The Wiert Corner – irregular stream of stuff

Jeroen W. Pluimers on .NET, C#, Delphi, databases, and personal interests

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Archive for the ‘Windows’ Category

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Towards a work setup on a hardened host and doing everything in VMs

Posted by jpluimers on 2023/04/21

SwiftOnSecurity posted this interesting tweet in 2021: [Archive] SwiftOnSecurity on Twitter: “Lenovo P1 Gen3 with 12core Xeon, 64GB RAM, two 1TB M.2 SSDs. Running Windows Server 2022 with the Hyper-V role. All hardening applied to host OS, almost nothing happens here except managing guest VMs. On the second SSD I then have Win10 VMs joined to the corporate domain.” / Twitter.

I wonder if a similar setup can be done using an Apple M1 based machine as host and running all work in virtual machines.

Swift had some issues getting cameras and microphones to work: [Archive] SwiftOnSecurity on Twitter: “The problem here is Teams. If I want to pass through my webcam and microphone that could get a bit dicey, despite HyperV Enhanced Session being essentially an RDP session. For now I’m using my phone for Teams microphone. Also I’m not sure how well thermal management will work….” / Twitter

This resulted in some answers and interesting links:

Some more interesting tweets in that thread:

–jeroen

Posted in Apple, M1 Mac, Mac, Power User, Windows | Leave a Comment »

Need to take a look a Scoop (as a long time Chocolatey user)

Posted by jpluimers on 2023/04/06

Based on

So:

Related blog posts:

–jeroen

Posted in Chocolatey, Power User, Scoop, Windows, winget | Leave a Comment »

Need to take a look a Scaleway

Posted by jpluimers on 2023/04/05

Based on

I need to take a look at Scaleway, at least at thee links via [Wayback/Archive] scaleway instance – Google Search:

Related blog post: Dave Anderson on Twitter: “Cool minor @Tailscale moment: I’m recommissioning a server that got moved from a different network, so all its network config was wrong, and generally I couldn’t get at it over the network, only IPKVM console. But then my ping over Tailscale started working?!” / Twitter

–jeroen

Posted in Cloud, Infrastructure, Power User, Scaleway, Scoop, Windows | 1 Comment »

Dave Anderson on Twitter: “Cool minor @Tailscale moment: I’m recommissioning a server that got moved from a different network, so all its network config was wrong, and generally I couldn’t get at it over the network, only IPKVM console. But then my `ping` over Tailscale started working?!” / Twitter

Posted by jpluimers on 2023/04/04

Wow, I wrote about Tailscale a few times before, and it is still on my research list, but this is a very compelling reason to use it. [Archive] Dave Anderson on Twitter: “Cool minor @Tailscale moment: I’m recommissioning a server that got moved from a different network, so all its network config was wrong, and generally I couldn’t get at it over the network, only IPKVM console. But then my ping over Tailscale started working?!” / Twitter

I archived the thread so it becomes easier to read: [Wayback/Archive] A readable Thread by @dave_universetf Says Cool minor @Tailscale moment: I’ – UnrollThread.com.

The core are these three tweets:

Turns out, IPv6 autoconfiguration is what happened. Sure, v4 configuration was entirely wrong (it was trying to connect to wifi, via a wifi dongle that was no longer installed, and wanted to talk to a DNS server that doesn’t exist any more), but eno1 had a cable plugged in!
The server noticed IPv6 router advertisements, went “I’ll have some of that”, and got global IPv6 connectivity automagically. IPv4 and DNS were still down though, so all it had at this point is the ability to send/receive IPv6 packets.
So, how did Tailscale get from there to a working setup? It still needs to contact https://t.co/hEs4S8qvTw to get a network map, and still needs to talk to DERP servers to get p2p tunnels working outside the LAN. Enter bootstrap DNS!

It means I have to re-read Source: Some links on Tailscale / Wiregard, especially the [Wayback] How Tailscale works · Tailscale bit, then decide how I want to organise my infrastructure to run parts under Tailscale (I have the impression it is a peer based set-up, not router based).

Then I have to read [Wayback/Archive] IPv4, IPv6, and a sudden change in attitude – apenwarr of which the conclusion is this:

IP mobility is what we do, in a small way, with Tailscale’s WireGuard connections. We try all your Internet links, IPv4 and IPv6, UDP and TCP, relayed and peer-to-peer. We made mobile IP a real thing, if only on your private network for now. And what do you know, the math works. Tailscale’s use of WireGuard with two networks is more reliable than with one network.

Finally I need to not just read it, but understand all it (:

Or maybe I should ask Kris, as I got here through:

I saved Kris’ message thread here at [Wayback/Archive] Thread by @isotopp on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App.

An OK translation is at [Wayback/Archive] Thread by @isotopp on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App.

–jeroen

Posted in Hardware, Network-and-equipment, Power User, Scoop, Tailscale, VPN, Windows, Wireguard | 1 Comment »

Installing Windows OpenSSH from the command-line on Windows 10 and 11

Posted by jpluimers on 2023/03/28

While writing On my reading list: Windows Console and PTY, I found out that OpenSSH had become available as an optional Windows feature.

It was in [Wayback/Archive.is] Windows Command-Line: Introducing the Windows Pseudo Console (ConPTY) | Windows Command Line:

Thankfully, OpenSSH was recently ported to Windows and added as a Windows 10 optional feature. PowerShell Core has also adopted ssh as one of its supported PowerShell Core Remoting protocols.

Here are a few links:

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in *nix, *nix-tools, Communications Development, ConPTY, Console (command prompt window), Development, Internet protocol suite, OpenSSH, Power User, SSH, ssh/sshd, TCP, Windows, Windows 10, Windows 11 | Leave a Comment »

Windows: investigating error code 0x80073701 and 0x800f081f while updating; some DISM and CBS log things to search for

Posted by jpluimers on 2023/03/20

A while ago when applying KB5008212* through Windows Update, I got errors. It was odd, as until now, all other upgrades had worked fine.

Often Windows update errors are because of lack of disk space (I try maintain 10 gigabytes or more free space on virtual machines, but that sometimes fails because some software – despite user files being on a different drive – sometimes insists on filling the system drive).

This time, Windows Update would show 0x80073701, of course right after reaching 100%, but actually it was a 0x800f081f  in disguise.

My usual modus operandi didn’t solve it (with a retry after every step):

  1. Reboot
  2. Cleanup of the system drive using built-in CleanMgr.exe (Disk cleanup)
  3. Scan all corrupted system files and replace them from cache: SFC /ScanNow (System File Checker)
  4. Cleanup and repair the Windows image using DISM /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth (Deployment Image Servicing and Management)

All failed, but in the last step, DISM would consistently show error 0x800f081f.

Even a local DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /Source:C:\Windows\WinSxS /LimitAccess would fail.

Each DISM run will actually log in two log files, and this is the trick to figure out what the next step would be.

Examples from my case:

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Power User, Windows, Windows 10 | Leave a Comment »

Some links I on Windows Memory Compression I want to check out

Posted by jpluimers on 2023/01/24

I’m not sure yet why sometimes my system is lagging with the combination of these four circumstances on a Windows 10 system with 32 gigabyte of memory:

  1. Process Explorer showing low (less than 10%) CPU usage
  2. Process explorer showing Memory Compression using more than 2 gigabytes of Working Set
  3. System Commit being larger than 20 gigabyte
  4. Lots of Chrome tabs open (no easy way to total memory usage, but likely 16 gigabyte or more)

Windows Compression was introduced in Windows 10 (back in 2015) and I’m still fairly new to it.

So here are some links I want to eventually dig into to make myself more familiar with it, and see if it affects Chrome runtime behaviour:

Thanks [Wayback/Archive] magicandre1981, [Wayback/Archive] peterh, [Wayback/Archive] Raymond Burkholder, and [Wayback/Archive] Falco Alexander for the above questions and answers.

From them, I learned that on a UAC elevated administrative command prompt, you can use these PowerShell for managing Memory Compression:

  1. Get-MMAgent shows the current Memory Compression state
  2. Disable-MMAgent -mc disables Memory Compression (requires a reboot)
  3. Enable-MMAgent -mc enables Memory Compression (requires a reboot)

BTW:

–jeroen

Posted in Chrome, Google, Power User, procexp Process Explorer, SysInternals, Windows, Windows 10 | Leave a Comment »

Solved: trouble trying to create a new Microsoft Account looping back to the image/audio puzzle after solving it. Solution: use Firefox.

Posted by jpluimers on 2022/12/15

Message: "Please solve the puzzle so we know you're not a robot."I had trouble creating a Microsoft Account (so I could hand out on-line Office Licenses to users) where each time after solving the image or audio puzzle, it would shortly display a success, then loop back to the puzzle.

So I wrote a [Wayback/Archive] Thread by @jpluimers on Thread Reader App as I got stuck even before trying to add a Microsoft Account on any on m’y devices Windows 11 or Windows 10. It started with

[Wayback/Archive] Hi @MicrosoftHelps, I have a different problem. When creating an account using Edge on Windows 10 (latest version of both; no plugins; Microsoft Defender in default settings), solving the puzzle loops back to “Please solve the puzzle so we know you’re not a robot.”

The odd thing is that it did not work in either Edge or Chrome (both based on Chromium which uses the Blink browser engine) even in the anonymous/private browsing mode (InPrivate for Edge or Incognito Mode for Chrome).

Even Firefox had trouble, despite it being based on a totally different Gecko browser engine: after solving the puzzle it would continue but instead of displaying success, it showed an error page (the error page also occurred in the Firefox Private Browsing mode):

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Office, Power User, Windows, Windows 10, Windows 11 | Leave a Comment »

Task Manager themed dark on dark in Windows 11 version 22H2 is a known issue (thanks @jenmsft)

Posted by jpluimers on 2022/12/13

A known Windows Insider bug has entered the Windows 11 release: Task Manager will show wrong colours (on my stock Dell Windows 11 installs, see below, it will be dark on dark) under certain custom Windows colour settings (“Choose your mode” set to “Custom”).

Edit 20221214: it got fixed

OS Build 22621.963 [Wayback/A] KB5021255 fixed this on Patch Tuesday (which arrived on my machines later than my original publication), see [Wayback/Archive] December 13, 2022—KB5021255 (OS Build 22621.963) – Microsoft Support

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Power User, Windows, Windows 11 | Leave a Comment »

useful commands that can be used after clean installation of Windows 10

Posted by jpluimers on 2022/12/12

Lot’s of installation tips in [Wayback/Archive] useful commands that can be used after clean installation of Windows 10.

It includes PackageProvider installation for NuGet, Chocolatey, ChocolateyGet (Chocolatey via OneGet), and use of both winget and scoop.

–jeroen

Posted in Chocolatey, NuGet, Power User, Scoop, Windows, Windows 10, winget | Leave a Comment »

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