Everyday Nerd » Microsoft

PowerShell: Move Windows Server 2008 Cluster Group

Nerd — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 17:55:13 +0000

Where I work, we were a little behind finally getting to Windows Server 2008 R2. Our Exchange Servers were running on Server 2003 R2 until recently. Windows clustering is quite different on 2k8 vs. 2k3. I wrote this function to move the Windows cluster group “Cluster Group” (quorum) to the other node of the cluster. I know it’s not that difficult to do this, but it saves a few extra keystrokes.

Function Invoke-WindowsClusterFailover
{
	#Requires -version 2
	[CmdletBinding(SupportsShouldProcess=$true,ConfirmImpact="High")]
	param()
	Write-Verbose "Checking to see if $($env:computername) is a Clustered Exchange Server"
	Get-ClusteredMailboxServerStatus -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Out-Null
	If ($? -eq $False)
	{
		Write-Verbose "$($env:computername) is not a clustered Exchange Server - Exiting"
		Throw "$($env:computername) is not a clustered Exchange Server"
	}
	Else
	{
		Write-Verbose "$($env:computername) is a Clustered Exchange Server"
		If (((Get-WmiObject Win32_OperatingSystem).Caption).ToString() -like "*2008*")
		{
			Write-Verbose "$($env:computername) is a Windows Server 2008 or later"
			Write-Verbose "Loading Windows Failover Cluster PowerShell Module"
			Import-Module FailoverClusters
		}
		Else
		{
			Write-Verbose "$($env:computername) is not Windows Server 2008 or later"
			Write-Verbose "$((Get-WmiObject Win32_OperatingSystem).Caption) does not support the Powershell FailoverCluster Module - Exiting"
			Throw "$((Get-WmiObject Win32_OperatingSystem).Caption) does not support the Powershell FailoverCluster Module"
		}
		Write-Verbose "Getting Windows Cluster Name"
		$ClusterName = (Get-Cluster).Name
		Write-Verbose "Checking ShouldContinue if OK to proceed"
		if($PSCmdlet.ShouldProcess("$($ClusterName)", "Failover Windows Cluster"))
		{
			Write-Verbose "Moving Windows Cluster Group"
			Get-ClusterGroup "Cluster Group" | Move-ClusterGroup
		}
		Write-Verbose "End"
	}
				.SYNOPSIS
		Moves the Windows cluster "Cluster Group" to the other node of the cluster

		.DESCRIPTION
		Moves the Windows cluster "Cluster Group" to the other node of the cluster.  This requires
		Windows Server 2008 or later.  This function supports "Should Continue" so it prompts the
		user to continue at the "dangerous" portion of the function (Move-ClusterGroup).  If you
		don't want the should continue prompt, you can use the  param.

		.NOTES
		Function Name: Invoke-WindowsClusterFailover
		Author: Dan Burgess
		Email: nerd@everydaynerd.com
		Script Requires:  Powershell 2.0 or higher; Windows Server 2008 or later
	#>
}

I really enjoyed using the “SupportsShouldProcess” feature of CmdletBinding! Expand the code above, and double click to select all.

PowerShell: Get-Uptime for Computer(s)

Nerd — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 20:53:04 +0000

I needed to check the server uptime for multiple servers, and well, I wanted to do it in PowerShell. I found a sample from MSDN, and modified it, and threw it into a function.

Function Get-Uptime
{
	#Requires -version 2
	[CmdletBinding(SupportsShouldProcess=$true,ConfirmImpact="High")]
	Param(
	[parameter(Mandatory=$false,HelpMessage="Computer Name(s)",ValueFromPipeline=$true)]
	[object[]]$ComputerName = "."
	)
	PROCESS
	{
		$WmiOS = Get-WMIObject -class Win32_OperatingSystem -computer $ComputerName
		Function ConvertWMIDateToDateTime($BootTime)
		{
			[System.Management.ManagementDateTimeconverter]::ToDateTime($BootTime)
		}
		Function GetUptime($ComputerName)
		{
			$BootTime = $WmiOS.LastBootUpTime
			$LastBootUpTime = ConvertWMIDateToDateTime($BootTime)
			$Uptime = (Get-Date) - $lastBootUpTime
			$days = $Uptime.Days
			$hours = $Uptime.Hours
			$min = $uptime.Minutes
			$sec = $uptime.Seconds
			[console]::ForegroundColor = "Green"
			"$($ComputerName) has been up for: {0} days, {1} hours, {2} minutes and {3} seconds" -f $days,$hours,$min,$sec
			[console]::ResetColor()
		}
		GetUptime $ComputerName
	}
	<#
		.SYNOPSIS
		Gets uptime of a system via WMI

		.DESCRIPTION
		Get-Uptime uses WMI (specificaly Win32_ComputerSystem) to get the uptime of a system.
		The core component of the script was found at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa394591(VS.85).aspx
		and addapted with additional functionality.

		.EXAMPLE
		PS c:\> Get-UpTime SERVER01
		SERVER01 has been up for: 355 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds

		.EXAMPLE
		PS c:\> Get-ExchangeServer | Get-Uptime
		SERVER01 has been up for: 355 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds
		SERVER02 has been up for: 355 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds
		SERVER03 has been up for: 355 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds
		SERVER04 has been up for: 355 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds

		.LINK
		Script Posted to:

http://everydaynerd.com

		Adapted from sample posted at:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa394591(VS.85).aspx

		.NOTES
		Function Name : Get-UpTime
		Author: Dan Burgess
		Email: nerd@everydaynerd.com
		Script Requires:  Powershell 2.x or higher
	#>
}

Here’s an alternative to this function that outputs to a powershell object – rather than just writing to the screen. (Thanks for the encouragement Jeffery)

Function Get-Uptime
{
	#Requires -version 2
	[CmdletBinding(SupportsShouldProcess=$true,ConfirmImpact="High")]
	Param(
	[parameter(Mandatory=$true,HelpMessage="Computer Name(s)",ValueFromPipeline=$true)]
	[object[]]$ComputerName
	)
	PROCESS
	{
		$System = Get-WMIObject -class Win32_OperatingSystem -computer $ComputerName
		Function GetUptime($ComputerName)
		{
			$Bootup = $System.LastBootUpTime
			$LastBootUpTime = $System.ConvertToDateTime($System.LastBootUpTime)
			$now = Get-Date
			$Uptime = $now - $lastBootUpTime
			$NewObjectProperties = @{
				ComputerName=$ComputerName
				Days=$Uptime.Days;`
				Hours=$Uptime.Hours;`
				Minutes=$Uptime.Minutes;`
				Seconds=$Uptime.Seconds;`
				}
			New-Object psobject -Property $NewObjectProperties
		}
		$Results = GetUptime $ComputerName
		$Results | Select ComputerName, Days, Hours, Minutes, Seconds
	}
	<#
		.SYNOPSIS
		Gets uptime of a system via WMI

		.DESCRIPTION
		Get-Uptime uses WMI (specificaly Win32_ComputerSystem) to get the uptime of a system.
		The core component of the script was found at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa394591(VS.85).aspx
		and addapted with additional functionality.

		.EXAMPLE
		PS c:\> Get-UpTime server01
		ComputerName : {server01}
		Days         : 27
		Hours        : 2
		Minutes      : 21
		Seconds      : 26

		.EXAMPLE
		PS c:\> Get-ExchangeServer | Get-Uptime | ft -AutoSize
		ComputerName Days Hours Minutes Seconds
		------------ ---- ----- ------- -------
		{server01}    27     2      15      49
		{server02}   130     6      40      23

		.LINK
		Script Posted to:

http://everydaynerd.com

		Adapted from sample posted at:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa394591(VS.85).aspx

		.NOTES
		Function Name : Get-UpTime
		Author: Dan Burgess
		Email: nerd@everydaynerd.com
		Script Requires:  Powershell 2.x or higher
	#>
}

Happy PowerShelling!

PowerShell: Drive Space Info from multiple systems

Nerd — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 18:24:13 +0000

With PowerShell 2 came Powershell remoting and jobs, both of which are REALLY cool! I’m going to show you two ways to get drive space info from multiple systems, first with a normal foreach loop, and then with remoting (which is basically a remote job). Both methods use WMI class Win32_LogicalDisk to query the drives for information.

First, the old fashion foreach loop. Notice the “Process” section – this in essence does a foreach of the $Identity – notice that in the parameter that the $Identity has [object[]] in front of it. Two things about this: One, [] denotes an array, versus a single object. Two, it’s object, instead of string, int or other data type. Object allows the parameter to be just a string – a computer name (“SERVER01″), a string array (“SERVER01″, “SERVER02″), or even the identity from other objects (Get-ExchangeServer | GetDriveSpace). I’ll be posting more in the future about parameters, and advanced functions (cmdletbinding).

Function GetDriveSpace
{
	[CmdletBinding(SupportsShouldProcess=$true, ConfirmImpact="Low")]
	param (
	[parameter(Mandatory=$true,HelpMessage="ComputerName(s)",ValueFromPipeline=$true)]
	[Object[]]$Identity
	)
	Process
	{
		$Name = (Get-WmiObject -ComputerName $Identity win32_computersystem  | Select Name).Name.ToString()
		$drives = Get-WmiObject -ComputerName $Identity Win32_LogicalDisk | Where-Object {$_.DriveType -eq 3}

		foreach($drive in $drives)
		{
			$NewObjectProperties = @{
				ComputerName=$Name;`
				DriveLetter=$drive.DeviceID;`
				Label=($drive.VolumeName);`
				DriveSize=($drive.Size/1gb).ToString("0.00");`
				FreeSpaceMB=($drive.freespace/1GB).tostring("0.00");`
				PercentFree=((($drive.freespace/1GB)/($drive.size/1GB))*100).tostring("0.00")`
			}
			New-Object psobject -Property $NewObjectProperties
		}
	}

	GetDriveSpace -Identity SERVER01

		Returns Drive Space Info for SERVER01

		.EXAMPLE
		PS] C:\>Get-MailboxServer | GetDriveSpace | FT

		Returns Drive Space Info for Exchange Mailbox Servers

		.EXAMPLE
		PS] C:\>GetDriveSpace -Identity SERVER01, SERVER02 | FT -AutoSize

		Returns Drive Space Info for SERVER01 & SERVER02

		.NOTES
		Function Name : GetDriveSpace
		Author : Dan Burgess
		Email: nerd@everydaynerd.com
		Script Requires:  Powershell 2.0 or higher
	#>
}

Now, lets do the same thing, but this time with PowerShell remoting. As before, the function is utilizing CmdletBinding, Parameter, with a single param [object[]]$Identity, and the Process block, but an End block as well. In the Process block, each server passed in the parameter has a remote job started with the Invoke-Command cmdlet, passing the script block with the code to query WMI to return the disk space information. Note the -AsJob switch – this allows the invoke-command to work in the background, instead of waiting on the job to finish. The End block then checks all the jobs, and waits till none of the jobs have a status of “Running” before issuing a “Receive-Job”. This gathers all the returned values from each job that ran. The -Keep leaves a copy of the results in the job queue – if receive-job is run with out this, the results are removed from the job status.

Function GetDriveSpace-Remoting
{
	[CmdletBinding(SupportsShouldProcess=$true, ConfirmImpact="Low")]
	param (
	[parameter(Mandatory=$true,HelpMessage="ComputerName(s)",ValueFromPipeline=$true)]
	[Object[]]$Identity
	)
	Process
	{
		Invoke-Command -ComputerName $Identity -ScriptBlock {$drives = Get-WmiObject Win32_LogicalDisk | Where-Object {$_.DriveType -eq 3}
			foreach($drive in $drives)
			{
				$NewObjectProperties = @{
					DriveLetter=$drive.DeviceID;`
					Label=($drive.VolumeName);`
					DriveSizeMB=($drive.Size/1gb).ToString("0.00");`
					FreeSpaceMB=($drive.freespace/1GB).tostring("0.00");`
					PercentFree=((($drive.freespace/1GB)/($drive.size/1GB))*100).tostring("0.00")`
				}
				New-Object psobject -Property $NewObjectProperties
			}
		} -SessionOption (New-PSSessionOption -NoMachineProfile) -AsJob

	}
	End
	{
		While (Get-Job -State "Running")
		{
			$i = ((Get-Job).Count) - ((Get-Job -State "Running").count)
			$Progress = [int][Math]::Ceiling(($i / ((Get-Job).Count) * 100))
			Write-Progress -Activity "Waiting on $(((Get-Job -State "Running").count)) Jobs to finish" -PercentComplete $progress -Status "$($progress)% Complete" -Id 1;
		}
		$Results = Get-Job | % {Receive-Job $_ }
		$Results
	}

	GetDriveSpace-Remoting -Identity SERVER01

		Returns Drive Space Info for SERVER01

		.EXAMPLE
		PS] C:\>Get-MailboxServer | GetDriveSpace-Remoting | FT

		Returns Drive Space Info for Exchange Mailbox Servers

		.EXAMPLE
		PS] C:\>GetDriveSpace-Remoting -Identity SERVER01, SERVER02 | FT -AutoSize

		Returns Drive Space Info for SERVER01 & SERVER02

		.NOTES
		Function Name : GetDriveSpace-Remoting
		Author : Dan Burgess
		Email: nerd@everydaynerd.com
		Script Requires:  Powershell 2.0 or higher and WinRM enabled on remote hosts
	#>
}

Both methods work, but in my tests, the remote function was MUCH faster when pulling from multiple systems. For a list of 48 systems, the normal foreach loop took 30 seconds, while the remote function only took 5 seconds!!!

PowerShell: Change PS Window Size on the fly

Nerd — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 10:00:34 +0000

First, my apologies for not posting ANYTHING to EverydayNerd since April 25, but hey, this is just for fun, and I DO have a day job

I am going to be posting a LOT of PowerShell stuff here, as it has, over the last 6 months, become my best friend at the office! Thanks to Gary Siepser, I have gone from writing super simple scripts, to now, well trust me, it’s a day/night difference.

So I work on a laptop, but also dock, and when I un-dock my resolution changes – enough that I have scroll bars in my PowerShell window. This was really annoying, so I wrote a quick function that will change the window size on the fly.

I put these functions into my PowerShell profile, so I can call them whenever I need to change my PS window size. Works like a charm! If you don’t know how to edit our PowerShell profile, just enter this in your shell: notepad $Profile

Hope this helps, and stay tuned for more PowerShell goodies!

Source Code:

Function Set-Wide
{
	$aff = (Get-Host).UI.RawUI
	$bff = $aff.BufferSize
	$bff.Width = 170
	$bff.Height = 9000
	$aff.BufferSize = $bff
	$wff = $aff.WindowSize
	$wff.Width = 170
	$wff.Height = 60
	$aff.WindowSize = $wff
}

Function Set-Small
{
	$aff = (Get-Host).UI.RawUI
	$wff = $aff.WindowSize
	$wff.Width = 90
	$wff.Height = 45
	$aff.WindowSize = $wff
	$bff = $aff.BufferSize
	$bff.Width = 90
	$bff.Height = 9000
	$aff.BufferSize = $bff
}

Related posts:

Free E-Book: PowerShell
PowerShell: Move Windows Server 2008 Cluster Group
PowerShell: Get-Uptime for Computer(s)

Exchange PowerShell Script: Get Mailbox Count by Database

Nerd — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 17:20:55 +0000

Here’s a PowerShell script that does a quick count of mailboxes on each database of a server, or all servers – depending if you specify the server name as a script parameter.

** Updated: I made some improvements to the script, and have posted the updated code. One notable items is that I separated the count of mailboxes and disconnected mailboxes. Previously, the count included both mailboxes and disconnected mailboxes. This may skew the numbers a bit, depending on what you are looking for.

#=================================================================================================
# NAME: Get-MailboxCountPerDatabase.ps1
#
# AUTHOR:  Dan B.
# EMAIL:   Nerd@EverydayNerd.com 
# DATE:    03/27/2011
# Version: 1.0
#
# COMMENT: Script to return the count of mailboxes on each server by database
#
#=================================== Change Log ==================================================
# Version 1.0
# -Initial script
# -Changed output to an array instead of just write-host
# -Added total count to single server
#
#=================================================================================================
# Script Paramaters to allow server name to be typed after the script name.   If no Param, all servers are returned
 
param([string] $Param )     
 
$Results = @()
$CountMB = 0
 
if(!$param)
    {
        $Servers = Get-ExchangeServer | Where {$_.ServerRole -eq "Mailbox"} | Sort Name
 
        Foreach($Server in $Servers)
            {
                $dbs = Get-MailboxDatabase -server $Server | Sort Name
                
                foreach($db in $dbs)
                    {
                        $mb = Get-MailboxStatistics -Database $db | Where {$_.DisconnectDate -eq $null -and $_.ObjectClass -eq 'Mailbox'} | Measure-Object
                        $mbdis = Get-MailboxStatistics -Database $db | Where {$_.DisconnectDate -ne $null -and $_.ObjectClass -eq 'Mailbox'} | Measure-Object
                        
                        Write-Host "$($Server) `t $($db.name)`t $($a.count)"
                        
                        $Obj = New-Object PSObject
                        $Obj | Add-Member NoteProperty -Name "Server" -Value $Server
                        $Obj | Add-Member NoteProperty -Name "Database" -Value $db.Name
                        $Obj | Add-Member NoteProperty -Name "Mailboxes" -Value $mb.count
                        $Obj | Add-Member NoteProperty -Name "Disconnected Mailboxes" -Value $mbdis.count
                        $Results += $Obj
                    }
            }
    }
else
    {
    $server = $param
        $dbs = Get-MailboxDatabase -server $Server | Sort Name
 
        foreach($db in $dbs)
            {
                $mb = Get-MailboxStatistics -Database $db | Where {$_.DisconnectDate -eq $null -and $_.ObjectClass -eq 'Mailbox'} | Measure-Object
                $mbdis = Get-MailboxStatistics -Database $db | Where {$_.DisconnectDate -ne $null -and $_.ObjectClass -eq 'Mailbox'} | Measure-Object
 
                $Obj = New-Object PSObject
                $Obj | Add-Member NoteProperty -Name "Server" -Value $Server
                $Obj | Add-Member NoteProperty -Name "Database" -Value $db.Name
                $Obj | Add-Member NoteProperty -Name "Mailboxes" -Value $mb.count
                $Obj | Add-Member NoteProperty -Name "Disconnected Mailboxes" -Value $mbdis.count
                $Results += $Obj
                $countmb += $mb.count
                
            }
        Write-Host
        Write-Host "$($Server) has a total of $($CountMB) mailboxes" -ForegroundColor Green
    }
 
$Results | FT -AutoSize
 
#===================================== End of Script ==============================================

Script can be downloaded here: Get-MailboxCountPerDatabase.ps1

Uninstall IE 9 Beta on Windows 7

Nerd — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 13:18:42 +0000

So you have a Internet Explroer 9 Beta that you would like to roll back on Windows 7 (IE 9 Beta is considered a update not a program).

Press Win+R (the run and paste in the following:
C:\Windows\explorer.exe shell:::{d450a8a1-9568-45c7-9c0e-b4f9fb4537bd}
then press Enter.
wait for the Uninstall an update screen to load completely
scroll through the list until you find Windows Internet Explorer 9
click once to highlight IE9, then click the Uninstall button (or right-click and uninstall)
confirm that you want to uninstall (click yes)

That’s it!

Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 Release Candidate

Nerd — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 14:10:49 +0000

It’s here!!! For all you chomping at the bit to get SP1, Microsoft has released the Release Candidate, so the final version should be out soon. For you early adopters, here’s the link.

Cisco VPN Finally Supports x64!

Nerd — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 20:44:57 +0000

For those of you that telecommute, or ever work remotely, you probably use Cisco’s VPN software. Up until now, it was only supported on 32 bit OS’s, leaving anyone that wanted to run 64 bit out in the cold, or forcing them to dual boot, or other nasty hacks… FINALLY, Cisco has released a 64 bit version of their VPN client that works on Windows 7 x64!

For some dumb reason, it’s not publicly available on Cisco’s website, so do a quick Google search for “vpnclient-winx64-msi-5.0.07.0290-k9.exe” and you will see multiple sites to grab the file.

Think I’m going to re-load my laptop tonight to 64!

Windows 7 Service Pack 1 coming soon – Be Ready!

Nerd — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 17:14:36 +0000

Windows 7 Service Pack 1 will be released soon, and I wanted to make sure that you are ready for it!

Before installing, here are some things you can do:

Uninstall your AntiVirus program (i.e. Microsoft’s Security Essentials & Forefront Client Security)
Foreign Language Support: Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) only supports German, Spanish, French, English, & Japanese version of Windows 7
Ensure you have enough disk space! – (32-bit (x86-based) = 600 MB — 64-bit (x64-based) = 900 MB of free space)

You can also run the Windows 7 System Update Readiness Tool: 32-bit & 64-bit

Manage Exchange Certificates with a free GUI

Nerd — Wed, 26 May 2010 16:11:00 +0000

Managing Exchange 2007 certificates form powershell can sometimes be confusing. U-B Tech has released a free tool that allows Exchange Administrators to manage certificates from a GUI. The Certificate Manager for Exchange Server 2007 enables administrators to do:

Manage your current server certificates.
Enable certificates for Exchange 2007 Services (POP, IMAP, SMTP, IIS, UM).
Generate an Exchange 2007 Certificate Signing Request and process the Certificate Authority answer.
Generate an Exchange 2007 Self-Signed certificate (not for production use).
Easily include additional subject names in a single certificate.
Import & Export ability for existing certificates.

[Certificate Manager for Exchange Server 2007]

[Online Flash Demo of Certificate Manager]

[TechNet: Exchange Certificate Management]

Want to win a free copy of Windows 7?

Nerd — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 09:00:00 +0000

“Share your story” with The Windows Club and you could win a copy of Windows 7! It has to be a real story about the moment you liked Windows 7 most, or when it made your day…

[Share your story]

How-To log off a user from remote computer

Nerd — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 16:33:47 +0000

If you work in IT, I’m sure you’ve run across a time that you needed to log off a user from a remote computers – even if it’s yourself (especially when it’s time to change your password). Personally, I have to change my network password every 30 days, and there are times that I may be logged into any of 150 computers. I try to remember to use the log off button, but sometimes, I have idle sessions on computers.

This being said, I needed a way to log off any session I was logged into, in a list of computers I knew I might be logged into. My first thought was to use PSLOGGEDON.exe (from Sysinternals) which is a fantastic tool, but I don’t want to search the entire domain, plus I might be logged in to multiple domains.

So, I found a nice little utility built right into windows – quser.exe

Quser.exe can be used to show what user is logged in to a remote computer, as well as the localhost. Use quser.exe /SERVER:servername to query a remote system.

If you want to specify just one user account instead of finding all users logged in, user this syntax: quser.exe user6 /SERVER:servername

Now to log off this user, or session, you can use another built-in utility in Windows – Logoff.exe

Logoff.exe can either log off a session ID, or SessionName remotely – not by username (username works locally though). The syntax is similar to quser.exe:

LOGOFF [sessionname | sessionid] [/SERVER:servername]

So to log off user6 from the example above, I can use either the session name (rdp-rcp#443 – or I can use the ID – 2 – I’ll go with the ID

logoff 2 /SERVER:server1

That was easy! Now, to check to see if I’m logged any of the 150 servers I manage, I create a quick bat file using excel (more on that here) and now I can run it at any time, and see what remote systems I’m logged into, and log my session off if needed.

This is a really simple way to do this, but if you have another way to do it, please post below! I’d love to see how you handle this problem!

Windows 7 Super Admin folder

Nerd — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 18:29:32 +0000

Windows 7 is great, but if you’re a control freak like me, you want to be able to change all your settings easily, and preferably, all in one place. Well, the developers at Microsoft heard your cries of woe, and have enabled a super folder.

Create a new folder (can be located anywhere, like on the Desktop), with the following name: SuperFolder.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

Once you hit enter, it will look like this:

Opening this folder, you will see all the Admin goodness – 277 administrative tasks, all in one place!

This has been a much needed feature for Windows. My only wish is that it was easier to create the super folder – for instance if I were to work on someone else’s machine, I’m not going to remember what that long string of numbers and letters are – would be nice to remember a word, or sentence to call the folder… oh well, at least we got it!

One more tip, I added this SuperFolder to my Favorites, so it’s accessible from any open explorer window! (Just drag the folder onto the Favorites star, and it will add it to the favorite list!)

Sync iPhone Calendar with Google using CalDev

Nerd — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:04:25 +0000

Syncing my iPhone with work (Microsoft Exchange) is great, but I still wanted a to view personal calendar from Google Calendar to be synced to my iPhone too. And yes, I know you can use ActiveSync to sync Calendar on the iphone. This can be done by adding the CalDev calendar sync!

First, click the settings button on the home screen, select Mail, Contacts, Calendars:

Select Add Account, then Other,

Now select Add CalDev Account:

Enter the following information:

Server: www.google.com
User Name: Your Google account email address (can be your Google Apps email address)
Password: Ummm… your Google account password…
Description: Google Calendar (or whatever you want to put here)

Tap the Next button in the top right, and that’s it! I did a quick test, and added an items from both Exchange and Google Calendar, and within 1-2 minutes, it was on synced to my iPhone!

Right Click Attach/Detach VHD Image

Nerd — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 22:42:20 +0000

For Windows 7 / Server 2008 R2 only – Medo has created a great little utility that will attach (mount) or detach a VHD Hard drive image file. This is a wonderful time saver for those that use VHD’s on a regular basis!

[ VHD Attach ]

Why it’s a bad idea to send large email attachments

Nerd — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:13:00 +0000

The Google Operating System Blog has a great post explaining why it’s not a good idea to send large attachments:

People who demand large message size limits rarely understand the limitations of the email transmission. Because of the MIME encoding used when sending binary attachments, your files expand 33% when sent via email.

In other words, a 15MB attachment requires 20MB plus the message text, plus message headers.
When you carbon copy 20 of your friends & coworkers, a separate message is sent to each. 20MB x 20 = 400MB. That’s half a freaking CD.

If 5 of those friends are on the same small company email server, downloading those messages saturates the entire bandwidth of their T1 data line for nearly 9 minutes. Because each message has separate headers, it isn’t easily cached and gets completely downloaded by each recipient.

Compare this to uploading the same attachment to a web server, FTP server, file transmission service like YouSendIt, or video streaming site like YouTube. One copy is uploaded. The download is typically 8-bit so minimal expansion factor. The small business’ network can cache the content, so it’s only downloaded once then fetched locally from the web caching server.

Bottom line, sending a large attachment via email is relocating using the U.S. Postal Service as your moving company. It is painful, limited, and expensive.

As an email administrator, I couldn’t agree more…

Clean Install Windows 7 with Upgrade Disk

Nerd — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:25:27 +0000

Seems that you can perform a clean install of Windows 7 – with an upgrade disk (read much cheaper here).

Normally, if you install with an upgrade disk, you cannot activate windows. The work around is to perform a clean install, ensure that there are no pending Windows Updates waiting to install (orange shield on restart icon), and make the following registry change:

HKLM/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Setup/OOBE/

Change MediaBootInstall from "1" to "0".

Open Regedit (Start, Type in Regedit and press enter)

Click “Yes” on the User Access Control

Navigate Regedit to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Setup/OOBE/

Right click on the MediaBootInstall key and choose Modify. Change the “1” to a “0”

Restart the computer, and you should be able to activate your “Clean” install of Windows 7!

New Microsoft tool to install Windows from USB

Nerd — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:04:37 +0000

Now, easier than before, Microsoft has released a handy utility to turn an ISO image of Windows 7 into a bootable DVD or Flash drive!

Select the ISO file for Windows 7

Choose USB or DVD

That’s it!

It doesn’t get much easier than this! I will say, that I have first knowledge that installing Windows 7 with a USB device is MUCH faster than with DVD. From start to finish, USB only took about 20 minutes… DVD took close to 30-40 minutes.

[ Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool ]

Windows 7 is out!

Nerd — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:42:00 +0000

With the biggest and best launch to date, Microsoft has launched, in my opinion, the best operating system to come out from Redmond Washington. Windows 7 is what Vista should have been. Get your credit card out, and download it today!

Order your Windows 7 today
Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade
Windows 7 Professional Upgrade
Windows 7 Ultimate Upgrade

FREE Anti-Virus / Anti-Malware / Anti-Spyware released from Microsoft

Nerd — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:12:39 +0000

Today, Microsoft released Security Essentials, a 100% free anti virus, anti spyware, and anti malware software. There are no subscriptions, no trials, just 100% free! Finally, people can protect their computers without forking over any money!

Download, and install the small software package, only takes a few minutes. Once installed, you don’t have to do anything else! Security Essentials is “set it and forget it” protection! It runs in the system tray, and will alert you if there are any security issues.

[ Download Microsoft Security Essentials ]

Protect your PC – Disable AutoPlay

Nerd — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:27:49 +0000

Windows 7 disables the AutoPlay feature which has been abused by malware (like Conficker). Now, Microsoft provides this same functionality for Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2008.

Download Disable AutoPlay for Windows

Easily connect to 2nd monitor or projector with Windows 7

Nerd — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 20:34:00 +0000

Every laptop user has been there… at the start of a meeting, plugging in the projector, trying to get what you have on your screen to show up on the projector, pushing Fn+F8, opps, that just put you in sleep mode… argh!

Windows 7 makes it really easy for you. Just press the Windows Key + P

Just select the configuration that you want to use! Easy huh?

Exchange 2007 SP2 is out.

Nerd — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 18:55:00 +0000

OK all you admins, put in that Change Request, and get installing! For an overview of the new features that are available in Exchange Server 2007 SP2, see “What’s New in Exchange Server 2007 SP2″.

[ Exchange 2007 SP2 ]

Image Re-size for Windows 7/Vista/XP

Nerd — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 18:44:56 +0000

Have a picture you need to resize in a hurry? No problem! Microsoft has released an updated version of it’s Image Resizer. Just right click on an image file, or many images, and choose to either copy/resize, or resize the original.

This is a really nice utility, and for any picture enthusiast, this is a must have!

[ Microsoft Image Resizer ]

Use Excel to create easy batch jobs

Nerd — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 15:05:38 +0000

Do you have to run a command on several servers remotely? You can enter each command separately, but every good admin should know how to make life easier for him/her self. For example, I wanted to use the psloggedon.exe tool to find out who was logged in to all the servers I manage (about 150). Naturally, I could log into each server, check the Terminal Server Manager, and go on the next, but who wants to do that?

The PSTool – psloggedon.exe is a nice little utility that I can run from my command prompt, and have it query a remote computer, returning who is logged on to that server. So, starting in Excel (I already had a list of all the servers), I pasted the list of servers in the C column.

Next, in Column A, I entered "psloggedon.exe” – the name of the executable I want to run. in Column B, I put a “ \\” – note the space in front of the \\. In column E, I entered my first switch, “ –l” – and in column F, a second switch “ –x” again, note the spaces before the switches.

Now, to bring the whole thing together. I LOVE the command Concatenate.

In column G, I entered =concatenate(A1,B1,C1,D1,E1)

This will combine all the columns together (now you know why the spaces were above) for your final command.

You can now select column G, and copy and paste it into notepad, and save it as a .bat file. You now have an easily made bat file, using Excel.