Windows

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

Print Server Properties in XP

Here is an under-used feature in Windows XP: Printer Server Properties. I use this tool frequently to remove printer drivers that just won’t go away. Often times you will disconnect a printer, uninstall the software and/or drivers, and plug the printer back in only to find that instead of prompting you for the drivers you recently downloaded, the system just loads the old driver. Getting rid of these “stored” drivers is quite simple.Step 1: Remove the printer

Disconnect your printer and then uninstall the accompanying software and driver. Once this has been completed, make sure that the printer is no longer present in the Printers & Faxes folder.

Step 2: Remove the driver

Open the control panel and go into the Printer & Faxes folder. Click on File and then select Server Properties. From here, select the Drivers tab, click on the printer / driver in question and then click on Remove. You can also click on Properties to see the actual driver and support files for the particular printer driver.

A lot of users ask me to disable the system tray notifications that they get when sending jobs to a network printer. This was introduced with Windows XP Service Pack 2 and basically just alerts the end user that the network printer received the job and hopefully started printing it. To rid your users of these notifications perform the following:

Step 1: Disable the notifications

Within Printers & Faxes, go to File and then select Server Properties. Select the advanced tab and uncheck the option “Show informational notifications for network printers”. Hit OK and you are done.

–himuraken

Command Line Scheduling

I am going to go over some of the basic at command usage and some real world examples of its usage.

at – Run without any switches the program will display scheduled items or inform you that there aren’t any scheduled jobs.
at /delete – Using the /delete switch will make the command prompt you to delete all current entries.
at ID /delete – Using the job ID and the delete switch, the program will clear the specified ID/entry without prompting.
at time command – This is the most common way schedule a single task which will run once.
at time /every:X command – Same as above plus a recurring job based on X, which can indicate a day of the week or month.

I use the at command every day since it is a very simple and effective tool. Below are some common scenarios where you might use at…

I often perform maintenance such as Windows Updates which require a reboot but I cannot reboot the server to apply the updates. In this fairly common scenario the solution is very easy, a scheduled reboot. To perform a reboot from the command line of a Windows 2003 server you would run “shutdown -r” and press enter. If you wanted to do this at 3:00am you would simply run “at 3:00 shutdown -r“ from the command line. Another one that I use frequently is the scheduled defrag. I use this on all servers and client computers that I come across: “at 3:oo /every:1 defrag c:” which runs a command line defrag of the c: partition at 3:00am on the 1st of every month. You can substitute the 1 for a day such as M,T,W,Th,F,S,Su or any such combination separated by commas.
There countless useful tools that can be executed from the command line and just about all of them can be ran unattended by using the at command. I highly recommend automating your daily tasks such as defrags, reboots, and system cleanups using this command. It is very important to run the command without any switches after doing any work with the command so you can double check for typos. You can also see your scheduled jobs from the GUI by typing tasks in the run dialog and pressing OK.

–himuraken