Windows Server 2008, 2012, 2016, 2019 & 2022 How To’s
If you have already got a deployment image in your Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) then you likely will want a CAPTURE IMAGE so you can collect the Operating System from a SysPreped PC. This is easy to do:Launch WSUS Expand your server > BOOT IMAGES Right click on the Read more…
If you are trying to SysPrep a Windows 10 PC and see: Sysprep Failure Unable to Validate Windows Installation and then see in the log: [0x0f0070] SYSPRP RunExternalDlls:An error occurred while running registry sysprep DLLs, halting sysprep execution. dwRet = 0x3cf2 You likely have some Win10 apps that are installed Read more…
If you want to set your modern Windows (Win 10, Server 2016, Server 2019…) to not download and install updates automatically, there is a simple Group Policy Object you can create: GPO To Stop Windows From Automatically Updating: Expand COMPUTER > POLICIES > ADMINISTRATIVE TOOLS > WINDOWS COMPONENTS > WINDOWS Read more…
If you installed the DELL SAN HEADQUARTERS ‘SERVER’ on a new server and are connecting to it from your desktop (or another server), you will likely want to get delete the old server in SAN HQ. The problem is REMOVE SERVER is not an option. Fortunately the solution is easy: Read more…
As you likely already know, because you have found this page, the GPO to disable the MICROSOFT STORE app was set to be ineffective on Windows 10 Pro after build 1511. This annoying change meant that you could only block the store using a GPO if you were running Windows Read more…
If you track the problem down to an IIS issue in which the WSUSPOOL keep stopping, you likely need to expand the memory limitation and the recycle time: Launch IIS Click on APPLICATION POOLS Click on WSUSPOOL Click ADVANCED SETTINGS (action pane on right side) Scroll down and increase the Read more…
If you repeatedly see RESET SERVER NODE in your Windows Server Update Servers (WSUS) console we have found three things that resolve it: Reduce The Number Of Approved Updates This should not be a problem, but I have seen it be a problem repeatedly. You should reduce the number of Read more…
If you have problems with Internet Explorer like: IE will not launch IE crashes frequently IE will not refresh IE will not connect IE will only run when using RIGHT CLICK, RUN AS ADMINISTRATOR … We will go through the fixes from easiest and fastest to more technical solutions: Clear Read more…
If you have a Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) server and you find some of the PC’s on your network are showing updates stuck at 0% Downloading, the problem may be with the WSUS server. After performing all the usual fixes for WSUS (restarting WSUS and BITS services, reboot, SERVER Read more…
When you see error 0x80244022 in Windows update or in the Windows Update log, it relates to a networking error. If you are using WSUS, it could be an indication that the IIS AppPool running your WSUS has stopped and needs to be started: Start IIS Manager Expand APPLICATION POOLS If Read more…
What Is the Windows Internal Database: Microsoft introduced the Windows Internal Database (WID) with Server 2008 and it has been included with every version of Windows Server since. It is designed to be used exclusively for use by Microsoft products and can not be purchased or downloaded separately. During its development it Read more…
This video demonstrates how to install Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) on Windows Server 2016. We also quickly show the Group Policies required to have your office PC’s use the WSUS server as their source for updates.
| Hardware | Low-end 500 or fewer clients | Typical 500–3,000 clients | High-end 3,000–20,000 clients, or rollup of 30,000 clients | Super high-end 10,000 clients, or rollup of 100,000 clients |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | 1 GHz | 1.5 GHz or faster | 3 GHz hyper threaded processor, x64 hardware | 3 GHz hyper threaded dual processor |
| Graphics card | 16 MB hardware accelerated PCI/AGP video card capable of 1-24*86*16bpp | 16 MB hardware accelerated PCI/AGP video card capable of 1-24*86*16bpp | 16 MB hardware accelerated PCI/AGP video card capable of 1-24*86*16bpp | 16 MB hardware accelerated PCI/AGP video card capable of 1-24*86*16bpp |
| RAM | 1 GB | 2 GB | 2 GB | 4 GB |
| Page file | At least 1.5 times physical memory | At least 1.5 times physical memory | At least 1.5 times physical memory | At least 1.5 times physical memory |
| I/O subsystem |
Fast ATA/IDE 100 hard disk or equivalent SCSI drives |
Fast ATA/IDE 100 hard disk or equivalent SCSI drives | Fast ATA/IDE 100 hard disk or equivalent SCSI drives | Fast ATA/IDE 100 hard disk or equivalent SCSI drives |
| Network card | 10 MB | 100 MB | 1 GB | 1 GB |
| Hard drive—system partition | 1 GB | 1 GB | 1 GB | 1 GB |
| Hard drive—content storage | 20 GB | 30 GB | 30 GB | 30 GB |
| Hard drive—SQL Server installation | 2 GB | 2 GB | 2 GB | 2 GB |
To have the PC’s on your network use your new WSUS server you need to make a few simple registry entries which you can easily handle using the following Group Policy:
If you are updating the firmware on a Dell Server you and see “The Operation Failed Due To An Invalid Image File”, you likely have Dell Open Manage Server Administrator (OMSA) open and looking at one of the disks you are trying to update. The solution is to close Dell Read more…
Normally when you have a problem with Windows Update there are two processes you should go through: Download and install the Update manually (rather than relying on the Windows Update GUI) Reset your Windows Update: Launch SERVICES.MSC, and STOP both “WINDOWS UPDATE” and “BACKGROUND INTELLIGENT TRANSFER SERVICE” then set them Read more…
When I started working NIC Teaming I thought that “link aggregating” two NIC’s would double my throughput and while that is possible, it is not likely and here is why.
When you link aggregate or Team Network cards using the common standards of the last decade, each NIC will still only connect to one system at its maximum speed (often 1GB). Teaming / Link Aggregation lets that same server connect to a second system (say another server or a desktop PC) at it’s maximum speed (often 1GB). So, if you have a single 10GB connection on SERVER A, and SERVER B has two 1GB teamed NIC’s, those two servers will only talk at a 1GB maximum. The two 1GB NIC’s on SERVER B will not double the throughput to 2Gb.
Creating a network adapter team is generally an easy way to double triple or quadruple your throughput but there are a number of annoying roadblocks to get around with Broadcom NIC’s Broadcom NIC Teaming Gotchas: Install the latest Broadcom firmware and drivers Unplug your network cables while creating the team Read more…