Cannot connect to an AWS EC2 Windows instance with WINRM

When we launch an AWS EC2 instance with Windows 2012, Windows 2016, Windows 2019, the “Administrator” local account is automatically created and added to the Administrators group. We can decrypt the Administrator password using the private key of the key pair we used to launch the server. On Windows servers WINRM access is necessary during …

Speed up your Windows computer

Windows executes an application every day to check the compatibility of the programs on your computer. Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser runs randomly between 3 am and 5 am in the morning, and in the first 2 hours when you turn on your computer. It can use 30 – 50 % of the CPU slowing down other …

Speed up the Windows 10 user interface

Windows 10 has pretty effects to fade in and out windows, animate the opening of menus and other objects. If you prefer a relaxed appearance, it is for you, but if you want to complete your tasks and view the result of your actions faster, here is the way to turn the effects off. Press …

Configure Epson WF-3520 scanning on Windows 11

Install the Epson WF-3520 scanner driver and scanning utility Connect to the Epson WF-3520 scanner To enable the Preview function In Windows 11 the Preview button is not visible by default. To make the Preview button visible on the Epson Scan page, we will need to press the Alt key on your keyboard. Scan with …

Configure the target server for PSEXEC

PSEXEC is a remote procedure execution tool written by Mark Russinovich at Microsoft and available for download at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/psexec. To use PSEXEC you need to open ports 135 (TCP) and 445 (TCP) on the target computer.  Enable the ports in the security group Open the ports inbound in the server’s firewall You also need to …

The installation of this package failed

When we tried to install the Microsoft Access Database Engine and Office 2007 System Driver on a Windows Server 2016 an error message popped up immediately: The installation of this package failed When we ran the installation with the logging option, we have found a message at the bottom of the file: Will create the …

Invoke-WebRequest : The request was aborted: Could not create SSL/TLS secure channel.

Older PowerShell versions do not use TLS1.2 as the default version during the SSL handshake. When the API requires TLS1.2 the error message appears:  Invoke-WebRequest : The request was aborted: Could not create SSL/TLS secure channel.  To force PowerShell to use TLS1.2 during the SSL handshake, issue this command before executing the Invoke-Webrequest

Computer failed to join domain from its current workgroup ‘WORKGROUP’ with following error message: The system cannot open the device or file specified.

When you use PowerShell to join a Windows server to the domain make sure the -OUPath is correct. Computer failed to join domain from its current workgroup ‘WORKGROUP’ with following error message: The system cannot open the device or file specified. In this case we wanted to place the joined computers in the Computers folder, …

Computer ‘…’ failed to join domain. The value provided as the current password is incorrect.

Computer ‘…’ failed to join domain ‘…’ from its current workgroup ‘WORKGROUP’ with following error message: Unable to update the password. The value provided as the current password is incorrect. If you can join the computer to a domain using the UI, but the PowerShell script fails with the error message above, make sure you …