Nuo Yan : 2. Windows Server

Usability Issue in Windows Recycle Bin on the Desktop

Nuo Yan — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 04:33:00 GMT

If you put a Recycle Bin on the desktop, you might empty it by right clicking it and click "Empty Recycle Bin" form the menu.

But you may have noticed that there is another option in the menu called "Delete" which is for deleting the Recycle Bin shortcut from the desktop.

I saw many people mistakenly clicking the "Delete" menu item instead of the correct "Empty Recycle Bin" for emptying the trash, so I consider this as a usability issue for this design.

One way to solve this issue is to replace the "Delete" menu item with other names such as "Remove this shortcut." Currently I don't have any better idea.

How to manage Terminal Services through commend-line tools

Nuo Yan — Tue, 02 May 2006 17:49:00 GMT

A new article I write regarding some useful command line tools for managing terminal services. (Beginner Level)

http://www.howtonetworking.com/RemoteAccess/tsmanager10.htm

Differences between Remote Desktop Connection in Windows XP and Terminal Services in Windows Server

Nuo Yan — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 19:17:00 GMT

I wrote another article for howtonetworking.com.

Differences between Remote Desktop Connection in Windows XP and Terminal Services in Windows Server (Beginner Level)

http://howtonetworking.com/RemoteAccess/rdc&TS1.htm

The article describes the differences between RDC in Windows XP and Terminal Services in Windows Server from inside and outside view.

How to Use Terminal Services Manager

Nuo Yan — Sun, 19 Mar 2006 19:20:00 GMT

You may be interested to take a look at my new How-To article at howtonetworking.com:

How to Use Terminal Services Manager (Beginner Level)

http://www.howtonetworking.com/RemoteAccess/tsmanager.htm

The article describes how to use the Terminal Services Manager MMC in Windows Server 2003 to perform basic and some advanced Terminal Services sessions management such as connecting / disconnecting to sessions, logging of and remote control users' sessions and managing the processes in the users' sessions, etc.

A Quick Note Regarding Safe Mode with Networking

Nuo Yan — Sun, 29 Jan 2006 20:02:00 GMT

Please always remember, there is NO wireless network connection enabled when Windows is running in "Safe Mode with Networking".

Use a wired network if you want to diagnose the Windows in Safe Mode with Networking.

Let's celebrate the launch of Windows Server 2003 R2

Nuo Yan — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 16:14:00 GMT

Yes. R2 was released yesterday, on 12/06/2005.

This is the first major Windows Server update release since Windows Server 2003. R2 provides a number of new features as well as security improvements based on Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1.

Most people cannot understand the concept of R2 and the differences between R2 and Service Packs. Actually, R2 is not a hot-fix nor a service pack. It's a new update release of Windows Server 2003 based on Service Pack 1. Yes, it's a release.

To learn what is offered by Windows Server 2003 R2, please visit Microsoft's official web site:

What's New?

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/evaluation/overview/technologies/default.mspx

Windows Server 2003 R2 Reviewer's Guide

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/R2/overview/revguide.mspx

Creating Partitioned Table in SQL Server 2005

Nuo Yan — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 17:49:00 GMT

SQL Server 2005 supports partitioned table to enable database developer to separate tables horizontally to different file groups. This post shows how to create partitioned tables in SQL Server 2005.

Click “Start”, click “All Programs”, move your mouse on “SQL Server 2005” and then click “SQL Server Management Studio” in the context menu.

Connect to SQL Server 2005 with a Windows account or SQL Server account with adequate privileges. (It’s OK for you not to connect to the server at this time.. However, you need to connect to the server with an appropriate account when you want to execute your T-SQL statements.)

If you haven’t created file groups for storing database files, you need to create them at this time. Let me use the built-in AdventureWorks database as an example. The following codes create 3 file groups.

Use AdventureWorks
GO
ALTER DATABASE AdventureWorks ADD FILEGROUP fg1
ALTER DATABASE AdventureWorks ADD FILEGROUP fg2
ALTER DATABASE AdventureWorks ADD FILEGROUP fg3
GO

Then let me add three files. Each to one file group.

ALTER DATABASE AdventureWorks
ADD FILE
( Name = data1,
  FILENAME ='C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Data\data1.mdf',
  SIZE = 1MB,
  MAXSIZE = 100MB,
  FILEGROWTH = 1MB)
TO FILEGROUP fg1

ALTER DATABASE AdventureWorks
ADD FILE
( Name = data2,
  FILENAME ='C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Data\data2.mdf',
  SIZE = 1MB,
  MAXSIZE = 100MB,
  FILEGROWTH = 1MB)
TO FILEGROUP fg2

ALTER DATABASE AdventureWorks
ADD FILE
( Name = data3,
  FILENAME ='C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Data\data3.mdf',
  SIZE = 1MB,
  MAXSIZE = 100MB,
  FILEGROWTH = 1MB)
TO FILEGROUP fg3

Thirdly, let me create a partition function.

CREATE PARTITION FUNCTION namePF(nvarchar(20))
AS RANGE LEFT FOR VALUES ('H', 'P')
GO

This partition function named “namePF” means to separate the names from left. Actually, there will be 3 separate groups, from infinity to H, from H to P and from P to infinity.

Let me create a partition scheme to define these groups to actual file groups.

CREATE PARTITION SCHEME namePS
AS PARTITION namePF TO (fg1, fg2, fg3)
GO

Lastly, let me create a partition table called CustomerNameTable with the partition function and partition scheme I just created.

CREATE TABLE CustomerNameTable
(CustID int identity, Name nvarchar(20))
ON namePS (Name)
GO

We’ve done. Now let me test the partitioned table I created. Let me insert some information to the table, with different content in the column called “Name”. I use “Alan N Yan” as the example from infinity (actually A) to H, “Nuo Yan” as the example from H to P, and “Queen Betty” as the example from P to infinity (actually Z).

INSERT CustomerNameTable VALUES ('Alan N Yan')
INSERT CustomerNameTable VALUES ('Nuo Yan')
INSERT CustomerNameTable VALUES ('Queen Betty')

Then let me retrieve the partition information and see the results.

SELECT Name, $partition.namePF(Name) Partition
FROM CustomerNameTable

Result:

Name	Partition
--------------------	-----------
Alan N Yan	1
Nuo Yan	2
Queen Betty	3

(3 row(s) affected)

Let’s see, “Alan N Yan” has automatically been placed into the first partition, “Nuo Yan” has automatically been placed into the second partition, and “Queen Betty” has automatically been placed into the third partition.

EventCombMT.exe - A Good Tool To Collect Event Logs

Nuo Yan — Fri, 04 Nov 2005 17:48:00 GMT

A good tool called EventCombMT.exe in the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit or Account Lockout and Management Tools may help network administrators to export specific kinds of event logs to a single text file.

Log files may be overwritten and need to be backed up, and the powerful tools such as MOM 2005 are too expensive for smallbusinesses. EventCombMT.exe acts as a simple free tool to help administrators in small businesses to export their specific event logs to a central location in a text file.

Let's start EventCombMT.exe, its main interface is shown in Figure 1. If we are not in a domain environment, it may pops up a dialog box mentions it cannot find the domain controller.

Figure 1

Right click on “Select To Search / Right Click To Add“ box, then select “Add Single Server“ (Figure 2). We can also add other kinds of servers. In this case, we use single server for an example.

Figure 2

Enter the server name or click “Browse“ to browse the server list. Then click “Add Server“ (Figure 3).

Figure 3

Then let's choose the types of log files to search. For example, system logs, as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4

Then we need to choose the event types, like warnings, errors, etc. (Figure 5).

Figure 5

We should also input a range of event IDs it will search in. For example, to search events from ID 1 to 800. Figure 6 shows that.

Figure 6

We could also select a specific event sourse. Then let's click “Search”, it will generate a log file and export the logs meet our requirements to another text file. Figure 7 shows this.

Figure 7

Figure 8 and Figure 9 show the information included in the text files.

Figure 8

Figure 9

Move Operations Master Roles by ntdsutil

Nuo Yan — Sat, 22 Oct 2005 00:45:00 GMT

What would happen if we didn't either use dcpromo to demote the first domain controller before removing it from the domain or move each Operations Master role seperately before removing the computer?

We could use command line tool to assign the Operations Master roles to a new DC.

Log on to a member server or domain controller with an administrator account.
Click “Start”, click “run”, and enter “cmd“
Enter “ntdsutil“
Enter “roles“
Enter “connections“
Enter “connect to server [ServerName]“
Enter “quit“ to return to the roles level
Enter “transfer [RoleName] “
Click “Yes“ on the confirmation dialog

The commend line tool ntdsutil will then transfer the specific role to the specific domain controller. The figure below shows an example.

Don't Forget The Operations Masters

Nuo Yan — Mon, 17 Oct 2005 04:28:00 GMT

Many IT people would add DCs to the existing Windows network some times after the first implement. At the same time, many IT people like to remove some early DCs from the network because their newly added ones are more powerful.

However, many IT people meet problems. Their domain no longer functioning properly after removing the early (exactly first) DCs. This is because the first DC is by default the Operations Master. Before removing it from the network, the administrator needs to run “dcpromo” to demote the DC to a member server. During this process it will automatically transfer the Operations Master roles to other DCs.

So, remember that even in the Windows Server 2003 domains, the DCs are not equal. Don't forget the Operations Master roles when removing old servers.

Add NICs to Existing Virtual PC

Nuo Yan — Wed, 12 Oct 2005 05:44:00 GMT

Virtual PC is a fantastic tool to help us build test or experimental environment of Windows Server System.

Suppose now we are building a test environment for Windows Server 2003 and its updates. The purpose is to simulate the company's real network environment and test the Service Pack and other updates.

We setup the workstations, member servers and domain controllers on Virtual PC successfully. The next step is to make the scenario as same as the real life environment. We begin to build the Network Address Translation (NAT) server. At this time, we need 2 NICs on the virtual machine. However, by default after installation, there is only one in this virtual Windows Server 2003 and there is only one real NIC in the host computer.

How can we do that? How can we add another NIC to the Windows Server 2003 virtual machine so that we could simulate the real life NAT environment?

Actually we could finish this work within a minute. First, shut down the virtual machine we need to add NICs to. Then start Virtual PC 2004, click the virtual machine we need to add NICs to. Click “Action”, then click “Settings...”. On the new dialog box, click “Networking”. In the right pane, click the dropbox on the right of “Number of network adapters” and choose the total number of NICs we want in this system. Note, here is to choose the total number of NICs we want in this particular virtual machine, but not to choose the number of NICs we want to add to this particular virtual machine. Then we will need to set the scope of the added NIC(s). “Local only” means the particular virtual NIC could only have network connection with virtual machines on the same host computer. We could see another option is the name of the host NIC (we assumed only one NIC in the host computer), this option means the particular virtual NIC could have network connections with virtual machines on the same host computer, the host computer, and computers connectted to the host computer through the host's NIC. If we're configuring the first virtual NIC on a virtual machine, we also can see another option called “NAT”. It's almost the same meaning as the real life NAT concept. After configuring the virtual NICs, click “OK” to close the dialog box.

We've done. Turn on the particular virtual machine we've just configured, we will see another LAN interface is right there. Then we could do the simulation of the real life environment, for instance, the NAT environment, and continue testing the Service Pack and updates in the simulated environment.

To learn more about Virtual PC 2004, please visit:

http://www.microsoft.com/virtualpc

Where to Find IP Security Monitor in Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP?

Nuo Yan — Sat, 08 Oct 2005 17:07:00 GMT

Microsoft has changed the way IPSec Monitor runs in Windows Server 2003. Dislike it's in Windows 2000, we can't start IPSec Monitor by clicking “start”- “Run” then enter “ipsecmon”.

In Windows Server 2003, IPSec Monitor becomes a MMC-based tool. We can start it from MMC:

Click “start”- “Run”
Enter “MMC”
Click “File” - “Add/Remove Snap-in...”
Click “Add”, and double-click “IP Security Monitor”
Click “Close” and click “OK”.

We're all set. Now we can use the powerful tool to check whether our IPSec configurations functions well or not.

In Windows XP, IP Security Monitor starts the same way as it is in Windows Server 2003. In fact, Windows XP is the first operating system that Microsoft changes the IP Security Monitor after Windows 2000.

Good Network Connections Diagnostics Tool - Windows XP, Windows Server 2003

Nuo Yan — Tue, 04 Oct 2005 05:23:00 GMT

You got a new computer or server, and you spent a long time configured all network settings. Now you want to make sure the software, hardware and network connections are functioning normally.

A buit-in tool in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 can help you.

Click “Start”, click “run” and enter “cmd” to open the Command Console.

Enter “netsh diag gui”, the Network Diagnostics tool starts (see the figure below).

Click on “Scan your system”, the tool will scan the software, hardware and network connections settings. (see the figure below)

When the scaning process completes, it will generate a report to show you whether your system has passed or failed the scan (see the figure below). You can also expand the nodes to see the details.

Please note, the server your computer program has connected to may have security concerns to disable “ping“s. You may get a failed message because of the server's configuration. Just don't worry about that. I recommend you to expand the nodes to check all details, especially for failed ones.

PageDefrag - Defragment Page Files and Registry Hives

Nuo Yan — Sun, 18 Sep 2005 22:42:00 GMT

Windows NT Defragment Tool doesn't defragment pages files and the registry hives. However, in some situations, we need to do this. For example, when we installed a new version of Windows Operating System with the upgrade install option.

PageDefrag can help us with defragmenting page files and registry hives.

Click “Defragment at next boot” radio box, and click “OK”, it will run defragment at the next time we start the computer. We can also set it to defragment at every boot, though I don't recommend to do so.

PageDefrag can be downloaded on sysinternals.com.

Funny Windows XP Pro Installation Experience

Nuo Yan — Sat, 17 Sep 2005 21:56:00 GMT

I bought a new Dell Dimension 9100 computer last week with Windows XP Home. As an IT person, Windows XP Home edition is obviously not powerful enough for me. Luckily, I have an MSDN Universal subscription, so I planned to install Windows XP Professional for the new box.

The first work to do was to create unattended installation. Why unattended? Because my new box comes without a floppy disk, but it comes with SATA hard drives. You know, I cannot press [F6] during text step mode without a floppy.

I originally tried to create the unattended answer file and the custom setup CD by myself. That is, to download the SATA controller driver, then to create a new folder in the setup CD named $OEM$ (in the same folder as i386 in). And then I created a sub-folder named Drivers in $OEM$ and created a sub-folder named 01 in Drivers. Then I put the driver files in the folder named 01. Well, this is not what I want to say. Actually I don't need to do this because another MVP gave me a link to a Microsoft KB article. There I can download the standard SCSI controller driver (which can be used for my SATA drive controller).

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/318812

I thought I was all set at this time, so I started the installation:

C:\> M:

(M:\xpcd is the folder my setup files in.)

M:\>cd xpcd

M:\ xpcd> cd i386

M:\ xpcd \ i386> winnt32.exe /unattend:unattend.txt

(I've copied the unattend.txt file to i386 folder.)

Everything went well for the text mode setup, then, I got into the graphical based setup.

The processing bar stopped at the 34-minutes-left status. I waited there for a long time (approx. half an hour), it then popped up a new window mentioned the IEEE 1394 Controller didn't pass the Windows Logo Testing. Normally I should either click OK here to install the driver or click NO here not to install the driver. However, I couldn't do either one. The mouse and keyboard stopped responds at this time. I tried to re-boot with different keyboards and mouses, but I got same result. I guess if I use PS2 keyboard or mouse there wouldn't be this problem because I think the driver for the USB controller was temporarily unloaded at that time. However I don't have a PS2 interface on my box.

Then, the only idea I had was to add a line to the unattend.txt file to ignore or allow all unsigned drivers. I searched the KB with my laptop and found this article:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;293765

But, it was late. I created a new unattend.txt with ignoring all unsigned drivers, and then started a new setup. I finished the setup successfully.

The significance of this post is to remind people to mention what to do with the unsigned drivers during setup in the unattend.txt answer file. Note if your UnattendMode is set to fullunattended, you don't have to do anything specially with unsigned drivers.

Good KB to Read: logon screen turns black after you press CTRL+ALT+DELETE to log on

Nuo Yan — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 17:03:00 GMT

The following KB describes why the logon screen turns black after you press CTRL+ALT+DELETE to log on to Windows Server 2003 and how to solve this problem. It's pretty useful. This article also remind us, small problems may have serious effects and make administrators very confusing. As an IT Administrator, we should not forget to check small problems before additional diagnostics.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;906510

Talk something about MMC, the Microsoft Management Console

Nuo Yan — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 06:35:00 GMT

IT Administrators may use MMC every day. Almost all Microsoft Windows Administrative Tools are built into MMC. For example, Active Directory Users and Computers, Internet Information Server, DHCP, DNS, etc.

However, not all administrators discovered all great features offered by MMC. Actually MMC is a very flexible tool to create flexible administrative or management tools.

First, let's see “Taskpad View”.

Create a new MMC project by clicking on “start - run - mmc”. In this example let's change the name of the Console Root to “Server Tools“. Right click on “Console Root“, and click on “Rename”. Enter the new name “Server Tools”. Then, let's create a sub-folder named “Active Directory Tools”. Click on “File - Add/Remove Snap-in...”. Make sure “Server Tools” is selected for the “Snap-ins added to” dropbox. Click on “Add” botton and choose “Folder”. Click on “Add” on the new “Add Standalone Snap-in” window and click on “Close“. Click on “OK” to close the “Add/Remove Snap-in” window. Now we have a new folder under “Server Tools” created. Let's right-click on it and click on “Rename”, input a new name such as “Active Directory Tools”. Then we need to add snap-ins to the “Active Directory Tools” folder. Click on “File - Add/Remove Snap-in...”. Make sure “Active Directory Tools” is selected for the “Snap-ins added to” dropbox. Click on “Add” botton and double-click “Active Directory Domains and Trusts”, “Active Directory Schema”, “Active Directory Sites and Services”, “Active Directory Users and Computers”. Click on “Close” on the “Add Standalone Snap-in” window then click on “OK” to close the “Add/Remove Snap-in” window. The next, we will create taskpad view for the current management console. Right-click on “Active Directory Tools” folder and click on “New Taskpad View”. Click on “Next” on the wizard, and we will need to choose the style of the details pane. For a vertical list, categories and tasks will list on opposite (left/right) side of the detials pane. For a horizontal list, categories will list on the space above of the tasks in the detials pane. Let's select “Horizontal list” and click on “Next” to continue. On this step we will need to select whether this taskpad view will apply to current tree item only or apply to all same-type tree items. Let's select “Selected tree item” to prevent changing other tree items' taskpad view settings. Click on “Next” to continue. Then we need to input the taskpad name and description. Both of these will display on the taskpad. Let's choose the name of the taskpad as “Active Directory Tools” and input a description like “Access all AD Tools here“. Then click on “Next” to continue. We can now finish the wizard, at the same time, we can start the “New Task Wizard”. If we don't create a new task, nothing will be in the taskpad view. So, select the “Start New Task Wizard” check box and click on “Finish”. We will be guided to “New Task Wizard“, click on “Next“ to continue. We will have a chance to select which kind of command we will add to the taskpad list. “Menu command“ means we can add a command to run from menu; “Shell command” allows us to run a script, start a program or open a web page; “Navigation” allows us to neviagate to a view from our “Favorite” tab. Let's select “Menu command“ and click on “Next“ to continue. We can choose from 2 command sources: “List in details pane“ and “Tree item task“. Any one is ok. Select a list or console tree node, for example, “Active Directory Domains and Trusts”. Then select a command to add to the task, for example, “Connect to domain controller“. Click on “Next“ to continue. We are able to review and change task name and description. When everything is OK, click on “Next“ to continue. Now choose a icon and click on “Next“ to continue. Review and finish!

Let's see our taskpad view. Click on “Active Directory Tools“ node of the console tree. We can see our taskpad appears in the details pane, with 4 large icon (list). Click on “Active Directory Domains and Trusts“, we can see the task we have added before listed below. We can add more tasks, under any list items (categoreis).

Actually with the taskpad view feature of MMC, you can create more powerful management tools and tasks packs. However, I will not try to demostrate those here, try out by yourself!

Secondly, take a look at “Options“.

After creating a so powerful administrative or management pack, you can save it and distribute it to other administrators or users. However, you need to configure something to prevent users from modifying your achievement. As the result, you will come to “Options“.

First save the results by clicking on “File - Save“ then enter a path and click on “OK“. Then, click on “File“ and “Options“. We can see “Console Mode“ dropbox here. “Author Mode“ means users of this file can grant full access, and can fully modify it. “User Mode - full access“ means the users of this file can grant full access, but cannot add or remove snap-ins or change properties. “User Mode - limited access, mutiple window“ means users can access only the current visible console tree items, users can create new windows but cannot close existing windows. “User Mode - limited access, single window“ means users have exactly same access with “User Mode - limited access, mutiple window“ but they cannot open new windows.

Note there is a checkbox below, it's “Do not save changes to this console“. This is a pretty good option that will prevent user from saving their changes to the console.

The settings in the “Options“ seems to be great! However, your users will still able to make changes to your .msc file unless you implement Active Directory and Group Policy. What they can change without Group Policy? Almost all, include changing the Console Mode or other settings in the options. Be in mind that they can change anything when they changed the Console Mode to Author. Anyway, Active Directory and Group Policy are obviously not the topic I want to talk about in this post. I will mention that later soon, maybe next post, I'm not sure. Be sure you will come back and read more technical posts here!

Thanks.

TO BE CONTINUED! COME BACK AGAIN. I WILL CONTINUE ADDING AND REVISING CONTENT TO/OF THIS POST.

Converting Numeric Error Messages to Text Messages in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003

Nuo Yan — Fri, 02 Sep 2005 04:02:00 GMT

Have you ever met a problem displaying an error message like “Error 066“? You will want to know what these numeric error messages mean under Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. Be sure, you can know that.

Simple click “start - run”, and enter “cmd” to open Command Console. Run the following command:

C:\> net helpmsg ERROR_NUMBER

For example, enter “net helpmsg 066”, it will display “The network resource type is not correct.”

Some Windows tips

Nuo Yan — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 11:45:00 GMT

SC.exe in Windows 2000

I have an old blog article regarding the use of SC.exe in Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP. SC.exe is a powerful commend line tool to control Windows services. It can delete a service without mannully modifying the registry. However, a number of people also tried to use SC.exe in Windows 2000, but they failed. Because SC.exe is not included in any of the Windows 2000 editions.

For Windows 2000, SC.exe is a resource kit tool. If you have a printed copy of the Windows 2000 Server Resource Kit books, you will have SC.exe in the book CD. Otherwise, you can download it from the web for free: http://www.dynawell.com/reskit/microsoft/win2000/sc.zip. (NOTE AND CLARIFICATION: I have searched the official microsoft.com web but cannot find the location to download this tool for free, then I searched the internet and I found dynawell.com. It seems to be a Microsoft MVP's web site and provides this tool for free download. If this tool is not allowed for free download from the internet, please use the contact feature of this blog to let me know as soon as possible, and I will delete this link.)

Windows XP Product Activation with Unattended Installation

You may aware with installing Windows XP with unatteded option. We could create a text script file named Unattended.txt to automate the installation process because we could specify installation settings in the Unattended.txt file. Once the installation needs a respond, it will search the text file to look for settings instead of asking human respond. The unattended installation option is a ideal way to deploy large amount of systems automatically, we could also use it with Remote Installation Services to deploy systems automatically and remotely.

But now, I will not discuss how to make an unattended installation. I will let you know how to automatically activate Windows XP if you want to install Windows XP with unattended option.

Open your existing completed Unattended.txt file, you will see many sections include an [Unattended] section and a [UserData] section. If you want to activate your Windows XP automatically with the installation, add AutoActive = Yes to the [Unattended] section, and remember to add legal Product Key information to the [UserData] section. Use ProductID = CD-KEY.

Remember to also spcify Internet connection settings in the unattended.txt file to make sure when the Windows XP Setup completes the basic installation, the system can connect to internet to perform product activation.

Access-Based Enumeration - A new powerful funtion in Windows Server 2003

Nuo Yan — Tue, 29 Mar 2005 05:04:00 GMT

If you are an experienced IT Engineer or System Administrator, you must have met this situation:

Some people in the organization have no permission to access some specific shared folders on the File Server. However, they are still able to see those shared folders listed in Windows Explorer. Administrators can hardly hide those shared folders to make those people without permissions cannot see them.

Now, a new powerful tool is coming out: the abetool. This tool will enable you to hide the shares to those people don't have permissions. Everyone will only be able to see the shares which they have permissions to access.

As I know, the abetool will only be able to run on Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 and X64 versions. If you need more detailed information, please reference the Windows Server official web site when the Service Pack 1 ships.

Related information:

http://blogs.technet.com/jhoward/archive/2005/02/11/371080.aspx

http://blogs.technet.com/windowsserver/archive/2005/03/24/401840.aspx