Shortcut for entering BIOS in VMware

… is [F2].

Event Log Error: SideBySide (Event ID: 33)

You are seeing an error like this in the event log?

Activation context generation failed for "C:\Windows\system32\conhost.exe". Dependent Assembly Microsoft.Windows.SystemCompatible,processorArchitecture="amd64",publicKeyToken="6595b64144ccf1df",type="win32",version="6.0.7600.16816" could not be found. Please use sxstrace.exe for detailed diagnosis.

Cause: it's a known issue with a security update (deployed through Windows Update).

Try this: install Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1.

BOOTMGR is missing after Windows Server restart

After restarting a Windows Server I got this error message:

The following solution from the Binary War blog worked for me:

1. Boot from Windows Server CD/DVD.
2. Click Repair your computer
3. Choose Command Prompt.
4. Run x:\sources\recovery\StartRep.exe
5. At the end of the repair process, the Wizard will ask to restart the machine (which will now hopefully boot normally).

Good luck!

Listing all members in an Active Directory group

You can use the command line to list all members of an Active Directory group like this:

NET GROUP "group name" /DOMAIN

Alternatively you could also use the dsget command.

The End of Excel

I am truly not the first one to find out that the "end" of Excel…

… is at XFD:1048576

or: 16,384 columns and over one million rows.

(verified with Excel 2007 and 2010)

.REG file to turn off the Shutdown Event Tracker

Wha tis the Shutdown Event Tracker?

It's this dialog box:

Why is there a Shutdown Even Tracker?

Shutdown Event Tracker provides a simple and standard mechanism one can use to consistently document the reasons for shutting down or restarting the computer. This information is used to analyze the root causes of shutdowns and develop a more complete understanding of the system environment.
(Source: Microsoft KB 555541, Author: Soumitra Sengupta, MVP)

How do I enable/disable it?

You can use a registry key or group policies to turn it on/off.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Reliability

Name: ShutdownReasonUI
Type: REG_DWORD
Value: 0 = disabled | 1 = enabled

Download .REG file: DisableShutdownEventTracker.reg

Further information:

• Shutdown Event Tracker Overview
  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc753185.aspx
• Description of the Shutdown Event Tracker
  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/293814/en-us

Get rid of Visual Studio Setup Projects as they will be discontinued in future

Buck Hodges informs us that there will be no Visual Studio setup projects (vdproj) in future versions of VS.

Future versions of Visual Studio will not include the Visual Studio Installer project templates. To preserve existing customer investments in Visual Studio Installer projects, Microsoft will continue to support the Visual Studio Installer projects that shipped with Visual Studio 2010 per the product life-cycle strategy. […]

Related Links:

• Comparison: Choosing a Windows Installer Deployment Tool
• Supported and recommended alternative: WiX & Votive

How to Remove Windows Server 2008 R2 Serivce Pack 1 (SP1) Backup Files

Warning: As a result of removing the backup files you will not be able to uninstall SP1 anymore.

Steps:

1. Make sure the "Desktop Experience" is installed.
   (Note that if you need to install it, it requires a restart and it takes some time to install on the next boot)
2. Run "Disk Cleanup" (cleanmgr.exe)
3. Click on "Clean up system files"
   
4. Select "Service Pack Backup Files"
   
5. Click "OK" to start the cleaning (it can take quite some time, but will give you ~ 1-2 GBs)

Sending e-mail via command line

using SendMail.exe

Download: SendMail.exe (ZIP)

How to assign "Allow log on locally" rights to a Domain Controller

The Microsoft Knowledge Base has an answer (KB 234237):

1. Run mmc
2. Add Group Policy Management snap-in
3. Browse to your domain, right-click and click Edit
4. Open the path Default Domain Controllers Policy\Computer Configuration\Windows Setting\Security Settings\Local Policies\User Rights Assignment
5. Edit Log On Locally settings

Using Host Headers in IIS7 / Why is the host headers text box disabled?

If you want to run two sites on the same port you will need a Wildcard Certificate. Eath site will be assigned a different host header (= URL) in IIS (e.g. site1.yourdomain.com and site2.yourdomain.com).

What if the host name text box remains disabled although I have a Wildcard certificate?

The friendly name of the Wildcard certificate needs to start with an "*" (e.g. *.yourdomain.com) as you can read here.

You can still use the command line though to set the host headers appropriately.

How to grant permissions to the Network Service account of another machine?

1. Create a security group in Active Directory
2. Add the computer account to the group (DOMAIN\MACHINENAME$)
3. Grant permissions to the newly created security group.

Updated: Visual Studio 2010 Image Library

Make sure you check out the new Image Library that gets installed with Visual Studio 2010. It was updated and contains many great-looking icons and images that are free to be used even in commercial software.

Link: Install the Visual Studio Image Library

Source: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/visualstudio/archive/2010/03/29/tips-and-tricks-visual-studio-2010-image-library.aspx

Certified as Professional Scrum Developer Trainer

"A fool with a tool, is still a fool."

TFS is a great tool, but still it doesn't tell you how to do things. To close the missing gaps you need practices and a framework (like Scrum). Luckily, Scrum.org and Microsoft started the Professional Scrum Developer Program (PSD), which trains people in all three topics.

An ideal combination:

Additionally this will be the only official course on Visual Studio 2010 team features and Team Foundation Server 2010 autorized by Microsoft (no MOC courses).

Since this summer, I 'm certified as Professional Scrum Master (PSM) and as one of the Professional Scrum Developer Trainers (PSDT) that will be teaching the course.

 

Links:

• Learn more about Scrum Developer
• Attend a course
• Get certified as Professional Scrum Developer through the PSD assessment

Lookup .NET Format Strings

{0:N2} – N2 stands for a number with 2 decimals.

I wish I could remember all those – if you can't, look them up at:

• Formatting Types (this is the root chapter for all of the links below and many more)
  The most important ones are probably:
• Standard Number Format Strings
• Standard Date and Time Format Strings