File Name disappers from Windows Explorer – only date modified displayed

Today, we were troublshooting an issue where only folders would display in an explorer view, but they would only show “Last Modified” date – no folder names.  You can right click the folder, and view the folder name, and you could add the column “filename” to the display – but the “Last Modified” date was the “default” column.

Here’s a screenshot:

Screenshot - No Folder Names

Screenshot - No Folder Names

After some extensive googling, I came across a forum thread that referenced this registry key:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\PropertySystem\PropertySchema\CachedSchemaHKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\PropertySystem\PropertySchema\CachedSchemaHKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\PropertySystem\PropertySchema\CachedSchema

We backed up the “PropertySchema” branch, and then deleted the “CachedSchema” key.  After killing explorer.exe, and relaunching it the problem was fixed.

This also resovled the issue with Windows Search not being able to find any files that were being searched for.

We aren’t sure, but it seems most likely (due to the state of this machine) that this was caused by a virus.

Posted in Operating Systems | Tagged | 2 Comments

The dependency service or group failed to start

I had the same issue. It’s a corrupt TCP/IP Stack

To fix, you will need to run a command prompt as administrator

Start > All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt (Right-Click and Run as Administrator)

At the command Prompt type : netsh winsock reset

Ignore all errors, restart your computer and networking should work

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SBS Server 2008 Failure Audit / Event ID 4625

I was getting this error message on my SBS 2008 Server:

Log: Security
Type: Failure Audit
Event: 4625
Agent Time: 11:26:36 am 4-Apr-09
Event Time: 3:26:36 pm 4-Apr-09 UTC
Source: Microsoft Windows security auditing.
Category: Logon
Username: N/A
Computer: ICS-S01.ics.local
Description: An account failed to log on.
Subject:
 Security ID: S-1-5-18
 Account Name: ICS-S01$
 Account Domain: ICS
 Logon ID: 0x3e7
Logon Type: 3
Account For Which Logon Failed:
 Security ID: S-1-0-0
 Account Name: ICS-S01$
 Account Domain:
Failure Information:
 Failure Reason: Unknown user name or bad password.
 Status: 0xc000006d
 Sub Status: 0xc0000064
Process Information:
 Caller Process ID:  0xc88
 Caller Process Name: C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\Bin\Microsoft.Exchange.Search.ExSearch.exe
Network Information:
 Workstation Name: ICS-S01
 Source Network Address: -
 Source Port:  -
Detailed Authentication Information:
 Logon Process: Advapi
 Authentication Package: Negotiate
 Transited Services: -
 Package Name (NTLM only): -
 Key Length: 0
This event is generated when a logon request fails. It is generated on the computer where access was attempted.
The Subject fields indicate the account on the local system which requested the logon. This is most commonly a service such as the Server service, or a local process such as Winlogon.exe or Services.exe.
The Logon Type field indicates the kind of logon that was requested. The most common types are 2 (interactive) and 3 (network).
The Process Information fields indicate which account and process on the system requested the logon.
The Network Information fields indicate where a remote logon request originated. Workstation name is not always available and may be left blank in some cases.
The authentication information fields provide detailed information about this specific logon request.
 - Transited services indicate which intermediate services have participated in this logon request.
 - Package name indicates which sub-protocol was used among the NTLM protocols.
 - Key length indicates the length of the generated session key. This will be 0 if no session key was requested.

The fix?  Install Exchange Update Rollup 7 for Exchange 2007  (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=086A2A13-A1DE-4B1D-BD12-B148BFD2DAFA&displaylang=en)

You will probably have to download this and run it from an elevated command prompt – otherwise you will get errors.

 


Posted in Exchange Server, Operating Systems, Server 2008 | Leave a comment

Vista locks up on bootup / Superfetch problems

Today I had a gentleman leave his computer with me.  He was running Vista, and it would lock up within 2 minutes of starting the computer.  If you left it sitting at the login screen, it would lockup there, if you left it long enough.  If you logged in immediately, it would lockup at whatever you were doing  at the moment.  You could still move the mouse, but you could not interact with any applications or open anything.

After much troubleshooting, I narrowed the problem down to the “Superfetch” service.  To confirm this, you can safely set that service to “Disabled” (in services.msc)and reboot the computer (or just stop the service).  After rebooting, or stopping the service, you can confirm that your machine does not lockup.

If indeed you find that your machine runs as it should with the “Superfetch” service disabled, then the fix is simple.

On your keyboard, hold the Windows Key and “R” at the same time.  That should bring up the “run” dialog box.  Type “prefetch” and hit “Ok.”  Now you should see a folder with a bunch of files.  Confirm that your address bar does indeed show that your are displaying the “prefetch” folder and then delete everything that you see.


captureBe careful!  Don’t delete anything other than the contents of the Prefetch folder or your problems may be worse than what you started with!  :)

Now start the “Superfetch” service again and you should be cool!

All the best,

Luke

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Print Spooler errors on startup?

Ok, got a call this morning from a user saying she couldn’t print. I mentally went over the obvious, and decided a service call would be in order. This user is on Windows XP. Here is what I found:

To start with when the print spooler was started either from Run -> Services.msc -> Print Spooler -> Start / Restart OR from a command prompt with “net start spooler” you would get an error message within 20 seconds or so saying:

After some troubleshooting, I saw that the error logs revealed that the error was coming from a file called ZSDIMF.DLL. I searched the computer for that file and saw that it was related to the user’s HP LaserJet 1022 (I HATE HP DRIVERS!!). See the screenshot:

So here’s the solution:
Make sure the print spooler is stopped. You can even go to the task manager and kill the process called “spoolsv.exe.”
Go here: HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Printers\Printname and find the printer with the offending driver. Right click and delete. Note that a registry backup may be a good idea if you are unsure of what you are doing.

Now you can go to to Control Panel -> Printers & Faxes and go to File -> Server Properties. Go to the drivers tab and delete the offending drivers (in my case this was HP Laserjet 1020 series drivers). Now go to the manufacturers website and download new ones and reinstall your printer.

Quick Update
I did get the error again after the first reboot. I deleted all the temp files, including the prefetch (though it should make any difference…), and searched the computer for the offending file again. No file found. After another reboot, everything was fine!
That should do the trick!

Another Update

This also works for Vista!

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XP Service Pack 3 / AMD Processors

There seems to be an issue with XP Service Pack 3 (which was just released) with AMD Processors.

The problem is this:
After SP3 has been installed, when the computer is rebooted, it bluescreens.

The fix for the problem is this:
Choose F8 as the computer is starting up, and boot into Safe Mode. Once there, open regedit (Start->Run->regedit) and navigate to the following key:

HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\intelppm

Find the “Start” key. The value should be a 1; change it to a 4.

Close the registry editor and restart your computer. Everything should work now!

Posted in Operating Systems | Tagged , | 3 Comments