VMware Workstation – ‘Linked Clones’ from Templates
Linked Clones KB ID 0000953 Problem VMware Workstation, is a great test tool, if i need to take a look at some new software, or plan how I’m going to do a job, and I don’t have access to the ESX server, or test bench, it’s a great tool to have on my laptop. If you build machines form scratch, every time you need one it can take a while. To address that you can create a template and deploy machines from that. To...
SQL SSMS Certificate Error
SSMS Certificate Error KB ID 0001921 Problem While attempting to open Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio (Version 21) I was met with this. Encryption was enabled on this connection, review your SSL and certificate configuration for the target SQL Server, or enable ‘Trust server certificate’ in the connection dialog” Additional Information A connection was successfully established with the server, but then an...
Audit GPO Changes
Audit GPO Changes KB ID 0001920 Problem If you are reading this your either replanning ahead (bravo!) or there’s been an incident that you are concerned about. If that is the case its important to remember that “you cannot audit retrospectively”* *Note: you can find out when GPOs were altered, but not by whom, with some simple PowerShell i.e. Get-GPO -All | Select-Object DisplayName, ModificationTime Group Policies are...
Windows Certificate Services – Setup a CRL
Setup a CRL KB ID 0000957 Problem One of the often-overlooked tasks in a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) deployment is configuring your Certificate Services Certificate Revocation List (CRL). For smaller deployments with only one server, you don’t need to worry about complex design considerations (though a CRL doesn’t have to be hosted on a Certificate Services server). In my test environment, I have only one PKI server,...
Server 2025 Network Profile Wrong After Reboot
2025 Network Profile KB ID 0001918 Problem If you have a domain controller running Windows server 2025 you may find that after a reboot the network profile changes from Domain to Public. This can cause a myriad of problems. 2025 Network Profile Group Policy Failures Symptoms: Group Policy Objects (GPOs) may fail to apply or update. Reason: The system doesn’t recognize it’s part of a domain, so it won’t retrieve policies from the...
Cisco ASA Domain Authentication and Trust (Allowing)
ASA Domain Authentication KB ID 0000973 Problem I cringed this morning when I was asked about this, last time I had to get a client to authenticate to a domain through a firewall, it was ‘entertaining’. The problem is Windows loves to use RPC, which likes to use random ports, so to make it work you either had to open TCP ports 49152 and 65535 (Yes I’m Serious). Or you had to registry hack all your domain controllers...
Windows Server 2025 Trust Relationship Failures Post-Upgrade
2025 Trust Relationship KB ID 0001917 Problem Following a full upgrade of all domain controllers (DCs) to Windows Server 2025, organisations may experience trust relationship failures between domain-joined workstations and the domain. This issue predominantly affects clients running Windows 10/11 versions up to 23H2. Notably, environments retaining at least one older DC do not encounter this problem. Symptoms Users unable to log in to...
Windows – Firewall Group Policy
Firewall Group Policy KB ID 0000979 Problem For everyone who simply does not disable the Windows firewall, then you need to be able to manage what ports are open on your machines. The simplest way to do this is via firewall group policy. This week I had to open TCP port 9503 on the local firewall of my McAfee Move Offload Servers. Below I will open that port on all my machines, but in production I will only apply the GPO to...
Windows Displaying a Logon Notice (legal notices)
Logon Notice KB ID 0000328 Problem It’s been a while but when I was asked my notes were seriously out of date .Should you with to enable this feature then do the following. Solution : Logon Notice Logon Notice Option 1 – via Domain Policy 1. On a domain controller, Start > administrative tools > Group Policy Editor > Either edit an existing policy or create a new one (Remember its a computer policy you need to...
Windows 11 Bypass Microsoft Account Requirement
Bypass Microsoft Account Requirement KB ID 0001916 Problem Microsoft have been pushing for you to have a Microsoft account to login to windows for some time, originally you could open a shell window and use the oobe\bypassnro command, then they stopped that, but you could still add a registry key to bypass the requirement. But now there’s a much simpler way. Solution : Bypass Microsoft Account Requirement Some site...