IcemanND

If the account you have the password for has admin rights you can decrypt the drive without reinstalling. If you only have a limited account you can't do much with bitlocker and you are pretty much stuck wiping the drive and reloading.

If you can get or have the ADMX files that are needed for these settings you put them in the PolicyDefinitions folder in sysvol (where the GPOs are stored), everyone should have read rights in the space and if you have the ability to creae GPOs you should have write rights in the space to be able to do it.

rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry is the command line for printer configuration tasks, the command lines I have listed are primarily for storing a printer config and then restoring that to another or the same system. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee624057(WS.10).aspx

Store all printer settings into a file: rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /Ss /n "printer" /a "file.dat" Restore all printer settings from a file: rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /Sr /n "printer" /a "file.dat" Store printer information on level 2 into a file : rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /Ss /n "printer" /a "file.dat" 2 Restore from a file printer security descriptor: rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /Sr /n "printer" /a "file.dat" s Restore from a file printer global devmode and printer data: rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /Sr /n "printer" /a "file.dat" g d Restore from a file minimum settings and resolve port name: rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /Sr /n "printer" /a "file.dat" m p Store and restore settings option flags: Store or restore printer settings option flags that must be placed at the end of command: 2 PRINTER_INFO_2 7 PRINTER_INFO_7 c Color Profile d PrinterData s Security descriptor g Global DevMode m Minimal settings u User DevMode r Resolve name conflicts f Force name p Resolve port

What make/model of printer? Some manufacturers provide tools to create/modify and deploy printer profiles. You can also look at the print32.dll and backing up a printer configuration and restoring. it may not get all the settings you want but then again it might, I have had mixed results with it.

Not knowing you environment and OS configurations/security standards in place it is hard to give recommendations. But if your machines are connected to Active Directory you could use a GPO to push the software out. You could use a script and PSEXEC (from Microsoft) to push the script to each machine if you have all the IP addresses or computer names and the firewall is configured for it. If you have installed the latest version of Powershell on the machines and the firewall is configured for it you may be able to use remote powershell scripts to push the install out to the machines. If you had SMS/SCCM you could push a package it out with that. If you use a corporate WSUS server you can apply for a license with Adobe to distribute Acrobat, Flash, Air, and Shockwave, (free) which includes access to their update packages to distribute these updates via WSUS.

I wasn't asking about OWA, I'm talking about the full Outlook client included in Office. With Exchange you have the option of using OWA, or if the firewall has the hole poked in it to the exchange servers to use a MAPI connection with Outlook. If configured you can also use IMAP and any email client that supports IMAP (Thunderbird, etc.). If he can use Outlook as a MAPI client he can save the emails to a local PST. Might have to check with the email admin to see if this is an option. Or create an archive folder within OWA and move mail to save into it then once a month ask the mail admin to create an archive.pst for you of this folder and give it to you. Then once you determine everything was archived delete the contents of the archive folder and use the Outlook (not OWA) when you need to access the archived info.

I assume they have blocked the ability to use the full Outlook version so that you could copy/move them there to a local PST in outlook.

Depends upon how you have AD organized. I assume you have each lab in its own OU. If you apply the GPO to the OU with the machines for a lab and have the GPO User configuration for the default printer set and assigned to that OU it will only apply when those user log in to a machine in that OU. It won't apply to other machines they log into .

Do both users have the same rights on the machine? Since the script is trying to install the driver along with the printer admin rights are required to install the driver. If you are doing this via group policy you can add the printer under the computer configuration and then set the default printer under the user configuration.

The HOSTS file is a protected file and can not be modified by a non-administrator user. You would have to run the script as an administrator user in order to modify it.

What OSes are you dealing with? Are they all the same or multiple Windows OSes?

Group policy, WSUS, or SCCM will save your tennis shoes from the extra wear walking to each machine. Or if the machines are configured so you can remotely administer them you could execute scripts (vbscript, powershell) remotely against all the machines to do this also. @TheWalrus - the "why do you need to do this?" answer is the add-ons to your system are now the bigger targets than the OS and IE. Acrobat Reader, Java, Flash, etc, are accessible through every browser, some of the holes being patched in them are as bad or worse than the holes MS is patching in the OS.

See method 2, you can do the restore from the recovery tools on the install cd or from a recovery cd. Method 1: Steps to mount VHD files in Windows 7 a. Open Start Menu, right-click on Computer and click Manage. b. Click on Disk Management. c. Click Action -> Attach VHD and specify the external hard disk location on your computer. Check out the section in the link below about how to extract files from a system image (advanced) http://blogs.technet.com/b/filecab/archive/2009/11/12/recovering-your-files-in-windows-7.aspx Method 2: How to restore your computer from a system image backup http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Restore-your-computer-from-a-system-image-backup For more information about system image backup, you can visit the link below Learn more about system image backup http://blogs.technet.com/b/filecab/archive/2009/10/31/learn-more-about-system-image-backup.aspx Backup and restore: frequently asked questions http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Back-up-and-restore-frequently-asked-questions

Don't have the creator burn the cd, have it create an ISO and then test the ISO in a VM

Here is what works for me: <UserAccounts> <AdministratorPassword> <PlainText>false</PlainText> <Value>UABhAHMAcwB3AG8AcgBkACEAQQBkAG0AaQBuAGkAcwB0AHIAYQB0AG8AcgBQAGEAcwBzAHcAbwByAGQA</Value> </AdministratorPassword> </UserAccounts> <AutoLogon> <Password> <Value>UABhAHMAcwB3AG8AcgBkACEAUABhAHMAcwB3AG8AcgBkAA==</Value> <PlainText>false</PlainText> </Password> <Username>Administrator</Username> <LogonCount>2</LogonCount> <Enabled>true</Enabled> </AutoLogon>

Some plugins that may be possible, but many of them add files in other locations like a full software install might. Better off starting from scratch.

You should be able to get a second IP from Comcast, and likely a new modem and run two networks on the same incoming line. Whatever solution you chose be sure that it meets the PCI DSS requirements. It also depends upon what equipment they are using and how it handles CC data.

If your file servers are Windows sever based the easiest is to turn on Volume Shadow Copy, then you can use the restore previous versions functionality built in to the OS.

Yes, VM = Virtual machine. I usually have at least 2 running at a time depending upon what I am doing that day and I flip back and forth between them and my host OS as I work to do different thing. It can be a real pain when I am away from my office with only my laptop and a single screen having to swap between applications/VMs especially when you are used to being able to just look at the other screen to find or do what you want. As far as copying things around moving between monitors it is just like having one huge monitor, for the most part anything can be move from one monitor to the other. I have run across a couple of applications that do not like being on a secondary screen or all of their pop out windows show up on the primary screen instead of the screen the main application is on.

Get a current gen SSD and put it in your machine, then decide where your bottle neck is. I've put SSDs in everything from 4 year old laptops, to 1 week old desktops and every single machine has seen major performance improvements. Take for instance the semi worthless Windows system rating. every machine I have upgraded the hard drive in the lowest score was the hard drive. After replacing the hard drive with a SSD the lowest score ends up being the graphics card. The hard drive rating jumps from a 4-5.x to a 7.5+ for every machine. As an example on the same machine Word normally takes 10 seconds to fully open, same image on an SSD Word opens in under 2 seconds.

Yes, but in the last case it was "by design", but a bad cable, bent pin, could cause it also. I have some training labs that the projector is driven by 5 wire vga BNC connections and there is no EDID info. So Windows 7 and XP report something different for available resolutions depending upon the video card installed. I have had some only supply 640x480, or 1024x768. In the end we created our own INF that sets the resolution to the one we want and manually install it on the systems as needed.

Do the packages that fail have prerequisites?

Check the driver of the monitor, if the system doesn't get the EDID information for a monitor it will do screwy things like this to the resolution.

Remind me not to have you fix one of my computers.