realized

The install will ask you what drive you want to install it to. In there it will give you the option to delete the partition and/or recreate and re-format it. Instead of pressing "enter" to accept the default install path, i think you press "d" to delete the partition, then recreate it and format it NTFS

I see no mention of DNS Try to ping your firewall, or the firewall's default gateway by IP address. Then check your dns settings on the clients, and make sure that DHCP is assigning the dns correctly

I currently use 2003SBS which works fine and it’s our DC, I also have now a 2003 Standard machine which I would like to use as our Backup Machine. Where can I find information on AD Replication including any MSDE databases I might have etc? Is this possible with SBS (2003) being my DC and 2003Standard being my backup?

We got 30 dell computers almost a year ago with Office 2003 OEM, we had software/keys for each computer. They were all labled and put in a box and the box was sealed. The box has gone missing (we just found this out as we are moving the office to another location). Does this mean that legally i can not use office ? Do you think dell has record of the OEM CDKEYS they gave me? What do i do from here? I have sales recipts etc.. but no cdkeys/media.. I have heard many times that a CDKEY is NOT a license and having a CDKEY doesn't mean you can use a microsoft product.. is this true? Am i fine ?

Our office uses a UNIX mail server in another location. Outlook is configured for POP3/SMTP. All the data is stored on the client’s c:\documents and settings\login\local settings\application data\Microsoft\outlook\*. What’s a good way of going about backing up everything on each machine on a network? I was thinking a login script but moving 1GB~ or so per machine on login will cause a 10min+ login time probably... Or I could copy it to another spot on the HD, let the user login, and then copy the copy... But I am sure you guys have better ideas =) Thanks

I thought i was fine testing usb sticks after the gpo was set, but recently i found out i wasn't when a user brought an external HD from home (usb hd) and it worked.. I would like to disable all usb storage devices if possible, not USB though since we use USB mice here. Also if possible disable serial ports and anything else that can be used to transfer data =) Anybody have an adm file that will help?

I am ready to test some new GPO's and a few other security settings, i have a test box deployed that i would like to test and am looking for a list of sites that would install malware on this machine. Any sugestions would be greatly appreachated, i would like to test live malware sites.

Manual scavenging doesn’t’ seem to work, and the automatic setting of 7days is a bit confusing, does it flush it after 7 of it being on the network if it hasn’t checked in? (Active directory integrated) There are lots of hosts that no longer exist and I have dns records for them, this is causing a bit of an issue since some hosts don’t resolve correctly. I would like to manually flush out old/invalid records if possible, sure I could go ahead and delete them one by one but I’d like my server to maintain dns a bit better so please help =) Can I set the aging/scavenging to 1day and leave it, and then hopefully in 25hours it will be resolved? Dnscmd wotn let me manually run it; /

The searching feature in outlook 2003 is horible. Is there an indexing feature i can enable and set to run every night ?

I assume i want to create a FORWARD LOOKUP ZONE, but where do i create it in? _msds.domain? domain? domain\ForestDNSzone\_sites\ ? there are lots of options heh

I would like to block domains/subdomains with wildcards, something i can't do with my firewall. I can block the entire domain/ip/subnet, but not a subdomain. I heard that i can create a lookup zone on my dns server (windows 2003) to point for example *.myspace.com to anything i would like (127.0.0.1?). Does anybody have a howto on how to do this?

I have ordered a lot of things directly from microsoft, and it always seems that everything is backordered. Regarding VISTA i haven't recieved an email saying 1) it has been shipped or 2) its on backorder. Usually after a week or two i would get an email saying its on backorder. Is anybody aware of the turn around time for the windows Vista beta (CPP) dvdrom (shipping to .us)?

CLASS MACHINE CATEGORY !!category CATEGORY !!categoryname POLICY !!policynameusb KEYNAME "SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR" EXPLAIN !!explaintextusb PART !!labeltextusb DROPDOWNLIST REQUIRED VALUENAME "Start" ITEMLIST NAME !!Disabled VALUE NUMERIC 3 DEFAULT NAME !!Enabled VALUE NUMERIC 4 END ITEMLIST END PART END POLICY POLICY !!policynamecd KEYNAME "SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Cdrom" EXPLAIN !!explaintextcd PART !!labeltextcd DROPDOWNLIST REQUIRED VALUENAME "Start" ITEMLIST NAME !!Disabled VALUE NUMERIC 1 DEFAULT NAME !!Enabled VALUE NUMERIC 4 END ITEMLIST END PART END POLICY POLICY !!policynameflpy KEYNAME "SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Flpydisk" EXPLAIN !!explaintextflpy PART !!labeltextflpy DROPDOWNLIST REQUIRED VALUENAME "Start" ITEMLIST NAME !!Disabled VALUE NUMERIC 3 DEFAULT NAME !!Enabled VALUE NUMERIC 4 END ITEMLIST END PART END POLICY POLICY !!policynamels120 KEYNAME "SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Sfloppy" EXPLAIN !!explaintextls120 PART !!labeltextls120 DROPDOWNLIST REQUIRED VALUENAME "Start" ITEMLIST NAME !!Disabled VALUE NUMERIC 3 DEFAULT NAME !!Enabled VALUE NUMERIC 4 END ITEMLIST END PART END POLICY END CATEGORY END CATEGORY [strings] category="Custom Policy Settings" categoryname="Restrict Drives" policynameusb="Disable USB" policynamecd="Disable CD-ROM" policynameflpy="Disable Floppy" policynamels120="Disable High Capacity Floppy" explaintextusb="Disables the computers USB ports by disabling the usbstor.sys driver" explaintextcd="Disables the computers CD-ROM Drive by disabling the cdrom.sys driver" explaintextflpy="Disables the computers Floppy Drive by disabling the flpydisk.sys driver" explaintextls120="Disables the computers High Capacity Floppy Drive by disabling the sfloppy.sys driver" labeltextusb="Disable USB Ports" labeltextcd="Disable CD-ROM Drive" labeltextflpy="Disable Floppy Drive" labeltextls120="Disable High Capacity Floppy Drive" Enabled="Enabled" Disabled="Disabled"

A workaround was to create another OU, put this computer in it, with the SAME ADM FILE that was used to disable the CDROM etc. And un-do the setting. I wasn't aware that settings are "static" unless they are UNDONE. i thought they all reset on reboot. Which is why gpo's are deployed on startup (computer settings)

I have gpupdate /force, rebooted a few times, its been almost 24hr, rebooted. when i run gpresult , that GPO/OU is _NOT_ listed. But i still can't see my cdrom/floppy. Both of which were disabled in the OLD OU it was in.

I am aware of scheduled tasks =)... What I am not aware of is adding scheduled tasks to computers across a network (active directory)

I would like to run a DEFRAG once a month on computers in an OU, is there an easy way to get this done? It would be at a time where nobody is around; I think it would then need to run as an elevated user. Any ideas would help

*UPDATE* if i run the GP RESULTS WIZARD, it says both gpo's will be applied If i goto a computer in that OU, and restart it, it will apply the GPO's from that OU.. the GPO's in question are the following: NO CDROM NO FLOPPY NO USB STORAGE DEVICES (but keep usb enabled for usb keyboards/mice).. So if i restart a computer in that OU, it appears to apply everything since my cdrom/floppy are mia, and when i plug in a USB stick, it says new hw found/installed, but doesn't appear.. BUT FROM THAT SAME COMPUTER, if i go "gpresult".. says not applied (empty) still.. odd? or did i miss something?

I have created an OU called "Workstations-Telemarketing" and have created a GPO and linked it to that OU. This GPO has settings from custom adm files to stop usb storage devices etc. If i goto SETTINGS of the GPO, and click SHOW ALL.. everything looks perfect. On the workstation, if i run GPRESULT (after restart) i get: The following GPO's were not applied because they were filtered out: Storage Devices Filtering: Not Applied (Empty) This computer IS a member of the OU that gpo is linked to, and there ARE settings in that GPO, but for the life of me i can't figure out why this isn't applying. if i open the GPO, Link enabled is checked, Enforced is NOT CHECKED, the path points to the righ OU and the computer is in that OU.. Would this have to do with where the ADM file is? I think this one was put in my sysvol\etc\profiles\blabla dir or whatever.. should it be in \winnt\inf ? Also what else can i look at? The GPO's are set, the computer is in the OU, and "EMPTY" whatever the hell that means.

Is this possible? Change the LOCAL admin password automatically? I know I can "manage" another computer, but to do this to 30+ computers would not be cool. Is there any way I can run a script on my Active Directory workstations to change the local "administrator" passwords, add another account, disable accounts, etc.?

From Active Directory users and computers if i open an OU's Properties and goto the Group Policy tab, if i click OPEN to start GPMC , i get 3 errors: 1st: Group Policy Management: The Parameter is incorrect 2nd: Group Policy Management: Catastrophic Failure 3rd: Group Policy Management: Catastrophic Failure Each error has an "OK" button. When i click ok, it opens gpmc.msc just fine, and i can use it like normal, and it seems to work i.e anything i apply takes affect. I am trying to figure out why i am getting the errors though. I think that might help in troubleshoting trying to apply GPO's to a GROUP. If i start gpmc manually, it works fine. Only when i try to open it from ANY OU , do i get the errors. i have googled, searched technet, and found nothing that has helped. After this my next question is can i DELETE all the default OU's that come with windows 2003 sbs so i can start over? ;p

Has anybody here used this to backup and restore a windows 2003 machine? How about a windows XP workstation? Any input would be great, i am considering it.

I would like to find something that would let each user at the office to talk to each other or even in a chat room without installing MIRC on each machine. Messenger would work well if it connected only to MY server. What are some other options out there?

With NT backup i am wanting to backup the following. I think System State does what i want but i am not sure. I would like to backup GPO's, and AD permissions including users/passwords. I would like to backup some data folders. (easy part). Basicly if something goes wrong i plan to restore my server, recover the data folers that i need, and restore the system state. Will this get all my user/passwords, gpo's, and AD settings back up in tact?

I have created and linked a new GPO that changes a few settings with some registry keys. I have applied this gpo to a special test group, and gave everybody READ, but that group READ + APPLY The registry settings are custom, they are not located in any other GPO. when i log into the computer as a user in the special test group, and run gpresult, that GPO shows up as "NOT APPLIED: EMPTY" there are in fact 4 settings in there, they are set.