Printer sharing problem under Windows 2008 R2 / Windows 7 (error 0x000006d9)

So I'm sick in bed and decided to take the opportunity to write a blog post or two I've been meaning to do for a while now. If I manage to complete writing them in between dozing off, that is.

I ran across this issue at work a while ago while setting up a new print server. The server is running Windows 2008 R2 (same codebase as Windows 7 so the same problem and solution applies). After the server was all set up and ready to go, all we needed to do was share the print queue in question. Except all we got was "Operation could not be completed" (error 0x000006d9).

The reason for this is that, like many other organizations, we've traditionally run a GPO that disables the Windows Firewall service (Officially named Windows Firewall with Advanced Security) on Windows Servers, instead relying on rigidly configured, dedicated firewalls between network segments, etc. Simply put, Windows 2008 R2 really, really doesn't like having its firewall service stopped. One of the issues you'll run in to is not being able to share the printer.

The simple solution is start the Windows Firewall service, share the printer - and if you have to - stop the service again.

A better solution than disabling the service is to turn off the firewall part of Windows Firewall with Advanced Security as described in this Technet article.

The basic steps are as follows

 To disable the firewall portion of Windows Firewall with Advanced Security from a command prompt

  1. Open an Administrator: Command Prompt. To do so, click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.

  2. If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Continue.

  3. At the command prompt, type the following command:

    netsh advfirewall set profiles state off

    where profiles is AllProfiles, CurrentProfile, DomainProfile, PrivateProfile, or PublicProfile.

To disable the firewall portion of Windows Firewall with Advanced Security by using the Windows Firewall Control Panel program

  1. Click Start, click Control Panel, click Network and Internet, and then under Windows Firewall, click Turn Windows Firewall on or off.

  2. On the General tab of the Windows Firewall Settings dialog box, select Off (not recommended), and then click OK.

To disable the firewall portion of Windows Firewall with Advanced Security by using the Windows Firewall with Advanced Security MMC snap-in

  1. Click Start, click All Programs, click Administrative Tools, and then click Windows Firewall with Advanced Security.

  2. In the navigation pane, right-click Windows Firewall with Advanced Security on Local Computer, and then click Properties.

  3. On each of the Domain Profile, Private Profile, and Public Profile tabs, change the Firewall state option to Off (not recommended).

  4. Click OK to save your changes.

Excellent photojournalism of the decade roundup

Some very good stuff here. Of course, there's some major omissions imo, but you can't please everyone. Two pictures of Obama? None of the inauguration of Bush with all the consequences that had for the world (you may like or dislike it, but few things were more important). Nothing about the crisis in Darfour and the civil war in Sri Lanka? Earth quake in Iran?

And slightly less important, it's not the end of the decade until a year from now... There's no year 0 in our calendar.

Still. Important stuff. I wish I could believe it's worth bothering to hope for better times to come...
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/12/the_decade_in_news_photographs.html

Shatner reads Palin awsomeness

And this without even touching on the gems in the book where she rewrites recent history

Upgrade time

I finally got the opportunity to install Windows 7, so I decided to do some system changes at the same time, some of which I've been meaning to do for quite some time.

When I built the current workstation around an Asus Rampage Extreme I bought 2x4GB OCZ Platinum DDR3 ram timed at 7-7-7-20, planning to later upgrade to 8GB. But by the time I ordered the new mem, despite even having the same product number, it came with 7-7-7-24 timings. Now I don't know for 100% certain that one of the modules aren't defective, but they seem to be working well separately, but if both kits are installed, the system will BSOD randomly.

So top on the list was 8GB of identical memory modules. I got some nice Corsair XMS3 2GB modules (4 of them) at a decent price, and while I was at it I got an Intel x25 Generation 2 SSD drive to install Windows 7 on. I know shouldn't have, but I couldn't help myself.

I did the installation Friday night, and so far the memory has been working exemplary, and the combination of Windows 7 and the SSD drive is a joy to use. So far good news all around. While I'm installing everything over, I decided I should do some posts on what I always add to my system after a fresh install, as I always forget stuff, and people sometimes ask me about my essential tools.

But great poster design wasn't dead!

Era RisingCame across this fantastic collection of posters by Jonathan Haggard. Really great stuff, I miss the good old propaganda style posters! And heck, I can't even remember them from real life!