The Security Database on the Server Does Not Have a Computer Account for This Workstation Trust Relationship – Domain

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“The Security Database on the Server Does Not Have a Computer Account for This Workstation Trust Relationship” – On Widnows Domain

This error has presented itself on a few rare occasions on our customer’s domain network machines.

We recently discovered a quick an easy fix for the error as the fix provided by Microsoft in their knowledge base articles is inadequate.

Cause:
It can be caused by several things, but for our customers it was the Active Directory entries for the PC either becoming corrupt or the PC brought onto the network had the old domain credentials.

The fix is done and applicable for Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8 (32bit & 64bit)

  1. On the log on screen on the affected PC, no domain credentials will log you in, you must use a local account to log onto the machine
  2. If you do not know the local admin credentials, unplug the Ethernet cable from the PC or turn of the Wi-Fi signal and log in with the domain credentials
  3. Right click on the computer icon, go to properties
  4. Scroll to the bottom of the page and under “Computer name, domain and workgroup settings”. Click [Change setting]
  5. Remove the PC from the current domain onto a workgroup (WORGROUP eg.)
  6. Restart the machine
  7. Use the local admin credentials to log on
  8. Repeat steps 3 & 4
  9. This time, join the domain and insert the domain admin credentials
  10. To be extra cautious, we also rename the PC Name, just in case the Operational Unit on the Active Directory server is corrupt.
  11. Reboot the machine
  12. Log onto the domain normally.

Stubborn printer drivers in Windows – Driver in use

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Since the introduction of Windows Vista, through to Windows 7 and Windows 8, I have encountered an issue where certain printers along with the printer drivers cannot be uninstalled or removed completely.

To keep users from accessing old printers, to keep a lean and efficient network and most importantly to stop printer driver errors, it is always recommended to remove unused or old printer drivers.

The normal way is to navigate to Devices and Printers and right click a device and then select “remove device”.
Then navigate to Programs and Features and uninstall the associated extra software for the printer.
This method works sometimes but I have found that printer divers remain behind if you have a look at the print management console.
Now if you try and remove the drivers from within the print management console, most likely you will get an error preventing its removal (Driver in use)

The following method will help you get around this stubborn issue and has helped us resolve many driver related issues with printers from many of our customers.

WARNING – Use at own risk as this fix involves editing the Windows registry! – WARNING

1. Then we stopped print spooler
2. Open registry editor: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environments\Windows x64\Print Processors\
3. Rename all Print Processors that are listed. Like Winprint to Winprint.old, Hpcpp107 to Hpcpp107.old, and so on …
4. Start the print spooler
5. Remove all unwanted driver packages in Print Management Console
6. Reopen registry location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environments\Windows x64\Print Processors\
7. Rename all Print Processors back to Winprint.old to Winprint, Hpcpp107.old to Hpcpp107, and so on…
8. Restart print spooler
9. Install your new printer drivers

Watchguard’s new Fireware XTM v11.8 Operating System

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Watchguard has released a new Firewire XTM Operating System now in version 11.8. Earlier this week, we installed the new firmware to a couple of customers around Springwood and it fixed a couple of issues pertaining to Proxies and VPN.

In addition, the new firmware introduced a new reporting tool called Watchguard Dimension. It is a dashboard on steroids with a streamlined web user interface, comprehensive graphs and reports. With this new representation of network data, Managed Service Providers can effectively analyze the problems on the customer’s network in a short amount of time.

Network Attached Storage – NAS

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Network Attached Storage – NAS

The NAS device has become a essential part of the networks that A&STech manage, implement and install.

A&STech uses NAS devices to perform whole network backups for all our customers’ throughout the greater Brisbane and Gold Coast area.
We use NAS devices instead of DAS (Directly attached storage) as it offers our customers easy access easy to their files simultaneously from all their computers on network.
The NAS device can be self-managed with its own firmware and software and we have even started implementing cloud backups via the NAS device’s software.

The latest NAS devices have tremendous backup and seek speed via RAID 5 and USB 3.0 inputs.

As for the device, we at A&STech have put our calculated trust in the leader of home & small business NAS devices, Synology.
Their extensive range of NAS devices have performed exceptionally under all circumstances and have streamlined the backup process for all our customers.
They have been solid in both the hardware &software fronts and are easy to maintain and use.
They have a user friendly GUI called DSM (Disk Station Manager) that comes with loads of extra software from managing backup schedules, checking logs and performance issues, installing surveilance and monitoring equipment and backing up to the cloud.

 

Ninite – Web based automated application installer and updater

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Have you recently purchased a brand new PC?
Or inherited a non tech savvy family members’ old PC that is barely chugging along?
Or people, who know you, always seem to call you when programs are just not running right or for application updates?
Then undoubtedly Ninite is for you.

http://ninite.com is a web based automated installation tool that runs locally on your machine
(or across a whole domain for the pro version) that automatically finds the latest stable release version of a program, downloads it, installs it and even updates all the apps it has in its database and are already installed on your computer.

It’s smart in the way it goes about it’s installation too.
It doesn’t just simply install the programs in their normal state but it recognises what is bloatware, add-ons or toolbars and automatically skips them during the install phase.
Brilliant.

It also checks against the latest stable version of the software that you choose to update and skips it or updates it depending on the version that is currently installed.

We at A&STech use Ninite.com on a weekly basis as one of our initial go to software installation packages for all our Brisbane and Gold Coast based customers.

It’s simple, smart and frees up a ton of time.

Highly recommended.