Unlocking shared files on Windows 2008 R2 Server

In enterprise environments, documents and other file types are often located on central file server and users open their documents directly from there. Sometimes, server administrators need to update such files, but can’t because at least one user is using it and locking the file. You could of course just reboot the server and the file would be unlocked, but that might be overkill as you are throwing everybody out. Luckily, there is a tool on the server, that lets you selectively unlock files, Read more [...]

Blackberry Delivery Confirmation

Sometimes it is handy to know if a mail that you sent has actually arrived on the recipient’s Blackberry. There are delivery receipts in Exchange and other mail systems, but they only confirm that the receiving mail server has accepted the mail, you can’t be sure that the mail ever showed up on the Blackberry. To get a Blackberry delivery notification, you must start your subject with <confirm> So for example, you can send a message from Outlook with the following subject: Once this Read more [...]

MS KMS Licensing Server Setup on Win2008 R2 over the phone

For Enterprises, Microsoft has created a central licensing system to avoid the need of every company PC to connect to Microsoft Servers on the Internet to activate the software. One or more KMS Servers can be used inside the company to activate all clients. You cannot only activate Operating Systems such as Windows 7 and Windows 2008 R2, but also other applications from Microsoft such as Office 2010 with a Volume License. The KMS server is the only server that needs to connect to Microsoft Read more [...]

How to create a WinPE Bootdisk for Win7 Deployment (x86)

To be able to create an image for Windows 7 mass deployment, you need a boot media (a CD in my case) to be able to create and restore the image. In earlier days, you created a DOS bootable disk, nowadays the OS of choice is WinPE. Here is how to create such a disk: Download the "Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) for Windows 7" (English). It is freely available on the Microsoft web page. Burn the downloaded WAIK ISO file to a DVD. On a Windows 7 PC, start "StartCD.exe" Choose "Window Read more [...]

First Post

Many times, I find it quite hard to install and configure an application properly. I am not talking about user apps like Office, but server apps like SQL. The manuals are often very detailed, but as every possible configuration is discussed, it is hard to find your way to quickly install things. Examples are often not there or not complete. In this blog, I will post my detailed configuration steps, along with screenshots, so I have my own "archive" and also as possible help for others. Happy Read more [...]