Alexander's Blog

How to Delete Inactive Profiles on Windows 7

Zubair Alexander — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 17:38:35 +0000

A few years ago I wrote this article Deleting Old User Profiles in Windows 2000/XP/2003 about a User Profile Deletion utility called DelProf.exe. This tool is part of the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit. Because it was written for older operating systems it won’t work on Windows Vista or later operating systems.

Lucky for us, Microsoft MVP Helge Klein has written a successor utility called DelProf2 that works with newer operating systems, such as Windows 7. DelProf2 works with Windows XP/2003/Vista/Windows 7/Windows 2008/Windows 2008R2.

DelProf2 will even handle profiles that use long paths (i.e. MAX_PATH values of longer than 260). This tool is great if you want to get rid of old profiles that are taking disk space. It will delete all profiles except the current profile. It will leave the necessary system profiles (e.g. Default profile) alone. Default profile is used by the operating system to create a profile for a new user by making a copy of the Default profile. You also have the option to delete locally cached copies of roaming profiles or delete older profiles that have not been used for a certain period of time, such as older than 90 days.

Here is the syntax used by DelProf2.

Usage: delprof2 [/u] [/q] [/i] [/p] [/r] [/c:[\\]] [/d:]

       /u   Unattended (no confirmation)
       /q   Quiet (no output and no confirmation)
       /i   Ignore errors, continue deleting
       /p   Prompt for confirmation before deleting each profile
       /r   Delete local caches of roaming profiles only, not local profiles
       /c   Delete on remote computer instead of local machine
       /d   Delete only profiles not used in x days
       /l   List only, do not delete (what-if mode)

Helge has some nice examples on his site. You can use DelProf2 to delete inactive profiles remotely (including Windows 7 computers) using their IP addresses.

DelProf2 is a free utility that can be downloaded from Helge’s Web site here. While you are at it, you might want to check out some additional tools that he has written.

Microsoft Licensing Portal

Zubair Alexander — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 23:33:03 +0000

When I am teaching classes, my students sometimes ask me questions about licensing for various Microsoft products. Back in the NT days, it was relatively easy to tell students how the licensing worked because there were only a few options. In recent years, it seems easier to get a PhD in Nuclear Physics then to try and understand licensing for Microsoft products. In fact, the licensing has become so complicated to understand that I doubt if even Microsoft sales people have all the answers to our questions.

Luckily, Microsoft has this Volume Licensing portal which is very helpful. Microsoft deserves credit for creating this Web site full of useful information. Consider it a Microsoft licensing encyclopedia. Besides other great information, it also includes an online Microsoft Licensing Advisor (MLA). This advisor is a wizard that walks you through your particular scenario and gives you a quote.

SharePoint Licensing

SharePoint licensing is a bit more complicated because it involves Windows Server and SQL Server in addition to SharePoint Server. If you are looking for SharePoint licensing, this SharePoint Licensing Q&A is a great resource.

Another good resource for SharePoint is a third-party tool called SharePoint Price Calculator from Bamboo Solutions. This is not a licensing tool but it helps you figure out the total cost of SharePoint and its related products, such as Windows Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008.

SharePoint 2010 can be used to set up intranet, extranet, and Internet sites.

Intranet sites are licensed using a Server/CAL (Client Access License) model. SharePoint Server 2010 is required for each running instance of the software, and CALs are required for each person or device accessing a SharePoint Server.

Extranet and Internet sites are licensed using a Server-only model—no CALs are required.

Here are some additional details from Microsoft’s Web site.

SharePoint Server 2010: Intranet Scenarios

Client Access License

The Standard CAL delivers the core capabilities of SharePoint 2010:

Sites: A Single Infrastructure for All Your Business Web Sites

Communities: An Integrated Collaboration Platform

Content: ECM for the Masses

Search: Relevance, Refinement, and People (excludes FAST Search)

Composites: Do-It-Yourself Business Solutions (excludes Access Services and InfoPath Services)

For more details on the specific features in the Standard CAL, see Edition Comparison.

Enterprise Client Access License

The Enterprise CAL delivers the full capabilities of SharePoint 2010:

Sites: A Single Infrastructure for All Your Business Web Sites

Communities: An Integrated Collaboration Platform

Content: ECM for the Masses

Search: Relevance, Refinement, and People includes FAST Search)

Composites: Do-It-Yourself Business Solutions (includes Access Services and InfoPath Services)

Insights: BI for Everyone (includes PerformancePoint Services, Excel Services, and Visio Services)

Note that the Enterprise CAL is additive: To access the Enterprise edition features, a person/device must have both the Standard CAL and Enterprise CAL. For more details on the specific features in the Enterprise CAL, see Edition Comparison.

SharePoint Server 2010: Internet/Extranet Scenarios

SharePoint Server 2010 for Internet Sites, Standard

SharePoint for Internet Sites, Standard, delivers the core capabilities of the SharePoint 2010 Standard CAL for use on an Internet or extranet site. This server license is designed for small and mid-sized companies, and deployment is limited to a single domain and related subdomains. A domain is a combination of a public domain (such as .com, .net, .org) and a second-level, proprietary domain (such as MyCompany, MyOrganization, MyClub). Examples of valid domains are MyCompany.com, MyOrganization.net, and MyClub.org. Subdomains are any URL prefixes to the left of the second-level domains.

SharePoint Server 2010 for Internet Sites, Enterprise

SharePoint for Internet Sites, Enterprise, delivers the full capabilities of the SharePoint 2010 Enterprise CAL for use on an Internet or extranet site. This server license also includes the rights to FAST Search for use in Internet or extranet scenarios. You can deploy a single server license of SharePoint Server 2010 for Internet Sites, Enterprise, as a SharePoint server or a FAST Search server—but not both concurrently.

If you don’t find answers to all your questions on Microsoft’s Web site, you can contact Microsoft in United States at 800-426-9400. In Canada, contract Microsoft representative at 877-568-2495.

Summary of Resources

How to Enable Audio Support in Hyper-V Guest VMs on WS08R2

Zubair Alexander — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 15:06:39 +0000

I work with Hyper-V a lot. Recently I have been doing some work that required audio support inside the virtual machines (VMs) on my Windows Server 2008 R2 computers. Here’s the procedure you can use to enable audio support inside the VMs.

1. Login to the virtual machine.

2. Run the Services Console (Start, Run, services.msc).

3. Configure the Windows Audio service to start automatically and then start the service.

4. Go to Start, Administrative Tools, Remote Desktop Services, Remote Desktop Session Host Configuration.

5. Double-click RDP-Tcp in the Connections section.

6. Click Client Settings tab.

7. Clear the boxes Audio and video playback and Audio recording and then click OK.

8. Your audio should now work in the VM.

Can’t Start a VM on Windows Server 2008 R2? Could Be Due to Lack of AVX Support.

Zubair Alexander — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 22:06:04 +0000

I recently ran into a situation where I wasn’t able to start virtual machines on a newly installed Windows Server 2008 R2 computer. After a little research I ran into the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article 2517374:

You cannot start virtual machines on a computer that is running Windows Server 2008 R2 and on which a CPU is installed that supports the AVX feature

Here’s the scenario. I installed Windows Server 2008 R2 on a computer with an Intel CPU that supported the Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) feature. I installed the Hyper-V server role and then imported a virtual machine. However, when I tried to start the virtual machine I received an error indicating that the virtual machine failed to initialize. I enabled hardware assisted virtualization in the BIOS but that didn’t help. I then found the KB251374 article and discovered that Windows Server 2008 R2 doesn’t support the AVX feature. Luckily, Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 adds the support for AVX. Because my server was a brand new installation, I hadn’t installed SP1. As soon as I installed SP1 I was able to start the virtual machine.

The KB article also documents a workaround where you can force compatible CPU flags by setting a WMI property. However, the workaround has two issues that make it a pain in the neck. I recommend you install SP1 rather than messing with a problematic workaround.

Should You Buy an iPhone or an Android?

Zubair Alexander — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 21:10:54 +0000

Computer scientist, author and lecturer David Gewirtz wrote an interesting article today on ZDNet. He compares iPhone 4S to Android and expresses pros and cons of both platforms. Here’s the gist of his article but you can read his entire article on ZDNet here.

Android wins big time in customizability and support for high-speed 4G/LTE mobile broadband. iPhone 4S doesn’t support these high-speed mobile broadband options. Android also wins in the removable battery and physical keyboard categories. iPhone 4S wins in the accessories category. Frankly, this is how Apples had made millions. They charge an exuberant amount of money for their accessories and because you are locked into Apple brand you can’t go to the competition and purchase them at a lower price. Now you may consider the fact that Apples offers tons of accessories a big advantage for Apple but for me this alone is a reason not to purchase an iPhone 4S. Their prices for accessories are ridiculously high. However, I must say that that Apple offers some great accessories and they should get credit for that.

Another category in which David rated iPhone 4S higher than Android is the camera. Well, I don’t know about that. You see, the reason why iPhone users are so impressed by the 8MP camera in iPhone 4S is because iPhone 4 only had a 5MP camera and that’s a big improvement. However, HTC EVO 4G already has an 8MP camera so I would consider this category a tie.

The bottom line is this. In David’s opinion iPhone 4S is a better choice than Androids in only two out of ten categories: Accessories and camera. In all other categories either the Android is a winner or it’s a tie. Being an HTC EVO 4G user myself, I agree with David for the most part, except that when it comes to camera I would give Android an upper hand but give Apple an advantage over Android when it comes to the quality and abundance of accessories but definitely not in price.

Believe it or not, I am a proud owner of a Mac and I think Apple makes great products. I also have great things to say about iPAD 2, except for the pathetic less than 1MP camera. However, I have never been too impressed with iPhones because I believe the phone and the accessories are way over-priced, the service has been unreliable, and the quality has not been that great. There is a reason why the Consumer Report said they can’t recommend iPhone 4 because they are flawed.

My opinion: I am an Android user so iPAD yes, iPhone No!

If you are interested in reading more about iPhones, check out some of my previous posts on iPhones.

You might also be interested in Sharee English’s blog To iPhone or not to iPhone.