Transfer mode set to Awesome http://transfermodeawesome.posterous.com Dorkly bits on Exchange, Windows, software and whatever else I can think of. posterous.com Fri, 09 Apr 2010 22:01:00 -0700 The Essentials – Windows 7 edition http://transfermodeawesome.posterous.com/2010/04/essentials-windows-7-edition.html http://transfermodeawesome.posterous.com/2010/04/essentials-windows-7-edition.html

I recently converted my work machine to Windows 7, which is so far a good experience and one I’m happy with.  In the process, I gained a few new software tools and shed some old ones.  Here’s the list of what I consider the essentials for my environment on Windows 7 (not including those from Microsoft Update):

  • 7-zip
  • Adobe Flash Plugin
  • Beyond Compare 3 Pro
  • CCleaner
  • CDBurnerXP
  • CubicExplorer
  • Defraggler
  • DeskPins
  • Disk Space Fan
  • doPDF
  • Eclipse
  • Evernote
  • Everything (search)
  • ffdshow
  • HashCheck
  • Inkscape
  • Java
  • Launchy
  • LogMeIn
  • Malwarebytes Anti-malware
  • Microsoft Security Essentials
  • Mozilla Firefox
  • Mozilla Thunderbird (w/Lightning)
  • Notepad++
  • Paint.NET
  • PDF XChange Viewer
  • Picasa 3
  • Python 2.6
  • PyScripter
  • RDTabs
  • RENESIS Player Thumbnail plugin (SVG thumbnails in Explorer)
  • TortoiseHg
  • Virtual CloneDrive
  • Windows Live Sync
  • Windows Live Writer
  • XML Notepad 2007

If this were a home machine, MozyHome Free would also be on the list. I also have some tools, such as Visual Studio, installed on a separate machine, so those don’t make the list.

One interesting thing I learned during this experience is to not use the download links provided by Google when searching for a product.  More than one site had an old download link listed by Google, while visiting the main site search result and drilling to the downloads from there provided the most recent version.  Caveat emptor.

Another pleasant surprise was CubicExplorer.  While it lacks the dual-pane feature I like, it is otherwise a fine Windows Explorer substitute.  I have used several other programs, most recently UltraExplorer and before that xplorer2, but have always become frustrated with some lack of polish in this area.  CubicExplorer is simple and it works, while offering some nifty conveniences such as bookmarks that are simple to manage and, my new personal favorite, the ability to show the sort headers in any view style, details or not.  Nice.

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Thu, 24 Sep 2009 21:49:00 -0700 D’oh – VMware conversion and static IPs http://transfermodeawesome.posterous.com/2009/09/doh-vmware-conversion-and-static-ips.html http://transfermodeawesome.posterous.com/2009/09/doh-vmware-conversion-and-static-ips.html So we converted all of our testbed servers from the venerable VMware Server 1.0 product to the sexy, but also free, ESXi product.  Server was getting a bit a bit long in the tooth, but we definitely had reason to be wary of the VMware Server 2.0 product based on our experience with the beta causing what appeared as disk hardware errors.  That is another story.
The point is, moving to ESXi is beneficial in a lot of ways, mostly to do with the serious hardware we put underneath it.  Multiple snapshot support is another nice benefit to mention.  However, the conversion process had one gotcha up its sleeve…network adapter changes.
The network adapter is definitely part of the virtualization performed by VMware, drivers for which are included with the VMware tools installed on the guest.  During the conversion process, I failed to notice that these were replaced with the ESXi tools, which caused the OS to recognize a new network adapter.
All of our testbed systems are individual Domain Controllers of their own domains, along with Exchange being installed.  This configuration didn’t break at first, thankfully.  The big issue is that if you are doing domain stuff with these boxes anywhere outside them, such as adding a computer to the domain, the other machine needs to know the DC.  Normally this is gotten through DHCP and DNS.  In this case, we have loads of these separate DCs on the same network, so they can’t very well all be DHCP servers.  Instead the DC has to be hardcoded into the client as the DNS server.  This is why all of the testbeds have static IPs assigned.
Until you replace their network cards and forget to reassign the static IP.
So remember this if you end up converting VMs with static IP configs.

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Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:13:00 -0700 Double Driver backs up and restores vendor-specific drivers http://transfermodeawesome.posterous.com/2009/08/double-driver-backs-up-and-restores.html http://transfermodeawesome.posterous.com/2009/08/double-driver-backs-up-and-restores.html Whether you are reinstalling Windows on your machine or just have a bad driver update, Double Driver can save your bacon.
I recently applied an ATI driver update through FileHippo, which is usually a no-brainer.  In this case, however, either ATI or FileHippo messed up and my machine booted to a black screen.  While I had to reinstall the old drivers through Windows Safe Mode, I was wishing I had used Double Driver.
I also plan to use it to back up the old drivers from an install before reinstalling Windows.  You can use Double Driver to both back up as well as restore the drivers for your particular system.  For example, even if I’ve been good about keeping all of my laptop’s original driver zip files from the manufacturer’s downloads, there’s a lot to keep track of.  Do I remember which of the arcanely named files contains which driver?  Which ones did I really need versus which were optional?  Which ones installed annoying applications that take over during startup?  Where are the CDs for the extra peripherals I’ve added?
While you still may want to remember which of those annoying applets you want to install (DD won’t do that for you), you can be sure you have the right drivers and just the drivers within a few moments of running it.
The way it works is to, like the device manager, list all the devices on your system.  It automatically knows which ones are Microsoft-supplied.  The default backup behavior is to extract all of the non-Microsoft (so presumably, the ones you had to supply) drivers to the directory of your choosing.  One button (and a directory selection) backs them up, and one button restores them.  Simple.
I don’t plan on formatting home without it.

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Fri, 14 Aug 2009 20:29:00 -0700 Enabling IMAP access in Exchange 2007 http://transfermodeawesome.posterous.com/2009/08/enabling-imap-access-in-exchange-2007.html http://transfermodeawesome.posterous.com/2009/08/enabling-imap-access-in-exchange-2007.html While trying to mail-enable Redmine for receiving mail, we added a new account to our Exchange 2007 server.
While IMAP access to the account quickly worked, the same could not be said for sending email to the account.  45 minutes later and some head scratching, we hadn’t found the way to force Global Address Book updates from the Exchange Management Console GUI, but had found the Exchange Management Shell command to do so, Update-GlobalAddressList.  Even this left us waiting 20 minutes without success.
Then, when we looked in Exchange Management Console at the Mailbox itself, we noticed it was listed as a Legacy Mailbox.  Huh?  Apparently we had manufactured the mailbox using Exchange 2003 active directory tools, which made an Exchange 2003 mailbox.
We deleted and recreated the mailbox using Exchange Management Console.  It showed up in the GAL!  I could send email to it!  But I couldn’t log in through IMAP anymore!  Bah.
After much gnashing of teeth and research, a few tools were necessary to do the troubleshooting.  First, using the Event Viewer to look for authentication events on the Exchange server was necessary.  It showed some Success Audits from my earlier logins with the 2003 mailbox but none (not even failures) for the 2007 mailbox.
Using telnet to go to port 143 (the default IMAP port) showed that the IMAP service was indeed running.  The Exhange Management Console also showed that IMAP access was enabled on our mailbox.
We then used the “Set-ImapSettings –LoginType PlainTextLogin” command to allow us to issue cleartext passwords through our login session.  From there, two important pieces of information clued us in.
The first was that using the “0 login <username> <password>” IMAP command to log into another existing mailbox worked.
The second was that we noticed a Success Audit in the Event Viewer for a logoff of the new mailbox when we hadn’t done anything.
The theory is that the old mailbox was still hanging around because of my prior IMAP login (or for whatever reason) and the name was blocking access to the new mailbox of the same name.
Bingo: delete the mailbox and make a new one with a different name.  Login through telnet works!  Set the logintype back to SecureLogin and login through an IMAP client works!  Sending email to the account works!
And only a couple hours spent.  Could have been worse I guess.

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Fri, 14 Aug 2009 19:48:00 -0700 Bulk Active Directory object modification tool related to Exchange http://transfermodeawesome.posterous.com/2009/08/bulk-active-directory-object.html http://transfermodeawesome.posterous.com/2009/08/bulk-active-directory-object.html I came across this tool while learning about the nasty behavior of the Exchange Management Shell Set-CASMailbox command. It’s called ADModify.NET and here the Exchange Team blog’s article about it. Along with PowerGUI and ADSI Edit it looks like another powerful tool for getting under the hood of Exchange and Active Directory.

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