Zalman ZM-VE300 Firmware Upgrade Available

We found the ZM-VE300 almost useless when we first received it as the firmware was really buggy.

• Zalman Updates Page
• Category: Storages
• Sub Category: External HDD/SSD Cases
• Product: ZM-VE300
• 

The firmware available as of this writing is R1005N.

Once we reached a fairly stable firmware version a number of months back we were able to select the applicable OS ISO to load on a system then press the top button and hold it to “Save” the ISO setting.

We could then unplug the VE300, plug it into the new system, and boot to the ISO as though it were an attached optical drive with the OS DVD in it.

Having a few of these units around the shop for quick access to OS ISOs for installing a new system or re-installing an existing system is a huge time saver.

Plus, we don’t have a bunch of larger USB2 sticks that would otherwise be needed to hold all of the OS files that were extracted from the ISOs.

One of the benefits of having the ISO appear as an optical drive is for older BIOS setups that may or may not have an available Boot Option Menu or possibly no option to boot to an attached USB drive. Some systems, server boards, and laptops today are quite restrictive in what we can use for an external boot device. The Zalman makes this point moot.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

Windows Live Writer

Some Malware Tools

Here is a short list of some malware tools:

• TDSKiller:
• http://support.kaspersky.com/viruses/solutions?qid=208280684
• Microsoft Malware Removal
• http://www.microsoft.com/security/pc-security/malware-removal.aspx
• Microsoft Malware Scanner
• http://www.microsoft.com/security/scanner/en-us/default.aspx
• Combofix
• http://www.combofix.org/
• HighjackThis
• http://free.antivirus.com/us/#cleanup-and-prevention
• Trend managed to pick up this particular product though it still remains free as of this writing.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

Windows Live Writer

Microsoft Attack Surface Analyzer 1.0 Released

Need to know what kind of impact installing a Line of Business (LoB) application has on a server?

Run the Attack Surface Analyzer prior to installing that application to get a baseline.

• Microsoft Security Development Lifecycle: Attack Surface Analyzer 1.0 Released

After installing that LoB run the Analyzer again and compare against the baseline.

In some cases, be prepared to be surprised at the changes the LoB install made.

This is definitely one to keep on the Technician's Thumb Drive (blog category).

Hat Tip: Susan Bradley

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

Windows Live Writer

Microsoft Windows 8 and Server 2012 SHA-1/MD5 Results and HASH Utility

We have fresh downloads of the RTM bits from the Microsoft Volume Licensing Center using the default Download Manager.

For some reason the Web site does not have any notes as far as checksum is concerned.

• Windows Server 2012 Standard/Datacenter
• SHA-1: 063BC26ED45C50D3745CCAD52DD7B3F3CE13F36D
• MD5: FF95A8C5207C880B099B7F34DBA941B6
• Windows 8 Enterprise x64
• SHA-1: 4EADFE83E736621234C63E8465986F0AF6AA3C82
• MD5: 27AA354B8088527FFCD32007B51B25BF
• Windows 8 RTM x64
• SHA-1: 1CE53AD5F60419CF04A715CF3233F247E48BEEC4
• MD5: 0E8F2199FAE18FE510C23426E68F675A

Note that we used the following:

• MD5 SHA1 Verifier by Keylack

Please use the Direct Download Link tucked under the big green button:

Also, when installing the utility make sure to uncheck the third party software (in this case Snap.do) tucked into the Terms And Conditions.

As always, YMMV. :)

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Active Directory Replication Status Tool

The Active Directory Replication Status Tool is definitely one that should be installed on all management (RSAT) machines that domain administrators use. It _requires_ .NET 4.0 and .NET 3.5.1 so may not be practical on domain DCs depending on security configurations for them.

• Ask the Directory Services Team: AD Replication Status Tool is Live
• TechNet: Active Directory Replication Status Tool (ADREPLSTATUS) Resources Page (en-us)
• Microsoft Downloads: Active Directory Replication Status Tool

This tool along with the required .NET installer files are definitely required on the Technician's Thumb Drive (Blog Category - check it out as there are lot's of goodies in there).

Hat Tip: Susan Bradley

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Utility Feebie: ExFolders for Exchange 2010 SP1+

When there is a need to work with Public Folders in Exchange 2010 the ExFolders utility is the best.

We can manage all aspects of Public Folders _and_ recover deleted items!

• The Exchange Team Blog: Exchange, meet ExFolders

Please take a careful read of the blog post and the instructions on running the utility.

It just works.

Thanks to the Exchange team for this! :)

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Excellent Intel Board Identifier Utility

The Intel Board ID Tool is an excellent little utility for the Technician's Thumb Drive.

The utility eliminates the need to open the box if all that is needed is the board model and BIOS version for troubleshooting purposes.

• Intel Board ID Tool (direct link to the .EXE)
• Intel Download Centre
• The Board ID Tool turned up when searching for drives and a BIOS for the DQ77MK.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

For Wi-Fi Only Devices: StarTech USB2 to Gigabit Ethernet Network Adapter

We have been in a situation where certain devices that have built-in Wi-Fi but no physical Ethernet connection would not initialize the Wi-Fi for changes to be made after the use has either locked the device in Windows or logged out.

• StarTech: Compact Black USB 2.0 to Gigabit Ethernet NIC Network Adapter USB21000S

On Windows 8 one needs to head into the Device Manager and run the driver update via Windows Update to get it installed. So, one of the first things we do when the OS gets laid down is to install the StarTech.

On Windows 7 the adapter also installs via Windows Update:

The product Web site also has a driver download on it for those situations where a Wi-Fi connection cannot be made.

In the end it is a good idea to have one of these around just in case a new profile needs to be set up on a device and something inhibits the Wi-Fi from initializing.

NOTE: The Intel Wi-Fi management software and driver setup _does_ inhibit Wi-Fi connections when no one is logged into the device. Keep this in mind if there is a need to set up profiles on a Wi-Fi only system.

The built-in Windows Wi-Fi driver configuration does not inhibit a Wi-Fi connection but it does not hurt to be prepared.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

HP LaserJet Error: P1600 USB EWS Device Driver causes printer to disappear after reboot?

We had a real struggle getting an HP LaserJet P1606dn working with a client’s Toshiba Tecra S11 rebuilt with Windows 7 Enterprise x64 and printing via RDP.

No matter how many times we re-worked the driver with the updated versions we ended up with the “Windows Remote Desktop Easy Print” driver that essentially broke remote printing.

By the time we managed to get things working by editing the local security policy on the machine to disable RD Easy Print to get remote printing working the printer would disappear after a shutdown or reboot.

No matter what we tried we could not get the printer to show up after a reboot. That was _extremely_ frustrating for the user.

After walking through a number of troubleshooting steps we discovered the following in Device Manager after enabling hidden devices:

• P1600 USB EWS Device Driver

A search on the above turned up results indicating that “EWS” was a Web service built into the printer to allow for management. Now, why the printer would drop out because that particular driver did not get loaded was beyond us.

So, we ran the gamut troubleshooting the problem including downloading the newest available FULL driver version with no success.

We called one of our local partners that does HP warranty work and talked to an expert technician. They pointed us to the following:

• HP driver utility: ntScrubber.exe

Note the location of the utility. The downloaded FULL driver from HP’s site also contained it.

So, we ran it in an elevated state:

And:

The utility created a complete log file of all steps taken to remove the HP LaserJet P1606dn’s drivers. Every folder, file, and registry location touched was found in the file.

After the system rebooted we used the newest version of the FULL driver set to install the printer via USB connection.

We rebooted as a just-in-case measure then checked Print Management where we found the driver version was indeed the most up to date one:

We rebooted a number of times to test and see whether the printer would disappear again.

Neither the printer nor the P1600 USB EWS Device Driver disappeared:

We then used our MiFi cell connection to remote into the affected desktop and test RDP printing for the HP LaserJet P1606dn. We had a second printer connected to the laptop being used to test the setup. RDP print redirection worked like a charm.

Had we known about the ntScrubber utility we would have used it to wipe and reload the HP drivers _a lot_ sooner than we did.

Making hidden devices show up in Device Manager methodology:

• MPECS Inc. Blog: SBS & ShadowProtect - Some Hardware Independent Restore considerations

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

How to Rip Out .NET Framework In One Easy Step

Use Aaron Stebner’s tool:

• Aaron Stebner’s WebLog: Automated cleanup tool to remove the .NET Framework 1.0, 1.1, 2.0, 3.0 and 3.5

Once .NET is completely removed re-install in the following order:

1. .NET v1.1
2. .NET v1.1 SP1
3. .NET v3.5 SP1
4. .NET v4

The download can be had from here:

• Aaron Stebner’s WebLog: .NET Framework Cleanup Tool User's Guide

This is a very dangerous tool to use and should only be used when there are no other options!

This is definitely a tool to keep on the Technician’s Thumb Drive!

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Troubleshooting HTTP and HTTPS Traffic With WFetch

This little utility has helped us out on numerous occasions when we were trying to figure out if a system was compromised, proxy settings were wrong, proxy server not responding, or browsers were just plain not working.

• WFetch 1.4 (Microsoft download site)

The above screenshot shows a successful connection from the workstation to Bing’s site. This is one utility that belongs in our Technician’s Thumb Drive (blog category).

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Bootable USB: Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool

In a conversation about creating a bootable USB flash drive the following tool was mentioned:

• Microsoft Store: Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool.

Once we download and install the tool we are good to go.

When we run the tool we must choose our source ISO.

After choosing our Windows 7 Enterprise x64 ISO file in the step above we can choose our destination:

We will use the 8 GB OCZ Rally2 Turbo USB flash drive that we used for yesterday’s post on creating a bootable USB flash drive.

Once we click the Begin copying button the following happens:

• The USB flash drive gets formatted.

• It then copies the OS contents onto the drive.

 

Once the process has completed our 8 GB USB flash drive looks like this in our Windows 7 Disk Management console:

It is formatted NTFS and set to Active so it is indeed good to go!

Hat Tip: Les Connor SBS MVP (Bing Search)

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Quick Access to Hotfixes on the Blog and URL Tip

We have added a Hotfix quick link section to the right hand column of the blog.

The link will take us directly to the download page for that Hotfix:

From there, we punch in our e-mail address and the funky characters and we receive our Hotfix via e-mail in short order.

This will make it easier for us to grab a Hotfix that we may need if we don’t happen to have one of our Technician’s Thumb Drive with us.

The tip has to do with the URL format of the Hotfix page:

Note the number after the “=” and before the “&” in the above URL. That is the hotfix Knowledgebase number.

If there is a need to grab a couple of Hotfixes in a row, then change that number and be greeted by the needed Hotfix.

Thanks Susan!

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Repair IE – Utility to Re-Register _89_ DLL and OCX Files After Malware or Corruption

This kewl little utility will re-register all of those DLL and OCX files that may have been tampered with or knocked out by Malware:

• TechNibble.com: Fix IE Utility – Repair Tool of the Week

The actual tool site:

• The Windows Club: Repair Internet Explorer with Fix IE Utility

This is one little utility to keep handy on the Technician’s Thumb Drive (blog category link).

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Quickly mount an ISO in Windows XP-Vista-7

The last couple of days have been extremely full. Talk about keeping us busy!

Way to go Harry and the SMB Nation crew! This convention was one of the best that I have been to yet! :)

There was a need to get quick access to an OS ISO on this Windows 7 laptop. Unfortunately there was no way to mount the ISO natively in Windows 7.

A quick search turned up:

SlySoft.com

Virtual CloneDrive freeware.

After downloading and installing the utility the ISO was able to be mounted and its content accessed without rebooting the laptop.

Note that a reboot may be required for Windows XP.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

Windows and Office Product Key Finder Utility

We have one our client’s partner systems on our bench right now. We sold them the system as well as the software licensing.

We were not expecting to do a full OS reinstall. But, we are replacing the original DP35DP motherboard with a DP45SG series board since we cannot get the system to run completely stable. Our client does not have the keys with them.

The reason for the replacement is that we put together an upgrade for this partner not too long ago and that upgraded system is almost identical to this one, running on the DP45SG, and does not spontaneously combust every once in a while like this one seems to.

We have a copy of the Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 retail DVD here along with the Office 2007 Enterprise Home Use Program disk that are required for the rebuild.

What we need though are the key codes for the products.

Enter the Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder.

The key finder is an open source project and picks up the product keys for most Windows and Office products.

We save the keys to a text file on either a USB flash drive if there is only one partition on the system, or to the second partition just prior to flattening the system. Once we are done and the keys are back into the respective products, the text file gets wiped.

A ShadowProtect image is taken of the system before it gets flattened as well.

We keep a copy of the utility on our Technician’s Thumb Drive.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

BCDEdit Batch File To Reset BCD Prior to SP Vista Image

The blog post: First Successful Windows Vista ShadowProtect Restore! No Winload.exe Error!

In order to get Windows Vista to successfully restore from any imaging based backup solution, the Boot Configuration Data (BCD) needs to be reset to a generic setting before creating the image or the OS will not restore properly.

Here are the BCDEdit commands put into a batch file:

• MPECS Inc. SkyDrive: BCDEdit Batch File.

The batch file should be on every Technician’s Thumb Drive!

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

SBS 2008 - ExchangeDefender and the ExportAddresses.vbs how-to

OWN provides us with a simple VBS utility to run on the Exchange server to extract all e-mail addresses on the Exchange server. This dump file is then used to set up the e-mail addresses in ExchangeDefender.

Given the fact that the download resides on the OWN blog, the script will need to be downloaded to the Technician's Thumb Drive ahead of time if working with the server in person with no workstation access. Otherwise, have a zipped copy of the utility on the shop's Companyweb site or via a link to the ExchangeDefender download if working from a workstation.

The script should be placed in the root of the C:\ System drive. On SBS 2008, you will need to run the script from an elevated command prompt:

1. Click Start.
2. Right click on Command Prompt and click Run as administrator.
3. Click Continue on the UAC.
4. If the prompt ends up somewhere on the system drive already: cd \ [Enter]
5. ExportAddresses.vbs [Enter]

We upload the resulting text file onto our own SBS Companyweb site as we run the ExchangeDefender Admin portal from within our shop network. That keeps things simple and the resulting SMTP Dump file becomes a part of our SBS setup documentation.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.

SequoiaView - A Neat Quick Visual Tree View Utility

SequoiaView is a neat little utility that will scan the contents of a partition and provide the tree view visually:

SequoiaView - Vista System Partition

The current root view is Program Files. Each Program Files sub folder is defined by a border, in this case the yellow one, with each grouping within it indicating more sub folders.

Each unique square visually represents a file. The larger the square, the larger the file.

You can enable a colour view to get a quick idea of what the file types are too:

SequoiaView in Colour

The screenshots in this post were pulled from the XP version of the utility running on Windows Vista Ultimate x86. We have yet to test it on an x64 OS.

This utility is definitely one to have on the Technician's Thumb Drive!

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.

x86 PushPrinterConnections.exe a must for the Technician's Thumb Drive!

Getting a printer deployed by Group Policy on SBS 2008 has been a bit of an adventure:

• SBS 2008 - Deploying Printers
• PushPrinterConnections.exe is not a valid Win32 Application Error

We need to make sure that we have a copy of the 32bit version of the PushPrinterConnections.exe utility on our Technician's Thumb Drive, but also our Technician's site on our CompanyWeb.

Make sure that the ZIP file with the utility is appropriately labeled x86 or 32bit so there is no confusion.

Keeping the x64 or 64bit version of the utility on the Technician's Thumb Drive would also be a good idea for those just in case moments.

We managed to obtain a 32bit copy of the utility from one of our Windows Server 2008 x86 DVDs by mounting the WIM image in read-only mode and copying it off.

Having a copy of the utility is important because the only way we can deploy printers to our client workstations now is via Group Policy.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.