Some Notes on the Machines

Recently received these. Not all work in all versions of Windows. Run these commands in administrative CMD. Some will take effect at next reboot.

netsh int tcp set global chimney=disabled
netsh int tcp set global rss=disabled
netsh int ip set global taskoffload=disabled
netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=disabled
netsh int tcp set supplemental custom congestionprovider=none
netsh int tcp set global ecncapability=disabled
netsh int tcp set global timestamps=disabled
netsh int tcp set supplemental custom congestionprovider = ctcp
netsh int tcp set global ecncapability=enabled
reg add HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters /v EnableTCPA /t REG_DWORD /d 1

Apparently, not only is there SMB1, SMB2, and SMB3, but there is also NTLMv1 and NTLMv2. If we need to access older NASes and the like reliably, we may need to create or set this DWORD:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa\LmCompatibilityLevel

to 1.

This can sometimes save a lot of CPU and/or disk cycles.

GUI:

1. Open the Task Scheduler
2. Open Task Scheduler Library, Microsoft, Windows, Application Experience.
3. Disable Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser, with a right-click choice.

CMD:

schtasks /Change /Disable /TN "Microsoft\Windows\Application Experience\Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser"

Search the machine for the “Synchronization Service Manager”. That’s the GUI debugger.

Some applications will crash or fail to run, asking for OpenGL emulation libraries, sometimes ANGLE libraries. Here are some:

https://www.nuget.org/packages/ANGLE.WindowsStore/2.1.13

Download the “Download package”, unpack it with 7zip, copy the DLLs in the “bin” folder to C:\Windows.

If there are very long folder or file names, or the path is just too long somewhere down in the tree, this will fail:

ICACLS X:\folder /Q /C /T /reset

but this will succeed:

ICACLS "\\?\X:\folder" /Q /C /T /reset

Apparently the latter incorporates a different API somewhere in the chain.

For TAKEOWN, we just have to run it in Powershell, not CMD.

Powershell code to do it all at once, while CD’d to the level just above, using command-line parameter to specify folder name, is here:

param(
[string]$location
)

$iexcmd = 'TAKEOWN /F ' + '"E:\Shared Data\' + $location + '" /R /D Y'
Write-Progress -Activity "Reset Permissions" -CurrentOperation $iexcmd -PercentComplete -1
Write-Host $iexcmd
iex $iexcmd | Out-Null

$iexcmd = 'ICACLS ' + '"\\?\E:\Shared Data\' + $location + '" /Q /C /T /reset'
Write-Progress -Activity "Reset Permissions" -CurrentOperation $iexcmd -PercentComplete -1
Write-Host $iexcmd
iex $iexcmd | Out-Null

Create a shortcut to this:

explorer.exe shell:::{3080F90D-D7AD-11D9-BD98-0000947B0257}

and name it “Show Desktop”. When double-clicked, it will minimize all applications and show the desktop. This was standard in 7 and before. You can pin this icon to the Taskbar, to the Start menu, et cetera.

The icons which were used in the “Start Menu” in 7 and before, are still present in Windows 8 through 10, though they are hidden. At the machine level, they are here:

%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Users\All Users\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

At the user level, they are here:

%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

This error often occurs when a longstanding Windows Server network is given a much newer domain controller. The WINS records embedded in DNS, don’t work anymore; when you try to delete them or change them, you get the error message in the title of this article.

The best thing to do, is PowerShell:

Remove-DNSServerResourceRecord -ZoneName dns_zone.local -Force -RRtype "WINS" -Name "@"

Try that (substituting dns_zone.local for your LAN DNS zone!), then right-click on the zone name, choose “All Tasks” and then “Reload”, then press F5 for refresh. The error-causing situation will go away, you can then reconfigure easily. If there are other zones, you’ll want to repeat for all of them. If there is a WINS record in a reverse lookup zone, the RRtype is WINSR instead of WINS, the result being something akin to this:

Remove-DNSServerResourceRecord -ZoneName 1.168.192.in-addr.arpa -Force -RRtype "WINSR" -Name "@"

Sometimes the actions above only take effect, and show up in the servers, if you reload and refresh (often both) the zones.

Currently, the only known way is this sort of effort:

Set-MpPreference -DisableIntrusionPreventionSystem $true `
-DisableBehaviorMonitoring $true `
-DisableRemovableDriveScanning $true `
-DisableScanningMappedNetworkDrivesForFullScan $true `
-DisableScanningNetworkFiles $true `
-DisableEmailScanning $true `
-DisableBlockAtFirstSeen $true `
-DisableIOAVProtection $true `
-DisableRealtimeMonitoring $true `
-DisableScriptScanning $true `
-EnableControlledFolderAccess Disabled `
-MAPSReporting Disabled `
-SubmitSamplesConsent NeverSend `
-PUAProtection Disabled