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VCenter backup via SMB to Synology

I was trying to create a VCenter backup within VCenter 7.0. I had a hard time trying to backup to my Synology. I did some Google-Fu and found that you have to turn on or set the max SMB to SMB 3 on the Synology under Control Panel, File Services, SMB/AFP/NFS tap and then click on Advanced Settings:

Change the Maximum SMB protocol to SMB3:

Apparently VCenter only supports SMB2.1 and 3.0.

Upon setting it to Max SMB protocol SMB3, I was able to create the backup.

The format to enter into VCenter backup will be SMB:\\server\Share. You don’t need to add the SMB port. I hope this helps.

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Cannot format a used Windows hard drive in an iMac

I was trying to use disk utility to format a Windows hard drive that I installed into an iMac. I kept getting an error about “MediaKit reports not enough space on device for requested operation.”

I Googled and found this blog: https://www.aioboot.com/en/mediakit-reports-not-enough-space-on-device-for-requested-operation/

The article explains how to use Terminal to use diskutil to unmount the partitions and then you can use disk utility GUI to erase and partition the drive.

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Fenix PD25 brief review

I finally lost my Fenix PD35 flashlight that I’ve owned for a better part of a year.

It was small and light enough to fit in my pocket with a clip and not bother me. I never knew it was there. I kept the PD35 along with a Benchmade Bugout knife in my right pocket for everyday carry.

After losing the flashlight, I started looking to replace it. I couldn’t find the PD35 and found out it was discontinued. I browsed the Fenix website and came across the PD25. It’s brighter and has almost the same size/shape and weight of the PD35. The only difference to me is the button that changes the light strength.

I’ve noticed it’s hard to find if I’m trying to feel for it. I find it quick if I visibly look for it, but the old PD35 had a nice flat, rubbery texture to the button, and was easily reachable/found via touch. That’s my only gripe. Otherwise, the amount of power it gives out is excellent.

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Microsoft Windows 10 calculator always on top

I recently found out that in Windows 10 you can choose to have the calculator app always on top. However, the app that you can always on top is not the full calculator.

Full Windows 10 Calculator
Stay on top calculator

The first image is the full Windows 10 calculator which shows history and you can resize to your heart’s content.

The second image is the stay on top calculator which is gimped – it can’t be resized, it does not show history. My only request is to have the full version be able to be pinned/stay on top of all other windows.

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Update for Universal C Runtime in Windows download links broken

If you’re trying to download the Update for Universal C Runtime in Windows from this link: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2999226/update-for-universal-c-runtime-in-windows, just know that you’re not going crazy and it’s not down temporarily. Those links are down for good. However, after a Google search, I found this post and a nice developer fixed or found the right download links for all operating systems including Windows Server 2012 NOT R2. Working link: https://discuss.pencil2d.org/t/cant-download-update-for-runtime/4025/13

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Lenovo Yoga C740 Ubuntu missing Intel wireless card

If you have a Lenovo Yoga or similar model or even a laptop that Ubuntu just cannot seem to find the wireless card, follow these instructions:

https://askubuntu.com/questions/1180765/intel-wifi-card-not-working-on-ubuntu

You have to make sure you follow the edit of the answer which is to do the update and install linux-oem-osp1. If you don’t do this, it will not work. Also, reboot. You should see the wireless device show up upon checking it via settings.

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Edge Chromium protocol handler always open these types of links in the associated app

I’ve moved my daily browsing habits to the new Edge that is based on Chromium. I have been using it since the very first release. I am now using the stable beta version.

I noticed about a month or so ago that whenever I tried connecting to a Screenconnect session, the protocol handler would always ask me: This site is trying to open ScreenConnect Client, but it would not have the checkbox to allow me to always open these types of links in the associated app.

Edge Chromium protocol handler with no Always open these types of links in the associated app option

I finally decided to try and figure out if there was an option within Edge to enable this again. After checking the site permissions area, I could not find a setting that would allow this check-box to return.

I started searching the web, and through all the BS Google search results, don’t even get me started with that, I found a few other threads where people were reporting the same thing.

It appears that as of Chrome 77 which Edge Chromium is based on, they removed the option to always open these types of links in the associated app.

Their reasoning is because there was no way to undo the always remember option, they decided it was insecure and a security risk, therefore, they removed it completely.

Here is the thread I found: https://support.google.com/chrome/thread/14194567?hl=en

In the thread, there is a workaround. It entails modifying the preferences file in your default profile.

Hi All, there is a way around this, you can insert a record into the preferences file
found in C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default
The file “Preferences”  contains JSON serttings, our example is for a Web Client Print handler, so just added the below:
“protocol_handler”:{“excluded_schemes”:{“webclientprintiv”:false}}

You must close all instances of chrome including any running processes before you do this or chrome will overwrite the file and get rid of your changes.

And it works.
NB: you’ll have to check your own scheme names to add.
Hope this helps.
Jonesi

https://support.google.com/chrome/thread/14194567?msgid=15347344

I tried modifying the preferences file for the dev version of Edge that I am running alongside the beta and Canary. I went to: %HOMEPATH%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge Dev\User Data\Default and tried editing the preferences file found there. When I run Edge, I get an error message saying: Profile error – Your preferences file isn’t valid, or was corrupted. We couldn’t recover your settings. It changes the preferences file to preferences.bad and then creates a new Preferences file.

According to this ConnectWise technical bulletin: https://docs.connectwise.com/ConnectWise_Control_Documentation/Technical_support_bulletins/Constant_prompt_to_open_ScreenConnect_Client_in_Chrome, you should be able to add the following: “protocol_handler”: {“excluded_schemes”: {“sc-xxxxxxxxxxxxx”: false}}, to the Preferences file, and it should always remember your choice that you would like to allow this app to run without having click on Open.

I tried it multiple times, placing the code in different areas, making sure the formatting was right. It never worked. I am going to assume that Microsoft block this change. I really don’t know much about how you can modify open-source browsers, but I’d imagine, most if not all that are based on the same source, follow the same guidelines or standards.

If you figure out how to force the new Edge browser to always allow specific protocol handlers to run instead of having to click on Open all the time, please leave me a comment.

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Outlook is retrieving data from the Microsoft Exchange Server outlook.office365.com

I have a client who has been having this problem for several months now. It started out of the blue. No one else in that site has the same problem. Although the computers are not exactly the same, they all share a commonality in that they are all Dell OptiPlex workstations running Windows 10 Pro and Office 365 Business Premium Office suite.

What happens is while using Outlook, whether it’s changing from one folder to another, Outlook will randomly freeze and up at the title bar it will say (Not Responding) and then down below in the system tray where the Outlook icon is, it will pop up a black notification box that says “Microsoft Outlook Outlook is trying to retrieve data from the Microsoft Exchange server outlook.office365.com.

I cannot re-create the problem at will. It sometimes takes an hour or two for it to randomly appear again.

I have tried the following:

  • Clean Boot
  • Disabling or having the computer prefer IPV4 over IPV6 via Microsoft’s registry fix
  • Disabling hardware acceleration in Outlook
  • Clean install
  • Online repair of Office
  • Multiple new Outlook profiles
  • Outlook safe mode
  • Changing out the network card
  • Tried only via wireless
  • I will come back to this list when I remember what else I’ve tried
  • 11/19 – Replaced the entire network stack, router and switch
  • 11/19 – Replaced the entire workstation with a brand new Dell 7070 with the following specs:
  • Intel Core i9 9900K
  • 32 GB Memory
  • 512 GB PCIe NVME SSD
  • Intel Gigabit PCIe NIC
  • Fresh install of Windows 10 Pro with it being joined to a domain as well as a fresh install of 64-Bit Office 365. The problem has happened on both 32-bit and 64-bit

I have tried using Process Monitor by monitoring Outlook.exe, but nothing of significance is ever shown.

Everything I’ve found online says it might be due to too many items in the calendar. There is a total of 151 items in the calendar.

The other thing I’ve found is that there are too many e-mails. I find that hard to believe since my own Office 365 account has much more than this end-user and I do not see the same problem.

A few people mentioned updating their router’s firmware fixed it for them. I installed all firmware that was available for their router and the problem remains.

I have the end-user’s Exchange account set up in a Windows 10 virtual machine and the same version of Outlook the end-user uses on the Dell OptiPlex.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to recreate the problem. However, I have not used it as a normal end-user would meaning, for eight hours a day, sending e-mails, receiving, etc. so it’s hard to say if it truly does not happen on this virtual machine.

The Dell OptiPlex in question has the following specs:

Intel i5
256 GB Samsung Solid State Drive
8 GB Memory
Windows 10 Pro
Office 365 which is the equivalent to Office 2019

There is a caveat. This entire problem is closely related to something with Quick Books 2019 Pro.

Sending e-mails from Quick Books often times will cause Outlook to freeze up and or it takes a very long time. Sending e-mails via Outlook also tends to cause the error message to occur; however, it does also happen when not using Outlook.

I’ve confirmed the portion that affects QuickBooks and Outlook sending e-mails is a bug on Intuit’s end. That is an ongoing bug with absolutely no fix, other than a workaround, which is to use the send forms feature after queuing several e-mails to be sent.

I am still trying to find a fix for the main problem which is when using Outlook 365 or Outlook 2016 with two Exchange accounts and two shared mailboxes, when just clicking on an e-mail in the inbox, Outlook freezes completely, it says NOT RESPONDING at the top, the bars are greyed out as though it’s about to crash and is not responding to any mouse clicks. On top of that, a small window pops up at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen which says: Outlook is retrieving data from the Microsoft Exchange Server outlook.office365.com.

At this point, the only thing we have not changed out is the cable run that the computer plugs into up to the patch panel. I am having that tested tomorrow with a cable certifier. If it comes back as certified and good, I don’t know what else to try. I am at my wit’s end. I cannot believe that even after a brand new, maxed out computer, it still happens. It shouldn’t be, but it is.

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Intel Rapid Storage Technology (Intel RST): The inbox storage driver iastora.sys doesn’t work on these systems and causes stability problems on Windows. Check with your software/driver provider for an updated version that runs on this version of Windows

If you get this error message while trying to upgrade to Windows 10 1903, and you update your storage driver, but this message is still appearing, you have to go into C:\Windows\system32\drivers (WARNING, WHAT I AM ABOUT TO TELL YOU CAN HOSE AND DAMAGE YOUR SYSTEM. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A GOOD BACKUP THAT YOU’VE TESTED. I WOULD CREATE A RESTORE POINT JUST IN CASE YOU GET STUCK, I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGES THAT MAY OCCUR TO YOUR COMPUTER BASED UPON THIS INFORMATION) and look for the iaStorA.sys file and rename it to iaStorA.sys_old. However, make sure you are seeing the updated Intel storage driver within Device Manager first.

Once you rename the file, you can go back out and re-run the update. This should get you past this error message.