Defining / Locking and Managing Proxy Settings
KB ID 0000181 Problem If you have a proxy server at your corporate/home location, then there a few methods you can use to ensure that your clients use it. Before you start running though this, remember if you have a proxy server then it’s common sense that your firewall/router will block web access for your clients, and only allow the Proxy server (and any other servers/machines) that need direct web access out. If you are...
Exchange – Slow Shutdown and Reboot on a Domain Controller
KB ID 0000565 Problem To be fair Microsoft recommend that you DO NOT install Exchange on a domain controller. Not only does it cause quite a performance hit on the server, but because of the way services are stopped on the server at shutdown time, the Exchange services take AGES to stop (In fact they end up timing out). Quite how this explains SBS (Which is a domain controller with Exchange on it) I’m not really sure,...
Allow Users to Install Printers with Group Policy
KB ID 0000148 Problem Ordinary domain users cannot install printer drivers, because installing a printer driver requires “rights”. So unless you have installed the print driver as an administrator, the users cannot add a new printer, without logging on with administrative privileges, installing the printer and driver, then logging back on as the user, only at that point can they install the printer. To stop this happening...
Windows – Remove the Username (Personal Folder) From the Start Menu
KB ID 0000398 Problem Normal users probably won’t care, but if you’re in a corporate environment or a school for example, you might not want your users having access to the personal folder in their Start Menu. The video below runs though how to remove this option on a single machine and how to remove it with Group Policy Preferences (GPP). Solution Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links Group...
Windows – Reset all User Passwords in an OU
KB ID 0000497 Problem I did some bulk user imports for a client this week, and then needed to set all the passwords on these accounts. Seeing as it was a school, and each year group was in its own OU in Active Directory, I needed a way to “Bulk Reset” the passwords. Note: Passwords can NOT be set with a CSV / CSVDE import. Solution 1. We are going to perform this procedure while logged onto a domain controller with...
Bulk Importing Users with CSVDE
KB ID 0000498 Problem This is not a task I’ve had to do for ages, so when I had to do it this week, I thought I’d just do a quick Google search as a refresher. What I can remember was a simple task took me far too long to work out. So heres a quick solution for everybody else. Solution Before I begin, the spreadsheet below, was the hard work of John Haddock, I have only made some minor tweaks and adjustments. 1. You will...
Granting Users Password Change Ability (Password Administration)
KB ID 0000503 Problem This is a two part operation, firstly you need to give the user(s) the rights to change passwords, then give them the tools to do so. Solution Step 1: Grant the rights (Delegation of Control) 1. Whilst logged into a domain controller with administrative access, open “Active Directory Users and Computers” and create a group that you are going to allow password reset rights to. Note: In this example...
Active Directory – Modify all users in an OU to “Password Never Expires”
KB ID 0000532 Problem A while back I did a job for a school, many weeks later their users have had to change their passwords. Nothing strange there, the problem is now their teachers DONT want to have their passwords changing at all. For a single user you can simply edit the user object and set it to “Password Never Expires” for a LOT of users this can be more time consuming. Solution Warning: There is a caveat! If the...
Bulk Export Users From One Domain, and Import Into Another
KB ID 0000794 Problem I’ve written in the past about bulk importing users with CSVDE, but what if you want to move/migrate your users to another domain? You first need to export all the users, then import them into the new domain. Solution Step 1 Export Domain Users to CSV File 1. Here all my users are in one OU, if that OU has ‘nested OU’s within it that’s OK. 2. The command to ‘export’ is as...
Windows – ‘The directory service has exhausted the pool of relative identifiers’
KB ID 0000797 Problem I got this error when attempting to bulk create users with CSVDE (see below). But you may simply see it when trying to create a user, or other AD object. Unwilling To Perform The server side error is “The directory service has exhausted the pool of relative identifiers.” Solution Well that is a scary looking error! Firstly make sure you can see all your FSMO role servers. Locate your FSMO Role...