User and Password Problems

Tweaking Windows NT
[Editor's Note: Solve this month's Windows NT problem and get the chance to win $100 or a copy of one of the author's books about NT. Email your solutions to challenge@winntmag.com. Include your full name, mailing address, and connection to NT (e.g., administrator, user). To add to the author's collection of NT problems, email problems and solutions to answers@voicenet.com. Look for the solution to this month's problem in the September issue.]

Troubleshooting the problems that crop up on Windows NT workstations and servers is a full-time job, and systems administrators often don't have time to tweak system performance. You can sometimes get help from other systems administrators or power users in your organization. Unfortunately, people sometimes try to help without you asking them.

Problem
Arnold Ambitious works at the Help desk at WeAreWidgets. He wants to become a systems administrator. Thus, he spends a week running around and tweaking the system's computers, and he sends a report of his accomplishments to the company executives to impress them with his skills. Arnold doesn't copy his boss, because he's after his boss' job, but someone shows his boss the report.

The following week, Arnold receives a note from his boss, with copies to everyone concerned. The note says, "Truthful you're not, fired you are."

The following is from Arnold's report. How did his boss know he was lying?

I performed the following tasks this week:

• Used Server Manager to promote the word processing applications server (which was not a domain controller) to a Backup Domain Controller (BDC).

• Installed NT Server 4.0 over NT Workstation 4.0 (used the same directory) to turn the design department's workstation number 4 into a BDC.

• Installed NT Server 4.0 over NT Workstation 4.0 (used the same directory) to turn the human resources department's workstation number 11 into an application server for the company database.

• Used the Send Message function in Server Manager to tell all company users about the new location of the company database.

• Created trust relationships between New York and Boston and between New York and Chicago to permit trusted logons between Boston and Chicago. Logged on test users successfully.

• Put a note on every monitor to instruct users to skip reading the menu and press 4 if they get an error message saying they must load the Last Known Good configuration. Tested the process to make sure it works.

• Edited MSDOS.SYS on all dual-booting machines to make Windows 95 the default system. Removed all lines below the first semicolon to save disk space. Win95 users are now running all software, including legacy applications, with no problems.

• Created a batch file on all administrative department workstations to use XCOPY to transfer local document files to the server. Created an individual target share on the server for each workstation.

Signed, Arnold

To win, you must identify all lies and explain how you know they're lies. For the statements that are lies, describe what would have occurred if Arnold had done what he said.

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