Install Zune Software on Windows Server 2008 (R2)

July 10th, 2010

This weekend I reinstalled my desktop at home. I decided to use Windows Server 2008 R2 as the OS. (Click Here to view my guide on installing Windows 2008 as a desktop OS)

One problem I had during the setup is that the Zune Software setup will block the install on a non-approved OS like Windows Server 2008. I played around for a while and found out how to install the software.

  • Download the software.

  • Login to the computer with the local administrator account.
  • From a command line, run zunesetuppkg-x64.exe /x. Then give a location to extract files to. C:\ZuneTemp
  • Browse to the \packages folder.
  • Right-Click on Zune-x64.msi and click Install
  • Follow the prompts like a regular install of the software.

I did this install on Windows Server 2008 R2 with the Zune Software version 4.2.202.0

Find Operations Masters in Active Directory

June 1st, 2010

EDIT: I have found a much easier way to list the FSMO Roles holders.
From a command line on any domain controller, Type netdom query FSMO

Thanks to Microsoft, I have an easy solution to finding the FSMO Roles holders in a domain.

To ouput all the FSMO Role holders of a domian:

Download the file dumpfsmos.zip, extract the file, and run dumpfsmos.bat from the command line with a single argument of a domain controller.

dumpfsmos.bat MyDC01

To change any of the Operations Masters Follow these instructions.

Change Operations Masters in Active Directory

June 1st, 2010

Each FSMO Role has a diferent procedure to change the owner:

RID, PDC, and Infrastructure Roles:

From the computer that you want to make the new FSMO Role holder:

  • Open Active Directory Users and Computers MMC

  • Right-Click on the Domain Name
  • Select ‘Operations Masters…’
  • Select the tab that you would like to change
  • Click the ‘Change’ button
  • Verify that you want to change the FSMO Holder by clicking ‘Yes’

    Domain Naming Role:

    From the computer that you want to make the new FSMO Role holder:

    • Open Active Directory Domains and Trusts MMC

    • Right-Click on the Domain Name
    • Select ‘Operations Master…’
    • Click the ‘Change’ button
    • Verify that you want to change the FSMO Holder by clicking ‘Yes’

      Schema Master Role:

      From the computer that you want to make the new FSMO Role holder:

      • Open the start menu and click ‘Run’

      • Type ‘mmc’ and click ‘ok’
      • Click File -> Add/Remove Snap-in
      • Click ‘Add’, select ‘Active Directory Schema’*, and click ‘Add’
      • Click ‘Close’, then ‘Ok’
      • Left-Click, then Right-Click on ‘Active Directory Schema’
      • Select ‘Operations Master…’
      • Click the ‘Change’ button
      • Verify that you want to change the FSMO Holder by clicking ‘Yes’

      * if you do not see ‘Active Directory Schema’ in the list, you need to register schmmgmt.dll. To do this, run regsvr32 schmmgmt.dll at a command line, then re-open the ‘Add/Remove Snap-in’ menu.

      To view what Domain Controller holds which FSMO Roles, see this post.

Use Apache, PHP, and MSSQL on Windows

April 28th, 2010

This is how I made the php_mssql extension work on my Windows-Apache-PHP-MSSQL Server.

Download Apache. (I used the Win32 Binary including OpenSSL 0.9.8m (MSI Installer))

Download PHP. (I used the PHP 5.2.13 zip package)

Download ntwdblib.dll.


Run the apache installer, select custom install and change the install path the ‘C:\Apache2.2′

Extract the php zip file to ‘C:\PHP’

Open C:\PHP and copy php.ini-recomended to php.ini

Open php.ini and edit the following lines:
Set extension_dir = “C:\PHP\ext”
Uncomment php_mssql.dll
Set error_log = “C:/Apache2.2/logs/phperr.log”

Open C:\Apache2.2\conf\httpd.conf and edit the following lines:
Set DirectoryIndex index.php
LoadModule php5_module C:/PHP/php5apache2_2.dll
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
PHPIniDir “C:/PHP”

Add “C:\PHP” to the PATH Environment variable

Replace the file C:\PHP\ntwdblib.dll with the copy you just downloaded (v2000.80.194.0)

Restart the Apache service


You can now use all the mssql functions in your php code without errors

Dell PowerConnect CLI – Change Management IP

April 21st, 2010

I locked myself out of the UI on one of my Dell switches today. I spent 20 minutes looking through Dell manuals until I found the answer.

To change the management IP of a Dell switch:

Console# configure

Console (config)# interface vlan 1

Console (config)# no ip address (Removes the existing IP)

Console (config)# ip address [IP] [subnet mask]

Console (config)# end

Console# copy run start