notastute

I repaired a Windows XP installation for a client using their OEM CD-ROM. Everything went fine until I tried to connect to the Internet, using either their DSL or backup dial-up connection. Nothing. IPCONFIG /ALL showed 0.0.0.0 on all interfaces.

When I tried to use PING from a command prompt, the error message was Unable to initialize Windows Sockets interface, error code 0.

Since the TCP/IP stack is built in to XP, I couldn’t simply uninstall and then reinstall TCP/IP. I finally found the answer in this MS KB article. The article covers Win XP (SP1 and SP2), Win Server 2003 and Vista, all of which rely on TCP/IP as a core component of the OS.

Short version of the article for this case (with XP with SP2 installed) was to run netsh winsock reset from the command line and reboot.

Worked like a charm.

Recently, I was hired to complete a website for a client. The site was hosted in a Linux/Apache environment and involved a MySQL database. Since I mostly do .NET/IIS web programming, I thought this would be a fun project.

Using Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 (running on my main machine) I created an XP SP2 virtual machine with 1GB of RAM and a standard 16GB disk. To make my XP machine a web server I added the IIS Windows Component and tested it by browsing to localhost. I then installed PHP 5.2.5, MySQL Server 5.0, MYSQL Tools, and phpMyAdmin. For graphics editing I installed Paint.NET; for HTML and PHP file editing I installed HTML-KIT; and for FTP transfer to the web host I installed FileZilla. To make sure my new web dev machine was backed up I installed the Windows Home Server Connector and added it to my WHS client backup schedule.

Worked like a champ.

When I first built my Vista 64 bit PC, Windows Live Writer and Live Messenger didn’t support 64 bit. To get around that I had to install very early beta versions of both products.

Now that Windows Live has left beta and is loose in the wild, both Writer and Messenger now support 64 bit OSes.

You can get the latest versions of all the Windows Live products here.

If you try to run the Windows Home Server Connector CD on a Vista x64 machine you get this:

To get it to install on Vista 64 you need to bypass SETUP.EXE to get the connector to install. With the Windows Home Server Connector CD in a drive, open a command prompt with Administrator privileges and type the following:

msiexec /i "D:\WHSConnector.msi" WHSMSI="RUNSETUP"

Which results in a much more hopeful beginning as shown below:

Backup doesn’t work (at all) for Vista 64 machines, but you can share files with other users and your XBOX 360, and that’s what’s important something anyway.

Thanks to this post on the Ms Windows Home Server blog for the tip.

I installed W2K8 RC0 using MS VirtualPC 2007 today. It installed without a hitch and I fogot how much like Vista it was going to look. MS sure got their money’s worth out of that icon set. You can even add the Desktop Experience feature and get familiar Vista applications installed on your server. If (for some reason) you want to.

I’ll be experimenting with Windows Server Virtualization on this VM later this week.

UPDATE: No I won’t be, because WSV won’t run:

• on a Virtual Machine
• on a x86 version of W2K8

I need to build a hardware and x64 based server to experiment with WSV. So, probably next week instead of this week.

OK, the data drive arrived and is installed. I redirected all of my folders to point to D:\ DATA (here’s how, if you’re interested) and started installing things like Office, developer tools, etc. I found full 64-bit drivers for my HP Deskjet 6840 and my Canon CanoScan 4200F so all my hardware is 64-bit. So far all software is installing fine on 64 bit Vista Ultimate. except, ironically, the current Windows Live Writer (beta3) and the Windows Home Server connector software. Sigh. They’re both ‘coming soon’ so I’ve installed beta1 on Live Writer and am just going to wait for the WHS connecter.

Have I mentioned why I’ve gone 64 bit with the new hardware? Well, I blame it all on RAM. 32 bit versions of any OS only address 4GB of RAM (and not even all of the 4GB.) I need lots of RAM to run the virtual machines I use to prototype client solutions, test service packs, evaluate OSes, test interoperability, for training, demos, and more. So, I got a motherboard that would hold 8GB of RAM and filled it up. Now I’ve got plenty of RAM to give out to virtual machines. Putting the .VHD files on a separate spindle (D:\DATA) from their .VMC files (C:\OS) makes them even faster.

Works for me. 

I ordered the parts for the new PC last Monday evening. I received two boxes from newegg (shipped from L.A.) on Wednesday morning, paying only for standard shipping.

  By 5:00 PM the PC was assembled, booted, Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit was loaded, all updates were applied, 64bit drivers were located and installed for the printer and scanner, and I was sad. Very very sad.

The only thing missing from the shipment was the drive I’m going to install programs and store data on.

So it just sits there, connected to the world while I wait for the data drive (shipped from Memphis, TN.)  Should be here tomorrow which means I can install it on Tuesday.  And then get on with this project.

I think it’s time for a new PC. I currently have a Shuttle PC (G5) which has worked great for me for more than 2 years; but I need more storage, more speed, and more RAM. I’ve upgraded the HDD to 300GB and upped the RAM to 2 GB but I need more. I’d also like to get a dual-core processor with virtual extension support for my virtual machine adventures.

So, after lots of research and measuring available space and reading reviews and checking specs here’s what I’ve ordered from my friends at newegg.com:

Case - Rosewill R5601-BK 0.8mm SECC Screw-less Dual 120mm Fans ATX Mid Tower

Power supply - Rosewill RX850-D-B ATX12V v2.2 & EPS12V v2.91 850W Power Supply

Motherboard - ASUS M2R32-MVP AM2 AMD 580X CrossFire ATX

Processor - AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Windsor 3.0GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache

CPU cooler - Scythe SCMNJ-1000 80mm Sleeve “NINJA MINI”

Memory - (2) G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)

Video card - HIS Hightech H260PRQT512DDN-R Radeon HD 2600PRO 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16

OS drive - Western Digital Raptor150GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA150

Data drive - Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s

DVD burners (2) - LITE-ON 2MB Cache SATA

Floppy drive - SAMSUNG Black 1.44MB 3.5″ Internal Floppy Drive

Should be fun.

Using Google Earth, of course. Just turn on the Sky view in the latest version of Google Earth to see the stars above your location. Uses millions of photographs to show you what those city lights and layers of pollution have been hiding from you. Link to a demo.

Maybe you’ve heard of it? A pretty nice concept for lots of homes; a central server to do backups of all connected PCs and a central set of shared folders to, well, share with the connected PCs. Windows Home Server (WHS) will also stream media from the shared folders to, say, an Xbox360. The server runs headless too, so you don’t have another monitor and keyboard to deal with.

Once I downloaded the WHS package I created the Install DVD and the Connector CD. I installed WHS on an old 2.6 gig P4 machine I had sitting around. Since the install disc is a DVD, you have to make sure whatever you install it on not only has a DVD drive, but that it will boot from that DVD as well. I bought a 500GB internal ATA drive and Setup seemed happy with it.

Once Setup was complete I shut the server down and relocated it to a spot on the floor next to my desk. Power and network cables only. I inserted the Connector CD into my PC and was informed that using the Run As Administrator option was not supported. (You’re not still running as an Administrator on your machine, are you? I’m sure you’ve created a normal user for all normal use and type in an Administrator password when necessary.) No worries. I switched to my Admin user and installed the Connector. I logged out as Administrator and back in as my regular user.

I had a new item on my Programs menu, I clicked it and got the remote interface for my new Windows Home Server:

I created a user that matches my PC username/password (so I could make use of the shared folders.) I shut down WHS and copied some files into the Music, Photos, and Videos shared folders on my PC. I went out the Xbox and removed the previous connections to my PC and created a new connection to the WHS. Easy-peasy. Music, photos, and videos all streamed from WHS to my Xbox. Now we can share the Xbox’s display capabilities with all the PCs in the house.

I’ll post another report after I’ve had some experience with the PC backup parts of WHS. Here’s the link to the Windows Home Server site for more screenshots and information: link.