Archive for the ‘Windows’ Category

Missing license server for windows 2012 Remote Desktop Services

Wednesday, August 6th, 2014

Windows Server 2012 can be a little disconcerting due to the new look and layout.

Such was the case for a request of a 2012 server with Remote Desktop Services enabled. I installed the OS and added it to AD. I installed the requested applications and then I went through the wizard and installed the “Remote Desktop Session Host.”

I didn’t need the license server installed as I have a couple already in place.

When it came time to configure verify the setup; I went to Administrative Tools and looked at Remote Desktop Services and only found “RD Licensing Diagnoser”

Ok? Where do I configure the license servers?  Oh wait! the Dashboard.  I looked under that and found the same thing.

I reinstalled the role and found nothing changed.

I did get the warning about licenses and so I ran the diagnoser to see what was wrong.  Two license servers were found but the problem was the missing license server had the licenses for 2012.

Time became an issue and I literally had the user panicking to use the server so I needed a quick resolution as this system was a short term “crash and burn” setup.

I decided to add the missing entry via the registry and reboot.

The license server list can be found here:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Terminal Services

The entry you need to modify is : LicenseServers

I added the missing license server to the list and rebooted.

The warning message about licenses went away and I verified multiple users could access the server.

Time to crack open the 2012 books and papers!

 

Posted in 2012, Remote Desktop, Terminal Server | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

An extended error has occurred

Thursday, July 10th, 2014

New operating systems always bring new error messages. Such was a recent incident for a Windows 2012 server trying to access a share on a Network Appliance Filer:

An extended error has occurred

A quick test of my Windows 8.1 laptop produced the same error.

We have been playing around with SMBv3 on the Netapp filers and this was thought to have been an issue as the new OS is more SMBv3 “friendly.”

The filer people said they configured the filer to use smbv2 but the error continued.

Originally, I wrote about this a year ago with this post but you can review the support article.

I suspected either signed support was not configured or can’t be used so I opted to disable it via Powershell and the command(start it in admin mode):

Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanWorkstation\Parameters" RequireSecureNegotiate -Value 0 -Force

A reboot of the server (just because) and we had access to the share.

For those that want to get some features information on SMBv3 and 2012, you can look at this article.

Posted in 2012, PowerShell | Leave a comment

What is my version of cygwin?

Wednesday, June 18th, 2014

Cygwin is a *nix-like interface for windows.  Like all applications, it has versions and sometimes that can be an issue.

There is the command:

cygcheck -srv

But, there is a great deal of information so you would have to use grep to get what you need.

A quick and simple approach would be the old trusty “uname” command.

 ~
$ uname -srv
CYGWIN_NT-6.1-WOW64 1.8.3(0.237/5/3) 2011-03-30 12:12

 ~
$ uname -r
1.8.3(0.237/5/3)

Now if only I could convince some people you don’t have to stay at a version forever. 😉

 

 

Posted in Cygwin, Windows | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Can’t remote desktop to a windows 2008 R2 server

Tuesday, June 17th, 2014

This was a strange problem. I have a simple Windows 2008 R2 server with remote desktop services installed. Everything was properly configured. Plenty of licenses and diagnostics reported the license server was available.

The problem? Can’t access the server through remote desktop. No errors in the logs and the only message available to me was the generic:

Did all the noob checks and I even reloaded Remote Desktop Services, removed and re-added the server to AD.

Still no access.

I installed tightvnc as I did not want to live at the machine and found I had remote access.

I checked the registry to see if port 3389 was configured and it was.

I used portqueryui to see if the port was in use and it reported:

TCP port 3389 (ms-wbt-server service): NOT LISTENING!

A quick telnet to port 3389 confirmed this.

The firewall was not running and there wasn’t a web server or any other process trying to use that port and thus block Remote Desktop Services. I was tempted to declare too much time debugging this and reload but I decided to dig around the Net a little more and stumbled on an old discussion on technet.

As mentioned in the post by itdoug; I found the hidden device driver called “remote desktop services security filter driver” disabled (You just bring up the Device Manager, select show hidden devices and look under Non-Plug and Play Drivers).

I tried to enable it and it failed. I then uninstalled it and rebooted.

Remote Desktop worked after that.

 

Posted in 2008, Remote Desktop, Terminal Server | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Sound only works with earphones.

Saturday, March 15th, 2014

A recent upgrade of windows 8 to 8.1 for whatever reason prevented sound through the speakers. However, it would work through my ear buds. I have a Dell E6520 and of course Dell did not have an audio driver for 8.1.  I tried the 8.0 driver but no change.

I played around with the diagnostics and troubleshooting tools but they did not find anything.

One interesting possibility came from trying to play the test tones with the audio device.

I received this nice little message:  

Failed to play test tone.

A quick check on the Net showed someone else ran into this situation.

The steps to correct this error (at least for my situation):

  1. Right click the taskbar’s speaker icon and select playback devices(if you don’t have it on the taskbar, use the Sound control panel).
  2. Select the Speakers /Headphones and click the properties button.
  3. Click the Advanced tab.
  4. Click the Restore Defaults.
  5. Click the Test button and you should have sound

A rather strange problem and I am surprised….well?…not really that an update would do this.

 

Posted in 8, Dell | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

pthreadVC2.dll is missing

Friday, January 31st, 2014

I was installing a program for testing and received the following error:

The program can't start because pthreadVC2.dll is missing from your computer.  Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem.

Strange error as the dll was in the install directory.

After attempting a few things; the problem was the UNC for the install/work directory was missing from the system path.  Made a change and the error went away.

Such is the fun involved with alpha testing.

 

Posted in Windows | Leave a comment

Powershell editor

Wednesday, January 1st, 2014

I sometimes get asked for suggestions for a Powershell editor.   Probably the biggest and best  is Sapiens Primalscript.  But with all the abilities and power; this means a bigger price tag. There is also an expectation of upgrades.  I let mine go too long and was told I had to purchase new.  😦

I also find many people are looking for a free editor.  Microsoft has a page of suggested editors on Technet.

As mentioned I have used Primalscript and recommend it if you have the money to invest.

I have used the one that comes with Powershell and it’s ok if you are starting out.

I have used the GUI version and found it’s ok for most things.

I am now starting to “play around” with Admin Script Editor.  The page shows it’s a purchased package but this is no longer the case.  The company closed shop but they made the last version free to people who use the itninja site.

 

 

 

Posted in PowerShell | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Admin Script Editor is no more

Wednesday, January 1st, 2014

I was looking at upgrading my editor for powershell.

Normally, I use Sapien but I had not upgraded it for several years and they said I basically had to purchase it new.   I thought maybe with the New Years Eve deal but it appears they stopped doing that.  😦

I had a look at the old ASE and found the company had closed its doors last September but they made the last version free to people who join the itninja site.

It’s the enterprise version and so far it runs on 8.1.

Time will tell.

 

 

Posted in 8, PowerShell, Windows | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

c:\hpssbem.exe is not a valid win32 application

Sunday, October 20th, 2013

Today was a new message.  I was supposed to convert two Linux servers to Windows 2008 Server.  The two servers are HP DL360 G5s.  Old but still usable as they were going to be workgroup servers.

The install procedure was to use the HP Smartstart CD.

One server converted without issue but the other after going through these two steps:

X:\windows\system32 > wpeinit
X:\windows\system32\ C:\hpssbem.exe

Gave the interesting error message of:

C:\hpssbem.exe
C:\hpssbem.exe is not a valid Win32 Application

Wait?……..This is a 64bit install?…….Why would it want a Win32 application?……..

I tried a restart.  I tried to rerun the install and even formatted the disks but the same error occurred.

Finally, after clicking OK and using the console window; I had a look at the hpssbem.exe and found it’s size was “0.”   Rather odd as why would there be a copy problem if it worked on the previous server?

I inserted the Smartstart CD again an located the application at:

<cdrom>:\compaq\install\w2k8x64

I copied hpssbem.exe to C:\ and re-ran wpeinit which started the installation of the OS.

Posted in 2008 | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Powershell: Direct output to a variable.

Thursday, July 25th, 2013

I was asked if there was a way to capture output of a specific program to a variable.

Basically, the person wanted to get a version number from the program.

Played around and had a way to accomplish this  but I found a simpler approach.

$scriptOutput = & "c:\path\program.exe" -V 2&1

Obviously, the -V works with the program in question.

I am liking powershell

Posted in 2008, PowerShell | Tagged , | Leave a comment

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