Windows   Windows – Error connecting RDS RemoteApp Terminal services



“The list of RemoteApp programs cannot be accessed. Verify that the management console is connected to the correct server and that you have Administrator privileges on the server, and then try again.”

Checking winrm everything seems to be correct:

c:\>  winmgmt /salvagerepository
WMI repository is consistent

c:\> winmgmt /verifyrepository
WMI repository is consistent

But after resetting the repository, the … Read more

EXCHANGE   Exchange – A reboot from a previous installation is pending



When updating Exchange you probably con come across the following error in the prerequisite analysis:

A reboot from a previous installation is pending

The way to solve it is supposed to be by rebooting the server in order to apply any previously pending installed windows updates or whatever… but it never works, at least for me.

If it is also … Read more

EXCHANGE   Exchange – New vulnerability that allows privilege escalation



A new vulnerability that affects Exchange on-premise servers has been discovered recently (https://dirkjanm.io/abusing-exchange-one-api-call-away-from-domain-admin/). By making use of the high privileges Exchange servers have by default, the attacker would be able to escalate from any user with a mailbox to Domain Admin access.

According to Dirk-jan Mollema (see upper link), the vulnerability has been tested against …

  • Exchange 2013
Read more

EXCHANGE   Exchange 2013 – Cumulative Update 21 released



In June 2018 Microsoft released Cumulative Update 21 (build 15.00.1395.004) which is the last planned quarterly update for Exchange 2013 (https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/rmilne/2018/06/19/exchange-2013-cu21-released/)

I was not sure about updating my Exchange 2013 directly from CU12 to CU21. It is supposed to be supported by Microsoft. Maybe I could install an intermediate CU before but, anyway, I decided to move on.Read more

Windows   Windows – .NET Framework 4.7.1 install stuck / hangs



I needed to install .NET 4.7.1 to allow updating Exchange 2013 to CU 21.
This is the installer I downloaded and tried to install: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=56116

But the installation never ends. It remains stuck without progressing in the “Installation progress” bar. Tested both with offline and online installation:
Windows - .NET Framework 4.7.1 install stuck hangs

To install .NET Framework 4.7.1 download the msu package from the following link:… Read more

Windows   Windows – Configure scheduled task every minute



This time a simple as well as important post. Have you tried to run a scheduled task every minute?

When editing the trigger of a task schedule, there is a section in which the “Repeat task every” parameter can be set, and you have probably noticed that by default only the values “5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 … Read more

Windows   Windows – VMware machines offline due to Microsoft patches



Today, just when starting the working day we have realized that there were somes servers offline (still powered on but without network connection). It seemed that the network adapters were incorrectly configured without the static IPs.

After some research, a job partner discovered that some days ago (March 13th) Microsoft released some security updates that generates issues to Windows 2008 Read more

Security   Security – Convert PFX to PEM using Windows or Linux



For certain application, a job partner asked me to send him certain certificate with private key in PEM format. Normally I’m using PFX format, but with a little help of the openssl toolkit converting PFX to PEM is quite easy.

Windows

openssl for windows can be downloaded here: http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/openssl.htm
After extracting the contents, inside the bin subfolder the openssl … Read more

POWERSHELL   Powershell – Script to clone AD groups



Last week I came across a situation where I needed to copy Active Directory groups (including members) as new groups.

Scenario

Suppose we want to clone the “SG-Test1” and “SG-Test2” groups
Windows – Powershell script to clone AD groups - Old Groups

We need two groups (“SG-NewTest1” and “SG-NewTest2”) to be created with the same members included
Windows – Powershell script to clone AD groups - New Groups

Using this powershell scripts you can either clone a single group a list … Read more

Windows   Windows – Renew certificate assigning the same private key



When renewing a certificate it is not necessary to generate a new csr. This is possible by maintaining the same private key.

When received the renewed certificate from the 3rd party certification authority, we can try to import it and assign the private key from the management console (mmc -> certificates).
One of the options that are shown when … Read more