Troubleshooting Group Policy

gp_troubleshooting.doc:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=B24BF2D5-0D7A-4FC5-A14D-E91D211C21B2&displaylang=en

MBSA 2.1 Beta is out

the main new feature is the compatbility with Windows Vista:

homepage:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/tools/mbsa2_1/default.mspx

download:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=F32921AF-9DBE-4DCE-889E-ECF997EB18E9&displaylang=en

Exchange 2007: bye bye IIS SMTP

I am just firing up exchange 2007 32 bits on my VM.
It request IIS but refuses the smtp one (used to be installed with previous Exchange version) !
good news !

tool to identify Intel CPU

Intel release a free tool to identify their CPU.
It works with Bootable CD or directly from Windows:
http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scripts-df-external/Product_Filter.aspx?ProductID=1881

Windows 2003 / ASP .NET 2.0 / Sharepoint 2007

i am trying to install Office Sharepoint 2007 into a VM.
I ran in the following error:
---------------------------Setup Errors---------------------------

Setup is unable to proceed due to the following error(s):This product requires ASP.NET v2.0 to be set to 'Allow' in the list of Internet Information Services (IIS) Web Server Extensions. If it is not available in the list, re-install ASP.NET v2.0.Correct the issue(s) listed above and re-run setup.
---------------------------OK ---------------------------

It's right, ASP .NET 2.0 is not in the web extension list ! :'(

I tried adding it manually..no way.

I installed .NET 2.0 over the existing one. Works !

Damned IIS that doesn't like to get installed after .NET

tool to debug http proxy request

I found a free tool to debug http session even through proxy: Fiddlertool

http://www.fiddlertool.com/fiddler/

Techdays 2007: The Devil in Prada by MS Exchange 2007

That's fun:
http://soapbox.msn.com/video.aspx?vid=cd6a9313-9d06-4b38-9914-71189e6664de

Vmware workstation: failed to open (The file is too large).

I just bought an external usb hard drive (Seagate 160GB Dancer) to put my vmdk files on it.
As it was already formated, i didn't check it out...damned!
After copying 46GB of vmdk, i wanted to give it a try..:
Vmware is giving me a nice : failed to open (The file is too large).

After searching on the web for this message without success, i watched the log:
failed to open (32776): Underlying file system does not support that big files.

Damned, i am on FAT32 even on a 146GB drive..
How to waste hours in copying!

GFI Faxmaker & network card

We are having an issue with GFI Faxmaker.
We have two network Card:
-Eicon PRI Access (20 channels)
-Eicon BRI Access (ISDN / 2 Channels)

This two cards can't be both on the same server, or only the BRI works.
Deactivating the card doesn't workaround the problem..

We already had a problem with GFI trying to autocreate the SMTP connector. We had to uninstall the GFI Fax maker component on our Exchange cluster and then create the smtp connector by hand

Are we collecting all the GFI bug's?

VmWare Workstation 6 Beta on vista as host

Just to say it's better than a beta from my experience :)
It's a bit slower than usual due to the debug option but stable and working !
No more memory leak!

Dell M1210 & video projector

I couldn't investigate further, but Vista became crazy after plugging a video projector on my laptop...
The screen rotated 90° counterwize ! No way to put it back with the video projector plugged in...
So strange ! My nvidia driver is the previous - last one.

Drivecrypt 3.8 & Vista: I love it

just to say Drivecrypt 3.8 is working great on my Laptop with Windows Vista RTM :)

MS TechDays 2007/PARIS: I have been there !

I went two half day to the TechDays 2007 :)
I subscribed to:
-Deploying IPSEC
-Tools and methods for security
-Quest Tools to manage SQL (Longhorn A-Z was full)
-Deploying Exchange 2007 at Microsoft

that's cool !
And now waiting for the webcasts :)

Microsoft Windows Mobile Device Center Driver for Windows Vista final

Microsoft Windows Mobile Device Center Driver for Windows Vista final is out !
Also available in French/ francais ! :)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=fr&FamilyID=83d513ea-9df9-4920-af33-3a0e2e4e7beb

Acrobat Reader & Vista issue

if you have issue with opening PDF in vista, especially through Internet explorer,
there is a new version of Acrobat Reader, version 8.

putting workstation in quarantine area: the easy way

I just answered a guy on activedir that would like to block all new workstation by default. The goal is to prevent users from playing with workstation until they are secured by GPO / antivirus / inventory tools...

The way i propose is globally:
-redirect all new workstation joining the domain to a new ou (let's say quarantine). This can be done direclty with windows 2003 AD thanks to redircomp.exe

-On the quarantine OU, create a new gpo that will only allow encrypted traffic communication.
As only these stations will be set up to encrypt traffic, they won't be able to communicate with servers and others stations.

The tricks are:
-If using dhcp, allow unencrypted trafic with the dhcp servers or the workstation won't get dhcp address (and won't be able to communicate with AD and so to catch the change of OU later)
-Allow unencrypted communication with DC so to be able to catch GPO change to stop ipsec traffic.

If a workstation doesn't stop using ipsec or doesn't catche the GPO change:
-stop the windows ipsec service
-issue a gpupdate /force
-reboot

The only way for users is to be administrator and to stop the ipsec service manually. This can be enforced by GPO (and more if specifying a small GPO/ipsec refresh interval time)

hope it will help you !

VmWare Workstation and Vista as host

I am using VmWare Workstation 6.0 beta on my Vista RTM (host guest).

Working greats !
No more issue with disk freezing the OS for a while.

Searching vmware Visio stencil for free ?

Update: (ALL in one VSD File)
http://gollum123.free.fr/vmware.VSD

Enjoy!


have a look at this great site (but seems broken)
http://www.vmguru.com/files/10/visio/default.aspx
Thanks to them !

considering username rename ?

If you are considering renaming users Samaccountname, you should at least care about:

• Outlook will prompt for the location of OST and maybe PST if in the profile
• ActiveSync on Windows mobile will need to be set up with the new username
• If using roaming profile, you will need to rename all users folders (so you need access to them which is by default prohibited with XP SP2)
• If redirecting My Documents, you will need to rename all folders to match.
• Update logon script if network mapping is based on the username
• You may clean up all profile on all station or at least rename them.

You should use Admodify which will do all the job on the AD side.

You should always test amont a significant numbers of users first to check against application troubles after renaming accounts. Applications like Vmware VirtualCenter always display the last used username.

GFI Faxmaker 12 + Exchange 2003 cluster

hello all,

For those that will install GFI Faxmaker 12 on an Exchange 2003 Cluster:
DO NOT INSTALL THE COMPONENT PART ON THE EXCHANGES NODE CLUSTER.

The smtp connector won't be created and then creating it manualy will NOT WORK.
You will have to remove the gfi component and then create the whole smtp connector by hand.