Sophos - Reusing an existing Computer Name

When trying to push the Antivirus software onto a machine we had re-imaged, we experienced the following problem.

The Enterprise Console would find the machine using the new IP address, but once the Antivirus attempted to download onto the machine, the Console would not recognize the "new" machine's address. Therefore the Antivirus could not be installed and would error out claiming we did not have administrative rights to the machine or that the username/password was incorrect.

We then found the old computer name in the Sophos database under the Database Sophos52 and the Table ComputersandDeletedComputers. There were multiple entries, one of which was using the old IP address for this Computer Name.

This would seemingly change the attempted installation from pointing to the correct IP address to the old and now non-existent IP address. We believe this was happening because the Forward and Reverse DNS lookups for the old machine were still mapped to this 'incorrect' IP address. We removed both of these lookups.

Step 1: Deleted the rows that contained this old Computer Name
Step 2: Deleted the Forward and Reverse DNS lookups for the old Computer name
Step 3: Rediscover the new machine using the new IP range.
Step 4: Antivirus installation should succeed.

Active Directory - Wireless Access

Issue: Internal wireless was having trouble authenticating a user.

Resolution:

• Grant user access to Wireless Access group in AD
• In the properties of the "Dial-In" tab, make sure to check "Allow access" under the Remote Access category.

Active Directory, Internal Wireless, Dial-In

Temporary Windows Profile (XP, Vista, 7, 8...)

Symptom: When a user logs in, it gives the warning that "Your profile did not load properly...". This usually indicates that the user was logged in with a Temporary Profile. The following is one method of resolving this:

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

322756 How to back up and restore the registry in Windows

To resolve this problem, follow these steps:

1. Log on to the system by using an administrative user account other than the user account that is experiencing the problem.
2. Back up all data in the current user's profile folder if the profile folder still exists, and then delete the profile folder. By default, the profile resides in the following location:
   %SystemDrive%\Users\UserName
3. Click Start, type regedit in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.
   If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type your password, or click Continue.
4. Locate the following registry subkey:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList
5. Under the ProfileList subkey, delete the subkey that is named SID.bak.
   
   Note SID is a placeholder for the security identifier (SID) of the user account that is experiencing the problem. The SID.bak subkey should contain a ProfileImagePath registry entry that points to the original profile folder of the user account that is experiencing the problem.
6. Exit Registry Editor.
7. Log off the system.
8. Log on to the system again.

After you log on to the system, the profile folder is re-created.

Active Directory - Persistently Locking an Account

A user on our domain had his network password saved in a service that constantly authenticates through the PDC.

The user changed his password.
His account was continually locked, no matter how many times unlocked, it would return to being locked.

This was resolved by removing his credentials from the service described in the beginning of this post.

TIP:
A network password should never be saved into a service that will not automatically update the password credentials upon changing through AD or the Windows password prompt/service.

Google Apps Sync (Manual)

How to manually run Google Apps Sync for our business.

Log in to PDC
Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> Scheduled Tasks - voila (pick yer poison)

Spiceworks Scans - Again

Issue: Cannot view "Running Processes" of a device under the Devices - All Devices -> Specified Device -> Tools

No technical resolution here.

Simply removed the specified device from the Spiceworks inventory, then set a network scan to scan the devices specific IP.

Once the scan completed, viewing "Running Processes" was available.

- Spiceworks Scans, Spiceworks, Network Scans, Running Processes, Spiceworks Inventory

Spiceworks: DNS and DHCP

Further suggestions regarding maintenance of DNS/DHCP records:

Following are some links that describe DNS scavenging, it's relationship with DHCP, and how to enable it - this is often the cause of stale records:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/networking/archive/2009/02/09/optimizing-your-network-to-keep-your-dns-squeaky-clean.aspx

http://blogs.technet.com/b/networking/archive/2008/03/19/don-t-be-afraid-of-dns-scavenging-just-be-patient.aspx

http://blogs.technet.com/b/askpfe/archive/2011/06/03/how-dns-scavenging-and-the-dhcp-lease-duration-relate.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc755716(v=ws.10).aspx

Spiceworks Scan Errors

Symptom: Spiceworks returns the error - "Spiceworks Couldn't Scan This Device: Data may be incorrect or out of date No open ports for this device were found to be responding."Resolution: The "no open ports" issue can often be related to inaccurate dns records for that host. Verification of the DNS Forward/Reverse look ups is required, in this particular case the reverse DNS look up was out of date. 

1. Delete the reverse look up entry.
2. Flush the DNS on device.
3. Reboot
4. Rescan, Spiceworks should now succeed at scanning the device. 

-DNS, Forward Reverse Look Up, Network Scans, Spiceworks, Spiceworks Scans, 

Website Auto Launching Programs

A user reported a change in the way that Microsoft Word documents open when working in Google Chrome.

The behavior was originally to automatically launch a new session of Microsoft Word, the change was that the program no longer automatically launched and it opened a Save Document dialog.

The fix this, the temporary internet files for this type of document had to be cleared from the location they were being saved.

When a document was automatically launched, it was given a temporary file name name.doc. As these get created again and again, windows will append a number to the end of the file such that name.doc becomes name.doc (0), name.doc (1), name.doc (2)...

The limit for this is 100 documents (up to name.doc (99)). At the point of the limit the program will no longer automatically launch and will open a Save Document dialog.

-Clear Temporary Document, Microsoft Word, Internet Temporary Files

Joining an Active Directory Domain using Linux

Joining an Active Directory Domain

Credit to notesonit.blogspot for original post. 

Edit (from the future): 5/5/2016 This process no longer works.

How to kill a stuck service

How to kill a stuck service in Win 2003 server

Symptoms:
     1.   service will not stop.
     2.   service is hung.

Resolution:

1. In Server Manager, find the stuck service and double click it. Make note of the service's short name
2. Go to the command prompt sc queryex servicename .   Put in the name of the service you are trying to stop
3. From the results of this query, write down the PID.
4. Type in this command >taskkill /f /PID XXXX the x is where you will enter the PID you wrote down.

Digital card is down on Toshiba phone system

Digital card is down on Toshiba phone system

Symptoms:

More than one phone ext is not working. 

Rebooting causes the screen to go blank.

No incoming or outgoing calls.

Resolution:

1.  Check Network Emanager go to Maint-Hardware info- choose the cabinet that the ext are on.

2.  If the card says disabled or error the card needs to be reset.

3.  Go to the cab and find the slot that the card is in.  

Removed the bracket and unplug the connector and then pull the card out and then back in and then reconnect.  

Test:

Call one of the extensions that you know was affected and make sure it can receive a call.

Check the Network Emanager and make sure that the ports are at idle or in use.

toshiba phone system down/not working employees ext not working

removing digital card reseating digital card

Creating a new web site (Basic requirements)

Things needed to create a new web site:


1 - Web Host - The location that the website data will be housed and maintained/updated
2 - DNS Host - Typically a service provided by ISPs
3 - Domain Name Registrar - godaddy.com, networksolutions.com, both of these register domain names. Of course there are more registrars out there.

And the web site itself: something.html something.js ...

Blogger - Account Management

Post created from the sharedwork@capitollien.com log in.

I added the Blogger service through the Admin Console -> More Services -> Blogger -> On for Everyone (in the organization)

Toshiba Phone System Voicemail Not Working

My particular issue had to do with Call Forwarding I had put in place in the past that wasn't completely reset. Inputting:

• #620

Completely resets all Call Forwarding settings so that voice mail was set back to normal and picks up after the default 3(1/4) rings. 

Problem: Phone rings and does not go to voice mail. (For internal and external phone calls)

Installing Net Extender on Windows 8 machines. (VPN windows 8)

• Download the most recent version of Net Extender directly from www.mysonicwall.com.
• Change User Account Control Settings - minimize the notifications given by this.
• Reboot
• In services.msc
• Disable Firewall
• Disable Windows Defender
• Enable Remote Access Connection Manager (make automatic)
• Enable Remote Desktop Services (make automatic)
• Run installation for Net Extender
• Launch Internet Explorer and navigate to the VPN connection website.
• Add website to Trusted Sites in Internet Options -> Security
• Login to the VPN

This was all done to resolve the original error generated when attempting to download Net Extender from the VPN website upon login. 

• The error read: "Failed to install NetExtender, the installation has been rolled back!"

The most critical part of this resolution was disabling the notifications from the UAC (User Account Control)

IP phone setup for remote offices

The 26th button in settings need to be set to the password which should be the phone extension.

Remote Desktop Policy - Limiting which employees are granted access to a terminal workstation.

To grant specific users access to the Terminal Server we took the following steps.

• Created a new group under the existing TS GPO called RDP Access. 
• We then put this new group, RDP Access, into local Remote Desktop Access group located on Terminal Server. 
• This will allow us to control which users are able to log into the terminal workstation as opposed to just allowing every single employee access to the terminal workstation. 

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