Ali's Knowledge Base

Click Start, select Run, type in: services.msc
then press enter
Now look for the Automatic Updates Service, right click it and choose to stop

Click Start, select Run, type in: %windir%SoftwareDistribution
then press enter
Open the Datastore folder and delete its contents.

Click Start, select Run, type in: type services.msc
then press enter
Now look again for the Automatic Update Service and choose to start

Try running the Updates again.

Virtual Server has commonly created a shared disk over the emulated SCSI controller to use for clustered storage. However, Server 2008 clustering doesn’t support parallel SCSI.

But there is light at the end of the tunnel. Server 2008 clustering supports the majority node set model, which means a cluster doesn’t need shared storage. Server 2008 can use node-voting with three nodes or more, or a file-share witness instead of the quorum disk for two-node clusters.

If you want shared storage, the easiest option is probably iSCSI because the iSCSI initiator is built into both Server 2008 and Windows Vista. For the iSCSI target, you may have access to an iSCSI SAN/device, a software solution such as Windows Storage Server, or an add-on iSCSI

You can use this simple batch file to rename a file and append today’s date:
set Day=%Date:~0,2%
set Mth=%Date:~3,2%
set Yr=%Date:~6,4%

rename c:test.log test_%Day%-%Mth%-%Yr%.log

Extracting the SMS Installer-ISU integrated download (or, just the standard SMS Installer) requires that a SMS site server be present on the network connection. When the extraction intiates is asks for a valid server name and will check to see if its available.

Say, you downloaded SMS Installer from home on a dial-up connection, what do you do then? Wait until you are in the office?

Do this:

On your workstation, change the data value in the following key:

Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftSMSSetup
Data: Type
Data Value: dword:00000001

Usually this is set to 00000004 on a workstation

You can download a compiled exe with the above fix here SMS Installer Reg Key Fix

Windows automatically limits access to the Security log to only those users who have the Manage auditing and security log user right. However, guests can access the System and Application logs. To disable guest access to these logs, open a Group Policy Object (GPO), go to ComputerConfigurationWindows SettingsSecurity SettingsEvent LogSettings for Event Logs, and enable Restrict guest access to system log and Restrict guest access to application. In Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP, these policies are named Prevent local guests group from accessing system log and Prevent local guests group from accessing application log, respectively. Other users will still be able to view these logs provided they possess the Access this computer from the network user right. Windows doesn’t offer a more granular way to control access to the logs.

I fixed this problem by simply removing invalid entries from my system path. When Windows Explorer starts, it traverses the PATH variable, and invalid entries can extend the time necessary for Windows Explorer to initiate. To solve the problem, you need to ensure that each item in your PATH variable exists. To do so, open the Control Panel System applet, and access the Advanced settings (on the Advanced tab). Click the Environment Variables button. Under System Variables, view the PATH variable and check each entry that makes up the path. (Entries are separated by a semicolon.) Remove any incorrect entries, and click OK. Click OK on the main Environment Variables dialog box.

You can display the Global Catalog Servers in the domain you are logged in to using Nslookup.exe:

1. Open a CMD.EXE window.

2. Type the following command and press Enter:

nslookup gc._msdcs.%USERDNSDOMAIN%

I recently wanted to download a file from a Web site without using a browser, just in raw text format. I used the Telnet command to perform the operations normally performed as part of the HTTP download process, which are essentially a series of GET commands. To initiate the connection, telnet to port 80 (instead of the default port 23) of the Web site, as the following example shows:

c:>telnet www.alibutt.com 80

Nothing will be displayed to screen. Type the GET command in uppercase letters:

GET /index.html (press enter twice)

The page will then be displayed in the command window, and the Telnet session will terminate. You might need to append “HTTP/1.0” at the end of the GET command (as the example below shows) depending on the Web server you’re connecting to. This tells the server which version of HTTP your client understands.

GET /index.html HTTP/1.0

When you receive a STOP error, Windows displays the STOP on a Blue screen, hence the name BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death).

If you prefer a Red screen with White text, or any other color combination that is easier for you to see:

1. Open %SystemRoot%SYSTEM.INI in Notepad.exe.
2. Locate the [386enh] section.
3. If the MessageBackColor= and MessageTextColor= entries are present, change them. Otherwise, add them to the end of the section. To have a Red screen with White text, use:

MessageBackColor=4
MessageTextColor=F

Using the following codes (case is important):

0 = black
1 = blue
2 = green
3 = cyan
4 = red
5 = magenta
6 = brown
7 = white
8 = gray
9 = bright blue
A = bright green
B = bright cyan
C = bright red
D = bright magenta
E = bright yellow
F = bright white

4. Save the changes to the %SystemRoot%SYSTEM.INI file.
5. Shutdown and restart your computer.

The Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder is a freeware utility that retrieves your Product Key (cd key) used to install windows from your registry. It has the options to copy the key to clipboard, save it to a text file, or print it for safekeeping. It works on Windows 95, 98, ME, NT4, 2000, XP, Server 2003, Office 97, and Office XP.

Download Here