Windows Tips & Tricks UPDATE--May 2, 2005

\c \t <location to extract to>

D:\temp\windowsserver2003-kb892777-supporttools-x86-enu.exe /c /t:d:\temp\2003sp1suptools 

You're now ready to burn this new structure and the boot sector you extracted earlier to a CD-ROM to make a bootable Windows 2003 CD-ROM that has SP1 slipstreamed into it. For this example, I used the Nero 6.6 CD-ROM burning software, but you can use any CD-ROM burner software that lets you create a bootable CD-ROM. To create the Windows 2003 CD-ROM, perform these steps:

1. Start the Nero or other CD-ROM burning application.
2. From the File menu, select New.
3. From the list of CD type options, select CD-ROM (Boot).
4. Select the Boot tab, then select "Image file" and enter the location of your boot sector image file. Check the "Enable expert settings" and set the emulation to "No Emulation." Set the load segment to 07C0 and the number of sectors to 4, as the figure shows.
5. Select the Label tab and enter the volume label of the original CD-ROM (e.g., NRMSFPP_EN for Windows 2003 Standard Server).
6. Under Burn CD, select the "Finalize CD (No further writing possible!)" option.
7. Click New.
8. Drag all the files from the Windows 2003 with slipstreamed SP1 folder to the CD project, as the figure shows.
9. From the Recorder menu, select Burn Compilation.
Click Burn.

The application then creates your SP1-integrated bootable Windows 2003 CD-ROM.

Q. What's Winternals Administrator's Pak 5.0?

A. Winternals Software has released the fifth iteration of Administrator's Pak, a comprehensive suite of administrative tools, which includes:

• ERD Commander 2005--a bootable CD-ROM environment (based on Windows Server 2003) that lets you modify installed OSs (e.g., make registry changes, fix corrupt files, modify services, recover deleted files, reset passwords, view autorun settings) via a GUI that looks like a regular Windows installation, as the figure shows. ERD Commander also includes the Firefox Web browser, the System File Repair Wizard, and a Solution Wizard, which, through a series of questions, ascertains what you're trying to do and recommends the best tool for the job.
• Remote Recover--allows access to volumes and files on a remote system via TCP/IP as if the drives were locally mounted. You can boot the machine hosting the volumes via CD-ROM or a Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) downloaded image.
• NTFSDOS Professional--provides full access to NTFS volumes from MS-DOS
• FileRestore--restores deleted files
• Regmon Enterprise Edition--monitors registry access and modification in real time across all machines in your enterprise
• Filemon Enterprise Edition--similar to Regmon but for file access
• TCP Tools (TCPView Professional Edition and TCPVStat)--allows full monitoring of the TCP/IP environment
• Insight for Active Directory--a real-time Active Directory (AD) diagnostic utility that helps resolve problems and advises about possible problems
• AD Explorer--a browser for AD
• Crash Analyzer Wizard--analyzes a Windows crash dump and determines the likely cause

Administrator's Pak contains everything you need to maintain and troubleshoot your environment (especially ERD Commander 2005, my go-to tool for any system boot or recovery problem). I recommend that every administrator have Administrator's Pak in his or her toolbox.

Q. I have Microsoft Exchange Server installed in a nonstandard location on my network. Will the Exchange server's location cause problems when I run the Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Security Configuration Wizard (SCW)?

A. SCW expects Exchange to be installed in the \%programfiles%\exchsrvr folder. SCW configures the firewall component exceptions, which rely on a pointer to the associated executable. If Exchange isn't installed where SCW expects, the pointers that SCW creates are incorrect. In that case, SCW displays an error stating that the emsmta.exe, mad.exe, and store.exe files can't be found. After the server reboots, the exceptions don't work correctly, and access to the services will be blocked. The solution is to either not use SCW or to manually add exceptions Windows Firewall and point to the correct location of the executables. The Microsoft article "After you run the Security Configuration Wizard in Windows Server 2003 SP1, Outlook users may not be able to connect to their accounts" at http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=896742 explains the latter approach.

Q. What are the additional drivers that I can add to my Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 OS Deployment Feature Pack Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE) used for?

A. When you create the SMS OS Deployment capture and installation CD-ROMs, you can opt to install additional network and storage drivers (which aren't included with Windows XP Service Pack 2--SP2). These drivers enable the WinPE environment to fully communicate with the network and storage resources from the booted computer. The additional drivers aren't passed to the OS that's being deployed; you need to include drivers for the OS with the OS image that you capture. If you install the new OS to a new hardware platform that requires additional network or storage drivers, you need to create a new OS image that includes the drivers or create a custom WinPE-based process that injects the new drivers into the OS after it's deployed to the new hardware, but before it's booted. When specifying the additional drivers for the WinPE, the specified location for the network drivers doesn't require a txtsetup.oem file to be present. Also, no subfolders are searched, so all the required drivers must be in the root of the location pointed to. The storage driver location does require a txtsetup.oem file to be present, and if you have multiple storage drivers, you need to combine the txtsetup.oem files from each driver into one file.

Q. Can I install Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1) on Microsoft Small Business Server (SBS) 2003?

A. Although you can install the standard Windows 2003 SP1 on an SBS 2003 installation, it's best to use SBS 2003 SP1 (which will follow the standard Windows 2003 SP1 release by 60 days). Some users have experienced problems when installing SP1 on SBS 2003. If you've already installed SP1 on SBS 2003, I recommend that you uninstall it and install the SBS 2003-specific version. Here are a few caveats to remember if you do uninstall Windows 2003 SP1:

• The Change Server IP Address tool will continue to fail after you uninstall Windows 2003 SP1. (The workaround for this problem is to remove Windows 2003 SP1, disable DHCP, and rerun the SBS 2003 Configure E-mail and Internet Connection Wizard--CEICW.)
• Power Users retain SharePoint Administration privileges even after you change the role to Reader.
• Reinstalling Microsoft Exchange Server fails.
• Reinstalling the Intranet component fails.
• Fax Services won't start, and the Fax Configuration Wizard won't run after you uninstall Windows 2003 SP1.

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