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Hey all, David here. Now that we’ve broken the silence , we here on the DS team felt that we owed you, dear readers, an explanation of some sort. Plus, we wanted to talk about the blog itself, some changes happening for us, and what you should hopefully be able to expect moving forward. So...

Hi all, Jonathan here again with the latest edition of the Intermittent Mail Sack. We've had some great questions over the last few weeks so I've got a lot of material to cover. This sack, we answer questions on: Issues upgrading DFSR hub servers to Windows Server 2012 AD FS Sign-out behavior...

My time is up. It’s been eight years since a friend suggested I join him on a contract at Microsoft Support (thanks Pete). Eight years since I sat sweating in an interview with Steve Taylor , trying desperately to recall the KDC’s listening port (his hint: “German anti-tank gun”). Eight years since I...

Hi all, Ned here again with that thing we call love. Blog! I mean blog. I have a ton to talk about now that I have moved to the monthly format, and I recommend you switch to WIFI if you’re on your phone. This round I answer your questions on: Reattaching DCs in Windows Server 2012 DFSR...

Hello, Kim here again. We get many questions about what to expect when interviewing at Microsoft. I’m coming up on my two year anniversary at Microsoft and I thought I would share my experience in the hope that it might help you if you are interested in applying to Microsoft Support ; if nothing else...

Heya folks, Ned here again. Rather than continue the lie that this series comes out every Friday like it once did, I am taking the corporate approach and rebranding the mail sack. Maybe we’ll have the occasional Collector’s Edition versions. This week month, I answer your questions on: The semi-myth...

Hi all, Ned here again. After a few months of talking about Windows Server 2012 to other ‘softies from around the globe, I’m back with the sack. It was great fun – and not over yet, it turns out – but I am finally home for a bit. The only way you don’t know that the next...

Hey all, Ned here again. After a few months of training room huffing, airline food loathing, and PowerPoint shilling, I’m back in Charlotte. I’ve got a backlog of legacy product posts to share from colleagues, and with Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 nigh , more new goo coming your way from me and...

Hey all, Ned here. Mike and I start teaching Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8 DS internals this month in the US and UK and won’t be back until July. Until then, Jonathan is – I can’t believe I’m saying this – in charge of AskDS. He’ll field your questions and publish… stuff. We’ll make sure he takes...

Hi all, Ned here again with an actual back to back mail sack. This week we discuss: Running out of USNs and Versions DFSR RDC LAN WAN FWIW AOK NPS and dotted NetBIOS domain names USMT and the case of the failing sourcepriority Revisiting NIC teaming Weird DFSR files MaxConcurrentAPI...

Hello all, Ned here again with our first mail sack in a couple months. I have enough content built up here that I actually created multiple posts, which means I can personally guarantee there will be another one next week. Unless there isn't! Today we answer your questions around: Detecting...

Hi all, Ned here again. Like Bruce Campbell, we’ve been away for awhile, but you can always count on us to return for the sequel. Some of the Windows Server “8” Beta blogging rules have been relaxed and we’re ready to begin firing our boomstick. Look for the first one here in...

Hey all, Ned here again. Still no ETA on Win8 word, and we've already discussed everything else on Earth ( ;-P ) so now I will share with you some insider knowledge of working in Microsoft Charlotte: the quarterly "PC Recycle Day". Here's an example of what I just saw on my way to get some coffee. ...

Hiya folks, Ned here. It's that time of year again, where the AskDS team goes on hiatus to play Call of Duty and Skyrim spend time with family and friends. Please save your emails and questions until the second week of January. No one can hear your screams. If you’re still scrambling for last...

Hi folks, Ned here again with your questions and comments. This week we talk: AD Garbage Collection behavior Applying Group Policy based on installed roles and features Apple hates .local domains More on auto site coverage from Lurch Fixing the mysteriously bad CPU performance of brand...

Hi folks, Ned here again. This week we talk: CA migration from 1 to 2 tier ADAM/ADLDS P2V ABC 123 Managing AGPM security filters Multiple IIS App pools and Kerberos AGPM multi-domain comparison ADUC domain password weirdness DFSR deletion conflict handling Stale account deletion...

Hiya world, Ned is back with your best questions and comments. I’ve been off to teach this fall’s MCM , done Win8 stuff , and generally been slacking keeping busy; sorry for the delay in posting. That means a hefty backlog - get ready to slurp. Today we talk: Weirdness with NETDOM...

Hello folks, Ned here again with another Mail Sack. Before I get rolling though, a quick public service announcement: Plenty of you have downloaded the Windows 8 Developer Preview and are knee-deep in the new goo . We really want your feedback, so if you have comments, please use one of the following...

Hello folks, Ned here again. This week, we discuss: Computer and user name uniqueness DFSR file size matters The weird user unlock in ADUC RDC extras USMT versus full disk encryption DFSN and standalone interlink timing DFSR conflict folder growth Other stuff Things have...

Hiya folks, Ned here again with another week’s questions, comments, and oddities. This time we’re talking: GPMC inconsistent permissions error ADMT multiple servers DFSR staging calculation performance USMT and MAX_PATH DFSR port 5722 on members Common AD support topics...

Hiya folks, Ned back with a palette-cleansing Mail Sack after this monstrosity . This week we talk about: To customize AD schema or not DC and root hints USMT and the case of the missing apps DFSR and %SYSTEMROOT% More fun with DC Same As Parent domain zone records Speeding up DFSN...

It’s been four years and 591 posts since AskDS reached critical mass. You’d hope our party would look like this:  But it’s more likely to be: Without you, we’d be another of those sites that glow red hot, go supernova, then collapse into a white dwarf . We really appreciate your comments, questions...

Hiya folks, Ned here again. This week we talk: DC DNS A Records and Web Servers Forwarding Security event log subscriptions Domain password filters Auditing NTLM vs NTLMv2 on Win2003 Programmatically determining if UNC is DFS namespace DFSR and Excel Shared Workbooks DFS, DC,...

Hiya folks, Ned here again. I finally have an editor that allows anchors on all the questions, so I am adding a quasi “table of contents” for these posts that allow easier navigation and linking. I’ll retrofit all the old mail sack articles too… eventually. This week we discuss...

Ned here. As you can tell, I’ve been gone for a bit – hang tight, I’m replying to all these emails. In the meantime, here’s what I was up to: San Diego Comic-Con 2011 Oh sure, now you’re interested. :) A sampling of what my Windows Phone 7 camera and I came up with during the four-day awesome-o-thon...