As we all probably did, I recently upgraded to Windows 10. I was really impressed with how greatly MSFT improved the search function from 7 to 8/8.1, however in Win10, the search function just did not work for me. Using some Google-FU, I was not alone and here is what I found it to fix it:

1. Kill the process ‘explorer.exe’ (Run PowerShell -OR CMD as Admin)

taskkill /im explorer.exe /f

1. Navigate to this registry key, and DELETE it:

(I recommend using REGJUMP, it’s just sooo handy!)

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderTypes{ef87b4cb-f2ce-4785-8658-4ca6c63e38c6}\TopViews{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}`

1. Launch ‘explorer.exe’ again

(You should find more stuff now, but still not all…)

1. Make sure the ‘Windows Search’ service is running

2. Run the following PowerShell command:

(Re-install / build Cortana…)

Get-AppXPackage -Name Microsoft.Windows.Cortana | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}

1. Last but not least, make sure your “Indexing Options” in the Control Panel are set correctly. I Made sure I selected the right disks and drives, and rebuild the index from scratch, that took a while…

2. Enjoy your working and fast search! :o)

“The beginning is the most important part […]”

is a famous quote by Plato. However to be begin something you have to end something. I am going to part with my current employer and move on to bigger and better things. I appreciate the last 18 month that I was able to help you out and you were giving me the opportunity to grow.

This Friday, August 7th will be my last day. Goodbye!

Also looking forward my new opportunity starting Monday, August 10th. Looking forward to it!

Looking for new music I stumbled over Veritas Maximus the new band of Kevin Russell who has quite an interesting’ past.
Not judging a book by its cover I like his voice and the new project, so I’d recommend have a look at them.
Schicksalsflügel would be my favorite song, but even if you don’t speak / understand German, the music speaks for itself.

We had a SBS server that is no longer in use but still has important information on it. The second you have an other DC on the Domain SBS starts to freak out a little as it violates the EULA (so does turning the SBS Core service off…) The problem is as long as the SBS server sees there is another DC, it will keep turning off every hour. VERY frustrating.

The below is the error log you should see:

To disable we followed the below:

1. Download the Process Explorer tool from SysInternals – Here
2. Load Process Explorer and look for the SBS Licensing Service – C:\Windows\system32\sbscrexe.exe
3. Select this service and Suspend it – you should find the service greys out
4. Open Regedit and expand the following key – HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SBCore
5. Right click this Key and add the Administrators group giving them Full Permission to the key (refresh this and you should see all the key entries now)
6. Select the Start DWORD and change it from 2 to 4 (this sets the Disabled state)
7. Open a File Explorer window and browse to the C:\Windows\system32\sbscrexe.exe file
8. Right click this and load Properties / Security
9. Add the Everyone group and set the Deny permission for Full Access (should then tick the sub permissions)
10. Go back to Process Explorer and now kill the sbscrexe.exe service – this should now be disabled
11. Check the SBCore service via services.msc – it should have a disabled state and now longer be running
12. Get some coffee – you saved the day. ;o)

Source:

http://www.webbosworld.co.uk/blog/?p=175

I was working today on a 2008 R2 machine and wanted to write a script and was compuzzled where there was no PowerShell ISE on that server?! Come to find out that the ISE is not installed by default on 2008 R2. Grr…

Here how to install it with a 2 liner: (run PS as admin)

Import-Module ServerManager
# In newer PS versions just 'install-windowsfeature'
Add-Windowsfeature PowerShell-ISE