Supporting Windows NT in a medium-to-large scale environment required administrators to establish complex trust relationships between domains. In Windows 2000, all of the rules for establishing trusts have changed. In this article, I’ll explain how trust relationships have changed in...more
Security is a major concern with network administrators. You can't keep up with everything that's going on simultaneously on your network. However, you can configure audit policies to help you track a variety of activities and keep your network safe....more
Contrary to the hopes of hardware manufacturers, sometimes the cure to poor performance doesn't lie in throwing more hardware at a network and hoping things improve. Instead, you should monitor the performance of components of your network and tweak where...more
What is the difference between Windows 2000 Active Directory and Windows 2003 Active Directory? Is there any difference in 2000 Group Polices and 2003 Group Polices? What is meant by ADS and ADS services in Windows 2003? Windows 2003 Active...more
On Aug. 11, Microsoft Corp. announced the release of the Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server. A launch date of Sept. 26 is planned for the program, along with several other enterprise servers including SQL Server 2000, Exchange Server 2000, BizTalk...more "#"
If you've had a chance to look at Microsoft Windows 2000, you've probably noticed that it has a different look and feel than Windows NT. You're accustomed to finding utilities in certain places in Windows NT, but they may not...more
If you have ever worked with DOS, you probably worked with batch files. They're still around in Windows 2000, and can still be just as useful. Troy Thompson shows you how to exploit batch files on your Windows 2000 server....more
You add hard drives to your servers, and your users fill them up. How do you add storage with minimal impact on your network? In this article, we'll introduce you to a solution—the Windows 2000 Distributed File System (Dfs)....more
There's more to Windows 2000 installation than just a waiting client or server and a Windows 2000 CD-ROM. Before installing Windows 2000, complete this quick checklist....more
A systematic guide to installing Windows 2000 Server. This guide covers installing Windows 2000 Server or Advanced Server on a computer without an operating system and no hard disk partition....more
With myriad choices and price increases, Windows 2000 Server licensing is proving to be a tricky task for buyers....more
If you've ever deployed Windows NT Server or Windows 2000 Server, you probably know that Microsoft designed those products to be unsecure by default. Although Microsoft has provided many security mechanisms, it's been up to you to implement them. But...more
Most companies go to great lengths to protect data. All of your efforts to secure files basically boil down to how much you trust your employees. You have always been able to control access to files through authentication and permissions,...more
There are several performance monitoring tools available to Windows administrators. Which tool you use will depend on what you are trying to accomplish, your operating system and your technical skills....more
Windows Server 2003 comes with two performance monitoring tools: System Monitor, and Performance Logs and Alerts. These tools provide information that administrators can use to find bottlenecks and for troubleshooting Windows....more
When an unattended installation of Windows NT 4.0 is performed, the installation parameters are included in the Unattend.txt file. A vulnerability exists because the installation process copies the parameter file to a file in %windir%\system32 ($winnt$.inf for a normal unattended...
If your organization doesn't use Exchange, the fact that it installs along with the rest of Windows NT 4 is just plain annoying. Here's how to prevent it: Copy the i386 folder from the NT installation CD to an NT...
Need to install Proxy Server, Internet Explorer, Option Pack, and RRAS? Did you know the order of install can make or break you? Here's the proper order of configuration: Install Windows NT Server 4.0, Build 1381, Service Pack 0 or...
There are many ways to create, format, resize, and delete volumes in the NT world. Here are some methods you can use during the setup process itself: Create and format a new primary partition for the NT install, provided you...
Because 16-bit applications can be somewhat troublesome, NT offers you the option of running them in their own memory space. Then, if the legacy app crashes, it won't bring NT down with it. Here's how to set it up: Go...
To install extra per-server licenses for a Windows NT Server, follow these steps: Log on to the Windows NT Server. Start the License Manager (Start | Programs | Administrative Tools | License Manager). Click the Products View tab. Click Windows...
Licensing is an issue that can certainly create its fair share of administrative overload, particularly if you need to reset the licensing information when changing from per server to per seat. Remember also that you can make a one-time only...
Windows NT tells you what service pack version you're running when you boot your server. But if you don't want to reboot to find out, you can use Windows NT Diagnostics instead. Select Start | Programs | Administrative Tools (Common)...
Both SP6 and SP6a for NT came out quickly, seemingly one right after the other. Many admins aren't sure about how the two service packs differ and whether they both need to be applied. If for some reason you aren't...
When you apply a service pack to your Windows NT server, you can choose between a 40-bit and a 128-bit version. If you're in Canada or the U.S., you probably have a 128-bit server. When you download and apply the...
After downloading, post-SP3 service packs can be extracted without being installed by using the command SPName.exe /x. The service pack can then be applied by using these flags following the Update.exe command. -f = Force applications to close at shutdown...
If you're unable to uninstall a service pack, it's possible that you've reinstalled the service pack and told the installer to make a backup. If a service pack has already been installed, and you reapply it for whatever reason, the...
If you're making the move from Windows NT to Windows 2000, don't forget to take a few basic precautions. Upgrades can go wrong, and if that happens, you don't want to lose system configuration data. Although a particular peripheral device...
It's possible to have a computer that dual boots between Windows 95/98 and Windows NT, but since they don't share the same registry, applications must be installed twice - once for each operating system. The best way to go about...
Windows NT and Windows 9x cannot share a roaming profile. Windows 9x clients store the profile in the root of the home directory, while Windows NT clients store the profile in the profile path location. Differences also exist in the...
You may have attempted to install a new SCSI adapter under NT and found that the SCSI Adapters | Drivers | Add function didn't recognize your new SCSI adapter. This is not uncommon and is usually the result of a...
Installing multiple network adapters is beneficial in an NT server environment because doing so allows the server to process network requests over multiple adapters simultaneously. If your organization's network uses multiple protocols, consider placing each protocol on a different adapter....
Occasionally Windows NT won't let you remove a network card reference from the Network icon in Control Panel. If this happens, don't despair. There's a registry edit that will allow you to remove all references to the NIC. Here's how:...
After installing a new network card and the network drivers on a post-SP3 system, the following message may appear in the event viewer: "System error 1130 has occurred. Not enough server storage is available to process this command." This error...
Since the advent of the Internet most network administrators have had to become familiar with DNS, which is a fairly complex subject. In addition to its Web-based applications, DNS is also used for internal name resolution. The DNS Manager tool...
Zone transfers can create unnecessary network and server loads. In the DNS Manager, you can control how often these transfers take place. Keep in mind that a zone transfer is nothing more than a file copy procedure. The entire contents,...
If you're unfamiliar with RASPHONE, you may want to get to know this handy little utility better. RASPHONE is a dial-in applet that, unlike RASDIAL, provides many user-friendly features, including: Prefix/suffix Auto-redial Authentication on retries Operator-assisted dialing Terminal mode input...
There may be times when you need to disconnect someone, or maybe even everyone, from the RAS server. NT comes with a handy tool that can help you do just that. Follow these steps: Open the Remote Access Admin utility...
You can use the Jetpack.exe utility shipped with Windows NT Server to compress the WINS database. Go to the %systemroot%\system32\wins directory. Type Net Stop WINS and press [Enter] to stop the WINS service. Type Jetpack WINS.MDB TMP.MDB and press [Enter]...
Most of us probably use TCP/IP as the protocol of choice in our networks. However, you may have to support a small office where you'd prefer to use an easier-to-configure protocol like NetBEUI. But here's the rub—you've got an HP...
We are the first to admit that DHCP has been the answer to many a beleaguered NT administrator. No more coffee-stained pages falling from the rubber band-bound clipboard. But how do you deal with those situations when certain machines must...
DHCP is responsible for significantly easing our workload in managing IP addresses. The DHCP service does back up its database and files. However, it stores them in the Winnt\system32\DHCP\backup directory on the same partition that is running the DHCP service....
Many NT networks have multiple Backup Domain Controllers (BDCs). In fact, Microsoft recommends one BDC for every 2,000 users and, depending on your network configuration, you may have more. So let's look at a common scenario. Say you have BDCs...
Windows NT stores local profiles for all users who log on to a machine. You can delete these unnecessary profiles either locally or remotely. Locally stored profiles can be deleted by using the System Control Panel applet. Here's how: Start...
You can impact network traffic and efficiency based on where you store different types of profiles. To avoid version problems, don't store roaming user profiles on the Netlogon share (\Winnt\System32\Repl\Import\Scripts) if you have more than one logon server. For example,...
User profiles can be stored in various network locations for optimum efficiency. Here are few more tips to keep in mind for storage locations: Server-based or roaming user profiles should never be stored in the root level of a user's...
One of the biggest disadvantages about using roaming user profiles is that with time they can grow quite large. One way to help control the size of the profile is to control which folders are a part of that profile....
If you've created mandatory profiles for some users and want them to use only those mandatory profiles, you need to configure the system such that if the mandatory profiles aren't available, the users won't be allowed to log on. That...
Using Account Manager for Domains, you can change settings for multiple users at once. The process is pretty simple. Select the first account that you want to modify, then hold down [Ctrl] and select any additional accounts. You can also...
Need a way to join the domain from the command line? Just use NETDOM, from the Windows NT 4.0 Resource Kit Supplement 2. This utility can be used to add NT workstations or stand-alone servers to your domain. It will...
When a volume has been formatted as NTFS, you have an extra tab called Permissions in the Properties window. To change the permissions on an NTFS volume, start Windows Explorer, right-click a directory, and select Properties. Click the Security tab...
Many administrators install Windows NT with a FAT partition to ensure its accessibility with a DOS boot disk. However, this approach limits the functionality of the partition because you can't employ auditing or permission assignments. And simply reformatting a FAT...
NTFS partitions can sometimes be tricky to get rid of. Usually an NTFS partition can be deleted using FDISK (you'd select Delete Non-DOS Partition, available under Delete Partition Or Logical DOS Drive); however, this won't work if the NTFS partition...
Like it's not bad enough that your mirror failed and you had to break it. Now you can't delete a partition from the broken mirror. When you try to delete a partition that was part of a broken mirror set,...
To disable the DOS 8.3 name creation convention on an NTFS partition, you must open the registry editor, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\ Control\FileSystem, and change the NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation value from 0 to 1. By doing this, you may experience problems while installing...
The Info file in the Recycler folder sometimes gets corrupted and thus will show an empty Recycle Bin even if there are files in the Recycler folder. Windows will automatically recreate the Info file if it's missing, so the easiest...
Advanced RISC Computing (ARC) names are the names seen when viewing Boot.ini and are used to locate the NT boot partition. There are two main types of ARC names, depending on whether the disks are IDE or SCSI. For IDE,...
Although it does seem to go against basic security rules, there are some situations when you might need to set up an Windows NT machine to log on automatically, completely bypassing the standard logon sequence. This might be necessary for...
It seems like all the cool stuff to enhance NT performance involves registry editing. Obviously you don't want just anyone to have the capability to make potentially devastating registry changes. Here's a way to restrict access to regedt32.exe. (Note that...
One of the most important user accounts in any network is the Administrator account. Users that can access this account can pretty much do anything they darn well please. You definitely don't want this account falling into the hands of...
As you know, security-minded administrators apply policies to user accounts that define password length, uniqueness, and expiration requirements. By default, Windows NT displays the password expiration notification 14 days in advance. If users complain that this is too little or...more
A solid password aging policy can help secure network resources by forcing users to select different passwords periodically. Not only does this make it more difficult for intruders to guess user passwords, it also limits the amount of time that...more
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