Jason Pearce's questions

I have a HS20 (Type 8843) blade in an IBM BladeCenter chassis that was giving me problems. When I attempted to run CMD > chkdsk c: /R > yes on reboot, the chkdsk procedure would briefly begin at startup and then fail, reporting that chkdsk was canceled. Windows 2003 would then boot normally, though chkdsk failed to run as requested.

I figured something like antivirus or some other service was getting in the way during startup moments before chkdsk could run. So I ran msconfig > boot.ini > enabled /SAFEBOOT. I then told chkdsk to run at startup.

The problem is the Java-based KVM for the IBM BladCenter H chassis apparently cannot display the monitor while the OS is in safe mode. So I'm able to watch post, Windows 2003 startup, and then a blank screen. I assume the machine is on and maybe chkdsk is even running, but I have no way of knowing.

After waiting an hour or so (giving chkdsk time to complete in case it ran), I used the KVM to perform a hard shutdown of the OS. But when I power the machine back on, it keeps going into Safe Mode (e.g. msconfig /SAFEBOOT). I have no monitor. F8 during startup doesn't prevent Safe Mode.

So, how do I configure the OS to boot normally knowing that I have no monitor? I likely have keyboard access, so perhaps I could note on another machine the exact keyboard commands to log on and get me out of safemode. Any other ideas?

Within a Windows domain that has a mix of Windows Server 2003 and 2008 R2 print servers, how do you add or remove printers from the list of printers that Windows 7 clients retrieve at the Select a printer window?

You get to this windows by selecting Add Printer > Add a network, wireless or Bluetooth printer > Add Printer window.

How does Windows 7 populate this list? Most of the printers shared by my print servers are flagged to "List in Directory", but they do not appear in this list. I'd like for them to appear in this list so a user does not have to proceed to "The printer that I want isn't listed."

On new or existing Citrix XenApp 4.5 servers, I am having problems streaming the Allscripts Pro EHR application via the XenApp web interface.

When users launch the application via the Citrix XenApp web interface, the application does not have focus, preventing users from typing in their username and password. If they use their mouse to select either the username or password fields, they still cannot enter any text.

However, if they do any of the following actions, they can then enter in their username and password and the application runs without problems:

1. Click on the Login button with empty fields. Logon fails but they can then enter their credentials.
2. Minimize the login window and then maximize it. They can then gain keyboard focus to enter their credentials.

What might be preventing this particular application from having focus when it launches?

Possible Duplicate:
How to Configure Windows Machine to Allow File Sharing with DNS Alias

Environment: Let's say my server name is OU812 and its IP address is 172.100.51.50. In DNS Manager I create a friendly CNAME record that user may more easily recognize that is VANHALEN (points to FQDN OU812.example.local).

Works (Windows 7 and 2008)

Using either Windows 7 or Windows 2008, I may enter all three values into the address bar of Windows Explorer to access shared resources on this server:

• \\OU812 (works)
• \\172.100.51.50 (works)
• \\VANHALEN (works)

Doesn't Work (Windows XP and 2003)

Using either Windows XP or Windows 2003, however, only two of the three values work. The easy-to-remember CNAME record does not work:

• \\OU812 (works)
• \\172.100.51.50 (works)
• \\VANHALEN (does not work)

Error Message (Windows XP and 2003)

Address Bar. Windows cannot find "\VANHALEN". Check the spelling and try again, or try searching for the item by clicking the Start button and then clicking Search. Ok.

Troubleshooting

• From any OS, I can ping all addresses (OU812, IP, VANHALEN)
• This Microsoft Hotfix doesn't help (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950234)
• Firewall is disabled on the server with the shared resources
• Also attempted a DNS A record to the same IP address without success

Desired Solution

I would like for all Windows machines on the domain to be able to use friendly names in the Windows Explorer address bar. Our real naming convention isn't has cool as rock bands. Creating useful CNAME aliases that function in Explorer across all devices would be helpful. What steps have I overlooked? Thanks for the help.

I am attempting to configure VMware View 4.5's Location-Based Printing, which leverages an included OEM version of ThinPrint, to assign printers to active directory groups.

The location-based printing feature maps printers that are physically near client systems to VMware View desktops. I am using the Active Directory group policy setting AutoConnect Location-based Printing for VMware View, which is located in the Microsoft Group Policy Object Editor in the Software Settings folder under Computer Configuration.

The AutoConnect Location-based Printing for VMware View appearst to be just a name translation table. It permits me to assign a specific printer or printers to an IP Range, Client Name, Mac Address, User, or User Group.

I'm attempting to assign printers to active directory user groups. I have created a new active directory group for each printer that I intend to use in VMware View desktop pools. I will then assign active directory users to the active directory groups that represent each network printer.

Example: doej is a member of the PTR-FLOOR2-NORTH-ROOM255 active directory group. Using AutoConnect, I assigned the group to receive a network printer by adding PTR-FLOOR2-NORTH-ROOM255 in the User/Group column.

Problem: When doej logs in to his VDI session, the printer is not present. However, if I use a wildcard "*" in the User/Group column instead of the specific PTR-FLOOR2-NORTH-ROOM255 active directory group, the printer is present and functions as designed.

Alternatives: I have tried assigning printers to active directory groups within AutoConnect in the following ways, all unsuccesfull:

• PTR-FLOOR2-NORTH-ROOM255
• domainexample\PTR-FLOOR2-NORTH-ROOM255
• domainexample.local\PTR-FLOOR2-NORTH-ROOM255

Confirmation: The information used to map the printer to the VMware View desktop is stored in a registry entry on the View desktop in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\thinprint\tpautoconnect. For each of these examples, I have reviewed the registry entry and can confirm that the desktop is receiving the information from the AutoConnect translation table.

Summary: Can anyone provide an example of how to configure VMware View 4.5's Location-Based Printing so that I may assign network printers to active directory groups via the included AutoConnect tool? I would welcome a clear example of a working configuration. Thank you.

I know there are several ways to map a drive letter to a networked resource in a Windows environment. What I would like to know is how to quickly determine the means for which each mapped drive is being mapped.

Many of our users have up to 15 mapped drives. After a few hours of searching I've learned that some of those drives are mapped via Group Policies while others are mapped via scripts. But there are still others that I cannot figure out the source that is automatically mapping those drives for them.

How do I identify the method that is mapping one or more drives (e.g. Group Policy, Script, etc.)? If it's a Group Policy, which one? If it's a script, which one and from where? Thanks.

The management team at my company often attaches documents (Word, Excel, PDFs) to their Outlook Calendar meeting requests. The meeting requests are sent to the managers, but also to their assistants. The desire is to have everyone be able to view the full meeting request and its content, but limit the ability to open the attachments to just the managers.

Is there a way in Outlook 2003 and/or 2007 to limit access to attachments that accompany meeting requests?

Ideally, can access to the attachments be controlled by the "Select Attendees and Resources" window when selecting individuals from the Global Address List. Can those in the Required field have access to the attachments while those in the Optional or Resources fields not have access?

My suggestion was to simply place all meeting attachments in a shared network folder that has read/write access limited to managers. They would then just place fully qualified links to those files in the body of the Meeting Request. While everyone would receive and see the links, only a few would have access. This, however, wasn't easy enough for them, so I'm looking for some other ideas.