Techno-Cranio Idiocracy

An idiotic approach to technical maladies
Install, Configure and Run Dynamips in Windows 7
Dynamips, in case others don't know, is like VMware Workstation for Cisco devices. When I was preparing for my CCNA exam, Dynamips was truly helpful and made a difference because it gives you the real look and feel of the IOS environment in contrast to "Panget"... I mean Packet Tracer. I was asked to try running Dynamips in Windows 7 because others weren't able to make it work. It runs fine but has a little drawback; the live network interaction doesn't work due to permission issues that am still trying to figure out. Nevertheless, plainly messing with it to try out a laboratory simulation is very much possible. So, here you go:
  1. Download the latest WinPcap and Dynagen.
  2. Install WinPcap first, then Dynagen.
  3. Download your preferred IOS and copy or save it to this location:
         C:\Program Files\Dynamips\images
    Note: Sorry, can't provide you the IOS. You can, however, Goggle for it
  4. Copy your network file to this location:
         C:\Program Files\Dynamips\sample_labs
    Click HERE to download a sample network file.
  5. Right-click the network file and open it with WordPad.
  6. Edit the following parameters:
         image=C:\Program Files\Dynamips\images\cisco_ios.BIN
          Cisco_IOS.BIN is the actual name of your Cisco IOS
         workingdir = C:\Program Files\Dynamips\sample_labs\my_lab
          my_lab the folder you need create to store Dynamips emulator files 
  7. Close WordPad and click Save when prompted.
  8. Open the Control Panel then click System and Security.
  9. Click Allow a program through Windows Firewall under Windows Firewall.
  10. Click Change settings and click Allow another program.
  11. In the Add a Program window, click Browse under Path and locate dynagen.exe.
    Notice that dynagen.exe is now being listed and highlighted under Programs
  12. Click Add and click OK.
  13. Click Control Panel Home and click Programs.
  14. Under Programs and Features, click Turn Windows features on or off.
  15. From the list of Windows features, select Telnet Client and click OK.
  16. Close the Control Panel.
  17. Click the Windows Orb then type dynamips in the Search Programs and Files field and hit Enter.
  18. When you see Dynamips Server listed, hit Enter.
  19. Click Allow access when prompted by a Windows Security Alert dialog.
  20. Once Dynamips is up and running, double-click your network file.
    You should see something like this
  21. In the Dynagen Console, type start R1 then hit Enter.
  22. Now type idlepc get R1 and hit Enter.
    Repeat this process until you see something like this

    Take note of the value with the asterisk.
  23. Key-in the number where the asterisk appears and hit Enter.
  24. Type idlepc save R1 db and hit Enter.
  25. Type exit all and hit Enter.
  26. Double-click your network file again.
  27. In the Dynagen Console, type start R1 and hit Enter.
  28. Still in the console, type console R1 and hit Enter.
Congratulations! You now have Dynamips successfully running in Windows 7.
Posted: 12-18-2009 6:27 AM by Faelmar Tañada | with no comments
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Install HyperTerminal in Windows 7
I was tasked to configure our Cisco routers for the three leased lines we got from the ISP. The problem I had was that connecting to a Cisco router via the console is no longer possible in Windows 7 since HyperTerminal was removed. Now, don't get me wrong, Telnet I know is another option but these routers had been pre-configured and there is no other way I know to get into the IOS bypassing the implemented password (the dilemma of inheriting an existing network infrastructure without documentation). Hence, the need to install HyperTerminal. Here's how I did it:
 
1. From Windows XP copy:
      * hypertrm.exe from C:\Program Files\Windows NT\
      * hypertrm.dll from C:\Windows\System32\
    to the same folder location in Windows 7.
 
 2. Create a shortcut for HyperTerminal on the Desktop if you wish and run the application.
 
 3. You will be prompted to make HyperTerminal your default Telnet program. Tick Don't ask me this question again and Click No. Why No? Well, after I've configured the routers, I'll be using SSH for remote administration.
 
4. You will be prompted this time to fill up the location information form. Click Cancel and click Yes to confirm the action then click OK to dismiss the matter.
 
5. Type your desired connection name in the Name field (I usually use console) and click OK.
 
6. You will encounter steps 3 and 4 again then you will be presented with the Connect To dialog. Under Connect using, select from the list the correct com port
to use (in my case, COM7 via a USB Belkin portable com port where my console cable is attached) and click OK.
7. You will be presented next with the HyperTerminal Properies dialog. Click Restore Defaults and click OK.
 
That's it. You're now connected to your Cisco device. After bypassing the router's password, here's what I see...
 
 
Posted: 11-11-2009 10:52 AM by Faelmar Tañada | with no comments
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Restore the Quick Launch toolbar in Windows 7

A couple of days back, I was trying to figure out how in the world am I supposed to keep a group of program shortcuts in one folder and drag it to the Quick Launch toolbar like I used to in Windows XP (sorry, never been a Windows Vista fan). My idiot instinct tells me it's time to fire-up Help and Support which I did with glee knowing I'd get a good answer to my question. Keying "quick launch" in the search field returned two results. One of which, a question that says "What happened to the Quick Launch toolbar?". The way the question was framed gave me a clear picture that the Quick Launch toolbar is but a fragment of history which of course was validated after reading the help information. Read the entire article here.

Posted: 11-02-2009 12:29 PM by Faelmar Tañada | with no comments
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Enabling Lenovo N100 SoundMax audio in Windows 7

 
I recently installed Windows 7 (RTM) in my Lenovo 3000 N100 laptop. The installation went well and everything seemed perfect until I discovered that there was no audio. I checked the Device Manager and found no errors related to audio and others. My techie instinct tells me I needed to manually install the driver. Since no driver was available for Windows 7 from the Lenovo support website, I took the risk of dowloading the Windows Vista driver instead. After the download, I immediately installed the said driver but to no avail. Instead, Windows 7 loads its own high definition audio driver even when I uninstalled it and rebooted the machine. I searched the Internet for hours hoping I'd find a solution to the problem but become frustrated even more. Out of desperation, I did the following procedure to eventually solve the problem.
 
   1. Using Windows Explorer, open the C:\windows\system32\drivers folder.
   2. Select and right-click HdAudio.sys then select Properties from context menu.
   3. In the Properties applet, click the Security tab.
   4. In the Security tab, click Advanced then click the Owner tab thereafter.
   5. In the Owner tab, you should see your username listed, click Edit.
   6. You should see your username listed again. Select it and click OK.
   7. Click OK when a message box appears.
   8. Click OK again and click Edit.
   9. Click Add and click Advanced then click Find Now.
 10. Select your username and click OK and another OK.
       Notice that your username is selected.
 11. Tick the Full control checkbox and click OK.
 12. Click Yes when prompted and click OK.
 13. Delete HdAudio.sys and do the same for the other copies located in the following folders:
      * C:\Windows\LastGood\system32\drivers
      * C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\hdaudio.inf_x86_neutral_9781e9d72e255b2e
      * C:\Windows\winsxs\x86_hdaudio.inf_31bf3856ad364e35_6.1.7600.16385_none_15368bf2c8c39eac
 14. Download the driver from Lenovo support by clicking HERE.
 15. When the download is completed, extract the SoundMax Vista driver by double-clicking it.
      By default, it will be extracted on C:\Drivers\WIN\Audio.
 16. Open the C:\Drivers\WIN\Audio\i386\Vista folder.
 17. Copy ADIHdAud.inf and ADIHdAud.sys to the following:
      * ADIHdAud.inf to C:\Windows\inf
      * ADIHdAud.sys to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\
      just click Continue when you encounter an access denied dialog box.
 18. Launch the Device Manager and expand Sound, video and game controllers then uninstall High Definition Audio Device.
 19. Reboot your computer.
 20. After the reboot, launch the Device Manager and double-click Audio Device on High Definition Audio Bus under Other Devices.
 21. Click the Driver tab.
 22. In the Driver tab, click Update Driver and select Browse my computer for driver software then select Let me pick a list of device drivers on my computer.
 23. Scroll down then select Sound, video and game controllers and click Next.
 24. From the list of compatible drivers, select SoundMax Integrated Digital HD Audio and click Next.  
 25. Click Close and another close then reboot your computer.
 That's it. Hopefully, this works for you. Wink
Posted: 11-01-2009 12:10 AM by Faelmar Tañada | with no comments
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Remove Feedback Tool from Windows 7 Beta
The Feedback tool is all over Windows 7 beta; just recently, I learned the trick on how to remove it from Jojo Ayson, Microsoft Philippines' most popular Technology Specialist--a heartthrob in effect Smile  Now on with the trick:
 
   1. Launch regedit.exe.
   2. Locate HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\Desktop.
   3. Edit FeedbackToolEnabled REG_DWORD value from 3 to 0.
   4. Restart your computer and viola! no more Feedback tool.
 
I have to tell you though that while Windows 7 is still in its beta stage, we ought to use the Feedback tool whenever we encounter problems so when it finally comes out it becomes more of a workstation than a problem.
 
Cheers!
Posted: 03-17-2009 11:37 PM by Faelmar Tañada | with 1 comment(s) |
Install Windows 7 on a USB Stick/Flash drive
Installing W7 on a virtual machine I'm sure is not as fun as having it installed on a physical machine. The problem is, I no longer have enough space to squeeze W7 into my laptop's hard drive. So I thought of having it installed via an external USB hard drive (Maxtor 40GB) but doing so unfortunately is not possible; the W7 installation wizard tells me that it does not support such a hardware configuration. Frustrated, I searched the Internet to see if it was possible; there were instead lots of "How To's" on installing W7 from a USB stick especially on Netbooks where presence of an optical drive is absent. Well, I eventually end up installing W7 on a 16GB Transcend USB flash drive instead. Now, I'll be sharing how I did it. I will divided this tutorial into three phases; Phase I is about how to prepare your USB flash drive while Phase II tackles staging the virtual machine and installing W7 then Phase III walks you through tweaking the W7-VM to become W7-on-stick. Here's a list on what you need to achieve our goal:
  1. A PC with a working USB 2.0 port/s.
  2. A 16GB USB stick/flash drive or larger (the actual install size is a little over 8GB).
  3. VMware Workstation 6.5.x
  4. A pre-installed Windows Vista as guest OS in VMware Workstation.
  5. A copy of the Windows 7 installation (DVD or ISO).
  6. An administrative user account.
  7. Tons of PATIENCE.
PHASE I - Preparing the USB Stick/Flash Drive
  1. Plug in the USB stick into your PC's USB port.
  2. Fire up your VMware Workstation. If you don't have it yet, download at least an evaluation version from VMware. You need to register before you can actually download the software. You'd probably ask why VMware Workstation and not Microsoft Virtual PC? Well, I tried this trick on VPC 2007 but it didn't work but I guess with Hyper-V, it might. Sorry, I currently don't have a 64 bit PC to install Hyper-V.
  3. Turn on your Vista guest OS.
    The Removable Devices message box would popup.
  4. Just click OK to close it and login to vista when the login screen is presented.
  5. VMware can load your USB stick within the guest OS. To do this, click the VM menu then hover your mouse pointer to Removable Devices and hover your mouse pointer to your USB stick from the list of devices then finally select Connect (disconnect from host) from the sub-sub menu. Click here to view image.
  6. Click OK when a message box will popup.
  7. You will know when the USB stick is loaded because Vista will present you the Autoplay dialog box. Just click Close.
  8. Click the Start menu then type comp in the Start Search field then click Computer Management when it gets listed.
  9. Click Continue when prompted by the UAC.
  10. In the Computer Management snap-in, click Disk Management.
    Notice that your USB stick is identified as Disk 1 with its corresponding drive letter assignment or higher if you have more than one currently plugged in. Take note of this. Click here to view image.
  11. Close Computer Management.
  12. Click Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> then right-click your mouse on Command Prrompt and select Runas Administrator from the context menu then deal with the UAC dialog box when it pops up.
    The Command Prompt should launch thereafter.
  13. It's geek time folks so in the Command Prompt, type diskpart and hit the Enter then type list disk and hit Enter again.
    Notice that the USB stick will be listed as Disk 1 or higher.
  14. Now do the following commands exactly as sequenced:
      - select disk 1 <<< selects the USB stick
      - clean
      - create partition primary
      - select partition 1 <<< you can do list partition to check the partition number if you wish
      - active <<< marks the new primary partition active
      - format fs=ntfs override <<< tested your patience will be but patient you must...he he he
      - exit
    After you exited diskpart, don't close the Command Prompt. Just have it on the background.
    Remember that you have to hit Enter everytime you finished typing a command.
  15. Load the W7 install DVD into your PC's optical drive or map the W7 ISO you downloaded from Microsoft to VMware Workstation.
      - VM menu -> Removable Devices -> CD/DVD (IDE) -> Settings -> Use ISO image file -> Browse then locate the W7 ISO and click Open then OK.
      - VM menu -> Removable Devices -> CD/DVD (IDE) -> Connect
  16. Close the Autoplay dialog when it pops up.
  17. Back in the Command Prompt, change drive to your CD/DVD drive then change directory to BOOT.
      - type D: then hit Enter.
      - In drive D:, type cd boot then press Enter.
  18. Type bootsect /nt60 X: /force then hit Enter. This is going to make the USB stick compatible with BOOTMGR bootcode. X: is the drive letter assignment of the USB stick.
Now that the USB stick is ready, let's dive into the next phase...

PHASE II - Setting up the W7 Virtual Machine and Installing W7
  1. If you have 2GB or more RAM on your PC, you don't have to do this procedure; shutdown the Vista VM to give way to W7.
  2. Click the File menu -> New -> Virtual Machine.
  3. Tick Custom (advanced) then click Next when the New Virtual Machine Wizard pops up.
  4. Workstation 6.5 is pre-selected for Hardware Compatibility so just click Next.
    I haven't tried this on an earlier version, sorry. It might work but you will have to try it yourself and perhaps share your experience.
  5. Tick the last option, I will install the operating system later then click Next.
  6. Choose Vista as guest OS from the list under Microsoft then click Next.
  7. Type Windows 7 in the Virtual machine name field then click Browse.
  8. In the Browse for Folder dialog, create a new folder on drive C: named Windows_7 and click OK then click Next.
  9. If you have a dual core CPU, choose Two for Number of processors then click Next. Choose One if using a single core CPU.
  10. The RAM is pre-set to 512MB so click Next. Otherwise, assign a larger RAM if you have the hardware for it.
  11. Tick Do not use Network connection then click Next.
  12. LSI logic is pre-selected for SCSI Adapter so click Next.
  13. Select the last option Use a physical disk (for advanced users) then click Next.
  14. In the Device list, choose PhysicalDrive1 then click Next. PhysicalDrive0 is used by the host OS. If you use this, you'll mess up the host OS.
  15. Click Browse and locate your Windows 7 folder then click Save and click Next.
  16. Click Finish but we're not done yet.
  17. Under the Commands window, click Edit virtual machine settings.
  18. Select Hard Disk (SCSI) then click Advanced.
  19. Tick Independent. Persistent is pre-selected so click OK.
  20. Select CD/DVD (IDE) then choose how the optical drive is connected, Use physical drive or Use ISO image file (in my case, I used an ISO image).
  21. Remove both the Floppy drive and USB Controller then click OK.
  22. Click Power on this virtual machine to start installing W7. Just go through the installation routine as you would on a physical machine.
    REMEMBER to:
       - Press F2 when you start the virtual machine to change the boot sequence to boot from the CD/DVDROM.
       - Format the USB stick within the W7 installation.
       - Be patient. The installation is not as fast as it is on real hard drive.
That's it, you now installed W7 into your USB stick but we have to do something before we can shed tears of joy Wink

PHASE III - Tweaking W7-VM to become W7-on-stick

After the installation, you will be logged into the Desktop for the first time. This will also take time so again be... Yep, that's right.
  1. First, change the resolution to 800x600. Just right-click the Desktop then select Screen Resolution from the context menu.
    I don't have a huge Desktop workspace thus the resolution change.
  2. Click Start (it's the Windows orb) then type command in the Search programs and files text field.
  3. Right-click Command Prompt then select Run as Administrator from the context menu and click Yes when the UAC dialog pops up.
  4. On each of these files add this tag:

       - usb.inf
       - usbport.inf
       - usbstor.inf
       [*.AddService]
       StartType = 0
       LoadOrderGroup = boot bus extender

    In the Command Prompt, type cd ..\\inf and hit Enter then edit each of the above-mentioned files and add the needed tag as follows:

       c:\Windows\inf\notepad usb.inf

    In Notepad, press CTRL+End to navigate to the last portion of the file then add the tag.
  5. When you're done, fire up the Registry Editor by typing regedit in the Search programs and files text field then hit Enter.
  6. Open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services.
  7. On each of these services:
       - usbccgp
       - usbehci
       - usbhub
       - usbuhci
       - usbohci
    edit keys
       Start = 0
       Group = boot bus extender
        - USBSTOR (for this service, you create a new key string value named Group and do the same as the other services )
  8. When you're done, exit the Registry Editor.
  9. Change your user picture unless you want to be represented as a flower.
  10. Shutdown W7 then close VMware and shutdown your PC.
  11. To be sure that you won't mess up the host OS, either disable the physical disk/s in BIOS or remove your PC's the hard drive. You don't have to do this if you wish but I don't take chances so I did it.
  12. Turn on your PC then alter the BIOS settings to boot first on the USB drive.
  13. Save the settings and exit the BIOS.
Momentarily, you will see the fruit of your labor coming to life.

Welcome to the future of USB computing...
Posted: 03-05-2009 4:00 PM by Faelmar Tañada | with no comments
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How to provide Internet connection to a Virtual PC guest OS using a loopback adapter
Installing Windows 7 on Virtual PC 2007 and activating it Windows Server 2008 Server Core style was not a problem since the host PC (a Lenovo 3000 N100 laptop running WinXP Pro) I used was connected to our corporate network. At home though, hooking up to the Internet is via dialup using PLDT WeROAM. The problem is, I wanted to use the same network interface I assigned Windows 7 in VPC and I don't have a switch to physically connect the network interface into. Below is my workaround to address the problem at hand.
  • Make a Loopback adapter
          Things you need:
          - an RJ45 connector
          - a pair of twisted pair wire about 4 to 5 inches long
          - a crimping tool (if you don't have one, it's Php 200.00 at CD-R King)
    1. Strip open a UTP cable and cut-off a pair about 4 to 5 inches long. I used the White Orange-Orange pair.
    2. Insert the individual wires into the RJ45 connector in the following order:
    3. Crimp the RJ45 connector and you now have a loopback adapter.
    4. Plug the loopback adapter into your PC's LAN adapter.
  • Sharing the Internet connection.
    1. Go to the Control Panel and launch the Network Connections applet.
    2. Right-click your mouse on the dialup icon (in my case, it's HUAWEI3G.PLDT Weroam PLUS) then select Properties from the context menu.
      The dial-up dialog pops up.
    3. Click the Advanced tab and tick Allow other network users to connect through this computer's Internet connection.
    4. Click OK when a message box pops up.
    5. If you only have one NIC, just click OK and you're done. However, if you have more than one NIC, select the appropriate network connection under Home networking connection and click OK.
    6. Click OK when a message box pops up.
      Your computer should now be ready to share it's Internet connection.
    7. Next, fire up VPC and start your guest OS (I had Windows 7 to play with).
    8. Login to windows 7 and launch the Command Prompt.
    9. Type ipconfig and press Enter.
      If you did steps 1 to 6 right, you should see the guest OS's IP configuration.
    10. Open your favorite web browser and see if you now have Internet connectivity.
PS: If you don't want to make a physical loopback adapter, try using the MS Loopback adapter and assign that adapter to be used by the guest OS. You get the same result but making a physical loopback adapter gives you a different experience because nothing beats a rather physical action... Wink 
Posted: 03-05-2009 10:43 AM by Faelmar Tañada | with no comments
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