You want to Setup FTP on your Windows Server, (and more importantly make it work without disabling the firewall.) Below are the procedure you will need to carry out.
Note: For older Windows Operating systems like Server 2012, click here, or for Server 2008, click here.
Setup FTP Server (Windows Server)
Setup FTP on Windows Server 2012 (Including firewall setup)
Setup FTP on Windows Server 2008 R2 (Including firewall setup)
Firewall Configuration for FTP on Server 2008 R2 (Included in the Video above).
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You have a Windows 2019/2016, 2012, or 2008 server with plenty of storage space, and you would like to present that to an ESX/ESXi server as a datastore. You can configure a folder (or drive) as an NFS share and present it to VMware vSphere, so that it can be used as a datastore.
Note: For Server 2008 and vSphere 4/5 Scroll down.
Create NFS Shares on Windows Server 2019, 2016, and 2012
Essentially you need to add the ‘Server for NFS’ role, (Below “File and Storage Services“).
Create a folder to share, on its properties > NFS Sharing > Manage NFS Sharing.
Tick to share > Permissions.
You can add each host individually here, but I’m just changing the default rule to allow Read/Write to ALL MACHINES > Tick ‘Allow root access’ > OK.
VMWare vSphere 6 Connecting to Windows NFS Shares
Make Sure you have a VMKernel port on the same network as your NFS share.
DataStore View > Right click the ‘Cluster‘ > Storage > New Datastore > NFS > Next > NFS 3 > Next.
Give the datastore a name > Select the share name (prefix it with a forward slash, and remember they are case sensitive!) > Enter the IP or FQDN of the NFS server > Next > Next > Finish.
Create NFS Shares on Windows Server 2008
Gotchas
1. The system will not work if you do not have a vmkernel port, if you already have iSCSI or vmotion working then this will already be in place.
If not you will see an error like this,
Call “HostDatastoreSystem.CreateNasDatastore” for object “ha-datastoresystem” on ESX “{name or IP of ESX server}” failed.
2. Make sure TCP port 2049 is open between the NFS share and the ESX box. On an ESX 3.x servers you may need to run ” esxcfg-firewall -e nfsClient “.
Other Points
1. You CAN boot a windows VM from any NFS store (just because Windows cannot boot from NFS – does not mean a VM can’t).
Seen on Windows Server 2008 R2 running on VMware ESX/ESXi 4.0 and 4.1
Solution
Firstly, I’m assuming you are running the latest version of VMware tools on the machine in question, this procedure was carried out with VMware tools version 8.3.2 and cures the problem.
1. On the affected VM Click Start > In the search run box type > devmgmt.msc {enter}
2. Expand “Display adapters” Right click the one in use > “Update Driver Software.”
3. Browse to ” C:/Program Files/Common Files/VMware/Drivers/wddm_video” > Next.
4. When finished it should say “VMware SVGA 3D” Drivers have installed successfully. > Close
5. You will be prompted for a reboot, do so.
Note: Also ensure that you have allowed at least 8MB RAM for the graphics card (machine needs to be powered off before you can edit this).
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ES! it is, if in doubt see the compatibility matrix. But you have tried to install it and seen an error?
Error: This product can only be installed on the following 64-bit operating systems: Windows XP SP2 or above Windows Server 2003 Windows Server 2008
Solution
Essentially this just a bad error message that bears no resemblance the the actual problem!
The REAL REASON you are seeing this error is because you re trying to install vCenter on a domain controller.
This happens because, as part of the vCenter 4.1 setup the following takes place,
And if the server is a Domain controller, ADLDS cannot be installed. You will notice that if you watch the “Roles” section during the install of vCenter, that a role drops onto the list.
Final Thoughts
For anyone who thinks “Well Ill put vCenter on first then make the server a domain controller”. That won’t work either, if you try that you will see this error,
Error: The TCP ports shown below are required by Active Directory Domain Services, but are already in use on this computer. 389 ldap
To be honest a more descriptive error message would help. (Cheers VMware!). It’s not as if you cant do it…
Same thing on Server 2008
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This article is primarily geared towards making your guest virtual machines hard drives LARGER, If you want to SHRINK or make the drive smaller then see the following article.
1. On the properties of the VM select the hard disk in question and locate its size.
2. Enter the new size and hit OK. Note: Making the drive size smaller, will have no affect, if you want to do that clone the drive. If the option is “Greyed out” then make sure you DO NOT have any snapshots for this machine.
Re-sizing the guests “Volume” Option 1 – Graphically
Note: To do this using diskpart skip forward to number 10.
3. On the guest > Right click “My Computer” > Manage > Locate “Disk Management”. You will see there’s some free space that’s appeared on the end of the drive, (Click action > Re-scan if you can’t see it).
4. Simply right click the existing volume and select “Extend Volume”.
5. Next.
6. Copy in the extra space you want to assign (all of it probably) > Next.
7. Finish.
8. All the physical drive should now be committed.
9. And just to be sure, look in “My Computer” the drive is now 300 GB.
Re-sizing the guests “Volume” Option 2 – From Command Line with diskpart
10. Start > run > cmd{enter}
[box]diskpart list volume< select volume x –Where x is the volume number of the volume to be re sized[/box]
11. The final command is simply extend (This uses ALL the available free space.) Note the volume size in the picture below has jumped up by 40 GB.
Resizing a System (boot) Partition.
Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 can do this quite happily. Older versions of Windows do not like having their system drive re sized, you see the following error if you try,
Error: The volume you have selected may not be extended. Please select another volume and try again.
Option 1 (Connect this drive to another machine)
In a virtual environment this is much simpler, but even if its a real physical hard drive, you can put it into another server and re size it. In an ESX environment simply do the following,
1. Shut down the machine that needs its drive re sizing, then go to another virtual machine’s properties and select add.
2. Hard Disk > Next.
3. Select “Use existing virtual disk” > Next.
4. Browse to the the drive we want to re size > Next.
5. Next.
6. Finish.
7. Now on the VM (Action > Re-scan disks). You will see the drive, and it’s not listed as a system drive, so you can extend it using any of the methods listed above.
8. For example, heres the drive re sized using disport.
9. when you have re sized the drive go back to the properties of the machine you have connected it to, and remove it.
10. OK.
11. Now power on the original VM and drive will be re sized.
Option 2 (Re size the Windows volume with GParted)
Note: This will work for a physical server as well.
1. Here’s our system drive with some nice shiny free space.
2. Make sure the server in question can boot from CD, in VMware do the following to boot to the machines BIOS, for a real server watch the screen as the server boots for instructions (Usually F10, F1 or Esc but differs depending on vendor).
3. Locate the boot order and make sure CD/DVD is at the top of the list.
4. Download GParted burn the image to CD, if you are working on a real server (use ImgBurn if your stuck). Or simply point the VM to the iso image, and boot the machine in question from it. At the welcome screen press Enter.
5. Use your arrow and tab keys to select Don’t touch the keymap > OK.
6. Pick a language.
7. We want to launch the GUI (X Windows), so select 0 (Zero).
8. Select Re size/Move > Drag the arrow to include the free space > Re size/Move.
9. Apply
10. Apply.
11. Close.
12. Click GParted > Quit.
13. Exit > Reboot/Shutdown > OK.
14. Remove the CD/ISO and press Enter.
15. The guest will run chkdsk the firs time it boots. This is normal don’t panic.
16. Once booted the volume will be re sized.
Shrink a Windows Partition with diskpart
1. To actually make the volume smaller with diskpart, the initial commands are the same.
2. If you use “shrink” on its own is will shrink the drive as much as it can (I cannot think of any situation where you would do this!). So to shrink the volume by 10 GB simply issue a “shrink minimum 10240”. (The figure in in MB).
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I’ve had fun this week installing a new virtual environment for a client with a SmoothWall firewall. It took a call to SmoothWall support for me to get Windows updates to work, then after activating a few 2008 R2 servers via phone, I was motivated to get online activation running as well.
Windows Activation Error – (We are being blocked by the SmoothWall Proxy).
A problem occurred when Windows tried to activate. Error Code 0x8004FE33
Windows Update Error – (We are being blocked by the SmoothWall Proxy).
A error occurred while checking for new updates for your computer Code 80072EFD
Solution
1. Connect to the web management console of the SmoothWall. Select Guardian > User defined categories.
2. Select the “User Defined Categories” tab.
3. Give the Category a name > Set Filter type to “Content and URL filtering” > Copy and paste in the domains listed below > Then click “Add”.
4. Select the “Filters” tab > Give it a name > Set the filter type to “Content and URL filtering” > Expand “Good” content > Tick “Software Updates”.
5. Scroll down and expand “User Defined” > Locate the user defined category you created in step 3 and tick it > Click Add.
6. Select the Policy tab > Groups = All groups > Change the filter to the one you created in step 4 > Time period = Always >Action = Allow > Tick “Enabled” > Add.
7. From the menu select Guardian > Authentication > Settings.
8. Scroll down to the “Do not require authentication for these domains….” section > Paste in the domains you also pasted in in step 3 > Click “Save and Restart”.
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Spend any time working in windows and sooner or later something will upset Windows Explorer, and when it crashes it has a habit of taking something with it (usually your desktop experience – or something you’ve been working on and have not saved!).
The underlying problem can be anything from some poorly coded software, a dodgy device driver, or a wayward Windows update. But you can offset the problem by running Windows Explorer in its own sandboxed process, then if it does fail, it wont break anything else.
Warning there is a slight performance overhead to doing this but if you have a reasonable machine – crack on!
Solution
1. Open Windows Explorer (Windows Key +E)
2. Click Tools > Folder Options > View > Place a tick next to “Launch folder windows in a separate process” > Apply.
Note: If you can’t see the Tools Menu Press F10.
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While attempting to run a Windows Update you see the following error.
Code 80072EFD Windows Update encountered an unknown error. Get help with this error.
Solution
Note: There seems to be a few causes of this error, but in my case it was the proxy server.
1. Assuming you have a proxy set in your web browser settings (Internet Options > Connections > LAN Settings > Set proxy settings accordingly). Note: Your proxy may be using a different port to the one shown.
2. To fix it you need to have “un-proxied” and access (without authentication) to the following addresses:
3. If this machine with the update problem has access to the internet (without going through the proxy) you can simply add these addresses as “Exeptions” by pressing the advanced button above.
4. If the proxy is the only machine with internet acess and you cannot do that, then you need to allow access in the settings on your proxy server.
5. Once done, updates should resume.
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Telnet client from Windows, and have it as an “Optional Extra”. For most people that’s fine, but for anyone who programs network devices, or needs to test that ports are open, or test mail flow by telnet to port 25, that’s a pain.
This process was done with Windows 10, but the procedure is the same going all the way back to Windows 2000.
Solution
Note: The main reason this procedure fails, is because the client that you are attempting to perform the join from cannot resolve the domain name of your domain! Make sure it has one of your domain servers listed in the properties of its network connection, (or at least a method of resolving the name).
