kleefaj's questions

Are you able to clone Windows Server 2012 R2 VMs that are members of a Windows domain and apply a customization specification?

I'm trying to clone a running Windows Server 2012 R2 VM via VMware. Brand new install of 2012 R2, no updates, no antivirus, member of a workgroup. VM is running and I'm able to clone the VM and apply a customization specification. No problem.

When I join the original VM to a domain and try to clone it it fails (attachment, on third reboot). VMware says I need to call Microsoft.

I'm able to clone a running 2008 R2 VM that is a member of a domain and apply a customization specification.

Does Windows Firewall need to be on to enable PowerShell remoting on Windows 2008/2012 servers? That is, if the Windows Firewall on a 2008/2008 R2/2012 R2 server is turned off can PowerShell remoting be enabled?

How can I deploy the Microsoft System Center Advisor agent to multiple Windows 2008 R2 servers? My company has Intune but it's not for servers. I have about 20 2008 R2 virtual machine to install the agent on.

Thanks.

In setting up a print server (Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2) I found that a Domain User is able to create a standard TCP/IP port when adding a "local" printer, the local printer being on the network but connected to using the IP address of the printer.

I thought that a user had to be in the domain administrators group to add a standard TCP/IP port. Has this changed? Is there a policy setting that can be modified?

I want domain users to print to my network printers via my print server. I don't want them printing directly to my network printers.

Client machines are Windows 7.

I'm setting up a Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 print server. I'm able to add printers, install them on workstations, I can print, all the plumbing seems to be in place.

What I don't understand is what purpose the "Share name" on the Sharing tab of an installed (on the server) printer is for. When I add the printer to a Windows 7 workstation, the printer is installed as "the_printer_name on the_print_server". For example, "LaserJet 4100 on PRNTSRVR". If I change the "Share name" of the printer on the server there appears to be no effect on the workstation, no effect on searching (in the Add Printer dialog, "Select a shared printer by name" dropdown), the printer mapping is not lost.

What purpose does the "Share name" serve in this context?

Should the Windows 7 local administrator profile be enabled if the computer is part of a Windows 2003 domain?

Users are not administrators on their own workstations. I'm wondering if I need a local administrator account on the computer if I've already logged on once to the computer as the domain administrator.

Am I supposed to install Microsoft Windows Server 2008 x64 printer drivers on my 2008 32-bit server to support Windows 7 x64 clients while supporting Windows XP 32-bit clients?

I have a Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Standard (not R2) 32-bit server with the Print Services role. I have mostly 32-bit XP clients that are able to print to the server's shared printers. We're getting Windows 7 Pro x64 workstations coming in and I want to share the same printers from the same server with those new workstations.

The printers I'm most concerned about are HP LaserJet P4014ns.

I hope this isn't too headache-inducing.

Two servers, server1 (Windows Server 2003, IP 192.168.100.25) and server2 (Windows Server 2008, IP 192.168.100.22).

server2 is the DHCP server and a DNS server. server1 is the preferred DNS server as is set in the DHCP server options (192.168.100.25 is preferred, 192.168.100.22 is alternate); servers use static IPs.

server1 is forwarding DNS requests to server2. (I'm not sure why but it is, what that buys us.)

server1's preferred DNS server is itself (.100.25); server2's preferred DNS server is server1, and itself is the alternate.

The way I read this, clients make a DNS request to server1 which forwards the lookup to server2, server2 responds with an answer to server1 and server1 returns the answer to the client.

Following the above logic, if server2 makes a DNS request it asks server1 (!) which forwards the request to server2 (!!) which sends the answer back to server1 (!!!) which sends it back to server2 (!!!!).

In my test lab I have each DNS server (I have two) using it's own IP address as the Preferred DNS server. I'm inclined to remove the Alternate DNS server address from each (server1, server2) server's settings, and make Preferred DNS sever it's own address (server2's preferred DNS server will be .100.22, server1's will be .100.25).

Here's me running nslookup on server2:

C:\Users\administrator.yournamehere>nslookup
Default Server:  UnKnown
Address:  ::1

> www.google.com
Server:  UnKnown
Address:  ::1

Name:    www.l.google.com
Addresses:  74.125.226.20
          74.125.226.19
          74.125.226.16
          74.125.226.18
          74.125.226.17
Aliases:  www.google.com

Our main server (Windows Server 2003: Active Directory, domain controller, file server, software repository) has two hard drives installed (maximum). Disk 0 has a primary partition (C:) and an extended partition with two empty, unused logical drives (D: and F:). Disk 1 has a primary partition (E:). The DVD drive is G:.

What I'd like to do is move the contents of E: to an external USB drive connected to the server, delete the extended partition, and make Disk 1 a mirror of Disk 0.

What I want to avoid is anyone who has a map to a folder on the file server from having to remap their shortcuts. I don't think there are a lot of people but I'd like to avoid it if possible.

Is this less of a problem than I think it is?

I've been asked to secretly share a staff member's My Documents folder on her XP Pro workstation with another staff member.

I'm wondering if this is technically possible (I'm the system/network administrator so I can pretty much go anywhere, do anything). I need to share the folder with one other staff member. Again, secretly.

My thought on whether it's the Right Thing To Do or not is that there really is no guarantee of confidentiality on a work machine. Right?

As a side note I think the situation leading to this is more of a people problem better solved with a people solution rather than a technical solution.

I'm the new network manager for a school. I've inherited an environment made up of several Windows servers, about 100 Windows clients, 10 printers, 1 Cisco router, 6 Cisco switches, and 1 HP switch. Also, we're using VoIP.

There are four floors in our building. The hosts on each floor are assigned to a separate VLAN. An office on the first floor has its own VLAN. All the switches are on their own VLAN. The IP phones are on their own VLAN. And the servers are on their own VLAN.

For the number of hosts on the network, are all these VLANs really buying me anything? I'm new to the VLAN concept but it seems overly complicated for this environment. Or it's genius and I just don't get it?

Greetings.

I'm the new IT guy after the last IT guy just up and left. He took all knowledge of the network including router and switch passwords. I've been running the password recovery procedure on all of our switches and have been successful on all but one (a Catalyst 3560).

I've gone through the steps of Cisco Document ID: 12040 up to step 12. At step 12 I copy flash:config.text to system:running-config, press Enter, the screen blanks and I get a short line of garbage characters. I mash Enter a few times, the line changes, but it's still garbage.

I rebooted the switch and it seems to be working but I can't log on.

Any thoughts?

Thanks, Jeff