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...
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,...
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Logon Notice KB ID 0000328 Problem It’s been a while but when I was asked my notes were seriously out of date .Should you with to enable this feature then do the following.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...
Server Manager Error
Server Manager Error KB ID 0001915 Problem I needed to add a role to a Window server today, but when I attempted to do so I got the following error. The request to list features available on the specified server failed. Solution : Server Manager Error This one had me perplexed for a while, I close this dialog box and was looking at Server manager and noticed there was an error ‘large red flag’ so I clicked that and got...
Updating Domain Computer Objects with Last Logon and Machine Information
Last Logon KB ID 0001340 Problem I can’t really take the credit for this, I was at a client’s site a few weeks ago, and they were doing this. I thought ‘That’s cool, I’ll have a play with that when I get the chance”. Essentially, you update the description of the Computer object(s) in AD so that they list; The last user who logged on. What time they logged on. What AD ‘Site’ the machine...
How to track failed logon attempts in Active Directory
Track failed logon KB ID 0001209 Problem If a large number of failed logon attempts occur within a certain period of time, it could be an indication of a security threat, which is why it is important that organisations have a proactive means of auditing and monitoring whenever this happens. There are a number of ways you can perform this audit, one of which is using the native tools. Here, we will take you through the steps so that...
Printers “Some Of These Settings are Managed By Your Organisation”
Managed By Your Organisation KB ID 0001899 Problem When attempting to add a printer, or engage with the printer settings dialog, you may see. Some Of These Settings are Managed By Your Organisation Solution : Managed By Your Organisation This is usually because a policy is being applied, (or has been applied) that is making a change in your registry, to the following key. HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Software > Microsoft > Windows...
What GPO are Applied?
What GPO KB ID 0001898 Problem There are a number of reasons for you to test and demonstrate group policy application. Recently on Experts Exchange there was a question. where a user could not add a printer because those settings were “Controlled by their organisation’ but was pretty sure no printer GPOs were applied. Or you may simply be setting up a new GPO and it’s not applying, or not working as you would expect....