I caught this one in Twitter yesterday.

“Is there a way to remove Blank Lines from the output?”

Top of my head I could think of an –EXCLUDE option for blanks but it isn’t hard to identify and remove blank lines from Text content.

So today’s task class is we’re going to use Powershell to erase Nothing.

“Huh?!?”

Well actually what we’re going to do is get rid of Blank lines from text files.

It’s pretty easy really.

When you read in the Content from GET-CONTENT it actually ends up as an Array of text,  meaning you can select and examine each line individually, including the number of characters.

So for the million Dollars, Dinner with Bill Gates, a signed autograph from Steve Ballmer with love *AND* a pat on the back from Paul Allen…… guess how many characters in a blank line?

None, 0, Zilch, Nada.  The CR/LF (Carriage Return line feed is used as a Delimiter and does not remain in the Array)

So when we do this

$FileContent=GET-CONTENT C:\SOMESILLYTEXTFILE.TXT

$FileContent is actually an array.  Running a GET-MEMBER against it like this

$FileContent | GET-MEMBER

Will show us several properties including one important one called Length.  Length tells us how many members in that array (or in human speak, “lines”)

To access individual pieces of the array I execute this piece of code

For the first line

$FileContent[0]

For the second line

$FileContent[1]

For the third line

$FileContent[2]

Seeing a pattern emerge?  Arrays start counting at zero.   Knowing that is important because although the Length of the array might be 30 lines, you’ll stop at 29 for the last one (since you start at 0 not 1)

On any one of those Array members you can also run a GET-MEMBER like this

$FileContent[1] | GET-MEMBER

andf view its available Properties.  Each line ALSO has a Length property.   This is how many characters in a line.   So to identify blank lines we simply look for Members which have a zero length.

IF ($FileContent[1].Length –eq 0) { WRITE-HOST “Blank Line”}

But in our case we’re going to skip those lines and build a new array of text.  Easily done, we’ll create a variable called $NewArray typed as an [Array]

So we get the Size of the FileContent array first and bump back by 1 (Since our last position of the Array to be access is the Length of the Array –1, we started at 0 not 1 remember?)

$EndOfArray=($FileContent.Length)-1

Then we setup a new Blank array to store the data in

[Array]$NewArray=$NULL

Finally we run through the list with a Foreach loop, checking and returning lines that AREN’T blank, storing the built result into $NewArray.

FOREACH ($Position in 1..$End) {
     IF ($FileContent[1].Length –ne 0) { [Array]$NewArray+=$Filecontent[$Position])
}

Now as a script we would have something like this

------------------------------

$FileContent=GET-CONTENT C:\Somesillyfile.txt

$EndOfArray=($FileContent.Length)-1

[Array]$NewArray=$NULL

FOREACH ($Position in 1..$End) {
     IF ($FileContent[1].Length –ne 0) { [Array]$NewArray+=$Filecontent[$Position])
}

-------------------------------

And we would have a simple script to pull out the and display it without Blank lines.   Here’s the fun part, we want this useful.    We can make this a function to add to our modules and “Return” the results back to the user.   One easy change, watch the Before and After

------------------------------

Function Global:REMOVE-BLANK ($FileContent) {

     $EndOfArray=($FileContent.Length)-1

     [Array]$NewArray=$NULL

     FOREACH ($Position in 1..$End) {
          IF ($FileContent[1].Length –ne 0) { [Array]$NewArray+=$Filecontent[$Position])
     }
Return $NewArray
}

-------------------------------

There you go!  Once defined in your profile or modules you can execute this code

$MyStuff=GET-CONTENT C:\Somesillyfile.txt

$NoBlank=REMOVE-BLANK $MyStuff

You can now do whatever you what with your “Blank Free” data.

See?  That wasn’t so hard!  The Power of Shell is in YOU, now use it! :)

Sean
The Energized Tech

Here’s YOUR opportunity for some free online training for Powershell Basics and to Ask the Experts “how to do it”

Register now on “The Edge” at Technet for a free session on Powershell Basics.

the Synopsis of the upcoming event….

Are there admin tasks you’d like to automate, but not sure how?  Do you want to learn Windows Powershell, but aren’t sure where to start? 

Send us your questions by emailing us here (aeshen@microsoft.com ) by Wednesday, September 15^th , then join us for our LIVE TechNet webcast where we show how to use Windows Powershell to make your life easier.

Click here to register for the event!
____________________________________________

Date: Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Time: 10:00 AM Pacific Time
Event Overview:

This one-hour webcast is geared towards IT professionals who do not have a strong coding or scripting background. We help you to understand the basics of Windows PowerShell, including parsing, piping, getting help, using variables and operators, and flow control. By the end of this session, you should understand enough to create simple commands and be comfortable enough to explore Windows PowerShell on your own.
Presenter: Peter Lammers, Lead Developer, Aeshen

Peter Lammers, lead developer at Aeshen, is an IT professional with a 17-year background in troubleshooting, training, modifying and supporting software applications, network administration, troubleshooting, and server and desktop support.

About Aeshen:

For over ten years Aeshen has been working with some of the biggest names in technology. In addition to our work with HP and Cisco we are preferred vendors for Microsoft and Intel in our core disciplines of web and application development, training and education, and QA services. This is in addition to the traditional types of deliverables we’ve historically done; developer and IT Pro focused content such as value props and marketing collateral, demos (online demos, click-through demos), labs, whitepapers, decks, and interactive vignettes for marketing and training.

For more information, visit http://www.aeshen.com/

Our next Monthly in person meeting is Tuesday Sept 14, 2010. Our topic is Database Normalization: When it is time to move your data from Excel to a database this is what you need to know.

Welcome time: 6:00PM
Start time: 6:30PM
Finish time: 9:00PM

Location: University of Toronto
Health Sciences Building
155 College St., Rm 106
Toronto, ON
South-East corner of College/McCaul.
West of Queen's Park subway station.

Speaker: Bob Scarborough
Integrated Visual Systems

Have you ever walked into a small business client who runs his business with Excel and has decided it’s time to go Database? You know the kind of client. His invoices are Excel Spreadsheets, his Customer Lists are Excel spreadsheets, his Product List – an Excel Spreadsheet. But now his business has grown to the point where he can’t manage this in Excel anymore. Updating the information is too difficult and it’s too hard to look up info across hundreds of Excel Spreadsheets.

It’s time to go Database and your client knows it. Perhaps Microsoft Access, maybe SQL Server Express. Maybe even SQL Server Standard.

No matter what software you pick, you have to be able to take all that data in Excel and reorganize it into Relational Tables. In DB speak this is called “Database Normalization”.

This presentation will describe the process in a way appropriate for an IT Pro dealing with Small Business Clients. (If you are a Database Administrator at a large company you will find this presentation to be kindergarten level but if you are an IT Pro who normally doesn’t do this kind of thing then you will learn the basics)

Presenter Bio:
Bob Scarborough is an independent software developer specializing in database applications. Prior to starting his own practice, Bob worked in both development and product marketing roles for several database software companies including Cincom Systems, Empress Software and Symix Systems.

A friend caught me on Twitter and was wondering if there was a way to centrally query computers in a network for their installed applications (more particularly in his case, a SINGLE application)

That sounded like a job for Powershell!

Now we COULD just use a GET-WMIOBJECT Win32_Product but that’s only good for applications registered via the MSI (Windows Installer)

So as my mouth dropped to the ground defeated a thought dawned on me.  “That information is in the registry”

Sure sure, but Powershell doesn’t exactly have a “GET-REMOTEREGISTRY” function but it DOES have a fantastically large community of support.   One of the most brilliant Fore Fathers of Powershell is “/\/\o\/\/” or Marc van Orsouw who wrote a blog post explaining how to modify Remote Registry keys in Powershell.

This single post showed how leveraging [Microsoft.Win32.Registrykey] could be used to access remote registries easily!

With this in mind I sat down and played.   I knew that the Registry keeps the data for “Add/Remove Programs” under

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\

So assuming we’re just going to ask a single computer some information, we have to open the main key we’re going to work on

$computername=”localhost”

$Branch=”LocalMachine”

$SubBranch="SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Uninstall"

$registry=[microsoft.win32.registrykey]::OpenRemoteBaseKey($Branch,$computername)

$registrykey=$registry.OpenSubKey($Subbranch)

$SubKeys=$registrykey.GetSubKeyNames()

What have we done?

• Opened the Registry on “local”, accessed the root key “LocalMachine” (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE)
• Opened up a key to view “Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\”
• Obtained a listing of keys under the “Uninstall” key

That’s it.  So now we have a complete listing (or directory if you like) of all the keys under the Uninstall.

Now that we have the list, we need to pull out the value from the “DisplayName” under each key

To do this, we need to step through the $Subkeys and re-open each key to examine it’s value.  Since each SubKey is just a name, we can just tack on it’s name to $Subbranch and re-open it again.

Once opened, we simply pull out the Value of “DisplayName” using the available GetValule() method.

How did I figure any of this out?

One of the tricks with Powershell is using GET-MEMBER to show you what IS Available for Properties and Methods.   Another I find that really helps is within your Editor (I use The Powershell ISE since it’s convenient and I’m pretty lazy) and putting breaks in the code.

I’ll make that into a different posting later on :)

For now, here is a script you can use to expand or play with to list all the installed applications on a Remote Computer

Remember, the Power of Shell is in YOU

Sean
”The Energized Tech”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Original posting on how to access a remote Registry from The Powershell Guy
#
# http://thepowershellguy.com/blogs/posh/archive/2007/06/20/remote-registry-access-and-creating-new-registry-values-with-powershell.aspx
#
# This script will Query the Uninstall Key on a computer specified in $computername and list the applications installed there
# $Branch contains the branch of the registry being accessed
#  '

# format of Computerlist.csv
# Line 1 - NameOfComputer
# Line 2 etcetc etc etc etc An Actual name of a computer

$COMPUTERS=IMPORT-CSV C:\Powershell\Computerlist.csv

FOREACH ($PC in $COMPUTERS) {
$computername=$PC.NameOfComputer

# Branch of the Registry
$Branch='LocalMachine'

# Main Sub Branch you need to open
$SubBranch="SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Uninstall"

$registry=[microsoft.win32.registrykey]::OpenRemoteBaseKey('Localmachine',$computername)
$registrykey=$registry.OpenSubKey($Subbranch)
$SubKeys=$registrykey.GetSubKeyNames()

# Drill through each key from the list and pull out the value of
# “DisplayName” – Write to the Host console the name of the computer
# with the application beside it

Foreach ($key in $subkeys)
{
    $exactkey=$key
    $NewSubKey=$SubBranch+"\\"+$exactkey
    $ReadUninstall=$registry.OpenSubKey($NewSubKey)
    $Value=$ReadUninstall.GetValue("DisplayName")
    WRITE-HOST $computername, $Value

}

# Note – With very little modification (by killing the loop) you could modify
# this script to query a remote machine for a SPECIFIC application

Right around the corner near a major Canadian City near you is Microsoft Techdays Canada 2010

And unbelievable chance to improve your skills exponentially.    It’s a true recipe for success!  Wondering what’s in the mix?

Let’s check out the recipe for this delicious delight!

• 2 Days
• 6 Tracks
• 8 Cities
• 55+ Sessions
• 1 Batch of Community Support
• Three Dozen Plus Session Leads
• 10,000 Kilos of Speakers
• 1 Dedicated Team from Microsoft
• 1 Dash of Inspiration

Take Microsoft Team, sprinkle on a little Inspiration.  Blend in some research from the Community along with support from Session leads and volunteer speakers.   

Mix batch up and bake for approximately six months with some spice across the country.  

When thoughts meld together from Community, Session Leads and Microsoft Team let cool and begin to slice up into Sessions.   

Organize sessions into six uniquely crafted tracks.   Spread tracks across the 8 cities and pull together Speakers and Session Leads as well as additional Community Specialists for Local flavour.

Ensure each track and session has a little coating of each city and send out to the Country cut into days each.

Mmmmmm…… Sounds like a recipe for success to me!  An invaluable treat to be had too!  The price can’t be beat either.  Early bird registration is $349.99 if you hurry!  Vancouver is right around the corner, with Edmonton and Toronto following soon after!

It’s make a GREAT early gift for yourself for the Holiday season too!  Step up to that next level.   Get ahead of the competition!

Dive in and Enjoy a healthy serving of Microsoft Techdays Canada.  

Your mind will thank you for it. :)

Sean
The Energized Tech – I’ll see YOU at Techdays!

One of the greatest features that was added to Windows 7 was the Troubleshooting Packs.   Components that can be built and customized to aid in local and remote troubleshooting of issues within the O/S and applications (Including 3rd party solutions!)

Even cooler than that was when I heard Powershell was involved in it!

So quickly I dived online to find out from Technet on how to build one.  After all, in my head, “It’s just a Powershell script”

…. and then my mouth opened up and hit the ground with a thud when I glanced at this article on MSDN on how to create one.   It seemed unbelievably difficult to impossible to create!

But with all problems you take it one step at a time.   To solve this problem I was going to need some goodies

• Windows 7 SDK
• Visual Studio 2010 Express (C#)
• Powershell
• Time

Well time I had and Powershell is built into Windows 7.  So therefore I was halfway there.

Visual Studio 2010 Express is a free download from Microsoft so THAT part wasn’t so bad.  I quickly began that while I looked into the beast.  The Windows 7 SDK comes in two forms.   A customizable Web Download allowing you to download only what you need or if you want to be a big badass developer guy, you CAN download it as a Single ISO file to burn and share with your other Developer friends. :)

Personally I just want ENOUGH to make the Troubleshooting pack.   Development is cool but it’s not my Forte, so I just want the piece of the SDK that’s needed for Troubleshooting packs.   Sure my hard drive could hold the whole thing, but I like to keep things simple whenever possible.

When I return, we’ll see just what bits ARE required from the Windows 7 SDK and we’ll start down the path of actually building a Troubleshooting Pack.   For you ITPros out there, remember I’m not a Dev either.  So we’ll see just how difficulty this really isn’t. 

The Power of Shell is in YOU
Sean
”The Energized Tech”

One of the important things we have to remember when Administering our Networks is a little Segregation.  Separation of our Administrative selves and Personal selves.

Yes as an Administrator you require rights to do your job.   I completely understand and accept this.  I do this daily.

But it’s just as important to make sure you only use the network ID that HAS those rights when you need it.  Whether you have an actual Domain account with those rights or you use good old fashioned “Administrator”

In Windows 7 and Vista this is incredibly easy.  Make your own user a NON Administrator.

Now before you grab out pitchforks and form a mob to have me hanged as a witch, remember this is about security.   Does your user ID (Your PERSONAL ID) need to be running as a Domain Admin? 

No absolutely no.  You NEED those rights when working on users and administering machines.  You DON’T need those rights to run Microsoft Word or the Corporate applications.  If you do, then you should mitigate that issue with the Application Compatibility Toolkit.

So with Powershell we can easily Administer a network WITHOUT our personal credentials being Domain Administrators or Enterprise Administrators.   In fact it doesn’t even have to change our scripts or workflow.

In Vista and Windows 7 all you need to do is check off a little box

Go into the Properties of your Friendly Neighbourhood Powershell Shortcut and find the “Shortcut” tab

Click on the “Advanced” Button and you’ll see an option to “Run as Administrator”, check that box off then click “OK”

Now the fun (and scary part for some Administrators) – REMOVE YOUR USER ID FROM THE LOCAL ADMINISTRATORS GROUP and any Domain Admin groups!

You can take the paper bag off your head.   This is ok to do.

It’s ok as long as you DO have another ID that can be a Domain Administrator (Like Administrator) or possibly create an Administrative account (always a good idea) that has rights matching what you need.

What will happen now is whenever you go to launch Powershell for Administrative purposes is you will get prompted for an ID that has Administrative rights.   The new Shell will launch will all the rights you need to do Domain Administration.

Another option to remember when coding your scripts is you can leveraging the need for credentials in your scripts VERY easily.  Most Powershell CmdLets have the –credential parameter which is incredibly easy to leverage

You can use a sequence as simple as this

$CREDS=GET-CREDENTIAL –credential CONTOSO\Username

GET-WMIOBJECT WIN32_BIOS –computername TEST –credential $CREDS

This will popup a secure box asking for the password to the “CONTOSO\Username” account.  those Credentials in the example above will be passed to the “GET-WMIOBJECT” Cmdlet allowing it to be used to authenticate to the Computer called “TEST”

The neat part, this is not “Theory”.  This is how I do my job daily.   Securely.  Safely. 

You of course will have to ensure your modules are ported over to that user ID or possibly (what I do) is move them to a common profile.

Administration with Powershell – Both Safe and SECURE

The Power of Shell is in YOU
Sean
The Energized Tech

Since April 1st 2010, a magic day happened and life got really busy (in a good way), but also things happened at work that made it busy, things happened at home and my eyeballs began taking on this bizarre shade of Purple with Green Polka Dots.

Yes.  Life got a hold of me.   It get’s a hold of us all.   But I seem to have a built in “Anti Burnout” mechanism.  I stop doing things at one point that push me over the edge.

We all have to.  Being an IT Pro or Developer (or almost any job in the IT Industry) can be one of the most passionately time consuming enjoyable and TIME KILLING careers of all time.

I’m not complaining, not at all.  I get to meet new an interesting people as an MVP, get to help out with the big events (sometimes even go to some really cool events).   As an ITPro I deal with some of the most challenging situations presented to myself, not just technological but political.  Of course we have life’s normal little things added into it.

The problem is sometimes we get carried away and those 8 hour days at work become 17 hour days between Work, Community, Commuting, Friends and Family.

…and then you forget about “YOU”.  You can’t forget about yourself.  You have to take some time and literally “Stop and Smell the Roses” or “Sit down with a Book” or just “Play Bejeweled for 27 hours nonstop”

Whatever it takes.   You need to relax, take it easy.  The world WILL still rotate with you not patching workstations or resetting passwords for an hour.

Here’s a few things I have learned …. the hard way.

• When you’re on a vacation, no matter how important you think work is, SHUT THE DAMN CELL PHONE OFF
• If you have a choice between getting ahead at work or maybe just taking that weekend? TAKE THE WEEKEND.
• Birthdays are once in a lifetime, so are Anniversaries and Holidays.  Spend them with those that matter.
• Forget about posting to the Blog once in a while (or longer).  Sometimes Quality is Better than Quanitity.  Don’t worry.  It will still be there when you get back.
• Take a day off for yourself, from your wife and loved ones.   Just to stop and think and collect your thoughts.  Come home with Ice Cream. “Just cuz”
• Sleep in once in a while.  Better yet (if you can) check into a Hotel with your Wife, Partner or Signifigant other just to have a night to yourselves.
• Stop worrying about losing weight and staying fit for one day and go to a Ribfest.  REALLY!
• Do something you want to do at work.  Even if it’s just to clean up something that’s been bugging you, like your desk.
• Watch a Movie! Clean up the wires behind your TV set.  Sit out in the Backyard.   Watch a comedy tape.  Sing. Dance.   Juggle Jello.

Most importantly, remember you are human, not a machine and give yourself a break.   Or that well oiled caffeinated Superman may just burn out.

…That machine is priceless and can never be replaced.  Take care of it.

Sean
The Energized Tech
”Enjoying a long weekend” :)

Yes a little of everything.  

I checked online and yes the board (Intel) was still within it’s three year warranty so I was going to just ship it.

Then I remembered, the board and goodies came from a local Toronto shop called Signa Computer Solutions.  Guys I used to deal with on a regular basis.  I emailed the owner Greg with the situation.

“Just bring the board on by Sean, we’ll take care of you” was his response.

So on my day off I dropped off the board, figuring it should take a bit since it was nearing end of warranty and these things take time.  I was in no rush.

So wouldn’t YOU be surprised if local shop had the part replaced and running NEXT Day?  I had forgotten how Greg and his staff treat their customers and how amazing his response time was!

So if you’re looking for a shop that has amazing local support that won’t cheap out on Quality?

Check out Signa Computer Solutions at www.signa.com .  They’re just up on Yonge Street, North of Lawrence Avenue East.

It’s nice when a local shop treats you like a King and feels like Royalty when you’re there.

Cheers

Sean
The Energized Tech

That’s right, in only 30 days the excitement begins!  Techdays 2010 !

Where I have i been and doing?   Why has the Energized Tech been so darn quiet?

Along with Microsoft and a team of highly dedicated volunteers, community leaders and dedicated specialists, we have been working hard until the deepest hours of the morning.   Crafting and shaping the content for you.  Ensuring no details were skipped over overlooked.

Doing whatever it takes to bring YOU to the next level.   Pooling together our collective knowledge and abilities, researching and scoping out what will make a difference to you.

Techdays is not just about technology, it’s about Community.   The Community across Canada and North America getting together to help each other learn and grown.

… and hey, two days off from work is never bad either :)

So quickly now, go to www.techdays.ca , Register now and take the step to the next level.  Take a chance on yourself.

And hope to see YOU this year at Techdays 2010 – Stop by and say “Hey!”

Open up your thoughts to something Fresh and New, Pour it right into You.

Sean
“The Energized Tech”
www.powershell.ca
Techdays Canada Presenter and Session Lead

`

Why?

They’ve come up with a great technique (All of them for the most part) called “Cloning” which is a fancy word to “Backup the Photocopier Config and Restore it somewhere else”

That’s great.  I’ve successfully gotten it to work to.

Now where I am disgusted is not ONE of them has pulled their HEADS OUT OF THE GROUND and looked about to realize that MANY of these units are in an ENTERPRISE class environment.

What does that mean to Administrators?

It means they give you a stupid web interface that’s not designed to link into any system directly to allow importing of data into their internal Accounting systems.   I know for a fact of one key manufacturer that has their entire system based upon .NET but has no clue about Powershell (EASY ENTERPRISE INTERFACE!)

So rather than being Smart, and say spending a few minutes setting up a system that could be managed by an Administrator via script, they build a big glorified overkill Web interface without the LEAST little thought that these systems might need to be managed not only REMOTELY but EFFICIENTLY.

Note I didn’t mention any names, but all the big guys are to blame.

Get a clue. 

Administrators of these devices HATE wasting time (mostly our time) and prefer consistency.  Invest a little R&D into Powershell, VBscript to link into your system.  Whoever does it first will be causing their competition to cry pools of tears.

Take special note of the fact that Nuclear Power Plants could now be built to use the WASTE fuel as Energy and burning more slowly producing MORE energy.

This is something, today, that should be implemented regardless of the cost.

But it is inspirational to realize we all have one common problem and that WE the people who live on this planet, WE can solve it.

…we will… somehow… for our children and our children’s children

What I encountered was an amazing NON THEORETICAL talk on “TED”.  A company called Emotiv has developed a device that costs $299 per unit that does actually map out brain wave functions.

This is not “Read your thoughts and steal your mind” but something far more practical.   Utilizing your brain to interface directly with the computer (or electronics).  They showed some interesting game applications, Smarthome ideas but the one that floored me was using it to control a Wheelchair.

Stop right now.   A device to allow somebody to control a wheel chair with their mind.   So you’re paralized and have minimal use of your body, perhaps movement in your arms or legs is incredibly painful.

Control from your mind.

Here’s the Video from TED – and yes you can buy them now

Seemed to be a reasonable statement.  Windows XP Mode normally requires Hardware Acceleration to be available… or at least it did!

You see a while back Microsoft removed the need run Windows XP Mode only on machines with this ability.

So I can (and have) run Windows XP mode on a Pentium 4 Mobile chip (1.6).  To make it work you just download the THIRD option for Windows XP Mode.  This update disables the requirement for Hardware Acceleration.

So why not on a Virtual Machine in Hyper-V?

……Come to think of it WHY would I do this in the first place?

One word,  demo environment.   There are situations where I’ll need to present and show Windows XP mode and various setups from a Virtual machine.   A file that won’t care about the hardware base.

True, Windows XP Mode will run slower on a non Accelerated machine, but it will work.

So in my Virtual Windows 7 computer in Hyper-v, I ran the three updates to enable Windows XP mode.  The Virtual machine was a 32 bit Windows 7 child in Hyper-V.

Guess what?  It’s running Windows XP Mode (A Virtual Machine) in a Child in Hyper-V (Another Virtual Machine).  I could get stupid geeky and install Virtual PC inside of THAT machine, but well no.  

I don’t think so (Except to maybe demonstrate an application that won’t install in Windows 7 but will in Windows XP)

The only real drawback I have seen is you have to run Windows XP Mode in Full screen to get a resolution beyond 640x480.

But then again, it’s meant to run applications and you normally don’t access the Windows XP Desktop except to add applications to Windows XP mode.

But there you have it.  For the truly nerdy.  You CAN have Windows XP Mode in a Virtual Machine.

That is, if you have to ;)

Sean
The Energized Tech

It’s just a wiring problem.   Don’t be stumped and confused thinking “But the phone is on via POE so the wire SHOULD be good”

No.  That just means the “P” (Power) in the POE is good.  Those wires ARE connected.

It’s the other 4 (You know, Orange pair and Green pair?  Transmit / Receive) one or more of those is bad.   Even swapped (Cross your fingers that isn’t the case!)

Just plug on your test equipment and verify all the cables are correct and wiring tapped off right.

Here’s one more to be on the watch for.  Sometimes (But very rarely) a cheap patch panel is wired incorrectly on the inside.

Not common but I’ve seen it.  Was banging my head against a LAN for 15 minutes and reterminated THREE times until I stopped and realized one of the ends was wired wrong.

Hard to do, but it happens.    Just swap out the end with a good end (the wall) but if you’re stuck? Although it’s not up to 568a or 568b, physically swap the wires to make it work and log/note that jack is not wired quite right.

Surprisingly however, it may actually hit Gigabit and work ok (Depending on Distance to Demark)

Don’t worry about the weird stuff, sometimes just accept it and chuckle on

Sean
The Energized Tech