Author: Christopher

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SFTP Server for Windows Server 2008 / Windows Server 2012

Those managing and supporting Windows based web servers from the Linux world will be familiar with using Secure FTP (SFTP) which provides file transfer support over an SSH tunnel, generally using port 22. Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2012 lack support for Secure FTP (SFTP) and only natively support FTP over SSL which is cumbersome to setup and lacks granular permission and log management.

A number of third party open source and commercial Secure FTP solutions are available for Windows servers including CYGWIN, FileZilla, FTP Shell and IPSwitch.

The fastest and easiest solution to setup is Core FTP Server which  supports SSL/TLS (FTPS), SFTP (SSH2), HTTPS, and clear FTP modes. Core FTP can be setup in a matter of minutes and provides full SFTP support including public/private key authentication.

For more information on Core FTP server click here.

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Install Windows 8 from USB drive in UEFI mode

To install Windows 8 from a USB drive in UEFI mode you first need to prepare a USB thumb drive within the Windows 8 installation files formatted as a FAT32.

  1. Prepare your Windows 8 ISO file
  2. Attach USB flash drive to your computer
  3. Download the Windows 7 USB/DVD download tool
  4. Run the tool:
    1. Step 1 of 4: Select Windows 8 ISO file
    2. Step 2 of 4: Click “USB device“
    3. Step 3 of 4: Select your USB device from the list and click “Begin Copying“
    4. Step 4 of 4: Wait till copying finishes
  5. Create a new folder on your computer disk, for example, C:\W8USB
  6. Copy all the files from your USB thumbdrive (the one you got prepared at 3rd step) to the newly created folder (created in the previous step)
  7. Right click on the USB drive icon in Computer window and select “Format…” from the context menu. Make sure you select “FAT32 (Default)” in “File system” drop down menu. Click “Start” and wait till the drive gets formatted
  8. Copy all the files from the folder you created earlier (C:\WIN8USB, for example) to the formatted drive
  9. Your Windows 8 installation USB drive is ready. Attach it to USB 2.0 port (some computers doesn’t support booting from USB 3.0 ports)  of the computer you want to get Windows installed
  10. Reboot computer and launch BIOS/UEFI config menu (on most computers it can be done pressing F1 after computer starts)
  11. Find settings related to UEFI. Make sure you have something similar to “UEFI Only” or “UEFI first, legacy second” selected. If you leave the setting as “Legacy first“, Windows will proceed with regular, non-UEFI installation
  12. Save settings and reboot the computer. It should boot with the USB drive
  13. Proceed with Windows installation normally
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Import Windows 8 GPO Templates to Windows Server 2008 R2

On your domain connected Windows 8 workstation open an elevated Command Prompt (Command Prompt (Admin)) and run the following commands:

cd /d %windir%\winsxs
dir *.admx /s /b > %USERPROFILE%\Desktop\admx.txt
dir *.adml /s /b | find /i "en-us" > %USERPROFILE%\Desktop\adml_en-us.txt

mkdir %USERPROFILE%\Desktop\PolicyDefinitions
mkdir %USERPROFILE%\Desktop\PolicyDefinitions\en-US
FOR /F %i IN (%USERPROFILE%\Desktop\admx.txt) DO copy %i %USERPROFILE%\Desktop\PolicyDefinitions\
FOR /F %i IN (%USERPROFILE%\Desktop\adml_en-us.txt) DO copy %i %USERPROFILE%\Desktop\PolicyDefinitions\en-US\

This will copy all of the new templates from your Windows 8 machine to the GPO location.

Logon to your Domain Controller and browse to c:\Windows\ and rename PolicyDefinitions to PolicyDefinition.pre-8 then copy the PolicyDefinitions folder you just created on your desktop to your domain controller in c:\windows\. Finally open the group Policy Editor to access the new, upgraded templates.

Note: This process can also be used to import Windows Server 2012 templates into a Windows Server 2008 R2 based domain.

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Windows Server 2012 Desktop Experience

To change your User Profile picture in Windows Server 2012 the “Desktop Experience” feature is required. Desktop Experience provides a similar interface experience to Windows 8. The ‘Desktop Experience’ feature can be added under the Server Manager -> Features.

To install the Desktop Experience:

1. Select ‘Manage’
2. Select ‘Add Roles & Features’
3. Select ‘Role-based or feature-based installation’
4. Select (local server)
5. Select ‘Features’ on the left hand menu
6. Scroll down and select ‘User Interfaces and Infrastructure’
7. Check the ‘Desktop Experience’ box
8. Click ‘Install’
9. Once the installation completes you will need to reboot your server.

Once your server has rebooted, login and you will now have Windows 8 desktop functionality as part of your Windows Server 2012. Features and functionality are outlined here.

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Install VMware Tools on CentOS 6

To install VMware Tools on a CentOS 6.x virtual machine:

1. SSH to your VM or use the VMware ESXi Client to access the VM’s shell.

2. Run the following commands:

# yum -y install perl
# mkdir /mnt/cdrom
# mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom
# cp /mnt/cdrom/VMwareTools-*.tar.gz /tmp
# umount /mnt/cdrom
# tar -zxf /tmp/VMwareTools-*.tar.gz -C /tmp
# cd /
# ./tmp/vmware-tools-distrib/vmware-install.pl --default
# rm -f /tmp/VMwareTools-*.tar.gz
# rm -rf /tmp/vmware-tools-distrib

3. Reboot your Virtual Machine

4. VMware tools is now installed.