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

Unable to delete calendar items in Amicus Attorney V

I have been asked about this before and yes, it is by design. Use the following steps if you have an Amicus Attorney V client system / user that is unable to delete items from their own calendar. Open Amicus and go to File -> Preferences. Click on the Calendar tab and then click on the Display sub tab. At the bottom of this tab you can adjust the settings to your personal preferences. In most cases is is sufficient enough to just uncheck the box labelled “Calendar pages cannot be altered once they are more than xx days old.”

–himuraken

Amicus Attorney V Slow Startup

This issue arose recently after enabling synchronization between Amicus Attorney V and Worldox GX. The symptoms of the issue are extremely slow load times for Amicus when Worldox is open. The issue is not present while Worldox is closed. The quickest way around this issue is to prevent Amicus from trying to sync automatically on load. You can disable this auto sync by following these steps. Start by closing Worldox from the system tray in the lower right hand corner. Open Amicus and go to File -> Setup. Next, click on the Document tab and then the Shared Documents sub tab. Finally, under Worldox Intergration, uncheck the Run WORLDOX synchronization on startup check box. Synchronization can and should be done manually from this point forward.

–himuraken

GDesklets won’t run in Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon

After a clean install/upgrade of Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) you may be unable to get gdesklets to run. I have noticed several threads out there with no resolution so I thought I would post a fix. Most users will get the app installed successfully but when they run the gdesklets shell, the app begins to load, goes gray, and then has to be closed using force quit. Also, running gdesklets start from a console shows that the daemon is starting but it never does. By default Gutsy Gibbon uses Python 2.5 while gdesklets is looking for 2.4. This is pretty straight forward to resolve using these steps. Install python2.4 by running sudo apt-get install python2.4 from a console. After that is complete we need to tell gdesklets to use Python2.4. From the console we need to add a few entries to the gdesklets config files. Locate the line that says “#! /usr/bin/env python” and append it with a 2.4. So each line should now look like “#! /usr/bin/env python2.4”. This line needs to be updated at the top of each of the files listed below.

/usr/lib/gdesklets/gdesklets
/usr/lib/gdesklets/gdesklets-shell
/usr/lib/gdesklets/gdesklets-daemon
/usr/lib/gdesklets/gdesklets-migration-tool

After updating the files with your favorite text editor, start the app by running gdesklets start from a console. This should have you up and running in no time.

–himuraken

Sonicwall GVPN w/ Simple Client Provisioning

In this post I am going to cover one of the ways that you can configure your Sonicwall device so that it provides secure client access to your internal network using the Sonicwall Global VPN client. There are several different ways that you can connect clients using the Global VPN client, but in this example I will cover one of the easiest and fastest ways to get the job done. For this example I will be using a Sonicwall TZ170 running standard OS. The steps will be nearly identical on other Sonicwalls running the standard OS. This configuration should also work just fine on devices running the enhanced OS provided that you aren’t running some off-the-wall configuration.

Step 1: Firewall configuration

Using your favorite browser login to your Sonicwall by going to https://x.x.x.x (<- Your IP here.) Go to the Users menu item and choose Local Users. Click on add and enter in the desired username and password for this user. Put a check mark in the “Access from VPN client with XAUTH” box and click OK.

Next we need to open the VPN menu item. By default there will be a VPN policy named GroupVPN. Make sure that this policy has the Enable box checked and then click on the edit button under Configure. The first two tabs require zero configuration for this how-to. Select the third tab which is named Advanced and make sure that “Require Authentication of VPN Clients via XAUTH” under Client Authentication is selected. On the client tab look for the setting “Cache XAUTH User Name and Password on Client” and change it to Always. Under Client Initial Provisioning make sure to place a checkmark next to “Use Default Key for Simple Client Provisioning” and click OK.

The final item to complete in this step is to send the GVPN policy to the client. Back on the main VPN page under Configure, click on the Export/Save button (Floppy disk icon). Accept all defaults on the pop-up window and click Yes. Once again, accept any defaults presented and enter a password so that the exported VPN policy is encrypted, this is important for several obvious reasons. Click on Submit and save the file. Now you can send the exported VPN policy to any user that needs it.

Step 2: Client Configuration

Using your MySonicwall account or original Sonicwall media install the Global VPN client on the desired PC and accept all defaults. Open the Global VPN client and press cancel when presented with the connection wizard. Go to the File menu and choose Import Connection. Click on the …Browse box and navigate to the exported GVPN policy. Now enter in that password that we used to encrypt the file earlier and click OK. You should now see the imported policy in the list of connections. Right click on the connection select Enable. Enter in the username and password that we created in step1 under Local Users. Put a checkmark in the “Remember my username and password” box and click OK. After a few moments of provisioning and passing encryption information, you should see the status as connected. Your client is now connected to your internal LAN securely via VPN.

Now you can create additional users as needed and send them the exported GVPN policy.

NOTE: I highly recommend sending the exported GVPN policy and encryption password separately. I generally accomplish this by emailing the policy and then sending a text message of the encryption password to the intended user and/or give it to the user verbally.

–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