- Blind-sysadmins - lists.hodgsonfamily.org

testing an external drive
by David Mehler 21 Mar '12

21 Mar '12

Hello, I know about spinrite, but I didn't think that worked on usb-attached external drives. I've got a terabyte external drive connected by usb, it's an enclosure, but not removable, i.e. the drive came in it and it's sealed not meant to be replaced. This enclosure took a spill and hit a carpeted ground apartment say maybe four feet and it didn't show up for a while. I recycled it, disconnected and reconnected everything, and it shows up but it took what looks like casing damage and I'm hoping it didn't take internal damage, it's not making any noises and it is showing up again, I'd like to know what others use to test their external drives? Also on the subject, is anyone using the network-attached terabyte or greater drive? Which one can be recommended? Thanks. Dave.

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Accessible live Windows PE environment for visually impaired users
by Mgr. Janusz Chmiel 21 Mar '12

21 Mar '12

Dear developers, I would like to inform You about several fully accessible live projects, which are based on Windows PE and can be used for performing many system administration tasks. I have intensively tested those projects for system stability and reliability and i can safely recommend those projects for all users and system administrators. For universal sound support, it is necessary to buy USB headsets. Only this sound driver can be reliably used with this sound devices with all projects. The best tool for creating live Xp project with NVDA support is according to my opinion project awailable for direct downloading here. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/15279728/LXC.102011.exe This project is self install package, run it and after finishing, prepare The blang folder and copy AYours Windows XP installation CD or extract previously prepared .iso image. Warning!! This project and other PE based project which are using XP operating system as installation source are not able to cooperate with OEM XP operating systems awailable on some machines in C:\i386 folder. It is not possible to use those sources, only standard installation CDS can be used. Even if You will add special files with zero byte lenght with .sp1 .sp3, it will not work. Very probably because of other form of crucial .sif file. When You will have this folder prepared with extracted installation CD, You can press The play button after running winbuilder.exe, after choosing The source TAB, after specifiing The right folder with installation files. To activate play button, find The graphical object, which MSAA identifi as ToolBar1 It is The first object of this type one object righzt from The treewiev, You must simulate left mouse click on this object and before this click, You must move The mouse pointer to this object. Patiently wait, till The project will be executed. It is complex project which is completing many file copy and other operations. When The project will be finished, exit winbuilder and rather restart Yours computer, because winbuilder.exe is doing somethink at The background with RAM and it can in some cases cause system slowdown or even hangup. When Yours project execution will be successfull, You will be able to find The iso folder inside The project subfolder. Find those folders on The target installation folder of The project. .iso image can be directly burned to The CD, or You can even transferr it to The bootable USb stick. For beginning, I AM recommending You to normally burn The .iso image to The CD. Prepare USB stick, it can store many files and folders, it do not have to be empty. Try to create drivers folder. drivers Drivers folder must contain Yours sound drivers. Because special integrated program for importing drivers to The live PE can not have The same results, like using plug and play capability from runned XP system, You must buy USB headsets and You must include The necessary drivers to The drivers folder on Yours USB stick. Other sound drivers can work, but The best results are expectable while adding sound drivers for various integrated sound chips on motherboards of desktops or notebook. Do not expect, that sound will work automatically, if You will try to add drivers for Creative sound blaster PCI based sound carts or if You would try to even support PCMCIA Sound blaster AUDIGI SZ notebook. It will not really work. Bestly supported sound device is really USB headsets, for example, USB headsets from Logitech company. USB headsets must have sound chip for generating sound, USB load speakers will not work too, because they are not containg necessary sound chip. USB sound carts are requiring to add special drivers and it would not work too. To extract Yours USB headsets sound driver, plug in Your USB headsets while running normal XP installation and use SmartDriverBackup2.12 This driver backup tool is excellent and it's GUI is totally MSAA compatible. You can get it from The various Internet sources. Try to run this program, and find The USB audio driver and extract this driver to The Drivers folder. USB headsets is excellent sound device standard and it is also compatible with Windows7 or Windows8. This phynancial investition to this device is really good and You can use this device from standard installed Windows operating systems, from specially prepared live PE environments and many Linux distros are fully compatible with USB headsets. When You will have necessary driver files extracted to The drivers folder, You can extract The folder name to The driver folder which represents The name of Yours USB headsets device, it will work. Now is The time to extract The NVDA portable to The root of Yours USB stick. Yes, it is all. Yours USB headsets and may be also other sound devices, if there will be less than 10 driver files, it is very probably, that this sound device will work, but The fact, if it will work or no is much more complex than The fact, how many driver files is included in The drivers folder. The one disadvantage of visually impaired user is, that You can not get welcome sound which will inform You, that system have been executed. User with quite laptops can listen The sound of integrated circuits or YOu can use non cheap very sensitive radio reciever to detect The special sounds of The computer. You can wait 2 minutes or 3 and You will be sure, that The system is ready. Very important, plug in The USB headsets after starting Yours live CD, in other case, sound device will not be autodetected. It is also important to no, that You must know The first word letter of The classic start menu item run in Yours native XP language to run NVDA. Press The start button or CTRL+ESC Press The first letter of The run command. I Am writing nonsense, it is not The first letter of The word represents The run command, Try to find The right letter Yourself. Type d:\nvda.exe Press enter. NVDA should be automatically loaded from USB stick. Very important. It is possible to run regedit remotely to edit Windows registry of The NTFS volume, which is containing installed XP operating system. I Am working on implementing other remote administration tasks, aspecially to use system restore feature. You can also use specially created Clamwin portable antivirus program awailable from http://freefr.dl.sourceforge.net/project/portableapps/ClamWin%20Portable/Ad… The virus database contains more than one million 100000 virus signatures. You can use it from live PE projects for virus detection and even virus removal process. Clamwin is fully NVDA compatible. I wisch You many nice experiences with those projects.

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pen drive linux multiboot?
by David Mehler 21 Mar '12

21 Mar '12

Hello, Has anyone checked out pen drive linux from www.pendrivelinux.com? I'm particularly interested in the multiboot feature that a friend told me about, also that it can make custom installs with needed utilities, I was wondering if this linux could be made to talk? Thanks. Dave.

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pen drive linux multiboot?
by David Mehler 21 Mar '12

21 Mar '12

Hello, Has anyone checked out pen drive linux from www.pendrivelinux.com? I'm particularly interested in the multiboot feature that a friend told me about, also that it can make custom installs with needed utilities, I was wondering if this linux could be made to talk? Thanks. Dave.

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jfw scripts for vmware workstation
by David Mehler 21 Mar '12

21 Mar '12

Hello, Does anyone have the jfw scripts for vmware workstation? If so, can you send me the link to them? Thanks. Dave.

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System loosing date
by David Mehler 21 Mar '12

21 Mar '12

Hello, I'm dealing with a rather perplexing problem, at least I do when I get over to the box. An xp home machine keeps loosing it's date. It was doing some other stuff, like loosing it's boot order and atempting to network boot, so the CMOS battery was replaced, and that problem went away that is the problem of the network booting. Now in windows (not the system setup it knows it's date), sometimes it thinks it's date is like I just checked it Monday December 31 2001, 11:15 p.m. when the time was actually 8:15 p.m. or there abouts. Other times I've been told it thinks it's date is October 28 2065, I've never heard of a machine jumping forward in this instance. If anyone has any suggestions I'd appreciate them. Thanks. Dave.

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jfw scripts for vmware workstation
by David Mehler 20 Mar '12

20 Mar '12

Hello, Does anyone have the jfw scripts for vmware workstation? If so, can you send me the link to them? Thanks. Dave.

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System Center 2012
by Ryan Shugart 20 Mar '12

20 Mar '12

Hi all: I was wondering what other people on this list's plans were for rolling out various System Center 2012 products? The release date is getting ever closer, and there's a few features in SCCM 2012 in particular I'd be interested in taking advantage of, but so far I've not gotten the install to work accessibly even, so I have no way to set this up in a test lab. Has anyone else taken a look at this yet, and does anyone have any tips? When do you plan to start investigating an upgrade? Thanks. Ryan

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System Center 2012
by Ryan Shugart 19 Mar '12

19 Mar '12

Hi all: I was wondering what other people on this list's plans were for rolling out various System Center 2012 products? The release date is getting ever closer, and there's a few features in SCCM 2012 in particular I'd be interested in taking advantage of, but so far I've not gotten the install to work accessibly even, so I have no way to set this up in a test lab. Has anyone else taken a look at this yet, and does anyone have any tips? When do you plan to start investigating an upgrade? Thanks. Ryan

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independent backup and restore of a windows system
by David Mehler 19 Mar '12

19 Mar '12

Hello, What's everyone use for independent backup of home windows boxes these days? Way way back I used ghost with a floppy and a batch file, but that option has gone away. I've got a new machine that I've customized and now I'd like to take an image of it preferably before something happens to it so that in the event of something unexpected in the future I can restore it. I'm looking for ease of use and quick recovery time. Thanks. Dave.

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