Windows Server How ToYour Windows Server Knowledge Base

Have you ever encountered error when using Distributed File System on your Windows server 2003 that states – your staging file is full?

I`ll show you how to fix that.

By default staging file limit is set to 675840Kb.

To change that open registry editor by typing regedit and navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Ntfrs\Parameters

Here you will see Binary value named “Staging Space limit in KB“.

Open it, change base to Decimal and enter your new value.

Press “OK”

Thats it!

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 how to edit remote access to the registry settings.

To make changes press “Start” then “Run” and type regedit.

In registry editor navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurePipeServer\winreg

Security permissions that are set on key “winreg” controls who can access registry remotely.

If you want to change current settings right click “winreg” key and choose Permissions.

In this “Permissions for winreg” window you can set who will be able to access registry remotely.

This quick post will show you how to enable remote desktop service by editing registry settings on your Windows server. To enable RD open registry editor and navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server

Double click on “fDenyTSConnections” and change Value data to 0 .

As you know, by default, group policy is being refreshed every 90 min + random time up to 30 min on domain members. And this refresh will occur only if group policy settings were modified.  In addition, every 960 min, security settings are being refreshed regardless of whether any changes to group policy were made. This post will show you how to modify time value for security settings refresh on you Windows server 2003 or Windows XP machine. To modify open registry editor and navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\GPExtensions\{827D319E-6EAC-11D2-A4EA-00C04F79F83A}

Double click on “MaxNoGPOListChangesInterval”, change base to Decimal and enter your new Data value in minutes.

Got this error few hours ago after i installed “R1 backup” agent on my Windows server 2003 secondary domain controller. R1 backup agent required restart after install. After i restarted server all shares became inaccessable and i got tons of these errors in “System” log:

***

Event Type:    Error
Event Source:    Srv
Event Category:    None
Event ID:    2011
Date:        5/14/2009
Time:        9:15:44 AM
User:        N/A
Computer:   Myserver
Description:
The server’s configuration parameter “irpstacksize” is too small for the server to use a local device.  Please increase the value of this parameter.

***

After some googling i found that i have to modify registry to return Windows server into normal state. To repair this error open registry editor and navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters

In the parameters folder mouse right click and select New>DWORD value. Type IRPStackSize as value name. Note that value name is case-sensitive. Double click newly created value to edit. Change base to decimal, enter 18 as value and press OK.

Close registry editor and restart “Server” service to apply new settings.

Server is back now!

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 show you how to delay services start by editing registry. This is usefull when you need to delay some services start in order your server initialize various protocols in right way. This can be done by creating service dependency. To perform it open registry editor on your Windows server 2003 (Start>Run, regedit) and navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services

Select service you want to create dependency for and create new Multi-String value named “DependOnService”. Open newly created value and type the name of the service or services you wish to start before this service. The name of the services is exactly as it is under “services” registry key.

This post will show you how to disable initial configuration task list to start every time you reboot your Windows server 2008. To do it open registry editor (Start>Run, regedit) and navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\ServerManager\Oobe

There you will find value named DoNotOpenInitialConfigurationTasksAtLogon. To disable task list to start edit its value and change 1 to 0.

If, for some reason, you want to disable automatic java update popup this how to is for you. To do it open registry editor (Start>Run>regedit) on your Windows server 2003 and navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\JavaSoft\Java Update\Policy

Double click on “EnableJavaUpdate” and change value from 1 to 0.

This post will show you how to use command line in Windows server 2008 Core and set your server DNS suffix by operating on registry.

To set your DNS suffix to mydomain.com open command line and type:

reg add HKLM\System\currentcontrolset\services\tcpip\parameters /v “NV Domain” /d “mydomain.com” /f