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May 18, 2017NR

Purge deleted users from Office 365 (O365)

On occasion you may have to force a deletion of a user, or perhaps a user has been deleted but you need to assign that old email address to someone else.

This is when you need to purge deleted users from Office365.

To do so you need to open up powershell and connect to your office 365 tennancy – you can use connect-msolservice to do so,

Next check which deleted users are currently in the recycle bin:

Get-MsolUser -ReturnDeletedUsers

If there is only one, or you wish to remove all users that have been listed:

-ReturnDeletedUsers | Remove-MsolUser -RemoveFromRecycleBin -Force

If you only want to delete and purge a single user from the Recycle bin – you can use the below:

-ReturnDeletedUsers |Remove-MsolUser -UserPrincipalName “[user’s email address]” -RemoveFromRecycleBin -Force

Sorted, you can now re-use the smtp address or recreate the user. for other ways to Purge deleted users see future posts.

May 4, 2017NR

Change a computer name remotely – [SOLVED] Using CMD and psexec

There are multiple reasons you may wish to change a computer name remotely – here is one method:

I’m going to be using psexec to do this, if you don’t have it already, this great wee remote command tool is provided free from the SysInternalsSuite – or can be obtained on its own here.

Open a command prompt from whichever folder psexec.exe is in.

The command we are going to be using to change the computer name is the below wmic command:

WMIC computersystem where caption='currentname' rename newname

Put together with psexec it will looks something like this:

psexec \\PC_NAME_OR_IP -u "USERNAME HERE" -p "PASSWORD" WMIC computersystem where caption='CURRENT_NAME' rename NEW_NAME

Exchange usernames and pc names as appropriate.

There is a couple of great sites with all the psexec switches, ss64 is my favorite.
Now you can change a computer name remotely

April 13, 2017NR

Acronis error 1603 [SOLVED]

So I have been installing alot of Acronis Agents recently, and three times i have come across Acronis error 1603.

Whilst there is lots of different info out there to try to resolve this issue, i have found one that has worked every time in multiple different environments. Lets get straight to it:

To solve Acronis error 1603:

Simply run the cleanup tool. It can be found here:

http://dl.acronis.com/u/support/abr_cleanup_h.exe

And run it from administrative CMD using the following command:
abr_cleanup_h.exe --clean

Hope it helps, if it does, let me know!

March 31, 2017NR

Change the username in O365 when syncing with onsite active directory

When creating a new user in Office365 with a hybrid or active directory syn’d setup it is quite common for Office365 to append the .onmicrosoft.com domain to any new address you set up.

This unfortunately cannot be changed by means of GUI, you need to change the username in O365 using powershell.

To change the username in Office 365:

1. Make sure you have the WAAD module
2. Run PowerShell
3. Type “Connect-MsolService” –> ENTER. Enter your admin credentials for Office 365 –> OK
4. Use the below command to update the primary email address used to log in exchanging parts in bold;

"Set-MsolUserPrincipalName -UserPrincipalName current_email@****.onmicrosoft.com –NewUserPrincipalName new_email@domain"

Nice and easy 🙂

January 20, 2017NR

DynDNS on Sonicwall – ‘dyn.com’ reports account config error or invalid parameters for domain

DynDNS on Sonicwall is a great thing – When it works

There are multiple reasons why you may be wanting to use DynDNS on Sonicwall sonicOS platform, but that is another discussion.

The problem i encountered in ALL versions of sonicOS since firmware version 5.9 is this “account config error or invalid parameters for domain”.
I finally found the resolution was to do with Dyn.com changing their root CA certificate, which SonicWALL firewall has not installed yet.

Solution to fix the dynamic DNS is pretty simple, we just need to import the new certificate to the Sonicwall. the Below is copied from Sonicwall’s KB article link:
https://support.sonicwall.com/kb/sw11246
Resolution or Workaround:

Right click the link below and save Baltimore CyberTrust Root CA certificate to your local drive. Then import it into SonicWALL Certificate section.

https://cacert.omniroot.com/bc2025.crt

Steps:

1) Login to your SonicWALL Management
2) Navigate to Network -> Dynamic DNS, on the right side delete DynDNS profile which was already created.

3) Navigate to System -> Certificates, on the right side click Import Button.

Select Import a CA certificate from a PKCS#7 (.p7b), PEM (.pem) or DER (.der or .cer) encoded file radio button and Click Choose File button.
Select bc2025 certificate file(which you downloaded from above link) from your local drive and click Open button.

[Note:While importing bc2025.crt you might get warning as unsupported format but you can Ignore it]

Click Import button in Import Certificate window and you can see the Baltimore CyberTrust Root CA in SonicWALL Certificates.

4) Restart your SonicWALL and create new profile for DynDNS under Network -> Dynamic DNS by clicking Add button

Now you can see DynDNS as Online with updated public IP.

Hope this helps someone!

January 12, 2017NR

How to change the RDP port on a RDS server

There are many reasons you may wish to change the RDP port on a RDS or terminal services server.

Change RDP port number

My default action when setting up a new RDS server is now to ensure that it is not listening on the standard port (3389). This is for multiple reasons, mainly though to add a small extra layer of protection against automated RDP bruteforce attacks. Sure if an attacker wanted to they could run a port scan to find the new port, but really unless you are targeted, no-one is going to do this via bot/automation.

The easiest way to change the RDP port is via regedit:

Navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\WinStations\RDP-Tcp\

and change the value of the DWORD "PortNumber" select Decimal and change to whatever you wish the port to be.

You will then need to restart the server for this to take effect – simply restarting the gateway services does not seem to refresh the listening port.

Other option is to put this into a .reg file and simply click on it to merge the rdp port change into the registry. To do this, copy the below script into notepad and save it is a .reg file:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\WinStations\RDP-Tcp] "PortNumber"=dword:0000846c

This will change the port to 33899

January 5, 2017NR

[SOLVED] Java update “Failed to download required installation files.”

There have been a few occasions recently where a Java update fails

Java Update failed to download the required files

Having looked about for a solution, there is two methods that i have found to quickly rectify the problem.

1) The cheats way.
Re-install java on top of itself.

NB, Java has many different versions depending on which OS and update version of the OS you are using, the quickest way to re-install with the latest version i have found is to use Ninite. This will find version and install it correctly for you.
https://ninite.com/java8/

2) Edit compatibility settings on the Java updater.

go to: %PROGRAMFILES%\Common Files\Java\Java Update

and find jucheck.exe (updater)

right click --> Properties --> Compatibility

select the tick box to run with a previous version of windows, anything before Vista seems to do the job. (XP, Win95 etc…) As this is just the updater and not java, it ensures you still get the correct version.

BONUS 3)
This seems to be an issue with privilege elevation in windows – if you have access to an admin account, then you can log into that then try updating 8/10 it works without the above.

December 19, 2016NR

Manually Update GAL in O365 or Exchange16

There is the odd occasion that may require you to manually update GAL in exchange – whatever version or platform you may be using it on.

In Exchange 2016 this is very easy. Simply open Exchange powershell on the server and enter the below:

Update-GlobalAddressList -Identity "Default Global Address List"

For O365 – it’s a little bit more complicated, first we need to make sure that the Admin has the ‘Address List’ role.

You can either do this through the Exchange portal:

Update GAL in Office365

Or can do this Via powershell with the command below:

$dispName="ADMIN NAME" $roleName="Address Lists" $userObject=Get-MsolUser | Where DisplayName -eq $dispName $userUPN=$userObject.UserPrincipalName Add-MsolRoleMember -RoleMemberEmailAddress $userUPN -RoleName $roleName

Finally – once the permissions are set we can move and finally update Gal by

Set-AddressList -Identity "All Users"

December 16, 2016NR

The Windows Death command – Kill a Windows PC

Sometimes in the IT world you just need to let off some steam – sometimes a pile of old PC’s through in the PC ‘Graveyard’ are a fun way to do so.

Often we will play with various ways to kill off old PC’s before they are then securely wiped and recycled, and this command we are about to go into is one of the basics.

del /S /F /Q /A:S C:\windows

Thats it.

Yes it really is that easy to kill a windows PC!

Lets go through it and some of the pitfalls you may find.

del – This is the windows command to delete an object, pretty self explanatory
/S – Deletes specified files from the current directory and all subdirectories. Displays the names of the files as they are being deleted.
/F – Forces deletion of read-only files.
/Q – Specifies quiet mode. You are not prompted for delete confirmation.
/A:S – Deletes files based on the following file attributes, in this case: s = System files
C:\windows – The destination we are deleting.

Why does this work? – Well most people reading this know already, but if you didn’t – the Windows folder simply put is the heart of the Windows operating system. Killing it will stop the OS from booting.

Most users readers will be asking “Why put the C:\Windows” at the end of the script, should it no logically be put in front of the other switches? Well this is to do with personal preference really, and to do with the fact that it is convinient to then go about and delete more contect using the same script, by hitting up arrow, then simply backspacing and changing your destination. Lazy much? You bet you!

Bonus post of to Kill a Windows PC and to make this more effective coming next week – little hint:
takeown /f C:\Windows /r /d y

p.s. This is for information only – be responsible!

January 10, 2016NR

Change message size limits in exchange 2016

There is the odd occasion that you may need to change the allowed message size limits in exchange, either to send or to receive – below we look specifically at self hosted Exchange 2016

First, open up Exchange powershell, and and enter any required domain credentials.

Next we are going to view the current message limits on the server by the following multiline command:
get-transportconfig | ft maxsendsize, maxreceivesize get-receiveconnector | ft name, maxmessagesize get-sendconnector | ft name, maxmessagesize get-mailbox Administrator |ft Name, Maxsendsize, maxreceivesize

Once armed with this information we can proceed to string together a command in order to get the desired messages allowed through the system. The main command is the below:

get-transportconfig | Set-TransportConfig

This calls the transport layer configurations and allows you to pipe changes to it. Next we have the different set commands for different limits;

-maxsendsize 30MB -maxreceivesize 30MB; get-receiveconnector | set-receiveconnector -maxmessagesize 30MB; get-sendconnector | set-sendconnector -maxmessagesize 30MB; get-mailbox | Set-Mailbox -Maxsendsize 30MB -maxreceivesize 30MB

From the above, you can pick and choose what you need to change the message size limits, as in the example, this will set ALL connectors ingoing and outgoing to 30MB. The full command will look something like the below:

get-transportconfig | Set-TransportConfig -maxsendsize 30MB -maxreceivesize 30MB; get-receiveconnector | set-receiveconnector -maxmessagesize 30MB; get-sendconnector | set-sendconnector -maxmessagesize 30MB; get-mailbox | Set-Mailbox -Maxsendsize 30MB -maxreceivesize 30MB