How to Set Up a Logon Script Only for Terminal Server Users

You may want to have a logon script that only runs for a user when he or she connects to a Terminal Server through the Terminal Server client or by the console. Extracted from Microsoft Support, this is the original article.

Various ways to address the "Safely Remove Hardware" Tray Icon issue

Here you can find a post by Andreas Peetz that explains how to avoid users to ‘safely remove devices’ in virtual machines.

Various ways to address the "Safely Remove Hardware" Tray Icon issue

by Andreas Peetz     at Sunday, February 23, 2014

Cómo instalar los servicios de escritorio remoto en un W2012 R2 cuyo Active Directory se ha migrado desde W2003

Después de migrar el Active Directory desde un W2003 a W2012 R2, al intentar instalar el rol de Escritorio Remoto, a veces, se produce un error.

How to configure NAT Policies on Soniwall devices

This is the dell’s document for configuring Nat policies on Sonicwall devices: https://support.software.dell.com/kb/sw7979

Title

UTM: SonicOS Enhanced how to configure NAT Policies

Description

UTM: SonicOS Enhanced how to configure NAT Policies

Determine Domain and username used to map a network drive

If you need to determine the Username used to map a network drive this is the command you must use at command prompt: 

wmic netuse where LocalName="Z:" get UserName /value

Uninstall Windows 10 update package on W7 and W8.x

Uninstall Windows Update Package KB3035583 to remove that upset tool for upgrade Windows 7 and 8.x to Windows 10

Using Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 with VMware vSphere

This is a post from Andrea Mauro, very usefull for installing the newest Microsoft’s OSes in old vSphere v4.x infrastructure.

Link for Annual VMware Partner Network Program fee payment

After hours searching in VMware’s Partner Portal I finally throw in the towel and ask for support. This is the direct link sent by Chaithra at VMware Partner Network Team. Thanks.

http://store.vmware.com/store/vmware/en_US/DisplayProductDetailsPage/productID.170160800&ipr=yr

Revert a virtual machine to last snapshot when power off

If you need to revert a virtual machine to the last snapshot every time is powered off you must change the snapshot.action parameter in .vmx configuration file.

Format a ESX & ESXi VMFS file system manually

Here you can find a excellent post from GK_RAJ that explains how to reformat a VMFS filesystem from console.

And this is his post:

SonicWall NetExtender

Here you can find this post by Hilton Lipschitz that explains how to get the latest up-to-date SonicWall NetExtender VPN software.

Use SonicWalls demo page and you can get the most up-to-date NetExtender release: https://sslvpn.demo.sonicwall.com/cgi-bin/welcome

RemoteAPP

I’ve found this link that explains how to make RemoteApp working over Windows XP, Vista or 7.

Thanks to Aaron Parker

How to create one user with ‘operator’ skills in vSphere 4.x

These are the steps to create one user with operator skills in vSphere 4.x. This operator user will be able to power on, suspend or power off virtual machines, mount CDs, make snapshots, but it shall not change virtual machine’s settings, and only in virtual machines it will be authorized.

Using DynDNS in Juniper SSG devices

Juniper SSG devices behaviour when configuring dynamic DNS is sometimes frustrating. There is not enough useful information on how to configure on certain circumstances. So I’ll try to give some tips that could help you if you are near to throw in the towel.

Get service status

You can use this vbs script if you need to know the status of a particular windows service:

Option Explicit

Dim ComputerObj, aService

Dim strComputer, objNetwork

Dim ServiceName

If WScript.Arguments.count < 1 then

  WScript.Echo "usage: StopSvc.vbs ServiceName"

  WScript.Quit

end If

ServiceName = WScript.Arguments.Item(0)

Set objNetwork = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Network")

Set aService = GetObject("WinNT://" & objNetwork.ComputerName & "/" & ServiceName & ",Service")

Wscript.echo aService.DisplayName

If aService.Name = ServiceName Then

'    WScript.Echo "Service display name = " & aService.DisplayName     

'    WScript.Echo "Service name = " & aService.Name     

'    WScript.Echo "Service account name = " & aService.ServiceAccountName     

'    WScript.Echo "Service executable   = " & aService.Path     

'    WScript.Echo "Current status       = " & aService.Status     

    If aService.Status=4 Then

'      WScript.Echo ServiceName & " is ON: Stopping Service"

       'stopping service

       aService.stop

    End If

End if 

WScript.Quit

You can get more info here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/es-es/library/windows/desktop/aa746328%28v=vs.85%29.aspx

Mount a Samba file share from esx 3.5

This is an extract from a William Lam’s post in vmware communities:
If you want to mount NTFS volume through the ESX Service console (verified on 3.0.2 & 3.5) you'll need to run the following command:
mount -t smbfs -o username='DOMAIN\primp' //IP_ADDRESS/SHARE_PATH /some/mount/path
username MUST has the single tick marks around the DOMAIN\username
Example: DOMAIN=vmware.com, USERNAME=user, IP=172.30.0.100, CIFS_PATH=/admin_files, LOCAL_MOUNT_PATH=/tmp/mount
You would do the following:
mount -t smbfs -o username='vmware.com/user' //172.30.0.100/admin_files /tmp/mount
This will then prompt for your password, and you should be able to mount. If you want to always mount this on boot, you'll need to add an /etc/fstab entry, this will require your password, but you can mask that off by specifying a file that is only readable to root or some user where your password can be saved without being in plain sight. You'll also want to make sure you open the port for samba through the firewall (esxcfg-firewall -e smbClient)

Consolidate a disk with deltas when the virtual machine claims that there are no snapshots in VMware esx 4.x

I’ve recently have and issue with a virtual machine that had not been able to consolidate the deltas in all the disks after a snapshot remove. So I had a virtual machine without snapshots but some disks with deltas.

In esx 4.x you can clone an individual virtual machine disk with or without deltas (Here you can view the KB document that explains how), but if your base disk is large this can take a very long time, and you will need enough free space to clone the disk.

So I’m trying to consolidate the disk in the same way this task is done when you remove a snapshot, these are the steps:

HOW TO: Remove Hidden Devices after HIR

Storagecraft has a document that explains how to remove hidden devices after a HIR (Hardware Independent Restore):

Situation:

This solution details how to show non-present/hidden devices that are often left behind when performing a Hardware Independent Restoreⁱ (HIRⁱ). This can be particularly useful when assigning an IP address for a Domain Controllerⁱ (DC) to correctly connect to Active Directory (AD), as sometimes a non-present network adapter has already been assigned the IP address you need and thus it must be uninstalled.

You may be receiving an IP address conflict error from Microsoft when attempting to assign the correct IP for your DC to access AD (which is a very important step that must be done in active directory recovery mode before fully booting up the machine). This could be caused by a hidden device left behind from the source computer after a HIR.

Solution:

To rectify this issue you will need to do the following two items, preferably in Safe Mode for normal servers and Active Directory restore mode for Domain Controllers (see Step 3 below):

Step 1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Command Prompt.
Step 2. At the command prompt, type the following lines, pressing ENTER after each line
set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1
cd %SystemRoot%/System32
devmgmt.msc

Step 3. In Device Manager go to View | Show hidden devices.
Step 4 Navigate to the network adaptors section. Locate any greyed out or faintly outlined devices - these devices are not present and can safely be removed by right clicking and selecting Uninstall.
Step 5. Active Directory Domain Controllers (DC) require special attention – when the first boot of a restored DC happens hit F8 and select AD restore mode, this ensures that AD will not run. Perform all the steps above and ensure that the correct IP address is configured to the LAN interface; this may take up to two reboots. If this is not done and the server is allowed to boot normally it will sit at the “Preparing Network Connections” stage for a considerable amount of time and possibly still fail.

Additional Information:

This solution can also be used to remove all other devices not present on the new server.

Build your own Dropbox using free software

I’ve been looking for Dropbox opensource alternatives. I wish to install my own linux server with a shared repository and clients accesing from windows, mac, ipad (IOS) and android devices.

I’ve been testing Sparkleshare, but there is no client for Windows XP and it hangs when there are changes in a big number of files at local repository.

Also I’ve plans to test syncany that seems to be in the good path but is not mature yet.

Now I will have a look at owncloud, that also has business releases with maintenance support plans.

Moving a virtual machine without vmotion in esx 3.5 and 4.x

 

When you move a virtual machine to a new datastore then the esx server shows it as inaccessible:

You can unregister and register the virtual machine again from the new location, but then you will need to do some other changes as fix ‘Virtual Machine Startup’ order, also Veeam backup treats this vms as new ones and backup and replica jobs will fail.

To avoid this problems you can do as follows: