Category: Windows Server

Adding additional IP addresses to your Windows Server 2012

August 20, 2014 The Geek Decoder No Comments Networking, Windows Server

From the Windows desktop, move your mouse to the top right corner of the screen to bring up the Charms bar, and click on Start to bring up the Start screen. In the Start screen, click on the Control Panel tile, and then in the Control Panel screen click on View network status and tasks under the Network and Internet heading.

This opens the Network and Sharing Center screen. To add a new public IP address, click on Local Area Connection. To add a new private IP address, click on Local Area Connection 2.

network_sharing

(This example uses Local Area Connection and a public IP address – the steps for Local Area Connection 2 and a private IP address are identical)

Clicking on Local Area Connection opens the Local Area Connection Status screen.

local_connection1

Click on Properties.

In the Local Area Connection Properties dialog, click on Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)

local_connection_ipv4

Once you have clicked on Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4), click on Properties.

This takes you to the Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) Properties screen, which shows the existing IP address, Subnet mask, and Default gateway. To add the new IP address, click on Advanced….

This takes you to the Advanced TCP/IP Settings page. Click on Add… to add the new IP address. Make sure to click the Add button under IP addresses (outlined in blue) and not the Add button under Default gateways.

local_connection_adv_add

This opens the TCP/IP Address dialog. Add the new IP address, and also the Subnet mask, and click on Add.

add_tcpip

his takes you back to the Advanced TCP/IP Settings screen, which should show the new IP address and Subnet mask (highlighted in yellow here).

ip_added

Click OK or Close to get back to the Network and Sharing Center screen. You may get a warning similar to this:

ip_warning

If so, just click on Yes to continue.

Once you get back to the Network and Sharing Center screen, close that screen. Your new IP address is now added to your Windows Server 2012 VS. You can verify this by opening Windows PowerShell and typing in the ipconfig /all command. Look for the new IP address under the Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection section (highlighted in yellow here). If you added a private IP address, it will be under Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 2.

powershell

This shows that the new IP address has been successfully added to the Virtual Server and is ready for use.

Security Settings in Windows 2012 not allowing DirectX download

August 19, 2014 The Geek Decoder No Comments Administration, Windows Server

Problem: Our security settings are stopping me from downloading DirectX.

Disable IE Enhanced Security on Windows Server 2012

Description

This article will detail disabling the ‘IE Enhanced Security Configuration’ setting within Windows Server 2012. Enchanced Security mode limits the exposure of the server to potentially malicious Web content. However, as a result, this option can cause Web sites to load inproperly. This option can be disabled to allow for a smoother Web experience.

Disabling this option on production server’s is not recommended.

Instructions

1. Open the Server Manager from the task bar.
2. Select Local Server.
3. On the properties tab look for the IE Enchanced Security Configuration setting and Click On.
4. Modify the Security Configuration settings from On to Off. Click Ok to save your changes.
5. Refresh the Local Server details by clicking the refresh button from the top of the Server Manager. The setting will move from ‘On’ to ‘Off’.
6. Close any current instances of Internet Explorer and relaunch to ensure the setting take effect.

Kill stuck Windows service using sc queryex and taskkill

February 17, 2014 The Geek Decoder No Comments Windows Server

Windows Services can sometimes have a nasty habit of getting stuck in the stopping or starting state. Some believe that at this point there is no alternative but to reboot the server to clear the problem.

However, the following trick usually will work.

The first step is to right click and select Properties on the offending Windows Service in order to find the actual Service Name.

Ex: Services > Microsoft FTP service

Start > Administrative Tools > Services

Screenshot

The next step is to do an sc queryex on the Windows Service in order to find the Process ID.

sc queryex ftpvc

Screenshot-1

The Process ID is 5180.  So now we can issue the taskkill /F command on the process.

taskkill /PID 6524 /F

Screenshot-2

Another thing to remember: in Windows 2008, if we are not running the command prompt with ‘run as administrator’, we will get an access denied error on the delete.