November 13, 2008
Problem: Need to setup multiple workstations that are all configured the same but can’t afford the per machine license costs of software like Ghost or Acronis.
Solution: Clonezilla, an open source solution that met my imaging needs:
- Clone an entire XP setup and save it to the network (haven’t tried vista)
- Image the same or like machine from the network share (There is a HD to HD option as well)
- Multicasting: (haven’t tried this yet but according to their website, they cloned 42 workstations in 10 minutes with a 5gig image).
- It’s free (GPL)
I downloaded the “Clonezilla Live” ISO image, burned a disc and had a working image in about 30 minutes. The only problem that I had was figuring out how to save it to my windows server. I chose NFS, at first, but didn’t have the Unix services running on my server and didn’t want it to. Next go around, I chose Samba and mounted my server share all was well. The GUI isn’t the most intuitive or as user friendly as Ghost or Acronis but after a few tries, you will have no problem working around the program.
Links:
Clonezilla home page
Posted in Software, Solutions, Tools, XP 
No Comments »
November 12, 2008
Problem: Installing updates on a new Dell box and after installing SP3, I get the “Some updates were not installed” error and no matter what I do, the updates fail. At first, I thought this was any issue with SP3 again but found that others had the same issue with SP2.
Solution: Had to do a force install of the Windows Update Agent. Once I did that, updates installed without error once again. Instructions below:
- Create a new directory on the c:\ drive and call it “update”
- Download the Windows Update Agent installer and save it to the newly created directory (c:\update).
- WIndows Update Agent download
- Go to a command prompt and type “C:\update\windowsupdateagent30-x86.exe /wuforce”
- the wuforce switch forces the reinstall. If you don’t use this windows will not continue with the installation.
- Go to Windows Update and continue patching your system.
Posted in System Support, XP, microsoft No Comments »
October 27, 2008
Lately, I’ve been frustrated with the bloated nature of CD burning software like Nero and Roxio. Both have added so many features that making a simple data CD/DVD or burning an ISO image can be an huge ordeal. Not to mention the programs running in the background that wast processor and memory resources. About a month ago, I ran across the program, CDBurnerXP. It’s everything that you want a CD burning program to be; quick, simple and free.
When you open the program, all you get are options to make a data or audio disc, burn an ISO image and copy/erase a disc. I remember the good old days when Nero was that simple
to use and not taxing my system. I have been using this program with great success on Vista, XP and Server 2003. I only hope that it doesn’t get needlessly bloated as it’s predecessors.
If you haven’t all ready tried CDBurnerXP, download and install it! You will not be sorry.
Links:
CDBurnerXP download
Posted in Software, Solutions, Tools, Vista, XP No Comments »
October 2, 2008
Problem: When trying to install Astaro Security Gateway
software, ver 7.3, on a Gateway 9232T server. The system boots off the CD just fine and detects all the hardware but seems to time-out during the “verifying checksums” portion of the installation and I then get the error message below:
Installation Failed: Please remove CD-ROM and restart the system
Solution: I initially thought that the problem had something to do with an error I received that said, “PCI: BIOS Bug #81[00000000] found” but I was wrong. Still don’t know what that message is about. The real solution, of all things, was to download the ISO image from a different source and re-burn the disc. After that, I installed without any problems.
(Update 12.5.08): Walked away from the installation for a few days and tried to login but I forgot what the default port was for the box. So just remember if you do what I did the default port after an Astaro installation is https://server:4444. Now I don’t have to do a reinstall to figure that out again.
Posted in Astaro, Internet, Software No Comments »
October 1, 2008
Problem: When trying to publish to a WordPress Blog, I get the following error:
The server reported an error with the following URL:
http://www.domain.com/xmlrpc.php
500 Internal Server Error
I looked around the Internet and saw that it was related to uploading pictures. Not very much out there regarding this issue. One suggestion was to take out any extra blank lines at the end of the xmlrpc.php document, which didn’t work. I tried reinstalling WordPress without any luck. Note: All of this began to happen after upgrading to version 2.6.1
Solution: Found a thread on the wordpress.org forum that had a suggestion to modify the .htaccess file with the following line:
AddType x-mapp-php5 .php
AddHandler x-mapp-php5 .php
Did that and all was well, thanks to DocShadow.
Links:
http://wordpress.org/support/topic/201264 (Where I found the solution)
Posted in Internet, Software, wordpress 2 Comments »
