Due to the inherent security risks exposed by the nearly 30-year old SMBv1 protocol, it is advised that it be disabled on the network to migigate security risks from malware and targeted attacks. As the SMBv1 vulnerabilities are publicly exploited, I recommend to uninstall and disable it completely from all Windows 2012 R2 servers and newer. I have not seen anything break, so it is quite safe to disable and uninstall. The easiest is to do this with PowerShell (Windows 2012 R2 and newer): Check Read more [...]

Since Windows 10 is not using Control Panel anymore for Windows Updates, it is not that simple to create a shortcut anymore. To create a shortcut to Windows Update, use the following procedure: Right-click on the Desktop and choose New > Shortcut In the "Location of the item" field, type ms-settings:windowsupdate Click Next In the "Name of the shortcut" field, type Windows Update Click on Finish While this works, it has one disadvantage. Clicking the shortcut always first Read more [...]

I recently had the problem that a software upgrade that also involved a database upgrade did not work correctly and the database was "half" upgraded. So I wanted to find out what data has changed in this half upgraded database. If you search the Internet, you will find many people recommending some third-party database comparison tools that cost money. But I was looking to find a legal free alternative. Actually, there is one from Microsoft itself: Go and download: SQL Server Data Tools https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/ssdt/download-sql-server-data-tools-ssdt I Read more [...]

With ESXi 5.5 Update 3, VMWare addes USB 3.0 Passthrough support. It does this via xHCI USB adapter and the necessary drivers. When I upgraded from ESXi 5.5 Update 2 to Update 3b, USB 3.0 did not work, though. The necessary driver had not been installed automatically with the upgrade. So here is what I had to do (in PuTTY): Install the xHCI driver from the bundle I used to do the upgrade: esxcli software vib install -n xhci-xhci -d "/vmfs/volumes/datastore1/Install/VMware-ESXi-5.5.0-Update3-3568722-HPE-550.9.5.0.33-Apr2016-depot.zip" Read more [...]

When I needed to access a secure page (HTTPS) from Internet Explorer 11 on a Windows 2008 R2 server, I always got a "Page cannot be displayed" error. I could, though, access that page from another machine or another browser on the same server. Looking in the Event Viewer I saw: Log Name: System Source: Schannel Date: 05.01.2015 12:11:58 Event ID: 36887 Task Category: None Level: Error Keywords: User: SYSTEM Description: The following fatal alert was received: 40. Schannel error 40 means: Read more [...]

The easiest way to find out which Active Directory Domain Controller holds the FSMO roles is the following: Open a CMD box Type netdom query fsmo The output is something like C:\Windows\system32>netdom query fsmo Schema master               DC1.ad-domain.local Domain naming master      DC1.ad-domain.local PDC                         DC1.ad-domain.local RID pool manager            DC1.ad-domain.local Infrastructure master       Read more [...]

On BES 5.0.4, it is a bit tricky to add an administrative user. Normal Blackberry users are added under User > Create user, but admin users have to be added from a different menu. First, login with BESAdmin. Then, you have to go to Administrator user > Create an administrator user Then, fill in the fields, which are not self-explanatory: Display name: Use the display name from Active Directory User name: Use the AD login name Domain: Use the AD domain name Administrator Read more [...]

I am only listing the well-known TCP/IP Ports I have ever used personally. There are of course more ports. ftp-data         20    File Transfer [Default Data] ftp              21    File Transfer [Control] ssh            22   Secure Shell telnet           23    Telnet smtp             25    Simple Mail Transfer domain           53    Domain Name Server (DNS) bootps           67   Bootstrap Read more [...]

The classic SMTP error code consists of three digits (e.g. 220 mail.domain.tld SMTP ready.). The ESMTP status codes are additions to the classic code and consist of digits devided by dots (5.1.1 User unknown.). Many times you see both types of code combined (e.g. 550 5.1.1 User unknown). Find below a list of the most common codes: 2xx Request ok. Go ahead. 220 Mail service is running (ESMTP ready). 221 2.0.0 Closing connection (Mail received successfully, Goodbye). 250 2.0.0 Message accepted Read more [...]

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 [...]