Windows Server 2012 / Windows 8 activation boondoggle

On my VERY FIRST activation of Windows Server 2012 Standard today,I got the incredibly unhelpful error message “The filename,directory name or volume label syntax is incorrect.”

My first reaction,of course,was “PC Load Letter?!”

My second was to google the error. Unfortunately,but probably not all that surprisingly,INCREDIBLE amounts of weird [...]

More virtualization:multiple Win7 guests on a single Debian host

As a proof-of-concept for USC computer science labs,I set up eight Windows 7 VMs on the same physical host in the Windows Server demonstration below,and recorded firing them up simultaneously and doing some light web browsing,etc. on several of them. Performance is pretty solid;you could probably cram double this many guests [...]

Cross-platform Windows Event Log viewer

Another consultant emailed me a .evt file recently for review. Which is great,except I frequently go days now without sitting in front of a Windows workstation –or at least,not one that isn’t broken and in need of fixing. So,I needed to find a Windows Event Log viewer.

There isn’t currently one [...]

how malware prevents programs from running

In today’s battle with malware,I learned a couple of interesting new places in the registry to check:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options

Place a key in here named after the file you want to prevent running,then place a STRING value under the key named “debugger”. Now,set the value of “debugger”to cmd,[...]

When Outlook stops getting new IMAP mail

The problem is almost certainly that its local cache is corrupt…which happens disturbingly frequently. The easiest way to fix it is to simply close Outlook,delete the local cache,then start Outlook again –the good news being that it works and your new mail starts showing up;the bad news being,of course,[...]

Slow domain login on Windows 7

Had a client whose login to the domain took upwards of 40 seconds on his Windows 7 machine.  Oddly,completely deleting the profile from his workstation didn’t fix the issue –even after setting up the profile anew after first domain login,it still took upwards of 40 seconds.  Just as oddly,other profiles on [...]