Noel Pulis

Author: Noel Pulis

  • WSUS Not working on Windows Server 2025

    WSUS Not working on Windows Server 2025

    When setting up WSUS on a Windows Server 2025, one might encounter issues with the update of the repository, and the server will never synchronise.

    After looking at the logs, which can be found in the C:\Windows\UpdateLog.log one would see timeout errors.

    First things to check are the firewall and internet access of the server. The other reason why the synchronization would fail it would be due to the security defaults of Windows Server 2025, where TLS and SSL, which are disabled by default.

    For WSUS to work, one needs to enable these protocols. To enable them, one can use applications such as IIS Crypto, which can be downloaded from the link below.

    https://www.nartac.com/Products/IISCrypto/

    After enabling TLS and SSL, reboot the server. After logging in, try to synchronize the WSUS, and it should be working.

  • Cisco ASA Password recovery without loosing configuration

    Cisco ASA Password recovery without loosing configuration

    If you have lost the password and you want to reset the password of your Cisco ASA router without losing the configuration, below is the process to do so.

    Please note: You must be very careful when performing this procedure and have physical access to the router to complete it.

    Connect via Putty (COM)
    Boot the device
    During boot, press CTRL+C

    Before proceeding, take note of the  current configuration register
    Do you wish to change this Configuration Y
    Disable System Configuration Y
    The rest press Enter (default)

    When the prompt is ready, type boot
    When the router boots with the default configuration, enter enable (enable password is blank)

    Enter copy startup-config running-config
    After the configuration is complete, enter the following

    Configure Terminal
    Password <New_Password>
    Enable Password <New_Password>
    Username <User> password <New_Password> Privilege 15
    config-register <Register code from the start>

    Save the configuration by running copy running-config startup-config

    Reboot the router, and you should have access to the configuration.

  • Disable MFA requirement in Microsoft 365 for specific users

    Disable MFA requirement in Microsoft 365 for specific users

    We would require a specific user or a migration process to have MFA disabled. Although it’s not suggested due to security reasons, we might be forced to have it disabled.

    If you disable the Multifactor authentication from the Multi-factor authentication in the Active Users, it will not matter as the system will still be enabled.

    Before proceeding, a group should be created for example MFA Excluded and put the users needed in the group.

    For this and the new portal changes Microsoft have done, you need to get into the Entra ID admin portal.

    https://entra.microsoft.com

    Click on Protection from the side pane and click on Authentication Methods.

    Click on Policies and click on Microsoft Authenticator.

    Click on the Exclude tab and add the group that was created earlier.

    This should allow you to use an account without MFA.

  • Pre-Provision a user’s OneDrive in Microsoft 365 using PowerShell

    Pre-Provision a user’s OneDrive in Microsoft 365 using PowerShell

    When a new account is created in Microsoft 365, its OneDrive is not provisioned, which the user must do. If you needed to pre-provision it for the user, you would need to log in with every user or use the below method to pre-provision it using PowerShell. Usually, this is done to pre-fill the OneDrive of a user with startup data and folder structure as well as it is needed to be provisioned for a migration process.

    A requirement for this is to have the SharePoint Online Management Shell installed, which can be downloaded from the Microsoft site https://www.microsoft.com/en-US/download/details.aspx?id=35588&msockid=3765afd8b0d06ff03ce2baf8b1a76eb2.

    Once downloaded and installed, open a PowerShell window.

    Type the following command

    Connect-SPOService -Url <your admin sharepoint URL>

    The admin SharePoint URL is usually the domain -admin.sharepoint.com for example https://mydomain-admin.sharepoint.com

    Then you will need the following command to pre-provision the Onedrive.

    Request-SPOPersonalSite -UserEmails <email address of user>

    This will provision the OneDrive or the user.

  • How to connect to a MariaDB via the SQL Management Studio SSMS

    How to connect to a MariaDB via the SQL Management Studio SSMS

    From the SQL Management Studio (SSMS) there is a way to connect/create a linked server to a MariaDB. For this you would need the following.

    – Install the ODBC Connector for MariaDB
    – Create an ODBC Connection (System DSN)
    – Add Linked Server.

    Installing the ODBC libraries for MariaDB

    Browse to https://mariadb.com/downloads/connectors/connectors-data-access/odbc-connector/
    Download the required ODBC installer for Windows.

    Install the downloaded “mariadb-connector-odbc-3.2.3-win64.msi” file

    Creation of the ODBC connection

    Open the ODBC Data Source Administrator (64-bit)
    Click on System DSN
    Click on Add
    Select MariaDB ODBC 3.2 Driver
    Give the connection a name
    Enter the server details and click on Test DSN to confirm the connectivity.

    Setting up the connection via the SSMS

    Open the SQL Management Studio
    Connect to the SQL instance
    Click on Server Objects and right-click on Linked Servers
    Click on New Linked Server

    Enter a name in the linked server section
    Change the Provider to Microsoft OLE DB Provider for ODBC Drivers
    Enter the ODBC Connection name you created in the Data Source section
    Click on Security
    Click on Be made using this security context and enter the credentials of the MariaDB server

    Click OK

    This will create the connection and you can browse the data.

  • SQL: Attach a database using a different database name

    SQL: Attach a database using a different database name

    When attaching a database in SQL Server using the interface, it doesn’t let you change the name of the destination database. This can be done using the SQL Commands below.

    USE [master]
    GO
    CREATE DATABASE [myNewSite_db] ON
    ( FILENAME = N'D:\Data\myNewSite_db.mdf' ),
    ( FILENAME = N'E:\Logs\myNewSite_db_log.ldf' )
    FOR ATTACH
    GO

  • How to connect to an AzureAD joined computer with Remote Desktop

    How to connect to an AzureAD joined computer with Remote Desktop

    When trying to connect using Remote Desktop Connection (RDP) to a computer which is AzureAD joined, one will not be successful as it will fail to connect. To successfully connect, one should first open the Remote Desktop Connection, enter the details of the devices and save the save your connection settings to a .rdp file.

    To do this, follow the instructions below.

    Open the Remote Desktop Connection program.
    Enter the IP Address or computer name to connect to.
    Click the Save As button at the bottom of the screen.
    Save it someplace convenient as we need to edit it.

    In the next part we will be editing the .rdp file we saved using notepad or any text editor.

    Go to the end of the file, add the following lines:

    enablecredsspsupport:i:0
    authentication level:i:2

    Save the file and close.

    Now, double clicking the modified .rdp file and login using the format:

    AzureAD\YourFullUsername

    You will be able to remote connect to the machine.

  • Microsoft 365 online archive never starts

    Microsoft 365 online archive never starts

    When having a user mailbox, you enable the online archive mailbox and set the archive policy, but the emails never move from the user mailbox to the online archive. You run the full crawl with PowerShell but nothing happens.

    The problem could be that the Retention Hold is enabled. This can be fixed by running the below.

    Get-Mailbox "<email address of user>" | Select RetentionHoldEnabled

    This will show if the feature is enabled. Run the following command to remove the Retention Hold flag.

    Set-Mailbox "<email address of user>" -RetentionHoldEnabled $false

    Once this is complete, run the following command to re-run the job.

    Start-ManagedFolderAssistant -Identity "<email address of user>" -FullCrawl

    After some time you should see the archive being populated.

  • Fix Remote server returned ‘550 5.7.520 Access denied, Your organization does not allow external forwarding

    Fix Remote server returned ‘550 5.7.520 Access denied, Your organization does not allow external forwarding

    This is a security feature from Microsoft 365 where it will block emails from being forwarded outside the tenant. If you get such a message, this means that the recipient has forwarding set outside its tenant. To allow this feature, follow the below guide.

    Open the Office 365 Admin Center and click on Security.

    Under Email & Collaboration, click on Policies & Rules.

    Click on Threat Policies.

    Click on Anti-Spam under Policies.

    Click on Anti-spam outbound policy (Default).
    Scroll down and click on Edit protection settings.
    Under Forwarding Rules, change the Automatic forwarding rules from Automatic – System-controlled to On – Forwarding is enabled.
    Click on Save.
  • Changing Timezone from command line

    Changing Timezone from command line

    It would be the case that you would need to change the time zone on the server but from the Time & Date option, it would be greyed out due to policy. There is a workaround for changing the timezone using the Command Prompt as Administrator.

    Type tzutil /g to get the current time zone.

    Type tzutil /l to list the available time zones.

    Use tzutil /s "<timezone name>" to change the desired timezone.