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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Windows Server 2025 DC Requires AD DS FFL 2016 Minimum

Posted on by Rhoderick Milne [MSFT]
Windows Server 2025 DC Blocked By Unsupported FFL

This is an issue that can appear when trying to introduce a Windows Server 2025 domain controller into an existing Active Directory forest.  You were planning a change, followed the change request process only for it to be torpedoed as the deployment failed.  The installation was blocked because the forest functional level is still set to Windows Server 2012R2. At first glance, this can be confusi… Read the rest “Windows Server 2025 DC Requires AD DS FFL 2016 Minimum”

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AzureArcSetup.exe Crashes On Windows Server 2025

Posted on by Rhoderick Milne [MSFT]
Azure ARC Crash Server 2025

This was an issue encountered during the setup of Azure Arc where the onboarding process unexpectedly crashed.  Azure Arc is designed to extend Azure management and governance to on-premises and multi-cloud servers, so installation reliability is critical. When a setup program setup crashes, it often points to problems with agent dependencies, connectivity to Azure endpoints, or PowerShell module … Read the rest “AzureArcSetup.exe Crashes On Windows Server 2025”

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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”