Change from IDE to AHCI mode in Windows 7

If you already have Windows 7 installed and choose to upgrade to a new SSD then you will definetly want to take advantage of the benefits that AHCI has to offer.

Once you change it in your BIOS from IDE to AHCI on the drive controller you have probably found that Windows 7 will blue screen and will not load.  This is because any drivers that are not needed are not activated in Windows 7.

To give an example of the performance difference take a look at this photo.  This was taken when my drive was set to IDE.

Now take a look once it was changed over to AHCI.  MASSIVE performance difference.

To make this change yourself, enable the AHCI driver in the registry before you change the SATA mode of the boot drive. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Exit all Windows-based programs.

1. Click Start, type regedit in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.

1. If you receive the User Account Control dialog box, click Continue.

1. Locate and then click one of the following registry subkeys:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Msahci
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\IastorV

1. In the pane on the right side, right-click Start in the Name column, and then click Modify.

1. In the Value data box, type 0, and then click OK.

1. On the File menu, click Exit to close Registry Editor.

Microsoft also has a FIX-IT you can run to do the same thing if you're uneasy with making changes to the registry.

As always make sure you have good backups before you begin.

Good luck.

Show Hidden Network Devices in Windows Server

This happens all too often when I'm working on servers that have been through P2V or had their network adapters changed for some reason.  To work around this behavior and display devices when you click Show hidden devices:

1. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Command Prompt.
2. At a command prompt, type the following command , and then press ENTER:
   set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1
3. Type the following command a command prompt, and then press ENTER:
   start devmgmt.msc
4. Troubleshoot the devices and drivers in Device Manager.
   
   NOTE: Click Show hidden devices on the View menu in Device Managers before you can see devices that are not connected to the computer.
5. When you finish troubleshooting, close Device Manager.
6. Type exit at the command prompt.

Remove DELL custom login colors on Server 2003

I was doing work on a P2V setup for a customer just last week and every time I tried to login to one of the SBS 2003 servers I got this high resolution wallpaper with a DELL server on it and the login boxes were black.  Needless to say this was very annoying.  I did a bit of research on the web and here's how I fixed it all.

1. Removed the login wallpaper by renaming the DELL wallpaper name in %systemroot%\system32 folder.
2. Made some quick registry edits listed below to restore all of the colors on the system so I could see what I was typing and get rid of that black box problem.

**NOTE:  I recommend you copy and paste the following into a text file.  Then rename it logoncolorfix.reg and merge it into the registry that way.  It saves a lot of typing.  Make sure you including the Windows Registry Editor line.**

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Colors]
"ActiveBorder"="212 208 200"
"ActiveTitle"="10 36 106"
"AppWorkSpace"="128 128 128"
"Background"="102 111 116"
"ButtonAlternateFace"="181 181 181"
"ButtonDkShadow"="64 64 64"
"ButtonFace"="212 208 200"
"ButtonHilight"="255 255 255"
"ButtonLight"="212 208 200"
"ButtonShadow"="128 128 128"
"ButtonText"="0 0 0"
"GradientActiveTitle"="166 202 240"
"GradientInactiveTitle"="192 192 192"
"GrayText"="128 128 128"
"Hilight"="10 36 106"
"HilightText"="255 255 255"
"HotTrackingColor"="0 0 128"
"InactiveBorder"="212 208 200"
"InactiveTitle"="128 128 128"
"InactiveTitleText"="212 208 200"
"InfoText"="0 0 0"
"InfoWindow"="255 255 225"
"Menu"="212 208 200"
"MenuText"="0 0 0"
"Scrollbar"="212 208 200"
"TitleText"="255 255 255"
"Window"="255 255 255"
"WindowFrame"="0 0 0"
"WindowText"="0 0 0"

Once this is done, restart your server and the next time you login you will see that the high resolution wallpaper is gone and the login boxes are restored to their normal colors.

SBS 2011 Exchange 2010 SP2 installation fails - certificate not found error

Tonight I was installing Server Pack 2 on SBS 2011.  Here's the error I got:

Hub Transport Role
Failed

Error:
The following error was generated when "$error.Clear();
         
Write-ExchangeSetupLog -Info "Creating SBS certificate";

$thumbprint = [Microsoft.Win32.Registry]::GetValue("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\SmallBusinessServer\Networking", "LeafCertThumbPrint", $null);
          if (![System.String]::IsNullOrEmpty($thumbprint)){
            Write-ExchangeSetupLog -Info "Enabling certificate with thumbprint: $thumbprint for SMTP service";
            Enable-ExchangeCertificate -Thumbprint $thumbprint -Services SMTP;
            Write-ExchangeSetupLog -Info "Removing default Exchange Certificate";
            Get-ExchangeCertificate | where {$_.FriendlyName.ToString() -eq "Microsoft Exchange"} | Remove-ExchangeCertificate;
            Write-ExchangeSetupLog -Info "Checking if default Exchange Certificate is removed";
            $certs = Get-ExchangeCertificate | where {$_.FriendlyName.ToString() -eq "Microsoft Exchange"};
            if ($certs)
{
              Write-ExchangeSetupLog -Error "Failed to remove existing exchange certificate"
            }
            }
            else{
            Write-ExchangeSetupLog -Warning "Cannot find the SBS certificate";
          }
           " was run: "The certificate with thumbprint EC6C8334CEB1F6A5A3802E3927BCADE008ACD07A was not found.".

The certificate with thumbprint EC6C8334CEB1F6A5A3802E3927BCADE008ACD07A was not found.
Click here for help... http://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/library/ms.exch.err.default(EXCHG.141).aspx?v=14.2.247.1&e=ms.exch.err.Ex88D115&l=0&cl=cp

The default self-signed certificate generated for Exchange by the Small Business Server setup has been deleted / replaced by a 3rd party certificate, but registry still contains the registry value referencing it. 

I fixed it by opening REGEDIT and edited the following:
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/SmallBusinesServer/Networking/LeafCertThumbprint and clear the value value under it. (The value, not the key. The key itself should not be deleted) 

Restart service pack installation.

"Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file" error when you try to install, update or start a program or file

If you are getting this error, most of the time I find this to be the fix:

Check to see if the file has been blocked by Windows

In some cases the file may be blocked by Windows. Check the properties of the file, there may be a note saying This file came from another computer and might be blocked to help protect this computer To check for and unblock the file, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the blocked file and then click Properties.
2. In the General tab, click Unblock if the option is available. 
3. Attempt to open the file or program.