Author: Tarek

Introduction With Windows Vista, Microsoft introduced a new feature called User Account Control (UAC). UAC helps prevent potentially harmful programs from making changes to your computer. Unfortunately, it was one of the most annoying features in Windows Vista as it was continuously showing its dialog box asking for user’s permission to accept the changes and continue or cancel it…. this led many people to turn off this feature the moment they touch a Vista machine. However, With Windows 7, Microsoft did hear to us, the customers, and changed the way User Account Control works, but keeping in mind enhanced security…

Introduction In this article, I will be showing you two different methods for creating a password for an already created user account in Windows 7. The first is through the use of the control panel applet, whereas the second method is by using the computer management console. You will use this password the next time you boot your machine and wants to logon to your user account, or when you lock your user account and wants to logon again later. While installing Windows 7, one of the steps is to a username and then you are given an option to…

Introduction Most people are running their Active Directory Domains now on Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2003 R2, and want to upgrade their domain controllers to Windows Server 2008 to benefit from the new features that Windows 2008 AD offers. In a previous article, I have shown you how to perform an In-Place Upgrade from W2K3 DC to Windows Server 2008 , in today’s article, I will be showing how to migrate your Active Directory Domain Controller from Windows Server 2003 to Windows Server 2008 on a new hardware server. In my lab, I have the following: In a…

Introduction This is a must to read article for any system administrator who administers Microsoft Windows Servers. One of any system administrator duties, would be to upgrade a current domain controller to a new hardware server. One of the crucial steps required to successfully migrate your domain controller, is to be able to successfully transfer the FSMO roles to the new hardware server. FSMO stands for Flexible Single Master Operations, and in a forest there are at least five roles. In this article, I will be showing you how to transfer the FSMO in Windows Server 2008, and in my…

Introduction A system image is a copy of the drive required for Windows to run. It can also include additional drives. A system image can be used to restore your computer if your hard drive or computer ever stops working. Usually, when we need to create a system image to back up our hard disk or the OS drive/partition, we used to purchase 3rd party application to accomplish this important task, two of the most well known products in the market these days are Norton Ghost and Acronis True Image. How about if you can do this for free with…

Introduction Every forest requires at least one Global Catalog server, that’s why by default When you create a Windows Server Active Directory Forest, the first domain controller in the forest is automatically configured to be a Global Catalog server. The global catalog is a distributed data repository that contains a searchable, partial representation of every object in every domain in a multi-domain Active Directory forest. A global catalog server is a domain controller that, in addition to its full, writable domain directory partition replica, also stores a partial, read-only replica of all other domain directory partitions in the forest. In…

Introduction Once you install Windows 7, you need to activate it before the 30 days trial period expires. Although you can install Windows 7 without providing the product key, and although you can extend the grace period to 120 days as shown to you previously in Extending Windows 7 Activation Period from 30 to 120 Days , you will reach a point where you need to activate your Windows 7 and to verify that your copy of Windows is genuine . In this article, I will show you how simple this process is and the benefits of it. We…

Introduction Two builds for Windows 7 were publicly available for download by Microsoft before it was RTM, Windows 7 Beta ( build 7000) and Windows 7 Release Candidate ( build 7100 ). In a previous article ( In-Place Upgrade From Windows 7 Beta To Windows 7 Release Candidate ) , I have shown you how to perform an in-place upgrade from Windows 7 Beta to Windows Release Candidate. Now that Windows 7 is RTM, I will show you how to upgrade your Beta or RC build of Windows 7 to the RTM build. If you have tried to perform an…

Introduction Forefront Threat Management gateway Beta 3 is feature complete, and planned to be the third and final planned beta, according to the Forefront TMG Team. In this article, I will be installing Forefront TMG Beta 3 using its new enhanced Installation Wizard, showing to you how the new preparation tool makes the installation of TMG Beta 3 much easier than it used to be with previous versions. You can download Forefront Threat Management Gateway Beta 3 from here From the download page, you will notice that Forefront Threat Management Gateway Beta 3 is now available in two versions, Standard and…

Introduction In this article, I will be showing you how we used to change the screen resolution in Windows XP, Windows Vista and how it is easily done now in Windows 7. Note : This article was written when Windows 7 was still in RC build, changes might occur later to the product once it is RTM. When you start working with Windows 7, you will notice that it is created to make our life easier and to accomplish tasks much faster. How about if a simple operation, that previously was taking three steps from you, now takes only two…

Introduction Windows 7 beta has been available since January 2009 and many of us have been running it on our main workstations and laptops that we use daily. We got amazed with the exceptional performance of Windows 7 Beta and its application compatibility. Now that Windows 7 Release Candidate became available for MSDN & TechNet Subscribers on the 30th of April, and publicly available for everyone else on the 5th of May 2009. We expect to upgrade our existing installations of Windows 7 Beta to Windows 7 Release Candidate. Unfortunately, if you tried to do this, your will be faced…

Introduction What would you say if you can have your favorite images displayed as your desktop backgrounds, and that you have the control to set the time that it will take to flip from one picture to another, how about if you can shuffle these pictures in a random order ? Well, all this can be done now without the need to any third party, only with Windows 7. Note : This article was written when Windows 7 was still in BETA 1, changes might occur later to the product once it is RTM. Windows 7 has a new feature…

Introduction Previously, with Windows XP or Windows Vista for example, if you had an ISO or IMG file and wanted to burn it to a CD/DVD, you would need a 3rd party application, such as Nero, in order to be able to burn this image file to the CD/DVD. Now, Windows 7 natively support the ability to burn ISO/IMG images directly within Windows without the need of a 3rd party application. This feature is free and simple to use. In this article, I will be showing you how easy this feature is to use. Note : This article was written…

Introduction In this article I will be showing you how to successfully join Windows 7 to a domain, and then how to log on to the machine with your domain credentials. Note : This article was written when Windows 7 was still in BETA 1, changes might occur later to the product once it is RTM. You will have first to configure your networking settings, so that your machine would be able to properly communicate with your Domain Controller. I have a Domain Controller that is configure to be a DNS Server as well, and has its IP address configured…

Introduction In a previous post, I have told you that Forefront Threat Management Gateway is the future version of Microsoft ISA Server. In this article, I will be installing TMG Beta 2. Before this I will be pinpointing few notes, then showing you the hardware and software prerequisites. Then will install Forefront TMG. I wanted to cover the installation of Forefront TMG Beta 2, because I have seen many administrators are having issues and errors while installing TMG. This is because there are few things that you have to take care before proceeding into installing TMG. To avoid having any…

Introduction Once you install Windows Server 2008, you have a grace period of 60 days to activate it. In this article, I will be showing you how to activate Windows Server 2008 online. Note : Before your begin, make sure your server has an Internet connection Click on Start > then right click on Computer and click on Properties The System basic information page will open. At the bottom of it, under Windows Activation section, the remaining days from the grace period (activation period) is displayed Click on the link XX days to activate. Activate Windows now  (where XX is the remaining days) The Windows Activation page will be…

Update: If you are using Windows Server 2012/2016/2019/2022, please refer to the updated article on enabling wireless network for a Hyper-V virtual machine in Windows Server 2016/2019/2022. Introduction By default, Hyper-V does not have any wireless capability, we simply can not attach a wireless adapter to a Hyper-V child virtual machine ! Imagine yourself in a situation where you need internet connection to your virtual machines, and there is no network cables or switches around you so that you can connect your virtual machine to the network ! or you could be someone like me who uses his…

Introduction In this article I will be showing you how to install Windows 7 from a Memory stick ( USB Flash Memory ), instead of using a DVD. This is very useful, if you do not have any available DVD to install Windows 7, and specifically, that Windows 7 is still in Beta, and over the next few months there will be additional builds for Windows 7, so instead of wasting a lot of DVDs to try out these builds, I will be showing you how to prepare a flash memory ( external USB stick/Hard disk ) to install Windows…

Introduction The Taskbar in Windows 7 is the first thing you will notice as a new feature and as a change from any previous version of Windows operating systems. It has so many cool new features that you will start to like it with the first few moments of using Windows 7. But you might miss the Quick Launch Bar !! Although that you really do not need it with Windows 7, specially that you can have the Quick Launch features with the new task bar in Windows 7 , some people might still need to have it as they…

Introduction In a previous article, Installing Windows 7 From a USB Stick , I have installed Windows 7 without providing any Product Key. If you do not activate the software within the grace period, you will receive persistent notifications reminding you to activate the software, also the desktop background will turn to black, and you will not able to receive optional updates from Windows Update. In this article, I will show you how to extend the activation period to 120 days instead of 30 days. The evaluation period is also known as the “activation grace” period.  Any edition of Windows…

Introduction If you plan to install ISA Server 2006, you know that once the installation is completed, you will have to install Service Pack1 to benefit from the new features available with SP1. How about if you can get SP1 to be integrated into ISA Server 2006 installation files ? so that you can directly install ISA server 2006 + SP1. In this article, I will be showing you how to slip stream ISA Server 2006 with Service Pack 1. I have copied the content of my ISA Server 2006 Standard Edition to the root drive (c:\), inside a folder…

Introduction The stand-alone version of Hyper-V is now available and is called Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008. So now if you want to work with Hyper-V and does not have a copy of Windows Server 2008, then download Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008, which is absolutely free, easy to install and easy to configure. Since day one of introducing Hyper-V with Windows Server 2008, people on the TechNet forums were wondering if a stand alone Hyper-V server would ever be released and how much would it cost. People were very excited for Hyper-V, but not all of them had a hand on…

Introduction In part 1 of this article, I installed Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008. Today I’m going to configure Hyper-V Server 2008 by using the Hyper-V Configuration Window. As shown in part 1 of this article, the desktop of the Hyper-V server contains only two windows; the Command Line window and the Hyper-V Configuration window. If by mistake you closed any of these windows, you can easily re-open anyone of these windows by following the below steps: Opening the Command Line window Click CTRL+ALT+DEL > click on Start Task Manager Click on New Task… Type cmd > click Enter or OK Opening the Hyper-V configuration window In the command line window, type hvconfig and then click Enter…

Introduction You have created your virtual machines previously with Microsoft Virtual PC or MS Virtual Server 2005, and now you want to start working with Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V. You want to move your virtual machines to the new server and start using them with Hyper-V ? Well in this article I’m going to show you the steps required in order to successfully migrate your virtual machines from Virtual PC 2007 to Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V. As you know, a virtual machine consist mainly of two files, a .vmc and a .vhd files. The .vmc file is the configuration file…

If you’re in search of information regarding Windows Server 2016-2022 and how to enable wireless Wi-Fi, refer to the following article: How To Enable Wireless (Wi-Fi) on Windows Server 2016/2019/2022 Introduction You deployed Windows Server 2008 on your server machine, then you installed a Wireless Network Adapter to the machine, and tried to connect to a wireless network through the Wireless NIC but noticed that its status is always Disabled ! Or what about if you have a laptop with Windows Server 2008 installed on it, and you found out that its Wireless Connection is disabled and can not…

Introduction Previously, With ISA Server 2004, I have published an article on How To Determine Which Service Pack is Installed On ISA Server 2004 Well, now that there are multiple major updates for ISA Server 2006, I believe its time to summarize the different ISA Server 2006 version numbers you would get with each major update you apply to it, such as a supportability update or a service pack. Note : An Updated article is published and can found here : ISA 2004, ISA 2006 and TMG Server 2010 Version Numbers In this brief article I will not repeat the…

Introduction These days almost every corporate has different operating systems installed in its Network, such as Windows, Unix /Linux , Macintosh etc.. As an ISA Server administrator, you should know how to configure each of the different operating systems to be able to communicate with ISA Server and which of the different ISA Server clients is supported on each of the different operating systems. In this article, I’m going to show you how to configure Macintosh machines so that they can have Internet access through ISA Server, either as Web Proxy client or SecureNet client. ISA Server has three client…

Introduction Server Core is a whole new version of Windows. It is a Windows operating system without Windows. What do I mean ? it means a Windows without the Windows shell and very limited graphical user interface (GUI) functionality. So does it have a GUI functionality ? The answer is yes, but limited. Server Core interface is a command prompt. In this article, I’m going to install Server Core, then will be showing you the limited GUIs that are available with Server Core. As a Windows Administrator, you should know what Server Core is . Once you understand the…

Introduction If you are one of those ISA Server administrators that perform most of your tasks remotely, and now that ISA Server 2006 SP1 is released, you intend to install it remotely, but you are worried that few services would need to stop and you would be disconnected from the remote desktop session in the middle of the installation process and afraid of not being able to reconnect to ISA Server again. Then the good news is that with SP1 for ISA Server 2006, you can safely install it remotely through RDP session. Before being able to connect to ISA…

Update: If you are using Windows Server 2016/2019/2022, please refer to the updated article on identifying and upgrading Hyper-V virtual machine configuration versions in Windows Server 2016/2019/2022. Also another Article :How To Identify If Hyper-V Virtual Machine is Generation 1 Or Generation 2 Introduction You installed Windows Server 2008, and you intend to Install Hyper-V role, but you are wondering which version of Hyper-V is included with your Windows Server 2008 DVD ? is it the Beta version that is included with the RTM version of Windows Server 2008 ? Or is it the RTM version of Hyper-V? You might…

Introduction In part I of this article, I pointed to you the prerequisites to install Hyper-V, the differences between Hyper-V and Virtual Server 2005 R2, and then installed Hyper-V on Windows Server 2008. In this part of the article, I will use Hyper-V Manager to create my first Virtual machine and then install on it Windows Server 2008 as a guest operating system. Once you install the Hyper-V role on Windows Server 2008, a new console will be installed on your machine, and it is called the Hyper-V Manager. Everything related to Hyper-V is done using this MMC console. To open…

Introduction Hyper-V is the next level of virtualization, with Windows Server 2008 you no longer need to deploy an application such as Virtual Server 2005 or Virtual PC or other virtualization technology in order to build your virtual machines. Hyper-V is one of the new roles available with Windows Server 2008 where you can install it and then start creating your virtual machines, take different snapshots for every virtual machine and much more. You can use a virtualized computing environment to improve the efficiency of your computing resources by utilizing more of your hardware resources. In this two parts article, I…

Introduction When you install Windows Server 2008, as we all got used to, you will notice that the only icon on the desktop is Recycle Bin. One of the first things you would do with your server is adding icons to the desktop. In Windows Server 2008, one of the icons that cannot be added is Internet Explorer. However, in this article, I’m going to show you how to add the Internet Explorer Icon to the desktop after editing the Windows Registry. Usually, To Add icons to your desktop, right click on your desktop , and click Personalize. Then from the…

Introduction Many administrators used Windows Server 2003 as their daily workstation, either on their desktops or laptops. Well this will be the same with Windows Server 2008. In this article, I’m going to show you how to disable/enable few options and features in Windows Server 2008 so that you can use it as if it were a client operating system, with the advantage of having it as a server operating system, benefiting from using its different roles and features I recently bought a new 64bit laptop, so that I can install Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V, and use it as…

Introduction Are you interested in knowing what is the latest news regarding the future version of ISA Server ? many people were calling it ISA Server 2008 or even ISA Server 2009. Well, Its no more called like this, Microsoft announced the new name for ISA Server which is Forefront Threat Management Gateway, and it is now available for the public in a Beta version to start testing it On April the 8th – 2008, Microsoft announced the name of its next-generation network edge security product, Forefront Threat Management Gateway. Forefront Threat Management Gateway is the future version of Microsoft…

Introduction Most administrators are asking about Windows Vista’s features, are they removed from Windows Server 2008 ? Where is Windows Media Player, Windows Defender, Windows Aero ?? The Desktop Experience feature is a new feature in the Microsoft Windows Server 2008 operating system. It includes a variety of applications and features that are provided in the Windows Vista operating system. When you install the Desktop Experience feature, it includes most of applications and features that are provided in the Windows Vista, such as : Windows Calendar Windows Defender Windows Messenger Windows Mail Windows Media Player Windows Photo Gallery Sound Recorder…

Introduction Telnet is not enabled by default in Windows Server 2008. However, Telnet Client is a feature included with Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista. On Windows Server 2008, you can install Telnet Client by using the Add Features Wizard in Server Manager. Telnet Client allows a computer to connect to a remote Telnet server and run applications on that server. Once logged on, a user is given a command prompt that can be used as if it had been opened locally on the Telnet server’s console. Commands that you type at the Telnet client command prompt are sent…

Introduction You have just completed installing Windows Server 2008, and you hit the CTRL + ALT + DELETE keys and then you were lost, what username should I log on with, what password should I use ? Especially that you did not create any during the installation process ! In this article, I will show you how to successfully log on to Windows Server 2008. With Windows Server 2008 RC0 and the Beta builds of Windows Server 2008, you were automatically logged on after the successful completion of Windows Server 2008 installation, and then creating the administrator user account password…

Introduction Microsoft SQL Desktop Engine (MSDE) installs along with ISA Server 2006. Later on, you might find yourself not requiring to log to the local MSDE. You can change the default logging option from MSDE to another storage format , such as to File Format, MS Access database, or maybe to a Local / Remote SQL Server 2005. In this article I will walk with you step by step showing you how to uninstall MSDE from your ISA Server 2006 machine. The following steps shows you how to uninstall MSDE from your ISA Server machine 1. Once the new…

If you have Windows Server 2012 and above,  then go to this article : How To Disable/Stop Server Manager Automatic Opening In Windows Server 2012/2016/2019/2022 Introduction The first page that will open after your first logon to Windows Server 2008 is the Initial Configuration Tasks (ICT), which I introduced it to you in a previous article. The ICT will be followed by another page that is called the Server Manager. The Server Manager will automatically be displayed after each logon to the server. In this article, I will show you how to turn off the automatic display of Server…

Introduction In a previous article, we have set up our first Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) using Windows Server 2008. In this article, we are going to see how to set up an Additional Domain Controller for AD DS replication. To set up an Additional Domain Controller, I will use the dcpromo.exe command. To use the command, click on Start   > Run > and then write dcpromo > Click OK The system will start checking if Active Directory Domain Services ( AD DS) binaries are installed, then will start installing them. The binaries could be installed if you had run the dcpromo command previously and…

Introduction Unattended installation means no user interaction, and this is exactly what we are going to do in this article, we are going to setup our first domain controller without going through the Server Manager, or going through the Active Directory Domain Services Installation Wizard the follows executing the dcpromo command. Note: This article was written when Windows Server 2008 was still RC1. Changes might occur later once the product is RTM’d In a previous article, Setting Up Your First Domain Controller With Windows Server 2008, we have setup a domain controller through executing the dcpromo command and then going through the The Active…

 Introduction In this article, we are going to set up our first domain controller using Windows Server 2008, that is to set up Active Directory Domain Services. Note: This article was written when Windows Server 2008 was still RC1. Changes might occur later once the product is RTM’d If you have set up a domain controller previously with Windows 2000 Server, or Windows Server 2003, then you would be familiar with the dcpromo.exe command, it will also be used to set up a Domain Controller on Windows Server 2008.To use the command, click on Start  > Run > and then write dcpromo > Click OK The system will start checking…

Introduction Ping is evil, yes I know. Many will shout on me now, hold your horses and continue reading. ISA Server is a Firewall, you do not want to give the key of your house for the thief to steal it, ping is the same, don’t give someone the tool to flood your Firewall with an unwanted traffic ! Once you install ISA Server, you can no longer ping the machine that ISA Server is installed on. Enable ping to ISA Server, but not from a wide open source Network, just enable it from a short list of machines, from…

Introduction After you install a clean copy of Windows Server 2008, the Initial Configurations Tasks (ICT) is the first page that you will receive after you logon to Windows Server 2008. This article was written when Windows Server 2008 was still RC1. Changes might occur later once the product is RTM’d Once you get through the setup process and finish installing a clean installation of Windows Server 2008 ( in a clean installation I mean the Custom Installation and not the upgrade installations, as you will not receive the Initial Configuration Tasks page with an upgrade installation), you will have…

Introduction Most of the time, servers are located inside a dedicated room, and we as an ISA Administrators are not available in that room all the time. What if ISA Server was located in another floor, or it is in a different building ? how about if we were in another country ! We can control ISA Server remotely through different ways. In this article, I will demonstrate to you how to enable remote administration of ISA Server, what rules to enable, and how to control it from a remote machine. Configuration In this article we will be configuring some…

Introduction Ok, you have installed Windows Server 2008 and worked with it for a while, some people might start using it in a production environment, but then RC1 was released and you want to upgrade your RC0 server to RC1, you do not want to start over and install it from the scratch, are you wondering if upgrading from RC0 to RC1 is supported? The answer that you were waiting for is Yes, it is. Upgrade Steps I already have a Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition( Full Installation ) RC0 loaded on my machine, after working with it for a…

Introduction I have been using Windows Server 2003 for years and I believe its time to shift and try using Windows Server 2008, I have downloaded RC0 and decided to Upgrade my Domain Controller, which is also a DNS & DHCP Server to Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition RC0. In this article, I will show you step by step how to perform an in-place upgrade for a Domain Controller from Windows Server 2003 To Windows Server 2008 RC0 Upgrade Steps On you Windows Server 2003 DC, insert the Windows Server 2008 DVD, and then open command prompt and run the…

Introduction Imagine the following scenarios, you have been hired by a company and assigned to be an ISA Server administrator, you do not know if this ISA Server is licensed or in trial mode !! Another scenario is, you have installed ISA Server 2006 Trial version, its been quite long time and you do not know when the trial version will expire, what should you do ? In this article, I will show you how to identify a trail version of ISA Server 2006 and how to know when the Trial Version will expire. How To Identify 1. Open…

Introduction In part 1 of this article, we installed ISA Server 2006 Trial version, now lets upgrade it to the licensed version. ISA Server 2006 Trial version lasts for 180 Days, which is a quite long period to test the Firewall. So in these 180 days, you would have placed ISA Server in a production environment and configured it with multiple Firewall Rules, publishing rules, daily reports, Enabled VPN, and so on. Lets see how your configurations are preserved after the upgrade. Configuration With the trial version, I have created multiple Firewall Policies as shown in the following image I…