Droid Pro and the Mass Storage Driver issue

big props to these folks at companionlink.com:
http://www.companionlink.com/support/kb/Droid_Pro_(some_Motorola_phones)_do_not_mount_after_Android_Update

I had the same issues and found their resolution worked perfectly, Verizon's article was useless... Thanks.


Droid Pro (some Motorola phones) do not mount after Android Update
On October 15, 2011 Motorola pushed out an Android 2.3.3 update to Droid Pro users that caused their devices to no longer mount in USB Mass Storage Mode. When connecting the device in Mass Storage Mode, then PC tries to install an MTP device driver.

Since CompanionLink and DejaOffice utilize USB Mass Storage Mode for USB sync, this prevented DejaOffice and CompanionLink from syncing via USB.


The problem is a driver conflict on the PC that can be resolved by following the steps below.

1. Connect the Droid Pro to the PC, pull down the notification bar, select USB Connection, then USB Mass Storage and wait for the MTP device driver to fail to install

2. Open Device Manager and look under "Portable Devices" for an "MTP USB Device" (or driver letter) with a yellow warning symbol

3. Right click MTP USB Device and select "Update Driver Sofware..."

4. Do not select "Search Automatically..." and Select "Browse my computer..."

5. Select "Let me pick..."

6. Do not select "MTP USB Device" and Select "USB Mass Storage Device" then Next, then Close.

Get users that have an email address and are enabled.

I was helping a friend today with this:

it returns enabled users with an email address defined.

dsquery * -filter "(&(&(objectCategory=user)(objectClass=user)(mail=*)(&(!userAccountControl:1.2.840.113556.1.4.803:=2))))" -limit 0 | dsget user -display -fn -ln -email

Importing printers from one 2k8r2 server to another fails

I had an issue where an import of printers failed when the destination server fails.  The solution was simple, I installed sp1 on the destination server. 

Adobe Flash Player Administration Guide for Flash Player 10.1 | Adobe Developer Connection

Adobe Flash Player Administration Guide for Flash Player 10.1 | Adobe Developer Connection:

'via Blog this'

IT Administration | Configure Flash Player auto-update notification

Wanna disable auto updates for flash? Well Here ya go!

IT Administration | Configure Flash Player auto-update notification:

'via Blog this'

Windows 7 Supports Login Screen Customization Without 3rd Party Software, How-to Instructions Inside - Tweaking with Vishal

Windows 7 Supports Login Screen Customization Without 3rd Party Software, How-to Instructions Inside - Tweaking with Vishal


Found this today, thought I might give it some visibility since more and more corporations are going to Windows 7

Optimizing for Performance with the Windows Performance Toolkit :: Sessions :: Microsoft PDC10 | October 28 — 29

Take a moment to check this video out if you're a performance geek.

Optimizing for Performance with the Windows Performance Toolkit :: Sessions :: Microsoft PDC10 | October 28 — 29:

'via Blog this'

MDT2010 and HP Server Hardware

Hey All,

Just thought I'd help save you some serious aggravation when building your WinPE base images when dealing with HP Server Hardware. If you download the HP SmartStart Toolkit. When you extract it, you'll find a folder called hpdrivers. In the folder you'll see the WINPE20, and WINPE30. Just import those drivers and you'll be good to go for your boot images.

Platespin Migrate fails with Incorrect Function

Consider the following situation. You've captured an image of a 2008 Box and you want to deploy it to another machine. In my case a HP BL460c G7 with the flexnet adapters. During the partitioning stage you get the following error:

Failed
Failed to control the device.
Incorrect function

Cause:
You have predefined partitions that may use the GPT format.

Solution:
Assumptions: Disk 0 is the drive where you want to deploy the OS
Warning! This process is irreversible so be sure that you are performing the operation on the correct disk

On the target machine, if you are not booted to the TakeControl WinPE image then boot to it.
Hit Control-C to break the script execution
type the following to purge all partitions on the disk:

diskpart
select disk 0
clean
exit

:the following command restarts the script
startnet

Win32 Time debugging

If you have clients routinely getting the W32time warnings/errors in their event logs run the following commands to enable logging:

reg add HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Config /v FileLogSize /t REG_Dword /d 1000000
reg add HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Config /v FileLogName /d C:\windows\Temp\w32time.log
reg add HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Config /v FileLogEntries /d 0-116
net stop w32time && net start w32time

winrm qc fails with

WSManFault
Message = The system cannot find the file specified.

Error number: -2147024894 0x80070002
The system cannot find the file specified.


This is how my issue was resolved.

sc config WinRM start= delayed-auto
net start WinRM
winrm create winrm/config/listener?Address=*+Transport=HTTP
netsh firewall add portopening TCP 80 "Windows Remote Management"

How to determine the appropriate page file size for 64-bit versions of Windows Server 2008 and or Windows 2008 R2

Ditch your page file? Do it right.

How to determine the appropriate page file size for 64-bit versions of Windows Server 2008 and or Windows 2008 R2

GPOGUY.COM -- WMI Filter Validation Utility

GPOGUY.COM -- WMI Filter Validation Utility

Download Details - Microsoft Download Center - Active Directory Management Gateway Service

Download Details - Microsoft Download Center - Active Directory Management Gateway Service

Active Directory Management Gateway Service (Active Directory Web Service for Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008)

The Active Directory® Management Gateway Service enables administrators to manage Active Directory Domain Services and Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) or Active Directory Application Mode (ADAM) using Active Directory module for Windows PowerShell and the Active Directory Administrative Center.

A computer that is running Windows Server 2003 randomly stops responding when you back up data

A computer that is running Windows Server 2003 randomly stops responding when you back up data

SharePoint databases report ‘Database is in compatibility range and upgrade is recommended’ after upgrade - Paul Grimleys Blog

SharePoint databases report ‘Database is in compatibility range and upgrade is recommended’ after upgrade - Paul Grimleys Blog


Repost from Paul's site:

Following on from previous blog and day 2 of upgrade found some of the databases were reporting the following error:

Database is in compatibility range and upgrade is recommended

This was appearing on non content databases (as in SharePoint system databases).

This seemed strange as I mentioned in my previous blog that the upgrade had been successful so was a little perplexed to find this issue.

After a little research there didn't seem to be anything that looked to answer my problem.

Although this blog was referring to Windows 7 it was interesting in helping my trail of thought and also made me aware that you can only upgrade content databases and not just standard SharePoint system databases using PowerShellhttp://blogs.technet.com/b/blairb/archive/2010/07/16/patching-sharepoint-2010-on-windows-7.aspx.

Another article relating to this was found here where no solution had actually been found (at the time of blogging)http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-IE/sharepoint2010setup/thread/7d3ee7cf-56f8-46fe-b2c9-b8662e88825a

So concluding that I could only upgrade content databases the above did not help in resolving the issue.

The two databases in question were:

Database – Type

WSS_Search - SPSearchDatabase

WSS_UsageApplication - SPUsageDatabase

I finally managed to resolve the problem by running a b2b upgrade command:

PSConfig.exe -cmd upgrade -inplace b2b -force -cmd applicationcontent -install -cmd installfeatures

Credit to this blog (http://blog.techgalaxy.net/archives/2585) for pointing out the b2b command as I was having issues running this prior to finding this.

Blackhole DNS powershell script

####################################################################################
#.Synopsis
# Creates and deletes blackhole domains in Windows DNS servers.
#
#.Description
# Script takes fully-qualified domain names (FQDNs) and/or simple domain
# names, then uses them to create primary zones (not Active Directory
# integrated) in a Windows DNS server, setting all zones to resolve to a
# single chosen IP address. The IP address might be "0.0.0.0" or the IP
# of an internal server configured for logging. The intention is to
# prevent clients from resolving the correct IP address of unwanted FQDNs
# and domain names, such as for malware and phishing sites. Such names
# are said to be "blackholed" since they often resolve to 0.0.0.0.
#
#.Parameter InputFile
# Path to a file which contains the FQDNs and domain names to blackhole.
# File can have blank lines, comment lines (# or ;), multiple FQDNs or
# domains per line (space- or comma-delimited), and can be a hosts file
# with IP addresses too (addresses and localhost entires will be ignored).
# You can also include wildcards to input multiple files, e.g.,
# "*bad*.txt", or pass in an array of file objects instead of a string.
#
#.Parameter Domain
# One or more FQDNs or domains to blackhole, separated by spaces or commas.
#
#.Parameter BlackHoleIP
# The IP address to which all blackholed names will resolve. The
# default is "0.0.0.0", but perhaps is better set to an internal server.
# Remember, there is only one IP for ALL the blackholed domains.
#
#.Parameter DnsServerName
# FQDN of the Windows DNS server. Defaults to localhost. If specified,
# please always use a fully-qualified domain name (FQDN), especially if
# the DNS server is a stand-alone or in a different domain.
#
#.Parameter IncludeWildCard
# Will add a wildcard host record (*) to every blackhole domain, which
# will match all possible hostnames within that domain. Keep in mind
# that blackholing "www.sans.org" will treat the "www" as a domain
# name, so a wildcard is not needed to match it; but blackholing just
# "sans.org" will not match "www.sans.org" or "ftp.sans.org" without
# the wildcard. If you only want to blackhole the exact FQDN or domain
# name supplied to the script, then don't include a wildcard record.
# If you are certain that you do not want to resolve anything whatsoever
# under the blackholed domains, then include the wildcard DNS record.
#
#.Parameter ReloadBlackHoleDomains
# Will cause every blackholed domain in your DNS server to re-read the
# one shared zone file they all use. This is the zone file for the
# 000-blackholed-domain.local domain. Keep in mind that the DNS
# graphical management tool shows you what is cached in memory, not
# what is in the zone file. Reload the blackhole domains if you,
# for example, change the blackhole IP address. Using this switch
# causes any other parameters to be ignored.
#
#.Parameter DeleteBlackHoleDomains
# Will delete all blackhole domains, but will not delete any regular
# non-blackhole domains. Strictly speaking, this deletes any domain
# which uses a zone file named "000-blackholed-domain.local.dns".
# The zone file itself is not deleted, but it only 1KB in size.
# Using this switch causes any other parameters to be ignored.
#
#.Parameter RemoveLeadingWWW
# Some lists of blackhole names are simple domain names, while other
# lists might prepend "www." to the beginning of many of the names.
# Use this switch to remove the "www." from the beginning of any
# name to be blackholed, then consider using -IncludeWildCard too.
# Note that "www.", "www1.", "www2." ... "www9." will be cut too,
# but only for a single digit after the "www" part (1-9 only).
#
#.Parameter Credential
# An "authority\username" string to explicitly authenticate to the
# DNS server instead of using single sign-on with the current
# identity. The authority is either a server name or a domain name.
# You will be prompted for the passphrase. You can also pass in
# a variable with a credential object from Get-Credential.
#
#.Example
# .\Blackhole-DNS.ps1 -Domain "www.sans.org"
#
# This will create a primary DNS domain named "www.sans.org"
# which will resolve to "0.0.0.0". DNS server is local.
#
#.Example
# .\Blackhole-DNS.ps1 -Domain "www.sans.org" -BlackHoleIP "10.1.1.1"
#
# This will create a primary DNS domain named "www.sans.org"
# which will resolve to "10.1.1.1". DNS server is local.
#
#.Example
# .\Blackhole-DNS.ps1 -InputFile file.txt -IncludeWildCard
#
# This will create DNS domains out of all the FQDNs and domain
# names listed in file.txt, plus add a wildcard (*) record.
#
#.Example
# .\Blackhole-DNS.ps1 -ReloadBlackHoleDomains
#
# Perhaps after changing the blackhole IP address, this will cause
# all blackholed domains to re-read their shared zone file.
#
#.Example
# .\Blackhole-DNS.ps1 -DeleteBlackHoleDomains
#
# This will delete all blackholed domains, but will not delete
# any other domains. This does not delete the blackhole zone file.
#
#.Example
# .\Blackhole-DNS.ps1 -InputFile file.txt -DnsServerName `
# "server7.sans.org" -Credential "server7\administrator"
#
# This will create blackholed domains from file.txt on a remote
# DNS server named "server7.sans.org" with explicit credentials.
# You will be prompted for the passphrase.
#
#.Example
# $Cred = Get-Credential -Credential "server7\administrator"
#
# .\Blackhole-DNS.ps1 -InputFile *evil*.txt `
# -DnsServerName "server7.sans.org" -Credential $Cred
#
# This will create blackholed domains from *evil*.txt on a remote
# DNS server named "server7.sans.org" with explicit credentials
# supplied in a credential object ($Cred) which can be reused again.
# Multiple input files may match "*evil*.txt".
#
#Requires -Version 2.0
#
#.Notes
# Author: Jason Fossen (http://blogs.sans.org/windows-security/)
# Version: 1.0
# Updated: 30.Aug.2010
# LEGAL: PUBLIC DOMAIN. SCRIPT PROVIDED "AS IS" WITH NO WARRANTIES OR
# GUARANTEES OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
# MERCHANTABILITY AND/OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. ALL
# RISKS OF DAMAGE REMAINS WITH THE USER, EVEN IF THE AUTHOR,
# SUPPLIER OR DISTRIBUTOR HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
# ANY SUCH DAMAGE. IF YOUR STATE DOES NOT PERMIT THE COMPLETE
# LIMITATION OF LIABILITY, THEN DELETE THIS FILE SINCE YOU ARE
# NOW PROHIBITED TO HAVE IT. TEST ON NON-PRODUCTION SERVERS.
####################################################################################


Param ($InputFile, [String] $Domain, [String] $BlackHoleIP = "0.0.0.0", [String] $DnsServerName = ".", [Switch] $IncludeWildCard,
[Switch] $ReloadBlackHoleDomains, [Switch] $DeleteBlackHoleDomains, [Switch] $RemoveLeadingWWW, $Credential)


# Check for common help switches.
if (($InputFile -ne $Null) -and ($InputFile.GetType().Name -eq "String") -and ($InputFile -match "/\?|-help|--h|--help"))
{
If ($Host.Version.Major -ge 2) { get-help -full .\blackhole-dns.ps1 }
Else {"`nPlease read this script's header in Notepad for the help information."}
Exit
}


# Confirm PowerShell 2.0 or later.
If ($Host.Version.Major -lt 2) { "This script requires PowerShell 2.0 or later.`nDownload the latest version from http://www.microsoft.com/powershell`n" ; Exit }


# If necessary, prompt user for domain\username and a passphrase.
If ($Credential) { $Cred = Get-Credential -Credential $Credential }


Function Main
{

# Test access to WMI at target server ($ZoneClass is used later too).
$ZoneClass = GetWMI -Query "SELECT * FROM META_CLASS WHERE __CLASS = 'MicrosoftDNS_Zone'"
If (-not $? -or $ZoneClass.Name -ne "MicrosoftDNS_Zone") { Throw("Failed to connect to WMI service or the WMI DNS_Zone namespace!") ; Exit }


##### Parse input domains, but exclude the following: localhost, any IP addresses, blank lines.
#Process any -Domain args.
[Object[]] $Domains = @($Domain -Split "[\s\;\,]")

#Process any -InputFile arguments and expand any wildcards.
If (($InputFile -ne $Null) -and ($InputFile.GetType().Name -eq "String")) { $InputFile = dir $InputFile }
If ($InputFile -ne $Null) { $InputFile | ForEach { $Domains += Get-Content $_ | Where { $_ -notmatch "^[\#\;\<]" } | ForEach { $_ -Split "[\s\;\,]" } } }

#If -RemoveLeadingWWW was used, edit out those "www." strings.
If ($RemoveLeadingWWW) { 0..$([Int] $Domains.Count - 1) | ForEach { $Domains[$_] = $Domains[$_] -Replace "^www[1-9]{0,1}\.","" } }

#Convert to lowercase, remove redundants, exclude blank lines, exclude IPs, exclude anything with a colon in it, e.g., IPv6.
$Domains = $Domains | ForEach { $_.Trim().ToLower() } | Sort -Unique | Where { $_.Length -ne 0 -and $_ -notmatch "^localhost$|^\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3}|\:" }
If ($Domains.Count -le 0) { "No domains specified!" ; exit } Else { "`n" + [String] $Domains.Count + " domain(s) to blackhole to $BlackHoleIP." }
#####


##### Get or create the master blackhole zone: 000-blackholed-domain.local.
$WmiPath = "Root\MicrosoftDNS:MicrosoftDNS_Zone.ContainerName='000-blackholed-domain.local',DnsServerName='" + $DnsServerName + "',Name='000-blackholed-domain.local'"

If (InvokeWmiMethod -ObjectPath $WmiPath -MethodName GetDistinguishedName) #Zone exists.
{
"`nThe 000-blackholed-domain.local zone already exists, deleting its existing DNS records."
$ExistingRecords = @(GetWMI -Query "SELECT * FROM MicrosoftDNS_AType WHERE ContainerName = '000-blackholed-domain.local'")
If (-not $?) { Throw("Failed to query the A records of the 000-blackholed-domain.local domain!") ; exit }
If ($ExistingRecords.Count -gt 0) { $ExistingRecords | ForEach { $_.Delete() } }
}
Else #Zone does not exist.
{
"`nCreating the 000-blackholed-domain.local zone and its zone file."
$RR = $ZoneClass.CreateZone("000-blackholed-domain.local",0,$false,$null,$null,"only-edit.000-blackholed-domain.local.")
If (-not $? -or $RR.__CLASS -ne "__PARAMETERS")
{
If ($Credential -And ($DnsServerName.Length -ne 0) -And ($DnsServerName -NotLike "*.*")) { "Did you forget to use a FQDN for the DNS server name?" }
Throw("Failed to create the 000-blackholed-domain.local domain!")
Exit
}
}
#####


##### Create DNS records in master blackhole zone.
# Create the default A record with the blackhole IP address.
$RecordClass = $Null # Defaults to "IN" class of record.
$TTL = 120 # Seconds. Defaults to zone default if you set this to $null.
$ATypeRecords = GetWMI -Query "SELECT * FROM META_CLASS WHERE __CLASS = 'MicrosoftDNS_AType'"
If (-not $? -or $ATypeRecords.Name -ne "MicrosoftDNS_AType") { "`nFailed to query A type records, but continuing..." }
$ARecord = $ATypeRecords.CreateInstanceFromPropertyData($DnsServerName,"000-blackholed-domain.local","000-blackholed-domain.local",$RecordClass,$TTL,$BlackHoleIP)
If ($?) { "Created default DNS record for the 000-blackholed-domain.local zone ($BlackHoleIP)." }
Else { "Failed to create default A record for the 000-blackholed-domain.local zone, but continuing..." }

# Create the wildcard A record if the -IncludeWildCard switch was used.
If ($IncludeWildCard)
{
$ARecord = $ATypeRecords.CreateInstanceFromPropertyData($DnsServerName,"000-blackholed-domain.local","*.000-blackholed-domain.local",$RecordClass,$TTL,$BlackHoleIP)
If ($?) { "Created the wildcard (*) record for the 000-blackholed-domain.local zone ($BlackHoleIP)." }
Else { "Failed to create the wildcard (*) record for the 000-blackholed-domain.local zone, but continuing..." }
}

# Update zone data file on disk after adding the A record(s).
If (InvokeWmiMethod -ObjectPath $WmiPath -MethodName WriteBackZone)
{ "Updated the zone file for 000-blackholed-domain.local." }
Else
{
Start-Sleep -Seconds 2 #Just seems to help...
$ItWorked = InvokeWmiMethod -ObjectPath $WmiPath -MethodName WriteBackZone
If ($ItWorked) { "Updated the zone file for 000-blackholed-domain.local." }
Else {"`nFailed to update the server data file for the 000-blackholed-domain.local zone, but continuing..." }
}
#####


##### Create the blackholed domains using the 000-blackholed-domain.local.dns zone file.
$Created = $NotCreated = 0
$CurrentErrorActionPreference = $ErrorActionPreference
$ErrorActionPreference = "SilentlyContinue"
$Domains | ForEach `
{
$ZoneClass.CreateZone($_,0,$false,"000-blackholed-domain.local.dns",$null,"only-edit.000-blackholed-domain.local.") | Out-Null
If ($?) { $Created++ } Else { $NotCreated++ }
}
$ErrorActionPreference = $CurrentErrorActionPreference
"`nBlackhole domains created at the DNS server: $Created"
"`nDomains NOT created (maybe already existed): $NotCreated`n"

} #End of Main



Function GetWMI ([String] $Query)
{
# This is a helper function for the sake of -Credential.
If ($Credential) { Get-WmiObject -Query $Query -Namespace "Root/MicrosoftDNS" -ComputerName $DnsServerName -Credential $Cred }
Else { Get-WmiObject -Query $Query -Namespace "Root/MicrosoftDNS" -ComputerName $DnsServerName }
}



Function InvokeWmiMethod ([String] $ObjectPath, [String] $MethodName)
{
# This is a helper function for the sake of -Credential.
$ErrorActionPreference = "SilentlyContinue"
If ($Credential) { Invoke-WmiMethod -Path $ObjectPath -Name $MethodName -ComputerName $DnsServerName -Credential $Cred }
Else { Invoke-WmiMethod -Path $ObjectPath -Name $MethodName -ComputerName $DnsServerName }
$? #Returns
}



Function Reload-BlackHoledDomains
{
# Function causes blackholed domains to be reloaded from the shared master zone file, perhaps after a -BlackHoleIP change.
# You may get errors if zone is temporarily locked for updates, but the DNS server's default lock is only two minutes.
"`nReloading blackholed domains from the 000-blackholed-domain.local.dns zone file, `nwhich may take a few minutes if you have 10K+ domains..."
$BHDomains = @(GetWMI -Query "SELECT * FROM MicrosoftDNS_Zone WHERE DataFile = '000-blackholed-domain.local.dns'")
If (-not $?) { Throw("Failed to connect to WMI service!") ; exit }
"`nBlackholed domains to be reloaded from the zone file: " + [String] $BHDomains.Count
$Locked = @() #Index numbers of zones which are temporarily locked and cannot be reloaded yet.
$i = 0
$ErrorActionPreference = "SilentlyContinue"
If ($BHDomains.Count -gt 0) { $BHDomains | ForEach { $_.ReloadZone() ; If (-not $?) { $Locked += $i } ; $i++ } }
If ($Locked.Count -gt 0)
{
"`n" + [String] $Locked.Count + " zone(s) are still temporarily locked, will try those again in two minutes.`nPlease wait two minutes or hit Ctrl-C to cancel..."
Start-Sleep -Seconds 60
"Just one more minute... Thank you for holding, your function call is appreciated."
Start-Sleep -Seconds 30
"Just 30 more seconds... Your patience is admirable, and you're good looking too!"
Start-Sleep -Seconds 35
$Locked | ForEach { $BHDomains[$_].ReloadZone() ; if (-not $?) { "`n" + [String] $BHDomains[$_].ContainerName + " is still locked and has not reloaded yet." } }
}

"`nThe other blackholed domains were successfully reloaded.`n"
} #End



Function Delete-BlackHoledDomains
{
# Delete all blackholed zones, including 000-blackholed-domain.local, but
# note that this does not delete the (tiny) zone file on the drive.
"`nDeleting all blackholed domains, which may take a few minutes if you have 10K+ domains..."
$BHDomains = @(GetWMI -Query "SELECT * FROM MicrosoftDNS_Zone WHERE DataFile = '000-blackholed-domain.local.dns'")
If (-not $?) { Throw("Failed to connect to WMI service!") ; exit }
"`nBlackhole domains to be deleted: " + [String] $BHDomains.Count
$i = 0
If ($BHDomains.Count -gt 0) { $BHDomains | ForEach { $_.Delete() ; If ($?){$i++} } }
"Blackhole domains deleted count: $i`n"
} #End




########################
# MAIN #
########################
If ($ReloadBlackHoleDomains) { Reload-BlackHoledDomains ; Exit }
If ($DeleteBlackHoleDomains) { Delete-BlackHoledDomains ; Exit }
Main

host file updater

This was posted over at sans.org but seems to have disappeared. so I posted it here for others.


####################################################################################
#.Synopsis
# Adds domain names to the HOSTS file for blocking. Find the HOSTS
# file at $env:systemroot\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
#
#.Description
# The HOSTS text file is typically used for name resolution before any
# DNS queries are performed. This script can import the names from one
# or multiple text files into the local HOSTS file for blocking correct
# resolution of those names. The input file(s) can be on the local drive,
# in shared folders, or on HTTP servers. By default, names will resolve
# to "0.0.0.0", but a different IP address can be specified. You must be
# a member of the local Administrators group to use the script (or at
# least be granted NTFS write access to the HOSTS file itself).
#
#.Parameter FilePathOrURL
# Path to a file which contains the FQDNs and domain names to blackhole.
# File can have blank lines, comment lines (# or ;), multiple FQDNs or
# domains per line (space- or comma-delimited), and can be a HOSTS file
# with IP addresses too (addresses and localhost entires will be ignored).
# You can also include wildcards to input multiple files (e.g., "bad*.txt"),
# use a UNC path to an SMB shared folder (e.g., "\\server\share\file.txt")
# or an HTTP path; in fact, you can mix all these path together into one
# long space-delimited string for this parameter. The parameter will
# default to "http://www.malwaredomainlist.com/hostslist/hosts.txt" if
# left unspecified.
#
#.Parameter AddDuplicateWWW
# When adding names to the HOSTS file, if any name does not begin with
# "www.", then this switch will add that name twice to the HOSTS file:
# the original unaltered name and a second copy with "www." prepended.
# Many browsers will automatically prepend "www." to any name which
# results in an error or cannot be resolved correctly.
#
#.Parameter ResetToDefaultHostsFile
# Will erase the HOSTS file and add only two entries back to it:
# 127.0.0.1 localhost
# ::1 localhost
#
#.Parameter EditHostsFile
# Opens the HOSTS file in Notepad.exe.
#
#.Parameter ShowHostnameCount
# Displays a count of the number of names in the HOSTS file, not
# including the localhost entries.
#
#.Example
# Update-HostsFile.ps1
#
# Adds all the names from www.MalwareDomainList.com to your HOSTS file
# and makes them all resolve to "0.0.0.0".
#
#.Example
# Update-HostsFile.ps1 -FilePathOrURL "c:\folder\file.txt \\server\ `
# share\remotefile.txt http://www.malwaredomainlist.com/hostslist `
# /hosts.txt" -BlackHoleIP "10.1.1.1"
#
# Blackholes all the names listed in file.txt, remotefile.txt, and all the
# names from the URL shown, then makes them all resolve to "10.1.1.1".
# Notice that each path is separated by a space character.
#
#.Example
# Update-HostsFile.ps1 -ResetToDefaultHostsFile
#
# Erase the HOSTS file and then add back only the following:
# 127.0.0.1 localhost
# ::1 localhost
#
#.Notes
# Author: Jason Fossen (http://blogs.sans.org/windows-security/)
# Version: 1.1
# Updated: 14.Mar.2011
# LEGAL: PUBLIC DOMAIN. SCRIPT PROVIDED "AS IS" WITH NO WARRANTIES OR
# GUARANTEES OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
# MERCHANTABILITY AND/OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. ALL
# RISKS OF DAMAGE REMAINS WITH THE USER, EVEN IF THE AUTHOR,
# SUPPLIER OR DISTRIBUTOR HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
# ANY SUCH DAMAGE. IF YOUR STATE DOES NOT PERMIT THE COMPLETE
# LIMITATION OF LIABILITY, THEN DELETE THIS FILE SINCE YOU ARE
# NOW PROHIBITED TO HAVE IT. TEST ON NON-PRODUCTION SERVERS.
#Requires -Version 2.0
####################################################################################


Param ($FilePathOrURL = "http://www.malwaredomainlist.com/hostslist/hosts.txt",
[String] $BlackholeIP = "0.0.0.0",
[Switch] $ResetToDefaultHostsFile,
[Switch] $AddDuplicateWWW,
[Switch] $EditHostsFile,
[Switch] $ShowHostnameCount)


function update-hostsfile
{
Param ($FilePathOrURL = "http://www.malwaredomainlist.com/hostslist/hosts.txt",
[String] $BlackholeIP = "0.0.0.0",
[Switch] $ResetToDefaultHostsFile,
[Switch] $AddDuplicateWWW,
[Switch] $EditHostsFile,
[Switch] $ShowHostnameCount)

$HostsFilePath = "$env:systemroot\system32\drivers\etc\hosts"
$webclient = new-object System.Net.WebClient
$names = @() #Array of names to add to HOSTS file.

# Check for common help switches and show help text.
if (($FilePathOrURL -ne $null) -and ($FilePathOrURL.GetType().Name -eq "String") -and ($FilePathOrURL -match "/\?|/help|-help|--h|--help"))
{
If ($Host.Version.Major -ge 2) { get-help -full .\update-hostsfile.ps1 }
Else {"`nPlease read this script's header in Notepad for the help information."}
return
}

# Confirm PowerShell 2.0 or later.
If ($Host.Version.Major -lt 2) { "This script requires PowerShell 2.0 or later.`nDownload the latest version from http://www.microsoft.com/powershell`n" ; return }

#Edit hosts file in notepad?
if ($EditHostsFile) { notepad.exe $HostsFilePath ; return }

#Show count of names in hosts file? Does not include localhost entries, but will include non-blackhole names.
if ($ShowHostnameCount)
{ "`nCount of names in hosts file = " + ($(get-content $HostsFilePath) -split " " |
where { $_ -notmatch '\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3}|\:|localhost|^\s*$|^\#' }).count ; "`n" ; return }


#Check if we're just resetting the hosts file to the default localhosts.
if ($ResetToDefaultHostsFile)
{
#Sometimes a full CRLF newline (0x0D,0x0A) is not appended
#unless we do these two lines separately (weird).
"127.0.0.1 localhost" | set-content $HostsFilePath -force
"::1 localhost" | add-content $HostsFilePath -force
if (-not $?) { "Error writing to hosts file!" }
return
}

#Get one or more space-delimited input files, split up into the $names array.
#If the path contains spaces, use the 8.3 DOS short name, e.g., PROGRA~1.
$FilePathOrURL = @(( $FilePathOrURL -split '\s+' ) | foreach { $_.trim() } | where { $_.length -gt 1 } )
if ($FilePathOrURL.Count -eq 0) { "No valid paths to input files, quitting." ; return }

$FilePathOrURL | foreach { `
if ($_ -like "http*")
{
$string = $webclient.DownloadString("$_")
#This check might be too crude...
if ($string.contains(" {
"`nDownload failure: " + $_ + "`n"
}
else
{
"`nDownloaded: " + $_ + "`n"
$names += $string -split '[\r\n]+'
}
}
else
{
if (test-path $_)
{
$names += get-content -path $_
if ($?) { "`nImported: " + $_ + "`n" }
else { "`nImport failure: " + $_ + "`n" }
}
else
{ "`nInvalid path: " + $_ + "`n" }
}
}

#Confirm that at least one line was imported.
if ($names.count -lt 1) { "`nNothing to add to the hosts file, quitting." ; return }

#Remove anything after a comment char (# or ;) on each line, including the comment char.
$names = $names | foreach { if ($_.IndexOfAny("#;") -ne -1) { $_.Remove($_.IndexOfAny("#;")) } else { $_ } }

#Split the IPs from the names; maybe this file has no IPs in it.
$names = $names -split '[\,\s]+'

#Filter out blanks, IPv4/IPv6 addresses and localhost, then remove duplicates
$names = $names | foreach {$_.Trim()} | where { $_.Length -gt 1 } | where { $_ -notmatch '\:|^\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3}$|^localhost$' } | sort-object -unique

#If requested, add "www.*" entries for names which don't begin with "www" already.
if ($AddDuplicateWWW){ $names = $names += ($names | where {$_ -notmatch '^www\.'} | foreach {"www." + $_ }) }

#In the hosts file, each line should have a max of nine hostnames, ending with a CRLF.
#Lookup performance is maximized by having nine hostnames per line and by
#resolving to 0.0.0.0 instead of 127.0.0.1, especially if you're listening on TCP/80.
$size = $names.count - 1
for ($i = 0 ; $i -lt $size ; $i = $i + 9)
{ $output += "$BlackholeIP " + ($names[$i..$($i + 8)] -join " ") + [char]13 + [char]10 }

#Sometimes a full CRLF newline (0x0D,0x0A) is not appended
#unless we do these two lines separately (weird).
"127.0.0.1 localhost" | set-content $HostsFilePath -force
"::1 localhost" | add-content $HostsFilePath -force
if (-not $?) { "Error writing to hosts file!" ; return }
$output | add-content $HostsFilePath -force
}



# Main
if ($ResetToDefaultHostsFile) { update-hostsfile -ResetToDefaultHostsFile }
elseif ($EditHostsFile) { update-hostsfile -EditHostsFile }
elseif ($ShowHostnameCount) { update-hostsfile -ShowHostnameCount }
else
{
if ($AddDuplicateWWW) { update-hostsfile -FilePathOrURL $FilePathOrURL -BlackholeIP $BlackholeIP -AddDuplicateWWW }
else {update-hostsfile -FilePathOrURL $FilePathOrURL -BlackholeIP $BlackholeIP }
}

HP Web Jetadmin

Open Regedit
Goto HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager
delete the multi-string value that is named PendingFileRenameOperations
That should resolve your issue.

Fix - HP Universal Print Driver "Heavy" Paper

Read the HP Universal Print Driver 4.7 Release Notes.doc

Upgrade to UPD 4.5 or 4.7 causes paper type mismatch: When switching older HP printer drivers to newer product specific drivers or UPD 4.5 or higher, many customers have noticed that the paper type changed from "Unspecified" or "Plain" to a new setting such as "Heavy Media" following installation. This change is caused by a mismatch in the DevMode structures of the old driver and the new driver.


Current HP product specific printer drivers and UPD rely on the UNIDRV.DLL or PSCRIPT5.DLL files supplied by Microsoft. On March 8, 2007, Microsoft updated their UNIDRV.DLL and PSCRIPT5.DLL files from v5.xxx to v6.xxx and as a consequence has caused changes in the structure of DEVMODE tables within UNIDRV or PSCRIPT based drivers. HP printer drivers with file versions prior to 61.074.xx.xx* were built with the version 5 files. HP drivers with file versions of 61.074.xx.xx* or later were built for compatibility with the version 6 files. When the DevMode structure changed from version 5 to version 6, the change to the structure caused a misalignment in the variables that hold paper type, trays, etc. This caused a pre version 61.074.xx.xx hp driver with a DevMode that held a paper type of "Unspecified" or "Plain" to be read by a version 61.074.xx.xx or newer driver as "Heavy Media".

Steps: For printer driver upgrades, check the version of the HP printer driver files by selecting the printer, right click Properties, select the About tab. The version is displayed at the top of the screen. If the version is older than 61.074.xx.xx review the three scenarios below.

Scenario 1: On new/fresh server, create new print queues with new queue names: This is HP's recommended upgrade path. Users must connect to the new print shares.

Scenario 2: On same server, delete/re-create queues using the same queues and queue names: On the print server, delete each printer to be upgraded and re-create it using the new driver. Similarly, on the client side, delete the printer connections forcing default and user setting DevModes to synchronize with the server.

To delete the print queue from the system, open the Printer and Faxes window, select the queue name, right-click and select Delete
To delete the driver:
1. From the Printers and Faxes or Printers folder, click File and then Server Properties.
2. Click the Drivers tab.
3. Select the driver to be uninstalled, and then click Remove.
4. OPTIONAL: Delete the entire UPD registry entry at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Hewlett\Packard\HP Print Settings to clean out the cached UPD registry settings.
5. OPTIONAL: remove driver files from \3 directory. Example ..\windows\system32\spool\drivers\w32x86\3

Scenario 3: On same server or new server, delete/re-create HP device print queues using the same queues and queue names, and preserve settings through scripting: This advanced level upgrade assumes customers create scripts to preserve print queue settings before deletion and repurpose those settings after new queue creation. HP white papers will be made available covering best practice and scripting examples.

Blackberry Mail Store Service

If you are getting this :
MailStoreExchange::RefreshGALUsingMAPI - Error in HrFindExchangeGlobalAddressList, result=0x80004005.

You need to modify your BES admin user profile registry.

here
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows Messaging Subsystem\Profiles\BlackBerryServer\dca740c8c042101ab4b908002b2fe182
name: 001e6602 Data:
and here

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows Messaging Subsystem\Profiles\BlackBerryServer_MailStoreProfile\dca740c8c042101ab4b908002b2fe182
name: 001e6602 Data:

Straighten up and fly right WMI

sc config winmgmt start= disabled 
kill -f XXX <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< pid obtained before 
cd /D %windir%\system32\wbem 
rmdir /s /q repository 
rmdir /s /q Logs 
mkdir Logs 
for /R %i in (*.dll) do (regsvr32 /s %i) 
regsvr32 /s fastprox.dll 
for /R %i in (*.exe) do (%i -regserver) <<<<<<<<<<<<< this will open wbemtest and/or wmic.exe. Just close it 
sc config winmgmt start= auto 
regsvr32 wbemupgd.dll  <<<<<<<<<<<<<< this can take 30 seconds to 2 minutes 
net start server && net start workstation && net start termservice 




snipped fromhttp://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.win32.programmer.wmi/msg/1da6ab3690bc75a0>

Those empty WSUS Groups got ya down

Can't delete those empty WSUS groups:

DELETE FROM [SUSDB].[dbo].[tbDeployment]

WHERE [TargetGroupID]=''

DELETE FROM [SUSDB].[dbo].[tbFlattenedTargetGroup]

WHERE [TargetGroupID]=''

DELETE FROM [SUSDB].[dbo].[tbTargetGroup]

WHERE [TargetGroupID]=''

Go

Quick DCOM Security Reset

Remote Administration: Quick DCOM Security Reset: "The ACLs are stored in the registry under the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Ole, in the following binary values:

DefaultAccessPermission
DefaultLaunchPermission
MachineAccessRestriction
MachineLaunchRestriction"

Backup the registry key and then blow all of them away.

GPMC Backspace Bug: Not fixed in Windows 7 / Server 2008 SP1.. but in

GPMC Backspace Bug: Not fixed in Windows 7 / Server 2008 SP1.. but in




http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2466373

Suck on it Broadcom

After hours of freaking headaches here's how I got the broadcom drivers for the VBD to integrate and be detected in MDT 2010 Update 1...  May also be fixed by including system class drivers.  I'm testing that next.


Dism /mount-Wim /WimFile: /mountdir:c:\image /index:1
Dism /Image:C:\image /Add-Driver /Driver: /recurse /ForceUnsigned
Dism /unmount-Wim /mountdir: /commit

MDT 2010 - Customizing Application Installs based on option sets

When you're in the consulting business like I am, deploying/repairing/rebuilding systems can be a tedious task.  Especially when you want to have consistency across desktops.  This is why I love MDT 2010 and you should too.

So today I wanted to discuss how I manage one specific installation task to install VMTools on ESX guest OS.  In my case the guest OS is Windows.  I generally like to keep my task sequences simple so by dynamically installing VMTools on the fly it saves me one more step.

Assumptions:
A.  You already have a VMtools Install package working
B.  You are running ESX 3.5 (you can port it to a 4.x environment too)

In MDT
1.  Add a new Install Application task
2.  On the properties page select Install a single Application radial box
3.  Browse to your VMtools installation package and click OK
4.  Click the Options Tab
5.  Check Continue On Error
6.  Add Query WMI
7.  In the WQL query box enter Select * From Win32_ComputerSystem WHERE Model LIKE "%VMware%"
8.  Image your machine

Microsoft Test Lab Guides

Start Here to build your lab
Download details: Test Lab Guide: Base Configuration

Go here to pick a guide.
Test Lab Guides - TechNet Articles - TechNet Wiki

We are the pimps who say "Ni"

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