Windows Server How ToYour Windows Server Knowledge Base

I hate this one really…

Then path to file exceeds 255 symbols it becames corrupted and you can have very hard time to delete or rename it.

Ok, how to deal with this.

At this case you have three choices:

1. Dont use too long paths! Use short names for you folders and avoid naming folders this way:

“Very important documents for financial department that were copied from local storage at 20080607″

2. If you did already,  you can try to follow path to file and try to rename some very long folder names to shorter one.

3. You can use third party software that will run on your Windows server 2003, Windows XP and even older machines to deal with these files.

One of really great and free utils is “DelinvFile”.

You can download it from here .

If you want to test quick way how to query your Global Catalogs open command line on Windows server 2003 and type:

dsquery server -isgc

Press “Enter” button and you are done !

I`ll show you how to create very nice .bat script which will defragment your disks and generate report in log file.

This script was tested on Windows server 2003 or Windows XP machines.

Ok then, lets say you want to defragment C: and D: disks every Monday and Friday starting job at 10:00pm.

Also you want to store log file on C:\Tools folder.

OK, lets open notepad and copy paste this text:

@Ecxo off
Set logfile=C:\Tools\defrag.log
Echo Start %date%,%time% >>%logfile%
Echo *************************** >>%logfile%
Echo Defragmenting C: disk >>%logfile%
Echo. >>%logfile%
defrag.exe c: -f >>%logfile%
Echo *************************** >>%logfile%
Echo Defragmenting D: disk >>%logfile%
Echo. >>%logfile%
defrag.exe d: -f >>%logfile%
Echo *************************** >>%logfile%
Echo Finished %date%,%time% >>%logfile%
Echo *************************** >>%logfile%

Save this file as Defrag.bat and place it to C:\Tools folder

Now open command line and shedule defragmenting by typing:

at 10:00pm /every:M,F C:\Tools\Defrag.bat

Press “Enter”

And we are finished !

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 spy on other users using Windows computer.

For this purpose we tested software named “Detective Dominator”.

“Detective Dominator” is a stealth keylogger that will provides you  with necessary confidence in monitoring PC and internet activity.  Whether you want to monitor your computer while you are away, retrieve lost information, or monitor your children’s activity it is really nice keylogger software for the job.

If you have your own business this tool can help you for the perfect employee monitoring software.  As per developer this software for pc usage monitoring allows you to find out virtually everything that happens on the computer…

If you are interested read more about “Detective Dominator”  Here .

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”