vmkfstools Examples

When searching an issue on expanding a shared disk on Microsoft clustering VMs (CIB), I have learned more about the vmkfstools command.

The vmkfstools --help displays many options, but lack of explanation. So I document them here. (reference: vSphere Storage, Using vmkfstools)

# vmkfstools --help

OPTIONS FOR FILE SYSTEMS:

vmkfstools -C --createfs [vmfs3|vmfs5]
               -b --blocksize #[mMkK]
               -S --setfsname fsName
           -Z --spanfs span-partition
           -G --growfs grown-partition
   deviceName

           -P --queryfs -h --humanreadable
           -T --upgradevmfs
   vmfsPath
           -y --reclaimBlocks vmfsPath [--reclaimBlocksUnit #blocks]

OPTIONS FOR VIRTUAL DISKS:

vmkfstools -c --createvirtualdisk #[gGmMkK]
               -d --diskformat [zeroedthick
                               |thin
                               |eagerzeroedthick
                               ]
               -a --adaptertype [buslogic|lsilogic|ide
                                |lsisas|pvscsi]
               -W --objecttype [file|vsan]
               --policyFile <fileName>
           -w --writezeros
           -j --inflatedisk
           -k --eagerzero
           -K --punchzero
           -U --deletevirtualdisk
           -E --renamevirtualdisk srcDisk
           -i --clonevirtualdisk srcDisk
               -d --diskformat [zeroedthick
                               |thin
                               |eagerzeroedthick
                               |rdm:<device>|rdmp:<device>
                               |2gbsparse]
               -W --object [file|vsan]
               --policyFile <fileName>
               -N --avoidnativeclone
           -X --extendvirtualdisk #[gGmMkK]
               [-d --diskformat eagerzeroedthick]
           -M --migratevirtualdisk
           -r --createrdm /vmfs/devices/disks/...
           -q --queryrdm
           -z --createrdmpassthru /vmfs/devices/disks/...
           -v --verbose #
           -g --geometry
           -x --fix [check|repair]
           -e --chainConsistent
           -Q --objecttype name/value pair
           --uniqueblocks childDisk
   vmfsPath

OPTIONS FOR DEVICES:

           -L --lock [reserve|release|lunreset|targetreset|busreset|readkeys|readresv
                     ] /vmfs/devices/disks/...
           -B --breaklock /vmfs/devices/disks/...

vmkfstools -H --help

vmkfstools Command Syntax

vmkfstools options target

Options: separate into three types - File System Options, Virtual Disk Options, and Storage Device Options.
Target: partition, device, or path

File System Options

• Listing Attributes of a VMFS Volume
  The listed attributes include the file system label, if any, the number of extents comprising the specified VMFS volume, the UUID, and a listing of the device names where each extent resides.
  vmkfstools -P -h <vmfsVolumePath>
  vmkfstools -P -h /vmfs/volumes/netapp_sata_nfs1/
• Creating a VMFS Datastore
  vmkfstools -C vmfs5 -b <blocksize> -S <datastoreName> <partitionName>
  vmkfstools -C vmfs5 -b 1m -S my_vmfs /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.ID:1
• Extending an Existing VMFS Volume
  vmkfstools -Z <span_partition> <head_partition>
  vmkfstools -Z /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.disk_ID_2:1 /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.disk_ID_1:1
  Caution: When you run this option, you lose all data that previously existed on the SCSI device you specified in span_partition.
• Growing an Existing Extent
  vmkfstools –G device device
  vmkfstools --growfs /vmfs/devices/disks/disk_ID:1 /vmfs/devices/disks/disk_ID:1

Virtual Disk Options

• Creating a Virtual Disk
  vmkfstools -c <size> -d <diskformat> <vmdkFile>
  vmkfstools -c 2048m testdisk1.vmdk
• Initializing a Virtual Disk
  vmkfstools -w <vmdkFile>
  This option cleans the virtual disk by writing zeros over all its data. Depending on the size of your virtual disk and the I/O bandwidth to the device hosting the virtual disk, completing this command might take a long time.
  Caution: When you use this command, you lose any existing data on the virtual disk.
• Inflating a Thin Virtual Disk
  vmkfstools -j <vmdkFile>
  This option converts a thin virtual disk to eagerzeroedthick, preserving all existing data. The option allocates and zeroes out any blocks that are not already allocated.
• Removing Zeroed Blocks (Converting a virtual disk to a thin disk)
  vmkfstools -K <vmdkFile>
  Use the vmkfstools command to convert any thin, zeroedthick, or eagerzeroedthick virtual disk to a thin disk with zeroed blocks removed.
  This option deallocates all zeroed out blocks and leaves only those blocks that were allocated previously and contain valid data. The resulting virtual disk is in thin format.
• Converting a Zeroedthick Virtual Disk to an Eagerzeroedthick Disk
  vmkfstools -k <vmdkFile>
  Use the vmkfstools command to convert any zeroedthick virtual disk to an eagerzeroedthick disk. While performing the conversion, this option preserves any data on the virtual disk.
• Deleting a Virtual Disk
  vmkfstools -U <vmdkFile>
  This option deletes files associated with the virtual disk listed at the specified path on the VMFS volume.
• Renaming a Virtual Disk
  vmkfstools -E <oldName> <newName>
• Cloning or Converting a Virtual Disk or Raw Disk
  cloning: vmkfstools -i <sourceVmdkFile> <targetVmdkFile>
  vmkfstools -i /vmfs/volumes/templates/gold-master.vmdk /vmfs/volumes/myVMFS/myOS.vmdk
  converting: vmkfstools -i <sourceVmdkFile> -d <diskfomrat> <targetVmdkFile>
• Extending a Virtual Disk
  vmkfstools -X <newSize> [-d eagerzeroedthick] <vmdkFile>
  use -d eagerzeroedthick to ensure the extended disk in eagerzeroedthick format.
  Caution: do not extend the base disk of a virtual machine that has snapshots associated with it. If you do, you can no longer commit the snapshot or revert the base disk to its original size.
• Displaying Virtual Disk Geometry
  vmkfstools -g <vmdkFile>
  The output is in the form: Geometry information C/H/S, where C represents the number of cylinders, H represents the number of heads, and S represents the number of sectors.

• Checking and Repairing Virtual Disks
  vmkfstools -x <vmdkFile>
  Use this option to check or repair a virtual disk in case of an unclean shutdown

Storage Device Options

• Managing SCSI Reservation of LUNs
  Caution: Using the -L option can interrupt the operations of other servers on a SAN. Use the -L option only when troubleshooting clustering setups.
  • vmkfstools -L reserve <deviceName>
    Reserves the specified LUN. After the reservation, only the server that reserved that LUN can access it. If other servers attempt to access that LUN, a reservation error results
  • vmkfstools -L release <deviceName>
    Releases the reservation on the specified LUN. Other servers can access the LUN again
  • vmkfstools -L lunreset <deviceName>
    Resets the specified LUN by clearing any reservation on the LUN and making the LUN available to all servers again. The reset does not affect any of the other LUNs on the device. If another LUN on the device is reserved, it remains reserved
  • vmkfstools -L targetreset <deviceName>
    Resets the entire target. The reset clears any reservations on all the LUNs associated with that target and makes the LUNs available to all servers again.
  • vmkfstools -L busrest <deviceName>
    Resets all accessible targets on the bus. The reset clears any reservation on all the LUNs accessible through the bus and makes them available to all servers agai
  • When entering the device parameter, use the following format:
    /vmfs/devices/disks/vml.vml_ID:P

Hidden Options (reference: “Some useful vmkfstools ‘hidden’ options”)

• VMDK Block Mappings
  vmkfstools -t0 <vmdkFile>
  Display the chuck file format in a VMDK file.
• VMFS -- = eager zeroed thick
• VMFS Z- = lazy zeroed thick
• NOMP -- = thin

Create CD/DVD ISO File in Windows 10

Windows 8 or later has the built-in feature to open / mount ISO files. However, creating an ISO file requires other tools. There are many free utilities available.

Today, I tried ISO Recorder v.3.1.3 64-bit. The last update on its web support says it supports Windows Vista and 7. In my test, it works in Windows 10 as well.

Create an ISO file

There is no icon or shortcut to launch ISO Recorder after the installation. To create an ISO file, right-click on the CD / DVD drive, and select “Create image from  CD/DVD”.

Mount an ISO file

Before installing ISO Recorder, Windows 10 will automatically mount the ISO to a virtual CD when double-clicking an ISO file. After installing ISO Recorder, double clicking an ISO file will launch ISO Recorder to write the image to a CD.

To mount the ISO file, right-click on the ISO file, and select “Open with” and “Windows Explorer”.

PS. I almost forget another free tool - ImgBurn. This was my go-to CD ISO creation and writing tool. The current version is v.2.5.8.0 released on June 16, 2013. This may still work in Windows 10, but I have not tried it yet.

Other free CD tools: MagicISO Virutal CD, WinISO 5.3, and CDBurnerXP.

Backup Consistency Types

This post is to summarize the various backup consistency types:

• Inconsistent Backup
  • Any file changed after it was backed up but before the job completed, the result is an inconsistent backup
  • e.g. File A and B, File A is backed up, then File A and B are changed, then File B is backed up. Now the backup of File A and B is inconsistent
  • The content in memory or pending I/O is not backed up
• Crash-Consistent Backup
  • All data is backed up at exactly the same time via techniques like Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) to take a block-level snapshot, and then the backup software pulls its backup from that snapshot
  • This backed up data is in the same state it would have been if the system had crashed
  • The content in memory or pending I/O is not backed up
  • Many applications, like Active Directory, have an automated recovery mechanism and will attempt to handle the inconsistent problem without administrator intervention. If these automated systems aren’t successful, a manual process is needed. For Microsoft SQL, you may need to know how to replay logs into a database file.
• Application-Consistent Backup
  • For Windows applications, the application manufacturer provide a VSS writer. When the VSS service is triggered, it will notify these writers that a backup is occuring. Then it’s up to the VSS writer how to handle it.
  • A proper VSS writer will make the application flushing all of its memory and I/O operations to the disk, as it would be if the application were properly closed
  • When the VSS snapshot is complete, it signals the VSS writers, then application resume normal operation and the backup software pulls its backup from that snapshot
  • If an application does not provide or properly register a VSS provider but its data resides on a volume with VSS enabled, the data is backed up in a crash-consistent state
• Image-Level Backup
  • The other backups back up when a machine is actively running
  • An image-level backup backs up when the machine is shut down

Source: VSS Crash-Consistent vs Application-Consistent VSS Backups

Use Dig to Troubleshoot DNS Issue on Windows

Get dig.exe on Windows

• Download and extract the BIND binary zip file to a folder from ISC.
• Open a command prompt and navigate to the folder
• Enter dig, no installation is required.

Basic syntax

• dig @dns-server name type
• dig @dns-server -q name -t type

Simplify the output

• dig +nocmd +noall +answer @dns-server name
• dig +nocmd +noall +answer +multiline @dns-server name any

Use \\?\UNC\ on A UNC Name to Work Around Windows 260 Characters File Name Limit

Prefixing the file name with “\\?\” can work around the Windows 260 characters (up to 32,000 characters) file name limit in some command line utilities. For example, for local file, dir \\?\c:\longfilename.txt.

However, the syntax is different on a UNC name, it needs to be \\?\UNC\servername\share\longfilename.txt. For example, dir \\?\UNC\fileserver\dept\it\longfilename.txt.

Not all the command line utilities support this syntax.

• Icacls - support
• PowerShell (get-acl) - not support, because of .NET

For more info see

Long Paths in .NET, Part 1 of 3

Use Sigcheck and VirusTotal to Scan Files for Malware

Sigcheck is a tool to check files digital signature, and recently is updated to auidt the root CA stores. And it can also be used to scan files for malware via VirusTotal.

Unless the -vs option is used, sigcheck only compares the hash of a file in VirusTotal’s database to determine whether the file contains malware.

• Download the latest version of Sigcheck (as of 01/26/2016, v.2.42)
• Unzip the zip file to a folder
• Open Command Prompt as Administrator, and change to the folder
• Run sigcheck.exe -vt, and enter y to agree the VirusTotal policy
• To scan a file: sigcheck.exe -v <filename>
• To upload a file that is not previously scanned to VirtualTotal; the file size is up to 128MB: sigcheck.exe -vs <filename>
• To scan a folder and subfolder: sigcheck.exe -v -s <foldername>
• To scan and create a CSV report: sigcheck.exe -v -s -c <foldername> > <report.csv>
• Check the VT detection column for the number of antivirus engine deteted a malware and used
• Open the URL in VT link in a browser to get the detail of the analysis - which antivirus engine and type of malware

Use Telnet to Send HTTP Request

• Launch Command Prompt
• telnet <web-server> <port>
• HEAD / HTTP/1.0
• press Enter twice

Or

• Launch Command Prompt
• telnet <web-server> <port>
• GET / HTTP/1.1
• host: <web-server-hostname>
• press Enter twice

Note: the HTTP commands in bold are case-sensitive, must be entered in the uppercase.

Robocopy Command Examples

In my previous post, I summarize some key information about Robocopy. In this post, I will share some Robocopy command examples that I have used in the file migration projects. Even these examples have been successfully used on the production environment, please verify yourself before use. That is why I add the /L option on all the examples. Save the following to a batch file and pick the command by remove the rem at the beginning of the line.

@echo off

set LOG_FILE="C:\Temp\ROBOCOPY_LOG.TXT"
set SOURCE="Source Path"
set DEST="Destination Path"

rem Remove rem on the command line you want to run
rem Only one Robocopy command line is used at a time
rem Remove /L to apply the change after confirm the outcome in the log file

rem *************************************************
rem /PURGE option
rem Mirror the source to the destination - the newer file in the destination will be overwritten, the extra file in the destination will be purged
rem robocopy %SOURCE% %DEST% /E /COPYALL /PURGE /MT /R:1 /W:1 /V /NP /TEE /LOG+:%LOG_FILE% /L

rem /ZB option
rem Use /ZB option when file cannot be copied
rem robocopy %SOURCE% %DEST% /E /ZB /COPYALL /PURGE /MT /R:1 /W:1 /V /NP /TEE /LOG+:%LOG_FILE% /L

rem *************************************************
rem default option - changed, newer, and older file is copied; extra file is not impacted
rem Copy the source to the destination - the newer file in the destination will be overwritten, but keep the extra file in the destination
rem robocopy %SOURCE% %DEST% /E /COPYALL /MT /R:1 /W:1 /V /NP /TEE /LOG+:%LOG_FILE% /L

rem *************************************************
rem /XO option
rem Copy the source to the destination - keep the newer file and extra file in the destination
rem robocopy %SOURCE% %DEST% /E /COPYALL /MT /R:1 /W:1 /V /NP /TEE /LOG+:%LOG_FILE% /XO /L

rem *************************************************
rem /FFT option
rem Copy the source to the destination - when the third-party storage system is used
rem robocopy %SOURCE% %DEST% /E /COPYALL /MT /R:1 /W:1 /V /NP /TEE /LOG+:%LOG_FILE% /FFT /L

Robocopy Usage Summary

Robocopy is a feature-rich and powerful file migration tool in Windows. The built-in help system (robocopy /?) provides the basic usage of each option, but it doesn’t thoroughly explain why and how to use these options.

Recently I discovered a best Robocopy guide (robocopy.doc) in Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Tools. To access this document without installing, use 7-Zip to extract the rktools.exe file, then extract the rktools.msi file. Even this document is for Version XP010, it is still applicable to the version built-in Windows 10.

I summarize some key information from this Robocopy document along with my usage experience below. It is highly recommended to read the full document if you have time.

What does Newer, Orlder or Extra mean?

File Class	In Source	In Destination	Source/Dest File Time	Source/Dest File Size	Source/Dest Attribute
Lonely	Yes	No	n/a	n/a	n/a
Tweaked	Yes	Yes	Equal	Equal	Different
Same	Yes	Yes	Equal	Equal	Equal
Changed	Yes	Yes	Equal	Different	n/a
Newer	Yes	Yes	Source > Dest	n/a	n/a
Older	Yes	Yes	Source < Dest	n/a	n/a
Extra	No	Yes	n/a	n/a	n/a
Mismatched	Yes (file)	Yes (Directory)	n/a	n/a	n/a

• By default, Changed, Newer, and Older files are candidates for copying (subject to further filtering, as described later)
• Same files are not copied
• Extra and Mismatched files and directories are only reported in the output log
• Tweaked files are neither identified nor copied - they are usually identified as Same files by default. Only when /IT is used, then Tweaked files will be copied

Use /L option to test Robocopy command

After building a Robocopy command with the options I want, I append /L option at the end of the command.

/L option lists files without copying, deleting, or applying a time stamp to any files.

Running the Robocopy command with the /L option, I can analyze the output to confirm the outcome before the real execution.

Should I use /Z, /B, or /ZB option?

• /B – copy all files in Backup Mode. Enable you to copy some files as a Backup Operator that you would not be able to copy as a normal user. Backup mode copies are not restartable.
• /ZB – try to copy files in Restartable Mode (for greater resiliency), and automatically switch to Backup Mode if the Restartable copy fails with an “Access Denied” error.
• /Z, /B, or /ZB restart from close to the point of failure rather than the beginning of the files. This can decrease Robocopy performance and throughput significantly, as these options involve extra overhead. These options are only recommended when experience indicates you really need them.

My comment: not to use them unless you are not able to copy a file or the network connectivity is unstable.

Robocopy reports the file timestamp is different, even they look the same in Windows Explorer.

This usually happens when copying files between a Windows NTFS volume and a third-party storage system.

FAT file system stores its timestamp for files (modified date, etc) with 2-second granularity

NTFS file system stores its timestamp for files in a 100-nanosecond granularity

File-time granularity is 100 nanoseconds on NTFS, and two seconds on FAT. So copying a file from NTFS to FAT causes file times to be rounded to a value that file FAT file system can manage. When both the source and destination volumes are NTFS, file times are compared exactly. When either the source or destination volume is not an NTFS volume, Robocopy considers file times to be identical if they are within two seconds of each other.

Some third-party operating systems declare that their volumes are NTFS, but only implement FAT-style file times with a 2-second granularity. When copying to such a destination from a true NTFS volume, file time rounding may occur, along with unnecessary copying of file data in subsequence jobs. In this situation, use /FFT (FAT File Time) to tell Robocopy to consider file times to be identical if they are within 2 seconds of each other, even though both source and destination appear to be NTFS. This eliminates unnecessary copying in this scenario.

/FFT is useful for copying to third-party storage systems (when copying from Windows-to-Windows NTFS storage, this option is not needed) that declare a volume to be NTFS but only implement file time with a 2-second granularity.

/FFT forces Robocopy to use FAT file-time granularity so that the utility uses a 2-second standard for comparing files. As long as files are time-stamped within a 2-second interval, Robocopy considers them identical and doesn’t copy them. (Source: WindowsITPro Robocopy FAQ)

Two-way file change synchronization

/XO excludes “Older” files.

To synchronize two directory trees so that they can be updated simultaneously in separate areas (ensure that the latest files are present in both directory trees). First copy with /XO in one direction, and then in the other.

Exclude File or Directory by name

• /XF file [file] excludes Files matching given names/paths/wildcards
• /XD dirs [dirs] excludes Directories matching given names/paths
  • My comment: to exclude multiple directories, simply list them with spaces in between. If the path contains spaces, wrap it in double-quotes (“ ”). The most important thing is DO NOT EVER include a trailing “\” in the excluded paths.
• /XF and /XD exclude files and directories before all other processing

Refresh security information without copying file data

• /IS /COPY:SOU refreshes all security information for all selected files, without copying any file data

Directory fragementation for large directories

/CREATE – Robocopy creates only the directory tree and zero-length files as placeholders for the actual files. No file data is copied.

By default (without /CREATE), for the first time copy, the directory entry for each file is created first, and then the file data is copied. If the directory tree contains large directories, however, this sequence can cause fragmentation of the directory structure.

Minimize directory fragmentation for large directories

Run Robocopy with /CREATE (along with whatever the options supposed to be) first, then run the same command again without /CREATE to copy the file data to the destination.

When using this technique, the zero-length files created by the initial /CREATE command are tagged as “Changed” files on the second run.

My comment: The Robocopy version XP010 document states the files are tagged as “Older” files on the second run. When I tested on Windows 7 Pro, it shows “Changed” instead. The “Changed” matches the description in the File Classes for Changed - Source & Destination file times are equal, but file sizes are different.

Install hotfix for Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 build-in Robocopy

Install the hotfix in KB2639043 to fix the Discretionary Access Control Lists (DACLs) for files issue.

How to Save Windows 10 Lockscreen Image

1. Open Run dialog
2. Browse to %localappdata%\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState\Assets
3. Copy all the files to a temporary folder
4. Rename all the files with the JPG extension by entering “ren *.* *.jpg” in command prompt

Update: 01/18/2016

An app, SpotBright, in Windows Store makes even easier to download these images.

Blogger Editor - Open Live Writer Update 2

Today, my Open Live Writer is updated to build 0.5.1.4. The feature I wanted in my Update 1 post is here – support Blogger label.

The label can be entered in the new box under the tool bar; multiple labels can be separated by comma. Even the “Refresh List” feature (the two arrows on the right of label box) does not work, I am very thankful for the development team continuing to add new features in a short time.

Check eDellRoot Certificate and Rogue Certificate

The eDellRoot certificate was a hot topic back in November 2015. This post just summarizes the tools to use check this and other rogue certificate on your computer.

Detection

Steps to check if your computer (mainly the Dell laptop) is vulnerable by the eDellRoot certificate

1. Use Internet Explorer or Chrome (Firefox has its own certificate store, so this test site doesn’t work).
2. Go to https://edell.tlsfun.de/

Removal

If the bad eDellRoot certificate is found on your computer, use the Dell’s official remover to remove it.

Audit the root CA stores

Furthermore, you can scan and audit the trusted root CA stores – both Microsoft (using by IE and Chrome) and Mozillla (using by Firefox), with the following tools:

• RCC from http://trax.x10.mx/apps.html
• the upcoming version of Sigcheck from Mark Russinovish at Microsoft
• Mark Russinovich announced this on Twitter
• As 12/22/2015, this version of Sigcheck is still in beta. Not yet available. I will post an update when the final version is available in public.

Blogger Editor - Open Live Writer Update 1

In my recent post, I was glad that Open Live Writer is available, but it had a problem with Blogger authenticate. Today I found this in its issue tracker.

Following the instruction posted in the issue tracker, I opened Open Live Writer and closed, and then reopened. A new option “Google Blogger” is avaialble in the blog type. After entering the my Blooger URL and authrorizing the access, I am writing this post in Open Live Writer!!! The version is 0.5.1.2. Thank you for the great work!

The next feature I want is to support “Labels”, like many people requested. The good news is that they are working on it. I will keep an eye on this and post on the next update when it’s available.

Blogger Editor - Open Live Writer

Microsoft Windows Live Writer was my favorite editor for Blogger, as mentioned in Blogger Editor until it stopped working.

Today, Microsoft open-sourced the application as Open Live Writer. However, the version 0.5.0.0 I downloaded on Dec. 10, 2015 still does not work with Blogger authentication - the error message “The user name or password is incorrect. Please try again”. Many people have the same issue. The good news is “some people working on this”.

I am glad that Windows Live Writer is live again (kind of). I am looking forward to using Open Live Writer soon. In the meantime, Classeur or StackEdit is my Blogger editor.

Markdown Tables Generator

As I mentioned in my last post, I start using StackEdit, instead of Windows Live Writer, to post updates on my Blogger site. One of the functions I want to test in StackEdit is to add tables in the post.

It’s very easy to insert a table in Windows Live Writer. And I can even prepare a table in Excel, then copy/paste in Windows Live Writer and post in Blogger. The format of the table mostly maintains on the post.

The following table is from one of my previous post. The table is originally created in Excel. When using the Blogger web editor to make the table readable, I need to paste it in Word, reformat the column width to fit the width of my blog (after a few reposts), save it as “Web Page, Filtered” htm file, open the htm in Notepad, and copy/paste the HTML codes to Blogger.

StackEdit doesn’t have the “built-in” GUI tool to add a table. Fortunately, the Markdown Tables Generator exists. I copy the table from Excel, use File –> Paste table data to generate the markdown, click “Copy to clipboard”, and paste them in StackEdit. Let us see how it looks. Except the grid border line not showing, the rest of format looks right.

Access Method	Lockdown Mode Disabled	Normal Lockdown Mode	Strict Lockdown Mode
vCenter	Yes	Yes	Yes
Direct Console access (DCUI) with root	Yes	Yes	No
Direct Console access (DCUI) with account (local account only) defined in DCUI.Access advanced option for the host	Yes	Yes	No
Direct Console access (DCUI) with accounts in Exception User list for lockdown mode & administrative priviledge on the host (if the ESXi host is joined an AD domain, only AD account; if the ESXi host is not joined an AD domain, local account)	N/A	Yes	No
vSphere Client directly to ESXi with root	Yes	No	No
vSphere Client directly to ESXi with account (local account only) defined in DCUI.Access advanced option for the host	No	No	No
vSphere Client directly to ESXi with accounts in Exception User list for lockdown mode & administrative privilege on the host (if the ESXi host is joined an AD domain, only AD account; if the ESXi host is not joined an AD domain, local account)	N/A	Yes	Yes
PowerCLI / CLI to ESXi with root	Yes	No	No
PowerCLI / CLI to ESXi with account (local account only) defined in DCUI.Access advanced option for the host	No	No	No
PowerCLI / CLI to ESXi with accounts in Exception User list for lockdown mode & administrative privilege on the host (if the ESXi host is joined an AD domain, only AD account; if the ESXi host is not joined an AD domain, local account)	N/A	Yes	Yes

Blogger Editor

As you are reading this blog, you know it’s a Blogger site. Microsoft Windows Live Writer has been my favorite editor to publish on the site.

Since May 2015, Windows Live Writer stopped working after Google ended support the old authentication protocol. It looks there is a way to work around this problem (see the answer posted on the Microsoft Community site).

I have not tried the work around myself. Since Windows Live Writer is a fairly old application. I am looking for a replacement. I tried BlogJet and Zoundry Raven (Raven seems no longer being updated), but not success. Searching in Chrome Web Store, I found StackEdit. The UI is very simple and nice. This is my first post using StackEdit.

Windows 8 Tools

• Classic Shell for Windows 8 (free): brings back the Start menu and button (and more) on Windows 8.
• Virtual Router Plus (free): turns any Windows 7 and Windows 8 computer into a Wifi Hot Spot.

Delete “Account Unknown” Local User Profiles

Issue:

On Windows XP or Server 2003, under Control Panel / System / Advanced / User Profiles / Settings, there are some “Account Unknown” user profile, but the Delete button is grayed out.  And when try to delete the profile from “c:\documents and settings” folder, the error message is “Cannot delete NTUSER.DAT: It is being used by another person or program. Close any programs that might be using the file and try again.”

Solution:

1. Install “User Profile Hive Cleanup Service” (http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=6676)
2. Run uphclean.exe
3. Then the “Delete” button becomes available

Note: the User Profile Deletion Utility (delprof.exe) (http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=5405) cannot delete the “Account Unknown” profile, but it is useful to clean up the normal user profile when their account is still active. (delprof.exe /p /c:\\servername)

Microsoft Sender ID Framework SPF Record Wizard

Another useful tool to create the SPF record

http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/safety/content/technologies/senderid/wizard/

Free Burning, PDF Converter, Backup Software

Tiny Burner – Free CD, DVD or Blu-ray burning software for Windows 7, Vista, XP, 2008/2003/2000 Server (32 and 64-bit)

doPDF – Free PDF converter for Windows 7, Vista, XP, 2008/2003/2000 Server (32 and 64-bit).  No GhostScript or .NET required.

FBackup – Free backup software for Windows 7, Vista, XP, 2008/2003/2000 Server (32 and 64-bit)