Automatically Start the httpd Service Fedora 16

Here’s how to automatically start the httpd web server (Apache) service on machine startup:

# systemctl enable httpd.service

Source: the Fedora website.

Shut Down Solaris 11 Express

Here’s a quick command on how to shut down – or power off – a Solaris machine. I tried this using Solaris 11 Express, but have also tested it to work on OpenSolaris and OpenIndiana.

From the terminal:

$ sudo shutdown -y -i5 -g0

This is what it means:

- sudo: Run the command with elevated privileges. Not needed if logged in as root

- shutdown -y: Confirm that you DO want to shut down the system

- i5: init level 5: Power off the machine.

- g0: (it’s not “go”, it’s gzero). Shut down the machine immediately without a grace period. Increase the number to delay the shutdown by n amount of seconds. I always use 0 seconds on my Solaris server.

Install Flash Player on Ubuntu 11.04 x64

I was under the impression that Ubuntu 11.04 installed a flash player during initial setup.

Well, I was wrong. After installing Ubuntu on my system and heading to Pandora, I discovered that flash was not installed. I installed the version from Adobe’s site, but that one still didn’t work.

Here’s a quick way to install it from the command line:

$  sudo apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree

Restart your browser, and give it a try. YouTube and Pandora should work now.

Bypass Administrator UAC Warning Windows 7

There is a way to bypass the UAC warning when running programs as administrator. Please note that this works only in the Pro, Enterprise, and Ultimate versions of Windows 7. Windows 7 Home versions do not have this feature.

As it is, every time the “Run-As Administrator” option is selected in Windows 7, you are prompted to click Yes or No.

To completely bypass this warning and still run programs as an administrator, do the following:

• Start, Run, secpol.msc
• Click on Local Policies, Security Options
• Scroll down to this setting: “User Account Control: Behavior of the elevation prompt for administrators in Admin Approval Mode.”
• Change the setting to “Elevate Without Prompting”

Note that this works only if you’re a local machine administrator AND running a Windows 7 version which has security policy settings (secpol.msc)

You will still need to “Run-As-Administrator” on your programs and settings, or you can change the setting in the program properties to always run as administrator. Use with care, as this may cause inexperienced users to mess things up if not careful.

Remove CD-ROM from apt-get repositories Debian 6

I noticed that Debian 6 uses the media in the CD-ROM when using the “apt-get” utility.
The following message comes up when attempting to install or update a program using apt-get:

Media change: please insert the disc labeled
‘Debian GNU/Linux 6.0.0 _Squeeze_ – Official i386 DVD Binary-1 20110205-17:27′
in the drive ‘/media/cdrom/’ and press enter

The fix is easy. We need to remove the CD-ROM as a source for apt-get.
To do this, edit the following file: /etc/apt/sources.list

Comment or delete the line for the CD-ROM, save the changes, and try apt-get again.
This time, it should use the online repositories.

Installing Drivers on Windows Server Core

If you’ve installed Windows 2008 R2 Server Core and need to install the network drivers, you’ll need to do that from the command line. There is no graphical interface, so you will need to prepare a little to install your drivers.

Here are the steps:

• You’ll need admin rights to do this, so make sure you have rights
• Copy the drivers folder from the installation media, CD/DVD or file (we’ll assume it’s the NIC card) to a folder in C, like C:\Drivers\LAN\
• Navigate to the folder containing the INF files, and type in this command:
• pnputil -i -a C:\Drivers\LAN\filename.inf – where filename.inf is the name of the file containing the driver
• If you’re not sure which file it is, you can use a wildcard, like this: pnputil.exe -i -a C:\Drivers\LAN\*.inf – this will install all INF files.
• You can also do pnputil /? to see all the options

Take a look at the screenshot below.

Acrobat Reader X Customization Tool

Adobe has finally released the customization tool for Reader X.

This tool aids in customizing Adobe Reader X to be deployed by IT admins, enable/disable options, features and settings.

Get the tool directly from here:

http://ardownload.adobe.com/pub/adobe/acrobat/win/10.x/10.0.0/misc/CustWiz1000_en_US.exe

Thanks to davidlimcg, from the Adobe forums, for providing the direct link.

Deactivating Facebook

I’ve decided to deactivate my Facebook account; I just don’t use it anymore. And rarely did I chat with “old friends” that I found there – what’s there to “chat” about?
So, in addition to entering the password to deactivate the account, now there is a “captcha” too. Now, I don’t mind entering text in captcha boxes, as long as they are somewhat easy to read.
It took me about 3-4 tries before I could get this one right.

Dang it facebook, making it more difficult for people to leave the site, although finding the “deactivate” button was pretty straight forward.

Hyper-V Access Denied Error MMC Console

After almost two months of ignoring the issue and using RDP to manage the VMs in our HYPER-V server, I found this excellent article, which shows step-by-step on how to successfully add a server to the HYPER-V manager on a PC (running Windows 7 here).

If you are attempting to manage your HYPER-V server remotely from another machine, and are getting an “access denied error”, and have tried adding a user account, using “cmdkey” to add the server to the computer, etc… look no further. The steps in the link below are your solution.

Here is the link to the MPECS Inc. Blog

WD MyBook NOT Sleeping on Windows 7

Not sure why – perhaps drivers – but my Western Digital MyBook Essentials isn’t sleeping when connected to my PC – running Windows 7 x64.

It used to sleep when I had it connected to my Mac, but not anymore. I’ve searched WD’s website in hopes of software, but didn’t find any. Other than this minor issue, the drive works great.

I’d hate to unplug it every time I’m done with it… It must sleep on its own!