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A thing about Dell Networking "switchport general" mode
edited by on April 17th 2015, at 15:07

Dell Networking switches introduce a new port mode called switchport general. This type is a multi-purpose mode, combining access and trunk in one.

Access mode

The following gets written as:

switchport mode access
switchport access vlan 99
=
switchport mode general
switchport general allowed vlan add 99 untagged
switchport general pvid 99

Trunk mode

The following gets written as:

switchport mode trunk
switchport trunk allowed vlan add 99,100
=
switchport mode general
switchport general allowed vlan add 99,110 tagged
switchport general pvid 4095         (this is is the drop vlan)
 
 
Windows 8.1 OEM/Retail installation media (creator)
edited by on April 15th 2015, at 11:30

Microsoft has officially released (some time ago) a tool to download and create your own Windows 8.1 installation media. The tool will request your language, architecture and edition, and how you want to create the media (as an USB stick, or as an ISO file for burning to a DVD). It will then download the necessary files and create your installation media.

The created media will accept all Windows 8.1 OEM, Retail Full, and Retail Upgrade keys. (For Windows 8, see here.)

You can download the tool here: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/create-reset-refresh-media.

 
Windows 8 and 8.1 (generic) installation keys
edited by on April 15th 2015, at 11:23
To (re)-install Windows 8 or 8.1 with retail or OEM media (including the online media creator), you can (temporarily) use the "generic" installation keys, officially provided by Microsoft.

These keys allow you to perform the installation, after which Windows will run in a 30-day trial mode, before a proper key and activation is required. The keys are language and platform-independent.

Windows 8.1 (Core)334NH-RXG76-64THK-C7CKG-D3VPTWindows 8.1 N(Core)6NPQ8-PK64X-W4WMM-MF84V-RGB89Windows 8.1 (Core) SLY9NXP-XT8MV-PT9TG-97CT3-9D6TCWindows 8.1 ProXHQ8N-C3MCJ-RQXB6-WCHYG-C9WKBWindows 8.1 Pro NJRBBN-4Q997-H4RM2-H3B7W-Q68KCWindows 8.1 Pro w/ Media CenterGBFNG-2X3TC-8R27F-RMKYB-JK7QTIf yo  ...
 
Outlook: e-mail that you send on behalf of someone is not saved in their Sent Items folder
edited by on April 13th 2015, at 17:16
In Outlook, when sending e-mail on behalf of someone else, it is not saved to the Sent Items of that user's mailbox. This is particular a problem when dealing with shared mailboxes, where both incoming and outgoing mail for those mailboxes need to be available for all users that require access to the mailbox.

Notice
If you are running Outlook with Exchange 2010 (since SP2 RU4) or up, in non-cached mode, do not use this method. You will trigger an issue with Outlook keeping sent items in the Outbox of the current mailbox. See MS KB 2703723 for more information.

To resolve this, depends on the Exchange version:

Exchange 2010: use the Set-MailboxSentItemsConfigura  ...
 
Windows 7/2008 R2 Service Pack 1 install error 0x800f0a12
edited by on April 10th 2015, at 15:43
Installation of Windows 7/2008 R2 Service Pack may fail with error 0x800f0a12 if access to the BCD was denied during installation, which is required during the installation of the service pack. This can occur if the volume automount policy was set to disabled, or, in rarer cases, if the BCD database is corrupt or missing, or if something is wrong with the boot partition (where the bootloader lives).

Open an elevated command prompt, and run DISKPART.

Enable the automount policy:

DISKPART> automount enable

Restart the server, and try installing the service pack again.

If the above did not resolve the issue, there may be a problem with the boot partition.

Make sure the partition is mar  ...
 
iPhoto and OSX support matrix
edited by on March 25th 2015, at 17:01
The iPhoto and OSX version support matrix.

iPhoto version 10.10 10.9 10.8 10.7 10.6 9.6   9.5.1   9.5     9.4.7     9.4.3   10.8.3 10.7.5   9.4   10.8.2 10.7.5   9.3.2   10.7.4   9.3   10.7.4   9.2.3   10.7.3 10.6.8 9.2.1   10.7.2 10.6.8 9.1.5     ...
 
iPhoto '11 (version 9.4.3) on OSX Mountain Lion and Mavericks
edited by on March 25th 2015, at 16:55
If you have more than one Mac, and one of them is stuck at a certain version of iPhoto because it's no longer supported by Apple, you may have to install an older version on a newer version of OSX. OSX Lion, for instance, is restricted to version 9.4.3, so if you have another device with a newer version of OSX, you may also want to install 9.4.3 on that device, even though the App Store wants to install a newer version of iPhoto.

If you have a Time Machine backup with iPhoto 9.4.3, you could restore it from there. If not, you need the original software CD you used to install iPhoto on OSX Lion. If you do not have that either, there are other ways to get it, but this would be out of scope fo  ...
 
iPhoto 9.4.7 download link
edited by on March 25th 2015, at 16:50

If you need iPhoto version 9.4.7, which was included in the OSX Mavericks GM release, here's the download link:

Download iPhoto 9.4.7

Do not install if you're not running OSX Mavericks!
There's no version check during installation, so attempting to install on an unsupported OSX version will break iPhoto.

 
Downgrade your iPhoto library
edited by on March 25th 2015, at 16:25

If needed, you can use the iPhoto Library Upgrader to downgrade your library of iPhoto to an earlier version. In the tool, choose Rebuild library to do this. Do note that some of the features introduced in later versions of iPhoto will be erased from the library.

 
Outlook + Office 365 + Single Sign On (SSO) = not working
edited by on March 24th 2015, at 12:12

As you probably already have noticed, does Outlook prompt for credentials when configuring Outlook for use with a federated Office 365 account, regardless of whether you've set up your intranet zoning for your ADFS server in Internet Explorer options.

Apparently, this is unresolveable as Outlook (2013 and earlier) simply does not support SSO. It is currently unknown whether a subsequent version of Outlook will have this feature.

Source: https://support.microsoft.com/kb/2535227

Oddly enough, Lync does support SSO.

 
Windows 8.1 PC Settings does not start
edited by on March 20th 2015, at 12:02
In Windows 8 or 8.1, PC Settings may not start: clicking on it very briefly shows the purple background but then returns to the desktop or start screen. The Application event log shows the following error (or a similar one):

Event log
Activation of app windows.immersivecontrolpanel_cw5n1h2txyewy!microsoft.windows.immersivecontrolpanel failed with error: This app does not support the contract specified or is not installed. See the Microsoft-Windows-TWinUI/Operational log for additional information.

A possible solution is to re-register the PC Settings app (also known as Immersive Control Panel) through Powershell. Run the following from an elevated command prompt:

powershell -Execu  ...
 
Windows 8.1 Store does not start
edited by on March 20th 2015, at 12:00
In Windows 8 or 8.1, the Windows Store may not start: clicking on it very briefly shows the green background but then returns to the desktop or start screen. The Application event log shows the following error (or a similar one):

Event log
Activation of app winstore_cw5n1h2txyewy!Windows.Store failed with error: This app does not support the contract specified or is not installed. See the Microsoft-Windows-TWinUI/Operational log for additional information.

Running the WsReset.exe also produces an error.

A possible solution is to re-register the Windows Store through Powershell. Run the following from an elevated command prompt:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted Add-AppxPa  ...
 
Enable Internet Explorer's Enhanced Protected Mode through a Group Policy (GPO)
edited by on March 19th 2015, at 16:04
Internet Explorer's Enhanced Protected Mode is an additional layer of security that protects our computer against malicious content from exploiting Internet Explorer and prevents infections on your computer. It is available since Internet Explorer 10, and only on 64-bit versions of Windows. It works by running all Internet Explorer processes in 64-bit mode on a 64-bit computer. Starting from Windows 8, EPM also limits access to the registry and file system to certain (harmless) locations only, further enhancing security on that platform.

It is possible to enable EPM through Group Policy, provided you have the required Internet Explorer 10 ADMX or Internet Explorer 11 ADMX files present on y  ...
 
Configure message tracking logs for Exchange 2007 and up
edited by on March 19th 2015, at 14:43
You can quickly configure message tracking logging through the Exchange Management Shell (EMS). Among the things you can set up are: the time the logs are to be kept, where they should be stored, the individual log file size, the total maximum size for the tracking logs directory, etc.

Retrieve the current settings for a server with:

Get-TransportServer <server-name> | Select MessageTracking*

Change those values with:

Set-TransportServer <server-name> <parameters>

In case your mailbox role is running on different servers, you also need to run:

Set-MailboxServer <server-name> <parameters>

Example: set the message tracking log for a server called EXCH01 to   ...
 
Set a particular hardware version for a VM in VMWare ESX
edited by on March 19th 2015, at 12:39
Using the vSphere (Web) Client, it is only possible to "upgrade" your virtual hardware to the latest version supported by your ESX host. Sometimes, it's necessary to set the hardware version to a specific version, rather than just the latest supported one. This can be done through PowerCLI (for use with vCenter) or ESXi Shell (for free ESXi).

Before you begin, note that you have to power down a VM before you can change the hardware version.

You need VMWare vSphere PowerCLI installed on a computer, and access to a vCenter server (can be appliance or full version for Windows) with the necessary credentials.

Connect to the vSphere server:

$cred = Get-CredentialConnect-VIServer -Se  ...
 
MSExchange Mailbox Replication error 1006 (database doesn't exist)
edited by on March 18th 2015, at 16:05

After deleting an unused mailbox database from Exchange 2013, you may see warnings appearing in the Application log (Event Log):

The Microsoft Exchange Mailbox Replication service was unable to process jobs in a mailbox database.
Database: Missing database (GUID)
Error: Database 'GUID' doesn't exist.

If removed very recently, wait for replication of AD throughout your domain, but the Mailbox Replication service will also cache the existence of the database. You can resolve this by simply restarting the Microsoft Exchange Mailbox Replication service (can be done during operation).

 
Change primary UPN-suffix (User Principal Name) quickly through Powershell
edited by on March 18th 2015, at 13:38
When implementing AD/Dirsync to synchronize your on-premise AD with Office365, you may have to change the UPN-suffix to match the (e-mail) domain name used in your Office365 tenant. Most often, the local UPN-suffix would be something like domain.local, and would then have to be changed to domain.com. With a lot of users, it can quickly become tedious to change this manually. Along came Powershell...

The attached script is an easy way to quickly change the UPN-suffix for all users in a particular OU. Simply adjust the parameters to match your configuration, and let it run. Note that the script runs recursively, so be careful when running this on a top-level OU, as it will cascade through a  ...
 
Mac Mini (2009) HDD replacement
edited by on March 17th 2015, at 08:10

I followed this guide to replace the HDD on my Mac Mini (2009, aka model A1283):

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac+mini+Model+A1283+Hard+Drive+Replacement/1063

The most tricky part is probably opening up the Mac. As I did not have a putty knife at hand, I used a rack cage nut mounting tool to create an opening,  and a very thin flathead screw driver to pry the case off, as explained in the guide.

EDIT: added picture of tool.

 
Apple Airport Configuration Utility
edited by on March 16th 2015, at 14:15

I'ved noticed the Airport Configuration Utility from Apple requires "elevation" (= run as administrator) to work properly on a Windows 8/8.1.

If it still throws out an error after connecting, try disabling IPv6, then reboot.

 
How to clean out cached Windows Updates
edited by on March 16th 2015, at 13:34
There are a lot of misconceptions about the %WINDIR%\SoftwareDistribution folder, home to the Windows Update data files. This can be seen by the myriad of posts and comments found all over the internet. So here's the real deal about cleaning out the Windows Updates cache.

Note that Windows Update automatically cleans out the cached updates at a regular interval (depending on the age of the cache, etc). If you're running production servers, you usually don't have to manually clean out the cache, unless you have acute disk space trouble. But sometimes it may be necessary to accelerate the process, and that's when the methods of the article come into play.

Don't delete   ...
 
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