Restoring Default Ubuntu Panel

How to restore the default Ubuntu Panel.

This have been tested in Ubuntu 9.04.

Run the following command in terminal.

gconftool –recursive-unset /apps/panel
rm -rf ~/.gconf/apps/panel
pkill gnome-panel

Then logout and then back in.

Source: http://www.saifur-rahman.com/tag/default-panel/

Enable Wireless in Ubuntu 9.04

I have a HP 510 laptop with ubuntu 9.04 on it. Everything worked fine until one day when it just lost its wireless connection. When I looked at network manager it say that the device not manage.

After searching the net for a long time without finding a solution I found a website that finely had a solution.

I am a newbie to Ubuntu and Linux so I do not know what it did but it seemed to resolved the problem. The article as written in 2006 for Dapper Drake but is seems to also work on 9.04.

To update the source list run the following command

sudo apt-get

sudo apt-get install wpasupplicant

sudo apt-get install network-manager-gnome network-manager

sudo gedit /etc/network/interfaces

Comment out everything other than “lo” entries in that file and save the file

Create a file called /etc/default/wpasupplicant, add entry ENABLED=0 and save the file

sudo touch /etc/default/wpasupplicant

Reboot your system or use the following command

sudo /etc/init.d/dbus restart

Hope it helps.

Source : http://www.debianadmin.com/enable-wpa-wireless-access-point-in-ubuntu-linux.html

Ubuntu Send Ctrl+Alt+Del command to VMware Server VM

I was surprised to find there is not a “send ctrl+alt+del” menu command in VMware Server 2.0. When connecting from an Ubuntu desktop. It’s not in the Remote Console menus nor in the Commands section of the Web Interface. Normally that is not a big deal because you can always use “ctrl+alt+ins” to log on to a Windows VM, but it did not work. I was banging away at my keyboard wondering what was wrong. I had just finished installing Server 2008 remotely from one of my Intrepid desktops and was ready to log back in to run dcpromo but I could not get to the log on prompt. I thought maybe my ins key went bad, but I knew that could not be the case. When I tried to use another Ubuntu desktop I had the same problem. Then I discovered there was not a menu command either! I did some research.

Turns out you have to use the Del key from the number pad on your Ubuntu desktop’s keyboard because the keyboard mappings in Ubuntu 8.10 are not correct! The working key combination is therefore “ctrl+alt+[numberpad]del. If you do not have a number pad on your keyboard (laptops) then make this quick config change.

add just one line to the file ~/.vmware/config:

xkeymap.nokeycodeMap = true

Close the VM web console and reopen it for the change to take effect.

Source :http://vmetc.com/2009/01/30/ubuntu-send-ctrlaltdel-command-to-vmware-server-vm/

How to mount a Windows share with smbmount.

Ok so onto the Linux system, its relatively simple:
Make the directory you want to mount the share to.

mkdir /mnt/share

Next either…
Mount the share with user/pass:

smbmount //winpc/shared /mnt/share -o username=user,password=pass,rw

Or mount the share without a user/pass (this is true if Everyone is still set)

smbmount //winpc/shared /mnt/share -o rw

Source :http://www.linux-noob.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1404

Active Directory Last Logon Tools

Active Directory Last Logon Tools

I was looking for some tools that will enable you to see when last a person have used there user ID to login toe your domain. This is helpful to find out account of people that might have left the company.

In my search I have come past a couple of programs and script that can do this.
The first program I fount is called True Last Login. It works very well and you can download a freeware version with some limitations.
The second program is called Inactive Users Tracker. It will also search your domain en display a list of last login user ID.

The other way to do this is to use a VBscript. There is a couple of them out there, some work better then others. The one that I found that works the best so far is the one I found Here.
Below is the script in case the link above does not work.
Just copy and path the text below into a text document and rename it to lastlogin.vbs
Then run the following command in command prompt. This will redirect the output to a text file.
cscript //nologo lastlogint.vbs > output.txt

‘ LastLogon.vbs
‘ VBScript program to determine when each user in the domain last logged
‘ on.
‘
‘ ———————————————————————-
‘ Copyright (c) 2002 Richard L. Mueller
‘ Hilltop Lab web site – http://www.rlmueller.net
‘ Version 1.0 – December 7, 2002
‘ Version 1.1 – January 17, 2003 – Account for null value for lastLogon.
‘ Version 1.2 – January 23, 2003 – Account for DC not available.
‘ Version 1.3 – February 3, 2003 – Retrieve users but not contacts.
‘ Version 1.4 – February 19, 2003 – Standardize Hungarian notation.
‘ Version 1.5 – March 11, 2003 – Remove SearchScope property.
‘ Version 1.6 – May 9, 2003 – Account for error in IADsLargeInteger
‘ property methods HighPart and LowPart.
‘ Version 1.7 – January 25, 2004 – Modify error trapping.
‘ Version 1.8 – July 6, 2007 – Modify how IADsLargeInteger interface
‘ is invoked.
‘
‘ Because the lastLogon attribute is not replicated, every Domain
‘ Controller in the domain must be queried to find the latest lastLogon
‘ date for each user. The lastest date found is kept in a dictionary
‘ object. The program first uses ADO to search the domain for all Domain
‘ Controllers. The AdsPath of each Domain Controller is saved in an
‘ array. Then, for each Domain Controller, ADO is used to search the
‘ copy of Active Directory on that Domain Controller for all user
‘ objects and return the lastLogon attribute. The lastLogon attribute is
‘ a 64-bit number representing the number of 100 nanosecond intervals
‘ since 12:00 am January 1, 1601. This value is converted to a date. The
‘ last logon date is in UTC (Coordinated Univeral Time). It must be
‘ adjusted by the Time Zone bias in the machine registry to convert to
‘ local time.
‘
‘ You have a royalty-free right to use, modify, reproduce, and
‘ distribute this script file in any way you find useful, provided that
‘ you agree that the copyright owner above has no warranty, obligations,
‘ or liability for such use.

Option Explicit

Dim objRootDSE, strConfig, adoConnection, adoCommand, strQuery
Dim adoRecordset, objDC
Dim strDNSDomain, objShell, lngBiasKey, lngBias, k, arrstrDCs()
Dim strDN, dtmDate, objDate, objList, strUser
Dim strBase, strFilter, strAttributes, lngHigh, lngLow

‘ Use a dictionary object to track latest lastLogon for each user.
Set objList = CreateObject(”Scripting.Dictionary”)
objList.CompareMode = vbTextCompare

‘ Obtain local Time Zone bias from machine registry.
Set objShell = CreateObject(”Wscript.Shell”)
lngBiasKey = objShell.RegRead(”HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\” _
& “TimeZoneInformation\ActiveTimeBias”)
If (UCase(TypeName(lngBiasKey)) = “LONG”) Then
lngBias = lngBiasKey
ElseIf (UCase(TypeName(lngBiasKey)) = “VARIANT()”) Then
lngBias = 0
For k = 0 To UBound(lngBiasKey)
lngBias = lngBias + (lngBiasKey(k) * 256^k)
Next
End If

‘ Determine configuration context and DNS domain from RootDSE object.
Set objRootDSE = GetObject(”LDAP://RootDSE”)
strConfig = objRootDSE.Get(”configurationNamingContext”)
strDNSDomain = objRootDSE.Get(”defaultNamingContext”)

‘ Use ADO to search Active Directory for ObjectClass nTDSDSA.
‘ This will identify all Domain Controllers.
Set adoCommand = CreateObject(”ADODB.Command”)
Set adoConnection = CreateObject(”ADODB.Connection”)
adoConnection.Provider = “ADsDSOObject”
adoConnection.Open “Active Directory Provider”
adoCommand.ActiveConnection = adoConnection

strBase = “”
strFilter = “(objectClass=nTDSDSA)”
strAttributes = “AdsPath”
strQuery = strBase & “;” & strFilter & “;” & strAttributes & “;subtree”

adoCommand.CommandText = strQuery
adoCommand.Properties(”Page Size”) = 100
adoCommand.Properties(”Timeout”) = 60
adoCommand.Properties(”Cache Results”) = False

Set adoRecordset = adoCommand.Execute

‘ Enumerate parent objects of class nTDSDSA. Save Domain Controller
‘ AdsPaths in dynamic array arrstrDCs.
k = 0
Do Until adoRecordset.EOF
Set objDC = _
GetObject(GetObject(adoRecordset.Fields(”AdsPath”).Value).Parent)
ReDim Preserve arrstrDCs(k)
arrstrDCs(k) = objDC.DNSHostName
k = k + 1
adoRecordset.MoveNext
Loop
adoRecordset.Close

‘ Retrieve lastLogon attribute for each user on each Domain Controller.
For k = 0 To Ubound(arrstrDCs)
strBase = “”
strFilter = “(&(objectCategory=person)(objectClass=user))”
strAttributes = “distinguishedName,lastLogon”
strQuery = strBase & “;” & strFilter & “;” & strAttributes _
& “;subtree”
adoCommand.CommandText = strQuery
On Error Resume Next
Set adoRecordset = adoCommand.Execute
If (Err.Number <> 0) Then
On Error GoTo 0
Wscript.Echo “Domain Controller not available: ” & arrstrDCs(k)
Else
On Error GoTo 0
Do Until adoRecordset.EOF
strDN = adoRecordset.Fields(”distinguishedName”).Value
On Error Resume Next
Set objDate = adoRecordset.Fields(”lastLogon”).Value
If (Err.Number <> 0) Then
On Error GoTo 0
dtmDate = #1/1/1601#
Else
On Error GoTo 0
lngHigh = objDate.HighPart
lngLow = objDate.LowPart
If (lngLow < 0) Then
lngHigh = lngHigh + 1
End If
If (lngHigh = 0) And (lngLow = 0 ) Then
dtmDate = #1/1/1601#
Else
dtmDate = #1/1/1601# + (((lngHigh * (2 ^ 32)) _
+ lngLow)/600000000 – lngBias)/1440
End If
End If
If (objList.Exists(strDN) = True) Then
If (dtmDate > objList(strDN)) Then
objList.Item(strDN) = dtmDate
End If
Else
objList.Add strDN, dtmDate
End If
adoRecordset.MoveNext
Loop
adoRecordset.Close
End If
Next

‘ Output latest lastLogon date for each user.
For Each strUser In objList.Keys
Wscript.Echo strUser & ” ; ” & objList.Item(strUser)
Next

‘ Clean up.
adoConnection.Close
Set objRootDSE = Nothing
Set adoConnection = Nothing
Set adoCommand = Nothing
Set adoRecordset = Nothing
Set objDC = Nothing
Set objDate = Nothing
Set objList = Nothing
Set objShell = Nothing

Or you can just download this file (rename to a .zip file)

If you know of any other or beter way to do this please let me know.

Export Active Directory Group members list

I found this script a while back. It will create a list of all the Groups and there members in your Active directory domain. Just copy the text below into an empty text document and rename to something like GetGroupMembers.vbs .

Dim sResultText,Grps,MemberList
Dim oRootDSE, oConnection, oCommand, oRecordSet
Set oRootDSE = GetObject(”LDAP://rootDSE”)
Set oConnection = CreateObject(”ADODB.Connection”)
oConnection.Open “Provider=ADsDSOObject;”
Set objCommand = CreateObject(”ADODB.Command”)
objCommand.ActiveConnection = oConnection

ldstring = “;”

objCommand.CommandText=ldstring & “(objectClass=group);name,SamAccountName”

Set oRecordSet = objCommand.Execute()
Do While Not oRecordSet.EOF
sResultText = sResultText & oRecordSet.Fields(”samAccountName”) & vbCrLf
‘WScript.Echo oRecordSet.Fields(”samAccountName”) & vbCrLf
MemberList=RetrieveUsers(dom,oRecordSet.Fields(”samAccountName”))
‘WScript.Echo Memberlist
sResultText = sResultText & memberlist & vbCrLf & “************************************” & vbCrLf

oRecordSet.MoveNext
Loop
‘Wscript.Echo sResultText

Set fso = CreateObject(”Scripting.FileSystemObject”)
Set ts = fso.CreateTextFile (dom & “DomainGroupUsers.txt”, ForWriting)
ts.write sResultText
MsgBox “Done”

‘*****************************************************************************************
‘*****************************************************************************************
Function RetrieveUsers(domainName,grpName)

dim dom
dim grp
dim GrpObj
dim mbrlist
dim mbr

‘——————————————————————————-
‘ *** Enumerate Group Members ***
‘——————————————————————————-

grp = grpName
Set objDomain = getObject(”LDAP://rootDse”)
domainName = objDomain.Get(”dnsHostName”)
‘ Build the ADSI query and retrieve the group object
Set GrpObj = GetObject(”WinNT://” & domainName & “/” & grp & “,group”)

‘ Loop through the group membership and build a string containing the names
for each mbr in GrpObj.Members
On error resume next
mbremail = SearchEmail(mbr.name)
If Err Then
mbrlist = mbrlist & vbTab & mbr.name & vbCrLf
Else
‘if you don’t want the email addresses, then copy the line 2 up to below
mbrlist = mbrlist & vbTab & mbr.name & vbTab & vbTab & mbremail+ vbCrLf
End If
Next

‘The next line returns mbrlist back up to the main body
RetrieveUsers=mbrlist

End Function

Public Function SearchEmail(ByVal vSAN)
‘ Function: SearchDistinguishedName
‘ Description: Searches the DistinguishedName for a given SamAccountName
‘ Parameters: ByVal vSAN – The SamAccountName to search
‘ Returns: The DistinguishedName Name
Dim oRootDSE, oConnection, oCommand, oRecordSet

Set oRootDSE = GetObject(”LDAP://rootDSE”)
Set oConnection = CreateObject(”ADODB.Connection”)
oConnection.Open “Provider=ADsDSOObject;”
Set oCommand = CreateObject(”ADODB.Command”)
oCommand.ActiveConnection = oConnection
oCommand.CommandText = ”
“>;(&(objectCategory=User)(samAccountName=” & vSAN & “));mail;subtree”
Set oRecordSet = oCommand.Execute
On Error Resume Next
SearchEmail = oRecordSet.Fields(”mail”)
On Error GoTo 0
oConnection.Close
Set oRecordSet = Nothing
Set oCommand = Nothing
Set oConnection = Nothing
Set oRootDSE = Nothing
End Function

Double click on the new created file and give it a few moments (Depends on the size and number of groups in your domain). There is no display while it is running. After is completed that will be a text file with all the information is. You can the import this file in to excel.

Download the script Here (Rename the file to a .zip )

Changing font color of the panel

In ~/.gtkrc-2.0 insert this line

include “/home/<user_name>/.gnome2/panel-fontrc”

then create the file panel-fontrc in .gnome2, which consists of the following lines:

style “my_color”
{
fg[NORMAL] = “#4353b6”
}
widget “*PanelWidget*” style “my_color”
widget “*PanelApplet*” style “my_color”

and that’s it. All you have to do is choose the color and do a killall gnome-panel. The second “widget” line affects only the applets and the first one does the rest.
To chose the color you can use the color select dialog in GIMP.

Source: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=66879

Enabling Multiple Remote Desktop Sessions in Windows XP Professional and Media Center Edition 2005

If you have ever used a real remote computer system like Citrix, then you have probably been craving multiple Remote Desktop sessions since you first fired up Windows XP Professional and/or Media Center Edition. Here is a HACK (translated: USE AT YOUR OWN RISK), to enable multiple Remote Desktop sessions on your XP Pro or MCE 2005 box:

NOTE: You will have to have knowledge of the Windows operating system and more specifically the Windows Registry. If you have no experience with the registry, then I would recommend you find someone who does or leave these alone. I do not make any kind of warranty that this will work for you or your friends. This is provided for entertainment purposes only. Don’t call me if your computer stops working. Got it?

1. Print these directions so that you have them to work from.
2. Restart your computer in Safe Mode
3. Turn off/disable Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) and Terminal Services

1. Right click My Computer
2. Select Properties
3. Click on the Remote tab at the top of the window
4. UNCHECK the box next to, “Allow users to connect remotely to this computer“
5. Click OK
6. Go to Start -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services
7. Find Terminal Services in the list
8. Right click on Terminal Services and click Properties
9. In the Startup Type box, select Disabled
10. Click OK to close the window

# Next you will replace the current version of the Terminal Services DLL (termsrv.dll) ( Or Here )with an unrestricted version from a previous release of Terminal Services.

1. Here is a copy of the Terminal Services DLL – Save it to your Desktop or other suitable location
2. Using a file manager like Windows Explorer open C:\Windows\system32\dllcache
3. Rename the file termsrv.dll to termsrv_dll.bak or whatever you would like.
4. Copy the downloaded termsrv.dll file (the one you just downloaded from the web) to C:\Windows\system32\dllcache
5. Open the C:\Windows\system32 folder
6. Delete the file termsrv.dll in C:\Windows\system32

# Now we can edit the Windows Registry to enable more than one RDP connection. Go to Start -> Run and type regedit – Hopefully you knew that already
# Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\Licensing Core
# Add a DWORD Key named EnableConcurrentSessions and give it a value of 1
# Close the Registry Editor window
# Go to Start -> Run and type gpedit.msc to run the Group Policy Editor
# Browse to Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Terminal Services and double click Limit number of connections
# Select the Enabled button and enter the number of connections you would like to enable….at least 2.
# Restart Windows
# Right click My Computer and select Properties.
# Click on the Remote tab at the top of the window
# CHECK the box next to, “Allow users to connect remotely to this computer“
# Click OK
# Go to Start -> Control Panel ->Administrative Tools -> Services. Select Terminal Services from the list and double click it or right-click -> Properties. Set the Startup Type to Manual.
#
# Restart Windows/Computer

You should be good to go.

Source: http://www.golod.com/2005/10/enabling-multiple-remote-desktop-sessions-in-windows-xp-professional-and-media-center-edition-2005/

DMA reverts to PIO

Quick solution

If you’re not interested in the details, but just want to fix this problem as quickly as possible:

1. Created a new text file and paste the information below into this file. Rename the file to resetdma.vbs
2. Run resetdma.vbs
3. Despite any warnings click on the [Open] or [Execute] buttons as required to execute the file resetdma.vbs. (If you fear that this web site could be malevolent, you can use the manual method instead, which is described below. Or you could download, save, and inspect the program with an editor like the Windows Notepad. It is a script text file.)
4. If the program found any ATA channel to reset, reboot your computer and test all drives.
5. If the problem is still not solved, set the offending channel to PIO manually, reboot your computer, set the channel back to DMA, and reboot again.

resetdma.vbs

‘ Visual Basic Script program to reset the DMA status of all ATA drives

‘ Copyright © 2006 Hans-Georg Michna

‘ Version 2007-04-04

‘ Works in Windows XP, probably also in Windows 2000 and NT.
‘ Does no harm if Windows version is incompatible.

If MsgBox(“This program will now reset the DMA status of all ATA drives with Windows drivers.” _
& vbNewline & “Windows will redetect the status after the next reboot, therefore this procedure” _
& vbNewline & “should be harmless.”, _
vbOkCancel, “Program start message”) _
= vbOk Then

RegPath = “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\”
ValueName1Master = “MasterIdDataChecksum”
ValueName1Slave = “SlaveIdDataChecksum”
ValueName2Master = “UserMasterDeviceTimingModeAllowed”
ValueName2Slave = “UserSlaveDeviceTimingModeAllowed”
ValueName3 = “ResetErrorCountersOnSuccess”
MessageText = “The following ATA channels have been reset:”
MessageTextLen0 = Len(MessageText)
ConsecutiveMisses = 0
Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject(“WScript.Shell”)

For i = 0 to 999
RegSubPath = Right(“000” & i, 4) & “\”

‘ Master

Err.Clear
On Error Resume Next
WshShell.RegRead RegPath & RegSubPath & ValueName1Master
errMaster = Err.Number
On Error Goto 0
If errMaster = 0 Then
On Error Resume Next
WshShell.RegDelete RegPath & RegSubPath & ValueName1Master
WshShell.RegDelete RegPath & RegSubPath & ValueName2Master
On Error Goto 0
MessageText = MessageText & vbNewLine & “Master”
End If

‘ Slave

Err.Clear
On Error Resume Next
WshShell.RegRead RegPath & RegSubPath & ValueName1Slave
errSlave = Err.Number
On Error Goto 0
If errSlave = 0 Then
On Error Resume Next
WshShell.RegDelete RegPath & RegSubPath & ValueName1Slave
WshShell.RegDelete RegPath & RegSubPath & ValueName2Slave
On Error Goto 0
If errMaster = 0 Then
MessageText = MessageText & ” and ”
Else
MessageText = MessageText & vbNewLine
End If
MessageText = MessageText & “Slave”
End If

If errMaster = 0 Or errSlave = 0 Then
On Error Resume Next
WshShell.RegWrite RegPath & RegSubPath & ValueName3, 1, “REG_DWORD”
On Error Goto 0
ChannelName = “unnamed channel ” & Left(RegSubPath, 4)
On Error Resume Next
ChannelName = WshShell.RegRead(RegPath & RegSubPath & “DriverDesc”)
On Error Goto 0
MessageText = MessageText & ” of ” & ChannelName & “;”
ConsecutiveMisses = 0
Else
ConsecutiveMisses = ConsecutiveMisses + 1
If ConsecutiveMisses >= 32 Then Exit For ‘ Don’t search unnecessarily long.
End If
Next ‘ i

If Len(MessageText) <= MessageTextLen0 Then
MessageText = “No resettable ATA channels with Windows drivers found. Nothing changed.”
Else
MessageText = MessageText & vbNewline _
& “Please reboot now to reset and redetect the DMA status.”
End If

MsgBox MessageText, vbOkOnly, “Program finished normally”

End If ‘ MsgBox(…) = vbOk

‘ End of Visual Basic Script program

Source: http://winhlp.com/node/10

strategy guide for Mushroom Age

Tips, Walkthroughs, and Strategy Guides for Mushroom Age

http://www.gamezebo.com/games/mushroom-age/tips-tricks/mushroom-age-tips