By default, Windows does not allow remote access to the registry. To access the registry remotely you’ll first need start the Remote Registry service. There are multiple ways to achieve this; we’ll cover three ways here: Manually start the service (good option when building an image, not so good if the device is already remote) […]
Category: Microsoft Windows
UPDATED: “Windows could not complete the installation” Error After Joining a Domain During SysPrep
If you’re here, I’m sorry. You must be wearing quite a frown. The good news is that this error can be resolved, and without much trouble. While preparing an image you may get an error when you restart Windows that reads, “Windows could not complete the installation. To install Windows on this computer, restart the […]
Querying Windows for the IMEI Number on a Local or Remote Computer
This trick should work to get the IMEI number of your WWAN device. This is useful in the event that you don’t want to remove the battery to find the IMEI sticker. Or you already removed the battery and the sticker isn’t there 🙁 Or maybe you just need to get the number from a machine in […]
POODLE Attack: Registry Settings to Disable SSL 3.0
To address the POODLE vulnerability, you should obviously deploy a policy that globally updates all vulnerable machines. Suppose, though, that you need to be able to make the change using the registry. Well, I’m here to hook. you. up. Per Microsoft’s recommendation, this setting will disable SSL 3.0 and enable TLS 1.1 and 1.2 in Internet Explorer […]
Killing a Task Remotely in Microsoft Windows
Have you ever wished you could remotely kill a task on a computer? Your wish is about to come true. You’re probably regretting that you didn’t wish for something better. Like wings. This will work on all versions of Microsoft Windows (at least all the supported ones). There are two commands that you will use. TASKLIST […]
Status Errors in Nagios
I seem to have a habit of using overly complicated tools to do simple things. I’m using HylaFAX to deliver the fax for a single number to a single email address (a topic for another time) and now I’m using Nagios to basically ping a single Windows server. Well, it’s not about the destination but […]
Windows could not parse or process the unattend answer file…
When trying to update an imaged machine you may get an error that states, “Windows could not parse or process the unattend answer file for pass [specialize]. The settings specified in the answer file cannot be applied. The error was detected while processing settings for component [Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup].” The error is pictured below and it has the potential to […]
Downgrade Internet Explorer in Windows 7
Many companies use tools that are not compatible with newer versions of Internet Explorer. As a result, complications often arise when Microsoft pushes out new versions of IE as an automatic update. Since Internet Explorer 8 is included with the standard Windows 7 install, Microsoft does not include a Windows 7 version for download. This […]
Drag and Drop Stops Working in Outlook (or Windows or Lync)
When using Outlook (or Windows generally), you may lose the ability to drag and drop items. For example, you may not be able to drag an email from the inbox into another folder. The solution to this problem is (drum roll, please………..): press ESC. You may need to press ESC more than once, but it […]
Getting the Serial Number from a Command-line
I’m a huge Lenovo fan, but they have recently adopted an irksome practice: they put the asset/SN tag under the battery. At least, this is the case with T- and X-series devices such as the T430s and X230. This can be problematic if you name your computers based on the serial number of the device. Sadly, I repeatedly […]