Cannot Remote Desktop over VPN connection
KB ID 0000845 Problem This one had me well and truly stumped! The client has two sites and from their remote site they could not open a remote Desktop connection to a server at the main site. RDP Stuck at Securing remote connection. At first, because the client had SBS at their main site I assumed this was the problem, but sadly it was not. Solution The following process goes through the steps taken to identify and rectify the...
Create a Shared Folder that Requires ‘No Password’
KB ID 0000857 Problem The title may raise an eyebrow, in a time when people are concerned with hardening their servers and making things more secure, why would you want a shared folder anyone can access without a password? Well because most of us operate in the real world where the biggest secret on our network is ‘who has not paid into the biscuit fund?’ I have a folder on my test domain that I use for sharing files and...
How to Join a Windows Domain
KB ID 000085 Problem For Windows 11 See: How to Join Windows 11 to a Domain This process was done with Windows 10, but the procedure is the same going all the way back to Windows 2000. Solution Note: The main reason this procedure fails, is because the client that you are attempting to perform the join from cannot resolve the domain name of your domain! Make sure it has one of your domain servers listed in the properties of its...
Windows – Schedule a Reboot For a Specific Time
KB ID 0000866 Problem If you want to do this, and you do a quick internet search, all results come back as either suggesting using psshutdown or writing a script then scheduling that. I suppose a script is a good idea if you want to reboot at 01:00 every day for example. But what if you want to reboot a client server once at 17:00 and it’s 10:00 in the morning? Chances are, if you’re like me, you will be working on...
World Wide Web Service Wont Start, Because Windows Process Activation Service Wont Start.
KB ID 0000878 Problem This problem started when a client attempted to add a ‘distribution point’ for System Center onto the server. This process failed, then Outlook Web Access stopped working. First line found that the World Wide Web service was not running, when they attempted to start it, this happened; Windows could not start the World Wide Web Publishing Service service on Local Computer. Error 1068: The dependency...
Can’t Delete a File or Folder or Take Ownership
KB ID 0000887 Problem I have a portable drive that I carry in my laptop bag that has all the service packs and iso images that I might need. The problem is when I install service packs and updates on clients servers and PC’s, they have a habit of creating folders on my portable drive that are a pain to delete. While tidying up the drive today, it was telling me I did not have the rights to do so. When I tried to take ownership...
Rename / Change all File Extensions In a Folder and All Subfolders Recursively
KB ID 0000896 Problem I long time ago this site was hosted in my dining room, on a PC under my desk. I was running Windows and IIS. When I moved the site to a hosted Apache Linux server, I discovered that Linux is a little more rigid on its rules for file extensions. For example in Windows .JPG and .jpg is the same thing, but on a Linux box that’s NOT the case. As I’ve used the Windows Snipping Tool a lot in the past my older...
No Speakers or Headphones with HDMI Device Connected
KB ID 0000961 Problem My laptop does not have RGB or DVI on it for an external monitor, it has just got an HDMI connector. While I was working in the office I thought I’ll pop my headphones in and listen to some music, and was met with silence? Solution When you connect an HDMI device windows ‘assumes’ that you will be outputting sound to that device, (great thanks). 1. Open Control Panel (Window Key+X on Windows 8)...
Windows – Export / Recover WEP and WPA Wireless Keys
KB ID 0001015 Problem If you need to connect to your wireless network with a new machine and have forgotten the key, you can view the WEP or WPA key in cleartext using the following procedure on a machine that has connected before. Solution 1. First launch PowerShell, ensure you ‘Run as administrator’. 2. To show all the wireless profiles stored on this machine, issue the following command; netsh wlan show profiles 3....
NDES – Fails to Issue Certificates (Signature Algorithm)
KB ID 0001021 Problem I was trying to enroll some ASA firewalls to NDES to get some certificates. Each time the process failed with the following error. % Error in receiving Certificate Authority certificate: status = FAIL, cert length = 0 That’s a pretty generic error, and does not give me a lot to go on. So I thought I would try from another network device, (a Cisco Catalyst switch). It’s a little easier to...