So JB and I are working on fixing some sysprep issues. One issue as seen around these forums is that Sysprep gives errors if Candy Crush and other consumerware are installed into the profile of the user running Sysprep.
So I went in search of a way to prevent that garbage from being install ever!

I found http://winaero.com/blog/fix-windows-10-installs-apps-like-candy-crush-soda-saga-automatically/

Here's the technet article - https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/mniehaus/2015/11/23/seeing-extra-apps-turn-them-off/

Basically it says to start with the most recent ISO from MS possible, Install Windows while completely off the net, then create a new key in the registry.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CloudContent
If that key isn't there, create it
Create a D-Word 32 Bit named DisableWindowsConsumerFeatures with a value of 1

Now reboot.
After you've rebooted go online. With luck the system won't download the crap ware... I'll be reporting soon with my results.

@art_of_shred said in What Are You Doing Right Now:

Just realized that I haven't popped in here in well over a week. Time to play some catch-up!

Just mark it all read and start over.

huh - interesting situation you have there.

Personally - I'd go back to the client and ask - if there is any chance you will need/want more storage in the server, then let's just do it right now. Buy the 2 additional 3 TB drives and let's just start off correctly with a RAID 10.

I'd skip installing Win server 2016 and instead install Hyper-V 2016, then you'll manage it from a Windows PC using Hyper-V manager (might require Windows 10). This also cuts out any concern on licensing - you won't be tempted to install any applications into the VM host OS

Splitting the VM's OS out from it's data really doesn't gain you much. The OS doesn't really impact the use cases you've mentioned here. Personally I'd create a single VMDK 60-80 GB for your VM1 (AD). The data server is the bigger question - one one hand you just make one huge partition for both data and OS, on the other, you can split it, then split the data across multiple VMDKs also - the only reason I mention this is restore time. If it's all one giant disk, you have to restore the whole thing before you can access it, if they are smaller, you can get access to each bit as you restore it.

@JaredBusch said in What Are You Doing Right Now:

@wirestyle22 said in What Are You Doing Right Now:

Well, with a lot of help from @dashrender, I successfully demoted two problem Domain Controllers and fixed my add network printer list not populating. The DC's were two standalone servers and free up two servers for use as VM Hosts.

Congrats. not sure I would make it public that @Dashrender helped though...

@Grey said in What Are You Doing Right Now:

meme

+1 for awesome use of meme.

Thanks JB, I love you to man.

I probably won't ever need it again, but It took me more than 5 mins surfing google to find it a second time, so I figure a post here will be easier to find.

Removing BE agent 11.x

http://www.advanceduninstaller.com/Symantec-Backup-Exec-Remote-Agent-for-Windows-Systems-2332a54b8a259c5f3cd926fb006b60ee-application.htm

Some thoughts on removing BE 2012

https://vox.veritas.com/t5/Backup-Exec/Backup-Exec-2010-Agent-install-problems-on-Server-2000/td-p/353728

After yesterday's horrible day A co-worker brought this for me this morning.

@krisleslie said in So Xen Server gave me an error / what do i do:

Why wouldn’t it be supported?

because unlike VMWare, Xen Server doesn't detect that it's on a flash drive and writes all it's logs to the flash drive and kills it in shortish order..... or at min fills the disk and it dies.

Of course YOU can mod that, but most people don't know it's a problem until it IS a problem.
ask me how I know?

@net-runner said in Cisco: we're not competent.:

Well, true. But Cisco is a kind of standard for networking equipment nowadays and been those for pretty long time already. What would you recommend as an alternative?

Ubiquiti gear.
Way less expensive, life of the unit free updates, as good or often better performance at HUGE price savings.
Now if you need specialized gear, that's another story, but normal firewalls/routers, switches and APs - you're much better off.

@hobbit666 said:

@itsmeagain said:

@hobbit666 said:

Crying inside

OH but why?

Lets just say cheating wife and leave it there

Ok that could possibly be the most awkward thing seen here since AJ left the cheese in @Minion-Queen and @art_of_shred's room at SWorld

Does this really matter? Most places are moving to HTML5.

@Emad-R said in Why IT certifications are worth more than you think...:

@Florida_man

Not really, I'm severely lacking in IT certs but I'm doing fine in Canada, Toronto nearly 100K salary range.

Just be walking portfolio, and have projects that you can demo and ace the interviews like I have a domain with a lot of my work publically available, and I tell them if they want to research me go to ML and read my posts

Also Im new to Toronto, been here for 4 months

And the vibe im getting is they want people with experiance and not certs, but hey i follow SAM ideas and concepts closely, so he said this many times when you have family or friend that has IT thing make project out of it and document it and mention it, get your hands dirty you know, but credit that. That said Im the type that go home and work on my shit and experiment with new tech nearly everyday or week at least. So YMMV

This works only if you can get past the HR goons. Which is the world that Scott and his level of experience gain him. His skill/knowledge is that that he's often being recruited, he's not sending in resume's looking for a job.. so I don't consider his experiences the norm.

@TAHIN said in I can't even:

3. Slow printing? Try using a more slippery type of paper.

Where's curtis?

Run this line

 regedit /e "%userprofile%\desktop\putty-sessions.reg" HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SimonTatham\PuTTY\Sessions

and it will create a reg file that you can run on another windows file to restore the settings.

So, I installed Hyper-V 2012 R2 Server 2+ weeks ago, went through the process of restoring some snaps from my backup server (good learning process).

Overall the experience was fine, but damn, after managing ESXi for 5+ years with a single pane of glass - who in their right mind wants to manage Hyper-V servers using MS's free tools. That was just ridiculously painful!

I did download 5Nine's Hyper-V manager earlier today, but meh - if I have to use someone else's tool to manage the server, why not just cut all ties and go directly to XenServer?

So I am.

@Dashrender said:

OK 30-40 mins in and XenServer is now booting from the SD card for the first time.

and of course I screwed up and choose the SD card for the VM storage - rebuilding again this time picking my RAID 10 for the VM storage. - it's almost done.

Used my AMA ML won LinkSprinter 300 this morning. This thing is just awesome. Almost wished I had more reasons to use it.

Installing new Unifi UAP AC Lites last night. Need to move from one switch to my new Unifi POE switch (APs require passive POE). The cable ended up being labeled wrong.

The LinkSprinter told me the name of the switch and what port it was plugged into - Just awesome!!!!

Thanks MangoLassi and Fluke @KendallHershey!

No such thing as a light laptop with internal DVD drive.