Stop Windows from sleeping via cmd.exe

To set the PC sleep time-out for AC power use the following.
powercfg /change standby-timeout-ac 0

For monitors use the following.
powercfg /change monitor-timeout-ac 0

Office click-to-run 365, VL etc will not let you add an app if already run with excludes in the XML

 If you have previously excluded Office apps from your install you may find that re-running without them excluded does not install them.

It seems Office click-to-run keeps a record of the initial excluded apps in the registry.

Use regedit.exe to take a look in the following path for the 'O365<edition name>.ExcludedApps' key.

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\ClickToRun\Configuration

Remove any excluded apps and rerun the install.

Find the Recovery Model of all databases in MS SQL

 Run the following script to list the Recovery Model setting for all DBs in MSSQL

SELECT Name, DATABASEPROPERTYEX(Name,'RECOVERY') AS [Recovery Model] FROM master.dbo.sysdatabases

An odd one. Hyper-V cannot update the Integration Services Setup Disk image

 Datto reporting:

A Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-VMMS-Admin - Hyper-V-VMMS monitor in policy Windows: Role - Hyper-V Server was automatically disabled due to rate limiting.

Hunting this down in the event log (Admin log in Hyper-V-VMMS in Apps&Services logs/Microsoft/Windows) gives me:

The description for Event ID 19510 from source Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-VMMS cannot be found. Either the component that raises this event is not installed on your local computer or the installation is corrupted. You can install or repair the component on the local computer.

If the event originated on another computer, the display information had to be saved with the event.

The following information was included with the event: 

%%2147942480

0x80070050

The locale specific resource for the desired message is not present

Eject the integration services ISO from all your VMs.

And the Event log gives you:

The Integration Services Setup Disk image was successfully updated.

List users in a domain group using CMD

 A nice simple one, to find the membership of a domain group use the following on a domain controller.

net group "groupname"

AAD Connect fails with crazy long error that makes no sense.

 AAD Connect stops syncing.

The error is as follows:

Start-ADSyncSyncCycle : System.Management.Automation.CmdletInvocationException: System.InvalidOperationException: Showing a modal dialog box or form when the application is not running in UserInteractive mode is not a valid operation. Specify the ServiceNotification or DefaultDesktopOnly style to display a notification from a service application.

This situation occurs after enabling Security Defaults on an Azure AD Tennent.

Despite the claims about Security Defaults you can disable MFA on a per user basis. Just go to 365 MFA user settings  (https://account.activedirectory.windowsazure.com/UserManagement/MultifactorVerification.aspx) with your admin creds and disable MFA for the account that runs the AAD updates (it will have a username starting with 'Sync_').

Run a normal sync a couple of times and AAD Connect will sort itself out.

WiFi section of Windows 10 Settings app not showing on Surface Laptop 2

 After some updates the WiFi section under Network & Internet in the Windows 10 Settings app disappears.

Go to Network adapters in Device Manager and uninstall the Marvell Wifi adapter.

Right-click the computer name in Device Manager and Scan for hardware changes.

You should see the device repopulate.

Rebooted and you should be able to connect to Wifi.

If you have a VPN which then will not connect see my previous blog post.

Windows 10 built-in VPN does not connect does not error (VPN Error 720 when using RASDIAL)

Windows 10 built-in VPN does not connect does not error.

RRAS showed connection for a few seconds then no connection.

1. Open Device Manager
2. Expand Network Adapters
3. Right-click and Uninstall WAN Miniport (IP), WAN Miniport(IPv6) and WAN Miniport (SSTP).
4. Right-Click the Computer name and pick Scan for hardware changes
5. The adapters you just uninstalled should come back
6. Try connecting again

Installing .net 4 without Server Manager or PowerShell

 A software consultant uninstalled .net 4 breaking the Datto agent.

I instinctively go to open Server Manager, oh wait, it has no icon.

I go to PowerShell, it flashes a window and closes.

I go to CMD and run 
Dism /online /Enable-Feature /FeatureName:NetFx4 /All

Reboot

Server Manager is still missing so I run 
dism /online /enable-feature /all /featurename:server-gui-mgmt

I had to unpin and re-pin Server Manager to Start to get the icon back.

All is good.

The Disk is Offline Because of Policy Set by an Administrator

 

1. Open Powershell as administrator

2. Enter get-disk

3. Note the number of the drive (2 in the example above)

4. Enter set-disk number -isoffline $false 

5. Enter get-disk again to check the status.

6. If the drive shows read-only follow this guide.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/archive/blogs/askcore/my-disk-is-read-only-help

Getting a GoTek floppy drive emulator working

So here's a slightly odd post, why am I playing with GoTek floppy emulators? Well, I rediscovered my Amstrad CPC6128 8 bit computer from the '80s and wanted to try some software downloaded from various sites.

The Amstrad CPC6128 has a floppy port (34 way IDC edge connector) which is compatible with the 5.25" drive connector found on some floppy ribbon cables.

So, I hooked up the GoTek to a TTL serial cable and flashed the Flash Floppy firmware, I did the OLED screen upgrade, I even added a rotary encoder. I followed all the guides you find everywhere.

I connected the GoTek to the CPC and got some errors you would expect if there was no drive.

I linked pins 33 & 34 to set the Ready signal, I linked pins 11 & 12 to force it to be the A drive (shown below, image from CPC Wiki).

But nothing.

No guide I followed gave me any clues. That is until I randomly started researching the pinouts of the 34 way connector feeling I was missing something.

Then I found a project by a guy working on reading Amiga disks with an Arduino, he explains the entire process and linked to pinouts.ru I followed the link and started reading.

This paragraph stood out a mile!

One might ask why the twist was needed. In short, because it was a big time-saver during setup back in the days when it was quite common to find two floppy drives in a machine. Without the twist, for two floppy drives to be used, one had to be jumpered as A: and the other as B:. With the twist, it was possible to leave them both jumpered as B:, and whichever was after the twist will appear to the system as A: because the control lines are inverted.

OMG!

Drives back in the day were normally jumpered as B: by default?! This GoTek is jumpered as unit zero by default. More Googling and I find the following jumper guide. I set my GoTek as S1 (rather than S0)

Guess what?
Everything works now, I can enjoy 36 years of software (yes people still write software for an 8 bit system released in 1985 and it's predecessor in 1984. There is even new hardware out there. I have plans to add WiFi.

I might have to try the GoTek again on my Amiga, it will probably work now! 😁

Stop annoying Office365 service update emails

 

Go to: https://admin.microsoft.com/adminportal/home?ref=MessageCenter&showPref=1

A side panel will open on the right.

                Scroll to the bottom of the side panel
                Untick ‘Send me a weekly email digest’
                Click Save at the bottom of the panel.