Charles's questions

I am attempting to set an 'Out of Office' message on Outlook 2010 for a colleague (running 64-bit Windows 7). Once the rule is complete, I get a message which says that the rule is a Client rule and will only work when Outlook is running. I'm using Exchange 2007. How can I set it up so that the 'Out of Office' message will work regardless of whether Outlook is running or not?

In my domain, I have two DCs running MS Server 2003. One of them also has the role of the DHCP server. For some reason, few users are unable to connect to this DC from time to time. After a few days (3-14 days), they are able to connect to it. Right now, my laptop is one of the ones that cannot connect to it. I can ping and connect to other computers and servers, except this DC. This has been going on for several months. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

I'm trying to reduce the size of the 'ManifestCache' folder on a 32-bit Windows Vista Ultimate computer. I type "Takeown /f c:\windows\winsxs\ManifestCache*" and I get the following error message: "The current logged on user does not have ownership privileges on the file (or folder): "c:\windows\winsxs\ManifestCache\6.0.6002.18005_001c11ba_blobs.bin". The user is in a workgroup and has administrator privileges. Also, I shut down the the 'trustedinstaller' prior to attempting to take ownership. Thanks, in advance, for your help! - Charles

I'm tinkering with a Server 2008 R2 server that has a 16 GB C: drive. After running Windows update, I only have 340 MB of free space left. C:\Windows\Assembly is taking up 8 GB and C:\Windows\Installer is takiing up 2 GB.

What is the best way to make more room on my C: drive?

I'm getting the following error on a Windows Server 2003 machine:

"CScript.exe - Corrupt file. The file or directory C:\WINDOWS\system32\shell32.dll is corrupt and unreadable. Please run the Chkdsk utility."

I have a few questions:

1. Will running Chkdsk cause problems, such as making the computer unbootable into the Operating System?
2. Which should I download a copy of "shell32.dll" from Microsoft or some other computer and copy it to the server as a backup?
3. What safety measures should I take when running 'Chkdsk' on a Windows Server 2003 machine?

Folks! My network has a CISCO 2611 Router which is used to terminate a T1 connection. An ethernet cable then goes from the T1 to a SonicWall's WAN port. I would like to replace the CISCO 2611 Router with another router that is easier to configure and manage (preferably with a Web page or a GUI interface). Which router would you recommend? The T1's upstream and downstream sped is 1.536 Mbps and it is supporting a block of 16 IP addresses. Thanks, in advance, for your help. - Charles

I inherited a network in which several DCs are offline and were not removed from AD. Currently, I have two DCs: SVR01 which is the primary DC and BFBACKUP which is the secondary DC. BFBACKUP was turned off for a few days (due to heating issues in the server room). I turned it on yesterday and was hoping that the AD replication would take place without a problem. However, when I looked at BFBACKUP's Computer section (Active Directory Users and Computers), it doesn't have several workstations listed. I checked to see if there were any errors in the Directory Service of Event Viewer, and there is a lot of Error Event ID 1311 (The Knowledge Consistency Checker (KCC) has detected problems with the following directory partition.)

How can I force SVR01 to replicate to BFBACKUP? SVR01 tries to replicate to several of the offline DCs and returns error messages. My thought was to ensure that AD on BFBACKUP is up to date. And then at a later date, I can remove the other DCs.

I inherited a network with several servers running Windows Server 2003. They have not been updated for several years because my predecessor was concerned that updating Windows Server 2003 might render it useless in case there's a problem. Here are my questions:

1. What is the best way to update the servers to that they are properly patched? I'm thinking in terms of strategy.
2. Is there a free or low-cost software that I can install so that if the windows update didn't work, I can go back (or revert) to all the settings prior to the update?
3. Should I do a System State backup each time prior to an update?

I'm currently using SpiceWorks to administer my network. I've heard much about Zabbix and would like to use it, but I'm a Windows guy and don't know much about Linux/Unix. Is there a free Windows software that matches or surpasses Zabbix?

I'm using iperf to test the bandwidth on my network. I have a few questions: 1. I'm running this command on the client: "iperft -c -u -b 400m" and it successfully runs. I'm running the command every few seconds. I've found that if I run them too closely to each other, the first packet loses a good chunk of data (20% - 30%). However, if I wait 2-3 seconds before consecutive commands, the first packet usually has no loss. Is this an issue with iperf and my PC, as opposed to a problem with iperf and my network? 2. I'm getting jitter in the range of 0.079 ms and 0.536 ms. Is this normal and/or acceptable? What is an appropriate amount of jitter for a network to support VOIP, in your opinion? Thanks, in advance, for your help! - Charles

I would like to use iperf to test my WAN bandwidth connection. However, I can't find a good method to install and administer it. I'm a Windows guy and don't know much about Linux, and googling iperf didn't help much. Do I need to run the server part on a machine inside my network and have it test the WAN bandwidth and send it to a machine outside the network? The details are greatly appreciated!

In my company, we have several ex-employees. On my Windows Server 2003 machine, there is a "profile" folder which contains the following folders for different employees: "Application Data", "Contacts", "UserData", "WINDOWS" and so on (e.g. profile\employee_A\UserData). If I copy the folders to a local machine and back them up, do I need leave the data in the "Profile" folder? Or to put it differently, will removing the files and folders from a previous employee's "profile" folder cause any problems with Active Directory or some other software? Thanks, in advance, for your help!

How do I find which computer is using a particular private IP address? For instance, when I ping 192.168.18.30, I get a message "Reply from 192.168.18.30: bytes=32 time =1 ms TTL=32". I don't know which computer has this IP address. I looked at 'Address Leases' and 'Reservations' in DHCP of our Windows Server 2003 machine, but it does not include this IP address. Is there some other way of determining which computer is using this IP address? Thanks, in advance, for your help! - Charles

Folks! Our network has several organizations using an Exchange server. Every user has several email accounts such as [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] and is using Outlook 2007. What do I configure such that when the user gets email for account test@company2 and replies back to it, the email will say test@company2? And when the user gets email for account test@company3 and replies to it, the email@company3? Thanks, in advance, for your help!

Sincerely, Charles

I have a Windows 7 client connected to a domain running on a Windows 2003 server. The user's Word files are stored in the "Documents" folder under "Libraries". Which I click on the "Documents" folder, the two location I see are "\server\home\username" and "C:\Users\Public\Documents" (with the former marked as the Default save location).

I'm trying to find out where the Word files are actually stored so that I can use Robocopy to copy it to the server. To find the location, I did this:

1. I logged in as the user on a different machine (Win XP) - but could not see the Word files in the "My Documents" folder.
2. I unplugged the network cable and logged into the original Windows 7 computer - and was able to see and access the Word files in "Documents" folder.

The two steps above would indicate that the Word files is on the laptop somewhere.

I have tried these things:

1. I look in "C:\Users\Public\Documents" folder, but I don't see any Word files.
2. I look in "C:\Users\domain.username" folder, but I don't see the "Documents" folder. I see a "My Documents" shortcut and when I click on it, I get a "Location is not available" error message.
3. I look in "C:\Users\username" folder and I get a message saying that the user doesn't have permission to view the data. So I enter my credentials and am able to log in. I see:
   • a "My Documents" folder but it doesn't have the Word files for which I am looking
   • a "My Documents" shortcut but when I double-click it, I get a "Location is not available" error message

Here are my questions:

1. Where are the Word files?
2. How may I access it when I'm logged in as the user"?

I'm using Windows Server 2003 and Exchange 2007. I created a user in both Active Directory and Exchange. However, we didn't need the user so I disconnected his mailbox in Exchange. When I tried to look at the Active Directory, I don't see the user anywhere. Unfortunately, his name appears in the Global Address List. How do I remove his name from GAL?

Some of the info I looked up mentioned changing his account in A/D. But I can't find it in A/D to change it. I just want it gone from GAL so that people don't get confused when sending emails.

Thanks, in advance, for your help!

Sincerely, Charles

My organization has several different companies with several domains and we're using Exchange 2007 to handle all the emails. One of my colleagues has several different email accounts which he accesses through Outlook. Let's suppose his email address are: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] etc

I want to forward email from [email protected] to [email protected] but leave all his other email accounts intact. Also, I don't want to remove or delete any history from Outlook for any emails he received on [email protected]. I'm using Exchange 2007 and Windows Server 2003. Thanks, in advance, for your help!

Sincerely, Charles

I'm using a SonicWall NSA 240 which has two WAN ports (T1 and Comcast) and the LAN port has a cable which connects to a switch. From the switch, several cables connect to other switches. The SonicWall doesn't have DHCP enabled; one of our domain controllers running Windows Server 2003 also functions as a DHCP server.

Is there a way for a user in our network to change connection from T1 to Comcast as their ISP or vice versa? In other words, if a user is connected via the T1, can he/she somehow connect via Comcast instead? Thanks, in advance, for your help!

Sincerely, Charles

One of my users has three email accounts, two POP and one Exchange on a machine with Office 2003. I set up a new machine with Office 2007 and when I added the two POP and one Exchange account, her Inbox on both machines filled up with over two thousand unread emails (instead of only 45 unread emails prior to my tinkering). I have two questions: 1. How can I fix this mess?
2. What should I have done instead?

Thanks for all your help!

I need to re-create a previously-deleted user in Active Directory (Windows Server 2003) and Exchange Server 2007. I have a few questions:

1. Is there a way to "un-delete" a user in either AD or Exchange?
2. Is there a way to find out which email addresses had been assigned to her in the past?
3. Is there anything else of which I should be aware or cautious if I have to manually create the old user? I've heard some folks say that Active Directory acts weird if a user is a new user is created with the exact credentials of a previously deleted user.

Thanks, in advance, for all your help! I greatly appreciate it. - Charles