Category: IT

How to setup an SFTP server with RSA public key authentication mechanism

Why SFTP over FTP? The reason is visualized in its name: “S”, that means Security. Using SSH will employ a client-server model to authenticate two parties and encrypt the data between them. This topic will guide you through how to setup an SFTP authentication mechanism using public key cryptography, the working OS is CentOS version 6.9. Let’s get…

Connecting two FreePBX machines together

One of the most common issues that people come up against is that they’ve rolled out one FreePBX machine, and now they want another, somewhere else. And to make it just that little bit harder, they want to link them together. At first, this can be a bit daunting, but it’s not – when you…

Create an Admin User Account Using CMD Prompt (Windows)

This is a quick tutorial on how to create a new administrator account on a Windows computer. Step 1Open CMD Prompt… On Windows XP, click the Start button, then open up Run…, and type in “cmd” and click OK. On Windows Vista or Windows 7, click Start, search for “cmd” and press Enter. Step 2Add Username and Password Now, in the…

How to move Windows Recovery Partition

Warning 1: You must know what the following commands do before you execute them. Check the link above and MS’s documentation for diskpart, dism and reagentc. Warning 2: Check disk numbers, partition numbers and volume letters carefully before executing commands.

Why is there a DENY rule for Remote Desktop in Windows Firewall with Advanced Security?

So this was a weird one. Remote desktop stopped working on client machines. Troubleshooting led to a group policy Block rule in the Windows firewall but there was no such GPO setting. TLDR: Don’t put any spaces in the IP address list for the GPO setting for Computer/Admin Templates/Network/Network Connections/Windows Firewall/Domain Profile/Windows Firewall: Allow inbound Remote Desktop…

Setting up Windows Server for YubiKey PIV Authentication

Configuring a Certification Authority (CA) for Smart Card Authentication In order to utilize the Smart Card functions in a Windows environment using the YubiKey Minidriver, a Certification Authority (CA) must first be stood up. This chapter covers the basic configuration for setting up a new Certification Authority (CA) to a Windows Server (2016 and above)….

Strong Authentication in Active Directory Using a YubiKey

Most security and IT professionals know that passwords are always at risk of being compromised or cracked. Those that seek to solve this problem generally turn to one of three mainstream solutions: One-time password systems such as an RSA SecurID token or the Google Authenticator app, out-of-band authentication via SMS, or the more recently developed…

Quickbooks Service Database Manager Wont Start – DNS Conflict

Sorry I know this is a really old post but in case this helps someone else, this is the best solution that I have found to exclude the ports yet. (takes the guess work out of which ports you need to exclude) https://helpomatic.com/quickbooks-2020-quickbooksdb30-service-database-manager-wont-start/ Run QB Database manager, click the “Port Monitor” tab (for newer versions) Take…

MDT & WDS setup for OS deployment

In this guide, I am going to outline the basics when setting up a WDS server. I am also going to outline the basics when configuring and deploying an image across the network. Prerequisites: – A server running Windows Server 2003 onwards (I am using 2016 standard) – Sufficient space for the OS and applications…

16 Ways to Bypass the PowerShell Execution Policy

When I tested it on one computer it worked fine, but on another it failed as the running of PowerShell is restricted. To avoid this error the PowerShell script can be saved to a file with a ps1 extension and then executed using the following (replace the highlighted section with your filename): powershell -executionpolicy bypass -File…