Brian W. McCann

Here is a brief update to a problem a lot of us have encountered, installing the AdminPak on Windows Vista to support your server environment. Take a look here for my previous post on this that has the only supported work around from Microsoft.

I've heard from some pretty reliable sources at Microsoft that there is indeed going to be no update to the AdminPak for Windows Vista. While this is sad I understand their direction. They would prefer you to specify a management server that is running Terminal Services that you remote desktop into and perform your management of your servers. This works great for companies the size of the one I work for (Intel) because of the advanced setup we have where everything is behind a firewall. This way you can restrict which server\s have access inside the firewall and you don't have to worry about setting rules for each client system that is going to perform these tasks.

While it works great for larger companies there is still a gap for smaller companies. I'm no expert on Small Business Server but the problem doesn't rely with the server but instead is a problem with the client…and in this case Windows Vista. If you're in this boat I would recommend that you remote desktop to a server hopefully not your Domain Controller but if that is all you have then that is what you will have to connect to. Once connected then you do all your administration from that server.

I really wish I could have posted some wonderful news about a new AdminPak but it really doesn't look like there will ever be one.

If you need a little help learning how to backup and restore Group Policy take a look at this video I have showing how to do it.

Backing up and Restoring Group Policies

Sami had a strange issue with her computer today where all of her desktop icons were no longer transparent. She is running Windows XP and the only thing she says she did was change her desktop background. I've seen all kinds of crazy fixes from going into the System Properties to change settings, some people recommend going into the Registry and deleting keys from there, and others want you to install 3^rd party software to fix a problem that has a TWO click solution.

Right click on your desktop and hover over "Arrange Icons By" and uncheck "Lock Web Items on Desktop". That's it.