Windows Tips & Tricks UPDATE, March 8, 2004, —brought to you by the Windows & .NET Magazine Network and the Windows 2000 FAQ site
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FAQs
- Q. How can I stop the My eBooks, My Videos, and My Music subfolders from appearing in the My Documents folder in Windows XP and later?
- Q. How can I enable user environment debugging in Windows 2000 and later?
- Q. Can I rename the Microsoft Exchange Server organization?
- Q. How can I restore the contents of the Default Domain and the Default Domain Controller Group Policy Objects (GPOs)?
- Q. What are the Windows Server 2003 domain modes?
Commentary
by John Savill, FAQ Editor, [email protected]
This week, I explain how to stop certain subfolders from automatically appearing in the My Documents folder in Windows XP and later, how to enable user environment debugging in Windows 2000 and later, and what you need to know about renaming the Microsoft Exchange Server organization. I also tell you how to restore the contents of the Default Domain and the Default Domain Controller Group Policy Objects (GPOs) and describe the Windows Server 2003 domain modes.
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FAQs
Q. How can I stop the My eBooks, My Videos, and My Music subfolders from appearing in the My Documents folder in Windows XP and later?
A. Each new version of Windows seems to add a new set of subfolders to the My Documents folder. If you delete these subfolders, Windows will automatically recreate them the next time you log on. To stop Windows from creating these subfolders every time, perform the following steps:
- From the Start menu, select Run, enter the command
regsvr32 /u mydocs.dll
to unregister the .dll file, then click OK. - Navigate to My Documents, then delete the automatically created folders that you no longer want to appear.
The steps above disable the My Documents functions, so if your system is missing some functionality, you'll need to reregister mydocs.dll. If you want to reregister the .dll file, perform the above steps again but use the command
regsvr32 mydocs.dll
Q. How can I enable user environment debugging in Windows 2000 and later?
A. To debug the user environment settings, you can create a log file (i.e., \%systemroot%\debug\usermode\userenv.log) with different levels of information concerning your log on, log off, and other user environment activity. This log file can help you debug problems related to policy application and profile application and saving. For example, I recently used userenv.log to help ascertain why client machines weren't copying user profiles to the roaming profile location--I was able to determine that the user registry hive was locked and couldn't be copied.
To set the logging level associated with the userenv.log file, perform the following steps:
- Start a registry editor (e.g., regedit.exe).
- Navigate to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon registry subkey.
- From the Edit menu, select New, DWORD Value.
- Enter the name UserEnvDebugLevel, then press Enter.
- Double-click the new value, set it to one of the values listed in the table below, then click OK.
Registry Entry Value =========
=== No logging 00000000 Normal logging 00000001 Verbose logging 00000002 Output to logfile 00010000 Debugger output 00020000 - Restart the computer for the changes to take effect.
You can combine the values from the table in Step 5 (e.g., for verbose output to logfile, use value 00010002).
Q. Can I rename the Microsoft Exchange Server organization?
A. Even with Exchange Server 2003 in native mode, you still can't rename the Exchange organization. To rename the organization, you would need to totally uninstall Exchange, clean up the server, and reinstall Exchange with the new organization name. You'd also need to export your mail items to personal folder store (PST) files, then use the exmerge.exe tool to re-import the mail items. Finally, you'd have to address problems with recipients who try to reply to existing messages because the X.500 address would have changed (as a result of the new organization name) unless you populate the users in Active Directory (AD) with the original X.500 address.
Q. How can I restore the contents of the Default Domain and the Default Domain Controller Group Policy Objects (GPOs)?
A. Best practice stipulates that you shouldn't modify the Default Domain and the Default Domain Controller GPOs. Instead, you should create new GPOs and link them to the relevant containers. However, if you've already modified the GPO and want to restore the default content, perform the following steps:
- Log on as a domain administrator to a DC.
- Start a command session.
- To reset the Default Domain GPO, type
dcgpofix /target:Domain
To reset the Default DC GPO, typedcgpofix /target:DC
To reset both the Default Domain and the Default Domain Controller GPOs, typedcgpofix /target:both
- After you enter the appropriate command in Step 3, enter Y to both prompts.
- Close the command window.
For example, when I type
dcgpofix /target:both
my computer returns the following output:
Microsoft(R) Windows(R) Operating System Default Group Policy Restore Utility v5.1 Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. 1981-2003 Description: Recreates the Default Group Policy Objects (GPOs) for a domain Syntax: DcGPOFix \[/ignoreschema\] \[/Target: Domain | DC | BOTH\] This utility can restore either or both the Default Domain policy or the Default Domain Controller policy to the state that exists immediately after a clean install. You must be a domain administrator to perform this operation. WARNING: YOU WILL LOSE ANY CHANGES YOU HAVE MADE TO THESE GPOs. THIS UTILITY IS INTENDED ONLY FOR DISASTER RECOVERY PURPOSES. You are about to restore Default Domain policy and Default Domain Controller policy for the following domain savilltech.com Do you want to continue:? Y WARNING: This operation will replace all 'User Rights Assignments' made in the chosen GPOs. This may render some server applications to fail. Do you want to continue: ? Y The Default Domain Policy was restored successfully. Note: Only the contents of the Default Domain policy was restored. Group Policy links to this Group Policy Object were not altered. By default, the Default Domain policy is linked to the Domain. The Default Domain Controller policy was restored successfully. Note: Only the contents of the Default Domain Controller policy was restored. Group Policy links to this Group Policy Object were not altered. By default, the Default Domain Controller policy is linked to the Domain Controllers OU.
Q. What are the Windows Server 2003 domain modes?
A. Windows 2000 offers two domain modes: mixed and native. Windows 2003 expands on these modes so that you can access features available only in the new OS. The domain modes available in Windows 2003 are
- Windows 2000 Mixed--In this default mode, a domain can have Windows NT 4.0 and later domain controllers (DCs).
- Windows 2000 Native--In this mode, a domain can support only Win2K and later DCs. This mode provides additional functionality, including nesting groups, universal groups, and support for SID history and group conversions. You must manually switch modes to upgrade to Windows 2000 Native mode.
- Windows 2003 Interim--In this mode, a domain can support only Windows 2003 and NT 4.0 DCs. This mode doesn't add any extra functionality. You set this mode when you use Dcpromo during an NT 4.0 PDC upgrade.
- Windows 2003--In this mode, a domain can support only Windows 2003 DCs. This mode has additional functionality over Windows 2000 Native mode, including the ability to rename DCs, add a password on InetOrgPerson objects, redirect the default Users and Computers container, and maintain a last logon timestamp attribute. You must manually switch modes to upgrade to Windows 2003 mode.
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