How to Set Up VPN in Windows 7

VPN (Virtual Private Network) technology lets a computer using a public Internet connection join a private network by way of a secure "tunnel" between that machine and the network. The most common case is a business allowing its employees to connect to its work network from home or from the road.

There are two principal ways to configure VPN. The first and more-common scenario, called outgoing, is setting up a remote computer to call into the office network. The second scenario, called incoming, occurs on the network side, where a computer allows secure connections from other computers. Windows 7 comes preloaded with the Agile VPN client, which makes setting up either kind of connection relatively easy.

Step by Step: Connecting to a VPN (Outgoing)

Step 1 Click the Start button. In the search bar, type VPN and then select Set up a virtual private network (VPN) connection.

Step 2 Enter the IP address or domain name of the server to which you want to connect. If you're connecting to a work network, your IT administrator can provide the best address.

Step 3 If you want to set up the connection, but not connnect, select Don't connect now; otherwise, leave it blank and click Next.

Step 4 On this next screen, you can either put in your username and password, or leave it blank. You'll be prompted for it again on the actual connection. Click Connect.

Step 5 To connect, click on the Windows network logo on the lower-right part of your screen; then select Connect under VPN Connection.

Step 6 In the Connect VPN Connection box, enter the appropriate domain and your log-in credentials; then click Connect.

Step 7 If you can't connect, the problem could be due to the server configuration. (There are different types of VPN.) Check with your network administrator to see what kind is in use--such as PPTP--then, on the Connect VPN Connection screen, select Properties.

Step 8 Navigate to the Security tab and select the specific Type of VPN from the drop-down list. You may also have to unselect Include Windows logon domainunder the Options tab. Then click OK andConnect.

Step by Step: Building a VPN (Incoming)

Step 1 Click the Start button, and, in the search bar, type Network and Sharing.

Step 2 Click Change Adapter Settings in the left-hand menu.

Step 3 Click File, and then New Incoming Connection.

Step 4 Select the users you'd like to give access to and click Next.

Step 5 Click Through the Internet and select Next.

Step 6 Select the Internet Protocol you'd like to use. (The default TCP/IPv4--the line highlighted in the screenshot below--will work fine.)

Step 7 Finally, click Allow access; you've now set up an incoming VPN connection.

dhcp renamed to mshome.net ?

If you are seeing your Windows dhcp server got renamed to yourservername.mshome.net!

Here is the possible cause, disable ICS-Internet Connection Sharing from all the network cards.

Every System Admin Should Know

Active Directory

1. To quickly list all the groups in your domain, with members, run this command:

dsquery group -limit 0 | dsget group -members –expand

2. To find all users whose accounts are set to have a non-expiring password, run this command:

dsquery * domainroot -filter “(&(objectcategory=person)(objectclass=user)(lockoutTime=*))” -limit 0

3. To list all the FSMO role holders in your forest, run this command:

netdom query fsmo

4. To refresh group policy settings, run this command:

gpupdate

5. To check Active Directory replication on a domain controller, run this command:

repadmin /replsummary

6. To force replication from a domain controller without having to go through to Active

Directory Sites and Services, run this command:

repadmin /syncall

7. To see what server authenticated you (or if you logged on with cached credentials) you can run either of these commands:

set l

echo %logonserver%

8. To see what account you are logged on as, run this command:

whoami

9. To see what security groups you belong to, run this command:

whoami /groups

10. To see the domain account policy (password requirements, lockout thresholds, etc) run this command:

net accounts

Windows Networking

11. To quickly reset your NIC back to DHCP with no manual settings, run this command:

netsh int ip reset all

12. To quickly generate a text summary of your system, run this command:

systeminfo | more

13. To see all network connections your client has open, run this command:

net use

14. To see your routing table, run either of these commands:

route print

netstat -r

15. Need to run a trace, but don’t have Netmon or Wireshark, and aren’t allowed to install either one? Run this command:

netsh trace start capture=yes tracefile=c:\capture.etl

netsh trace stop

16. To quickly open a port on the firewall, run this command, changing the name, protocol, and port to suit. This example opens syslog:

netsh firewall set portopening udp 161 syslog enable all

17. To add an entry to your routing table that will be permanent, run the route add command with the –p option. Omitting that, the entry will be lost at next reboot:

route add 0.0.0.0 mask 0.0.0.0 172.16.250.5 –p

18. Here’s a simple way to see all open network connections, refreshing every second:

netstat –ano 1

19. You can add a | findstr value to watch for only a specific connection, like a client ip.addr or port:

netstat –ano | findstr 216.134.217.20

20. You can use the shutdown to shutdown or reboot a machine, including your own, in a simple scheduled task like this:

shutdown –r –t 0 –m \\localhost

21. To make planned DNS changes go faster, reduce the TTL on the DNS records you plan on changing to 30 seconds the day before changes are to be made. You can set the TTL back to normal after you confirm the changes have been successful.

22. Set a short lease on DHCP scopes that service laptops, and set Microsoft Option 002 to release a DHCP leas on shutdown. This helps to ensure your scope is not exhausted and that machines can easily get on another network when the move to a new site.

Windows 7

23. Want to enable the local administrator account on Windows 7? Run this command from an administrative command prompt. It will prompt you to set a password:

net user administrator * /active:yes

24. You can do the same thing during install by pressing SHIFT-F10 at the screen where you set your initial user password.

Windows 7 supports several useful new keyboard shortcuts:

25. Windows Key+G

Display gadgets in front of other windows.

26. Windows Key++ (plus key)

Zoom in, where appropriate.

27. Windows Key+- (minus key)

Zoom out, where appropriate.

28. Windows Key+Up Arrow

Maximize the current window.

29. Windows Key+Down Arrow

Minimize the current window.

30. Windows Key+Left Arrow

Snap to the left hand side of the screen

31. Windows Key+Right Arrow

Snap to the right hand side of the screen.

32. To quickly launch an application as an administrator (without the right-click, run as administrator), type the name in the Search programs and files field, and then press Ctrl-Shift-Enter.

Here are some tips that can save you from buying commercial software:

33. Need to make a quick screencast to show someone how to do something? The Problem Steps Recorder can create an MHTML file that shows what you have done by creating a screen capture each time you take an action. Click the Start button and type ‘psr’ to open the Problem Steps Recorder.

34. Need to burn a disc? The isoburn.exe can burn ISO and IMG files. You can right click a file and select burn, or launch it from the command line.

35. Windows 7 includes a screen scraping tool called the Snipping Tool. I have tons of users request a license for SnagIt, only to find this free tool (it’s under Accessories) does what they need.

36. You can download this bootable security scanner from Microsoft that will run off a USB key, which is very useful if you suspect a machine has a virus.

37. A great way to save all your command line tools and make them available across all your computers is to install Dropbox, create a folder to save all your scripts and tools, and add that folder to your path. That way, they can be called from the command line or any other scripts, and if you update a script, it will carry across to any other machine you have.

Windows 2008

38. You can free up disk space on your servers by disabling hibernate. Windows 2008 will create a hiberfil.sys equal to the amount of RAM. This is very useful with VMs that have lots of RAM but smaller C: drives. To disable hibernation, and reclaim that space, run this command:

powercfg -h off

39. You can get to the complete collection of Sysinternals tools online. You can even invoke them from the run command. Use the url: http://live.sysinternals.com or the UNC path: \\live.sysinternals.com\tools.

40. Speaking of the Sysinternals tools, almost any command line in this article can be run remotely on another machine (as long as you have administrative rights) using the psexec command included in the Sysinternals tools.

41. You can kill RDP sessions at the command line when you find that all the RDP sessions to a server are tied up.

regsvr32 query.dll [enter] You only have to do this the first time.

query session /server:servername [enter]

reset session # /server:servername [enter]

42. You can create a list of files and display the last time they were accessed, which is very useful when a network drive is low on space and users swear they have to have that copy of Office 2003 on the network. My advice? If they haven’t touched it in two years, burn it to DVD or write it to tape and then delete it from disk:

dir /t:a /s /od >> list.txt [enter]

43. The Microsoft Exchange Err command is one of the best all around troubleshooting tools you will find, as it can decode any hex error code you find as long as the products are installed on the machine. Download it fromhere.

44. You can see all the open files on a system by running this command:

openfiles /query

45. You can pull all the readable data out of a corrupt file using this command:

recover filename.ext

46. Need to pause a batch file for a period of time but don’t have the sleep command from the old resource kit handy? Here’s how to build a ten second delay into a script:

ping -n 10 127.0.0.1 > NUL 2>&1

47. If your Windows website has stopped responding, or is throwing a 500 error, and you are not sure what to do, you can reset IIS without having to reboot the whole server. Run this command:

iisreset

48. You can use && to string multiple commands together; they will run sequentially.

49. If you find yourself restarting services frequently, you can use that && trick to create a batch file called restart.cmd and use it to restart services:

net stop %1 && net start %1

50. You can download a Windows port of the wget tool from here, and use it to mirror websites using this command:

wget -mk http://www.example.com/

Linux

51. You can list files sorted by size using this command:

ls –lSr

52. You can view the amount of free disk space in usable format using this command:

df –h

53. To see how much space /some/dir is consuming:

du -sh /some/dir

54. List all running processes containing the string stuff:

ps aux | grep stuff

55. If you have ever run a command but forgot to sudo, you can use this to rerun the command:

sudo !!

56. If you put a space before a command or response, it will be omitted from the shell history.

57. If you really liked a long command that you just ran, and want to save it as a script, use this trick:

echo “!!” > script.sh

With 57 tips in this bag of tricks, you’re bound to find something useful. Have your own tips to share? Leave us a comment!

Fix a corrupted user profile in windows

The User Profile Service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded

Error message when you log on to a Windows Vista-based or Windows 7-based computer by using a temporary profile: "The User Profile Service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded"

Possible causes:

1.            This issue may occur if the user profile was manually deleted by using the command prompt or Windows Explorer by a user or by some program. A profile that is manually deleted does not remove the security identifier (SID) from the user profile list in the registry. Since the SID is still present, Vista will still try to load the profile by using the ProfileImagePath that points to a nonexistent path. Therefore, the profile cannot be loaded.

2.            This can also be a issue with the user profile entering into a backup state.

3.            Manually renaming the C:\Users\(User Name) folder.

To resolve this problem yourself, follow these steps:

1.            Delete the profile by using the Computer Properties dialog box. To do this, follow these steps:

o        Click Start, right-click Computer, and then click Properties.

o        Click Change settings.

o        In the System Properties dialog box, click the Advanced tab.

o        Under User Profiles, click Settings.

o        In the User Profiles dialog box, select the profile that you want to delete, click Delete, and then click OK.

2.            Click Start, type regedit in the Start search box, and then press ENTER.

3.            Locate and then expand the following registry subkey:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList

4.            Right-click the SID that you want to remove, and then click Delete.

5.            Log on to the computer and create a new profile.

Fix a corrupted user profile

If you tried to log on to Windows and received an error message telling you that your user profile might be corrupted, you can try to repair it. You will need to create a new profile, and then copy the files from the existing profile to the new one.

To create a new user profile

To create a new profile, you must first create a new user account. When the account is created, a profile will also be created.

1.            Open User Accounts by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking User Accounts and Family Safety (or clicking User Accounts, if you are connected to a network domain), and then clicking User Accounts.

2.            Click Manage another account. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

3.            Click Create a new account.

4.            Type the name you want to give the user account, click an account type, and then click Create Account.

To copy files to the new user profile

After you create the profile, you can copy the files from the existing profile. You must have at least three user accounts on the computer to complete these steps, including the new account you just created.

1.            Log on as a user other than the new user you just created or the user that you want to copy files from.

2.            Open Documents by clicking the Start button , and then clicking Documents.

3.            Click the Tools menu, and then click Folder Options.

If you don't see the Tools menu, press ALT.

4.            Click the View tab, click Show hidden files and folders, clear the Hide protected operating system files check box, and then click OK.

5.            Locate the C:\Users\Old_Username folder, where C is the drive that Windows is installed, and Old_Username is the name of the profile you want to copy files from.

6.            Select all of the files and folders in this folder, except the following files:

o        Ntuser.dat

o        Ntuser.dat.log

o        Ntuser.ini

7.            Click the Edit menu, and then click Copy.

If you don't see the Edit menu, press ALT.

8.            Locate the C:\Users\New_Username folder, where C is the drive that Windows is installed, and New_Username is the name of the new user profile you created.

9.            Click the Edit menu, and then click Paste.

If you don't see the Edit menu, press ALT.

10.          Log off, and then log back on as the new user.