Very often when deleting snapshots or consolidating disks of virtual machines running on VMWare ESXi hosts, I see the “Unable to access a file since it is locked” error. This frequent issue is related to errors in a VM backup software (I came across the issue in Veeam, HPE/Micro Focus Data Protector, Veritas.) If the snapshot of the virtual disk is locked, you won’t be able to consolidate disks (when you see the error ‘Virtual machine disks consolidation is needed
’), move a disk to another datastore using Storage vMotion, back up a VM or delete the current snapshot. Sometimes you cannot even turn on a locked virtual machine.
- Group PoliciesPowerShellWindows 10Windows 11Windows Server 2019
How to Enable or Disable SMB 1.0 in Windows 10/11 and Windows Server
March 12, 2024The Server Message Block (SMB) 1.0 file-sharing protocol is disabled by default in the latest versions of Windows 11 and 10 and in Windows Server 2019/2022. This version of the…
- Microsoft OfficeWindows 10Windows Server 2019
How to Install Only Specific Apps in Office 2021/2019 or Office 365
March 12, 2024When you install Microsoft Office 2021, 2019, 2016. or Microsoft 365 Apps for Business (ex-Office 365), you cannot choose to install individual Office apps, change a path to the installation…
- PowerShellWindows Server 2019Windows Server 2022
How to Enable and Configure MPIO on Windows Server
March 11, 2024In this article we will consider how to install and configure MPIO on Windows Server 2016/2012 R2. MPIO (Multi—Path Input Output) is a technology that allows to build fault-tolerant transport to a data storage system…
- Windows 10Windows 11Windows Server 2016Windows Server 2019
How to Connect L2TP/IPSec VPN Server From Windows
September 22, 2023In this article, we will look at the most common causes of errors when connecting to an L2TP/IPSec VPN server from Windows 10/11 or Windows Server 2019/2016. If you cannot…
- Windows 10
How to Remove Built-in Apps, Features & Editions from a Windows 10 Install Image (WIM file)
March 17, 2024In this guide we’ll show how to remove Microsoft Store provisioned apps, features (capabilities), and unused Windows editions from a Windows 10 installation image (install.wim file). Let’s do it manually…
You can use the standard SNMP protocol to monitor the health of VMWare ESXi hosts. This article shows you how to enable and configure the SNMP agent on VMWare ESXi…
- Group PoliciesWindows 10Windows Server 2016
Securing RDP Connections with Trusted SSL/TLS Certificates
March 15, 2024In this article we’ll show how to use trusted SSL/TLS certificates to secure RDP connections to Windows computers or servers in an Active Directory domain. We will use trusted SSL…
- Windows Server 2016Windows Server 2019
Unable to Add/Remove Role: Windows Server Requires Restart
December 4, 2020When installing any role or feature on Windows Server 2016, an error appears that the server requires a restart: “The request to add or remove features on the specified server…
- Active DirectoryPowerShell
Using Saved Queries in ADUC MMC (Active Directory User and Computers)
March 15, 2024The Saved Queries in Active Directory Users and Computers (ADUC) MMC console allow you to create complex LDAP filters to select Active Directory objects. These queries can be saved, edited,…