Mar 29

Clear InDesign Preferences

indesignIf the InDesign preferences get corrupt:

Start InDesign and very quickly hold down command, option, control, shift.

Mar 15

OmniUpdate, XSL, and ©

We use OmniUpdate as a CMS at my (new) workplace. I found a problem in one of our xsl templates in that it was outputting a unicode copyright character instead of the escape encoding for a copyright character. After much Googling and a call to Omni I've come to the conclusion that it's a problem with XSL (XSLT) processors and we're not the only ones suffering.

If you put an escaped copyright character in an XSL file…

©

…then it comes out as the unicode character for copyright in your HTML. So, the workaround is to put this code instead…

<xsl:text disable-output-escaping="yes">&amp;copy;</xsl:text>

Weird, right? But it works.

Mar 04

Windows 7 as a file server

errorIf you are using Windows 7 as a file server and get this error: "The server was unable to allocate from the system nonpaged pool because the server reached the configured limit for nonpaged pool allocations."  then make these changes:

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\LargeSystemCache

key = 1

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters\Size

key = 3

Found here (http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/w7itpronetworking/thread/30919e4f-6810-48d6-8769-2cff61f07544)

Feb 21

IIS Detailed Errors

iis-errorWanna see detailed HTTP errors in IIS? Here's how you do it in a web.config file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<configuration>
<system.webServer>
    <asp scriptErrorSentToBrowser="true"/>
    <httpErrors errorMode="Detailed"/>  
</system.webServer>
</configuration>

Dec 11

SMB being real slow

Browsing our SMB shares (located on a Windows 2008 server) from our new macs (OS X 10.6) was real slow.  Here is a fix I found and is working for us.

Need to sudo and make this file: /etc/nsmb.conf

[default]

notify_off=yes

 

Update:
Additionally, on a copy of Mavericks I had to run the "sudo sysctl -w net.inet.tcp.delayed_ack=0" command. I also turned off NetBIOS queries, so my nsmb.conf file looks like this:

 
[default]
notify_off=yes
port445=no_netbios

 

Additionally, to add NetBIOS names to your mac, add them like this in your nsmb.conf:

 
[NAME]
addr=192.168.1.1

 

All thanks to this article on MacWindows.

Dec 05

Search problems in Lion (OS X 10.7)

Search isn't working right on our network shares with OSX 10.7 (Lion).  We're not the only one that have problems with it (https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3194502)

 

The best answer I found was to use EasyFind to search instead of built in search.  You can find it here:  http://www.devontechnologies.com/products/freeware.html

Jun 07

OSX Lion Re-Install

I needed to wipe and re-install a mac mini that originally came with OSX Lion (10.7).  I noticed when I got it they no longer include the OS CD/DVD to re-install from which is fine – I'm ready to be done with optical media.  So, I looked online and it says you can download it from the App store (fine option if you were upgrading from an older version) or buy it on a thumb drive.

So, I bought the thumb drive figuring this won't be the last time I need to re-install.  I received the thumb drive, booted to it and amazingly I got a circle with a line through it – it won't boot from it.

I found this helpful tip in the Apple support –

Use Lion Recovery to restore Mac computers released after OS X Lion.  If you attempt to use the OS X Lion USB Thumb Drive, a message will appear stating that you cannot install this version of OS X on your computer. This is correct behavior to make sure you install only the correct and most up-to-date version of Mac OS X on your computer.

So, even though I have a copy sitting right here next to me, I'm forced to download a 4GB copy off the internet just to wipe and re-install.

Thanks Apple.

*Update: Get this, even after it downloaded its own version from the internet, it was still behind!  It installed 10.7.3 and at the first check for software updates it wants to download 10.7.4 at 729.6MB more! (not to mention a handful of other updates)

May 02

Hyper-V with a Sandy Bridge processor

I setup a new Hyper-V server today and got this error when trying to turn on a virtual machine: <virtual machine name> could not initialize.

There is a hotfix from Microsoft  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2517374/en-us) that you have to download and install.

Mar 19

Drobo Pro losing shares under Windows Server 2003

In order to make sure your shared folders show up consistently that are on the Drobo Pro, make sure you do this:

At a command prompt, type: "sc config LanManServer depend= MSiSCSI" and press Enter.

More info here:

http://support.drobo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/309/kw/2003%20share/

Mar 05

OS X 10.6 on a new 10.7 imac

I got a new imac that came with 10.7 on it.  We have an older system that requires a client that runs in powerpc mode so I needed to downgrade to 10.6.  Easy right?  Just put in the 10.6 retail DVD and boot to it and install – right?  NOPE –  Nothing is ever easy.

Here's how I made it work:

  • Put the target computer (the one you want to downgrade) in target disk mode (hold t when booting).
  • Boot the 10.6 install DVD in a computer that allows you to boot to it.  (Make sure the firewire is plugged into this mac).
  • I got an error "Mac OS X cannot startup from this disk." and found you have to re-partition the firewire drive as a GUID partition.
  • Then you can install 10.6 like normal on the firewire disk.
  • Run all the updates and once you're fully updated then shut it down and boot the new mac like normal into 10.6!

*Update: Be carefull, Macs with Intel HD Graphics 3000 are not supported in 10.6.