I don’t deploy large amounts of servers at once, so Windows Server sysprep is not as important as it is with the client operating systems I deploy. But I do need to create virtual machine templates, (mostly for testing), but some clients like to have server templates. I prefer to manually sysprep and shutdown a server then either convert or clone it to a template.
Thankfully sysprep is in the same place as it was with Server 2008 R2.
Solution
As before you can either run sysprep from command line by navigating to its location and running it with the correct switches. Or simply browse to it with Windows Explorer and double click it.
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Exchange 2013, has changed the way Offline Address Books are handled, with previous versions only one server (the first server holding the mailbox role) was responsible for generating the OAB. With 2013 however multiple servers generate the OAB, In fact every server that has a special arbitration mailbox called an organization mailbox will create a copy. This is better for fault tolerance and resilience, and you will find the OAB files located at %ExchangeInstallPath%ClientAccessOAB. Another change is the way the OAB is distributed, now it can only be distributed via the web (no public folder distribution any more).
With the new Exchange Admin Center (https://localhost/ecp) there are no options to mange the OAB, so you will need to do that via PowerShell.
Solution
Pre-Requisites
If your AD environment contains more than one forest, you need to change the parameters that the management shell is going to use first, (or you will get no results). To do that execute the following command;
On the homeward stretch now, back in Part Three, we migrated service accounts, groups, and users. Now we turn our attention to our machines.
Note ADMT 3.2 Only support the migration of Operating Systems up to Windows 7, (that doesn’t mean Windows 8 and Windows 10 wont work, it just means they are not supported). Migrating Windows 8 and 10 throws a lot of security translation errors, because of the way it treats ‘Apps’, so I’d recommend you do a LOT of testing before carrying out a live migration.
Solution
ADMT Computer Security Translation
Migrating computers is a two-step procedure, you do a security translation on a machine, then you migrate the machine. The security translation adds the security for the user(s) in newdomain.com to all the objects (files, folders, user profiles, and registry hives, etc) that their user account in olddomain.com did. like doing the service account migration (above) the plan is to get everything ready to ‘work’ before the machine is migrated.
Real World Note: This can take a while, (up to an hour for some machines,) and it’s best done without anyone being logged in (to prevent any profiles, or registry hives being locked). So take time to plan when this is done – rush it and you will have problems, and the very users who are too busy to be interrupted, are the very ones that shout the loudest if there’s a problem post migration. I would (if possible) have a stock of prebuilt machines on the new domain in case there’s any migration dramas, at least then you can get people working quickly.
This should be getting familiar by now, accept the defaults.
Select your computer(s) > Select all the options > SELECT ADD > Finish.
Agent Note: You are about to deploy the ADMT agent, make sure you have followed part one and part two.This process will be familiar if you carried out the service translation wizard earlier.
Run the pre check, and agent deploy.
What you will find after translation is all the profiles, and files etc will have the new domain users added alongside the old one with the same rights.
ADMT Computer Migration
Now finally to migrate the machines, ADMT > Computer Migration Wizard.
Select the computers.
Select the Target OU > Tick everything > Add > Select the amount of time to wait before rebooting the machine into the new domain.
Hang About Haven’t we done some of this? Yes, but because you have done the security translation already it can see the ACLs exist as it goes through and skips creating them.
As usual I’m not filtering any attributes > I’ll quit if theres a conflict > Migration should then complete.
Can I migrate Servers With ADMT?
Yes, but you need to have a good think about doing so first? For simple file and print servers that should be OK (Obviously back them up first etc). DONT try and do this with an Exchange server, or any other server that relies on Active directory for its very existence! And wherever possible if you can create clean new servers and migrate your data into them do so!
What about Microsoft Exchange and User Mailboxes?
I mentioned Exchange briefly on the user migration, Exchange migrations between domains, are possible, depending on your setup it may be easier to export all the mail form the old system and import it into the new one (use the search bar above. I’ve already written a load of stuff about doing this). In the not to distant future I’ll cover Exchange Inter Organisation Mail migrations.
Readers Note:
As with all the articles here, please provide feedback below, if one thing you have found can save another reader sweat and toil, then that’s the very reason for this site! If you have been with this since part one thanks for staying till the end (PL).
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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;
[box]wmic MEMORYCHIP get BankLabel,DeviceLocator,Capacity,Tag[/box]
Examples;
Here’s an example, (on an HP DL360 G6) we can see that there are Qty 2 2GB memory modules, and they are fitted into slots two and five, and (dedicated to CPU number 1, so this also tells me it’s dual CPU capable server, with only one CPU fitted!
Here’s a much older server, we can see we have Qty 4 1GB DIMMS in slots zero to three.
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I know it’s not the usual site content, but PNL was born from my dislike of vendor documentation, and crappy documentation is not limited to the world of IT.
The 12v power socket in my A6 wasn’t working, this was probably because there was a 1p coin stuck in it that took a lot of fishing out, I assumed the fuse had blown, and put up with it for a while. When I finally got round to sorting it out today, I opened the ‘owners manual’, and looked for information on fuses and fuse box locations. Turns out I have three fuse box locations, one in either side of the dashboard, and one in the boot, (or trunk for our American visitors). It showed a zoomed in diagram of the fuse numbers and locations, and what each fuse was for, (which also turned out to be incorrect). What it didn’t say was where it was.
I rang the Audi Garage, no one was available, I rang another one, who was obviously doing what I had done and was Google searching it, (I could have saved him some time I’d spent an hour online). The best information I got was “it’s on the right hand side of the boot below the recess with the net over it”. This is true, but getting into it is another story.
Solution
On the right side of the boot is a recessed area with a small net over it see below, the net is held in place with a thick metal bar/rod, which will ‘pop out’ if you pull it and swing up through ninety degrees.
The two catches that hold the bar in place need to be removed, rotate them though ninety degrees anti clockwise, and you can withdraw them.
Now the base and rear of this recess are one piece that can be removed, (be careful the 12v socket shown above will come away also and is still connected, (that’s the wire you can see bottom right). The pink coloured fuse coveres will just ‘pop off’. The 20 Amp fuse, (indicated) is for the 12v power supply in the front center console (cigarette lighter). The 20 Amp fuse next to it is for the rear center console AND the boot 12V power supply.
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XBMC was running quite happily, but whenever I tried to use Icefilms or navigate though the menus I was getting the following error.
Icefilms Import Failure
Failed to import Metahandlers
A component needed by Icefilms is missing on your system
Please visit www.xbmcchub.com for support
Solution
I did a complete remove and reinstall but the problem persisted. There are a couple of extra steps needed.
1. To uninstall, navigate to;
[box]
C:Program Files(x86)XBMC
[/box]
Run the Uninstall.exe file > Once complete, delete the entire XBMC directory (if it remains).
For newer servers I don’t really use templates anymore, but if you are deploying a lot of 2003 Windows servers in vSphere, then they can save you some time. Back in the days of vCenter 2.5 you just uploaded those sysprep files to the relevant folder in,
[box]C:Documents and SettingsAll UsersApplication DataVmwareVmware Virtual Centersysprep[/box]
But that location no longer exists (since Server 2008).
I was called to a 2003 Server yesterday, that was riddled with malware, whatever was on there was generating a lot of network traffic, so the first thing I did was disconnect it from the network.
That’s fine, but if I wanted to use my usual ‘weapon of choice’ Malwarebytes, how was I going to get the latest database installed?
Solution
WARNING: There is a note on the Malwarebytes website that discourages this procedure, as it breaks the incremental update mechanism of Malwarebytes. They recommend that you use this utility to do the job, and that it should be updated every week (though the page currently has December 2011 as the update date!) . In my case once the machine is clean, I’ll remove Malwarebytes and install Trend Worry Free on it anyway. Either way, I prefer to know for a fact I’m using the latest database.
1. Install and update Malwarebytes on a nice clean machine (In this case, my Windows 7 laptop).
2. Find out what version of Malwarebytes you are running (on the about tab).
3. Navigate to the following location, and take a copy of the rules.ref file, i.e. put a copy on a USB thumb drive.
But if you attempt to run ‘dcpromo’ from command line, you will see this error, and a link to a Technet article. (Perhaps a clickable link to a picture showing where dcpromo now lives would be better!)
Solution
Note: I’m assuming you have already added the Active Directory Domain Services Role? If not do that first.
1. From Server Manager (ServerManager.exe) > ADDS > There should be a warning triangle at the top of the window > Select it > ‘Promote this server to a domain controller’
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With Windows 7 (and earlier versions) you could simply find the startup folder from the start menu, now you don’t have one, (and its NOT on the Windows Key+X replacement menu either).
To open Your users Startup folder > Windows Key+R > shell:startup {Enter}.
To open the All users Startup folder > Windows Key+R > shell:common startup {Enter}.
This works because the startup folder is listed as a ‘Special Folder’. There are a LOT of special folders you can open in that way, They are all listed in the following registry key:
[box]HKLM > Software > Microsoft > Windows > CurrentVersion > Explorer > FolderDescriptions[/box]
AddNewProgramsFolder Administrative Tools AppData AppUpdatesFolder Cache CD Burning ChangeRemoveProgramsFolder Common Administrative Tools Common AppData Common Desktop Common Documents Common Programs Common Start Menu Common Startup Common Templates CommonDownloads CommonMusic CommonPictures CommonRingtones CommonVideo ConflictFolder ConnectionsFolder Contacts ControlPanelFolder Cookies CredentialManager CryptoKeys CSCFolder Desktop Device Metadata Store DocumentsLibrary Downloads DpapiKeys Favorites Fonts Games GameTasks History ImplicitAppShortcuts InternetFolder Libraries Links Local AppData LocalAppDataLow LocalizedResourcesDir MAPIFolder MusicLibrary My Music My Pictures My Video MyComputerFolder NetHood NetworkPlacesFolder OEM Links Original Images Personal PhotoAlbums PicturesLibrary Playlists PrintersFolder PrintHood Profile ProgramFiles ProgramFilesCommon ProgramFilesCommonX86 ProgramFilesX86 Programs Public PublicGameTasks Quick Launch Recent RecordedTVLibrary RecycleBinFolder ResourceDir Ringtones SavedGames Searches SearchHomeFolder SendTo Start Menu Startup SyncCenterFolder SyncResultsFolder SyncSetupFolder System SystemCertificates SystemX86 Templates User Pinned UserProfiles UserProgramFiles UserProgramFilesCommon UsersFilesFolder UsersLibrariesFolder VideosLibrary Windows
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