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    • Squid Proxy SSL HTTPS non standard ports

    2010 - 05.07

    Tags: , , , , , , Category Geek | No Comments »

    It’s amazing at how elusive some of the simplest things can be. For a few days I’ve struggled to work out why I can’t proxy to non-standard SSL/HTTPS ports using Squid.

    Well it turns out that I either didn’t look close enough at the config file, or there’s a serious lack of documentation on this matter. Maybe a little of both (and I tried the IRC channel for #squid on Freenode, idlers galore!).

    Well, it’s this simple: I want to connect to a new HTTPS server which I have set the port to as 4444 for Exchange OWA. Squid will give you a configuration error or a not allowed message when you try to proxy to any port other than 443 which is the standard allowed SSL.

    To fix this, add your port to the line in the config file:

    acl SSL_ports port 443

    so it becomes

    acl SSL_ports port 443 4444

    /etc/init.d/squid3 reload

    That’s it, job done.

    Exchange 2007 OWA on non standard port

    2010 - 05.06

    Tags: , , , , , , Category Geek | No Comments »

    I don’t know about you, but I’m planning on removing my old Exchange and I can’t be bothered to flap about backend and front-end, redirects and all that crap. As I move my users from 2003 to 2007 I want a nice easy transition. Outlook does this fine and copes, but obviously OWA changes.

    Rather than worry about certificates, I decided just to open up another port for external and push that through to the new Exchange server. To do this, do the following:

    1) On your Router, go to NAT and set port forwarding to be external port 4444 to go to your Exchange servers IP and port 443.

    2) On your MSExchange server, open IIS Admin, right click “Default Web Site”, properties. Set the HTTPS port to 4444. Apply, OK. Fire up a CMD window and type “iisreset /restart /noforce”.

    3) Open Exchange Management Console, Server Configuration, Client Access, choose the server in the top pane and then open the properties of OWA in the bottom pane. Set the External URL to https://your_ip:4444/owa

    Click Apply, OK.

    That’s it, you should now be able to navigate to your external IP/owa on port 4444 and open mailboxes on that exchange box without a hitch.

    Windows 7 always logs in with temporary profile

    2010 - 04.07

    Tags: , , , , , Category Geek | 1 Comment »

    Oh yes, Microsoft gets better with time. This time it’s the illusive Windows Roaming profiles compatibility issue. If you’re running a Windows 2000/2003 domain you’ll certainly run in to this one.

    Windows 7 requires an extra profile location created with .v2 splattered on the end of it. For example, John Doe signs up to your company, you create his user and push his profile to:

    \\myserver\profiles\john.doe

    You set that location in your AD under the profile tab too. You log him in to XP, it’s all cool. He logs in to the Windows 7 pro box and Windows goes “Windows has logged you in with a temporary profile as I’m lame and don’t have a clue.” You check the event log, you get some random crap about it not having rights. Here’s the fix, create:

    \\myserver\profiles\john.doe
    \\myserver\profiles\john.doe.v2

    Give John access rights to both directories and don’t forget to allow System and Administrators those rights too. Now when you log in, Windows 7 will say “Happy days”.

    Tada.

    Join the forum discussion on this post

    Working Windows 7 Sysprep

    2010 - 04.01

    Tags: , , , , Category Geek | No Comments »

    I don’t know about you but I’m finding more and more that Microsoft only want the good paying folks of the world to have access to their maniacal documentation and phone support, while writing some of the worst coding known to man.

    I’m not referring to Windows for a change, this time I’m aiming a swipe at Windows 7 Sysprep and the Hell it’s put me through to get it to work correctly. I have total respect for this blog: http://blog.brianleejackson.com

    Brian wrote a complete how to for the common man with input from other frustrated IT people. When I stumbled upon this blog I was all ready knee deep in MS documentation regarding Windows PE3 and the Sysprep process. Unlike the MS wording, his is straight cut and doesn’t give you all the crap you don’t need. I worked through his Sysprep guide (v2) and found that it did what it said on the tin. It’s been a great starting point…

    Now, I needed to do some additional work to the image where Brian hasn’t. At the end of his tutorial you have a working Windows 7 image that will roll to most hardware, this is great stuff; but I need to join a domain and depending on the location of the PC I need it to go in to different OUs. Inside of the sysprep.xml file I have added all the information required to make it join, but will it? Will it Hell. You gotta love MS, the WAIK DVD you download and install is painful. I don’t mind it too much as it’s all command line based which suits me down to the ground, but when features they write it just plain don’t work you tend to turn grey and start pulling chunks of your hair out.

    So, I’ve attached 3 files to this post, my sysprep.xml file with a few bits I’ve removed such as activation keycode and name of my company, you’ll need to add those yourself; my joindomain.vbs script which will join the PC to the domain as the final task of the build process and my SetupComplete.cmd file. Please edit the sysprep.xml in WAIK and set your settings as required.

    WAIK Files as Required

    Join the forum discussion on this post

    Access your local USB devices in remote Terminal Server se

    2010 - 03.15

    Tags: , Category Geek | No Comments »

    Brothersoft Editor: WakeOnLan discovers all other computers in your LAN, and enables you to wake them up by clicking a button. If your remote computer is a Mac you can put it asleep too. you can free download WakeOnLan 0.99 now.

    http://freesofty.com/review.asp?p=Free_ … iiii_81957

    Windows Mail missing from the default programs listing

    2010 - 03.11

    Tags: Category Geek | No Comments »

    Found this problem afta a vista reinstal windows mail had vanished, the link was in my programs menu but the link led to nowhere. found this simple fix.

    When you open Default Programs applet, and click Set your default programs link, Windows Mail may be missing from the list of programs.

    To reinstate Windows Mail entry to the default programs listing, follow these steps:

    * Download mailclients.reg from the Attachments section below, and save to Desktop
    * Right-click mailclients.reg and choose Merge
    * If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation
    * Click Yes to continue.

    http://www.winhelponline.com/downloadattachment.php?aId=15d07b24bfb57425f1e72018886ed035&articleId=220

    problem sorted

    MS Exchange 2007 ISAPI error

    2010 - 03.10

    Tags: , , , , , Category Geek | No Comments »

    We all love a bit of complaining about Microsoft and then they went out and made sure we’d bitch, by allowing 32bit and 64bit .NET apps with a plugin to IIS, and then not allow them to run concurrently.

    The trap I’ve fallen in to is that I am suffering with the amazing Service Unavailable screen on my OWA. The event log is screaming at me with W3SVC-WP errors:

    ISAPI Filter ‘C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\\aspnet_filter.dll’ could not be loaded due to a configuration problem. The current configuration only supports loading images built for a AMD64 processor architecture. The data field contains the error number. To learn more about this issue, including how to troubleshooting this kind of processor architecture mismatch error, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=29349.

    For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

    —–

    Okay, so we know this sucks. Finding the info to fix can be a little tricky so here, fire up a cmd shell and run these 2 lines:

    cscript %SYSTEMDRIVE%\inetpub\adminscripts\adsutil.vbs SET W3SVC/AppPools/Enable32bitAppOnWin64 0

    %SYSTEMROOT%\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v2.0.50727\aspnet_regiis.exe -i

    The first line allows 64bit only, the second reinstalls asp .NET.

    Go take a look at your OWA or Exchange web services and they should be back to normal.

    ReadyBoost

    2010 - 03.05

    Tags: , , Category Geek | No Comments »

    ReadyBoost

    ReadyBoost has been called a “gimmick” by many because they misunderstand what it’s supposed to do (see links below). For systems with less than 3GB of RAM, I’ll tell you here and now you can increase the responsiveness of Vista by taking advantage of it.

    ReadyBoost is not:

    - a replacement for an adequate amount of system memory

    - a replacement for the page file (it works in tandem with it)

    How Do You Use It?

    Open up Computer > right-click on the drive that you want to use and choose Properties > click the ReadyBoost tab > click Use this device > optionally choose how much of the device to use.

    tip – Use a USB port in the back of your computer. Yep, I broke a drive sticking out of the front when I bumped into it (dooh!)

    ReadyBoost Spec’s & FAQ

    Type of drive – USB 2.0 flash drive (often called a thumb drive) or SD card. See: Grant Gibson’s ReadyBoost Compatibility List – http://www.grantgibson.co.uk/misc/readyboost/

    Space needed – min. 256 MB, max 4 GB (because ReadyBoost can compact this data this can yield up to 512 MB and 8 GB respectively)

    recommended, ratio 1:1 to 2.5:1 (2 GB RAM would be 2 GB – 4 GB of flash drive)

    How many drives can I use? – One (man, I would love to see someone come up with a way to RAID a couple of drives for this!)

    Security risk? – No, the data is encrypted.

    Restore Point Creation Disabled by Group Policy

    2010 - 03.04

    Tags: Category Geek | No Comments »

    As a result, you’re unable to create System Restore Points or configure System Restore.
    Resolution

    This happens if the Turn off Configuration Policy is enabled in your system, either using Group Policy or through registry edit. For standalone Windows Vista systems, use these steps:

    Using the Group Policy Editor

    If your edition of Windows Vista includes the Group Policy Editor snap-in (gpedit.msc), follow these steps:

    1. Click Start, type gpedit.msc and press ENTER

    2. Go to the following branch:
    Computer Configuration | Administrative Templates | System | System Restore

    3. Double-click Turn off Configuration and set it to Not configured.

    Note: If the above setting is already set to Not configured, set it to Enabled and click Apply. Then revert back the setting to Not configured, and click Apply, OK.

    4. Exit the Group Policy Editor.

    Using the Registry Editor

    1. Click Start, type regedit.exe and press ENTER

    2. Navigate to the following key:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \ Policies \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ SystemRestore

    3. In the right-pane, delete the value named DisableConfig

    4. Exit the Registry Editor.

    Registry Fix

    To automate the above setting, download srpol-clear.reg and save to Desktop. Right-click on the file and choose Merge.
    More Information

    If you set the Turn of configuration option to Enabled, the option to configure System Restore on the Configuration Interface disappears. If the Turn off Configuration setting is disabled, the configuration interface is still visible, but all System Restore configuration defaults are enforced, and the Create button is grayed out. If you set it to Not configured, the configuration interface for System Restore remains, and the user has the ability to configure System Restore.

    Dell D600 password removal

    2010 - 02.27

    Tags: , , , Category Geek | 2 comments

    My Pa was recently given a Dell D600 laptop which was locked with a bios power-on password, it was his to keep for free because there was no way of removing it with software and Dell had said that the owner would have to pay to have it removed but also show proof of purchase.

    That wasn’t going to happen.  I consulted the internet for ages, coming up blank.  My Pa pulled the BIOS battery and normal battery, dumped it in the freezer for 4 days and see if it would forget about the password as had been suggested as this does work on car stereo’s, well, it used to.  Needless to say it was a fruitless effort.

    Today I came by and he said he was about to dump it so I decided to have another look around and see what I could see.  Turns out that the way Dell store BIOS configs is in a flash chip.  The flash chip on this particular model is the 24C02 and is located just beneath the PCMCIA bay.  All you need is a paperclip or hair pin, a small screw driver and some balls to actually rip apart the lappy.

    You can find a fanastic guide on how to do this here:  http://www.weeklygripe.co.uk/a709.asp

    Proof of the pudding, my Pa now has a working Dell D600 laptop that is currently installing Mint Linux.  If you get stuck just request some info here and I’ll help as much as I can.

    If it helps though, find the 24C02 chip located below the PCMCIA bay under the black tape (peel it back), short pins 3 and 6 with a paperclip or hair pin, hold it in place while you push the mains power in and then push the power button on the lappy.

    The Chip

    Wait 10 seconds or so, pull the power.  Then take out the jumper, push it back in and turn on.  Hopefully you’ll be greeted with this screen instead:

    Bios Screen

    Tada.  Put it back together and away you go.

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