DNS Server unable to Open Active Directory

I was on a maintenance check couple of days back, when I noticed Windows Server 2008 Event Viewer had all red crosses.


When I tried to open the Active Directory, the below error popped up.

The Server is not operational

Bing'ing / Google'ing did not help much. I thought for a while, went for a restart and everything seemed happy.

Registry editing has been disabled by your administrator

2 methods to enable registry editing. Choice is yours or you might be forced.

1st Method

1. Click Start > Run and type gpedit.msc
2. Navigate to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > System
3. Double click Prevent access to registry editing tools
4. If it's Not Configured then Enable it and Disable it. If already Enabled then just Disable it.
5. Now try regedit.exe

2nd Method

1. Click Start > Run and type in
   REG add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v DisableRegistryTools /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f
2. Now try regedit.exe

Note: You might have to restart the computer for changes to take effect.

Administrative Access to Hyper-V to a Domain User

If you want to know how to give access to a Domain user to manage Hyper-V and it's virtual servers, you would not prefer navigating elsewhere.

Here's how you do it.

• Start > Run > azman.msc (This is an Authorization Manager)
  
  


• Right click Authorization Manager > Click on Open Authorization Store...



• Click on Browse and navigate to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Hyper-V and select InitialStore.xml file
  
  
• Select XML file option from "Select the Authorization Store Type" and click OK
• Expand the tree Hyper-V services > Role Assignments > Administrator
• Now on the right hand side right click the empty area and select "Assign Users and Groups > From Windows and Active Directory
• Select a Domain User account and click OK
• Close Authorization Manager and inform the Domain User that he has new rights.

Provide an active directory domain user with Remote Desktop access

I assume you are the Administrator or have the rights to modify Active Directory. These are the steps.

1. Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Active Directory Users and Computers
2. Right Click the Domain User > select Properties
3. Click on the 'Member Of' tab
4. Add 'Remote Desktop User' to the Member Of list
5. Apply and Ok

Now you can sneak in remotely.

Provide access to Domain User to login remotely / Unable to login to a server

Did you ever stumble upon this error?

To log on to this remote computer, you must be granted the allow log on through terminal services right.  By default, members of the remote desktop users group have this right.  If you are not a member of the remote desktop users group or another group that  has this right, or if the remote desktop user gropu does not have this right, you must be granted this right manually.

Of course you just did, that's why you are here. You must have done the needful as mentioned in the error above (like adding the user to the Remote Desktop User group) and still unable to login?

It's clear by now that the Remote Desktop User group doesn't have the log on grant through terminal services. Here's how you grant the RDU group.

• Start > Run > secpol.msc
•  Expand Local Policies, and then click User Rights Assignment
• In the right pane, double-click Allow logon through Terminal Services. Make sure that the Remote Desktop Users group is listed
• In the right pane, double-click Deny logon through Terminal Services. Make sure that the Remote Desktop Users group is not listed
• Close the Local Security Settings snap-in

You should be all clear.

Smilez..|/

Error while running Business Portal Prerequisites checker for Dynamics GP 10.0

When you run the Business Portal Prerequisite Checker in Business Portal for Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0, you may encounter the following error messages.

• .Net Framework 3.0 failed - .Net Framework 3.0 is not installed
  
• SSL Enabled failed - SSL must be enabled on this site
• ASP.NET Version failed - ASP.NET Version: 1.1.4322. Requirement: Version 2.0
• Office Server failed - Office Server is not installed

Dealing with them one on:

.Net Framework: You may safely ignore this and 'ASP.NET Version failure' message if you have .Net Framework 2.0 or 3.0 already installed on the computer.

SSL: You do not have to have SSL enabled to install Business Portal. You can safely ignore this one too.

Office Server: MOSS 2007 is not required as long as you have Windows Sharepoint Services 3.0 installed and Prerequisite checker has a status passed on the Web Server. You're safe to ignore this too.

Made that easier for you? I'm sure. Have a great day!!

How to Connect to Console Session using Remote Desktop?

Steps to connect to the Console Session of a Windows Server

• Start > Run 
• Type 'mstsc -v:servername /F -console' (avoid the quotes)
  
• And you're through

where,

• mstsc  is Remote Desktop executable file
  
• -v: indicates a sever to connect to
  
• /F indicates Fullscreen mode (optional)
  
• -console connects to the console session
  

MOSS: Service Unavailable

When I requested the Sharepoint's Content Management site URL, I received the following message which obviously made me question, Why?

You may also face this issue while requesting for SharePoint Central Administration site or SharePoint Shared Services site.


For a change, it didn't take me long to find a solution.
Here is how you go about it.

• Start > Administrative Tools > Internet Information Services > Application Pool
• Right click the Application Pool for the Content Management (or Central Administration or Shared Services., whatever the case may be) site and click on Properties
• Click on the Identity tab and re-write the Administrator's password
• Then say Hooray

C# Equivalent of VB

DECLARING AN OBJECT VARIABLE IN VB & C#

VB code:
Shared _lock As New Object

Equivalent C# code:
private static object _lock = new object();

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System Log on error : security ID (SID)

NewSID has been retired. More information http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897418.aspx

I was working on a project that required a Domain Controller and Application Server and a Database Server to test the application. I thought of creating 3 Virtual Machines using Hyper-V technology that is shipped along the Windows Server 2008. Since I needed 3 Windows 2003 Servers for the test environment, I thought of creating 1 virtual hard disk and make two copies of it, which I successfully did. I performed all the upgrades, installed the Integration Services and it all went well. In a nutshell, I have 3 individual virtual machines up and running.

One of them I made the domain controller and the other 2 joined the domain. All looks good until I tried logging on the DC and I received the following error.


I was happy to save time by making copies of the .vhd file which wasn't right.

This happened because the SID (security ID) of all the 3 virtual machines were same which was inconsistent. So did I recreate the Virtual Machines again? Wrong!!

I googled just like you did and got a tool that generates a new SID.

NOTICE: Before running the NewSID application, MAKE SURE YOU ARE NOT JOINED TO THE DC - otherwise, you'll have the take some more trouble to logging on locally, disconnecting, and rejoining the DC. When the SID is changed, and if you are connected, the new SID generated has NO permissions.