Resource Kit's Service Installation Wizard
The Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Resource Kit's Service Installation Wizard, srvinstw.exe, is a utility that provides an easy method for installing or deleting services and device drivers on local and remote computers. However, you need to know a couple of tricks to use the utility for installing services on remote computers.
You need domain administrator privileges to run srvinstw.exe. In addition, all files and directory paths must be relative to the target computer. After you install the utility, you simply follow the steps in the dialog boxes to install the service. However, you need to pay particular attention to the fourth and sixth dialog boxes.
In the fourth dialog box, you receive the message Please enter the full path to the executable file. The path and file must be a local drive on the system. This message tells you that you need to specify a full path to the service's executable file on the target computer rather than on the computer you're using for the installation. For example, to install the Remote Console Server service, you need to enter
c:\winnt\system32\rconsvc.exe
In the sixth dialog box, you receive the message Please select the security credentials that the service will run under. 1) Install a service as local system account; 2) Account with administrator privilege. This message tells you to configure the service to run as a local system account or to specify an existing account in your Domain Admins group. If you specify a Domain Admins account, the account will have the Logon as a service right and will be part of the local Administrator group. Thus, the service can access resources on other computers in the domain. (In the case of Remote Console Server, you don't need this access; thus, you can choose the first option and not select the Allow Service to interact with Desktop check box.)
When the installation completes, you receive the message The service was successfully installed. You might think you can start the service. However, the Service Installation Wizard doesn't automatically copy the necessary files to the target computer. You must manually copy the essential files to the directory you specified in the fourth dialog box. For example, to run the Remote Console Server service you need to copy all the files under the resource kit's Rconsole directory (i.e., rconsvc.exe, rcruncmd.exe, rcongrp.exe, rconmode.exe, rconmsg.dll, and rconstat.exe) to the target computer.
To copy the files, you can map a share on the target computer as your local drive and copy the files to the target computer. If the target computer doesn't have a share, you can use the resource kit Rmtshare command to create one remotely.
To start Remote Console Server remotely, go to a command prompt and type
netsvc "Remote Console Server" \\TargetComputer /start
Then, you can remotely access an NT server by typing
rclient \\TargetComputer
—Jack Yi
jyi@spectralink.com
Mapping Shared Folders
I'm deploying policies on my company's Windows NT network, and I'm having a problem mapping folders for users. I created a standard Windows 95 desktop environment with some shortcuts to the shared folders on my server. Then, I modified the Default User\Shell\Custom Folder\Custom Desktop Icons policy with the Uniform Naming Convention (UNC) path to the folder in which I saved the desktop icons. Everyone has a standard desktop and can easily open the files through the shortcut folders. However, when I try to save a file, the shortcut folder doesn't show up in the save pop-up window.
I know I can use the script to map a drive, but I don't want to give up. I also don't want to tell my users to use NT Explorer to find the network folders, because the shortcut folders on the users' desktops are more convenient.
—Jianhui (Ken) Zheng
kenzheng@ttcc.com
Time Synchronization
Many companies use multiple servers, and each server (and workstation) has a different time on its clock. To fix this problem in my organization, I added the following entry to every user's logon script (including the administrator account): net time \\servername /set /yes. This command synchronizes each clock with one of the main domain server's clocks.
—Jorge Roque
jorgelroque@hotmail.com
ERDs and RDISK
If you're like some administrators, updating (or creating) Windows NT Emergency Repair Disks (ERDs) occurs to you only when you need to use one. Most administrators who fail to create or update ERDs do so out of carelessness rather than because they know of another way to repair NT. You'll be interested to know that you can repair NT without an ERD. (For information about ERDs, see Michael D. Reilly, "The Emergency Repair Disk," January 1997.)
When you run the rdisk /s command, the \winnt\system\repair directory receives an updated Registry backup. The system uses these files when you attempt a repair installation of NT and you tell the installer you don't have an ERD. Thus, you can perform a complete repair of NT without ERDs if your repair directory is up-to-date.
To ensure that your repair directory is up-to-date, use a simple AT command such as AT 00:00 /every:su rdisk /s-. (The hyphen after the /s switch bypasses the rdisk prompt to insert a disk.) I typically schedule rdisk to run only on Sundays, so I can test new configurations all week before I commit them.
If you have a hard disk failure, an updated repair directory is useless and you'll need an ERD. Because an ERD is just an NT-formatted disk that contains the repair directory's contents, you can easily create one at any time if you store the repair directory centrally.
Select a server or workstation in your domain. (I'll call it the REPAIR server.) Configure the Scheduler service to start automatically and to run with a newly created account. This account (which I'll call SCHEDULE) must be a member of the Domain Admins group. Create a directory (e.g., RDISKPLUS) on the REPAIR server, and copy rdiskplus.bat into it. (Listing 2 contains rdiskplus.bat.) Create a text file (e.g., serverlist.txt) that contains the names of all your servers, with one server on each line. Schedule RDISKPLUS on the REPAIR server with the following command
AT 00:10 /EVERY:SU CMD /C "C:\RDISKPLUS\RDISKPLUS.BAT >C:\RDISKPLUS\RDISKPLUS.LOG 2>&1"
Then, on every server in the serverlist.txt file, schedule the rdisk /s- command. If you've already configured the Scheduler service to start automatically, you can simply type
FOR /F "DELIMS=*" %I IN ('TYPE SERVERLIST.TXT') DO AT \\%I 00:00 /EVERY:SU RDISK /S-
For each of your servers, rdiskplus.bat creates a directory (named after the server) under C:\RDISKPLUS that contains the entire repair directory. Then, you can create an ERD at any time by formatting a disk and copying the server's directory contents onto it.
—Alessandro Iacopetti
a.iacopetti@cedacriovest.it
More About Logging Share Permissions
In Reader to Reader: "Logging Share Permissions" (October 1998), Douglas L. Gillett's batch file has a minor flaw—it fails to clean up the old log files automatically. You can add a For command to the end of the script (as you can see at Callout A in Listing 3) to fix this problem. This For command is useful if you run processes that create files every time they run. The skip number specifies how many files to retain (the script retains only the newest files, and discards the others).
—Bruce A. Edmondson, Sr.
kn4pe@net-master.net
Corrections to this Article:
- "Command Prompt During NT Installation" contains an error in the description of how to get a command prompt during Windows NT installation. Instead of selecting \winnt\system32\cmd.exe and clicking Open, as the article states, you must right-click cmd.exe and select Open from the pop-up menu. We apologize for any inconvenience these errors might have caused.