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Windows 7: Use Bitlocker to Go as replacement for TrueCrypt
Jul 5th
For several years I used TrueCrypt based encryption to secure my data. Since the release of Windows 7 and enhancements in the disk management I now see the possibility to replace TrueCrypt. How? Well I would create a VHD fixed disk and encrypt this virtual volume with Bitlocker to Go.
Note: before you start please make sure you are running Windows 7 Enterprise or Windows 7 Ultimate version
- Start Computer Management
- Click Disk Management and right click
- Click Create VHD
- Enter the VHD filename and location; the Virtual disk size and set the format to fixed size. The disk will be encrypted so you need to set it fixed. Click OK.
- New volume is created now. Please initialize the disk, create new SIMPLE volume, choose drive letter and format it as NTFS.
- After following the steps new disk should appear in Windows Explorer.
- Go to Windows Explorer and right click on the new created drive. Choose Turn on Bitlocker…
- Check Use a password to unlock the drive and type your password. Click Next
- Save the recovery key to a secure location. I would recommend to print it out and keep this somewhere offsite! Click Next
- Click Start Encryption to encrypt the VHD disk.
- Depending on the selected size the VHD disk will be encrypted.
If you running on a installation of Windows 7 Enterprise of Windows 7 Ultimate than Bitlocker to Go is available for you and you can secure your DATA with the proposed solution. I am not going to share this VHD with other operating systems like OSX or Linux, but If I would need to access the secured volume with non windows 7 based system I would always use a virtual machine based on Win7.
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Loading ...AppV Sequencing: Microsoft Project 2010
May 26th
If you are using Microsoft AppV technology and planning to sequence Office 2010, Visio 2010 or Project 2010 please make sure you install the Microsoft Office 2010 Deployment Kit for App-V binaries.
Today with a co-worker we were working on sequencing Project 2010 and at some point during the installation we’ve got the following error message.
Error 1920. Service Office Software Protection Platform (osppsvc) failed to start. Verify that you have sufficient privileges to start system services.
Microsoft Project 2010 uses the Office Software Protection Platform (SPP) service that basically is the same activation technology that is used to activate volume editions of Windows Vista and Windows 7. This service in contained in the Microsoft Office 2010 Deployment Kit for App-V. Before you sequence Project 2010, this service must be installed and configured on the sequencing server. It must also be installed on any client computers that you want to stream Project 2010. For more information please read Prescriptive guidance for sequencing Office 2010 in Microsoft App-V.
To download Microsoft Office 2010 Deployment Kit for App-V click here.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Windows Virtual PC : Attach a floppy drive (VFD)
Mar 13th
Windows Virtual PC by default does not support to add a Virtual Floppy drive. This feature has been removed from the GUI and hidden from general public. Windows Virtual PC still allows you to attach and work with VFD files but now you need to complete some steps from Command Prompt before your can work with them.
Example of the my “Windows XP Mode” virtual machine settings. As you can see no floppy.
Microsoft guys created a script which still allows you to attach a VFD file, but you still need to create a VFD file from scratch before you can continue. Download the Floppy Drive Scripts.zip.
C:\Scripts\vm>cscript FloppyDrive.vbs
Microsoft (R) Windows Script Host Version 5.8
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Missing command-line argument
Usage: FloppyDrive.vbs /vm:”Name of virtual machine to be started”
/action:info – to display information about the current floppy configuration
disconnect – to disconnect any attached floppy disk or floppy disk image
vfd – to attach a virtual floppy disk image
physical – to attach a physical floppy disk
/floppy:name – where name is either the full name and path for a virtual
floppy disk or the letter of a physical disk to attach
After running FloppyDrive.vbs you see that there a action to attach a vfd file. After providing right parameters I got the following message:
cscript FloppyDrive.vbs /vm:"Windows XP Mode" /action:vfd /floppy:"C:\mklinks\floppy.vfd"
Attaching C:\mklinks\floppy.vfd to the floppy drive.
C:\Scripts\vm\FloppyDrive.vbs(113, 3) (null): The system cannot find the file specified
The script does not create my floppy drive and therefore I installed the WinImage tool.
Create new file and save the file as floppy.vfd.
Now I re-run my FloppyDirve.vbs script and the file was attached.
If I open the VMC file now I can see my virtual floppy has been added to the configuration. Without the VB script this can be added manually and will perform same actions as the script.
<floppy id=”0″>
<pathname>
<absolute type=”string”>C:\mklinks\floppy.vfd</absolute>
<relative type=”string”>..\..\..\..\..\..\..\mklinks\floppy.vfd</relative>
</pathname>
</floppy>
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Exchange 2007: How to export mailbox with management shell?
Feb 1st
After releasing Exchange Server Service Pack 1 (SP1) Microsoft added new functionality called Export-Mailbox cmdlet for Exchange Management Shell.
The Export-Mailbox cmdlet exports all message types, including messages, calendar items, contacts, distribution lists, journal entries, tasks, notes, and documents. However, the Export-Mailbox cmdlet does not export rules.
To export data from a .pst file, you must run the Export-Mailbox cmdlet from a 32-bit computer that has the 32-bit version of the Exchange management tools and Outlook 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2) or Outlook 2007 installed.
Well all prerequisites were in place; I opened the Exchange Management Shell and run the following command line:
[PS] C:\Documents and Settings\admin>Export-Mailbox -identity user1 -PSTFolderPath c:\user1.pst
Confirm
Are you sure you want to perform this action?
Exporting mailbox content from the mailbox ‘Gaag, van der Rob’ into .pst file ‘c:\gaagr.pst’. This operation may take a long time to
complete.
[Y] Yes [A] Yes to All [N] No [L] No to All [S] Suspend [?] Help (default is "Y"): y
Export-Mailbox : Error was found for User1 (user1(at)networknet.nl) because: Error occurred in the step: Moving messages. Failed to copy messages to the destination mailbox store with error:
MAPI or an unspecified service provider.
ID no: 00000000-0000-00000000, error code: -1056749164
At line:1 char:15
+ Export-Mailbox <<<< -identity user1 -PSTFolderPath c:\user1.pst
+ CategoryInfo : InvalidOperation: (0:Int32) [Export-Mailbox], RecipientTaskException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : DFCFF30D,Microsoft.Exchange.Management.RecipientTasks.ExportMailbox
The export failed. After reading some posts on Google I found the solution myself. I tried to export my own mailbox which worked fine so the problem has to be within the permissions set. To get full access run the Add-MailboxPermissions cmdlet.
Add-MailboxPermission -identity user1 -Accessrights FULLACCESS -User admin
Export-Mailbox -identity user1 -PSTFolderPath c:\user1.pst
With these steps I can develop a procedure to backup mailboxes when they are removed from the system.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Windows Server 2008 R2 : enable wireless networking?
Jan 31st
When installing Windows Server 2008 R2 out of the box the configuration does not support wireless networking. If drivers are available Windows will find them with plug and play installation but not enable the functionality. Since Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 supports booting from a VHD file from local disks I am now building a standard image which I will use for testing and development. The new VHD boot feature is amazing in helping IT professionals having multiple VHD files which they can boot from. Last night I needed to update my system with all latest patches and system settings therefore I needed to access the Internet without any wired connection.
Not connected. No Connections are available after checking my adapters.
Microsoft released new tool named DISM.exe (Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool) which ships with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.
DISM enumerates, installs, uninstalls, configures, and updates features and packages in Windows images. The commands that are available depend on the image being serviced and whether the image is offline or running.
Open elevated command prompt and query all available features “dism /online /get-features /format:table”
WirelessNetworking is disabled. To enable this feature execute “dism /online /enable-feature:WirelessNetworking”
dism enables the WirelessNetworking feature and after I check my available wireless network connections the WIFI networks are not shows.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Windows 7: USB/DVD Download Tool
Dec 15th
If you are planning to deploy and install Windows 7 on your computer systems and you are downloading ISO files than this tool can help you in creating the USB or DVD’s installation files. Now days I only download the ISO file from MSDN of the Microsoft Volume Licensing websites.
The Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool allows you to create a copy of your Windows 7 ISO file on a USB flash drive or a DVD. To create a bootable DVD or USB flash drive, download the ISO file and then run the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool. Once this is done, you can install Windows 7 directly from the USB flash drive or DVD.
To download the tool please click here. Run the setup, next and install.
Start the “Windows 7 USB DVD Download Tool” shortcut from the menu.
Browse the iso file and click next.
Choose USB drive or DVD.
Select your removable drive and click Begin copying.
That’s it! Insert the USB drive and power the system, change the boot order and select the removable drive.
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