Peace in the land of USB

Under a *nix operating system, having multiple partitions on a USB drive isn’t rocket science, it just works. I mitt tilfelle, my USB drive has two partitions because the first partition is a bootable Arch Linux installer.

I have Windows on a desktop at home – mostly for gaming – and many of my colleagues use it too. Since Windows doesn’t do very well with non-Windows partitions I figured I could create a FAT32 partition on the memory stick after the bootable Arch Linux partition. FAT32 er nesten allestedsnærværende og kan brukes på alle vanlige stasjonære operativsystemer i verden.

bleh

Dessverre fungerer det ikke rett utenfor flaggermusen. Tilsynelatende, Microsoft i deres uendelige visdom bestemte at minnepinner antas å ha en (og bare en) skillevegg. I virkeligheten finner Windows den første partisjonen og ignorerer deretter andre som tilfeldigvis er satt opp:

Err, Nei, Jeg vil ikke at du skal formatere Arch Linux-installasjonspartisjonen

Trikset for å få det til å fungere er å lure Windows til å tro at enheten er ikke en vanlig USB-minnepinne, men kanskje en solid-state harddisk som tilfeldigvis er tilkoblet via USB. Ja jeg vet, dette er alvorlig dumt at Windows oppfører seg på denne måten. En solid-state harddisk er bare en enorm stor (og raskt) minnepinne tross alt!

I found a few sources on how to do this however I still had to figure out some things on my own. Specifically, the guides I found either skipped some steps or didn’t provide enough information on where to download the driver package.

This procedure involves manually changing hardware drivers and installing “non-signed” drivers “not intended for your hardware”. I know someone is going to break their system and blame me so I say now that I take no responsibility for any damage you may do to your Windows system as a result of this. Read that again. 😛

Instructions

click for larger version

Download and unzip the driver, originally created by Hitachi, her. Open the cfadisk.inf file in notepad (or your favourite plaintext editor), and find the section labeled [cfadisk_device]. Fjern delen som er uthevet til høyre:

Minimer (ikke lukk) redigereren og gå til skrivebordets ikoner – høyreklikk på Min datamaskin og velg Properties. Velg maskinvarefanen, og velg deretter [Device Manager]:

Finn enheten under “Harddisker”, høyreklikk på minnepinnen og velg Properties:

Klikk på kategorien Detaljer og i rullegardinmenyen på den siden, å velge “Hardware Ids”. Klikk på den første linjen i listen over maskinvare-ID-er, og trykk Ctrl + C for å kopiere navnet:

Ikke lukk denne dialogboksen, gå tilbake til notisblokk (som ble minimert) og lim inn maskinvare-IDen der forrige innhold ble fjernet.

Lagre filen i notisblokken og gå tilbake til enhetens dialogboksvindu. Klikk på “Sjåfør” fanen og klikk på [Update Driver…] knapp. I vinduene som dukker opp, å velge “Nei, ikke dette tNavn”; [Next] -> “Installer fra en liste eller a sspesifikk beliggenhet (Avansert)”; [Next] -> “Dikke søk. Jeg vil velge driveren som skal installeres.”; [Next] -> [Have Disk…].

Bla gjennom mappen der du har lagret den modifiserte filen CFADISK. Klikk [OK]. Du vil finne

det er en Hitachi Microdrive-driver som er oppført. Velg dette og klikk [Next]. Når advarselen

vises, klikk [YDet er]. En annen advarsel vil dukke opp angående et lignende problem (disse er “usignert” og “not intended for your hardware” advarsler jeg nevnte tidligere). Klikk [Cuansett Uansett]:

På dette tidspunktet anbefaler jeg å lukke alle dialogbokser relatert til oppsettet. Endelig, fjerne og sett minnepinnen på nytt i USB-porten, og du bør finne ut at de ekstra partisjonene på pinnen er tilgjengelige. I verste fall, trenger du kanskje fortsatt partisjonere disken men den harde delen er over. 🙂

I came across 2 bugs on Windows Server 2003 that are also relevant to Windows XP.

Short Circuits

1. Internet Explorer‘s Desktop icon is disabled. When you double-click on the icon, expecting IE to launch, it simply produces an additional shortcut. Subsequent double-clicks again produce more shortcuts. It is possible, as a workaround, to launch IE from the Start Menu.

My first guess was that malware was attempting to make me click on these new shortcuts where the new shortcuts opened further malware. This idea quickly faded though since, if malware were to have the system privileges to produce these symptoms, it wouldn’t need me to provide further privileges.

I eventually found her what the actual problem was. I mitt tilfelle, the cause was related to IE6 being outdated. If a Windows registry entry is named “LegacyDisable” and is added to specific types of registry keys, it lets Windows know that the key is obsolete and that it has only been left behind for backwards-compatibility. I dette tilfellet, it disabled the intended primary “verb” function (the double-click) of the shortcut: launching IE.

To fix, you can either update to the latest version of IE or fix the registry entry directly. If you experience this issue even with the latest version of IE then the registry value is the only way I know how to fix it.

Danger, Will Robinson!

Though this is a trivial registry change, the registry is still a dangerous thing to mess with so, as usual, back up your registry: See KB322756. Nobody gets to blame me for trashing their system. 😛

De-Register me!

Paste the following into a .reg file and execute it; or manually remove the “LegacyDisable” entries referred-to here:

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{871C5380-42A0-1069-A2EA-08002B30309D}\shell\NoAddons\]
"LegacyDisable"=-
 
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{871C5380-42A0-1069-A2EA-08002B30309D}\shell\OpenHomePage]
"LegacyDisable"=-

Fire me up!

2. When trying to browse to any site from within IE, IE remains dormant while Firefox is launched. Firefox then loads the page which was originally requested in IE.

While many might most of the time consider this to be a triumph [insert childish laughter here], the site I wanted to browse to was the Windows Updates site which, unfortunately, does not work when using Firefox. The same would apply to other sites which depend on the web browser supporting ActiveX.

De-Register Me Too!

I eventually found the solution her, and it turns out to be similar to the solution for the first bug – except that it is to remove an entire key. En gang til, ensure you have a backup of your registry before continuing. Here is the relevant content of the .reg file:

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{C90250F3-4D7D-4991-9B69-A5C5BC1C2AE6}]

I hope that resolves things for anyone else having similar issues. 🙂

[redigere] So much for that. It turns out that openssl is able to determine that the key and certificate are already in a single file. Derfor, Nei csplitting required (vel, I hope somebody reading this at least learned about how nice csplit is). In fact, the whole script might as well be obsolete… blaargh. Well, at least it gives a nice warning about not giving a blank passphrase. 😀

Here’s the new version:

pem2pfx – converts a .pem-formatted file containing a private key and signed certificate into a Windows-compatible .pfx certificate file.

#!/bin/bash
#pem2pfx
#v0.2
#Tricky - brendan@swiftspirit.co.za
# Converts a .pem certificate file to .pfx format
# $1 is the source file
set -e
 
if [ $# = 1 ]; deretter
  outputfile=`echo $1 | og 's/.pem$/.pfx/'`
 
  echo "Please specify a password below. Windows nekter å importere et .pfx-sertifikat med et tomt passord."
  openssl pkcs12 -eksport -ute $outputfile -i $1
 
 ellers
  echo "pem2pfx - konverterer en .pem-formatert privatnøkkel og sertifikatfil til en IIS-kompatibel .pfx-fil."
  echo "Usage: pem2pfx inputfile.pem"
være

mer…

The relatively new document types Office 2007 has given some web hosts problems when their clients want to offer documents for download. Most often, the documents are being offered by the web server as “text/html” which is then rendered as a ton of garbage on the web user’s screen.

The best way to resolve this is to add all the MIME types to the server’s main configuration. IIS7 for Windows already has these MIME types set up correctly by default. IIS6 and IIS5 require the MIME types to be added, as might Apache on older installations. For Apache, there is also a workaround for the individual domain owner to add the mime types via Apache’s .htaccess fil.

IIS 6 MIME type addition (for the Server Administrator)

Before this can be done, ensure that your server is also set to allow direct metabase editing:

1. Load IIS Manager: Start -> Run, “inetmgr” -> [OK]
2. Right click the “serveren” and click “Properties”
3. Within the “Internet Information Services” tab (usually the only tab), ensure that the “Enable Direct Metabase Edit” checkbox is checked.
4. Klikk [OK]

Be sure to back up IIS’s configuration (her for IIS5) beforehand. I won’t take any responsibility for an admin breaking his server. I have reason to believe this may also work on IIS5 however I have just as much reason to believe that it might just give lots of errors. If an IIS5 / Windows 2000 admin is willing to test this for me after backing up your configuration please let me know of the results.

Copy the following text into a file named msoff07-addmime.vbs and execute it once from the commandline by typing cscript msoff07-addmime.vbs and pressing Enter. If you run it more than once, the MIME types will be added each time and you will have multiple identical entries:

' This script adds the necessary Office 2007 MIME types to an IIS 6 Server.
' To use this script, just double-click or execute it from a command line.
' Running this script multiple times results in multiple entries in the
' IIS MimeMap so you should not run it more than once.
' Modified from http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms752346.aspx
 
Dim MimeMapObj, MimeMapArray, MimeTypesToAddArray, WshShell, oExec
Const ADS_PROPERTY_UPDATE = 2 
 
' Set the MIME types to be added
MimeTypesToAddArray = Array(".docm", "application/vnd.ms-word.document.macroEnabled.12", _
".docx", "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document", _
".dotm", "application/vnd.ms-word.template.macroEnabled.12", _
".dotx", "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.template", _
".potm", "application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.template.macroEnabled.12", _
".potx", "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.template", _
".ppam", "application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.addin.macroEnabled.12", _
".ppsm", "application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.slideshow.macroEnabled.12", _
".ppsx", "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.slideshow", _
".pptm", "application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.presentation.macroEnabled.12", _
".pptx", "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation", _
".sldm", "application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.slide.macroEnabled.12", _
".sldx", "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.slide", _
".xlam", "application/vnd.ms-excel.addin.macroEnabled.12", _
".xlsb", "application/vnd.ms-excel.sheet.binary.macroEnabled.12", _
".xlsm", "application/vnd.ms-excel.sheet.macroEnabled.12", _
".xlsx", "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet", _
".xltm", "application/vnd.ms-excel.template.macroEnabled.12", _
".xltx", "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.template") 
 
' Get the mimemap object
Set MimeMapObj = GetObject("IIS://LocalHost/MimeMap")
 
' Call AddMimeType for every pair of extension/MIME type
For counter = 0 til UBound(MimeTypesToAddArray) Trinn 2
    AddMimeType MimeTypesToAddArray(counter), MimeTypesToAddArray(counter+1)
Next
 
' Create a Shell object
Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
 
' Stop and Start the IIS Service
Set oExec = WshShell.Exec("net stop w3svc")
Do While oExec.Status = 0
    WScript.Sleep 100
Loop
 
Set oExec = WshShell.Exec("net start w3svc")
Do While oExec.Status = 0
    WScript.Sleep 100
Loop
 
Set oExec = Nothing
 
' Report status to user
WScript.Echo "Microsoft Office 2007 Document MIME types have been registered."
 
' AddMimeType Sub
Sub AddMimeType (Ext, MType)
 
    ' Get the mappings from the MimeMap property.
    MimeMapArray = MimeMapObj.GetEx("MimeMap") 
 
    ' Add a new mapping.
    Jeg = UBound(MimeMapArray) + 1
    Redim Preserve MimeMapArray(Jeg)
    Set MimeMapArray(Jeg) = CreateObject("MimeMap")
    MimeMapArray(Jeg).Extension = Ext
    MimeMapArray(Jeg).MimeType = MType
    MimeMapObj.PutEx ADS_PROPERTY_UPDATE, "MimeMap", MimeMapArray
    MimeMapObj.SetInfo
 
End Sub

Apache MIME type addition (for the Server Administrator)

Apache stores its MIME types in a file normally located at $installpath/conf/mime.types. See the mod_mime documentation for more on how it works. Arch Linux installs its MIME types at /etc/httpd/conf/mime.types og Parallels Plesk installs it in /usr/local/psa/admin/conf/mime.types. Your distribution might have it in another place, so find your mime.types file by running locate mime.types.

Add the following lines to your mime.types file:

application/vnd.ms-word.document.macroEnabled.12                          docm
application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document   docx
application/vnd.ms-word.template.macroEnabled.12                          dotm
application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.template   dotx
application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.template.macroEnabled.12                    potm
application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.template     potx
application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.addin.macroEnabled.12                       ppam
application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.slideshow.macroEnabled.12                   ppsm
application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.slideshow    ppsx
application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.presentation.macroEnabled.12                pptm
application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation pptx
application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.slide.macroEnabled.12                       sldm
application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.slide        sldx
application/vnd.ms-excel.addin.macroEnabled.12                            xlam
application/vnd.ms-excel.sheet.binary.macroEnabled.12                     xlsb
application/vnd.ms-excel.sheet.macroEnabled.12                            xlsm
application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet         xlsx
application/vnd.ms-excel.template.macroEnabled.12                         xltm
application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.template      xltx

Apache MIME type addition (For the domain owner with at least FTP access – using .htaccess file)

Add the following text to your domain’s .htaccess fil, most commonly in an httpdocs/ directory

AddType application/vnd.ms-word.document.macroEnabled.12 docm
AddType application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document docx
AddType application/vnd.ms-word.template.macroEnabled.12 dotm
AddType application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.template dotx
AddType application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.template.macroEnabled.12 potm
AddType application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.template potx
AddType application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.addin.macroEnabled.12 ppam
AddType application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.slideshow.macroEnabled.12 ppsm
AddType application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.slideshow ppsx
AddType application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.presentation.macroEnabled.12 pptm
AddType application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation pptx
AddType application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.slide.macroEnabled.12 sldm
AddType application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.slide sldx
AddType application/vnd.ms-excel.addin.macroEnabled.12 xlam
AddType application/vnd.ms-excel.sheet.binary.macroEnabled.12 xlsb
AddType application/vnd.ms-excel.sheet.macroEnabled.12 xlsm
AddType application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet xlsx
AddType application/vnd.ms-excel.template.macroEnabled.12 xltm
AddType application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.template xltx

I’m very happy to report that 2 much-needed and related features I’d filed bugs for at KDE’s Bug Tracking System bugzilla were added to KDE 4.2‘s KRDC. KDE 4.2 was just released and is now available within kdemod (aka Chakra)’s repositories. KDE-loving *nix-loving Windows administrators rejoice!

• Ability to specify a default Username: Previously, before logging in, you’d be prompted for the username. Now the prompt is automatically filled in with a default username.
• Ability to recognise LDAP logins and remember the password using kwallet as an LDAP Login.

New KRDC options added

A very big thank you to the developer maintaining KRDC, Urs Wolfer.