How To Change NetBIOS Name of A Computer

So yes... After 4 months without new contents, so I started with this. It looks easier to do (well, it is), but before you do that, you may want to read this to understand the difference between hostname and netBIOS, then starts to explore on when to use them, their limitations etc etc. I won't discuss here (or maybe not today). So let's back to the topic.

 Description :
Changing NetBIOS Name of A Computer.

ComputerName :

NetBIOS :

How To Do :

1.  Go to Start > Run, and type REGEDIT
2.  Browse to Computer > HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM > CurrentControlSet > Control > ComputerName > ComputerName
   
   
   
3. At the right side, double click at ComputerName string, and put correct Value data. Press OK.
   
4.  Then you will get this
   
5. Reboot your computer / VM.
6. Once it is up, double check your netBIOS name. New name shall be reflected
   

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Error on Powershell - 0xffff0000

I am not very familiar with PowerShell, yet... really. Currently, my main scripting language is VBScript. However, I am truly believe the needs to learn PowerShell is keep increasing every single day. Server 2008 and Server 2012 are equiped with PowerShell, some advanced managements in XenDesktop 7.5 are using PowerShell, it is fun to learn PowerShell (they said), and a few other points mentioned by my colleagues (Wow, what on earth Heiry, why your introduction is longer than an episode of Dads?)

Issues :

Error encountered when a scheduled task created to run PowerShell script :

The shell cannot be started. A failure occurred during initialization: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

Furthermore, this error reported on Task Scheduler.

Troubleshooting 

1.  Go to Start > Run, and type regedit. Press Enter
   
   
   
2.  Registry Editor launched. Browse to My Computer > HKEY_CURRENT_USER, and look for for Environment folder. It is not there.
   
   
   
3.  Next, go to My Computer > right click and choose Properties
   
   
   
4.  Go to Advanced tab, and click at Environment Variables...
   
   
   
5.  You won't see any entry on variable, as below :
   

Resolution :

There are 2 methods to solve this :-

Method 01 - Using Registry Editor :

1.  Launch REGEDIT. Browse to My Computer > right click at HKEY_CURRENT USER > hover at New > Choose Key
   
   
   
2.  Change the new Key name to Environment
   
   
   
3.  Now, lets refresh Registry Editor by pressing View > Refresh
   
   
   
4.  We can see the new key is arranged accordingly.
   
   
   
5.  Next, rignt click at Environment key > go to New > choose Expandable String Value
   
   
   
6.  Right click at newly created strign entry, and choose Rename and name it as TMP
   
   
   
7.  Right click at TMP string, and choose Modify
   
   
   
8.  Configure below string to Value data box :
   String : %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Temp
   
                  
9. Perform step 5 until 8 with below info : 

String Name : TEMP
Value Data : %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Temp

Method 02 - Using GUI :

1. Right Click at My Computer > choose Properties > click at Advanced Tab > Click at Environment Variables
   
   
   
2.  We will add the strings from here. Choose New
   
   
   
3.  Configure the variable names and variable values accordingly, then press OK
    Variable name : TMP
    Variable Value : %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Temp
   
    Variable name : TEMP
    Variable Value : %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Temp
   
                                                                    
   
4. This is the outcome. Press OK, and launch the PowerShell script to test.
   

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Invalid Short Date Format on Registry

This is somehow not directly related to Citrix; it is more towards on how application reads information in registry. One of our application relies on Short Date format in Control Panel. Users will face error if the short date format is different with required format.

Issues :

• Short Date format is different with application required setting. User won't be able to proceed with their tasks.
  

Troubleshooting 

1.  Before proceed, ensure the user is not logging into the server (ICA or RDP). Go to Start > Run...
   
   
   
2.  Type regedit, and press enter
   
   
   
3.  Browse to My Computer > highlight the HKEY_USERS
   
   
   
4.  Go to File > Load Hive...
   
   
   
5.  Browse to user's profile ( %Documents and Settings%\<User ID> or %Users%\<User ID> ) and open NTUSER.DAT
   
   
   
6.  Put a Key Name, and press OK
   
   
   
7.  Browse to My Computer > HKEY_USERS > <Key Name> > Control Panel > International
   
   
   
8.  Search for sShortDate, and check the format of the Data. In here, yo ucan search for Long Date and Time Format too.
   
   
   

Resolution :

1.  Right click at sShortDate > choose Modify
   
   
   
2. Configure correct format. In this case it is dd/MM/yyyy
   
   
   
3.  This is the outcomes
   
   
   
   
   
4.  Once done, browse to My Computer > HKEY_USERS > highlight the <Key Name>
   
   
   
5.  Go to File > Unload Hive...
   
   
   
6.   Choose Yes at the Confirm Unload Hive message box
   
   
   
7.  Hive key is no longer there,
   
   
   
8.  This is the difference (before and after change).
    

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