Changing paths to AutoCAD’s printer configuration in the Windows Registry

Call this VBS once from a user’s netlogon script:

Set Shell = CreateObject( "WScript.Shell" )
UserName = Shell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings("%Username%")
Shell.RegWrite "HKCU\Software\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R17.2\ACAD-7005:407\Profiles\
<<ACADMPP>>\General\PrinterConfigDir", "W:\VORLAGEN\plotters\" & 
Username, "REG_SZ"
Shell.RegWrite "HKCU\Software\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R17.2\ACAD-7005:407\Profiles\
<<ACADMPP>>\General\PrinterDescDir", "W:\VORLAGEN\plotters\" & 
Username & "\PMP Files", "REG_SZ"

The path “W:\VORLAGEN\plotters\” has to be changed to fit your environment.

By the way:
Modifying netlogon scripts by adding a line at their end is easily done with help of the Windows PowerShell.
Just copy the scripts to a temp folder on your local harddisk and type this line in the shell:

Add-Content c:\temp\netlogon\*.* "`r`n\\server\share\script.vbs"

`n stands for New line and `r for Carriage return (see this link)

Deploy consistent mail signatures for Outlook

This is a cool solution. I tried it some days ago and it really makes things easier… All you have to do is:

1. Maintain all required employee information in the user object in Active Directory

2. Create a signature template (Text, RTF and/or HTML)

3. Edit the configuration file for OutlookSignature

4. Put it all together on a central share (e. g. your fileserver)

5. Add a line like “\\server\share\OutlookSignature\OutlookSignature.exe” to your user’s Netlogon-Scripts.

OutlookSignature will read all fields of the AD user object, fill the variables in your template and put the complete signature file in the profile folder of the user.

Numlock-Status

An employee was complaining about the disabled Numlock-Key after starting his computer. Well, I never use the number block on my keyboard, but here’s a fix:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Keyboard]
"InitialKeyboardIndicators"="2"

The InitialKeyboardIndicators-Key is also mentioned in MS TechNet.

UPDATE:

In order to have Numlock enabled at login, modify the Key under HKEY_USERS\.Default\Control Panel\Keyboard.

Printer installation on remote computers

Create a text file with the following content and save it as .vbs:

Dim compName
compName = Inputbox("Enter the name of the computer on which you would like
to install a printer:","Printer installation on a remote computer")
Set WShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WShell.Run "rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /il /c\\" & (compName)

Double-click the file and enter the name of the computer, on which you would like to install a printer. Et voila!

For further interesting parameters of the printer UI: Start – Run – rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /?

Silent installation of Autodesk PSP 2009, DWG TrueView 2009, Inventor View 2009 and Design Review 2009

Different parameters for silent installation. Just a few hints about what I used:

Prerequisites

.NET-Framework:

dotnetfx.exe /q /norestart

Visual C++ Runtime:

msiexec /i vcredist.msi

Autodesk Productstream Professional 2009

setup.exe /S /v/qn

Autodesk Design Review 2009

msiexec /i SetupDesignReview2009_DEU.msi /qb ISCHECKFORPRODUCTUPDATES=0

DWG TrueView 2009

Modify the Setup.ini file and change those two lines:

SETUP_STARTUP_MESSAGE=NO
INSTALL_CMD_ARGS=/qb! /L*v %temp%\DWGVInstall.log INSTALLDIR=”C:\Program Files\Autodesk\DWG TrueView” ACAD_SILENT_LICENSE=YES

After that, save the file and start the installation via

Setup.exe /i Setup.ini

(found here)

Service Packs

The Autodesk Servicepacks are Microsoft Installer Patch Files, which can be easily installed with msiexec:

msiexec /p Patch_for_PSP2009_SP1_x86.msp /qb

Wastebasket and delegations in Outlook XP

Per default, deleted items are always moved in the “Deleted Items”-folder of the user who deleted them. This is in fact not optimal when you have set up delegations.
This behavior can be changed by editing a key in the registry of the delegate:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Outlook\Options\General]
"DelegateWastebasketStyle"=dword:00000004"

Possible values for this DWORD are:

4 = Deleted items are moved to the wastebasket of the absent user
8 = Deleted items are moved to the wastebasket of the delegate

(this was found in the great MSXFAQ, more detailed information can be found here)

How to rename multiple computers in a Windows Domain

The netdom.exe utility is included in the Windows XP Support Tools (Support\Tools folder on the Windows XP CD-ROM). It can be used for e.g. renaming computers in a Windows-domain. I used it in a script some months ago, when our department decided that “more generic” computer names are better than using the primary users last name as computername (:S).

When you have to rename multiple computers via a batch script, it makes sense to have some list with the old and new names. I did this in Excel. The command line I used with netdom in order to rename a computer was:

netdom.exe renamecomputer <OldComputername> /newname:<NewComputername>
/userd:<Domain-Admin> /passwordd:<Password of Domain-Admin>
/usero:<Domain-Admin> /passwordo:<Password of Domain-Admin>
/reboot:<Time before rebooting in seconds>

(For more detailed information about netdom and a description of the parameters I refer to this and this article.)

In the first step I created a column at the beginning of my excel sheet and filled it with “netdom.exe renamecomputer”. The second column consists of the old computername. In the third column I typed “/newname:”, the fourth column is filled with the new computername and so on. So you see that I “built” each line of my rename-script with Excel. At last you just have to save it as CSV, open it with a text editor, replace all separators with spaces and check the basis of the script for errors.