Tech Encounters

Server Essentials 2012 Web Interface How to Hide Folders in web view for users who have no permission to a folder By default server essentials shows folders in the web interface even when a user is denied access, to adjust this feature: 1. Log into the server and go to Administrative Tools -> Server Manager. 2. Under Roles -> File Services, click Share and Storage Management.  Select the folder share which points to the web interface root folder and in the right pane, click Properties. 3. Click Advanced and check the box "Enable access-based enumeration."  With ABE enabled only web interface folders the user account has permissions to will be shown.

Current Worldwide Cyber Attack Protection News is spreading like the infection from the cyber attack. Current information suggests this is dubbed #WannaCry Ransomware.  Information Encrypts with file extension .wncry Deletes volume shadow copies (often used for quick recovery) Deletes Windows Backup and System Restore Attacks SMB shares Windows 10, Windows 8 , Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP Note the widely publicised Kill Switch is blocked by proxy server. The malware uses direct Internet access to check the kill switch domain name and web site. Ironically the more secure sites using outbound filtering are more vulnerable.  Protection Based on anecdotal information available 13/05/2017 Patch systems up to April 2017 (specifically MS17-010) Disable SMB v1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support Use File Resource Manager to block the extension .wncry Add Comments Below with Further information Most recent Twitter updates https://twitter.com/searc...

Android Studio can be a little slow After a while using Android Studio gets painful at startup time waiting for the IDE user interface to load, then waiting for the Android Emulator. Found that with a few quick exclusions in antivirus speed is significantly improved. I'm sure there are a few who will disagree with these changes but the trade off between security and performance is well worth it in my case. Exclude the following items in Antivirus:  C:\Program Files\Android\Android Studio\plugins\android\lib C:\Users\<username>\.AndroidStudio2.2\system\caches C:\Users\<username>\.AndroidStudio2.2\system\index C:\Users\<username>\.gradle qmenu-system-i386.exe Please post a response how this works for you so that others may benefit.

Do You Need to clear the settings in Veeam EndPoint Backup? 1. Stop the Veeam Endpoint Backup Service Windows + R to bring up the Run dialogue, type services.msc and press Enter. Locate the Veeam Endpoint Backup Service, Double-Click to Open and Stop the service. If the service does not stop you may need to kill the Veeam Tasks (or reboot). Keep the Window open for step 3. 2. Edit registry key to recreate the database Windows + R to bring up the Run dialogue, type regedit.exe and press Enter. Locate Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Veeam\Veeam Endpoint Backup. Change the RecreateDatabase key from 0 to 1. 3. Start the Veeam Endpoint Backup Service Go back to the Services screen,  Locate the Veeam Endpoint Backup Service, open and Click Start. Starting will take a few minutes. Once the service is started this will reset the registry key back to normal so you can close the registry editor. Your backup settings will be ...

How to UserID by email address in Freshdesk with PowerShell 1. Prep for testing  Update this url with yourdomain to locate a suitable user account and email address.  https://yourdomain.freshdesk.com/api/v2/contacts The output is in .json format but readable enough. 2. The PowerShell  ################################################# # Freshdesk Find Contact by email ################################################# # Find this user $userEmail = "someone@somewhere.com" # Enter FreshDesk Domain $myDomain = "domainname" # API Key $FDApiKey="myapikey" ################################################# # Prep $pair = "$($FDApiKey):$($FDApiKey)" $bytes = [System.Text.Encoding]::ASCII.GetBytes($pair) $base64 = [System.Convert]::ToBase64String($bytes) $basicAuthValue = "Basic $base64" $FDHeaders = @{ Authorization = $basicAuthValue } [Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [Net.SecurityProtocolType]::TLS12 ...

Freshdesk Powershell Scripts - Get ticket summary Mission get to the current open ticket count into an include file for our board Run this Powershell script as a Scheduled Task every 15-minutes Updates a text file with the current open ticket count from Freshdesk Later we'll pick this file up our our statusboard This is what we're aiming for on our operations monitor Tickets heading up or down using indicator Open tickets differentiated from all tickets Freshdesk Ticket count by Engineer / Agent  # Part one script starts here # API Key $FDApiKey="Enter your API Key Here" ################################################# # Force TLS1.2 as Powershell defaults to TLS 1.0 and Freshdesk will fail connections [Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [Net.SecurityProtocolType]::TLS12 # Prep $pair = "$($FDApiKey):$($FDApiKey)" $bytes = [System.Text.Encoding]::ASCII.GetBytes($pair) $base64 = [System.Convert...

RDCMan 2.7 Your credentials did not work - Fix Problem occurs when using a gateway server for access and a UPN username i.e. user@somedomain.com . Makes no difference what you type in, or save, you get prompted every time. The fix is not to use a Domain: entry when using a UPN user name Go to top menu Tools>Options Click Default group settings... Select the Profile Dropdown on the Logon Credentials Tab Edit or Enter Custom Credentials - Enter User name - Enter Password - Remove any Domain name Click Save Now check that your individual RDP settings are using the Global Group. Problem had been bugging for months and this resolved it.

root\cimv2\TerminalServices namespace is marked with the RequiresEncryption flag Scenario Published App on one server, gateway running on another server. Server 2008R2 Unable to refresh applications, icons missing in RDWeb Other servers able to publish applications Checked Gateway server is correctly added to web applications on the Published App server Event log showing Event 5605 errors: "The root\cimv2\TerminalServices namespace is marked with the RequiresEncryption flag. Access to this namespace might be denied if the script or application does not have the appropriate authentication level. Change the authentication level to Pkt_Privacy and run the script or application again." Unable to restart application server due to user activity Temporary Solution Add the Gateway server account to the Local Administrators Group on the Application server. A temporary fix but gets the apps published again. Review WMI errors after reboot

How to downgrade SQL Standard Edition to SQL Express - running SharePoint Sometimes mistakes get made, imagine checking an SQL Express installation and finding SQL Standard Edition installed.  To make this harder to find, the SQL Standard instance was named SQLExpress in Services. Run a SQL @@version to get the truth. Overview We'll use a Hyperv replica at the DR site for preparing the recipient server, a clone of production. You could also export the production server and configure as a new virtual machine. This example SharePoint 2013 installation with SQL2008R2 Standard Process fist run - without impacting production (takes about an hour) Confirm the production SQL server DNS name is locked in with a static entry. This is to prevent overwrite when starting up your recipient server. On the recipient new server: Configure the recipient server as a new virtual machine on a different subnet from production to prevent name clash. Start the recipient ser...

Windows 10 upgrade stopped  Message advising Windows update couldn't continue uninstall Nero Burning Rom. Nero is not installed, nothing showing in Uninstall Programs, no services, nothing showing using Autoruns. To fix  Search c:\Program Files and c:\Program File (x86) for folders named 'Ahead' or 'Nero' Delete the folders, which places them in the Recycle bin (and prompts for Administrative approval) Refresh the Windows update screen, and the update will continue The Cause  Windows update appears to search for specific files rather than installed programs or autoruns components. Upon finding a file match for Nero stops the update presumably as a precaution.

Runtime Error 2507 dBase III type isn't an installed database type SCENARIO Server 2008R2 Terminal Server 64bit Access 2013 32bit edition installed Get Run-time Error 2507 dBase III type isn't an installed database type FIX PROCEDURE 1. Install Access Runtime 2010 32bit edition 2. Run Access 2013 from a shortcut to repair the installation 3. Install the registry keys below (Save as  .reg file). 4. Job done Note The file contents below are for 64bit operating system Note Watch out for copy and paste changing the quotes (search and replace to fix) Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Access Connectivity Engine\Engines\Xbase] "win32"="C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Common Files\\microsoft shared\\OFFICE14\\ACEXBE.DLL" "DbcsStr"=hex:01 "Mark"=dword:00000000 "Date"="MDY" "Exact"=hex:00 "Deleted"=hex:01 "Century"=...

The fix: On the source computer making the executable. Use the 32bit version of iExpress.  Create a shortcut to C:\Windows\SysWOW64\iExpress.exe Create a new project or open your saved SED file (the SED works with both 32bit and 6bit) Save the new Executable. This will be a 32bit which works on both 32bit and 64bit Operating Systems. The cause:  iExpress makes 64bit exe's when using 64bit source systems Full Error message: "The version of this file is not compatible with the version of Windows you're running. Check your computer's system information to see whether you need an x86 (32 bit) or x64 (64 bit) version of the program."

Problem Installing Service Pack 1 for Microsoft Office 2013 64bit edition fails with the message "the expected version of the product was not found on the system". Fix Override product detection when running the installation file. From CMD Prompt: Proplussp2013-kb2817430-fullfile-x64-en-us.exe" "PACKAGE.BYPASS.DETECTION.CHECK=1" Installation successful Notes Previously Microsoft Office 2013 32bit Edition had been installed. Then uninstalled and the 64bit version installed. Windows Updates were up to date. Check that the Office version shows the correct version for the service pack to apply. From Word File / About.

Caused by The Scheduled Task Start In folder having quotes around the path. FIX Remove quotes from Start In (optional): Task Scheduler failed to launch Powershell.exe Error Value 2147942667

The Problem Open Outlook 2013 and get the message Installing Microsoft Office 64-bit Components 2013, every time you open it. Occurs on terminal Server 2008R2. One way to stop this involves installing the Windows Search role feature (under File Services).  Personally I don't like using the Windows Search feature in Terminal Services since there is nothing of value to search on the local computer.  The Fix in 5 steps with no-reboot Install Windows Search from the File Services Role Feature Set the Index service to index nothing (the default) Once complete, open Outlook once as administrator Now Stop the Windows Search, and set the service to Disabled Log off your test user account, log in and test Outlook Job done! What this appears to do is allow the Microsoft Office installation to complete some tasks whcih were dependent on the Windows Search feature that was not running at the time of Microsoft Office installation.  Once this installation is complete, ...

The problem affects Published Applications on Server 2012r2 from some locations. Locally the apps run quickly (12 seconds in our case). Remotely from basic Internet connections also run quickly at 12 seconds.  From remote 'corporate' type sites 30 seconds before the 'Details' button comes alive on the client connection screen (Stateful inspection firewalls possibly).  From the Microsoft RD Client on Android and Apple works fine at 12 seconds, even when connecting from a site whose desktop computers take 30 seconds (yes tried proxy on and off). From hours of trawling forums many things tried such as; UDP on and off, network settings, binding order, certificate revocation checking, profile disks, health check off, BPA scan, proxy settings, netbios on and off, IPv6, bat wings and goat blood. Nothing made a difference. Tried pulling the published app icon out, removing the signature and editing settings directly, to disable printers, drive mappings, port mappings,...

Wanted to rename a database on Azure and could not find an option to do this in the Azure Portal. From Visual Studio Web Edition 1. In the Server Explorer view, expand SQL Databases. 2. Right click and Open in SQL Server Object Explorer 3. Login, if needed 4. Right click the Server (not the database) and Click New Query 5. In the Query Window type: ALTER DATABASE [oldname] MODIFY NAME = [newname] My refresh did not work correctly so close Visual Studio and reopen to see the result. Refresh the Azure Portal screen to see the result as well. Rename Database on Azure - Done.

Invalid File Format Descriptor is too large Using the Starwind v2v Converter to convert two v5 .vmdk files to Hyper-V. Got the message "Invalid File Format" "Descriptor is too large". Sadly recopied the files back out of the VMWare box, thinking a broken copy process, but again with the same result. The fix is simple, don't try to convert the large file.  Instead direct the v2v to the small pointer vmdk file, see below.  This one fails: SOURCEDISK1-flat.vmdk (430Gb) Use this one: SOURCEDISK1.vmdk (1Kb) Sometimes its the simple things that get you...

Situation: Had an old server that customer data was needed from. The server has not run for a few years and the password unknown.  Boot from Windows PE or Windows RE or Bart CD and access the command prompt Find the drive letter of the partition where Windows is installed  Type the following command (replace “C:” with the correct drive letter for Windows) to create a copy of sethc.exe to restore later. Copy c:\windows\system32\sethc.exe c:\  Type this command to replace sethc.exe with cmd.exe: copy /y c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe c:\windows\system32\sethc.exe Reboot your computer and at the logon screen, press the SHIFT key five times You should see a command prompt. Enter the following command to reset the Windows administrator password  Net user administrator newpassword Now log on with the new password Afterwards replace sethc.exe with the copy you stored in the root folder of your system drive in step 3. Boot up again with a boot CD  Then enter this...

AWS Plugs in MS Virtual Machine Manager - Hybrid Cloud Just got Easier The battle between the cloud giants continues to heat up with  AWS releasing System Manager for Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM). The add-in for SCVMM enables management of EC2 instances from within SCVMM.  The concept of managing both private and public cloud infrastructure from a single pane implies simpler management.  There are some gotchas, while you can move workloads to AWS there is no simple method to move them back again. Oh and you'll need license mobility for your System Centre Licenses - this means having Software Assurance or licensed through a Microsoft SPLA partner.  Of course AWS is not the first to offer cross cloud infrastructure management, but this move by the giant sets the scene for more growth and action in the cloud wars. Amazon used a similar attack on VMware some time back when a new connector was developed to control external EC2...