Some Notes on the Machines

This is an interesting hotfix:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/959125

It was “control userpasswords2” in XP.  Under Windows 7, put this in the start-button search box:

netplwiz

The box you want, will come right up.  This also handles auto-login if the machine is not attached to a domain.

The most excellent LizL., has delivered unto us:

I found out how to install the certificate into the trusted root store:

The certificate has to be saved first and you do that by going to the website and clicking on the Certificate Error and then view certificate. Once you have that opened click on the Details tab. Choose Copy to File which opens the Export Wizard. Click Next at the first screen, choose the correct format and click Next, choose the Browse button and save the file to the desktop with the company name.cer, click Save, Next and then Finish. You should see an widow pop up that says the export was successful.

Once the certificate has been saved open up a command prompt with elevated privelidges, type in certmgr and hit enter. Once open expand the Trusted Root Certification Authorities and then click on certificates. Check for the name of the cert that you want to install and if not there right click on certificates and choose All Tasks then Import. That opens up the Import Wizard. Click Next, click Browse and go to the location of the certificate and click Open. Click Next, choose to place it in the Trusted Root Certification Authorities store and click Next. You will see the settings and click Finish. There will be a popup that says the import was successful. Go to the website and you should no longer have the error.

So far this is confirmed in Windows XP.  If you see a BSOD with label SESSION3_INITIALIZATION_FAILED, 0×00000006F, it appears to indicate a missing or corrupt driver file.  We can fix this problem by copying the appropriate file from install media or LiveCD or other source.  The fix has thus far been confirmed to involve any or all of the following files:

ftdisk.sys

smss.exe

Here is a set of quick updates for time zones for recent version of Windows:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/979306

They apparently were scheduled for February of 2010, but some machines still don’t have them.

Here is some excellent info:

http://serverfault.com/questions/43794/using-icacls-to-set-permissions-on-user-directories

Quoted, a simple CMD script to set permissions so that Administrator can see the contents:

set /p userDir=Enter the login of the user's directory you're modifying permissions for. (i.e. jDoe)
TAKEOWN /f "E:\Home Directories\%userDir%" /r /d y
ICACLS "E:\Home Directories\%userDir%" /reset /T
ICACLS "E:\Home Directories\%userDir%" /grant:r "MYDOMAIN\%userDir%":(OI)(CI)F
ICACLS "E:\Home Directories\%userDir%" /setowner "MYDOMAIN\%userDir%" /T

For Server 2003 SP2 and up, we have something new, ICACLS .  Here’s some docs:

http://ss64.com/nt/icacls.html

To delete service of name “servicename”, one can simply do this:

SC delete servicename

The “SC” command has lots of other uses, too.

An overview:

http://www.ervik.as/index.php/microsoft-mainmenu/terminal-server/1964-using-multiple-monitors-in-remote-desktop-session

A truly excellent system cleanup utility:

http://www.iobit.com/advancedwindowscareper.html