Selective restore to another user's iMac on OSX 10.10.5 Yosemite (early 2017)

Rather than restoring an entire set of files settings and apps, the Migrate Wizard can be used to import part of your Time Machine content.


If you accidentally click through too fast on the Migrate Wizard steps, and choose to restore everything, fear not.
The new user you have created in the Migrate process will have all the files settings etc from which you can choose. (If you started the Migrate process from the Guest account, it still creates the new user over the top of the Guest account (huh?) - so that is one to watch out for.

But how do you access the files of the new user? Login as the newly created account I hear you say. Yes, but what if the password for that old restored account is long lost?!?!


Using sudo chmod -R 777 in the terminal is a bit scary, so an easier way is to navigate to the folder of the new user. (Log back in to your own user).

The simplest method is to drag the folder with a red no entry sign pops up this authorisation dialog

which appears to do the trick!

I wasn't sure if this method allowed all the sub folders to be copied.. 

So I also tried a slightly longer-winded way of changing the permissions:

From the folder in question, choose Get Info.

From there the trick is to unlock the padlock (bottom right)

And then ADD your account as a Full read & right permission using the + and the Privilege spinner

With that done, the drag an drop copy still prompts for authorisation, but appears to recursively copy everything.

So far so good.

How to format a USB drive to EXT4 - so that it reliably writes more than once from a Readynas 

Get these tools:
to create an ext4 partition
http://download.cnet.com/MiniTool-Partition-Wizard-Home-Edition
(freeware)
to be able to read it on Windows
http://www.paragon-software.com/registration/extfs-windows.html
(requires registration)
Paragon can be loaded just as required (don't integrate unless needed.
No reboot was required to install these two and use them on Win7 Pro :)

(or use http://www.diskinternals.com/linux-reader/
or
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2read/files/latest/download
neither of which I have tried)

One droplet of oil..

Taking the lead from a great post : http://blog.marketpoint.com/2013/01/23/hp-color-laserjet-5500-51-2-error-on-the-display/ , and with nothing to loose, as I had already disassembled the printer down to the scanner, I decided to try a wee drop of oil... (The motor that spins up the laser scanner, had almost seized up and was screaming as the printer initialized). A light clean and oil and it was fixed :)

Here is the offending scanner. There was no documentation or labelling as to which was the Cyan scanner, but the the lowest toner in the set was Cyan, so an educated guess turned out to be correct   :)
In addition, to double check that error 52.1C was in fact the scanner (and not the DC controller as the manual suggested it could be), I simply swapped the two leads to the DC controller, and sure enough the error changed to 52.1Y - the yellow scanner was the next level up.
(I didn't need to put any covers back on to run this test, just the fuser needed reinstalling, and the front door reed switch needed to be held in.)

The customer was, needles to say rather pleased at this outcome - especially as I had some years ago ordered this very part for the same error, but the issue resolved itself so we didn't actually need to change the part till now, nearly four years later!.
And when it came to replacing it, somehow I didn't have the correct part :( Luckily a drop of oil and some perseverance was all that was required.

So now I have for sale a brand new laser scanner part number C2037-69008 as pictured:

MacMail - restoring mailboxes from Time Machine.

Let's say, that you are moving into the modern way of doing things - and want your mail collected by IMAP instead of POP. (Yes, I know ther are some of you who resist!)

A lot of customers are discovering that this is the way to go to avoid having to find their message amongst all the spam and flotsam on multiple devices... And more importantly see what was Sent in reply to that important email last week when you were in Honlulu and your partner replied on your behalf..

I accomplished this (on Mavericks on an iMac), but with a few provisos and heart-stopping moments.

The pop settings had been set to delete all mail on the server after a month, and there were two xtra accounts with history back about 3 years (2016 to 2013).

After checking the amount of mail left on the server and making sure I had the passwords correct (using webmail), I deleted the two accounts in Mail.

What I forgot to do was drag the contents into folders created under the On My Mac section.

I created the two new IMAP accounts (the trick here is to purposefully put a wrong password in - or else you will simply get a POP Yahoo account created).

So I resorted to Time Machine - which I knew had been backing up OK.

Two tricks I learned here - place your cursor in the Folder or Mailbox that you want to restore before pressing the Time Machine. Either restore an entire mailbox, or select individual mail within a box.

Allow all the items to load BEFORE pressing Command-A to select all though!

Then Restore and wait a good amount of time to allow the process to complete as there is no indication of its progress or success. In future I may open a terminal to see if there any encouraging logs coming through...


The most important trick is to close Mail, and re-open it, and you should see a new folder at the bottom of the list called Recovered Messages, and Recovered Messages-1 -2 -3 if you have tried it a few times like I did (These new folders not be visible if you have a lot of folders), and copy and paste the items back into the IMAP Inbox, (or perhaps just into an On My Mac folder if you prefer - in case the IMAP server deletes them as they are not on the server) - as reported in this excellent page here: http://pondini.org/TM/15m.html

Job done.

Moving from Outlook XP (2000) to Outlook 2010

Recently I installed Office2010 H&B (which includes Outlook) on a laptop that had been running Outlook2000Pro happliy for many years (are you listening MS?).

Dutifully I copied the folders where the PSTs reside - just in case.
I aslo exported iaf files for the two Email Accounts, and I made a copy of the wab.

All went well, I just needed the Email account password but everything else seemed to come across fine.
I just Opened an Outlook data file - rather than tried any tricky replacement of the new file it created. this way I could be sure any converting would happen a t that point.
Then old emails could be copied or moved over to the new clean uncluttered Inboxes.

So all went smoothly, you ask?

Not entirely, the Calendar was not copied across and no way could the old version of Outlook be loaded to open it.

Perhaps an export of the data or sync to some online service first may have been wise.
But the lease I should have done was PRINT off the next few weeks. Luckily there were only a handful of entries. But all the history was gone.

Live and learn.

Google Apps Sync supports only Outlook 2003 or greater

Take that.
Upgrade your client/s to 2003 from 2000 or 97 first...?

Reissue a certificate on SBS2008

Every few years the self-issued certificate that allows remote access to the remote web workplace expires, and needs to be reissued.
Here is an illustrated guide of the steps which I completed successfully:

From the SBS console, there were errors reported - followed my nose till I got this;







Ignore the configure modem - you do not want to be changing this
(I should have unticked all but the certificate - but there's only one way to find out!)


Nothing went wrong.

Check the date and time to make sure they are the fresh ones.

Your next challenge is to get them to the client PCs. RDP direct to the server and copy the file if you can. Zip the folder, rename it as a .txt and attache to a gmail? Or get out your sneakers and usb thumbdrive :)

Ah - I remember know how I started the process:
(See also the useful url on the screenshot)
And if adding a third party (purchased) certificate then I suppose you would use the link above the one highlighted?

Steps to get RWW working

The first time you run a RWW site that needs the Activex you should get prompted



Then you right click the yellow area to accept the diag



Then you'll get the login, BUT NOTE THE RED CERTIFICATE ERROR in all the above screens so far!



This means you need to run the InstallCertificate app from the folder where the certificate is that you issued from your SBS2008 server and copied to the local PC:



(Note - you may have needed to reissue the certificate on the server - see this post )

Now you can finally connect to the local PC including mapping local printers and clipboard. Note the address bar is no longer red..

Job done. :D

Outlook 2003 cannot open this email

This generic error has a host of possible causes and therefore suggested solutions.. the most tempting of which was to go "Open Source" ;) removing Add-ons, safe mode, repair install had no effect.
I even tried changing the default viewing and composing fonts. Desparate, eh?

However the fix was simply taming that terrible excuse for a program that is Macafee. Still, the customer has just made the mistake of shelling out online for it, so no chance of demanding a refund...

THE SOLUTION:
I disabled the parental control and safe surf components leaving the main antivirus bit running, and voila, I could once again see the body of emails without having to first reply in plain text! Grrr (Not sure which of the two components was the culprit, but I would suggest the surf part.. due to the attempt at web'ing everything back in 2003.) How well did that work out?!

Dreaded Office XP 1706 error - The SOLUTION

You will have found this post searching for Office XP or version 2002 and the error 1706 which pops up every time you load Word or Excel. It prompts for the installation files, in my case PRO.MSI, and gives no clue as to whether these are expected on a fileserver, a CD or some local path.
No doubt you will have somehow located an old copy of an Office XP pro cd, resourceful IT guru that you are, but despite pointing the dialog to all the possible folders on the cd, it refuses to find or open the files it needs.
Next, you make sure it's patched up to date [how much longer will patches be available for these old versions?]
Then you tried a Repair install - rather than an un- and reinstall...
All that accomplished for me was to loose the profile in the accompanying Outlook 2003 installation, meaning the I had to fix the nickname file (more on this below).
Oh, and of course you tried running the app in safe mode, and the repairs etc as admin?
You even got desperate and tried the reg file fix Tip 171 (from memory).. here http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm
But this alas made no difference either.

THE SOLUTION:
Copy the PRO.MSI file onto the hard disk somewhere and point to it there instead of on the cd. I chose the same folder as the Office exes were located, not sure if that made a difference, but seemed to work for me.
This got me past the now well-known first hurdle locating the file, but two new dialogs popped up prompting me to install some ttfs, (I forget which as I was certain I was not getting any further), yet I just chose "Ignore" to these two, and, Voila, the error did not reoccur!

Regarding the Outlook Profile issue, it seems that a repair install of Office 2002 affects Outlook 2003 by renaming the profile from Outlook to Copy of Outlook.
The most marked effect of this is that the autosuggest feature (when typing an email address) is reset to empty - ie no entries in it at all
Needless to say, this can result in very grumpy customers if they rely on it heavily. (Especially where the addresses are a combination of those in the Contacts folder address book, and the Windows address book, heaven knows why that particular mess never got sorted out over the many version of Outlook even to parent day!?)

THE SOUTION: rename the .NK2 file to match the changed profile name, in my case "Copy of Outlook.NK2". Fixed!

A user on Kelly's corner reports the following fix:
What did work:
Make the limited user an Admin gp member
Open Word, respond do the installer prompt
Remove Admin gp membership from the limited user acct
No more install prompt

Problem scenario:
Win XP Pro, SP1
Standalone computer (no domain involved)
Office 2000 SP3
Admin gp member did initial install of Office, SP1a, SP3

Create a limited user acct
Reboot, logon as that user
Open Word
Error 1706 dialog displays

Moving email and contacts from OE to Outlook

Moving from XP to Win7?

One of the tricky bits is getting email from Outlook Express to Outlook proper.
Copying the dbx files to the new pc is easy enough.
Then from WLM simply Import OE v6 Mail and Contacts (altogh the contacts don't come through).
An important step is to MOVE the imported mail from the Storage Folder called Imported Files into folders you have created in WLM. This takes time when there are a lot of folders containing large amounts of email.
Then from Outlook, you import mail and it detects the WLM store.

I don't bother exporting or importing the Mail Account settings, even when there is more then one. A few screengrabs of the various config screens copied across to the new PC are all that is required (along with the password/s). Make sure you look at all the screens, especially if the Outgoing "Logon Using" is ticked.

Contacts is almost as simple (when you know how:)

Copy the wab file to the new pc. Double click it, which will [somewhat presumptuously] import all the contacts into Windows Contacts folder.
Then from Outlook you can choose the Open > Import Messages & Contacts (choose contacts only) in the WLM format.. as described correctly here:
http://www.msoutlook.info/question/382
This process took longer to import than the messages, but may have been because Outlook was "preparing to Send and Receive"...

A tip therefore is to force all the Email clients to work offline, by either disconnecting from the network, setting the clients to Work Offline, or in my case, leaving the passwords blank until the work was done.

Sending photos by WindowsLive email is now near impossible... SOLUTION

It was a great leap forward once the ability to downsize any selection of photos directly from explorer was included in Windows (without having to find a separate down-sizer). Even Nanna and Poppa could do it..
XP and OE come to mind. They had their issues, but eventually were ironed out over the years.

Then came WLM
Windows Live Mail 2011 has caused a lot of users to tear their collective hair out trying to the simplest of things.. send a few down-sized photos as an email attachment...

The most succinct post (of many) describing the solution is:
http://www.winvistatips.com/re-sending-pictures-wlm11-t830132.html

In summary - WLM sends just a thumbnail of the images you want to send, and uploads the full high resolution image to the user's Skydrive - available to all Windows Live accounts. The recipient of the email can then view the "Slideshow" by clicking on a link to look at the online version of the full size images stored on Skydrive.
We all know NOT to click on links in emails....

The SOLUTION?

Right-click on the selected photos as usual, select send to mail recipient and re-size as wanted
Once it comes up as a photo e-mail – here's the trick - hit view slideshow in the e-mail window

A Photo album tools tab will now appear. Hit the format tab. Click on the paper-click (attachment) icon, and they will now be switched to attachments, at their re-sized resolutions

Here's the kicker:
You need to have a WindowsLive account setup and logged in once for this to work.
[caption id="attachment_378" align="alignright" width="575" caption="Click on the paperclip once you have logged in to WL to attach photos the old fashioned way :)"][/caption]
To use the plain WindowsLive email program, no Windows Live account is needed, but without signing up to yet another service, sending photos becomes near impossible - to the point of completely jamming up the outbox - with an error that requires you to delete the "Email Photo and try again"!

Grrr..

Making "full" use of a Telecom=locked THOMPSON TG585v7

Ah, that little white box so full of promise, until you plug it in and find there's nowhere to go...

With no adsl phone line connected, you get the following unhelpful screen that seemingly can take you no further. Typing in the default ip address of 192.168.1.254 annoyingly resolves to dsldevice.lan and nothing more seems to be possible..


All is not lost, however, somehow I came across two methods to get a bit deeper (despite rumours that there is a secondary lan range and/or password kept top secret and known by only those who rub shoulders with Theresa Gattung (or whoever her current replacement happens to be ;)



Step one: use this url
http://dsldevice.lan/cgi/b/lan/?be=0&l0=3&l1=-1

This allows the more familiar setup screens of old, complete with blue text hyperlinks to everything, most importantly the
Configure link

Step 2.
Change the logon credentials for the administrator.
The current default is a blank password, and the login is Administrator (with a capital) - which is important for the telnet step below.
But don't panic reading about telnet (yes, it's there in Win7, just needs to be enabled (ticked on) under Windows Programs)
The web interface will immediatly prompt you for the credentials when you change them successfully, so you are IN.
Then mosey over to Internet settings, and put in your adsl userid and password (even if its not xtra, gasp)!
There is no Save button, but fear not, it does save, somehow.

Now comes the telnet bit. Should it not save, you apparently can save the config file using cli (command line in telnet) using this:
config save filename = myset.ini
Edit this file to reflect your login (the file is hard to find buried somewhere deep in c:\windows...???)
Then upload it to the modem using
config load filname = myeditedset.ini

You'll know you're in when you see some ascii art (which takes me back:)



For the record, here are my router's specs

System Information
This page summarizes important information on your Thomson Gateway. You may need this information when you contact your helpdesk.
Product Name: TG585v7
Serial Number:CP0922SFxxx
Software Release:7.4.2.7
Software Variant:ES
Boot Loader Version:1.0.0
Product Code:36588280
Board Name:CANT-P

Moving to Google Apps based email - here's how

Get the Sync program
tools.google.com/dlpage/gappssync

With a new user, with Office 2010 installed, but not in use, choose a New Profile. Otherwise use an existing one to grab all the email off the local PST or Exchange Server.


Restart Outlook.
Done!

If you use Sharepoint (for a shared Company listing of contacts for example, Click on Actions, and Open in Outlook.

Form the client's address book, choose Options, and set the Shared Contacts list to appear first and search though first if required.

How to use Remote Access to read Email

https://your private ipaddress here/remote

type in the numbers (as in this fictitious example)
https://203.24.156.143/remote
(see the image below for the real numbers to use)
Save this as a shortcut or bookmark


Using Internet Explorer you will see

[caption id="attachment_176" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="choose to continue to this website"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_179" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="login with your SBS username and password


With Firefox it will look like this"][/caption]





[caption id="attachment_156" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Once you type in the URL as shown you should get this prompt"]

[caption id="attachment_180" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Click on \"I understand the Risks\" and choose ADD EXCEPTION"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_181" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Choose to permanently get and store the certificate (so you won\'thave to do it every time) With either browser it will be similar from now on"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_183" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Once logged in choose to read your email as if at work"][/caption]


[caption id="attachment_184" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Almost as good as being there :)"][/caption]