- Blind-sysadmins - lists.hodgsonfamily.org

Windows Server 2016
by George Bell 01 Apr '17

01 Apr '17

I've a feeling it won't be too long before some of you may be faced with installing Windows 2016 Server. You may want to bear the following in mind as it cost us a week and much frustration before stumbling on the solution. The initial setup of a Dell PowerEdge R330 server took some time itself to get set up since its BIOS and associated iDrac needed to be set up to boot from either CD or USB drive before the hard drive. Once we found a good technical support person at Dell, that issue was soon resolved. Installing Server 2016 from the USB drive was a surprisingly easy and intuitive operation. I cannot speak for accessibility, but I was assisted by telephone a totally blind friend with much server experience. His comment was along the lines that Microsoft had finally managed to tidy the whole process up leading to Server Manager. Within a very short time - less than an hour in fact - we had one Windows 10 and 3 Windows 7 workstations all subscribed to the new domain. However, we soon found issues in accessing (or rather NOT accessing) the Internet. We checked all manner of things in Server Manager to ensure the Gateway was correct, etc., etc., etc.. We contacted our ISP, who advised us that all was well at the Router, which we could both ping and access. Finally we rang Dell, who spent over an hour going through all the same settings yet again. Eventually we found we did a Windows + R on workstations, enter \\[Domain name] see the shares there we would be able to run IE. Now bear in mind that during the 2016 server install, we had elected to use only one of the two Ethernet ports, and disable the second, and all indications in Server Manager confirmed this. It was pure chance that I had reason to look at Device Manager, and spotted that the second Ethernet port was operational and moreover had an IPv4 IP address way outside our Domain. Back to Server Manager and it said it was disabled. So back to Device Manager and disabled it there. Suddenly after a reboot, all began to work as it should. Have since reported this to our ISP and our Dell guy, and it appears they had begun to get others with the same problem - which of course they could now resolve. I hope this helps at least one of you. George.

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Need recommendation for voice recording?
by Can Kırca 01 Apr '17

01 Apr '17

Hello, I know that there are system admins in this list. Maybe this is an off-topic, but decide to ask. We are using cloud based telephone system with Red5 to receive calls, dial numbers and talking between locations. I have to record welcome and some IVR messages at 8KHZ-16bit. Do you have any accessible voice recorder software recommendation? I know that audacity is working, but looking for an other solution for that. I have Sonar and Samplitude as well, but not sure how to set above settings with them . Thanks in advance.

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MCSA SQL Server Certification
by Donnacha McCarthy 31 Mar '17

31 Mar '17

Hi All, I'm considering taking the examinations for the MCSA SQL Server Certifications, I'm just wondering if anyone on the list here have done any of the Microsoft certifications and whether the exams are accessible to someone whose blind? I've been in touch with my local exam center but they weren't really to tell me much about the exams other than they were text passed! I'd appreciate any feedback. Thanks, Donnacha.

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SCCM accessibility
by Ryan Shugart 31 Mar '17

31 Mar '17

Hello: Wanted to share the below link for an article on SCCM accessibility posted a few days ago. I know there's a few SCCM admins on the list, so this may be of assistance. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sccm/core/understand/accessibility-features At this point the doc is pretty basic, it lists the specialized keyboard commands for the console and some basic tips for moving around, but do expect this to grow over time. We are continuing to work on access to the SCCM console, if you have any specific issues that we aren't already working on please feel free to contact me and let me know what they are. Thanks. Ryan Ryan Shugart Program Manager II, Cloud+Enterprise Accessibility Microsoft Corporation 425-705-1262

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MCSA SQL Server Certification
by Donnacha McCarthy 30 Mar '17

30 Mar '17

Hi All, I'm considering taking the examinations for the MCSA SQL Server Certifications, I'm just wondering if anyone on the list here have done any of the Microsoft certifications and whether the exams are accessible to someone whose blind? I've been in touch with my local exam center but they weren't really to tell me much about the exams other than they were text passed! I'd appreciate any feedback. Thanks, Donnacha.

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2 factor authentication, google authenticator accessibility, and sshd configuration
by David Mehler 28 Mar '17

28 Mar '17

Hello, I realize that's a complex subject. Let me break it down. First, is anyone using google authenticator to implement two factor authentication with a service? I lost a google account password, forgot it is more like it, so I went in and google sent my phone a sms message, that I just had to open and then I was logged in. This is a capability i'd like to have with my services, openssh sshd to be specific. If anyone is using this or has additional information i'd like to know about it. Thanks. Dave.

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2 factor authentication, google authenticator accessibility, and sshd configuration
by David Mehler 28 Mar '17

28 Mar '17

Hello, I realize that's a complex subject. Let me break it down. First, is anyone using google authenticator to implement two factor authentication with a service? I lost a google account password, forgot it is more like it, so I went in and google sent my phone a sms message, that I just had to open and then I was logged in. This is a capability i'd like to have with my services, openssh sshd to be specific. If anyone is using this or has additional information i'd like to know about it. Thanks. Dave.

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Using talking Win PE as a boot and capture image in WDS
by Lukasz Golonka 27 Mar '17

27 Mar '17

Hello, I would like to know if anybody tried to use any talking Win PE as a boot and capture image in WDS. Adding boot.wim from Win PE iso image works, but after selecting it from the boot menu normal Win PE loads but windows installation dont start. I tried to manually run setup.exe with /wds /wdsdiscover parameters, but it failed with a message saying, that network can not be initialized. I know, that i can automate it by unattended installation or in case of capturing by .ini file, but i prefer to do it with speech. Thanks for any suggestions. Lukasz

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win10 machines not playing nice with each other
by David Mehler 23 Mar '17

23 Mar '17

Hello, I've got a network with several win10 machines on it. One all can get to and pull shared files. Two others are not sharing, the shares are visible, under thieir computer names, but when I go to them I get an error user is not authorized. Permissions on the shared folders are to allow everyone full access, that's under the sharing tab as well as the security tab of the folders in question. I am not using home groups and all of the machines are in the same workgroup. If I had a Pi I would look at setting up a domain. Any help appreciated. Thanks. Dave.

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Windows Automatic Repair Loop
by Barry Toner 22 Mar '17

22 Mar '17

Hi all, I’ve a Windows 10 machine that I attempted a Reset on. After the machine became unresponsive I left it for some hours. I got some eyes briefly, and discovered it was hanging on the Windows Installation screen. I thought Reset was automatic? Either way I took a sledge hammer to crack a nut as I’d no eyes around and formatted the HD. I then created a bootable Windows PE disc, and confirmed it boots on another system with no problems. It won’t boot on the Windows 10 machine even though the last I checked the BIOS was set to boot from optical media first. I got the IOS KNFB reader app on the go and discovered I was on a Windows Automatic Repair Could Not Repair your system screen. Something about try Advanced options or shut down. Every key stroke I can think off does nothing Power cycling just loops this screen. I blew away all partitions on the HD so where is this coming from? There’s no other drives in the machine and it’s not wired to any network. More importantly any keystrokes or ideas how I can get the machine just to POST normally so the optical media will boot and I can re-image the box? Cheers, Barry.

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