Author: Fabian

Write zeros to a hard drive – Wipe/Erase unused or free space

Windows: Format and write zeros to every sector of the drive.
format <Driveletter> /fs:NTFS /p:0

Windows: Format and write zeros to every sector of the drive. After the first pass write random numbers.
format <Driveletter> /fs:NTFS /p:2

Windows: Fill free space.
cipher /w:<Driveletter>[:\foldername]</span>

Unix: Wipe full drive.
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/<block device> bs=<block size 1M, 32M, etc.> status=progress

Unix: Fill free space.
dd if=/dev/zero of=/path/to/drive/zeros.file status=progress

Unix: Fill free space on FAT32 drive (4GB limit per file).
cat /dev/zero | split -b 2000m - zero -d --additional-suffix=.file

To run the process in background see Run command in background on a Synology NAS with nohup

How to configure RPC dynamic port allocation to work with firewalls

Windows XP use per default a dynamic port range from 1024 to 5000 for RPC/WMI/DCOM. To set up a fixed Port or Range use this settings:

  1. regedit: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Rpc
  2. Add key "Internet"
  3. Add this three values:

Ports: REG_MULTI_SZ: 5000-5100
PortsInternetAvailable: REG_SZ: Y
UseInternetPorts: REG_SZ: Y

  1. run winmgmt -standalonehost
  2. net stop winmgmt
  3. net start winmgmt
  4. Reboot

[via]https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/154596/how-to-configure-rpc-dynamic-port-allocation-to-work-with-firewalls[/via]
[via]https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb219447%28v=vs.85%29.aspx[/via]

Error: “A later version of Microsoft .NET Framework XY Client Profile is already installed”

Looking at the MSI installer logs (Temp-Dir) and finding this line: NEWERVERSIONDETECTED = {}

And running this in a command line: msiexec /uninstall {}

[via]https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/vstudio/en-US/a8ceb77b-f625-4259-94de-4ae5157ba98c/net-framework-4-reinstallation-failure?forum=netfxsetup[/via]

Windows Update failed with error code 0x80004005

Since weeks one windows machine wasn't able to install the latest "Monthly Rollups", but other updates work. After reboot the installer starts until 86% and undone the update. Internet search did not bring much, except some users with an alternative bootloader who have the same problem. But this machine has no other bootloader. The Windows Update log did not have any helpful details, which also makes sense since it had to give for the installation of the update its own log. I remembered the CBS.log, which I used in another problem and what should I say ... there was the error code 80004005 - with helpfull details.

[...]
Error      [0x018009] CSI    00000052 (F) Done with generic command 5; CreateProcess returned 0, CPAW returned S_OK
    Process exit code 112 (0x00000070) resulted in success? FALSE
    Process output: [l:8995 [4096]"BFSVC: BfspCopyFile(C:\Windows\boot\PCAT\bootmgr, \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolume1\Boot\bootmgr) failed! (Attempt 1 of 60) Last Error = 0x70
BFSVC: BfspCopyFile(C:\Windows\boot\PCAT\bootmgr, \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolume1\Boot\bootmgr) failed! (Attempt 2 of 60) Last Error = 0x70
[...]
BFSVC: BfspCopyFile(C:\Windows\boot\PCAT\bootmgr, \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolume1\Boot\bootmgr) failed! (Attempt 10 of 60) Last Error = 0x70
BFSVC: BfspCopyFile(C:\Windows\boot\PCAT\bootmgr, \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolume1\Boot\bootmgr) failed! (Attempt 11 of 60) Last Error = 0x70
BFSVC: BfspCopyFile(C:\Windows\boot\PCAT\bootmgr, \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolume1\Boot\bootmgr) failed! (Attempt 12 of 60) Last Error = 0x70
BFSVC: BfspCopyFile(C:\Windows\boot\PCAT\bootmgr, \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\Harddis[gle=0x80004005]
[...]

It was not possible to write parts of the bootloader. I assign a drive letter to \HarddiskVolume1 with diskpart and i see the problem. The drive was out of space. Only 12Kb free, but lots of garbage. The drive is also used for Recovery (WinRE). Then I recognized the cause. The disk was cloned from a HDD to a SSD with lower capacity. After resize the HarddiskVolume1 to original size, the update works without any problem.

Bugzilla checksetup.pl stops with segmentation fault

After upgrading an openSUSE machine, the Bugzilla installation no longer works. Each run of the checksetup.pl crashes with "segmentation fault". After updating perl with cpan and some research the solution for the problem was very simple:

  1. Rename the lib folder in the Bugzilla directory
  2. Run ./install-modules --all
  3. Run ./checksetup.pl again

Hardlink, Symlink and Junctions

To create a softlink, which should work through a network share, a junction should be created with mklink:

[...]mklink
Creates a symbolic link.

MKLINK [[/D] | [/H] | [/J]] Link Target

        /D      Creates a directory symbolic link.  Default is a file
                symbolic link.
        /H      Creates a hard link instead of a symbolic link.
        /J      Creates a Directory Junction.
        Link    specifies the new symbolic link name.
        Target  specifies the path (relative or absolute) that the new link
                refers to.

[via]https://www.windowspro.de/andreas-kroschel/ntfs-dateiverknuepfungen-links-unter-windows-7[/via]

Remove VMware VIBs/VIB conflict

 ~ # esxcli software vib list | grep Mel
net-mst 2.0.0.0-1OEM.550.0.0.472560 Mellanox VMwareCertified [...]

~ # esxcli software vib remove -n net-mst
Removal Result
   Message: The update completed successfully, but the system needs to be rebooted for the changes to be effective.
   Reboot Required: true
   VIBs Installed:
   VIBs Removed: Mellanox_bootbank_net-mst_2.0.0.0-1OEM.550.0.0.472560
   VIBs Skipped:
~ #