Feb 282020
 
Image of Small Business Server software box

Is it time to upgrade and migrate from Microsoft Windows Small Business Server to a new platform? Need help with the migration?

Windows Server 2008 (which is part of SBS) has reached it’s end of life. It’s now time to upgrade. I can help! I provide Small Business Server migration consulting services!

SBS Migration and Consulting Services

With over 50 Small Business Server migrations under my belt, I can assist, perform, and provide consulting services if your company or organization is looking to migrate from Microsoft Small Business Server to a new platform.

For more information on Small Business Server consulting services and help with migrations, please see: https://www.stephenwagner.com/hire-stephen-wagner-it-services/

Small Business Server Experience/Services

  • SBS Migration (SBS to SBS)
  • SBS to Full Microsoft Windows Server
  • SBS to Microsoft Exchange (2016, 2019)
  • SBS to Office 365
  • SBS to Microsoft Azure
  • SBS to 3rd party platforms
  • SBS Consulting and Advice
  • File and Print Server SBS Migration
  • Certificate Services Migration
  • SharePoint Services Migration
  • SBS Server decommission

Contact me for more Information

Feel free to contact me for assistance at https://www.stephenwagner.com/hire-stephen-wagner-it-services/.

Whether you need someone to complete and perform the migration, assist, plan, or just advise and check over things, I can help!

Jan 312020
 
Microsoft Windows Server Logo Image

While us pros usually stay away from this tool, it is needed sometimes. Recently I found myself in a situation where I wanted to run the “Disk Cleanup” Windows app, on a Windows Server 2019 VM running Server Core.

As you all know, Server Core has a limited GUI. You’re able to run things like a command prompt, Task Manager, notepad, and other limited things. I wanted to see if we could get Disk Manager running on it, because of it’s light UI I was thinking it may be possible.

How to install Disk Cleanup (cleanmgr.exe) on Windows Server 2019, Server Core edition

Two files are required for Disk Cleanup:

  • cleangmgr.exe – The Disk Cleanup executable
  • cleanmgr.exe.mui – I’m assuming this is the language files required for the application

The above files when installed, are stored here:

  • C:\Windows\System32\cleanmgr.exe
  • C:\Windows\System32\en-US\cleanmgr.exe.mui

When it comes to installing Disk Cleanup, you need to have those two files placed in their appropriate directories.

You can source these files from other servers (preferably running the same version of Windows Server), or you can snag the files from the WinSXS folder on a valid Windows install. An example of the WinSXS paths can be found below:

Windows Server 2016

  • cleanmgr.exe – C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-cleanmgr_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.14393.0_none_9ab8a1dc743e759a\cleanmgr.exe
  • cleanmgr.exe.mui – C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-cleanmgr.resources_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.14393.0_en-us_8b4adb68af596a23\cleanmgr.exe.mui

After placing these files in their proper directory, you can open a command prompt and just type “cleanmgr” to launch the Disk Cleanup application.

These instructions also apply to the fully loaded version of Windows Server 2019 (full GUI), as well as previous versions.

Jan 012020
 
Fireworks igniting in the sky

Happy New Year to all my blog readers, regular and/or one-time! Wishing you and your family all the best, success, and prosperity in 2020!

Finishing up in 2019, I’m averaging over 115,000 unique views per month on this technology blog thanks to you all. I’m hoping to create some new exciting, educational, and helpful content for 2020.

If you’d like to see anything, have a technology product you’d like reviewed, or have any questions, drop a comment or open up a chat! I love getting in touch with readers!

Cheers!

Dec 132019
 
Microsoft Windows Logo

Yesterday, December 12th 2019, I powered on my Windows 10 1909 workstation to see that the start menu wasn’t working, along with the notification tray. I could launch programs from the taskbar, but search, start, and notifications were not functioning.

Attention: If you are experiencing issues with search, please continue reading to the bottom of the blog post and the update marked February 5th, 2020.

Since my workstation is running as a VDI instance, I checked vSphere and noticed the VM was running at extremely high CPU. Inside of the workstation, I opened up the event log and found numerous errors pertaining to the User Shell Experience, as well as multiple Windows 10 apps (UWP apps).

I tried to troubleshoot this using multiple methods found online on google. It sounds like this is a common issue for the past couple months, but no one has been able to find a fix.

Finally, after 14 hours of frusteration, I finally decided to restore the workstaton (VM) from a snapshot backup the night before. Powering it on the start menu was working. I installed some updates and everything is still working great.

If anyone has any information on this, please post it in the comments! I was surprised this isn’t easily fixable and actually required a restore from backup. I’m assuming numerous others are experiencing this issue.

Windows 10 Search on Start Menu not working

Update – February 5th 2020: Today, I noticed my search bar had stopped functioning. I also noticed lots of traffic to my blog for people searching for this. After some research I found this page: https://superuser.com/questions/1522905/windows-10-search-not-loading-showing-blank-window

I’ve condensed the fix. To resolve this issue, perform the following instructions:

  1. Open Notepad
  2. Copy and paste the below text:
    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
    
    [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search]
    "CortanaConsent"=dword:00000000
    "BingSearchEnabled"=dword:00000000
  3. Save file as “FixSearch.reg”
  4. Run the file (double click) or import the .reg file in to your registry
  5. Restart explorer.exe or restart your computer

The issue should now be resolved.

Oct 072019
 
Microsoft Windows Server Logo Image

Today I’m going to be talking about Read Only Domain Controllers (RODC). An RODC is a Read Only Domain Controller for Active Directory Services inside of Microsoft Windows Server. It has become one of my favorite discoveries in the last 10 years for use with clients in certain situations.

A Read Only Domain Controller is similar to a regular Domain Controller, with the exception that the content is synchronized and available as a read-only copy. You cannot write to an RODC AD database.

Let’s explore RODC’s in more depth and find out what they are, why they are used, and use-case scenario examples.

What is an RODC

Read Only Domain Controllers were originally released with Windows Server 2008, and have been available on all versions since (including Windows Server 2008R2, Windows Server 2012/2012R2, Windows Server 2016, and Windows Server 2019).

A Domain controller that is an RODC contains a read-only cached copy of the Active Directory database. Additional sets of controls are available to control and limit this information and what is stored and cached.

Why an RODC

A Read Only Domain Controller is typically placed in situations and scenarios where a standard writable domain controller cannot be placed. The AD data/information can be filtered so that important items such as passwords, credentials, and other security sensitive information are not cached on that server. This provides a safety mechanism if the RODC is stolen or compromised (either physically, or virtually). You can control it so that only required information is cached, such as credentials for the users in the specific office.

RODC’s are meant to be used at remote offices and/or branch offices (ROBO) to allow services to function that rely on Active Directory such as file/print services and other Active Directory applications. Also, typically at these sites it either wouldn’t make sense or be safe to have a writable domain controller, however the RODC is needed to cache AD information, and enhance performance of these AD applications.

Offloading Active Directory requests to a single cached copy onsite on an RODC significantly reduces bandwidth pipe requirements versus having numerous computers and users authenticating and requesting Active Directory content over a site-to-site VPN between the main office and remote office/branch office.

Also, if you have an office with an unstable internet connection where the site-to-site VPN regularly has issues or isn’t always available, having an RODC available to handle Active Directory requests can keep that office online and functioning.

Scenarios for an RODC

In the past I’ve used Read Only Domain Controllers for a few different types of scenarios. I’ll get in to them below and explain why.

The scenarios:

  • AD Cache for ROBO (Remote Office Branch Office)
    • Unstable internet connection
    • AD Services at remote site (File/Print, LoB)
    • Numerous Users accessing Active Directory
    • Improve login times
  • ROBO with Potential Security issues (theft, lack of survailence, etc.)
    • Office is in remote area with delayed physical security response, risk of theft
    • Server physical security at risk, employees could have access
  • Corporate Infrastructure hosted in the Cloud
    • Domain Controller in the Cloud
    • Need a DC on-premise to handle logins and resource access

AD Cache for ROBO (Remote Office Branch Office)

Implementing an RODC in this situation is an excellent example. In a situation where an office has unreliable (intermittent or slow) internet but is critical to business continuity, an RODC can keep them up and running uninterrupted.

Typically, if you were just using a Site-to-Site VPN, if that connection went down, users wouldn’t be able to authenticate against Active Directory or access resources in Active Directory. Having an RODC on-site, allows them to authenticate (if their credentials are stored) and access resources.

As most IT professionals are aware, having a large number of users authenticating and accessing these resources over a VPN can use up the bandwidth pipe and cause issues. Having an RODC locally virtually eliminates VPN bandwidth usage to only Active Directory synchronization, and synchronization deltas.

Finally, having users authenticate locally instead of a saturated high latency VPN connection, improves their login time and performance.

ROBO with Potential Security issues (theft, lack of survailence, etc.)

If you have a remote site with security concerns, an RODC can help you with your security strategy.

If an RODC is physically stolen, only credentials that are filtered to be cached on that RODC are stored locally, this usually excludes administrative accounts as well as other users and services that aren’t accessed or used at the remote site. Also, because the domain controller isn’t writable, the thief cannot power on, inject data in to Active Directory and have it sync to your other domain controllers if they somehow gained access to your internal network.

The above also holds true for possible malicious employees who may have skills or knowledge, or allow other 3rd parties to have physical or virtual access to the server.

In the event of a disaster, restoring or recreating an RODC is easy and fast. Since it synchronizes from writable DCs on the network, the concerns of traditional writable domain controller restores don’t need to be considered.

Corporate Infrastructure hosted in the Cloud

If by chance most of your corporate infrastructure is hosted in the cloud, you know that you still need some on-premise resources and infrastructure to handle and offload bandwidth requirements between your LAN network and virtual cloud LAN network.

Typically, in most cases you’d have an on-site on-premise domain controller to handle local login and authentication, as well as resource access. But why use a fully writable domain controller, when you can use an easy to manage and maintain RODC?

Using an RODC at your local site allows you to offload services off the pipe, to the RODC, again limiting bandwidth requirements to AD synchronizations and delta synchronizations. This allows your bandwidth to be used for more important things like Line of Business applications, e-mail, etc.

As most IT professionals prefer simple and functional, this keeps simplified and easy to manage.

Conclusion

RODC’s are a perfect tool to compliment your IT infrastructure and help secure it as well. I’ve placed numerous Read Only Domain Controllers at customers branch offices, remote oil and gas sites, and in various other scenarios.

Not only have they kept these customers up and running during outages, but the ease of use and ease of management make it common sense to use this technology.