Posts made by Pete.S

@WrCombs said in Application error -:

So being told this is a windows issue, but I'm not sure how.

I've been beating my head against my desk with this for weeks now.
any advice would be appreciated.

In dotnet applications developers can build their applications against different version of .net.

As we know, the gazzilion .NET versions is a mess. So to alleviate the mess the application have config files with redirect bindings so you can decide which version of .net the application should use - even if it was intended for another version.

Since you don't have 4.0 you can try and redirect to 4.8 instead.

However you can also install 3.5 on Windows 11 and redirect to that, which I think maybe has a higher probability of succeeding. Since 3.5 is backwards compatible with 2.x and 3.x applications and it looks like your application originally required version 2.x.

There is actually a good chance that just installing 3.5 will solve your problem, because there are automatic redirects going on as well. (But undo your changes to the config file).

Links to look at:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/framework/configure-apps/redirect-assembly-versions
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/framework/install/on-windows-11

@Dashrender said in Restrict access to parent folder but allow child folder access:

@Pete-S said in Restrict access to parent folder but allow child folder access:

Basically what @scottalanmiller said above. Avoid "files". Let application handle the information in an organized way where the user are not going to be working with files. Only systems and sysadmins would have to think about "files".

I love the thought process here - but getting users to give up files is like pulling teeth.
Policies and Proceedures - docx/PDF - could be replaced with Wiki
Phone lists - docx/PDF - could be replaced with wiki - but people demand to print it out for faster access.
reports pulled from ERP - xlsx - what? to a custom app?
new employee paperwork - docx/pdf - HR system

Yeah, that is the problem. It's hard to find applications that can replace manual work. And most importantly, make it easier than it is to do it manually.

For example, phone numbers and lists should be pulled from databases, not wikis. I mean basically everybody today have their smartphones filled with contacts that they use to call someone. And they can't recall a single phone number because they never need to. They're all in a database.

But to automatically get the phone numbers people need into the phones they use (cell, voip, etc) isn't always so easy.

So you'd want a system that contains a database with all contacts in the company and has web access. It can integrate with whatever PBX you use and sync to whatever else phone you need contact info on. Also being able to set up "favorites" and use that info to automatically program shortcuts/BLFs on phones and sidecars for 1-button access. And also print lists of phone numbers if you need it on paper.

Does this system exist? I don't know. I've seen systems that can do bits and pieces of it but lack the overall vision.
But a lot of companies with more than a handful of employees needs something like it.

Hmm, now I'm thinking I probably should have installed Windows 11 instead...

Well, maybe not, I don't actually run it on anything else.

OK, turned out that there are actually two Education versions:

• Windows 10 Pro Education (based on Professional)
• Windows 10 Education (based on Enterprise)

Perhaps Education based on the Enterprise version is only for volume keys and Education Pro is what you get when you buy a computer that comes pre-installed with the Education license. I don't know.

Anyways, I managed to reinstall Windows 10 using the standard download media from Microsoft:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Installation didn't find the product key in the BIOS so I had to install without a product key and select "Windows 10 Pro Education".

After completing the installation I wanted to active Windows. It wouldn't do this by itself.

So to activate I needed the product key in the BIOS. To get that you run:
wmic path SoftwareLicensingService get OA3xOriginalProductKey

Then I entered that key into the activation which worked perfectly.

You can probably apply the same approach to reinstall different Windows version when you have a OEM license on the hardware - especially when you have wiped or installed a new drive and you have no installation or recovery media at hand.

I have a couple of laptops that has been wiped completely and needs to be reinstalled.

I think they're OEM licensed for Windows 10 Education because they have the stickers. Is that the same installation image as Enterprise?

According to Microsoft, the Education edition is Enterprise with different defaults.

@stacksofplates said in VNC Replacement solution:

@Pete-S said in VNC Replacement solution:

@stacksofplates said in VNC Replacement solution:

@Pete-S said in VNC Replacement solution:

@scottalanmiller said in VNC Replacement solution:

@stacksofplates said in VNC Replacement solution:

Nomachine works well. It's easy to set up and I've found it to be more performance and easier to set up than VNC. If it's just between windows and Linux, then rdp works also as Pete mentioned (if you don't want straight console access).

And easier than RDP on some platforms.

Nomachine is free only for personal use. You have to pay if you're using it for commercial use. It's not exactly straight forward to know what is what but there are some guidance here:
https://knowledgebase.nomachine.com/AR03P00972

My interpretation is that you can get away with the free version only for sporadic admin tasks. Anything else in a company requires the enterprise license.

That sucks. It didn't used to be like that. I really feel like they are just strangling their product over time. The pricing for everything they have is ridiculous.

Yeah, they've made changes over the years. There is the NX protocol and it's wasn't open source but then it was and then it wasn't. I think open source project such as freenx / x2go uses NX but it's not compatible with the NX version that NoMachine uses. I've run into that problem a couple of years ago. I don't know if freenx exists anymore or what the deal is.

Yeah I think nomachine uses nx4 and x2go uses the old open source nx3. It's a mess. I know when I did this for the DoD contractor we just ended up using RDP because the whole ecosystem was terrible. X2Go looks like it still can't support anything past GNOME 3.12 which is ridiculous as it's been like 5-6 years since I last looked.

It's funny because we looked at it as well and we too ended up with RDP. And RDP has improved a lot over the years.

@stacksofplates said in VNC Replacement solution:

@Pete-S said in VNC Replacement solution:

@scottalanmiller said in VNC Replacement solution:

@stacksofplates said in VNC Replacement solution:

Nomachine works well. It's easy to set up and I've found it to be more performance and easier to set up than VNC. If it's just between windows and Linux, then rdp works also as Pete mentioned (if you don't want straight console access).

And easier than RDP on some platforms.

Nomachine is free only for personal use. You have to pay if you're using it for commercial use. It's not exactly straight forward to know what is what but there are some guidance here:
https://knowledgebase.nomachine.com/AR03P00972

My interpretation is that you can get away with the free version only for sporadic admin tasks. Anything else in a company requires the enterprise license.

That sucks. It didn't used to be like that. I really feel like they are just strangling their product over time. The pricing for everything they have is ridiculous.

Yeah, they've made changes over the years. There is the NX protocol and it's wasn't open source but then it was and then it wasn't. I think open source project such as freenx / x2go uses NX but it's not compatible with the NX version that NoMachine uses. I've run into that problem a couple of years ago. I don't know if freenx exists anymore or what the deal is.

@scottalanmiller said in VNC Replacement solution:

@stacksofplates said in VNC Replacement solution:

Nomachine works well. It's easy to set up and I've found it to be more performance and easier to set up than VNC. If it's just between windows and Linux, then rdp works also as Pete mentioned (if you don't want straight console access).

And easier than RDP on some platforms.

Nomachine is free only for personal use. You have to pay if you're using it for commercial use. It's not exactly straight forward to know what is what but there are some guidance here:
https://knowledgebase.nomachine.com/AR03P00972

My interpretation is that you can get away with the free version only for sporadic admin tasks. Anything else in a company requires the enterprise license.

@Dashrender said in Restrict access to parent folder but allow child folder access:

@Pete-S said in Restrict access to parent folder but allow child folder access:

This would work well in a project organization where you'd only be given access to the projects you're working on. Those folders will appear under the "Shared with Me".

yeah, all that's definitely true - but the rub there is people access the files differently - so when people are talking to each other, they will often become confused because the locations are different.

You're right, but you could do the same sharing for everybody so it's consistent.

But the underlying problem is that normal users can't handle hierarchical file system and having files in different locations.

The file system is the electronic equivalent of an old school filing system.

Imagine a single company wide filing system where everybody themselves was responsible for filing things in the right place. It would result in utter chaos and there would be no order and nobody would find anything. Much like it is today on network shares, sharepoint, onedrive, email attachments, teams, etc.

The only real solution is to remove the file and folder abstraction as much as possible and not let the users be responsible for handling files, saving them, finding them etc.

Basically what @scottalanmiller said above. Avoid "files". Let application handle the information in an organized way where the user are not going to be working with files. Only systems and sysadmins would have to think about "files".

@scottalanmiller said in Restrict access to parent folder but allow child folder access:

What we do is we don't use mapped drives / SMB shares but instead use a modern cloud based solution (Zoho WorkDrive in our case, but they are mostly the same) and there aren't child folders only top level folders (that have perms.) It forces you to keep all perms at the top folder level (like at the share level.) Far less granular, but it is a lot cleaner. I feel we are far less likely to overlook something or give permission that we don't know about. Since only folders that someone has access to become visible, it actually works decently well.

In Zoho you can actually set "permissions" on a lower level folder as well. Well, you can't do it by setting actual permissions. But you do it by sharing that lower level folder with whatever group or individual in your company that need access to it.

This would work well in a project organization where you'd only be given access to the projects you're working on. Those folders will appear under the "Shared with Me".

@fs483

The only problem you really have is inherited permissions. As you found out you can't effectively use inherit permissions when you don't want everything to inherit the permission. So you need to use explicit permissions in those cases at the top levels.

In a larger company you have many groups and employees belongs to the groups they need and then they might have individual permissions added as needed as well.

I think you just need to give the groups and permissions needed some more thought.

@WrCombs said in SQL Server 2019:

Thanks - I'm looking to move a private client to this. anything I need to keep in mind?

SQL server can run a database in compatibility mode and does so by default when you migrate from something older. 2012 however supports older version than 2019 does so it's possible to run into problems.

There is also some breaking changes between versions as well as functionality that has been discontinued. Only advanced SQL applications are likely to run into any of these though. But it's really the job of the application developers to make sure the app is compatible with newer SQL versions.

I suggest a test run before upgrading production workloads. Or just have the ability to roll back until full functionality has been verified. In most cases there will not be any problems whatsoever.

@gjacobse What's wrong with vnc? It's cross platform. That goes for rdp as well.

@scottalanmiller said in SIP Extension for Maintenance Staff in Noisy Environment:

@pmoncho said in SIP Extension for Maintenance Staff in Noisy Environment:

@scottalanmiller said in SIP Extension for Maintenance Staff in Noisy Environment:

@pmoncho said in SIP Extension for Maintenance Staff in Noisy Environment:

@JaredBusch said in SIP Extension for Maintenance Staff in Noisy Environment:

I have one of these.
https://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-SDW-5066-507024-Double-Sided/dp/B07P68C84D

The noise cancellation works really good. I don't know about factory floor good, but real good.

Do you find the (roughly) 500' range to be accurate? I only need 100' but with a few walls in between.

Walls hit Bluetooth pretty hard.

Yeah. The Jabra and Plantronics headsets I have states 200' but the two walls kill it in about 30'. UGH. I have to transfer call to cell when I need to go to the another part of the office.

BT is mostly designed around walking around a room, not between rooms. In an open air house I can normally walk around a living room, kitchen, dining room kind of area, but that's about the extent of it in most cases.

Exactly, bluetooth was designed to replace a short wired serial connection like a headset to a cellphone, keyboard or mouse to a computer etc.

If you intend have a bluetooth headset in a mobile environment you need to have your phone in your pocket. For a SIP connection the phone could then use DECT to a base station or Wifi to an AP or 3G/4G to the cell tower.

@BraswellJay said in SIP Extension for Maintenance Staff in Noisy Environment:

I'm wanting to improve the ability for our mtc staff to talk on phone with vendor(s) support while they are on a noisy plant floor. Our facility is in a cell deadspot. Coverage outside is spotty at best and once inside is essentially impossible to use.

Ideally what I would want is some effective noise cancelling headphones, probably with a boom mic that can either be a fully functioning SIP extension off of FreePBX or at least be connected to a device that is itself the extension.

Right now I'm thinking my best bet is to find something that can connect with WiFi and have Linphone installed on it for the extension. Then use something like this for the headphones

I have a yealink W56 for them now and that does have a standard audio jack so I could get a set of corded headphones, but I'm not excited about a corded solution since they could be using it near machinery with moving parts.

I just wanted to see if anyone else had a similar situation and what you may have done to address.

3M Peltor is common choice for these kind of applications. I've used a set of their top models with bluetooth and the mic's noise cancellation is absolutely unbelievable. But that is if it's so noisy that you need hearing protection and even possibly a hardhat.

With just a little noise (that doesn't require hearing protection) I find blutooth headsets that have multiple mics works well, like plantronic. That will be a much cheaper option.

Proxmox works but we prefer xcp-ng.

Virtualization itself is a commodity so it's the tools around it that matters most. We have many hosts and xcp-ng is the best fit for our needs.

@scottalanmiller said in So You Lost Your ERP MSP?:

Not sure if this is funny, or a rant, or what. So we are the MSP for a firm and we do everything except their ERP support. I actually like this as ERP sucks and they use some ERP we don't know so cool, that's a perfect situation. It's web based so other than making sure Chrome is installed, up to date, and clean, we don't have to worry about the ERP.

Except one little problem. Upon implementation of the new ERP, the total disregard for the selection and implementation process is apparent and now it turns out, there is no one in the company who knows who the ERP vendor is or how to reach them. Or the MSP that supports them. So, we get ticket after ticket asking for help with the ERP and we are like "um, we don't know anything at all, call the support desk for the ERP" and they are like "sure, but... who is that?" And, of course, we were never told who it was. It's a browser based app, we don't need to interact with that support firm so we weren't introduced or given contacts.

So now the key application upon which the entire company operates is an unsupported black hole of disaster waiting to happen. This is the problem with going with little, unknown companies and keeping everything at arm's length.

There's no one specific failing. Just a general disregard for running the business, I guess. A bit of an "I can't even" here.

In nature the normal state of things are decay. In business it's the same and it requires lots of effort and constant work to keep things from decaying.

@Dashrender said in Is Real Estate Actually a Good Investment on Average?:

@scottalanmiller said in Is Real Estate Actually a Good Investment on Average?:

@Dashrender said in Is Real Estate Actually a Good Investment on Average?:

is that where most rentals have come from?

Most rentals existed long before 2008. The rental market has always been very large.

Oh, I'm sure it's been longer than 2008 - but when? When did mass rentals enter the scene?
I guess they really started in the beginning when companies built factory based towns. The company built the houses for their employees so they would have some place to live. etc.

A really long time ago (in the US). Most people used to be renters but after WW2 the majority have been homeowners.

Right now (2022) it's sits at around 65%.

Data is from U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
https://www.huduser.gov/portal/Publications/pdf/HUD-7775.pdf

@scottalanmiller said in How Do You Replace Active Directory?:

@Dashrender said in How Do You Replace Active Directory?:

I don't care about AD - I care about centralized authentication of all devices.

But... why? Why is this something that you care about? It's not an end goal. It's a means. But what is the ends?

Since he has users that use several workstations, I would venture that the end goal is having the same login credentials on every workstation the user uses.