Windows Tips & Tricks UPDATE--October 13, 2003

Windows Tips & Tricks UPDATE, October 13, 2003, —brought to you by the Windows & .NET Magazine Network and the Windows 2000 FAQ site
http://www.windows2000faq.com

This Issue Sponsored By

Winternals
http://www.winternals.com/winnet13

New Boundary Technologies, Inc.
http://www.newboundary.com/box/win_net_update/pd_tpoint_101303.htm

1. Commentary

2. FAQs

Q. Why do I receive an error involving pending file operations while installing Microsoft SQL Server 2000, even after I reboot the system?
Q. How can I change a domain user's password from the command line in Windows Server 2003?
Q. How do I enable or disable a domain user from the command line in Windows Server 2003?
Q. How can I use the Windows Server 2003 command line to find all users in a domain who match certain criteria?
Q. Can I obtain more information from the "Dsquery user" command than just the user's name?

3. Announcements

Microsoft IT Forum 2003, November 11-14, Copenhagen, Denmark
Readers’ Choice and Best of Show Nominees and Winners

4. Event

"Plan, Migrate, Manage: Shifting Seamlessly from NT4 to Windows 2003"

5. Contact Us

See this section for a list of ways to contact us.

Sponsor: Winternals

Administrator's Pak tools named Reader's Choice
The people who know best – the administrators out in the trenches – have spoken. For the second year in a row, the readers of Windows & .NET Magazine gave Winternals ERD Commander and NTFSDOS Professional the prestigious Reader's Choice Awards, naming ERD Commander the Best Emergency Console Utility and NTFSDOS Professional the Best File System Tool. Amazingly, the voting took place BEFORE the latest versions of these products were released as part of the Administrator’s Pak 4.0 utility suite, which added dozens of new capabilities and radically increased their power and practicality. What did they miss? Find out for yourself with a free Administrator's Pak 4.0 30-day trial CD. Sign up today at:
http://www.winternals.com/winnet13

1. Commentary
by John Savill, FAQ Editor, [email protected]

This week, I explain why you might receive an error when you install Microsoft SQL Server 2000, how to change a domain user's password from the command line in Windows Server 2003, and how to enable or disable a domain user from the command line in Windows 2003. I also tell you how to use the Windows 2003 command line to find all users in a domain who match a certain criteria and how to use the Dsquery User command to obtain information about a user.

Sponsor: New Boundary Technologies, Inc.

Prism Deploy 5: software deployment as it should be. Ensure reliable software distribution every time. Reduce complex distribution projects by 75%. Active Update (TM) automatically identifies and targets the right computers. Deploy the latest security patch in two easy steps, for example, Windows 2000 Service Pack 3, without running a time-consuming inventory scan of your network. Once you define the computer profile requiring new software or updates, the rest happens automatically. Download a 30-day eval now:
http://www.newboundary.com/box/win_net_update/pd_tpoint_101303.htm

2. FAQs

Q. Why do I receive an error involving pending file operations while installing Microsoft SQL Server 2000, even after I reboot the system?

A. An erroneous pending file copy operation in the registry is causing your SQL Server installation to believe another installation is underway, which is preventing you from continuing the installation. To resolve this error, perform the following steps:

Start a registry editor (i.e., regedit.exe).
Navigate to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager registry subkey.
Double-click PendingFileRenameOperations.
Remove any entries for this registry value, then click OK.
Close the registry editor.

You'll then be able to complete the SQL Server 2000 installation.

Q. How can I change a domain user's password from the command line in Windows Server 2003?

A. You can use the Dsmod command to modify Directory Service (DS) objects' attributes from the command line. More specific to your question, you can use Dsmod User to change the attributes of a user object. To modify a user's password, use the following syntax:

dsmod user  -pwd

For example, to change the password for user John in domain it.uk.savilltech.com, I typed

dsmod user CN=John,CN=Users,DC=it,DC=uk,DC=savilltech,DC=com –pwd
   Pa55word

The system returned

dsmon succeeded:CN=John,CN=Users,DC=it,DC=uk,DC=savilltech,DC=com

Q. How do I enable or disable a domain user from the command line in Windows Server 2003?

A. You can use the Dsmod User command with the -disabled switch to enable a user account

dsmod user  -disabled no

or disable a user account

dsmod user  -disabled yes

For example, to enable user John in domain it.uk.savilltech.com, I typed

dsmod user CN=John,CN=Users,DC=it,DC=uk,DC=savilltech,DC=com –disabled
   no

The system returned

dsmon succeeded:CN=John,CN=Users,DC=it,DC=uk,DC=savilltech,DC=com

Q. How can I use the Windows Server 2003 command line to find all users in a domain who match certain criteria?

A. The Dsquery command lets you query Active Directory (AD) for most types of objects according to passed attributes. To see the full list of options, type

dsquery user /?

The basic command syntax is

dsquery user

For example, to find all users whose name starts with the letter J in domain it.uk.savilltech.com, I typed

dsquery user DC=it,DC=uk,DC=savilltech,DC=com -name J*

and the system returned

"CN=John,CN=Users,DC=it,DC=uk,DC=savilltech,DC=com"
"CN=James,CN=Users,DC=it,DC=uk,DC=savilltech,DC=com"
"CN=Jim,CN=Users,DC=it,DC=uk,DC=savilltech,DC=com"

To find all users who hadn't changed their password in more than 10 days, I typed

dsquery user DC=it,DC=uk,DC=savilltech,DC=com -stalepwd 10

To find all users who hadn't logged on using their password in the past week, I typed

dsquery user DC=it,DC=uk,DC=savilltech,DC=com -inactive 1

You can also combine switches, if necessary. For example, to find all users whose name starts with the letter J and who hadn't changed their passwords in more than 10 days, I typed

dsquery user DC=it,DC=uk,DC=savilltech,DC=com -name J* -stalepwd 10

Q. Can I obtain more information from the "Dsquery user" command than just the user's name?

A. You can't obtain additional information directly from the Dsquery User command, but you can pipe (i.e., send) the command output to the Dsget command with a list of attributes to fetch. For example, to display the distinguished name (DN) and description of the users matching the Dsquery User command (specifically, those users whose names start with the letter J and who hadn't changed their passwords in more than 10 days), I typed

dsquery user DC=it,DC=uk,DC=savilltech,DC=com -name J* -stalepwd
   10 | dsget user -desc -dn

You can type

dsget user /?

to view a list of all attributes that Dsget can fetch.

3. Announcements
(from Windows & .NET Magazine and its partners)

Microsoft IT Forum 2003, November 11-14, Copenhagen, Denmark

Explore best practices for managing your systems and strengthening your security, gain effective guidance for planning and implementing rollouts of a host of Microsoft products and technologies, including Exchange Server 2003, Windows Server 2003, and others in the Windows Server System. Save 300 EUROS, register today.
http://www.microsoft.com/europe/msitforum/

Readers' Choice and Best of Show Nominees and Winners

The votes are in! We asked you, our readers, to give us your opinions about the latest industry products and services. Find out who is the best of the best!
http://www.winnetmag.com/issues/index.cfm?issueid=666

4. Event
(brought to you by Windows & .NET Magazine)

"Plan, Migrate, Manage: Shifting Seamlessly from NT4 to Windows 2003"

Your Active Directory environment can make or break your entire Windows NT 4.0 to Windows Server 2003 migration project. This free Web seminar features best practices for migration planning and administration, tips and tricks for ensuring Exchange Server and Active Directory health, and guidance for managing your directory for maximum availability and performance during migration and beyond. Register now!
http://www.winnetmag.com/seminars/migration/index.cfm?pc=adeh

Comments

Plain text