Tomas' log of stuff

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

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

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

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.

So my firewall is a an old Compaq d500 desktop running Windows 2003 and ISA 2006 Server. It's running headless (without monitor, keyboard or mouse connected) in a corner, being managed over RDP. But since the hardware isn't new, the concept of usb keyboards is kind of alien to the bios, but I finally managed to get it to boot without nagging for a ps/2 keyboard. However, seems Windows also feels it should've been given a keyboard connection, because forever it's been throwing a service error at logon:

Event Type:	Error

Event Source:	Service Control Manager

Event Category:	None

Event ID:	7026

Date:		01.08.2009

Time:		10:16:19

User:		N/A

Computer:	******

Description:

The following boot-start or system-start driver(s) failed to load: 

i8042prt

I finally got tired of this so I decided to search out a solution to this. And woohoo, I found 2:

1. Boot to recovery console (from the CD or if you've installed it on the HDD), at the prompt type: disable i8042prt
2. Start regedit and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\i8042prt and change value of "Start" to 4. This will disable the boot start of this service.

Hope this is of some use for someone else.

A good while ago I was looking for some details on how to set up a paper stock for the CD-Tray in the Canon Pixma IP5300 from Nero Coverdesigner. At the time I didn't find anything, so I tried & failed my way to a setup myself. But I keep forgetting where I put the notes etc, so I figured "why not blog it?", so here we go.

What a great way to waste a lot of time when you're in a hurry. After having installed Vista on my newly rebuilt PC after christmas, I was setting up my rdp shortcuts to my Windows 2003 Server in the quick launch bar as usual, and I ran into a problem. It turns out I couldn't connect to the console session of the server, even if the shortcut used to launch the rdp file included the /console switch

mstc myrdpfile.rdp /console

After a bit of digging, and some help from Gerryn on IRCNet, it turns out that the reason was that /console had been removed from the RDP client, and this change was not in Vista, but in Vista SP1 (I had installed SP1 RC refresh immediately after installing Vista due to Vistas completely unacceptable performance without it).

Armed with this extra bit of knowledge I found a post by Nick MacKechnie describing the change and explaining that this had been replaced by the /admin switch which is better suited for the new features of Windows 2008.

Unfortunately the description in the switch listing for mstsc.exe could be clearer: