If you are like me, then you are simply wanting to migrate your email over to Microsoft Office 365 to take advantage of Exchange. Me and my colleague just wanted to get rid of our IMAP email. Doesn’t work great when sharing an inbox for a business. Below is a short tutorial on how to migrate your email to Office 365 while still hosting your domain using WebHost Manager (WHM). I will walk you through the DNS changes, etc.

Step 1

After signing up and paying the first thing you have to do is login to your Office 365 administration site. The URL is: https://portal.microsoftonline.com/admin/default.aspx. Then click on Admin at the top right.

Step 2

You will now want to walk through the 5 steps to get your domain ready. The 1st one is to verify your domain by either an MX entry or TXT entry. In WHM, go down to “DNS Functions”, click on “Edit DNS Zone” and then pick the domain you are working with. Below is how mine looks for a TXT entry. Values were changed for example shown in pic. Also note, it took about 20 minutes for Microsoft to see my TXT entry. So do something else, come back and refresh. It will show up eventually.

Step 3

Step 2 in the process is simply checking your website to make sure you didn’t screw something up. Then step 3 is adding your email address, for example: contactus@boisecomputing.com as a user for your Office 365 account. Use the email addresses you are working with.

Step 4

This step is simply notifying your users of the change. The next one is important. Don’t do step #5 in the process. In fact, if you are only moving your email over you won’t every finish Step #5 and can ignore it. Simply hit save and close.

Step 5

Instead of doing step #5 in their process, you want to go under Management and click on domains. Then under your real domain name, select the radio button and click on “Manage DNS.” This page shows all of your DNS information that is available to you on Office 365.

Step 6

We are now going to add the MX entry to change the email over. The first picture is how it looks on the DNS management page from Microsoft. You will want to change any current MX entries to priority 1 or higher. This way Office 365 is checked first having the “0″ priority. Click to see larger version.

This picture below is how it looks on my DNS zone under WHM. Click to see larger version.

Step 7

The next thing we want to do is add the CNAME entry for autodiscover. This will enable the Outlook client to be able to configure via autodiscover. The first picture is how it looks on the DNS management page from Microsoft. Click to see larger version.

This picture below is how it looks on my DNS zone under WHM. Click to see larger version.

Note that autodiscover took about an hour before it started working on my Outlook client. Even after multiple flushes of my local DNS cache.

Step 8

Everything should now be working! There are more entries if you are using Lync, etc. Also, I would recommend setting up subdomains. Example, I setup http://docs.boisecomputing.com which redirects to http://boisecomputing.sharepoint.com/TeamSite/Documents/Forms/AllItems.aspx. This goes straight to my document SharePoint site. You can do the same thing for email. They come in very handy and save time! It will post you to the Office 365 login page, but deep linking works. So once you sign in, it will still go to the destination you originally linked to.

Have you had the problem where twitterfeed is choosing the wrong thumbnail to post on your facebook wall or page? That is because Facebook relies on its new open graph protocol to choose which image from your post it will display. From our twitterfeed it was simply choosing the first image it could find on the page. There is a free alternative to twitterfeed which which allow you to utilize WordPress, the open graph protocol for Facebook, and still have it auto post to your wall. The company is Linksalpha.

Step 1

Sign up for a free account on their website. (http://www.linksalpha.com)

Step 2

Link your facebook account/page to their site.

Step 3

Setup publish by inputting your site’s web feed.

Step 4

Install the WordPress plugin “1-click Retweet/Share/Like” which is made by LinksAlpha.

Step 5

In the plugin settings, add your API key.

Step 6

On the options menu, enable the “Use Facebook Image Meta tags” option.

And that’s it! Your featured images from your wordpress posts should now post correctly on Facebook. Below is an example of this post on our Facebook wall.

The fix for the error was to actually clear the app server cache. (Have your DBA do it.) That can bring your production system to a slowdown if you then have to rebuild your cache. However, clearing the app server cache did fix the problem.

Here is the correct path for the php.ini that osTicket installer is looking at.

C:\wamp\bin\apache\Apache2.2.21\bin

Also, make sure you reboot your WAMP services before trying to proceed.

Hope that helps someone!

The vbs script is a little nicer than version one (CMD) because it runs without any windows and in my opinion vbs scripts just run smoother . Also, it is a single file and the tutorial has less steps.

So for all of you who grabbed version one, lol, grab version 2!!! And if you are using WIM images, you can simply mount your image, replace the script, and unmount/commit.

Repeat instructions are below:

When running sysprep in Windows 7 with the unattend.xml file, you will probably notice that the taskbar icons are something that don’t copy over. Well that is because the icons are not part of the users profile. So the copyprofile=true command does work for almost everything, but it doesn’t copy over your taskbar icons. So here is a script that will do it for you.

Step #1

Download the vbs script (11kb). Click Here to Download or Right Click and Save Target As….
You might have to remove the .txt extension when you are downloading the script. You are going to drop this script into the correct place during audit mode.

Step #2

Copy the vbs script into the startup folder in the start menu.

Step #3

The vbs script unpins WMP, IE, and Windows Explorer and then repins the icons in the order you want. My file has this order:

Windows Explorer, IE, Firefox, Word, Excel, Outlook, WMP

Step #4

Now run sysprep as you normally would and the script is copied into the default profile. That means for every new user, the script pins the icons in the order you want, the script then deletes itself and never runs again. For the correct procedure on sysprepping your machine, read my Windows 7 Sysprep Tutorial.

Sorry for not posting this earlier but I have had a rough last couple months. Just now getting back into the swing of things.

When running sysprep in Windows 7 with the unattend.xml file, you will probably notice that the taskbar icons are something that don’t copy over. Well that is because the icons are not part of the users profile. So the copyprofile=true command does work for almost everything, but it doesn’t copy over your taskbar icons.

Thankfully the “Deployment Guys” already have a VBS script that will pin and unpin icons. I have edited this script and done most of the hard work for you. Basically we are going to dump a few scripts into the “startup folder” (and yes I said startup folder, it is messy but it works and finishes clean) which will run only the first time every new user logs in. It will pin the icons you want, in any order you want, both to the taskbar and the startmenu and then the script is deleted from the startup folder and never runs again for that user. It does work perfectly and I currently am using this in a corporate environment with around 400-500 computers.

Step #1

Download the scripts that I have packaged together. Click here to download. Again, most of these scripts were written by The Deployment Guys, I have just tweaked them and added a few. It is a 35mb zip file.

The zip file contains the following files:

- taskbar.bat
- taskbar_operations.cmd
- pin.wsf
- unpin.wsf
- pinitem.vbs
- listverbs.vbs
- zti-specialfolderlib.vbs
- ztiutility.vbs

You are going to drop these scripts into the correct places during audit mode.

Step #2

Copy the taskbar.bat file into the startup folder in the start menu.

Below is an explanation of what that taskbar.bat file is doing:

cd C:\Windows\Scripts\
This changes the directory to the scripts folders.

call taskbar_operations.cmd
Calls the cmd file which unpins and pins the taskbar icons.

cd C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup”
This changes the directory to the startup folder.

DEL taskbar.bat
This deletes the taskbar.bat after it is done, so it won’t run again for that user.

Step #3

The taskbar_operations.cmd file is the file that has all the custom icon paths in it that are pinned or unpinned.
My file has the following in this order:

Windows Explorer, IE, Firefox, Word, Excel, Outlook, WMP

If you want to change these, simply look in the cmd file and you will figure out what you need to change, it is pretty simple. Also, the default order when running sysprep is WMP, IE, and Windows Explorer, so the script is actually unpinning WMP, unpinning IE, (windows explorer is now bumped over to the left side) and then it pins the rest of the icons in order.

Step #4

Create a “scripts” folder in the C:\Windows directory and drop all of the files into it, except for the taskbar.bat file which you should already have in your startup folder.

Step #5

Now run sysprep as you normally would and the scripts are copied into the default profile. That means for every new user, the scripts pin the icons in the order you want, the script then deletes itself and never runs again. For the correct procedure on sysprepping your machine, read my Windows 7 Sysprep Tutorial.

I am definitely not a programmer, but this works, and I don’t see Microsoft giving us a better solution .

SPREAD THE WORD, TOGETHER WE HAVE CONQUERED SYSPREP

This is version 2 of a step by step guide on Sysprepping a Windows 7 machine from start to finish. I cannot take full credit on this because my first article had so many helpful comments and discussions that this is simply a combination of all the good advice written into a working guide. (I would especially like to thank George for his input on Cscript for auto activation and Nathan for input on Sysprep Audit Mode). This will guide you through the following:

- Audit Mode
- Building the unattend.xml file in WSIM
- copyprofile=true command to copy the default profile (no manual copy)
- Prompt for a computer name
- Enable Administrator account
- Administrator account logs in first time automatically
- Activate windows automatically with Cscript;
- Successfully copy over taskbar icons;
- Delete unattend.xml file automatically upon completion of re-image.

Here is a list of what you will need:

- Latest version of WAIK : KB3AIK_EN.iso Version 1.0
- Windows Vista or Windows 7 Machine to build the XML file on
- ISO or DVD of Windows 7 Installation (x32 or x64)
- WinPE Boot Environment : BrianLeeJackson WinPE 3.0 BootLoader

First we are going to walk through building the unattend.xml file (answer file) and then we will walk through the actual Windows 7 imaging process.

PART 1 – XML FILE CREATION

Step #1

If you have a Windows 7 installation DVD, insert it now. Or if you have an ISO of 7, go ahead and extract it to a folder on your desktop. (I recommend 7-zip).

Step #2

Launch Windows System Image Manager. Your start menu should look like the image below:

Windows 7 WAIK Version 1

Step #3

Under the “Windows Image” header, right click and select new image.

Windows System Image Manager

Step #4

You will now want to browse to the .CLG file in your Windows 7 installation (I am using Windows 7 Enterprise x64 in my example). It is located in the sources folder. See Image below. You can select either the .clg file or the install.wim. Both will have the same result.

Selecting CLG File - WSIM

Step #5

Now we need to create a new answer file. Go to the file menu and select “Create New Answer File.” Right after creating one, go ahead and simply go to file menu and select “Save Answer File.” This will give your XML file a name and save location. I chose to name mine unattend.xml. Now you see we have two category folders, Components and Packages. Under the Components folder you see that we have 7 options:

-1 windowsPE
-2 offlineServicing
-3 generalize
-4 specialize
-5 auditSystem
-6 auditUser
-7 oobeSystem

Step #6

These are very important as these are the steps in which the unattend.xml file is sequenced.
The next part is a little confusing. You are going to add components, from under the “Windows Image” section on the bottom left hand side to the passes on your Answer File. To add a component, you can right click on them and select “add to # pass”. There are many different options you can add, but they have to be done in a certain order and pass otherwise your sysprep might fail. I am simply going to use the one I created as the example.

Answer File - Unattend.xml

Here is more information about adding options under the passes:

1 windowsPE

Nothing required in my example.

2 offlineServicing

Nothing required in my example.

3 generalize

amd64_Microsoft-Windows-Security-SPP_6.1.7600.16385_neutral

Set 1 for SkipRearm to allow up to 8 rearms

4 specialize

amd64_Microsoft-Windows-Deployment_6.1.7600.16385_neutral

1. 1. Order: 1
      path: net user administrator /active:yes
      WillReboot: Never

   RunSynchronousCommand[Order="1"]

RunSynchronous

amd64_Microsoft-Windows-Security-SPP-UX_6.1.7600.16385_neutral

SkipAutoActivation: true

amd64_Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup_6.1.7600.16385_neutral

Computer Name: Leave blank (we will deal with this at the end)
CopyProfile: true
Registered Organization: Microsoft (you must leave this in this section)
Registered Owner: AutoBVT (you must leave this in this section)
ShowWindowsLive: false
TimeZone: Pacific Standard Time

(Please view TimeZone settings here -> http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc749073%28WS.10%29.aspx)

You can delete other sub-header components if you don’t need them.

5 auditSystem

Nothing required in my example.

6 auditUser

Nothing required in my example.

7 oobeSystem

amd64_Microsoft-Windows-International-Core_6.1.7600.16385_neutral

InputLocale: en-us
SystemLocale: en-us
UILanguage: en-us
UserLocale: en-us

amd64_Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup_6.1.7600.16385_neutral

RegisteredOrganization: Your Company Name
RegisteredOwner: Your Name

AutoLogon

1. Password: Administrator Password

Enabled: true
LogonCount: 5
Username: administrator

FirstLogonCommands

1. CommandLine: cscript //b c:\\windows\\system32\\slmgr.vbs /ipk XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX (windows 7 license key)
   Order 1
   RequiresUserInput: false
   CommandLine: cscript //b c:\\windows\\system32\\slmgr.vbs /ato
   Order 2
   RequiresUserInput: false

SynchronousCommand[Order="1"]

SynchronousCommand[Order="2"]

OOBE

HideEULAPage: true
NetworkLocation: Home
ProtectYourPC: 1

UserAccounts

1. 1. 1. Password: Administrator Password

      Action: AddListItem
      Description: Local Administrator
      DisplayName: Administrator
      Group: Administrators
      Name: Administrator

   LocalAccount[Name="Administrator"]

AdministratorPassword: Administrator Password
LocalAccounts

If you have questions, look at my image above to see full layout of components, it should help.

Step #7

K, now go ahead and save your answer file as unattend.xml.

Step #8

If you want the sysprep to prompt for a computer name you need to remove a line from your XML file. Open up your XML file you saved with notepad and remove the following line:

Unattend.xml Computer Name

PART 2 – IMAGING PROCESS / RUNNING SYSPREP

Step #9

Install Windows 7 (Enterprise) from CD or USB flash drive, when you arrive at the welcome screen and it asks you to create a username, hit ctrl+shift+f3.
This will reboot your machine and put your windows build in ‘audit’ mode.

Step #10

On reboot, you’ll automatically be logged in under the built-in Administrator account. A sysprep GUI box will appear, but you can close it and NOW begin to customize your profile.

Step #11

Install any software/drivers, make any profile customizations, etc.
If you need to reboot, the computer will boot you back into the Administrator account. You will be stuck in this audit mode until you run sysprep with the /oobe parameter. After doing so, sysprep will delete/clean up the Administrator account, but if you have copyprofile=true in your unattended answer file, it will copy the customized Admin account to the default profile before deleting it.

Step #12

On the PC you are going to be running sysprep on, you need to create a folder called scripts in this directory: %WINDIR%\Setup\. Now you are going to create a CMD file within the %WINDIR%\\Setup\\Scripts directory. Right click and make a new text file called SetupComplete.txt. Remove the .txt extension and replace that with .cmd. You now have a SetupComplete.cmd file which windows will read the first time it boots up from the sysprep. We need to place a script inside the CMD file. Edit the cmd file with notepad and insert this line: del /Q /F c:\\windows\\system32\\sysprep\\unattend.xml. This script will delete your unattend.xml file after it has been used. The unattend.xml file is also copied to the C:\\Windows\\Panther directory, so you will want to add a second line to the CMD file, del /Q /F c:\\windows\\panther\\unattend.xml. If you have passwords or cd keys stored in that xml file you don’t have to worry about it being left on the computer.

UPDATE AS OF JUNE 16TH: Read my Taskbar Icons Tutorial before continuing.

Step #13

Once you have everything configured correctly, Copy or move your unattend.xml file to : C:\windows\system32\sysprep. Now to run sysprep, navigate to that sysprep folder, hold SHIFT and right click and select “Open New Command Windows Here”. Next, input the following commands:

sysprep /generalize /oobe /shutdown /unattend:unattend.xml

Step #14

Turn the computer back on and boot to WinPE 3.0 environment (USB stick or CD/DVD). You can use my BrianLeeJackson WinPE3.0 BootLoader to boot up from USB or CD and capture your image. Capture image and save image to network location.
A Dell 960 or GX755 is a good standard for capturing when you want a generic image for use with multiple systems. Might require injecting additional drivers for 3rd party brands, HP, etc. Most should work though right out of the box.

Step #15

On reboot, Windows will run out of the box, as the /oobe is intended. As long as you put your cd key into the unattend.xml file, windows will be activated automatically in the background, you will be automatically logged into the administrator account, and the unattend.xml file is deleted. You are now ready to use the computer or join it to the domain. Enjoy!

Step #1

Install Windows 7 on the Dell GX270 computer. (Refer to my other articles for using ImageX and WinPE 3.0 boot environment for capturing and applying images).

Step #2

Once you have Windows 7 installed, at least for me, Windows Updates didn’t pick up the VGA driver automatically; leaving you with a very large resolution which is unusable.

Step #3

Download the Intel 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics Controller driver (R126990.EXE). (Download Here) The drivers on Dell’s website do not work for Windows Vista or Windows 7.

GX270 - R126990 driver

Step #4

Once you have the R126990.EXE downloaded, you will need to extract the contents of the EXE to a folder. I suggest using 7-zip or Winrar. Download 7-Zip

GX270 - Extracting the driver.

Step #5

Now that you have the driver extracted you are going to have to install the driver manually in compatibility mode. Go into the folder you just extracted and right click on the setup.exe and go to properties and then the compatibility mode tab. You will want to enable compatibility mode for Windows Service Pack 3 and also select “Run as Administrator.”

Run in Compatibility Mode

Step #6

Click Apply, then click OK. Now run the setup.exe as you normally would and it shouldn’t complain about OS not being compatible.

Step #1

Unplug your Zune from USB and close your Zune software.

Step #2

Go to your control panel.

Zune Control Panel

Step #3

Click on Clock, Language, and Region

Zune Region Settings

Step #4

Click on “change location”.

Zune Change Location

Step #5

Change your location to “United Kingdom”.

Zune UK

Step #6

Now plug your Zune back in and launch the Zune software. Go to settings at top right and then to “Player Update” on left hand side.

Zune Player Update

Step #7

It should now ask you to upgrade player to 4.3. Select “Upgrade”. This will take a minute or two.

Step #8

You should now see a confirmation screen saying your player is fully up to date.

Zune Player 4.3

Step #9

You can now go back to control panel and change your region back to US.

If you are like me you have probably run into the following error when trying to run powershell scripts. This becomes very annoying and tedious if you are running different scripts on a regular basis.

“Security Warning – Run only scripts that you trust. While scripts from the Internet can be useful, this script can potentially harm your computer. Do you want to run –.ps1? [D] Do not run [R] Run once [S] Suspend [?] Help (default is “D”):

Step #1

The first thing you need to do is launch Windows Powershell.

Step #2

Then enter the following commands:

get-executionpolicy

set-executionpolicy bypass

Powershell Trust Scripts

Now launch your script and enjoy not seeing that annoying message come up.