Stuart_C

So a while ago I upgraded my SQL server to 2008 from 2005 however as part of the process i left the old SQL in place. What's the easiest way to stop it running? Can I just stop and disable the instanaces in services MMC? SQL Server (SIMS2005) SQL Server Agent (2005) SQL Server FullTexstSearch (2005) Ideally i want to do cause the minumum disruption to the 2008 DB.

There is a PCI-E 1 slot, it's got something else plugged into it. I'm trying to use both PCI-E slots (and neither with a graphics card) and both graphics outputs. It just seems to disable the DVI if you Plug ANYTHING in. as you say It's like it's detecting the presence of something rather than the presenance of a graphics card. My first message to MSI technical support has not gone well as they have asked me which external graphics card I am using despite me clearly stating I am NOT using an external graphics card. Oh well.

It's technically a Viglen 625M Motherboard but in reality it's a rebranded MSI board. My issues however is this. It comes with an onboard twin graphics output (VGA and DVI) which is great as I want to have two outputs to the monitor and a projector. My problem is that I also want to make use of both the PCI-E slots. When I plug anything into the PCI-E x16 slot the motherboard decides to disable the DVI socket. I'm not even plugging in a Graphics card! I've tried it with two different cards and in both cases the DVI port stops working. I'm guessing it thinks that I'm putting in a graphics card and so diables part(??) of the onbard. I've tried setting the BIOS to use the Internal as the primary graphics adaptor. So any suggestions on a way round this before i have to give up the ghost and buy a video splitter.

We are currently in the process of lookig at virtual solutions to reduce our long term PC replaecment costs. I've been playing with Citrix XenDesktop but I can only go so far in a test environment and I was wondeirng if anyone would be willing to show me theirs so I can see the system in practice (and get some practical advice on what not to do ). I'm based in Rotherham (nr Sheffield in case you didn't know) but don't mind a bit of a drive round Yorkshire or north of Nottingham/Noth Derbyshire or possible a little further abroad. So if you don't mind spending a day in the summer hols with some random bloke poking around your network please can you PM me (I may bring muffins if you as a thankyou )

So I'm looking for a video switcher, two inputs one output. Simple, Oh and I don't want to pay the earth and I'd quite like it not to look like it was made in 1970's So any advice, I've found this but I was wondering if there is anything else out there. I keep finding KVM's but I dont need the K and M!!!

Lucky for us our filtering links to AD and us username based. Thus I can block it for the pupils and not the teachers. Where it gets massively frustrating is where they say "we need the pupils to use it for teaching and learning in these lessons" which is then often followed by "it must be blocked pupils are not working, just watching silly videos" and then me screamig "mak your mind up!"

This makes me want to check our config now, I know i've not had any problems with this. Denying access to the C: drive may at least prevent them from accessing the location.

Teamview is not free if you use it for work (it's in the T&C's), otherwise I'd be using it!

Have you prestaged the device? There's a command line you can use or created the computer account on the server input the GUID/MAC and specify the managing server and away you go. Worked ok on my xp/wds on 2008 trial. Now playing with MDT 2010 to see how I get on for any win7 deployment.

Odd question. I want to verify that all the passwords work for my controlled coursework accounts (I may have changed the odd one or two for various reasons and they may differ from my list) is there an easy way to verify a username and password en mass? Yes I could go an manually log in 40+ times but if there was a way I could script the check and do them in one go it would save time.

Thanks for all the responses. it looks like I need to learn how to use WDT then Before I leave WDS for the minute I have two questions. First is there a way to automate the first part of the deployment? (disk partitioning etc). When I try to create an unattended.xml for my .wim file using SIM it tells me it can't create the catalogue. Second how do I get an XP image to automatically update drivers not stored in windows? My install copies the files to the disk but then doesn't update the drivers for unknown devices. When it boots i can go in and manually update them but I wanted to not have to do this. I should mention I've got under the Unattended section of my Sysprep.inf The devices were in System Manager as unknown devices prior to installing the image should I remove them (so they are uninstalled) then sysprep it?

Just looked, Item level targetting, can filter by edition, business or 64bit business.

I've just been looking into this and there is something I don't get. I'm managed to set up my server, set up and XP image, get it onto the server and then deploy it to a machine. Now looking at getting it to work unatended. I've created a sysprep.inf but I don't understand where i leave it so that the image pick is up. Do I just leave it where it's created on the C: drive and re-image my master or does it go on the server? MS say "Save Sysprep.inf files. Save these files to the $OEM$ structure of the image (for example, D:\RemoteInstall\Images\Windows XP\winxpsp2\$OEM$\$1\sysprep\sysprep.inf). Now when you deploy the image, Setup will automatically locate and use the Sysprep.inf file." Which kind of implies the server but after I look ant what I assume I get as far as :\RemoteInstall\Images I've got my group name, then just the image files. What do I need to do?

Off the to of my head I'd say have a look at the Group Policy Preferances, you can us that to put all sorts of files in all sorts of places. Then use the client targetting to only apply files to specific machines. I'm not at my desk so cant check if you can target by architecture but you can certainly do it by OS so you might be able to...

Can anyOne recommend a good supplier if HP parts. I need some internal bits of an HP colour laserjet 5550.

Has anyone got one, or a close match model wise? I'm looking for the 64Bit and 32Bit Win 7 Drivers and they are not on the CD, not on the most up to date version of the software as far as I can tell.

Cheers. Whilst are E-mail address do not indicate age or sex they are based on their names, it is a very long way from firstname.surname though . As some of our staff can't work it out sometimes and half the pupils look at me blankly when I try and explain the syntax first time round I'm not too worried but I just needed to know where I stood.

I have this vague recollection, back in the dim mists of time, about the use of pupils E-mail address and you not being able to work out who it was from the username. Was that just scaremongering? Is it law in any way below a certain age? Did I dream up the whole thing? Cheers.

I just got the list of what security to apply from the SIMS perm.bat then set it via GP. So I now no longer have to worry about setting it. I did need to modify things for the 64Bit OS though program files (x86)...

It hapens mostly with E-mails sent to overseas and when using HTML formatting or Rich Text. I'm confidednt that dropping it into txt will sort it but that has a cost in the loss of formatting ability so I was wondering if anyone knew a "solution" rather than a "workaround"

That sounds a little like proxy server issues... I normally get that, or something similar when I try and connect to a proxy server that isn't there (or alternatively if there is no proxy set as my Firewall blocks all outside access except for the servers)

I seem to get a couple of E-mail issies with some people and I can't fully seem to bottom out the cause. There are two issues that seem to happen to the same people. Both are using Outlook to send messages and occasionally get the "winmail.dat" attached to the message and or outlook displayes some encoding in the message rather than the actualy text for example didn\t instead of didn't It tends to be when contacting oversea's people but I don't think it's exclusively that. Both are sending message in RTF format becuase of similar issues with HTML format. Before i change them to send in plain text does anyone have any ideas why this occurs or how I can stop it? It is toatlly to do with the receiving PC interpretting the data?

I use the backup to back up the systemstate etc. Then use Acronis to back up the files to my NAS's along with the rest of the data.

I think the last time I created a new doamin I used the PantsCat's method. Backup the data then restore from the backup. It was only a small domain of about 20 users so not a big job. I tend to use robocopy on my other server migrations as I keep the domain.

A minor wrinkle, doesn't that violate the T&C's? I looked at TeamViewer and you can only use it for free if you are using it for home personal use as per the FAQ