A Problem Sharing Files via Remote Desktop

While on vacation, I'd left a PDF on my home computer which I wanted to browse on my laptop on vacation. It's about 75 MB, not exactly feasible to email.

Both machines run Windows XP, however, and I figured I could use its ability to bring the resources of my laptop, including its hard drive, to the remote session on my desktop at home. I opened Remote Desktop, expanded Options, then clicked on Local Resources, and checked so that sharing all available drives was enabled.

No such luck, at first. Although I could see the laptop's CD-ROM drive present as \\TSCLIENT\D its hard drive, which should've been there as \\TSCLIENT\C was nowhere to be found! My laptop is a machine I normally use at work, and is part of their Active Directory and various group policies. I'm not privy to what the group policies specifically secure, but my guess was that some policy setting might be responsible for making my drive inaccessible via the remote session.

After some thought I remembered an old friend from the DOS days, the SUBST utility.

When diskettes were popular, some developers hard-coded their software specifically to look for the A: drive, with no option to select another. This was fine if you had a newer PC with a 3.5" drive as A:, but what if you'd upgraded some old clunker which had an older 5.25" drive as A:, and a newly installed 3.5" as B: instead? You'd be stuck having to crack open the case and swap around the drives... if not for SUBST.

I decided to try SUBST here to see if I could bring my laptop's hard drive to the remote session, masquerading as a different drive letter on \\TSCLIENT. Thus, I opened a command prompt and entered the following from my laptop:

SUBST Z: C:\

This basically tells your computer to use a given substitute drive letter Z: to represent drive C: which is somewhat similar to using symbolic links in the *nix world. I opened My Computer, and now I could see a Z: drive, and clicking it brings up an Explorer window with the exact contents of my C: drive.

Now, I open Remote Desktop, and open a session to my home computer. Lo and behold, drive Z: appears in the remote session as well! I could then Paste my PDF file from my home machine to my laptop and browse it happily. Of course, this copy process takes a LOT longer than it might over a normal, unencrypted connection, but it gets the job done, and sometimes that's all that matters.

Filthiest Coffee Mug... EVER.

I'm taking a break from my irregular, unscheduled programming to share something horrendous.

An avid coffee drinker, I'll often have mugs pile up in my sink at home. If I haven't had a chance to let them soak in water, they'll have a greasy brown scum that clings hopefully to the glazed porcelain. That's just after one use, and if I don't happen to finish off the cup, there'll be a slurry of sugary, creamy coffee which eventually congeals into a mass of goo, or if there's too little it'll dry and form a rather crispy, clingy crust.

Now, at the office, I happened upon this specimen of mug. Not in the sink, mind you, but a mug someone was getting ready to use, here and now.


Boston, huh? Yeah, this looks like Boston Harbor on a sunny day, complete with some raw sewage and crusty fish poo. Let's take a closer look, shall we?


I don't think I could reproduce this level of filth on my worst day. I'm guessing the owner is hoping that the hot coffee will kill off whatever layer of encrusted, living filth inhabits their mug.

Quite frankly, this looks more like something you'd expect to see in Iraq or Vietnam; I vaguely remember a scene from Jarhead or Apocalypse Now, perhaps, where 50 gallon barrels used in the latrines have some kerosene poured in them and are then ignited, producing horrible smoke and leaving a baked-on brackish crust in its wake.

In closing, I animatedly express my feelings on this...

Choose "Don't Spam Me"? Check. Receive spam? Check. Wait...

A few years ago, I was registering for some site. I wish I remembered which, but obviously it must've been pretty forgettable. As a test of their commitment not to spam its users, I gave myself a colorful name, and made sure I checked the option to NOT bombard me with spam.

Apparently, they didn't send me spam, but they shared my information with Vonage and they diligently followed up.

Now I'm just hoping they don't leave me voicemail, that would really be awkward.

Vista Capable, (Not Quite) XP Ready

Problem

So my wife's office has a DELL OPTIPLEX 745 that's having issues. Every few hours its hard drive cooling fan sounds like it's a Pratt & Whitney™ turbojet engine prepping for launch off a convenient flight deck. I checked the BIOS under Maintenance -> Event Log. Saw some colorful error messages such as:

Previous shutdown due to thermal event

CPU0 fan out of range

Her office manager calls Dell. They send one tech, then another. They replace a fan, remove another. The problem recurs. Level 2 tech support engaged, and Dell nicely sends the office a warranty replacement, a DELL OPTIPLEX 755.


Plan

Geeks, you know what I'm thinking. This is Dell, this is a 755, a close incremental revision up from the old model. Windows XP Repair Install, baby! Wait a minute, not even that, I could just clone the drive, boot into Safe Mode, a little Device Manager magic and driver download deliciousness and I'll be home free!

Using the still accessible old PC, I'd attach my external USB hard drive, and use Acronis True Image Home to take a snapshot of the 745's hard drive, then restore it over the top of the 755's. Then, the XP Repair Install to get Windows reacquainted with the hardware, intimately.


Thwartage

My initial efforts were thwarted. The symptoms of thwartage included a "quick" BSOD, despite having installed the Intel Matrix Storage Drivers from Dell's support site specific to the 755. These are the type of drivers which you would supply to Windows setup upon hitting the F6 function key when prompted for any third-party drivers to help Windows communicate with hardware that isn't currently supplied on the install disc.

Immediately upon reboot, the system quickly yielded a BSOD and rebooted. I haven't got photographic memory, but after a few attempts with identical results I caught hint of a driver issue. Whether trying a Normal, Last Known Good, or Safe Mode boot, I got the same result.The answer hit me like a pound of bricks (for a ton would just leave a gooey mess for CSI to scratch their heads over).


Solution

I entered the BIOS, discovered the Drives -> SATA Operation option, and noticed that Dell had set it by default to AHCI, which according to Wikipedia is Vista-specific. I switched this to plain old ATA which XP is quite fluent in.

Upon reboot, Windows XP loaded successfully and began acclimating itself to the new hardware. A few additional driver installs for the audio, video, and network and the system was its old self in more time than I'd originally have liked.


Lessons Learned

Given the industry strife inspired by Vista, prompting even system builders like Dell to respond to customer demand and offer XP on some of their new desktops, expect that even if your PC, when new, was preloaded with XP, a warranty replacement might be outfitted with newer hardware for a newer world. Not necessarily better, just newer.

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"Why'd the Dell dude get busted? Because pot is a Gateway drug!" - Anonymous