Windows cannot access the specified device

This is an old problem, but I still see it from time to time.  You are trying to run and executable that you downloaded, and you are on a Windows 2003 system.  You double click and get:   As you can see here, I am simply trying to install the windirstat utility to figure out… Continue reading Windows cannot access the specified device

SCVMM and P2V Adventures

Where I work, we have been using Microsoft Virtualization since Virtual Server was in Beta.  Of course, we don’t necessarily use all of the functions and features of all the software we have, but one feature that I have used a good bit is the “Convert physical server” action in System Center Virtual Machine Manager. … Continue reading SCVMM and P2V Adventures

An online pack already exists…

Situation:  I have a 32bit file server running Windows Server 2003.  I have a new 2008 R2 (x64) file server running on Hyper-V.  Did I mention that the R2 server is on Clustered hosts? This is all simple.  Just drop the LUNs from the file server, give them to the cluster and assign them as… Continue reading An online pack already exists…

P2V fails at Copy Hard Disk

I have been trying to get a P2V of a production system to use in our DR plan.  I have limited opportunity to do this, because I am not allowed to impact performance during production hours for this system, and the definition of production hours is fairly broad.  I have been trying for a couple… Continue reading P2V fails at Copy Hard Disk

Insufficient system resources exist to complete the requested service

We recently implemented a new optical storage system using a software package that runs on Windows.  The particular machine that is used to host this application gradually had problems accessing the optical storage (which is essentially a NAS device) and would frequently pop the title message: Insufficient system resources exist to complete the required service. … Continue reading Insufficient system resources exist to complete the requested service

Error 360: The operation failed due to a virtual disk service error

I use DPM to backup a few servers, in a pilot group, and I was trying to add one to a protection group.  I kept getting this error every time I tried to modify the protection group to add another server: Modify protection group: *Protection Group Name* failed:Error 360: The operation failed due to a… Continue reading Error 360: The operation failed due to a virtual disk service error

The Framework.log file grows larger…

If you are trying to free up space on your system drive you may run across a very large  log file in the system32\wbem\logs folder: SYMPTOMS When you use Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) and you configure it to log all events on your Microsoft Windows Server 2003-based computer or Microsoft Windows XP-based computer for quick… Continue reading The Framework.log file grows larger…

Windows Failed to install the update with error 0x80070643

I am responsible for keeping a number of machines (around 900 or so) up to date with all the latest Windows Updates.  Recently I noticed that a number (around 15 or so that I am sure of) weren’t installing particular updates.  I have seen this in the past, but the particular updates that wouldn’t apply weren’t of real… Continue reading Windows Failed to install the update with error 0x80070643

Windows Server Virtualization Calculator

 I came across Ben Armstrong’s Blog today while doing a little searching.  He has some good stuff about Microsoft Virtual Server on there and one of the things he posted on has to do with a calculator to figure out how to configure your Virtual environment.  It doesn’t take much to figure out that Data Center… Continue reading Windows Server Virtualization Calculator

The start up screen is all black and you can’t see what you are typing into the logon box

I have had a few machines that occasionally have strange color combinations and you can’t see the logon box to view what you are typing.  I finally put the right words in the search to come up with the answer:  SYMPTOMS After you press CTRL+ALT+DELETE to log on to a Microsoft Windows Server 2003-based computer, the logon screen turns… Continue reading The start up screen is all black and you can’t see what you are typing into the logon box