Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with windows and 2000

Will SQL 2000 work in 2008 domain?

Man_in_staysis — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 20:33:57 -0800

Nerdlinger/Microsoft Server Filter: Can SQL 2000 exist in a Windows 2008 Domain when installed on a Windows 2000 member server ? Before anyone says it, yes, yes I know it's old, outdated, unsupported, we should be using SQL 2005 or looking at SQL 2008 and that it can't be installed on a Windows 2008 server. BUT... does anyone know if SQL 2000 will work when installed on a Windows 2000 server that is a member of a Windows 2008 domain? I know that Windows 2000 servers can be members of a 2008 domain but Exchange 2000 won't work. Will SQL 2000?

During reboots Win 2000 desktop box is not visible on network unless I log into it

flyby22 — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 21:45:26 -0800

I have a few Windows 2000 desktop boxes on my home network. One of them has been having a problem for sometime where after it reboots, I need to log into the box for it to be visible on the network. Otherwise pings from other machines keep failing. I usually log in using the Administrator account. All of my windows boxes are pretty musch same config having ZoneAlarm firewall, AVG antivirus, spybot, spywareblaster. I am wondering how should I try to figure out where the problem is. I have seen netbt 4319 errors in event log, which is about being another machine on the network same name. BUt I have tried shutting down all machines except my XP laptop which does not have same name at all and the main network problem i described earlier still persists. Any pointers would be very appreciated.

Move HDD with OS to a new computer?

ian1977 — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 08:38:39 -0800

Can I move a HDD with Windows 2000 to a new computer and expect it to load Windows 2000? The USB ports on our current tower went caput and we bought a new PC. It was a great deal from newegg but it comes with Linux and we want Windows 2000. But, I don't feel like taking 3 bajillion years to download service packs and stuff.

Question is this....can I just take the HDD from the old PC and put it in the new PC as the master drive and expect Windows 2000 to load? Or will it get so choked up with "Found New Hardware" messages that it won't be worth it?

Help me learn to be the sysadmin I need to be!

Reverend John — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 09:34:00 -0800

What do I need to know and how should I learn it? I am the "IT" guy at my company, a small supplier of building materials, with an office staff of about 10, and a warehouse crew of about the same. Problem is I'm underqualified. Before I arrived here the network and all workstations were set up and supported by an outside consultant. When I arrived my primary responsibility was maintaining our web site, hosted elsewhere, and minor IT support when I could answer or fix immediate problems without having to call the consultant. I was A+ and Network+ certified around 4 years ago, but obviously thats not all that impressive, and really I haven't done much in depth there, haven't been building or fixing machines or doing significant network administration.

Unfortunately over the past year or so the consultant has gradually become less accessible to the point of being essentially useless, and I have recurring nightmares about something disastrous happening to our server or network and not being able to fix it, losing all of our business data, etc. I chatted with my bosses, the owners, last night and they've OK'ed me to upgrade my skills in order to make sure everything here is working well and secure.

Currently we have a single server running Windows 2000 server. The workstations are an amalgamation of Win XP pro and Win 2000 workstation. We have a 24 port switch tying it all together, and some networked printers, and a DSL connection to the internet. The server provides a shared directory, Active Directory services, DHCP, and hosts our business application server.

Given what we have my current plan is to self-study towards becoming an MCSA on Windows 2000 server. Some of the win 2k tests are discontinued, but since thats what we're running I figured I would work first on the tests which aren't discontinued yet, like 70-270 Admining Win XP, then working thru the self study books on Win 2k Server like 70-215 Adminning Win 2k server and 70-218 Managing a Win 2k Server network, as if I was going to try to take those exam. Then after I was up to speed on what we're currently running I might want to learn more on what we might want to move to in order to make sure our network is not too obsolete or insecure.

So, what I want to know from you technical mefites is, is my plan reasonable? Am I being foolish to consider studying for obsolete tests in order to fill out my knowledge of the stuff we already have? Is there a better way I should approach this?

Help! I feel overwhelmed and I live in constant fear that I'm going to come in one day and be told "nothing works, fix it" and not be able to.

Should I bother with XP, much less vista?

ericales — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 09:58:25 -0800

Should I bother with XP, much less vista? I'm hoping this will be distinctive enough from the other questions I searched through. I bought a Dell Inspiron 531 a few months ago to replace an old homemade machine starting to have hardware problems. The Dell came with Vista. It only has 1 GB of RAM but the speed isn't the issue. I've so far had at least 2 instances where it will fail to boot and need to run the automatic repair stuff. My laptop running XP has had similar issues in the past. Windows 2000 never did this to me. So main question is, why not just use 2000? I'm having a very difficult time thinking of any features that XP or Vista added. I'd eventually like to move to Ubuntu buy my wife uses this machine a lot so when I make that move it needs to be seemless.

I don't have any version of Office installed and it has integrated graphics so it's not like I'm gaming and in need of compatibility with the newest version of DirectX. So, anything I'm forgetting here?

How to auto-start a program when Win 2000 Boots?

mbarryf — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 05:14:49 -0800

Windows 2000: How can I specify a program to start up when Windows 2000 is (done) booting? I want to use an old notebook (Compaq Armada M700) for an internet radio player running an audio line into my stereo. I am using Win 2000 and VLC Media Player for Windows. It works fine.

However, since the system is dedicated to playing the music, I would like VLC to start up whenever I start the computer.

Internet and MeFi searches tell me how to remove programs that start with Windows...I guess I'm weird, I want to add a program.

Can anyone tell me where to look for this information or how to make VLC Media Player start up whenever I start Windows?

How to SSH/telnet into Windows command line?

jkoby — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 21:38:54 -0800

How can I SSH (or telnet) into my Windows machine (2000 and XP) and get a command line?

Can't open newer PST files

pax digita — Wed, 02 May 2007 11:36:15 -0800

I have .PST files created via Outlook (Win) 2003 that I need to look into. However, I have Outlook (Win) 2000 on this computer, and it can't read a newer version (thanks, Redmond). Is there some other way to open these?

Need help with a ckhdsk problem on Win 2k

flyby22 — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 11:48:12 -0800

Strange problem with chkdsk in windows 2000. My machines currently have latest Zone alarm (virus prot disabled), Diskeeper 2007, and Kaspersky AVP 6.0. I am noticing unusual behavior on both of them, but more so on one of them than the other. I dont know if this is just a coincidence or the events are actually related. I recently installed Kaspersky Anti Virus 6.0 on my win 2k machines which have had ZA, and DK for sometime now.

On first machine here is what I see -

At some point I was trying to access "..Application Data\All Users\Kaspersky..\AVP6\" directory content. I noticed that trying to open any of the sub-folders takes FOREVER and the disk keeps spinning in the mean time. Eventually it does list the content which is not much. This happens with each of the sub folders.

I started to think that the disk may be corrupted. So I run chkdisk from within win2k and it detects some MFT and file handle related issues in the disk and says they need to be fixed during reboot. I did not see any message about circular depdencies though. So I schedule a chkdsk /F task during reboot.

So chkdsk runs during reboot, but it does not complain about anything and does not seem to fix anything. This is strange. Then I am back in Win2k and I notice the same issues again.

I thought I should try without the KAV process. But I could not shut down the AVP process manually (even from service control panel). I guess my only options is to uninstall it and see if it helps.

But I dont know if KAV at all has messed up its own data folders somehow. Or is it Diskeeper that messed things up. I am just surprised that it involves KAV folders, which i installed so recently.

Some other observations on the second machine.

I have another machine with the same setup including KAV and there I can navigate its data folders fine. However I noticed opening locally stored DVD files on a local disk on that machine with Power DVD takes very long. Did not happen before, but that was a while ago. I did not try this experiment on the first machine yet and I dont know if these are connected to KAV at all.

Also strangely enough when I run media player classic app on this second machine and I click on the File menu it does not pop up and it goes into some kind of hang state for a while. It eventually continues running, but no menu showed up. Did not see this with other apps. But I have not seen this problem on first machine either.

I cannot for sure say if all these behaviors on the second machine started after KAV install. I am now noticing them because after i had problem with the first machine, I was trying to compare the behaviors of these two machines with almost similar setup

So if any of you guys can tell me why chkdsk is not finding the problems during a reboot, and yet it finds them during normal operation, and what could be the reason for LOOONG folder open delay on the first machine I would appreciate it very much.

thanks

Antivirus for server OS at home?

jfuller — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 17:51:25 -0800

Is there a decent antivirus for MS server operating systems that doesn't cost a breathtaking amount? One of my home machines was getting very crufty. I rebuilt it dual-boot--Ubuntu on one side and, on a wild hare, an old copy of Win 2000 server on the other. I figured I'd build a tiny mini-domain for the home network. When I reached the point of doing the security setup I discovered that the free AV I have been using won't run on 2000 server. They all see "server," assume I'm a business, and insist on a different (and not free) version. AVG Free won't run; AOL's free antivirus (by Kaspersky, and reputedly pretty good) won't run. Kaspersky's own lower-price home edition no support 2K or 2K3 server. Don't even mention Symantec or Macafee, I'm not Scrooge McDuck. I'm presently using ClamWin but the scheduled scans don't seem to be running; I have to fire off the scans manually. Are there any other affordable/effective choices?

Windows 2000 goes into CMOS/BIOS set up at start

vers — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 08:22:51 -0800

One of my PCs running Windows 2000 Professional has been a stable workhorse for several years. However, beginning a few days ago, it has not been booting properly - it heads to the CMOS/BIOS set up menu after the memory test rather than log in. It's not making any BIOS error beeps - only the one happy successful POST beep. No recent hardware or peripheral changes; the only software added in the last week was Kapersky's online virus scan (which I have since removed). Oddly, the only thing that gets me into the normal boot and log in is doing a Ctrl+Alt+Del just before drive detection. I have Googled and searched on Microsoft over the past few days and have not found any useful information, and I honestly don't have a clue whether this is an OS, hardware or other problem. Perhaps a kind soul here can hope me?

What's the best wifi PCI card for Windows 2000?

spiderskull — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 00:53:25 -0800

Which PCI wireless networking adapters have the best (meaning fastest and most lightweight) drivers and software for Windows 2000? I can't upgrade to XP, and I've found the software that manufacturers package for Windows 2000 tends to be utter crap. So, I'm looking for a higher quality wireless adapter (needless to say, it's for a desktop machine).

I currently have a LinkSys WMP11, and I hate it because of its software. I've tried the Netgear WM111 USB adapter, but their software also caused major issues (it would frequently lock the system completely, mouse included, for 3-5 minutes).

The only good wireless experience I've had in W2K is with my Dell laptop, and that's because of Intel's driver/software package. They don't sell any PCI wireless adapters, unfortunately.

The desktop machine is aging, at approximately 5-6 years old, but it runs great when I disable any wireless devices.

Upgrade? Downgrade? I just want it to work.

electroboy — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 11:23:07 -0800

How do I solve this Windows installation problem? It's not a software or hardware problem exactly, more like a logistics problem. Anyway, there's.... So I have a computer with a dead hard drive. I've got a replacement installed, went to install Win XP using the full version disk that I bought a couple of years ago through pricewatch. The problem is that, after moving, I can't find the authentication code. I have an old Win2000 upgrade disk, but no other full version except the XP disk. Here are some possible complications:

1. The XP disk appears to be an OEM that was to be included with a new computer, although it's not brand specific.

2. The 2000 disk is upgrade only.

3. I have no idea what to put on a boot disk so that I can format the drive and snuff the incomplete Win XP installation.

4. Retrieving the authorization code from the old hard drive is not an option because, as far as i can tell, it is fried.

So what's the solution? I'd really rather not shell out another $80-100 for another Windows disk if at all possible. I don't really care whether I have 2000 or XP.

The windows, it blowed up

selfnoise — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 15:30:42 -0800

Windows 2000 just decided that I'm a new user for some reason. Exciting. How can I revert back to my old account? So when I booted up my Windows 2000 machine today and logged into my default user account, I noticed that all my settings had reverted to the default: blue background, empty "My Documents" folder, cookies gone in Firefox, etc. I went and looked at the My Documents folder and discovered that Windows had created a new folder for me.

Let's say that my old account name was fluffy. This new account is fluffy.BUNNIES, where BUNNIES is the name assigned to the machine itself. I can still see the plain old "fluffy" directory, but it's not using it for my user settings anymore. When I log in as "fluffy" it just uses the "fluffy.BUNNIES" directory. This is irritating and somewhat worrisome, and I can't figure out how to fix it.

Does anyone know what could have caused this, and how I can get my properties back? For what it's worth, I don't recall installing any software or doing anything unusual the last time the machine was on and working right.

All I want is a simple home network that works

zek — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 20:34:07 -0800

Argh! Can anyone give me a walkthrough for setting up a simple home network for two Windows 2000 Professional computers? I'm frustrated by unreliable mapped drive connections, and am ready to break down and follow a step-by-step procedure for creating a home network. Part of the problem is Google turns out reams and reams of stuff for Windows XP. I don't have XP.

I'm beyond any hope that this network can be fixed... but if anyone cares, here is the scoop.

Each item is plugged into the one above it. Network names are hypothetical CAT and DOG.

* DSL modem
* Linksys BEFSR81 Regular router - CAT is connected to it
* Linksys WRT54G Wireless - DOG is connected to it

Computers are both basic Windows 2000 SP 4, both workgroup "WORKGROUP". All firewalls are removed. No antivirus. On CAT I mapped Z: to \\DOG\C$, and on DOG I mapped Z: to \\CAT\C$. Set both computers with NetBEUI protocol, set NetBIOS to disabled (this seems to be what works best).

Doing ping is pointless because most of the time I can do a DIR on the command line and list the mapped drive. It's when I try to do anything (like copying) that I get trouble.

Basically what happens is I can read directories on both computers, but if I try to copy more than 20-100 files the connection craps out with stuff like "Error performing inpage operation", "the path is too deep" (yeah, right, I'm copying ONLY files in c:\tempdir), and "the network name is no longer available" (bullcrap). Then any further attempts to use the network drive say "the network name is no longer available". Basically it appears the network is completely lazy and not sustaining any kind of usable connection for more than 10 seconds. I considered that maybe the WiFi connection is weak, but I'm not having any problem with any WiFi I/O out to the Internet.

It's occurred to me the routers might be causing trouble, but if so I am clueless.

I see double. Help me see just one Sarah.

voidcontext — Sat, 25 Feb 2006 06:50:31 -0800

I'm trying to help someone fix her computer. She rebooted when her system got bogged down, and then when restarting, somehow logged into an account called Sarah.SARAH instead of just Sarah. Windows 2000 Pro. In the 'Documents and Settings' folder, there are a few folders: 'All Users', 'Sarah' and 'Sarah.SARAH'. The computer's name is SARAH. The account 'Sarah' is her original account from before upgrading to 2000 from 98. I've verified that all her files and setting are in that directory. So I should be able to log in to it.

What do I do at the log in window to specify which account I want to log in to? I've tried some permutations with \'s and @'s, but always I get logged into Sarah.SARAH. I'm not sure what she did originally to get into this account. Her password works to log her into this other account.

Also, to complicate the situation, the Sarah.SARAH account does not have administrator priveledges, like the Sarah account does.

Changing Drive Assmt for USB CF Reader?

vanoakenfold — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 04:03:11 -0800

Changing drive letters in Windows 2000 I just installed a USB CompactFlash reader, and it has been installed (without my say-so) as drive D. I already had a drive D (80gb usb external HD) and everything that was shortcutted to Drive D now no longer functions properly. Is there a simple way I can change the drive letter of the CF Reader to F or G, manually?

Why is my "AutoRecovery" function fickle?

zharptitsa — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 12:23:47 -0800

My office computer operates Windows XP with Word 2000. (I'm a Mac person at home so no lectures please...) About once a week or so, a Word doc will freeze up on me forcing me to hit the good old Ctrl+Alt+Del and End Task. I would say 50% of the time when I open Word again, the document I was working on comes up as a recovered document (phew!). The other 50% of the time, I open Word and... no recovered document (!!!). What gives? Why the discrepancy? How can I guarantee that a recovered document will come up all the time and not just when the computer feels like it? Aside from searching through a million temp files, is there an easy way to get the version I was working on back if it doesn't come up automatically? (Yes, I save as often as I can, but I'm only human.) Sorry if this has been answered before... I searched for a similar post, but didn't find one. Thank you!

How can I get Windows 2000 to "Smooth edges of screen fonts" again?

turbodog — Mon, 02 Jan 2006 21:18:49 -0800

How can I get Windows 2000 to "Smooth edges of screen fonts" again? I recently upgraded my Windows 2000 box from a Geforce Ti 4200 to a Geforce 6800. Because of nVidia's unified drivers, this should be a painless upgrade. However, Windows 2000 font smoothing no longer works. Screen text is very blurry and checking/unchecking "Smooth edges of screen fonts" has no apparent effect.

I've tried several different versions of Geforce drivers, but that doesn't seem to make a difference.

Does anyone know how I can make Windows make my screen text readable again?

C Drive dead, how to move ntdetect?

orthogonality — Sat, 18 Jun 2005 17:07:37 -0800

My master harddrive has gone tits-up, how can I boot from the slave? The opperating system (Windows 2000) is on the slave hardrive's primary partition (H:), but the master boot record and whatever Windows 2000 uses to boot (ntdectect.com?) resides on the master harddrive's primary partition (C:).

I can, intermittantly, boot -- apparently the master is still sometimes readable.

Is salvaging the situation as simple as copying ntdecect to the root of the primary boot partition on the slave drive, and then physically disconnnecting the master hdd? Do I need to fuss with the slave's MBR too?

In short, can anyone give me or point me to step-by-step instructions for moving Windows 2000's bootstrapping completely to the slave?

I can't just reinstall the OS -- while it's a legal copy, the OS install disks are currently in storage in another state.

Preserving Windows 2000

rolypolyman — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 10:37:38 -0800

After fruitlessly trying to remove a port scan virus buried deep within the system services (even AVG couldn't detect it), I am starting a fresh W2K installation. What software packages can do rollbacks on the registry and /winnt, and cancel all the damage from any particular software install session? Sometimes the registry and /winnt seem like a wide-open mouth where junk is dumped endlessly, and preventing this would be an effective way of keeping the computer clean.

Compelling Reasons to Upgrade from Windows 2000 to Windows XP?

selfnoise — Wed, 02 Feb 2005 08:35:44 -0800

I have a legal copy of Windows 2000. I am buying a new computer. I don't want to spend 100+ bucks on Windows XP. Is there any compelling reason to upgrade? Anything XP can do that 2000 can't?

How do I stop Excel from turning email addresses into hyperlinks?

anastasiav — Fri, 16 Jul 2004 07:23:44 -0800

StupidQuestionFilter:
Microsoft Excel 2000 v 9.0 - is there some way to stop excel from automatically turning email addresses into hyperlinks? Not just turning off the 'blue and underlined' format but actually not making them links. I've done it before in other versions of excel but I can't find a way to do it in this version. Thanks!

How do you tell what app is locking a file in Windows?

scarabic — Thu, 17 Jun 2004 12:17:48 -0800

Win2K: When a file cannot be moved or deleted because it is "in use," but you have no idea what application is using it, what can you do?

Session variables and redirects aren't working the same after I upgraded from PHP 3.x to PHP 4.35 on win2000.

specialk420 — Fri, 16 Apr 2004 06:38:33 -0800

php 4.35/win 2000/cgi question: having problems after upgrading from 3.x with session variables and redirects? any suggestions?