Reverse DNS records not registered when using DHCP

Reverse DNS records not registered when using DHCP


Windows client > NIC > ipv4 > check the box named:
        Use this connection's DNS suffix in DNS registration

Windows Server 2008R2 Disk Cleanup Utility

Disk Cleanup, like in Win7 is available by installing the Desktop Experience feature.
You can run it without installing Desktop Experience feature by doing the following:

Copy C:\Windows\winsxs\amd64_microsoft-windows-cleanmgr_31bf3856ad364e35_6.1.7600.16385_none_c9392808773cd7da\cleanmgr.exe C:\Windows\System32\
copy C:\Windows\winsxs\amd64_microsoft-windows-cleanmgr.resources_31bf3856ad364e35_6.1.7600.16385_en-us_b9cb6194b257cc63\cleanmgr.exe.mui C:\Windows\System32\en-US\
cleanmgr.exe /verylowdisk

You can put the above in a BAT file and it will copy the files and run without user intervention. Or just copy the files and run it to select options. run using cleanmgr.exe /? to see interesting switches for saving your selected options.

Windows Domain Time Sync

Windows Domain Time Sync

Do the following on servers/workstations to point them to the domain as time reference and sync time:

w32tm /config /syncfromflags:DOMHIER /update

w32tm /resync /rediscover

Windows 2008 R2 multiprocessor HAL

Windows 2008 R2 - Switch to multiprocessor HAL

1. See the current HAL version: Open Device Manager and Expand COMPUTER Right-click the HAL and go to drivers tab and Update Driver to install a new one. 2. msconfig -> boot options -> advanced -> Confirm that the # processors is not defined there - uncheck the box. Also from here, there is option to "rescan for HAL"

Catalyst Switches for Microsoft Network Load Balancing Configuration Example - Cisco Systems

Catalyst Switches for Microsoft Network Load Balancing Configuration Example - Cisco Systems: Catalyst Switches for Microsoft Network Load Balancing Configuration Example

The Cable Guy: Strong and Weak Host Models

The Cable Guy: Strong and Weak Host Models: Strong and Weak Host Models
Multihomed server configuration

Lock Windows Workstation

Sometimes I'd like to lock a VDI machine but "Windows+L" key combo executes locally -- not on the VDI session. Create the following shortcut:

rundll32.exe user32.dll, LockWorkStation

Powershell - Change Service Startup Type

Powershell: Change Windows Service Startup Type of Remote Server

Works with Powershell 1.0 & 2.0

 #Check Startup Type
 ($svc = Get-WmiObject Win32_Service -ComputerName $server -Filter "name='wuauserv'") | out-null
 if ($svc.StartMode -eq "Disabled") {
     "$server WSUS service changed to Automatic"
     $result=$svc.changestartmode("Automatic")
 }#end if

 #Backup Service Registry
 $result=([WmiClass]"\\$server\ROOT\CIMV2:Win32_Process").create("c:\windows\regedit /e c:\WSUS.REG HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\wuauserv")
 write $server "Backup Service Registry RESULT=" $result.returnvalue
 
 #Set Service as Delayed Start
 write $server "configure service"
 $key = "SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\wuauserv"
 $reg = [Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey]::OpenRemoteBaseKey('LocalMachine', $server)
 $regKey = $reg.OpenSubKey($key, $true)
 $result = $regKey.setvalue("DelayedAutoStart", "1", "DWORD")

Powershell: Status of Windows Hotfix

Powershell: Check Status of Windows Hotfix

##################################################################################
#
#   check-hotfix.ps1
#
#       Confirm hotfix has been installed on all Windows2008 servers
#
#       Requires admin permission on every server
#
##################################################################################

$hotfix = "KB2520155"

$ServerList = ".\SUCCESS.TXT" #servers where hotfix is installed
$ErrorList = ".\ERRORS.TXT" #servers where hotfix is not installed
$ListFile = ".\SERVERS.TXT" #all the servers I checked
New-Item $ListFile -Type file -Force >$nul
New-Item $ServerList -Type file -Force >$nul
New-Item $ErrorList -Type file -Force >$nul

$today = get-date
$day = $today.Day
$mth = $today.Month
$year = $today.Year
$hour = $today.Hour
$min = $today.Minute
$sec = $today.Second
$date = "$year-$mth-$day-$hour$min$sec"

@"
$date
Servers Responding to PING
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
"@  | out-file -encoding ASCII -filepath $ListFile

@"
$date
Servers with hotfix $hotfix
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
"@ | out-file -encoding ASCII -filepath $ServerList

@"
$date
Servers without hotfix $hotfix
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
"@ | out-file -encoding ASCII -filepath $ErrorList


$List = ""

"Execution in progress..."

# Create $list of AD machine accounts for Windows Servers
$strCategory = "computer"
$strOS = "Windows*Server*2008*"
$objDomain = New-Object System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry
$objSearcher = New-Object System.DirectoryServices.DirectorySearcher
$objSearcher.SearchRoot = $objDomain
$objSearcher.Filter = ("OperatingSystem=$strOS")
$colProplist = "dnshostname", "operatingsystem"
foreach ($i in $colPropList){$objSearcher.PropertiesToLoad.Add($i)}
$colResults = $objSearcher.FindAll()
foreach ($objResult in $colResults) {
    $objComputer = $objResult.Properties;
    $Server = $objComputer.dnshostname
    $OS = $objComputer.operatingsystem
    $Server = $Server -replace "\.usa\.DOMAIN\.com", ""
    $Server = $Server -replace "\s{2,}", ""
    $OS = $OS -replace "$([char]0x00AE)" , "" #remove "registered trademark" symbol
    if ($Server) {#skip null
        "$Server , $OS"
        if (Test-Connection -ComputerName $Server -quiet -count 1) {#PING OK
            "    Responds to PING"
            "$Server , $OS" | out-file -encoding ASCII -filepath $ListFile -append

            #Get Hotfix info
            $installed = get-wmiobject -class "Win32_QuickFixEngineering" -namespace "root\CIMV2" -computername $strComputer `
               -Filter "HotFixID='$hotfix'" 

            if ($installed) {
                "        $hotfix INSTALLED!"
                write-output "$Server , $OS" | out-file -encoding ASCII -filepath $ServerList -append
            }
            else {
                "        $hotfix NOT installed"
                write-output "$Server , $OS" | out-file -encoding ASCII -filepath $ErrorList -append    
            }

        }#end if PING OK, do nothing if PING fails
    }#if not null, do nothing if null
}#foreach

Windows 8 Help

Thanks to: *the* Mark Minasi, http://www.minasi.com/newsletters/nws1307.htm

shortcut keys

• Start Screen: to get there, press the key on your keyboard with the "Windows" flag. I'll type that as "[w]" from now on.
• Desktop: [w]+d
• Charms: [w]+c
• Settings, the Metro-ish Control Panel: [w]+I
• Lock Orientation so it doesn't jump between portrait and landscape with [w]+O
• Explorer is a pain to get more than one window open at a time but [w]+E always brings up a new Explorer window
• Many administrative tools can be accessed more quickly with [w]+x
• The new Metro modern apps have a wonky menu structure so to see every option all at once, [w]+z

SYSPREP on cloned Windows Server 2008 R2 Fails

Trouble with sysprep not running when vmware runs customization after deploying a Win2K8R2 template. -> SID for all the clones is the same. Supposedly this matters much less these days but some odd stuff happened that we couldn't explain when we attempted to join to AD domain (NEWSID doesn't work past Win2003) SYSPREP logs are located at: c:\windows\system32\sysprep\panther log files: setupact.log, setuperr.log Apparently sysprep will not run when it thinks Windows has been upgraded in place. This particular template they were copying had several applications installed on it for which we don't know the owner so rebuilding fresh was not an option. The following worked to allow sysprep to run: - Remove the machine from the domain - Registry export: HKLM\SYSTEM\Setup (as backup) - Delete from the registry: HKLM\SYSTEM\Setup\Upgrade - Run: c:\windows\system32\Sysprep\Sysprep.exe /oobe /generalize

Understanding Disk Alignment

 

 

 

The graphic above shows that SAN’s, VMFS, and NTFS virtual disks all have different block sizes.  Aligning all these layers to start their disk units at the same place can make disk operations more efficient and keep the physical disks from working harder than necessary.  For example, if these are not aligned, a call to read a single NTFS block may require the SAN to read three blocks as shown below:

 

 

 

The greatest efficiency is achieved when these layers are aligned so that the desired NTFS block requires only one SAN block to be read:

 

 

 

 

VMFS Alignment

When VMFS volumes are created by the vSphere client, they are aligned on a 64K boundary. Check your SAN vendor’s documentation but in most cases the default 64K boundary will work.

NTFS Alignment

Windows 2003 and older align on 32K which will not match up with the 64K for VMFS. Windows 2008 by default will align on a 1024K boundary – this works with VMFS because 1024K is divisible by 64K.

Export DNS Zone

DNS::Microsoft::Export Zone
DNSCMD is a great utility
One of the many things you can do is backup a zone:

dnscmd SERVERNAME /ZoneExport domain.com DNS-BACKUP.TXT

Oddly, you can't put that output anyplace other than the default:

C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DNS\

Windows DNS TTL

Microsoft DNS::The pain of "simplicity"

I guess a lot of people just  are going to say "DUH!!!" but I had to look hard today to figure out how to add a TTL to an individual DNS entry on MS DNS server.

VIEW > ADVANCED gives you the secret field to fill in the TTL

Sheesh!

Mapped Drive Connection to Network Share May Be Lost

Mapped Drive Connection to Network Share May Be Lost: Mapped Drive Connection to Network Share May Be Lost

Powershell: reset WSUS client for list of servers

##################################################################################
#
# WSUS Client Cleanup and Reinitialize
#
##################################################################################

$today = get-date

$list = get-content LIST.TXT

"=========================================================================="
" WSUS Client Cleanup and Reinitialize"
$today

foreach($server in $list) {
"--------------------------------------------------------------------------"
#net stop wuauserv
($svc = Get-WmiObject Win32_Service -ComputerName $server -Filter "name='wuauserv'") | out-null
if ($svc.started -eq $true) {
write $server "stopping wuauserv"
$result=$svc.StopService()
}
($svc = Get-WmiObject Win32_Service -ComputerName $server -Filter "name='wuauserv'") | out-null
if ($svc.started -eq $false) {
write $server "wuauserv stopped"
}

#Backup Registry
$result=([WmiClass]"\\$server\ROOT\CIMV2:Win32_Process").create("c:\windows\regedit /e c:\WSUS.REG HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate")
write $server "Backup Registry RESULT=" $result.returnvalue

#Cleanup Registry
write $server "Reg Clean"
$key = "SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate"
$reg = [Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey]::OpenRemoteBaseKey('LocalMachine', $server)
$regKey = $reg.OpenSubKey("SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate", $true)
if ($regKey.getvalue('AccountDomainSid')) {
$regKey.DeleteValue('AccountDomainSid')
"...removed AccountDomainSid"
}
if ($regKey.getvalue('PingID')) {
$regKey.DeleteValue('PingID')
"...removed PingID"
}
if ($regKey.getvalue('SusClientId')) {
$regKey.DeleteValue('SusClientId')
"...removed SusClientId"
}

$key2 = "SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\Auto Update"
$regKey = $reg.OpenSubKey($key2, $true)
if ($regKey.getvalue('LastWaitTimeout')) {
$regKey.DeleteValue('LastWaitTimeout')
"...removed LastWaitTimeout"
}
if ($regKey.getvalue('DetectionStartTime')) {
$regKey.DeleteValue('DetectionStartTime')
"...removed DetectionStartTime"
}
if ($regKey.getvalue('NextDetectionTime')) {
$regKey.DeleteValue('NextDetectionTime')
"...removed NextDetectionTime"
}
if ($regKey.getvalue('AUState')) {
$regKey.DeleteValue('AUState')
"...removed AUState"
}
write $server "WSUS Reg Clean Completed"

#net start wuauserv
($svc = Get-WmiObject Win32_Service -ComputerName $server -Filter "name='wuauserv'") | out-null
if ($svc.StartMode -ne "Disabled") { $svc.StartService() | out-null } else {"wuauserv startup was disabled"}
($svc = Get-WmiObject Win32_Service -ComputerName $server -Filter "name='wuauserv'") | out-null
if ($svc.started) {
write $server "wuauserv started successfully"
}

#RESET WUAUCLT
$result=([WmiClass]"\\$server\ROOT\CIMV2:Win32_Process").create("wuauclt /resetauthorization /detectnow")
write $server "wuauclt reset RESULT=" $result.returnvalue

} #foreach
"=========================================================================="
##################################################################################

#is it necessary to clear WMI connections to free resources? If so how?
#if exist before attempting reg key remove

#RESULT CODES
# 0 {"$s Successful Completion."}
# 2 {"$s Access Denied."}
# 3 {"$s Insufficient Privilege."}
# 8 {"$s Unknown failure."}
# 9 {"$s Path Not Found."}
# 21 {"$s Invalid Parameter."}

Powershell: list servers that respond

##################################################################################
#
# Create list of all servers with machine accounts in AD that respond to PING
#
##################################################################################
# Create $list of AD machine accounts for Windows Servers
$ServerList = ".\SERVERLIST.TXT"
New-Item $ServerList -Type file -Force >$nul
"Gathering Server List..."
$strCategory = "computer"
$strOS = "Windows*Server*"
$objDomain = New-Object System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry
$objSearcher = New-Object System.DirectoryServices.DirectorySearcher
$objSearcher.SearchRoot = $objDomain
$objSearcher.Filter = ("OperatingSystem=$strOS")
$colProplist = "dnshostname"
foreach ($i in $colPropList){$objSearcher.PropertiesToLoad.Add($i)}
$colResults = $objSearcher.FindAll()
foreach ($objResult in $colResults) {
$objComputer = $objResult.Properties;
$Server = $objComputer.dnshostname
$Server = $Server -replace "\s{2,}", ""
$Server = $Server -replace "\.usa\.domain\.com", ""
if ($Server) {#skip null value
$Server
if (Test-Connection -ComputerName $Server -quiet -count 1) {#ping test
write-output $Server | out-file -encoding ASCII -filepath $ServerList -append
" .....OK"
}#if
}#if
}#foreach

Powershell: does reg key exist?

if (get-itemproperty HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate PingId -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) { "True" } else { "False" }

Check services on all servers

##########################################################################################
#
# SVC-AUTO.PS1
# For all servers, find services with Automatic Startup that are not running
# Ignore SysMonLog("Performance Monitor Logs and Alerts")
#
##########################################################################################
#$startflag = $true
$startflag = $false
$inputfile = ".\dc-list.txt"
$names = Get-Content list.txt
$today = get-date
write "==========================================================================="
write " $today"
write " Automatic Service Status"
foreach($name in $names) {
write "---------------------------------------------------------------------------"
write-host " $name"
$svc = Get-WmiObject Win32_Service -ComputerName $name -erroraction SilentlyContinue
if ($svc) { #not null
foreach ($service in $svc) {
$svcname = $service.name
$svcdisplay = $service.displayname
$svcmode = $service.startMode
$svcstate = $service.state
if ($svcname -ne "SysMonLog") {
if ($svcmode -eq "Auto") {
if ($svcstate -eq "Stopped"){
write-host " $svcdisplay = DOWN"
if ($startflag) { #start it up
write-host " starting $svcdisplay"
$service.StartService() >$nul
sleep(10)
$svc = Get-WmiObject Win32_Service -ComputerName $name -Filter "name='$svcname'"
write-host " " $svcdisplay "..." $($svc.State)
} #if start flag
} #if stopped
}#if Auto
}#if
}#foreach service
}#if not null
else { write-host " ERROR: $name - No Response" }
}#foreach server
write "==========================================================================="

WSUS Client Troubleshooting - Getting Serious

Tons of good stuff here: wsuswiki.com

I found several VM's that weren't deployed properly (Geez SYSPREP for petes sake!!!!!)

I'm probably just going to run the following on all 400 of them just to be sure:

psexec @list.txt -u administrator -C c:\rereg.bat

Which references the following that must be on c:\ of the machine where the above is run:

@echo off
net stop wuauserv
REG DELETE "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate" /v AccountDomainSid /f
REG DELETE "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate" /v PingID /f
REG DELETE "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate" /v SusClientId /f
REG DELETE "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\Auto Update" /v LastWaitTimeout /f
REG DELETE "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\Auto Update" /v DetectionStartTime /f
REG DELETE "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\Auto Update" /v NextDetectionTime /f
REG DELETE "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\Auto Update" /v AUState /f
net start wuauserv
wuauclt /resetauthorization /detectnow