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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tools for iPad as second screen, or show iPad screen on your computer

Posted by jpluimers on 2014/06/24

While Watching the CodeRage Mobile conference last week, I noticed Bruno Fierens showing his iPad on a PC.

I also thought about the other way around: show your PC or Mac on your iPad or using your iPad as a second (third?) monitor to your regular machine.

So here are some links to tools I want to look into further:

I’ve not done comparisons yet. These sites have compared some of the products though:

–jeroen

Posted in Apple, Hardware, iOS, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Mac, Mac OS X / OS X / MacOS, Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, MacBook, MacBook Retina, MacBook-Air, MacBook-Pro, OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, Power User, Windows, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista, Windows XP | Leave a Comment »

Windows shells: a bit of history

Posted by jpluimers on 2014/06/18

I’ve a long history in DOS/Windows 9x COMMAND.COM and Windows cmd.exe shell programming.

The switch to PowerShell is steep, but for me it is worth it: it has so much more functionality than cmd.exe, and taps right into the .NET ECO system.

If you look for something intermediate, you might want to consider TCC. Formerly TCC was known as 4NT, which has its roots in 4DOS (I totally loved 4DOS back when cmd wasn’t there yet).

A small overview: Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Batch-Files, CommandLine, Development, Power User, PowerShell, PowerShell, Scripting, Software Development, Windows | Leave a Comment »

Using dsquery and dsget to get computer information from a domain

Posted by jpluimers on 2014/05/13

This article is a very brief example of how to use dsquery/dsget/find to get computer information from in the active direrctory of a domain.

The main aim for myself is to condense the information here, and have some links for background information.

If you have the right credentials then the below batch file works very well.

It uses these tools:

  • dsquery to query the active directory on your domain controller for the existence and Distinguished Name (or ID/path) of various objects (in this example dsquery computer to check if a computer exists in a domain)
  • dsget which can get you various detail information about an object (for instance dsget computer used in this example))
  • find to raise the correct errorlevel (and indicate if we indeed found a CN – or Common Name – from a distinguished name)

The ds* tools do not raise any errorlevel, so that’s what find is used for.

Further reading: Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Batch-Files, Development, Power User, Scripting, Software Development, Windows, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Server 2000, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Vista, Windows XP | Leave a Comment »

Solution for HP LaserJet 4050 Can’t select Tray 1 in driver (via: Enterprise Business Community)

Posted by jpluimers on 2014/05/09

This happened to a client as well: the stock Windows Vista PCL5 driver for an IP-connected HP LaserJet 4050TN would not allow you to select a paper tray. Not for default settings, nor for printing preferences.

The solution: download the HP PCL6 driver for Windows Vista from HP LaserJet 4050 Printer series –  Download drivers and software .

Question:

LJ 4050n – Can’t select Tray 1 in driver

I have a 4050n connected to a small LAN, with 3 XP-Pro SP2 machines. These all print directly using standard TCP/IP ports. They were installed using the PCL5e driver downloaded from HP ( 4.27.4050.410 12 Dec 2003 ) This all basically works.

The only problem is I cannot select tray 1. The ‘paper source’ drop-down is greyed out at ‘auto select’. Printer always prints from tray 2 ( A4 Plain. )

Answer:

Try the PCL6 for a 4000TN, the printer still works if a 4050 has a 4000 driver loaded, had similar problems just used the 4000 driver.

–jeroen

via: HP Communities – LJ 4050n – Can’t select Tray 1 in driver – Enterprise Business Community.

Posted in HP Printer Drivers, Power User, Printer drivers, Windows, Windows Vista | Leave a Comment »

Fix by Christian S. – Moers for “KB2686509 repeatedly fails with Error code 0x8007F0F4” (via: Microsoft Community)

Posted by jpluimers on 2014/05/07

Thanks Christian S. – Moers for the fix for KB2686509 repeatedly failing and the answer below.

I’ve used it as the Microsof FixIt offered at You may receive a “0x8007F0F4” error code when you try to install updates from the Windows Update Web site or from the Microsoft Update Web site did not work on several systems. The fix by Christian did work on all those systems.

Note: it is possible you get the same error for KB2676562: MS12-034: Description of the security update for Windows kernel-mode drivers: May 8, 2012, as it is related to KB2686509: MS12-034: Description of the security update for CVE-2012-0181 in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003: May 8, 2012.

One of the symptoms is that your system contains the file %windor%\faultykeyboard.log containing a list of  missing keyboard layout DLL files or KBD files (one of my machines had these missing: kbdjpn.dll and kbdkor.dll).

The cause is that KB2686509 can have problems with registry keys stored here:

  • HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout
  • HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layouts

Christian wrote a batch file to fix it (named BatchFixKB2686509.cmd) which works splendid on the systems I had this error.

The batch file uses regedit /e to export parts of the registry, then writes a small .reg file to clear the keys and imports them with regedit /S, waits for you so you can install the update, then writes back the saved registry data.
So basically, it automatically performs the manual steps described at KB2686509 – Failure Due to Upgrade from Windows ME or 98 to Windows XP – TechNet Articles – United States (English) – TechNet Wiki.

His answer: Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Batch-Files, Development, Keyboards and Keyboard Shortcuts, Power User, Scripting, Software Development, Windows, Windows XP | Leave a Comment »

Reminder to self: links to HP C4680 Windows Drivers

Posted by jpluimers on 2014/05/05

Reminder to Self: links to HP C4680 Windows Drivers.

My mom has an HP C4860 all-in-one inkjet printer/scanner/copier.

Soon she will have a new laptop, so here are some links I will need to get that printer installed:

I’m not sure though why “Basic drivers” still need to be close to 40 megabytes.

–jeroen

via: HP C4680 Windows Drivers – Google Search.

Posted in Power User, Windows, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 | Leave a Comment »

; a semi-colon starts a comment line in a .reg file (via: Windows Server content from Windows IT Pro)

Posted by jpluimers on 2014/05/05

Thanks John Savill from Windows IT Pro:

To include comments in a registry file, place a semicolon (;) at the beginning of the line, as shown below:

; This will delete the key below because of the - sign
\[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SavillTech\key\]

–jeroen

via: How do I place comments in a .reg file? | Windows Server content from Windows IT Pro.

Posted in Microsoft Surface on Windows 7, Power User, Windows, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Server 2000, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Vista, Windows XP | Leave a Comment »

Easiest way to grant/query “Log on as a service” to a Windows user from the command-line? (my question on Super User)

Posted by jpluimers on 2014/04/28

I want to script an install where a service needs to be run as a user. I want to be able to specify the user.

Creating the user is easy through the [Wayback/Archive] NET USER /ADD command.

Specifying the user for the service can also be done: the [Wayback/Archive] SC CONFIG command [Wayback/Archive] allows this (thanks [Wayback/Archive] wmz and [Wayback/Archive] ofiris).

Now the missing link: granting the user the [Wayback/Archive] “Log on as a service” privilege as a [Wayback/Archive] logon right (SeServiceLogonRight). Is there a command for this? Or a simple script for PowerShell?

(I know only Local Service can do this out of the box, and [Wayback/Archive] no other accounts by default are, but I want to have control over the account and what other privileges that account has).

Edit: solved. Thanks [Wayback/Archive] Mathias R. Jessen.

Here is the solution, including a few comments.

The easiest way to do this from a command line is definitely using NTRights.exe from the Windows Server 2003 Resource Toolkit.

ntrights +r SeServiceLogonRight -u jeroen -m \%COMPUTERNAME%

I changed the command-line a bit:

ntrights +r SeServiceLogonRight -u %USERNAME% -m \%COMPUTERNAME%

Note that

whoami /all

doesn’t show any change (not even after a reboot, it does not matter if you run it with or without UAC token).

secpol.msc

does show the change however, and does not require UAC (follow the tree to “Security Settings -> Local Policies -> User Rights Management -> Log on as a service” to see the users having the permission).

–jeroen

via: [Wayback/Archive] Easiest way to grant “Log on as a service” to a Windows user from the command-line? – Super User.

PS: Later I found out it is way easier to query the right:

accesschk.exe /accepteula -q -a SeServiceLogonRight

It will list the users having that right, for instance:

        IIS APPPOOLClassic .NET AppPool
        NT SERVICEALL SERVICES
        VCS-CIContinuaCI

There are similar rights one might want to query:

SeBatchLogonRight
SeDenyBatchLogonRight
SeInteractiveLogonRight
SeDenyInteractiveLogonRight
SeServiceLogonRight
SeDenyServiceLogonRight
SeNetworkLogonRight
SeDenyNetworkLogonRight

Thanks [Wayback/Archive] twasbrillig for explaining that at as answer to [Wayback/Archive] powershell – How to view user privileges using windows cmd? – Stack Overflow

Posted in Batch-Files, CommandLine, Development, Power User, PowerShell, Scripting, Software Development, Windows, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Vista | Leave a Comment »

WinToUSB – Install and Run Windows/WinPE on a USB drive!

Posted by jpluimers on 2014/04/22

Interesting: WinToUSB – Install and Run Windows/WinPE on a USB drive!.

Now lets find out how big the flash drive needs to be, then a speedy flash drive which is big enough.

–jeroen

Posted in Power User, Windows, Windows 8.1 | Leave a Comment »

Windows/NTFS – this works from one file system to another: `junction -D`

Posted by jpluimers on 2014/04/20

I’m glad that junction did work to create a directory junction to link a directory from one NTFS file system to another with this small batch file (that falls back from mklink to junction):

  @echo off
:start
  if !%1!==!! goto :help
  goto :main
:help
  echo %0 TargetFolder
  echo   Creates directory symbolic link using MKLINK or JUNCTION so that TargetFolder points to %~dp0
  goto :eof
:main
  :: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/using-symlinks-in-windows-vista/
  call :do mklink /D %1 %~dp0
  call :do junction %1 %~dp0
  goto :eof
:do
  echo %*
  %*
  goto :eof

Some more reading on juncions, hard links, symbolic links, etc:

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Power User, Windows, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2000, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Vista, Windows XP | Tagged: , , | Leave a Comment »

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