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2011
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Sun, Jul 31, 2011 11:27 pm

Nubert Required to be Run Under Administrator Account

I installed NuBert version 2011.07.06.2 from Nucor Building Systems from an administrator account on a user's PC running Windows 7 Professional and entered the product key for the software. I was able to start the software from the domain administrator or local administrator account, but not the user's account, not even when I temporarily put the user's account in the domain users group. Putting the product code in when prompted to do so when the software was run under the user's account did not lead to the software running. It would simply terminate after the code was entered and the next time it was run I would be prompted for the code again.

In the registry, I found the following key associated with the software:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Nucor

When I right-clicked on the subkeys and checked their permissions, I saw that user accounts had read permissions for them.

I used Microsoft's free Process Monitor utiltity to check the file access and registry access of the NBS.NuBert.Bootstrapper.Loader.exe process when it was run from the domain administrator account and from the user's account. I noticed that when it was run from the administrator's account, it was accessing the directory C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Local\Nucor_Building_Systems. I copied that directory to C:\Users\useracct\AppData\Local\Nucor_Building_Systems where useracct was the user's account name.

For the administrator account the following files were in the directory:

DefaultPerisssions
NuBertTreelistLayout PermissionMetadata

There was also a directory with a name that began with NBS.BERT.HostEnvironment._Url_ followed by a very long string of digits and letters. There was a directory named 2011.7.7.1 within it and a file named user.config within that directory.

For the users account, the following files were the only ones initially in the Nucor_Building_Systems directory:

DefaultPerisssions
PermissionMetadata

I copied the directory and all of the files from the Nucor_Building_Systems folder under the administrators account into the same one under the user's account, replacing the files already there.

I logged off the administrator's account and tested again from the user's account. Again, I was prompted for the product key, however.

I then logged into the administrator's account again. I right-clicked on the NuBert shortcut on the desktop, chose Properties then clicked on the Advanced button under the Shortcut tab. Run as administrator was grayed out, so I could not select it.

So, from the administrator account, I created a new shortcut on the desktop that pointed to "C:\Program Files (x86)\NBS\BERT\NBS.NuBert.Bootstrapper.Loader.exe" . I right-clicked on the NuBert shortcut on the desktop, chose Properties then clicked on the Advanced button under the Shortcut tab. I then checked Run as administrator and clicked on OK.

Run as administrator checked

I then clicked on the Security tab, clicked on the Edit button and added Domain Users, since the user logs into a domain account. I then clicked on OK to close the Properties window for the shortcut. I then copied the shortcut from the domain administrator's desktop to the user's desktop at C:\Users\useracct\Desktop, where useracct is the username for the user's account.

Then when the user clicked on the shortcut, he would be prompted for a user name and password. I had him put in pcname\administrator, where pcname was the name of his computer, as the user name to use the local administrator account for his PC and the password for that account. I also created a .cmd file with just the following command in it and put a shortcut to it on his desktop as well:

runas /user:administrator "C:\Program Files (x86)\NBS\BERT\NBS.NuBert.Bootstrapper.Loader.exe

That would allow him to just put in the password for the local administrator account to save him a small amount of typing, if he preferred using it to the other shortcut.

Of course, running the software under the local administrator account is a poor solution, due to the security implications, but the only one I could get to work. Why do some software developers seemingly assume that their software will be run from an account with administrator privileges or that a system won't even employ the very minimum of security measures?

[/os/windows/software/misc] permanent link

Sun, Jul 31, 2011 7:02 pm

Removal of SMF Links Directory Lite Package

I deleted the SMF Links Directory Lite 1.0 mod from a Simple Machines Forum (SMF) forum. When I went through the uninstall process, there were two failures for the ./Sources/ManagePermissions.php file.

For the first failure, the uninstall process was looking for the following:


	$groupLevels['global']['standard'] = array_merge($groupLevels['global']['restrict'], array(
		'links_manage',
		'links_view',
		'links_add',
		'edit_links',
		'delete_links',
		'links_auto_approve',
		'links_comment',
		'links_view_comments',

It would replace that code with the following:

$groupLevels['global']['standard'] = array_merge($groupLevels['global']['restrict'], array(

Since intervening code had been placed after the first line, I manually removed the lines that would have been removed. The code that was there was as follows:


$groupLevels['global']['standard'] = array_merge($groupLevels['global']['restrict'], array(
                'reason_edit',

                'links_manage',
                'links_view',
                'links_add',
                'edit_links',
                'delete_links',
                'links_auto_approve',
                'links_comment',
                'links_view_comments',

For the next test that failed, the uninstall process was looking for the following code:


$context['non_guest_permissions'] = array(
		'links_manage',
		'links_auto_approve',
		'edit_links',
		'delete_links',

It was to be replaced with the following:

$context['non_guest_permissions'] = array(

What was actully there was the following:


$context['non_guest_permissions'] = array(
                // SMFPacks Shoutbox -->
                'shoutbox_post',
                'shoutbox_edit',
                'shoutbox_delete',
                'shoutbox_prune',
                'shoutbox_ban',
                // <-- SMFPacks Shoutbox
                'reason_edit',

                'links_manage',
                'links_auto_approve',
                'edit_links',
                'delete_links',

                'httpBL_free_pass',
                'delete_replies',
                'karma_edit',

I removed the "links" lines manually.

For the third test on the file, which succeeded, the uninstall process was looking for the following code:


	$permissionList = array(
		'membergroup' => array(		
			'links_manage' => array(false, 'links', 'links'),
			'links_view' => array(false, 'links', 'links'),
			'links_add' => array(false, 'links', 'links'),
			'edit_links' => array(false, 'links', 'links'),
			'delete_links' => array(false, 'links', 'links'),
			'links_auto_approve' => array(false, 'links', 'links'),
			'links_comment' => array(false, 'links', 'links'),
			'links_view_comments' => array(false, 'links', 'links'),

It would be replaced with the following:


	$permissionList = array(
		'membergroup' => array(

What was actually in the file was the following:


        $permissionList = array(
                'membergroup' => array(
                        'links_manage' => array(false, 'links', 'links'),
                        'links_view' => array(false, 'links', 'links'),
                        'links_add' => array(false, 'links', 'links'),
                        'edit_links' => array(false, 'links', 'links'),
                        'delete_links' => array(false, 'links', 'links'),
                        'links_auto_approve' => array(false, 'links', 'links'),
                        'links_comment' => array(false, 'links', 'links'),
                        'links_view_comments' => array(false, 'links', 'links'),

                        'view_contact' => array(false, 'general', 'view_basic_info'),

I clicked on Uninstall Now to uninstall the mod. After doing so, I checked the area of the code which was to have a successful removal of the mod's code. I saw the following:


        $permissionList = array(
                'membergroup' => array(
                        'view_contact' => array(false, 'general', 'view_basic_info'),
                        'smftrader_feedback' => array(false, 'smftrader', 'smftrader'),

After uninstalling the SMF Links Directory Lite mod, I installed the SMF Links package. I had to remove some tables manually from the forum database that had been placed there by the installation of SMF Links Directory Lite, remove the SMF Links package and reinstall it as explained at SMF Links Package for SMF Forum to get the new links package working.

[/network/web/forums/smf] permanent link

Sun, Jul 31, 2011 2:37 pm

Moving an SMF Forum From One Domain to Another

I needed to move a Simple Machines Forum forum from one domain to another. I've detailed the steps I took here.

[/network/web/forums/smf] permanent link

Sun, Jul 31, 2011 2:34 pm

Configuration Steps to Take After Installing SMF Forum

These are some steps I commonly take after installing a Simple Machines Forum (SMF) forum.
  1. Configure the forum for "search engine friendly URLs" by clicking on Admin, Features and Options, Configuration, and then checking the box next to "Search engine friendly URLs", which is supported on Apache and Lighthttpd webservers, and then clicking on Save to save the settings.

[/network/web/forums/smf] permanent link

Sat, Jul 23, 2011 9:23 pm

Show Warnings in MySQL

You can use the SHOW WARNINGS statement in MySQL to show the error, warning, and note messages that resulted from the last statement that generated messages in the current session. It shows nothing if the last statement used a table and generated no messages. (That is, a statement that uses a table but generates no messages clears the message list.) Statements that do not use tables and do not generate messages have no effect on the message list.

For example, if I issue the statement DROP TABLE IF EXISTS smf_testing statement as below, I see a notice that 0 rows were affected, but there was 1 warning. To see the warning, I can immediately afterwards issue the statement SHOW WARNINGS. I see that the warning was simply indicating that the table I asked be dropped, didn't actually exist.

mysql> DROP TABLE IF EXISTS smf_testing;
Query OK, 0 rows affected, 1 warning (0.00 sec)

mysql> SHOW WARNINGS;
+-------+------+-----------------------------+
| Level | Code | Message                     |
+-------+------+-----------------------------+
| Note  | 1051 | Unknown table 'smf_testing' |
+-------+------+-----------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql>

References:

  1. 12.4.5.41. SHOW WARNINGS Syntax
    MySQL :: Developer Zone

[/software/database/mysql] permanent link

Sun, Jul 17, 2011 8:41 pm

Making a Disk Image Under OS X

If you want to make a disk image for a disk drive with Mac OS X, you can do so using the Disk Utility application that comes with the operating system. From the Finder, go to Applications/Utilities. Double-click on Disk Utility to open the application. Then, from the left side of the window, select the disk drive for which you wish to create a disk image by clicking on it to select it.

Disk Utility - select drive

Click on New Image at the top of the window. Choose where you want to save the image. The default image format is "compressed" with no encryption. You can choose from the following options:

  1. compressed
  2. read-only
  3. read-write
  4. DVD/CD master

A .dmg file will be created for all but the DVD/CD master. A .cdr file will be created for a DVD/CD master. The CDR files are ISO images and, if moved to a PC, can be renamed and burned as .iso files.

References:

  1. (Mac OS X 10.4): Creating a disk image
    Apple

[/os/os-x] permanent link

Fri, Jul 15, 2011 9:31 pm

SMF Links Directory Mod Bug

After installing the package SMF Links Directory Lite version 1.0, which was last modified on July 4, 2011, by Nibogo on two Simple Machines Forum (SMF) forums for a family member, she reported that links entered using the mod were not working. When I checked what was happening, I found that when she entered URLs that contained upper-case letters, all of the upper-case letters would be converted to lower-case, whichh wouldn't pose a problem if the URLs pointed to a website on a Windows server, but would pose a problem if the webserver is a Unix, Linkx, or Apple OS X system, since the case of letters is important on those systems, i.e., A.html is not the same as a.html on those systems.

I informed the developer, but since he didn't indicate he would correct the problem in the package posted on the SMF website, I commented out the line in Sources/LinksAdd.php, which was performing the conversion to lower-case. The code is in the following section.


// Check all the data
$context['name'] = htmlspecialchars($_REQUEST['name'], ENT_QUOTES);
$context['url'] = htmlspecialchars($_REQUEST['url'], ENT_QUOTES);
$context['url'] = strtolower($context['url']);

The strtolower($context['url']) is the line that performs the conversion. I commented it out by putting // at the beginning of the line.

[/network/web/forums/smf] permanent link

Tue, Jul 12, 2011 10:35 pm

Checking SMART Hard Drive Status under OS X

If you wish to check the health of a hard drive in a system, there is a disk monitoring capability commonly present in hard drives today called S.M.A.R.T. ( Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology; sometimes written as SMART). Information provided by SMART can provide an indication whether a disk drive is experiencing problems and may be likely to fail in the near future.

With Mac OS X systems, you can check the S.M.A.R.T. status of a hard drive from the command line using the diskutil command.

$ diskutil info disk0 | grep SMART
   SMART Status:             Failing

If the system has just one hard drive, the drive is generally designated as disk0. You can use diskutil list to see the drive numbers for drives in the system.

$ diskutil list
/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *298.1 Gi   disk0
   1:                        EFI                         200.0 Mi   disk0s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS lledit                  297.8 Gi   disk0s2

In the above case, the command shows that disk0 is the only drive in the system.

You can also check the SMART status of a drive using the Disk Utility application, which can be found with the Finder under Applications/Utilities.

Disk Utility - SMART status shows failing

References:

  1. 10.3: Get hard disk SMART status from the command line UNIX
    Date: November 28, 2003
    Mac OS X Hints

[/os/os-x] permanent link

Sun, Jul 10, 2011 10:30 pm

Changing Smileys from Post form to Popup

To change smileys on a Simple Machines Forum (SMF) from "Post form" to "Popup", you can take the following steps:
  1. Click on Admin.
  2. Select Forum.
  3. Select Smileys and Message Icons.
  4. Select Edit Smileys.

You will then see a table of smileys with the smiley itself in the far-left column followed by columns titled "Code", "Filename", "Location", "Tooltip or description", and "Modify".

You can change the location from "Post form" to "Popup" by clicking on Modify and then changing the location. There are three options for location: Post form, Popup, and Hidden.

In the database there is a table, smf_smileys, if you used the default prefix of "smf" for tables created within the database. It has the following fields, i.e., columns:

id_smiley
code
filename
description
smiley_row
smiley_order
hidden

The hidden field is where information is stored about whether the value of location is post form, popup, or hidden. If the value is "Post form", then a 0 is stored in the field. If it is "Hidden" then a 1 is stored in the field. If it is "Popup", then a 2 is stored in the Hidden field for that particular' smiley's entry in the smiley table.

TextNumber
Post form0
Hidden1
Popup2

If you can directly access the tables in the database from a command prompt, e.g., by running mysql at a command prompt, or can issue Structured Query Language (SQL) statements through software such as phpMyAdmin, you can update the value for a range of smileys simultaneously. E.g. if I wanted to update those smileys with smiley_id between 768 and 778 to change the location from "post form" to "Popup", which is represented by a "2" in the Hidden field of the table, I could change the value using the SQL statement below, assuming the database itself is called "myforum":

UPDATE myforum.smf_smileys SET hidden = '2' WHERE smf_smileys.id_smiley BETWEEN 768 AND 778;

References:

  1. MySQL BETWEEN Clause
    TutorialsPoint.COM

[/network/web/forums/smf] permanent link

Sat, Jul 09, 2011 6:08 pm

Copying Table Structure

If you want to create a new table in an MySQL database that has the same structure, i.e., the same fields (columns) as an existing table, you can use the command below:

create table New_Table like Existing_Table;

New_Table = the name you wish to give to the new table
Existing_Table = the name of the existing table

Remember to use the same case of letters for the existing table name as were actually used for that table name. E.g., if the table name is "Existing_Table" use "Existing_Table" not "existing_table"

[/software/database/mysql] permanent link

Thu, Jul 07, 2011 10:34 pm

Tiny Portal Install Fail for Subs.php

When I attempted to install TinyPortal 1.104 (listed as 1.0 RC2 on SMF site, but shows 1.104 when installed) on an SMF 2.0 forum, the installation process indicated Test failed for ./Sources/Subs.php . When I checked the test that failed, I found it was looking for 'calendar' => array(. I found that text in the file, so I used a hexadecimal editor to examine the ./Sources/Subs.php file and compared it against the code for which the installation process was looking.

Inside the TinyPortal1_RC2.zip file is a package-info.xml file that indicates what file will be used for installing the mod on various versions of the SMF forum. For SMF 2.0 SMF\tinyportal200.mod provides the instructions for installing the mod. That file can be found by extracting the contents of the zip file or it can be found in Packages/temp/SMF2 after you click on Install Mod.

When I examined that file with the hexadecimal editor, Freeware Hex Editor XVI32, I found there were three tab characters (hexadecimal 09) occuring before 'calendar' => array(. But when I examined ./Sources/Subs.php with a hexadecimal editor, I found there was only one tab character present in that file. I inserted two additional tab characters and was then able to install TinyPortal without any of the installation tests failing.

References:

  1. Installing TinyPortal 1.0 RC2 on SMF 2.0
    MoonPoint Support

[/network/web/forums/smf] permanent link

Sat, Jul 02, 2011 12:29 pm

Error 80040154: Signing in to Windows Live Messenger failed

When trying to use Windows Live Messenger, A family member was getting the message "Error 80040154: Signing in to Windows Live Messenger failed because the service is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later." after I applied pending updates to Microsoft Windows. The recommended solution provided at Microsoft's Error 80040154: Signing in to Windows Live Messenger failed because the service is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later., which was the page that came up when I chose the help option, was to uninstall Windows Live Essentials. The system was running Windows 7, so I clicked on Start, Control Panel, Programs and Features, and looked for Windows Live Essentials, but it wasn't there.

At How to uninstall Windows Live Essentials, there was a suggestion to try removing the program by running wlarp.exe from %programfiles%\Windows Live\Installer, but, though that directory existed, that file was not in it.

So I downloaded Windows Live Essentials 2011 from Windows Live Essentials 2011 - Download free Microsoft programs. The file that was downloaded was wlsetup-web.exe. When I reinstalled the software using that file, the problem no longer existed.

[/network/chat/live_messenger] permanent link

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