Mind Circus

Some brief notes on how to change the source UNC path in a GPSI GPO

Instructions are for Server 2008.

Backup the GPO…

1. Open up “Group Policy Management” console
2. Find the GPO with the GPSI source UNC you’d like to change
3. Right click it, choose “Backup”
4. Back up the GPO a directory, eg C:\GPOs\

Now we need to edit the GPO and change the UNC…

1. In the GPMC left-hand pane, click on Domains
2. In the GPMC toolbar, click on Actions, then Open Migration Table Editor
3. In the Migration Table Editor, click on “Tools” then “populate from Backup”
4. Choose the backup you want to change
5. In the Table Editor, change the Destination name to the new UNC path
6. Now we need to save the migration table.
7. Click File, Save.
8. Save the file as something meaningful, preferably in C:\GPOs\

Now we need to apply the new settings…

1. Go back to the Group Policy Management Console
2. Find the GPO you need to change and Right-click on it
3. Choose “Import Settings…”
4. Click Next twice.
5. Browse to your backup folder (C:\GPOs)
6. Confirm the GPO backup whose settings you want to import, then click next.
7. After the scan is complete, click Next
8. Now we need to apply the Migration Table mapping:
   1. Choose “Using this migration table…”
   2. Browse to your migration table settings that you saved earlier.
   3. Now click Next, and then Finish
   4. That’s it!

If you’re trying to run Dell’s SUU on a Linux box and get the error “Another instance of SUU is already running”, check out this FAQ

I have summarised the steps below:

chattr -i /var/log/dell/suu/suu.lck
rm -f /var/log/dell/suu/suu.lck

You can then run SUU

Currently playing with Sharepoint 2007 to enable our Execs to collaborate on documents and ran into this PITA

Problem:

You can’t install SharePoint 2007 with SP1 on to a fresh copy of Server 2008 R2. You get a “This program is blocked due to compatibility issues” message, and asked to look at KB Article 962935 (which doesn’t actually exist at the time of writing!)

Solution:

You’ll need to slipstream Sharepoint 2007 SP2 into the Setup file. Brief summary is below:

Download the following…

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Trial Version (x64)

Sharepoint 2007 Service pack 2 (x64)

Perform the following…

1. Extract OfficeServerwithSP1.exe by executing “OfficeServerwithSP1.exe /extract:C:\Sharepoint2007\”
2. Delete all the files inside C:\Sharepoint2007\Updates\
3. Extract officeserver2007sp2-kb953334-x64-fullfile-en-us by executing “officeserver2007sp2-kb953334-x64-fullfile-en-us /extract:C:\Sharepoint2007\Updates\”
4. Run C:\Sharepoint2007\setup.exe

Now you can install Sharepoint 2007 on Server 2008 R2!

Full instructions/references:

MSDN Blog
Technet Social

If you have Windows 7 with Bitlocker enabled, and are sometimes unable to shutdown your PC properly, check out this article: http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/GettingReadyforWindows7/thread/66b6e093-9de7-4e76-84cf-322bd1e35f22

The hotfix is available here: http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=975496&kbln=en-us

Symptoms for us were that Windows 7 itself would shut down, but the power would not be switched off from the laptop, leaving it running (often with the fans whizzing away and LEDs on)

If Windows 7 and Vista won’t work “properly” with your SAMBA servers, give this a try:

1. Create a new Group Policy Object in GPMC, and give it a name. I chose “Samba Compatibility”.
2. Edit the GPO…
3. Navigate to : Computer Configuration > Policies > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options > Network Security
4. Now edit the setting “Network security: LAN Manager Authentication level”, and change it to “Send LM & NTLM – use NTLMv2 session security if negotiated”.
5. Apply that GPO to the appropriate OU, and you’re away*

* People will probably need to reboot for the changes to take effect.

Key symptoms we saw were Vista/Win7 rejecting the initial connection, prompting for a username and password, then rejecting the domain credentials you just entered. This fixes those issues!