[Execute vbs as normal user]

I know this question has probably been asked before but the solutions ive read so far, either doesnt fit our scenario or i may not know how to go about certain areas... so any links to external source/help where i could try would be good.

I have an application that has been deployed to some users. I need to change a file within the program files directory. Of course standard/normal users dont have access to this directory to make changes.

I have a vbs script that makes these changes but when deployed to users the error "Permission Denied" is listed. I looked at File System with AD Security GPO but the file is not on my system so not sure how i should go about configuring this without the app on my system (remember the app is only on users system). Any other "easy" way to execute this batch with elevated permissions (without having to add everyone in Domain admins and then remove this permission once done)?

All users are running Win XP.

Thanks

[Software Deployment]

I know we can install software with GPO's but I'm looking for apps that give us more options than are offered with GPO software installs. Has anyone used anything?

Heres a freebie http://wpkg.org/

[Recommend Free software for compression]

Is anyone aware of free software that would compress PDF, Office documents that you would like to recommend? Or any paid software (if it comes to it). I just need to have large files compressed in the smallest possible file size.

Thanks

[Cont to basic disk]

Thanks everyone for your help. I read this article that did the trick for me http://74.125.77.132/search?q=cache:SANwWxp4hkgJ:thelazyadmin.com/blogs/thelazyadmin/archive/2007/01/17/Converting-Dynamic-Disks-Back-to-Basic-Disks.aspx+Converting-Dynamic-Disks-Back-to-Basic-Disks&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk

[Cont to basic disk]

I have Windows Vista installed on a partition. On a secondary partition i had Windows 7 installed however it became corrupt. I tried to reinstall and received a message that it cannot be installed on this partition as its dynamic. I figured out in order to do this i need to revert back to a Basic disk, but the only way i know is to backup and delete ALL the partitions and then convert - this is no good. Is there a way or an utility that is available that would do just ONE partition (no data on this partition)?

Thanks

[Hover over naviigation pane]

Is there a way in Outlook 2007 where i could minimize the navigation pane but when hovering over it, it automatically opens without having to select any item? A feature similar to the windows in Visual Studio?

Thanks

[Assigned applications]

Hmm, sometimes it is slow network, but cannot be sure. Would it be possible to run resource monitor on the server overnight. Not sure what OS your servers are or your clients, got any more details.

There is a known SNAFU, Read this article and see if it applies.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/278472

Do those events occur in your logs on failed machines ?

None of those events are listed...Im wondering if it is a slow network? Is it normal for this to happen on slow networks? I could have a handful of PCs that it installs on but once the remiander PCs reboot then it installs. At first i thought this could have been a limitation.

[Assigned applications]

Not sure if there is something i could do about this or not....i have an application which has been assigned to some machines (lets say around 50 PCs) by group policy. When they reboot the app is installed by the system - problem i have is it only installs on a few PCs and then the remainder PCs have to reboot again and then the app is installed. Any reason why this is happening or is this due to the network not being fast enough to copy the app over to the PC locally?

Thanks

[Upgrade WS2008 DC to WS2008 R2]

OK sorry about the bad information. This is what I was told, but perhaps it was more along the lines of the reasons Cluberti mentioned.

Thanks, no need to apologise. We all learn one way or another

I dont suppose you know any videos demonstrating all this?

[Upgrade WS2008 DC to WS2008 R2]

Thanks....Were constrained for hardware (its a test server) but i dont mind putting the CD in and upgrading (sounds like thats all i have to do)....Doing this what would happen to the certificates on the DC that are being used (mainly for NAP) and shares etc? Would they remain as is after the upgrade?

Edit: On a side note if i created a VPC, set up WS 2008 R2 on it, migrate the roles etc and then format the original server, reinstall WS 2008 R2 onto the original server - migrating the roles back again (on the original server), i believe i could do this (although a long way round)? - How could i go about transferring roles etc etc?

[Upgrade WS2008 DC to WS2008 R2]

How could i upgrade a Windows Server 2008 x64 Domain Controller to WS 2008 R2 (without losing data, users, shares etc)

Has anyone done it? if so what was your experience like?

Thanks

[Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2]

I personally thought there was several improvements overall. I occassionally had a problem when i had a large project open (when debugging) i would get a not responding alert but this seems to have been resolved (however mini hotfixes for VS 2008 always caused problems for other addins i had installed).

VB seems to be catching up with some aspects of C# and vice versa, VSTO has some good improvments especially with deploying apps and a slightly better debugger (and a few other minor issues). Complete support for Silverlight designer....so far so good

[Dual monitor for Dell Optiplex GX270]

I have an old Dell Optiplex GX270 (not the tower), with an AGP graphics card NVidia Geforce 6200. Im trying to setup dual monitors (so i can extend my desktop to the other monitor), but it doesnt seem possible at the moment as reading around some suggest when you insert an AGP card it automatically disables the built in graphics card so you cant run two monitors.

Does anyone know of any other techniques to get this done? I checked the BIOS and nothing there that seemed to be of an interest to run to monitors - both monitors work individually but the second monitor is not listed at all.

Thanks

[WSUS automatically restarting client PCs]

I believe you need to enable the Allow non-admin users to receive update notifications policy, because those also include the "reboot now?" prompts in addition to the "updates available" prompts. If it's disabled or not configured, they won't see it and the box will reboot.

After trawling through the web.....it was due to having deadlines set on some updates. I removed the deadlines and PC stopped rebooting and gave the usual options.

[WSUS automatically restarting client PCs]

I created a GPO thinking when it installs updates it nags the user to restart but doesnt restart the PC unless the users authorise to do so. For some reason with the GPO i created it doesnt notify them anything but automatically restarts the PC. Ive attached an image of the current GPO i have - Can anyone advise what or where ive gone wrong?

Thanks

[Installation source for this product is not available.]

Question - is the software published or assigned? Also, enabling userenv logging might be quite beneficial as well.

The software is assigned, however enabling userenv log helped. This may drift to another issue so ill explain as all issues may be related.

I checked the permissions on the share (which holds the msi) i had domain admins and System with full access (including NTFS permissions). I did two things that may have helped resolve it but it was working before so not sure it why this helped if it did-

1. Add the msi again but instead of using \\server\share\setup.msi i used \\server.local\share\setup.msi.

2. I also added Authenticated users to this share.

This allowed the msi to install on boot up so problem was resolved, however i then noticed this error (Userenv 1058)

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Userenv
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1058
Date:  06/02/2009
Time:  09:15:23
User:  DOMAIN\someUser
Computer: PC1
Description:
Windows cannot access the file gpt.ini for GPO cn={F78946-E789E-O456-G7561-GT4654GT54G65T},cn=policies,cn=system,DC=DOMAIN,DC=local. The file must be present at the location <\\domainname.local\SysVol\domainname.local\Policies\{F78946-E789E-O456-G7561-GT4654GT54G65T}\gpt.ini>. (The system cannot find the path specified. ). Group Policy processing aborted. 

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

I then looked at the userenv log and see a hundred entries with

USERENV(bc4.bc8) 09:16:07:454 ProcessAutoexec: Cannot process autoexec.bat.

USERENV(3fc.41c) 09:16:07:486 ProcessAutoexec: Cannot process autoexec.bat.

USERENV(bc4.bc8) 09:16:07:517 ProcessAutoexec: Cannot process autoexec.bat.

reading around i created autoexec.bat under C:\ and these error messages went away. Reading through the log here are some entries

USERENV(3c4.5d8) 09:25:07:910 GetGPOInfo: Local GPO's gpt.ini is not accessible, assuming default state.

USERENV(3c4.c68) 09:25:07:910 GetGPOInfo: Local GPO's gpt.ini is not accessible, assuming default state.

USERENV(3c4.c68) 09:25:08:066 ProcessGPOs: Forced option changed policy mode.

USERENV(584.680) 09:25:09:441 ProcessAutoexec: Cannot process autoexec.bat.

USERENV(5e4.7f4) 09:25:30:566 ProcessAutoexec: Cannot process autoexec.bat.

USERENV(5e4.658) 09:25:36:926 ProcessAutoexec: Cannot process autoexec.bat.

USERENV(3c0.3c4) 09:26:25:078 CUserProfile::CleanupUserProfile: Ref Count is not 0

USERENV(3c0.3c4) 09:26:25:109 CUserProfile::CleanupUserProfile: Ref Count is not 0

USERENV(3c0.3c4) 09:26:25:109 CUserProfile::CleanupUserProfile: Ref Count is not 0

USERENV(3c0.3c4) 09:42:23:062 LoadProfileInfo: Failed to open profile mapping key with error 2

USERENV(3c0.3c4) 09:42:23:062 UnloadUserProfile: UnloadUserProfileP failed with 2

USERENV(3c0.744) 10:00:50:234 ProcessGPO: Couldn't find the group policy template file <\\domainname.local\SysVol\domainname.local\Policies\{F78946-E789E-O456-G7561-GT4654GT54G65T}\gpt.ini>, error = 0x3.

USERENV(3c0.744) 10:00:50:234 EvalList: ProcessGPO failed

USERENV(3c0.744) 10:00:50:234 GetGPOInfo: EvaluateDeferredGPOs failed. Exiting

USERENV(3c0.4fc) 12:40:25:328 GetExistingLocalProfileImage: No local mandatory profile. Error = 2

This error concerns me as it doesnt always apply GPOs all the time

USERENV(3f8.468) 12:40:25:421 GetUserDNSDomainName: Domain name is NT Authority. No DNS domain name available.

USERENV(3f8.468) 12:40:25:437 GetUserDNSDomainName: Domain name is NT Authority. No DNS domain name available.

I then navigate to \\domainname.local\SysVol\domainname.local\Policies\ and rightly so {F78946-E789E-O456-G7561-GT4654GT54G65T} is missing.

I log onto our domain controller and navigate to SYSVOl....> Policies and {F78946-E789E-O456-G7561-GT4654GT54G65T} is listed i then try \\domainname.local\SYSVOL\domainname.local\Policies and this policy is listed.

Since we have DNS on a separate server i navigate to \\domainname.local\SYSVOL\domainname.local\Policies and again the policy is listed. I finally navigate to C:\WINDOWS\SYSVOL\sysvol\domainname.local\Policies (on the DNS server) and noticed its NOT there about 5 policies are missing compared against the domain controller. I copied the policy over and so far the errors have gone.

At this stage i dont know if all PCs are missing autoexec.bat or not and if its needed?

Im also unsure if i should copy all the policies from the domain server to the DNS server and more importantly why this has happened or the cause of it?

Any advice on this would be great.

Thanks

[Installation source for this product is not available.]

I created a GPO to deploy a MSI to PCs on our network. It ran until a couple days ago and now i receive this error:

Failed to apply changes to software installation settings. Software changes could not be applied. A previous log entry with details should exist. The error was : The installation source for this product is not available. Verify that the source exists and that you can access it.

Ive recreated the GPO but with the same error. When i log on to the PC i can navigate to the share on the server and can run the MSI. This is happening to more than one PC all having this message. The share has SYSTEM and domain admins rights (full) and same with share rights. Keeping in mind this was working a few days ago.

Im lost where the problem could be or how i could troubleshoot it?

Any thoughts?

Thanks

[Default location for user documents]

To change Word 2007's default file save location, follow these steps:

1. Click the Office button

2. Select Advanced

3. In the General section, click File Locations

4. Select Documents in the File types list

5. Click Modify

6. Use the navigation controls to select the new location for your files

7. Click OK on each of the dialog boxes to close them

When you save a file, Word 2007 will automatically open the specified folder.

Thanks i should have made myself a bit more clear on what i was after. Although what you wrote is correct but i was after this option in a GPO so i can customise it. I finally found it at Microsoft Word 2007 > Word Options >Advanced >File Locations

[Default location for user documents]

On a domain runing Office 2007 im trying to have all users default path set to their home drive. For instance when a users saves a document it automatically displays my documents folder which im trying to disable (ive removed all links to my documents). I would like it that when a user saves a document it automatically shows their home drive.

how could i do this?

Thanks

[Hardware and software required to transfer VHS to DVD]

What PC hardware do i require in order to connect my VCR to my PC?

Once i have that, what software would i need in order to watch my VHS on my PC, eventually transferring it to DVD?

Thanks

[Ideas to block websites]

Im wondering how i could possibly block CERTAIN sites using Windows Server 2003 (via GPOs)? Is it even possible? Or how could i deploy a hosts file to every PC if i was to go through this route? Any other ideas? Pros and Cons?? Unfortunately using a proxy server is not an option yet.

Thanks

[Username and password over 2 domains]

I have an intranet site which is used over two domains (with a trust). The problem i have is if a user on Domain B navigates to this site, they are requested to enter their full username and password i.e. domainb\user where any users on Domain A dont have this issue (as the intranet is hosted on this domain).

How could i overcome this issue so users on Domain B do not have to enter any credentials and is automatically logged on? (Note: to authenticate a user i have AD setup with SQL)

Thanks

[Block an admin]

Reassign Admin B to a lower user group, such as Backup Operators, and remove from that domain administrator group.

Good point but how would i do that? where would i find this option?

Thanks

[Block an admin]

The title maybe specific to a point but if i have two domains with two admins (domain A and Domain B B) how could i stop domain admin B accessing ANY files AD, GPOs etc on domain A?

Thanks

Oh both domains are on a full trust.....thanks

[Help with ODBC batch script]

I would like to create a driver for SQL so its listed under ODBC (System DSN). So far i have this code:

@ECHO OFF 
REM Update... 
odbcconf.exe /a {CONFIGSYSDSN "SQL Server" "DSN=Name|Description=Description to add|SERVER=production\in|Network=DBMSSOCN|Trusted_Connection=Yes|Database=Inventory_control"} 
REM pause 
@CLS 
@EXIT

This works but i cant figure out how to add a username and password which is listed in our Sql database - Is this possible, if yes is there anyway to encrypt it?

Thanks