Yet Another IT Professional Blog

I have a VMDK file that was used for a Windows Server VM as a secondary disk to store only archive files. When I had to scrap the VM and redo it from 0. As any lazy admin would do, I tried to be smart and just reinstall the OS on a different VMDK and copy over the secondary VMDK, rename it, attach it to the virtual machine and off you go… Things are never as easy as you imagine it would be with computer systems J . Here is another adventure of just a renaming simple VMDK file; If VSphere Gui doesn’t let you rename a file, you can do it through a PuttY ssh session;  Open an SSH session to one of your hosts.   Browse to your DataStore which has the VMDK file. cd /vmfs/volumes/DatastoreName/originalname Use the following command to rename a file;    vmkfstools -E "originalname.vmdk" "newname.vmdk" For more information about manipulating files in datastores or using the “vmkfstools”; http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?c...

If you are here, it means you already know that configuring an anti-virus is not as simple as « next, next, next, ok ». Especially, deploying an antivirus to hundreds of clients… You’ve got to make sure that your clients are not suffering from intrusive antivirus processes, setup exclusions properly so that you don’t scan gigabytes of ISO files, make sure that the clients get the most recent and proper updates even if they are not connected to your network… Do you now get what I mean? J I went through this process recently. We’re using Trend-Micro Worry-Free Advanced Business security software for a couple of years now. Recently Trend-Micro had an update and the most recent version of the program is version 8 as of writing this article. The process of upgrading didn’t go very well so I had to reinstall it from scratch! Here are my notes regarding this project; I am not an antivirus expert but I guess every antivirus product has their own installing and “best practices...

I came across this issue several times and each time I see this, I can’t remember quiet well what to do... So I decided to document my procedure. Problem: With Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 editions, you have the “Network Locations” options. Basically, whenever your computer connects to a new network Windows is asking you if you are connected to a “Home” network, “Work” network or a “Public” network. Based on your choice Windows sets its firewall settings automatically. This feature is really clever as you don’t want your firewall to be open to everyone while you are connected to Starbuck’s “Public” network and you absolutely don’t want your file sharing to be blocked while you are at home (Home) network.   If you ever made a mistake choosing your network location, you can always go back to “Network and Sharing Center” from “Control Panel” and click on the link that defines the actual network location.   Now the problem is, sometimes this option is grayed out or the opti...

I guess we all heard about the Java security breach . I don't know about you but I've heard about it and decided to take action like a good IT Professional. :)  We decided to deactivate the Java add-on on our Terminal Server which is running Windows Server 2008 R2. I realized that if I turn off the add-on manually from the Internet Explorer settings, the action is only takes effect only for the user account that your are logged in. But, what do you do for a Terminal server or on system that multiple user is using? I've found the answer on Microsoft TechNet forums and I wanted to share it with you guys because the answer wasn't easy to find at all. First, here is the forum thread that I'm talking about; http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winserverTS/thread/fe5b7fb6-bbda-42ac-87d2-a64f57f5d6a0 Here is the original article from Microsoft (even though it says Windows X...

Recently I have created multiple virtual machines using VMWare Workstation 9. I wanted to prepare template VMs already installed, updated, patched and configured... Just ready to load and start my super clean VM lab. So after hours of work, all  my vms were ready with a nice Sysprep finish :) But when I started to use them, I realized that I could not open my vms... I was just copying the template VM folder that I created earlier into another folder and just renaming the folder for my personal use, but i never renamed the actual files of vms. I would go from my VMware Workstation and do "File", "Open" . Surprise! "Failed to lock the file. Cannot open the disk 'C:\path\vmfilename.vmdk' or one of the snapshot disks it depends on. Here is what I found. Actually, I think it will be even better if I just state the most important part of the VMWare knowledge base article # 1038189 regarding this problem. Here is the WHY? ; The error   Failed to loc...

The default   Calendar   folder in Outlook is created in each Outlook profile. This folder cannot be renamed or deleted. You can create additional calendar folders and these folders can be renamed or deleted. This section includes instructions to share calendar folders that you create. While all these procedures were written based on Microsoft Outlook 2003, they can also be applied to a Microsoft Outlook 2007 or 2010 as the procedures are close enough to use a single guide.    1-  Open Microsoft Outlook 2003 , right click on your “ Mailbox ” and choose “ Properties for Mailbox - …. ” . This will bring the dialog box for “ Outlook Today – [Mailbox – Your Name] Properties ” 2-      Under Permissions tab, click on Add… button and choose the groups or users that you want to give them access to your calendar. Once the users are added to the list, click on the user to highlight it and under permissions, check the Folder Visible checkbox. ...

WMI filtering is a very neat tool. I personally find its syntax a little complicated. Recently I came across with this 2 line article. How to WMI Filter with computer name. Here is an example. select * from Win32_ComputerSystem where Name = ‘Computer Name’ If you are looking for more WMI Filter examples, this article has it all… http://blog.enx1.com/2011/07/03/wmi-gpo-filters-for-operating-system-types/ Here is another example of how to target Windows 7 by its architecture type (X86 or X64). This is great while deploying applications through Group Policy. Not all the applications are compatible both 32 and 64 bit, so you can target only 32bit or only 64bit computers with the help of this WMI query. Here is how it looks like to target only Windows 7 X86 Systems select * from Win32_OperatingSystem WHERE Version like "6.1%" AND ProductType="1" AND NOT OSArchitecture = "64-bit" Targeting Windows 7 X64 Systems select * from Win32_Operatin...