WHS: Network Disabled

Alright, its my fault. In the process of tweaking for Jumbo Frame support I mistakenly right-clicked and chose the first option "Disable" instead of the second option "Status" (which would have taken me to the network configuration page) on the Network Connection icon. Dang!

This is obviously a headless machine and I am currently lost. Thankfully its not the first time something like this ever happened and tips from HomeServerLand gave me a clue.

If you have a headless device like the HP MediaSmart Server you can:
1. Connect an USB keyboard and wait about 30 seconds.
2. Next press CTRL + ALT + DELETE and then enter your WHS Administrator password and hit the ENTER key.
3. Then enter "windows + R", (where windows is the windows key on your keyboard) this will open the run dialog and then enter "ncpa.cpl" (without the quotes) this opens up network connections dialog.
4. Press the DOWN ARROW key (only once) and [Jamz: press the RIGHT ARROW key once] then press ENTER enter which will enable the NIC card,
5. If you have multiple NIC adapters you can toggle using the right and left keys [Jamz: or up and down keys] and YES you have to do it blind so make sure every keystroke counts.

I'm doing my darnest to get this working right now with fingers crossed.

[Edit: 10:44am] It worked! Hooaah!

WHS: Reference Account Locked Out?

Once in a while when I mistakenly log-on to the server shares I get the error message:

"The referenced account is currently locked and may not be logged on to."

Thats not too bad and easy enough to fix unless you have not clue how to RDP into your WHS. There are various help suggestions across this blog and elsewhere if the latter is a secondary issue. :-)

Moving along.... Basically what happened is Windows has locked you out for security purposes. So all you have to do is remote log-in (or physically if you can) into the server and reset the "Account is Locked Out" radio button.

You'll find that particular option by navigating:

My Computer --> Manager --> Local Users and Groups --> Users --> (login account) --> Properties --> (uncheck) Account is Locked Out

Windows UAC vs Linux vs Mac OS X

There have been may articles written recently and surely they have their merits and by no means is this an attempt to discredit.

Simply stated, below are my perceived difference in Windows XP vs Windows Vista vs Windows 7 vs Linux vs Mac OS X on the User Account Control (UAC) issue from the standpoint of one who has them all installed in production use:

1. Pre-XP and Windows XP – unmanaged default installations have administrative (root) privileges, not good as we’ve seen; you can create unprivileged accounts and system changes will require administrator login (with a right-click clue on what account has it);

2. Windows Vista – a total paradigm shift for users and perhaps too aggressive an introduction to UAC causing administrator-level-addicts to make themselves root and/or totally ignore all the prompts; also got released with very minimal device drive support and the rest is history;

3. Linux – by default you had to do a few hoops to become root and in the most recent variants alerts you that your password settings for root and sub-accounts are of what quality; for any system-wide changes you had to enter your root credentials similar to Windows Vista;

4. Mac OS X (Tiger, Leopard, Snow Leopard) – introduced simple lockdowns similar to unprivileged Windows XP user by default; any system changes will require administrative login (and no unprivileged user clue as to who has it);

5. Windows 7 – released with better driver support and is as forgiving as Windows XP in terms of outdated driver compatibility mode; UAC is set to be less of a nuisance and allows the user to concentrate on getting things done rather than police the system;

All in all, I think the current generations of whatever OS you have is running the same playing field in the UAC user experience. There are some nuances in terms of what system hardening has to be done by the initial user but all of this is by now well documented in every OS start-up guide.

There will be some changes as well in the “when to patch” paradigm and as I’ve said before gone are the days when hold holding off when to patch is considered a precautionary measure given the speed of malware attacks on new systems that do not sit behind some other patch management and/or firewall. Today's patches do not just deliver fixes but also much needed compatibility upgrades.

And yes, perhaps one thing that has made me move (and be confident) to Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit) is that when fixable compatibility issues occur it actually tells me if one is available from Microsoft or whether I should be contacting my device vendor to get a new one made. Nicely done!

SP3 ... Finally ...

More than three-(3) months, a whole quarter, a fourth of the year -- thats how long before I finally got Windows Service Pack 3 installed on one of my Windows XP machines running on an HP Compaq.

Why?

Installing in administrative mode, or any user for that matter, kept spitting out upgrade errors due to running processes.

Is it just me or could Microsoft have made it more obvious that you would have had a better time at it if you would have just booted into Safe Mode (F8 while Windows boots).

Harrumph!!!

Windows XP: Service Pack 3

I've got two-(2) Windows XP machines being backed up using HP MSS (mostly gigabytes worth of .PST files) and its all working fine. Machines are of course top of the line updated via Microsoft Update to avoid some of the common distractions like botnets scanning for victims. Of course all of this is behind a serious hardware firewall in combination with the default Windows Firewall.

The thing is, Windows XP SP3 has been out for some time and its a humongous update. Lots of things that I didn't think were too broken appear to be critically so. But I won't update, not too soon.

And why is that? Well, simply the fact that on a basis there are two-(2) factors. Perhaps the underpinning issue is that I'm running WHS PP1 which is sort on beta stage; and the other is that SP3 appears to have broken RDP to the WHS -- not good considering that the WHS Console is a basic RDP subset to control the system.

Nothing to do with issue #1 as something has go to get fixed from the 60's (get my drift?). Besides that, I'm still using the core basic system unchanged for warranty's sake (am breaking down on this stance real soon now if it gets MSS to a level faster than Windows XP on a Pentium II). Of course for issue #2 I've got RDP Beta running on my Mac (thanks MS guys!) and can probably survive somewhat, but that basically does make WHSC useless in the interim, eh? :-(

Give me a few days, will update the experience and the machines by then.

WHS: To Do List Projects

There's a couple of things lined up for the MSS when I get down to it. I've got too many open tabs though at the moment so best not to forget what they are:
1. phpBB
2. phpMyAdmin
3. MediaWiki

Some new add-ins that I may play around with from WeGotServed:
a. WHS Customizer
b. Whiist
c. DupeCleaner
d. uTorrent
e. WebGuide
f. ipsHomeControl
g. Homebase
h. easyRADIUS

These add-ins seem to already be in MSS at least last I looked via RDP:
i. FireFly
ii. MediaConnect Controller

All of the above of course is really dependent on the processing power at the moment for MSS as its still running the stock AMD Sempron and 512MB RAM. Thats going to cost at least $100 to get going and I'm not sure about cashing out yet (and even more so because hardware modification will almost certainly void whatever warranty Fry's and HP have on it). *sigh*

Update: HP MediaSmart EX475

Alright y'all .... after poring through the forums for a tip (no, the HP site is only good for basic configuration instructions) I came across a mention of successful restore when someone used an unpatched Windows XP as the client -- so you have to be vulnerable to fix this damn unit? Thank God for firewalls then.

But guess what, I work for an anti-malware company. Part of my lingo is "patch, patch, patch, ... and patch!". That saying, I don't have an old unpatched copy of Windows XP since my oldest is a least SP1. I dare not install Windows 2k its already 2 years away from being 30 years old in dog years :-(

Then it came to me. My son inherited an old Compaq Presario 2100 with (dare I hope) an outdated version of Windows XP. In fact, better than that, I had patched it previously but never took the time to take stock on the different but it was running Windows XP Home. So since he was grounded for the day anyway (kids these days need to take a breather from being online constantly ... but I digress) grabbed the unit it plugged it into my secure network and voila, THAT worked! WHS Connect installed flawless. To that I say ^$#$%#$%^&!!!

So to those who are stuck up creek's ville for solution, try Windows XP Home. It is after all technically what should be connected to Windows Home Server :-) *sigh*

-----------------------

My 1TB is filled up. Thats one of the major questions I had with this unit, does it use RAID or what? Apparently its using something similar but of course using Microsoft's implementation of dynamic drives -- meaning it generally splits the total volume by half and creates a copy of everything. Effectively, that meant I really had some 500GB of Seagate Barracuda SATA v11 drive space left. *sigh*

Time to move files around again and I'm anxiously waiting for my supplier to sell me some cheap 1TB storage. This holiday week Fry's is selling a WD 1TB for about $179.99 but am looking for something cheaper. After all, if I were in Singapore or Malaysia or Taiwan these drives would probably cost half that sale price!

The hunt for storage space goes on NOW.

Windows Vista, Worth My Time?

I recently purchased Windows Vista Ultimate for a planned installation. At this time, there are three-(3) machines that are physically available for this install -- none of these I own, but they I personally use for work primarily.

Knowledge of the ins and outs of Windows has been, for me, more of an on-the-job-training (OJT). At the moment I do not hold any MCP or MCSE. Not saying I have not tried to do so, but like so many things that could ultimately lead to self and professional advance ... work gets in the way. I digress. Let me say that since 1998 I have at least re-installed Windows (from '95 to XP) at least twice a year.

Why the reinstall? Thats easy enough. So many software companies, so many lacking features, so many new things to try. At that point years ago the use of VMware or Virtual PC was yet unheard of or costly. My initial foray into emulation was with BOCHS, by the way. :-)

Thankfully the company I work for is a Gold Partner. That said, as a researcher/analyst operating under limited resources it will happen sometimes that your only test machine is on production -- so be it. And if it crashes, thank goodness for the Volume License.

After almost a decade, here we are. I've purchased my own copy for my own use. Still procrastinating on installing it finally as I may want to test the performance on either of the machines I have -- Intel Mobile, Dual Xeon, or Core 2 Duo. Thats when I saw this problem.

Its unbelievable and it actually has pushed my conviction to make space for the learning curve of using Ubuntu. I also swear my next laptop is going to be a Macbook Pro with at least 4GB of RAM -- regardless of the OS. And shall I say, learning *BSD is not such a bad idea, anyhow.

Returning from a conference at Redmond last week, I'm still thinking. This new link shows promise. Perhaps I may install Windows Vista Ultimate after all. Why not?

But mind you, if at some point it doesn't allow me to reinstall when I really need to (ie. upgrade for mobo, chip, other hardware) then its "bye, bye, Blue Screens" and "hello Orange startup window!"