Ali's Knowledge Base

How can I tell if a Windows 7 disk is 32bit or 64bit?

Ali — Thu, 17 May 2012 21:15:32 +0000

Sometimes you have a USB boot of Windows 7 or you have a Windows 7 DVD, but how do you actually identify if its a 32bit install or 64bit!

After searching around, I have found these 3 ways of doing it:

Check the total size of the folders. 32bit Windows 7 is around 2.3GB, whereas 64bit Windows 7 is closer to 3GB
Look for a file called bootmgr.efi in the root of the drive / volume. If you find it then you know its a 64bit install media
The autorun.inf for 32bit install contains:

The autorun.inf for 64bit install contains:

Cannot Deploy Template / Orphaned Template

Ali — Thu, 22 May 2008 15:15:56 +0000

Right click on your orphaned template
Select “Remove from Inventory”
From the host you would like the template to reside on…
Select you host
Select the “Configuration” tab
Select “Storage” under the Hardware pane
Double click on the storage device in the right pane..this will bring up the “Datastore Browser”
Browse to your orphaned template’s location
Right click on the template file..it will have a “.vmtx” extention with the Type displayed as “Template VM”
Choose “Add to Inventory”

Go through and answer the wizard information to complete the “fix”

How to allow the root user to login to VMware ESX Server with SSH

Ali — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 23:33:16 +0000

To allow the root user to login to a VMware ESX Server over the network using SSH, do the following

Go to the service console on the physical server & login

1.vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config
2.Change the line that says PermitRootLogin from “no” to “yes”
3.service sshd restart

How do I disable Exchange Server 2003 minor link-state changes?

Ali — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 23:19:52 +0000

Exchange 2003 can detect link state changes, notify other Exchange servers about the changes, and advise them to use other routes. A minor state change is when a link is detected as either available or unavailable. The notification actually sends the entire state table. A major state change is an administrator-made manual routing change, such as adding a new connector or changing an existing connector’s attributes.

Sometimes, minor state change notifications are undesirable, such as when the notification sending of the entire state table could flood a network. This could happen in a large Exchange environment. It could also happen in a combined Exchange Server 2007and Exchange 2003 environment with multiple routing group connectors between routing groups and different Exchange 2003 bridgeheads in different routing groups.

To disable minor link state changes, use the following commands on each Exchange 2003 server:

1. Start the registry editor (regedit.exe).
2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESystemCurrentControlSetServicesRESvcParameters.
3. From the Edit menu, select New – DWORD value.
4. Enter as a name SuppressStateChanges and press Enter.
5. Double click the new value and set the value to 1, then click OK.
6. Close the registry editor and restart the SMTP, Microsoft Exchange Routing Engine, and the Microsoft Exchange MTA Stacks services.

Windows Update Error 0xC80003FB

Ali — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 00:39:33 +0000

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.

Can I still use Microsoft Virtual Server or Microsoft Virtual PC to test Windows Server 2008 clustering?

Ali — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 21:55:17 +0000

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

What is the /admin switch in Microsoft Terminal Services Client (MSTSC) for Windows 2008 and Vista?

Ali — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 01:27:52 +0000

Although the /console switch no longer has any effect on Server 2008 and Vista Terminal Server connections, a new switch called the /admin switch has a similar effect when you use it to connect to a Server 2008 server with the Terminal Services role. When you use this switch with MSTSC, connections don’t consume Terminal Services CALs.

The /admin switch involves elevated rights. If a user has the authority to use the /admin switch but has been marked with Deny Users Permissions To Log On To Terminal Server, he or she will be able to connect using mstsc /admin. Also, if a terminal server is in drain mode (no new sessions are accepted), an /admin session can still be created. The /admin sessions don’t count toward the session limit that may be configured on a terminal server to limit the number of sessions.

How can I rename a file with todays date?

Ali — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 10:52:07 +0000

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

I changed the IP address of a server running the SMTP service, but I can’t send mail to it locally. What’s the problem?

Ali — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 23:06:43 +0000

t’s common to install the SMTP service on servers that require limited mail-sending capabilities–for example, on a Microsoft SharePoint server. I recently had a problem in which the box got a new IP address, and at that point the services that used the SMTP service could no longer send email. The problem was that the server had a relay restriction list in place, and the list didn’t have the new IP address listed.

To resolve the problem, you need to update the relay list. Start the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) Internet Information Services Manager snap-in by accessing Start, Programs, Administrative Tools, Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager. Right-click the SMTP virtual server and select Properties, then select the Access tab. Click the Relay button. Be sure to add the IP address of the server trying to connect or a subnet containing the servers trying to send via the server by clicking the Add button. When you’re finished, click OK on all dialog boxes.

How can I pre-cache the Microsoft Office 2007 installation files?

Ali — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 18:08:44 +0000

Office 2007 uses the MSOCACHE folder as part of its core installation and functionality process. The folder is typically populated during the Office 2007 installation. However, to avoid network activity during installation, you can accomplish a pre-cache by performing the following steps. (Use caret brackets in place of the square brackets.)

1. From the network installation point, use Notepad to open the config.xml file, which is located in the core product folder (e.g., Pro.WW for Office Professional 2007).
2. Find the [LIS] element, and uncomment the line by deleting the opening [!-- and closing --] tags.
3. Set the [CACHEACTION] attribute to “CacheOnly”. The line in Config.xml should look like

[LIS CACHEACTION="CacheOnly" /]

4. Save the config.xml file.
5. Run setup.exe on users’ computers, specifying the fully qualified path to the modified config.xml. For example,

\[server][share]Office12setup.exe /config
\[server][share]Office12Pro.WWConfig.xml