autorun.inf AV blocking gotcha

Discovered this today from within Windows 7. …Any software process that involves copying, moving, or even deleting the autorun.inf file can fail as a result of current default antivirus software (aka AV) behavior.  This file is at the root of every Windows drive.

In preparation for an SBS 2011 install I wanted to create a bootable USB drive of the install media.  To start I attempted to clean off the drive of all its contents but that process failed with the autorun.inf file.  Then I realized that I should’ve just reformatted so to be thorough; of course that sledge-a-matic action worked.

I’ve done this before for SBS 2011 and WHS 2011 which can require this type of USB drive install media on headless servers.  The odd thing is that never before was this an issue so this must be something new that has emerged behind the security scenes but of which I was not aware.  What I uncovered was the Trend Micro WFBS Agent settings were blocking both ‘delete’ and ‘copy’ actions to the autorun.inf file.  This isn’t specific to just TM though as the Google search result I found pointed to a different AV vendor.  If you hit this error, disable the AV temporarily as the workaround. 

Initially I opted to go the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool method (creates a bootable USB drive from ISO or DVD) but hit an issue when it failed during the copying process.  After trying variations and getting the same failed result, I opted to go the longer manual creation route as detailed by Tim Barrett in his www.NoGeekLeftBehind.com blog.  During that process I hit the root issue in a way that gave me a usable error message to find the solution.  After disabling the AV I hit success.

Home Server GM Charlie Kindel interview | TechNet Edge

as published on TechNet Edge – click to see the video interview with Home Server General Manager, Charlie Kindel

Home Server with Charlie Kindel – a real server, just smaller.

Posted By: Adam Carter | Mar 11th @ 12:01 AM

I’ve previously blogged about my own discovery of Windows Home Server – how I initially disregarded it as a ‘toy’ server until I saw a demo that highlighted how slick some of the features in this product really are.  Things like automatic nightly backups of all the machines on your home lan, remote access to files and machines, and the innovative Drive Extender technology.I went right to the source, GM Charlie Kindel, and asked him to talk about what’s in Home Server for IT Pros.

…more click link at top

Applet & MMC – Off ‘Run’ & On the Quick

my shortlist of quick “Run” entries for Control Panel Applet & MMC console opening:

• appwiz.cpl
  • Add/Remove Programs
• secpol.msc
  • Local Security Settings MMC
• gpedit.msc
  • Local Computer Policy (Group Policy w/o the “group”)
  • useful if you want have a WSUS server in house and you are building up a new box for a client
  • set intranet server information – http://servername:8530 (typically)
    • patches if local – come from server at lightning speed
    • remember to undue this after finished and before delivery to client
• ncpa.cpl
  • Network Connections
  • this is by far the easiest way to get there in Vista which in this instance is admin unfriendly

 

• …there are more that are much handier than browsing to the shortcut or creating a MMC console
• please share any that you use in the comments

RWW with your own logo

To add your own logo to the SBS Remote Web Workplace aka RWW you merely need to replace the file shown below, RwwOEMLogo.gif, with your own .gif formatted logo.   The default is a blank 135×20 pixel rectangle – whatever size you bring in that fits in the RWW form window should be good to go.  The size of the header logo at the top is 448 x 175 pixels and its name is login.gif in case you want to modify it to carry that same look for use on the bottom logo.

Now Windows Home Server integrates this same RWW feature.  I’ll bet Kevin a dip of Graeter’s black-rasberry-chip that this works exactly the same in WHS.

Here’s my site in action:

Here’s another way I found it useful.  To notify those on vacation on cruise ships, skiing, or otherwise impractical to call that their access is suspended due to password security breach of a dismissed employee.  Can’t say that many words so brevity has its limits.  **FYI – notice something else customized?**

***late breaking update***

If you want your logo centered rather than alligned to the right you can make this happen.  Edit and search through the logon.aspx for this picture file’s name – ‘RwwOEMlogo.gif’.  Preceding it is the HTML code align=right.  Change “right” to “center” and you are golden.

A special note to the Paint.NET tool at www.getpaint.net .  It rocks!