Windows Server How ToYour Windows Server Knowledge Base

This post will help you to create first domain controller in your domain. Lets say we have  Windows Server 2003 named “testserver” and our task is to create first domain controller for our domain named “testdomain.lan”.

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1 STEP – TCP/IP SETUP

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First of all we need to asign static IP address to our future domain controller. To do it go to “Network Connections”, select Network card and open TCP/IP properties. In my example i`ll assign these values:

IP address: 10.0.0.2
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
Default gateway: 10.0.0.1
Preferred DNS server: 10.0.0.2

Make sure that Preferred  DNS server points to your IP address:

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2 STEP – DNS SERVICE SETUP

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Next step is to configure DNS server for your future domain. For that press Start and click Run. Type appwiz.cpl and press OK. Click “Add/Remove Windows Components”.

In “Windows Components Wizard” windows select “Networking Services” and press “Details…”.

In “Networking Services” window check “Domain Name System (DNS)”  and press OK.

Wait for DNS install to finish its work. When setup is over press Start>Programs>Administrative Tools>DNS. In DNS management right click “Forward Lookup Zones” and select “New Zone”.

Select “Primary Zone” as zone type and press “Next”. In “Zone name:” window type your domain name. In our example it is testdomain.lan.

Press “Next” two times. In “Dynamic Update” section select “Allow both nonsecure and secure updates” option and press “Next”. Press “Finish” to complete new zone creation.

After you succesfully created Forward lookup zone lets create new Reverse lookup zone for you domain. For that right click on “Reverse Lookup Zones” in DNS management and select “New zone”.

In “Zone type” section leave “Primary Zone” selected and press “Next”.

In “Reverse Lookup Zone Name” window type your network ID. It is first three octets of your network IP address. In our example it will be 10.0.0

Press “Next” two times. In “Dynamic Update” section select “Allow both nonsecure and secure updates” option and press “Next”. Press “Finish” to complete new zone creation.

DNS server configuration is completed for now and we can proceed with domain controller set up.

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3 STEP – DCPROMO

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Last step is to run dcpromo command to setup your domain controller. Press Start>Run, type dcpromo and press OK. Press “Next” two times until you reach “Domain controller type” section. Make sure you select “Domain controller for a new domain” as you are setting up first domain controller. Press “Next”. In next window select “Domain in a new forest” option and press “Next”.

In “New Domain name” window enter your domain name as “Full DNS name for new domain”. In our example it will be testdomain.lan :

Press “Next”. In “NetBIOS domain name” section press “Next”. In “Database and Log Folders” windows leave defaults and press “Next”. In “Shared system volume” window press “Next”. If 1 and 2 STEPS were configured correctly you`ll get similar window:

Press “Next”. In “Permissions” section leave default “Permissions compatible only with Windows 2000 or Windows server 2003 operating systems” option unless you are planing to use legacy server systems in your domain. Press “Next”.

In “Directory Services Restore Mode Administrator password” section enter password for DSRM. This mode is needed when you want to troubleshoot active directory database problems or restoring deleted AD objects. Press “Next”.

In “Summary” screen review your domain configuration one more time and press “Next” to start Active Directory creation process.

After process is over you will get following window:

Press “Finish” and restart your server.  Note that after restart from now on you have option to login to newly created domain.

WELL DONE !!!

This post will show you how to disable NetBIOS over TCP/IP on your Windows server 2003. NetBIOS over TCP/IP is a must for legacy windows os (pre windows 2000) and applications based on NetBIOS resolving. If you dont have any of these you can get rid of NetBIOS in a few clicks.

To disable NETBIOS over TCP/IP click Start>Settings>Network Connections. Right click desired network adapter and select properties.  Select “Internet protocol (TCP/IP)” in “General” tab and press “Properties”. Now press “Advanced” in “General” tab. Select “WINS” tab in “Advanced TCP/IP Settings” window. Under “NetBIOS setting” select “Disable NetBIOS over TCP/IP” and press OK two times.

This quick how to will show you the way to ged rid of Dumprep.exe which is responsible for error logging to a file and sending to Microsoft. When serious error hits your system you always get prompt to notify Microsoft by sending error code to it. In some cases this prompting may result performance issues on your system. If you want to disable Dumprep.exe open command line on your Windows XP and type:

REG DELETE HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run /V Dumprep /F\

Press Enter.

After that restart your computer.

This post will guide you how to boot your OS into safe mode. If you are not able to boot you machine into normal mode you need to boot safe mode and then troubleshoot any issues you encounter. Safe mode will bypass many normal windows settings and startup programs allowing you to fix OS. To get into SAFE mode press  F8 key several times when your computer is booting. This will bring “Windows advanced options menu” and you will be able to select “Safe Mode”.  Note that you`ll be presented with several Safe mode options:

“Safe Mode” – basic safe mode option, it has no additional support and is recommended in most cases.

“Safe Mode with Command Prompt” – advanced safe mode option with command line access.

“Safe Mode with Networking” – advanced safe mode option with network access. Very useful if you need to download new drivers or OS updates during troubleshoot process.

In this short post i will show how to reset Windows time service if it is not working properly on your Windows server 2003 or Windows XP machine. To perform reset open command line ant type:

w32tm /unregister press Enter

w32tm /register press Enter