NTLDR is missing error on 2003 server

“NTLDR is missing”

This error is coming on windows Server 2003

Follow these steps

1) Use the Windows Server 2003 Bootable CD to restart the computer.
2) At the Welcome to Setup screen, press R to repair the Windows Server 2003 installation.
3) To use the Recovery Console to repair the Windows Server 2003 installation, press C.
4) Type the number that corresponds to the Windows installation that you want to repair, and then press ENTER.
5) Type the Administrator password, and then press ENTER.
6) Check if ntldr or ntdetect.com are at the root of C:
a. If the files aren’t there copy them over from the 2003 CD.
7) Verify that Boot.ini is at the root and isn’t corrupt.
8) From the prompt run these commands:
a. Fixmbr
b. Fixboot C:
10) Reboot server and it should come up.

In some cases boot.ini need to rebuild. If so use this command: bootcfg /rebuild

Identify the services running under a SVCHOST.EXE process

Identify the services running under a SVCHOST.EXE process

you are searching for a command to identify the services which all are running under svchost.exe, here you can go.

A Windows program called tasklist.exe that can be used to list the running processes, and services, on your computer. To use task list to see the services that a particular SVCHOST.EXE process is loading,

Follow these steps:

Step 1.
Click on the Start button and then click on the Run menu command.

Step 2.
In the Open: textbox type cmd and press enter.

Step 3.
You will now be presented with a console window. At the command prompt type tasklist /svc /fi “imagename eq svchost.exe” and press the enter key. You will see a list of the processes on your computer as well as the services that a SVCHOST.EXE process is managing.

Cluster Services on the passive node is offline

Problem:

Cluster Services on the passive node is offline and is not starting. service is failing with a error code 1067.

Event ID’s 1209, 118, and 1009 are generated in System Event log.

Event 1009 is generated because of  Cluster service could not join an existing server cluster and could not form a new server cluster. Cluster service has terminated.
Event 118 shows The driver for device \Device\RaidPort3 performed a bus reset upon request.
Event 1209 shows Cluster service is requesting a bus reset for device \Device\ClusDisk.

This means that the server is having an authentication issue with the active server in the cluster.

Solution:

Step 1:
Open registry editor through command regedit.exe

Step 2:
Go to this location at HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\LSA

 

Step 3:
Change the value for “lmcompatibilitylevel” from “0” to a decimal number of “2

Step 4:
Go to services.msc and start the CLUSTER service. Reboot is not required.

HP ILOM CLI

HP ILOM CLI

Here are some useful HP ILOM CLI commands to view or diagnosing HP ILOM.

Command Description
show Display values of a property or contents of a collection target.
create create new instances in the name space of the MAP.
delete destroy instances in the name space of the MAP.
load move a binary image from an URI to the MAP
reset resets the state of the target
set set a property or set of properties to a specific value.
start Starts the target.
stop Stops the target.
cd Used to set the current default target.
exit Used to terminate the CLP session.
version Display version of ILO firmware

Dell Drac CLI

Dell DRAC CLI

Here are some useful commands while working on Dell DRAC, these commands sometimes required to view or diagnosing Dell Remote Assistant Card (DRAC).

Command Description
arp display ARP table
clearasrscreen clear the last ASR (crash) screen
clrraclog clear the RAC log
clrsel clear the System Event Log (SEL)
config modify RAC configuration properties
coredump display the last RAC coredump
coredumpdelete delete the last RAC coredump
fwupdate update the RAC firmware
getconfig display RAC configuration properties
getniccfg display current network settings
getraclog display the RAC log
getractime display the current RAC time
getsel display records from the System Event Log (SEL)
getssninfo display session information
getsvctag display service tag information
getsysinfo display general RAC and system information
gettracelog display the RAC diagnostic trace log
ifconfig display network interface information
netstat display routing table and network statistics
ping send ICMP echo packets on the network
racdump display RAC diagnostic information
racreset perform a RAC reset operation
racresetcfg restore the RAC configuration to its factory defaults
serveraction perform system power management operations
setniccfg modify network configuration properties
sslcertview view SSL certificate information
sslcsrgen generate a certificate CSR from the RAC
testemail test RAC e-mail notifications
testtrap test RAC SNMP trap notifications
version display the version info of RACADM
vmdisconnect disconnect virtual media connections
vmkey perform virtual media key operations
usercertview view user certificate information
racadm setniccfg -s <ipAddress> <netmask> <gateway> command to set ip address

IBM IMM CLI

IBM IMM CLI

Here are some commands which you might need at the time of troubleshooting IBM Integrated Management Module.

Command Description
clearcfg Resets the IMM to its default settings
clearlog Clear IMM event log
clock Display/set date & time, GMT offset and dst settings
console Exit CLI, attach to serial console
dhcpinfo View DHCP server assigned settings
dns Display the current configuration of the IMM
exit Exit CLI (log off)
fans Displays the fan speed for all system fans
gprofile Displays and configures group profiles for the IMM
help Display command list
history Display history of last 8 commands
identify Control system locator LED
ifconfig Ethernet configuration
ldap LDAP configuration
ntp Displays and configures the Network Time Protocol
passwordcfg Password configuration
portcfg Serial port configuration
power Control server power
readlog Displays the IMM event log, five entries at a time
reset Reset server
resetsp Reset IMM
slp View/edit SLP parameters
srcfg Serial redirection configuration
ssl SSL configuration
syshealth System Health
temps Display system temperatures
timeouts Server timeouts configuration
update Update firmware
usbeth Inband (Ethernet over USB) interface
users User profile configuration
volts Displays all the voltages and voltage thresholds
vpd Display VPD

Script to Compress WinSXS

Compress WinSXS:

A Script to compress WinSXS folder resided in Windows directory.

if you are concern about the growing size of WinSXS folder taking so much of space then you can use this powershell script to reduce the size by compressing WinSXS folder data.
This script is very usefull in the case when you need to compress WinSXS folder in large number of Servers/Desktops environment.

#——————————————–
# Script to compress WinSXS folder
try {
$winDir = “$($env:windir)”
$winSxSDir = “$winDir\WinSxS”
$aclPath = “$winDir\WinSxS.acl”
$serviceMSI = “msiserver”
$serviceTI = “TrustedInstaller”

Stop-Service $serviceMSI
Stop-Service $serviceTI

Set-Service -Name $serviceMSI -StartupType Disabled
Set-Service -Name $serviceTI -StartupType Disabled

icacls.exe $winSxSDir /save $aclPath /t

takeown /f $winSxSDir /r

icacls $winSxSDir /grant “$($env:USERDOMAIN)\$($env:USERNAME)”:”(F)” /t

compact /s:$winSxSDir /c /a /i *

icacls $winSxSDir /setowner “NT SERVICE\TrustedInstaller” /t

icacls $winDir /restore $aclPath

Set-Service -Name $serviceMSI -StartupType Automatic
Set-Service -Name $serviceTI -StartupType Automatic
}
catch {
Write-Host -ForegroundColor Red $Error[0]
}
#——————————————–

Note: Please note if server/desktop services (Msiserver & TrustedInstaller) are already stopped and in disabled state then this script will modify both services to automatic state.

Create More Space in Windows Drive

Create More Space in Windows Drive without extending the partition.

IF you have tried all your efforts (empty temp folders, cleaning user recycle bin etc…)  to create space in windows drive with no success, You may still have a scope to create space by compressing WinSXS folder resided in windows folder.

Follow steps mentioned as below to compress the size of winSXS, compression will not delete/move files to other location therefore no harm to compress winSXS folder.

Start a Command Prompt (cmd.exe) with run as Administrator privileges.

Step 1

Run below commands
Microsoft Windows Installer (msiserver) is an installation and configuration service, can install multiple patches with a single transaction that integrates installation progress, rollback, and reboots.

Trusted Installer (TrustedInstaller) is a service named Windows Modules Installer. It handles Windows updates and optional components.

We need to stop these two services and disable them to avoid interruption in compression process in case services start automatically, if these services are already stopped and in disable state then you only need to follow from Step 2 to Step 7

sc stop msiserver
sc stop TrustedInstaller
sc config msiserver start= disabled
sc config TrustedInstaller start= disabled

Step 2

Command to backup Access Control List (ACL) so it can be restore later on to its original condition.
icacls “%WINDIR%\WinSxS” /save “%WINDIR%\WinSxS.acl” /t

Step 3

Take ownership of WinSxS and subfolders
takeown /f “%WINDIR%\WinSxS” /r

Step 4

This command will Grant full rights on WinSxS to the current logged in user.
icacls “%WINDIR%\WinSxS” /grant “%USERDOMAIN%\%USERNAME%”:(F) /t

Step 5

Compress WinSxS files and sub-folders.
Compact /s:“%WINDIR%\WinSxS” /c /a /i *

Step 6

Restore ownership back to TrustedInstaller which you have taken in Step 3.
icacls “%WINDIR%\WinSxS” /setowner “NT SERVICE\TrustedInstaller” /t

Step 7

Restore Access Control List (ACL) which you have saved in Step 2.
icacls “%WINDIR%” /restore “%WINDIR%\WinSxS.acl”

Step 8
sc config msiserver start= demand
sc config TrustedInstaller start= demand
sc start msiserver
sc start TrustedInstaller

Open windows explorer to check space available in windows drive.

A powershell script is created to automate the same thing and is helpfull if you don’t want to run individual command or you are having bigger environment Script to Compress WinSXS.

To know more about the commands used in this article click Icacls, Compact.

MMC Issues

Problem: MMC could not create the snap-in or not able to open management console.
MMC Snap-in is not loading most processes and throwing an error on Windows 2008R2 x64.

Giving an error: mmc could not create the snap-in. CLSID: FX:{18ea3f92-d6aa-41d9-a205-2023400c8fbb} when opening server manager. also coming similar errors while opening windows services, event viewer, etc.

Solutions:

There are number of solutions can resolve this issue.

Solution Number 1
Open command prompt with administrative privileges.
Run sfc /scannow from command prompt.
Problem might have resolved if not use Solution number 2

Solution Number 2
Step 1. Open this folder location C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v2.0.50727\CONFIG
Step 2. Copy the ‘machine.config’ file to desktop or rename it to machine.config.old just in case you required later on.
Step 3. Make a copy of the “machine.config.default” file resided int the same folder and rename it to “machine.config”.
Problem might have resolved if not use Solution number 3

Solution Number 3

Close all MMC instance if it is open and install/re-install hotfix KB2686831 to fix this issue.

Solution Number 4
Install hotfix rollup for .NET Framework 2.0 SP2
Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2688730
Windows Server 2008 R2 (non-SP1)
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2688729

Reboot loop after patching

Problem: Server is in reboot loop after some windows patch.

Server is rebooting again and again with the message Windows trying to apply patches.

Solution:

Connect using ILO/DRAC or Vsphere console and  mount the proper ISO of the Operating System currently having issue with.

Enter to repair state.

Access command prompt.

open location %windir%\winsxs\ and rename pending.xml to pending.old

Run below commands to rename file.

ren %windir%\winsxs\pending.xml %windir%\winsxs\pending.old

Restart the server.