Browsing Category “LAN Administration”

• Unattended Installation of AuthorWare Web Player

  Posted on March 28th, 2008 by Brian Reich

  Performing an unattended or silent installation of a application that doesn't come packaged in an MSI or executable installation program can be real pain, which was precicely the case with Macromedia AuthorWare Web Player. The Internet Explorer plug-in automatically downloads and installs into the user's browser when a site requests…

• Enabling Network Discovery on Vista Without Windows Server 2008

  Posted on February 18th, 2008 by Brian Reich

  This problem has been making my life a living hell since we deployed Windows Vista to a handful of workstations several months ago. According to Microsoft, "Network discovery is a network setting that affects whether your computer can see (find) other computers and devices on the network and whether…

• Fix “Error Loading Operating System” Bug When Deploying Windows XP with Windows Deployment Toolkit

  Posted on February 6th, 2008 by Brian Reich

  This problem is related to the previous article I wrote about loading text-mode drivers into a Windows XP installation source added to a Windows Deployment Toolkit (formerly called BDD) distribution share.  Because of an incompatibility between Windows XP and the way that Windows PE formats the hard drive by default…

• How To Inject Text-Mode Drivers into a Lite-Touch Windows XP Installation

  Posted on February 6th, 2008 by Brian Reich

  I'm sure someone else has run into this problem: while using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (formerly known as Business Deployment Desktop) to deploy Windows XP, everything seems to be working just fine until Windows PE finishes it's portion of the setup wherein it copies the Windows XP setup files to your…

• Troubleshooting PostgreSQL Connection Problems

  Posted on January 21st, 2008 by Brian Reich

  I've been using PostgreSQL for years as the back-end database for my company's intranet, and though I haven't had to reinstall it once in the past five years on the production server, I inevitably need to reinstall it on my development workstation at least once or twice a year…

• Responsibly Disposing of Computer Equipment

  Posted on January 18th, 2008 by Brian Reich

  It's a sad fact of life that, as an unrepentant geek, it's not always possible for me to balance my love of technology with my desire to keep the natural world as healthy as possible. Most of our electronic devices have become cheaper to replace than to repair; and many…

• Adding Drivers to a BDD LiteTouch Image

  Posted on January 10th, 2008 by Brian Reich

  Since Vista's release Microsoft has provided a variety of tools for deploying their operating systems. One such tool is Business Deployment Desktop which Microsoft describes as "the best-practice set of comprehensive guidance and tools from Microsoft to optimally deploy Windows Vista and the 2007 Office system." Though BDD…