See you shortly..

Dear All,
I will be away for few months..
Hopefully when I’m back ,will have more to share with you.

Thanks
Balsaraj

World IPv6 Day -June 8th, 2011

An initiative designed to test readiness for the transition to next generation Internet Protocol (IPv6) from the now all but obsolete IPv4.

Read More Here

Windows 8 on October 2012

Good News Friends!

The below article in softpedia by Marius Oiaga gives a heads up that Windows 8  is going to officially release on October 2012.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Windows-8-Availability-2-to-3-Years-after-Windows-7-205249.shtml

 

I think the repackagers\build engineers are really enjoying the frequent releases of new OS from Microsoft which makes their job safe and bringing quite lot of opportunities. !!

Last few years repackagers are really having a good time to learn new technologies and most of them enjoying the challenges too.

InPrivate Browsing Using IE 9

InPrivate Browsing helps prevent Internet Explorer from storing data about your browsing session. This includes cookies, temporary Internet files, history, and other data. Toolbars and extensions are disabled by default.

You can open a IE window in private mode using the following command.

iexplore -private

Microsoft Windows XP EOS Countdown Timer.gadget

Large number of organizations are still using Windows XP.The end of support of this platform is on 2014.

You can check how many days are remaining using the  gadget from Microsoft.

You can download this gadget by  clicking here.

 

• Supported Operating Systems:Windows 7;Windows Vista,Windows 7 32-bit or 64-bit, any edition

VB Script : Remove an entry from Hosts File

 

On Error Resume Next

Set wshshell = createobject("wscript.shell")

Line1="0.0.0.0.0   TEST"
Call RemoveValues(Line1)

 

 

Sub RemoveValues(Line)
    Dim varFile         ‘Variable to store the values of the file
    Dim varFileLines    ‘Variable to store the current line read from the file
    Dim WshShell        ‘Object pointing to the WScript
   
    ‘Initializing the WScript object
    Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.shell")
    ‘System root
    SysRoot = WshShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings("%SystemRoot%")
    ‘File Path
    sFileName = SysRoot & "\system32\drivers\etc\Hosts"
  
    Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
    Set objFile = objFSO.OpenTextFile(sFileName, 1)
   
    ‘looping through the Hostss file
    Do Until objFile.AtEndOfStream
        ‘Reading a line from the Hosts file
        varFileLines = objFile.ReadLine
        ‘Checking for the search string
        If Trim(varFileLines) <> Line Then
            ‘Building the string without the search string
            If Trim(varFile) = "" Then
                varFile = Trim(varFileLines)
            Else
                varFile = varFile & vbCrLf & Trim(varFileLines)
            End If
        End If
    Loop
    ‘Closing the file object
    objFile.Close
    Set objFile = Nothing
    ‘Creating the file without the search string
    Set objFile = objFSO.CreateTextFile(sFileName, True, False)
    ‘Writing the lines into the file
    objFile.WriteLine varFile
    ‘Closing the file object
    objFile.Close
    Set objFile = Nothing
End Sub

VB Script:Add an entry in Hosts file

The hosts file is one of several system facilities to assist in addressing network nodes in a computer network.(As per the definition in Wikipedia!)
The hosts file contains lines of text consisting of an IP address in the first text field followed by one or more hostnames.

This file will be present in %SystemRoot%\system32\drivers\etc\

 

The below script is an example for adding an entry in to the hosts file.

This will append the existing hosts file. The same script can be used for updating the services file by changing the filename in the script.

No shy to say this is a copied script !!. I have modified some lines as per our requirement.

 

On Error Resume Next

Dim wshshell

Set wshshell = createobject("wscript.shell")

Line1="0.0.0.0  TEST"     ‘Enter the required entry here
Call AddValues(Line1)

Set wshShell = Nothing

 

Sub AddValues(Line)
    Dim varFile         ‘Variable to store the values of the file
    Dim varFileLines    ‘Variable to store the current line read from the file
    Dim WshShell        ‘Object pointing to the WScript
   
    ‘Initializing the WScript object
    Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.shell")
    ‘System root
    SysRoot = WshShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings("%SystemRoot%")
    ‘File Path
    sFileName = SysRoot & "\system32\drivers\etc\Hosts"
    Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
    Set objFile = objFSO.OpenTextFile(sFileName,1)

    Flag=0
   
    ‘looping through the hosts file
    Do Until objFile.AtEndOfStream
        ‘Reading a line from the hosts file
        varFileLines = objFile.ReadLine
        ‘Checking for the search string
        If Trim(varFileLines) <> Line Then
            ‘Building the string without the search string
            If Trim(varFile) = "" Then
                varFile = Trim(varFileLines)
            Else
                varFile = varFile & vbCrLf & Trim(varFileLines)
            End If
    Else
        Flag=1
        End If
    Loop
    ‘varFile = varFile & vbCrLf & Trim(varFileLines)
     ‘Closing the file object
        objFile.Close
    if Flag=0 then
        ‘varFile = varFile & vbCrLf & Trim(varFileLines) & vbCrLf & Line
        varFile = varFile & vbCrLf & Line
        ‘Creating the file with the search string
        Set objFile = objFSO.CreateTextFile(sFileName, True, False)
        ‘Writing the lines into the file
        objFile.WriteLine varFile
    ‘Closing the file object
    objFile.Close
    end if
    Set objFile = Nothing
End Sub

%~z1

%~z1 – expands %1 to size of file

To get the size of a file in bytes using batch script is very easy.

Open note pad and type in the below commands.

echo %~z1

pause

save the file as test.bat

If you want to get the size of a file ,say “Testmysize.mdb” ,Open cmd.exe and run the below command.

test.bat Testmysize.mdb

It will display the size of Test my size.mdb file in bytes.

Windows 7: Deploying Your Application with Windows Installer (MSI) and ClickOnce

If you are a developer involved in the creation of application deployment packages using Windows Installer (MSI) or ClickOnce, this session is for you… I felt this is very interesting talk.Thanks to Tyler Robinson.

http://channel9.msdn.com/blogs/pdc2008/pc42

Internet Explorer Administration Kit (IEAK)

The Internet Explorer Administration Kit (IEAK) simplifies the creation, deployment and management of customized Internet Explorer packages. The IEAK can be used to configure the out-of-box Internet Explorer experience or to manage user settings after Internet Explorer deployment.

Read more about this in the below link.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/ie/bb219517

VB Script :Write a binary value in registry

Here I share with a you a sample script to write a binary value in registry.Its not  easy as you write REG_DWORD ,etc .

const HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE = &H80000002
strKeyPath = "SOFTWARE\test"
strComputer = "."
iValues = Array(&H01) ‘<-Give the value here .

Set oReg=GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & strComputer & "\root\default:StdRegProv")
BinaryValueName = "FailureActions"
oReg.SetBinaryValue HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE,strKeyPath, BinaryValueName,iValues

 

Note: For testing this script make sure ‘HKLM\Software\test’ key present already.

Adobe Creative Suite Design Premium CS5

While packaging Adobe Creative Suite Design Premium CS5, you might have noticed that the below “Update available” prompt will be appearing automatically after install of the application. This can be disabled via the below mentioned method.

To disable the below auto prompt from Adobe help.exe

1.check the read-Only check box of state.xml file in %appdata%\chc.4875E02D9FB21EE389F73B8D1702B320485DF8CE.1\Local Store\#ApplicationUpdater

2.Click ok.

To implement this via package, copy\over write this file to the above location via active setup.

Versions of Java which support Windows 7

Here are the versions of Java which support Windows 7:

 1.4: >= 1.4.2_23

 1.5: >= 1.5.0_21

 1.6: >= 1.6.0_14

Difference of Small upgrade and minor upgrade

Small and minor updates are very similar. The only difference is that in a minor update the
product version is increased (in any of the first thee fields), while a small update leaves the
version number unchanged or increases only the fourth field of the number. You can update
your product with a small or minor update package only if the product code is unchanged.
To replace an existing application with a package that has a different product code, a major
upgrade is required.

REINSTALLMODE=vomus

What is the importance of ‘v’ in REINTALLMODE?

msiexec /i test.msi REINSTALLMODE=vomus REINSTALL=ALL

The important part is the "v" in the reinstall mode settings. It forces the use of the new msi
file instead of the cached copy.

If you are upgrading a package with same product code and different package code(ofcurse) use ‘v’ inorder to recache the new msi.

HKEY_USERS (Identifying the SID of current logged in user)

During the troubleshooting of an application to deal with HKCU entries where the current user doesn’t have access to registries, checking the SID of the current user can help you identify the particular hive of the logged in user.

use the command whoami /user

Open the command prompt and enter the above command (In user mode) .The command will display the SID of the current logged in user.

open the registry with admin user and check the hive under HKEY_Users with the displayed SID.Delete or add the registry to  troubleshoot the application.

Setting permission for empty folder without empty component

Step 1:Create the empty folder in the required location using “New folder “ option.

For eg: I have used ‘BalsaTest’ folder in [ProgramFileFolder]

An Empty component will be getting created for this folder.

Note : Removing this empty component “AllOtherFiles” while giving permission via lockpermission table is the aim of this exercise.

Step 2: Set the required permission for the folder as below

Folder will appear with Lock icon after giving the permission

Lock Permission table will appear as below

Directory table entry as below

Createfolder table entry will be as below

We need to apply the tweak in createfolder.

Step 3:

Change the component to any other existing component in the package which is not empty.(Best practice is to give on the mainexe’s component)

Nothing to worry about the path of the mainexe component and the empty folder, Even the empty folder is getting created in different location .

The Parent folder mentioned in directory table will help the folder to get install on the required location.

Step 4: Delete the ‘AllOtherFiles’ componet from feature

Done!.Compile and install the MSI. Permission will be applied as below.

%~dp0

To get the path of a batch file from which directory it is executing ,you can use %~dp0.

How to make an application available in Open With ‘Desktop Menu’

 

By using the registry HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\Application we can make an application available in Open with Menu.

This Registry determines the list of applications shown in the "Open With" list.

Example:

Registry Key:   HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\Applications\<EXE NAME>.exe\shell\open\command

Value: <Default>   = "<FULL PATH OF THE EXE WITH EXE NAME.EXE>" "%1"

App-V basic Questions

Q:What is App-V Sequencing

The process of creating a virtualized package using App-V sequencer is known as App-V sequencing.
The Microsoft Application Virtualization (or App-V) Sequencer is a component of the App-V suite used to package your applications to be deployed to systems using the App-V client. Properly sequencing applications is the key to a successful App-V implementation.

Q:What is VFS Sequencing

The method of allowing an Application to install on C: drive during the monitoring phase of the sequencing is termed as VFS sequence.

Q:What is MNT Sequencing

The “MNT” portion indicates that when the application was installed during the monitoring phase of Sequencing it was installed to the drive letter used as the client’s mount point.This type of sequencing method is termed as MNT sequencing.

Q:What is System Guard
System Guard tracks and analyses configuration repositories and resources used by the application and intercepts the use of these resources, redirecting them to the virtualized instances of the resources.
The Microsoft SoftGrid Application Virtualization Platform‘s heart is SystemGuard, a patented technology which enables applications to run without installing them locally—and without altering the client‘s operating system.
SystemGuard eliminates common application deployment and management problems:
Application Conflicts: Almost any application will run on any client at any time.
Version Incompatibilities: Different versions of the same application will run simultaneously on the same computer.
Multi-User Access: Applications that were previously unable to run in multi-user mode and therefore could not run within Citrix MetaFrame or Windows Terminal Services, will now do so and function correctly for multiple users.
Multi-Tenancy Issues: Instances of the same application using different database paths will run on the same computer at the same time.
Server Siloing and N-Way Regression Testing: The need for many separate server farms and time-intensive regression testing for application conflicts is eliminated.

Q:What are the protocols supported for streaming

RTSP, RTSPS, FILE, HTTP, HTTPS‎

Q:Which applications can not be sequenced?

Boot time applications,drivers,certain type of services

Q;Can network shortcut applications be sequenced
Yes

Q:Can all types of services be sequenced

No

Q:Why application is launched more then once while sequencing.

This is to capture all the user profile settings and application configurations perfectly. Some application like Adobe reader needs to launch multiple times to capture all the settings it do.

Q:Which hardware component be updated to get better performance in sequencing process.

Memory (harddisk)

Q:What is the difference of suite and dynamic suite.
suite is a whole package block where as dynamic suite is getting the visibility of a pre-req package via dynamic suite composition.

Q:What is the difference between update and active upgrade
.Update is similar to patching where as active upgrade is upgrading an already prepared package to a new compatible version(Eg: Uploading the packages which is developed with 4.2 version of softgrid to 4.5 version of softgrid)

Q:How to manage exclusion list

Via adding the exclusion list in default.sprj

Q:Can host files be sequenced

Sequencing a host file is not a best practice.

Q:Define the normal upgrade process

Open the sprj file with open for upgrade option with the sequencer.Do the modifications and increment the release version and do save as.