Moving Files with Local Accounts to a New Server

Cleaning Up a Corrupted DNS Cache
If you see a message in the event log that begins with "Event ID 156: DNS Server does not have a cache (or database) entry for root name server," you probably have a corrupted DNS cache file. To purge and recreate the cache, stop DNS and rename the cache.dns file in the %systemroot%system32dns folder to cache.old. Next, copy the cache.dns file from the %systemroot%system32dnsbackup folder or a backup tape to the %systemroot%system32dns folder, and restart DNS. Microsoft Support Online article Q250268 describes this procedure.

Moving Files with Local Accounts to a New Server
Occasionally, you relocate user files to a new server. When the ACL on the files you're moving refers to a local server account, the user account SID is valid only on the original machine. Therefore, when you move the files to a new server, the system can't resolve the SID, and the ACL entry is invalid. Microsoft Support Online article Q250267 describes a technique you can use to restore ACLs using the Scopy command and two Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Resource Kit utilities, Getsid and Subinacl.

Windows 2000 Installation Observations
This week, I continue to share more of my early Windows 2000 (Win2K) experiences. I don’t want you to think that I’ve forgotten about Windows NT 4.0—quite the contrary. I plan to continue NT 4.0 coverage for a long, long time. However, when I checked Microsoft Support Online for new postings about NT 4.0 bugs and problems, I mostly found reports of problems resulting from user error, so there’s not much of interest to report. Actually, the absence of new bugs is good news for all of us, isn’t it?

I now have several Win2K systems dual booting a combination of Windows 2000 Professional (Win2K Pro) and Windows 2000 Advanced Server (Win2K AS), with NT 4.0 and Win2K AS authenticating to an NT 4.0 PDC. Overall, I’m impressed with the ease of the installation and with the plethora of wizards that assist with configuration tasks.

One of my systems is a Dell Dimension XPS-T. After I installed Win2K AS, the system booted with default VGA mode, and I couldn’t play music CDs. To take advantage of the system's 32MB video adapter, I downloaded and installed the Win2K driver—it took a couple of reboots and a little hacking (W2k and I argued about deleting the default VGA adapter), but the new driver finally installed successfully. Win2k detected the Turtle Beach Montego sound card, but music CDs produced no audio until I changed the MIDI Music Playback field to MPU-401 using the Audio tab of the Control Panel’s Sounds and Multimedia Properties applet. Then Pink Floyd just blasted out of the speakers!

I’m now a happy camper—I have 1280 x 1024 true color with a .24 dot pitch top-of-the-line monitor, stereo tunes, and Win2K systems that haven’t crashed in more than 2 weeks. I did get one Dr. Watson access violation from the MMC, but this was hardly a showstopper. Compared with previous major releases and the ongoing unreliability of NT 4.0 service packs, Win2K installation and configuration is smooth, fast, and easy. Of course, my sample size is limited to Win2K Pro, Win2K AS, and just three different hardware configurations. Although I was cynical when I started (I consider cynicism a sign of wisdom in our business), I’m pleasantly surprised.

The "Win2K Where Is It" Guide, Part 2: Desktop Adjustments
Last week, I included several network configuration items in the "Win2K Where Is It" guide, a resource I designed to help you locate your favorite NT tools and utilities in Win2K. This week, I’m adding a few discoveries I made while adjusting the desktops on my new Win2K systems.

The first time I clicked the Start menu on my Win2K system, I immediately noticed that the Administrative Tools group was missing—very disconcerting. To display Administrative Tools and expand Control Panel, right-click the taskbar, select the Advanced tab, and check and clear options until you’re happy with the results.

I like to use Windows Explorer’s Detail view when I’m scanning local or network drives so I can see hidden files and directory and file creation dates. However, Internet Explorer (IE) 5.0’s default settings display all drives and folders as icons, and I’m not quite ready for this dumbed-down view of my 20GB drives. To display details every time you browse local or network drives, start Windows Explorer and set the current view to Details. Next, click the Tools menu and select Options to display the Folder Options window. Finally, go to the View tab in Folder Options and click Like Current Folder. From now on, you’ll see all the goods on every item in Win2K Explorer.