Discover FSMO Roles Using PowerShell

Working with a rather confusing AD setup recently and trying to remove a dead domain controller I needed a quick way to identify which machines had the FSMO roles.

Just run the following commands:

Get-ADForest  | Format-Table SchemaMaster,DomainNamingMaster

Get-ADDomain | Format-Table PDCEmulator,RIDMaster,InfrastructureMaster

This gives a nice quick output as to where the roles reside and allows you to capture them as needed.

If you want to manage the roles with PS the command to move the roles is Move-ADDirectoryServerOperationMasterRole and it can be used in a variety of ways.

To transfer all 5 of the FSMO roles simply run the following command in PowerShell:

Move-ADDirectoryServerOperationMasterRole -Identity “Target_DC_name” –OperationMasterRole PDCEmulator,RIDMaster,InfrastructureMaster,SchemaMaster,DomainNamingMaster

To shorten the command line syntax you can use role numbers in place of the role names.  The following list details the role number for each of the five FSMO roles.

• PDC Emulator – 0
• RID Master – 1
• Infrastructure Master – 2
• Schema Master – 3
• Domain Naming Master – 4

So if you wanted to transfer all 5 FSMO roles using numbers instead you would run the following command in PowerShell:

Move-ADDirectoryServerOperationMasterRole -Identity “Target_DC_Name” –OperationMasterRole 0,1,2,3,4

Now in my case since the DC was gone permanently I had to seize the roles using the –Force parameter.  This is the PowerShell command I ran to seize the roles:

Move-ADDirectoryServerOperationMasterRole -Identity “Target_DC_name” –OperationMasterRole PDCEmulator,RIDMaster,InfrastructureMaster,SchemaMaster,DomainNamingMaster -Force

Of course I could have used the short version:

Move-ADDirectoryServerOperationMasterRole -Identity “Target_DC_Name” –OperationMasterRole 0,1,2,3,4 -force

If you are just transferring or seizing a single role you will run the same command with just the name(s) or number(s) of the role(s) you want to move.  These commands can be run from any Windows Server 2008 R2 or newer as well as Windows 7 or newer with RSAT tools installed.

This is a little better than running all over the AD tools to get everything moved over.

Good luck.

How to Show Thumbnail instead of Icon - Windows 8 or 8.1

This one is a quick fix.  Many people I've worked with so far hate how they don't see the thumbnails for their pictures any longer.  Here's the fast fix.

1. Open "This PC"
2. Click VIEW and which brings up the ribbon.
3. On the far right click OPTIONS and select "Change Folder and Search Options"
4. Click the VIEW tab.
5. Uncheck the "Always show icons, never thumbnails" box.

Once you Apply this change you'll see all of your pictures begin to change back to thumbnails like they have been in previous versions of Windows.

I'm not sure why they opted to make this change but this will fix it.

Good luck.

Resetting Officescan 10.X Console Password

I had a customer that was locked out of their console.  The previous IT employee had made no records that could be found of the password and shy of rebuilding the server install from scratch things were looking dim.

I found some information on the web about how to "hack" the root password for the console and get in.  To my surprise this one actually works.  No editing of the .ini files or any other things you'll see at the top of the Google list actually worked for me.  This does and here's how you do it:

1. MAKE A BACKUP OF C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\Officescan\PCCSRV\Private\AuthorStore\TrendAuthDef.xml - this is just in case this process fails.  You need a way to recover.

2. Open the C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\Officescan\PCCSRV\Private\AuthorStore\TrendAuthDef.xml file in edition.

3. Replace the Root password information at the bottom of the file as shown below:

Pwd=”!CRYPT!523F7DC2E525044E2800FCDEA7E5D78B70C0A4165387060525E3EE66D5D2D2F460EA361E712B5F871FD473C7A6C"

**Note: Replace only the portion for the root. If there are other accounts showing do not delete or change them in any way.

4. Restart the OfficeScan Master Service.

5. Log in as root and use “trendmicro” as the password.

6. Change the root password to something more secure by going to Administration -> User Accounts.

This should take no longer than a few minutes. 

Good luck! 

iTunes64.msi Missing During Install/Upgrade of iTunes

I've bumped up against this one a couple of times but being as I don't update iTunes often I had forgotten the fix.  To help you out and of course so I can reference this later here's the fast way to get around this that actually works.

1. Download iTunes64setup.exe from Apple.
2. Extract the exe using a program such as WinRAR.
3. Run the installer.  Once it stops and asks where iTunes64.msi is simply point it there and the install will continue and complete.

Now one more thing...

I have seen even this not work.  If that's the case simply run the new iTunes64.msi from inside the folder you extracted and it will bypass the need to look for itself and will install over and upgrade your existing iTunes install with no loss of information.

Hope this helps out.  It sure saves a lot of time messing with Microsoft Fix-it (doesn't work) or doing registry edits (doesn't work).

Exchange 2010 Error: A reboot from a previous installation is pending.

If you are seeing this error while trying to apply an Exchange SP or RU and you have restarted here's a quick fix for it:

**MAKE SURE YOU RESTART FIRST JUST TO MAKE SURE IT IS NOT CLEARING**

Delete the  below key from the registry:
 HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\PendingFileRenameOperations

After this you will be able to continue your service pack install.

Good luck.