cluberti

Something like this? http://www.petri.co.il/install_windows_2003.htm

Any particular choice you chose VB (assuming vb.net) over other languages? I'm only asking because if you're a total newbie, learning VB is not a good "first" choice IMO. If you really want to learn VB anyway : Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 Step by Step, Programming Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: The Language, Beginning Visual Basic 2005, and Beginning VB 2005 Databases: From Novice to Professional are pretty good "first" books. I'd still say that if you're new to programming languages, you learn an actual low-level language first (VB isn't a low-level language, and itsn't at all portable being a Windows-specific language). Not only that, .net languages teach bad programming practices (like not cleaning up after yourself), so learning C or perl first would be my suggestion, to start, if you do plan on actual programming in your future.

Well, if defender is breaking in on winlogon, it sounds like something has been installed (or installed itself...) that has changed winlogon functionality. Since winlogon is so critical to system boot, anything pausing this (like defender is doing) will have dire consequences. Boot into safe mode and see if you can't disable Windows Defender, but it sounds like you need to ultimately figure out what has tried to get it's tentacles into Winlogon. If you tried to install VPN or remote control software that isn't certified to work with the new winlogon architecture in Vista, this stuff does happen (I've seen it many times with versions of PCAnywhere and Cisco VPN software that weren't Vista certified).

Well, it takes 3 iterations of a system with a specific product key not checking in (about 18 months) before a key goes "inactive" and may be able to be re-used, but this is still not true in your case, as this only affects retail and retail OEM keys. Graymadder is correct - you can request more keys against a MAK license, but you will likely get a different key with the requested # of activations. And yes, I was stating that an image of the machine, via any imaging software (I'd say use the built-in ImageX technology, but you can use whatever you'd like) can get around some of these sorts of things.

I'm not sure it's 100% explainable. IE on Windows 2000 is different than IE6 on XP, and so on and so forth. If you want to go deep on this, I'll need to get some adplus dumps of IE when it has the issue, and hopefully we can help. The data we have so far on the issue seems to point nowhere specific.

I've got to add to the post - the very first rule in the forum rules clearly states this: If you're asking to download a Vista install, you clearly do not own one, and thus you downloading and using Vista would be illegal in almost all countries in the world. Please do not ask again, or you will be banned without any further notice. Thank you.

As far as I'm aware, there's no limit on the number of times you can request your MAK availability count extended to account for reinstalls - but that's probably theoretical. It'd be better, once you've got machines activated and working properly, to image them and store those images in a safe place (in MULTIPLE safe places) - just in case you can't get it extended in the future, for whatever reason.

How did you set up sharing on the XP box, and are you logging onto your Vista machine with a username that exists on the XP box?

Can you start explorer.exe from the task manager? Also, any particular reason why you shut off your PC in an unsafe manner like that?

Do you have a premier contract? PM me offline.

That sounds like something you should report - I'm not sure if that's supposed to be that way or not, but it certainly doesn't sound like expected behavior...

Unless Adobe puts out a "flash installer blocker", there is no way to block it without blocking activex controls entirely. That's how those prompts work - the activex control goes to load, and prompts you to upgrade because it's built-into the control.

Install 927891, and recheck. This is a known issue with Microsoft Update if 927891 fixes it.

Have you read and followed this yet? You may also want to get 917314 and 925117 on your FSRM box as well.

Assuming these are XP Pro machines, it may be better to use Remote Assistance and Runas to do your work. Modem connections are entirely profile-specific, so there's no built-in way in Windows to have a modem connection survive a user logoff event. However (and an internet search is your friend!!!), a freeware product called "KeepRAS" can do this - it's not necessarily easy to set up and configure, but I've seen it work.

Long term, it won't be only with the Realtek control panel application (and it's the app, not the driver - big distinction) - any application that calls the hhctrl.ocx file before user32.dll is loaded will have this issue, and I doubt it'll only be Realtek long term.

If you could post the mindump, that'd help, but you should upgrade all of your drivers to the latest certified versions in the meantime: Bug Check 0xEA: THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER The THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER bug check has a value of 0x000000EA. This indicates that a thread in a device driver is endlessly spinning. Parameters The following parameters are displayed on the blue screen. Parameter Description 1 A pointer to the stuck thread object 2 A pointer to the DEFERRED_WATCHDOG object 3 A pointer to the offending driver name 4 In the kernel debugger: The number of times the "intercepted" bug check 0xEA was hit Cause A device driver is spinning in an infinite loop, most likely waiting for hardware to become idle. This usually indicates problem with the hardware itself, or with the device driver programming the hardware incorrectly. In many cases this is the result of a bad video card or a bad display driver.

If you are building a new server the same machine name as the old, this won't require a call to Microsoft. If you build with a new name, you'll need to call the clearinghouse to get used licenses back (in the US, the # is 1-888-571-2048). From the Terminal Services FAQ on the Microsoft.com site:

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=90244 Follow those instructions, and get a memory dump of the WINS.EXE application using the "Memory dump from an application/process that is HANGING (not crashing)" section. That can then be analyzed for what's causing this.

I'll save you some trouble - from this article that references what you are trying to do specifically: So, long story short, you can't have password policies affecting different sets of users in one domain - you'll either have to lock it down for your domain at the top, or create another child domain for the additional users.

Uninstall any backup and antivirus software (disabling does NOT disable their drivers running in kernel), and then run process monitor against the volume to see if you can "catch" a process deleting files. If the process is "SYSTEM", then you've got a problem .

R2 is a non-free feature release - it updates some of the inbox features (like DFS and FRS), and has nothing to do with the service pack. So yes, a 2003 R2 SP2 server will have more features than a 2003 SP2 server, but the core kernel will be the same.

It isn't entirely uncommon for Daemon Tools to cause this error. I'd suggest making sure you have the latest version of Daemon Tools on your box, and if you have any burning software, that it's compatible with the SCSI pass-thru driver DT uses. Also, if you've got any of the macrovision/sony/bmg rootkit CD drivers on your box, that can cause this as well.

When you say IE won't connect, what are the exact symptoms? Do you just get a blank page, do you get any specific errors or HTML messages (make sure you disable friendly HTTP errors in advanced options for IE)? It almost sounds like something that's installed causing this.

If you don't ever plan on uninstalling Windows Updates, you can delete the $NTUninstall_$ folders inside the Windows directory, as those are the hotfix uninstallers. However, that'll likely have little effect on the speed of the machine if it's gotten that slow - the first thing you would want to do is to defragment the hard drive (a few times), clean out temporary files, and boot into safe mode and do complete virus and spyware checks with up-to-date antivirus and antispyware software.