Event ID 4227

Warning: Before making any registry changes or system change make sure you have backed up you system and registry.

The issue:

Log Name:      System
Source:        Tcpip
Date:          12/2/2013 11:52:26 AM
Event ID:      4227
Task Category: None
Level:         Warning
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:      xxxxxxxx
Description:
TCP/IP failed to establish an outgoing connection because the selected local endpoint was recently used to connect to the same remote endpoint. This error typically occurs when outgoing connections are opened and closed at a high rate, causing all available local ports to be used and forcing TCP/IP to reuse a local port for an outgoing connection. To minimize the risk of data corruption, the TCP/IP standard requires a minimum time period to elapse between successive connections from a given local endpoint to a given remote endpoint.

The fix:

• First use TCPview or netstat to view how many ports and connections are in use

Fix 1:

You can check the registry and via the command line to see the dynamic port pool size. And change it as need be.

To do it via registry key view HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\MaxUserPort and see what that value is set to. Note this key might not exist you can create it if need be. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc938196.aspx. To do this as command line “netsh int ipv4 show dynamicport tcp” you can see more examples at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929851/en-us if you are running out of ports you can use the command to increase the pool or change the reg key to complete this task.

Fix 2:

This might also be caused by the connection wait delay, if you have this problem you will find lots of connections in a time_wait status in TCPview or netstat.

If this is your problem you can adjust the HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\TcpTimedWaitDelay http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc938217.aspx to resolve this issue. Note again this key might not exist

 

Additional helpful link:

http://www.ittrainingday.com/2012/12/windows-server-tcp-port-starvation.html

winsxs and installer out of control

WARINING: doing anything to the folders below could inpact your system. Make sure you know what your doing and have a full back up and OS image created. This could make your system unusable. 

So if your here I’m guessing your running out of space on your C drive. And used a tool (windirstat) to scan your C drive and find out what folders are using all your space up. Well I’m also guessing that C:\Windows\winsxs and C:\Windows\Installer (this is basically the old $NTUninstall and $NtServicePackUninstall on XP/2003) are at the close to the top if not the top.

Well some back story on what the two folders do and what can you do to get some of you space back

Folder winsxs:

Well this folder is your “component store” for the “add and remove component” or “server roles” features of windows. They look up the required files from this folder and all other OS files hard link back to this folder. Every patch or SP will add a new copy of ever changed core file to this folder kinda like a version repository.

What to do with Winsxs:

1. Well first off DONT DELETE IT you might as well wipe your harddrive
2. Make your SP level Permanent, you can run VSP1CLN.EXE (Vista SP1)/COMPCLN (2008 SP2)/DISM (2008),  to make your service pack permanent and then will remove all files needed before that service pack (note: this exe might be named different on each OS version or SP release, look at item 4 under sources)
3. or you can compress the folder (right click>properties>advanced>compress contents to save disk space) Doing this will take a lot of time based on the size, and with any compression will slow down the input and output speed of the reads and writes to this location. And based on the function of this folder might slow your OS down as long as this folder is compressed.
4. nothing and expand your partition or backup and restore on a new larger disk

Sources:

1. http://blog.dampee.be/post/2011/12/04/Remove-Service-Pack-on-Windows-Server-2008-R2-(Compcln).aspx
2. https://blogs.technet.com/b/askcore/archive/2008/09/17/what-is-the-winsxs-directory-in-windows-2008-and-windows-vista-and-why-is-it-so-large.aspx?Redirected=true
3. http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_vista-files/to-use-or-not-to-use-compclnexe-that-is-the/cd93be4b-6e09-4419-b74e-0417f1273dc0
4. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2592038

Folder installer:

This folder is used for some program uninstallers and patch uninstallers

1. I don’t recommend you delete this
2. It can be moved until needed. (don’t really recommend moving this off your computer, most like you will lose it) If you have a D drive you can move it over to that drive. You might want to zip/7zip it or use some other archive program to make it smaller
3. use msizap utility to remove orphaned files, this is a developer tool and is dangerous if you dont know what your doing.
4. Compress it (right click>properties>advanced>compress contents to save disk space) could slow down installing and uninstalling software
5. nothing and expand your partition or backup and restore on a new larger disk

Folder SoftwareDistribution (bouns topic #1)

This folder is used for Windowupdate and on older systems will keep failed patch installers in this folder. So if this folder has a few GB of data in it, you might want to do something about it

1. stop the windows update service, move it to a different drive, start windows update service. It will then recreate this folder
2. Compress it if you dont really want to mess with it

$NTUninstall and $NtServicePackUninstall (bouns topic #2)

The older version of the installer folder

1. Move and compress to a different drive incase you need them later. Or just compress it

Other system space saving you can try “Disk Cleanup” http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Delete-files-using-Disk-Cleanup

 

$hf_mig$ (bouns topic #3)

DO NOT DELETE

Used for window updates and migration “When a security update, critical update, update, update rollup, driver, or feature pack installs GDR version files, the hotfix files are also copied to the %windir%\$hf_mig$ folder. This supports migration to the appropriate files if you later install a hotfix or service pack that includes earlier versions of these files.”

1. you can compress the folder if its two large.

How to create custom computer policy adm from registry

The problem:

Had to change the default regional settings on windows server 2003 so an application would show data correctly, it was installed as US regional settings but was used in EU. So come to find out that windows does not have a system-wide regional setting. At installation the default profile is set with what was picked at installation. And that default profile is used for all user accounts that get created so after an account is created it stores its own regional settings (currency, date, time, etc). Well come to find out that this is all stored in the registry and we have the option to do a login script, local GPO, domain level GPO, or just delete all the current user profiles. I went with local GPO as it was only for a few systems.

Waring: Make sure you backup your system before you do the steps below and if you don’t know what you’re doing in the registry you may not want to do this as it could destroy your system.

The fix:

1. Make a copy of registry as a backup
2. Make the change as the current user, to the regional settings you want (control panel>regional and language options) on advanced tab check apply all settings to current user and default profile (this will change it for your userid and all new ones)
3. Make a copy of new changes (export reg key HKEY_CURRENT_USER>Control Panel>International) Note: HKEY_USERS>.DEFAULT>Control Panel>International is the default user settings but you DON’T want to copy this one.
4. user a reg to .adm converter tool or create the .adm yourself (RegToADM from the nuts.exe package from http://yizhar.mvps.org/)
5. copy new adm file to C:\windows\inf
6. open gpedit.msc
7. add your new .adm file to the User Configuration>Administrative Templates (right click add/remove templates, then add and find your new .adm file)
8. change your filter options (have administrative templates highlighted and view>filtering, uncheck only show policy settings that can be fully managed. Otherwise you will not see your settings)
9. enable all your new settings (go to your newly created folder under User Configuration>Administrative Templates that the .adm file created, this will now update all current user profiles with the new settings after they login)
10. May need to reboot if its not working well with your applications

Helpful links if you need more help

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/924852
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=323639
http://www.windowsitpro.com/article/registry2/jsi-tip-0311-regional-settings-in-the-registry-
http://yizhar.mvps.org/
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/225087
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Up0Sd_R8KNM
https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!topic/microsoft.public.win2000.group_policy/HbN-0gfR_MU
https://blogs.technet.com/b/askds/archive/2007/08/14/deploying-custom-registry-changes-through-group-policy.aspx?Redirected=true

Enable Godmode in Windows

Note: The below where created for windows developers as shortcuts, so they may not be useful to some people; also please make a backup of your system be for enabling any of the undocumented items below. Not all of they work with all versions of windows and may cause different effects if you try.

To create the Godmode folder:

1. create a new folder where you want it to be
2. rename it “GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}”

This was tested in Windows 7 Ultimate 64Bit

Note: that xxxxx.{xxxx-xxx-xx-x-xxx-x-x} the xxxxx. in front can be any name you want that is what the folder will really be named at the end, dont modify the data in the {}.

Other items you can create:

{00C6D95F-329C-409a-81D7-C46C66EA7F33}
{0142e4d0-fb7a-11dc-ba4a-000ffe7ab428}
{025A5937-A6BE-4686-A844-36FE4BEC8B6D}
{05d7b0f4-2121-4eff-bf6b-ed3f69b894d9}
{1206F5F1-0569-412C-8FEC-3204630DFB70}
{15eae92e-f17a-4431-9f28-805e482dafd4}
{17cd9488-1228-4b2f-88ce-4298e93e0966}
{1D2680C9-0E2A-469d-B787-065558BC7D43}
{1FA9085F-25A2-489B-85D4-86326EEDCD87}
{208D2C60-3AEA-1069-A2D7-08002B30309D}
{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
{2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D}
{241D7C96-F8BF-4F85-B01F-E2B043341A4B}
{4026492F-2F69-46B8-B9BF-5654FC07E423}
{62D8ED13-C9D0-4CE8-A914-47DD628FB1B0}
{78F3955E-3B90-4184-BD14-5397C15F1EFC}

How to hide unwanted accounts from windows login screen

How to hide a windows account from the login screen list

NOTE: Make sure your system is backed up before making changes to your registry!

1. From Run launch regedit.exe
2. Move to key “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList” NOTE: that most likely SpecialAccounts and UserList will not be there so just create two new sub-keys.
3. Under UserList create a new DWORD (32bit) Value, and name it the userID of the account you want hidden (this is not the display name)
4. Make sure the value is set to 0 (this should be the case by default)
5. To enable the account again just change the value to 1
6. Log off or restart for this setting to take effect.

How to debug a VM with a serial port

1. Get your VM in Vmware workstation or Vmware server (with windows running as the host)
2. Add a serial port to the vm
3. Configure the serial port as

   

4. Configure Msconfig

   

5. Reboot
6. Configure BIOS (may not be needed) change serial port A and B

   

7. Install Debugging Tools for Windows
8. Open Windbg
9. Configure Symbol path (srv*c:\windows\symbols*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols)
10. save workspace

    

11. Configure Kernel Debug

    

12. Save workspace
13. Go to debug>break
14. And it should connect

How to change OEM information in Windows

There are a fiew different ways to change the OEM information in Windows

For Vista (Registery):

Note: Logo Size must be 120×120 and .bmp

Data under System:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ OEMInformation

Data under performance information and tools:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winsat\WindowsExperienceIndexOemInfo

There is also a auto patch way:

http://keznews.com/2539_OEM_Logo_and_Information_for_Windows_Vista_-_Auto_Patch

and

http://stevejobs.blogs.keznews.com/oem-logo-and-information-for-windows-vista-auto-patch/

For other versions of windows

Note: Logo Size should be 120×120 and a .bmp

1. name your logo OEMLOGO.BMP
2. add it to %systemroot%\system (for 95/98/ME) or %systemroot%\system32 (for 2000, XP, 2K3)
3. Create a OEMINFO.INI
4. add it to %systemroot%\system (for 95/98/ME) or %systemroot%\system32 (for 2000, XP, 2K3)
5. You can create two sections [General] and [Support Information] in the INI file

For section [General]

Manufacturer=<text>
Model=<text>

For section [Support Information]

Line1=<some text>
Line2=<some text>
….. (and so on)

Example:

[General] Manufacturer=Something Model=on fire [Support Information] Line1=Check out Line2= Line3=www.google.com Line4= Line5=for support Line6= Line7=email: Line8= Line9=something@nah.com

Deleting a Windows Service

WARINING: Changing the registry or deleting services could leave your system unusable know what it is before changing or deleting it.

Removing a service

1. You can run a command line

sc delete {service name}

2. Delete the key out of the registry

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/system/CurrentControlSet/Services

Note: You can find the service name from the service properties and on the general tab.

Why Reboot

The all time windows question, Why Reboot? Well if you install software sometimes you get the popup “Reboot Now” Well there is a free exe out there that will help you see if that Reboot Now is really a Reboot Now. It is called WhyReboot by Exocus Developemnt. This exe will let you see out standing changes that will not take effect until that reboot.

 

Note: there are Limitations with this app.

 

http://exodusdev.com/products/WhyReboot

Shadow Explorer

If you use Shadow copy in Microsoft Windows like Vista/2008 that have this on by default now you might want to check out Shadow Explorer. This will let you browse through shadows copies, show point in time copies, and to retrieve version of files and folders.

http://www.shadowexplorer.com/