Enable File and Printer Sharing using Group Policy

Group Policy is a one of the most useful tools found in the Windows 2000 and later Active Directory infrastructure. Group Policy can be used to set File and Printer Sharing on all computers joined to the domain. If the computer is joined to a domain, members of the Domain Admins group might be able to perform this procedure. The following example uses Windows 2003 Server. The procedure for 2008 is almost exactly the same.

Enabling File and Printer Sharing in Windows XP

File and Printer sharing is required for sharing your computers resources. In addition, a special share, called the admin$ share is used to remotely manage and install software on Windows XP systems. By default file sharing is blocked in the firewall. The following steps will enable file and printer sharing in Windows XP.

Enabling File and Printer Sharing In Windows Vista

By default File and Print Sharing is disabled on Windows Vista. Many times file and printer sharing is also needed for remote administration tools that access the admin$ share. Enable File and Print sharing by following these steps:

Enabling File and Printer Sharing In Windows 7

File and Printer Sharing disabled by default in Windows 7, and unfortunately Microsoft has yet again changed the method to turn it back on. The steps you need to take are now different than the ones you took in Vista. So how do you get it back up and running in Windows 7?

Terminal Server 2003 - Universal Print Driver with Fallback Driver

Unfortunately, client printing in Terminal Server 2003 can be very frustrating. However, it almost always boils down to issues with drivers. Lots of drivers are simply not compatible with Terminal Services. Stick with Windows native drivers whenever possible and keep the number of drivers low. Using third party drivers is usually trouble.

HP Universal Print Driver solves Windows 7 Printing Problems for LaserJets

The introduction of Windows 7 has once again raised the annoying issue of whether existing printers are supported. Users want to know whether the printers they already have in-use or are considering are currently supported with Windows 7 print drivers (and, if not, when will they be supported).

Disconnect all users from MS SQL Server 2005/2008 Database

To get exclusive access to the database to perform maintenance tasks etc. you can set the database to Single User Mode, which permits only one database connection at a time. At that moment if other users try to access the database while you are working on that active connection, they will receive an error.

Synchronize Windows Server Clock with Internet Time Server

Windows includes the Windows Time service - W32Time. The purpose of W32Time is to make sure that all computers that are running Microsoft Windows 2000 or later versions in an organization use a common time.