Control Panel contains utilities for managing server hardware and operating system settings. As you might already know, some Control Panel utilities offer a fairly simple interface and are easy to work with, while others are fairly complex. Utilities that require little or no explanation are not discussed in this text; you will find a discussion of some of the more complex utilities later in this section.
Note
The way you access Control Panel depends on the Start menu style. For the Classic Start menu, click Start, click Settings, and then click Control Panel. For the simple Start menu, click Start, and then click Control Panel.
Tip
Display Control Panel as a menu
Regardless of menu style, you can configure the system to display Control Panel in a menu, which allows you to access individual utilities without having to open a separate folder. Right-click Start, select Properties, and then click Customize in the Taskbar And Start Menu Properties dialog box. Next, if you are using the Classic Start menu, select Expand Control Panel under Advanced Start Menu Options, and then click OK twice. If you are using the simple Start menu, click the Advanced tab, select Display As A Menu as a Control Panel option under Start Menu Item, and then click OK twice.
Add Hardware is used to start the Add Hardware Wizard (shown in the following screen), which helps you add new hardware, remove hardware, and troubleshoot problems with hardware. It automatically tries to detect new Plug and Play devices that have been recently connected, and it can also be used with non–Plug and Play devices. For more information on installing hardware and managing devices, see Chapter 13.
Add or Remove Programs has the following three main options, as shown in the accompanying screen:
Change Or Remove Programs When you select Change Or Remove Programs, you'll see a list of the currently installed programs and the disk space those programs use. Select a program to see how often the program is used as well as when it was last used. Hot fixes installed on a computer are also listed here.
Add New Programs When you select Add New Programs, you will find buttons for adding programs from CD or floppy disk as well as for adding updates downloaded from Windows Update. You'll also see a list of programs published through Active Directory and available for network installation (if any).
Add Or Remove Windows Components When you select Add Or Remove Windows Components, you launch Windows Setup, which in turn starts the Windows Components Wizard. A wide variety of Windows components can be added by using this wizard, many of which are configured using server roles as well.
Date and Time, as shown in the screen on the following page, is used to view or set a system's date, time, and time zone. This utility can also be accessed by double-clicking the clock in the system tray. Keep in mind that some time zones within the United States and in other countries use Daylight Saving Time. If you select a time zone where this is applicable, Daylight Saving Time is used by default and you'll see the Automatically Adjust Clock For Daylight Saving Changes option. If you do not want to use Daylight Saving Time, clear this option.
Tip
Maintain accurate system time to ensure logon
Don't overlook the importance of the Date and Time settings. In a domain, the system time is checked during logon, and a discrepancy of more than a few minutes between the domain controller and the computer to which you are logging on can result in logon failure. Keep in mind that domain controllers do all their internal work in universal time and, though, they don't care about the time zone, an incorrect time zone setting can lead to denial of logon. Instead of setting the time on individual computers in the domain manually, you can use the Windows Time Service to synchronize time automatically on the network.
Display is used to configure desktop settings, including backgrounds, screen savers, screen resolution, and appearance. You can also use this utility to specify desktop icons and to control advanced monitor settings. The tabs in this dialog box are used as follows:
Themes Used to manage the theme for the computer. On most servers, you'll want to use the Windows Classic theme to reduce the amount of memory and processing time used to manage the theme.
Desktop Used to set the desktop background and icons. On most servers, you'll want to use None as the background to reduce the amount of memory used when you log on. If you click Customize Desktop, you can add or remove the desktop icons for My Documents, My Computer, My Network Places, and Microsoft Internet Explorer.
Screen Saver Used to specify the screen saver options. When the computer is idle for the Wait Time, the screen saver starts. Three screen savers are included: Blank, Marquee, and Windows Server 2003. With these screen savers, you should select the On Resume, Password Protect option to enhance security by requiring logon. If you select (None) as a screen saver option, the server won't use a screen saver.
Appearance Used to specify the window and button style, color scheme, and font size. On an LCD monitor, you might want to enable ClearType to improve text readability. Click Effects, select Use The Following Method To Smooth Edges, and then choose ClearType.
Settings Used to set the screen resolution and the color quality (see the following screen). The default resolution after installation typically is 800 by 600. During the first logon after installation, Windows Server 2003 detects the available screen resolutions and will allow you to set the computer to a better resolution automatically. By clicking Advanced, you can change the dots per inch (dpi) setting from Normal Size (96 DPI) to Large Size (120 DPI), which increases the size of screen items and can make them easier to read. Other advanced settings let you examine and configure the graphics adapter, monitor settings, and graphics hardware acceleration.
Folder Options is used to control how Windows Explorer displays files and folders and to set a wide variety of folder and file options, including the type of desktop used, the folder views used, whether offline files are used, and whether you must single-click or double-click to open items. As an administrator, you will probably want to set the following options in the View tab, as shown in the accompanying screen:
Show Hidden Files And Folders Select this option to see hidden files and folders.
Hide Extensions For Known File Types Clear this option to see file names as well as file extensions.
Hide Protected Operating System Files Clear this option so that you can see and work with operating system files, which are otherwise hidden.
Licensing is used to change the client-licensing mode of installed products, such as Windows Server 2003 or Microsoft SQL Server 2000. The licensing mode can be set to the following options, as shown in the screen on the following page:
Per Server With per-server licensing, you set the number of concurrent connections allowed, and when that number is reached, additional connections are refused. A single user could have multiple client connections to a server, and each client connection a user makes counts toward the allowable maximum.
Per Device Or Per User The per-device (called Per Seat in Windows 2000) mode of this option assumes you have purchased a client access license (CAL) for each computer that will access the server or application. Concurrent connections are not tracked. If you work in a 24 × 7 environment using workers in shifts or anytime there are multiple users per computer, this option can be best.
The per-user mode assumes you have purchased a CAL for each user that will access the server or application. Concurrent connections are not tracked. If users have multiple computers, such as in an engineering or Information Technology (IT) department, this option can be best.
Network Connections is used to view existing network connections and to create new ones. If you configured Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) networking when you installed the operating system, the server has a default network connection called Local Area Connection. Selecting this option displays a Status dialog box that lets you determine the current networking configuration and make changes to it. For more information on configuring networking, see Chapter 24.
Tip
Display Network Connections as a menu
As with Control Panel, you can configure the system to display Network Connections in a menu, which allows you to access individual utilities without having to open a separate folder. Right-click Start, select Properties, and then click Customize in the Taskbar And Start Menu Properties dialog box. Next, if you are using the Classic Start menu, select Expand Network Connections under Advanced Start Menu Options, and then click OK twice. If you are using the simple Start menu, click the Advanced tab, select Display As A Menu as a Network Connections option under Start Menu Items, and then click OK twice.
Regional and Language Options is used to set country-specific standards and formats, as shown in the following screen. In different countries, the unit of measurement, currency, and date formatting can be different. To change the settings, simply select a country or region in the Standards And Formats area. By choosing a region, you choose all the appropriate settings for numbers, currency, dates, and times. Examples of the formatting standards for the selected region are displayed in the Samples section.
You can customize these settings by clicking Customize and then using the Customize Regional Options dialog box to modify the basic number, currency, time, and date settings for the region. Regional settings are also used to specify your present location for the purposes of presenting local information in dialog boxes and within Help And Support services windows. You set the system location by using the Location list.
Scheduled Tasks allows you to view existing scheduled tasks and add new ones. A scheduled task is a one-time or recurring procedure that the operating system runs to handle common administrative jobs and can be an executable program or a script. Clicking Add Scheduled Task in the Scheduled Tasks folder starts the Scheduled Task Wizard. This wizard provides a point-and-click interface for creating tasks. Another way to create scheduled tasks is to use the Schtasks command-line utility, which is essentially the command-line counterpart to the Scheduled Task Wizard and which replaces the AT command as the preferred command-line utility for working with scheduled tasks.
Task scheduling is managed by the Task Scheduler service. This service must be properly configured and running on all the systems on which you want to schedule tasks. When you configure tasks, you set the user account to use. This account determines the permissions and privileges the script has. Typically, however, the related user's environment settings will not be available to the script because there will be no actual user logon session. Because of this, if you use the task to run a Windows script, the script should configure whichever user settings are necessary to perform the scheduled task. In this way, you can be sure that everything the script does is under the control of the script and that domain user settings, such as drive mappings, are available as necessary.
Windows Server 2003 provides several ways to get to Scheduled Tasks. One way is, of course, through Control Panel. You can also access Scheduled Tasks by using Windows Explorer. Open Windows Explorer, click My Computer, click Control Panel, and then click Scheduled Tasks.
In a Windows domain, you can access Scheduled Tasks on a remote system through My Network Places. Open Windows Explorer, and then use the My Network Places node to navigate to the computer you want to work with. Click the computer's icon, and then click Scheduled Tasks.
For computers that are part of a workgroup, you can't access Scheduled Tasks in this way. Instead, you must establish a Remote Desktop connection to the computer you want to work with, then use Windows Explorer to access the Scheduled Tasks folder. You can also use this technique for computers in a domain.
Once you've accessed Scheduled Tasks, you can work with entries in the related folder by using any of the following techniques:
To start the Scheduled Task Wizard, double-click Add Scheduled Task.
To view or change a task's properties, including the account under which the task is run, double-click the task, then use the Properties dialog box to make the necessary changes. You can set advanced options in the Settings tab.
To run a task immediately, right-click the task, and then select Run.
To stop a running task, right-click the task, and then select End Task. This only halts the currently running task. It doesn't change the run schedule.
To delete a task, select it, and then press Delete. Or right-click the task, and then select Delete.
Tip
Consider enabling and disabling tasks instead of deleting them
Instead of deleting a task, you can disable it to stop it temporarily from running. Then, if you want to use the task again, you simply enable it rather than having to re-create it. To enable or disable a task, double-click the task in the Scheduled Tasks folder, then in the task's Properties dialog box, select or clear the Enabled option.
You can create a scheduled task by using the Scheduled Task Wizard and following these steps:
Start the Scheduled Task Wizard by double-clicking Add Scheduled Task in the Scheduled Tasks folder. Click Next.
On the wizard page shown in Figure 12-2, click Browse to open the Select Program To Schedule dialog box. Then use the dialog box to find a command shell or Windows script you want to run.
Type a name for the task, as shown in Figure 12-3. The name should be short but descriptive so you can quickly determine what the task does. Then select a run schedule for the task. Tasks can be scheduled to run daily, weekly, monthly, or when a specific event occurs, such as when the computer starts or when the task's user logs on. You can also specify that a task should run one time only.
The next page you see depends on the run schedule. If you've selected a daily running task, set a start time and date as shown in Figure 12-4. Then configure the task to run one of the following ways:
Every Day—Seven days a week.
Weekdays—Monday through Friday only.
Every N Days—Every 2, 3, … N days.
For a weekly running task, the date and time page appears as shown in Figure 12-5. Configure the task using these options:
Start Time—Sets the start time of the task.
Every N Weeks—Allows you to run the task every week, every 2 weeks, or every N weeks.
Select The Day(s) Of The Week Below—Sets the day(s) of the week when the task runs, such as on Monday or on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
For a monthly running task, the date and time page appears as shown in Figure 12-6. Configure the task using these options:
Start Time—Sets the start time of the task.
Day—Sets the day of the month the task runs. For example, if you select 5, the task runs on the fifth day of the month.
The N Day—Sets the task to run on the Nth occurrence of a day in a month, such as the second Monday or the third Tuesday of every month.
Of The Month(s)—These options let you select in which months the task runs.
For One Time Only tasks, the date and time page appears as shown in Figure 12-7. Set the start time and start date.
For tasks that run when the computer starts or when the task's user logs on, you don't have to set the start date and time. The task runs automatically when the startup or logon event occurs.
Click Next. Provide the user name and password for the account under which the task will run, as shown in Figure 12-8. This account must have the privileges and permissions necessary to run the task.
Click Next. The final wizard page provides a summary of the task you're scheduling. Click Finish to complete the scheduling process.
Tip
Set arguments for scripts after creating the task
For scripts, you can set command-line arguments, but only after you create the scheduled task by using the wizard. Before clicking Finish, select Open Advanced Properties For This Task When I Click Finish, or simply double-click the task in Windows Explorer after clicking Finish. Then, in the Run box, type the parameters after the task path. If the task path includes spaces, be sure to enclose the path in double quotation marks (""). Similarly, if a commandline argument includes spaces, enclose the argument in double quotation marks ("").
Troubleshooting: Correcting errors with task creation
If an error occurs when you create a task, you'll see an error prompt. The task should still be created, but you might need to edit the task's properties. In Windows Explorer, doubleclick the task to correct the specified error. One of the more common errors you might encounter is Access Denied. This error can occur if the user credentials provided are incorrect, such as occurs if you enter the wrong password or the user account doesn't exist in the domain.
Inside Out: Task startup problems
Task Scheduler doesn't verify the information you provide. If you don't specify the correct information, the task simply won't run or will generate errors when it does run. One way to check tasks is to view their status and last result in the Scheduled Tasks folder. Any task listed as Could Not Start should be examined. Sometimes, however, a task that is listed as Running might not in fact be running and instead can be frozen or running errant. To check for these types of tasks, use the entries in the Last Run Time column, which tell you when a task was started.
If the task has been running for more than a day, there is usually a problem. To stop the task, right-click it in the Scheduled Tasks folder, then select End Task. You could also wait for the Task Scheduler to stop the task. By default, all tasks time out after running for 72 hours. You can change the timeout in the Settings tab of the Properties dialog box for the task.
The Last Run Time tells you only the last time the scheduled task ran. It won't tell you whether there were problems running tasks prior to the last run time. This you can determine only by examining the Task Scheduler log file. You can open this log in Notepad by selecting View Log on the Advanced menu when the Scheduled Tasks folder is selected in Windows Explorer.
System allows you to configure system properties, including properties for managing the operating system configuration, startup, shutdown, hardware profiles, and user profiles. System is the most advanced Control Panel utility, and its options are organized into several tabs.
The General tab (as shown in the following screen) provides summary information about the system, including the operating system version, service pack level (if any), registered owner, Windows serial number, processor type, and system random access memory (RAM).
Inside Out: Determining the service pack level and hot fixes that are installed
Often, you'll want to know which service pack a server has (if any). The General tab provides one way to access this information, but a much quicker way is to type gettype at the command prompt. Neither technique will tell you about which hot fixes a computer has installed. To determine the hot fixes installed on a computer, use the Add or Remove Programs utility, and scroll through the list of currently installed programs under Change Or Remove Programs.
The Computer Name tab (as shown in the following screen) displays the full computer name of the system and the domain membership, if applicable. The full computer name is essentially the DNS name of the computer, which also identifies the computer's place within the Active Directory hierarchy. To change the computer name or move a computer to a new domain, use one of the following procedures:
For member servers (not domain controllers), you can click Change to change the system name and domain associated with the computer. This displays the Computer Name Changes dialog box. If you want to change the computer's name, type a new name in the Computer Name field. If you want to change the computer's domain or workgroup membership, click Domain or Workgroup as appropriate, and then enter the new domain or workgroup name. Click OK. If you change the computer's domain, the computer will be moved to that domain and, in which case, you might be prompted to provide the appropriate credentials for joining the computer to that domain.
For domain controllers, you can click Change to modify the name of the computer, but doing so will make the domain controller temporarily unavailable to other computers in the domain. You cannot use this feature to change the domain in which the domain controller is running. To change the domain, you must demote the domain controller using Dcpromo to make it a member server, change the computer's network ID by using the System utility, and then promote the server using Dcpromo so that it is once again a domain controller.
The other System utility tabs are as follows:
Hardware Used to manage a server's hardware profiles and devices and to add new hardware. Hardware profiles allow a computer to have different hardware configurations for different situations, such as onsite or offsite use. You'll learn more about hardware profiles in Chapter 13.
Advanced Used to control many of the key features of the Windows operating system, including application performance, user profiles, startup and recovery, environment variables, and error reporting. User profiles are discussed in Chapter 37, and application performance is discussed in Chapter 15.
Automatic Updates Used to manage the Automatic Updates configuration on the server. When enabled, the Automatic Updates service compares programs, operating system components, and drivers installed on a system to a master list of items and determines whether updates should be installed.
Remote Used to control Remote Assistance invitations and Remote Desktop connections. Remote Assistance invitations are primarily used with workstations and not servers. Remote Desktop is discussed in Chapter 30.