In environments where you have a Microsoft PKI Infrastructure (AD CA) setup, you can create new certificates via web enrolment:
https://ca-server/CertSrv
This is straight forward for single-name certificates. If you wish to have multiple names for a certificate (Subject Alternative Names = SAN), you need a certain syntax in the "Atrributes" field of the web page:
san:dns=corpdc1.fabrikam.com&dns=ldap.fabrikam.com
You can add as many names as you want, separated by "&".
Important: Read more [...]
Many companies have a policy that require their users to change their passwords regularly (e.g. every 90 days). In Active Directory, this is normally enforced via Group Policy.
This works well, but can be problematic if the user is out of the office while the password expires. An example: If he or she is using a mobile phone to access company emails via ActiveSync, the access will be blocked once the password has expired. ActiveSync does not support password changes, so the user has no way to Read more [...]
I recently wanted to uninstall SQL Server 2008 R2 completely after I have upgraded to SQL Server 2014. The uninstall of the
"SQL Server 2008 R2 Setup Support Files"
did not work and produced the error:
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Setup Support Files cannot be uninstalled because the following products are installed:
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 RsFx Driver
Strangely, the "Add/Remove Programs" section did not list the "Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 RsFx Driver". To uninstall this "hidden" Read more [...]
I frequently do a mailbox wide search in Outlook. Sometimes, it is important to find out where exactly that email is located in Outlook. The search results list doesn't indicate the folder, unfortunately.
Solution 1 (reveals the folder name, but not the sub-folder structure):
If only the name of the folder is important to you, you can determine this by opening the “classic” Properties dialog of a message via the keyboard shortcut ALT+ENTER. This works for an email that you have selected Read more [...]
When you dial a number on a Blackberry OS 10 device like the Classic or the Z30, you hear the typcal "dialling" sound, also called DTMF. Unfortunately, there is no switch to turn that off.
The only way to do this is to switch your sound profile to "Silent" or "Vibrate", but that mutes any other notifications as well.
Here are the instructions to turn the dial pad tone off but still hearing other notifications:
Settings > Notifications
Make sure, the active profile is "Normal"
Under Read more [...]
On a workgroup computer that's running Windows 7/8.1, Windows Server 2008 R2/2012 R2, the Windows Time service stops immediately after system startup. This issue occurs even after the Startup Type is changed from Manual to Automatic. Additionally, the following event is logged in the System log:
Log Name: System
Source: Service Control Manager
Event ID: 7036
Level: Information
The Windows Time service entered the running state.
Log Name: System
Source: Service Control Manager
Event ID: Read more [...]
In IIS 7.5, which is installed on Windows 2008 R2 servers, only SSL 3.0 and TLS 1.0 are enabled for HTTPS encryption by default. To enable TLS 1.1 and TLS 1.2 and disable the insecure SSL 3.0 protocol, add the following keys to the Registry of the server:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols\SSL 3.0\Server]
"Enabled"=dword:00000000
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols\TLS 1.0\Server]
"DisabledByDefault"=dword:00000000
"Enabled"=dword:ffffffff
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols\TLS Read more [...]
The Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool (MRT) is downloaded and run with the monthly Windows Update cycle on many Windows versions (e.g. Windows 7, 8.1, 10, Windows Server 2012 R2 and others). It always uses the same KB/Patch number:
KB890830
You can disable this in Windows Update by hiding the update, but it will be re-offered next month. To permanantly disable the offering via Windows Update, change this registry key:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\MRT]
"DontOfferThroughWUAU"=dword:00000001
It's Read more [...]
In this previous post, I have explained how to install an update to ESXi when you are offline.
Find below the instructions to use when your ESX host is connected to the internet:
Login to ESX via SSH (e.g. with PuTTY)
Run the command to allow the traffic to the Internet
esxcli network firewall ruleset set -e true -r httpClient
Run the command to install the update
esxcli software profile update -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml -p ESXi-5.5.0-20140902001-standard
Wait Read more [...]
It happens sometimes that we need to rename a database. It is good to know that what happens behind the scenes is different from what you may be expecting. The SQL Server renames the presenting name of the DB only, but not the file names.
To rename the files, you need to use the following script to rename the files of OldDB to NewDB.
USE [OldDB];
ALTER DATABASE OldDB MODIFY FILE (NAME = OldDB, FILENAME = 'C:\...\NewDB.mdf');
ALTER DATABASE OldDB MODIFY FILE (NAME = OldDB_log, FILENAME = Read more [...]
