The other day I was trying to access the c$ share on a Windows XP Pro desktop from my Windows 7 workstation in a workgroup environment (not a Active Directory Domain).. and kept getting Access Denied when i knew the username and password was right.. was trying using “administrator” and “computername\administrator” as usernames still nothing.. Confirmed it working with a different Windows XP computer.. So I knew it was something to do with the Windows 7 PC..

So I spent a few days fighting with this one.. doing everything from changing workgroups on both computers to adding accounts to both computers to making countless fix’s in the registry and local security policy’s on both computers.. I even ran system updates.. then finely on like page 30 of like my 20th search on google for an answer on this one I found it.. and it was so simple!

So here it is..

On the Windows XP computer do the following..

- Start the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) Local Security Policy snap-in (Start, Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Local Security Policy).
- Expand the Local Policies branch.
- Select Security Options.
- Double-click “Network access: Sharing and security model for local accounts.”
- Select “Classic-Local users authenticate as themselves”, and click OK.
- Close the snap-in.
- Reboot the system for the change to take effect.

On Windows 7
*if* you have already tried accessing the Windows XP computer before applying above fix you should reboot the Windows 7 PC to avoid issues.. otherwise if you rebooted recently and haven’t tried accessing the Windows XP computer.. Wait for it to finish booting back up and access it just like you been use to doing it with windows 2000 and xp for years.

I have confirmed this working on 3 different networks. Just to make sure all the other random registry and Local policy changes i made trying to get things working were not needed..

I have also learned this fixed remote admin functions.. I was playing with DameWare NT Utilities on the network (from my Windows 7 workstation) and noticed i was having similar issues with it on Windows XP computers.. When I applied the above fix to each Windows XP computer. Like magic everything started working in DameWare!

I was setting up a WSUS server for the first time the other day and was trying to trouble shoot a issue with a PC that didn’t seam to be registering with the WSUS server.. Found the following command to be useful.

[code]
wuauclt.exe /resetauthorization /detectnow
[/code]

There is a log you can skim through to check for error messages and such located at
c:\windows\windowsupdate.log

So I was working on a clients server today (Windows Server 2003 SBS) that was very low on diskspace on the C:\ .. 634MB actually..

Was sorting through all the folders to figure out where the space was.. To my supprise 4GB of disk usage was in C:\Documents and Settings\[USERNAME]\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5 which as anyone who works with computers knows is where friking IE caches websites and downloads. So the quick fix for this is to delete the contents of the folder.. but this is kinda a pain to manualy go into these folders and clear them out for 15 users and even harder if you do it the long way and login each one a click "Delete files" in IE for each account..

So I found this nice little script online someone made and though I would share it.. Credits to whoever wrote it.. Save the code in notepad as cleanup.vbs and then run it.

[Code]

On Error Resume Next
Const HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE = &H80000002
strComputer = "."

Set objRegistry=GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & _
strComputer & "\root\default:StdRegProv")
Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

strKeyPath = "SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList"
objRegistry.EnumKey HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, strKeyPath, arrSubkeys

For Each objSubkey In arrSubkeys
strValueName = "ProfileImagePath"
strSubPath = strKeyPath & "\" & objSubkey
objRegistry.GetExpandedStringValue HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, strSubPath, strValueName, strValue
Dim Fol:Fol = strValue & "\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5"
If objFSO.FolderExists(Fol) Then
Set f = objFSO.GetFolder(Fol)
Set fc = f.SubFolders
For Each f1 in fc
f1.delete
Next
End If
Next

[/Code]

So this is an old yet common issue I ran into today at work.
Walked in to work this morning and before I even got to mydesk my phone started ringing, A client called in saying their computer wont do anything and when I asked them what was on the screen they said it was a Blue screen that said "Unmountable Boot Volume"

Official Microsoft KB artical on this is KB 555302

Cause:
1.The file system is damaged and cannot be mounted.
2.You use a standard 40-wire connector cable to connect the UDMA drive to the controller instead of the required 80-wire, 40-pin cable.
3.The basic input/output system (BIOS) settings are configured to force the faster UDMA modes.

Fix:
If it be the connector cable problem then replace the 40-wire cable with an 80-wire UDMA cable.
If it’s a BIOS settings problem then load the ‘Fail-Safe’ default settings, and then reactivate the most frequently used options such as USB Support.

If it’s a damaged file system case then:-
1.Insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive, and then restart the computer.
Click to select any options that are required to start the computer from the CD-ROM drive if you are prompted.
2.When the “Welcome to Setup” screen appears, press R to start the Recovery Console.
3.If you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot computer, select the installation that you must access from the Recovery Console.
4.When you are prompted, type the Administrator password. If the administrator password is blank, just press ENTER.
5.At the command prompt, type chkdsk /r , and then press ENTER.
6.At the command prompt, type exit , and then press ENTER to restart your computer.
This takes a bit longer, but the system should boot back into Windows.

If it still happens try hitting F8 and a screen should pop up before loading Windows giving you the option to select Last Known Good Configuration select it and hit Enter..

This should resolve your issue in most scenarios..

If the above process fails to restore the system then in the number#5 step use fixboot command instead of the chkdsk /r command.

If this doesn’t work you should check the cabling or consider Reformatting.
If this Issue Persists after Reformatting run tests on the Memory and Hard Drive.