Windows Server How ToYour Windows Server Knowledge Base

Have you ever encountered this annoying window when trying to access Windows server 2003 via Remote Desktop connection?

It draws me mad every time i see it !

So  i`ll show you how can we get rid of it in a few seconds.

Lets say that session limit was reached on server named “Testserver”.

Login to another Windows server 2003 in your domain, open command line and type:

query session /server:Testserver

Press “Enter”

In output you will get information about taken sessions: what user is using it, session ID and status.

If you want to reset specific session note session ID you are going to reset. Lets say ID number is 2.

Open command line and the type following:

reset session 2 /server:Testserver

Press “Enter”

Thats all ! The road is clear for now…

Here is quick tip how to create dummy file with size of your choice using Windows server 2003 or Windows XP machine.

To do that i will use utility named “fsutil”. Basic syntax for creating a file is:

fsutil file createnew <name of file> <size in bytes>

For example following command:

fsutil file createnew C:\dummyfile.txt 1000000

will create 1Mb file named dummyfile.txt in C:\

Lets check quick tip how to find authoritative DHCP servers for your domain.

For this open command line in Windows Server 2003 and type:

netsh dhcp show server

Press “Enter” and you are done !

Easy as pie!

Do you know that Windows server 2003 and Windows Vista include command line tool called “takeown” that lets you take ownership of files and folders?

Takeown tool basic syntax is:

takeown /f <file or folder name>

For example to take ownership of file secret.doc which resides in C:\Docs\ open command line and type:

takeown /f C:\Docs\secret.doc

Thus, if you want to take ownership of a folder named C:\Docs, as well as any files and folders inside C:\Docs, you`ll type:

takeown /f C:\Docs /r

One more tip… if you want to avoid Windows asking you questions like “Do you really want to do that?”… add one more key:

takeown /f C:\Docs /r /d y

This post will show you how to find out which server is responsible for issuing certificates in your domain and get some additional information related to local certification authority.

To do it open command line on Windows computer and type:

certutil.exe -TCAinfo

Press “Enter” and you are done !

By default you cant do this in your Windows server 2003 based domain.

I found Microsoft article that will help you build custom group policy ADM templates and restrict access to USB, CD-ROM, Floppy Disk and LS-120 drivers.

Read it here

Enjoy

This post will show you how to use net share command to share folder.

Lets say we want to share “D:\Test” folder with share name “TestDocs”.

Open command line on your Windows server 2003 or Windows XP computer and type:

net share TestDocs=D:\Test

Press “Enter” button and you are done !

This post will show you how to install Active Directory schema configuration snap in for your Microsoft management console. For that you have two ways.

1. Install Windows server 2003 support tools package (supptools.msi) . It is located inyour OS CD  Support\Tools directory.

ADSI Edit will be automatically installed and registered by doing that.

2. If you want to install only ADSI Edit tool copy adsiedit.dll file from support tools into %systemroot% directory (default C:\Windows) .

Then click Start>Run and type regsvr32 adsiedit.dll

Press “OK”

This post will show you how to find Windows server 2008 with Terminal server role installed in your domain.

To perform search in domain named “Testdomain.com” domain open command line and type:

query termserver /domain:Testdomain.com

Press “Enter” and you are done !

By default Exchange server 2007 Stardart database size limit is 50Gb.

Exchange server 2007 Enterprise edition has no limit for database size.

In this post we will see how to change size for the mailbox database named “FirstDB”.

We will work with Exchange 2007 Standart “TestExchange” running on Windows server 2003.

First we need to retrieve GUID ID for “FirstDB” database, which can be found in FirstSG storage group.

To do it open exchange powershell and type:

Get-MailboxDatabase -Identity “TestExchange\FirstSG\FirstDB” | Format-Table Name, GUID

When you have GUID for your database open registry editor and navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeIS\TestExchange\Private-<database GUID>

If you can see DWORD value Database size limit in GB open it ant type your new limit for database in GB.

If value cannot be located, create new DWORD value with “Database size limit in GB” name and set value in GB.

Two days ago i have encountered following situation.

I have scheduled check disk for C: drive via command line on my Windows server 2003 because it was spitting some strange errors in event log about inconsistency of logical drive.

To check C: drive i have opened command line and typed:

chkdsk C: /f /r

to check logical disk,  locate bad sectors and recover any readable information if needed

After this i was asked if i want to schedule this procedure run after next restart as it cant perform this on running system.

I confirmed that by typing Y.

One hour after i foung buggy software that was the source of errors in event log and CHKDSK i scheduled earlier bacame needless.

After some googling i have found the way you can reset scheduled CHKDSK task.

For that you must open registry by typing regedit in command line.

Navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager

Can you see BootExecute string in there. I bet you do!

Open it and clear all value data by leaving only autocheck autochk *

Registry editor BootExecute string

And… press OK. After this registry editing your CHKDSK sheduled task will be canceled.

Thats it !

This post will show you quick way to change license key on your Windows server 2008 or Windows Vista using command line.

Lets say we want to change our license key to AAAAA-BBBBB-CCCCC-DDDDD-EEEEE (Note that this is not legal license key !!!) .

To change key open command line (Start>Run>cmd) and type:

slmgr -ipk AAAAA-BBBBB-CCCCC-DDDDD-EEEEE

Press “Enter” and You are done !