MSSQL 2000 Backup

Lately, I have been having trouble backing up MS SQL 2000 files with ntbackup – running on Windows Server 2000.

As it happens, there is an easy way to deal with this. By modifying the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Ntbackup\Backup Engine to 1, backup will deal with each file – even if it is in use!

Of course, I still stop and start the SQL service to ensure that the file is not being modified. I’m not really confident that it works that well…

Java Automated Install

Installing Java is a bit of a grind without a repacker, so after scouring the internet, I settled on this snippet:

'===========================
'Automated Java Installation
'===========================
If Not(IsObject(CreateObject("JavaWebStart.IsInstalled"))) Then
VBisJWSInstalled = 0
Else
VBisJWSInstalled = 1
WshShell.run "S:\jre\jre-1_5_0_01-windows-i586-p.exe /s /v""/qn ADDLOCAL=jrecore,extra IEXPLORER=1 """
End If

Variables for the executable can be found at Sun’s Java Silent Installation page.

In-place motherboard change for Windows 2000-based systems

A neat trick I picked up while browsing t’internet is how to carry out a quick motherboard replacement on 2000 or XP Windows systems:

Before you swap out the current motherboard go to device manager and select the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controller and select your current storage controller. Right click, select update driver and select install from a list or specific location. Click don’t search I will choose the driver to install and select the standard dual channel IDE controller.

This will prevent the inaccessible boot device blue screen.

With this method, booting the first time with the new motherboard should be done in Safe mode. XP will install the drivers it needs and you can install the new motherboard drivers. I would suggest accessing the motherboard web site to get the latest drivers and bios updates rather than use the CD media included with the MB. The CD is usually a couple of revisions behind the latest updates.

Thanks to Michael Stevens for that bad boy.

Deployment of MSP files

It turns out that you cannot patch network installation points directly.

Not surprising really. Why should Microsoft make software deployment manageable out-of-the-box?

Nevertheless, I found a useful article at WinnetMag.com.

You can patch the network installation point directly, by using the following command:
msiexec /a < original .msi and localtion > /p < .msp file and location >.

However, you then need to redeploy the application afterwards. This can be done from within group policy.

Graceful Gradient

So, here we are!

Windows XP has shocked me by developing an unexpected ‘feature’.

As I was in a bid to design a pretty backdrop – I thought I’d save a 4 pixel image and save it as a bitmap. When previewing it as a Windows backdrop – I forgot to set the bitmap to tile instead of stretch. What I expected to happen was that some nasty pixilated blocks would appear on the screen.

But no! Instead a pretty gradient graced my monitor.

Obviously there’s limits to what kinds of gradients you can have – but it’s nice that it happens nevertheless.

USB XP Woes

Having been involved in a few Windows XP/2003 suite installations now – there seems to be a reoccurring problem with people and their USB devices.

Simply put – if you’re not an admin user of any sort, then the machine will not allow you to add or remove USB devices.

As a security issue, this is fine – especially when you don’t want people faffing around with your systems on a corporate level. In a school where you’ve just installed 30 computers – half of which don’t have floppy or CD drives in – USB is quite desired.

I finally got around to carrying out a serch on the web and found someone mention KB 823732. A jolly helpful article on how to disable a users ability to remove the said privilege. I haven’t tried it yet – but I imagine that the opposite is true to allow users. I’ll put up an additional note if it works.