Solution to Missing Security Tab in File Properties in Windows Server 2008

I wanted to change some file permissions to a file in windows and required to see the “Security” tab in the file properties dialog. Tried many things as it was missing from my system and thought it would be worthwhile sharing with you.

The security tab is quite important when using Windows XP as it allows the Admin to change or allocate the permissions to some files or folders for some user or a group. But if you are also not getting this tab when you click on folder properties, then here is the solution.

Solution:

1.    The primary thing to check is that this Security tab appears only for systems with NTFS file system and not FAT or FAT32.

2.    Log into the system with Administrator rights.

3.    Go to My Computer -> Folder Options -> View tab and in the Advanced Settings section at the bottom, uncheck the “Use simple file sharing (Recommended)” option.

If above conditions are satisfied then Security tab should appear, and if it isn’t then try this registry trick:

Navigate toHKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorerkey and delete this “Nosecuritytab” key on right.

Original source: http://techsalsa.com/solution-to-missing-security-tab-in-file-properties/ 

How to Sysprep Windows to create deployment WIM image

Deploying Windows on a large number of workstations can become a huge and time consuming task. There are many different methods that administrator can use to automate the installation of large number of Windows workstations.
One of the benefits of using disk duplication is that it makes installing an operating system such as Windows XP on multiple computers more efficient.

It is a welcome alternative to manually installing the operating system on multiple computers and configuring identical settings. Instead, the operating system, any service packs, configuration settings and applications can be included in the image and copied to the target machines.

To get started, you’ll need to first : 
1. Download and Install Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK)
2. Create WinPE Boot CD/DVD with ImageX tool
3. Extract deploy.cab into your C:  drive and run SYSPREP

The System Preparation Tool (Sysprep) included with Windows XP CD can be used to create the initial disk image. What Sysprep does is prepare the system running Windows XP to be duplicated.

Advantages / disadventages of SYSPREP

The main disadvantage is that the reference computer and the target computers must have compatible Hardware Abstraction Layers (HALs) and identical Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI). The size of the hard disk on the destination computer must also be the same size or larger than the reference computer. All plug and play devices are redetected after Sysprep has run. 

Microsoft’s SYSPREP (System Preparation Tool) enables you to set up a PC so that on the next boot-up the PC will go through the Windows installation steps where you can enter a new Windows CD key for a new user, but where your Windows environment is one which you have yourself already fully configured. 

Once you have "Syspreped" your PC, you can use disk imaging software to make an image copy of the hard disk so that you can use that image to fully recreate the environment you have just set up onto any new PC that you need to set up in the future. This document describes the steps you need to follow to achieve this and save yourself countless hours.

Preparing the reference PC (base image)

The reference PC is master PC from which you will make your image to duplicate to other PCs. To prepare the reference computer:

• Install the OS (only Windows 2000/2003/XP are supported). Note: the reference computer cannot be member in domain.
• Configure components and setting, such as drivers, display settings Windows update etc.
• Install all the programs that will be needed on a standard user PC, configure your network, install network printers, map network shares (unless this is done by server-side login scripts or group policies), install all Windows Updates, all add-on utilities such as Adobe Acrobat Reader, your  antivirus software, etc... Configure your START menu, toolbars (Quick Launch, Word), Internet Explorer and other web browser defaults, etc...

Extract deploy.cab into C:\Sysprep

Find your Windows XP CD, then go to Support\Tools folder, find the file DEPLOY.CAB and extract its contents to the C:\Sysprep folder.  If you do not have WIndows CD you can download DEPLOY.CAB from this page "Download Windows XP SP2 and Windows 2003 SP1 Deploy Tools". Extract the DEPLOY.CAB to the C:\Sysprep folder.

Now go to the C:\Sysprep folder and double-click the SETUPMGR.EXE program to start the SYSPREP process.

Specify whether to create a new answer file or modify an existing one. If you want to modify one, you must enter the path to the file. Click Next.

Now, select the platform that you will be using the answer file to deploy. You can select from Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional, and Windows 2000 Server, Advanced Server, or Data Center. Click Next. Select the level of automation you want to use.

The next dialog box allows you to customize General Settings, Network Settings, Advanced Settings, etc.

Once the Sysprep.inf answer file is created, you can open it using a text editor such as Notepad. The file may look something like the one shown below.


[Unattended]
    OemSkipEula=Yes
    InstallFilesPath=C:\sysprep\i386
    TargetPath=\WINDOWS

[GuiUnattended]
    AdminPassword="admin_password"
    EncryptedAdminPassword=NO
    OEMSkipRegional=1
    TimeZone=35
    OemSkipWelcome=1

[UserData]
    ProductKey=AAAAA-BBBBBB-AAAAA-BBBBB-AAAAA
    FullName="XP Pro Desktop"
    OrgName="Organisation Name"
    ComputerName=win-st-111

[TapiLocation]
    CountryCode=107

[RegionalSettings]
    LanguageGroup=1
    Language=00001009

[Identification]
    JoinWorkgroup=WORKGROUP

[Networking]
    InstallDefaultComponents=Yes

[Branding]
    BrandIEUsingUnattended=Yes

[Proxy]
    Proxy_Enable=0
    Use_Same_Proxy=0

[GuiRunOnce]
    Command0="label d: Data"

[sysprepcleanup]

After restart, boot your PC using bootable WinPE CD, after boot use ImageX to finally capture your drive.  This is the format of ImageX command: 

imagex /compress /capture c:\image_directory d:\imaging\data.wim "new_image_file"

Our example:
D:\Tools\Imagex.exe /compress fast /capture C: E:\image.wim "XP Pro Image" /verify
Our D:\ drive is CD/DVD drive, our C:\ drive is WIndows Operating System partition. We’ve chosen to use fast compression, but you can use other if you want. Your other options for compression are "maximum" and "none", but we will not recommend using "maximum" for partitions with OS. Also know that Vista images are much larger than XP with compression, so don’t be surprised when you look at the final size. 

C: is the drive we want to take the image from, this could just as easily be D: or E: if we had multiple hard drives. E:\image.wim is the path and name of the file we want to save the image with. In our example E:\ is external SATA drive. For some reason, you also need to give your images a human readable name other than just the filename, in this case we’ve chosen the generic "XP Pro Image” as a title. The /verify flag does just that, making sure that no errors were encountered during the imaging process and that your final image file is ready to use.

When your image is finished, you’re ready to take out the CD and reboot. The computer you took the image from will act like it’s booting for the first time, going through a long boot process while it creates a new SID and installs drivers. You will not be asked for any setup information during this process. Once this process has finished, the computer is back just as it was prior to taking the image.

Optional mounting of an WIM image for modification

If you need that, know that WIM image can also be mounted as a new volume under Windows with a drive letter associated in order to add or remove some files to its content. This allows modification od files inside image.wim.

The /mount switch mounts a WIM file into a folder on the host PC's hard drive as a complete but read-only replica of the file system from the disk captured to the WIM file. The /mountrw switch mounts the file system in an editable mode.

To mount image.wim file with read only mode in folder c:\temp_dir: 
imagex /mount d:\sources\image.wim 1 c:\temp_dir

To mount image.wim file with read/write mode in folder c:\temp_dirimagex /mountrw d:\sources\image.wim 1 c:\temp_dir
To unmount image.wim file , and save changes to it  (if previosly mounted in read/write mode) : 
imagex /unmount /commit c:\temp_dir

To unmount image.wim file without saving changes : 
imagex /unmount c:\temp_dir

Thats it, in next section we will show you how to make Bootable CD/DVD disc from your WIM image file, which can be used to automatically deploy your custom Windows instalation to a large number of PCs. This could be very useful if you want to have Deployment CD/DVD for your specific PC configuration which can be used inside your organisation or enterprise, or if you need it to be delivered to your customers PCs.

Summary

Disk duplication is a great way to reduce the amount of time it takes to install an operating system on multiple computers. The System Preparation Tool included with Windows XP can be used to prepare a reference computer to be cloned. To further automate the installation of Windows XP you can use bootable CD/DVD

Original Source: http://www.helidon.net/blog/windows/how-to-sysprep-windows-to-create-deployment-wim-image 

Creating WinPE Boot CD/DVD for Imaging or Repair

So, first you have to download the Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK). WAIK includes Windows Preinstallation Environment, a lightweight version of Windows that can be booted via PXE, DVD/CD-ROM, USB flash drive or external hard disk drive and is used for deployment, troubleshooting or recovery of operating system. It is intended to be a replacement for MS-DOS boot disks, Emergency Repair Disk, Recovery Console and Automated System Recovery boot disks. So, here are the steps :

1. Download and Install Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK)
2. Create WinPE Boot CD/DVD with ImageX tool

Once WAIK downloaded, you’ll need to burn the image to a DVD or mount the .img file and then install it. 

After WAIK installation, you need to open a command prompt and prepare WinPE ISO file. The copype.cmd is doing that job for you. Script requires two arguments: hardware architecture and destination location. In format :

copype.cmd

So, follow these steps and commands:

c:\> cd C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\
c:\> copype.cmd x86 C:\WinPE_x86In the above command, we are using x86 for standard 32 bit machines, you can also use amd64, or ia64 (for Intel 64 bit CPUs architecture). You can also choose any destination directory you like for the output files, but a directory indicating architecture is always a good practice.

Now, you need to copy ImageX to the tools directory of your new image. ImageX is Microsoft’s new tool for creating & deploying WIM images. 

c:\> mkdir C:\WinPE_x86\iso\Tools
c:\> copy "C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\x86\imagex.exe" C:\WinPE_x86\iso\Tools

Create an exclusion list

This step is optional, but recommended if you include ImageX as part of your Windows PE image. During an ImageX capture operation, some files might be locked, which will cause ImageX to fail. You can exclude specific files from being captured by creating a configuration file called wimscript.ini.  Create a text file with your favorite text editor with the following data in it and save it as wimscript.ini in C:\WinPE_x86\iso\Tools.

[ExclusionList]
ntfs.log
hiberfil.sys
pagefile.sys
"System Volume Information"
RECYCLER
Windows\CSC

[CompressionExclusionList]
*.mp3
*.zip
*.cab
\WINDOWS\inf\*.pnf
This file (wimscript.ini) will be automatically detect and used by ImageX if it’s located in the same folder with the ImageX executable. If you want, you can add additional files or directories that you intend to exclude during a capture operation.

Create ISO image

Now you’re ready to create an ISO image. Go to your PE Tools directory of WindowsAIK and run the following:

c:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools>oscdimg -n -bc:\winpe_x86\etfsboot.com c:\winpe_x86\ISO c:\winpe_x86\winpe_x86.iso
Finally, you can burn the ISO image (Winpe_x86.iso) onto a CD-ROM. You can use Free ISO Burner www.freeisoburner.com, Nero, Easy CD Creator, Windows 7 or any other burning application of your choice.

Source Original: http://www.helidon.net/blog/windows/creating-winpe-boot-cddvd-for-imaging-or-repair 

How to Change the Priority of Wired/Wireless Network Cards in Windows

Do you ever plug in your wired network card while your wireless card is still enabled? Ever wonder how Windows chooses which one to use? Here’s how to see the default priority—and how to change it if you want.

Note: there’s almost never any reason to change this, as Windows does a good job of choosing the right connection. Still, if you want to tweak it to work differently, this is how you would do it.

How to See the Current Network Card Priority

You’ll need to open up a new command prompt window and type in the following command:

netstat -rn | more

The | more part of the command will make sure that it doesn’t go flying off the screen, requiring you to scroll backwards—speaking of which, you should read our article abouthow to scroll backwards in the command prompt with the keyboard.

At the top of the output you’ll see the Interface List, and the column on the left-hand side shows the metric of the interface. You’ll notice that the loopback interface has the highest priority, followed by my wired Gigabit card, and then my wireless card.

If you’re wondering what all the other cards in the list are about, I’ve got some VPN software loaded, as well as VMware Workstation, all of which create virtual adapters that show up in the list.

How to Change the Network Card Priority

To change the priority, head into Network and Sharing Center and click on the Change adapter settings link on the left-hand side—or you can quickly open the network connections list by typing ncpa.cpl into the Start Menu search box.

Now that we’re in here, choose the network card that you want to change the priority for, right-click it, and choose Properties from the menu.

Now select the Internet Protocol Version 4 item in the list, and click the Properties button.

Now click the Advanced button at the bottom of this window…. getting tired of clicking yet?

And now, finally, we’re at the place where you can make the change. Uncheck the box for Automatic Metric, and then type a number into the Interface Metric textbox. You can consult the list that we found in the command prompt earlier to know what metric to assign—you’ll probably want to assign it something higher than 1, since that’s used for the loopback adapter.

You may want to go ahead and change the priority for your other card as well, just to be sure that it is assigned the proper priority.

Note: again, there’s no reason to mess with this setting unless you are actually having a problem. Also, thanks to @rawmeet for the idea for this article.

Original Article: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/27994/how-to-change-the-priority-of-wiredwireless-network-cards-in-windows/