Ed Fries's questions

Client has SuperVeryExtraLong.com AD domain so a DFS namespace becomes \\SuperVeryExtraLong.com\foo with a minimum of 29 characters. This is a problem with the 255 character path limit.

Is there a way to create a domain alias that can be used by DFS-R?

I have looked at creating a cname however that I'm unable to figure out how to get DFS to use this and am concerned about name resolution/site location issues down the road. Would rather not rename AD just for this.
AD is 2008 R2, no Exchange.

Thanks.

Had an RDS License Server malfunction, opened a case w/ MS Tech Support, they were unable to fix. Resolution was to delete license db, uninstall all RDS roles, reboot, reinstall, reboot, activate license server & re-install licenses, reboot. Users are connecting fine, however...

RDS Server is in Per User Mode, 9 users connected currently. License GUI shows 0 licenses in use. Refreshing, re-starting license service doesn't change count. Running the license report for the domain (single domain, single RDS server) shows 4 user licenses in use. MS support tech says "this is normal in per User mode, that only per device mode is accurate."

Does your 2008 R2 RDS License server provide accurate counts in Per User Mode?

There is an existing GPO to deploy a software package, the path is no longer valid. I need to either edit the UNC path or create a new Package. I would prefer to edit existing package/modification, or create a new modification in the existing package. Neither is an option, see screen shot with Add & Remove buttons greyed out. I have confirmed my user has Full permisions on this GPO object.

The remove package option states "Allow users to continue to use the software, but prevent further installations." I am unclear if this would apply only to this package?

Besides using DFS to make this easier going forward what is the best practice for making this type of change? My research only found this to make an edit http://www.frickelsoft.net/blog/?p=78

DC: Server 2012
AD Functional Level: Windows Server 2003

Thank you.

I want to configure the Time Service using only GP in a Server 2008 R2 domain. I have created a GP as follows:

Computer Config, Policies, Administrative Templates, System, Windows Time Policy:
=Global Configuration Settings -Enabled w/ default settings.

Computer Config, Policies, Administrative Templates, System, Windows Time Policy,Time Providers:
=Configure Windows NTP Client -Enabled w/ default settings.
=Enable Windows NTP Client -Enabled w/ default settings. =Enable Windows NTP Server -Enabled w/ default settings.

The policy is linked, enforced and applied to Domain Controllers OU. The GP modeling results shows the policy is in effect on the DC (Single DC domain) and the DC is recognized as the PDC emulator. I have run gpupdate /force and logged off/on.

The issue is that the DC shows the time source as internal. I understand I can force this at the cmd line using w32tm to set the peer but I would like to understand what is missing in the GP. The default NTP Client GP setting includes time.windows.com,0x9 as the source but it does not appear to be taking effect.

EDIT: Requested output:

C:\Users\xxxxx>w32tm /query /configuration [Configuration]

EventLogFlags: 2 (Policy)
AnnounceFlags: 10 (Policy)
TimeJumpAuditOffset: 28800 (Local)
MinPollInterval: 6 (Policy)
MaxPollInterval: 10 (Policy)
MaxNegPhaseCorrection: 172800 (Policy)
MaxPosPhaseCorrection: 172800 (Policy)
MaxAllowedPhaseOffset: 300 (Policy)

FrequencyCorrectRate: 4 (Policy)
PollAdjustFactor: 5 (Policy)
LargePhaseOffset: 50000000 (Policy)
SpikeWatchPeriod: 900 (Policy)
LocalClockDispersion: 10 (Policy)
HoldPeriod: 5 (Policy)
PhaseCorrectRate: 1 (Policy)
UpdateInterval: 100 (Policy)

[TimeProviders]

NtpClient (Local)
DllName: C:\Windows\system32\w32time.dll (Local)
Enabled: 1 (Local)
InputProvider: 1 (Local)
CrossSiteSyncFlags: 2 (Policy)
AllowNonstandardModeCombinations: 1 (Local)
ResolvePeerBackoffMinutes: 15 (Policy)
ResolvePeerBackoffMaxTimes: 7 (Policy)
CompatibilityFlags: 2147483648 (Local)
EventLogFlags: 0 (Policy)
LargeSampleSkew: 3 (Local)
SpecialPollInterval: 3600 (Policy)
Type: NT5DS (Policy)

NtpServer (Local)
DllName: C:\Windows\system32\w32time.dll (Local)
Enabled: 1 (Local)
InputProvider: 0 (Local)
AllowNonstandardModeCombinations: 1 (Local)

VMICTimeProvider (Local)
DllName: C:\Windows\System32\vmictimeprovider.dll (Local)
Enabled: 1 (Local)
InputProvider: 1 (Local)

EDIT: GP Results

System/Windows Time Service
Policy Setting Winning GPO
Global Configuration Settings Enabled FIT DC Time Policy
Clock Discipline Parameters
FrequencyCorrectRate 4
HoldPeriod 5
LargePhaseOffset 50000000
MaxAllowedPhaseOffset 300
MaxNegPhaseCorrection 172800
MaxPosPhaseCorrection 172800
PhaseCorrectRate 1
PollAdjustFactor 5
SpikeWatchPeriod 900
UpdateInterval 100
General Parameters
AnnounceFlags 10
EventLogFlags 2
LocalClockDispersion 10
MaxPollInterval 10
MinPollInterval 6
ChainEntryTimeout 16
ChainMaxEntries 128 ChainMaxHostEntries 4
ChainDisable 0
ChainLoggingRate 30

System/Windows Time Service/Time Providers
Policy Setting Winning GPO
Configure Windows NTP Client Enabled FIT DC Time Policy
NtpServer time.windows.com,0x9
Type NT5DS
CrossSiteSyncFlags 2
ResolvePeerBackoffMinutes 15
ResolvePeerBackoffMaxTimes 7
SpecialPollInterval 3600
EventLogFlags 0

Policy Setting Winning GPO
Enable Windows NTP Client Enabled FIT DC Time Policy
Enable Windows NTP Server Enabled FIT DC Time Policy

I want to be able to leave multiple external drives connected to an SBS 2008 server and select which drive is used as a target for the backup without physically connecting/disconnecting the drive.

Windows doesn't support this and my testing confirms that if 2 drives are connected there is little to no rotation between the target drives, the backup will run to the last drive it used if it is connected. Anyone have a script that will disconnect and reconnect a physical drive?

Thanks!

Server 2003 SP2 (not R2) with 2 new Win 7 Pro workstations. Home Drive is set in AD (not GP) to map to \\server\users\username. Home Drive map fails, other network drives map correctly. No error logged on server or PC, Win 7 shows "Could not reconnect all network drives." There is no Y: (Home Drive) listed, either in the GUI or via Net Use.

Manual map via batch file in startup group with the same path works correctly? Home Drive map works correctly on XP workstations.