CHiLL

I'm after a new Xbox controller as when I lean forward or even tip it, it loses connection. I suspect the internal receiver is loose and it is an older Xbox One controller. I could open it up and fix it, but I've been considering a newer Xbox Series controller, with USB C. This has been a super expensive month for me and I can't really justify spending, so it's frustrating that Black Friday is before my payday!

The "Connect-ExchangeOnline" command will ask you to authenticate against Azure AD and you'll need to use an account that has admin permissions against mailboxes (the account I used was a Global Admin).

I had the SMTP relay working without issues up to and including on Server 2019. However, it simply doesn't work on Server 2022. I'm now using HMailServer as an alternative and it's been fine.

I believe that is a phone screen cleaner.

It's not uncommon for each IT department to deal with one of those users. You can either placate to their needs, which increases the likeliness of them finding something else to complain about and expect you to fix it...or you can give them white lies and say you've made changes or replace their laptop like for like and hope the plecebo effect kicks in...or you can just ignore them and complain to management if they become too annoying or start talking out of place because it isn't fixed. It's also worth noting that if your router is also doing filtering or packet inspection, you'll likely not get near the full speed. We have an old Cisco ASA 5512 as an emergency backup router, which has 1Gb ports...but it can only do something like 600Mb if it's doing packet inspection, due to the high processing overhead.

I've had a call with Microsoft and you can unsubscribe everyone via Powershell and a CSV. Create CSV with the field "UserPrincipalName" and populate with all user email addresses Run the following Powershell: Install-Module PowerShellGet –Repository PSGallery –Force Install-Module -Name ExchangeOnlineManagement -RequiredVersion 2.0.4 Connect-ExchangeOnline $inFileName="C:\Cache\Users.csv" $users=Import-Csv $inFileName ForEach ($user in $users) { $user.Userprincipalname $upn=$user.UserPrincipalName $privacyMode = "Opt-out" Set-MyAnalyticsFeatureConfig -Identity $upn -PrivacyMode $privacyMode} You can check the opt-in status by running the following command: Get-MyAnalyticsFeatureConfig -Identity [email protected] | fl

Yeah, that's what I've advised people to do so far.

I have been asked by our head to turn off Microsoft's newly implemented "Reaction Daily Digest" emails that are sent to staff, which summarise the reactions/emojis that people have used on their emails. Because this is a relatively new feature, I can't find any documentation on how to disable this daily email. Has anyone figured this out? If not, I'll raise it with Microsoft support.

Is there a reason you can't use either regular Google Maps (which has it's own driving mode) or Waze, with their built-in Spotify integration and also an automation app like Bluetooth Volume Manager to auto start Spotify, play the music and set the volume level?

That's interesting. We just use the /q command and it doesn't force a restart. msiexec /i "sw-safeguarding-client-2.6.1.msi" ORGID= SERIALID= ENABLEAZUREAD=#1 /q /norestart REBOOT=ReallySuppress

I'm currently working on a script to map network drives on local laptop accounts, where it prompts the user for their credentials and maps the drive using them. I have it working, where it maps the drive and it is browsable...but it stops working if I log off and back on again. The mapped drive actually stays, but it has a red X and states the username or password is incorrect and prompts for a password (with the username pre-filled). I am using the NET USE command with the /persistent:yes switch, but it's not working as expected. Update: It's actually happening when I use NET USE in the traditional way, without any extra weirdness. It seems to be related to the fact that I'm using credentials that do not match the user I'm logged on with. $Credentials = Get-Credential -Message "Please enter your computer credentials" #Get user's AD credentials $Username = "DomainName\" + $Credentials.Username #Get the username from specified credentials and append the domain name at the start $SecurePassword = New-Object System.Management.Automation.PSCredential ($Username, $Credentials.Password) #Get password from saved credentials in a secure string $UnsecurePassword = $SecurePassword.GetNetworkCredential().Password #Convert password to plain text $HomeFolder = "\\domain.fqdn\staffhome$\" + $Credentials.Username + "\Documents" #Specify the path for the home folder, using the username from the AD credentials entered $StaffShare = "\\domain.fqdn\staffshare$" #Specify the path for the staff shared area If (!(Test-Path "C:\Program Files (x86)\Sophos\Connect\GUI\scgui.exe")) { Write-Output "Sophos Connect is not installed. Please install the software and try again."} Else { Write-Output "Copying Sophos configuration file..." xcopy "C:\Program Files (x86)\Sophos\Connect\VPN.scx" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Sophos\Connect\Import\" /Y #Copy Sophos Connect configuration file to the Import folder in Program Files Write-Output "Mapping H: drive..." Write-Output $HomeFolder Net Use H: $HomeFolder /user:$Username $UnsecurePassword /persistent:yes #Map H: drive Documents folder using the user's credentials to authenticate Write-Output "Mapping J: drive..." Write-Output $StaffShare Net Use J: $StaffShare /user:$Username $UnsecurePassword /persistent:yes} #Map J: drive Staff Share folder using the user's credentials to authenticate The reason I'm not using New-PSDrive is because the -persist flag doesn't save the mapped drive and it disappears after log off, even with the -Scope Global flag. It seems this is a quirk of mapping drives with a different user's credentials than the one who is logged on. Also, the reason for the weird credentials bit is because I want the user to be prompted to enter it...but it saves it as a secure string and NET USE fails to map it, so I need to convert it to plain text.

We have configured and starting to test our Sophos Connect configuration - so far so good. It's an alternative to our Microsoft Always-On VPN, which uses the user's domain account to log in and establish the VPN connection. However, when this connection randomly stops working for some people and can cause an issue where it stops the user logging in with cached credentials, saying the domain is not available, despite allowing the use of cached credentials/accounts. This is where Sophos Connect comes in as a backup VPN, where the user can just log into a local account on the device and connect the VPN. This leads me onto my main question(s): Mapped drives - what's the best way to get these mapped for the local accounts? I want to avoid doing it manually on each device's local account, though can't think of how to target just local accounts via GPO/script. Ideally I'd like credentials to be saved too, so the user doesn't have to keep rentering them.

While we don't have any actual documentation on the matter, there has been a large trend away from SIMS in the past couple of years. Cloud based solutions like Bromcom and Arbor have picked up a lot of those customers that left SIMS.

We backup our procution data to a always connected QNAP NAS using VEEAM. There's also a backup copy job in VEEAM that runs to two 1U rack mounted NAS devices in other buildings, which are never on at the same time (scheduled power on/off). We also have 2x 12TB (one each) external drives that we connect one one month and the other the next month and rotate, then take home. While none of this is true airgapped, nor on different media types, it's the best I could come up with with the money and resources we had available. Production Data > QNAP NAS QNAP NAS > 1U NAS in another block on Tue/Wed/Thu QNAP NAS > 1U NAS in another block on Fri/Sat/Sun QNAP NAS > 12TB external drive (even months) QNAP NAS > 12TB external drive (odd months)

While it's probably possible, if this is for exams, I wonder if using ExamWritePad might be an easier solution?

Microsoft changed how printers were deployed/installed back with Windows 8/8.1 and lots of orgs have had issues with printers since. Our map reliably - unless it's the user's first log on to that machine (or the profile has been wiped). If they log off and on again, it works every time thereafter. I would try deploying a printer via a user GPP (you can also use item-level targetting) and see if that produces the same result. If it still doesn't work, you may have a more meaningful error messing in Event Viewer.

I've been asked to deploy Pygame Zero to our IT suites, but I can't figure out how to deploy the software consistantly, as it works on some machines and not on others. Prerequisites for Pygame Zero are Python, Pygame and Numpy. I have it deployed in the following way: Python 3.10.5 python-3.10.5-amd64.exe" /quiet InstallAllUsers=1 Pygame "C:\Program Files\Python310\python.exe" -m pip install --upgrade pip --trusted-host pypi.python.org --trusted-host files.pythonhosted.org --trusted-host pypi.org "C:\Program Files\Python310\Scripts\pip.exe" install pygame --trusted-host pypi.python.org --trusted-host files.pythonhosted.org --trusted-host pypi.org Pygame Zero "C:\Program Files\Python310\Scripts\pip.exe" install pgzero --trusted-host pypi.python.org --trusted-host files.pythonhosted.org --trusted-host pypi.org It is being deployed via SCCM, but I think it's having issues installing the packages into the Program Files folder and defaulting back to the user's AppData instead. It's not an issue with SCCM processing the download command, as it does download. Defaulting to user installation because normal site-packages is not writeable I have almost zero knowledge of Python, so my main questions are...How do I reliably install the packages to Program Files, can I install this from a local repository/share and if so, how?

We use Windows Defender, which we manage with MECM (SCCM).

We have a whole bunch of the HP 250 DfE devices, and those that went home to students generally don't have Wi-Fi issues. Some are currently being used by a department and they did mention this morning that there are some connectivity issues, Wi-Fi dropping out, slow etc. I could put some of that down to the AP being overloaded and trying to serve 24 devices at the same time on a 1Gb link. Though I also think some of it is down to the general cheapness of the laptop and having a poor Wi-Fi cards.

Annoyingly, neither restarting the service or restarting the virtual appliance fixes the issue. The VCSA itself reports all the services as healthy (including VMware vSphere Update Manager), but just Update Manager in vSphere web client doesn't load.

Since having to rebuild my ESX hosts in recent weeks due to hardware failures, I've not been able to get VMware updates to work with the error "An unexpected error has occurred" every time I load the updates tab on the cluster or hosts in vSphere. I had been getting the same issue in updates tab in VCSA, but I was able to unregister the plugin and reregister it. Now the updates tab in VCSA works and I can see it's sucessfully checking for updates (Last checked Sept 23, 2022, 10:35). Though it seems the automaitc checking schedule isn't working (every day at midnight), though when I press check now, it works correctly. I'm currently at a loss as to how to get VMware updates working again.

I'm having issues getting our vSphere appliance to install the APC Powerchute Plug-in. It's showing the following errors: Error downloading plug-in. Make sure that the URL is reachable and the registered thumbprint is correct. java.net.UnknownHostException: PCNS_4.4.3 java.net.AbstractPlainSocketImpl.connect(AbstractPlainSocketImpl.java:196) java.net.SocksSocketImpl.connect(SocksSocketImpl.java:394) java.net.Socket.connect(Socket.java:606) sun.security.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.connect(SSLSocketImpl.java:298) sun.net.NetworkClient.doConnect(NetworkClient.java:175) sun.net.www.http.HttpClient.openServer(HttpClient.java:463) sun.net.www.http.HttpClient.openServer(HttpClient.java:558) sun.net.www.protocol.https.HttpsClient.(HttpsClient.java:292) sun.net.www.protocol.https.HttpsClient.New(HttpsClient.java:395) sun.net.www.protocol.https.AbstractDelegateHttpsURLConnection.getNewHttpClient(AbstractDelegateHttpsURLConnection.java:203) sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection.plainConnect0(HttpURLConnection.java:1167) sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection.plainConnect(HttpURLConnection.java:1061) sun.net.www.protocol.https.AbstractDelegateHttpsURLConnection.connect(AbstractDelegateHttpsURLConnection.java:189) sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection.getInputStream0(HttpURLConnection.java:1584) sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection.getInputStream(HttpURLConnection.java:1512) java.net.HttpURLConnection.getResponseCode(HttpURLConnection.java:480) sun.net.www.protocol.https.HttpsURLConnectionImpl.getResponseCode(HttpsURLConnectionImpl.java:352) com.vmware.vise.util.http.ConnectionManager.connect(ConnectionManager.java:298) com.vmware.vise.util.http.SimpleHttpClient.connect(SimpleHttpClient.java:354) com.vmware.vise.util.http.SimpleHttpClient.connect(SimpleHttpClient.java:324) com.vmware.vise.util.http.SimpleHttpClient.executeMethodResponseAsStream(SimpleHttpClient.java:222) com.vmware.vise.vim.extension.VcExtensionManager.writePackageToFile(VcExtensionManager.java:1345) com.vmware.vise.vim.extension.VcExtensionManager.downloadPackage(VcExtensionManager.java:1199) com.vmware.vise.vim.extension.VcExtensionManager$2.call(VcExtensionManager.java:817) com.vmware.vise.vim.extension.VcExtensionManager$2.call(VcExtensionManager.java:807) java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266) com.vmware.vise.util.concurrent.QueuingCachedThreadPool$QueueProcessor.run(QueuingCachedThreadPool.java:1229) java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:511) java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266) java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1149) java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:624) com.vmware.vise.util.concurrent.WorkerThreadFactory$1.run(WorkerThreadFactory.java:64) java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:750) Our environment is: VMware 6.7 19997733 APC Smart-UPS RT 6000 RM XL Powerchute Network Shutdown v4.4.3 I have removed the plug-in manually and forced it to reinstall via http://vCenter_Server_name_or_IP/mob, but that didn't work. I've also rebooted the VCSA, but that also didn't work. I have read somewhere that the Java plug-in doesn't work with the HTML5 web-client, but of the two vSphere options (PowerChute vSphere Web Client Plug-in and PowerChute vSphere Plug-in), I specifically selected the vSphere web client plug-in. I have confirmed that the Powerchute software is configured to connect to vSphere and the connection works. The Powerchute log shows it is connected: vCenter Server is accessible. PowerChute will be able to issue commands to Virtual Machines or Hosts. I'm not sure what the plug-in actually does. I just want to be sure that should we encounter a powercut, the UPS will be able to gracefully shutdown and bring back the VMs as specified in the configuration.

So looking through DC2's logs, I can see that VMware Tools was actually changing the time, which matches the same time difference we were seeing: The system time has changed to ‎2022‎-‎09‎-‎21T11:54:34.475000000Z from ‎2022‎-‎09‎-‎21T11:40:45.096028100Z. Change Reason: An application or system component changed the time. Process: '\Device\HarddiskVolume2\Program Files\VMware\VMware Tools\vmtoolsd.exe' (PID 3608). This is despite the setting "Synchronize guest time with host" most definately unchecked in the VM's "VM Options" settings tab. I don't know how many times I've checked myself and my colleague has also confirmed it numerous times. DC2 is currently running from the host I rebuilt yesterday, so I clearly forgot to check the time settings on the host. But it doesn't explain why it was changing the time on the VM when the option was turned off. I've now set the host to use DC2 and uk.pool.ntp.org as it's time servers and I hope that will clear up the issue.

Thanks, though DC1 is a physical box, not virtualised. It's running on HP's ILO4 and I can see that the time is correct in the ILO interface. I'll check out those links.

So this has cropped it's ugly head again and I can't figure out why. DC2 is our on-site NTP server, which syncs from uk.pool.ntp.org w32tm /query /peers on DC1 points to DC2 w32tm /query /peers on other servers/clients reports either DC2 or DC1 as their source, using NT5DS. w32tm /query /configuration on DC2 reports Type: NTP (Local) and The time service has started advertising as a time source. w32tm /query /configuration on DC1 and other servers/clients reports Type: NT5DS (Local) This morning, DC2 was correct but DC1 had gone forward 20 minutes and I have absolutely no idea why, because it's reporting that it's getting it's time from DC2.