Software

Windows Live Messenger 2011 - Cannot login - Error code 80040154

icelava — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 15:56:07 GMT

If there is a division that frequently gives Microsoft a bad reputation, i am sure the Online or Windows Live division or whatever new confounding bullshit marketing name they give it must be the Number One spot at the top chart of shame. I cannot begin understand how Windows Messenger, version after version after so many years, continue to strike up the same kinds of connection problems to the online service. It's like they are aiming for some hat-trick of sorts in pissing off thousands upon thousands of users worldwide.

Back in 2009, I encounter similar inexplicable connectivity problems on this x64 Windows Vista that eventually - somehow - corrected itself. But not before I bit off much of the skin and flesh off the bones of my arms. Now with the release of Windows Live Essentials 2011, I was all ready to forget all those frustrating days and was greeted with a rude surprise that I cannot login Windows Live Messenger because of "error code 80040154".

Very useful information in telling me how to troubleshoot and resolve this issue. Oh yea. Is that a number I should be calling for help?

I took the error code and searched high and low, only to find discussions and suggestions for older versions that did not work for my case. None of the "clean up" activities could get this frozen car engine started. I could almost hear the Windows Live team laughing out "Gotcha!" over 7000 miles away. I wish nuclear weapons were readily available for sale to the general public.

Well, tonight, God decided the world shall continue to live in peace. I finally found something relevant to the new release.

http://netindonesia.net/blogs/meidianto/archive/2010/10/03/windows-live-essentials-2011-msnmgr-exe-error.aspx

Seriously I do not know how this chap ever got to this conclusion; I tried to assess what msnmgr.exe was trying to do with SysInternals Procmon and came up with no clues. But whatever genius thinking or bomoh consulting he did, the nail was struck squarely on the head here. The upgrade installation for Windows Live Essentials was apparently so poorly written and tested it never bothered to place much-needed files

C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\Shared\wldcore.dll
C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\Shared\wldlog.dll

into the other three directories

C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\Contacts
C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\Messenger
C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\Mail

If yours is a 32-bit operating system, your directory name won't have the "(x86)" suffix.

I don't need to be biting my arm tonight.

SharePoint 2010: Application Server job failed for service instance Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchServiceInstance

icelava — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 12:05:43 GMT

In these present weeks I am pretty caught up trying to ramp up my knowledge on SharePoint 2010 as much as possible. To get started, I obtained a VirtualBox virtual server from my colleague that he had already prepared with the basic installation bits. As time went by, I met a problem with my copy that he had not encounter on his:

The Search Service Application in Central Administration would throw out a generic error page when I attempted to visit the Crawling > Content Sources page. Peeking at the Windows Application event log startled me.

Log Name:      Application
Source:        Microsoft-SharePoint Products-SharePoint Server
Date:          3/30/2011 7:00:21 PM
Event ID:      6481
Task Category: Shared Services
Level:         Error
Keywords:
User:          NETWORK SERVICE
Computer:      WIN-NG0HQ5HJR6U
Description:
Application Server job failed for service instance Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchServiceInstance (785c55eb-c13e-424d-9393-ec92dc65f1d0).

Reason: The device is not ready.

Technical Support Details:
System.IO.FileNotFoundException: The device is not ready.
   at Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchServiceInstance.Synchronize()
   at Microsoft.Office.Server.Administration.ApplicationServerJob.ProvisionLocalSharedServiceInstances(Boolean isAdministrationServiceJob)
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
    <Provider Name="Microsoft-SharePoint Products-SharePoint Server" Guid="{C33B4F2A-64E9-4B39-BD72-F0C2F27A619A}" />
    <EventID>6481</EventID>
    <Version>14</Version>
    <Level>2</Level>
    <Task>3</Task>
    <Opcode>0</Opcode>
    <Keywords>0x4000000000000000</Keywords>
    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2011-03-30T11:00:21.643551100Z" />
    <EventRecordID>13946</EventRecordID>
    <Correlation ActivityID="{E7673D0A-CBDD-4DB9-A025-105212ED356A}" />
    <Execution ProcessID="1200" ThreadID="3060" />
    <Channel>Application</Channel>
    <Computer>WIN-NG0HQ5HJR6U</Computer>
    <Security UserID="S-1-5-20" />
</System>
<EventData>
    <Data Name="string0">Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchServiceInstance</Data>
    <Data Name="string1">785c55eb-c13e-424d-9393-ec92dc65f1d0</Data>
    <Data Name="string2">The device is not ready. </Data>
    <Data Name="string3">System.IO.FileNotFoundException: The device is not ready.
   at Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchServiceInstance.Synchronize()
   at Microsoft.Office.Server.Administration.ApplicationServerJob.ProvisionLocalSharedServiceInstances(Boolean isAdministrationServiceJob)</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>

Log Name:      Application
Source:        Microsoft-SharePoint Products-SharePoint Foundation
Date:          3/30/2011 7:00:28 PM
Event ID:      6398
Task Category: Timer
Level:         Critical
Keywords:
User:          NETWORK SERVICE
Computer:      WIN-NG0HQ5HJR6U
Description:
The Execute method of job definition Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.IndexingScheduleJobDefinition (ID e201e3a9-b58c-4c6f-b6cb-a5937e9606c8) threw an exception. More information is included below.

The search application '373c2f03-0d80-42ac-930e-892b76a6c7d8' on server WIN-NG0HQ5HJR6U did not finish loading. View the event logs on the affected server for more information.
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
    <Provider Name="Microsoft-SharePoint Products-SharePoint Foundation" Guid="{6FB7E0CD-52E7-47DD-997A-241563931FC2}" />
    <EventID>6398</EventID>
    <Version>14</Version>
    <Level>1</Level>
    <Task>12</Task>
    <Opcode>0</Opcode>
    <Keywords>0x4000000000000000</Keywords>
    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2011-03-30T11:00:28.549801100Z" />
    <EventRecordID>13947</EventRecordID>
    <Correlation ActivityID="{F7E5AD67-B631-4720-AB04-E5899B7E5423}" />
    <Execution ProcessID="1200" ThreadID="2308" />
    <Channel>Application</Channel>
    <Computer>WIN-NG0HQ5HJR6U</Computer>
    <Security UserID="S-1-5-20" />
</System>
<EventData>
    <Data Name="string0">Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.IndexingScheduleJobDefinition</Data>
    <Data Name="string1">e201e3a9-b58c-4c6f-b6cb-a5937e9606c8</Data>
    <Data Name="string2">The search application '373c2f03-0d80-42ac-930e-892b76a6c7d8' on server WIN-NG0HQ5HJR6U did not finish loading. View the event logs on the affected server for more information.</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>

Log Name:      Application
Source:        Microsoft-SharePoint Products-SharePoint Foundation
Date:          3/30/2011 7:00:48 PM
Event ID:      6398
Task Category: Timer
Level:         Critical
Keywords:
User:          NETWORK SERVICE
Computer:      WIN-NG0HQ5HJR6U
Description:
The Execute method of job definition Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.CrawlReportJobDefinition (ID 04998e51-5d88-4a48-a979-134ca4a77468) threw an exception. More information is included below.

The search application '373c2f03-0d80-42ac-930e-892b76a6c7d8' on server WIN-NG0HQ5HJR6U did not finish loading. View the event logs on the affected server for more information.
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
    <Provider Name="Microsoft-SharePoint Products-SharePoint Foundation" Guid="{6FB7E0CD-52E7-47DD-997A-241563931FC2}" />
    <EventID>6398</EventID>
    <Version>14</Version>
    <Level>1</Level>
    <Task>12</Task>
    <Opcode>0</Opcode>
    <Keywords>0x4000000000000000</Keywords>
    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2011-03-30T11:00:48.534176100Z" />
    <EventRecordID>13948</EventRecordID>
    <Correlation ActivityID="{B4749C97-4A81-48CD-A889-BFC969976672}" />
    <Execution ProcessID="1200" ThreadID="2308" />
    <Channel>Application</Channel>
    <Computer>WIN-NG0HQ5HJR6U</Computer>
    <Security UserID="S-1-5-20" />
</System>
<EventData>
    <Data Name="string0">Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.CrawlReportJobDefinition</Data>
    <Data Name="string1">04998e51-5d88-4a48-a979-134ca4a77468</Data>
    <Data Name="string2">The search application '373c2f03-0d80-42ac-930e-892b76a6c7d8' on server WIN-NG0HQ5HJR6U did not finish loading. View the event logs on the affected server for more information.</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>

Device not ready? What device? Are data being stored in a removable thumb drive that I don't know of? Peculiar condition indeed; my colleague hadn't experienced such problems before either. A search around did not net any favourable explanation to what is happening, other than the fact that I am not alone with this.

Further digging suggested the complete removal of the existing Search Application and removal of the existing index. I did remove the Search Application, but when I went for the Crawling > Index Reset option, another generic error page is blown out. Swell.

The event log was also recorded with the following entries, especially when I restart the SharePoint Server Search 14 Windows service.

Log Name:      Application
Source:        Microsoft-SharePoint Products-SharePoint Server Search
Date:          3/30/2011 5:53:04 PM
Event ID:      74
Task Category: Content Index Server
Level:         Error
Keywords:
User:          SYSTEM
Computer:      WIN-NG0HQ5HJR6U
Description:
Component: 373c2f03-0d80-42ac-930e-892b76a6c7d8
An index corruption of type WidSetFormat was detected in catalog Portal_Content. Stack trace is
     tquery offset=0x0000000000034FEC (0x000007FED8A44FEC)
     tquery offset=0x000000000001E311 (0x000007FED8A2E311)
     tquery offset=0x00000000000ED3E4 (0x000007FED8AFD3E4)
     tquery offset=0x000000000012BC00 (0x000007FED8B3BC00)
     tquery offset=0x000000000012C3C3 (0x000007FED8B3C3C3)
     tquery offset=0x0000000000124326 (0x000007FED8B34326)
     tquery offset=0x0000000000124BF7 (0x000007FED8B34BF7)
     tquery offset=0x0000000000126821 (0x000007FED8B36821)

Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
    <Provider Name="Microsoft-SharePoint Products-SharePoint Server Search" Guid="{C8263AFE-83A5-448C-878C-1E5F5D1C4252}" />
    <EventID>74</EventID>
    <Version>14</Version>
    <Level>2</Level>
    <Task>138</Task>
    <Opcode>0</Opcode>
    <Keywords>0x4000000000000000</Keywords>
    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2011-03-30T09:53:04.042634000Z" />
    <EventRecordID>13803</EventRecordID>
    <Correlation />
    <Execution ProcessID="2088" ThreadID="4840" />
    <Channel>Application</Channel>
    <Computer>WIN-NG0HQ5HJR6U</Computer>
    <Security UserID="S-1-5-18" />
</System>
<EventData>
    <Data Name="string0">Component: 373c2f03-0d80-42ac-930e-892b76a6c7d8
</Data>
    <Data Name="string1">WidSetFormat</Data>
    <Data Name="string2">Portal_Content</Data>
    <Data Name="string3">
     tquery offset=0x0000000000034FEC (0x000007FED8A44FEC)
     tquery offset=0x000000000001E311 (0x000007FED8A2E311)
     tquery offset=0x00000000000ED3E4 (0x000007FED8AFD3E4)
     tquery offset=0x000000000012BC00 (0x000007FED8B3BC00)
     tquery offset=0x000000000012C3C3 (0x000007FED8B3C3C3)
     tquery offset=0x0000000000124326 (0x000007FED8B34326)
     tquery offset=0x0000000000124BF7 (0x000007FED8B34BF7)
     tquery offset=0x0000000000126821 (0x000007FED8B36821)
</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>

Log Name:      Application
Source:        Microsoft-SharePoint Products-SharePoint Server Search
Date:          3/30/2011 5:53:04 PM
Event ID:      71
Task Category: Content Index Server
Level:         Error
Keywords:
User:          SYSTEM
Computer:      WIN-NG0HQ5HJR6U
Description:
Content index on Component: 373c2f03-0d80-42ac-930e-892b76a6c7d8
could not be initialized. Error Portal_Content.The content index is corrupt.   0xc0041800
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
    <Provider Name="Microsoft-SharePoint Products-SharePoint Server Search" Guid="{C8263AFE-83A5-448C-878C-1E5F5D1C4252}" />
    <EventID>71</EventID>
    <Version>14</Version>
    <Level>2</Level>
    <Task>138</Task>
    <Opcode>0</Opcode>
    <Keywords>0x4000000000000000</Keywords>
    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2011-03-30T09:53:04.042634000Z" />
    <EventRecordID>13804</EventRecordID>
    <Correlation />
    <Execution ProcessID="2088" ThreadID="4840" />
    <Channel>Application</Channel>
    <Computer>WIN-NG0HQ5HJR6U</Computer>
    <Security UserID="S-1-5-18" />
</System>
<EventData>
    <Data Name="string0">Component: 373c2f03-0d80-42ac-930e-892b76a6c7d8
</Data>
    <Data Name="string1">Portal_Content</Data>
    <Data Name="string2">The content index is corrupt.   0xc0041800</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>

Log Name:      Application
Source:        Microsoft-SharePoint Products-SharePoint Server Search
Date:          3/30/2011 5:53:04 PM
Event ID:      12
Task Category: Gatherer
Level:         Error
Keywords:
User:          SYSTEM
Computer:      WIN-NG0HQ5HJR6U
Description:
The plug-in in OSearch14.Indexer.1 cannot be initialized.

Context: Application '373c2f03-0d80-42ac-930e-892b76a6c7d8', Catalog 'Portal_Content'

Details:
(0xc0041800)
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
    <Provider Name="Microsoft-SharePoint Products-SharePoint Server Search" Guid="{C8263AFE-83A5-448C-878C-1E5F5D1C4252}" />
    <EventID>12</EventID>
    <Version>14</Version>
    <Level>2</Level>
    <Task>137</Task>
    <Opcode>0</Opcode>
    <Keywords>0x4000000000000000</Keywords>
    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2011-03-30T09:53:04.042634000Z" />
    <EventRecordID>13805</EventRecordID>
    <Correlation />
    <Execution ProcessID="2088" ThreadID="4840" />
    <Channel>Application</Channel>
    <Computer>WIN-NG0HQ5HJR6U</Computer>
    <Security UserID="S-1-5-18" />
</System>
<EventData>
    <Data Name="string0">OSearch14.Indexer.1</Data>
    <Data Name="string1">

Context: Application '373c2f03-0d80-42ac-930e-892b76a6c7d8', Catalog 'Portal_Content'

Details:
(0xc0041800)</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>

Log Name:      Application
Source:        Microsoft-SharePoint Products-SharePoint Server Search
Date:          3/30/2011 5:53:04 PM
Event ID:      11
Task Category: Gatherer
Level:         Error
Keywords:
User:          SYSTEM
Computer:      WIN-NG0HQ5HJR6U
Description:
The gatherer object cannot be initialized.

Context: Application 'Search_Service_Application', Catalog 'Portal_Content'

Details:
(0xc0041800)
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
    <Provider Name="Microsoft-SharePoint Products-SharePoint Server Search" Guid="{C8263AFE-83A5-448C-878C-1E5F5D1C4252}" />
    <EventID>11</EventID>
    <Version>14</Version>
    <Level>2</Level>
    <Task>137</Task>
    <Opcode>0</Opcode>
    <Keywords>0x4000000000000000</Keywords>
    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2011-03-30T09:53:04.058259000Z" />
    <EventRecordID>13806</EventRecordID>
    <Correlation />
    <Execution ProcessID="2088" ThreadID="4840" />
    <Channel>Application</Channel>
    <Computer>WIN-NG0HQ5HJR6U</Computer>
    <Security UserID="S-1-5-18" />
</System>
<EventData>
    <Data Name="string0">

Context: Application 'Search_Service_Application', Catalog 'Portal_Content'

Details:
(0xc0041800)</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>

Log Name:      Application
Source:        Microsoft-SharePoint Products-SharePoint Server Search
Date:          3/30/2011 5:53:04 PM
Event ID:      25
Task Category: Gatherer
Level:         Error
Keywords:
User:          SYSTEM
Computer:      WIN-NG0HQ5HJR6U
Description:
The application cannot be initialized.

Context: Application 'Search_Service_Application'

Details:
(0xc0041800)
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
    <Provider Name="Microsoft-SharePoint Products-SharePoint Server Search" Guid="{C8263AFE-83A5-448C-878C-1E5F5D1C4252}" />
    <EventID>25</EventID>
    <Version>14</Version>
    <Level>2</Level>
    <Task>137</Task>
    <Opcode>0</Opcode>
    <Keywords>0x4000000000000000</Keywords>
    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2011-03-30T09:53:04.058259000Z" />
    <EventRecordID>13807</EventRecordID>
    <Correlation />
    <Execution ProcessID="2088" ThreadID="4840" />
    <Channel>Application</Channel>
    <Computer>WIN-NG0HQ5HJR6U</Computer>
    <Security UserID="S-1-5-18" />
</System>
<EventData>
    <Data Name="string0">

Context: Application 'Search_Service_Application'

Details:
(0xc0041800)</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>

Ok, so the index, seemingly "Portal_Content", is corrupt. And I cannot delete it. Where is it stored anyway? What's an unfortunate soul like me gonna do now? Reinstall SharePoint 2010 all over again? But my gut feeling was to stick with it, because there is something to be learnt from this occasion; simply reverting to a fresh installation would destroy the opportunity.

After much searching for experienced comments (which there were none), I gave up and loaded up Sysinternals procmon on the virtual server. And there began my long, long track of monitoring.

See what I see?

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office Servers\14.0\Data\Office Server\Applications\373c2f03-0d80-42ac-930e-892b76a6c7d8\Projects\Portal_Content

That is where the index is stored. Within is an "Indexer" folder. I took that out, and let SharePoint Server Search 14 restart. No errors this time round; the index could be regenerated afresh. The Search Administration was subsequently able to display its Crawl History data grid and viewing the Content Sources was possible as well. Now we know one area of resilience SharePoint 2010 is still lacking.

Thanks, yet again, to Sysinternals.

Connecting to Windows 7 Administrative shares

icelava — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 15:42:59 GMT

What is a productive activity to spend across the New year weekend? Upgrade the laptop from x86 Windows 7 to x64 of course! No self-respecting geek would waste time on meaningless actions like popping champange at parties or countdown just to watch silly fireworks. No way. Uh-uh. Just saying.

And so I did, finally acting on the plan I've been stalling for months. And my plan was double-fold, unscrew the old 5400rpm hard disk housing the old OS and usher in the half-way-sexy Seagate Momentus XT. I am on my way to revitalising my "old" laptop with fully-accessible 4GB RAM address range and then some sweet read-access times. I know it is no where need true SSD performance levels, but I'm happy still. Let us clap our hands and give thanks.

Until I hit the age-old problem - accessing administrative shares. To be more specific, I use the same adminstrator username/password across my home computers, do they can freely transcend the machines as if they were one. One admin account to rule them all, indeed. However, this newly-installed 64-bit OS managed to escape the influence of the ring, and refused to accept any connections from other computers. Well-shielded, its administrative shares, were. It could access and pollute the other machines' administratives shares, so there was some funny one-way trust happening. If I had a dime every time I encountered this type of network share denial problem, I'd rival Hugh Hefner in fortune.

Network shares had always been mystifying in all my years of working with Windows. For some reason, I've never been able to find adequate documentation explaining its inner workings in order to better understand the nature in which it operated and thus how to better troubleshoot various inaccessibility issues. The basic how-to articles frequently returned simply do not educate enough for me to go skydiving solo. The major contributor to this problem (of understanding) is due to the fact Windows, in all its versions, behave inconsistently with its network shares. Observing behaviour patterns thus became more difficult than killing cockroaches.

This is further highlighted by a friend who finally came along with information that eversince Windows Vista, administrative shares, while still there technically, have been disabled by default. It takes a Registry hack to get the thing working. But, I don't remember having to do that with my other computers. Nonetheless, this step broke down the Berlin wall in this new OS and finally allowed me passport-free access to its filesystem.

Odd enough, but I guess I'll let it by since I have more important things to focus on.

IIS 7 getting 0x80070005 E_ACCESSDENIED when modifying virtual directory properties

icelava — Sat, 05 May 2007 23:00:05 GMT

For the whole of last week I was unable to readily make general use of IIS 7 on my upgraded laptop. New virtual directories I created to point to a web application did not allow me to alter the Default Document property. It kept spewing 0x80070005 E_ACCESSDENIED messages when I tried to modify it just "default.aspx" instead of the inherited list from the site root. The odd thing I noticed was virtual directories that existed when it was IIS 5.1 (winXP) could modify their Default Document just fine.

I could not search out any relevant information linking IIS 7 and that error code together, so I casted my nets across various communities hoping somebody would have a clue what is causing this odd error. Or at least tell me something extra to do that could reveal more telling evidence. I eventually got the latter.

The advice? Put on sackcloth and scatter dust on myself, pray to the Sysinternals Twin Lords Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell. I asked, and I received Process Monitor v1.12. "Go", said the Help File, "apply some filters to gather all activities your process has carried out to all the ends of the operating system." So I did. Lo and behold, the startling revelation before my eyes

Operation: Create File
Path: blah\blah\blah\blah\Web.Config
Result: ACCESS DENIED
Detail: Desired Access: Generic Write, Read Attribute, Disposition: Openlf ........

The site content was under source control, and being read-only, web.config was not available for modification. But why does IIS 7 want to modify web.config for a web server aspect? Because IIS 7's model of configuration has been redesigned to allow the web developer make specifications in .config files, rather than rely on the administrator perform these less-than-interesting chores to save them in the restricted metabase. I checked out the web.config file, and the modification finally proceeded without rebuke. I ordered the fatted calf be slaughtered.

I had completely forgotten about this. The new configuration interface puts the "Default Document" property icon under "HTTP Features" when in Category group view, and under "IIS" when in Area group view. Since it will never show up under the ASP.NET group, I did not make an association with web.config. IIS itself by merely buzzing "E_ACCESSDENIED", without stating what and why, certainly did not help contribute in pointing this out.

Yet another fine example of what an error message must contain - the exact cause and practical remedy steps - in order to be useful for the user to do something about it. And also testimony that getting down on your knees and calling upon the name of Mark and Bryce can indeed bring salvation to your system.

Where does Windows Vista store Internet Explorer cookies?

icelava — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 16:10:30 GMT

Let me cut to the chase: it is not somewhere in C:\Users\myname\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files

The answer lies in the path defined in Registry: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

Which in my case referred to %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Cookies, translating into C:\Users\myname\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Cookies

What is svchost.exe hosting?

icelava — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 02:25:24 GMT

Has it ever bugged you? That there are a variety of background Windows services running in your Windows XP or Vista system, and you cannot readily identify the process that is running that service? Typically, system level services are encapsulated in svchost.exe host processes. Multiple services can even be grouped in a single svchost.exe. But by looking at Task Manager, we still cannot tell which svchost.exe is hosting which service.

Well there is a method, and it had always escaped me. Not anymore. The following KB article details how to find out:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314056

Installing TFS 2008: Error 29112 28806 28805 with SQL Server Reporting Services

icelava — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 17:36:30 GMT

In preparation for the first meeting of the newly-formed VSTS group, I took some time last week to personally run through the dual-server deployment procedure for Team Foundation Server 2008. Sad to say, little has improved from the 2005 version in way of the installation procedure.

But then again, I wonder how much ought to be hidden to simplify the process.

Installation of Team Foundation Server is complex. One has to be well aware of the various Microsoft technological pieces that make up TFS, split across the two servers (APPTIER for App tier server, DATATIER for Data tier server)

Active Directory
SQL Server 2005 database engine
SQL Server Analysis Services
SQL Server Reporting Services
Windows Sharepoint Services 3.0
Internet Information Services

The administrative responsibilities necessary to manage a TFS deployment cannot be downplayed. Failure to realise how they work together, especially how domain accounts form the credential gel to bind the various processes as one, usually proves to the be hurdle preventing many - especially pure application developers - from achieving a working installation to even begin experiencing VSTS as it was designed and intended.

As with common wisdom from TFS 2005 experience, following the installation guide to the letter helps a lot. And so I did. However, there was one section How to: Install SQL Server Reporting Services in a Dual-Server Deployment that did not sit well with me, quoted below (emphasis mine)

To install SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services by using the installation wizard

Log on to Windows using an appropriate domain account (for example, TFSSETUP) for Team Foundation Server.

Insert the installation DVD for SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition or Standard Edition.

On the SQL Server 2005 Start page, click Server components, tools, Books Online, and samples.

On the End User License Agreement page, review the license agreement. If you accept the terms and conditions, select the I accept the licensing terms and conditions check box, and then click Next.

On the Installing Prerequisites page, click Install.

After installation of the prerequisites, click Next.

The Microsoft SQL Server Installation Wizardstarts.

Click Next.

On the System Configuration Check page, perform any required actions, such as restarting the server, and then click Next to start installation.

On the Registration Information page, complete the registration information, and then click Next.

On the Components to Install page, select the Reporting Services check box, and then click Next.

On the Instance Name page, click either Default instance or Named instance. If you clicked Named instance, type the name of the instance. Click Next.

On the Service Account page, click Use the built-in system account, and then click Network Service. In Start services at the end of setup, select the Reporting Services check box, and then click Next.

On the Report Server Installation Options page, make sure that Install but do not configure the server is specified, and click Next.

Team Foundation Server will configure the report server for you.

(Optional) On the Error and Usage Report Settings page, select one or both check boxes to specify where information about errors and feature usage should be sent, and then click Next.

On the Ready to Install page, review the list of components to be installed, and then click Install.

The Setup Progress page shows the status of each component.

After installation has completed, click Next.

Click Finish to close the wizard.

NETWORK SERVICE account? On the APPTIER server? How is that supposed to appear to the DATATIER server? According to Microsoft, with this setup, the computer DOMAIN\APPTIER$ account would be used when the SSRS service connects over to the database at the DATATIER server. The DOMAIN\APPTIER$ account is automatically provided the necessary privileges to access the SSRS databases. So no worries. Until the TFS setup program throws the error

Error 29112. Team Foundation Report Server Configuration: Either SQL Reporting Services is not properly configured, or the Reporting Services Web Site could not be reached. Use the Reporting Services Configuration tool to confirm that SQL Reporting Services is configured properly and that the Reporting Service Web site can be reached, and then run the installation again. For more information, see the Team Foundation Installation guide.

A quick check with the Event logs revealed that ANONYMOUS was the credential being passed to the database, which obviously is going to fail authorization.

Event Type: Failure Audit
Event Source: MSSQLSERVER
Event Category: (4)
Event ID: 18456
Date:  11/02/2009
Time:  10:55:34 AM
User:  NT AUTHORITY\ANONYMOUS LOGON
Computer: DATATIER
Description:
Login failed for user 'NT AUTHORITY\ANONYMOUS LOGON'. [CLIENT: 192.168.1.25]

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 00004818 0000000e 0000000d 00460054
0010: 00320053 00300030 00570038 00410044
0020: 00410054 00070000 006d0000 00730061
0030: 00650074 00000072

For reasons not properly discovered, the computer account is not passed through in my environment. Which means the TFS installation cannot complete in my scenario. Which means nothing to play with at all, unless I manually descend to fix the underlying authentication problems. At this stage, I left the error dialog box open for the moment to carry out the following changes

Assign the RSExec role to DOMAIN\TFSService in the ReportServer and ReportServerTempDB databases at the DATATIER server.
Add DOMAIN\TFSService as a member of the SQLServer2005ReportServerUser$APPTIER$MSSQLServer group in the APPTIER server.
Modify the SQL Server Reporting Services (MSSQLServer) Windows service in the APPTIER server (Computer Managment) with the service account DOMAIN\TFSservice (which is running the AppPool for the TFS web services) instead of NETWORK SERVICE.
Restart that Windows service.

With that I click Retry on the dialog box and it got passed this error. And within a few moments of happy database access, got pounced by the second-level boss

Error 28806. An unexpected error occurred. Verify that SQL Server Reporting Services is installed and running on the Team Foundation app tier and that you have sufficient privileges to access it. For more information, see the setup log.

This time round, it is the SSRS web service, not the Windows service, that is putting on a mask. Looking at the IIS ReportServer AppPool sure enough turns out as NETWORK SERVICE for its identity.

Assign DOMAIN\TFSservice as the ReportServer AppPool identity.
Add DOMAIN\TFSservice as a member of the SQLServer2005ReportServicesWebServiceUser$APPTIER$MSSQLServer group in the APPTIER server.

With that I click Retry on the dialog box and it got passed this error. I felt some odd feeling of deja vu.... before yet another boss jumped into the path preventing me from saving my princess.

Error 28805. The setup program cannot complete the request to the server that is running SQL Server Reporting Services. Verify that SQL Server Reporting Serivces is installed and running on the Team Foundation app tier and that you have sufficient permissions to accept it. For more information, see the setup log.

On visiting the SSRS management site at http://localhost/Reports the following error was eager to greet me

The Report Server Web Service is unable to access secure information in the report server. Please verify that the WebServiceAccount is specified correctly in the report server config file. (rsAccessDeniedToSecureData)

Indeed, it seemed Microsoft is quite bent on using NETWORK SERVICE to operate the entire chain of SSRS configurations, which was simply not working in my case. I have had to manually reconfigure every step of the way

Run Reporting Services Configuration tool, and confirm DOMAIN\TFSservice for the Web Service Identity page.

Appearing to have slain the last dragon, the TFS installation dialog finally completed successfully. Happy I managed to counter-deceive the setup program to make SSRS work, I visited the default Sharepoint site at http://localhost/

Cannot connect to the configuration database.

What's the problem now - Sharepoint as well? Yes, you guessed it correct - NETWORK SERVICE was the culprit again.

In the APPTIER server, open up Administrative Tools and launch SharePoint 3.0 Central Administration. This should bring up IE accessing http://localhost:17012 , which should be default address for the Sharepoint Central Administration site.
Click on the Operations tab, then click on Service Accounts under the Security Configuration section.
In the Service Accounts page and the Select the component to update section, choose the Web application pool radio option with

Windows SharePoint Services Web Application for Web Service
DefaultAppPool for Application pool

Under the Select an account for this component section, select Configurable radio option and type in DOMAIN\TFSservice as the user name, with its password.
Click OK to persist this setting.

Once the Sharepoint web application identity is synchronised with the rest using the same domain service account, its access to the configuration database was resolved. In looking around, I am definitely not alone with this problem. It seems Microsoft has missed out on something important that prevents certain environments or servers from installing with the "ideal" credentials - the computer account - and really offers little in the installation procedure to fix the problems. I relied heavily on my past experience with SSRS and AD setup to get around this. From what I have observed, there are still other DCOM permission errors showing up, but those have to be dealt with another day.

UPDATE 17 Feb 09

The DCOM errors turn out to be related to Sharepoint: Event ID 10016

The application-specific permission settings do not grant Local Activation permission for the COM Server application with CLSID {61738644-F196-11D0-9953-00C04FD919C1} to the user DOMAIN\TFSservice SID {...} The security permission can be modified using the Component Services administrative tool.

This happens because the DefaultAppPool identity got changed to DOMAIN\TFSservice, which was previously NETWORK SERVICE. From Sharepoint's installation procedure, it was not prepared to have DOMAIN\TFSservice run its process. In order to modify IIS WAMREG Admin Service (the CLSID referred to above), follow the instructions illustrated at

http://www.sharepointassist.com/2009/01/27/61738644-f196-11d0-9953-00c04fd919c1-launch-permissions/

remote session was disconnected because there are no terminal server client access licenses available

icelava — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 07:20:11 GMT

Encountering this remote desktop disconnectivity one time too many has annoyed me enough to make a note once and for all so I don't keep forgetting how this pesky issues is dealt with.

Delete the following registry key and restart RDC

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\MSLICENSING

Why can't my computer sleep or hibernate?

icelava — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 03:10:43 GMT

It has been a long time in coming. For more than two years of using this cursed desktop PC, one of the most expensive problems I have had to live with was its inability to sleep or hibernate. Each time I got Windows to initiate the energy-conversation sequence, it would relinquish control to the hardware to shut down, only to have the hardware immediate wake up. So much for going green. Given the sheer number of problems I had been dealing with for this computer, I thought this was yet another stinking fault of the motherboard. Over time, I have tried to update the BIOS revision, read around others' discussions of similar problems, but those were all in vain. It is funny how the electronic engineers who work on such technology and devices almost never participate and educate the masses on the inner workings of these marvels we cannot survive without nowadays; all there is left is wild speculation and conjecture on what may be causing such problems and plenty of trial and error to fix our own problems.

After all, my gaming PC running Windows XP can Standby and Hibernate, my laptop running Windows Vista or 7 can Sleep and Hibernate. What is wrong with this particular desktop? Does it really want to live up to its name of DIABLO so much and give me constant nightmares and high electricity bills?

Today, I have finally found one of the most incredulous design features of Windows Vista, that seemingly escaped most people. The things that have been kicking my computer awake are my keyboard and mouse. Each time the OS successfully performs its Sleep or Hibernate sequence, it must hand the system over to the hardware to power down. For some reason my USB-based input devices would deliver some electric shock to wake the system whenever it wanted to sleep. Y'know, like how the US Air Force punished Ham for doing the wrong thing during spaceship training. Looks like my computer must work hard and remain fully on all the time. So enabling the Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power option in the USB Root Hub devices of my computer had no effect, as others had suggested.

But how did I eventually find out it was due to my input peripherals? My other computers were doing completely fine without me tinkering with those input devices. Well, last night while moving around aimlessly in drunkard stupor after downing a can of Coca-Cola, I opened up the properties dialogs for my input devices in Device Manager.

Allow this device to wake the computer? It was originally checked. This ridiculous option has to be disabled. Enabling this feature simply means to keep the machine running forever; I cannot fathom what sort of "power management" facility it provides.

But wait, what about my other machines?

It seems that my laptop does not consider input peripherals to be useful electric shock devices; there is no Power Management tab in the first place.

For the case of Windows XP, it is implemented differently to respond only to Standby situations. Despite this computer possessing USB input devices as well, there is no "shock generation" when using Standby; the devices can revive the system properly when a key or button is pressed.

Windows Vista did away with Standby in favour for the hybrid mode Sleep, which is apparently a different energy-saving mechanism at the hardware level. For that effect, the input devices are now wired to perpetually keep computers "awake". What a slave driver.

Microsoft, I want a reimbursement on my electricity bills.

Disable Firefox Downloads Complete notifier

icelava — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 06:08:43 GMT

Hard pop-up dialog boxes and bubbles are so last-millennium. Smooth slide-out notifier panes are all the rage nowadays. If your GUI application does not animate something, it sucks. So much so that Firefox also implements sliding animation to notify users when their downloads are complete.

Not too big a deal, does not suck up too much processor attention for most programs. Until you start consider the amount of network bandwidth suckage it causes just to transfer that animation sequence over the wire. Yep, used over long distances to Remotely desktop another computer, sliding animations are pure pain that make me want to murder the developers' families.

Note to all software developers including myself: the age of remote computing is upon us. Not everybody who uses your application are having the "luxury" of having the window imagery rendered directly from memory to video card. Whatever graphical bells and whistles you design into your pretty program, please include options to turn them all off. We need to realise how expensive it is to replay the animation when there is the Internet (network) inbetween.

Firefox (v3.0) does not offer a direct UI element to control this feature, but thanks to others who peruse the about:config page, there is an option to disable it

browser.download.manager.showAlertOnComplete

I thank thee for not letting Mr Hyde burst out of me.

On-screen keyboard: get out of my face

icelava — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 06:34:25 GMT

For some reason, one of my laptop's been throwing up Windows Vista's On-screen keyboard every time I logon to a desktop session. Typing with a mouse on my laptop sure is as fun and necessary as using a magnifying glass to burn my statements on paper instead of using a regular pen. I sure do not require this functionality, and the On-screen keyboard interface does not indicate in any way how I can disable this. One might think Microsoft has a UX group specifically charged with the goal of griefing people.

What does one do when encountering yet another attempt to annoy users to no end? Run over to the eptly, and sadly, named annoyances.org and look through all the frustrations everybody else is having with all the incarnations of Windows. Thankfully, someone has identified this as part of the accessibility settings for Windows, accessible (no pun intended) via

Control Panel > Ease of Access Center

get into the Use the computer without a mouse or keyboard section, and uncheck Use On-Screen Keyboard. Save it, and click on Change administrative settings on the left and specify Apply all settings to the logon desktop and save again.

Live Messenger broken after Windows Vista SP2

icelava — Thu, 28 May 2009 15:30:27 GMT

I know I'm cursed, the lightning rod for all the chance strikes that could have turned me into a billionaire if all these probability math worked for me when it comes to lotteries. But no, this time round I blame Microsoft!

Yeap, and so Service Pack 2 was released to the masses via Windows Update yesterday. I acted on it without hesitation given my liberation with Internet bandwidth. I trusted it would work all ok. Perhaps only the remotest and obscure of applications might face odd problems with this update. I thought wrong.

After the system restart with SP2, all things worked except for Windows Live Messenger.

Wow.

Windows Live Messenger. Network connection problem which did not exist prior. Aw well, only twenty seven people use this unpopular IM program anyway. Not.

Wow.

As if deliberately trying to frustrate you, the invitation to troubleshoot and try to find out what the problem is...... comes round to mock you. No problem! Must be PEBKAC!

Not only that, after exiting Messenger, it refused to launch again. Ever. Even after reboot. I took the initiative to reinstall the Windows Live tools and managed to get it launched. But it still would not make contact with the MSN mothership. Attempting Microsoft's own support suggestions for this error condition still did not help.

So SP2 breaks one of the most common use cases in today's computing. Very nice. Now I am stuck to running Live Messenger on my laptops instead. Ah, the benefits of running multiple machines at home.

I am beginning to be convinced I can make money from software vendors by attracting and exercising software into all those unusual defects and abnormalities.

UPDATE 29 May 2009

Probably the silliest of workarounds in all computing - in order to get Live Messenger on this desktop computer of mine to connect occasionally, I have to first make a connection using one of my laptops (2009 version of Live Messenger allows multi-location sign-ins). Just how absurd can that be....

Windows Virtual PC for Windows 7 - how to create new machines?

icelava — Thu, 21 May 2009 15:10:09 GMT

Microsoft knows the experience of torturing people into a zillion application breakages with the upgrade to Windows Vista. Painfully. So this time round with Windows 7, a new strategy is being tried out to keep the masses happy with their legacy applications - Windows XP Mode. Using a modified Virtual PC 2007, the process of installing and booting up an altenative Windows XP within Windows 7 is super fast. I did not have to go through an installation procedure of Windows XP at all!

Well that is all cool and dandy. Impressive stuff. However my real intention is to run a virtual Windows Vista on top of this Windows 7 testbed. So, how does one get about creating new virtual machines with this new version of Virtual PC? It seems it cannot be found in the Start menu at all. I was told to search for "virtual machines" which would reveal and lead me to the folder in my user directory (e.g. C:\Users\Aaron.Seet\Virtual Machines). There I shall find my bride waiting for me, ready to birth as many children as I need for all my development tests.

But wait, I do not see any Create virtual machine button...

When i showed this to my friend he totally freaked out and denounced the works of the devil. Well I just want to get a virtual Windows Vista up and slamming. Since for unfathomable reasons I do not get The Button for me to caress with my finger, I have to do it the true, hard, tough man's way:

Run vpcwizard.exe

From there onwards, I am flowing through the usual procedure of spawning virtual systems with this platform.

Hey! Be a Man!

Matryoshka dolls for the Windows professional

icelava — Mon, 18 May 2009 08:01:51 GMT

Matryoshka dolls fascinated me when I was a kid. The childish joy of realising that encased within a doll was, a smaller doll! And then within that, another one! This recursive discovery ad infinitum was truly an ingenious device to keep a naive boy occupied for hours. Until he grows wiser and learns that repetition in the real world often means "boring!" and goes back into the garden and stomps on flowers again.

I thought I had long forgotten this immature conception. Until my eyes starting aligning themselves today.

Looks like in my daily working life of remoting and controlling various computers of physical or virtual nature, the Matryoshka doll neo-movement is far from dying.

Office custom dictionary

icelava — Tue, 12 May 2009 10:14:23 GMT

One of my greatest irritants with spell checkers is how they default to US English. I happen to be born and bred in Singapore, a former British colony, so I prefer to spell words properly thank you. ;-)

So it is pretty annoying to be informed over and over again on five different computers of Microsoft Word or PowerPoint that I should not be spelling "organisation" and be hip and go "organization". Sorry, I pronounce or-ger-nye-say-shen not or-ger-nye-zay-shen, yo. But the cool thing is the Microsoft Office dictionary feature allows adding foreign words into the dictionary so it won't think that my spelling $uX0rs. And so in the midst of adding in the correct spellings, I accidentally added a half-written word into the mix.

Oops. How can I rollback that action?

Turns out it ain't too hard to find where these extra words are stored. For a Windows Vista system, the custom dictionary is stored as

C:\Users\{USERNAME}\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\UProof\CUSTOM.DIC

Open it up and edit it like a regular text file.

Windows patriotism

icelava — Tue, 12 May 2009 03:32:00 GMT

Ever have your heart burning with love and pride for your operating system of choice? Sure you do!

You know it to be true when the Windows flag is waved up and high in the middle of every Windows Explorer window!

WWW = World Wide Wastage

icelava — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 03:01:56 GMT

Welcome 2009! Or to be more specific, Q2 2009!

That's right, nearly a decade into the twenty-first century, and loving every moment of technological advancement we have developed and enjoyed for ourselves.

In this topic particularly, how we have mind-shifted from boxy 4:3 CRT monitors into smashing 16:10 widescreen LCD goodness. All the more convincing case for my traditional opinion that the Windows taskbar should defaulted as a vertical sidebar. Not only that, we are now well into the "big screen" fad; 22-24" models are already getting considered diminutive when 30" gaming and HD video are all the rage. We are getting an increasing number of pixels to see more detail than ever. Woot.

Except that it seems most web designers have not upgraded their monitors in the past five years. (I do not mean to single out IBM here, just using an example that illustrates the guilt of so many web sites out there) In the web, it seems WWW is taking on a new meaning of real estate wastage.

For some reason, site layouts cannot escape the practice of hard-coding themselves into a 800x600 sardine can area. Forget whatever advantage one had with a 1440x900 desktop area.

<table width="750" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">

How does this look in a 2560x1600 display? I do not want to know.

What is worse, there are tonnes of CSS styling involved in these sites. And yet this primitive HTML construct still gets used til the end of time like how we continue to burn twigs and flap our blankets to deliver smoke signals for highly-efficient long-range communication. I suspect there is some malformed time warp occurring between the space of contemporary consumer experience and the development offices of web designers.

Designers, listen up. It is time to dynamically flow the layout to fill the entire width of the desktop. Do not willingly blind yourselves into tunnel vision. Please stop embarassing yourselves. Really, please.

Windows 7, beta wake up your idea

icelava — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 17:32:43 GMT

If only I could strike a lottery each time I encounter such hurdles to simplistic computing activities, I would be richer than Bill Gates.

So Windows 7 is looming near. I hear nothing but praises for it, so I thought I ought to give the beta a drive around the neighbourhood to see how it handles the road. The only real ~~guinea pig~~ candidate is my Dell XPS M1530; it is still a "production" machine but presents a good test scenario to see how it transforms Windows Vista Ultimate and adapts the other installed software. I took the route of OS upgrade; the road less travelled. Folks typically format the disk and install the OS clean, be it beta or not, because common experience has shown that upgrade installations leave plenty of debris lying aorund. How far has Microsoft matured with their upgrade procedure?

This is not the first time I go through such an operation. I was "forced" to upgrade my company laptop from Win XP to Vista just as it was released nearing the end of 2006. The entire upgrade procedure was awfully long. Hours long. Like, go-to-bed-and-pray-everything-went-through-smoothly-the-next-morning long. The Win Vista-to-7 experience is just about the same; I decided to put my own body on hibernate for the evening after waiting four hours.

I was disappointed with Windows Vista's boot splash screen, and was not expecting much with Windows 7. Therefore I have say this version's is pretty classy the moment I saw it. Sleek. However, first impressions do not fool me. I am interested in how the windowing experience is like. And then, here is exactly why I question myself why I bother with beta software...

My first activity? To open up Outlook 2007, because I simply "had" to synchronise my mail folders with Exchange server. What do I see?

Disconnected.

No matter what I do, Outlook simply cannot get a connection to the Exchange server. I see various errors reported in the Windows Application event log, and thought this was a fine time to use that "convenient Send feedback tool" provided on the Windows 7 desktop specifically for testers to report problems or feedback to Microsoft. And what happens? I cannot even logon to the Live ID servers to authenticate and make reports.

And that sums up my first experience with using Windows 7. Isolated from my company email server, unable to communicate. I cannot even report the problem since I am also "disconnected" from the first-level means for communication with Microsoft.

For the record, I am able to hook up to the web-based OWA interface to access the mailbox (same address as the Outlook proxy configuration).

Was there some complicated or obscure activity that I was trying to perform? How is it that I am always stumbling over the most basic of tasks in beta, or even RTM, software? I do not understand how other folks proceed to work and analyse the software to advanced levels of activity, when I am repeatedly chained down by the failure of everyday computing activity. I really do not understand.

As always, glad I have a complete harddisk image backup prior to such drastic overhauls.

Copy and Paste? Copy and WAIT

icelava — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 14:20:18 GMT

I am a software developer.

I know what the complexities of writing software can be. It is really hard sometimes.

But, there are still incidents that just boggle me.

Why? Why oh why, does it take indefinitely to copy a 406 byte file from a hard disk to a thumb drive? How can the operating system continue to subject itself to be held hostage in such easy situations?

How am I supposed to carry on forward with my work even I am being handcuffed by fundamental computing tasks?

Windows Update: DO NOT install IdeaCom Technology Input HID Touch Screen

icelava — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 12:34:36 GMT

Maybe they were longing for the good old days of "natural interfaces", when people held a stick and dab in ink and motion it across paper to stain it with visual patterns. Perhaps that was what drove Microsoft to believe everybody owned a Tablet PC for sure, and to provide IdeaCom Technology Inc. - Input - IdeaCom HID Touch Screen (PS/2) and an option in the latest round of Windows Update.

Silly me, the ever-eager IT professional to stay in touch with the latest updates, checked the box and proceeded with the downloads. Shutdown, pack up, and rode home. Once in the house, I boot the newly-patched OS only to find a visual keyboard on my logon screen. I write "only", because my pointer stick and touchpad are both disabled. Fortunately, I am a keyboard commando, and managed to logon and navigate Windows using keyboard alone. A quick look around at Windows Update history to verify just exactly what was that thing I installed. The best thing about it, there is no uninstall option.

In the end, I searched back out the old Dell drivers for the touchpad and pointer stick, and got it reinstalled. Thankfully, my laptop began to realise it is in fact not a Tablet PC, and restored functionality to the pointer devices after swallowing the red pill.

Lesson: even though it does not cash any cash, do not greedily pick all Windows Update options without double checking.

Windows Live Installer stuck at 99% downloaded

icelava — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 17:15:00 GMT

The great addage "don't fix what is not broken" often goes unheeded. The guilty ones include Microsoft.

With the newer version of Windows Live Messenger floating around now, I had to go about upgrading three of possible computers I'd use Messenger with. Instead of providing the usual MSI package for download and installation, the site only makes available a Live Installer which is a meta installer of sorts. Apparently Microsoft has spent billions of dollars in research to discover people who use Messenger also need to use Sign-in Assistant, Live Write, Mail, Photo Gallery, and some alternative detergent to wash dishes. Seriously, why can't I choose to just download Messenger alone off the site?

So this fanciful Live Installer goes through the paces of becoming a second-stage downloader and then stops at the last possible moment to taunt you and tongue out and flapping hands. A perpetual 99% downloaded status. Now, if a software was written to automate some processes with better efficiency, I can take that. But if the software is there to place efficiency gains into magnitudes of negative, I can live without that.

Thankfully, some one figured out how to exorcise the system of all this Live Evil.

http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=2873818&SiteID=1&pageid=0#2899044

Hyper-V Access Denied. Unable to establish communication between ‘SERVER’ and ‘CLIENT’

icelava — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 18:02:00 GMT

Virtualization is simply awesome. Thanks to maturity in this technology, I do not have to set up so many machines (besides, I cannot afford it) just to test or experiment with so many different environments and configurations. But one can get carried away and end up with a large stash of virtual machines.

My primary means of control virtual/guest machines is to enable Remote Desktop so I can connect direct from my workstation. But, I do not need to control all of them that often, so Virtual Server 2005's VMRC has been a useful alternative, allowing me to view the virtual machine's "physical" video display output. When Hyper-V came into the picture, I was somewhat confused how one can perform this same activity, as it was a radical (read: incompatible) departure from Virtual Server 2005; VMRC is not usable here.

This bother soon turned into a brief relief as Windows Vista was provided with the Hyper-V Manager MMC. I lost no time installing it, only to lose time wondering why I get the error message mentioned in the title above. As a domain-less workgroup, I use the same administrator user account with the same password across my computers; this provides a near-seamless authentication experience. Up until now. Why??? Turns out, the way Hyper-V manager works is not to flow a network connection one way from my client workstation to the Hyper-V server; there is also a network connection flowing back from the server to my workstation. In order for that to happen successfully without security restriction, I had to follow Adrian Dimcev's instructions to grant Remote Access to ANONYMOUS LOGON under DCOM configuration.

Once that restriction was lifted, I was able to resume my seamless access experience.

Consolidate physical server into Hyper-V virtual server with Acronis Universal Restore

icelava — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 04:03:07 GMT

As a customer of Acronis' super-easy True Image since 2004 to backup my personal laptop, I was pleased to find out they active supported Microsoft MVPs by offering free licenses. I wanted to find out, four years later, what they have to offer for the enterprise/corporate space where managing backups for numerous workstations and servers becomes a massive hassle. What Acronis provided to me were

True Image Echo Workstation
True Image Echo Workstation Universal Restore
True Image Echo Enterprise Server
True Image Echo Enterprise Server Universal Restore

I have been playing around with them to how to work in a network environment, but I will leave that adventure for a future post; what I am journaling down here is the sequence of steps it took me to convert a physical server into a virtual server. How did I move an entire OS onto a completely different set of underlying hardware? According to Acronis, their Universal Restore provides an easy sequence of activities to restore a backup image. Promising to take care of hardware incompatibility ills and swapping of device drivers, so that the administrator need not worry about it.

Skeptic as I was, I had to try it to see if it really works.

Coincidentally, I was using an old laptop as a test platform to run Windows 2003 and ISA Server 2006, to check out its HTTP routing capabilities. And also coincidentally, my new Dell PowerEdge T300 server had arrived; my intention for this server all along was to load up Windows 2008 with Hyper-V to host many more experimental/development machines. I felt this was the prime candidate for the virtualization-consolidation scenario.

List of tasks before initiating a restoration:

Backup the original laptop disk (20GB partition)
Burn an Acronis Rescue Media boot CD, with Universal Restore
Set up a new guest in Hyper-V
By default, Hyper-V includes the new Virtual Machine Bus Network Adapter for guest machines. Acronis loader OS in the boot media cannot make use of this adapter. Add a Legacy Network Adapter so that Acronis loader OS can make network connections.
Create a virtual disk of 40GB, and pre-create a 40GB partition within it. This is to allow Acronis True Image Echo to "auto-expand" the restoration of a 20GB partition to a bigger partition. If this is not done, it would only restore the 20GB partition and not make full use of the new disk.
Slot the Acronis Rescue Media CD into the drive, and attach it to the guest machine's virtual optical drive.
Turn on the guest.

NOTE: these screen shots do not illustrate all the dialog boxes and interface that occur during the restoration process. I only included those that require some commentary.

If everything at boot-up loaded correctly, the Acronis loader OS will launch the Acronis Rescue Media interface as above. I naturally picked Acronis True Image Echo Enterprise Server with Acronis Universal Restore (Full version).

The necessary files and drivers related to that option will be further loaded. As seen, this boot media is only loaded with Enterprise Server edition; the Workstation edition would be a separate CD burnt from, not surprisingly, the Workstation edition.

Once True Image Echo (with Universal Restore) loaded up, it was time to go into Recovery mode.

Since the backup image was located on another Windows system, I connected to it via regular Windows network share mechanism.

Once the image file is located, I get to pick with items within in the image (partition, MBR) I wish to restore. I choose only the primary (20GB) partition (not illustrated here).

Next I have to indicate where on the destination disk I wish to dump this backup partition. I chose to apply it on top of the 40GB partition I created. Again, I stress that at this stage of time, Acronis True Image Echo does not offer the feature of auto-expanding a backup partition onto a raw blank disk. So a pre-formatted partition is the most convenient way to upsize the old disk.

By default, using a Windows OS installer to pre-partition a disk would leave an unallocated 8MB slot to allow Windows for future expansion with Dynamic disks. True Image Echo would notice that, and ask how allocate the partition. Leave it as it is.

Obviously, restoring onto a completely new hardware platform requries me to use Acronis Universal Restore.

At this specific stage of time, there were no further drivers to be provided.

The final checklist prior to Proceeding with the actual restoration process.

Once it began restoring (note the size increase indicator), there was a warning dialog to be expected (below) later.

Universal Restore does not recognise the *VMBus device and asked for a driver. This device appeared to be the Virtual Machine Bus Network Adapter supplied by Hyper-V. This driver is supplied in Hyper-V Integration Services disc, so I could only install it after restoration and booting the OS in the new virtual machine.

After installing Integration Servces, the OS was able to use the ne VM Bus network adapter and use of the Legacy Network adapter could be disabled. And with that, my physical server has been transported to a new virtual hardware base.

I expected more things to break, so I was pleased that the process was reasonably smooth (other than the other gotchas mentioned). Acronis Universal Restore certainly made moving operating systems across hardware a lot easier. But of course, my server was not some complicated clustered setup, so your mileage may vary.

Virtual Server and parent differencing disk

icelava — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 15:50:17 GMT

Anybody has been eager to play with Visual Studio Orcas, and being wise about it, probably downloaded the virtual machine images, instead of the whopping 6GB DVD installers. If Virtual Server is used, no doubt many will be faced with the following error

The parent virtual hard disk "E:\VPC\TimeBombedBase\Base01.vhd" for the differencing virtual hard disk "E:\downloads\orcas\OrcasBeta1VSTS.vhd" does not exist. Please reconnect the differencing virtual hard disk to the correct parent virtual hard disk.

Microsoft based their releases on a base disk image, so one has to obtain that as well. The thing was I did not know how to alter the path of the parent disk so it could be relocated to a more convenient drive of my choice. I ended up duplicating that path on my server. Recently I discovered from discussions why I never saw this piece of data in the virtual machine's (vmc) properties - it is embedded in the disk file (vhd) itself.

In order to alter this path, goto to the Virtual Disks > Inspect section from Virtual Server's Master Status web page. Specify the path of the differencing vhd disk, and there will be the option Parent virtual hard disk(s) that is modifiable. No more corny directory names.

RDC: unpin connection bar forever

icelava — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 04:28:47 GMT

It is so infruriating. When working at home my desktop workstation is the primary "nerve centre"; controlling all other computers via the thank-God-it's-free Remote Desktop Connection. Since my workstation operates two monitors at 1680x1050 each, most connections are just standard windows floating around. Not so for my primary laptop, which runs at a matching 1680x1050 too. This I connect using full-screen mode, and by default the connection bar at the top is unpinned, so it slides out of view until I position the mouse cursor to the top again.

This is not the case with my laptop.

When I work outside and connect back home (to the desktop workstation), I naturally have to cut its desktop space of 3360x1050 to fit a full-screen resolution of 1680x1050 on my laptop display. That is fine, except the connection bar is always pinned. No matter how many times and different ways I unpin it, RDC on my laptop refuses to acknowledge my preference, stubbornly pinning the connection bar. Each and every time ET tells me to phone home. That I mention that it is so infruriating?

I compared the RDP file settings, I asked around for opinions. Nothing close to explaining why my desktop computer behaves the way I like it. Maybe because I pat and kiss it good night before I go to bed? Enough. I decided to poke around the Registry. Lo and behold, and interesting setting I found.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Terminal Server Client]
"PinConnectionBar"=dword:00000000

Presto. From now on, my laptop gets pats and kisses from me too. That must be the trick.