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 those pictures quicker. Well that’s great! But when you try and delete a folder with one in (particularly a folder on another machine) you can see the error below.
The file Thumbs.db is a system file if you remove it, Windows or another program may no longer work correctly.
Then it won’t let you delete it, and if you persist, you end up with a folder with just this file in it, that you cant delete.
Solution
First Step – Delete the Thumbs.db file
OK, lets solve the initial problem first and get rid of the one thats annoying us at the moment.
1. In Windows 8/2012 whilst in the folder > File > Open command prompt as administrator. (With older versions of windows hold down SHIFT and right click).
2. Issue the following commands;
[box] attrib -s -h thumbs.db del thumbs.db [/box]
Stop your PC Generating Thumbs.db Files
Option 1
Open Windows Explorer > View Options > Change folder and Search Options > View > Enable ‘always show icons, never thumbnails’ > Apply > OK.
Option 2 (Use the Local Policy of the Machine)
1. Press Windows Key+R to launch the run menu > gpedit.msc > OK.
2. Navigate to;
[box] User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > File Explorer {or Windows Explorer} [/box]
Locate the ‘Turn off caching of thumbnail pictures’ policy.
I put in a Remote Desktop Services Server this week, and every time the users launched their line of business app,
Open File - Security Warning
The publisher of this file can not be verified. Are you sure you want to run this software.
Name: {Application name}
Publisher: Unknown Publisher
Type: Application
From: {PathApplication name}
This file does not have a valid digital signature that verifies its publisher. You should only run
software from publishers you trust.
Solution
OK the program is not digitally signed, but this is going to annoy the client even more, I need to suppress this warning.
1. Open the local group policy editor on the machine in question. (Start > Run > gpedit.msc {enter}).
2. Navigate to;
[box]
Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Internet Explorer
[/box]
3. Locate the ‘Turn off the Security Settings Check feature’ > Set it to enabled.
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If you have a corporate wireless network, you can send the settings out to your clients, rather than have them all ask you what the wireless settings are, and how do they connect.
Here I’m going to use Domain group policies, but the procedure is the same for local policies (just run gpedit.msc instead). And the dialog boxes are exactly the same as if you were configuring them on the client machine. (You can import the settings form a working client if you like).
Solution
1. On a Domain Controller > Administrative Tools > Group Policy Management Console > Navigate to an OU that contains your computer objects and either create a new GPO, or edit an existing one.
2. Navigate to;
[box]
Computer Configuration >
Policies > Window Settings > Security Settings > Wireless Network (IEEE 802.11) Policies > Create A New Wireless Network Policy for Windows Vista and Later Releases
[/box]
3. Give the policy a name and add in an ‘Infrastructure’ type network profile.
4. Name the profile > Add in the SSID of the wireless network > Security Tab.
5. Set your authentication type, here I’m using WPA2/AES.
Optional
6. Here I want my client computers to see the wireless network, before the users log on (so that their logon scripts will run and their drives get mapped) Advanced > Enable Single Sign On > OK.
7. Properties > Remove the tick from ‘Validate server certificate’ > OK.
Note: I’m configuring for use with an HP MSM controller, if I leave this option ticked, I will have to upload the CA Cert from my domain, into the controller, or clients cannot join the wireless network.
8. I’m not making any changes to the Network Permissions tab > Apply > OK.
9. Now either wait a couple of hours, run gpupdate /force on a client, (or reboot it).
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You might ask why? But I needed to do this the other day for some screen shots, and if I had to work out how to do it then someone else will want to use Aero on Windows Server 2008. Besides I’ve seem people running this OS on their Laptops etc, so if it were me, I’d rather look at Aero than the standard windows “Theme”.
Solution
Minimum Requirements for Aero
CPU = 1 GHz or Higher RAM = 1 GB or better Graphics Card = 128MB or better Graphics Card = DirectX 9 & Pixel shader 2.0 with 32 bits per pixel
Rule of thumb
Single monitor up to 1280×1024 = 64MB Graphics Memory Single monitor up to 1600×1200 = 128MB Graphics Memory</br? Single monitor up to 2560×1600 = 256MB Graphics Memory
(Updated 01/12/12). I had a user that needed his Remote Desktop Services (Terminal Services) users, to get an Aero themed desktop, so his RemoteApp applications would run with the correct icons. In this case the easiest solution is to setup a LOCAL policy on the Remote Desktop Services server to force this.
1. On the server, Windows Key+R > gpedit.msc {enter} > When the policy editor opens > Navigate to;
[box]User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Control Panel > Personalization > Force a Specific Visual Style file or force Windows Classic[/box]
Enable the policy > Set the ‘Path to Visual Style’ to;
Server 2012/2008 R2 unlike their predecessors, comes with the multiple remote desktop session restriction enabled. If you are only connecting to a server for remote administration purposes that can get a bit annoying, especially if you have a generic administrative account that multiple techs are using, and you keep kicking each other off the server.
Just as with earlier versions of Windows server you CAN have two RDP sessions at any one time, the restriction is one logon for one account. Thankfully you can disable the restriction and there are a number of ways to do so.
Solution
Server 2008 R2 Option 1: Enable Multiple RDP sessions from TSCONFIG
Note: tsconfig.msc does not work on Windows Server 2012
1. On the server, click Start and in the search/run box type tsconfig.msc{enter}. Locate “Restrict each user to a single session” Right click > Properties.
2. Remove the tick from “Restrict each user to a single session” > Apply > OK.
Server 2012 and 2008 R2 Option 2: Enable Multiple RDP sessions via the registry
1. Start > in the search/run box type regedit {enter} > Navigate to:
[box] HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlTerminal Server [/box]
Locate the fSingleSessionPerUser value > Set it to 0 (Multiple sessions allowed), or 1 (Multiple sessions NOT allowed).
Server 2012 and 2008 R2 Option 3: Enable Multiple RDP sessions via Local Policy
1. Start > in the search/run box type gpedit.msc {enter}.
If you need to lock down your client machines desktops and prevent your users from changing the wallpaper, then here’s a run through on how to do it.
Solution
1. On your domain controller , Start > Administrative Tools > Group Policy Management Console > Either create a new policy and link it to your targeted USERS or edit an existing one, then navigate to;
[box] User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Control Panel > Personalization [/box]
Locate “Prevent Changing Desktop Background”.
2. Set the policy to enabled, then either reboot the clients, wait a couple of hours, or manually run “gpupdate /force” on them.
3. Your users will no longer be able to select the “Desktop Background” link to change it.
4. If your users locate a picture on the internet they cannot select “Set as Background”.
5. If your users download a graphic and preview it, the option to “Set as desktop Background” is there but it no longer works.
My users can still “Set as Background” and “Set as desktop Background”
The above procedure works fine with Windows 7 and 2008, however some older versions of Windows still have access to these options. To fix that you need to lock active desktop then disable it.
If that’s the case, in addition to the above also do the following.
The Windows lock screen is all well and good if you have a slate/tablet, but I don’t see the point of it on a Desktop PC or Laptop, (it just adds to login time).
I realise that updates are important, and Microsoft made updating easier by only releasing them once a month. But my laptop always wants to reboot at the point where I’m doing something critical! and Windows 8 unilaterally decides that its updates are far more important than my work.
OK this will only happen once a month, (normally) and it will only happen a maximum of 72 hours after the update. It affects me because I never shut my machine down, (I just close the lid).
Warning: Like I said updates are a good thing, if you disable this feature the onus is on you to keep your machine up to date!
Solution
Stop Windows 8 Rebooting Due To Updates with Group Policy
1. Press Windows Key+R > In the run box type gpedit.msc {Enter}.
2. Navigate to;
[box] Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update [/box]
3. Locate the ‘No auto-restart with logged on users for scheduled automatic updates installations’ policy. Set its value to enabled > Apply > OK.
4. Press Windows Key+R > In the run box type cmd {Enter} > At command line issue the following command;
[box] gpupdate /force [/box]
Stop Windows 8 Rebooting Due To Updates via the Registry
Note: If you have already set this in policy (above) you don’t need to do this as well.
5. Press Windows Key+R > In the run box type regedit {Enter} > Navigate to;
[box]HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > Policies > Microsoft > Windows[/box]
If there is not a Key Called WindowsUpdate create one.
6. And within the WindowsUpdate Key create another key.
7. Call that key AU.
8. Within that create a new DWORD (32 bit) value called ‘NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers’.
9. Set its value to 1 (one).
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