Recent Posts

351

Living Room / need a quick fix for something easy. Script to change a single word in text file

« Last post by questorfla on December 06, 2014, 02:56 PM »

Posted in another place but might get answer here too.  Need to figure out asap.

I have a program that has a config file inside "/programdata/myprog/" so no one can "see" it unless they have access to hidden files.  It needs to be edited anyway and that cant be done unless they have admin rights.
The file points the user to the correct IP address for the program to work.  I already tried making batch/shortcut with admin and evn tried run as admin (for those who called and asked)

This worked for ME and for some people but not for others.  When I check their copy of "getthere.cfg" it is still the old one.

I need to edit their "getthere.cfg" file to change the only occurrence of an IP (example)"12.34.56.78" to IP "12.34.56.90".  These people are located all over the place and so far I have had to connect to each of them with Teamviewer or other and do it for them.

How can I send them a script that will run "as admin" on their system to open "c:\programdata\myprog\getthere.cfg" and change that ONE IP address.

Even if I send them the new config file they can't insert it without having admin privileges and I would never tell any of them how to get that

And it has to be a one click fix.  Trust me, that is all they can handle.
  

 
  
 

352

Coding Snacks / Quick method to do simple task -must be a one click fix for those who need it :)

« Last post by questorfla on December 06, 2014, 11:23 AM »

OK, I hope someone is in this morning.  This is easy but I can't figure out how to get it into a batch file for the people I am having to walk through manually.

I have a program that has a config file inside "/programdata/myprog/" so no one can even see it.
The file points the user to the correct IP address for the program to work.  I wrote a short script that I then made a shortcut to and gave the shortcut admin rights which swapped out the corrected cfg for the old one.

This worked for ME and for some people but not for others.  When I check their copy of "getthere.cfg" it is still the old one.

I need to edit the cfg file they have to change the only occurrence of IP "12.34.56.78" to IP "12.34.56.90".

How can I send them a script that will run "as admin" to open "c:\programdata\myprog\getthere.cfg" and change that ONE IP.  It is the only occurrence of the IP in the cfg file..

If I try to send them the new config file they can't insert it without admin permissions and I would never tell any of them how to get that

And it has to be a one click fix.  That is all they can handle.

353

General Software Discussion / Re: Where is select all?

« Last post by questorfla on November 30, 2014, 10:30 PM »

OK cancel the call.   finally found where they moved it to.
In the hidden ribbon of course.
Sorry

354

General Software Discussion / Where is select all?

« Last post by questorfla on November 30, 2014, 10:27 PM »

Unless i am just to tired to remember, there used to be a way to use a right click option called "Select all".  This was done so that you could search a directory and all subdirs for a certain type of file, say DOC or PDF and when the list came up it coule have hundreds of files in it.  You could either select the first file found one, then scroll to the last one hold SHIFT when you selected it which highlighted them all.  At which time you could move them all at once to a new location.
The highlight top and shift highlight last worked (and still does) but on listed that go several pages it is tedious. 
I swear there used to also be an option for "select all" which did the same thing then you could right click and move them all to the folder you wanted them in.
I may have dreamed this up but i really thought it used to be there.  If not, anybody know a way to add it to 8.1 windows explorer?
 

355

General Software Discussion / Re: Cloning from 2TB to 4TB on Boot drive ..How?

« Last post by questorfla on November 30, 2014, 06:24 PM »

I got it to work.  Thanks for all the help from everyone.  I hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving too.  Trying to get this to work while also in the middle of Family Time was just a little stressful.  The RIGHT way is always the best way.
Format the 4TB under GPT when you load windows 8.1 to start with.  It creates 4 partitions instead of the usual 2 but they aren't that big other than the single 3.8 TB C drive which is all I needed,
Once created, Macrium had no problem "recreating" it for backup either.  So all ends well.

By the way, where do you adjust the spellcheck settings for the forum?  Or is it a One size fits all thing?

356

General Software Discussion / Cloning from 2TB to 4TB on Boot drive ..How?

« Last post by questorfla on November 30, 2014, 12:18 AM »

I recently made a half-hearted attempt with Macrium 5 to try to get from a 2 TB MBR to a 4TB GPT and (of course) failed.  I thought maybe someone out there might know of a way to accomplish this without having to deal with multiple partitions.  This system is nothing but a giant file server but the storage layout is such that it would be best if it could all be kept in a single drive partition to get the best use of the space.  If I have to do it, I will just start from scratch on the 4TB and load it with Windows 8.1.  Then load the necessary software and copy over the data.  But that would be tedious.

My next concern is backups.  In the past, I have used Macrium to do a complete clone of the drive onto a second 2 TB drive every 4 months.  In between , only the added data in C: drive is backup up to the Clone.  The reason for the full copy every 4 months is to be sure to get  all the updates that had been loaded to the program files on the main drive  to also be the same on the backup drive.  All was fine until I was handed  a Huge amount of old data files. to add to the mix. 
Enough that it would have put the 2TB drive, close to 90% capacity so I thought might as well go to 4TB now instead of waiting.

This was the first time I have had to deal with GPT at all and has not been much fun.  The first attempt with Macrium using the 4TB setup as a GPT drive and cloning the 2TB MBR drive onto it resulted in a mixed mess of partitions.  It could  boot and lost no files but ended up with about half the drive as "unreachable".  I believe that Macrium converted the 4T back to MBR before or during the cloning.  This would explain the "lost 2TB of Space"  which i could see but could not partition or use.

This worried me a little as to what would happen if I DID reload the system on the 4TB drive from scratch under GPT and then run a clone from one GPT-4TB to another GPT-4TB...I would assume they would both stay that way?  I tried asking this on the Macrium forum and got a loy of mixed replies.  This is a real Paid for copy of Macrium 5 and says it has full GPT support but I am not sure if it can be used to get from MBR to GPT the first time so just wondered if anyone here has tried it.  and afterward, I certainly hope it would stay with GPT on the Cloned backup.

357

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: MasterSeeker 1.2 - Incredibly Fast File Search Engine!

« Last post by questorfla on November 25, 2014, 04:41 PM »

RE: Azuretoad.  No it isn't just you.  I went through a lot of multuiple links including addictive tips and every one of them sent me to some weird "alternate site index".

I was able to get Ver 1.5 from dottech.org. I happen to LOVE Everything so anything better or faster is something I wanted to see.  But the weird "trip around the sites" thing I have no idea what happened.  Not your imagination anyway.

358

General Software Discussion / Re: Does anyone have know why you cannot map a drive letter to an FTP drive

« Last post by questorfla on November 17, 2014, 05:59 PM »

before I forget to do so, I may have just found out why it worked on the ONE system I tried at the office.
That one system uses Windows 7.  The only one left.  On that one, I can map a letter to an FTP drive with only a single registry edit change.  None of the Windows 8 systems will allow it though registry change or not

359

General Software Discussion / Re: Does anyone have know why you cannot map a drive letter to an FTP drive

« Last post by questorfla on November 17, 2014, 10:06 AM »

and you are right!  The problem is I cannot get any of the others to work.  And as a matter if principle I am sort of "upset" that the built in functions of Windows do NOT work at all.  That is the real kicker.  This isn't supposed to need anything extra and MS has been far less than forthcoming to all their loyal customers who asked WHY!
All I know is that when you TRY, the connection between the two systems is made but fot one reason or another you end up with no communication.  The errors all indicate a problem with authentication . 
But always the same 0x00..... stuff.  I think I read ever report from every user but no one got a single nit of help.

you are right about your DirectNet I wish I could have gotten it to sonect and I do not know why it would not.   I can tell you something else too.
I DID find one case (ie: I got it to work ONE time) on one system where I made a single entry in the registry that fixed everything.
THAT system is at the office.  If I can find out WHY what I did worked for it....
Maybe I can post a Free fix for all.

The info I got to make the change came with some interesting material attached which I may just send the whole link to.  Worth reading if true.

360

General Software Discussion / Re: Does anyone have know why you cannot map a drive letter to an FTP drive

« Last post by questorfla on November 17, 2014, 12:36 AM »

OK.
I fought the good fight but I know when to give up. (Sometimes).
go here

This may be the same thing some others have posed but I will state for the record that I tried a multitude of these with no success.  This one says NetDrive V 2.3.2
Each one has it's own odd way of wanting ever single piece of the path structure to be laid out.  Some wanted the name in front of the IP (I am just using the IP rather than a domain name for now).
But at any rate, at the end of my ROPE (the one my wife has around my neck) out of he blue, the LAST one, finally clicked.  I got everything in the right order, it opened perfectly, and best of all made a neat menu to allow for multiple other drives which will be fun to try later.  In theory I can give my SkyDrive it's own letter, my DropBox its own letter etc ad infinitum.  (or ad nauseum)

But the darned thing worked.  I went in and created a bunch of files and folder and remoted into the server to check and be sure they were there.

Nothing like Success before going to bed

Thanks to everyone for their input .  I never knew thee were so many alternatives.  Even if they don't work for ME  I am sure they work for someone.

4WD.  Highly suggest you check this one out on whatever you were trying.  it took me a few tries to get the config right but the layout is so intuitive it did not take that long.
Just like the old days.  And it auto loads on startup.

NOW  I just have to get it to auto switch from the LOCAL map to the Netdrive  when the employees leave the office and.. Another One Bites The Dust!

Thanks ALL
\

361

General Software Discussion / Re: Does anyone have know why you cannot map a drive letter to an FTP drive

« Last post by questorfla on November 16, 2014, 03:25 AM »

just to confirm.  What you got was a normal drive letter thn could be accessed just any other.
If you go to a dos cmd prompt, you can type in x: and it open to yout ftp folder.
once there, you can create folders, copy files into them and have no issues doing so.  They upload when sent & download back if pulled.?

For all intents, a Normal Shared Network folder accessed with a drive letter.  If so, i m doing something very wrong.
Please send me the link to dl the copy you got maybe mine was corrupted?
You did not have to  setup  anything odd?, you are using port 21?  On the FTP server, was it remote from your home.
If I still cannot get in to work I will IM your with credentials to access the FTP server at the office here and give you a login to see if you can get into it.
if you can, then Christmas came early!

This is a normal windows 2008R2 Box with IIS setup for FTP.  I can access the shared folder with no problem while on the same local network
That is essential for this to work.  This means people IN the office have the full 1GB data throuput for all access to those files as a normally mapped network drive to letter R:.
BUT
when they leave the office to travel or go home as soon as they try to connect to R: the NetSet program i found will switch their mspping to FTP-USE.  Same drive-letter , same files.  Just slower.  When they come back to office, the NetSet program switches them back to the local High Speed drive mapping.  I would be a Real Hero for a change.

I still don't know why WINDOWS wont work when it plainly says it will.

Looking forward to the PROOF of the Pudding (Hope it is 180Proof )

362

General Software Discussion / Re: Does anyone have know why you cannot map a drive letter to an FTP drive

« Last post by questorfla on November 16, 2014, 01:15 AM »

Thanks and Sorry it doesn't work for me.  And it seems it doesn't for many others as well..  It would have been nice.  I tried it to even thought the explanations of why it worked sounded a but "off?"  
Have you managed to get t to work?  I researched it through StackOverflow and many others and found all kinds of people getting odd problems yet there would always seem to be one or two who got it to work.  You would think they would be the MOST popular program on the market.  

My "pet Peeve" is still with MS in that if they can;t do it why do they tell you how to do it and provide all the prompts just to fail.  This has all the signs of being a disabled capability
 Like something they put in and decided it was a bad idea but too late to get it all back out so they crippled it.  I'm just paranoid in my old age.

But if you have ever tried to map to your own OneDrive, you will get an idea of what I mean.  it is so convoluted that by the time you finally get it to work, it isn't worth it.
I'm going to keep looking on this one.  Maybe try some of the weird settings in FTP use like it says to use a non standard ftp port.
If I find the solution I will be sure to post it here first.

If you could get it to work, you could run your own drop-box.  ELDOS is the company that has something to do with the "trick" to get the network place to show as a network drive letter.
Setting the FTP to a network place is a breeze but i MUST have a REAL drive letter designation.  How did you get by with that DOKAN file System and what is it?
Also what FTP server did you connect to.  That may be my other problem.  Maybe I have to do something at the server end?
If your FTP site is one I can test to, please send me the coordinates.  I have FTPUSE loaded along with netdrive, webdrive and a few orthers.  Webdrive was the ONLY one that worked without a flaw but.. Not Free.

363

General Software Discussion / Does anyone have know why you cannot map a drive letter to an FTP drive

« Last post by questorfla on November 15, 2014, 09:59 PM »

If this setup had worked as described in Windows it would have solved a long running problem with remote access to network resources.  This is the other half of why I needed that utility to change the mapping for a drive letter depending on which network the user was connected to.

Due to the speed (or lack thereof) i had put off even trying until recently.  The service we use for CLOUD storage of these fies has to run a client program to function.  This "client" effectively hides "what is really happening" so the user thinks their files have magically popped up in their cloud storage in seconds.  Naturally they keep loading more till done.  All that really happens is that the title of the file (or maybe not even that) is loaded long before all the data is transmitted so it LOOKS like it is there, but only to the person who just uploaded it.

No one wants to see the REAL speed of a 10MB upload to a cloud drive over a wifi connection running off a cellular router that probably is not even connected to 3G.

Network speed is always going to be a problem but i would rather the Users SAW their file was "in transit" and not THINK that they can shut down their system and forget it.  The others in their group who are patiently waiting for those files to show up in the shared folder eventually complain.  To me of course.  The UPloader swears they saw the file "Go uP" so it must be IT 's fault? 

Windows 8.1 plainly offers the option of creating a "network Place" just like Windows 7. Then adds the extra magic of offering to "View Ftp Site in File Explorer" which THEN offers you "Easy Access"  to "Map as Drive".

Wow.  If only it worked.

Everything works as it should including the user and password verification (which you have to do twice though it doesn't tell you that).  This would  not be quite so bad if it were not for the fact that if you BUY a 3rd party program, ( Like WebDrive )you CAN do it just as easy (or easier) than above.  But only with their help.
 
No one I have asked seems to know why.  Webdrive sure isn't going to tell me but why would MS put in something that useful and then NOT make it work?   Can't even map a drive letter to MS One Drive as far as I know.

Anyway, if anyone has a clue as to what the issue is, it would be appreciated. So many people have posted that the thing works when all they are getting is the same old "Network Place" which will not work as a reference point in a database program.  It MUST be on a specific drive letter referenced path.

364

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Dynamic date and time stamping of a document when it is printed

« Last post by questorfla on November 15, 2014, 09:15 PM »

I checked. It works.  I did not try it on a pdf opened with Word but i presume it will work there too.  It does print the date and time it was printed.  If you print it later, the time changes.  The description of how to set it up is very clear and short.  But i will say the navigaton to get to the "info" you want among all the others could have been done better.
This gets you a little closer.
Hope this helps.

365

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Dynamic date and time stamping of a document when it is printed

« Last post by questorfla on November 15, 2014, 09:04 PM »

I can tell you where you will find the basics for it.
depending on the printer, there is an option for a watermark on most larger officer systems.  If you set that watermark to appear in lower rigt corner and show the date and time you might have what you need.  Alternatively, look  at this site

Using WORD it looks like it may do what you want

366

Living Room / Re: Where do you buy your printer ink?

« Last post by questorfla on November 15, 2014, 08:58 PM »

Amazon of course

367

Living Room / Re: Wanted to get some opinions on current ultrabooks if possible

« Last post by questorfla on November 15, 2014, 08:44 PM »

DUH!  Sorry guys.  I work in Estrogen Hell.  Seriously. I (and the Office Bookkeeper) are the only males anywhere.  "SHE" at this place refers to the "alpha-She".  Meaning the "Boss". A large part of "my job" is to make her happy which is difficult when things "I"think are perfect may NOT meet others' expectations. 
Like load a new system from scratch with every possible program I even MIGHT need and think of any possible problems that COULD happen and while you are at it, be sure there are NONE.  I will be leaving on a plane at 5am for "yonder" and will be in meetings all day. 

This without ever having read the manual or turned on the system 

Failure to be perfect results in "death by persecution" 
>>I am only half kidding

368

Coding Snacks / Re: The Best Way to handle finding and removiong Duplicate Files

« Last post by questorfla on November 15, 2014, 08:35 PM »

OK.  Another pile of treasure!    My lucky night.
My own contribution to this would be "Yet Another Duplicate File Remover" <YADFR> on Source Forge.  (I hope no one chimes in now that they got that and it messed up their system .  )
While it seems slower than some, it also was very thorough and extremely simple to use, Wizard and all.  I have not yet tested 4WD's scripts but from past experience i trust them implicitly.
Today has been one surprise after the next (all good so far) so I am hoping for some home runs tonight on something.

369

Coding Snacks / Re: Folderwatch (a MAC application) for PC's

« Last post by questorfla on November 15, 2014, 08:03 PM »

I think i get more fun out of looking back in time to old posts .  I had even forgotten I was looking for this ability.  Still need it to but prefer something dead simple. The more whistles and bells it has, the worse it would be.  I'd like to just set to run on boot and know that i could have a 2 nd HD with "mini-clones" of any folder i am working in.  End of the day, i just add the date to that folder-name and let the software start me a fresh new one.  Actually,  this is not something i would do daily but the idea is the same.  If i got to  a point where i was happy with what i had but knew i would not stop there.

These are all small projects or i would store only the changes.  Sometimes it is better to have it all just as it was though.

In practice, my intent is to combine this with BT SYNC and put the cloned copy in the BtSynced folder.  I tried doing that with the "Real" my documents folder and found it was not such a great idea. Neither is Desktop .  Can't blame a guy for trying.

370

General Software Discussion / Creating an empty MySQL db from within a batch script

« Last post by questorfla on November 14, 2014, 08:07 PM »

I once had this working but I have misplaced the exact procedure.  It was a short one or two line sequence that ran at the front of an install script that created an empty database ready to be loaded.
 
The first line allowed input of the DB name and the second created the empty DB inside the correct folder.  The only prerequisite is the collation format is preferred to use Latin1_swedish_ci.  The rest of the field loading and parameters is done later in the script but it assumes the empty DB is already there. 

It is a lot faster to do during the creation script than to use PHPMyAdmin or similar to create the DB then exiting to run the other script to load the tables.
Unfortunately, I have not used this is a couple years and do not remember the exact sequence to get it to work but I do remember it took quite a while to find the right setup to run from inside a batch file even though the task itself is rather simple.

371

Finished Programs / Re: SOLVED: Easy use of a variable to edit a php (text) file in a batch file

« Last post by questorfla on November 13, 2014, 08:00 PM »

http://www.dostips.c...Batch.FindAndReplace
>>Excellent bit of craftsmanship! <
Whew!  Finally found the answer and it even worked!  I just did not look hard enough. 

Skwire, can you please remove this whole thread or post somewhere if it might be of use to others.
Thanks
(I regret to say i do not know how to close or move one   )

372

Finished Programs / Re: SOLVED: Easy use of a variable to edit a php (text) file in a batch file

« Last post by questorfla on November 13, 2014, 07:14 PM »

Whoops.  Sorry Skwire.  I may be in the wrong forum.

373

Finished Programs / SOLVED: Easy use of a variable to edit a php (text) file in a batch file

« Last post by questorfla on November 13, 2014, 07:13 PM »

Not sure where I am missing something . It may be that editing a .php" file doesn't the same rules as a .txt file but i am using a text editor to modify manually.
the file "config.php" need for line 3 which states :   $directory   = "directory";   .  to change the word in quotes to the value of %inputb%.  Once that is done, the config.php file is used to continue to creation of the folder.  That's about it. 
The prior operations would have loaded the correct value for the name "directory" into the variable %inputb%  I know inputb has the correct data in it as I can print it on screen with echo but I cannot get it to edit the config.php file as shown without exiting the batch which was the whole point in doing it
so that after building the layout it ends with that file modified to reflect the value of the variable at the time it was loaded.
The php file has 54 lines total and i only need to add the name of the directory in line 3.  I cant just use the variable itself because of other scripts that would use the same config file that would not provide the information for %inputb%

374

Coding Snacks / Re: The Best Way to handle finding and removiong Duplicate Files

« Last post by questorfla on October 27, 2014, 02:54 PM »

Thanks IainB.      I am looking at your choice as well.
This is a HUGE folder with multiple subdirectories and levels. So it isn't the size of the file that matters so much during the scanning phase.
And to be honest, if it had the ability to be selective about the compare fields, i would first wan to look for files of the same name, date, and size. 
This would at least allow me to clean out the "dead-wood".  After that, I can get more selective on subsequent scans.
I need to get it down to a reasonable size to be used with File Locator Pro.  Excellent program but it does not build any kind of Index on each run.  This uses a lot of time on each subsequent run and it is a feature that they wlll be adding in the next version.

375

Coding Snacks / Re: The Best Way to handle finding and removiong Duplicate Files

« Last post by questorfla on October 27, 2014, 02:44 PM »

Well, up to 4GB in size you could use VBinDiff but HxD will handle files up to 8EB ... if you feel the need  

Possibly a good start would be to generate hashes on each file, (SHA-1, etc), then you need only compare those with matching hashes - you could probably whip up a command file to do it  

EDIT: The inbuilt Windows fc command can apparently also handle files >4GB.

Do all these files resides in the same directory?

Maybe I'll look at a simple, (or not), command file.

-4wd (October 26, 2014, 12:14 AM)

I used to have a Duplicate remover for Photos that would have worked.  It shows you all the various files and where they are along with dates and sizes etc.  They you go to each group of duplicates and pick which one(s) to keep.  I used this back in the Windows XP days do do not remember the name.  But i am sure there are plenty out there like it.  The preference would be to move all but the ones I pick to another folder maintaining the directory structure of where they were removed from.
Seems like it was a pretty fast program (for that point in time)

I can see i need to review your proffered code as well, 4WD    It might be all i need.