Moving Windows Internal Database at 4:41 PM

Windows Internal Database (or SQL Server Embedded) can be used by WSS or Windows Software Update Services (WSUS).  It is well hidden and annoyingly unmanageable.  By default the data files reside in a folder under the root drive in the Windows directory.  This can be a bad place to allow a potentially fast growing database to reside… especially if your drives are partitioned for a small “C” drive just to be used by the operating system.  I was able to find out how to move these databases pretty easily.

1. Download and install SQL Server Management Studio Express (find it here: http://tiny.cc/msssmse)
2. Turn off any services that might be using the database (SharePoint, WSUS, etc)
3. Connect to \\.\pipe\mssql$microsoft##ssee\sql\query using SSMSE named pipes
4. Detach all databases that you wish to move (check box to kill connections)
5. Move the databases and associated log files (MDF & LDF) to the desired location
6. Reattach databases in there new location

Now the databases will not hog your boot drive.

Turn off Hibernate in Vista at 6:34 PM

Switching Hibernate on/off in Windows XP was easy, go to control panel then power options and the last tab gave you options for Hibernate.  IN Vista it is a different story… they removed the option altogether from the power setting dialogs.  If you are like me and do not use this feature open a command prompt and execute the following:

powercfg.exe /hibernate off

This will not only turn off Hibernation, but will also give you back anywhere from 2-4 GB of disk space.

Vista Parental Controls on a Domain? at 5:42 PM

After Vista has been joined to a domain you lose a few things like Parental Controls & some Media Center capabilities unless you manually re-enable them.  To do this for the Parental Controls go to group policy editor (start > run > gpedit.msc), then to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Parental Controls.  Enable the setting “Make Parental Controls control panel visible on a Domain”:

Changing Domains with Vista & Win 7 at 2:38 PM

When a primary domain controller goes down and you do not have a BDC or a system state backup there is not a lot you can do to bring active directory & DNS back online cleanly.  I searched and searched for a solution but found nothing.  So I learned my lesson, always do a system state backup when completed with DC setup AND backup at regular intervals to ensure an easy recovery.

But since I did not do that, I had to go about it the hard way… reinstall DC and disjoin PC’s from old domain then join PC’s back into the newly set up domain.  The trouble with that is keeping the user profiles active on the local machine without disrupting their settings & customizations.  And I also don’t want user folders called c:\users\[DomainName].[UserName]… I just want c:\users\[UserName] to keep it clean.  Luckily there are a few quick tools that Vista/Windows 7 provides to assist with that.

First there is the Windows Easy Transfer tool.  Great tool for getting all of your desktop settings, Outlook accounts, background images, and you can customize the files you transfer.  The wizard is very simple and allows for backup to disk, DVD, or external drive.  Because I was not moving to another PC and I was not reinstalling the OS on these machines, I just backed up to a local folder.

Second I needed to log into the local machine administrator account and remove the user & their profile.  A full restart will ensure that there is no locked files for this step.  To remove the user go to Control Panel > User Accounts, then click Manage User Accounts.  You can see a list of the users both local and domain here:

Click the user you want to remove, then click Remove.  This only deletes the account, now we needed to delete the profile from the local computer.  Go to Control Panel > System > Advanced System Settings > Advanced [TAB] > User Profiles section.  Click Settings.  Click the user you want to delete the profile, click Delete.

Just to verify that the user profile directory was deleted go to C:\Users\.  Delete the folder if left behind (typically only happens if a restart was not done after the first step).

Now you can rejoin the domain, add the user, and restore the settings using the same Windows Easy Transfer tool used before.  With the exception of passwords not being saved (for very good reason) the user will have little or no impact.

Server 2008 Activation DNS Error at 1:25 PM

Last night I was finishing up with the installation of 2 servers (PDC & BDC).  After completing all of the updates and configurations I needed to activate the product… DNS Error!  After doing a little searching I found the KB article from Microsoft (KB929826) which states that with volume licenses or multi-activation keys you may need to run this first at the command prompt:

slmgr –ipk xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx

[xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx is the product key]

Then you should have no problem activating.  Nice to know for the future!