Tag Archives: LAN

Cannot open MS Word attachment from Outlook “Word experienced an error trying to open the file”

This is a new one for me, and I believe it may have popped up after the recent Windows Update:

9-10-2013 3-01-48 PM

“Word experienced an error trying to open the file”.

Now if I SAVE that same file out of outlook (or copy and paste it to a drive), and then open from there – it opens fine.

Here is the solution:

  • Open Word 2010, 2013 or 2016
  • Go to File | Options | Trust Center | Trust Center Settings | Protected View
  • Un-check  the “Enable Protected View for Outlook Attachments” checkbox

9-10-2013 3-06-21 PM

Click ok/save that setting.

Go back to outlook and your word document should now open fine.

 

UPDATE 6/20/16:

I have double checked this and it does work fine for Word 2016 as well.

All computers do not show up under Network Neighborhood across subnets Windows 2008 Server and Windows 2012 Server

THE ISSUE – NETWORK DOES NOT SHOW ALL COMPUTERS FROM MULTIPLE SUBNETS

 

**NOTE:  10/11/16 Please see this new blog post which addresses a new issue that has happened since June 2016.  Both of these posts will help you resolve this cross-subnet browsing issue.

I recently ran into the situation where my PDC failed and after promoting a second DC to PDC all the computers in both my branches would not show up under the Windows 7 network.

What would happen is that the computers from branch 1 would all show up under branch 1 on that network, and the computers from branch 2 would only show up on branch 2’s network.

Both networks are in the same domain and are connected via a Point to Point firewall VPN tunnel, and both offices are on different local internal IP subnets, such as:

branch 1:  192.168.55.X

branch 2: 192.168.56.X

Logins and domain replication is working fine, and even the DNS servers I have set to properly replicate the data between them, but still the “network” list only shows the local subnet not both.

THE SOLUTION

Firstly, you need to determine which machine for sure is the PDC emulator on your network.  On our network we have two Windows 2008 R2 servers.

to do this, follow this procedure:

Using the Windows interface on your windows server

1. Open Active Directory Users and Computers.

2. Right-click the domain node, and then click Operations Masters.

3. On the PDC tab, under Operations masters, view the operations masters that will serve as the PDC emulator.

 

Secondly, to complete the solution (snipped from the website linked below…)

4. You can either set the Computer Browser service to Automatic on the DC holding the PDC role, or move the PDC role to another DC that has the Computer Browser service started.  So using the info gleaned from above, log in to the PDC computer, go to SERVICES and START the computer browser service, and set it to AUTOMATIC.

You will need File and Printer sharing On in the Network and Sharing Center, otherwise the Computer Browser service will fail to start since the required ports will not be open.  In a multiple subnet environment, make sure WINS is configured properly so that you have the proper NetBIOS name resolution.  After making the corrections, the computers holding the master browser roles will begin to populate the browse list for the entire network.

NOTE:  In my situation with two subnets it was NOT necessary to run WINS to have a proper solution.

Lastly, wait anywhere from 30-60 minutes and the computers from both subnets (or more) should all now show up under “NETWORK” on your Windows network.

 

(some information courtesy of this blog)

How to get multiple xbox 360 consoles inside one LAN working properly

We recently added a second xbox 360 into our house and came across the dreaded NAT TYPE “moderate”.  I needed both xbox’s to get to “OPEN” NAT type so that online multiplayer games will function perfectly, but had to invest multiple hours of time into the process to work it all out.

The main factor for me is that I need a firewall that supports both multiple game consoles, as well as the ability to do site-to-site VPN via the firewall.

I tried the following firewall setups:

  1. Watchguard XTM 33-W (latest firmware as of 12-31-2012).  No Go.  Tried multiple configurations, not able to get both XBOX’s to “open”.  This included port mapping, adjusting content filtering, etc.
  2. Monowall.  Latest version as of 12-31-2012.  No go.
  3. Smoothwall Express 3 SP 3.  No go.
  4. pfsense 2.02 – WORKED!
    1. Here is what I did:
      1. Install SATA drive into an Optiplex 745.  Installed two Intel 1000GT desktop adapters.
      2. Download the pfsense LIVE ISO image and burn to a CD.  In my case, the image name was pfSense-LiveCD-2.0.2-RELEASE-i386.iso.gz
      3. Boot the CD and install pfsense to the SATA drive.
      4. Configure pfsense (set the WAN and LAN adapters)
      5. boot pfsense, log into the web admin and make sure the house has internet connectivity.  (it did).
      6. Make sure your xboxes are on DHCP (obtain IP automatically)
      7. in the web admin of pfsense, go to SERVICES->UPNP and configure as follows:
      8. upnp
      9. click CHANGE.
      10. you can now play 2 or more Xbox 360’s inside your LAN without a problem.
      11. To look at the UPNP status, go to STATUS->UPNP.  when your Xbox’s are online, you will see entries here for UPNP port mapping.
    2. Note:  This will also work fine for the SONY PLAYSTATION PS3.
      1. To configure/Enable UPNP for the PS3:
      2. Settings/Network Settings/Internet Connection Settings/Yes
      3. Custom (Setting Method)
      4. Go through all menus (to the right) and the last page is ENABLE UPNP.  Enable it.
      5. Test the connection and you should now have NAT TYPE 2.
    3. As far as the SONY PLAYSTATION VITA goes, I have not yet been able to get that to “NAT TYPE 2” — it does not as of firmware 2.02 on the Vita support UPNP, and I cannot use port mapping/port forwarding as that would interfere with the PS3 setup.

If you are able to get a Playstation Vita working with NAT TYPE 2 using PFSENSE I would appreciate knowing your exact setup.

UPDATE April 26, 2013:

Upgraded to PFSense 2.0.3.

My current configuration (Which is working perfectly) is as follows:

1) DHCP server ON inside PFSENSE.  Both XBOX’s assigned a static IP (VIA DHCP MAC ADDRESS RESERVATION) so that their internal IP’s stay fixed. (Note:  One of my XBOX’s is a newer black wireless model, the other is an older White model with the USB Microsoft Wireless adapter).  I use a high end MERAKI wireless access point to get them into my LAN.

2) These are my UPNP Mappings (note my two XBOX’s are 192.168.6.234 and .234).

These settings work perfectly – OPEN NAT and my kids have played HOURS on this configuration.

upnp-04-2013

 

Windows 7 to Windows XP “Access is denied” home office LAN networking issues

Are you having problems getting your home office LAN, with varying computers between Windows 7 and Windows XP to properly share files?

Here are a few quick tips & tricks to solve your issues (these are at a high level, so if you don’t understand these, ask a friend to assist you). These tips presume you are on a HOME or SMALL OFFICE LAN setup. DO NOT DO THESE if your machines are joined into a Windows domain.

  1. on the Windows 7 machine(s) disable homegroups
  2. on the Windows 7 machine(s), set a workgroup name, like your last name, for example “JOHNSON” (omit the quotes of course)
  3. on the Windows XP machine(s), set the SAME workgroup name as above
  4. Make sure each machine has a friendly computer name with no punctuation. Names like FRANK, workstation1, mypc, are good. Names like Ted’s Computer, My Windows 7 machine, etc. are bad and wont’ work. If necessary, update each computer’s network name to one without any spaces or punctuation like the example just listed. All of these network changes (WORKGROUP name change and computer name change may require reboots to each PC).
  5. on both machines, create a local user(s) with the same username and password. PASSWORD ARE REQUIRED to make this work. Presuming you have one account on the older XP machine that you are currently using, to the USERS area, assign a password, log out and log back into the XP maching using that username and password. On the Windows 7 machine, go to the users area and setup the SAME USER and password.
  6. no other changes including firewall changes should be needed.
  7. if you are the only person (or if there is only one person and one user account) using each computer on the LAN, you can setup “automatic login” on both machines. Google “automatic login” for directions, so that you don’t have to login each time you boot, on each machine.
  8. create a share on each computer. It’s up to you if you want to allow read only or full access to each share. Make sure you “add users” and add all the user(s) that you created above to the permitted user list for the share.

If you’ve done all the above, and have logged out and logged back into the newly password protected accounts, you should be able browse the network, map a network drive, etc.

to do this open up Windows Explorer (the file manager, not Internet Explorer!). Expand out the network, Microsoft Windows network, your network name and you should see your computer names showing up.

Alternatively in the address bar type in

\\mypc1\ and hit enter and see if the SHARES show up. Right click on a share and “MAP NETWORK DRIVE” to allow a drive letter to show up on your Windows Explorer.