Author Archives: Thomas.Marcussen

About Thomas.Marcussen

Technology Architect & Evangelist, Microsoft Trainer and Everything System Center Professional with a passion for Technology

WSUS clients may fail during synchronization and log the following errors: 0x8024400D

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Issue: WSUS clients may fail during synchronization and log the following errors: 0x8024400D

Cause: Too much rubbish in WSUS database eg. Lots and lots of expired and superseeded updates. No cleanup or maintenance has been done for a loong time.

Resolution:

Execute a maintenance CleanUp on the WSUS Server. Most of the 0x8024400D are due to a high quantity of updates on the server, even declined, expired, or superseded. This causes that the client WU Engine cannot finish processing all the information, and cannot pass to the Evalutation phase of the update process.

 

-Run Decline-SupersededUpdates.ps1 (Can also be found at www.thomasmarcussen.com – in the Archive folder). If the base Operating System is Windows 2008 R2 of further there should not be any problem to run it on Powershell 2.0

Instructions:

Open a Powershell windows as Administrator

Execute the next cmdlet in order to be able to execute non-signed scripts: Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope Process -ExecutionPolicy Bypass

Execute the script using the next syntax: .\Decline-SupersededUpdates.ps1 -UpdateServer FQDNoftheWSUSserver -Port xx -SkipDecline

Example: .\Decline-SupersededUpdates.ps1 -UpdateServer wsus.domain.local -Port 8530 -SkipDecline

 

After the process finishes we need to run the WSUS Cleanup:

From WSUS Console, go to Options, and open WSUS Cleanup Wizard

– Select only the 4th and 5th option: Expired Updates and Superseded Updates

– After the process finishes, run the Wizard again, just selecting the 1st Option: Unused updates and update revisions.

You might have to run this multiple times, untill it stops giving timeout errors – in case you got A LOT of expired and superseded updates – I’ve put up a script to perform this task instead. – see this post: https://blog.thomasmarcussen.com/susdb-maintenance/

  • Check if the affected clients are running Windows 7 – 32 bit version.

In this case, we will need to ensure that they have at least the WU Agent revision from June 2015:                               (You can download it from Here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3050265 )

  • – Clean the bloated update cache on the affected clients:

From a CMD as Administrator execute:

Net stop AppIDSvc

net stop wuauserv

net stop cryptsvc

ren %windir%\SoftwareDistribution %windir%\SoftwareDistribution.old

ren %systemroot%\system32\catroot2 oldcatroot2

Delete, in the registry: the PingID, SUSClientID and the AccountDomainSID values from HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate

Then execute:

net start AppIDSvc

net start wuauserv

net start cryptsvc

wuauclt /resetauthorization /detectnow

Looking for funny (and creative) fake names?

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Getting tired of the John and Jane doe testing account names?
Here some funny and creative ones — let me know if you got some to add 🙂

General Lectric
Private Keepout
Nosmo King
Patty O’furniture
Owa Tegyu Siam
Minny Tonka
Tennis “E”
Ida Ho
A.Blinkin
Itza Bird
Itzu Perman
Chick Innees
Chuck U Farley
Robin Steele
Yuda Mann
Solomon I. Lands
Burr Palishus
Loo King Good
Florida Keyes
Hey Zeus
Hung Low
Sum Dum Chum
So Soo Mee
Bill Payre
Kisme U. Fool
E Bonnicks
Woz Upp
Auntie Upp
Wazzapp Nindood
Jail Enno
Tillit Hertz
Harry Palms
L Bowgrees
Lee Deway
Shirley Ujest
Phil D Basket
Memm Brzonly
Wysso Glumm
Ock Kewpannt
Rezzi Dent

Office365 Recipient address rejected: Access denied

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Funny thing happend……

For some reason new email accounts (older then 24 hours) and email aliases was not working properly within Office365.

External contacts was reporting:

tried to deliver your message, but it was rejected by the server for the recipient domain mydomain by mydomain.mail.protection.outlook.com

550 5.4.1 [<username>@<mydomain>]: Recipient address rejected: Access denied

Reason:

  • Accounts was is getting propagated in an accepted time frame (24 hours)

Issue:

  •  The affected accounts is unable to receive email from external contacts – emails are not getting delivered.

Resolution:

  • We changed the accepted domain to Internal relay to resolve the issue.
  • As a precaution we enabled Conditional Sender ID and NDR backscatter to avoid spam attacks.

Articles on Mail Flow for reference:

Exchange Online Protection Limits

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-in/library/exchange-online-protection-limits.aspx

How Office 365 does SPF checks for customer-to-customer mail

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/tzink/archive/2015/02/26/how-office-365-does-spf-checks-for-customer-to-customer-mail.aspx

Manage Transport Rules

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj657505(v=exchg.150).aspx

Transport rules

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-IN/library/jj919238(v=exchg.150).aspx

Configure your spam filter policies

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj200684(v=exchg.150).aspx

Submitting spam and non-spam messages to Microsoft for analysis

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-IN/library/jj200769(v=exchg.150).aspx

Advanced spam filtering options

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj200750(v=exchg.150).aspx

Spam email and Office 365 environment

http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2014/07/25/spam-email-and-office-365-environment-overview.aspx

Should you install Office 2016 32-bit or 64-bit?

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There seems to be some doubt about Office 2016 when to install 64-bit version of office vs 32-bit

Limitations of the 64-bit version of Office

The 64-bit version of Office may perform better in some cases, but there are limitations:

  • Solutions using ActiveX controls library, ComCtl controls won’t work.
  • Third-party ActiveX controls and add-ins won’t work.
  • Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) that contain Declare statements won’t work in the 64-bit version of Office without being updated.
  • Compiled Access databases, like .MDE and .ACCDE files, won’t work unless they’re specifically written for the 64-bit version of Office.
  • In SharePoint, the list view won’t be available.

If you have specific add-ins that you use in the 32-bit version of Office, they may not work in 64-bit Office, and vice versa. If you’re concerned, check your current version of Office before installing the new one. Considering testing the add-in with 64-bit Office, or finding out if a 64-bit version of the add-in is available from the developer.

The 64-bit version of Office has some limitations, but is the right choice when:

  • You work with extremely large data sets, like enterprise-scale Excel workbooks with complex calculations, many PivotTables, connections to external databases, PowerPivot, PowerMap, or PowerView. The 64-bit version of Office may perform better for you.
  • You work with extremely large pictures, videos, or animations in PowerPoint. The 64-bit version of Office may be better suited to handle these complex slide decks.
  • You work with extremely large Word documents. The 64-bit version of Office may be better suited to handle Word documents with large tables, graphics, or other objects.
  • You’re working with files over 2GB in Project, especially if the project has many subprojects.
  • You want to keep the 64-bit version of Office that you’re already using. The 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Office programs aren’t compatible, so you can’t install both on the same computer.
  • You’re developing in-house Office solutions, like add-ins or document-level customizations.
  • Your organization requires Hardware Data Execution Prevention (DEP) be enforced for Office applications. DEP is a set of hardware and software technologies that some organizations use to enhance security.

 

Synology NAS Recovery password (telnet)

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Synology’s “secret” telnet password….

If you ever had to recover a Synology nas box in recovery-mode, pre DiskStation installation or after a failed DiskStation install….. Then you would need the “secret” telnet password for admin (or in some cases root)

In case you don’t want to contact Synology here is how it’s generated

  • 1st character = month in hexadecimal, lower case (1=Jan, … , a=Oct, b=Nov, c=Dec)
  • 2-3 = month in decimal, zero padded and starting in 1 (01, 02, 03, …, 11, 12)
  • 4 = dash
  • 5-6 = day of the month in hex (01, 02 .., 0A, .., 1F)
  • 7-8 = greatest common divisor between month and day, zero padded. This is always a number between 01 and 12.

So, let’s say today is October 15, the password would be: a10-0f05 (a = month in hex, 10 = month in dec, 0f = day in hex, 05 = greatest divisor between 10 and 15).

In some cases the clock is also set to factory default… then try the password: 101-0101

Based on the original correct_password.c source,here is a short snippet to generate the daily password.

 

#include <stdlib.h> 
#include <time.h> 
#include <stdio.h> 

void main()
{
    struct timeval tvTime;
    struct tm tmOutput;

    gettimeofday(&tvTime, 0);
    localtime_r(&(tvTime.tv_sec), &tmOutput);

    tmOutput.tm_mon += 1;
    printf("password for today is: %x%02d-%02x%02d\n\n",
        tmOutput.tm_mon, tmOutput.tm_mon, tmOutput.tm_mday,
        gcd(tmOutput.tm_mon, tmOutput.tm_mday));
}

int gcd(int a, int b)
{
    return (b?gcd(b,a%b):a);
}

 

Using a 3.Party IM Client with Office 365 or Lync?

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Of course!

I’ve been using Pidgin for ages…

In Pidgin I’m able to run the following protocols

  • -XMPP (facebook)
  • Office Communicator (for Lync and O365)
  • Skype
  • Skype for Business
  • ICQ
  • ….. and lots more.. see the full list at Pidgin Thirdparty plugins

You should try it, if you like me prefer to keep your conversation history’s together and sorted.

One thing i’ve noticed, for some reason Office 365 (Lync or now Skype for Business) requires me to use a specific user agent(!) so….having problems getting it to work? Maybe you see:

Connection refused with error message
“You are currently not using the recommended version of the client”
“You have been rejected by the server: https://portal.microsoftonline.com/download/lync.aspx”

Cry no more!

Here is a list of user agents and versions you can emulate, and it works great! Just modify your connection profile, under advanced, type one of the following user agent values..

Version / Product User Agent values (as seen in the wild)
Lync 2013 and Office 365 UCCAPI/15.0.4481.1000 OC/15.0.4481.1000 (Microsoft Lync)
UCCAPI/15.0.4420.1017 OC/15.0.4420.1017 (Microsoft Lync)
Lync 2010 and Office 365 UCCAPI/4.0.7577.314 OC/4.0.7577.314 (Microsoft Lync 2010)
UCCAPI/4.0.7577.256 OC/4.0.7577.280 (Microsoft Lync 2010)
Office Communicator 2007 R2 UCCAPI/3.5.6907.206 OC/3.5.6907.206 (Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2)
UCCAPI/3.5.6907.0 OC/3.5.6907.0 (Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2)
Office Communicator 2007 UCCP/2.0.6362.111 OC/2.0.6362.111 (Microsoft Office Communicator)
UCCP/2.0.6362.97 OC/2.0.6362.97 (Microsoft Office Communicator)
Office Communicator 2005 LCC/1.3.5371 (Microsoft Office Communicator 2005 1.0.559.0)
LCC/1.3.5371 (Microsoft Office Communicator 2005 1.0.559.232)

Join Mac OS X to Active Directory

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Simple script to join a Mac to domain

#!/bin/bash

HOST=”ADserver.domain.com”

DOMAIN=”domain.com”

ADUSERNAME=”admin”

ADPASS=”secretpassword”

# Enable SSH

echo “Enabling SSH”

systemsetup -setremotelogin on

launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ssh.plist

# Add computer to Active Directory

echo “Adding computer to Active Directory”

dsconfigad -preferred $HOST -domain $DOMAIN -u $ADUSERNAME -p $ADPASS

MCT Program Requirements Update – effective September 2015

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MCT Program Requirements Update – effective September 2015:

Current MCT Program Renewal Requirements: (/learning page)

  • Possess a current Microsoft Certification or qualification eligible for the MCT program.
  • Meet the minimum instruction quantity of at least 1 class in the previous 365 days as validated by Metrics that Matter (MTM).
  • All Microsoft training (not just MOC) will be recognized as credit toward program renewal as long as it can be measured in Metrics that Matter (MTM)* – NEW
  • Meet the minimum instruction quality of an average instructor score of at least 7 as validated by MTM.*
  • You can check your MTM records by following these steps.
  • If you taught classes but didn’t use MTM you can add the course to MTM.

*The existing exception process will still apply for ITA, Academic, Microsoft Employee (FTEs) MCTs

Changes for MCT Program Entry/Renewal– New: The MCT Program is updating our order management system to be more efficient and to better serve your needs. In doing so, we are making the following changes:

  • MCT Renewal Window Extended to 90 Days
    • The renewal window for MCTs and MCT Alumni has been extended from 30 days to 90 days. MCTs and MCT Alumni can now start to renew their membership 90 days prior to their anniversary date. All MCTs and MCT Alumni will be receiving email renewal reminders 90, 60, 30, and 15 days prior to their anniversary date.
  • Currencies and Payment Types – effective September 2015
    • Currencies to be supported will be US Dollar (USD), British Pound (GBP), Australian Dollar (AUD), Euro (EUR),and Japanese Yen (JPY)
    • Payment methods supported will be Credit Card and PayPal

Resources

For any questions, please refer here.

 

Media Creation Tool for Windows 10

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If you need to install or reinstall Windows 10, You can use the Media Creation Tool to create a installation media using either a USB flash drive or a DVD.

You will be able to create a media for the following Windows 10 versions

Windows 10 Home
Windows 10 Home N
Windows 10 Home Single Language
Windows 10 Pro
Windows 10 Pro N
x86 & x64

Download: Media Creation Tool x86 or Media Creation Tool x64

For Enterprise editions please visit Volume Licensing Service Center