Windows Server Guides, Tutorials & Configuration

How to add a Secondary Domain Controller to an Existing Domain

1 May 202624 November 2014 by Andrew Armstrong

If you have a requirement to add a secondary domain controller to your existing domain, then the video guide below should show you exactly the steps you need to take to carry this out. Comments If you have any questions about setting up your secondary domain controller, then please feel free to leave a comment … Read more

Remove a Windows Server 2008 R2 Domain Controller from an Existing Domain

1 May 202622 November 2014 by Andrew Armstrong

We have been viewing some video guides on YouTube over the last few days so we thought that we would share some good ones that we have found that we feel you may find useful.

We have scheduled a number of these videos to be posted to our site over the next few days so make sure you check back here to see whether there is anything here to help you out!

To begin with, we thought we would start with the basics, removing a domain controller from an existing domain is a fairly simple process but if you need a hand with doing this, the below video is an excellent guide on what to do.

COMMENTS

If you have any questions or comments on removing a domain controller from your existing domain, then please feel free to leave a comment below using our comments system.

Replication Summary on Domain Controllers

1 May 202614 November 2014 by Andrew Armstrong

If you have a number of domain controllers within your organisation, you should ensure that they are all replicating correctly without any errors at all. This check should be carried out regularly to be proactive in finding any potential Active Directory issues that you may face. To do this, simply run the following command on … Read more

SCCM Query – Report on Distribution Point Statuses

1 May 202626 August 2014 by Andrew Armstrong

In Configuration Manager 2012, there is a section under the Monitoring ribbon called Distribution Status. This will give you a lot of information about your distributions and your distribution points. If you look at Distribution Point Configuration Status, this gives you a good understanding of whether your drivers, packages, applications and images have deployed correctly … Read more

SCCM – Report on Outlook Archive PST files on Devices

1 May 202625 August 2014 by Andrew Armstrong

If you want to report on machines that have Outlook archive (PST’s) on them, where they are and how big they are, then you can use this guide to create a report that will do this for you using Configuration Manager. First of all, you will need to tell your Software Inventory to look for … Read more

Failed to validate content hash on ConfigMgr Distribution Points after Content Validation

1 May 202631 July 2014 by Andrew Armstrong

We have recently had problems with our global distribution points in ConfigMgr after the monthly content validation has happened. On some of our distribution points (not all) we are getting and error stating: “Failed to validate content hash” With our monitoring on the Distribution Point Configuration Status looking like this (click the thumbnails for the … Read more

Install GUI on Windows Server 2012 R2 (Server Core to Full GUI Guide)

1 May 202625 July 2014 by Andrew Armstrong

install GUI on Windows Server 2012 R2 using PowerShell server core to full interface

If you installed Windows Server 2012 R2 Core and later realised you need a graphical interface, you can switch to the full GUI without reinstalling the OS. This guide shows you exactly how to install the GUI using PowerShell, including the required source files and common issues. Requirements Before you begin, make sure you have: … Read more

Powershell Commands

1 May 202623 July 2014 by Andrew Armstrong

Powershell is becoming more and more important these days and the possibilities for using it are endless. However, there are also a large amount of very basic easy-to-use commands that you should add to your knowledge collection. We all pick up new Powershell commands that help us to do our jobs all the time so … Read more

Join Server 2012 R2 Core to your Domain

1 May 202617 July 2014 by Andrew Armstrong

If you are using Server 2012 R2 Core and you wish to join it to the domain, then you can use this simple Powershell command to do it. Add-Computer -DomainName YOURDOMAIN.COM -Credentials DOMAINUSERNAME -Restart Note that the -Restart command at the end will automatically restart your server once it has completed the joining process. Also … Read more

How to enable Remote Desktop using Powershell

1 May 202616 July 2014 by Andrew Armstrong

If you are using Windows 2012 R2 Core or if you just like using Powershell, then you may want to know how to enable Remote Desktop. To do this, you should go into your Core server where you should see a command box. In here, type in Powershell and press enter. This will open up … Read more

SCCM 2012 Client Stuck in Provisioning Mode

1 May 202614 July 2014 by Andrew Armstrong

We recently have had issues with our Windows 7 operating system deployments seemingly not completing fully. We were getting the following issues: The ConfigMgr client was not fully installed – it was displaying the Site Mode as “Unknown” The ConfigMgr client was not picking up a certificate – it was displaying as “None” The _SMSTaskSequence … Read more

SCCM Report Query for Machines without Client Installed

1 May 20262 July 2014 by Andrew Armstrong

If you want to report on the machines that do not have the ConfigMgr client installed within your Configuration Manager environment then you can run this query directly on your SQL database or you can use it to create a report within SSRS. The query is below and can be altered to fit your own … Read more