Bart’s Blog

If you use Windows Search Server 2008 or MOSS 2007 as an enterpise search solution than you can easily use this search engine via Vista search or Windows desktop search.

To integrate your enterprise search in Vista configure the policy Instant Search policy setting via local policy (gpedit.msc) or Active Directory GPO.

Or for the “old fashioned” registry hackers: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\SearchExtensions.

Enter following search string: “http://MylabSrch.mylab.local/searchcenter/pages/results.aspx?k=%w “

After a gpupdate you’ll see the new search option(“My intranet locations” in my case):

For XP/2003, if you’re using Windows (desktop) Search 4.0 there will be a “Administrative Templates -> Windows Desktop Search -> Search -> Add Primary Intranet Search Location” computer GPO option.

Having trouble uninstalling an application via control panel? In that case you can try the “Windows installer cleanup utility”.

When trying to create a Vista reference image via an SCCM Operating System install package, my Task Sequence kept failing on the “Configuring Windows and ConfigMgr” task. Vista setup returned “error 31″ (boot critical device driver issue). 

The setupapi log showed that the system was failing on ICH7USB.INF.

Apparently the driver references USBUI.DLL. This file is not present on WinPE.

Copying USBUI.DLL from a Vista machine to the windows\system32 directory of your PE boot image will serve as a workaround.

You can download hotfixes from the Microsoft hotfix self-service site if you know the related KB number.

Use following URL format:

http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=KBNumber&kbln=KBLanguage

Example:

http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=958011&kbln=en-us

If you need to remove sync partnerships with systems that are no longer available, or if you want to recover from a corrupt CSC cache then you can use the following procedure to re-initialize the offline cache.

1. Locate the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\CSC
2. Point to New, and then click Key.
3. Type Parameters in the box.
4. Right-click Parameters, point to New, and then click DWORD (32-bit)Value.
5. Type FormatDatabase, and then press ENTER.
6. Right-click FormatDatabase, and then click Modify.
7. In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.
8. Exit Registry Editor, and then restart the computer

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/942974

It’s been a while, but let’s get this one up and running again…

User account control is one of Vista’s interesting new security features. It offers so much more than the (for some anoying) elevation prompt when administrative privileges are required.

Many administrators disable UAC but this also disables all underlying technology:

• Mandatory Integrity Control (MIC)
• User Interface Privilege Isolation (UIPI)
• Internet Explorer protected mode
• Virtualization
• Installer Detection

and last but not least:

• ActiveX installer service

When deploying Windows XP for standard users we had to deal with the ActiveX installation issue. Some browser applications need to install an ActiveX control. Therefore the user needed either adlmin rights or call the helpdesk to apply for the ActiveX installation.

The UAC ActiveX installer service allows us to define all pre-approved ActiveX controls via GPO. This enables the user to install these controls in Standard USer mode via the installer service.

Windows Powershell delivers a shell environment where you can use a bunch of different objects (WMI, COM, .NET framework) and their methods and properties from a command prompt. The shell provides strong output formatting and redirection. Finally you won’t have to switch to Perl anymore to make use of stuff like regular expressions.

As a test, I tried to query an Active Directory via ADODB and the Active Directory provider. Just instantiate your COM objects from the command prompt and move through your recordset.

Have a look at the Microsoft Scriptcenter website for the latest news on Powershell.
The Vista Powershell is available for download.

WSUS 3.0 is avalaible for download.

Microsoft Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) 3.0 delivers new features including an MMC-based user interface with advanced filtering and reporting, improved performance and operational reliability, flexible deployment options to improve branch office support, and more content access through the Microsoft Update Catalog site.

Get all the latest info from the WSUS techcenter.

You can use this compatibility pack with Microsoft Office 2000, Office XP, or Office 2003.

Using this pack you will be able to open, edit and save the new file formats for Word 2007, Excel 2007 and Powerpoint 2007.

The pack can also be used with the Office 2003 ‘viewers’ to read the new file formats.

Download the compatibility pack.

Read more about the compatibility pack.