List user creation date for Active Directory users

On my SBS 2003 server, I wanted to know when a user was created. This info is extracted with ldifde

ldifde -d OU=SBSUsers,OU=Users,OU=MyBusiness,DC=xxx,DC=yyy -l whencreated -r "(ObjectCategory=user)" -f usercreationdate.txt

A file usercreationdate.txt is now created with the requested report.

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Blocking .wwf attachments

Some idiotic german 'invented' a way to 'save trees'. By converting your attachments to .wwf format - a special .pdf format that blocks printing. While this may be a great feature to block printing of contracts etcetera if you're running a malicious company, most people simply don't want this.

So the big question is: How do I block .wwf files?

Postfix

In /etc/postfix/main.cf uncomment or add the following line
header_checks = pcre:/etc/postfix/header_checks

Then edit /etc/postfix/header_checks and add the following line:
/Content-Disposition: .*\.wwf"/ REJECT Please don't send .wwf files.

Exchange

Attachment blocking in exchange is usually performed by a virusscanner/spamfilter. You could use for example Trend Micro or GFI to block .wwf files.

Sendmail

Depending on your setup, you could use amavisd-new, mailscanner or procmail to block out .wwf files.

qmail

To block attachments with qmail, you'll need Simscan. Simscan is a simple program that enables the qmail smtpd service to reject viruses, spam, and block attachments during the SMTP conversation so the processing load on the email system is kept to a minimum. The project is open source and uses other open source components. Small, very efficient and written in C.

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Remove “standby” from shutdown window

I recently discovered that one of my most annoying users has found another way to frustrate the WSUS update process: First, she simply didn't shutdown the computer when she went home. Now I've installed a psshutdown script on the SBS Server that forces a shutdown every evening, she found out that she could put the computer in hibernation mode. Which of course isn't a bad idea to shutdown the computer in the lunch break, but is terrible for the administrative processes if you do it every night, day after day.

The solution

I removed the hibernation option from the shutdown window. This can be done by adding a parameter to the ACPI section of the registry:
Key: HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\ACPI\Parameters
Attribute name: Attributes
Attribute value: 0x70

You can change this parameter on the command line:
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\ACPI\Parameters" /v Attributes /t REG_DWORD /d 0x70 /f

To use this in a GPO, you'll need to create a .adm file... or simply run above command as a startup/shutdown script.

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Useful VPN Services

Say you're living in China, and you have no web freedom whatsoever. Or in the Netherlands, and your favorite linux distro download site has been blocked by the corrupt "elite". Then having a tunnel to outside the country could be very useful.

I found two VPN services that seem very promising:
ItsHidden.com
MacroVPN.com

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Move your WSUS contents

The virtual machine running my WSUS got a little stuffed. So I decided to move the WSUS data to a fileserver, where the price per MB is a lot lower.

To move:
"C:\Program Files\Update Services\Tools\wsusutil.exe" movecontent [newpath] [logfile]
For example:
"C:\Program Files\Update Services\Tools\wsusutil.exe" movecontent \\fileserver\wsusdata$\ c:\wsusmove.txt

Of course this very same method can be used to move from c: to d: or something.

Related

To move the WSUS database (meta data stored in mssql), visit this page.

© GeekLabInfo Move your WSUS contents is a post from GeekLab.info. You are free to copy materials from GeekLab.info, but you are required to link back to http://www.geeklab.info

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How to move your SUSDB (WSUS)

WSUS 3 by default stores its metadata in the "Windows Internal Database". According to wikipedia, this is an embedded version of SQL Express, which ships with Win2k8, Sharepoint Services and WSUS.

So, how move this datastore around?

As with a regular SQL Server datastore, you can detach and move the database.

Download and install required tools

I got the tools from the microsoft website. I downloaded sqlncli.msi and SQLServer2005_SQLCMD.msi

Stop services

The following services must be stopped to be able to detach the database: IIS Admin Service and Update Services (Not Windows Update Service!). To do this, run:
net stop "update services"
net stop w3svc

Move it around

1. Detach the database
"c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Tools\binn\SQLCMD.EXE" -E -S np:\\.\pipe\MSSQL$MICROSOFT##SSEE\sql\query -Q "sp_detach_db 'SUSDB'"

2. Now move the SUSDB.mdf and SUSDB.ldf to their new location. In the example below, we use E:\WSUSDB\. Use explorer to move the files to the path you'd like.

3. Then we reattach the database:
"c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Tools\binn\SQLCMD.EXE" -E -S np:\\.\pipe\MSSQL$MICROSOFT##SSEE\sql\query -Q "sp_attach_db @dbname=N'SUSDB',@filename1=N'E:\WSUSDB\SUSDB.mdf', @filename2=N'E:\WSUSDB\SUSDB_log.ldf'"

Restart services

Restart the services we stopped before. To do this, run:
net start "update services"
net start w3svc

Related info

If you want to move the WSUS data itself as well, please see this page

© GeekLabInfo How to move your SUSDB (WSUS) is a post from GeekLab.info. You are free to copy materials from GeekLab.info, but you are required to link back to http://www.geeklab.info

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KB974417 install fails – working solution! – updated

(This article is an update to this original page from march.)

This article is an update to this original page from march.
If you can't get these instructions to work, you may try the old instructions.

I recently installed a new Microsoft WSUS server. Most of it went just fine. Except for a few updates that weren't needed according to windowsupdate.com, but were required according to WSUS.

Especially KB974417 was pretty annoying. I tried installing it a dozen times, but after each reboot, WAU came back telling the update was ready to install. I checked out the eventvwr, and got the following useless message:
Event Type: Error
Event Source: HotFixInstaller
Event Category: None
Event ID: 5000
Date: 3/16/2010
Time: 3:06:25 PM
User: N/A
Computer: PC1
Description:
EventType visualstudio8setup, P1 microsoft .net framework 2.0-kb974417, P2 1033, P3 1642, P4 msi, P5 f, P6 9.0.40302.0, P7 install, P8 x86, P9 w2k3r2, P10 0.

Installing it manually

I downloaded the file from the Microsoft website, to find that the update itself thought itwasn't needed as well: None of the products that are addressed by this software update are installed on this computer. Click Cancel to exit setup.

So what I did:

Continue Reading…

© GeekLabInfo KB974417 install fails - working solution! - updated is a post from GeekLab.info. You are free to copy materials from GeekLab.info, but you are required to link back to http://www.geeklab.info

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