Cormang.com

Project T330: Building the Ultimate Home Lab Media Server

For any home lab enthusiast, the quest for the perfect balance between enterprise reliability, noise levels, and storage capacity is never-ending. Recently, I decided to overhaul my media setup to host Emby, downloader, and the full “Arr” stack (Sonarr, Radarr, etc.). I settled on a Dell PowerEdge T330 as the chassis of choice. It’s a robust tower server that hits the sweet spot for a home environment: it’s quiet enough to not sound like…

Cormang
January 31, 2026

Embedding a 100% height iframe in SharePoint Online Modern pages

Before SharePoint Online, I embedded cross-origin iframes to applications using the method described here. It uses a basic JavaScript Event Listener to receive requests from the child, such as resizing an iframe object on the parent to match the height of the content within. I modified this code to also use contain an Event Listener to scroll to the top of the parent when a page loads within the iframe. But this recently broke when Microsoft removed some classes from the scrollable div of Modern SharePoint Online pages. But no worries, I have a vanilla JavaScript solution.

Cormang
May 14, 2021

VAC was unable to verify the game session

There seems to be an increase in the number of gamers receiving the error “VAC was unable to verify the game session” when trying to use match making in CSGO. This error typically occurs when a client file is corrupt or outdated. The fix is fairly straight forward. Verify Integrity of Game Files Exit Steam (right-click Steam icon in System Tray and click Exit). Right-click the Steam icon (desktop or in Start menu) and…

Cormang
April 6, 2020

How to fix Android Auto music stuttering issues

There are numerous reasons as to why Android Auto can stutter or lag in your vehicle. I have personally suffered from a long list of Android Auto issues and decided to compile a list. I’m not going to mention the “turn Bluetooth off and then back on” or “deleting and pairing Bluetooth devices again” suggestions as I’m assuming you’ve already tried basic troubleshooting. Disable ‘Media audio’ in Bluetooth settings In my case the music…

Cormang
January 19, 2020
9

Surface Pro plugged in, not charging

I’ve come across this issue quite a bit lately and I’m not really sure what causes it.The battery icon in the system tray will have a red X and indicate the tablet is plugged in, but not charging. It seems to occur shortly after a Windows Cumulative Update. Many resources indicate the battery is dead and to contact Microsoft. But before you do, try the following steps. Re-install Battery Drivers Click Start (or Cortana/Search),…

Cormang
December 30, 2019
2

Outlook search not working

Windows Updates or Office 365 updates can break the Search Index database. The Search Index is used to provide instant search results. When the index is corrupt, search can become unreliable. For example, you may search for a phrase of a subject line known the emails exists but it does not display in the list of search results. Find Related Messages will also become unreliable. Fortunately the problem is fairly easy to fix.

Cormang
December 27, 2019

How to resolve Dir Sync error “duplicate UserPrincipalName conflict”

I was recently prompted about a Directory Sync error witting Microsoft 365 Admin Center. The user account had the message “We detected a duplicate UserPrincipalName conflict on the value [email protected]. All attribute values need to be unique across objects. To resolve this conflict, first determine which object should be using the conflicting value. Then, update or remove the conflicting value from the other object(s).” A little research revealed the account had been created, deleted, and then…

Cormang
August 26, 2019
3

How to increase vCenter Appliance web client session timeout

As of vSphere 6.7 Update 1, the vCenter vSphere Client (also referred to as the HTML5 client) has reached feature parity with the now deprecated Thick Client and Web Client. But one of the biggest annoyances with the vSphere Client is the default Session Timeout value of 120 minutes. It seems like I'm constantly re-authenticating. Good news, this can be easily changed from the vCenter Appliance Shell.

Cormang
March 4, 2019

Netlogon service Stopped or set to Manual startup

For the past few weeks I’ve been struggling with an odd issue where a small subset of Windows 10 computer systems were having issues applying Group Policy and Application Deployments from Configuration Manager.

Cormang
November 12, 2018

Windows Server network Unidentified (Public/Private) when multiple NICs present

Updated February 11, 2019: I was able to resolve the issue by setting the Cisco switch port configurations to an Edge Port. I’ve updated the post with the final solution. I was struggling to identify an issue where Windows Server would boot with an Unidentified, Public, or Private rather than the appropriate Domain network type. This caused the Windows Firewall to kick in blocking my RDP access. Restarting the Network Location Awareness service or cycling one of the Network Adapters would resolve the issue. But the root cause was a mystery until just recently…

Cormang
May 15, 2018

How to forward all WordPress pages from HTTP to HTTPS

Redirecting a WordPress website from HTTP to HTTPS is not as easy as it should be. I have yet to understand why there isn’t a simple checkbox to complete this task. There’s also numerous references which provide inaccurate information of how to accomplish this task. I’ll explain how to accomplish this with Apache, Nginx, IIS, as well as some popular web hosting control panels. These configuration changes are not WordPress-specific and can be referenced for any type of website. If you don’t already have a certificate, check out Let’s Encrypt to obtain a trusted certificate at no cost. In most cases Let’s Encrypt certificates can be easily requested from your CPanel or Plesk web hosting control panel.

Cormang
February 13, 2018

Microsoft Account password out of sync when using Remote Desktop (RDP)

There’s an issue in Windows 10 which causes Microsoft Account passwords to become out of sync when using Remote Desktop (RDP). For example, I have a few computer systems running Windows 10 which I only access via Remote Desktop using my Microsoft Account (for example, [email protected]). If I were to change my Microsoft Account password from another computer system or Outlook.com, the new password will not work when connecting over RDP. However, the old password will continue to authenticate successfully. This is both annoying and a security issue. Below is a method to force a password sync.

Cormang
January 6, 2018
9

HTA to prompt for computer name and time zone in OSD of Configuration Manager

A common requirement of new operating system deployments from Configuration Manager is to have the ability to prompt for variables such as a computer name, time zone, and whether or not to install applications and updates. You could add MDT integration to Configuration Manager or you could create your own HTA using basic HTML and VBScript. However there are limitations with HTA files you should be aware of and you’ll need to tweak your task sequences.

Cormang
June 15, 2017

WSUS virtual machine high CPU usage

I was recently deploying a WSUS server as part of a System Center Configuration Manager implementation when my Configuration Manager server’s CPU became pegged at 100%. It was clear the issue was being caused by the WsusPool IIS application pool. I was expecting the CPU to struggle for a few hours during the initial check-ins by Windows Clients. I had also made the recommended changes to the WsusPool to service the demands of Windows 10 clients. However after 24 hours the server was still struggling with 8 vCPU using 99% CPU. Eventually I noticed VMTools was absent from the virtual machine. I researched whether this could have an enormous performance impact and as it turns out, it can. The storage drivers alone vastly improve I/O performance for intensive workloads.Installing VMTools immediately resolved the issue. The WsusPool continued to be intensive for a few more hours while it processed client check-ins but used only 20-30% CPU while the IIS Worker Process was able to grow to consume 12GB of memory. But a few hours later initial client check-ins had completed and everything was back to normal. Conclusion: Install VMTools.

Cormang
June 1, 2017

Windows 10 Express Updates in Configuration Manager taking a long time to download and install

Windows 10 and Server 2016 Express Updates may not be what we think they are. I was recently implementing System Center Configuration Manager 1702 and thought I’d try enabling Microsoft’s newly released Express Updates functionality which become fully supported as of the April 2017 Cumulative Update. However I quickly discovered there’s major consequences of enabling the global settings.

Cormang
May 29, 2017

How to use your own router with Bell Fibe/FiberOP internet by enabling Advanced DMZ

Bell Fibe Internet or Bell Aliant FiberOP Internet is a popular choice among Canadians. However the equipment provided by Bell and Bell Aliant may not suit everyone’s needs. If you’ve tried to attach a router to a Bell modem you will quickly realize that multiple internal networks are created as the Bell modem acts as a router and wireless access point. It becomes even more convoluted if you require port forwarding. To make matters worse, the Bell equipment could interfere with your personal router’s wireless network performance. There’s a better way to use your own personal router with Bell Internet.

Cormang
September 1, 2016
10

“VMware Remote MKS has stopped working” when rebooting virtual machines

Recently I started receiving the error “VMware Remote MKS has stopped working” when starting, rebooting, and shutting down virtual machines with the VMware vSphere Client console. I searched the VMware community forums and was overwhelmed with the amount of ignorance. It turns out the problem is caused by overlapping versions of the vSphere Infrastructure Client. It appears that the VI Client for vSphere 6 relies on the version 5.5. This is fine until you need to install version 5.1 of the VI Client which overwrites some registry values causing version 6 to become unstable. Luckily the user enriquepessoa on the VMware community forums has a solution by running a simple registry file which can be downloaded from this thread, https://communities.vmware.com/message/2576374#2576374. I no longer receive the error “VMware Remote MKS has stopped working” when starting, rebooting, and shutting down virtual machines.

Cormang
March 3, 2016

How to use your own router with Telus Optik internet by enabling Port Bridging

Telus Optik internet is among the most popular providers in Western Canada. However the equipment provided by Telus may not suit everyone’s needs and you may want to use your own personal router for more robust features such as 5Ghz, guest networks, gaming priority, or you may want to place a router somewhere else for optimal signal without moving the equipment provided by Telus (in my case my Telus Modem was near my television receiver but the wireless was out of range of the bedroom). If you’ve ever tried to attach a router to a Telus modem you may have quickly realized that you’ll end up with multiple internal networks as the Telus modem also acts as a router and wireless access point. It becomes convoluted if you require any port forwarding as the rules would have to be configured on both the Telus equipment as well as your router. To make matters worse, the wireless network broadcast by the Telus equipment could interfere with your personal router’s performance. There’s a better way to use your own personal router with Telus Optik internet.

Cormang
February 20, 2016