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Excel 2010/2013 - how to disable protected view

If you got on Excel file this alert (that they are for security purpose)

See original image

You can simply click on --> Enable Editing or disable this excel file feature.

Here they are relative screenshots:




About Excel/office 2013







Software - NK2Edit Edit Autocomplete Outlook

Every time that you type an email address or name in the message window of MS-Outlook, it automatically offer you a list of users and email address that you can choose. This feature is known as 'AutoComplete' and Outlook automatically build this emails list according to user activity and save it into a file with .NK2 extension.
In some circumstances, you may need to repair or modify the values appeared in the AutoComplete list, or you may want to remove unwanted email addresses and/or to add new email addresses. MS-Outlook doesn't provide any ability to edit this AutoComplete list, so this is where NK2Edit software can help you.

 NK2Edit Features
  • Easily modify or fix all information stored in the NK2 file, including the display name, the email address, the exchange string, the Drop-Down display name, and the search string.
  • Easily remove unwanted single quote characters from the display name and from the Drop-Down list.
  • Delete unwanted emails, as well as add new emails, by typing them manually, or by choosing them from the address book of Outlook.
  • Copy NK2 records from one NK2 file to another - simply by copy and paste !
  • Build a completely new NK2 file and add the desired emails into it, by typing them manually, by adding them from your address book, or by copying records from another NK2 file.
  • Extract data from corrupted NK2 files that Outlook cannot read anymore (When Outlook AutoComplete stopped working) and even repair them so Outlook will be able to read them again.
  • Export all data stored in the NK2 file into a special Unicode text file in a structure similar to .ini file of Windows. You can open it any text editor you like, make the changes you need, and then convert it back into NK2 file that Outlook can use.
  • Export the emails information stored inside NK2 file into HTML/Text/csv/xml file.
  • Export the emails information stored inside NK2 file directly into the contacts of Outlook.
  • Copy the selected NK2 records in tab-delimited format and then paste the information into Excel.
  • Change the order of the records in the NK2 file, which also affects the order they appear in the drop-down. You can also sort the list in alphabetical order of the Drop-Down display names. (However, be aware that Outlook change the order again when the user send emails)
  • Command-Line Support: Write simple scripts that can add, remove, or modify records inside the NK2 file, without displaying any user interface.
  • NK2Edit is a portable application that can be used from any computer with Windows operating system (Starting from Windows 2000) without need of any installation process, and without making changes in the Registry.
  • NK2 Control Center - Allows you to watch to location and the status of all NK2 files in your organization.

Vmware - Restarting the Management agents on an ESXi or ESX host (1003490)

Complete vmware article:

 Restarting the Management agents on an ESXi or ESX host (1003490)


Symptoms


  • Cannot connect ESXi/ESX to VirtualCenter/vCenter Server
  • Cannot connect directly to the ESXi/ESX host from the VMware Infrastructure Client / vSphere Client
  • Cannot stop or start a virtual machine
  • A virtual machine is shown as running in vCenter Server when it is not
  • vCenter Server displays the error:

    Virtual machine creation may fail because agent is unable to retrieve VM creation options from the host

Steps that I utilized:

Restarting the Management agents on ESXi

To restart the management agents on ESXi:
From the Direct Console User Interface (DCUI):
  1. Connect to the console of your ESXi host.
  2. Press F2 to customize the system.
  3. Log in as root.
  4. Use the Up/Down arrows to navigate to Restart Management Agents.

    Note: In ESXi 4.1 and ESXi 5.0, 5.1, 5.5 and 6.0 this option is available under Troubleshooting Options.
  5. Press Enter.
  6. Press F11 to restart the services.
  7. When the service restarts, press Enter.
  8. Press Esc to log out of the system.

Vmware - Backing up VMware vSphere 5.x and 6.0 products (2119754)

Here they are tons of links, from official Vmware KB base, that explain how to backup Vmware ESX(i) configuration and proceed with relative restore:

 Backing up VMware vSphere 5.x and 6.0 products (2119754)

 Backing up and restoring ESXi configuration using the vSphere Command-Line Interface and vSphere PowerCLI (2042141)

Purpose

This article contains links to relevant information for backing up VMware vSphere 5.x and 6.0 products.

Resolution

ESXi:

VMware Single Sign-On:

See Also

Windows 10 - Deploy a Windows 10 image using MDT 2013 Update 1

This interesting Microsoft article and related subsections well explain and gives workflow on how to deploy windows 10 O.S. on Windows 7 machines (and other O.S. versions), automating pc backup process, upgrade O.S., deploy though PXE, drivers and patches installation and install non standard  applications.

 Here they are key features and full articles links:

 https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt297537(v=vs.85).aspx
<--->

 Microsoft Deployment Toolkit

 Deploy a Windows 10 image using MDT 2013 Update 1

 Build a distributed environment for Windows 10 deployment

 Refresh a Windows 7 computer with Windows 10

 Replace a Windows 7 computer with a Windows 10 computer
  • Windows Client support. Supports Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10.
  • Windows Server support. Supports Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Server 2012 R2.
  • UEFI support. Supports deployment to machines using Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) version 2.3.1. (it means that you can remote access pc screen when O.S is not booted on)
  • Offline BitLocker. Provides the capability to have BitLocker enabled during the Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) phase, thus saving hours of encryption time.
    https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt297542(v=vs.85).aspx
  • Upgrade task sequence. Provides a new upgrade task sequence template that you can use to upgrade existing Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 systems directly to Windows 10, automatically preserving all data, settings, applications, and drivers. For more information about using this new upgrade task sequence, refer to the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit resource page.
  • Support for Office 2013. Provides added support for deploying Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2013.
  • USMT offline user-state migration. Provides support for running the User State Migration Tool (USMT) capture offline, during the Windows PE phase of the deployment. (it means that you can backup users profiles/data from previous windows version to windows 10 and restoring data automatically) 

    Here is relative screenshots:

    Figure 3
Other blog articles:

SCCM 2012 - Upgrade clients from Windows 7 to 10


SCCM 2012 - How to automate O.S. deployment, TPM bios enable, OSD task sequencer on Dell/Lenovo/HP Pc

Network - Automated backup for your network switches with WinSCP and PowerShell

I found an interesting article that easily explain and share powershell scripts and WinSCP steps to automatically backups HP procurve switches.

 I think that there could be similar ways to proceed with other vendors and models to replicate procedure.

 This guide shows how to setup the backup of a HP ProCurve switch (I’ve tested it with the ProCurve 8200 series, 5400 series the 2920s, a 2626 and a 2530 all of which were running the most recent firmware) although it should be a simple matter of changing the relevant paths to make it work with other manufacturers kit (e.g. Cisco).

 http://myworldofit.net/?p=9127


[UPDATE 2020.11.17]

As Syslog server you can use:


Otherwise https://www.solarwinds.com/kiwi-cattools can be a good automatic alternative.


Kiwi Syslog Cisco swithces configuration is extremely easy, here it is a simple tutorial guide


Cisco ASA configuration is more complicated, you can refer to below guide:

Tips - Veeam problem - No disks have been mounted…Windows FLR

If you are facing problems with Veeam during granulary restore like following screenshots/errors here is relative veeam article that helped us to solve problem:

 Here I copy and paste article parts but I warmly suggest to view original veeam article:

 http://www.veeam.com/kb1883
<-------------------->

Challenge

When attempting to perform a Windows FLR (Guest Files ‘Windows’) the restore fails with:

User-added image

No disks have been mounted. Either disks of this type aren’t supported or some errors occurred. See log file for details.

Solution

Confirm that the VM that the files are being restored from was using one the following filesystems.        
  • FAT
  • FAT32
  • NTFS
  • ReFS*
 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Troubleshooting Steps
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

1.  Clear all temporary files from “C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Temp\”

Note: When the Veeam Backup Service account is ‘local system’, the temporary directory used is C:\Windows\Temp.

2.  Open an Administrator Command Prompt and run the following commands:
(The the installation path for Veeam if it was upgraded from 6.5 is: C:\Program Files\Veeam\Backup and Replication\)
cd “C:\Program Files\Veeam\Backup and Replication\Backup”
vdk remove
vdk install
3.  Confirm that the account being used for the Veeam Backup Service has the "Perform volume maintenance tasks" right assigned to it. This can be located within the group policy (gpedit.msc) under:
Computer Configuration>Windows Settings>Security Settings>Local Policies>User Rights Assignment
4.  Reboot the Veeam server


Vmware - Download latest Vmware Tools

During these months vmware released new Vmware Tools version that are no longer strictly linked to Vmware ESX(i) version that you have installed.

 here is relative link that contain all versions.

 http://packages.vmware.com/tools/esx/index.html

 Due to fact that vmware tools are no longer sctricly constrained to ESX(i) version you can give a look to this tutorial that explain how to proceed to deploy them:

http://nolabnoparty.com/vmware-tools-10-distribuzione-tramite-vum/

Vmware - VMS and Templates

A VMware template (also called a golden image) is a perfect, model copy of a virtual machine (VM) from which an administrator can clone, convert or deploy more virtual machines. 

 A VMware template includes the virtual machine's virtual disks and settings from its .vmx configuration file, managed with permissions. Templates save time and avoid errors when configuring settings and other choices to create new Windows or Linux server VMs. They can also be used as long-term in-place backups of VMs, and to ensure consistent VMs are created and deployed across a company. A VMware template cannot be operated without reverting it to a virtual machine (VM).

 Here is original Vmware 5 article on this argument but you can easily find tons of articles on this argument:

 https://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/index.jsp#com.vmware.vsphere.vm_admin.doc_50/GUID-9062F225-E01B-42BA-8AFB-8EA4069068FE.html

 Here is Vmware .pdf White Paper:

 http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vc_2_templates_usage_best_practices_wp.pdf

SCCM 2012 - Upgrade clients from Windows 7 to 10

I proceeded to copy and paste some articles parts from this official Microsoft article and other non Microsoft tutorials:

 https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt426642(v=vs.85).aspx

<----->

 Revised content for the Windows 10 in-place upgrade via task sequence for Configuration Manager

 How to upgrade to Windows 10 using the task sequence in System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager

Upgrade to Windows 10 with System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager

System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager SP1 adds support to manage and deploy Windows 10. Although it does not include built-in support to perform an in-place upgrade from Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 8.1 to Windows 10, you can build a custom task sequence to perform the necessary tasks.

Create the task sequence

To help with this process, the Configuration Manager team has published a blog that provides a sample task sequence, as well as the original blog that includes the instructions for setting up the task sequence. To summarize, here are the tasks you need to perform:
  1. Download the Windows10Upgrade1506.zip file that contains the sample task sequence and related scripts. Extract the contents onto a network share.
  2. Copy the Windows 10 Enterprise RTM x64 media into the extracted but empty Windows vNext Upgrade Media folder.
  3. Using the Configuration Manager Console, right-click the Task Sequences node, and then choose Import Task Sequence. Select the Windows-vNextUpgradeExport.zip file that you extracted in Step 1.
  4. Distribute the two created packages (one contains the Windows 10 Enterprise x64 media, the other contains the related scripts) to the Configuration Manager distribution point.
For full details and an explanation of the task sequence steps, review the full details of the two blogs that are referenced above.
If you want to upgrade pcs/laptops mantaining same settings you need to utilize, inside SCCM 2012, this USMT tool too:
USMT (User State Migration Tool) is a nice utility from Microsoft that is used to migrate a user profile from one operating system to the next. A USMT Hardlink deployment refers to a Windows OS Deployment (to the same hardware) where we’ll create a local offline copy of the user profile, apply the new OS (without cleaning the disk) and then injecting the user profile back to that machine. In the situation of say Windows XP to Windows 7, USMT Hardlink was our only option (As there was no In-Place Upgrade). The same goes for a 32-bit verions of Windows-whatever (7,8,8.1) to Windows 10 64-bit.

Server - Microsoft File Server Migration Toolkit 1.2

The wizards in the File Server Migration Toolkit use Distributed File System (DFS) to maintain Universal Naming Convention (UNC) paths and to simplify the consolidation and migration process:
    Many organizations today are consolidating older file servers to reduce the cost of managing multiple file servers and to increase the efficiency of storage allocation and backup tasks. When organizations migrate data to file servers running Windows Server® 2003 and Windows Server 2008, they can take advantage of new features, such as Shadow Copies for Shared Folders and the Volume Shadow Copy service, and enhancements to other technologies, such as Distributed File System (DFS).

Here is an interesting article that explain how to utilize it (note on microsoft article 2012 seems not be supported by this tool):

 http://blogs.technet.com/b/canitpro/archive/2014/11/06/step-by-step-migrating-a-2003-file-server-with-microsoft-file-server-migration-toolkit.aspx

Tips - How to migrate file server share and permissions

If you are changing File server (from 2008 to 2012 ) and you want to preserve all permissions and mantain same shares you need to utilize this procedure (take care about other permissions/print server shares) too.
  1. Launch regedit
  2. Export HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Shares registry key from the source server
  3. Disable SERVER service on the source server (to be sure no one is modifying data during migration)
  4. Run RoboCopy using /COPYALL key (or /SEC key at least)
    robocopy source destination /MIR /SEC /E
  5. Import registry file (exported in the first step) to the destination server
  6. Restart SERVER service on the destination server (required for imported registry file to take an effect)

Important: It would important to save shares register keys on destination file server in case of problems or incompatibility too, there could be, infact, old shares deletions problems

 In case you are still working on windows 2003 to 2012 R2 file server migration procedure this procedure should be allways fine but I would suggest to search more internet articles, here they are some articles:

 Migrating File Servers from Windows Server 2003 to Windows Server 2012 R2

 http://blogs.technet.com/b/josebda/archive/2014/11/05/migrating-file-server-from-windows-server-2003-to-windows-server-2012-r2.aspx

 Step-By-Step: Migrating a 2003 file server with Microsoft File Server Migration Toolkit

 http://blogs.technet.com/b/canitpro/archive/2014/11/06/step-by-step-migrating-a-2003-file-server-with-microsoft-file-server-migration-toolkit.aspx

# /MIR :: MIRror a directory tree (equivalent to /E plus /PURGE).
#      /B :: copy files in Backup mode.
# /E :: copy subdirectories, including Empty ones.
# /W:n :: Wait time between retries: default is 30 seconds.
# /IPG:n :: Inter-Packet Gap (ms), to free bandwidth on slow lines.
# /NDL :: No Directory List - don't log directory names.
# /NP :: No Progress - don't display percentage copied.
# /XD dirs [dirs]... :: eXclude Directories matching given names/paths.
<---------------- -------------------------="" articles="" blog="" other="" related="">
<-------->
<-------->

 more Robocopy parameters and Examples

 http://www.devadmin.it/2016/02/27/copia-di-una-cartella-mantenendo-i-permessi-ntfs/

 Tips - How to migrate file server share and permissions

 http://www.alessandromazzanti.com/2015/11/tips-how-to-migrate-file-server-share.html

 Server - Salvare i nomi e permessi di condivisioni di rete che utilizzano Netbios

 http://www.alessandromazzanti.com/2011/03/salvare-i-nomi-e-permessi-di.html

 Scritping - Use robocopy to replicate file to remote location

 http://www.alessandromazzanti.com/2014/01/scritping-use-robocopy-to-replicate.html

Tips - Fix Microsoft Windows Update Issues

Microsoft creates direct links where they are steps and troubleshooting articles/tips that you could follow:

 1.)Fix Microsoft Windows Update Issues

 https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/gp/windows-update-issues/en-us

 To speed up troubleshooting you can download this .cab

 http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=231149


Run now






2.) Otherwise you could follow this article and manually reset it:

 How do I reset Windows Update components

 https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/971058

 Here they are some parts:
Windows 8.1, Windows 8, and Windows 7
Microsoft fix it banner
The Automatically diagnose and fix common problems with Windows Update troubleshooter may automatically fix the problem described in this article. 

This troubleshooter fixes many problems.
learn more		Run now

3.) If you need to install latest windows update agent:

perating systemUpdate
All supported x86-based versions of Windows 8 (KB2937636)DownloadDownload the package now.
All supported x64-based versions of Windows 8 (KB2937636)DownloadDownload the package now.
All supported x64-based versions of Windows Server 2012 (KB2937636)DownloadDownload the package now.
Stand-alone packages for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1
The following files are available for download from Windows Update.
Operating systemUpdate
All supported x86-based versions of Windows 7 SP1DownloadDownload the package now.
All supported x64-based versions of Windows 7 SP1DownloadDownload the package now.
All supported x86-based versions of Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1DownloadDownload the package now.
All supported x64-based versions of Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1DownloadDownload the package now.
All supported Itanium-based versions of Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1DownloadDownload the package now.

More details:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/949104

Otherwise:

 To obtain version 7.4.7600.226 of the Windows Update Agent, click one of the following links as appropriate for the operating system: 
Release Date: Thursday, September 24, 2009

 More details:

 https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/946928