November, 2005

Robert D. Petruska’s VMware Tools Webpage

Rob is an active member of the VMware User Forums. His VMware Tools page includes many interesting downloads associated with virtual disks, vmx files Link: http://petruska.stardock.net/software/VMware/index.html

Using Resource Hacker to Disable Internet Explorer 6 Menus

Remember any “hacking” into a vendors DLL’s or EXE’s is mostly to invalidate your support agreement – and breach the license agreement too… so proceed with extreme caution! Using Resource Hacker we can copy the DLL that creates the menu bar, remove offending options – and replace...

The Best Way to Add Native Printer Drivers to your Source Server

As you may know if you want to add native printer drivers somebody has to install them. Most people switch of the options that allows clients to trigger this functionality automatically. Choosing instead to install these drivers manually, and replicate them to the remaining servers in the farm. If...

Problems with Boot.ini and P2V

When you finally get round to doing the P2V process – the P2V Assistant expect the Windows Server to have a boot.ini file on the primary and active partition. Some people delete the boot.ini if a server boot files (winnt/windows) and system files (boot.ini/ntldr/ntdetect files) are the C:...

VMworld Links

Here’s a collection of Links from VMware World in Las Vegas – 2005

• VMworld Announcement FAQ – VMware ESX Server...

Speeding up reboots/shutdowns of ESX

This is one I noticed this week while I was upstairs in my server room (read: spare bedroom!) and I was rebooting ESX a number of times – while my laptop was connected to the with the Remote Console. If you keep Remote Console windows open during a reboot/shutdown of ESX then you get errors...

Using last and lastb to Trace User Logons

It can be useful to be able trace users who are logged in or have logged on. This can be viewed in the /var/log directory. If you want to see something more immediate you can use the “last” and “lastb” command. Last searches back through the file /var/log/wtmp (or the file designated by...

Using the New P2V 2.1 CD

As you might know P2V 2.1 has been released I’ve been playing with the BETA for a while. There’s little to report – you be pleased to know that no unnecessary changes have been made. What is new is the P2V Boot CD itself – which is based around the Knoppix Boot CD and loads an X-Windows UI....

Problems with PC-Anywhere and P2V

This week on the Forum I helped diagnose a problem with a posters P2V event. The guy couldn’t logon after the P2V process. Every time he logged on he was logged out again. I’ve seen this with some P2V products (not VMware’s) and Citrix Drive-Letter remap tools which can cause problems with...