PowerShell Games
Bored of coding automation scripts or learning PowerShell and want to work on something fun? Why not write your own text based game in PowerShell! Here is a selection of mini games i’ve written in PowerShell either to test out some new coding ideas or just because I wanted to work on something fun! I’ve linked the code repository to each game below so give them a try for yourself and let me know what you create! Power...
Blog Progress 2021
I cant believe its been 5 years blogging about Microsoft 365, Azure and PowerShell and in that time I’ve written or contributed to three published books, written 173 blog posts and guest posted for several of the most well known vendors in the Managed Service Provider (MSP) space. Looks like my work is attracting nearly 2k unique visitors on a daily basis. It’s an awesome feeling to know I’ve shared my knowledge and...
Convert Windows 10 Eval to Pro
I recently needed to convert a Windows 10 Evaluation VM which I downloaded from Microsoft to a full Professional edition. I found guides for converting it to Enterprise edition but I only had a spare pro key and they were difficult to follow. I’ve put this Batch file together which makes the process easy. Download the script here: ConvertEval2Pro (577 downloads) Here you can see the VM running Windows 10 Enterprise Evaluation....
How To Connect To Another Windows 10 Computer AKA Quick Assist
If you ever need to help someone with an issue and you are both using windows 10 you can use a great tool called Quick Assist to remotely connect to their computer and even control it! On your computer and the remote computer go to the start menu and type Quick Assist and open up the tool. On your computer click on Assist another person. This will generate a security code which you give to the person at the remote computer. On the...
Using Akixi API with PowerShell
Akixi is a great reporting platform for the Horizon VOIP telephony platform. Recently i’ve been working on pulling off report data and inserting that data into our central dashboard systems. They don’t provide code examples in PowerShell so I wanted to share the basics so you can get a head start with your own project. All I ask is that you post a comment below and share your project details with other readers 🙂 First up...
How to Setup Windows For a Nessus Credentialed Patch Scan
Setting up a Windows 10 PC so that It can be scanned by Nessus using a fully credentialed patch scan is and straight forward process but there are several parts required for it to work. This guide includes the manual steps required but you can also implement the settings using a centralised RMM tool if you have one. Also Note in most Local AD environments Nessus will work without any changes. For standalone or Azure AD joined...
How to Setup Mac’s For a Nessus Credentialed Patch Scan
Setting up a Mac so that It can be scanned by Nessus using a fully credentialed patch scan is a quick and straight forward process. This guide includes the manual steps required but you can also implement the settings using a centralised RMM tool if you have one. The process is as follows: 1 . Setup a dedicated administrator account to use with the scan. 2. Enable Remote Login. 3. Setup new SSH credentials in Nessus to use during the...
Cant Remove Hyper-V VM Cannot Connect to Virtual Machine Configuration Storage
Found a redundant VM on your Hyper-V host? This typically only happens in test environments but rarely in production and caused by a VM folder being deleted or moved. In the screenshot below you can see the VM ‘Mindex’ in an off-critial state. You cant remove this server from the host using the GUI. Open a Powershell windows as admin and type ‘Get-VM’ and press enter. This will list all of the VM’s on the...
Act Failed to Open Scheduler log Error Occurred While Loading Scheduler log file
Getting the following error and having trouble resolving the issue? “Failed to open scheduler log. Error occurred while loading scheduler log file.” Under the menu ‘Other tasks’ click ‘Stop Service’ then Browse to c:\programdata\act\act data Rename ‘SCHEDULER_LOG’ TO ‘SCHEDULER_LOGOLD’ Now in the task scheduler click ‘Start service’ from the ‘other...
Microsoft Translation Travel App
I was randomly browsing the Google play store the other day and came across Microsoft Translator and for fun installed it to see what its all about and was very impressed! Microsoft Translator can translate spoken or written words into many other languages. It can even say the translation out loud which makes this Translator app perfect for the word wide traveller. If your going abroad then this app is definitely going to make your...
Server Storage Migration Service Extension Not Visible
Recently i’ve been experimenting with the Server Storage Migration feature in Windows server 2019. This feature allows you to clone an existing file server and migrate its shares and files to a new server and perform a cutover migration to the new server. I had an issue where the server storage extension was not showing up in the list of extensions despite being installed! As you can see here the extension is not listed. It...
Basic Setup Guide for Using GitHub With Visual Code and PowerShell
This guide is a complete beginners guide to creating an account on GitHub and setting up somewhere to store your code and then linking that to Visual Code which is a cool free Microsoft tool used to write code. I’ll like to leave out the fluff and filler so ill keep the text brief, so follow along and use the screenshots for reference. By the end of this guide you will know how to: Create GitHub repositories for your code...
Setup A Cyber Essentials Software Restriction Policy
Passing Cyber Essentials and CE Plus is fairly easy but only if you know how to implement each of the technical controls. One of the more difficult aspects of passing a Cyber Essentials Plus audit is being able to block the malware and malicious test files. During a Cyber Essentials Plus audit the auditor will attempt to run a variety of script, compressed and executable files to see if the system is susceptible to malicious code...
Can’t Uninstall HP Drive Encryption Software
Trying to upgrade to Windows 10 or simply want to uninstall HP Drive Encryption but can’t? Getting the error HP Client Security Manager 8.x is required? During a recent Windows 7 to Windows 10 upgrade I encountered this error and here is how I solved it. Step 1: First install the latest version of HP Client Security Manager https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp98501-99000/sp98508.exe Step 2: Next Install the latest version of HP...
How To Develop PowerShell Scripts For The Raspberry Pi
A.K.A How to Run PowerShell on the Raspberry PI Ok you want to run PowerShell scripts on your Raspberry PI. Well look no further because I have a detailed step by step guide below! This guide assumes you have already connected your Raspberry PI to your network either by a cable or via wireless. This guide also assumes you prefer to develop the code on your Windows PC using a program with similar features to the PowerShell ISE. Basic...
HP Bloatware Removal Tool
If you don’t maintain a prebuilt Windows image used to deploy new workstation because you simply build them as they come in then this tool may be for you. We prefer HP equipment but they always come with annoying HP bloatware. You could reload the device but that takes time you don’t want to waste. One of my fellow engineers Thomas Lambert put this little script together which will run through and uninstall the most common...
How To Uninstall Programs Using PowerShell
Listing all installed programs, checking to see if a program is installed by its name and uninstalling programs is super easy and efficient using PowerShell and the Get-WmiObject cmdlet. List All Installed Programs Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product Running this cmdlet will produce a list of all installed applications. Note this wont list any Windows Apps which are installed. List Installed Programs By Name Get-WmiObject -Class...
Ubiqiti Unifi How To Print From Guest Wireless To A Printer On The Network
You setup a secure segregated guest network and then bugger a guest needs to print some important documents using your printer! Within your Unifi controller go into the settings of the site by clicking on the cog icon. First for this to work your printer must have a static IP address on the network. Click on Guest Control.Scroll down to the Access Control section and add the IP address of each printer into the ‘Pre-Authorization...
How to Reset PowerChute Business Edition Password
If you cant remember what the password to your PowerChute Business Edition control panel no problem it’s easy to reset. 1. You will need to be on version 10 or later for this to work. If you are on an earlier version then first upgrade the version installed. Simply download the latest version from here: https://www.apc.com/us/en/tools/download/software_comp.cfm?sw_sku=SFPCBE100 2. Do an in place upgrade, no restarts will be...
How to Setup a Unifi Cloud Controller in Azure
Welcome to my in depth guide to setting up a Unifi cloud controller in Azure. If you love the great value Ubiquity products offer but want centralised cloud management like you get with Meraki products then Unifi wifi points, firewalls and switches combined with a cloud controller hosted in Azure make for a killer solution especially for the MSP’s out there looking to manage a large number of sites and devices. Configuring a...
Add Office 365 Azure AD Account To LogMeIn Control Panel To Enable Remote Access
If you have a device which is joined to Office 365 Azure AD and you use LogMeIn to remotely connect to it. You have probably found that the user account is missing from the list of available users in the LogMeIn control panel. To fix this fire up command prompt by right clicking CMD and selecting ‘Run as Administrator’. 1. Enter the following commands, pressing enter after each: net localgroup LMIUsers /add net localgroup...
Which Office 365 Subscriptions Do I Need for My Small Business?
If you’ve landed on this page you have probably heard a bit about Office 365 or been told that you should start using it. You may be using free email addresses which have been OK but you want more than just email. You may want shared Calendars, Shared email boxes, somewhere to store personal documents and somewhere to store documents which everyone can see and access. Maybe you also want a way to communicate with the team in...
Remote Desktop Windows 10 Virtual Applications AKA XP Mode
I recently had the task of getting an ancient application working for a client on brand new Windows 10 PC’s. Unfortunately this application is well over 15 years old, is unsupported and is mission critical to the client… oh no another one of those! The software is due to be updated but its a project which will take a couple of years to complete. Its been getting more and more difficult to run XP on old hardware especially...
Setup Sub Domain Email on 123reg
Setting up a sub domain on 123reg is technically not supported as I was told by their support team. However I did find out you can setup a full subdomain and even configure its own MX records as needed. So lets say you have a domain and in our case its at2kf.co.uk and we have email setup on this domain info@at2kf.co.uk etc. Lets say you now want to setup a subdomain for some reason, uksupport.at2fk.co.uk and you wanted to use email...
Active Directory Object Contains Other Objects. Are you sure you want to delete object and all of the objects it contains?
So you try and delete a user in Active directory and get a message asking if you are sure you want to delete it and all of the objects it contains. You stop and think, what objects does it contain? This is normally caused by old Exchange 2010 attributes attached to the user account. To see what the sub objects are click on ‘View’ then ‘Users, Contacts, Groups and Computers as containers.’ from within Active...
No Network Card After Windows Update KB4088875 and KB4103718
Another round of updates and more issues to resolve, the work of us IT administrators is never done! If you have a PC (Likely windows 7) which has suddenly dropped its network card after applying KB4088875 or KB4103718 then dont worry so has everyone else 😉 We’ve heard some horror stories of 60 servers going offline with this one but the fix so far has been: Reinstall the network card drivers along with any missing chipset...
This file cannot be previewed because of an error with the following previewer: Microsoft Word Previewer Outlook 2016
Trying to preview word attachments in Outlook 2016 and getting the following error message? “This file cannot be previewed because of an error with the following previewer: Microsoft Word previewer ” I was too and here’s how I fixed it for me. 1. Open word and click on File. 2. Click Options from the menu 3. Click Trust Center then Trust Center Settings. 4. Untick ‘Enable Protected View for Outlook...
SolarWinds MSP Backup Hyper-V or not to Hyper-V
I recently asked if it was better to backup virtual machines at the host level using SolarWinds MSP Backup or to install it to each guest VM and backup from there. I had a few conflicting recommendations so decided to fire up and lab and try it out for myself! Here we have a Hyper-V host server called VMHOSTRECOVERY hosting two virtual servers. Server 2016 which is a domain controller and Server 2016 SQL a domain member SQL server....
How to Move Edge Favourites to another computer or profile
Edge has been out for a while now which means eventually you need to move a users Edge favourites to another profile or computer. Its not like the good old days where you simply copied the Favourites folder from the users profile.. oh no.. First close down Edge. Locate the following folder on the source profile ...
MaxBackup selection size displaying incorrectly on a mac
Had an interesting issue this week which had me stumped for a while. I was trying to backup a Mac using MaxBackup and the selection size kept showing more data than was available on the local hard drive. The local disk was only 70gb but when selecting everything to be backed up it was showing 2.8tb, where were these extra files coming from? The answer and fix is pretty straight forward and its due to the mac having one or more...
LOGICnow Take Control – Installation Failed
We use LOGICnow’s RMM tool along with its built in Take Control functionality its an integral part of how we support our clients. We had a few issues this week where several servers decided to report their Take Control installation had failed. Funny that, because its been working fine on those servers so its must have been an update which triggered the failure. If you have a similar issue then follow this handy checklist to get...
Guest Post for LOGICnow
Hi Everyone, LOGICnow have posted one of my guest blog posts! If you use their Max Backup service take a look: https://www.logicnow.com/blog/understanding-bandwidth-throttling-backup
SolarWinds Max Backup Bare Metal Recovery Step by Step
If your new to Max Backup or just haven’t been in a situation where you have had to do a bare metal recovery then its time to have a go. In this lab I’m going to try and recover one of our physical servers running on HP hardware to a Virtual Machine on a Hyper-V host. Not really what its meant for but it works and is a good way to experiment and learn the process. Why would we want to do this? Maybe you manage your...
Using LOGICnow’s Max Backup service with Azure for offsite disaster recovery
We’ve been using LOGICnow’s Max Backup service for a while now to provide cloud backup and business continuity to our clients. Recently we’ve been playing with Azure to provide a DR solution that can be turned on within a few minutes without the expense of having hardware laying around doing nothing. This can be done using windows backup and the Azure backup services but if you need offsite hot standby servers and a...
Are you ready for a Microsoft software audit?
If you have ever purchased software via volume licensing then your organisation or clients are on Microsoft’s radar and the software police will eventually come knocking. The chances are you have already gone through this process but if not listen up because you will and there is no escape! I’ve gone through these Software Asset Management (SAM) reviews a few times now with various clients. Most of the time everything is...
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