How to read BitLocker protected devices on non BitLocker capable clients

BitLocker allows you to achieve total hard drive encryption. Windows has had EFS capability since Windows 2000. EFS allowed you to encrypt individual folders and files. BitLocker allows for an entire drive to be protected. Not all versions of Windows 7 support BitLocker. You need to have either the Enterprise or Ultimate editions to encrypt removable media. Windows Vista also had BitLocker, but it could only encrypt the boot partition of a client. The new version that shipped with Windows 7, called BitLocker-to-go, can encrypted removable drives as well.

What if you need to use a BitLocker encrypted drive on a version of Windows 7 that does not support BitLocker encryption? No problem. The screen shots below are going to be from a Windows Home Premium edition. When I insert my USB hard drive that is BitLocker encrypted, I see this icon in Windows Explorer.

You can either right mouse click the drive and select Unlock Drive… or just wait for the auto play to start as below. Type in the password that you used to encrypt the drive.

Once the password is accepted, your drive is unlocked.

We can see that Authenticated Users on this client have been given the security right to both read and write to this drive.

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How to list all the AD LDS instances on a server

AD LDS allows you to provide directory services to applications that are free of the confines of Active Directory. To list all the AD LDS instances on a server, follow this procedure: Log into the server in question Open a command prompt. Type dsdbutil and press Enter Type List Instances and press Enter . You will receive a list of the instance name, both the LDAP and SSL port numbers, the location of the database, and its status.

How to run GPResult on a remote client with PowerShell

In the past, to run the GPResult command, you would need to either physically visit this client, have the user do it, or use and RDP connection. In all cases, this will disrupt the user. First, you need PowerShell remoting enabled on the target machine. You can do this via Group Policy . Open PowerShell and type this command. Invoke-Command –ScriptBlock {GPResult /r} –ComputerName <ComputerName> Replace <ComputerName> with the name of the target. Remember, the target needs to be online and accessible to you.

Error icon when creating a GPO Preference drive map

You may not have an error at all. Take a look at the drive mapping below. The red triangle is what threw us off. It is not an error. It is simply a color representation of the Replace option of the Action field in the properties of the drive mappings. Create action This give you a green triangle. The Create action creates a new mapped drive for users. Replace Action The Replace action gives you a red triangle. This action will delete and recreate mapped drives for users. The net result of the Replace action is to overwrite all existing settings associated with the mapped drive. If the drive mapping does not exist, then the Replace action creates a new drive mapping. Update Action The Update action will have a yellow triangle. Update will modify settings of an existing mapped drive for users. This action differs from Replace in that it only updates settings defined within the preference item. All other settings remain as configured on the mapped drive. If the

Jason Yoder, MCT

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