Windows MCE and aliases

[grantpet]

through our testing i have been able to determine that MCE will not accept an alias to any folder if the home directory is anything other than the drive containing the operating system.

this thread is a new problem found from a different thread, there was a post in that thread from the user 'da chicken' that would seem to be extremely helpful, but that thread has already been removed, i would appreciate it if someone could get me that post at least.

i will be doing a side by side comparison of the system services (default install settings) between MCE and XP PRO to see if the culprit is obviously in that location, UNLESS someone has some suggestions or previous experience with this.

i'll post if i find anything unusual, thanks for the help!

oops, i meant for this to be in the general forum, could you move this please?

this was suggested:

Just about everything that runs prior to logon is executed by the SYSTEM account. Yes, there's a password. No, you can't get it or use it anywhere. It's a very special account like Administrator, Guest, and Network Service are.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/120929

If your H: drive is NTFS and was formatted by another PC or otherwise has been removed and reconnected to the system (such as if it is USB) then the SYSTEM account might not have proper access rights. This may be difficult to determine on Media Center Edition since the security model is a bit different (for example, MCE XP cannot join a domain like XP Home, but it's still based off of XP Pro). Try creating a service account for FileZilla Server to run under and granting explicit access to the file system locations.

but all the drives are new and formatted with this machine, some ntfs, a couple are not.

[boco]

Seems the XP MCE version is crippled like XP Home, to see the Security tab you need to boot Safe Mode.



The Screenshot shows the SYSTEM account with it's permissions. It should be present in this form on every drive and directory you'd like to share. Additionally, many maintenance components of XP (like the disk defragmentation service) run under SYSTEM. It should definitely be present everywhere.

[grantpet]

got there no problem, tyvm

i am only interested in finding the offending system account settings correct?

ms website searches sure aren't turning up anything useful, fancy that

i just re-re-re read your post, this is a screen shot of mce? and my system permissions for each drive should be set to allow?

gosh, i can't wait to get all this done so i can finish that mandrake machine

i'm diving back into safe mode armed with your screen shot that i will emulate if i can find any different and a screen shot of the settings from my xp pro pc.

thanks again

[grantpet]

!! ATTN ADMIN !! i put a photo (with nifty fzc) on my temporary web page, could you please post it here and kill this link? i do not see any place to upload photos. Thank you in advance.

edit: Now hosted @Imageshack.us


I'm sorry but I cannot find any differences between MCE and XP Pro in the system security permissions on any drive!!

unless of course i overlooked it or its really obscure inside the advanced options.

The pic shows the version just on the off chance, and just to be sure i compared the other group/user permissions, they all seem to match xp pro (please exclude the raw drive, i just put it in to test something that was in a different post and since i've been rebooting so much i haven't had time to format the 250GB lol).

aha, there is a slight difference but i bet it means bupkiss, you are on sp2, i am sp3. should i do that system services comparison between the two now?....forgot to add, the xp pro machine here i looked at is sp3 also

damn it, forgot to check the folders while in safe mode, sorry. i'll let you know what i find.

It should be present in this form on every drive and directory you'd like to share. Additionally, many maintenance components of XP (like the disk defragmentation service) run under SYSTEM. It should definitely be present everywhere.

could you please quickly tell me what you mean by the last part about maintenance components being present everywhere?

UPDATE: i checked about a dozen files across a few drives, all the options are greyed out except disable (safe mode i'm sure) but still look exactly like the drive system security permissions.

thanks for the help!

[boco]

Unfortunately I had to cancel the test today. A virtual box doesn't run very well on a system with only 512MiB RAM. First the host OS choked and then it spit out a nice BSOD. MCE is still SP2 because the install source is a bit dusty. I'll install SP3 after creating a snapshot. AFAIK it's the same service pack as XP Pro.

Actually, SP3 could have something to do with it. A large pack of updates, every single one with the ability to break something. Today I had serious trouble myself getting Filezilla Server to work on my XP SP3, I got no listing at all.

I'm not giving up, but it's already 2:30 AM here. Must go to bed now. Need more time.

[grantpet]

the more and more obscure this gets, the more and more i feel like wiping out the hard drive and installing just mce and filezilla to see if the problem still exists.

just for s**ts and grins i went to Gibson Research's Shields UP *i've never been to this site without testing a firewall that wasn't already installed, so i do not know what the expected results for a mce machine with windows firewall off is*: https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2 ---to test the ports, i was flabbergasted at the fact that all my ports were stealth except 2.
Port 21 is open
Port 20 blocked???

how is it possible that port 20 is blocked and all remaining ports are stealth with the exception of 21 if windows firewall is disabled? in addition to that, the test to connect to netbios failed.

!!ATTN ADMIN!! i put some relevant pics on my temporary web page under GRC port scan folder, could you please post them if you think they will help, please delete the link either way when decided. thank you.


I was nearly finished with the side by side comparison of the system services anyway. I did not take into consideration services that were listed in the mce machine that were not in the pro machine because i've installed most of my programs by now on mce, the pro machine is fresh re-install and i'm using it for a baseline atm *sorry, just didn't catch that on in your earlier post lol.

!!ATTN ADMIN!! i put a text file that may be relevant on my temporary web page, could you please post it if you think it will help, please delete the link either way when decided. thank you again.

Now an attachment as the forum destroys the layout.


The only things i thought could be pertinent are this:

NT LM Security Support Provider is disabled in MCE
Remote Registry is disabled (i think i may have done this out of habit) in MCE
Security Center is disabled (intentionally done to remove annoying automatic updates notification) in MCE
SSDP Discovery is disabled in MCE
Telnet is disabled in MCE

i really don't think the remote registry and security center could possibly be the issue, i have zero clue about the others.

Newbie Shocker Of The Day:
I completely expected that when i shut off windows firewall from the control panel, it would be off and stay off (unless of course you update from ms, must check every time, the auto updates will auto turn on the firewall again i've found). To my horror while doing the side by side PRO vs MCE system services comparison that i would find the windows firewall/internet connection service, not only running, but set to automatic!! let me repeat that just so it sitcks out in the post.

I disabled the firewall in the control panel, and after a hard reboot, the windows firewall/internet connection service was on automatic and running!!

somebody please tell me this is normal, the firewall IS off and the part of this that is running is the internet connection service (whatever that is) and is this required to run? is this normal?

THANKS FOR THE HELP, hope you have wonderful, peaceful dreams.

So unless you see something inside the PRO vs MCE system services or the sp3 update i won't have a clue what to look at next, so i guess i'm looking at considering 'format c:\'

racking brain and thought maybe since windows installer (pro & mce) program/cd had a small problem with it just maybe its because....my OS h/d is sata, the two main drives i've been experimenting with are both slave devices on ide 1 & 2 *windows didn't want to install to the sata drive with the h/d's installed in the positions indicated (they were ntfs with information, but since then i've moved the information & reformatted the drives to avoid issues like the one brought up earlier in a different thread that lead us here.

[boco]

Externally hosted your images and attached the .txt to the post (after I killed some spammers lol).

Made some progress with the MCE testbox. Installed VirtualBox Addons, SP3 and Update Rollup 2. Filezilla Server is next when I get home.

[grantpet]

be safe out there!!

i am formatting 3 drives and preparing to format 2 more (and the OS one too soon). in preparation of the worst. But I will be interested to see if its some piece of my software doing things I didn't know about; besides, I really should re-test the whole "dynamic ntfs hard drives on the 3rd ide channel cannot be re-mounted in winxp after a power loss" for msi blah.

i figure i'll uninstall all the filezilla software and clean the system for another install of the software, you don't find anything, after that, i'm out of ideas completely.

thanks for the help and managing the pics.

when you've had a chance to catch your breath any information about sp3 interference would be greatly appreciated otherwise i should be ready tomorrow for THE test (damn h/d won't format). I will completely remove all of the fz software on the pc to include hard boot, temp file removal, registry clean, basic visual look, hard boot, and defrag. then just install the client software and see if the issue still exists. if so, then its on to the system wipe out to test mce only with no updates and fzc. I'll add things on if it works or let you know when I can when I get back.

*my search for fz uninstaller or left over files after install didn't turn up anything if anyone has any info on this i would appreciate it -- thanks again, and again

[grantpet]

uninstaller was sweet!!! only left behind the log files that i could find HOW COOL IS THAT??...certainly an A++ here for the FileZilla team.

no change. alias only works when home directory is on the operating system drive. darn it

hoping you have the time/energy/strength/patience to go through sp3, if not certainly no worries.

[boco]

OK. Made some tests and corrupted SYSTEM permissions can indeed seriously spoil your FTP experience...

MCE is not THAT crippled as I found out:

• On the My Computer window, go to Tools-Folder Options
• Select View tab
• Scroll down to 'Use simple file sharing (recommended)' entry and disable it
• The 'Security' tab is now restored, no Safe Mode anymore

I added two 2TB harddisks to the MCE Virtal box (virtual madness yay!) assigned to D: and E:.
Set up Filezilla Server (0.9.27) with directory D:\FTPROOT as root, E:\ALIAS1 as alias D:\FTPROOT\ALIAS01 and C:\ALIAS2 as alias D:\FTPROOT\ALIAS02.
As client I used Internet Explorer 6, as I wanted to create a worst-case-scenario. ALL aliases appeared correctly. That means there is nothing in MCE deliberately preventing you from using aliases.

Now I completely denied SYSTEM access to the E: drive. Immediately E:\ALIAS1 disappeared completely. Restored previous settings and E:\ALIAS reappeared.
The same goes for files. If SYSTEM has no access, Filezilla Server can't deliver.


So I'm still suspecting some b0rked NTFS permissions on your system.

[grantpet]

CORRECTION!!

apparently (waiting to verify) the reinstall worked, but only for computers outside my LAN. i figured since nothing changed in my other LAN client, nothing else did.

so now i'm thinking some obscure reg key was wiped on a reg clean and the intraLAN not seeing the alias is an issue with FTP and intraLAN. or some reg cleaner borked my settings in a place i can't find.

[boco]

Well I think I should leave the testing box where it is in case we need more testing.

[grantpet]

put the testing box back to work, problem found (at least i believe i found it)!!

apparently the bios flash utility i have been using has created headaches in the MSI forum (first time for me), and the one i've been using has been phased out for some time.

the only clues i could find to indicate this were a couple of registry keys that should have displayed my drive manufacturer or stats had jibberish, and a strange character in the RAID utility portion of my bios. only figured this out after a fresh install on the same bios.

the flash utility apparently created HID issues as da chicken mentioned, but how were we supposed to know???

I WOULD NEVER HAVE KNOWN THESE ISSUES EXISTED!!!!

THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH FOR HELPING ME TROUBLESHOOT THIS ISSUE!!

the cure of a new flash utility (and a speedy new bios to boot) has brought forth no problems that i can find. no difference in sp2 or 3 either (i checked).