Windows

Why Can't I Get Help From This Program?

Steve Majewski — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 19:51:14 GMT

I don't pretend to understand why Microsoft makes many of the decisions they make, but when I run across an error like this in a OS that is already many gigabytes in size I have to ask myself, "Why?"

I haven't had many issues with Vista. There are some quirks with DRM in media player hogging system resources. Other than that, I'm rather surprised at how well it runs on my rather outdated Toshiba Tecra M3 (company laptop).

I'll admit, Vista was a bit of a pain in the early days when drivers were sparse. Whether this was due to hardware manufactures being lazy and thinking Microsoft wouldn't hit their target date or Microsoft changing too much with too little notice is beyond me.

There are some applications that don't like to play with Vista, which is to be expected and has happened in almost every Windows release. User Access Control has been the major culprit of most issues. I can't say I enjoy getting 2 or 3 prompts to do a simple task. I'd like to see an option that unlocks for X minutes for when I do multiple tasks that upset UAC.

Still, this error tickled me in an uncomfortable way. As aforementioned, Vista is not a lightweight when it comes to disk space requirements. I really would like to know what significant change was made that caused the old WinHlp32.exe to become obsolete to the point that they just completely ditched it. In the end, there had better be a damn good reason for removing something this trivial.

Technorati Tags: Windows,Vista

Corrupt User Profile

Steve Majewski — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 02:59:41 GMT

I ran into a little problem with a Windows Server 2003 VPC earlier this week. I was using the VHD on two separate machines with a different VPC profile on each machine due to needing a different hardware configuration (memory, NIC, etc). I made the fatal mistake of forgetting to shut down the VPC on one profile before opening it in the other. The end result was a giant mess.

The first major hurdle was the countless corrupt files, mostly with the code on which I had been working. Windows detected something was wrong and automatically ran CHKDSK on the drive. It took several hours to "fix" all the files, and several were still corrupt when I got the system running again. After pulling the missing files back from VSTS, I thought everything was good to go.

The next time I tried to use the VPC on the other system, I discovered that the user profile was corrupt and could no longer log in to the VPC. As soon as I entered my login information the system would reboot. I eventually tried booting in safe mode (which should have been the first thing I tried, but I'm not one for simple solutions). Luckily, I was able to access the account and use it to create a new account (apparently corrupt user profiles can't be fixed).

My first attempt to login with the new profile caused the system to reboot and corrupted the drive so it would no longer load Windows (would continually reboot). I attached to the OS install CD ISO (always good to keep that handy) and booted to the recovery console. From there I ran the FIXBOOT command, which is used to repair the boot sector on the system partition (and usually works). That was all it needed. The system booted and I was able to login with the new user and continue working.

I haven't tried the old account yet, but don't want to risk killing the system again. Moral of the story, if you use a VHD on multiple VPC profiles, shut down the system in one profile before trying to open it in another. It'll save you hours of time.

Technorati tags: Windows Server 2003, VPC

The Third Time is the Charm - Windows Vista Challenges

Steve Majewski — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 22:31:57 GMT

Well, my luck with Vista has been rather crappy. It took a better part of Friday to download the x64 ISO. Luckily I had started my download before Microsoft pulled the link due to network traffic. After many hours of careful monitoring of a constantly failing connection the entire ISO finished.

Step 1: Burn the ISO to a DVD

This yielded me three DVD coasters and no usable media. I suspected the ISO might be corrupt, so I decided to try using an x86 version of Vista given to me by a co-worker. That kept blue screening on me during the installation. It was complaining about a thread conflict. I had already used the DVD to rebuild my old laptop, so I had no idea why it kept dying. I decided to try burning the x64 version using my old laptop, and finally got a usable disc.

Step 2: Rebuild the Machine

This part went off without a hitch. Vista took a little over an hour to install. Then there was installing all the updated drivers, additional software, and configuring everything. In the end, it was roughly a three to four hour process. Sadly, Vista is still missing the fish tank screensaver from RC1. :(

Step 3: Test Out a Game

I wanted to see how some of my games run on the new system. I always had to play them with the lowest graphical settings, so I was interested to see how they look running without limitations. I installed Knights of the Old Republic, which is not a new game by any means but still one of my favs. I immediately noticed something odd with the sound. IT WAS STEREO!!!

In the settings, I saw the game wasn't recognizing the EAX abilities of my X-Fi card. A quick Google search gave me the answer. This is from Creative Lab's support sight:

The Vista audio architecture disables DirectSound 3D hardware acceleration; resulting in legacy DirectSound based EAX game titles not working as they did in XP.

Issues that may be encountered:
Could range from loss of EAX functionality in EAX enabled games to a complete game incompatibility, depending on how the game title was authored. This would only happen with games that render 3D audio using DirectSound, it should not affect games that render 3D audio using OpenAL.
Status:
These issues cannot be addressed by the Creative audio driver, because the functionality was purposely removed by the operating system. We look forward to game titles moving away from DirectSound and toward OpenAL for fully optimized Creative 3D audio hardware and technology support.

Even though the FAQ entry pertains to EAX, it's actually true for any game that uses the 3D audio component of DirectSound (you know, like virtually every game for the past decade and every game I own). I don't think OpenAL is widespread enough to completely write off DirectSound. I don't want to make assumptions as to why DirectSound was crippled, but this going to make many games seem worse on a PC compared to a console like...say...the Xbox 360.

Conclusion

I've spent way too much money on the audio setup for my system to not be able to play my games the way they were intended to be played. So I've decided to setup my system as a dual boot. However, from what I've read Vista doesn't play well with another OS trying to steal its master boot thunder. So now I have to blow out everything and start over with a clean install of XP then install Vista.

They say the third time is the charm. The whole ordeal reminds me of when Windows went 32-bit, only this time it's software and not hardware that's slapping me in the face. Here's to hoping it works out (clink).

Technorati tags: Windows Vista, X-Fi, EAX

Vista Group Policy Issues

Steve Majewski — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 16:05:41 GMT

During my previous Vista RC 2 build, I had a problem starting Window Firewall and Terminal Services once I connected the computer to a domain. I eventually gave up looking and rebuilt the machine. I then exported the policies for review after attaching to a domain. This allowed me to see what policies were being changed by the domain. It turned out I had a secondary policy that was only supposed to be applied to my Application Pool accounts instead of all Authenticated Users. When I filtered that policy by the appropriate group and rebooted, all was right with the world.

I won't bother with detailed information on how to fix this, since I assume most people playing around with Server 2003 at this level will know about what I am talking. Contact me if you'd like more details, and I'll see what I can rustle up.

Here were my default policies in Vista RC 2:

Policy	Security Setting
Access Credential Manager as a trusted caller
Access this computer from the network	Everyone, Administrators, Users, Backup Operators
Act as part of the operating system
Add workstations to domain
Adjust memory quotas for a process	LOCAL SERVICE, NETWORK SERVICE, Administrators
Allow log on locally	Guest, Administrators, Users, Backup Operators
Allow log on through Terminal Services	Administrators, Remote Desktop Users
Back up files and directories	Administrators, Backup Operators
Bypass traverse checking	Everyone, LOCAL SERVICE, NETWORK SERVICE, Administrators, Users, Backup Operators
Change the system time	LOCAL SERVICE, Administrators
Change the time zone	LOCAL SERVICE, Administrators, Users
Create a pagefile	Administrators
Create a token object
Create global objects	LOCAL SERVICE, NETWORK SERVICE, Administrators, SERVICE
Create permanent shared objects
Create symbolic links	Administrators
Debug programs	Administrators
Deny access to this computer from the network	Guest
Deny log on as a batch job
Deny log on as a service
Deny log on locally	Guest
Deny log on through Terminal Services
Enable computer and user accounts to be trusted for delegation
Force shutdown from a remote system	Administrators
Generate security audits	LOCAL SERVICE, NETWORK SERVICE
Impersonate a client after authentication	LOCAL SERVICE, NETWORK SERVICE, Administrators, SERVICE
Increase a process working set	Users
Increase scheduling priority	Administrators
Load and unload device drivers	Administrators
Lock pages in memory
Log on as a batch job	Administrators, Backup Operators
Log on as a service
Manage auditing and security log	Administrators
Modify an object label
Modify firmware environment values	Administrators
Perform volume maintenance tasks	Administrators
Profile single process	Administrators
Profile system performance	Administrators
Remove computer from docking station	Administrators, Users
Replace a process level token	LOCAL SERVICE, NETWORK SERVICE
Restore files and directories	Administrators, Backup Operators
Shut down the system	Administrators, Users, Backup Operators
Synchronize directory service data
Take ownership of files or other objects	Administrators

Technorati tags: Windows, Vista, RC 2, Security

Remotely Enable Remote Desktop Connection

Steve Majewski — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 15:22:58 GMT

So how does one enable Remote Desktop Connection on a machine to which you do not have physical access (ie remotely)? It's actually much easier than you (assuming you're not a server junkie) might think. Just follow this guide.