Tag Archives: Microsoft

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

cab_XXXX Files in your C:\Windows\Temp Folder

You may have noticed the Windows TEMP folder filling up with cab_XXX files on systems, probably more servers than anything. It appears that makecab.exe is trying to zip CBS log files in the C:\Windows\Logs\CBS folder, these files can be rather large and for some reason it’s unable successfully complete the operation, so it creates this cab file instead… every 30 minutes.

The only solution i’ve been able to find is to run the following two commands to clean up the files, the second line will remove the CbsPersist files that makecab.exe is trying to compress:

cmd.exe /c del C:\Windows\Temp\*cab* /Q
cmd.exe /c del C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\*CbsPersist* /Q

A fatal error occurred while trying to sysprep the machine

This appears to be a problem with relation to the Windows 8.1 Metro Apps and I resolved by doing the following (NB. critical to observe the sysprep log file (setuperr.log);

  1. Take Snapshot
  2. Run Sysprep: sysprep /generalize /oobe /shutdown
  3. When the error occurs, check the error log and then query the problem package using PowerShell (insert name of package into the “”). Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers | Where Name -Like “”
  4. Once you have it run the following to remove the package; Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers | Where Name -Like “” | Remove-AppxPackage
  5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until successful.

If you don’t care whatsoever for Metro Apps (which is the case in our environment) you could just run the following and remove all packages; Get-AppxPackage | Remove-AppxPackage

Windows 10 Update P2P Distribution

In Windows 10 there is a new feature added to Windows update, the P2P distribution of Windows updates. This is done to to reduce the load on Microsoft’s servers and that’s probably pretty heft given how many Windows computers are actually in the world, but maybe not so good for people with data caps or excess changes on there data usage.

Lots of people have panicked about this with some major sites saying you should turn this feature off completely, which is a stupid move on their part. This feature can be leveraged in your favour to save you some metered data.

My advice is to set this feature to On and set it to only use PCs on my Local Network.

Follow these steps:

  1. Search for “Check for updates” in the Start menu.
  2. Under “Windows Update” choose “Advanced options.”
  3. Under “Choose how updates are installed” click “Choose how updates are delivered.”
  4. Click on the option “PCs on my Local Network.”

Windows 10 Updates Advanced Settings

This will restrict the sharing of updates files to your local network meaning other Windows 10 computers in your network will be able to leverage updates that they all have saving you data by only needing to download the update files once.

Windows XP – The End

As of today if your still running Windows XP then you have a big problem. There will be no more security updates for Windows XP.

You may have notice this message on your computer recently as well.

Windows XP End of Support NoticeYou pretty much have no choice now, disconnected Windows XP from the internet or upgrade because it will just be a matter of time before you pay the price with a security breach if you havn’t already been hit.

Windows 8.1 Update 1

Windows 8.1 Update 1 downloads, thats right you can download the updates now. Most of the changes in this update are designed to win back users who were unhappy with the interface changes mad in Windows 8 that are really designed for using a touch screen.

These updates must be applied in order:

  1. KB2919442
    x86: download.windowsupdate.com/c/msdownload/update/software/crup/2014/02/windows8.1-kb2919442-x86_94ee3d715e732ed28c64b8096327375a35f5d211.msu
    x64: download.windowsupdate.com/c/msdownload/update/software/crup/2014/02/windows8.1-kb2919442-x64_f97d8290d9d75d96f163095c4cb05e1b9f6986e0.msu
    ARM: download.windowsupdate.com/c/msdownload/update/software/crup/2014/02/windows8.1-kb2919442-arm_506ed7113697c597c2859d295d562fa4311834ec.msu
  2. KB2919355
    x86: download.windowsupdate.com/c/msdownload/update/software/crup/2014/02/windows8.1-kb2919355-x86_de9df31e42fe034c9a763328326e5852c2b4963d.msu
    x64: download.windowsupdate.com/d/msdownload/update/software/crup/2014/02/windows8.1-kb2919355-x64_e6f4da4d33564419065a7370865faacf9b40ff72.msu
    ARM: download.windowsupdate.com/c/msdownload/update/software/crup/2014/02/windows8.1-kb2919355-arm_a6119d3e5ddd1a233a09dd79d91067de7b826f85.msu
  3. KB2932046
    x86: download.windowsupdate.com/c/msdownload/update/software/crup/2014/02/windows8.1-kb2932046-x86_bfd8ca4c683ccec26355afc1f2e677f3809cb3d6.msu
    x64: download.windowsupdate.com/d/msdownload/update/software/crup/2014/02/windows8.1-kb2932046-x64_6aee5fda6e2a6729d1fbae6eac08693acd70d985.msu
    ARM: download.windowsupdate.com/c/msdownload/update/software/crup/2014/02/windows8.1-kb2932046-arm_fe6acf558880d127aef1a759a8c2539afc67b5fb.msu
  4. KB2937592
    x86: download.windowsupdate.com/d/msdownload/update/software/crup/2014/02/windows8.1-kb2937592-x86_96a3416d480bd2b54803df26b8e76cd1d0008d43.msu
    x64: download.windowsupdate.com/c/msdownload/update/software/crup/2014/02/windows8.1-kb2937592-x64_4abc0a39c9e500c0fbe9c41282169c92315cafc2.msu
    ARM: download.windowsupdate.com/c/msdownload/update/software/crup/2014/02/windows8.1-kb2937592-arm_860c83a0cccc0519111f57a679ae9f9d071315e5.msu
  5. KB2938439
    x86: download.windowsupdate.com/c/msdownload/update/software/crup/2014/03/windows8.1-kb2938439-x86_ac9aca7e41c8e818edbea0a8026189ee086f7aa2.msu
    x64: download.windowsupdate.com/c/msdownload/update/software/crup/2014/03/windows8.1-kb2938439-x64_3ed1574369e36b11f37af41aa3a875a115a3eac1.msu
    ARM: download.windowsupdate.com/d/msdownload/update/software/crup/2014/03/windows8.1-kb2938439-arm_4a536d9ddcd9993cbe4fbc309ebd50a18d65f954.msu
  6. KB2949621 – Sorry don’t have an address for this last one
    x86:
    x64:
    ARM:

Office 2013 KMS Client Product Keys

The following product keys can be entered into the product key field in your office application when your computer is joined to a Active Directory with a valid working KMS server. These keys are only for this scenario & are published publicly on the Microsoft Website.

Generic Volume License Keys for Office 2013

Product GVLK
Office 2013 Professional Plus YC7DK-G2NP3-2QQC3-J6H88-GVGXT
Office 2013 Standard KBKQT-2NMXY-JJWGP-M62JB-92CD4
Project 2013 Professional FN8TT-7WMH6-2D4X9-M337T-2342K
Project 2013 Standard 6NTH3-CW976-3G3Y2-JK3TX-8QHTT
Visio 2013 Professional C2FG9-N6J68-H8BTJ-BW3QX-RM3B3
Visio 2013 Standard J484Y-4NKBF-W2HMG-DBMJC-PGWR7
Access 2013 NG2JY-H4JBT-HQXYP-78QH9-4JM2D
Excel 2013 VGPNG-Y7HQW-9RHP7-TKPV3-BG7GB
InfoPath 2013 DKT8B-N7VXH-D963P-Q4PHY-F8894
Lync 2013 2MG3G-3BNTT-3MFW9-KDQW3-TCK7R
OneNote 2013 TGN6P-8MMBC-37P2F-XHXXK-P34VW
Outlook 2013 QPN8Q-BJBTJ-334K3-93TGY-2PMBT
PowerPoint 2013 4NT99-8RJFH-Q2VDH-KYG2C-4RD4F
Publisher 2013 PN2WF-29XG2-T9HJ7-JQPJR-FCXK4
Word 2013 6Q7VD-NX8JD-WJ2VH-88V73-4GBJ7

Generic Volume License Keys for KMS and Active Directory activation