TechNet Top Questions - December 20, 1999
Greetings! Here we provide detailed answers to popular questions submitted to TechNet via the answer forums and feedback alias. TechNet's Lon Collins, Microsoft Support Professional, provides you with answers and tips that can help many of you working in the trenches to deploy, maintain and support Microsoft products.
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Trouble Adding Items to Quick Launch Toolbar
Terminal Server Client Just Sits There
Help! I Can't See Parallel Port!
Moving a Site Server Membership Database
Trouble Adding Items to Quick Launch Toolbar
IT Pro Mike asks why he can't add shortcuts to the Quick Launch toolbar. He has Windows NT 4.0 and Internet Explorer 5.01.
Hi Mike,
Here's the deal: To be able to use the Quick Launch toolbar with Windows NT 4.0, you must have the Windows Desktop Update ("WDU") installed and have the Web Integrated Desktop component of the WDU installed and enabled. Adding / installing the WDU is done from Internet Explorer 4.0, 4.01, or 4.01 Service Pack 1. The WDU is not available if you have 1) removed IE 4.0x without having the WDU installed and then installed IE 5.x or 2) performed a fresh install of IE 5.x, like on a new machine.
If you need to have the Quick Launch toolbar, then what you must do is uninstall IE 5.01 and activate IE 4.x WDU and then upgrade back to IE 5.x. During the IE 5.x uninstall process, you will be presented with an option to "Restore the previous Windows configuration". Choose "OK". The following Knowledge Base articles describe this whole process in sufficient detail.
217344 - How to Uninstall Internet Explorer 5
165695 - How to Add or Remove Windows Desktop Update
171206 - How to Customize the Quick Launch Toolbar
It isn't pretty, but I hope this explains the situation.
Terminal Server Client Just Sits There
This question comes in From IT Pro Paul H.
He says that a number of his users are experiencing problems connecting to Terminal Server 4.0, Service Pack 4. Once users have entered their logon credentials, they receive just the blue background and they can't get any further. Paul says that what should happen is that a network drive should be mapped and an executable should run that launches an application front end that connects to a SQL Server database. Paul queries "Is this possibly rectified by the latest SP (5) or could this be a result of WAN and LAN speed problems... ?"
Paul:
Here's a suggestion. Simplify the scenario. Specific information on how the executable is initiated or implemented when the client logs on wasn't included in your question. So, try removing the launching of the application from the script and remove the mappings – just log in to Terminal Server. Then perform the drive mapping(s) and application start. Make sure that all that works, then start adding variables (app start, drive maps) one at a time.
You might also want to peruse the Terminal Server SP5 fix list for fixed problems that apply to your scenario. Search for words like "hang", and "client". Here's the link to the Knowledge Base article for the fix list, 240331 - List of Bugs Fixed in Terminal Server Edition Service Pack 5.
Here's one article in particular about the client hanging - note that this problem only affects Japanese version(s) of Windows NT 4.0, Terminal Server Edition, Service Pack 4, Terminal Server RDP Client Window Hangs While You Are Logging On.
You can obtain Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server Service Pack 5 from the Terminal Server Web site. Both low encryption (40-bit) and high encryption (128-bit) SPs are now available.
Before downloading the Service Pack, it is highly recommended that you read the readme document.
Help! I Can't See Parallel Port!
This quandary comes in from Byron, who says:
I just received a new laptop and I want to transfer information from my old laptop to the new one. I'm using pcAnywhere and the Direct transfer method. The problem I'm having is that when I go to select a port for Direct transfer I do not see any LPTx listed. I did run winmsd.exe and under IRQ/PORTS I did not see LPT1 or LPT2. One of the articles said I might have to enable LPT1via CMOS. How would I go about doing this?
Here's the story, Byron:
In Windows NT, parallel ports do not use any hardware interrupt request lines (IRQs). The Windows NT parallel port driver is thread-based, and the port is polled at background priority. This eliminates a number of potential hardware conflicts with other devices that might want to use IRQ 7 or 5, which used to be the parallel port interrupts.
Consulting Symantec's product support Web site reveals this Knowledge Base article pcAnywhere Direct Connections. This may or may not apply to your situation since information about the PCAnywhere version and the version(s) of the operating systems you have in place were not included in your question.
Here's a snippet from the article:
Parallel Connections
Parallel connections connect an LPT port on one machine to an LPT port on another machine using a bi-directional parallel cable. This is a specialized cable wired specifically for 2-way communication. pcAnywhere comes with a yellow parallel cable wired for these connections. Laplink's parallel cable will also work.
Parallel connections are supported between Windows 9x machines only. Parallel connections with Windows NT are not available. PcAnywhere supports connections between any physical LPT port. Virtual ports are not supported.
Moving a Site Server Membership Database
IT Pro Arnold is in the process of upgrading the hardware on his server and needs to move the Membership database to the new machine. He says:
"Backing and restoring the SQL Server 7.0 database is simple enough, but getting it to reconnect to LDAP very problematical. Best results have been when the new machines' Name is the same as the original machine but on a different subnet. Then the Create New Member Instance _sometimes_ works and I avoid problems with the machine name being embedded in the database and security proxies.
But this is a hit and miss deal. Sometimes the restored database will connect correctly and LDAP will start but the Web site using the Membership authentication will not authenticate.
I have applied all the upgrades and service packs as per the Install Site Server with All Upgrades FAQ. SQL7 sp1, SS3 SP3, NT4.0 SP6 latest mad, ADSI 2.5 etc. All the SQL scripts recommended have been run.
What scares the hell out of me is that I am not convinced that I could reliably restore a backed up membership database _on_ the _same_ machine!! I am afraid to try it on the production machine and a test on the new machine requires deleting the Membership instance and recreating it. Then I have to go and re-map all the website securities which is a major pain.
What is the Microsoft recommended procedure for properly backing up and restoring membership databases? What is the procedure for moving the database to a new machine with a different _name_?
I know several other people who are having similar problems from discussions in the news groups."
Arnold:
Here's a couple of good resources that should help you and anyone else that needs to move their Membership database.
The Site Server Resource Kit has a membership database migration document. You can download the Site Server 3.0 Commerce Edition Resource Kit from HERE.
That is it for now.