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How to Upgrade Win 2012 core to Win 2016 core

How to upgrade your Windows 2012 Hyper-V core to Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2016.  Make sure you have a good backup and if you have any running VM’s it must be turned off to void any issues with the upgrade process.  Download the ISO from the Microsoft website, you will need an account to download the ISO Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2016.  Login to your current Windows 2012 core server and create a Directory in C drive called ISO and navigate to it.  Attach as ISO you just downloaded or copy the extracted the ISO content drive.

Creating ISO directory:
C:\>mkdir ISO

Navigating to ISO directory:
C:\>cd ISO

Running the command to start the installation of Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2016

C:\ISO>setup.exe /auto upgrade /compact ignorewarning

You should see the checking updates, Installing Windows Server 2016 screen

Before upgrade:

Powershell get-wmiobject win32_operatingsystem

After upgrade:

Powershell get-wmiobject win32_operatingsystem

Then check the windows updates, that’s it


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How to change Windows 10 update settings

Windows 10 updates have been great to help protect end user data from common security risks.  There are many changes happens when your computer gets updated, I have been looking around since Windows 10 was launched, it has come a long way.  Microsoft has been changing categories around and also sometimes it resetting user custom settings.  You do have some control over how often you want to get updates and when you want to get it.  If your computer is part of a network, you can even send and receive updates within your network instead of downloading directly from Microsoft to save Internet bandwidth.  Here are some settings you can change around to fit your needs

When you click on the Settings, this is how it looks like on Windows 10 version 1709

Windows updates had two options in 1607 It used to be called:
Current Branch
Current Branch in Business

Now in 1703 and 1709, it’s called:
Semi-Annual  (Targeted)
Semi-Annual Channel

On version 1709
Settings>Updates and Security

When you click on the Advanced options, you get the options to pause updates or choose when you want to get updates, also if you want to get other Microsoft products updates.

When you click on the Delivery Optimization, you get more options on how you want to get the updates, from the local network or directly from Microsoft, if you have any computer within your local network, it’s best to turn on the Allow downloads from other PCs, and make sure to select the “PCs on my local network” to save the Internet bandwidth.

When you click Advanced options, you get even more control over how much of your local downloading/uploading within your network you want to do.  If you have slower PC you can turn off or have it do very little, and if you have faster PC’s (these day most newer PC’s are almost like a server), you can set higher.

If you are still running Windows 10 1607 version, I would recommend that you do the updates, to keep your computer safe.  Here are a couple of screenshots of 1607 version, it looks little different, had little less control.

Settings>Windows Updates>Advanced options

Hope this helps some people out there, who are looking to make changes to Windows 10 updates settings.  I am sure in future updates Microsoft will do more changes to make Windows 10 more secure, and also to note, some of the GUI (Graphical User Interfaces) are getting limited, if you know the commands or PowerShell you can still get access to it.


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How to secure against Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities?

This is one of the big security vulnerabilities that are affecting many systems because it’s the flaw in the processor, so the Operating system could be Windows’s, Linux’s, Mac’s, Android, etc… Devices could be Desktop computer, Laptops, Tablet’s, smartphone’s, TV’s, including your car software needs to be patched.

Dell: has released the patch for their devices, please go to this link and check it out, to make sure you are protected: www.dell.com/support/meltdown-spectre

HP: A vulnerability has been disclosed with modern CPU architecture referred to as side-channel analysis or speculative execution. Researchers have nicknamed the vulnerabilities “Spectre” and “Meltdown”. The result of exploits could potentially lead to the loss of sensitive information
https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c05869091 

Lenovo:  is aware of vulnerabilities regarding certain processors nicknamed “Spectre” and “Meltdown” by their discoverers. Both are “side channel” exploits, meaning they do not access protected data directly, but rather induce the processor to operate in a specific way and observe execution timing or other externally visible characteristics to infer the protected data.
https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/solutions/len-18282

You can read how to protect your Windows devices, Microsoft has released a security patch.  Here is a link to Microsoft where it list who is affected and what you need to do.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4073757/protect-your-windows-devices-against-spectre-meltdown

This is what I did for my computer using Lenovo, note each vendor has their own patch, some are still working on it and some have released.  It’s best to look up your model/bios version and make sure it’s up to date.

To see if your computer is protected, you can run PowerShell script that Microsoft has published

This is what it looks like before I applied the patch:

This is what it looked like after the updates:

You will also need to do Bios update from the manufacturing and may want to check other updates that you may need.

Note: when doing bios updates, some computer takes a little bit time and may look like a black screen doing nothing, but it’s finishing up a firmware update.  Do NOT shut down by force, otherwise, you will have a dead device.


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Exchange 2010 Kerberos authentication failed

Exchange 2010 is about 8 years old, but many organizations still using it.  System admin like us needs to support, as much as we can, while keeping up with today’s technologies.  There will be times when you might get a message like this in Exchange 2010 Kerberos authentication failed.  There are many blogs, who have found a solution, I would just like to have for myself and maybe others will find useful too.   Here is the screenshot of the error, I saw, when trying to access the Exchange 2010 management console:

You may also get something like this too:

You might want to back up your registry just in case, one of the settings called “NodeStructureSettings”

Then run this command it fixed for me: by resetting the IIS via CMD command

Here is how you like it to be always, working without error 24/7

Hope you will never have to do the fix, but you never know


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Are you paying too much for your Internet and want to save?

Hello all users, people ask me many times what kind of internet should I get (Fios, Cable, DSL, etc..)? or how much should I pay for my internet?  I will not say any vendor here because don’t want to sell you one vendor over another, all I can say is shop around and pay attention to details especially on fine prints, not that you will have an option to change, but at least you are aware of it.  The answer to this question is not clear unless you know what your needs for the internet are and how many users going to be connected to the internet.  One thing for sure normal users, who don’t know much about technology, the provider makes big money from them, buy selling bundle packages, and upgrade packages.  When your internet runs slow, the first thing to do is check to make sure it’s not only you having issues or you’re a device.

Here are few ways to do find out if the website you are on or your internet connection:

  • Go to any other website
  • Use a different browser (like Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Internet, etc..)
  • Do a speed test
    https://fast.com/en/, http://speedof.me, https://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/, many others out there, but the vendor has their own, so they can control, while you test it)
  • If you have option user another device, nowadays most people have a smartphone or tablet, so check on that
  • Also in a different location if you trying to find out speed

If your internet use is normal, meaning browsing, shopping, watching videos, etc… then you fell into general use.  You may be paying too much for your internet connection if it’s normal to use and paying over $100-$200 per month, because Vendor may have you in a bundle package with high speed/download like 150Mbps/75Mbps, in reality, you only be using 3Mbps to 25Mbps for Download and upload maybe about 1Mbps to 10Mbps.  Here are some facts, you can watch High Definition videos with speed of 5Mbps that’s 1080p if you have Ultra High Definition (UHD 4k), then about 25Mbps.  Also if Vendor giving you 150Mbps, but where you getting your content like website or videos limits you from download maximum about 5Mbps or 20Mbps, then you are just throwing your money out the window.  Also, your Vendor might be blocking or throttling, look at up on Wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandwidth_throttling, you from downloading or uploading.

How can you find out if your Vendor is throttling you?  It’s very easy, but your vendor will not accept it or give you all kind of excuses, that it’s on your end.  Also, tech person cannot say anything because they were monitored and recorded for quality and training purposes.  You can do a simple test by downloading or uploading a big file from one source and checking in two different locations.  You may have to try few locations or sources, to confirm it’s not the source, vendor or hosting service throwing.  I hope people get the service for what they paid for, not pay a lot and use just a fraction of it.  Feel free to leave a comment on anything, you want, maybe someone can learn more.