Fix a crashing print spooler service.

The other day I was battling with a continuously crashing print spooler service. It seemed like every two minutes the service would stop and start again. Trying to diagnose the cause of this problem can be very frustrating, because MANY things can cause behavior like this. One of the first things I looked at was recently installed software. If you can make a correlation between new software (including Windows “patches”) and your crashing service problem, more than likely it is an issue with the newly installed software.

Unfortunatley, that wasn’t the case for me. I reviewed the event logs and it looked like it basically started “out-of-the blue”. I did a little searching and came across the idea that it might be a corrupt printer driver.

To apply the fix, I took the printer driver out of the equation. To do this, simply navigate to the following directory:
c:\windows\system32\spool\drivers\w32×86

You must either change the name or move the w32×86 directory and reboot your machine. (Don’t worry a new directory will be created.)

Once you have accomplished this and all seems to be well with your machine, you may have to re-add your printers and/or printer drivers.

This little trick fixed my printer problem, hopefully it will fix yours!

IIS Won’t Start - The format of the network name is invalid.

The format of the network name is invalid.
If you see this error, make sure your server is actively listening on a bound ip address.

In a command prompt type the following:
httpcfg query iplisten
This will show you the IP addresses listening on port 80.

Note: If you receive an error that says, ‘httpcfg’ is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file., then you will need to download the library. You can do so from here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=49AE8576-9BB9-4126-9761-BA8011FABF38&displaylang=en

If your query comes up blank, simply type the following command:
httpcfg set iplisten -i ipaddress
Where the IP address is the one you want to listen on.
(You may need to reboot before these changes take effect.)

Finally you can start up IIS again with the following command:
iisreset

Enjoy!

Free up space on SBS system partition

Here is my standard list of what can be moved from the system partition of
an SBS server:

Moving Data Folders for Windows Small Business Server 2003

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/sbs/2003/maintain/movedata.mspx

How to move Exchange databases and logs in Exchange Server 2003

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/821915

How to Move Small Business Server 2000 Company and Users Shared Folders

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;329640

How to Move the Client Programs Folder to Another Location in Windows Small
Business Server 2003

http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb;en-us;830254

How to Move the Windows Default Paging File and Print Spooler to a Different
Hard Disk

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/314105

Also:

Look at where the ISA logs are kept

You can move the C:\windows\uninstall$ folders off your systemroot, but you
may want to keep them in case you have to move them back.

Remove any folders or files under the c:\documents and settings\user
name\local settings\temp folders.

If Monitoring is enabled it can create a file that could be large. Run
through the wizard again to flush out the gooey stuff..

Delete logs older than “date of your choice” from the system32 folder.
Likewise the logs and reports from the ISA folder.

Search for and delete old dmp files.

You can move the page file to another partition. The only downside is that
if you get a “blue screen” you will not get a full memory dump, and since
only MS can read them anyway, I don’t see that it matters much.

You may gain some usable space and increase system performance in Windows
Server 2003 by moving the printer spool files to a different drive than the
one that holds the operating system. Note that this should be a different
spindle, but a different partition will help the OS a bit also.

By default, Windows Server 2003 places the printer spool folder at
%systemroot%\System32\Spool\Printers. However, you can potentially increase
system performance by moving the printer spool files to a different drive
than the one that holds the operating system.

Computers frequently access system files, so moving the printer files to a
different location allows faster access to those files. The drive won’t have
to try to service requests simultaneously.

To change the location for the printer spooler files, follow these steps:

1. Go to Start | Printers And Faxes.

2. From the File menu, select Server Properties.

3. On the Advanced tab, enter the location where you would like to spool
print jobs. If the location doesn’t exist, this process will create it for
you. Make sure the new location has sufficient disk space to handle large
print jobs.

4. Stop and restart the printer spooler service, or reboot the server.

Enjoy

Rethinking Storage Protocols

Here’s a doc I found presented at vmworld where a vender did a white paper to compare the performance of the 3 storage solutions. The test lab was 2 ESX hosts running 8 guests each. Fibre channel won on speed (and is not vunerable to the network like the other two), but the ip based protocols were not far behind. In this test, iscsi and nfs are roughly equivalent, but I think the test setup had an impact on that (the small number of ESX hosts and guests used). Here are a few quotes I’ve found from other sites as well:

http://www.vi411.org/2006/10/10/nasnfs-vs-iscsi-for-esx.html

“With a single VM and/or connection, iSCSI outperforms NFS anywhere from 10-50%. However, as the number of VMs per server increase, NFS gradually catches up then exceeds iSCSI performance at about 15 virtual machines per server. There are a few reasons, mainly in how NFS locks files compared to iSCSI and also that from the client-side of things, NFS uses much less CPU than iSCSI. There are other advantages of NFS as well - by default VMDK files on NFS are formatted as sparse volumes allowing for thin provisioning. Also, being normal file shares, they are much easier to manage and backup.”

http://blog.scottlowe.org/2007/09/21/nfs-for-vmware-storage/

“FC is always faster with 1 or 2 ESX hosts…however the more ESX host you add the faster NFS performs. This is because of FC SCSI reservations in ESX. Ideally only one host can read or write to a LUN at a time with FCP. With NFS this is not a limitation. Hence the more hosts, the better performance on NFS then presenting a number of LUNs to several hosts on FC….”

So looks like in everybody’s opinion, scsi reservations are the major factor in the performance debate. With TOE and/or hardware initiators the CPU usage of ISCSI can be brought down to a NFS comparable level probably. And finally NFS is just more familiar and manageable to people than ISCSI.

NetApp_Whitepaper

Outlook 2003 drops connection to Exchange in Vista

If you have recently upgraded to Windows Vista but still like your old Office version 2003, you may have run into a problem with your Outlook dropping its connection. (i.e. searching through public folders, shared calendars)

To fix this issue and maintain your connection you will need to adjust the security settings for your Exchange account.

1. Go to tools > Email Accounts


2. View or Change existing email accounts


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Highlight your Microsoft Exchange account and select Change.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Click, More Settings


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5.Click on the Security Tab and check Encrypt data between Microsoft Office Outlook and Microsoft Exchange Server.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6.Click OK > Next > and Finish to exit and save changes from the Wizard.

Your connection to Exchange should be maintained and access to public folders and shared objects should be restored.

Windows won’t update after performing a Repair Install

So, you read my previous post about how to repair your windows installation, everything went well but now you can’t install Windows updates anymore. Luckily your problem has a fix. Here’s what to do…

You need to register Wups2.dll in Windows.

1. Stop the Automatic Updates service. To do this, follow these steps:
a. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.
b. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
net stop wuauserv

2. Register the Wups2.dll file. To do this, follow these steps:
a. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
regsvr32 %windir%\system32\wups2.dll
Note For a computer that is running Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
regsvr32 %windir%\syswow64\wups2.dll
b. Click OK on each verification message that you receive.

3. Start the Automatic Updates service. To do this, type the following command at the command prompt, and then press ENTER:
net start wuauserv

4. Exit the command prompt. To do this type exit, and then press ENTER.

 

You can find all scenarios and solutions in the following KB article by Microsoft, http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=943144.

Make sure your static IP’s don’t come with baggage!

Thinking about getting a static IP for your small business (or over-the-top home network)? Then you may first want to see if the IP’s your ISP is offering come with any baggage. I recently had the pleasure of helping one of my clients rid his shiny new IP’s of blacklists. If you are unfamiliar, a wise IT admin once said, “…blacklists make email not work”.

 

He was referring to the fact that once an IP has been tagged as a source of spam, your popularity on email server blacklists will soon follow. There are quite a few good (and not so good) websites that offer RBLs or Real Time Block Lists for exchange servers. You will usually see small and mid-size companies that have one or two exchange servers use these free lists. Bigger corporations and even ISPs use their own form of blacklisting, but trust me, they all work the same. If your IP is on a blacklist it makes it nearly impossible to send email to most domains these days. The only way to erase the damage from the previous owner is to beg for forgiveness.

 

Is my IP associated with a block list?
Here is how to check: go to this site and enter your IP address. You will be given a list of well known RBL providers and green or red light indicating your squeaky clean, or muddy past.
If all is well on this site the biggest part is over. You may still be receiving NDR’s from other domains though. You will need to deal directly with those domains to correct the problem. Usually a link to an online application for removal will be provided in the NDR. If a link is not provided you will need to contact the webmaster or IT admin on record. All domains are required to have such records, so you can check a WhoIs database.

 

Doing a little research before your purchase can save you a lot of time and headache later. If you do get blacklisted, follow the above steps to help yourself get back on track.

 

Test Your Phishing IQ

Think you’re good at filtering bad email? Are you certain you won’t be duped into giving away valuable information?
You may want to come down from your pedestal, because spammers and phishing scams are becoming increasingly sophisticated.

 

If you are unsure of what a phishing scam is, it is basically an attempt made by a scammer to exploit human curiosity/carelessness for personal gain.
Most phishing scams require some type of “bait” (i.e. email) to lure the victim to a hostile internet site, typically acting as a legitimate site. Once there, the scam will commence by asking for personal information, usually financial in nature. It is amazing how real the bait emails appear to be and how convincing the scammers are when asking for personal information. Sharpen your skills by taking the Sonicwall Phishing IQ test. This online exam has 10 real-world examples of email phishing, after the exam you will be scored and given reasons to missed questions.

 

Give it a try HERE.

 

We at ITSupportJournal scored a 9 out of 10, which in the world of scams = a ZERO!

 

 

Let us know how you did by commenting to this post.

Opening Lotus Worksheets (.wk1) in Excel 2003 SP3

If you have recently applied the service pack 3 patch sent out by Microsoft, then you may not be able to open Lotus worksheets that were previously accessible. Service pack 3 introduced a restriction on opening these file types without creating a setting for it in the registry. If you try to open a .wk1 file extension you may have received the following error message:

 

You are attempting to open a file type that is blocked by your registry policy setting.

 

The fix for this is simple. (but shouldn’t be necessary! -Microsoft-)
1. Click Start > Run and Type Regedit > Press Enter
2. Navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Excel\Security\FileOpenBlock
3. If FileOpenBlock does not exists you will need to create it by highlighting the Security subkey and on the Edit menu, selecting New > Key
4. Type FileOpenBlock and Press Enter
5. Point to New on the Edit menu, and then click DWORD Value.
6. Type the DWORD name that you want to restrict, and then press ENTER. In this case type LotusandQuattroFiles
7. Right-click the DWORD name that you typed in step 6, and then click Modify.
8. In the Value data box, type 0, and then click OK.
9. On the File menu, click Exit to exit Registry Editor.

 

By adding a DWORD value of 0 for the LotusandQuattroFiles name, you are forcing acceptance of those file types in MS Excel. If you want to restrict those file types in the future, simply change the DWORD value to 1.

 

The following table contains the DWORD names that an administrator can add to the registry to restrict certain file types by using the FileOpenBlock subkey. Additionally, the table contains the corresponding file types that are restricted.

 

Create a No-Hassel VPN for Free

Using DynDNS and my previously written article on how to create an XP VPN, you can establish a no-hassel VPN solution for free!

Here’s how:

1. First follow the steps on how to create an XP VPN solution here.
2. Create a free account with dyndns.com and sign-up for their free dynamic dns service.
3. Choose from one of the many domain names and download their free dns updater software.

These three easy steps will give you the power to vpn to your home computer from anywhere in the world, at anytime. Using the dyndns service you don’t have to constantly remember a changing IP address, you just need to remember your free domain name. Being able to map your ever changing ip address with a domain name can unlock many other doors as well.

Such as:

• Hosting your own webserver (website or blog).
• Hosting your own FTP server.
• Using telnet, ssh, and rdp instead of using vpn.

 

These are just a few great benefits of making your home/office computer available and accessible remotely. Not to mention you won’t forget another important file or presentation at home. Ahhh, the joys of technology!

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