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PSWindowsUpdate – Use PowerShell (and other tools) to Automate Windows Updates

PSWindowsUpdate – Use PowerShell (and other tools) to Automate Windows Updates

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I was searching for a way to further automate new Windows system deployments. One thing I kept running into was Windows updating. I have refined and added automation to my process over the past several years. For Windows 10 clients, my current deployment process involves an MDT/WDS server that has a stock Windows 10 wim file. To customize the deployments, I have a collection of GPOs and PDQDeploy packages for software installation and some other GPOs for policies. I recognized…

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QuickTip: Azure Active Directory Connect – Re-enable Automatic Sync Schedule

QuickTip: Azure Active Directory Connect – Re-enable Automatic Sync Schedule

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Sometimes performing an upgrade of Azure Active Directory Connect (AADC) will disable the automatic synchronization schedule. Don’t get caught off guard! Running the following in PowerShell can save you some grief. To verify the existing sync settings, use this cmdlet- Get-ADSyncScheduler Note that SyncCycleEnabled is showing as False. 2. To enable the sync cycle schedule, use this cmdlet- Set-ADSyncScheduler -SyncCycleEnabled $true 3. Verify that your settings have taken effect by running the original cmdlet- Get-ADSyncScheduler Now the SyncCycleEnabled setting shows…

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QuickTip: Microsoft Desktop OS Licensing Rule of Thumb

QuickTip: Microsoft Desktop OS Licensing Rule of Thumb

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From the convoluted world of Microsoft licensing: If you want to “reassign” Windows desktop operating system volume licenses to other devices, you must have an OEM license with pro or better on the new (and old) device AND have active SA (Software Assurance). What do I mean? Volume licenses without Software Assurance behave like OEM licenses in regards to which device they are assigned/licensed. Both are only good for the device that they were initially installed on. If that device…

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Need to Uninstall Software From Remote Computers on the Cheap? Use WMI CLI

Need to Uninstall Software From Remote Computers on the Cheap? Use WMI CLI

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Sometimes you just need to uninstall an application from several (or several hundred) computers and you don’t want to log in to each one individually. This came up recently when I was upgrading and migrating FileMaker 11 to FileMaker 13. If you are a domain admin, one way to do this is to use WMIC (Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line). First, you will need to find out the product name associated with the piece of software you would like to uninstall….

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Reset OwnCloud 7 Admin Password (Linux Server)

Reset OwnCloud 7 Admin Password (Linux Server)

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If you lost your password for the web interface Admin login of your OwnCloud installation; Or perhaps, like myself, you weren’t paying attention and glossed over that part when you set up the MySQL DB settings and closed out the browser before configuring anything else, fear not! After searching high and low and trying several different methods, including replacing hashes and modifying database tables and whatnot, I have found the solution that is kind of cobbled together from a couple…

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QuickTip: Outlook 2013 Script Error 278 Library Not Registered on Outlook Today

QuickTip: Outlook 2013 Script Error 278 Library Not Registered on Outlook Today

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If you just did an upgrade to Office 2013 from a previous version, you may experience a Script Error message referencing Line 278 in Outlook when attempting to view Outlook Today. This is actually a pretty simple fix and a hat tip to Mitch Bartlett over at Technipages.com for his post of this fix. Close Outlook. Open regedit. Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT>Typelib>{0006F062-0000-0000-C000-000000000046} Right-click the 1.0 key and click Delete. Open Outlook and navigate to Outlook Today.  

QuickTip: Need to See More Than 1 Year’s Worth of E-Mail in Outlook 2013 (in Cached Mode)?

QuickTip: Need to See More Than 1 Year’s Worth of E-Mail in Outlook 2013 (in Cached Mode)?

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Go to File>Info>Account and Social Network Settings>Account Settings Double-click the account on the E-mail Tab Under Offline Settings, drag the slider all the way to the right. It should now say All Click Next and Finish. Close Outlook and open it again.   You should see the progress in the status bar. Outlook may be a little slow while it is updating your mailbox but once the status shows All folders are up to date, you are good to go.

QuickTip: Exchange 2010 – Convert Universal Distribution Group to Mail-Enabled Universal Security Group

QuickTip: Exchange 2010 – Convert Universal Distribution Group to Mail-Enabled Universal Security Group

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Do you need to convert an Exchange universal distribution group to a mail-enabled universal security group? You’re in luck! Try it out: In Active Directory Users and Computers, select the distribution group and go to properties. On the General tab, under Group Type, select Security Group. From the Exchange Management Shell, run the following command, substituting groupname for the actual name of the group. Use quotes around the group name if the name contains spaces: Set-Distributiongroup–identity groupname –MemberDepartRestriction Closed

QuickTip: Exchange Server 2010 – Enable Expired Password Reset Functionality

QuickTip: Exchange Server 2010 – Enable Expired Password Reset Functionality

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If you use Exchange with OWA, there is a registry tweak that you can use to enable a function that allows Active Directory users to change their password after it has expired. Perform the following on the Exchange 2010 Client Access server: Run Regedit Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchange OWA Create a new DWORD value (if it doesn’t exist), called: ChangeExpiredPasswordEnabled Set the value of ChangeExpiredPasswordEnabled to 1 Restart the IIS Services

QuickTip: Need to Change The UpdateURL (UNC Path) for Your Office365 ClickToRun Installation?

QuickTip: Need to Change The UpdateURL (UNC Path) for Your Office365 ClickToRun Installation?

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Say you setup an on premise update server share for Office365 ClickToRun. What if you wanted to use multiple groups so that you didn’t  have to deploy an update to your entire organization but didn’t set that up during the initial deployment? Fret not! You can modify this registry key on your clients with the new UNC path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\15.0\ClickToRun\Configuration and modify the UpdateUrl string to reflect the new UNC path.