Create a Group Policy WMI filter to determine 64 bit or 32 bit Operating System

I needed to create a WMI filter for Group Policy that would separate 64 bit and 32 bit Operating Systems.

Source: http://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/show/1432-using-wmi-filters-to-apply-group-policy-to-a-target-operating-system

Open Group Policy Management.  Expand the Forest and Domain, down to WMI Filters.



Right click WMI Filters and select New…



Type a Name (for 64 bit operating systems) for the Filter and a Description.  Click Add



Leave the Namespace as root\CIMv2

Type the Query

SELECT AddressWidth FROM Win32_Processor WHERE AddressWidth ='64'  and click OK



Click Save

 

Repeat the process, for 32 bit Operating Systems.  The Query is:

SELECT AddressWidth FROM Win32_Processor WHERE AddressWidth ='32'.

This can then be applied to a Policy



Some handy WMI filters for further separation:

Windows 7 32 bit:

select * from Win32_OperatingSystem WHERE Version like "6.1%" AND
ProductType="1" AND NOT OSArchitecture = "64-bit"

Windows 7 64 bit:

select * from Win32_OperatingSystem WHERE Version like "6.1%" AND
ProductType="1" AND OSArchitecture = "64-bit"

Windows 8 32 bit:

select * from Win32_OperatingSystem WHERE Version like "6.2%" AND
ProductType="1" AND NOT OSArchitecture = "64-bit"

Windows 8 64 bit:

select * from Win32_OperatingSystem WHERE Version like "6.2%" AND
ProductType="1" AND OSArchitecture = "64-bit"

Convert FLAC to MP3

Download and install FLAC from here:  http://sourceforge.net/projects/flac/

Download and install LAME from here:  http://lame.sourceforge.net/index.php

The sample FLAC file I used can be found here:  http://www.2l.no/hires/


Click Start, find FLAC, right click FLAC Frontend and select Run as administrator.



Click Yes on the UAC prompt.



Click Add files



Navigate to the FLAC files you wish to convert and add them



Select Decode



Once it has finished, close down FLAC Frontend.  FLAC saves the wav files in the same location as the FLAC files.

Open a command prompt,



Navigate to “c:\program files (x86)\lame for audacity\” or the equivalent.

type lame %WAVFILE% where %WAVFILE% is the path and name to the wave file.

eg: lame c:\flac\2L38_01_192kHz.wav



Once it has completed, close the command prompt window.

To batch convert a folder of FLAC files to MP3, you can use the following batch file:
http://pastebin.com/rhfyx2Er

File and Print Sharing using DNS Alias (CNAME)

When creating an Alias (CNAME) for a file or print server, some additional steps may be required before it can be used.
Consider the following situation:
We have a File Server called AU_Q_017_951.
We connect to the server from a Windows XP machine, and it works OK using the name of the server.


We create the Alias (CNAME) for the server, as AU_Q_017_951 is not very friendly.  We create the Alias for fileserverQLD.



From Server 2008 machines, this works fine.



From Windows XP Machines, it gives the following error.



(You were not connected because a duplicate name exists on the network.  Go to System in Control Panel to change the computer name and try again.)

Edit the registry on the file server.  Navigate to:
HLKM\system\current control set\services\lanmanserver\parameters
Create a new Dword (32bit) called DisableStrictNameChecking and give it a value of 1.



Reboot the file server.
This should now work for file shares from Windows XP machines.



If the server is 2008 R2, an additional step is required to make printer sharing work via an alias (CNAME)
Without the following, the printer will be visble, but fail to install.
On the print server, run the following command:


reg add HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print /v DnsOnWire /t REG_DWORD /d 1

Restart the print spooler to take affect.

References:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/281308
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/979602

i8042prt

Reference:  http://preview.tinyurl.com/7ku7ehn


When booting, the following error occurs:



EventID  7026
Source: Service Control Manager
Description: “The following boot-start or system-start driver(s) failed to load: i8042prt”

I believe this is to do with booting without a keyboard, mouse or monitor.

Click Start

Click Run

Type in regedit.exe

Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\i8042prt\Parameters

Add a new REG_DWORD called Headless, and set the value to 1

Reboot

Blogging with Live Writer and Imageshack.us

Download Windows Live Writer from here.
Ensure you perform a ‘custom install’

Choose only ‘Live Writer’ (Untick everything else)

Once live writer is installed, configure it to use your blog (username / password / blog address).
Download and install the Instant Imageshack plug-in from here.
Once installed it places a plug-in in the ‘Insert’ tab called ‘Instant Imageshack’.

Click the Plug-in to select a photo from your PC, choose a size.

It will be uploaded to imageshack.us and linked in your blog.
It only works with .JPG files.

Uninstall BES

Uninstalling BES

Recently I had to uninstall BES from a server as the last remaining Blackberry user moved to an Iphone.

Instructions here