Here's a useful script for those, like me, that use SysPrep'ed images to create new virtual machines and also leverage Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) to keep machines up-to-date with the latest patches. Reset WSUS for SysPrep Image.cmd net stop wuauserv reg.exe delete HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE...

In my previous post , I explained how I like to create separate VHDs for data and log files in my SharePoint development VMs. However, given the very small amount of content that I typically load into a SharePoint development environment, these VHDs certainly don't need to be very large. In the past...

In the United States, "CDL" typically refers to a Commercial Driver's License -- but since I don't drive trucks for a living, I use the acronym for something entirely different. To me, these three letters correspond to the minimum number of drives I like to see on any server running SharePoint Server...

One of the things I like most about running System Center Operations Manager in the "Jameson Datacenter" (a.k.a. my home lab) is that it greatly reduces the amount of effort required to monitor numerous servers. For example, in my environment I am currently monitoring 10 servers 24x7. To some infrastructure...

Each time I create (or recreate) a virtual machine in Hyper-V using one of my SysPrep'ed images , I usually end up having to do a quick Internet search for: device manager show hidden devices I'm a little embarrassed to say that I simply can't remember the environment variable that I need to set...

A couple of years ago, I wrote a post about issues I encountered deploying Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 due to insufficient disk space on various VMs in the the "Jameson Datacenter" (a.k.a. my home lab). This morning I encountered similar issues when attempting to install Windows Server 2008...

This morning I rolled back one of my development VMs to a snapshot I created about a month ago. When I subsequently tried to login with my domain credentials, I encountered the following error: The trust relationship between this workstation and the primary domain failed. I did a quick Internet...

Earlier this week, I posted about how I rebuilt my Windows 7 desktop while installing a new solid-state drive (SSD). This morning, I thought I would share some performance numbers that I gathered from the various disk configurations that I currently have running in the " Jameson Datacenter " (a.k...

...make darn sure you have already installed the Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7 (if you want to use them, of course). Otherwise, like me, you'll likely resort to nuking your desktop and starting over. Earlier this week, I posted about how I rebuilt my Windows 7 desktop while installing...

Several years ago, while working on the "Frontier" project at Agilent Technologies , I encountered a scenario where I needed to quickly identify logon failures on the site. The Agilent site was (and I believe still is) based on Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007, and used Forms-Based Authentication...

In the current sprint of the project I'm working on, we are deploying Office Web Apps to support an enterprise collaboration platform based on SharePoint Server 2010. While creating the installation guide for this sprint, I used the following TechNet article as a reference for the section on installing...

Update (2010-08-05) Note that I was unable to reproduce the virus infection after installing Soluto on a different environment. I encourage you to read my next post instead of -- or in addition to -- this post. In one of the sessions I attended last week at TechReady (an internal training conference...

I added a new item to my Toolbox this weekend -- LC ISO Creator . It's not fancy, or even supported, but it is free and it appears to do what it is supposed to without issue, specifically creating an ISO image from an existing CD-ROM or DVD-ROM. There's no setup program, just a tiny EXE (and ReadMe file...

Windows Update started generating errors last week on one of my servers. Specifically, the server (JUBILEE) was encountering an error when trying to install Microsoft .NET Framework 4: Log Name: System Source: Microsoft-Windows-WindowsUpdateClient Date: 6/30/2010 3:03:25 AM Event ID: 20 Task...

[Sorry the blog has been relatively silent this month -- but, on the other hand, I did manage to make time for a vacation to Arizona this month (Sedona, Grand Canyon, and then Scottsdale). It was a little hot, but a wonderful trip nonetheless.] Here's an email that I sent last month regarding an issue...

This past weekend, I upgraded my Team Foundation Server (TFS) 2008 environment to TFS 2010. I also upgraded the TFS project sites to SharePoint Server 2010. Why the SharePoint upgrade? The TFS project sites previously ran on Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (WSS v3) -- not Microsoft Office SharePoint...

A little over two years ago, I wrote a post about installing Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 , in which I mentioned setting the MaxPatchCacheSize registry setting to 0 (in order to save some significant disk space while installing the service pack). [Note that the credit for this trick really goes...

I've mentioned in the past how I run a Windows Server 2003 mail server in order to use the POP3 service for basic e-mail functionality, and that I didn't have any interest in finding an alternative when I discovered POP3 is no longer available in Windows Server 2008. Well, I guess I need to start investing...

In a previous post , I noted how the " Jameson Datacenter " (a.k.a. my home lab) currently runs two domain controllers (DCs) on a couple of VMs. If you choose to virtualize one or more DCs in your environment, make sure you are aware of the considerations, risks, and recommendations detailed in the...

While working on some documentation today, I wanted to know the names of the Hyper-V servers running the various VMs for our Development and Test environments. [These VMs are running in a Microsoft datacenter on the other side of the planet from where I'm sitting.] Unfortunately, my initial search...

I've been a bad blogger this month. Almost a month ago, I wrote a post about using Web standards with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007 , but I noted that there would be more to come on that subject in the near future. Well, almost a full month has passed and I still haven't posted "part...

In last night's post , I discussed the solution for an issue I encountered installing KB 970892 on one of my servers. Thankfully, this morning I confirmed the server no longer increments the Computers with Errors column in the daily report I receive from Windows Server Update Services (WSUS). I should...

For a little over a month, Windows Update was failing on one of the servers in the "Jameson Datacenter" (a.k.a. my home lab). Specifically, KB 970892 simply would not install on JUBILEE -- my Systems Center Operations Manager (SCOM) 2007 VM, that I use to monitor a number of physical and virtual machines...

As I've mentioned before, I don't spend much money or time maintaining the "Jameson Datacenter" (a.k.a. my home lab). However, that doesn't mean that I treat my infrastructure lightly. In previous posts, I've covered many of the Group Policy objects that I use to minimize the maintenance effort associated...

This morning I was doing some cleanup of my documents folder and I stumbled across a rather old Visio document that showed the beginnings of what I now refer to as the "Jameson Datacenter" (a.k.a. my home lab). For some geeky reason, seeing this again brought a smile to my face and a sense of nostalgia...