lttle Eee PC 701 machine but had problems configuring it to print to my Canon MP530.

I decided to try the Turboprint.de driver and had some success.

Download the Turboprint debian package from http://www.turboprint.info/

Start a terminal by pressing "Ctrl+Alt+T"

Become root by typing "su -" and entering your user password

Add the following to /etc/apt/sources/list
deb http://xnv4.xandros.com/4.0/pkg xandros4.0-xn main contrib nonfree

Update the apt sources by typing "apt-get update"

Install the required libraries by typing "apt-get install libgtk1.2-common libgtk1.2 libglib1.2"

Install Turboprint by changing to the directory you downloaded it to (such as "cd /home/user") and the using the dpg command to install "dpg -i turboprint_1.96-3_i386.deb".

I then commented out the Xandros4 source from /etc/apt/sources.list and ran the "apt-get update" command again.

Now add the printer using the "Canon Turboprint" drivers. I added mine from my shared windows PC with no problem.

Ubuntu on Dell Inspiron 5100 Problems solved

I've managed to improve my video by switching from the Vesa driver (enabled by default) to the Radeon driver.

The Radeon driver would not work properly without adding the line Option '"LVDSBiosNativeMode" "FALSE"' to /etc/X11/xorg.conf. Thanks to Ricky Cambell for that.

I also found some useful help regarding boot up speed and temperature control from this thread at the Ubuntu forum. 

Ubuntu 7.10 on Dell Inspiron 5100

Well - I've been running Vista on my new laptop for sometime so decided to play with the new Ubuntu release on my old Dell Inspiron 5100. It was a very easy install!

I had to start from the CD in safe graphics mode but when the install was complete, Ubuntu offered to install the softmodem and wireless card automatically.

I pointed the wireless installer at the driver reccomended by the Ubuntu Wifi docs site and everything worked first time.

Nice! All I need to do now is find a way to improve how the fonts look in Firefox. 

Problems with Nero 7 in Windows Vista Ultimate x64

I have had a number of issues in getting my favourite burning program, Nero 7, working in Windows Vista Ultimate x64. These are:


1. Every time I login I receive a message "Nero Home Has Stopped Responding". When I click to end this process, it obviously starts again because the message keeps repeating forever.
I have opened a support call with Nero about this but no progress so far. My work round is to kill the processes "WerFault.exe *32" and "NMBgMonitor.exe" in Task Manager. I have further used MSConfig to disable Nero Home on the Startup tab.


2. In Media Centre, selecting the Nero plug-in causes an "Invalid Application Error".
I have also passed this to Nero, but again no response as yet. I am using MCEBuddy to automatically convert Media Centre recordings to WMV files and then burning using standard DVD creation programs. This saves me disk space and gives me more control anyway so I am not that bothered.


3. When trying to burn a DVD or CD with Nero Burning ROM, I get a message saying "The Server is Busy. This action cannot be completed.....".
I believe that this is related to problem 1 above. I killed all the NM* processes in task manager and Nero was able to open the burning dialog OK. The processes did keep restarting, so I have used Computer Management to disable the NMIndexingService service. I may have to kill these NM* processes manually again next time but at least I can get Nero to work.


At the moment, I have the latest version of Nero 7 available from the Nero website: 7.10.1.0


Update: Ahead came up with a patched DLL but this has not fixed the problem for me.


Update 2: Just had an email from Ahead to confirm that this is a known and fixed issue that is fixed in the next release. Unfortunately, they could not give me the date for the next release. :(

Extracting WMV from MCE

I initially tried playing with DVRMSToolbox, but it had some significant issues wwth Vista 64. (Would not convert to WMV and Commercial skipping not working in Media Centre).

I found another tool called MCE Buddy. This is not as flexible as DVRMSToolbox but it just works!

You can find it here:
http://www.mcebuddy.com/

How to Enable Versbose Startup\Shutodown\Logon\Logoff Messages in Windows XP

Create HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System\verbosestatus
It needs to be Dword with a value of 0x1.

BBC iPlayer on Windows Vista

I had worked out sometime ago how to install Sky Anytime onto my Laptop (useful for those stays away), but I wanted to install the BBC iPlayer back onto my desktop after an upgrade to Windows Vista (I have no need for 4OD as it is delivered through my Virgin Media cable).

It turns out that all you have to do is to change the user agent (UA) strings to fool the BBC website into letting you download the iPlayer.

I found details on how to do it here:
http://community.plus.net/comms/2007/08/02/how-to-install-the-bbc-iplayer-on-windows-vista/

You can download the UA registry changes from here:
http://www.fiddlertool.com/useragent.aspx


Update:
You can only play the DRM files if you have administrative rights.


Update2:
I've found the download from Microsoft called "User Agent String Utility" to be a better long-term choice. This allows you to open a copy of IE7 configured to react like IE6. You can then use this to access the BBC iPlayer site. Get it here.

Update to CS 2.1 SP3

Please let me know of any problems.

I am actually a couple of versions behind because CS 2007 SP2 is out.

Synchronise Media from Media Centre to External Storage on XDA Orbit

Since installing Windows Vista Ultimate and a TV card on my desktop PC, I have been playing with Media Centre. Everything was working great except synchronising content to my Windows Mobile 5.0 device (an O2 XDA Orbit).

I was only being offered the change to synchronise to the internal storage of the device. The XDA Orbit has just 64MB of internal storage, of which I only have 14MB free. You can't fit much on there!

It turns out that this is a bug with Media Centre not resolving device names correctly. The fix isn't currently delivered by Windows\Microsoft update, but once I had identified and installed it, everything worked fine.

I've not yet worked out how to synch individual programs from MCE so I still have issues with running out of storage on my 1GB card. I've seen reports that 2GB is the max I can use although some claim 4GB - I see a trip to ebay in my future! I also feel I get more control with Nero recode so I guess it would be great if you could extract WMV files from MCE, anyone know how?

I found the bug described here:
http://www.tabletquestions.com/windows-vista/9396-windows-mobile-device-center-media-center-pocket-pc-sync.html

I found the KB931621 fix here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931621/en-us


Update:
Nero can process the dvr-ms files directly (at least with the Vista codec pack I have installed). You find them in C:\Users\Publix\Recorded TV.