1. Open the GPMC.msc.
2. Create or open a GPO which will be applied to your server(s).
3. Navigate to Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\Network\Network Connections.
4. Enable the “Do not show the “local access only” network icon” setting.
5. Close the GPO and GPMC.msc.
6. Run C:\>gpupdate on the server(s) to apply the new policy.

The “No Internet Access” notification should be disabled now.

Follow these steps to change the text on a Windows Server 2008 (R2) machine:

1. Logon to your server with the Administrator account.
2. Start RegEdit and navigate to the following key: HKCR\CLSID\{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
3. If necessary, take the ownership of this key, grant yourself full control rights and then edit the LocalizedString value.
4. In the edit window type: %UserName% on %ComputerName%. Click OK and close RegEdit.
5. Press F5 somewhere on the desktop and the text on the Computer icon should now display the logged on user name.

Tested on Windows Server 2008 R2 Build 7600.

Windows command line:

C:\> tasklist /FI "modules eq vstoee.dll"

PowerShell

PS C:\> Get-Process | ? { $_.Modules -like "*(vstoee.dll)*" }

I love the performance gains I get by using bootable VHDs. I’ve always enjoyed using VHDs but I generally had a host OS first, then installed a bunch of VHDs that I made bootable. Recently I’ve changed all of this on my computer after a spent some time reading a post from John Papa. This leads  to more flexibility. The idea is simple: take a clean drive with no host OS and add or remove bootable VHDs as needed.

These steps describe steps that enable a few scenarios for me that allow me to:

1. Install a fresh OS to a new bootable VHD with no host OS on the computer already
2. Copy existing VHDs to my physical drive and make them bootable
3. Boot to any of my VHDs and copy others on, or take some off

To be very clear, these steps are for taking a brand new hard drive or wiping a hard drive clean, and then installing a series of OS’s on VHDs that will boot from disk. The advantage of this is there is no host OS, you can have as many bootable VHDs that fit on disk, and they can be copied on and off the disk at will. I also use create differencing disks (I’ll get into that in another post).

I like this technique so I don’t have to rely on a base OS. This allows me to copy VHDs on my hard disk, add them to the boot record and run. Or I can install a new OS to a brand new VHD from a DVD, USB or network install. It’s very flexible and since the VHDs boot from the metal they are run very fast!

This creates a VHD on the metal, on you hard drive without needing a host OS.

NOTE: This post contains a lot of command line operations that are if typed incorrectly can wipe a hard drive, lose its data, and make it unrecoverable. Use these steps at your own risk, I am not responsible for the outcome. I am simply sharing what works for me.

I recommend using an SSD if you can. I have found that the performance differences of running off a traditional drive vs. a SSD are tremendous. They are pricey, but I’ve been able to upgrade to an SSD and give my laptop new life.

Install Windows 7 On a Completely Clean Drive, with No Existing OS

This cleans my hard drive and sets it up for my 1st VHD that will boot off the metal. These steps only need to be done once to clean the drive fresh. In fact, I don’t ever want to do this again to the drive because it wipes it completely clean (have I repeated that enough times yet? Can you tell I am very careful?)

1. First, I need to have an OS to install.
   1. If installing from DVD/CD, I make sure the media is in the drive and the bios is set to boot from the optical drive. Then reboot
   2. If installing Windows 7 from USB, I make sure the USB is plugged in and the bios is set to enable USB boot. Then reboot
   3. If installing from the network, after reboot press F12 (if that’s my shortcut key to LAN install) and select the boot OS option.
2. Once Windows Setup begins and prompts me to begin the installation, I press SHIFT-F10 to get to a command prompt. This is where I will create a VHD and then install the OS onto it.
3. In the command windows, I enter the disk partitioning utility

   DISKPART

4. Now I list the disks and take note of the disk number for the physical hard drive.

   list disk

5. Assuming the disk was number 0, I select that disk.

   select disk 0

6. Now I wipe the drive clean (all of my data on this drive will disappear). I do this so I can start fresh.

   clean

7. Now my drive is clean and ready to be set up. Next I created a partition and formatted it with NTFS file system using quick format. I labeled it “256 GB SSD” so I would always know where the physical drive was. Then I marked it as an active system drive and assigned it a drive letter of C.

   create part primaryformat fs=ntfs label="256 GB SSD" quickactiveassign letter=c

8. At this point I have a fresh drive ready for some VHDs! The next step could be to continue the install of the OS (see next section).

Install a Fresh Copy of Windows 7 on the Metal, in a Bootable VHD

If I followed the previous steps, I am still in DISKPART. If not, I would follow steps 1-3 in the section above first.

I repeat these steps whenever I need to install a new fresh OS. I can have as many as my drives fits.

1. I start by creating a new VHD on the metal where the OS will be installed. It allows me to choose a fixed size or expandable virtual disk file.The advantage of using fixed is that it will always consume X amount of space and be able to boot. Expandable VHDs take up much less space when not used, but they need to have room to expand when they are booted into. I generally use expandable.

   create vdisk file=c:\win7.vhd maximum=50000 type=expandable

2. Now I select the VHD, attach to it, create a partition on it, and format it.

   select vdisk file=c:\win7.vhdattach vdisk create part primaryformat fs=ntfs label="Win7" quick

3. Then I exit from DISKPART and exit from the command prompt by typing exit,and exit. This brings me back to the Windows 7 install screen which is waiting for me.
4. I can now proceed with installation, making sure I choose a custom installation when promoted. Of course, I have to choose the partition I just created. The installation of Windows 7 will happen on the VHD I just created and boot right off the metal. This process creates boot records for me, so I don’t need to create entries using BCDEDIT in the boot record manually which is nice.

Add an Existing VHD to Boot off the Metal

Sometimes I have an existing VHD that is ready to go and I want to copy it to my computer and run it off the metal. Here are the steps I use to do that. For these steps, I’ll assume I have a Windows 7 VHD with some cool demos on it called Win7MIX11.vhd.

1. Boot into Windows 7 (for example, one of my bootable VHDs of Win 7)
2. I copy the Win7MIX11.vhd file to the physical hard drive (might take a few minutes)
3. Open a Command prompt using Run as Administrator
4. I run the DISKPART utility

   DISKPART

5. I attach to the VHD and exit the DISKPART utility

   select vdisk file=c:\Win7Mix11.vhdattach vdiskexit

6. Now I make it bootable, making sure I use the drive letter that the VHD is attached to (I assume X here).

   BCDBOOT x:\Windows

7. Next I create the boot records so this VHD will be in the list of boot options when I reboot the computer. First I copy a record and give it a name.

   bcdedit /copy {current} /d "MIX11 Demos"

8. Then I take the GUID that the previous command created and I copy it to the clipboard. I will use this a few times in the next statements.
9. I enter the follow commands in order, replacing the {myguid} with the GUID I copied to my clipboard a moment ago.

   bcdedit /set {myguid} device vhd=[locate]\Win7Mix11.vhdbcdedit /set {myguid} osdevice vhd=[locate]\Win7Mix11.vhdbcdedit /set {myguid} detecthal on

10. Now I can reboot and my Windows 7 VHD for Mix11 demos should show up in my boot options as “MIX1 Demos”

Verification

Here is a screen capture of my Windows Explorer when I am booted into one of my Win7 VHDs. The D: drive is my physical hard drive, my SSD. Now that I see this I realize I should have made that the C drive letter. Oops. Not a big deal obviously.

The C: drive is the VHD I am booted into. The total size of my 240 GB OCZ 3 Vertex SSD is actually 223 GB of usable space. The “Win7” VHD is booted and is expanded to 50GB. That file exists on the physical SSD. Any other VHDs are also on the SSD. Here is the SSD in Windows Explorer. Notice that my file Win7.vhd is expanded to 50GB … this is the VHD I am currently running (which is why its expanded).

Wrap Up

This has worked very well for me recently. There are plenty of other resources on the web that I used to help me along, so I wanted to include some of them here too:

• Installing a Fresh OS to a New Bootable VHD with No Host OS (the article from John Papa this post is based on)
• Less Virtual, More Machine by Scott Hanselman
• David Anson’s post on creating VHDs that boot off the metal
• Great shots in this post and in this other post of the screens I see when I install a fresh OS and use the SHIFT F10 technique

None of this is earth shattering, its all been done before. I was hesitant at first due to the nature of DISKPART and how a mistake can mean I wiped the drive clean. But recently I decided to upgrade to a new SSD and I had little risk because it was already a new drive. I f you intend on going this route, I recommend researching it first using some of the links I suggested above as well as my experience in this post. But also, make sure you only try this on a drive that is clean or you are OK with wiping clean.

Many of you have been inquiring as to when the product will be available to customers outside the CTP Program. I’d like to take the opportunity to announce that we plan to Release to Manufacturing (RTM) within this quarter (Q2 CY2011). Windows Thin PC will be made available as an SA benefit, and customers with active SA or Windows VDA on their Windows PCs will be able to deploy Windows Thin PC to their environments after RTM. For more information on Windows Thin PC, check out the FAQ.

Links

windowsteamblog.com

Ok, long story short, it all started with a Backup Exec 12.0 job suddenly failing.. One part of the whole job is backuping Exchange Server 2007 using a remote agent and the exchange server. In the job log of Backup Exec, i got a ‘Final error: 0xe000fed1 – A failure occurred querying the Writer status. ‘ ok, initially i thought, this is nothing new.. querying the writer status and seeing what this one’s reporting ..

This is the Backup Exec 12.0 Job log:

Job ended: Donnerstag, 28. April 2011 at 23:00:12
Completed status: Failed
Final error: 0xe000fed1 - A failure occurred querying the Writer status.
Final error category: Resource Errors

For additional information regarding this error refer to link V-79-57344-65233

and this:

Click an error below to locate it in the job log

Backup- server.domain.localV-79-57344-34110 - AOFO: Initialization failure on: "\\server.domain.local\Microsoft Information Store\xyz Storage Group". Advanced Open File Option used: Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS).Snapshot provider error (0xE000FED1): A failure occurred querying the Writer status. Check the Windows Event Viewer for details. Writer Name: Exchange Server, Writer ID: {76FE1AC4-15F7-4BCD-987E-8E1ACB462FB7}, Last error: The VSS Writer failed, but the operation can be retried (0x800423f3), State: Waiting for backup complete notification (5). 

VssAdmin List Writers reported:

Writer name: 'Microsoft Exchange Writer'
  Writer Id: {76fe1ac4-15f7-4bcd-987e-8e1acb462fb7}Writer Instance Id: {c0784b22-2777-47ea-955c-6302ef023141}   State: [5] Waiting for completion
Last error: No error

Checking Event Viewer:

Source: VSS

Event ID: 8193Volume Shadow Copy Service error: Unexpected error calling routine ConvertStringSidToSid.hr = 0x80070539. Operation:
OnIdentify event
Gathering Writer DataContext:
Execution Context: Shadow Copy Optimization Writer
Writer Class Id: {4dc3bdd4-ab48-4d07-adb0-3bee2926fd7f}
Writer Name: Shadow Copy Optimization Writer
Writer Instance ID: {e439464c-084e-42a6-bebb-79f6c877804e}

i got this solved by following MSFT-David Shen’s tip.. => Just deleted a Profile with a .bak extension..

Hi,

According to the research, the issue may be caused by an invalid entry inside the following registry sub tree.

HKey_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList

Please open the registry editor with regedit.

Expand and local to the subtree, check if there is an entry that has a ".bak" value appended. If so, this may be cause the failure when trying to resolve the SID of the writer.

Please backup the registry key first, and then delete that entry with the extra ".bak"

Then you may reboot the problematic server to check if it the issue can be fixed.

Ok, this solved the above mentioned error with EventID 8193

But there was another error, kept me from running the backup job successfully..

Source: CAPI2
Event ID: 513
Cryptographic Services failed while processing the OnIdentity() call in the System Writer Object.

Details:
AddCoreCsiFiles : BeginFileEnumeration() failed.

System Error:
Access is denied.
.

Microsoft Technet writes:

Event Details

Product:

Windows Operating System

ID:

513

Source:

Microsoft-Windows-CAPI2

Version:

6.0

Symbolic Name:

MSG_SYSTEMWRITER_ONIDENTITY_FAILURE

Message:

Cryptographic Services failed while processing the OnIdentity() call in the System Writer Object.%1.

Resolve

Modify the access control list on the registration folder

Component Object Model (COM) applications must be able to access the COM+ catalog files that are stored in the COM catalog folder. If the default access control list is changed on the COM catalog folder within the Windows folder, the Shadow Copy System Writer may not work properly.

To perform this procedure, you must be a member of the local Administrators group, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority.

To modify the access control list on the COM catalog folder:

1. Click Start, and then click Computer.
2. Navigate to %systemdrive%\Windows.

   By default, %systemdrive% is located at C:\.

3. Right-click Registration, click Properties, and then click the Security tab.
4. Click Advanced, and then click Edit.
5. If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Continue.
6. Click Edit to view the special permissions assigned to this folder.
7. Ensure that the access control list matches the following criteria:
   • The local Administrators group has Full Control permissions applied to This folder and files.
   • The Everyone group has List folder/read data, Read attributes, Read extended attributes, and Read permissions applied to This folder and files.
   • The local SYSTEM account has Full Control permissions applied to This folder and files.
8. If the permissions on this folder do not match what is listed in this procedure, make the appropriate changes, and then click OK.

Verify

To perform this procedure, you must be a member of the local Administrators group, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority.

To verify that the Shadow Copy System Writer is working properly:

1. Click Start, point to All Programs, and then click Accessories.
2. Right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.
3. If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Continue.
4. In the command prompt window, type vssadmin list writers.
5. Ensure that Writer Name: ‘System Writer’ is displayed in the list.

I started Process Monitor and found an ACCESS DENIED on C:\Windows\winsxs\FileMaps\$$.cdf-ms for the NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE. Funny, the guys writing Technet Articles and Help for MS don’t even know their own system in deep .. rofl .. however, granting NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE the necessary rights, solved also this issue.

here’s my powershell get-history (including typos and retries ), maybe it will help you:

[PS] C:\Windows\system32>Get-History

  Id CommandLine

  — ———–

  14 .\vssadmin.exe list writers

  15 icacls

  16 icacls %windir%\winsxs\filemaps\*.* /grant "NT Service\trustedinstaller:(F)"

  17 .\vssadmin.exe list writers

  18 icacls /?

  19 .\vssadmin.exe list writers

  20 Takeown /f %windir%\winsxs\filemaps\* /a

  21 icacls %windir%\winsxs\filemaps\*.* /grant "NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(RX)"

  22 icacls %windir%\winsxs\filemaps\*.* /grant "NT Service\trustedinstaller:(F)"

  23 icacls %windir%\winsxs\filemaps\*.* /grant BUILTIN\Users:(RX)

  24 icacls %windir%\winsxs\filemaps\*.* /grant BUILTIN\Users:(RX)

  25 icacls

  26 icacls %windir%\winsxs\filemaps\*.* /grant "BUILTIN\Users:(RX)"

  27 .\vssadmin.exe list writers

  28 .\vssadmin.exe list writers

  29 .\icacls.exe %windir%\winsxs\filemaps\*.* grant "NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE:(F)"

  30 .\icacls.exe %windir%\winsxs\filemaps\*.* /grant "NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE:(F)"

  31 .\icacls.exe %windir%\winsxs\filemaps\*.* /grant "NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE:(F)"

  32 .\vssadmin.exe list writers

  33 .\icacls.exe %windir%\winsxs\filemaps\*.* /grant "NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE:(F)"

  34 takeown /f %windir%\winsxs\filemaps\* /a

  35 takeown

  36 takeown /f C:\Windows\winsxs\FileMaps\* /a

  37 icaclc C:\Windows\winsxs\FileMaps\*.* /grant

  44 .\icacls.exe c:\windows\winsxs\filemaps\*.* /grant "NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE:(F)"

  45 .\vssadmin.exe list writers

Customer can sign up for that Beta today here. Larger customers wanting to deploy DaRT 7 now can email us at dart7ct@microsoft.com to find out if they qualify to join the DaRT TAP program. The TAP program will allow them deep interaction with the product team and assistance in deploying and testing DaRT 7 in their production environment today.

IT Pros can learn more about MBAM (content coming soon) as well as DaRT, AGPM, AIS and the rest of the tools in MDOP in the MDOP Zone on the Springboard Series on TechNet.

read more here

There is an account in Microsoft Windows that is more powerful than the Administrator account in Windows Operating Systems. That account is called System account it is similar to the root OR super user in the Linux/Unix world . I will show you how to access this system account in this article.

In the ‘good old days’ of Windows 2000 / Windows XP there was this AT.exe command with the /interactive parameter/switch.. if you scheduled a task using

AT 12:34 /interactive cmd.exe

cmd.exe was started by the scheduler windows service and since this service was running under system account, the cmd.exe process was created by local system authority => result, your cmd.exe process was running as system.

Nowadays, with Windows 7 / Windows Vista and UAC and other improvements, the AT /interactive way does no longer work. but (for sake of Christ) there are those SysInternal Tools by the almighty doctor Russinovich. Especially we’re looking at the psexec.exe tool in this post .. So, to run a cmd.exe or any other process as system, just download psexec.exe and call it as follows:

C:\>\Temp\SysinternalsSuite\PsExec.exe -i -d -s cmd.exe

PsExec v1.98 – Execute processes remotely
Copyright (C) 2001-2010 Mark Russinovich
Sysinternals – www.sysinternals.com

cmd.exe started on CONWKS100 with process ID 5220.

In the opened cmd.exe type:

C:\Windows\system32>whoami
nt authority\system

C:\Windows\system32>

and you’ll see, you’re ‘the god of your system’ and you have all privileges.

Links

SysInternals psexec.exe can be downloaded here

The Shell: extension or command can be used to open various special folders using the Run dialog / box. To get an overview / a list of the available, well, let’s call them special folders, open RegEdit.exe and navigate to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderDescriptions

There’s another hidden, not so well known Shell trick. I’ve written about it a few month ago, you can find it here. It’s about how to show all (normally you won’t see all) Tasks/Applets in the Windows Control Panel.

List of Shell: Command in Windows

Shell: commands in Windows 7

In addition to the most of the shell commands in Windows Vista, Windows 7 also has these new commands in addition:

• shell:Libraries
• shell:MusicLibrary
• shell:VideosLibrary
• shell:OtherUsersFolder
• shell:Device Metadata Store
• shell:PublicSuggestedLocations
• shell:SuggestedLocations
• shell:RecordedTVLibrary
• shell:UserProgramFiles
• shell:DocumentsLibrary
• shell:User Pinned
• shell:UsersLibrariesFolder
• shell:PicturesLibrary
• shell:ImplicitAppShortcuts
• shell:UserProgramFilesCommon
• shell:Ringtones
• shell:CommonRingtones

Shell: commands in Windows Vista

• shell:Common Programs
• shell:GameTasks
• shell:UserProfiles
• shell:MyComputerFolder
• shell:SyncSetupFolder
• shell:DpapiKeys
• shell:SamplePlaylists
• shell:Favorites
• shell:My Video
• shell:SearchHomeFolder
• shell:System
• shell:CommonVideo
• shell:SyncResultsFolder
• shell:LocalizedResourcesDir
• shell:Cookies
• shell:Original Images
• shell:CommonMusic
• shell:My Pictures
• shell:Cache
• shell:Downloads
• shell:CommonDownloads
• shell:AppData
• shell:SyncCenterFolder
• shell:My Music
• shell:ConflictFolder
• shell:SavedGames
• shell:InternetFolder
• shell:Quick Launch
• shell:SystemCertificates
• shell:Contacts
• shell:TreePropertiesFolder
• shell:Profile
• shell:Start Menu
• shell:Common AppData
• shell:PhotoAlbums
• shell:ConnectionsFolder
• shell:Administrative Tools
• shell:PrintersFolder
• shell:Default Gadgets
• shell:ProgramFilesX86
• shell:Searches
• shell:Common Startup
• shell:ControlPanelFolder
• shell:SampleVideos
• shell:SendTo
• shell:ResourceDir
• shell:ProgramFiles
• shell:CredentialManager
• shell:PrintHood
• shell:MAPIFolder
• shell:CD Burning
• shell:AppUpdatesFolder
• shell:Common Start Menu
• shell:LocalAppDataLow
• shell:Templates
• shell:Gadgets
• shell:Programs
• shell:Recent
• shell:SampleMusic
• shell:Desktop
• shell:CommonPictures
• shell:RecycleBinFolder
• shell:CryptoKeys
• shell:Common Templates
• shell:Startup
• shell:Links
• shell:OEM Links
• shell:SamplePictures
• shell:Common Desktop
• shell:NetHood
• shell:Games
• shell:Common Administrative Tools
• shell:NetworkPlacesFolder
• shell:SystemX86
• shell:History
• shell:AddNewProgramsFolder
• shell:Playlists
• shell:ProgramFilesCommonX86
• shell:PublicGameTasks
• shell:ChangeRemoveProgramsFolder
• shell:Public
• shell:Common Documents
• shell:CSCFolder
• shell:Local AppData
• shell:Windows
• shell:UsersFilesFolder
• shell:ProgramFilesCommon
• shell:Fonts
• shell:Personal

Shell: commands in Windows XP

• shell:Common Programs
• shell:Favorites
• shell:My Video
• shell:System
• shell:CommonVideo
• shell:LocalizedResourcesDir
• shell:Cookies
• shell:My Pictures
• shell:Cache
• shell:AppData
• shell:My Music
• shell:InternetFolder
• shell:Profile
• shell:Start Menu
• shell:Common AppData
• shell:ConnectionsFolder
• shell:Administrative Tools
• shell:PrintersFolder
• shell:ProgramFiles
• shell:Common Startup
• shell:ControlPanelFolder
• shell:SendTo
• shell:ResourceDir
• shell:ProgramFiles
• shell:PrintHood
• shell:CD Burning
• shell:Common Start Menu
• shell:Templates
• shell:Programs
• shell:Recent
• shell:Desktop
• shell:CommonPictures
• shell:RecycleBinFolder
• shell:Common Templates
• shell:Startup
• shell:Common Desktop
• shell:NetHood
• shell:Common Administrative Tools
• shell:SystemX86
• shell:History
• shell:Common Documents
• shell:Local AppData
• shell:Windows
• shell:Fonts
• shell:Personal

Note: DiskShadow.exe is not supported on Windows Server 2003 / Windows Vista!

Here are the commands for diskshadow to back up the VHD using VSS (its kicks off vss inside the VM so the data is consistent)

Go to cmd prompt:

diskshadow.exe
set context persistent
add volume d: alias ddrive
set verbose on
create
expose %ddrive% y:

This will take a VSS snapshop of my D drive (where my vhd lives) and then mounts it as drive letter Y: Now copy the contents of Y: to a safe place. When your done you can delete the snapshop and unmount Y:
Delete Shadows Volume D:

unexpose y:

The following sequence generates a shadow copy on volume D: that remains even after the end of the program but not on the file system as "previous version" is available. Theoretically, you could run this script periodically.

set context persistent
begin backup
add volume e:
create
end backup

The Fact that shadow copies for this volume are in use can also be seen in explorer. Right-click the drive D: and go to Shadow Copies

To list the shadow just use

List Shadows

and to expose a specific shadow

expose {ShadowCopyId} V:

don’t forget to discard / unexpose the drive when done!

unexpose V:

Links

DiskShadow Documentation @Microsoft Technet