Mr Snrub

Network Neighborhood or NET VIEW information could be used, but can be out of date depending on how WINS is configured. Security log in Event Viewer - "Logon/Logoff" category events.

You could bring up the Computer Management console on one machine, then right-click "Computer Management (Local)" then click "Connect to another computer ...". From there you can enter the name of another computer, authenticate as a local administrator, and make the changes.

Not quite right I believe, traffic destined for locally bound addresses do not go all the way to the bottom of the TCP/IP stack - this would be a waste of CPU time. 0.0.0.0 is the IPv4 address a system gets if APIPA addressing is disabled, the client is set to get its address via DHCP and is unable to get one.

This is easiest if your machines are in a domain (enable "roaming profiles" and use a domain user account), but if you are using the local Administrator account on 20 machines you can specify a common network location for the user profile: Create a network share on a single machine which will always be online, call it something like AdminProfile$ and grant Everyone full access On each of the 20 machines: Right-click My Computer, click Manage Drill down into Local Users and Groups / Users Right-click on Administrator, click Properties Go to the Profile tab and enter the Profile path as \\machine_where_share_is\AdminProfile$ Now when you log in any of the Administrator users they should take their profile (settings) from this central location. If an Administrator logs on when the profile share is not accessible it will use the locally cached copy. This is not the most secure of setups, but if you were bothered about security you would be using a domain One caveat to bear in mind is that the last Administrator to log out will overwrite the profile, so if you log in simultaneously on two machines A and B, then edit the profile on A and log out, then log out on B the changes will be undone.

It is the contents of the F6_Disk folder that go onto the floppy disk - not the folder itself. txtsetup.oem should be at the root of the disk.

Okay, downloaded the file I mentioned above "VIA VT8237 SATA RAID 64-bit driver v4.30C (WHQL)" and unzipped it. Inside is a folder "VIA_RAID_v4.30C(WHQL)" Inside this folder are 2 more folders, one of which is called "F6_Disk" The contents of this folder come to 260KB in total Copy the contents of the F6_Disk to a floppy disk and you should be good to go (it looks like it has 32-bit and 64-bit on the same disk - there is an AMD64 folder and an I386 folder, with txtsetup.oem at the root).

I went on over to http://support.asus.com/download/download....SLanguage=en-us Then selected: Product = Motherboard Series = Socket 939 Model = A8V Deluxe Then clicked on the Drivers tab Then scrolled down and found: Beta Version - 1.00.1.41 OS - WinXP 64bit / Win2003 64bit Description - Promise 20378 RAID controller 64-bit driver v1.00.1.41. File Size - 551.88 (KBytes) and Beta Version - 4.30C OS - WinXP 64bit / Win2003 64bit Description - VIA VT8237 SATA RAID 64-bit driver v4.30C (WHQL). File Size - 6.77 (MBytes) I would imagine that these 2 have the necessary drivers (though why they are so big and not just "makedisk" packages I don't know). I also guess that this board has 2 different SATA/RAID controllers onboard, same as my A8N-SLI Deluxe (though mine are SI and nVidia) - I don't know which controller you have set up your RAID array on. They probably contain a folder called XP64, AMD64, X64 or 64BIT or something, which contains the necessary .INF and .SYS files to copy to floppy disks. Edit: Ah okay you posted just as I replied Only the last bit is relevant then, browse through the folders where the files reside - or is it a single .exe file that wants to install the lot?

A couple of points if you intend to blow away your current setup to install XP x64: 1. Make sure you have the 64-bit XP drivers for your SATA and RAID controller on a floppy disk so you can use F6 during the boot process of XP x64 to be able to see the RAID-0 array 2. You may need to actually take the HDD out of the boot sequence entirely in the BIOS to be able (or rather forced) to boot from the CD (I have not seen this often, but it has occurred a couple of times) If I was doing it, I would do it this way: - back up all important data on the current system to a CD/DVD - verify that the backed up data restores okay - get the 64-bit SATA & RAID drivers for the system and copy to a floppy disk - boot from the XP x64 CD, use F6 to load the drivers so the RAID-0 array is visible as an installation target - delete the single 160GB RAID-0 partition - create 1x 40GB partition to be the C: (system) drive and 1x 120GB partition to be the D: (data) drive - install XP x64 to C: - format D: as NTFS once XP x64 installation is complete (if the CD drive becomes D: then manually reassign the drive letter to Z: so that the data partition can be reassigned to D: using Disk Management) (Actually in reality I slipstreamed the nVidia SATA and RAID drivers for my XP x64 system into the DVD I install from, so I don't need the floppy disk or F6 process.) The 40/120 split is just a personal preference, so I can store permanent data away from the OS so I can reinstall/upgrade the OS without having to backup & restore all the data (just the apps).

MS security advisory updated 3/1: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/...ory/912840.mspx Some of the updated text: FAQ section also updated.

MS security advisory updated 3/1: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/...ory/912840.mspx Some of the updated text:

Format the partition as NTFS - Vista beta builds can't currently be installed onto RAW partitions.

I found exactly the same thing trying to install the ATI Mobility drivers on my Dell Latitude D600 - it loops the setup twice and fails to put the new driver on. However, I went into Device Manager and selected "update driver" on the Standard VGA Adapter and pointed to the folder where I had the installation files and it copied them in just fine.

Vista does not yet install on raw disks, you need to set up the partition(s) first. See this thread (it talks about VMWare but the process for setting up the disk is the same): http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=63653

"I installed Win 64 on a new DiamondMax 10 SATA 200gig drive, on an MSI 915P Neo2 board..." Quick Google search: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22MS...+drivers+64-bit turned up this as the first hit: http://www.msi.com.tw/program/support/down...?UID=601&kind=1 "Broadcom BCM5751 LAN Drivers Support model: Motherboard with onboard Broadcom BCM5751 Ethernet Controller. Description : • New Support Boardcom BCM5751 LAN Chip • Driver version: 7.67.0.0" • New support WinXP 64-bit OS, version: 8.27.1.0 Warning: The 64-bit driver is in beta stage and may be unstable. Install at your own risk and a link to this zip file labelled "WinXP 64-bit": http://www.msi.com.tw/program/support/down...m5751_64bit.zip Downloaded this zip file, opened it and it contains loads of files, one of which is setup.exe... I would assume this is the one you need.

Is this only a problem with files downloaded through this "DC++" thing? This could be an issue specific to non-English versions of Windows, unicode was created to make the world of multi-language applications easier - that 'å' is displayed as '?' at a command prompt is a concern. Alternatively, the problem may be the creation of files by this DC++ program. Try this: - open a command prompt, navigate to the folder containing rång.jpg - enter the command: copy rång.jpg r.jpg - verify that r.jpg can be opened with any application - enter the command: ren r.jpg rå.jpg - enter the command: dir /x - does the long filename for ra.jpg have a '?' in it? - verify if rå.jpg can be opened with any application Note: to get the character 'å' at the command prompt, hold down the left ALT and type 134 on the numeric keypad

I question "advice" like this at times Have you tried reverting back to a "last known good" configuration?Did you document the changes you made? If you go into Entire Network do you see nothing at all, or you see the workgroup but when you try to open it you get an error, or it opens okay but is completely empty? The "Client for Microsoft Networks" is required to see network resources on other computers in a workgroup or Domain environment, and the "File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks" (and the Server service) is required for your machine to be visible in the workgroup or Domain - check both of these are enabled on your NIC properties. Workstation service is required. Network Location Awareness, Network Connections, DNS Client, DHCP Client, Computer Browser services can also affect efficiency and functionality of Windows networks. If possible, I would try to revert to the previous configuration which worked, or try to figure out what was done and undo it to get back to a working state. Taking a system state backup before making such changes in the future would be advisable.

Couldn't comment on whether that is normal for the Greek version of Windows, only ever used English myself, with different keyboard layouts - however at a command prompt on my PC it shows the following: C:\>dir r* /x Volume in drive C has no label. Volume Serial Number is 9019-A770 Directory of C:\ 2005-12-27 23:09 20 RNG~1.JPG rång.jpg 1 File(s) 20 bytes 0 Dir(s) 11 350 859 776 bytes free Did you try with another user logged on? Does it make any difference if you have Greek or English selected in the language bar? Does the same happen for any file containing a non-English character - even Greek ones?

But you can see the Start button, task bar and system tray? If you ALT-TAB between the tasks, does it restore the window if it was minimized? If you have some applications running and resize/relocate the task bar do they appear? Do system tray icons and the time display and update correctly? If you hover the mouse cursor over a system tray icon do you get a tooltip pop up? Does this happen for all users?

Hmm, and a file named "rång.jpg" would be passed to the application as "rang.jpg" which results in a "file not found" error, when doubleclicking on the file in Explorer or through their own File/Open dialogues? Assuming IrfanView is installed in the default location, try this: - start a command prompt - navigate to the folder where the image "rång.jpg" is held using the "cd" command - enter the command line: dir /x - verify that the file "rång.jpg" has a short filename of "RNG~1.JPG" - enter the command line (complete with quotes): "c:\program files\irfanview\i_view32.exe" rång.jpg - does the image open? You are using the standard Explorer shell, no replacement 3rd party one? Does the same happen for all users on this machine? Create a brand new user and try to get them to open the file to see if it is somehow profile-related.

Rather than focusing on the detailed log entries created by enabling Userenv logging, try to reduce the problem. Clearly it is related to the unavailability of a DC, or possibly DNS server to register against dynamically, when booting up & logging on. I would start by testing if there is an immediate significant difference with the wireless NICs disabled - even if it is not considered a solution long-term (though there may be no other solution), at least it will show you if the problem is related to wireless client behavior. Userenv logging, if not showing explicit errors, is not necessarily going to help you resolve timeout issues - you are looking at the symptoms rather than the root cause. I would guess that the delay during bootup is the client trying to obtain a computer GPO, the delay during logon is the client trying to obtain and apply user GPOs, but I must admit I am not sure what would cause continued delays during a logon session when not connected to the corporate network. GPOs are refreshed periodically in a logon session, but what is the frequency & symptoms of the delays when a user is logged on? I can only hazard a guess at shortcuts to network resources on the user desktops, or permanently mapped network drives which the client is attempting to restore... You could also connect the client to a hub and take a network trace using Ethereal on another machine to capture the network traffic to & from the client - a comparison of these when connected to the network and at home would show you what the client last attempted to do when the delay occurs. Another couple of tests would be to verify the problem occurs with the same AD user but on a "clean" client build (not RIS), and also to create a brand new OU and test user with no GPOs applied at all and see if the problem occurs for him too.

Sounds like the 3rd party programs are having a problem with unicode filenames. What are your locale, language & keyboard settings? Have you disabled 8.3 filename creation? Is it all apps other than Microsoft ones which have the problem? Try IrfanView - http://www.irfanview.com - as I know this can open images with non-English characters in, so that will let you know if the problem is with the apps or the OS settings.

Wireless NICs in the laptops: 1. Do they have these? 2. Are they enabled? 3. Are they required for connecting to the corporate network? Other networking questions: 4. What is the binding order of the network adapters in the laptop? 5. Are the NICs set to obtain all details by DHCP? 6. What are your DCs and what level is your domain? (NT, 2000/2003 mixed mode, 2000/2003 native mode) 7. Are you using roaming profiles or offline folders? Long timeouts during laptop startup are very commonly due to failure to connect to a WLAN - if you don't use a wireless network then disable the NIC (note, the NIC and not just the transmitter - this leaves the NIC visible to Windows as a valid network device and it will still try to use it). In some cases you can alter the binding order of the NICs so the wired adapter is used first and this helps.

For a workgroup XP client this defaults to disabled, I set up a repro in Virtual PC and turned this on, and had a test user account with a 1-hour logon window. I rebooted the client to be certain the policy change had taken effect, set the clock back to 5 minutes before the end of the logon window and logged the test user in. Logon expiration time came and went, user was not logged off and was able to continue working and launching new apps. Lock the workstation or log off the user and the user then cannot re-authenticate, but nothing occurred automatically. I think the key is Network Security, implying not a local logon session setting.

If forcing the NIC settings manually does not work, try disabling the TCP/IP media sense feature entirely by settings DisableDHCPMediaSense to 1: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?...kb;en-us;239924

Yes, this is done by adding a shared folder. With the VM running, right-click on the tab with the name and click Settings, then go to the Options tab. Select Shared Folders on the left, then click on the Add button on the right to start the wizard. Give the share a name, specify the location and read/write settings required, then click OK. From within the VM now you can access the shared folders by running "\\.host\Shared Folders". If you click on the VMWare Tools icon in the system tray in the VM you can see the "Shared Folders" tab with the brief help. @fizban2: Yes, this is 5286 but for all intents and purposes the process is identical to 5270 I believe