We have been making a great effort to move all of our internal services to Windows Server 2016. This past week, it was WDS’ turn to get migrated. Migrating this role is extremely simple. Here are the steps that I took: Create new server and install WDS role. Stop WDS Service on old server Stop WDS Service on new server Use my “Copy-Files” PowerShell script (Available Here: Copy-Files.ps1) to copy RemoteInstall Share to new server Start WDS Service on new Server Shutdown old WDS Server completely Update option 66/67 in DHCP scopes to reflect new WDS Server Update any appropriate DNS records Note:

This script is capable of adding a list of domains to an Exchange Online Spam Filter policy. It can be downloaded from TechNet or Github. Github TechNet

File history in Windows 8 allows users to automatically “backup” files that are in their libraries, contacts, favorites, Skydrive, and on the desktop. If the files are lost, they can be quickly restored. You can also restore a file from a specific point in time, being that File History creates a complete history of your files over time. You will need a separate drive other than the one you have Windows 8 installed on to use File History.

After deleting a user in Office 365, their account is moved to a ‘recycle bin’ for 30 days. This allows the user account to be easily recovered. This can often cause issues when attempting to recreate a mailbox while a hybrid configuration is in place. To permanently delete the user within Office 365, first delete the user in the Office 365 Admin Portal or using Powershell. Then, connect to your Azure Active Directory environment with Powershell using the “Connect-MsolService” cmdlet.

You may receive the error below when attempting to delete a dynamic distribution group. To resolve this, open ADUC and show advanced features (Click View > Advanced Features). Then find the object for the dynamic distribution group and open the properties window. Browse to the “Object” tab and uncheck the “Protect object from accidental deletion” box. Wait for ADDS to replicate or force replication yourself. Go back to the ECP and you should be able to delete the group.

In this post I’ll be walking through how to run a vSphere lab in VMware Workstation. I recently decided to obtain VCP6-DCV. Rather than driving up my electric bill like I’ve done in the past using physical servers, I’m attempting to run the entire lab on my workstation and a Synology NAS. If you’ve ever installed ESXi, installing it in Workstation will be a familiar process for you. VMware tools is included in the installation disc, which makes installing ESXi in Workstation dramatically easier than it used to be.

This article will discuss an issue regarding WSUS failing to download updates from Microsoft Update servers. You may notice that the home page of your WSUS console states that it has downloaded 0MB of updates: You may also see this event (or similar) in the Event Log. This problem is caused by not specifying a valid path when assigning the WSUS content drive when first installing the role. The first time you load the WSUS console after installing the role, you will be prompted to specify the path to store Windows Update files.

Ran into this error message when configuring a new WSUS server: Restarted the WSUS, WID, and IIS services to no avail. I even rebooted the server. The WSUS console would work for a short period of time, and then would randomly stop working. I found that the WSUS app pool in IIS was being disabled anytime new clients connected to the server. I believe this was because the app pool was running out of usable memory.

This was a new one for me. Usually WDS is rock solid and it just works. Anyway, I was getting ready to deploy some servers in my lab and found that I couldn’t get WDS to start on my deployment server. I got this error message when trying to start the service: I then tried to start the service from the Services console and got this error message: “This was just working yesterday”, I said to myself.

The title says it all. This script will move all disabled AD objects to a specified OU. This script accepts parameters that will allow you to specify whether you want to move Users or Computers and the destination OU. It also accepts a “test mode” parameter that will run the script and output the results, without actually modifying Active Directory. This is revision 1 of the script. There are still several improvements I would like to make, including better error handling and recovery.