cluberti

According to the SBS 2003 documentation on the microsoft site, if you're running Server 2003 standard edition, you can "upgrade" to SBS 2003. It says nothing about other versions, but because 2003 standard was specifically pointed out, I'd bet that if you were running 2003 enterprise or 2003 web, it'd not work and you'd need to do a clean install. Note that 2003 standard to 2003 SBS says it should work, it isn't a supported configuration, so if you were to contact Microsoft support for assistance it probably would not be forthcoming. Just a heads-up. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003...de/default.mspx

And unfortunately for you, fax services do not work over IPP like regular printers do. This is expected behavior, and you'll need a 3rd party product to provide this functionality. The fax driver in Windows doesn't support IPP faxing, even though it will show up as a printer when IPP is enabled.

It looks like thread 27 is indeed where we're hung, but from the explorer dump we can't tell for certain exactly why - we're talking to a COM object that is out-of-process in a service host process: 0:027> kb ChildEBP RetAddr Args to Child 08b4e048 762dafb9 752413ff 08b4e0cc 00000000 ntdll!KiFastSystemCallRet 08b4e04c 752413ff 08b4e0cc 00000000 000003e0 user32!NtUserRealInternalGetMessage+0xc 08b4e088 752416f6 08b4e0cc 00000000 000003e0 duser!CoreSC::xwProcessNL+0xf5 08b4e0ac 762daff1 08b4e0cc 00000000 000003e0 duser!MphProcessMessage+0x33 08b4e0f4 77980e6e 08b4e10c 00000014 08b4e1b8 user32!__ClientGetMessageMPH+0x30 08b4e11c 762dc5b4 762dc573 08b4e1ec 00000000 ntdll!KiUserCallbackDispatcher+0x2e 08b4e120 762dc573 08b4e1ec 00000000 000003e0 user32!NtUserPeekMessage+0xc 08b4e148 762dc5cd 08b4e1ec 00000000 000003e0 user32!_PeekMessage+0x74 08b4e174 76a16449 08b4e1ec 00000000 000003e0 user32!PeekMessageW+0xfa 08b4e1c8 76a163fe 08b4e1ec 00000000 000003e0 ole32!CCliModalLoop::MyPeekMessage+0x30 08b4e208 76a167be 08b4e3ac 0230c328 00000000 ole32!CCliModalLoop::PeekRPCAndDDEMessage+0x30 08b4e21c 76a2d001 08b4e23c 000003e8 08b4e24c ole32!CCliModalLoop::BlockFn+0x62 08b4e244 76b1802c ffffffff 0230c328 08b4e350 ole32!ModalLoop+0x5b 08b4e260 76b19984 00000000 08b4e364 00000000 ole32!ThreadSendReceive+0x12c 08b4e288 76b197f0 08b4e350 01ad0e20 08b4e3ac ole32!CRpcChannelBuffer::SwitchAptAndDispatchCall+0x194 08b4e368 76a2d0a7 01ad0e20 08b4e524 08b4e474 ole32!CRpcChannelBuffer::SendReceive2+0xe7 08b4e384 76a2d059 08b4e524 08b4e474 01ad0e20 ole32!CCliModalLoop::SendReceive+0x1e 08b4e3fc 76a44bdb 01ad0e20 08b4e524 08b4e474 ole32!CAptRpcChnl::SendReceive+0x73 08b4e450 76471dd0 01ad0e20 08b4e524 08b4e474 ole32!CCtxComChnl::SendReceive+0x1c5 08b4e468 76471d87 0038070c 08b4e57c 76471f58 rpcrt4!NdrProxySendReceive+0x43 08b4e474 76471f58 e01a6075 08b4e998 070001f3 rpcrt4!NdrpProxySendReceive+0xc 08b4e95c 76471d64 76a382f0 76a3f09e 08b4e998 rpcrt4!NdrClientCall2+0xbde 08b4e980 763f3763 08b4e998 00000004 08b4ea00 rpcrt4!ObjectStublessClient+0x6f 08b4e990 76a13820 0038070c 00000000 08b4ee54 rpcrt4!ObjectStubless+0xf 08b4ea00 76a138f5 08b4ee54 08b4f3c4 00000000 ole32!CRpcResolver::CreateInstance+0x195 08b4ec5c 76a37021 76b1e4bc 00000000 08b4ee54 ole32!CClientContextActivator::CreateInstance+0x11f 08b4ec9c 76a36f49 08b4ee54 00000000 08b4f3c4 ole32!ActivationPropertiesIn::DelegateCreateInstance+0x108 08b4f478 76a4dbc7 6a92e7c4 00000000 00000004 ole32!ICoCreateInstanceEx+0x403 08b4f4d8 76a4de0a 6a92e7c4 00000000 00000004 ole32!CComActivator::DoCreateInstance+0xd9 08b4f4fc 76a4ddc3 6a92e7c4 00000000 00000004 ole32!CoCreateInstanceEx+0x38 08b4f52c 6a9785ca 6a92e7c4 00000000 00000004 ole32!CoCreateInstance+0x37 08b4f57c 6a979354 08b4f59c 08b4f598 08b4f5a0 netcenter!MiniMap::_GetNetworkStatus+0x4d 08b4f5a4 6a92fdb4 00000001 0303dab0 6a9393ff netcenter!MiniMap::UpdateStatus+0x1d 08b4f5b0 6a9393ff 08a6eeeb 0303db34 0303dab0 netcenter!CSNOCplCore::NotifyMiniMap+0x29 08b4f5f0 6a939b09 6a9127ec 6a97e000 0303dab0 netcenter!CSNOCplCore::HandleConnectivityChange+0x311 08b4f60c 6a93c157 08b4f6bc 000708ce 00000000 netcenter!CSNOCplCore::Refresh+0x109 08b4f620 6a93c93d 000708ce 00008001 00000000 netcenter!CMessageWindow::v_WndProc+0x337 08b4f640 762e1a10 000708ce 00008001 00000000 netcenter!CMessageWindow::s_WndProc+0x28 08b4f66c 762e1ae8 6a93c915 000708ce 00008001 user32!InternalCallWinProc+0x23 08b4f6e4 762e2a47 00000000 6a93c915 000708ce user32!UserCallWinProcCheckWow+0x14b 08b4f748 762e2a98 6a93c915 00000000 08b4f794 user32!DispatchMessageWorker+0x322 08b4f758 7268b8fa 08b4f770 00000003 00000000 user32!DispatchMessageW+0xf 08b4f794 7268cb0b 00000000 00000000 02f0e268 browseui!CBrowserFrame::FrameMessagePump+0x14f 08b4f7a8 7268cc90 02f47b78 00000000 00000000 browseui!BrowserThreadProc+0x5e 08b4f7c0 76223833 02f47b78 08b4f80c 7795a9bd browseui!BrowserNewThreadProc+0x43 08b4f7cc 7795a9bd 02f47b78 08b43eb9 00000000 kernel32!BaseThreadInitThunk+0xe 08b4f80c 00000000 7268cc4d 02f47b78 00000000 ntdll!_RtlUserThreadStart+0x23 Knowing that the class ID for the COM object is netman from looking at the CComActivator function, and that the netcenter GetNetworkStatus function is talking to dll netprofm.dll, we're talking to the service host that contains the Network List Service service: 0:000> u netprofm!CImplINetworkListManager::EnumNetworks netprofm!CImplINetworkListManager::EnumNetworks: 6dc826fd 8bff mov edi,edi 6dc826ff 55 push ebp 6dc82700 8bec mov ebp,esp 6dc82702 51 push ecx 6dc82703 53 push ebx 6dc82704 56 push esi 6dc82705 57 push edi 6dc82706 a10030cb6d mov eax,dword ptr [netprofm!WPP_GLOBAL_Control (6dcb3000)] At this point, the problem is outside of the netcenter window, and likely in COM (or the Network List Service isn't running at all, however I do doubt that). @lukenuske - Can you get a complete dump of your Vista box the next time you are able to make this happen? You can configure your machine to dump via the keyboard if you have a PS/2 keyboard attached to the box, by following these instructions: 1. Create or set the following registry value: Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\i8042prt\Parameters Value: CrashOnCtrlScroll Type: REG_DWORD Data: 1 2. Right-Click on the "My Computer" icon on the desktop and select "Properties", then click the "Advanced System Settings" link. On the "Advanced" tab, click "Settings" under the "Performance" header. Click the "Advanced" tab, then click "Change" under "Virtual Memory". Set the pagefile to be located on the partition where the OS is installed, and set it to be equal to Physical RAM + 50 MB. 3. Also in the "System Properties" window on the "Advanced" tab, click the "Settings" buttun under the "Startup and Recovery" header. Make sure "Complete Memory Dump" is selected (see 3a if this is not in the list). You can change the location of the memory dump file to a different local partition if you do not have enough room on the partition where the OS is installed. 3a. If the "Complete Memory Dump" option in step 3 is not available, you will need to manually set this registry value: Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl Value: CrashDumpEnabled Type: REG_DWORD Value: 1 4. You will need to reboot for these changes to take effect. 5. The next time that your Network and Sharing center hangs, wait about 10 seconds and then hold down the RIGHT CTRL key and press the SCROLL LOCK key twice to cause the machine to bugcheck and create a memory dump. After the box comes back up, you'll find the resulting memory dump file in %systemroot%\memory.dmp that can be analyzed.

The Microsoft step by step starting guide is a good, quick read on it: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...;DisplayLang=en If you need something more in-depth, consider the blog on this: http://blogs.msdn.com/harsh/archive/2006/06/07/620989.aspx Or, if you can, acquire the actual book on just this topic : http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Windows-Sh...p/dp/073562075X

Ah - that's good information to know . If the update does cause the issue, then I would probably say that contacting Microsoft and getting them to figure this out for you is a good idea. However, if you're up for trying to figure it out yourself, check some basics first - like, is the box listening on 3389 on 0.0.0.0, does a network trace running at either end show any errors during the TS setup, make sure the security on the RDP listener can be set to client compatible or low as a test if it isn't already, etc. I'm all for seeing a network trace and a netstat to check that we're listening on 3389, and what actually comes over the wire during a TS connection attempt...

I would suggest removing the update on one or two of the servers and rebooting, to see if removing the update resolves the issue - if not, then it was something done before the reboot that caused the issue. However, if the update removal does resolve the issue, contact microsoft and tell them the update broke remote desktop - you'll get a free case to troubleshoot, and we can help you figure it out as well.

This is a pretty good overview: http://searchexchange.techtarget.com/colum...1083377,00.html

Most of the reason people perceive support to be poor is because they don't pay for it - the vendor does. Oh yes, maybe even 10% (and that would be a high number, I'd guess) of the cost of that machine or software package went to pay for support costs that may be incurred, but that's in the hopes that few will actually use it. Even for companies that charge money to provide support, they are losing money almost immediately after that initial support call or email thread starts. Why would the vendors hire expensive support staff to handle mostly simple support calls? Someone has to pay for it, and since it's the vendor, they'll hire the most qualified person who will work for peanuts - that usually means someone in poorer country who maybe has some technical skills and can speak the language well enough, or it could be an outsourced call center in country staffed by PFY - but in cost of business, that option is very cheap comparatively, and thus very temptimg. Support for manufacturers and software companies is a cost center, plain and simple. What it boils down to is that most consumers do not WANT to pay for support, even when given the choice - oh, consumers want the top-grade support, but they want it for FREE. What ends up happening is that they get the free or cheap support because the vendor needs to provide it to meet the support burden, but they'll do it as cheaply as they can get away with it, period, because it's the vendor's dime. I understand customer loyalty issues, a desire for return or repeat business, and percieved quality of product commensurate with quality of support offered perceptions, etc. - but it will always boil down to the fact that product support of almost any kind is a cost center, and vendors who do provide it will always strive to do it as cheaply as they can and still sell product and not negatively impact customer sentiment too far. If you want good support, some companies do provide it (Microsoft, for instance, actually does provide fantastic support for those who pay for the incident or have a premier support contract; EMC is another vendor who provide excellent support to customers who pay for it when they buy an EMC product) - but most people who complain about support are home and small business users who deal with the free "consumer" support most companies offer, and that is why the "support is sooo bad" claims fly around about all of these companies. Deal with their higher-ups and you'll generally get very good support and service - but remember, those people are making good salaries, and if you want those kinds of people manning the "front-line" stuff, you're gonna pay that vendor for it. When do consumers want to actually PAY for something as intangible as support when they buy a product? When is the last time you thought about a company's support quality when you bought a product? Seriously - it's probably a very small percentage. And until that sentiment changes and we're willing to pay more for the same product from our vendors, support will at best only stay the way it is - or, it could get worse.

Are you trying to use the built-in NTFS quota management, or the File Server Resource Manager from 2003 R2?

Here's your tinfoil hat: ^

Please don't post 250 lines in a thread - some people still use modems to look at this board. Anyway, thread 27 is the likely culprit for the hang: 27 Id: ee4.1134 Suspend: 1 Teb: 7ff9d000 Unfrozen ChildEBP RetAddr Args to Child 08b4e048 762dafb9 752413ff 08b4e0cc 00000000 ntdll!KiFastSystemCallRet 08b4e04c 752413ff 08b4e0cc 00000000 000003e0 USER32!NtUserRealInternalGetMessage+0xc 08b4e088 752416f6 08b4e0cc 00000000 000003e0 DUser!CoreSC::xwProcessNL+0xf5 08b4e0ac 762daff1 08b4e0cc 00000000 000003e0 DUser!MphProcessMessage+0x33 08b4e0f4 77980e6e 08b4e10c 00000014 08b4e1b8 USER32!__ClientGetMessageMPH+0x30 08b4e11c 762dc5b4 762dc573 08b4e1ec 00000000 ntdll!KiUserCallbackDispatcher+0x2e 08b4e120 762dc573 08b4e1ec 00000000 000003e0 USER32!NtUserPeekMessage+0xc 08b4e148 762dc5cd 08b4e1ec 00000000 000003e0 USER32!_PeekMessage+0x74 08b4e174 76a16449 08b4e1ec 00000000 000003e0 USER32!PeekMessageW+0xfa 08b4e1c8 76a163fe 08b4e1ec 00000000 000003e0 ole32!CCliModalLoop::MyPeekMessage+0x30 08b4e208 76a167be 08b4e3ac 0230c328 00000000 ole32!CCliModalLoop::PeekRPCAndDDEMessage+0x30 08b4e21c 76a2d001 08b4e23c 000003e8 08b4e24c ole32!CCliModalLoop::BlockFn+0x62 08b4e244 76b1802c ffffffff 0230c328 08b4e350 ole32!ModalLoop+0x5b 08b4e260 76b19984 00000000 08b4e364 00000000 ole32!ThreadSendReceive+0x12c 08b4e288 76b197f0 08b4e350 01ad0e20 08b4e3ac ole32!CRpcChannelBuffer::SwitchAptAndDispatchCall+0x194 08b4e368 76a2d0a7 01ad0e20 08b4e524 08b4e474 ole32!CRpcChannelBuffer::SendReceive2+0xe7 08b4e384 76a2d059 08b4e524 08b4e474 01ad0e20 ole32!CCliModalLoop::SendReceive+0x1e 08b4e3fc 76a44bdb 01ad0e20 08b4e524 08b4e474 ole32!CAptRpcChnl::SendReceive+0x73 08b4e450 76471dd0 01ad0e20 08b4e524 08b4e474 ole32!CCtxComChnl::SendReceive+0x1c5 08b4e468 76471d87 0038070c 08b4e57c 76471f58 RPCRT4!NdrProxySendReceive+0x43 08b4e474 76471f58 e01a6075 08b4e998 070001f3 RPCRT4!NdrpProxySendReceive+0xc 08b4e95c 76471d64 76a382f0 76a3f09e 08b4e998 RPCRT4!NdrClientCall2+0xbde 08b4e980 763f3763 08b4e998 00000004 08b4ea00 RPCRT4!ObjectStublessClient+0x6f 08b4e990 76a13820 0038070c 00000000 08b4ee54 RPCRT4!ObjectStubless+0xf 08b4ea00 76a138f5 08b4ee54 08b4f3c4 00000000 ole32!CRpcResolver::CreateInstance+0x195 08b4ec5c 76a37021 76b1e4bc 00000000 08b4ee54 ole32!CClientContextActivator::CreateInstance+0x11f 08b4ec9c 76a36f49 08b4ee54 00000000 08b4f3c4 ole32!ActivationPropertiesIn::DelegateCreateInstance+0x108 08b4f478 76a4dbc7 6a92e7c4 00000000 00000004 ole32!ICoCreateInstanceEx+0x403 08b4f4d8 76a4de0a 6a92e7c4 00000000 00000004 ole32!CComActivator::DoCreateInstance+0xd9 08b4f4fc 76a4ddc3 6a92e7c4 00000000 00000004 ole32!CoCreateInstanceEx+0x38 08b4f52c 6a9785ca 6a92e7c4 00000000 00000004 ole32!CoCreateInstance+0x37 08b4f57c 6a979354 08b4f59c 08b4f598 08b4f5a0 netcenter!MiniMap::_GetNetworkStatus+0x4d 08b4f5a4 6a92fdb4 00000001 0303dab0 6a9393ff netcenter!MiniMap::UpdateStatus+0x1d 08b4f5b0 6a9393ff 08a6eeeb 0303db34 0303dab0 netcenter!CSNOCplCore::NotifyMiniMap+0x29 08b4f5f0 6a939b09 6a9127ec 6a97e000 0303dab0 netcenter!CSNOCplCore::HandleConnectivityChange+0x311 08b4f60c 6a93c157 08b4f6bc 000708ce 00000000 netcenter!CSNOCplCore::Refresh+0x109 08b4f620 6a93c93d 000708ce 00008001 00000000 netcenter!CMessageWindow::v_WndProc+0x337 08b4f640 762e1a10 000708ce 00008001 00000000 netcenter!CMessageWindow::s_WndProc+0x28 08b4f66c 762e1ae8 6a93c915 000708ce 00008001 USER32!InternalCallWinProc+0x23 08b4f6e4 762e2a47 00000000 6a93c915 000708ce USER32!UserCallWinProcCheckWow+0x14b 08b4f748 762e2a98 6a93c915 00000000 08b4f794 USER32!DispatchMessageWorker+0x322 08b4f758 7268b8fa 08b4f770 00000003 00000000 USER32!DispatchMessageW+0xf 08b4f794 7268cb0b 00000000 00000000 02f0e268 BROWSEUI!CBrowserFrame::FrameMessagePump+0x14f 08b4f7a8 7268cc90 02f47b78 00000000 00000000 BROWSEUI!BrowserThreadProc+0x5e 08b4f7c0 76223833 02f47b78 08b4f80c 7795a9bd BROWSEUI!BrowserNewThreadProc+0x43 08b4f7cc 7795a9bd 02f47b78 08b43eb9 00000000 kernel32!BaseThreadInitThunk+0xe 08b4f80c 00000000 7268cc4d 02f47b78 00000000 ntdll!_RtlUserThreadStart+0x23 Would you be able to actually provide the .dmp file here, or put it somewhere we can download it, to see what this thread is actually doing? Please put it somewhere we can analyze it - I'm not asking because it's nice to have, it's necessary to be able to walk the .dmp file to figure this out.

MCE 2005, based on XP, is 32bit only. Vista MCE in Home Premium or Ultimate is 32 or 64bit, depending on which version of the OS you install. The process can access memory based on the OS - 3GB virtual address space in XP or Vista 32bit (with the /3GB switch in boot.ini), or up to 8TB (theoretical) in Vista x64.

Ah - I see the problem. From the log: *** ERROR *** *** ERROR *** *** ERROR *** The following requested processes are not executing: EXPLORER; Consider using the .exe the next time you run it cscript adplus.vbs -hang -pn explorer.exe -o c:\adplus

Have you tried running Rootkit Revealer to see if it's really gone, or if it's still on the box? Also, I'd go to this site and start poking around at your box with some of the methods here to see if you can ferret it out. There's really good stuff there.

CDs contain no keys, just the code to decode keys and determine if they are valid for the media type. If it's OEM media (from HP/Dell/IBM/etc), you _might_ get lucky with finding an install key in the \i386\winnt.sif file, but that key is legally (at least in most countries) tied to the hardware it was purchased with, and reuse of the key will only work on the same vendor's hardware (and in some cases, BIOS). Otherwise, you'll need to acquire a valid Certificate Of Authenticity (COA) that belongs to that CD to use it. The reason Microsoft refused you a key is likely because of one of two things - one, the CD is OEM and the vendor provides the keys to go with the media bulk they purchased, not Microsoft; or two, you couldn't provide a valid COA to go along with the media, and as such, Microsoft will not provide you a key (the COA is what shows you purchased Windows, not the media itself).

Were you able to make the changes we talked about last week?

The drivers there are tested - they're likely also certified. However, if they don't work for you, contact the manufacturer and raise hell if need be - certified drivers should work properly. If they don't, make sure the vendor knows about it, or they'll continue writing drivers that don't work properly on your hardware!

Assuming your Windows directory is C:\Windows, it should be C:\Windows\memory.dmp.

You can modify most settings available in a Group Policy locally on the server by running gpedit.msc. There are quite a few settings that require a domain, but I think most of what you want to do can be found in the local policy on the server under the User configuration.

I think you should blame the driver vendor, and not Microsoft - Microsoft doesn't make any of the drivers on that site, the vendor does. I agree that you should rarely, if ever, install the "optional driver" updates from Windows Update, but please don't blame Microsoft for shoddy driver development. It came from Windows Update, yes, but it contains no Microsoft code - it's all nvidia.

That's a CRITICAL_OBJECT_TERMINATION bugcheck, and the values mean this: 0x00000003 - Process termination 0x871C7020 - this was the terminating object 0x871C7194 - the process image file name 0x805FA160 - the ASCII message text describing the error If you can compress and upload the .dmp file (usually found inside the Windows directory) to the FTP site I PM'ed you, I can look at it and tell you what all of that means .

@nensondubois: Hey, that was 7! @idontwantspam: You complain about some things that I actually think are good things: [*]System requirements. Yuk. The computer crawls at 512mb ram. It's about freakin' time that hardware vendors ship machines with 1GB or more of RAM - it's been affordable (especially in bulk) for many years, but amounts are kept down for 2 reasons - 1, no real good usage of it and 2 - something to upsell. Let us start actually getting machines out there with 2GB of RAM or more as the norm, so we can do more with them - most people don't want to try and run Windows on 128MB of RAM, they want features (and those usually come with memory requirements). Features sell product, and I'm all for them, personally. [*]The logon prompt. Bring back the NT style logon prompt!! I know it's not all pretty, but I much prefer the "Classic" logon prompt, where you can select the domain, and then type the username and password. Much more professional; much fewer resources needed. Better. Also, the fast-user-switching setup is lame. If I lock the computer, anyone else can still log on by pressing Switch User. It doesn't secure the computer for you and ONLY you. Yes, I know it can be disabled. Good thing. Also, there's nowhere to type the user name, so an admin can't unlock the computer if someone else is logged on! Noooooooooooo!!!! Again I have to disagree with you on this one, even in domain environments. The old-style winlogon methods do not allow for fast-user switching, and also allowed developers to do things in winlogon that they absolutely should not be doing there (*cough*pcanywhere*cough*). Do away with the old style winlogon and use one common interface that is easy for everyone to use and understand, including home users. Oh, and fast user switching on domains is a good thing in my book, which you just can't do if the old-style winlogon box is the default. I don't have anything against it, per-se, but I'm not giving up FUS just so you can press CTRL+ALT+DEL twice to log in . [*]What's up with the press ALT to get the menus? Just leave them there. Users generally want things to be simpler when possible, and how many people really, honestly, actually use the file menu on a regular basis (the answer is very, very few - trust me, this was studied to death before it was removed). Normal, consumer and rank-and-file business employees do just about everything with the mouse, even in explorer. The biggest use of the file menu? File > Save. And that's about it. Give me back my screen real-estate, and I'll press ALT if I need those menus (and it really is very rare). [*]Start menu. Bring back the XP start menu. No again - leave me with the new start menu, which is not only much better at learning which 6 or 10 or whatever applications to line up in the recently used list, but also allows me to run commands and search my machine just by pressing the windows key on the keyboard or clicking the start button. After using that extensively since RC1, you'll not find me going back to the XP way of doing things ever again if it can be avoided. [*]Why, oh WHY did it take me TEN MINUTED (literally!!) to find the network connections place? Where i could configure the ethernet adapters? Control panel > networking, much around, no, not here, my network places (hard to find...) look for link, no not there... ARRGGH! Because, again, it should "just work". Home users and rank-and-file business users don't use the control panel and don't generally configure network settings. Again, simplification is almost universally preferred over complexity, especially with the Windows user-base. And I also approve of that, too - even though I do like to tweak things on initial setup, once it's done, I don't ever touch the control panel settings again. I'm sure we'll have to agree to disagree, but I wanted to counter some of your points because I do feel the exact opposite on them.

Well, XP _does_ impose a limit on inbound connections to the server service at 10 (as does Vista and W2K and NT4 Workstation...). You've obviously never tried to use XP or Vista running the R2 print management console to try and admin hundreds of printers, I take it . Regardless, I personally don't believe in violating the EULA by patching the tcpip.sys to allow more than 10 inbound connections - if you need more than that, you're running a SERVER and need a server-class OS such as Windows Server 2003 (or a Linux Samba server, if you so choose).

The only other thing I can think of is to contact the motherboard manufacturer to see if they have a Vista driver for the onboard audio - if the chip isn't a "true" realtek chip, and the OEM has tweaked it a bit, I can definitely see the realtek drivers not installing properly. At that point, you'll need the real driver for that chipset from the motherboard vendor.

XP only allows one interactive logon at a time, unline Server 2003, and that one logon includes RDP connections (not remote assistance, but actual RDP inbound connections). If you try to connect via RDP to a computer someone is logged onto, one of you will have to be locked out to meet the requirement of only one interactive logon at a time. There are likely ways around this which skirt the EULA, but I won't post links to them here.