I have to record this just so it is out there somewhere.  If you’re having trouble with getting your new computer to log on to your domain in Windows Server 2k3, it could be your wireless software.

I have a brand new Dell Precision m4300 Laptop decked out and I was ecstatic to get started with the new imaging software we’re using in the lab, but after successfully adding the computer to our domain (wirelessly) I was unable to log in as any user on the domain.  The message I received said:

“The system cannot log you on now because the domain is not available.“

This was frustrating because I couldn’t tell if it was because I wasn’t making a connection to the wireless network before the log-on attempt, or if adding the computer to the domain didn’t take.

To find out, I tried to log in with a physical connection…. SUCCESS!  What I didn’t count on was cached credentials on that system now which fooled me in to thinking that I was now having successful log on.  When I realized that I wasn’t making the connection (when I couldn’t access any network resources), I knew I had a bigger problem.  I tried to add a user manually through Control Panel > User Manager.  When I tried to that, I got the following message:

“The user could not be added because the following error has occured: The Trust relationship between this workstation and the primary domain failed.“

So, now I know two things – that the computer can be added to the domain wirelessly, but I can only have a successful log on when wired.  I know that I can log on with a physical connection, so it’s not my network settings.  My only idea now is that there is an issue with trusting my wireless adapter?  What’s different between the setting on this computer and the three other wireless laptops in the lab?  All the settings are the same, all are getting DHCP from the same place, all are connecting fine… but my new computer is connecting with the included Intel PROset/Wireless software instead of Windows Wireless Networking.  I switched to Windows Wireless, and I logged back on.

Intel PROset/Wireless may interfere with the trust relationship between a Windows XP Pro and Windows Server 2003.

Every morning, this is my routine:

• Open Gmail, also check any of the other 452 Google Apps “webmaster” accounts I think I might need to
• Open Google Reader: Reader saves me so many hours being able to stay on top of most everything without having to hop site to site – plus I have it set to only show me which sites have updated.  (This is the time now when I open any of those new articles and tag them on Del.icio.us which then propagates out according to tag to my various sites)
• Open Google Calendar: check to see what’s coming up, add any events off of varoius scraps of paper off my desk
• Open Google Analytics: check the stats on the higher traffic sites
• Open Google AdWords: check click-throughs and impressions for RDL

Bam. They’ve got my whole life.  I know a lot of the SEO people don’t like them for the whole hand-editing and link degredation for bought links thing, but I can deal.  As long as I have broadband, I can deal…

We’ve moved off of the .net domain now, and using Google Apps and Google Analytics with AdWords we’re really excited about making this one seriously useful (and thus seriously visited) site.

Just some notes on what all I’ve been able to accomplish thanks to Google.

• Google Apps allows me to give webmail and regular POP email access to all our email users, and since we have several employees who can utilize email but do not have a terminal of their own this is a huge plus!  Also, being able to alias both the .net and .com addresses allows us to incorporate the new .com domain immediately without angry customers.  Also, you can assign multiple email names to each user, so I can be leecoursey@ and lee@ and marketing@ all at one account in 1 easy step.  Don’t forget, I can also add users in no time, and they all get huge 2gb accounts.  We also have a “Start Page” for all computers in the lab – one uniform jump off place.
• Google Analytics allows me to track statistics that are important to me as a designer (like screen size, browser, etc…) and also gives me the ability to see who is accessing us from where on a map – and thus increase our presence in different geographic regions.  We’re also using the “Goals” to track the effectiveness of our push to get people signed up to the newsletter which when used judiciously will give us an edge in driving traffic and then pushing product.
• Google AdWords will give me the ability to focus in on keywords that our clients and potential clients want to know more about.  The keyword search frequency tool that I talked about earlier also lets me hone in on under-purchased keywords!

Combine all of this with Joomla! as our backend and our development time is strictly limited to content! Hot dog!

http://www.leecoursey.net/pictures/v/firstyear

It’s a photo retrospective on my daughter Reagan’s First year.  Fun Stuff.

First, install XAMPP from ApacheFriends, and make sure you check off MySQL and APACHE as services.

The  next step is to make sure there is a  ROOT password.  Go to Start > Run > “cmd”.  Change directory to C:\xampp\mysql\bin and run the following command

mysqladmin -u root password BLUE

Where BLUE is the password of your choice.

Close that “cmd” widow.  In “My Computer” navigate to c:\xampp\phpmyadmin and edit config.inc.php in Notepad.

On line 70 (or thereabouts) replace:

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['password']      = ”;

with

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['password']      = ‘blue’; – once again where BLUE is the password you choose.

Now, you will be able to access phpMyAdmin from the XAMPP Control Panel without problem.

Next, extract Joomla (whatever version you want) to a new folder in the C:\xampp\htdocs folder.

In phpMyAdmin you’ll need to create a new database (whatever name you want).

Surf to http://localhost/joomlafolder (where joomlafolder is the foldername you selected.

Follow the installation instructions on the screen and when you get to the hostname, etc… screen use this info:

Host Name          : localhost
MySQL User Name    : root
MySQL Password     : blue
MySQL Database Name: (whatever)
MySQL Table Prefix : (whatever)

Then complete the rest of the steps and you should be golden!

Pearls Before Swine

This is just one cool one. REM – It’s The End of the World was just on .977 – The 80′s Channel and I thought of this comic.

http://www.unwrittenrules.com

Premise: a site dedicated to sharing the “unwritten rules” of dealing with situations our parents don’t seem to teach us about any more.  Imagine this:

Funeral > Family Member > Not Close > Far Away: Solution: call local florist, send cheap flowers.

In this instance, a family member you are not “close to” who is geographically far away – what do I do?

Ah well – better luck next time.