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Author Archive for KW – Page 11

Remote command line to delete subfolders

by KW · Comments (0)
Jun 27 2015

This is a follow up to my post regarding 44,175 folders being created in a temp folder due to a bad definition file from Vipre/MAV.

The system in question had frozen up, and after we rebooted the server, I was not able to login using my normal remote control software (TeamViewer). But I was able to access the system from a remote command prompt.

That’s how I discovered the 44,175 folders. The question was: how do I delete all those sub folders?

A quick web search uncovered a usable solution, and after a test to verify it would work, I was ready to delete all those folders.

Here’s the command I used (obviously, enter the appropriate parent directory):

for /D %p in (c:\users\don\appdata\local\temp\*.*) do rmdir “%p” /s /q

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Categories : Malware, Tools
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Quickbooks dbdata11.dll and Vipre/MAV

by KW · Comments (0)
Jun 26 2015

Friday morning (6-26-2015) I started receiving calls from several of my customers saying that they could not run Quickbooks, and that they were getting an alert that the file “dbdata11.dll” has been quarantined.

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With the help of other members of The ASCII Group, we quickly determined that it was a false positive due to a bad definition file update from Vipre (or the RMM version called MAV).

Soon after, MAXFocus (previously GFI) sent out a service status alert of the issue, and that it had been resolved with definition version 41468 and above. It was recommended to add the file (dbdata11.dll) to the Vipre/MAV exception list, before updating systems with the newer definition file.

Note: make an exception only for the file, and not the folder and file, as the folder name is randomly generated by QuickBooks.

That should have been it. Right? … Wrong!

I received a call from one of my users saying that one of their systems with QuickBooks installed on it had locked up. At about the same time they reported this issue, I received an email alert from the RMM service I use saying that the C: drive of this system had dropped to below 20% free space.

Once we got the system rebooted, I logged in and discovered that there 44,175 folder taking up nearly 62GB of disk space. The location of these folders were in C:\Users\QBDataServiceUser22\appdata\local\temp. Each of these folders contained a single file: dbdata11.dll.

It turns out that every time Vipre/MAV quarantined this file, QuickBooks created a new temp folder with the same file!

So once I had the A/V definition file updated, and we rebooted the system, I went in and safely deleted all 44,175 folders! 

What a fun way to spend a Friday!

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Categories : Malware, News, QuickBooks, Security
Tags : , , ,

Single stray .avhd Hyper-V snapshot file exists

by KW · Comments (0)
Jun 08 2015

I have a client with a Windows 2008R2 Hyper-V parent, and guest VMs. I was preparing to upgrade their Altaro Hyper-V software from version 4 to version 5, when I discovered that there was a single, stray snapshot file (.avhd) for one of the guest VMs. The strange thing is that the Hyper-V console was not showing that any snapshots exist or had been created for this VM.

I did some poking around, and buried in this Microsoft forum post was a response from Pablo which worked perfectly for me. His response is dated January 28, 2014.

Here are the steps he recommended and that I performed (again this was on a 2008 R2 Hyper-V server):

  • Shutdown the VM in question
  • On the right frame of the Hyper-V click on Snapshot and create a new snapshot. You can confirm this by going to the folder where the .avhd file exists, and you should now see a second .avhd file.
  • Return to the Hyper-V console, and from the middle frame, right click on the snapshot and select to delete the snapshot.
  • Over on the right frame you will see a message that a merge is in process.
  • Once the merge is completed, both .avhd files had been automatically removed from the folder location.
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Categories : Backup, Hyper-V, Servers
Tags : ,

Disable Get Windows 10 popup

by KW · Comments (0)
Jun 02 2015

Microsoft is preparing for the release of Windows 10 on July 29th, and is pushing out an update (KB3035583) which will allow you to register for the free download. It seems to me, not only is this an easy way for Microsoft to broadcast that Windows 10 is coming, but it can provide them with some statistical data on how many people may want to get Windows 10 when it is released, and what kind of systems they are using.

However, if you are just totally annoyed with the prompt, or you do not want to register for Windows 10, or you’re just not interested … you can uninstall KB3035583. Here’s how:

  • Open up Windows Update (Control Panel > System and Security . windows Update)
  • Click on View Update History
  • Click on Installed Updates
  • In the Search box on the top right, type: kb3035583
  • Click on the KB3035583 entry to select it and uninstall it.
  • You will need to reboot your computer when finished

After your system has rebooted, you will need to block/hide KB3035583 from re-installing.

  • Go back to Windows Update
  • Review the list of pending updates
  • right click on KB3035583 and select to Hide this update
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Categories : News, Windows
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2012 R2 Essentials Fails to Integrate with O365

by KW · Comments (0)
May 27 2015

I have an existing client with a Windows 2012 R2 Essential server. I was migrating their email from a GoDaddy POP3/IMAP host over to Office 365. This was going to be my first opportunity to try out the O365 Integration Wizard that comes with the 2012 R2 Essentials dashboard.

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On May 23rd I set up their Office 365 accounts, setup the DNS records on GoDaddy, and then migrated their email to Office 365, all which went smoothly.

On May 26th I attempted to run the O365 Integration Wizard. After entering the O365 admin account and login info, it errors with this message: “There was an issue configuring the integration. Make sure the computer is connected to the internet and then try again.”

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I did a lot of web searches, and finally located several posts from people indicating that the error may be related to a corrupt or invalid PCNS.zip file:
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/dba06f4f-1011-4de3-946b-2a39718c2cc0/windows-server-2012-essentials-r2-and-office-365-integration?forum=winserveressentials#eb76b50e-6304-48b0-afef-b5fd79978ebf

What’s PCNS? It stands for Microsoft’s Password Change Notification Service which synchronizes user passwords in an enterprise environment.

I confirmed that this was the error by looking at the SharedServiceHost-EmailProvider Config.log file located at C:\Program Data\Microsoft\Windows Server\Logs folder.

The suggested fix was to rename the existing PCNS folder and PCNS.zip file, then download a different PCNS.zip file, and then rerun the wizard. Initially it did not work for me, because I was manually unzipping the corrected PCNS.zip file before running the O365 Wizard. Finally it dawned on me to just download the zip file, and sure enough, the O365 Wizard unzipped it, and we finally had success!

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Categories : Essentials, Office 365, Tools
Tags : ,

Hotfix for Server Essentials Windows Backup

by KW · Comments (0)
May 13 2015

Hotfix: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3045682/

“You cannot restore files and folders from Server Essentials Backup on a Windows-based computer”

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Categories : Backup, Essentials, News
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Backup fails in Windows Server 2012 Essentials

by KW · Comments (0)
May 13 2015

I have a customer running Windows 2012 R2 Essentials with Windows Server Backup scheduled to do twice daily backups. Recently it started reporting that the backup “Completed with warnings”.

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I opened up Event Viewer, and under Application logs, I found this event 547 warning:

“The backup operation that started at {date & time) has encountered errors for the volumes ‘X:’. Log of files not successfully backed up at ‘C:\Windows\Logs\WindowsServerBackup\Backup_Error-{date & time}.log’

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So, I go to the specified log folder, and open up the log file and it reports that it could not back up some files – Error [0x80070005] Access Denied.

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With this information in hand, I check Microsoft ‘s Support website, and sure enough, I found KB 2747459 that identifies this exact problem and lists two workarounds:  Server backup process fails and “0x80070005” errors are logged in Windows Server 2012 Essentials

I chose to implement option 2 (Registry Edit). Please note that after editing the registry, you will need to reboot the server in order to implement the change.

Here are the steps as outlined in KB 2747459:

  1. In Registry Editor, locate the following registry subkey:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\BackupRestore\FilesNotToBackup

  2. Right-Click FilesNotToBackup, point to New, and then click Multi-String Value
  3. Type IgnoreNTFS, and then press Enter
  4. Right-click IgnoreNTFS, and then click Modify
  5. In the Value data box, type \$Extend\* /s
  6. Click OK, and then close Registry Editor.
  7. Restart the server.

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Categories : Backup, Servers, SMB
Tags : ,

Microsoft Announces New Support Policy for Repaired Exchange Databases

by KW · Comments (0)
May 11 2015

On May 1, 2015 Microsoft announced a new support policy for repaired Exchange databases. The details are in this blog post from the Exchange team.
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Simply put — if the Exchange database has previously been repaired (repair count greater zero), then the contents of that database needs to be moved to a new Exchange database.

The question will be asked: how can I determine the repair count of an Exchange database?

The suggested way is to use the ESEUTIL utility with the MH option:
eseutil /mh <exchange_mailbox_filename.edb>

Running this command does not modify or update Exchange. It simply displays information about the Exchange database. But be sure to dismount your Exchange database before running the command.

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Finally, for the record books: back in August, 2006 I wrote a blog post titled: Defragging Exchange in 4 Easy Steps. This was written in the Exchange 2003 era.

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Categories : Exchange, Servers
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Disable Service Manager from Running at Startup on Windows 2012 R2

by KW · Comments (0)
May 05 2015

Not a big annoyance, but many times I’m asked to disable the Service Manager screen from starting up when you log into the Windows 2012 R2 Server.

The process is almost as easy as doing a three finger (Ctrl-Alt-Del) salute. After you log into the server, and the Server Manager starts up, do the following two steps:

  • Click on Manage –> Server Manager Properties
  • On the next window, click (to check) the “Do not start Server Manager automatically at logon” option

Next time you reboot and logon, voila, no server manager!

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Categories : Servers, Windows
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Urban e Recycling in Tampa Florida

by KW · Comments (0)
Apr 28 2015

urbanerecylcing.logoLast Saturday (4/25/2015) a local Tampa company, Urban eRecycling, was scheduled to have their truck at a shopping center for an event to encourage people to recycle their old computers and equipment, for free!

I had the opportunity to talk with them beforehand, and ended up taking several loads of old computers, monitors, disk drives and accessories to be recycled. They can demagnitize or crush hard drives, and can provide a Destruction of Data Certificate.

They will do free pickups at your business or residence.

WP_20150425_001

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Categories : News
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