himuraken

Microsoft Security Bulletin MS08-067

In an attempt to keep this post short and sweet I will cover a few of the basics regarding this bulletin. Microsoft discovered a remote code execution flaw in the Server service on versions of Windows 2000 and up. Originally, this flaw was exploitable only if your system had ports 139 and 445 exposed to the net. Fast forward to today, and there are virus’ embedded in numerous files including keygens, cracks, and various forms of email attachments. In short, the patch is necessary on all systems in your organization even if the above mentioned ports are closed. Microsoft’s announcement is here.

Please be aware that out of 15 servers that I initially patched, 2 became unavailable after rebooting to apply the patch. The systems that had this problem had no obvious similarities that I could detect. After the reboot communications to and from the server being blocked/prevented. Pinging another host on the same LAN from the server was not even possible. Removing the patch and rebooting resolved the issue on both servers. After that, I reinstalled the patch, rebooted and everything is working properly.

–Himuraken

Dell Inspiron Mini 9 Quick Review: Windows XP

I promised a review of the Mini’s once I received them and I just haven’t had time to get it done. So here is a quick review of the Mini that shipped with Windows XP preloaded. My Mini / Linux preload review will be posted once Dell decides to fullfil their orders.

The unit was shipped in a box that is roughly the same dimensions as an adult sized shoe box although it is about half the height. The box weighs in right around 4 lbs and includes the netbook, AC adapter, limited paper documentation, and the restore CD’s.

Specifications:
Manufacturer: Dell
Model: Inspiron Mini 9
Color: Obsidian Black Gloss Finish
CPU: Intel Atom N270 @ 1.6GHz
RAM: 1GB DDR2 @ 533Mhz
Screen: 8.9″ Wide Screen WSVGA TL
Video: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950
Audio: Realtek HD onboard
Hard Drive: 16GB Solid State Drive (mini-card Module/PATA)
OS: Windows XP Home Edition
WiFi: Broadcom 802.11g Mini Card
LAN: Realtek 10/100 Mbps
Cam: Integrated 1.3M Pixel Webcam
Ports: 3 USB, VGA out, single slot multi-card reader, mic, & headphone
Battery: 32WHr 4-cell
Weight: 2 lbs 5 ounces

The unit shipped with a fair amount of bloatware from Dell including MS Works. I removed all of the excess crap that the unit shipped with. The only add-ons have been Firefox, Office 2007 Enterprise, and ClamWin AV. The unit is just about as silent as it gets courtesy of the internal solid state disk.

Time Tests
All tests were performed with the unit running off of battery power.

Cold boot from power button to fully loaded Windows XP desktop including WiFi link:
Result: 41 seconds

Resume from hibernation:
Result: 19 seconds

Full shutdown time from power down to LED turning off:
Result: 34 seconds

Time to open Microsoft Word 2007:
Result: 1 second*

* Please note that I ran this test multiple times using an accurate stop watch and the results were between 1.0 seconds and 1.2 seconds.

I wanted to provide these numbers for those out there that are considering purchasing the unit and are looking for some real world numbers and scenarios.

I will create a second review once the Linux based system arrives and compare the results afterwards.

–Himuraken

Resize NTFS partitions using the GParted live CD

Working late tonight… I have a client that has a Dell PowerEdge 2800 server that is running out of disk space on the OS partition. The physical disk setup is a RAID 5 logical drive on 3 physical drives which is handled by the PERC 4 RAID controller. Dell shipped the unit with a 12GB / 120GB split with Windows 2003 Server loaded on the smaller C partition. Nowadays 12GB is certainly not enough room for the fully service packed 2003 operating system plus the usual array of management, AV, and backup utilities. Up to this point, everything that could be moved to the larger storage partition has been, including: Windows Server Update Services, Symantec Corporate Edition, and the systems page file. That was a time buying workaround, but the free space is ever decreasing with each wave of Microsoft updates. Now for the fun part.

I backed up the C and D partitions using the Acronis True Image Enterprise boot disk by creating a complete system image and storing it on an external USB drive. After that, I mounted the drive and its partitions on a Windows system and verified that the images contained the appropriate data in an uncorrupted state. I downloaded and burned a copy of Gparted live CD. You can download a copy for yourself here. After booting the server using the live CD, I was pleasantly surprised to see that it loaded the necessary drivers to see my logical drive from the PERC 4 card. Using the GUI provided by the live CD, I shrank the overly large storage partition down by about 15GB’s. Once that completed I went ahead and increased the size of the smaller operating system partition. It really is quite simple, you just choose the partition or drive that you want to resize and move the sliders left and right to shrink or grow the size. After applying my changes, I rebooted the server and watched the server boot into Windows 2003 Server. I ran a chkdsk just to verify that everything is in order as far as Windows is concerned. Result: Simple and flawless NTFS resizing done without the need to purchase any proprietary disk management software.

I highly recommend this live CD for anyone that needs to modify drives or partitions on a regular basis. You simply cannot beat the price and compatibility, the tool works on all modern file systems/drives.

–Himuraken

Dell Inspiron Mini 9 on the way! Part2

Update for anyone interested…

I ordered a Mini9 with XP for my wife, and a Mini9 Ubuntu for myself. Both were ordered around 8:00pm on the first day they were available for purchase. With the exception of OS both units are identical, 16GB SSD, 1.3 webcam, and 1GB of RAM. Within an hour I had my estimated shipping dates: Sep 19 for the XP and Oct 10th for the Ubuntu. The XP system shipped an entire day early on the 18th. As of October 11th my ship date had been changed from October 10th to November 7th. After calling Dell and politely working my way up the ranks of support and managers, I was told that the webcam / Ubuntu combo is causing the hold up. Apparently, and this is from the words of a Dell Support Manager, they haven’t gotten the webcam working yet. This was after being told that the OS wasn’t readily available….right… So they went on to explain that once they figure out how to get the webcam working in Linux, they will ship it. Props go to Dell for offering products that they claim work, exist, etc,…Taking my money…Not shipping a product… And not even sending an email to explain the hold up.

On top of everything else, I tried to get Dell to throw me something for my troubles. A T-shirt, Bluetooth upgrade, or even a stinking USB drive for being a patient customer / reseller. Yeah, they offered to cancel my order if I wanted… Nice.

Searching the web will yield various results as to the actual hold-up. The only piece of seemingly factual information that I was able to find suggested that the hold-up was due to a shortage of chassis plastic or some such.

Considering the numerous issues with shipping, partitioning, and manufacturing; things look pretty sloppy for Dell as far as I am concerned.

As of right now I have not canceled my order…yet.

–Himuraken

Dell Inspiron Mini 9 on the way!

Yesterday Dell released the Inspiron Mini 9 which falls into the sub-notebook / mini-notebook category. It appears to be Dell’s first approach to make something similar to the EeePC. The unit has the option of being shipped with a stripped down version of Ubuntu 8.04 LTS or a stripped copy of Windows XP. The base price is currently at $350.00 for the 512MB / 4GB SSD model running Linux. Since I am always on the road and my signifigant other is a college student, we decided to purchase two of them on opening day. I ordered both units with 1GB of RAM, 16GB SSD (Solid State Hard Disk), and built in webcams. One of the systems was ordered with Windows XP while the other is coming with Ubuntu. I will give additional details and a review once the systems have been received.

A few quick things that I learned while ordering:

Apparently they will only sell the Windows unit with the upgraded 8GB hard because Windows XP and the bundled Microsoft Works & McAfee AV use up much of the drive. I have heard reports that even the 8GB drive is heavily consumed by the OS and additional software. This is one of the reasons I chose the 16GB drive in each machine.

The Windows based system with the 8GB drive apparently comes standard with the 0.3 megapixel camera. The same is not true with the Linux system.

For some unknown reason the Windows machine costs less to upgrade from the 8GB SSD to the 16GB than the same upgrade on the Linux box.

Perhaps they are feeling sorry for the people that order the system that comes with the preload bloat. XD

–himuraken

Windows SBS 2003 License Wizard Won’t Open / Crashes

Ran in to this one recently. During a recent attempt to add additional CAL’s to one of my SBS 2003 boxes, the license wizard would just close, regardless of whether I was trying to add, backup, or transfer licenses. Here are the steps that I took to resolve the issue.

Step 1:

Make sure that the DLL is registered properly by running the following from the command line: regsvr32 “C:\Program Files\Windows for Small Business Server\Administration\wizchain.dll”. You should get a message stated the the DLL registered correctly. Try to use the license wizard again and proceed to step 2 if the issue persists.

Step 2:

Go to System Properties and then click on the Advanced tab. Next, click on Settings in the performance category. Now click on the Data Execution Prevention tab. Make sure that “Add License Wizard” is excluded from DEP. If the license wizard isn’t listed, you will have to add it manually. After this apply / save your changes and re-run the license wizard.

After performing the above steps I was able to successfully add and backup SBS CAL’s on my server. Another classic case of Windows protecting Windows from Windows… Umm, yea.

–Himuraken

Unable to open remote desktop with Windows XP SP3 Beta installed

Got a nice surprise yesterday morning when I tried to run the remote desktop connection, it failed. The error given was “The pre-release version of Remote Desktop Connection has expired. To download the full version of Remote Desktop Connection, go to Windows Update or contact your system administrator.” After checking Windows Update and finding zero updates available I began poking around my system. I queried Google a couple times and found nothing. My laptop is running Windows XP SP3 v.3244 which was the latest beta / release candidate. Setting the system time to a date prior to April 7th is a quick work around, but it comes with its own set of repercussions. Luckily, when I install SP3 I choose to archive SP2 files in case an uninstall of SP3 was needed. In safe mode go to C:\WINDOWS\$NtServicePackUninstall$ and locate the files “mstsc.exe” and “mstscax.dll”. Create copies of these files and paste them into your C:\Windows\System32 folder. Restart the computer in normal mode and test your RDP client by going to Start -> Run, typing in mstsc, and click OK.

–himuraken

Unable to install Microsoft XML Core Services 4.0 Service Pack 2

For the past couple if weeks I have noticed an increase in the number of my clients systems that are unable to install this Microsoft update. This has effected servers and workstations within the production networks that I maintain. So far the worst thing I have seen come from this issue is continuous prompting from Windows Update running down in the system tray. Even after multiple attempts to install the patch, you continue to be told that your system is ready to install updates. I tried numerous things before compiling these steps to resolve the issue. The first step in resolving this is to manually remove the corrupted MS XML SP2 update. Using Microsoft’s MSI Cleanup Utility, manually remove Microsoft XML 4.0 SP2. Also, double check add / remove programs and make sure that the update is no longer listed. After removal we must reinstall the service pack and then apply a security update. The service pack is located here and the update can be found here. After following these steps you will not receive prompts from Windows Update auto installer to continuously install this service pack.

–himuraken