Windows

Items related to Windows in general

7

Easy Way To Retrieve Certificate Thumbprint Using PowerShell

Posted on by Rhoderick Milne [MSFT]

Since many certificate operations involve knowing the certificate’s thumbprint, it is always useful to to have an easy way to get this information.  In some of the online documentation it mentions you can copy the thumbprint out of the Certificate MMC snap-in and then manually delete the spaces between the data.  No thanks.

However, if you *really* want to do that, or a quick and easy way to launch… Read the rest “Easy Way To Retrieve Certificate Thumbprint Using PowerShell”

1

Quick Tip–How To Easily Open Additional Instance or Elevate Applications

Posted on by Rhoderick Milne [MSFT]

This tip is for all the folks out there who want a quick and easy way to open an additional instance of an application which they are running or to elevate an application.

The below tips were captured from a Windows 10 build 1709 machine.

The below should work for most applications – if you find one that does not, please leave a comment.

 

Additional Instance

In this example we have a cmd prompt o… Read the rest “Quick Tip–How To Easily Open Additional Instance or Elevate Applications”

12

Exchange 2016 Prerequisites AS-HTTP-Activation Missing

Posted on by Rhoderick Milne [MSFT]

The below was an exercise in paying attention to detail for one of my customers.  They were in the middle of an Exchange 2010 to 2016 migration and were attempting to install the first Exchange 2016 server into the organisation. Windows Server 2016 was being used as the OS for these new servers.

However it was not going swimmingly.

As part of the pre-work they were installing the OS, applying Window… Read the rest “Exchange 2016 Prerequisites AS-HTTP-Activation Missing”

1

Unable To Ping Windows Server

Posted on by Rhoderick Milne [MSFT]

You have just deployed a shiny new Windows 2012 R2 member server, and joined it to the domain.  After the server has restarted you try and ping it from one of the other domain machines, but ping is dropped.   You check the Network Location Awareness, as you have been burnt by that before, but that is fine and it can see the AD domain.

In the below example, note that the DNS request was successful. … Read the rest “Unable To Ping Windows Server”

1

Install DFSRDIAG On Windows 2012 R2 and Windows 2016

Posted on by Rhoderick Milne [MSFT]

Working on multiple versions of Exchange means having multiple different labs.  Each lab will have different versions of Exchange, different update levels and also different Active Directory site layouts.  They are all required to test and validate different configurations.

These VMs are not always running.  As a result, DFS sometimes needs attention if the environment was powered off for an extend… Read the rest “Install DFSRDIAG On Windows 2012 R2 and Windows 2016”

0

End of Exchange 2007 Support

Posted on by Rhoderick Milne [MSFT]

Today’s the day to say goodbye to our old friend, Exchange 2007.  At this point you should have completed the project to move all mailboxes and resources from Exchange 2007 to a supported version of Exchange, and uninstall the Exchange 2007 servers.

Thanks to Exchange 2007 I went to MCM, and discovered just how badly Greg Taylor and accomplices can break an Exchange environment and turn it into a qu… Read the rest “End of Exchange 2007 Support”

0

Change AD FS 2012 R2 Service Account Password

Posted on by Rhoderick Milne [MSFT]

One of the added features in AD FS 2012 R2 was the ability to leverage group managed service accounts (gMSA) which obviated the requirement to manually change the password associated with the service account.  See Getting Started with Group Managed Service Accounts for some background on gMSA.  You may also see the term sMSA which is a standalone managed service account.

Managed service accounts and … Read the rest “Change AD FS 2012 R2 Service Account Password”

1

New Netstat Options

Posted on by Rhoderick Milne [MSFT]

New?  Well some options are not that new really.  Others are however!

Sometimes it is the little things in life that can help immensely.  Take our venerable friend, netstat!  Even though it has been around for many moons folks often get into the habit of using only certain options, switches or parameters.   For reference purposes, the Windows XP Netstat options are doc… Read the rest “New Netstat Options”

0

Script To Remove Windows Update Server Values From Registry

Posted on by Rhoderick Milne [MSFT]

In some of the lab environments provided to me, the base Windows image has pre-set WSUS updates servers.  When I then move the lab VMs to a different network, the original WSUS servers are no longer available, and I typically point to Microsoft Update or a different WSUS server.

In the case of pointing to Microsoft Update, I wanted to delete the initial WSUS registry values.  In my case, these are … Read the rest “Script To Remove Windows Update Server Values From Registry”

1

Updating Windows Server 2012 R2 AD FS SSL and Service Certificates

Posted on by Rhoderick Milne [MSFT]

The below content is superseded  -- for information on updating your certificates please see:

 

Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) heavily leverages X.509 certificates to allow the solution to function securely.  As with all of the other certificates that you deploy within your enterprise, there must be a process to manage and renew certifica… Read the rest “Updating Windows Server 2012 R2 AD FS SSL and Service Certificates”