Category Archives: Software / Applications

CIDR Conversation Table

CIDR Conversion Table

CIDR LengthMask# of Networks#  of Hosts
/1128.0.0.0128 A2,147,483,392
/2192.0.0.064 A1,073,741,696
/3224.0.0.032 A536,870,848
/4240.0.0.016 A268,435,424
/5248.0.0.08 A134,217,712
/6252.0.0.04 A67,108,856
/7254.0.0.02 A33,554,428
/8255.0.0.01 A16,777,214
/9255.128.0.0128 B8,388,352
/10255.192.0.064 B4,194,176
/11255.224.0.032 B2,097,088
/12255.240.0.016 B1,048,544
/13255.248.0.08 B524,272
/14255.252.0.04 B262,136
/15255.254.0.02 B131,068
/16255.255.0.01 B65,024
/17255.255.128.0128 C32,512
/18255.255.192.064 C16,256
/19255.255.224.032 C8,128
/20255.255.240.016 C4,064
/21255.255.248.08 C2,032
/22255.255.252.04 C1,016
/23255.255.254.02 C508
/24255.255.255.01 C254
/25255.255.255.1282 subnets124
/26255.255.255.1924 subnets62
/27255.255.255.2248 subnets30
/28255.255.255.24016 subnets14
/29255.255.255.24832 subnets6
/30255.255.255.25264 subnets2
/31255.255.255.254nonenone
/32255.255.255.255none1

Windows Update error 0x80092004 Windows 7 & 2008

Microsoft changed the signing of update packages for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 devices on the August 2019 Patch Day for the first time. The company signs packages only with SHA-2 since August 2019; it signed them with SHA-1 and SHA-2 previously but decided to drop SHA-1 because of known weaknesses.

Two updates need to be installed on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 systems so that SHA-2 signed updates are installed correctly:

  • KB4474419 — SHA-2 code signing support update for Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008: August 13, 2019
  • KB4490628 — Servicing stack update for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1: March 12, 2019

Export List of Office 365 Licenses by Type

It’s possible to to use Powershell to export lists of users who are allocated different licences in Office 365. This guide will help you export a csv file that contains a list of the users who have a specific license type.

Part 1 – Connecting to Office 365 with Powershell

  1. First open a powershell console enter the following:
    $UserCredential = Get-Credential
  2. You will be prompted for your Office 365 username and password
  3. Now we must establish a conenction using the stored credentials:
    Connect-MsolService -Credential $UserCredential
  4. Now that you are connected to Office 365’s powershell interface you can now issue commands to Office 365.

Part 2 – Listing Licences in your account

Enter the command:

Get-MsolAccountSku

This will display a list of licences and the number of each you own and are utilised.

AccountSkuiD: <instancename>:<licencename>
ActiveUnits: The number of licences available based on your subscription
WarningUnits: Licenses in warning state
ComsumedUnits: Licenses in use and assigned to users.

Part 3 – Exporting the Data for a specific Licenes Type

Enter the following command, this will export a list of users with Power BI Standard license assigned to them. Remember to change <instancename> to match the instance name displayed in your output from part 2.

get-MSOLUser -All | where {$_.isLicensed -eq "TRUE" -and $_.Licenses.AccountSKUID -eq "<instancename>:POWER_BI_STANDARD"} | select displayname,userprincipalname,isLicensed | export-CSV c:\crmstandardusers.csv

You will now have a CSV file containing a list of the users with the specified license. You can perform this with any licenses listed from the Get-MsolAccountSku command.

Enable Strict Transport Security on IIS

The following is a guide to enable Strict Transport Security on IIS (Internet Information Server).

Open up IIS Manager and navigate to the the Server Name

Select HTTP Responce

Click on Add, and enter the values as follows

Click ok and then click on the server name again, select the restart option from the actions pane.

You server should now pass Qualys SSL Test for Strict Transport Security.

Provision Windows Store Apps for Windows 10 Imaging

When building fat Windows 10 Images it is necessary to sometimes install Windows Store apps, however you can’t just install them from the standard Windows Store, doing so will cause sysprep to fail. At no point should you try to run any Windows store apps when building an image.

DISM can be used to provision the app for all users in your image. The following is an example command using Microsoft Reader, it’s dependance of Microsoft VCLibs and finally it’s licence file:

Dism /Online /Add-ProvisionedAppxPackage /PackagePath:Microsoft.Reader_2017.612.315.3642_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe.AppxBundle /DependencyPackagePath:Microsoft.VCLibs.120.00_12.0.21005.1_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe.Appx /LicensePath:Microsoft.Reader_8wekyb3d8bbwe_e5086f30-ff13-cf16-91fb-0cc6ed9c5613.xml

To obtain the app files you must download them from the Microsoft Windows Store for Business. Sign in with a user account and find the package you are looking for.

Once you have found the app you’re looking for select offline for the licence type.

Click Manager, then no the next screen click Get App.

Now Select your Processor architecture, if 32 bit windows select x86, for 64 bit select X64, Finally select your language. Ignore the Download button at the end of the line this will download a JSON file not required for this process.

Scroll down and click the Download link under “Download the package for offline use”, this will download the Package for Reader.

The next link down the page is the licensing file for Offline install, download this preferably to the same location.

Finally after the licence link you will see “Required frameworks”, this of course depends on the app you are trying to download, these may be architecture dependent also. Download these files into the same location as well.

Once you have all the files in a single folder or location open a command prompt or powershell window with administrator privileges and change directory to the location of your downloaded files from the Windows Store.

Execute the DSIM command like the following:

Dism /Online /Add-ProvisionedAppxPackage /PackagePath:PackageFileName /DependencyPackagePath:DependencyPackageFileName /LicensePath:LicenceFilename

Once this as executed the package will install for all users, and your windows image will seal correctly.

TechNet – DISM App Package (.appx or .appxbundle) Servicing Command-Line Options

Get the Number of Mailboxes in Office 365

The following is a quick guide on how to get a count of the number of mailboxes in Office 365 for user mailboxes, room mailboxes and shared mailboxes.

Open an administrator powershell

$UserCredential = Get-Credential

The above command should trigger a prompt for a username and password, enter the details of an Office 365 administrator.

$Session = New-PSSession -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange -ConnectionUri https://outlook.office365.com/powershell-liveid/-Credential $UserCredential -Authentication Basic -AllowRedirection
Import-PSSession $Session

Now use one of the following commands in powershell:
Retrieve number of user mailboxes:

(Get-Recipient -RecipientTypeDetails usermailbox -ResultSize Unlimited).count

Retrieve number of shared mailboxes:

(Get-Recipient -RecipientTypeDetails sharedmailbox -ResultSize Unlimited).count

Retrieve number of room mailboxes:

(Get-Recipient -RecipientTypeDetails roommailbox -ResultSize Unlimited).count

Upgrade Windows 10 Home to Windows 10 Pro

From your Windows 10 Home running Version 1511, enter the Windows 10 Pro Default key under change product key.

VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T

This default key will not activate the system, just take you to Pro so you can activate using a valid Pro key that you will provide.

Once you have done this, the system will go through an upgrade process from Home to Pro, but will not be activated on Pro.

You will require a genuine product key to then activate Windows.