HP Blade and red screen of death/Illegal opCode

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2023702

I was using windows deployment service to deploy Windows 2003 server. The workaround is to recreate RAID1+0 with “Maximum Boot partition” enabled.

Check windows drive allocation unit size

fsutil fsinfo ntfsinfo d:

The Windows Installer Service could not be accessed

This is Windows 2003 Standard Service Pack 2 server with Active Directory installed. When trying to upgrade VMware Tools, I kept getting this error message. Per MS notes at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315346, I followed method 2.

Then go here http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=5a58b56f-60b6-4412-95b9-54d056d6f9f4 and download/install file:
x86 Platform: WindowsServer2003-KB942288-v4-x86.exe

Rebooted a few times, then tried to upgrade VMware Tools again right after reboot, it worked after that.

manual WSUS update

From Windows WSUS client:

wuauclt /detectnow

refer: http://albertsiow.wordpress.com/2008/10/02/wsus-client-not-connecting-to-the-server/

Windows quick backup

This is Win2k3 (64bit). I tried to schedule ntbackup for quick weekly backup, but it was not working as expected, when running manually it works, but not under task scheduler.

Robocopy is a good choice for this:

robocopy.exe “c:\work_area” “\\server\foldername\work_area_backup_%date:~4,2%-%date:~7,2%-%date:~12,2%” /copyall /e /XF “c:\work_area\localfilename” /LOG+:”\\server\foldername\work_area_log__%date:~4,2%-%date:~7,2%-%date:~12,2%.txt”

ref: http://everybodygeek.blogspot.com/2008/09/robocopy-backup-your-data-now.html

Reset windows user password

http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/bootdisk.html

This works!

How to get rid of grub for windows installation:

Download Win98 boot disk image: http://www.allbootdisks.com/download/98.html

In order to remove the GRUB bootloader from a Linux and Windows XP machine, boot with a Windows 9x startup disk or CD and execute the MS-DOS command:
fdisk /mbr

Windows Update Failed

Refer: http://vittoriop77.blogspot.com/2006/01/windows-update-error-0x8ddd0003.html

Error message: 0x8DDD0003

Search registry with names like:

NoWindowsUpdate
DisableWindowsUpdateAccess
NoAutoUpdate

Delete them all if found.

PowerShell / Network Adapter Duplex Mode

PS > [System.Net.NetworkInformation.NetworkInterface]::GetAllNetworkInterfaces()

PS > [System.Net.NetworkInformation.NetworkInterface]::GetAllNetworkInterfaces() | foreach {$_.GetIPv4Statistics()}

RDP “Data Encryption”, Network Connection Failed

Hit this error today, Win2K3 R2 64bit:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/323497

For this case, need to remove Certificate, and reboot server. It seems Windows will auto-generate this one again.

Backup it first:
reg save HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\TermService\Parameters c:\term_para_save.reg

Powershell

$proc = (gwmi -query "select * from win32_process where name='putty.exe'" -computer hostname)

$proc.Terminate()

gwmi win32_process -computer hostname | ft Name, ProcessID

gwmi win32_service | gm

gwmi win32_logicaldisk -computer hostname

gwmi -name “root\cimv2″ -computer hostname -list