Desktop Management Software

Hi Folks,

Happy New Year to everyone!

wow! what a way to finish a year.  Thanks to all who encouraged and helped us to be here.

Yes, it was a year of challenges.  Desktop Central has grown a lot in all aspects, Number of Customers, Revenue, Product Features, Supported infrastructures, scalability, performance, usability etc., and also it is worth to mention that the evaluators/customers have started pouring requirements and suggestions directly.  This really is a sign of path to sustainable development.

Desktop Central as product has faced lot of challenges and marked different achievements, below given are the few important milestones in the year 2008 from the features point of view.

• Support for Microsoft Office patches.
• Enhancements on Power management.
  
• Support for VISTA Operating System.
• 64-Bit OS Support for Inventory, Patch Management, Software Deployment and Remote control.
• Introduced Re-Branding Option
• Windows 2008 operating system is supported.
• Action Log Viewer is enhanced to scale User Auditing.
• Desktop Central Agent runs on its own service. (No depends on GPO)
• Help Desk ticketing module introduced.
• Enhancement on Inventory (Software Grouping, Licensing modules)
• Mailing the AD Reports introduced
• DB Migration to remote computer is supported
• Support for managing computers in WAN/Remote Offices included
• Remote Management Tools enhanced.

Apart from the list of features mentioned, the DC core Engine and the agent has been fine tuned to scale to different heights.  Due to this we have started witnessing more enterprise customers with large number of computers.   We get more downloads happening and the support witnesses.  This is really a driving force.

On the other hand, the Free Windows Tools from Desktop Central is also creating sensation.  Now it has 10 tools integrated in its pallette.  It is a great complementary product for Desktop Central.  This tool also gets more feedback and suggestion from the network administrators. More plans ahead for this.

To recap, it was a splendid year packed with enthusiasm and challenges which kept us in a right rhythm, busy with new features, releases and customer support.

Hey 2008, we really loved you, adieu!. And we are ready to take the new 2009 excitement pack.

Once again, Thanks to all who encouraged and helped us to be here.

Cheers
Romanus.

The new free tool “Remote Command Prompt” will be one of the important tools can be used in windows troubleshooting. Using this tool administrator can silently connect to the remote PC in the network and execute various commands. The remote end user will not be disturbed when administrator is troubleshooting the problem. By default it has following commands to

1. Get System Information from the Remote Computer
2. Get Current IP Details of the Remote Computer
3. Get ARP entries of the Remote Computer
4. Get the Active Network Connection Details of the Remote Computer
5. Get the Hardware specification of the Remote Computer
6. Get the Running Process details of the Remote Computer
7. Get the Hard disk usage details of the Remote Computer
8. Get the clock value of the Remote Computer
9. Invoke the GpUpdate in the Remote Computer
10. Get the Resultant Set Policy of the Remote Computer
11. Get the Environment variables value of the  Remote Computer

Download the latest version of the Desktop Central Free Windows tools and give a try. If you have any feedback feel free to post it.

Free Remote Command Prompt Tool

Thanks
Mathi

Hi Folks

Here is a critical patch release for Internet Explorer.  Below given is the description of the issue as described by secunia security advisory.

Description : A vulnerability has been discovered in Internet Explorer, which can be exploited by malicious people to disclose potentially sensitive information.  The vulnerability is caused due to an error in the handling of redirections for URLs with the “mhtml:” URI handler. This can be exploited to access documents served from another web site.

Technical Explanation from MS (Bulletin MS08-078 - Critical)

A remote code execution vulnerability exists as an invalid pointer reference in the data binding function of Internet Explorer. When data binding is enabled (which is the default state), it is possible under certain conditions for an object to be released without updating the array length, leaving the potential to access the deleted object’s memory space. This can cause Internet Explorer to exit unexpectedly, in a state that is exploitable.

An attacker could exploit the vulnerability by constructing a specially crafted Web page. When a user views the Web page, the vulnerability could allow remote code execution. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the logged-on user.

Microsoft has released the fix for the reported IE Security hole.  You can deploy these latest critical patches to your network using Desktop Central Patch Management.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms08-078.mspx

Above mentioned URL has the information about the fixes and other details.  Desktop Central supports the deployment of all the 18 patches.  You can update you vulnerability Data Base through DC and do a scan to deploy this critical patch.  Since its a Critical patch, lets patch it immediately and with ease through DC.

Merry Christmas.

cheers
Romanus

Hi Folks

This topic is related to Windows Installer issues which you may experience while installing or uninstalling any MSI package. This can happen when you try to install a software application on Windows XP or Windows Server 2003, and you may receive the following error message

The Windows Installer Service could not be accessed. This can occur if you are running Windows in safe mode, or if the Windows Installer is not correctly installed. Contact your support personnel for assistance.

As per the Microsoft KB article 315346, This problem may occur if the Windows Installer files that are on your hard disk are damaged or are missing. The recommended solutions for the issue are

• Reregister the Windows Installer or
• Reinstall the Windows Installer

The above solutions are described in details in the below given Microsoft link

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315346

In brief it does the following

Reregister the Windows Installer

msiexec /unregister and msiexec /regserver

Reinstall the Windows Installer

• Unregister Windows Installer: msiexec /unregister
• Rename the following files from the command prompt: Msi.dll, Msiexec.exe, and Msihnd.dll (to .old respective names)
• Restart Windows.
• Install the Windows Installer service again (InstMSI.exe).

The InstMSI.exe related infomartion and the file can be downloaded from given links
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa369548(VS.85).aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=889482fc-5f56-4a38-b838-de776fd4138c&displaylang=en

While installing the Desktop Central Agents or deploying the MSI pacakges through Desktop Central you many experience this issue. Follow the steps mentioned above to overcome the problem.

cheers
Romanus

Hi Folks

Check out the cool new features added to the Free Windows Tools.  Check your version, 1.5 is the latest.

1. Currently Logged On User Tool
2. Hard Disk Space Monitor Tool

The first one will get the currently logged on users on the selected computers and the later will get the hard disk details in selected computers.

You can download the software from the given link

http://manageengine.adventnet.com/products/free-windows-tools/download.html?blogs

Let us know your feedback and suggestion.

Cheers
R. Romanus Prabhu

Hello Eveyone

Desktop Central supports MS Office 2003 and 2007 flavors.  What about the support for Office XP, for the those who still use it.  Here is the procedure recommended by MS, and guideline instructions to implement the same through Desktop Central.

Microsoft recommends the following unattended/silent install procedure.

Step I : Download, Extract and share the Office XP SP3 install files

1. Download the Office XP Service Pack 3 client install patch from the below given URL
   • http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/1/f/91ffc6b2-0745-470b-8dd3-1285b85db12b/OfficeXpSp3-kb832671-client-enu.exe
2. Extract the file contents and share the folder (you can extract it using Winrar or alternatively use a /C switch)
   • OfficeXpSp3-kb832671-client-enu.exe /c /t:c:\officexpsp3 is the switch the extract the files
     • hotfix.exe, ohotfix.ini, ohotfixr.dll and VSDEBUGop.msp would be the files
       
   • where /t:c:\officexpsp3 - is the location of the office XP SP3 extracted files
   • Please remember this needs to be a ’shared folder’ for every client computer to access
3. In the ohotfix.ini set the following for the installation to happen in silent mode
   
   • OHotfixUILevel=q
   • MsiUILevel=q
   • RebootInQuietMode=0
   • ShowSuccessDialog=0

Step II : Copy and Share the Office XP Source Files and Create a reg file

1. Copy the entire Office XP CD contents to a shared folder
   • For example ‘c:\officexp’
   • Please remember this needs to be a ’shared folder’ for every client computer to access
2. In registry write the Office XP source folder location (as shown in the image)
   
   • In the given key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products\9040211900063D11C8EF00054038389C\SourceList
     • ‘9040211900063D11C8EF00054038389C’ is the Product ID of the Office XP Standard version
       
     • Create a ‘Net’ subkey and create a ‘REG_EXPAND_SZ’ key with Value name as ‘1′ and data/expression as ‘\\server\officexp‘
   • On the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products\<Product ID>\SourceList
     • Set the ‘LastUsedSource’ value data as ‘n;1;‘\\server\officexp‘
3. Now right click the SourceList (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products\<Product ID>\SourceList) and export as a reg file eg. sourcelist.reg
   
4. Copy the created reg file in the Office XP shared location i.e. ‘c:\officexp\sourcelist.reg’
   

Step III : Use Software installation to deploy the Office XP SP3

1. Configure the Software package
   • In the pre-install script give the reg.exe and the exported reg file with the import option as shown below
     • reg.exe import \\server\officexp\sourecelist.reg
2. In the installation command given the oHotfix.exe file from the office XP SP3 shared folder
   • in the example \\server\officexpsp3\oHotfix.exe
   • and the same folder in advanced options - exe root path \\server\officexpsp3
3. Now deploy the Office XP SP3 installation

cheers
Romanus

Office source location in registry