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Month: September 2015

ShadowCopy Quickly Saves Your Bacon

In my opinion this feature is simply a must for all servers and stand alone workstations – ShadowCopy otherwise known as previous versions. As per Microsoft:

Previous versions are automatically saved as part of a restore point. If system protection is turned on, Windows automatically creates previous versions of files and folders that have been modified since the last restore point was made. Typically, restore points are made once a day. If your disk is partitioned or if you have more than one hard disk on your computer, you need to turn on system protection for the other partitions or disks.

To enable and configure ShadowCopy of Shared Folders:

1. Go to Administrative Tools and then click Computer Management .
2. In the console tree, right-click Shared Folders, click All Tasks, and then click Configure Shadow Copies.
3. In Select a volume, click the volume that you want to enable Shadow Copies of Shared Folders for, and then click Enable.
4. You will see an alert that Windows will create a shadow copy now with the current settings and that the settings might not be appropriate for servers with high I/O loads. Click Yes if you want to continue or No if you want to select a different volume or settings.
5. To make changes to the default schedule and storage area, click Settings.
If your company has important files shared on a network and would like to prepare in advance of a disaster to protect them, then contact us for assistance.

Sage 50 Data File Database Corruption Detected

This was a strange one for a client that uses Sage 50 Accounting and was trying to print a W-2 for an employee who “lost” theirs in the mail. Whenever they tried to create this the Aatrix form software crashed stating Sage 50 Data File Database Corruption Detected. (More precisely “Codebase Error #: -200 or Codebase Error #: 83805″ File is not a data file database corruption detected in Dat.bdf” when processing Aatrix tax forms.) The troubleshooting for this went on for some time until this Sage Support article was found. The first option worked like a charm.

Fixing Sage 50 Data File Database Corruption Detected

Section I: Replace Histories folder

1. Locate a valid backup taken prior to the last processing of the tax forms.
2. Rename the backup file to add .zip to the extension.
3. Rename the Histories folder in your individual company to Old-Histories
4. Open the newly renamed .zip file and copy the Histories directory to the individual company folder.
5. Start the tax form selector and process your forms.

If your company is using Sage 50 Accounting or has experienced any sort of database corruption issues, then contact us for assistance.

Group Policy Deployed Printer Preferences

This was an interesting find for me as I had not thought of changing Group Policy deployed printer preferences for a printer that was deployed via Group Policy. A client wanted to have the default for their multi-function printer to be set to black & white printing. As this is a printer deployed via Group Policy, changing the preferences in Devices & Printers did not do the trick. Instead it took the following:

Making changes to Group Policy deployed printer preferences

1. Open the Print Management Administrative Tool
2. Expand Print Servers and then expand the print server
3. Click on Printers, right-click on the printer to be changed and then choose “Set Printing Default…”
4. Make the needed changes to the preferences then click OK button.
If your company is using Group Policy to deploy printers or needs any help troubleshooting network printers, then contact us for assistance.

Test SMTP Connectivity via Telnet

Had issues recently with another tech setting up a SMTP relay to Google Apps that didn’t work correctly and during the process of correcting their setup there came a need to test SMTP connectivity. Time to use a telnet connection to the SMTP server over port 25 method to test via my favorite telnet/ssh/console program PuTTY:
1. Open PuTTY and type in the Host Name of the SMTP server.
2. Choose Connection type of Telnet and change the Port to 25 then click the Open button.
3. Type EHLO [hostname] and then press ENTER.
4. Type MAIL FROM:[authorizeduser@domain.com] and then press ENTER.
5. Type RCPT TO:[anotheruser@domain.com] and then press ENTER.
6. Type DATA and then press ENTER. You will receive a response that resembles the following:

354 Start mail input; end with .

7. Type Subject: [Test Subject] and then press ENTER.
8. Press ENTER. RFC 2822 requires a blank line between the Subject: header field and the message body.
9. Type [Test Message Body] and then press ENTER.
10. Press ENTER, type a single period character and then press ENTER. You will receive a response that resembles the following:

250 2.6.0 Queued mail for delivery

11. To disconnect from the destination SMTP server, type QUIT and then press ENTER. You will receive a response that resembles the following:

221 2.0.0 Service closing transmission channel

12. Check the [anotheruser@domain.com] mailbox to see if the message arrived successfully.

This allows testing of the connection without end user intervention or the creation of a test account to send from. If there is SMTP authentication or encryption then there are other commands that will need to be entered.
If your company is in need of help troubleshooting or needs to test SMTP connectivity on your email servers, then contact us for assistance.

Google Apps SMTP Relay

Install Windows Server 2012 SMTP Relay Feature

1. Login as an administrator.
2. Go the the start screen and type “Server Manager”. Click on Manage and choose “Add roles and Features”.
3. Click “Next >” (Check the box to skip this in the future)
4. Make sure “Role-based or feature-based installation” is selected then click “Next >”
5. Choose the appropriate server then click “Next >”
6. Make no changes to the “Roles” page then click “Next >”
7. On the “Features” page scroll down and check the box by “SMTP Server”
8. Click “Add Features” (required for SMTP Server) then click “Next >”
9. Click “Install” then wait for the install to finish then click “Close”.

Configure Windows Server 2012 Google Apps SMTP Relay

1. Go the the start screen and type “Server Manager”.
2. In the Tools menu select “Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0 Manager”
3. Expand the tree until [SMTP Virtual Server #1] is shown then right click and choose “Rename” (as appropriate)
4. Right click again and choose “Properties”.
5. Click on the “Access” tab then click the “Connection…” button
6. Select “All except the list below” then click “OK”
7. Click on the “Relay…” then select “All except the list below” then click “OK”
8. Click on the “Delivery” tab then click the “Outbound Security” button
9. Select “Basic Authentication” and type in the username and password of Google Apps user
10. Check “TLS encryption” then click “OK”
11. Click the “Outbound connections” button then change “TCP port” to 587 then click “OK”
12. Click the “Advanced” button then fill in the FQDN of the internal server (add custom DNS for future changes)
13. Fill in “Smart host” with SMTP.gmail.com – the name of the Google Apps SMTP server then click “OK” twice

Warning! You have an open relay now. Use this setup to check the email notification system. When you see it’s fully functional go back to the “Access” tab and narrow down the “Connection” settings to the necessary systems. When no other system needs to relay, just check “Only the list below” and grant “127.0.0.1” access.

Configure Google Apps SMTP relay service

1. Login to Google Apps Admin Console
2. Click on Apps
3. Click on Google Apps
4. Click on Gmail
5. Click on “Advanced settings >>”
6. In “Search settings” type SMTP relay then click the Configure button
7. Give the relay a name
8. Leave the “Only registered Apps users in my domains” option set
10. Select “Require TLS ecryption”
11. Click ADD SETTING
12. Click SAVE CHANGES at the bottom right

If your company is using Google Apps and needs a SMTP relay setup for use by a network device like a multi-function printer, then contact us for assistance.

Deploying Adobe Acrobat DC Cloud Edition

Had a school that bought the cloud licensing for Adobe Acrobat DC and wanted help deploying Adobe Acrobat to the workstations on their network. Began the process by creating an MSI based package with the Adobe Cloud Packager for deployment via group policy, but the deployment failed. Found that this is a known issue with Adobe Acrobat DC and can only be solved by running a script instead:

Creating Script for Deploying Adobe Acrobat DC Cloud Edition

Open an administrative command prompt

Change directory to – [Package Location]\Exceptions\APRO15.0en_US\Adobe Acrobat\

Run the following – Setup.exe /sALL /extUI /sl “en_US” /msi INSTALLDIR=”” EULA_ACCEPT=”NO” SUITEMODE=1 OWNERSHIP_STATE=1 LANG_LIST=”en_US” INSTALLLEVEL=101 AS_DISABLE_LEGACY_COLOR=1 IGNOREAAM=1

Open the application then Sign In to Adobe Cloud

Paste Product Key into the prompt that opens

This was found after some deep research into the Adobe Support site. Once you have tested these line of code then a batch file can be created for deploying Adobe Acrobat DC via Group Policy.

If your company is using Adobe Acrobat DC and needs help deploying Adobe Acrobat DC to network workstations, then contact us for assistance.

Clients Receive WinMail.dat File

Had a customer reporting that their clients receive WinMail.dat file as an attachment instead of the email that they intended. According to Microsoft Support:

The Winmail.dat file is used to preserve Rich Text formatting. Outlook uses it when sending a Rich Text-formatted message. During transport, the content of the message may be changed, preventing the receiving client from being able to read the formatting instructions. In other cases, the receiving client does not use or recognize the winmail.dat file.

Two ways to stop clients receive WinMail.dat file as attachment

Either send everyone plain text emails or change the settings on a per contact basis inside of Outlook. Here is a link for how to do it on a per contact basis, this can be tricky but worth it if you want to keep the rich text formatting of email for the rest of your contacts.
If your company is using Exchange or Office 365 for email and need help troubleshooting, then contact us for assistance.

Corrupt User Profile

Had a client that allows a third party bookkeeper to login remotely to one of their workstations where their accounting software is installed. This user expressed that “all of a sudden” they were unable to see any desktop icons or work with the Start menu properly. Once remotely connected into the system with the bookkeeper found an error message that access to the redirected desktop was denied. Tried changing permissions on the Desktop folder, tried renaming the folder and letting a fresh login recreate them on the server, and tried renaming the local profile folder then another login to recreate those as well. Then I finally remembered the solution – it was a corrupt user profile in the registry:
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Registry Edit to fix Corrupt User Profile Issues

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\ CurrentVersion\ProfileList

Remember to look through this list and find the user in question, export the key (aka backup) and then remove the entire folder containing their profile. One more reboot and login fixed the issue successfully. Thanks to following Microsoft TechNet Article for the details on the fix.
If your company is using remote access or have issues with a corrupt user profile, then contact us for assistance.

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“They share freely and give generously to the poor. Their good deeds will be remembered forever.”
For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. - 2 Corinthians 9:8-10