How can I migrate shares and their data between servers?

Microsoft provides the Microsoft File Server Migration Toolkit (FSMT), which you can download from Here . The tool lets you migrate shares and data from any server running Windows NT 4.0 or later to a Windows Server 2003 (or Windows Storage Server 2003) machine.

The utility also interfaces with DFS, which lets you maintain the original UNC path of the data and avoid complications with accessing data once it has been migrated. However, Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition lets you maintain the original UNC path, and if the old UNC path doesn’t need to be maintained, DFS isn’t required.

When you attempt to install Office 2003 on Windows XP, you receive ‘ERROR 1921’?

While installing Office 2003 on Windows XP, you receive a message similar to:

ERROR 1921
Service ‘MDM’ could not be stopped. Verify that you have sufficient privileges to stop system services.

This behavior occurs if the Machine Debug Manager service is not configured to start automatically.
To resolve this problem:

1. Open a CMD.EXE window.
2. Type the following command and press Enter:
REG ADD “HKLMSYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesMDM /V Start /T REG_DWORD /F /D 2
3. Shutdown and restart Windows XP.
4. Install Office 2003.

Are there any registry keys or files that the account specified for a performance alert requires?

When you create a performance alert, by default it runs as the Network Service account. However, you can specify a different account for its execution. If you specify another account, ensure that the named account has the following rights:

* Read access to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionPerflib
* Full Access to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesSysmonLog and its subkeys
* Read access to the files %windir%system32PERFC*.dat and %windir%system32PERFH*.dat

How can I use a script to delete a computer from a domain?

The following code will delete the passed computer name (e.g., “delme”) from the alibutt domain.

Dim objDC
Dim strComputer, strDomain
strComputer = “delme”
strDomain = “alibutt”
Set objDC = getobject(“WinNT://” & strDomain )
objDC.Delete “Computer”, strComputer

How do I remove my last Microsoft Exchange 5.5 Server installation from my Exchange Server 2003 organization?

Log on to the remaining Exchange 5.5 server and stop all services. The easiest way to do this is to stop the Exchange System Attendant by opening a command line and typing

net stop MSExchangeSA

You’ll see a warning that this command will stop other services, click Yes. After the command finishes running, run the command again (which will now stop the actual MSExchangeSA service).

# Log on to an Exchange 2003 server and start the Exchange 5.5 Administrator Console application (you must use the Exchange 5.5 version because Exchange 2003 tries to delete the Exchange server configuration from Active Directory–AD). Point the Exchange 5.5 Administrator Console to the Exchange 2003 server when prompted for a server.
# Expand the , Configuration, Servers node and select the Exchange 5.5 server in the right pane of the Exchange administration application. From the Edit menu select Delete. The application performs a check for resources; click Yes to any resources still found (assuming you know you’ve migrated everything you require). You might also see a warning that the MSFB and MS extensions could not be loaded. Click Ignore, then click OK to delete the confirmation message.
# Start the Exchange 2003 Exchange System Manager (ESM) and the Exchange 5.5 server will no longer be visible under the Servers container (, Administrative Groups, , Servers).
# You can now delete the Site Replication Service connection by opening the Tools, Site Replication Services node. Select the “Microsoft Exchange Site Replication Service ()” and select Delete from the Edit menu. Click Yes to the confirmation message.
# You can now raise the operational mode of the Exchange organization. Right-click the Exchange organization at the root of the node tree and select Properties. On the General tab click Change Mode, click Yes to the confirmation dialog box, then click OK to the main Properties dialog box
# Now you can remove the Active Directory Connector (ADC) connections. Start the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) Active Directory Connector Services snap-in. Right-click each connection under the Active Directory Connector node and select Delete. You might receive a warning that the connection is the primary connection agreement (CA). Click OK and click Yes to the delete confirmation dialog box (You’ll usually have at least two connections–one user and one public folder).
# You can now uninstall the ADC tools and services from the server.

Can I disable the Message Transfer Agent (MTA) on Microsoft Exchange Server 2003?

Microsoft has changed its stance about disabling the MTA on Exchange Server 2003. In Exchange 2000 Server, you couldn’t disable the MTA, but because of limitations with the MTA in cluster environments and because its primary use is for communicating with Exchange 5.5 servers, Exchange 2003 lets you disable the MTA.
The main problem with maintaining the MTA is that in a cluster, only one Exchange Virtual Server hosts the MTA resource, which is responsible for all mail transportation to Exchange 5.5 servers or third-party connectors for all databases hosted on the entire cluster. But the MTA can communicate with only 50 databases (60 with a change to the system; see the Microsoft article “How to increase the number of databases that are supported by the MTA service when Exchange Server 5.5 coexists with a server cluster that is running Exchange Server 2003” here ). Because each node in a cluster can host 20 databases (five database over four storage groups), if you have more than three active nodes the MTA can’t communicate on behalf of all the databases in the cluster. For more information about disabling the MTA, see the Microsoft article “MTA Stacks service supportability guidelines for Exchange 2000 Server and Exchange Server 2003” here
If you don’t require Exchange 5.5 communication or third-party connectors, and you want more than 60 databases in a cluster, you need to disable the MTA

What’s a rootkit, and how can I check for rootkits installed on my machine?

A rootkit is a term used to describe mechanisms that allow malware such as viruses and spyware to hide their existence from tools that are designed to eradicate them. Rootkits commonly open back doors to systems so that malicious intruders can access the system with administrative credentials or intruders use them on the machine to maintain their access. See here for more information about rootkits.

How do I disable Internet Explorer password caching?

When you are prompted to type your security credentials into the Enter Network Password dialog and you check Save this password in your password list, you have cached your password.

To disable password caching:

1. Open a CMD.EXE window.

2. Type the following command and press Enter:

REG ADD “HKCUSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionInternet Settings” /V DisablePasswordCaching /T REG_DWORD /F /D 1

NOTE: REG.EXE is built into Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. It is installed on Windows 2000 from the Support Tools folder on the Windows 2000 CD-ROM.

NOTE: To enable password caching, use:

REG ADD “HKCUSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionInternet Settings” /V DisablePasswordCaching /T REG_DWORD /F /D 0

My Microsoft Exchange Server database has reached its 16GB limit, and I can’t perform any actions to clear space. What can I do?

Microsoft added functionality in the Exchange 2000 Server post-Service Pack 3 (SP3) rollup to enable an extra 1GB of database growth for a standard edition database. You can use this extra space to perform maintenance in emergency situations when you run out of database space. This capability is standard with Exchange Server 2003. To access this additional storage, perform these steps:

1. Start the registry editor (regedit.exe) on the Exchange server.
2. Move to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesMSExchangeISSAVDALDC01Private-.
3. From the Edit menu select New – DWORD value.
4. Enter a name of Temporary DB Size Limit Extension and press enter.
5. Double-click the new value and set it to a value of 1. Click OK.
6. Close the registry editor. You should immediately perform the database maintenance to reduce its size, then delete the temporary size limit extension value.

As the name suggests, this extra space is temporary, and if you use up this 1GB you have no options left (except upgrade to Exchange 2003 SP2 or buy Exchange 2003 Enterprise Edition). You need to dismount and mount the Store for the change to take effect.

How do I log on to Windows Vista using a domain account?

The domain drop-down dialog box doesn’t appear on the Vista logon screen. Instead, you need to include the domain name as part of the username. For example, user Ali in domain alibutt.com would log on with a username of ali@alibutt.com.