Seizing or transferring FSMO roles

http://www.petri.co.il/transferring_fsmo_roles.htm

.NET Exception HRESULT: 0x800736B3

For a .NET application that all of a sudden fails to start, but works fine logged on as a different user, the problem is with some temporary application files.

Solution: delete the ‘apps’ folder in ‘C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\Local Settings\’ – restarting the application from the shortcut should then kick it back into gear.

With thanks to here

Outlook – auto send from the Drafts folder

Instead of having to open and send drafts one by one, add this code to a new module (start with pressing ‘Alt’+'F11′), then assign the ‘SendSelectedMail’ macro to a button on the toolbar.

Public Sub SendSelectedMail()
Dim Sel As Outlook.Selection
Dim obj As Object
Dim i&

Set Sel = Application.ActiveExplorer.Selection
For i=1 to Sel.Count
Set obj = Sel(i)
If TypeOf obj Is Outlook.MailItem Then
obj.Send
End If
Next
End Sub

Gold.

With thanks to Michael Bauer (here).

 

Uninstalling Windows Search 4.0

EDIT: With thanks to David Arno, a better option – download the uninstall folder from David’s site, and run the following from the command line:

%systemroot%\$NtUninstallKB940157$\spuninst\spuninst.exe

Have come across a few Windows XP machines with incomplete uninstalls of Windows Search. Although the toolbar is removed and the entry is removed from ‘add/remove programs’, high CPU and disk IO is evident from processes such as ‘searchindexer.exe’ and/or ‘SearchProtocolHost.exe’. The following will remove it altogether:

A. Try running the uninstall located in the ‘c:\Windows\$NtUninstallKB940157$\spuninst\’ directory

B. If that folder is missing, do the following:

1.  Delete the following reg keys, to make the installer believe Windows Search 4 is not on the system:
   “HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Updates\Windows XP\SP3\KB940157″
   “HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\KB940157″
2. Reinstall Windows Search 4.  This will add the uninstall files back to C:\Windows\$NtUninstallKB940157$
3. Now the uninstaller should be present in Add/Remove Programs again and can be uninstalled as normal.

With thanks to this thread.

Uninstall Trend Micro without the password

When you need to uninstall Trend Micro from a pc when you don’t have access to the install password, change the following registry setting:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\TrendMicro\PC-cillinNTCorp\CurrentVersion\Misc
Set “Allow Uninstall” to 1

Then uninstall via Add/Remove Programs as normal, without a password prompt.

With thanks to: http://www.sugarloaftech.com/

Uninstall Microsoft Security Essentials via script

To uninstall MSSE via a script, save the following into a text file, and change the extension to ‘.vbs’:
On Error Resume Next
Dim objShell
Set objShell = WScript.CreateObject (“WScript.shell”)
objShell.run “‘”%ProgramFiles%/Microsoft Security Client/setup.exe”‘” & “/x /s”
Set objShell = Nothing

Notes:
1. this is for v2 of MSSE – for installations of v1, replace ‘client’ with ‘essentials’.
2. this is for the 32bit version of Windows.
3. the user must have administrative rights on the machine .
4. works fine as a GPO for bulk changes, so long as it is placed under the computer config section (so the permissions above are applied).

Reset Offline Files in Windows XP/Vista/7

To reinitialise the Offline Files cache, create a DWORD registry value ‘FormatDatabase’ with a value of 1 and restart the system.

WinVista/7: HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\CSC\Parameters

Win XP: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\NetCache

With thanks to John R. Pattison: http://johnrpattison.com/2007/11/26/how-to-reset-offline-files-in-windows-vista/

Cannot add an additional Mailbox to Outlook over a VPN

When trying to add an extra mailbox to an existing Outlook profile on a computer that is outside the office (connected via VPN) fails with the message:

‘The action could not be completed. The connection to the Microsoft Exchange Server is unavailable. Outlook must be online or connected to complete the action’

Note that webmail from the affected computer is fine, as is a ping to the Exchange server IP.

The problem results from the computer not being able to resolve a path to the Global Catalog on the remote network – simply putting a FQDN entry into the hosts file fixes the problem:

192.168.146.50   es15.contoso.local

Exchange 2003 Database repair steps

“So, that’s the basics of Exchange database repair:

1. Make a copy of your database files (.edb and .stm)
2. Run Eseutil /p ”path_to_edb_file” /t “temp_edb_file_location”
3. Then run Eseutil /d “path_to_edb_file” /t “temp_edb_file_location”
4. Then run Isinteg -s “server_name” -fix -test alltests

Then immediately run a back up!”

With thanks to: http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2004/06/18/159413.aspx

Configuring the Windows Time Service



1. Set HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Parameters\Type to NTP

2. Set HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Config\AnnounceFlags to 5

3. Set HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Parameters\NtpServer to 0.oceania.pool.ntp.org,0×1

4. Run net stop w32time

5. Run net start w32time