Show only specified Control Panel items GPO doesn’t apply on Windows 2008R2 Terminal Servers

Posted on August 24th, 2010 in Active Directory,GPO,Server 2008 by Gil Kreslavsky

 

In Previous version we used to work with CPL File Names  to define which one of control panel applets will be displayed.

In order to make it work Use Canonical names instead.
It should Look like that
Canonical Names of Control Panel Items

You can get the full list from here

Same user info on all Terminal Server Office clients

Posted on July 7th, 2010 in Microsoft,Office 2007,Server 2003,Server 2008,Terminal Server by Gil Kreslavsky

Terminal Server Office 2003/2007/2010 Installation issue

If you installed office in the same way you install it on your desktop.
Your user information will be replicated to all other users.

You may receive complaints that some excel or word files are been hold by your username or username you used to install Office.

You can fix it the following way.

Search for the user in registry
One of the keys under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurentVersion\Installer\UserData\ will have office instalation details.

Delete user RegOwner key Information.

image

Continue searching the registry right-click and delete the Username and UserInitials with problematic username

image

 

Additional information can be found here:http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2001595

Now to install x64bit printer drivers on x86 32 bit server

Posted on June 27th, 2010 in Microsoft,Server 2003,Server 2008 by Gil Kreslavsky

When you try to to install x64 printer driver on 32bit server you may receive “selected driver must be installed remotely” error.

To solve this go to your x64 machine.

run and type \\32bit machine servername

In the list of shares open printers folder – in windows 7 or 2008 press on view remote printers
image

Right click on empty place and select server properties.

Navigate to Drivers and press on Add.

Uncheck the x86 check box and select x64 one.
x64 printer install

After installation completes you can use the x64driver from your 32bit machine

Please note however that both x86 and x64 drivers must have the exact same name! “HP LaserJet 4200PCL 5″ and “HP LaserJet 4200PCL 5″  only if  they have the same name, they will appear automatically in additional drivers  under your printer’s sharing properties.

Disable Adobe auto update on terminal server

Posted on March 10th, 2010 in Microsoft,Server 2008 by Gil Kreslavsky

 

When you have limited size profile or limited user permission on Terminal Server.

Even if Autoupdate is running user will be unable to install it and will get stuck in some temporary folder.

To disable Adobe autoupdate you have 2 oprions.

First is:Go to c:Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\UpdaterX (where X can be a number depending on you Adobe version)
Rename the following files Adobe_Updater.exe and AdobeUpdaterInstallMgr.exe

Second is:By deploying the following registry file via GPO

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\9.0\Updater]
"bShowAutoUpdateConfDialog"=dword:00000000
"bShowNotifDialog"=dword:00000000
"iUpdateFrequency"=dword:00000000

Change the [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\7.0\Updater according to your Acrobat version

TS 2008 Session Broker opens multiple sessions for single user

Posted on March 9th, 2010 in Microsoft,Server 2008 by Gil Kreslavsky

 

Scenario:

User is not been reconnected to same Terminal Server session.

The consequences can be duplicated sessions, profile location lose, locked files on storage and more.
After few hours I found that Microsoft have A HotFix that addresses the issue

KB article is: KB977541

Windows 7 Search in Start Menu bar is broken

Posted on March 7th, 2010 in Microsoft,Server 2008,Windows 7 by Gil Kreslavsky

 

I got this after installing some update, can’t say exactly which.
The problem symptom is that when you type anything in search bar it looks like that
Search programs and files

To solve it.

Go to Run> type regedit.exe

Navigate to :HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Explorer\FolderTypes\{EF87B4CB-F2CE-4785-8658-4CA6C63E38C6}\TopViews\

You will see a key named {00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}
Just rename it to anything else like {00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}.Orig

After you rename the key , start Task manager and kill the explorer.exe process

Run the process again from file>New Task (Run..)

File new task Run

Type in bar explorer.exe

And Walla!

It works!

Microsoft published a hotfix that addresses the issue in Windows 7 and 2008R2

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/977380

Create ncpa.cpl shortcut to Network Connections

Posted on November 3rd, 2009 in Microsoft,Server 2008,Vista,Windows 7 by Gil Kreslavsky

In Vista Windows 2008  or Windows 7 when  you right-click the network icon in the navigation area, but it does not take you directly to the Network Connections properties as we are used to in Windows XP 2000 or 2003 .
You can access Network Connections management menu by running ncpa.cpl from run menu or you can create a shortcut that will access those menu by key combination.

To create ncpa.cpl shortcut

  • Right-click on the desktop
  • Click: New>Shortcut
  • Type the location of the item: ncpa.cpl 
    Create NCPA.CPL Shortcut
  • Choose a suitable name, e.g. ‘Network Connection’
    Naming shortcut  
  • Right-click on the newly created shortcut
  • Select Properties and seek the dialog box called Shortcut Key.
        Simply over-type ‘None’ with the combination that suits you, for example:
        Ctrl +Alt +N.  Start by holding the Ctrl key, ‘None’ should change.
    shortcut properties 
  • Now by pressing on Ctrl +Alt+N Network Connection Properties will Open.

Creating shortcuts using control panel applets (CPL files) can be be very useful.
Here is a list of common CPL files which can be used.

Install virtual guest services grayed out on Hyper-V cluster

Posted on October 22nd, 2009 in Hyper-V,Microsoft,Server 2008,Virtualization by Gil Kreslavsky

 

If “Install virtual machine guest service installation” is unavailable and grayed out, don’t panic. Just shut down the guest machine and it will become available.
It is not a bug, it is by design.

Install virtual machine guest service installation

Setup Failed due to insufficient permissions – Exchange 2007 Installation Error

Posted on October 22nd, 2009 in Exchange 2007,Microsoft,Server 2008 by Gil Kreslavsky

 

During Installation you receive the “Setup Failed due to insufficient permissions.  Please make sure that the current User has local administrator permissions.  Error: The source was not found, but some or all event logs could not be searched. Inaccessible logs: Security.” error.

setup failed due to insufficient permissions

The reason is “UAC – User Account Control in Server 2008” You must turn it off from control panel or run setup.exe as administrator.
Read here how to disable User Account Control in Server 2008

Disable IPv6 in Windows Vista\2008 and Windows 7

Posted on October 21st, 2009 in Server 2008,Vista,Windows 7 by Gil Kreslavsky

 

Although IP v6 is the next thing , if you not going to use it it can be simply disabled.

To disable IP v6 go to Start >Run type ncpa.clp and hit enter.
You will receive your network adapters list.

Press right click and properties on each adapter and remove selection from “internet protocol version 6”
image

After you remove it run the following command from command prompt :
Remember you must run Command Prompt as administrator

%windir%\system32\REG.EXE ADD HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip6\Parameters /v DisabledComponents /t REG_DWORD /d 0xff /f
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