I am actually in a bit of shock at this one - I've hit the long file name problem in Windows a few times in the past, but it has never been that much of an issue. A client came to me with a project to move a huge Dropbox repository (Millions of files, about 150,000 folders) to a new server. During this project and moving a few folders, I got the standard Windows long file name problem: I've only…
So, been messing around with SSL certificates trying to renew all your Exchange certificates and you have this as a side effect? Or, you just open Exchange Management Console and get Initialization failed message? For the sake of people Googling: "The following error occurred while attempting to connect to the specified exchange server The attempt to connect to using "kerberos" authentication…
I've recently been buying a lot of Dell hardware for my clients, then performing aftermarket upgrades as it is very cost effective. After installing a new SSD and reinstalling Windows, it reports as not activated. To fix this, run the following command: wmic path SoftwareLicensingService get OA3xOriginalProductKey It outputs the key straight away, and you can copy/paste this to the regular…
After many months of Office 2016 being available on Office 365 to some customers, it was finally added to mine and I finally upgraded around 2 months ago. With a single exception being a really nice feature in Outlook where the attach file button shows the most recently edited files, I have yet to see any killer feature or improvement in day to day usage. To start, my start menu keeps losing…
Have you been pulling your hair out for the past few hours (or days?) and not found anything online that can help? Yep... Same here - been driving me mad! I've checked, double checked, triple checked all username and passwords which are all correct, but every migration comes up with the same error: "Error: MigrationPermanentException: We had trouble signing in to this account. Please confirm that…
It's been over a year since my last blog post :( Where has the time gone - and wow, what a year! There has been some very big changes which I'm sure I'll be blogging about later! I just want to say a big thank you to all my friends and ex-coworkers for the support you continue to give. That you to the people who have been answering comments left by others, and sorry for all the spam here :( I…
I went through hours of trying to fix this, without finding anything on Google... I hope this gets rated high on the search results for the terms :0x800b0101 (-2146762495) The short story is simply, don't try to renew an already expired certificate - just issue a new one in the same name. You can only renew non-expired certificates, otherwise you get the message: “Error Verifying Request Signature…
A lot of users at my company appear to be continually asked for their user name and password credentials when trying to retrieve emails (From Exchange) on their iPhones since updating to version 7.1.1 It looks like Apple have somehow screwed something up again! A three point solution that seems to have fixed the vast majority of these cases within the company: 1) Delete the email account 2) Hold…
-------- ***Update at the bottom*** -------- After searching for ages, I came up with only complaints online and couldn't actually find a solution... So I thought I would make one! Remember the days of Windows XP where you could upgrade in so many ways? Windows Update, Slipstream, IT Pro Deployment pack... I really miss how easy Microsoft used to make things! If you have a volume license edition…
Every time I look at my blog, it pains me that it has been so long since my last post. I wanted to post about my new job... but I have now been working there for over 2 years and it is taking all my time! We are just starting 2014 and I have so much to vent! .... If in 2015 I read that this was my last blog post, I'm going to be angry with myself, so, I'm going to write something else straight…
If you have a DRAC / Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller 6 - Enterprise and are unable to set up alerts via Google Chrome, I have noticed a little bug where the menu simply states "ok" instead of going to the correct page. The easiest solution is simply to use Internet Explorer, however, I recommend you attempt to upgrade the DRAC to the latest version available, this is a painless process…
Someone in the office came to me with a problem today, saying that every time they tried to send an email, the following message is displayed: unable to sign or encrypt message certificate not installed It turns out that, for some reason, the option to sign outgoing messages had been turned on by accident - without any client certificate installed for this feature to actually work. To fix it -…
First blog post in a while! I have hardly had any free time... Will blog about it soon! Anyway, I have needed to generate a 400 error on a server in order to test something - I tried a few things without success and then I discovered that the easiest way to generate a 400 error from a client is simply to add a percentage symbol (%) to the request. For example, http://mysite.com/% should generate a…
I had a client today who's Outlook always opens a second mailbox of someone that they have delegated access over. However, they no longer need it and it was being a pain to remove - no matter what option I tried, it just wouldn't go! Trying to "Close" the mailbox results in the error "This group of folders is associated with an e-mail account. To remove the account, click the File Tab, and on the…
Whilst there are many tools that can change Windows account passwords, I personally like to do it manually as it doesn't take very long. This trick will not work if you have Bitlocker full disk encyption - and, if you have EFS (Encrypting File System), your keys will become lost (as with any password resetting method). Firstly, you need access to your hard drive - this can be from anywhere that…
If you want to enable the classic Start Menu on Windows 8, there is a simple registry switch you can use. It is located at "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer" Simply change the "RPEnabled" entry from "1" to "0" Changing this key changes a lot - it seems to put it back to a "Microsoft Internal" state displaying the following warnings on Winver and the desktop:…
I originally wanted one blog post, but, it turns out that I had more to say than I thought, so, I am doing this as a two parter! Click here to read My take on Google Apps Vs Office 365 . I first heard about Office 365 at a Microsoft partner briefing towards the end of last year, I have been wanting to sign a customer up to it for a while, but, I was simply not willing to do it whilst it was in…
I am writing this entry as an IT pro who has a few clients on Google Apps now for several months, and has recently switched one client to Office 365. Rather than make this even longer than it is going to be, I will be writing about the partner experience in a separate post. I believe Google Docs is a nice tool - if you are creating a basic document in it and want to share it with other Google Docs…
I have now switched 4 clients over to Google Apps for Domains and they have all noticed various speed issues from time to time. The most common is Google Mail hanging or not responding when doing various operations such as deleting or sending email. I have tried to contact Google several times and have been getting no where, and searching the internet has come up pretty blank. Anyway, straight to…
I really have no idea why I am blogging this! As a geek, I have so many whiteboards around me - they come in so handy! As many people know, if you leave the ink on for a while, it is possible for it to dry out and require a lot of elbow grease in order remove. Instead, a little hint - just get out your dry wipe pen and go over the top of the text! This techniques add another layer of the chemical…
I don't know why Adobe are forcing everyone to now download using the new "Adobe Download Assistant", however, I hate it. I have tried it on multiple computers and I have not yet managed to get a full complete download - my results have varied from downloads not even starting to getting stuck on ~20%. The only reason I think they have used this is to try and "show off" or demonstrate their Air…
Today (5th June 2011), I went for a family meal at The Cattle Grid in Balham... My brother had Wagyu beef which was really a shock to see on the menu and cheaper than the steak he usually gets at Chez Gerard! - I wasn't feeling all that hungry (and have been cutting down again!) so just went for their weekend set menu - which included a steak (unknown cut... Guessing rump), two eggs and chips...…
Super Injunctions Well I would tell you if I could! Ok, I can! Super Injunctions are a subject that I just can not understand and whilst I do not have a law qualification, I believe from everything I do know that they are incompatible with UK law. The fact is, under UK law, you need to knowingly commit a crime, a good write up is here - this was the big basis of the trial I sat whilst on Jury…
I originally started this blog as a place to write interesting things and also... an outlet of anger - somewhere to write my rants and reflect on them in years time and laugh! It didn't exactly turn out the way I planned, but, I decided to start a weekly post that I was going to originally call "Things that pi$$ed me off this week", but instead, I am calling it "Things that annoyed me". Starting a…
If you are having problems with Tamper Data working in Firefox 4, it is a simple problem that you will kick yourself over! Simply press "Alt" once to bring up the menu bar, then go to the "Tools" menu and you should see "Tamper Data" listed.