About time.
Tag Archives | Windows
A PowerPoint 2010 pptx file from a network share opens read-only
Credit for this one goes to @xrobx99. He did all the work behind this post. I felt that it was such an obscure “bug”, that maybe my posting of the solution might help someone that is expereincing the same issue.
The problem we were having was that when a user would open a large PowerPoint (.pptx) file from a network share, it would always open as read-only. Looking like this :
Now, if you try and search for PowerPoint 2010 and read-only, all I can say is, good luck. You quickly get lost in “your permissions are wrong” ,and “people telling you to right click and deselect Read-only”. We had been trough all of that, and we could not lick the problem.
The symptoms we were experiencing were:
- If a user double clicks on a large pptx in a network share through windows explorer, the file is opened read-only
- If a user right clicks the file and selects open through windows explorer, the file opens correctly
- If the file is opened either by “double click” or “right click open” on the local machine, the file opens correctly
- If the file is opened either by “double click” or “right click open” in the PowerPoint file open dialog on either a network share or local machine, the file opens correctly
The solution that @xrobx99 figured out is that if you disable the “Preview Pane” and the “Details Pane”, the file will open correctly every time. Of course you can disable these via group policy:
User Configuration/Administrative Templates/Windows Components/Windows Explorer/Explorer Frame Pane/Turn off Details Pane And User Configuration/Administrative Templates/Windows Components/Windows Explorer/Explorer Frame Pane/Turn off Preview Pane
@xrobx99 concluded that if you leave these two panes enabled, windows explorer will open the file to generate a tumbnail, and if you double click the file during that time, it will open read-only.
Hope that helps some one.
Server ran out of space and not accepting connections after freeing up space
I was away on vacation, and a dev box ran out of space. Once I got back, I cleaned it up, rebooted and still could not connect to it. @xrobx99 noticed an IPSec message in the event logs:
The IPSec driver has entered Block mode. IPSec will discard all inbound and outbound TCP/IP network traffic that is not permitted by boot-time IPSec Policy exemptions.
We thought that was suspect as we weren’t using IPSec policies. It seems that our server ran out of space and the IPSec policy became corrupted.
I ran the command :
regsvr32 polstore.dll
This command rebuilds the local policy store. I rebooted and all was fine.
Hope that helps someone.
PowerShell script to force download and install WindowsUpdates
I have been using the UpdateHF.vbs vbscript for years to patch all my servers. I wrote a simple HTA to wrap it, and it gets executed by psexec. I wanted to take that script, strip it down, and convert it to PowerShell. My intension was to run it through a PSSession but I get access denied. Maybe I will try launching it with SCCM?
I found these three scripts, that I chopped to together for a script that I wanted:
Function JBMURPHY-Install-WindowsUpdates {
PARAM([switch]$Install,[switch]$reboot)
if($(Test-Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\Auto Update\RebootRequired")){
if (!($reboot)){
write-host "There are pending reboots, please pass the reboot command"
return
}
else{
restart-computer
return
}
}
Write-Host -nonewline " + Searching for Updates: "
$UpdateSession = New-Object -ComObject Microsoft.Update.Session
$Updates=$updateSession.CreateupdateSearcher().Search("IsAssigned=1 and IsHidden=0 and IsInstalled=0").Updates
Write-Host " Found [$($Updates.count)] Updates to Download and install`n`n"
$UpdatesCollection = New-Object -ComObject Microsoft.Update.UpdateColl
$UpdatesDownloader = $UpdateSession.CreateUpdateDownloader()
foreach ($Update in $Updates){
# Add Update to Collection
if ( $Update.EulaAccepted -eq 0 ) { $Update.AcceptEula() }
$UpdatesCollection.Add($Update) | out-null
# Download
Write-Host -NoNewline " + Downloading Update $($Update.Title)"
$UpdatesDownloader.Updates = $UpdatesCollection
$DownloadResult = $UpdatesDownloader.Download()
$DownloadResultResultCode = switch -exact ($DownloadResult.ResultCode)
{
0 {"NotStarted"}
1 {"InProgress"}
2 {"Succeeded"}
3 {"SucceededWithErrors"}
4 {"Failed"}
5 {"Aborted"}
}
$Message = " [{0}] " -f ($DownloadResultResultCode)
Write-Host -ForegroundColor Green $message
}
if (($Install) -and ($($Updates.count) -gt 0)) {
write-host "`n`nInstalling updates"
$Installer = $UpdateSession.CreateUpdateInstaller()
$Installer.Updates = $UpdatesCollection
$InstallerResult = $Installer.Install()
$InstallerResultCode = switch -exact ($InstallerResult.ResultCode)
{
0 {"NotStarted"}
1 {"InProgress"}
2 {"Succeeded"}
3 {"SucceededWithErrors"}
4 {"Failed"}
5 {"Aborted"}
}
$Message = " Installation [{0}] " -f ($InstallerResultCode)
Write-Host $message
Write-Host
}
if (($reboot) -and ($($Updates.count) -gt 0)) {
if($(Test-Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\Auto Update\RebootRequired"))
{
write-host "Rebooting"
restart-computer
}
}
}
Thanks to those that put the original scripts together
PowerShell script to change default prf imported when Outlook starts up for the first time
In this previous post, I talk about how we use Office Customization Tool (OCT) and “.prf” files to deploy Office 2010. Continuing with the idea that I want to know if a person is visiting from another office, I want to be able to switch from our default of “cached mode” to “online mode” for that visitor. I wrote this script with the logic of: IF {visiting from other office}, THEN {JBMURPHY-Install-ChangeDefaultOutlookPRF -CachedMode $false}.
This script would change where the ImportPRF registry entry points (in this example to a “.prf” file with cached mode disabled)
function JBMURPHY-Install-ChangeDefaultOutlookPRF {
PARAM($CachedMode=$TRUE)
foreach ($PATH in (gci "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\14.0\User Settings\*{*")){
$ImportPRFRegPATH=$PATH.Name.Replace("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE","HKLM:")+"\Create\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\Setup"
If (Test-Path $ImportPRFRegPATH){
$ImportPRFPath=$(get-itemproperty($ImportPRFRegPATH)).ImportPRF
write-host -NoNewline "`nIportPRF=$ImportPRFPath - "
if ($CachedMode) {
if ($ImportPRFPath -eq "C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~1\WITHCA~1.PRF") { write-host "Already in CachedMode"}
else {write-host "Enabling CachedMode"
Set-ItemProperty $ImportPRFRegPATH -Name ImportPRF -Value "C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~1\WITHCA~1.PRF"
write-host "Now IportPRF=$($(get-itemproperty($ImportPRFRegPATH)).ImportPRF)"
}
}
else {
if ($ImportPRFPath -eq "C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~1\WITHOU~1.PRF") { write-host "CachedMode already turned off"}
else {write-host "Turning Off CachedMode"
Set-ItemProperty $ImportPRFRegPATH -Name ImportPRF -Value "C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~1\WITHOU~1.PRF"
write-host "Now IportPRF=$($(get-itemproperty($ImportPRFRegPATH)).ImportPRF)"
}
}
}
}
Command to enable windows backup feature on Server 2008 R2
One liner:
DISM /online /Enable-Feature /FeatureName:WindowsServerBackup /Quiet /NoRestart
Xcopy vs Robocopy
This is news to me: “Xcopy fails with insufficient memory when the path plus filename is longer than 254 characters”
Robocopy it is from now on!
Windows Server 2008 persistent routes
I can never remember this, so I thought I would blog it
route -p add XXX.XXX.XXX.0 mask 255.255.255.0 YYY.YYY.YYY.1
XXX = Network
YYY = Gateway
Changing NIC order in 2008 R2 SP1
I can never remember how to change the NIC order in 2008 R2. Navigate to “Networking Connections” and then hit “Alt” to bring up the menu. There you can find “Advanced” menu and the “Advanced Settings” option. There has to be an easier way, but that is the only way I know hot to get to it.
Poor design.
xcopy: permissions,recursive,incremental
I can never remember xcopy’s flags, so I am creating a post for myself.
xcopy SourceDrivePath DestDrivePath /X /C /E /H /Y /D
/X Perms
/C continue on error
/E Recursive with empty folders
/H (hidden and system) Copy hidden and system files
/Y (yes) No Prompts
/D (date) SourceDate is newer then DestDate (incremental)