Jeff Wouters's Blog

Last week I found a very challenging issue on a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 database cluster.
We were planning on doing some maintenance on a cluster. After we were done, we found out that not all cluster resource groups were working on one of the nodes.
After investigating, it seemed that those resource groups had not worked on that node since somewhere in October last year!

Problem:
Cluster resources could not be brought online on a specific cluster node. The resource works fine on other nodes.
Only the pfysical disk cluster resource could not be brought online, the IP Address and Network Name have no problems with being brought online.

Cause:
It seems someone has been playing around on the cluster node with a tool named “TrueCrypt”.
This tool claims drive letters. When you do that on a passive cluster node where the drive letter is assigned but not in use, it will corrupt the drive assignment.

Solution:
Following these steps has solved my issue, since it basically re-creates the disk association on the cluster node:

1. Take the cluster resource group offline (Cluster Administrator).
2. Remove all dependencies to the physical disk resource (Cluster Administrator).
3. Remove the physical disk resource from the cluster (Cluster Administrator).
4. Rescan the disk on the cluster node where it has the problems (Windows Disk Management).
5. Remove the disk on the cluster node where it has the problems (Windows Disk Management).
6. Reboot the cluster node.
7. Attach the drive letter to the disk again on the cluster node where it had the problems (Windows Disk Management).
8. Add the physical disk resource to the cluster resource group (Cluster Administrator).
9. Configure the dependencies to the physical disk resource which you have previously removed (Cluster Administrator).
10. Bring the cluster resource online (Cluster Administrator).

Lesson learned:
Test all cluster resources on all cluster nodes before you begin maintenance on a cluster.

To share a folder on a Windows 7 machine you will need to allow for the files to be shared.
You can do this under “Network and Sharing Center” and then under “Advanced Sharing Center”.

So far, so good…
But if you don’t want users from the XP devices to get an popup asking for credentials, you will need to disable the “Password Protect Sharing”, again under “Advanced Sharing Center”.

My issue was that when I switched this setting from “On” (it’s default” to “Off” and saved it.
I still got a popup from the XP workstation, reboot did not help.
When I got back to take a look at the “Password Protect Sharing” setting I just changed, it was set back to “On” again! Whatever I did, it always came back to “On” again… I couldn’t let it stick to “Off”.

The cause and solution was fairly simple; the guest account on my Windows 7 machine was disabled… but also there was a password configured.

Solution:
1) Enable the Guest account.
2) Set it’s password to empty.
3) Disable the Guest account.

Fairly simple, or what?