Windows – Using the Same Keyboard and Mouse Across Multiple Machines
KB ID 0000621 Problem Here’s the setup I have on my desk at home, When I’m working from home and my laptop is docked (as shown). I wanted to use my main keyboard, (Logitech G15) and mouse (Cyborg R.A.T. 9), to control both the main PC and my work laptop. As it turned out when I finished I could also use the laptop keyboard and touch pad to control the main PC as well, and I could drag and drop files between desktops....
Windows – Backing up, Transferring, and Restoring Wireless Network Settings
KB ID 0000626 Problem If you have a machine setup and working on your wireless network, sometimes it’s easier to set other machines up by simply migrating the settings. Either because you don’t want your child to try and type in a 64 bit WPA key, or you might simply have forgotten the WEP/WPA key,and don’t want to go through all the hassle of setting it up again. In a small business environment you can give your...
Windows – System Hung applying updates ‘Stage 3 of 3 Preparing to configure Windows…’
KB ID 0000640 Problem I installed a classroom full of PC’s today, after setting them all updating, and rebooting, I went to lunch, and came back to find them all displaying this, Stage 3 of 3 Preparing to configure Windows. Don’t turn off your computer. I went and did another room, came back, and there was no change. Solution It turns out this is a known problem if you are installing KB2533552, to get round the problem...
Windows Update Error – 80243004
KB ID 0000643 Problem Seen on Server 2008, when attempting to run Windows update. Code 80243004 Windows Update encountered an unknown error Solution Without a doubt the strangest fix I’ve ever seen! 1. Right click the Taskbar > Properties > Taskbar Tab > Customize. 2. Tick the box that says “Always show all icons and notifications on the taksbar” > OK. 3. Retry your Windows updates. Related Articles,...
Mapping Printers based on Computer OU (via Script)
KB ID 0000645 Problem Location based printing has long been a pain. In the past I’ve tackled it with Group Policy Preferences, and I’ve even gone ‘old school’ and mapped printers with con2prt. A few months ago I put in a new network at a school, they were using a vbs script to deploy all their classroom printers, and I had a quick (unsuccessful) attempt to do the same. But time was against me and I used GPP...
Enable Aero for RDP “One or more of the themes has been disabled by Remote Desktop Connection settings”
KB ID 0000647 Problem If you have enabled Aero on your remote machine, when you connect to it via RDP you will see this error, (if you try and change the theme to Aero). One or more of the themes has been disabled by Remote Desktop Connection settings Solution 1. Close your RDP session, and launch the RDP client software again > Options > Experience > Place a tick in “Menu and window animation”. 2. Reconnect to...
Windows – Adding Unallocated Drive Space “From the left”
Adding Unallocated Drive Space KB ID 0000678 Problem On my Windows Dual boot machine I wanted to give some more drive space to the first Windows installation. After shrinking the second Windows volume, I found out that I could not extend the first Windows partition to take up the free space. If the unallocated space was on the right of my partition it would have been fine. Solution: Adding Unallocated Drive Space This is a problem...
Finding Out the Last Time Domain Users have Logged in
KB ID 0000682 Problem Active directory keeps a log of the last time a domain user has authenticated to the domain (from server 2000 onwards) , the drawback with 2000 is that this value didn’t replicate so you had to query each domain controller and cobble the results together. After 2003 this value was replicated (after convergence,) to all domain controllers. Solution Update Here’s a much better way of showing who logged...
Windows – Cannot Delete Thumbs.db
KB ID 0000683 Problem Thumbs.db is a small hidden system file that gets generated when you view media in a folder, you know when you look at all your MP3 songs and you can see the album cover as a thumbnail? Or you can see what all your photos are as a tiny thumbnail before you open them, well thats what the thumbs.db file is doing. It’s a tiny cache of all that information so next time someone visits this folder it displays...
Changing a Username and Email Address
(Windows & Exchange) KB ID 0000698 Problem This was asked on Experts Exchange this morning, and so I thought I’d get it documented. There are loads of reasons why you might want to change a username, display name, and email address. It can be spelt wrong, a user has got married/divorced and changed their surname, or they have simply changed their name. There are also some clients who don’t create a new user when a...