How to verify Global Catalog Server Readiness in Windows server 2008

          

Operating System

Windows server 2008, Windows Server 2003.

Scenario

After enabled the global catalog role on a domains controller, we might want to ensure that it is properly functioning as a global catalog server before clients and services start querying the global

catalog partition on this server.

 How To

When a global catalog server has satisfied replication requirements, the isGlobalCatalogReady rootDSE attribute is set to TRUE and the global catalog is ready to serve clients.

To perform the following procedures you must be a member of the Domain Users group.

To verify global catalog server readiness by using LDP, perform the following steps:

1. Log on to a domain controller.

2. Click Start, click Run, type LDP, and click OK.

3. On the Connection menu, select Connect.

4. In the Connect box, type the name of the server whose global catalog readiness want to verify, as shown in Figure below

 

5. In the Port box, if 389 is not showing, type 389.

6. If the Connectionless box is selected, clear it and then click OK.

7. In the details pane, verify that the isGlobalCatalogReady attribute has a value

 of TRUE, as shown in Figure below.

 

Verify Global Catalog Server Readiness by using NLTest

To verify global catalog server readiness by using NLTest, perform the following steps:

1. Log on to a domain controller.

2. Click Start, and click Command Prompt.

3. In the Command Prompt window, type the following command:

nltest /server:servername /dsgetdc:domainname

 (where servername is the domain controller you want to validate global catalog readiness and domainname is the name of the domain to which the domain controller belongs).

4. Verify that GC is listed under the Flags section of the results, as shown in below figure.

 

Configuring TS Web Access in windows 2008 server

                       

Operating System

Windows server 2008

How To

Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services bundled with a service called TS Web Access. TS Web Access service  enables users to access a web page running on the system hosting the Terminal Server to obtain a list of desktops and remote applications which are available for remote access.

Here is the step by step to configure the TS Web Access in windows 2008 server.

Open the server manager by selecting the start/Administrative Tools. Open Roles Tab. On right pane select Add roles. Select the Terminal Service Role from the list.

 

Select next and continue. On next page select the Terminal server and TS Web Access services. Click next and continue with the default settings. TS Web Access requires a number of other roles, like IIS web server role. Click on the Add Role Services to ensure that these services are also installed. Click the Next button to review information about the services being installed. Click next to review the IIS services being installed. Click Next once again to move to the confirmation screen and click on Install to initiate the installation.

 

After restart open the Browser and follow the link

        http://systemID/ts

where the systemID is the IP address or system name of the Terminal server. On successful connection the browser will prompt for the user and password credentials..

Once entered, the TS Web Access page will appear, listing any remote applications available for access on the local system.

 To configure applications such that they can be launched from the Windows Server 2008 TS Web Access page they must first be installed for use with Terminal Services and then configured as RemoteApps.

Start -> All Programs -> Terminal Services -> TS Remote App Manager or by running remoteprograms.msc in a Run dialog or command prompt. Once launched, the manager will appear as follows.

To configure an application as a RemoteApp, begin by clicking on the Add RemoteApp Programs link in the Actions panel located in the top right hand corner of the TS RemoteApp Manager screen. This will display the RemoteApp wizard containing a list of currently installed applications. One or more applications may be selected from the list before pressing the Next button.

It is essential that any RemoteApps be configured for access via TS Web Access. To ensure this is the case, select the appropriate application from the list and click on the Properties button to open the RemoteApp Properties dialog as shown below. Within this dialog, make sure that the RemoteApp is available through TS Web Access box is checked.

 

Click OK to close the RemoteApp Properties dialog and then click Next in the wizard to proceed to the Review Settings screen and Finish to complete the configuration. Upon completion the applications will be listed under RemoteApp Programs s shown below.

With the RemoteApp applications configured they will now appear on the TS Web Access page ready to be invoked by a remote user..

 

When launched, these applications will appear within their own windows on the client desktop just as if they are locally installed applications

Transport service is getting failed in Exchange server 2007

Operating system

Microsoft Exchange server 2007 SP1
Windows server 2003 Standard Edition R2  64 bit with SP 2

Problem

While booting the exchange server error showing Exchange Application Error 17003. While starting the service manually the error coming Exchange Application Error 5000.
Event log 17003 and 5000 created as shown in below 

                                                                                     

  Solution

 Backup the current database files first
To repair the specified database, follow these steps:
 Verify that the Microsoft Exchange Transport service is stopped.

Run the Eseutil /P utility on the specified database.
The repair can take a long time on a large database. If the affected database is the message queue database, you can move the database files to another location, and then start the Microsoft Exchange Transport service to create a new message queue database. This lets you perform the database repair without any loss of functionality on the Hub Transport server or Edge Transport server. After the message queue database has been repaired, you can use any other HubTransport server or Edge Transport server to deliver the messages that are trapped inside the repaired database.
Start the Microsoft Exchange Transport service.
( If the Microsoft Exchange Transport Service still does not start because of database corruption errors, you must move or delete the specified database and allow a new copy of the database to be created)
Delete the specified database and the corresponding transaction logs. A new copy of the database and the transaction logs is created automatically. Use this option if you don't care about the contents of the specified database.
To delete the specified database and corresponding transaction logs, follow these steps:
Verify that the Microsoft Exchange Transport service is stopped.
Delete the specified database files and the corresponding transaction log files. The database files and the transaction log files are described in the following list:

Mail.que or IpFiltering.edb	The main database file
Trn.chk	The checkpoint file
Trn*.log	The transaction logs
Trnres*.jrs	The reserved transaction logs that serve as placeholders
Temp.edb	A sample database file that is used to verify the database schema. Although this is not a transaction log file, it is always kept with the transaction logs.

If the database files are not recoverable allow a new copy of the database to be created.

Drive not ready exception processing message c00000a3 error 

Problem

While booting to windows it shows windows drive not ready exception processing message c00000a3 error. If we open any folder,any option or any process ,the same dialog box continuously appearing on screen.




Operating system: 
Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP

Solution:

Click Start, and type “regedit” to open registry editor.Press Enter.

2. In the Registry Editor, on the left pane, navigate to the following key by expanding the plus sign (+):

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SYSTEM\ CurrentControlSet\Control\Windows

3. Right click on "Windows", click "Export", and then save it to the C:\ drive. (In case we need to undo the modification, we can double click it to restore the registry key)

4. Double-click on the key ErrorMode, and set the data value to 2.

5.Restarted the computer.

Fix tool: 
Click here to Download Drive not ready Error Fix Too

Windows Live Mail Showing Blank Black Screen Only

           

Operating system

Windows Vista, Windows 7

Problem

While opening the Windows Live mail showing blank black screen only

Solution

This issue can be caused if all the following scenarios apply on the Windows computer:

•         If system have  Intel integrated graphics driver Igdkmd32.sys (32-bit) / Igdkmd64.sys (64-bit) versions  

                  8.15.10.2104 through 8.15.10.2141.

•         If Windows Update KB2454826 installed on the computer.

•         Using Windows Live Mail versions 15.4 and later.

•         Windows automatic updates turned on already.

•         Check the windows update patch KB2454826 on installed updates screen.

•         Remove the KB KB2454826 from installed updates even it is found in windows updatescolumn.

•         Update the latest display driver for the system.

•         Update the fix utility for the same from the following link

           https://skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?cid=f3b107ca2c44bfc9&resid=F3B107CA2C44BFC9!482&parid=F3B107CA2C44BFC9!368

Install the Active Directory Schema Snap-In in windows 2008 server

Operating System                        

Windows 2008 server 32/64 bit

Solution

We need to manage the AD DS schema, which can include extending the schema, modifying existing attributes and classes.

To install the Active Directory Schema snap-in, perform the following steps:

1. Log on to a domain controller or a member computer.

2. Click Start, and click Command Prompt.

3. In the Command Prompt window, type the following command and press Enter:

                               regsvr32 schmmgmt.dll

4. You will receive a notification that schmmgmt.dll was registered successfully, as shown in Figure below. Click OK and close the Command Prompt window.

5. Click Start, click Run, type mmc /a, and click OK. On the File menu, click Add/Remove Snap-In.6. In the Add or Remove Snap-ins window, select Active Directory Schema under Available Snap-ins, click Add, and then click OK. The Active Directory Schema snap-in is added to the MMC console, as shown in Figure below.

7. On the File menu, click Save As. In the Save As window, type %systemroot%\System32\schmmgmt.msc in the File name field, and click Save.

8. Close the console. Right-click Start, and click Open All Users. Double-click Programs double click Administrative Tools. On the File menu, click New; then click Shortcut.

9. In the Create Shortcut Wizard, the Type the Location of the Item box, type schmmgmt.msc; then click Next.

10. On the Select a Title for the Program page, in the Type a name for this shortcut,

type Active Directory Schema; then click Finish.

11. To verify that the Active Directory Schema shortcut was created successfully, click Start, click Administrative Tools, and verify that Active Directory Schema is listed, as shown in figure below

                          

Operating system:Windows Vista SP1&SP2

Less Disk Space issue in windows vista due to increase size in WINSXS folder

Operating system:
Windows Vista SP1&SP2

Solution:
1.Check Pchealth folder exceeding its size.
2.Checked program files and users folders.
But in windows folder, there is a folder named  WINSXS showing couple of GB size.

SxS means Side-by-side technology and it is a solution integrated in recent Windows versions by Microsoft in a attempt to reduce DLL hell. The problem with this solution is that the system keeps all versions of installed components in order to be able to serve them to asking application. As a downside, you will notice that this folder grows up very quickly and this can quickly became a very serious issue for your computers

Common sizes for the WinSxS folder:

- Windows 2003 : WinSXS = 25 MB / 05 GB (total Windows)
- Windows 2008 : WinSXS = 05 GB / 10 GB (total Windows)

The only safe way to reduce the size of the WinSxS folder on the disk is to remove the packages that installed the original components. This can be achieved by uninstalling superseded versions of packages.

On Windows Vista, Service Pack 1 contains VSP1CLN.EXE. Running VSP1CLN.EXE will make the Service Pack package permanent and not removable.

The tool is automatically installed as part of the SP1 upgrade, and you can find it under %windir%\system32\vsp1cln.​exe.

On Windows Vista, after Windows SP2 you can use COMPCLN.EXE to clean up WinSxS folder. This tool is installed as part of the SP2 upgrade, and you’ll find it under \%windir%\system32\compcln.​exe.

As with vsp1cln.exe, executing compcln.exe will make SP2 not removable.

Other third part solutions to reduce WinSxS size are:

WINSXSLITE

VLITE

VOPTIMIZER

if your problem is with %windir%\winsxs\ManifestCache\ growing too much, you can refer to this procedure to remove the files under the %windir%\winsxs\ManifestCache\ and to release some disk space that the WinSXS folder is taking:

Net stop trustedinstaller
Takeown /f %windir%\winsxs\ManifestCache\​*
Icacls %windir%\winsxs\ManifestCache\​* /GRANT administrators:F
Del /q %windir%\winsxs\ManifestCache\​*

Desktop Icons loading very slow in windows 7

Operating system

Windows Vista/Windows 7

Problem

          After booting in to windows the all desktop icons appears only after 4-5 minutes.

Solution

   Possible causes

1. More Startup programs.
2. Any startup antivirus scan.
3. User profile corruption
4. ShellIconCache file may be corrupted

In this case shellIconCache file got corrupted. Its a hidden file located at windows directory which contains a copy of the all default desktop icons. To resolve this issue, recreate the ShellIconCache file by deleting it.

Open the folder options by typing the control folders on RUN prompt. Select View  and select Show hidden files and folders and click OK.

 Locate the patch %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Iconcache.db. Delete the file Iconcache.db.

 Restart  the computer.

Winsxs folder consumes more space on windows 7

Operating system

Windows 7 SP1

Windows 2008 server R2

Problem

Low disk space issue due to the Winsxs folder consumes more size on windows 7

Solution

WinSxs is a component store (\Winsxs) needed to repair the OS binaries in the event that a file becomes corrupted or, in worst case scenarios, compromised.

  There are a few directories in the component store so let’s look at them and what their general role is in Windows.

\Winsxs\Catalogs:  Contains security catalogs for each manifest on the system

\Winsxs\InstallTemp: Temporary location for install events

\Winsxs\Manifests: Component manifest for a specific component, used during operations to make sure files end up where they should

\Winsxs\Temp: Temp directory used for various operations, you’ll find pending renames here

\Winsxs\Backup: Backups of the manifest files in case the copy in \Winsxs\Manifests becomes corrupted

\Winsxs\Filemaps: File system mapping to a file location

\Winsxs\<big_long_file_name>: The payload of the specific component, typically you will see the binaries here.

We can’t delete the Winsxs folder because of its importance. If we delete those folder system won’t boot and a blue  screen error will come. But we can reduce the file size of the folder using the inbuilt windows command line tool.

The compcln.exe and VSP1CLN.EXE tools used in windows vista never help for this case.

Open the command prompt with an administrative privilege and execute the command as shown below

“dism /online /cleanup-image /spsuperseded”

Where DISM  (Deployment image servicing and management Tool) utility used in windows 7/Windows 2008 server R2 replaces the pkgmgr, PEImg, and IntlConfg tools.

The /online switch tells DISM to work on the running OS installation

The /spsuperseded option removes the backup files created during installation.

Wait for sometimes after executing the command.

After completing the operation execute the below command one by one

Takeown /f %windir%\winsxs\ManifestCache\*

Icacls %windir%\winsxs\ManifestCache\* /GRANT administrators:F

Del /q %windir%\winsxs\ManifestCache\*

Restart the computer.

Unable to add objects in Active Directory

Problem:

Unable to add objects (users, computers) in Windows 2000 Server Active Directory. While adding the object it is giving below error
“The computer cannot be joined to the domain "<Domain Name>" because there is not enough disk space on either the computer or a domain controller of the domain”

Operating system:

Windows Server 2000, Windows Server 2003

Cause:

This issue will appear if the Active Directory database having the health issue and AD database is incorrupted condition
Even after having the enough free space on Windows AD Server and Client also we cannot able to add the objects 

Solution:

• Back up Active Directory (AD).
•  Reboot the server, select the OS option, and press F8 for advanced options.  

   

• Select the Directory Services Restore Mode option, and press Enter. 
•  Enter again to start the OS.
•  Windows 2003 Server will start in safe mode, with no DOMAIN SERVICE running.
•  Use the local SAM’s administrator account and password to log on.
•  You’ll see a dialog box that says you’re in safe mode. Click OK.
• From the Start menu, select Run and type cmd.exe then type ntdsutil.
• For  Ntdsutil prompt, type files and press enter.

• Now the prompt will change to file maintenance mode. 

•  Now run the files and integrity on AD database file that is “NTDS.DIT using the command integrity

• After the successful file integration restart the computer, and boot as normal
•  Now we could able to add the objects to Active Directory Database