Tired techie 'fixed' a server, blamed Microsoft, and got away with it Welcome once again, gentle reader folk, to the comfy corner of The Register safe space we call Who, Me? wherein readers share their stories of times when they were not perhaps at the very peak of their technical brilliance. Last week we put a call out for stories of lessons learned the hard way, and boy did you deliver. For …
Microsoft does, at least on older versions in C:\Windows\System32\config\RegBack (or C:\WinNT\System\config\RegBack). But you can delete them easily since they are not in use.
As for Windows 8 and higher they are off by default. Reactivate:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Configuration Manager]
"EnablePeriodicBackup"=dword:00000001
"BackupCount"=dword:00000001
+ configure the existing scheduled task under \Microsoft\Windows\Registry to actually make it. If you want more control WHEN you have to export the task, edit the .xml, then re-import it.
I never understood why all the useful system configuration options are buried in this largely undocumented hellhole of keys and strings and dwords. And only accessible with a crappy editor. (does anybody know the difference between regedit and regedt32?)
Why isn't there a nice graphical config page with radio buttons and check boxes for every option and a paragraph of text explaining what each one does?
Even the old windows ini files were a better way of doing things.
>>difference between regedit and regedt32
regedit works? Dunno about these days but the 32 variant couldn't search in registry values, only in keys which was/is a bit of a limitation.
Oh sorry - these days they are the same... back in the day there were significant differences in functionality. It seems the timeline went regedit (windows 95ish) -> Regedt32 (NT4 ish) -> regedit/32 (x64)
Anon: “I never understood why all the useful system configuration options are buried in this largely undocumented hellhole of keys and strings and dwords.”
To prevent Novell Neware running efficiently on Windows.
Microsoft's Opening Statement in Novell v. MS
Nov 1993: “We have to take the hard line. We can't give OpenDoc even an inch as easy runtime interface to OLE 2.0. We don't want to lose control of the API that ISV's are writing to. MFC is a special case since it belongs to Microsoft. If we say that OpenDoc is an OK runtime, then they will use that position to get ISV's to write to that interface plus they now get cross- platform benefits, etc.”
Aug 1995: “Below is the text of 2 messages sent previously regarding header files and libraries for implementing a Windows 95 Password Provider. To date, we have had no response, but we need this information. Can someone please respond with the information we need?”
Many years ago I was browsing in my local second-hand book shop (the rather marvelous Barter Books in Alnwick) and came across a weighty tome called "The Windows 95 Registry". This detailed each and every registry key and value that was used by Windows 95. It was only a few quid so I bought it. It never got much, if any, use for reference, but I did occasionally pick it up just to marvel at the amount of work that had gone into compiling such a vast set of information (this was an independent work, not something published by MS as an official programmers' reference guide)
That's where I got my Turner - in a box of unsorted prints priced at about £5.00 each. Browsed through them and with trembling hands bought that one. And cringed as the shop assistent tried to fold it to fit into a large envelope. Fortunately I sort of said, "don't worry" and put it in my carrier bag.
"Why isn't there a nice graphical config page with radio buttons and check boxes for every option and a paragraph of text explaining what each one does?"
Xteq X-Setup.Once was a freeware for private individuals, shareware for commercial as far as i remember.
Worked very well with Win2000 and WinXP. Havent used it in a decade or so but still remember it.
Doesnt give you really full access but every option is explained and potentially dangerous options must be confirmed before they are applied.
Has been renamed to Xset and may still be available, but i gave up after a few broken or mislabeled links.
If you are interested, try to find it at:
http://www.xteq.com/misc/xset_to_xsp.html
Yeah, this idea that some structured system is the way to store configuration information when you can have absolutely no idea of what will be required of it in 10 years time, or how some other team will abuse it because they have no idea of the design philosophy.
Ob systemd sideswipe: I just hope Poettering understands this.
"Why isn't there a nice graphical config page with radio buttons and check boxes for every option and a paragraph of text explaining what each one does?"
Because it would be a page with a scroll bar that reached to the moon. The paragraphs would either be infuriatingly skimpy, if ever actually documented, or go on forever. Only about half of the entries would make sense as radio buttons and checkboxes. Those that used listboxes instead would require hundreds of entries, using values that are impossible to understand without full documentation. It would take half an hour to open and and an hour to save. No-one would ever go near it.
"Why isn't there a nice graphical config page with radio buttons and check boxes for every option and a paragraph of text explaining what each one does?"
The hard disk isn't big enough to hold that much data if you want every key documented. And there is a finite amount of time before the heat death of the universe. There's no point in starting a job you know you can't finish before the end of all life.
Worked on a project where we stored various system level settings in the Windows registry. When a dev pulled the latest code, they ran a .reg file to get the updated settings. I put a bug in the .reg file which nuked the whole registry, resulting in a bricked machine. After bricking my machine & another dev's box, we realised the error. We had one remote dev who was just about to fly in to the office. I managed to phone him at the airport, just as he was about to board. He'd pulled my registry bomb and was just about to write some code on the flight over!
I think I know the software used. I recall trying it on my home computer despite many years of experience telling me don't. Sure enough it trashed the registry to the point it was unrecoverable. It also munched it's way though shadow copies so recovery options were thin on the ground. And at the time I was too cocky to do full images, just file backups via robocopy as they were deemed to be sufficient.
I had an backup attitude realignment that day!!
Regarding being tired.
I once had a manager who wanted a big problem fixing and demanded I kept working on it. To which I told him I have been working on this for 11 hours straight I am too tired to think sensibly and I keep on working and make a serious mistake it is his fault.
I got told to go home and get some rest. Vjctory!
Learned that lesson at university. Why I make mistake typing, correct it, and then fat-finger exactly the same mistake, it's time to give up on the late-night assignment typing and go to bed.
Later on, when I was working fully-flexible hours as a developer (typically a mixture of 10-hour and 4-hour days), any hours after 12 I might just as well go home: I wasn't achieving anything useful.
The lesson I learned from one all-night coding session was "make sure you take the cassette tape with the software on it with you to class the next day".
Thankfully could find someone to bring it to me before class, but .... after realizing it wasn't in my bag, cue panic!
(project was "write a text editor in assembly language", which apparently I could do in my sleep at the time, ha)
Way back when I was a student, I worked for Blockbuster video.. Because I was trying to save money, I worked every hour I could. It was a Friday (one of our two busiest days of the week), and I'd just worked a double shift, and did a stock take. The company did not allow stock takes to be done while the shop was open. I'd just finished the stock take, which took around 3 hours, It was 2am Saturday, and I'd been on shift since 9am Friday.
As such, I was beyond tired when I finished that shift. After I finished, I was giving the shop a final once over, to ensure it was tidy (I was working again at 9am, and didn't want to deal with the mess when I got in). I walked past the kids video section. Saw an educational video with Sooty and Matthew Corbett on the cover. Sooty was wearing a Mortar Board and standing next to a chalkboard, on which I thought I read the word "fuck". I checked again, and it was the word "duck". I locked up and started the long walk home.
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