Determine Domain Functional Level

By Joseph Piggee

Here are some simple steps to determine the Functional Level of your Windows Domain/Forest:

1. Open up the Active Directory Domains and Trusts MMC found in your Administrative Tools folder. (Also found in the Control Panel or in the Start Menu).
2. To check the domain functional level, right click on the current domain and select Properties, this will show you the current Domain and Forest Functional Level.

Disable IPv6

By Joseph Piggee Sr.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929852

IPv6 can be disabled either through the DisabledComponents registry value or through the check box for the Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6) component in the list of items on the Networking tab for the properties of connections in the Network Connections folder. The following figure shows an example.

The DisabledComponents registry key affects all interfaces on the host. However, the check box on the Networking tab affects only the specific interface. The DisabledComponents registry value does not affect the state of the check box. Therefore, even if the DisabledComponents registry key is set to disable IPv6, the check box in the Networking tab for each interface can still be checked. This is expected behavior.

Note Unchecking the checkbox on a network adapter will not disable IPv6 on the host. It will unbind IPv6 from this adapter. To disable IPv6 on the host, follow the steps below.

To use the DisabledComponents registry value to check whether IPv6 was disabled, run the following command at a Windows command prompt:
reg query HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip6\Parameters /v DisabledComponents

You may receive the following error message:
ERROR: The system was unable to find the specified registry key or value.
If you receive this error message, the DisabledComponents registry value is not set. If the DisabledComponents value is set, it overrides the settings in the connection properties.

To enable or to disable IPv6 or to selectively enable or disable components of IPv6 automatically, click the Fix this problem link. Then, click Run in the File Download dialog box, and follow the steps in this wizard.

To View or Change the Tombstone LifeTime

*To perform the following steps you'll need to be a member of the Enterprise Admins group.

By Joe Piggee Sr.

To view or change attribute values by using ADSIEdit:

1. On the Start menu, point to Run and then type ADSIEdit.msc and press Enter.
2. In the next window, click Action-> Connect to
3. In the center, change the connection point to "Select a well known Naming Context"
4. Click the drop down menu, and select Configuration, then click OK
   
5. Navigate to Configuration->CN=Services->CN=Windows NT->CN=Directory Service, Right click, and select properties
6. 
7. Scroll down to "tombstoneLifetime" and double click to edit. It will be displaying the current value, which will be in days.
8. When done just click OK.
9. Click OK and then close ADSIEdit.

* When you view properties on cn=Directory Service,cn=Windows NT, cn=Services,cn=Configuration,dc=, if no value is set it means that the default value is in effect. Any value that you type in the Edit Attribute box replaces the default value when you click Set .

How to Remove the User Picture icon from the Start Menu

The quick and easy way is to remove the user picture icon:
* Change your explorer to display hidden files & folders
1. Navigate to c:\Program Data\Microsoft\User Account Pictures
2. Rename "user.bmp" to "user.bak"
3. Logoff, then log back on.

How to Remove a Domain Controller

Removing a domain controller by using the Windows interface

You can use the Active Directory Domain Services Installation Wizard to remove a domain controller from an existing domain.

Administrative credentials

To perform this procedure, you must be a member of the Domain Admins group in the domain.

To remove a domain controller by using the Windows interface

1. Click Start, click Run, type dcpromo, and then press ENTER.

2. On the Welcome to the Active Directory Domain Services Installation Wizard page, click Next.

3. If the domain controller is a global catalog server, a message appears to warn you about the effect of removing a global catalog server from the environment. Click OK to continue.

4. On the Delete the Domain page, make no selection, and then click Next.

5. If the domain controller has application directory partitions, on the Application Directory Partitions page, view the application directory partitions in the list, and then remove or retain application directory partitions, as follows:

   • If you do not want to retain any application directory partitions that are stored on the domain controller, click Next.
   • If you want to retain an application directory partition that an application has created on the domain controller, use the application that created the partition to remove it, and then click Refresh to update the list.

6. If the Confirm Deletion page appears, select the option to delete all application directory partitions on the domain controller, and then click Next.

7. On the Remove DNS Delegation page, verify that the Delete the DNS delegations pointing to this server check box is selected, and then click Next.

8. If necessary, enter administrative credentials for the server that hosts the DNS zones that contain the DNS delegation for this server, and then click OK.

9. On the Administrator Password page, type and confirm a secure password for the local Administrator account, and then click Next.

10. On the Summary page, to save the settings that you selected to an answer file that you can use to automate subsequent operations in Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS), click Export settings. Type a name for your answer file, and then click Save. Review your selections, and then click Next to remove AD DS.

11. On the Completing the Active Directory Domain Services Installation Wizard page, click Finish.

12. You can either select the Reboot on completion check box to have the server restart automatically or you can restart the server to complete the AD DS removal when you are prompted to do so.

13. Open Server Manager. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Server Manager.

14. In Roles Summary, click Remove Roles.

15. If necessary, review the information on the Before You Begin page, and then click Next.

16. On the Remove Server Roles page, clear the Active Directory Domain Services check box, and then click Next.

17. On the Confirm Removal Selections page, click Remove.

18. On the Removal Results page, click Close, and then click Yes to restart the server.

 

*http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc771844(v=ws.10).aspx

Windows Activation Error - 0x80072EE2 & 0x8007EFE

Error x80072EE2 & 0x8007EFE

This error normally indicates a connection issue. Very vague, but true. To fix this try the following:

• Turn off the firewall, and retry activation
• Check Date & time settings. If you needed to change anything on the date or time, restart the server before retrying the activation
• Finally, make sure you aren't using a KMS key without a KMS server.
• And verify the key code is correct.

Hyper-V How to Create a Virtual Machine Template

 

Written by Joseph Piggee

With all the updates out there, it can take quite sometime to get a a new Virtual machine up and running. To save yourself some time, create a base template. With Hyper-V and using sysprep, it’s pretty quick & easy. You’ll want to use sysprep in order to generate a different SSID & MAC address. Sysprep in now included with Windows 7 & Server 2008 R2. Sysprep can be found in %systemroot%\Windows\System32\Sysprep.

* Note: When you run sysprep, be sure to select the OOBE option.(OOBE=Out Of Box Experience)

1. First create your virtual machine, and install all applicable updates.
2. Set all default settings:
• Workgroup or Domain membership
• Update settings
• Enable RDP
• Disable unnecessary Services
3. Power off you VM, and backup your VHD.
4. Now power on your virtual machine.
5. Open a command line, and navigate to the sysprep directory.
6. At the prompt type: sysprep /oobe /shutdown.

The alternative is to just type sysprep with no options, and you’ll get a GUI, which I will show below.

• Example of sysprep GUI:
1. Open command-line
2. Navigate to %systemroot%\windows\system32\sysprep
3. At the command prompt type: sysprep
4. press enter
5. You’ll see the Sysprep gui popup.
6. 
• Select the following:
  • Enter Stem Out-Of-Box Experience (OOBE)
  • Check Generalize (This will generate a new SSID)
  • ShutDown
• Click OK
• After the VM shuts down, make a copy of the VHD. I’d recommend marking as read-only so you don’t accidentally boot from it and alter it.
• That’s it your done.

To create a VM from you template, using best practices, create a directory for your new server. For my example, the server name will be Server03.

1. Copy the the VHD template you created in step 7 above to your new directory. In my case, I copied my template VHD to a directory called Server03.
2. Changed the read-only attribute.
3. From inside your Hyper-V manager, right-Click your Hyper-V server, Select New –> Virtual Machine
4. The New Virtual Machine Wizard will open.

1. Type in the name of your Server, Select store VM in different location
2. Browse to the location where you copied the VHD intended for this installation.
3. Click Next.
4. Configure the amount of memory, click Next.

• If necessary, connect network. Click Next.

• In this section, this is where you select, Use existing virtual hard disk. Browse to the VHD for this installation. Click next.

• Then click Finish.

• Now start your new VM.
• You'll encounter the usual prompts as shown below.