Windows

Items related to Windows in general

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QuickTip – Use WIM File As DISM Repair Source

Posted on by Rhoderick Milne [MSFT]
DISM Mount for WinSXS Repair

The Windows servicing stack relies heavily on the WinSxS (Windows Side-by-Side) component store, which houses all the system files, manifests, and metadata required to service, patch, and maintain the operating system. Corruption within this store can manifest as persistent update failures, integrity check errors, or an inability to apply new servicing operations. Traditional file-level repair met… Read the rest “QuickTip – Use WIM File As DISM Repair Source”

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QuickTip – Capture Network Without Installing Wireshark

Posted on by Rhoderick Milne [MSFT]
Converted ETL To Wireshark

Wireshark is the industry tool for packet inspection, but you don’t always want, or are able, to install this onto production systems without a change request.  Whether you’re troubleshooting or investigating an issues, there are alternative ways to capture meaningful network traffic without installing Wireshark.  Ultimately we want to produce PCAPs easily without having to mess with switchport mi… Read the rest “QuickTip – Capture Network Without Installing Wireshark”

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Save The Date 14th October 2025

Posted on by Rhoderick Milne [MSFT]
Exchange Server 2019 End of Support Dates

The 14th of October 2025 marks another pivotal moment in Microsoft’s product lifecycle, as a large spectrum of very popular and widely deployed software reaches end-of-support. This includes Windows 10 and Windows 11 22H2.  On the productivity front, the extended support for Office 2016 and 2019, along with Visio 2016/2019, Project 2016/2019, and server-side tools like Exchange Server 2016/2019, S… Read the rest “Save The Date 14th October 2025”

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Quick Tip – How Do I View The Deleted Objects Container

Posted on by Rhoderick Milne [MSFT]

Windows Server 2008 R2 Active Directory added the AD Recycle Bin feature.  This allowed for an easier way to recover from an “oops” moment when a small number of objects were mistakenly deleted.  The option to perform an authoritative restored remains to recover from mass deletion events.  The AD Recycle Bin can be enabled via the AD Admin Centre or AD PowerShell using the Enable-ADOptionalFeature… Read the rest “Quick Tip – How Do I View The Deleted Objects Container”

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Using PowerCfg To Set Server Power Plan From Command Line

Posted on by Rhoderick Milne [MSFT]
Set Power Plan Via Command Line

Being able to automate and set Power Plan options via the command is useful for both automation and tasks on Server Core.  We can use powercfg.exe to control power plans - also called power schemes - to use the available sleep states, to control the power states of individual devices, and to analyze the system for common energy-efficiency and battery-life problems.

Below are multiple examples of the … Read the rest “Using PowerCfg To Set Server Power Plan From Command Line”

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Stale DNS Server Blocking Captive Portal Or Simply Inaccessible

Posted on by Rhoderick Milne [MSFT]
Stale DNS Server Entries Causing Issues On Windows 10 and 11

It’s always DNS.  That’s the typical mantra when troubleshooting AD issues.

But what about a fully updated Windows 10/11 machine totally ignoring the DNS server it was told to use via DHCP?  Yes, that unfortunately was a recent problem.  On the machine it appeared to have the public Google DNS server (8.8.8.8) stuck.  Regardless of what network the machine connected to, it ignored the DNS server as… Read the rest “Stale DNS Server Blocking Captive Portal Or Simply Inaccessible”

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Kerberos Issues November 2022

Posted on by Rhoderick Milne [MSFT]
Kerberos Issues November 2022

The November 8, 2022 and later Windows updates address a  security bypass and elevation of privilege vulnerability with Authentication Negotiation by using weak RC4-HMAC negotiation.

This update will set AES as the default encryption type for session keys on accounts that are not marked with a default encryption type already.

To help secure your environment, install the Windows update that is dated … Read the rest “Kerberos Issues November 2022”

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How To Use Nslookup To Check DMARC Record

Posted on by Rhoderick Milne [MSFT]
Check DMARC Using NSLookup

One of my customers wanted to verify their Domain Based Message Reporting Conformance (DMARC) record, and followed the post How To Use Nslookup To Check DNS TXT Record but ran into issues. They were not seeing any results.  Hmm strange; the DMARC record had been created and was visible in online diagnostic tools.  Why was it not showing up for them in a manual check?

The below is an example of what… Read the rest “How To Use Nslookup To Check DMARC Record”

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Faulting Module Name NTdll.dll

Posted on by Rhoderick Milne [MSFT]

One of my hosted lab environments ran into series of issues, and after unplanned maintenance there were multiple problems to resolve.  The below error with a faulting ntdll.dll module was something I recall seeing many years ago with a Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) deployment where the MOM agent simply would not start.  On every single attempt to start the service it would crash with the erro… Read the rest “Faulting Module Name NTdll.dll”

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HealthChecker Script & Schannel TLS Registry Issues

Posted on by Rhoderick Milne [MSFT]
Health Checker Issue With TLS Registry Keys

Unfortunately issues can arise when third-party tools are used to modify TLS settings on a Windows Server. While these utilities are often intended to simplify the process of hardening or tuning protocols, they can introduce serious side effects.  Especially in environments running applications like Exchange Server, IIS or other components that depend on schannel. Misapplied registry changes, unsu… Read the rest “HealthChecker Script & Schannel TLS Registry Issues”