Riccardo's questions

There are many posts concerning issues when dealing with time synchronisation over a domain which holds virtualised PDC Emulators (see this article).

As a result our PDC Emulator time (and domain time), although configured to sync from an authoritative NTP server, was wrong because of the Hyper-V Integration services/Time synchronisation. As soon as this was disabled, the PDC emulator (and domain) time began synchronising correctly, but the Hyper-V host time kept being wrong.

I suspect the Hyper-V host (2019) is not synchronising time from the domain.

How can I ensure this?

we have joined a Windows 11 machine for the first time to our domain, however something is not working as expected. For instance, the machine cannot be pinged, although the domain GPO sets a rule in the firewall to allow this.

Computer Configuration 
 Policies 
  Administrative Templates  
   Network/Network Connections/Windows Defender Firewall/Domain Profile 
    Allow inbound echo request Enabled

The above policy is applied to the offending Windows 11 machine, as shown in rsop.msc, and the server has been updated with Windows 11 October 21 .ADMX files beforehand ...

Windows 11 machine's network profile seems to be correctly set to domain:

PS C:\windows\system32> Get-NetConnectionProfile                                                                        

Name             : ourdoamin.blablabla
InterfaceAlias   : WiFi
InterfaceIndex   : 10
NetworkCategory  : DomainAuthenticated
IPv4Connectivity : Internet
IPv6Connectivity : NoTraffic

Before even attempting to setup something that wouldn't work, I'd like to understand if the following configuration has a logic.

Basically we want to stop Chromebooks to steal bandwidth on updates. Google suggests to setup a local web caching server so that requests to dl.google.com are cached in LAN, saving 400mb online requests per each Chromebook.

This could be done setting up a local web caching proxy (squid?) and declare this as a proxy in the Chromebook configuration, however, as I would like to limit request to the local web caching server only for dl.google.com and nothing else, I thought I could create a local DNS record on the LAN's DNS server, so that requests to dl.google.com are forwarded to the local proxy.

In your opinion, will this work, or will the proxy refuse/ignore requests from hosts that are not intrinsically configured to use a proxy?

I am attempting to tweak Hyper-V Core Server 2019 (host) power thresholds, however my attempts have failed so far.

Scenario

The newly created Hyper-V 2019 Server (part of Workgroup, not yet a Domain) has been attached to an external UPS. Battery status is provided through a USB cable. The UPS is listed in the device list and battery status can be queried through Powershell gwmi win32_battery command.

My goal is to shutdown the machine when Low level threshold (30%) is reached, to allow graceful shutdown of both VMs and host.

As the HV machine has no GUI, power plan settings must be tweaked by other means.

My first attempt was to change settings through Group Policy Editor snap-in in MMC from a remote computer: Computer configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Power Management > Notification Settings > Low battery notification Level (& action). Forced GPUPDATE on HV machine, settings ignored!

I have then attempted to change setting through powercfg:

powercfg -setdcvalueindex SCHEME_CURRENT SUB_BATTERY BATLEVELLOW 30
powercfg -setdcvalueindex SCHEME_CURRENT SUB_BATTERY BATACTIONLOW 3

However also these settings are ignored, although they appear as correctly set when querying power plans:

 Power Scheme GUID: 381b4222-f694-41f0-9685-ff5bb260df2e  (Balanced)
  GUID Alias: SCHEME_BALANCED
  Subgroup GUID: fea3413e-7e05-4911-9a71-700331f1c294  (Settings belonging to no subgroup)
    GUID Alias: SUB_NONE
  Subgroup GUID: 0012ee47-9041-4b5d-9b77-535fba8b1442  (Hard disk)
    GUID Alias: SUB_DISK
    Power Setting GUID: 6738e2c4-e8a5-4a42-b16a-e040e769756e  (Turn off hard disk after)
      GUID Alias: DISKIDLE
      Minimum Possible Setting: 0x00000000
      Maximum Possible Setting: 0xffffffff
      Possible Settings increment: 0x00000001
      Possible Settings units: Seconds
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000

  Subgroup GUID: 238c9fa8-0aad-41ed-83f4-97be242c8f20  (Sleep)
    GUID Alias: SUB_SLEEP
    Power Setting GUID: 29f6c1db-86da-48c5-9fdb-f2b67b1f44da  (Sleep after)
      GUID Alias: STANDBYIDLE
      Minimum Possible Setting: 0x00000000
      Maximum Possible Setting: 0xffffffff
      Possible Settings increment: 0x00000001
      Possible Settings units: Seconds
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000

    Power Setting GUID: 94ac6d29-73ce-41a6-809f-6363ba21b47e  (Allow hybrid sleep)
      GUID Alias: HYBRIDSLEEP
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Off
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: On
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001

    Power Setting GUID: 9d7815a6-7ee4-497e-8888-515a05f02364  (Hibernate after)
      GUID Alias: HIBERNATEIDLE
      Minimum Possible Setting: 0x00000000
      Maximum Possible Setting: 0xffffffff
      Possible Settings increment: 0x00000001
      Possible Settings units: Seconds
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000

    Power Setting GUID: bd3b718a-0680-4d9d-8ab2-e1d2b4ac806d  (Allow wake timers)
      GUID Alias: RTCWAKE
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Disable
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Enable
      Possible Setting Index: 002
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Important Wake Timers Only
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001

  Subgroup GUID: 2a737441-1930-4402-8d77-b2bebba308a3
    Power Setting GUID: 48e6b7a6-50f5-4782-a5d4-53bb8f07e226
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001

  Subgroup GUID: 2e601130-5351-4d9d-8e04-252966bad054  (Idle Resiliency)
    GUID Alias: SUB_IR
  Subgroup GUID: 48672f38-7a9a-4bb2-8bf8-3d85be19de4e  (Interrupt Steering Settings)
    GUID Alias: SUB_INTSTEER
  Subgroup GUID: 4f971e89-eebd-4455-a8de-9e59040e7347  (Power buttons and lid)
    GUID Alias: SUB_BUTTONS
    Power Setting GUID: 5ca83367-6e45-459f-a27b-476b1d01c936  (Lid close action)
      GUID Alias: LIDACTION
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Do nothing
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Sleep
      Possible Setting Index: 002
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Hibernate
      Possible Setting Index: 003
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Shut down
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001

    Power Setting GUID: 7648efa3-dd9c-4e3e-b566-50f929386280  (Power button action)
      GUID Alias: PBUTTONACTION
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Do nothing
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Sleep
      Possible Setting Index: 002
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Hibernate
      Possible Setting Index: 003
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Shut down
      Possible Setting Index: 004
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Turn off the display
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000003
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000003

    Power Setting GUID: 96996bc0-ad50-47ec-923b-6f41874dd9eb  (Sleep button action)
      GUID Alias: SBUTTONACTION
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Do nothing
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Sleep
      Possible Setting Index: 002
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Hibernate
      Possible Setting Index: 003
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Shut down
      Possible Setting Index: 004
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Turn off the display
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000

    Power Setting GUID: a7066653-8d6c-40a8-910e-a1f54b84c7e5  (Start menu power button)
      GUID Alias: UIBUTTON_ACTION
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Sleep
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Hibernate
      Possible Setting Index: 002
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Shut down
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000002
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000002

  Subgroup GUID: 501a4d13-42af-4429-9fd1-a8218c268e20  (PCI Express)
    GUID Alias: SUB_PCIEXPRESS
    Power Setting GUID: ee12f906-d277-404b-b6da-e5fa1a576df5  (Link State Power Management)
      GUID Alias: ASPM
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Off
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Moderate power savings
      Possible Setting Index: 002
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Maximum power savings
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000002

  Subgroup GUID: 54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00  (Processor power management)
    GUID Alias: SUB_PROCESSOR
    Power Setting GUID: 893dee8e-2bef-41e0-89c6-b55d0929964c  (Minimum processor state)
      GUID Alias: PROCTHROTTLEMIN
      Minimum Possible Setting: 0x00000000
      Maximum Possible Setting: 0x00000064
      Possible Settings increment: 0x00000001
      Possible Settings units: %
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000005
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000005

    Power Setting GUID: 94d3a615-a899-4ac5-ae2b-e4d8f634367f  (System cooling policy)
      GUID Alias: SYSCOOLPOL
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Passive
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Active
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000

    Power Setting GUID: bc5038f7-23e0-4960-96da-33abaf5935ec  (Maximum processor state)
      GUID Alias: PROCTHROTTLEMAX
      Minimum Possible Setting: 0x00000000
      Maximum Possible Setting: 0x00000064
      Possible Settings increment: 0x00000001
      Possible Settings units: %
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000064
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000064

  Subgroup GUID: 7516b95f-f776-4464-8c53-06167f40cc99  (Display)
    GUID Alias: SUB_VIDEO
    Power Setting GUID: 3c0bc021-c8a8-4e07-a973-6b14cbcb2b7e  (Turn off display after)
      GUID Alias: VIDEOIDLE
      Minimum Possible Setting: 0x00000000
      Maximum Possible Setting: 0xffffffff
      Possible Settings increment: 0x00000001
      Possible Settings units: Seconds
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000258
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x0000012c

    Power Setting GUID: aded5e82-b909-4619-9949-f5d71dac0bcb  (Display brightness)
      Minimum Possible Setting: 0x00000000
      Maximum Possible Setting: 0x00000064
      Possible Settings increment: 0x00000001
      Possible Settings units: %
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000064
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000028

    Power Setting GUID: f1fbfde2-a960-4165-9f88-50667911ce96  (Dimmed display brightness)
      Minimum Possible Setting: 0x00000000
      Maximum Possible Setting: 0x00000064
      Possible Settings increment: 0x00000001
      Possible Settings units: %
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000032
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000032

    Power Setting GUID: fbd9aa66-9553-4097-ba44-ed6e9d65eab8  (Enable adaptive brightness)
      GUID Alias: ADAPTBRIGHT
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Off
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: On
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000

  Subgroup GUID: 8619b916-e004-4dd8-9b66-dae86f806698  (Presence Aware Power Behavior)
    GUID Alias: SUB_PRESENCE
  Subgroup GUID: e73a048d-bf27-4f12-9731-8b2076e8891f  (Battery)
    GUID Alias: SUB_BATTERY
    Power Setting GUID: 637ea02f-bbcb-4015-8e2c-a1c7b9c0b546  (Critical battery action)
      GUID Alias: BATACTIONCRIT
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Do nothing
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Sleep
      Possible Setting Index: 002
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Hibernate
      Possible Setting Index: 003
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Shut down
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000003

    Power Setting GUID: 8183ba9a-e910-48da-8769-14ae6dc1170a  (Low battery level)
      GUID Alias: BATLEVELLOW
      Minimum Possible Setting: 0x00000000
      Maximum Possible Setting: 0x00000064
      Possible Settings increment: 0x00000001
      Possible Settings units: %
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x0000000a
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x0000001e

    Power Setting GUID: 9a66d8d7-4ff7-4ef9-b5a2-5a326ca2a469  (Critical battery level)
      GUID Alias: BATLEVELCRIT
      Minimum Possible Setting: 0x00000000
      Maximum Possible Setting: 0x00000064
      Possible Settings increment: 0x00000001
      Possible Settings units: %
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000005
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000014

    Power Setting GUID: bcded951-187b-4d05-bccc-f7e51960c258  (Low battery notification)
      GUID Alias: BATFLAGSLOW
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Off
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: On
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001

    Power Setting GUID: d8742dcb-3e6a-4b3c-b3fe-374623cdcf06  (Low battery action)
      GUID Alias: BATACTIONLOW
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Do nothing
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Sleep
      Possible Setting Index: 002
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Hibernate
      Possible Setting Index: 003
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Shut down
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000003
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000003

Regardless my attempts, the Hyper-V host will shutdown at 10% battery level.

What am I missing?

I am planning to create a Windows Domain through a Windows Server 2016 or 2019, however the Windows server will be installed as a virtual machine in Hyper-V. Since Hyper-V requires selecting membership of a Workgroup or a Domain, right after the setup, what steps should I follow as the Domain will exist only after installing the Windows server. Therefore, should I initially join Hyper-V to a fake workgroup and then, once the domain creation has completed, join the Domain?

In a small school with limited connectivity could a proxy, running on Windows Server 2012, cache streaming videos such as Youtube? Or this is out of any proxy capability, due to architectural limits?

This could be useful for instance, if all students are required to view the same video at the same time from multiple PCs.

Of course the video could be downloaded in advance and run from the school's server.

Your thoughts?

To avoid configuring multiple user accounts on clients (Windows 7 & 8), could it be possible to configure Windows Server 2012 and clients in a way that the credentials are prompted only when a user attempts to open a shared folder/file?

A small school has currently 30 PCs connected through wifi access points to the internet (3 WANs), but there's no real LAN at the moment, apart from about 8 cables running from the APs to the modems. Finally the plan is to: - buy a switch 24p - buy a Windows Server 2012 - buy a network failover/balacing bandwidth aggregator

Scheme:

-----------          ----------           ------------           ----------------- 
| 5 VLANs | <------> | Switch |  <------> | Failover |  <------> |  3 modems     |
-----------          ----------           ------------           ----------------- 

Requirements:

• Each VLAN may access the Windows Server 2012 (file server, shared folders)

Questions:

1. Is a managed L2 switch sufficient for this task?
2. Does the server needs multiple NICs?

I am running Wbadmin for backup purposes in a batch file, however the batch execution halts, prompting for a password although the password is provided.

First attempt - include password in command:

cmd /c "C:\Windows\system32\wbadmin.exe" start backup -backuptarget:\\acrux\BACKUP02 -include:"c:" -quiet -allcritical -noVerify -user:backupuser password:operbackup 

Second attempt - Echo password (with pipe):

cmd /c echo operbackup | "C:\Windows\system32\wbadmin.exe" start backup -backuptarget:\\acrux\BACKUP02 -include:"c:" -quiet -allcritical -noVerify -user:backupuser 

The batch file is being fired from Task Scheduler running with maximum privileges within an Administrator-level account. Platform: Windows 7 & 8

I am struggling to find a way to automate chkdsk /f on all drives at startup, as so far I couldn't accomplish this task.

1. Cannot use chkdsk in a batch file, as it would require user intervention (Y/N prompts in case of locked volumes).
2. The "fsutil dirty set " method will not work completely, only the c: drive check will be executed at startup

Any idea?

A few users are using an old Windows 2003 R2 Server for file sharing and a back end SQL server 2000 database. Clients are running a rather old Access 2003 procedure connected to the SQL server. The computer is not exposed to the Internet, runs the server firewall.

We have been advised many times to switch to newer server however this would require multiple steps: 1) change server hardware 2) upgrade server software 3) migrate SQL server to newer versions (multiple steps from 2000, to 2005, to Azureus, with manual intervention) 4) completely rewrite Access 2003 environment (tenth, forms, tables, reports)

A huge investment in terms of time, for a small procedure that runs smoothly and requires very little (if none) updates over time.

2003 R2 is reaching EOL, however, apart from security issues (hacking) I would rather keep things running as they are!

Critical factors: - hardware: failure -> Missing spare parts - software: EOL -> Missing updates -> Security risks

Possible solutions - On the hardware side, once the server should collapse, we could easily move the (daily) server image (VHD) to a virtualbox hosted on a newer computer.

• On the software side, how to protect the computer to potential attacks?

In our small office a LAN is connected to a modem router that will VDSL to the Internet. As a Windows 2003 R2 server exists in the LAN, I was wondering if is there a way to use this server as a router, enabling traffic shaping/QOS policies, to avoid network clogging.

• Now: LAN clients -> Modem -> Internet
• Future: LAN clients -> Software Router - > Modem -> Internet

A Windows 8.1 user cannot access one specfic network share on a windows 2008 R2 server.

Windows cannot access \\COMPUTERNAME\Users You do not have permission to access \\COMPUTERNAME\Users. Contact your network administrator to request access.

• The shared folder is configured to be accessible to a group, with full control
• The shared folder has filesystem security set to full control to the same group
• Other users in the same group can access the shared folder (they are not part of Administrators and Domain Admins)
• The blocked user can access other shares on the server
• The blocked user is also part of Administrators and Domain Admins
• I have tried to delete and recreate the share

What can I try?

Does anybody knows if spare disks connected to a 3Ware 9500s controller will be spinning although not being used? This will wear unnecessarily the disk, possibly spinning for years before a unit gets degraded, thus using the spare unit

I have a single disk attached to a 3Ware 9500-4LP controller. The unit is configured as Single Disk. I have attached 2 more drives, identical size. Can I pair the 3 drives in a RAID 1 config, without destroying data in the single unit? That is, current Single Disk, should be used as the reference to start with.

Thank you

I was wondering if RAID 1 disks are usable straight away, without the RAID controller. Possible?

In a previous message I have asked how to rebuild a faulty disk in a RAID 5 array with 4 disks. I have mounted a new drive (drive 4) in place of the faulty one and started a rebuild. During the rebuild, another disk (drive 2) started throwing ECC errors and timeouts. AT 95% of the rebuild process, the computer rebooted and hang at the start screen, with the controller (3ware 9500s) showing an error (drive 2 not found) and a typical noise coming from the faulty drive (drive 2), could be heard. I have turned off & on the PC few times, no changes. Then I have left the PC off for an hour. Turned on again, his time the missing drive (drive 2) was back in place. I could bot the operating system awaiting for the rebuild, started automatically from the controller. At a certain point, the controller started gave a rebuild error and halted the rebuild process. The server is now running with drive 2 with errors and drive 4 with a OK status, but degraded as the rebuild process could not complete. It looks like I'm at a dead end: at least 3 drives need to be ok to make things good, however one drive has errors and one drive is not rebuild.. What can I try?

An old Windows 2003 server is running on a 4 disks (each250GB) RAID 5 array, attached to a 3Ware 9500S-4LP unit. This morning I got two alarms from the controller:

- 0x04:0x0025 Cache flush failed; some data lost: unit=0
- 0x04:0x000A Drive error detected: unit=0, port=1

I'd like to replace the drive, however I miss the correct procedure. Should I simply turn off the machine, replace the faulty drive and reboot? Will the controller rebuild the array automatically?