msi Diagnostic logging

Windows Installer supports detailed logging as a powerful diagnostic tool. Logging can be enabled in the following ways:

* Command-line: If installing an MSI package from the command-line, the /L switch can be used to enable logging. For example, the following command installs Package.msi and outputs verbose logging to c:\Package.log:

msiexec /i Package.msi /l*v c:\Package.log

* Windows Registry: The following registry value can be used in Windows Server 2003, Vista, and XP to enable verbose logging:

Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Installer
Value Name: Logging
Type: REG_SZ
Data: voicewarmupx

* Local Policy The following local policy must be changed in Windows Server 2008. The above registry key is no longer used:

Start > Run and type mmc to open a blank management console.
File > Add/Remove Snap-In...
Local Computer Policy, Add, OK, OK
Expand Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Installer
Select "Logging" choose the "Enabled" option box and type "voicewarmupx" without quotes

The resulting log is named MSI#####.log (where "#####" is a unique random identifier) and is placed in the user's Temp directory (the 'temp' directory location is per-user, and is pointed to by the environment variable %temp%).

* Group Policy: The following Group Policy setting can be used to manage logging on multiple systems:

Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Windows Installer -> Logging.

* Windows Installer API: If installing an MSI package programmatically, the MsiEnableLog function call can be used to create a log file and set the logging level for the life of the calling process.

* MsiLogging property: Windows Installer 4.0 introduces the MsiLogging property, which can be set to a list of flags indicating what information to log. The flags are similar to the flags that can be added to the /L switch to msiexec.exe or to the Logging policy setting. If MsiLogging is used, the MsiLogFileLocation property will be set to the location of the log file.

Although verbose logs are very useful for diagnosing Windows Installer problems, they can be very long and difficult to read without practice. A quick way to find the location of a problem in the log is to open it in a text editor (such as Notepad) and search for the phrase "Return Value 3". This entry commonly appears in logs close to the point where a critical error has occurred. The Windows Installer SDK provides a tool called WiLogUtl, which parses and annotates Windows Installer log files.

To output debug information in the log file, pass "x" on the command line or add it to the Logging registry value. For example, the following command installs Package.msi and outputs debug, verbose logging to c:\Package.log:

msiexec /i Package.msi /l*vx c:\Package.log

How to Change User Password at Command Prompt

How to Change User Password at Command Prompt

How to use the net user command to change the user password at a Windows command prompt. Only administrators can change domain passwords at the Windows command prompt. To change a user's password at the command prompt, log on as an administrator and type: "net user * /domain" (without the quotation marks)

When you are prompted to type a password for the user, type the new password, not the existing password. After you type the new password, the system prompts you to retype the password to confirm. The password is now changed.

Alternatively, you can type the following command: net user . When you do so, the password changes without prompting you again. This command also enables you to change passwords in a batch file.

Non-administrators receive a "System error 5 has occurred. Access is denied" error message when they attempt to change the password.

Container is already locked

Sometime when automated OR Manual Virtuozzo backup process gets stuck OR sometime a VPS stuck while starting up OR stopping during this stage its impossible to make any changes on that VPS. You can stop the VPS or kill the process which is running. Making any updates or trying to restart the VPS shows message “Container CTID is already locked”.

Solution:

In case of Linux this error can be fixed by deleting the lock file located at /vz/lock/CTID.lck but in Windows there is no such file.

Following are the steps to unlock the locked Container

1) vzctl stop CTID –-skiplock (try this command twice till it doesn’t show that the container is not running)
This command might throw some ERROR but no need to worry.

2) vzctl start CTID –-skiplock
This Command will throw an error if the VPS is stuck while starting or stopping.

3) After the both the above command the status of the VPS will be locked, so you will have to allow sometime to unlock the stuck processes.

4) If the above command doesn’t start the VPS, stop the VPS using –skiplock option again and kill “vzlpl” process from the Task Manager. After that you will able to start the VPS normally.

5) and restart VZAgent service

net stop vzaop

net start vzaop

http://eitwebguru.com/fix-container-is-already-locked/

Install Plesk Billing standalone on win2008

There are steps that allow to install Plesk Billing standalone on win2008 server with installed on it Plesk 9.X.X

1.Create site via Plesk admin interface
Home>Domains ->Create domain ->
with enabled PHP support ->Version 5.x ->run as CGI Application
with enabled "Use dedicated pool" option
the rest parameters for own consideration
2.Make sure that is installed Zend or Ioncube support
check
C:\Program Files\Parallels\Plesk\Additional\PleskPHP5\php.ini file
for zend_extension_ts
for example I have installed Ioncube dll to C:\Program Files\Parallels\Plesk\Additional\PleskPHP5\ext\ so in php.ini should be at the beginning
zend_extension_ts= "C:\Program Files\Parallels\Plesk\Additional\PleskPHP5\ext\ioncube_loader_win_5.2.dll"
3.Download PleskBilling installation archive http://www.parallels.com/download/plesk/billing/
and extract Plesk Billing to home folder of created site
how example
C:\inetpub\vhosts\pppbs.com\httpdocs
4.Login to Plesk admin CP interface,
Go to Home>Database Servers> Local MySQL server ->WebAdmin
create for pleskbilling mysql user and database via phpmyadmin (with privileges according to installation guide http://download.ppb.parallels.com/6.0/doc/parallels-plesk-billing-6.0-for-windows-installation-guide/index.htm)
5.Start installation of Plesk Billing by usinghttp://download.ppb.parallels.com/6.0/doc/parallels-plesk-billing-6.0-for-windows-installation-guide/index.htm
Latest step - creating of database , so it can fail due to timeout reason, for this please increase values of
default_socket_timeout and mysql.connect_timeout in C:\Program Files\Parallels\Plesk\Additional\PleskPHP5\php.ini
After installation Plesk Billing database can have 214 tables with ~4,601 records.

Anonymous account name you may find in properties of PleskBilling site ->Feature View-> Authentication->Anonymous authentication ->Edit , via IIS Managenment, if will be problems with NTFS permissions this account you may add to the TEMP directory with modify permissions