Windows Broken Program Installs

We've all been there, not able to install, update, or remove a program because there is something else installed that is damaged or didn't properly clean up after itself.

That happened to me again recently with a Visual C++ Runtime, but this time I found this little updated gem from Microsoft.

It removes corrupted Registry entries, errant file entries in Programs and Features, plus I'm sure more they don't even mention.

Someone is currently logged into the APC

Time was APC was the Cadillac of the power management world. But in my opinion, as with many vendors they're not keeping up with the times. Case in point our APC AP7990 PDUs. We're no longer able to use any modern browser to manage them. And when we use an older browser, we've been getting "Someone is currently logged into the APC Management Web Server." when attempting to login, because it's not resetting the session when disconnecting.

Logging into the terminal and back out to reset the web interface fixes this, but if you're doing that securely as you should with SSH, not Telnet, using PuTTY, you get an error message "Received SSH2_MSG_CHANNEL_SUCCESS for nonexistent channel 65536". To get around that try using a Linux or BSD-based system to SSH to the PDU, although that resulted in a "Broken pipe" error at times...

Unfortunately the heart of the matter is their products, like many manufactures' devices are using old, broken security protocols, ciphers and versions of Java, with no hope of ever being updated. And now with all modern browsers and JVM security settings at all-time high, they block access to these remote management web interfaces. Truly a frustrating development since there is no way to push manufacturers to update what should amount to a simple fix (if they have sensible software dev practices). I don't expect companies to support products forever the way Microsoft does, but when their products become completely unmanageable because of far-reaching, widely-known security flaws in Bash, OpenSSH, SSL and Java, they should be on the hook to spend a few cycles on helping the people who buy their products. (Okay, off my soapbox.)

And by all means, click Log Off when using the APC PDU web interface.

Ifconfig: command not found

CentOS, say it isn't so! Having just done the minimal install of CentOS 7 as a VM, I wanted to install VMware tools. I thought I installed all the prerequisites when the script halted at "Setup is unable to find the "ifconfig" program on your machine."

I ended the script and incredulously ran the ifconfig command, thinking it had to be wrong, but it's no longer included. The ip command has now taken over networking duties, but the VMware script didn't care. I ran yum provides ipconfig, but no love: "No package ifconfig available". A couple of web searches later and I found the package I needed to bring it back...

# yum install net-tools

BTW, don't be surprised if Fedora and RHEL (and it's other offspring) are missing ifconfig as well.

Freeware Utilities

I'm always looking for more utilities to add to my arsenal for scripting, automating and generally freeing up time for other tasks, like sipping a fresh coffee ;^)

Over the past few months I've been pointed to, or found, four more sites chock full of tasty utilities.

• AnalogX has a varied collection covering network, system, programming, even audio utilities.


• joeware has a whole pile of free tools, many related to Active Directory, account management and networking.


• NirSoft has an impressive array of tools for forensics, networking, systems, passwords and a whole lot more. They also have a blog so you can keep posted on updates and additions.


• Optimum X has a decent list of network, software and login utilities. Although some are a bit long in the tooth (one is from 9/98), there's still some gold here.

These should keep you busy for at least a few minutes. And as always they're my favorite price, free.

Surveying a Linux System, Part 3 - Usage

This is the last in my Linux survey trifecta, examining current usage, plus a bit of troubleshooting.

As with both the hardware and software posts, you may need to run some of these as root and your mileage may vary, since not all distros are alike.

Show a list of recent logins
# last

Process list (check out additional switches)
# ps -A

Current performance and PIDs (you can use kill to end a runaway process)
# top

Current memory usage
# free

Disk usage (shows directories by size, based on your current location, usually best to start from root /)
# du -sh *

Network status (lots of switches to drill down with)
# netstat -a

Time since last reboot
# uptime

I'll add to these lists as I come across more useful commands. Thanks to O'Reilly for the command directory.

Software in my Binder

Earlier this year I covered what items I carry in my backpack, this time it's about what software I carry in my soft-sided TechNet folder. Of course there's the usual operating system and application disks, but there are a number of rescue and utility disks as well...

Operating Systems and Applications

• Windows 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 2003 R2, 2008, 2008 R2 (32 & 64-bit versions)


• Office 2003, 2007 & 2010 (all 32-bit)


• CentOS 6.2 (64-bit)


• Fedora 16 (64-bit)


• Ubuntu 11.10 (64-bit)


• Knoppix - Live Linux boot disk


• VMware ESXi 5.0 (64-bit)


• DVD with Windows and Office Service Packs

Rescue and Utilities

• Acronis True Image & Disk Director - Disk imaging and partition management


• SpinRite - Attempts to fix hard drive issues


• Darik's Boot and Nuke - Securely wipe hard drives


• Ghost - Disk imaging


• WinPE - Windows Preinstallation Environment

Anything you like or recommend (preferably free)?

Symantec AntiVirus Runtime Error!

Earlier this year, a customer kept getting this error when rebooting:

Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library Runtime Error!

Program: C\Program Files\Symantec AntiVirus\Rtvscan.exe

This application has requested the Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way.

Please contact the application's support team for more information.

Luckily the fix isn't too painful...

Go to a command prompt and run wbemtest
• Click Connect (upper-right)
• Replace root\default (or root\cimv2) with root\securitycenter and click Connect.
• You will be returned to the original screen, now click the Enum Classes... button, leave the Superclass Info box empty and click OK.
• In the Query Results screen, click AntivirusProduct and select Delete.
• Close the Query windows and Exit wbemtest.
• Now either repair or  re-install Symantec Antivirus Corporate Edition.

SQL Server Management Studio Express

Who doesn't love free? I certainly do. Microsoft has offered a great free version of its flagship database software, MS SQL, for quite some time now. And up until a few years ago it didn't have a GUI front-end, but Microsoft fixed that with the release of SQL Server Management Studio Express.

Now out of the box, it typically doesn't connect, i.e. to a WSUS or WSS Embedded, Compact or Windows Internal database. For security purposes they disable the Named Pipes protocol in MS SQL and for unknown reasons the Management Studio has difficulty connecting to the SQL instance on the local server, i.e. localhost.

To get going with the SQL Management Studio, the Named Pipes protocol needs to be enabled. Go to Start > Programs > MS SQL > Config Tools > SQL Config Mgr, then under SQL Server Network Configuration > Protocols for MSQLSERVER, double-click Named Pipes, set Enabled to Yes. Then the MS SQL Service must be restarted.

When you fire up the SQL Management Studio, use \\.\pipe\MSSQL$MICROSOFT##SSEE\sql\query in the Server Name field, choose your Authentication and click Connect.

Free is good again.

Update: For Windows Server 2012 & 2012 R2, the path is \\.\pipe\MICROSOFT##WID\tsql\query

AD Recycle Bin Tool

Last year Windows IT Pro magazine highlighted ADRecycleBin from Overall Solutions. It's an excellent free utility to bring back deleted items (or reanimate for earlier Active Directory installations than 2008 R2).

It's a very nice alternative to the built-in feature in Windows Server 2008 R2 and is a drastic improvement over item recovery in earlier versions of Active Directory with a great GUI interface.

They have a couple of other interesting products in Maven, ResetPass and Action Engine, not everything is free, but it's close.

Update: Unfortunately the original site and tools are gone, but the author was kind enough to share it with me. Here's the app, at least until I'm told not to share it online.

Sysinternals

If you're in IT working with Windows and haven't heard of Sysinternals, you may want to check to see if you've been living under a rock.

Sysinternals started as the community or free arm of Winternals, the money making portion of the company. Microsoft purchased Winternals back in 2006 for its IP and brain-trust. Mark Russinovich has been the most active of the original staff, appearing at numerous conferences, blogging and evangelising the Microsoft operating systems.

The Sysinternals site has numerous, extremely useful troubleshooting and informational utilities; so much so I could devote this blog to their tools for the next year or three. Since access to the site is free, as are the downloads, help files and instructions, I'll just highlight a few things here...

Utilities:
Autoruns - Displays list of applications, drivers loaded and much more, that start at boot time. Includes locations of registry and file locations. Great for hunting malware.
Process Explorer - Displays all running processes and subprocesses, plus open handles, threads, paths, a veritable cornucopia of information. Task manager wishes it was this great.
Process Monitor - Allows you to monitor file system, registry, process, thread and DLL activity in real-time.
TCPView - Get detailed listings of all TCP and UDP endpoints on your system, including source and destination.

The Learning Resources are also impressive, with great videos and articles .

And as I mentioned, this is all free.

Jetable E-mail Addresses

I'm not sure if there's another industry out there that requires the sheer amount of access-based content that the IT industry does. What I mean by access-based content is information that requires a a login, signup or tithe (in the form of your e-mail address) for entrance to, or downloads of, eBooks, white-papers, files, blogs, forums, webcasts, trial applications, etc.

Many of the sites that require some sort of access, I will never visit again. So why give access to any of my mailboxes for a possible endless stream of unread mail? And why chance winding up on a spam list or having my address sold to "industry partners"?

This is where Jetable comes in. You can create a disposal e-mail address that will expire in one hour to one month, your choice. Jetable's service creates a time-limited e-mail forward to a real address. Just put in your real e-mail address, choose a Life Span based on how long you need (I usually choose one day) and click Create...

They support ten languages and have a Firefox plug-in (if you're into that sort of thing). Oh yeah, it's free!

Say Ninite

(Re)building systems can be quite a drag, especially once you get to the part when it's time for downloading all the 3rd party software. This would include: Flash, Java, Firefox, Skype, etc., etc.

Enter Ninite, an amazing, time saving, utility website. It works as advertised, allowing you to choose your choice of applications, whereupon it generates a custom installer that with one-click, installs everything you wanted, without toolbars and crapware that would normally be installed by default.

There's also a corporate option for using with scripts or automated deployments. This is definitely a time saver and worth a look. Did I mention it's free :)

Microsoft offers Security Essentials to (very) Small Businesses

Since Microsoft announced its own anti-malware product, Microsoft Security Essenstials, back in late 2008, the product has been steadily getting better. When asked what I use for anti-virus, I always answer MSE or AVG Free.

Both cost my favorite price, free, and are well regarded in the security community.

The big news of course, is that MSE is now free to small businesses with 10 or less PCs. I've actually been recommending it to smaller businesses for a while and now they'll be in compliance. (Now if only it was okay for servers...)

Script Samples

There are times when I spent an inordinate amount of time looking for just the right syntax for a command or even the correct command to get the job done. Here are four I put to use in the last few months...

Change Printer Spooler Service Recovery options to Restart
sc failure spooler reset= 60 actions= restart/600/restart/600/restart/600

Backing up an MSDE Database
osql -E -Q "BACKUP DATABASE mdss TO DISK= 'C:\BB_DB_Backup\mdss.bak'"

Copy Database and then Appending with Date
copy t:\plandata.mdb C:\PlanDataBackup /Y

For /F "Tokens=1-8 Delims=.:/ " %%a In ('Echo %Date%') Do (Set All=%%d-%%b-%%c)
@For %%a in ("plandata.mdb") do rename %%a "%%~na-%All%.mdb"

Deleting Old OWA Logs
forfiles -p "C:\inetpub\logs\LogFiles\W3SVC1" -c "cmd /c echo del \"@FILE\" & del \"@FILE\"" -d -21

Free PowerShell Editor

Yesterday I began to really dive into a new user script (which uses Exchange Management Shell) to bring it up to date and include more fields and features. As the script complexity grew, Notepad was no longer cutting the mustard.

I thought I'd be using Notepad++ or TextPad, both fine in their own right, but instead found PowerGUI. This PowerShell editor which finds syntax errors, includes definitions and much more; all for the low, low price of free. This seems to be a community supported by Quest Software who has a bunch of fine (not so free) tools for SysAdmins.

I'm now able to work on, and run, the script off network (read: at home). It's a helluva deal for the price, try PowerGUI for your next PowerShell outing.

Command Switches for MSI Packages

Microsoft has been using the Windows Installer Tool for quite some time now to make installing, patching and repairing programs a snap (installers using this will typically have an MSI extension).

One of the many benefits of this tool is the ability to script a program or patch installation using the available command-line switches, e.g.: adobe_reader.msi /qn which will install the application quietly without a UI. This can be key when making a batch file to install numerous applications and patches on a new system.

For the many available switches to use check out the full list from Microsoft.

What kind of file is that?

Many of us have experienced the annoyance of receiving a file that we don't have the appropriate software to view or in a format we do not know or recognize, e.g., "What is a .xxe file and how do I open it?"

(Disclaimer: Make sure you have up to date virus scan and check with the sender when receiving an unknown file. You have been warned.)

Many sites offer a list of file extensions describing the file type, but the one I like to use is Openwith.org because it also provides a link to the appropriate application for viewing or editing the file.

And in case you are curious, an XXE file is a Compressed ASCII Archive and can be opened with WinRAR.

Control Panel Applets from Command Line

One of my customers doesn't allow user accounts to be in the local Administrators group,  something I wish more companies would do. In fact over 90% of infections could be stopped by not logging in as an administrator; but I'll save that "soapbox" topic for another post.

Many times I need to change settings or install/remove software on someones PC without logging them out of the system, in which case I will go to %windir%\system32, shift+right-click CMD.exe and choose Run As...

Once I've opened a Command window with an account in the administrators group, I can start the Services MMC (services.msc), Device Manager (devmgmt.msc) or Computer Manager (compmgmt.msc), plus many more useful consoles from the command line. Often times I need to remove software or make a change to network settings which involves Control Panel Applets. These also can be run at the command-line (or Run... prompt if you're already logged in as an administrator), some of my favs are listed below.

Appwiz.cpl - Add/Remove Programs (or Programs and Features in Vista or Windows 7)
Ncpa.cpl - Network Connections (for changing IPs and DNS)
Powercfg.cpl - Power Options (perhaps for turning off Standby or enabling the Performance setting)
Sysdm.cpl - System Properties (lots to find here: Remote Desktop, Pagefile, System Restore settings, etc.)
Wscui.cpl - Security Center (change Automatic Updating, the Firewall and Malware monitoring)

Want more? Check out the Wiki page.

Free iPhone Apps (plus one paid)

I did an informal survey of friends and a couple of quick searches to see what free Apps might interest me. I amassed almost four screens worth of Apps; I've listed those that are work related below...

AroundMe - For lunch near a client site
Citibank - Business finance
Coffee Finder - For Starbucks near a client site
Free RSS - To stay on top of my favorite blogs
Free Wi-Fi - Who doesn't need free WiFi?
LinkedIn - To stay connected with business associates
MileBug -  To track my mileage (the only App I've purchased, $1.99)
RDP Lite - Remote Desktop client
Restaurants - Shows calories at chain restaurants (a.k.a. what not to eat)
Skype - Communicating with customers
SubnetIT - Subnet calculator
Units - Conversion of Power, Data Storage, etc., from one metric to another
Urbanspoon - For lunch near a client site
WordPress - Keep an eye on this blog

Gmail Unleashed

Great googly moogly! After five years Gmail (and Apps) is no longer in beta. And instead of yelling it from the rooftops (since many businesses won't rely on beta products) they are just mumbling it quietly.

I guess Google doesn't need the business since they are pretty much just printing money at this point.