Obtain task Process ID then use “taskkill”:
sc queryex servicename |
Replace ‘servicename’ with the services registry name i.e. “spooler”.
taskkill /f /pid [PID] |
Stop Hung Windows Service
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Category Archives: Microsoft
Lync 2013 Deployment
Excellent post on the deployment of Lync 2013 via Script: Unifiedme.co.uk
I customized the Lync installation using the Office /admin application (see above) and then pushed this out to users via script/GPO. This is a very basic script to check whether Lync is already installed, if not then will run the setup.exe using the custom installer in the “updates” folder.
REM Automated Installer for Lync 2013 REM Note the setup.exe uses a custom .MSP to install lync with settings, registry keys and product activation. @echo off if exist "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office15\lync.exe" goto quit if exist "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office15\lync.exe" goto quit if exist "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Lync\communicator.exe" goto quit :install \\server\Software\SW_DVD5_Lync_2013_32-BIT_X64_English_MLF_X18-54527\setup.exe :quit exit |
I’d be interested to know if there is a much better way to do this as it really is very basic and doesn’t include error handling.
Saving Windows Disk Space | Reducing Size of WINSXS folder | Server 2008 R2
C:\Windows\WINSXS seems to take up a large quantity of space.
To reduce this I used the DISM tool (run as administrator on the server).
DISM.exe /online /Cleanup-Image /spsuperseded
Before:
After:
Office 2013 | Changing *.OST Location | Regedit
This needs a registry update, customize the string value with your OST path.
This is for Office 2013, but can be used with Office 2007/2003 by changing the “15.0” version option.
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\outlook] "ForceOSTPath"=string:D:\My Documents\Outlook |
Once the registry update has been completed, create a new profile (which defaults to this location) and move the old .ost to this directory (same file-name and overwrite the existing .ost)
AD LDAP Attributes | Common Entries
List of common LDAP AD fields which can be used with the “DSQuery” or other tools which lookup AD objects.
csvde -m -f c:\DSQueryUsers.csv -d "OU=Users,OU=UK,DC=domain,DC=localm" -r "(&(objectClass=*)(mail=*))" -l displayName,userPrincipalName |
In order to simplify the process of creating LDAP queries you can use the SysInternals “Active Directory Explorer” tool to help with this process.
See Below for table:
Adding “Trusted Sites” to IE10 | Regedit | BAT | GPO
I’ve been looking for a simple method to add trusted sites into Internet Explorer 10 since they removed the “Internet Explorer Maintenance” (“The Internet Explorer Maintenance (IEM) snap-in is replaced by the Internet Explorer 10 preference extension”) options from the Server 2012 GPO.
Unfortunately a number of the methods for “adding trusted sites” prevent the local user from being able to customise the list with any additional sites. The method below is the quickest I have found to add a site to the “trusted sites” whilst also allowing users customisation. The following will add “work.edwardsd.co.uk” to the trust sites list:
*.BAT File Method:
REM See http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc732643.aspx for Reg Commands/Switches REG ADD "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains\edwardsd.co.uk\work" /v "http" /t REG_DWORD /d 00000002 /Y |
*.REG Method:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains\edwardsd.co.uk\work] "https"=dword:00000002 |
Note: The dword number represents the following values:
- 1: Intranet sites
- 2: Trusted Sites
- 3: Internet
- 4: Restricted Sites.
"https"=dword:00000001 "https"=dword:00000002 "https"=dword:00000003 "https"=dword:00000004 |
GPO Method:
The alternative option would be to use a GPO, usually my preference however I found this a little bit more complex so opted for the *.BAT option. This is a top site for GPO guides: GPO to configure IE zones sites (remember if you use this method the users can’t make changes themselves, but great for a controlled environment.
Outlook 2010 | Enable/Disable Cached Exchange Mode | Regedit
If “Cached Exchange Mode” in Outlook is grayed it can be switched on/off via regedit.
To Enable OST files and switch cached exchange mode on:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\14.0\outlook\ost] "NoOST"=dword:00000000 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\14.0\outlook\cached mode] "Enable"=dword:00000001 |
To Disable OST files and switch cached exchange mode off:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\14.0\outlook\ost] "NoOST"=dword:00000002 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\14.0\outlook\cached mode] "Enable"=dword:00000000 |
You can also enabled/disable cached exchange mode for shared mail folders (note this is only slightly different and contained under “Policies”):
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\OST] "NoOST"=dword:00000002 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\Cached Mode] "CacheOthersMail"=dword:00000000 |
Reference: KB982697
Change/View/Edit Microsoft Office Product Key | CScript
View Office License/Product Key installed:
Office 2010 (32-bit) on a 32-bit version of Windows:
cscript "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\OSPP.VBS" /dstatus |
Office 2010 (32-bit) on a 64-bit version of Windows
cscript "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14\OSPP.VBS" /dstatus |
Office 2010 (64-bit) on a 64-bit version of Windows
cscript "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\OSPP.VBS" /dstatus |
Office 2013 (32-bit) on a 32-bit version of Windows
cscript "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office15\OSPP.VBS" /dstatus |
Office 2013 (32-bit) on a 64-bit version of Windows
cscript "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office15\OSPP.VBS" /dstatus |
Office 2010 (64-bit) on a 64-bit version of Windows
cscript "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office15\OSPP.VBS" /dstatus |
Install Office Key via *.BAT file:
cd c:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14 cscript ospp.vbs /inpkey:XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX cscript ospp.vbs /act |
Change Office License/Product Key installed:
Quickest method I use for Office 2010 to prompt for a new license/product key (and remove the existing one entered):
Regedit -> right click “Registration” and delete the entire key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Registration |
When you load Office, it should now prompt you to enter the license/product key.
Enabling the “Contact Linking Field” in Outlook 2007/2010/2013
The “Contact linking field” isn’t always displayed by default in Outlook:
To display the “contacts” selection box for an “event” in Outlook 2007
Tools > Options > Contact Options > "Show Contact Activity Information on All Forms" |
.PAC File Example
Basic PAC file configuration. The browser can be configured to point to this file (proxy.pac) in order to direct the browser traffic to the correct Gateway Proxy server. The path can be configured to use a public URL such as http://proxy.domain.com/_proxy/proxy.pac.
Internet Explorer -> Tools -> Internet Options -> Connections -> LAN Settings -> Automatic Configuration -> Use Automatic configuration script
HP Proliant Microserver | AMD RAIDXpert RAID Rebuild
I recently developed a few faults with Windows Server 2008 R2 install running on my HP Proliant Microserver.
A number of posts and articles suggested the fault maybe the result of a faulty HDD therefore I ran a series of disk checks and applications to verify. Unable to locate any faults I opted to remove both 2TB HDDs (configured in RAID1) in order that I could dock them in another workstation and run thought some more thougher checks.
strangely as a result of removing the HDDs the Windows “BSOD” and crashing did stop, however I was still unable to locate any errors on the HDDs.
Rather than installing both HDDs back in the system, I thought it best to only reinstall one HDD in order to fault find, therefore breaking the RAID. Once happy that the fault was correct (Never found out the issue) I started RAID1 rebuild process using the following steps.
Delete folder/files | CL
Methods to delete files via command line: Normally I take ownership of the folder/files (takeown):
takeown /f c:\folder\location /r /d y
- /r Performs a recursive operation on all files/folders.
- /d Suppresses the confirmation prompt.
- y Yes Take ownership of the directory.
Change Permission (icacls):
icacls c:\folder\location /grant administrators:F /t
- /t Performs a recursive operation on all files/folders.
Delete Process (del):
del c:\folder\location\*.* /s /q
- /q Quiet mode, do not ask if ok to delete on global wildcard
- /s Delete specified files from all sub-directories (DELTREE).
- /f Force deleting of read-only files.
Delete Process (RD):
RD /S /Q c:\folder\location\
- /q Quiet mode, do not ask if OK to delete on global wildcard
- /s Delete specified files from all sub-directories.
Example using RD to remove a troublesome files that just wouldn’t delete:
Saving Windows Disk Space | Removing “Installer\$PatchCache$”
Running out of the diskspace on C:\ I found the C:\WINDOWS\Installer\$PatchCache$ to be massive! I used JamSoftware “treesize” to view what was taking up the space.
From research this folder can be safely deleted, however you MUST NOT delete the top level “Installer” folder “C:\WINDOWS\Installer” (only the sub-folders inside it)
A quick method for deleting this directory is:
Stop “Windows Installer Service”
net stop msiserver |
Run the “Remove Directory” command (/q Quiet: /q | Removes all directories and files: /s)
rmdir /q /s %WINDIR%\Installer\$PatchCache$ |
Start “Windows Installer Service”
net start msiserver |
Reference: http://goo.gl/SW5M9
List “Dynamic Distribution Group” members | EMC PowerShell
If you need to get a list of AD users in “Dynamic Distribution Groups” then you can use this PowerShell script… here. Only problem is that the script does not export details of Dynamic Distribution Group.
You can list DDG users by running this script using the Exchange Management Shell (EMC)
$Group = Get-DynamicDistributionGroup -Identity "Staff-UK" Get-Recipient -Filter $Group.RecipientFilter -OrganizationalUnit “domain.com/UK_Users_OU/Branch_Users” | Out-File c:\Staff-UK.txt |
“Migrating GPOs Across Domains with GPMC”
I’ve recently updated my Windows Server 2008R2 system to Windows Server 2012. Windows Server 2012 was a fresh install using a different domain name on a new system. My intention was to manually migrated all data from the existing 2008R2 server into the new domain, this included Hyper-V VMs, DHCP and GPOs. There is the option of using ADMT however I required a clean install.
These are the steps I took in order to migrate GPOs from the source server to the destination server with a different domain name.
(Although this was completed from a 2008R2 to 2012 server, the first set of screen shots where created on the new 2012 server for this guide)
Source WS2008R2: Backup the existing GPOs from the GPMC, you need to ensure that the “Group Policy Objects” container is selected for the “Backup Up All” option to be available.
Windows Update | Restart Prompt
“RESTART YOUR COMPUTER TO FINISH INSTALLING IMPORTANT UPDATES”
My life would be so much simpler if this prompt didn’t keep showing.
Yes we know Windows has updated…
Yes we know if needs a reboot…
No we can’t do it in the middle of the day… So don’t ask me again in 4hours time or infact ever (until I have rebooted), especially when it’s on a TS / RDS with multiple domain users connecting.
Although I do enjoy (sarcasm) having another email whinging about why the server is prompting for a reboot, when in fact, the update has already been applied. (Yes I do understand this is there for a reason, but sometimes it just isn’t practical to restart servers every-time, every-day of the week, this is what a reboot schedule is for!)
OK. RANT OVER…
I’m not sure why you can’t fully disable this, Microsoft’s way of ensuring you do actually reboot, however there are a few workarounds I’ve listed to help rid of that pesky message.
Temporary Method using CMD:
sc stop wuauserv |
GPO Method (gpedit.msc):
Local Computer Policy / Computer Configuration / Administrative Templates / Windows Components / Windows Update / and disable Re-prompt for restart with scheduled installations. |
Regedit:
This will allow you to set the 1440min “Re-prompt for restart with scheduled installations” to more that 1440min.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc708449%28WS.10%29.aspx
RDS “Remote App” icons not displaying
Now and again we get an issue with the Terminal Services (TS) / Remote Desktop Services (RDS) “Remote App” icons not displaying in the RD Web Access interface. The main issue I have to remind users of is that remote apps only display when running Internet Explorer, other browsers don’t want to play nice, however sometimes this isn’t the case and the RDS server needs a reboot to makes this issue disappear. I recently had the problem but the reboot didn’t help.
To fix within Windows (without a reboot) I ran the following:
winmgmt /salvagerepository |
Re-registering VSS | FIXVSS08.BAT
I had a number of errors within VSS on Windows Server 2008 R2, these were stopping my backup jobs from running and causing different issues to occur, to resolve these I used the following script to reinitiate VSS settings. This was taken from the following article: Symantec
Note: This will disabled services if running on a live server, so best to complete out-of-hours.
List Domain Users using Script | PowerShell
This is custom made code to output all users listed in Active Directory.
This code was rewritten using Powershell in order to make the output more clear and “visually pleasing”
Powershell Option (output to looks like this):
To use:
- Paste into notepad.
- Save as “DomainMembers.ps1”
- Run with Powershell (no progress will be displayed)
- Data result will be output to “DomainMembers.txt” located in the C:\DomainMembers.txt This can be specified under the varible ‘$path = “C:\DomainMember.txt”‘
Note:Sometimes the script will not run correctly and the following will be displayed:
“File cannot be loaded because the execution of scripts is disabled on this system”
This security can be removed using the following command.
Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Force |
Event ID1202 | Security policies were propagated with warning. 0x534
I don’t want to get into the habit of logging every single error and snag I find in the event viewer, but part of my work is closely tided to Group Policy and deployment, therefore thought this would be useful in the further.
I was getting this error listed in the event viewer:
Error: Security policies were propagated with warning. 0x534 : No mapping between account names and security IDs was done.
Category: None
Type: Warning
Event ID: 1202
