Quake3World

How to recover a Windows XP Key from an unbootable PC

I found myself in a situation where a windows installation wouldn't boot, even in safe mode. The user had a legitimate copy of windows, but the key-code sticker was missing

I solved the problem in the following manner:

• Boot from a BartPE Boot CD with a USB Flash Drive or floppy connected to the PC
• Run loadhive.exe from the Flash Drive/floppy and mount the registry from C:\Windows\System32\Config\Software
• Run Regedit in BartPE and find the SOFTWARE_00\local_machine\software\microsoft\currentversion node in the tree
• Export the node (folder) to the Flash Drive.
• Edit the resulting reg file (right-click, edit) to only contain the 'DigitalProductID' key and value. Yyou will be cutting out a LOT of text, so use Shift + PageDown to speed through it.
• Change the node path to remove the \Software_00\ part.
• Go to another machine running XP, export that machine's SOFTWARE_00\local_machine\software\microsoft\currentversion from that to a reg file in a similar manner to above.
• Import the first reg file in its place. The second machine now has the first machine's license key.
• Run MJB Keyfinder to find the key value. Write it down. Many times. In many places.
• Import the second reg file to restore the second machine's original license key
• Return to the broken PC, run a windows XP repair (from the XP Boot CD), input the product key when asked.
• This should result in a recovered system

References:
BartPE - http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/
LoadHive - http://matcode.com/codes.htm
MJB KeyFinder - http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder.shtml

Making a new computer and a few things that may help when you can't get your rig to boot

you've replaced all those old parts for new parts and now your really exited to see what this new computer will do but your hopes are dashed when all your presented with is a blinking monitor light and no noise coming from your new baby .

-first thing you should do is take a 5 minute break and make a peanut butter and jelly sammich
when i build a computer i use the KISS system ..Keep It Simple Stupid , i install only the components required to get my computer booted
my checklist is cpu and heatsync,motherboard, ram i know to work,graphics card,keyboard and mouse and case fans.
i do this for several reasons , i don't need to worry about additional components that do not function,are not working on this particular motherboard because i haven't installed a bios update that may resolve the issue,no need to worry about master and slave settings or cable installed wrong.i also know that if my computer does boot as normal and then after installing additional components the computer fails i can have a pretty good idea what part failed "the last part i installed most times".

-so if your following KISS and you computer doesn't do a damn thing when you hit the power button then check that you have installed the power button wiring to the motherboard properly.

-typically "in my experience" if the computer looks like it's booting and fans spin but the monitor just sits there with a blank screen and the monitor light just blinks then i usually can tell 1 of know 2 things.
A: my cpu is defective
or
B: i've installed the heatsync inproperly "usually thermal past is applied poorly or was smeered off when applying the heatsync fan

if by some miracle the computer does boot it will most likely start up in a lower then rated speed for your cpu and ram settings.
change the bios defaults to what your system is rated and reboot.
leave the computer on for 10 minutes at the bios setup screen and wash down that sammich with a nice glass of grape drink.
we are testing if the system overheats and shuts down automatically because of a poorly installed HSF "heatsync fan "

if all looks good install hard drives and dvd cd drives as per manual instuctions, most likely you will get this right .
reboot

if all is well and windows boots then great ,although you most likely will be re-installing windows because it's the right thing to do after a complete system overhaul.some say reformat the drive ,last time i reformatted was maybe 5 years ago.i think a format is a good thing for some and not needed step for others i Always un-install programs properly,have nifty registry cleaning tools and manually cleans up my disks when bored.

if you notice in the bios boot screen or periphials setting in the bios that some drives are missing then you need to figure out where you went wrong.
most likely you have a master/slave issue between a cdrom/dvd drive and a hard disk on the same IDE cable.
reboot ,if all is well add network card etc.. and hopefully everything is working wonderfully.

enjoy you sammich and your new toy

Automating OST (and other single file) defrags

If you (or any of your users) use Cached Exchange Mode to connect to an Exchange server you know that OST files can become pretty fragmented over time and scheduled defrags don't hit those files without manually killing processes or rebooting. One free solution is a great little utility called Contig and its written by Mark Russinovich. It allows for single file defrags with an optional switch for running silently. Here's the link:

Contig utility

You could script it into a simple batch file like the following one and then schedule it:

cd\
contig -q "C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\My Documents\Outlook\outlook.ost"
exit

The Q switch tells Contig to run silently and the Exit command is used because the app normally leaves the command prompt open so that you can see the before and after stats.

Tutorial - Exchange Recipient Policy filters

As any email admin knows users are sometimes a little lazy when it comes to maintaining their own Exchange mailboxes. Now, although Exchange provides recipient policies for automating the mailbox management process, the documentation on creating filters so that these policies will only apply to certain users or groups is…lacking. In many cases it would be nice to clean out a normal user’s folders (such as Sent & Deleted items) but executives usually need to keep the contents in their mail folders for reference.

This tutorial will explain how to filter Exchange 2003 recipient policies so that they only affect certain security groups. It is assumed that the following items are available:

• Windows 2003 Standard Server
• An XP Pro station to work from
• Active Directory installed and configured
• Exchange 2003 installed and configured
• The Windows 2003 Support Tools installed. They can be downloaded from Microsoft here
• The Windows 2003 Administration Tools installed. They can be downloaded from Microsoft here
• The Exchange Administration Tools installed from the Exchange 2003 CD
• A moderate level of knowledge in Active Directory and Exchange management

First an OU and a couple of security groups will need to be created in Active Directory:

1. Open the Active Directory Users & Computers snapin and right-click on the domain name in the left pane
2. Choose New, Organizational Unit and name it Test
3. Navigate to that new OU in the left pane and then right-click anywhere on the white space in the right pane. Choose New, Group. Type in General Users in the group name field and click OK
4. Create a second group with the name Executive Users in the same way

In order for the filters to work the Distinguished Names of the newly created groups are needed. You can find the Distinguished Names by using the ADSIEDIT MMC snapin which part of the 2003 Support Tools package.

1. Click start, run, and enter adsiedit.msc (do NOT make any changes here as the Active Directory infrastructure can be quite easily damaged in this snapin)
2. Expand the Domain node on the left pane and navigate to your Test OU then expand it
3. Right-click on Executive Users in the left pane and choose properties. On the Attribute Editor tab in the new window scroll down until you reach the Distinguished Name field and then double-click on it. Copy the text string in the new window to Notepad and then click Cancel on the String Attribute Editor window and Cancel again on the Attribute Editor window
4. Repeat this same process for the General Users group and then close the ADsiedit snapin

Now that the Distinguished Names for the security groups are known the actual Mailbox Manager policies can be created.

1. Open the Exchange System Manager snapin and expand the Recipients folder
2. Right-click on the Recipient Policies folder and choose New, Recipient Policy. In the next window check the Mailbox Manager Settings box and click OK
3. In the new window give this policy the name General Users Policy and then click the Mailbox Manager Settings tab
4. Uncheck all of the boxes except for Sent Items and Deleted Items. Note that Junk E-mail isn’t one of the options so it will have to be added manually
   Click Add, type in Junk E-mail, uncheck the Message Size box, and click OK. Now highlight Deleted items and choose edit. Uncheck the Message Size box and click OK. Do the same for Sent Items and then click the General tab

Now the policy for General Users has been created but the filter still needs to be setup so that it will only apply to members of the General Users security group.

1. Click Modify under the General tab and uncheck all of the boxes except for Users with an Exchange Mailbox
2. Click the Advanced tab then click Field, User, Member Of. Now paste in the Distinguished Name string for the General Users group which we retrieved from ADSIEDIT into the Value box and click Add
3. Click OK and then click OK again on the alert box which comes up
4. Click OK one more time on the General Users policy properties window
5. Repeat the above process for the Executive users groups except this time do not select Sent Items in the Mailbox Manager Settings

That’s it; there are now two distinct policies which will affect only users who are members of the appropriate security groups. Keep in mind that once these security groups are moved to a production OU, the Distinguished Name path will change and will need to be updated in the Mailbox Manager policy.

How to reset the BIOS on an HP Laptop

I got hold of a cheap HP laptop but it had a power-on password. I was expecting to get past this by just disconnecting the BIOS battery but this can't be acheived without major hardware surgery and some really tiny Torx drivers. Getting past this can be accomplished in the following manner:

• Power off the laptop and remove the battery.
• Remove the keyboard by following HP's 'hardware reference' guide for your model.
• Locate the 'RTC Battery' connector using the guide, and unplug it.
• Wait 5 to 10 mins.
• Re-assemble the laptop but leave the battery out.
• Connect power and turn on.
• You should now be able to enter the BIOS and run a 'set defaults' command.