Crouching Vista, Hidden Telnet
I use the command line a fair amount of time because its a quick and easy way to perform small tasks with different input. Like DNS lookups using dig, or FTP just to grab a quick file without having to configure yet another FTP profile in my FTP client.
Telnet is one that I truly miss in Vista. Fortunately its still there, just disabled by default. I’m sure that decision was part of Microsoft’s ideal secure operating system. I could easily see how telnet could be used nefariously by a virii or trojan.
For those of you who want it back, it’s so simple to install it… don’t go out and buy a client, unless you absolutely need to.
| 1. Open Computer |  |
| 2. Click on the button along the top of the window called : Uninstall or change a program |  |
| 3. Click on Turn Windows features on or off in the Tasks column to the left of the main window. |  |
| 4. Allow the process to run by ack’ing the UCE pop-up window (if you haven’t already disabled UCE) | |
| 5. Scroll through the list of Windows Features, until you find Telnet Client. Mash the check mark followed by the OK button. |  |
| 6. Wait for the install to finish, and you’re good to go! |  |
If you want something more robust or at least with a GUI or can handle more technical tasks or customization, check out PuTTY. A handy windows installer is available from them. Or if you prefer to bring your utilities with you, check out the portable version.
Share your favorite in the comments.
Vista Service Pack 1 Released (again)
Vista SP1 was released this morning, but didn’t show up anywhere except on the tech news channels. A visit to Microsoft’s site had nar a mention of it anywhere – not even their Vista area. After some digging, I finally found it.
Choose the x86 version or the 64-bit version depending on your version of Vista.
The x86 version weighs in at 485MB and is the stand alone installer. I ran Windows Update twice and was told no updates were available.
I’ll post a follow up when I’m back online, let’s hope they fixed the reboot loop.
Update
Update completed with only one reboot, and I’m back in business. So far, no complications.
Update
After a few days of running Vista Ultimate with SP1, I’ve found some driver compatibility issues creep up. The OS stalls on Shutting Down… occasionally. Some applications will hang and can’t be killed – even using task manager or killtask /f. And booting up seems to take a while longer.
Update
Okay, enough. I’ve got work to do and SP1 is actually costing me money. Thankfully uninstallation of SP1 was much quicker than the install. Took me around 15 minutes and I’m back up and running. I found Windows Update disabled, which I thought was rather odd.
Domain Management in Vista
I’ve been running into a few problems with Vista and management pack from Microsoft. I use my workstation to manage different domains for clients, so I’m neither a member of the domain nor 
am I looking to join any of them.
Problem:
The first problem was after I installed the Windows 2003 Management tools was that I couldn’t even launch the mmc’s. I continued to get these errors: "mmc could not create the snap-in"
Fix:
I was able to find an easy fix from Microsoft’s KBase, article 930056. Essentially they give you a batch file to run that registers the DLLs with the OS. Another security "feature". Microsoft claims that I didn’t have administrative rights or ran the installer as an admin when I installed the AdminPak. Kudos for that.
Problem:
The second problem was a little trickier. I wanted to manage a domain that my workstation wasn’t a member of. I’ve done this in the past with XP, using runas.exe, but Vista’s file paths were messing me up.
Fix:
For this problem, there are a few hoops to jump through.
Click Start
, click All Programs, click Accessories, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.
Then run this command. Obviously replace domain and userid with your information.
runas.exe /netonly /user:"domain\userid" "mmc C:\Windows\System32\admgmt.msc"
Once you run this command, you’ll be prompted for your password on that domain (if you have network connectivity to it, that is. You do need to be on the network for this to work.. vpn works too).
The MMC will generate a warning:
Naming information cannot be located because:
The specified domain either does not exist or could not be contacted.
Contact your system administrator to verify that your domain is properly configured and is currently online.
Click OK, as its the only option.
Finally, right click on the Active Directory Users and Computers and choose Connect to Domain. Enter in your entire domain name and mash the OK button. With any luck, you should be able to admin the domain now.
Bonus: Check out this article on how to setup a contextual menu for an Administrative Command Prompt.
HP doesn’t buy Intel/Microsoft hype
ZDnet reports that HP has stepped up and called Intel and Microsoft out.
Intel’s latest technology buzzword “Turbo Memory” is an extra 1GB of memory added onto the latest Centrino line of laptop motherboards. This memory is split into two 512MB partitions of space and used by Microsoft Vista to improve read/write access to hard drives and often used data that would normally be stored in RAM.
So what’s the rub? Intel is charging $50(US) more for this 1GB of storage. And add to the fact that it’s a Vista only technology. Linux and XP users are stuck paying for more crap they won’t use (or frankly – don’t need).
HP has gone on record by stating that a user can spend $5 on a 1GB SD Card or thumb drive and get the exact same performance. They also found, unsurprisingly, that if they add an additional 1GB of RAM to the system (at a similar cost to intel’s cost of Turbo Memory) – they exceed the performance of a unit without the extra ram and 1GB of readyboost.
I, for one, applaud HP for sticking up for its customers or at least saving them a few bucks on this wishy washy technology – unlike Acer, Dell, and Toshiba have already drank the kool-aid.
