These are some pictures I snapped on a relatively recent visit to Chicago. It's a beautiful city.

Trump Tower

The Iconic Sign

Sears Tower now renamed to the Willis Tower

John Hancock

View from the Willis Tower

Move Primary Domain Controller to New Server

Copied from Ali's Blog for my own convenience and for the sake of knowledge redundancy.

Here is a High Level process of migrating from a server 2003 PDC to 2008R2 PDC (Or to any new windows server):

1.     Configure a new server 2008 R2

2.     Join to the domain

3.     Run adprep /forestprep on the server 2003 PDC (This can be found in the tools directory of Server2008r2 dvd)

4.     raise the Domain and forest functional levels to 2003 in Active Directory Domains & Trusts

5.     Run adprep /domainprep on the server 2003 pdc

6.     Run DCpromo to add it as secondary DC, make the new server a GC and DNS server

7.     Move all 5 FSMO roles to the new server (See Below)

A.    Schema

B.    Domain Naming

C.    RID

D.    PDC Emulator

E.    Infrastructure

8.     Leave the two servers to replicate for an acceptable period.

9.     Run DCpromo on the old server and demote from DC role.

A.    Note that this is an important step to decommission the server properly from the network

B.    If this step is skipped, the new server will still have all the traces of the old server in DNS and everywhere

C.    This may cause issues down the line.

10.  Once the server is gracefully decommissioned, take it off the domain

11.  Shut down and remove from network.

Further details shamelessly copied from KB 324801

FSMO Roles

In a forest, there are at least five FSMO roles that are assigned to one or more domain controllers. The five FSMO roles are:

·      Schema Master: The schema master domain controller controls all updates and modifications to the schema. To update the schema of a forest, you must have access to the schema master. There can be only one schema master in the whole forest.

·      Domain naming master: The domain naming master domain controller controls the addition or removal of domains in the forest. There can be only one domain naming master in the whole forest.

·      Infrastructure Master: The infrastructure is responsible for updating references from objects in its domain to objects in other domains. At any one time, there can be only one domain controller acting as the infrastructure master in each domain.

·      Relative ID (RID) Master: The RID master is responsible for processing RID pool requests from all domain controllers in a particular domain. At any one time, there can be only one domain controller acting as the RID master in the domain.

·      PDC Emulator: The PDC emulator is a domain controller that advertises itself as the primary domain controller (PDC) to workstations, member servers, and domain controllers that are running earlier versions of Windows. For example, if the domain contains computers that are not running Microsoft Windows XP Professional or Microsoft Windows 2000 client software, or if it contains Microsoft Windows NT backup domain controllers, the PDC emulator master acts as a Windows NT PDC. It is also the Domain Master Browser, and it handles password discrepancies. At any one time, there can be only one domain controller acting as the PDC emulator master in each domain in the forest.

You can transfer FSMO roles by using the Ntdsutil.exe command-line utility or by using an MMC snap-in tool. Depending on the FSMO role that you want to transfer, you can use one of the following three MMC snap-in tools:

Active Directory Schema snap-in

Active Directory Domains and Trusts snap-in

Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in

If a computer no longer exists, the role must be seized. To seize a role, use the Ntdsutil.exe utility. 

For additional information about how to use the Ntdsutil.exe utility to seize FSMO roles, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

255504 Using Ntdsutil.exe to Seize or Transfer the FSMO Roles to a Domain

Transfer the Schema Master Role

Use the Active Directory Schema Master snap-in to transfer the schema master role. Before you can use this snap-in, you must register the Schmmgmt.dll file. 

Register Schmmgmt.dll

1.    Click Start, and then click Run.

2.    Type regsvr32 schmmgmt.dll in the Open box, and then click OK.

3.    Click OK when you receive the message that the operation succeeded.

Transfer the Schema Master Role

1.    Click Start, click Run, type mmc in the Open box, and then click OK.

2.    On the File, menu click Add/Remove Snap-in.

3.    Click Add.

4.    Click Active Directory Schema, click Add, click Close, and then click OK.

5.    In the console tree, right-click Active Directory Schema, and then click Change Domain Controller.

6.    Click Specify Name, type the name of the domain controller that will be the new role holder, and then click OK.

7.    In the console tree, right-click Active Directory Schema, and then click Operations Master.

8.    Click Change.

9.    Click OK to confirm that you want to transfer the role, and then click Close.

Transfer the Domain Naming Master Role

1.    Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Active Directory Domains and Trusts.

2.    Right-click Active Directory Domains and Trusts, and then click Connect to Domain Controller.

NOTE: You must perform this step if you are not on the domain controller to which you want to transfer the role. You do not have to perform this step if you are already connected to the domain controller whose role you want to transfer.

3.    Do one of the following:

o  In the Enter the name of another domain controller box, type the name of the domain controller that will be the new role holder, and then click OK.

-or-

o  In the Or, select an available domain controller list, click the domain controller that will be the new role holder, and then click OK.

4.    In the console tree, right-click Active Directory Domains and Trusts, and then click Operations Master.

5.    Click Change.

6.    Click OK to confirm that you want to transfer the role, and then click Close.

Transfer the RID Master, PDC Emulator, and Infrastructure Master Roles

1.    Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Active Directory Users and Computers.

2.    Right-click Active Directory Users and Computers, and then click Connect to Domain Controller.

NOTE: You must perform this step if you are not on the domain controller to which you want to transfer the role. You do not have to perform this step if you are already connected to the domain controller whose role you want to transfer.

3.    Do one of the following:

o  In the Enter the name of another domain controller box, type the name of the domain controller that will be the new role holder, and then click OK.

-or-

o  In the Or, select an available domain controller list, click the domain controller that will be the new role holder, and then click OK.

4.    In the console tree, right-click Active Directory Users and Computers, point to All Tasks, and then click Operations Master.

5.    Click the appropriate tab for the role that you want to transfer (RID, PDC, or Infrastructure), and then click Change.

6.    Click OK to confirm that you want to transfer the role, and then click Close.

Restore Lenovo G550 Laptop to Factory Settings

My latest struggle in restoring a computer to usefulness after a virus infection led me to throw my hands into the air and do a system restore. Of course the laptop came with no restoration discs and the extra partition on the hard drive usually used in lieu of them did not seem to contain the required files. My google searching on how to do this led me to these gems which I will post here just in case they get lost in the woods.

From the Lenovo Users Guide (Page 23)

Chapter 4. OneKey Rescue System

OneKey Rescue System

Introduction

The Lenovo OneKey Rescue System is an easy-to-use application that can be used to back up the data on your system partition (C drive) for easy restore when required. You can run Lenovo OneKey Recovery under the Windows operating system, and the OneKey Rescue System without starting the Windows operating system.

Attention:
In order to utilize the features of the OneKey Rescue System, your hard disk already includes a hidden partition by default to store the system image file and OneKey Rescue System program files. This default partition is hidden for security reasons and is the reason the available disk space is less than it claims. The exact available hard disk space depends on the file size of the mirror image file (based on the size of operating system and preinstalled software).

Using Lenovo OneKey Recovery (Within Windows operating system)
In Windows operating system, double click the OneKey Recovery System Icon on the desktop to launch Lenovo OneKey Recovery.
Within the program, you can back up the system partition on the hard disk drive, other storage devices, or by creating recovery discs.
For more instructions, see the help file of Lenovo OneKey Recovery.

Using Lenovo OneKey Rescue System (Without Windows operating system)
In the event that the operating system cannot be loaded, follow the steps below to access OneKey Rescue System.
• Shut down your computer.
• Press the key to launch OneKey Rescue System.
Within the program, you can choose to restore your system partition to the original factory status, or to a previously generated backup.

Notes:
• The backup process and creation of recovery discs may take some time, connect the AC adapter and battery pack to your computer.
• After the recovery discs are burned, please number them so that you can use them in the correct order.
• Computers without an integrated optical drive support the creation of recovery discs; however an appropriate external optical drive is needed to physically create the recovery discs.
Note: The recovery process is irreversible. Make sure to back up any critical data before using the recovery feature.

Posted by joyson baira on fixya.com

Hi,

All you need to do is removed the battery and unplugged the charger then press and hold the power button for 15 seconds then connect the laptop directly to the power outlet without using the battery just for the meantime then press the little button near the power button which has a drawing of an arrow going to the lef or soing down like a horseshoe or headset, press that button then you will see there One Key Recovery, choose that one then choose restore from factory default, then choose restore from initial back up then click OK and Start, that will restore your computer from the factory default, if this button doesnt work, contact lenovo to asked for a cd, its free and you just have to pay for the shipping which is $10.

Hope this will help...