Windows – Display Memory Modules From Command Line
KB ID 0001294 Problem This is a handy command I came across this week, If you need to know the hardware memory configuration for a machine, and either don’t want to open the case to take a look, or you are at a different location, (i.e. remote connected onto the machine). How do you do it, without installing some audit software? Solution Simply run the following command; wmic MEMORYCHIP get BankLabel,DeviceLocator,Capacity,Tag...
Windows – Deploy and Configure Photo Screen Saver via GPO
Screen Saver via GPO KB ID 0001281 Problem I was tasked with working out how to do this for a client a couple of weeks ago, so I thought it would make a decent article. I’m going to have a central server share, with some photos in, then I’m going to copy them down to all the clients, and finally set their screen saver to use those photos as a ‘slide show’ screen saver. I’ve done this with Windows 10...
Windows 10 Create a WMI Filter for Group Policy
KB ID 0001267 Problem I was messing around with some GPO’s for client today to replace ‘Edge’ as the default browser, (with IE11). To make the whole process more efficient, I wanted to use a WMI filter toapply the policy only to Windows 10 machines. Before this used to be simple enough, you just set the Windows version in a WMI query. But because it searches for a string e.g. 6.1 (for Windows 8.1), that’s...
Cisco ASA – Remote IPSEC VPN With the NCP Entry Client
KB ID 0001260 Problem I’ve covered Cisco IPSEC Remote VPNs a long time ago, and I’ve also blogged about the Cisco IPSEC VPN Client Software. Yes you can get the Cisco VPN Client Working on Windows 10, but can you imagine rolling that out to a few hundred users? The bottom line is Remote Cisco IPSEC VPN is a dead technology, Cisco, (and Me!) want you to use AnyConnect. For a couple of users you can use the work arounds...
Migrating Local Profiles to Domain Profiles
KB ID 0001235 Problem Moving a machine onto a Windows domain, is a simple task, I’ve done this for a lot of clients. The main complaint (post migration,) is that something is missing. This is because your-account-name on your PC or laptop, and your-account-name in the domain are TWO DIFFERENT ACCOUNTS, (even if they have the same name). Microsoft have produced some tools help you, but I challenge you to start reading the USMT...
IIS – Cannot Download File From Website (With Extension .xyz)
KB ID 0001223 Problem I first saw this problem a few months ago, when I wasted to download some .bin and .pkg files from a web server running IIS, into a Cisco firewall. Then again this week I needed to get a large .iso file into a clients network so I put it on a publicly accessible web server running IIS, and had the problem again. Solution On the IIS server, open administrative tools > Internet Information Services (IIS)...
Windows Server – Disk Performance Missing From Task Manager?
KB ID 0001203 Problem If your machine is struggling, a good place to look first is the performance tab on ‘Task Manager’ Here you can see CPU and Memory Stats and how our network cards are performing, but wheres the disk stats? Solution Before you can see them you need to enable them, open a PowerShell, (or an administrative command window). and run the following command; diskperf -y Now re-open task manager and go to...
Windows – Suppress the ‘First Run’ Welcome to Windows Animation
KB ID 0001186 Problem I don’t like ‘first-run’ dialogs, Internet Explorer is annoying enough, Now Windows and Office insist on playing me a film clip when they start for the first time. I’m a busy guy I have things to do, stop asking me questions and making recommendations! It takes this long to create a user profile? I don’t think so. Solution You can do this by local policy on the machine, but domain...
Windows 10 – Installing IIS
KB ID 0001158 Problem I needed to get a web server up and running today, so I could upload some files into a firewall via http. I have a copy of Windows 10 running on my mac in VMware fusion, so that’s what I thought I would use. Solution Open a command window and run appwiz.cpl > Turn Windows features on or off > Internet Information Services > OK > Follow the instructions. Now to test, open a browser window and...
Windows Firewall – Enable ‘Ping’ / ICMP Echo Reply
KB ID 0001134 Problem By default all modern distributions of Windows come with their client firewall enabled. Which is a good thing, most corporate networks simply disable it using the rationale that they have a corporate firewall and security software etc. Again thats fine, but what if you want to leave it on, and still be able to ping that host to see if its alive. Solution The firewall exception is already written for you, you...