Cory Collier

So I got a call from a client today regarding a few issues they were having. Most of the problems weren’t all that difficult to solve, save one….

The boss’s computer would immediately log off after he tried to logon. While this might sound funny (in other circumstances, it really is), the client (who is a really cool guy, whom I respect a lot) did not think it was funny at all.

So, I dived into the Google to find out the issue. The short version; there was a bad registry setting. Basically, when this sort of thing happens, the first thing you should check is the registry. Now, you can’t connect to the registry locally, since you can’t logon to the computer with this issue.

So, the first thing you need to do, is logon to a computer on the same network as a user who has administrative rights on the computer concerned. Once you’ve gotten that far, you’ll need to open regedit. Something like this:

After that, you’ll need to connect to the computer in question. That’s easy, check the following pics:

then… 

The following key is what you should be looking for:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

That key should contain a string value for ‘Userinit’. If you’re confused, you should see something like the following:

Well, you probably shouldn’t see the green box, but you should see the string value for Userinit. If you don’t see that value in the root of key Winlogon, then you’ll need to create it. 

That’s not too bad either. First, right click the right hand pane of the registry editor:

Select the ‘String Value’ item in the right click menu. Once you’ve gotten that done, you’ll have a new string value in the right hand pane, awaiting you to name it. It’ll look something like: 

Name the string Userinit. After you’ve done that, right click the entry and select ‘Modify’. Make sure that the value for the key is:

c:\windows\system32\userinit.exe

Again, here’s a picture:

And that’s it. If you have any issues after you’ve gotten this done, I recommend an ERD disk or formatting your HD. Those are extreme options, I know. However, I don’t think you want to tool around with your computer for hours on end ( or maybe you do ).

I recently read an article, referred to me from Digg, about ‘Why Macs Still Arent Right For Business‘, as written by Jonathan Blum. Being a Mac Convert, I feel a certain ownership of this issue. I see people argue over this sort of thing all of the time. There are some key arguments in favor of PCs, but not many.

This guy had some intial transition issues, and turned it into an excuse to write about the ‘flaws’ of switching to Mac. His company uses lame software that was specifically designed for windows, and complains about Mac not working for it. It’s a weird argument, ’cause he prefixes all of this by saying he’s been a Mac user for years. The issues he complains about are largely encountered by newbs. Either he’s a liar, or he’s playing ‘Devils Advocate’ for the inevitable issues new Mac converts will face.

While it is mega-lame, it does give some validity to his argument. Many small business ARE using terrible software, and would be faced with serious costs if they chose to change software and hardware at the same time. Remember, most business users don’t like computers. They’re a tool for doing a job they don’t want to do.

So the issue here really is, ‘Do you like your job’? because if you do, then you would want to use the best possible equipment to get it done. You would want to be as efficient at your job as you possibly could. If your job sucks however, then you probably just want to get it done and get out.

That’s sort of the “State Of Business” for much of corporate America. There’s a reason why everyone you meet loves ‘Office-Space’. It’s because most people have shitty jobs. It might seem like a stretch, but I think there’s a real correlation between Mac / PC users and folks with good / bad jobs.

Figure it like this: if your employer doesn’t want to fork an extra thousand bucks on a computer that works more efficiently for you, do you think they’re gonna provide any other incentives?

Doubt it.

Not long ago I got the task of setting up a small server for an engineer in our building. He has a small office with one other person working for him. The idea was for him to have a central repository for files, a system backing up those files, and the ability to remotely access all of those files.

I recommended a Windows SBS 2003 box. The client obliged.

All was fine until the issue of VPN came up. I’ve done VPN’s before, but usually it’s through hardware, not through the OS. The client eventually was paid in full, and the issue still wasn’t completely resolved. I felt terrible about it, so I made it my priority to fix. The client was really cool, and I didn’t want them to feel cheated or upset in any way.

I won’t go through the whole tutorial on how to setup an SBS box, but I will say that usually, it’s very intuitive. Well, when I set up the box, I configured it to work on one subnet. However, the modem supplied to the client wouldn’t allow GRE packets through, so they needed to get a new modem.

When that modem arrived, it didn’t work with their existing Linksys wireless router. So I used the modem as the router, and plugged the wireless box into it, and ran it as a separate subnet. Keep in mind, this was after I had already configured the SBS box for the previous subnet.

I thought I had configured the server to work with the new network settings, but I missed a couple of items.

Clear ARP cache.

Since RRAS was started, you couldn’t clear the ARP cache (the table with the addresses of machines according to the old subnet). I had to stop the RRAS service to clear the ARP cache. Keep that in mind if you have to move an SBS box from one network to another.

Change ALL network settings. When I changed the TCP/IP information for the network adapter (only one), I only changed the information on the front dialog box. Which means I forgot to change the WINS information! Since the client was using VPN so he could navigate to files on the network, that was pretty important.

Also, I needed to add the dns suffix to the DNS settings area as well.

The moral of the story, take the time to get it done right the first time.

I’ve been a Network Administrator for several years now. One of my favorite features on Windows Server 2003 is Shadow Copy. Shadow Copy is a backup feature that allows you to right click a file, and restore that file to a previous version. If the file is missing, you can right click it’s folder, find the file, and put it back!

Shadow Copy is a snapshot of a drive, at a particular moment in time. It’s comparable to incremental backups, kinda.

While Shadow Copy is not intended to replace regular backups, it’s a very handy tool to quickly find files that users lose all of the time. Note, this is only available on Windows Server machines. Your XP and Vista machines aren’t going to do this.

Heres how to use it:

First, make sure the Shadow Copy service is running in the services mmc. You’re looking for the service called ‘Volume Shadow Copy’. Make sure it’s started, and it’s set to Automatically start. Once you have that covered, you can move on.

On the server you wish to use Shadow Copy on, navigate to ‘My Computer’.

Right Click the Drive (usually ‘C:’) that you want to use Shadow Copy on.

Click Properties

Click the tab ‘Shadow Copies’

Click the enable button if it’s not grayed out. If the button is grayed out, then you’re already running Shadow Copy. We’ll assume you’re not, so at least pretend to click the enable button.

Now, click the ‘Settings’ button. You should see the following dialog box:

This is where you set the maxium size you want your shadow copy database to be. As a general rule of thumb, you should never use less than 10% of what your max storage capacity is.

You can also set how often you make Shadow Copies. Keep in mind that the more often you make a Shadow Copy, the more space you will need. The default settings are twice a day, at 7:00am, and 12:00pm. I’ve never found a reason to change this, but I’m sure some of you out there will find plenty of reasons.

Now that Shadow Copy is setup, it’s time to see it in action. Back in the first dialog box we saw , click the ‘Create Now’ button to manually create your first Shadow Copy. Don’t worry, you won’t have to do this again.

Now here’s the sort of tricky part. In order to access the shadow copies that have been created via file or folder, you have to view the folders via net connection.

You can either type in the UNC name of the server (i.e. \\YOUR-SERVER-NAME) and navigate to the folder or file you want, or you can view them over a mapped network drive

Once you do that, THEN you can right click your file, or folder, click on properties, and then click on the ‘Previous Versions’ tab.

From here, you can view a previous version, copy or restore. Usually, your best bet is to view the files you want to restore first. It doesn’t help anyone to restore old files that were wrong to begin with. Get someone else’s (think management) OK before restoring files.

One of the things I have to show people how to do all of the time, is map a network drive. This varies if you’re on a Mac or PC. For this tutorial, we’ll just focus on Windows.

For a PC, You’ll need to know the name of the server that has the files you’re looking for. If you don’t know the name of the server, the IP address will suffice.

Open ‘My Computer’

You should something similiar to the above picture. The details will differ with your computer. They’ll look quite different if you’re using Vista.

OK, Now click the ‘Tools’ Menu and click ‘Map Network Drive’

Select the drive letter you wish to map, then type 2 backslashes and the folder name in the folder textbox. You should follow that with the path to the folder you want mapped. If you don’t know, you can click the browse button, and locate it.

You should see something like the following by now.

That’s all there is to it. It’s pretty much the same for Vista, though the location of the ‘Map Network Drive’ is more direct. Just look in the toolbar of your explorer.

For years I’ve sung the praises of Microsoft. For an equal length of time I have criticized the hype behind Apple. It appears I’ve been wrong for a long time.

By chance, I wound up with a new Apple MacBook. My boss’ daughter broke the screen on hers. It was as much to replace the screen as it was to get a new computer. So, they got the new computer. They asked me to get the data off of the old computer and on the new one.

They left the old one with me.

I figured I could use it for something (target practice maybe), so I went to the local Apple store and got an external video adapter for it. Then I went crazy and got a new Samsung 22″ widescreen monitor too (Samsung SyncMaster 226BW).

I hooked the thing up and started playing around. I’ve been amazed at how simple thing are with this. I don’t know how I’ve been so wrong for so long.

It figures I suppose. My mother-in-law will be giving me hell.