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VMware: Change SCSI Controller Type from BusLogic to LSI Logic

May 11th, 2014 by Admin

After upgrading to a 64-bit operating system or an operating system that does not support BusLogic, you may receive the following error on startup:

The BusLogic SCSI adapter is not supported for 64-bit guests in this release

If you boot the virtual machine from a WinPE bootdisk, you’ll be unable to see your hard drive. BusLogic is not supported in a lot of the newer operating systems. BusLogic is not actively being improved by VMware so bugs come along as things change in the OS and none fixes them.

To get around this issue on a VMware virtual machine, you need to change the SCSI controller type from BusLogic to LSI Logic. There isn’t an option in the VMware Player or Workstation to change the SCSI type, so I turn to edit virtual machine’s configuration (.vmx ) file by following these steps:

  1. Power off your VMware virtual machine and then use a text editor to open your virtual machine’s configuration (.vmx ) file.
  2. Find the line that begins with scsi0.virtualDev, where 0 is the SCSI controller number of your virtual hard drive. If your current SCSI control type is BugLogic, there should be a line present in your .vmx file: scsi0.virtualDev = "buslogic". Replace this line with with scsi0.virtualDev = "lsilogic"
  3. If there is no such line, simply add the following line to your .vmx file:
    scsi0.virtualDev = "lsilogic"

    change-vmware-scsi-type.png

  4. Save the .vmx file and close the text editor. Start your virtual machine and it will run with the LSI Logic SCSI controller.

The SCSI controller type of a virtual hard drive can be one of the following ones, but only the BusLogic SCSI adapter does not work under 64-bit operating system.

  • buslogic – BusLogic SCSI
  • lsilogic – LSI Logic SCSI
  • lsisas1068 – LSI Logic SAS
  • pvscsi – VMware Paravirtual SCSI

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How to Disable Windows Authentication in SQL Server

May 4th, 2014 by Admin

MS SQL Server supports two types of authentication models: Windows Authentication and SQL Server Authentication, which are configured during the installation of SQL Server. Windows Authentication is the default option for new SQL Server installation and it allows you to access the database without providing a username or password.

sql-windows-authentication

If you don’t want the users to open the database using Windows Authentication for security purposes, you can disable it easily.

How to Disable Windows Authentication in SQL Server?

  1. Login into SQL Server using Windows Authentication or SQL Server Authentication.
  2. In Object Explorer, open Security folder, open Logins folder. Right click on the local account and go to Properties.
  3. In the Login Properties window, select the Status tab.disable-windows-authentication
  4. Set Login to Disabled, or set Permission to connect to database engine to Deny.

After disabling the Windows Authentication in SQL Server, make sure you remember your SQL Server logins. If you forgot the SA password or mistakenly disable the SA account, there are also ways for you to unlock SA account in SQL Server.

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SQL Server Management Studio Saved Password

May 2nd, 2014 by Admin

Is there a way to recover or retrieve the stored passwords in SQL Server Management Studio? How to clear the saved login for SQL Server Management Studio? SQL Server Management Studio always forgets the password to all the servers you connect even if you do have the “Remember password” checked?

management-studio-password

In this article we’ll explain how to fix all these problems you might have with SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS).

Where are SQL Server Management Studio passwords saved?

In SQL Server Management Studio 2005, all credentials are stored in the mru.dat file. However, SQL Server Management Studio 2008 and higher versions save the logins in the SqlStudio.bin file. Here are the default locations of SQL Server Management Studio stored passwords:

SQL Server Management Studio 2014:
C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\SQL Server Management Studio\12.0\SqlStudio.bin

SQL Server Management Studio 2012:
C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\SQL Server Management Studio\11.0\SqlStudio.bin

SQL Server Management Studio 2008:
C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Shell\SqlStudio.bin

SQL Server Management Studio 2005:

  • In Windows 8/7/Vista: C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Tools\Shell\mru.dat
  • Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\Application Data\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Tools\Shell\mru.dat

If you want to clear / remove the remembered login and password list in SQL Server Management Studio, simply delete the SqlStudio.bin or mru.dat file.

How to Recover stored passwords in SQL Server Management Studio?

If you open the SqlStudio.bin file with a text editor, you can find out the server names and login for the saved connections easily. However, the passwords are not stored in plain text.

Currently there is no any password recovery tools out there that can decrypt the stored passwords in SqlStudio.bin. If you’ve forgotten your password, you should just reset it on the server. SQL Server Password Changer is a reliable tool that can also help you unlock / reset sa password in SQL Server.

SQL Server Management Studio not saving password?

It seems to be a known issue with SQL Server Management Studio but to date I have not seen a fix. I also have experienced this problem on numerous occasions. However there is a simple workaround for this problem. Try to delete the SqlStudio.bin or mru.dat file and the “Remember password” function should work. I have done this on two different PCs with no problems, and its working.

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How to Change SQL Server 2014 Password After Forgotten

April 27th, 2014 by Admin

Forgot the SA password on MS SQL Server 2014 instance? How can I reset or change SQL Server 2014 password? Microsoft SQL Server stores passwords as a hash in a system table named sql_logins. The old versions of SQL Server 2008/2005/2000 use only the SHA1 hashing algorithm to encrypt the password whereas SQL Server 2014/2012 have moved to use a stronger algorithm SHA512.

In theory, the SQL Server password hash can be cracked using brute-force attack. But currently there is no effective tool out there that can crack the password in an acceptable amount of time. Here I’ll introduce a simple way to change SQL Server 2014 password by replacing the password hash in the Master database (master.mdf).

How to Change SQL Server 2014 Password After Forgotten?

SQL Server Password Changer is the only tool we will be using for this tutorial. Before getting started, you need to stop your SQL Server instance so we can then use this program to edit the password hash resides in the master.mdf file, by following these steps:

  1. Click here to download and install SQL Server Password Changer on your local computer.
  2. Start the program and click the Open File button. Select the master database file (master.mdf) for your SQL Server 2014 instance. Typically it is located in the folder:
    C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL12.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\DATA

    Select the SQL Server master database file

  3. The program will automatically decrypt the master database file and display all user accounts in your SQL Server 2014 database.

    SQL Server Password Recovery

  4. Select a user account whose password you want to change, click the Change Password button. Type a new password and click OK.

    Change SQL Server Password

  5. The old password will be replaced with your new password. Now start your SQL Server instance and you can then connect to your SQL Server 2014 database with your new password.

Besides resetting SQL Server 2014 password, you can also use SQL Server Password Changer to change forgotten SA password on SQL Server 2012, 2008, 2005 and 2000.

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How to Change Screen Resolution in Windows PE 4 and 5

April 26th, 2014 by Admin

Windows PE (Windows Preinstallation Environment) is a lightweight version of Windows used for troubleshooting an operating system while it is offline. Previously I’ve written an article on how to create a bootable Windows PE CD or USB flash drive. But the default resolution of Windows PE is 800 x 600, Is there a way to change the screen resolution to fit on your screen?

To set screen resolution in WinPE, simply put an answer file named unattend.xml file in the root of the WinPE ISO image with the following content.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
  <settings pass="windowsPE">
    <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64"
publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS"
 xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
          <Display>
          <ColorDepth>32</ColorDepth>
          <HorizontalResolution>1024</HorizontalResolution>
          <RefreshRate>60</RefreshRate>
          <VerticalResolution>768</VerticalResolution>
          </Display>
    </component>
  </settings>
</unattend>

If your Windows PE is a 32-bit Windows environment, remember to change the processor architecture from amd64 to x86. Also, since Windows PE 4.0, it doesn’t like 16-bit color depth, so when changing to 32-bit it would work perfect.

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How to Bypass Windows 8.1 Start Screen & Boot Directly to Desktop

April 20th, 2014 by Admin

In the previous post I explained how to skip the Start screen in Windows 8, by creating a scheduled task. Things get easier since Windows 8.1 and you can now bypass the Start screen with just a few clicks.

The Start screen is a good starting point for Windows 8 devices with touch screens. But the majority of desktop users would prefer to bypass the Start screen and boot directly to the desktop. There is a really simple way to do this.

How to Bypass Windows 8.1 Start Screen?

  1. Right-click on the Windows 8.1 taskbar, and then choose Properties.

    taskbar-properties

  2. Click on the Navigation tab, then under the Start screen section, check the box next to “When I sign in or close all apps on a screen, go to the desktop instead of Start“. Click OK.

    bypass-windows-8.1-start-screen

  3. Now when you fire up your PC you will be taken straight to the desktop without ever seeing the Start screen. However, you can always access the Start Screen any time by press the Windows key.

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Reset Lost Admin Password of Windows Azure Virtual Machine

April 17th, 2014 by Admin

The virtual machines on Windows Azure allow to connect from RDC (Remote Desktop Connection). But how can I reset the administrator password if the password has been lost? Please help!

Windows-Azure-VM-password

If we forget the Admin password for a Windows Azure VM, is there an easy way to reset it? The most common method we can think of is boot your VM from PCUnlocker Live CD and reset lost Windows password. However, booting a Windows Azure VM from a CD or ISO is not supported at this time. As of now there is no way to reset the password externally or outside Windows Azure VM. But there is a workaround to gain access to your data.

Create a new Windows Azure VM and attach old VM as data disk to new VM. Now, you will be able to get access to your old data. As password loss could be a significant issue, you can add a new Admin user to your VM after creating the new VM so in case you lost the main password you will still have access to same VM using the other admin user.

Updated: All Azure virtual machines have at least two disks – an operating system disk and a temporary disk. The operating system disk is actually virtual hard disk (VHD) located in an Azure storage account. The latest version of PCUnlocker allows you to mount a .VHD or .VHDX file and reset lost Windows Azure VM password offline. For more information, please check out this tutorial: Forgot Windows VHD/VHDX Administrator Password.

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How to Disable Help Sticker Notifications in Windows 8.1

April 11th, 2014 by Admin

Today when I try to set up a Picture Password on Windows 8.1, a big black rectangle appears on the left border of my screen. Inside the rectangle there is a big orange arrow and the words “Switch between apps. Swipe in from the edge to go back to the last app you were using.” The annoying thing is that it overlays part of the screen and I can’t get rid of it.

win8-help-sticker

After searching online I found this is the Help Sticker Notifications. Luckily there is a simple registry hack to disable the Help Sticker Notifications in Windows 8.1.

How to Disable Help Sticker Notifications in Windows 8.1?

  1. Press the Windows + R keyboard shortcut to bring up the Run box.
  2. Type regedit and press Enter afterwards.
  3. In the Registry Editor window, navigate to the subkey: HKEY LOCAL MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows.
  4. Right-click on Windows key and select New > Key from the context menu.
  5. Name the new key EdgeUI.
  6. Right-click the new EdgeUI key afterwards and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.
  7. Name it DisableHelpSticker.
  8. Double-click on DisableHelpSticker and enter 1 in the Value data box. Click OK.disable-help-sticker

Restart your PC and the Help Sticker Notifications will disappear in Windows 8.1. Nevertheless, if you feel the need to get it back, you can do so by navigating back to the EdgeUI key and delete it from the registry. This will enable the help sticker again.

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