I have some machine that used to belong to a domain. The machine is retired, and some users want to take the machine home. I nuked the drive with DBAN (Dereck Boot and Nuke). The drivers seem to be recognized just fine. No BSOD or error so far. But the problem I am having with is Windows Update.
I suspect that because the device was joined to a domain with its own WSUS.. maybe that's why the windows could not detect the WSUS and keep Checking for Update...

Any thought?

@BRRABill said:

I have this on my machine.

I just go through and click them when I need them. Wakes them up.

It's a hit or miss for me. Right now even after clicking it, it still mark RED X, but accessible. It is annoying to some users. Others they just don't care as long as no error pop up.

So I found this link to Microsoft fix for auto disconnect. Is it related to the red X ?
Registry Editor

***WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

Use Registry Editor to increase the default time-out period. To do this, follow these steps, and then quit Registry Editor:

NOTE: You cannot use this method to turn off the autodisconnect feature of the Server service. You can only use this method to change the default time-out period for the autodisconnect feature.
Click Start, click Run, type regedit (Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003) or type regedt32 (Windows NT 4.0), and then click OK.
Locate and then click the following key in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\lanmanserver\parameters
In the right pane, click the autodisconnect value, and then on the Edit menu, click Modify. If the autodisconnect value does not exist, follow these steps:
On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click REG_DWORD.
Type autodisconnect, and then press ENTER.
On the Edit menu, click Modify.
Click Hexadecimal.
In the Value data box, type ffffffff, and then click OK.***

This questions has been asked over and over again in various forums. But I could not find The Fix, only work around. We have our Network drive mapped via GPO. Previously, our network drives were mapped via login batch script. It was hideous. The GPO mapped drive looks much more cleaner, but recently we encounter some PC will have Red X on their network drives... but they all are still accessible. What gives? DNS? :S

@Dashrender said:

Well Scott beat me to it.. why do you want to us vLAN?

Just hype thingy. Thought it might be better or improve something.

I want to hear your stories of vLAN. Where should I start with it? I just learned that our firewall switch (Watchguard) support vLAN, but I am not sure where to even start with numbering or setting. Any thoughts? When would vLAN comes in handy? etc

Thanks!

So in the end I use Robocopy just to get the file transfer over. Still, we cannot rename or add any other files to the same folder.

@thedalton said:

I'm not sure about the hotfix but you can get around this issue by using the substitute command. It's really similar to net use

subst x:\localpath drive letter

So, if I wanted to substitute c:\longpth\toolong as a drive I would use

Subst c:\longpath\toolong x:

Use this command to shorten both paths and you will be all set

Thanks for the reply.
The reason the file path is long is because it is under multiple level of folder structure. it is like media\photo\state\year\month... Using subst will not solve but may create more problems to users as it can easily confuse them. What I mean is using subst is equally the same as telling the users to redo all their structure tree.

So I am having issue with File Length limitation. Microsoft seem to pushed out a hot fix, but I could not find the download link for 2012 R2. I did find 2012 version, but it prompt stated that it is the incorrect version when use with 2012 R2. Duh..

Anyone has a link to the hot fix?
EDIT: this is the KB in question KB2891362

Thank you all Back to normal now.

@thedalton said:

If you made backups of these two vhdx I would try merging the two into one. Test and verify that all your data is there.

It is domain controller. I don't remember what I did to it last time. But so far so good.
But somehow I cannot run it off Gen2. I have to create Gen1 to run it.

@thedalton said:

The avhdx is created after you take the snapshot. The vhdx is the original file. You May need to merge them for this to work. Use Hyper-V manager to inspect the disks so you know which is the parent image.

Make copies of everything before you try to create a new VM!

Danny

I just post something but then deleted the post just when Thedalton replied. Yeah.. it restore the original one, not the latest one. When I try the avhdx file it seem checkpoint is broken.

After inspect the Avhdx, it prompt me to reconnect but failed due to ID mismatch. I just click to ignore ID mismatch... is that okay?

@JaredBusch So create a new virtual machine with different name and use the same vhdx file? I'll give it a shot.

@scottalanmiller The files are 10gb vhdx and 7gb avhdx. Not sure about curruption. Have to test it out.

This is totally and 100% user error. I did what I should not have done, delete the virtual machine file w/o making backup. Please don't ask why...

Right now All I have left is .vhdx and AVHDX files. I lost my snapshots and other xml files.What should I do? Can I restore a virtual machine with only VHDX and AVHDX files?

Suck for this to happen on Friday.

Thanks SAM.

So we had our consultant to take a look at the Hyper-V Failover Cluster Manager, and he said the setup is okay as basic as it can get. This make me wonder.. what is the advance level for FAilover cluster setup?

This is what had be done so far
Spec: 4 1TB HDD in RAID 10. Software Partitioning C:/D:
has 70GB. has 1,750GB (1.75TB)
vSAN 1.7TB + Witness 1GB.
Nodes: 2
Storage : 2 (main + witness)
networks: 1

The failover works. Live Migration works. Force migration by restart/shutdown works.
I never lose connection to the VM via RDC during migration.
What does he mean by basic setup? Are there more I can do with Failvoer Cluster to make it better?
@scottalanmiller

@Jason said:

@DustinB3403 said:

@Jason I would sit down with Management and mention that IT would like to implement a new policy that automatically locks all computer accounts at 5 minutes of inactivity.

We don't have to sit down with management to implement that kind of policy. 5 min is too much of an inconvenience. There has to be a balance between security and work getting done. When you start making things really inconvenant for users is when they find ways to by pass them. Like sitting their mouse on the edge of something so the computer keeps thinking it's moving

I think that would also depends on how sensitive or vulnerable the workstation is. I would implement 5 minutes on any manager or HR/Compliance/Finance workstation. On the other hand, I would leave a kios alone for days for all I care.

@Jason said:

@LAH3385 said:

20 minutes is too long. I could walk away, take a dump, play one level of Angry Bird, buy a drink at vending machine, and come back within 20 minutes.

Teach your users Window Key+L The screen saver is only suppose to be a backup.

We had it as a Wallpaper to remind users to Lock their Workstation when away. We even taught some users how to flip screen via keyboard then lock the workstation. They would flip any workstation that was left alone without locking.

20 minutes is too long. I could walk away, take a dump, play one level of Angry Bird, buy a drink at vending machine, and come back within 20 minutes.