Windows XP Admin Tips

- network -
1. Avoiding APIPA
• Created on Jul 27, 2006.
• Last Modified on Nov 07, 2006.
• Last Modified by Mitch Tulloch.
How to avoid problems arising from APIPA
Windows XP computers can be assigned IP addresses two ways: manually using static addresses or
automatically using DHCP. If your computer is configured to use DHCP however, a problem can occur if the
DHCP server is down when your computer needs to renew its lease. This happens typically if you reboot your
computer when the DHCP is unavailable, and in this case Windows XP uses Automatic IP Address Allocation
(APIPA) to automatically assign itself an address of the form 169.254.x.y. Once your computer has this
address however, it typically can't communicate on the network anymore. To prevent this kind of situation
from happening, you can assign your computer an alternate IP address to fall back on when your computer
can't contact a DHCP server to lease an address. This is done by using the Alternate Configuration tab of the
TCP/IP properties for your computer's Local Area Connection. A typical situation where you might want to use
this might be if you have a laptop at home where you use DHCP to obtain an IP address from your ISP. If you
take your laptop to work sometimes and your workplace is a small business that uses static addressing instead
of DHCP, you can assign your computer a static address on the Alternate Configuration tab so that it can
participate in your work network when present at work. Note that the Alternate Configuration tab is only
visible when you've selected Obtain An IP Address Automatically on the General tab of your TCP/IP
Properties.

2. Using XP as a router
• Created on Mar 01, 2006.
• Last Modified on Mar 29, 2006.
• Last Modified by Mitch Tulloch.
A cheap and easy way of using an XP box as a router.
A cheap and easy way of adding a router to your network is to use a surplus PC with Windows XP
Professional installed on it. Just install an additional network card in the box and then configure the registry
setting below and Presto! Your XP box becomes able to route (forward) IP packets from one interface to
another.
Open Regedit and navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters
Find the following registry value:
IPEnableRouter
Set this value to 1 to enable IP routing on the box.
After doing this, reboot the machine. You may also need to disable Windows Firewall on the machine.
3. Reliable File and Folder Sharing in Windows XP
• Created on Aug 13, 2005.
• Last Modified on Sep 01, 2005.
• Last Modified by Varun Sud.
Explains how to share files and folders in Windows XP over a network. It was written specifically because
users in our college network had unpredictable results in sharing files over LAN on Windows XP.
This tip is on sharing files and folders on a local network in Windows XP. It has been tested on Windows XP
Professional (with and without SP2).
Many users of WinXP have experienced difficulty in sharing files and folders over our college network
whether or not simple file sharing is enabled. The approach that I have found to work consistently is:
1. Disable simple file sharing from My Computer --> Tools menu --> Folder Options --> View tab -->
Advanced Settings
2. Open Control Panel --> Administrative Tools --> Services. Enable the Server service by making startup
Automatic or Manual. This is a standard service needed for sharing files and folders under WinXp.
3. Open Control Panel --> Administrative Tools --> Computer Management. Scroll to System Tools --> Shared
Folders --> Shares. From Action menu, select 'Add share' and follow the instructions.
4. You may also want to add users to Administrator or other groups for shared folder access. Under Computer
Management, scroll to Local Users and Groups. To add user to Administrator group, select the group name
and choose Add from Action menu. This can also be used to add domain users as local admins.
Sharing files on computers directly connected to Internet is not recommended. However, restrict access to
specific users using above procedure mitigates security risks.
4. Map Your Network For Better Protection and Incident Response
• Created on Mar 07, 2005.
• Last Modified on Apr 01, 2005.
• Last Modified by Tony Bradley.
It is difficult to protect devices that you don't even know exist. In larger enterprises it is very easy to lose track
of the asset inventory which leads to complacency about rogue devices. In order to effectively protect the
network and to respond to incidents efficiently, an updated asset inventory and network map should always be
handy.
In an enterprise network with thousands or even tens of thousands of devices, it seems like assets are
constantly coming and going. When a site or department administrator sees a new device they are likely to be
complacent and simply assume that it belongs to someone else in the enterprise rather than being suspicious of
the rogue device.
Rogue or unknown devices that are added to the network are often missed in patch and security update
deployments and they can be a constant source of headaches when it comes to trying to proactively protect and
defend a large enterprise network.
If a security incident does occur, an updated and logically organized asset inventory, combined with a current
and accurate network map will make response and forensic investigation that much simpler. If a 3rd-party or
law enforcement agencies are involved they will need an overview of the network architecture and
environment in order to conduct an investigation.
Policies should be written to define how new assets are added to the inventory and the steps that must be taken
to include them on the asset inventory and network map prior to joining the network. But, no matter how
foolproof that policy may be, it is virtually inevitable that new, rogue devices will eventually appear on the
network.
To detect the rogue devices and fight to enforce the policy and ward off complacency, you can run periodic
scans of the network using any of a wide variety of tools that can scan and report back information regarding
the network and the devices attached. Many of the tools will report the IP address, MAC address, type of
device or operating system and more. Below are a few tools you can consider for network mapping:

LANSurveyor from Neon Software

• Visio from Microsoft
• What's Up Gold from Ipswitch
• SuperScan from Foundstone
Tony Bradley is a consultant and writer with a focus on network security, antivirus and incident response. He
is the About.com Guide for Internet / Network Security (http://netsecurity.about.com), providing a broad range
of information security tips, advice, reviews and information. Tony also contributes frequently to other
industry publications. For a complete list of his freelance contributions you can visit Essential Computer
Security (http://www.tonybradley.com).
5. Shared printer separator page for Windows 2000 and Windows XP
• Created on Mar 23, 2004.
• Last Modified on Dec 17, 2004.
• Last Modified by Wayne Maples.
If you are in a SOHO or company environment with shared printers, users may have trouble separating their
print jobs if several of them print in a row. The standard solution is to use separator pages for shared printers.
Windows 2000 and Windows XP includes 4 pre-defined separator pages in the winnt\system32 directory:
• pcl.sep Changes the printer to PCL mode and prints the separator page
• pscript.sep Changes the printer to PostScript mode but does not print a separator page
• sysprint.sep Changes the printer to PostScript mode and prints a separator page
• sysprtj.sep variant of sysprint.sep but uses Japanese fonts if available

You implement a separator page by

• Right-clicking the shared printer you want to add a separator page to
• Click Properties
• On the Advanced tab, click the "Separator Page" button
• Browse to or enter the name of the separator page file

If you want to modify a .sep control file, the first line must be a single character which defines the delimiter
character (any character can be the delimiter). Follows is pcl.sep :
\
\H1B\L%-12345X@PJL ENTER LANGUAGE=PCL
\H1B\L&l1T\0 \M\B\S\N\U
\U\LJob : \I
\U\LDate: \D
\U\LTime: \T
\E
The codes are (continuing to use \ as delimiter): \N : prints name of person submitting print job \I : prints job
number \D : prints date (in format defined by Regional option of Control Panel) \T : prints time (in format
defined by Regional option of Control Panel) \L : prints chars between code and next delimiter \Ffqfn : prints
contents of file specified by fqfn \Hnn : prints printer specific control code where nn is in hex, \H1B is HP esc
char \Wnn : sets max width of separator page \B\S : prints single-width block chars \B\M : prints double-width
block chars \U : turns off block-char printing \E : ejects current page \n : skips n lines. Legal values are 0-9
6. Control default internet programs
• Created on Mar 22, 2004.
• Last Modified on Apr 20, 2004.
• Last Modified by Wayne Maples.
Do you have IE and Netscape installed? Both browsers check whether they are the default browser. That is, if
you click on a link in an application, lets say email, then default browser will start up even if the other browser
is already running. If you want Netscape to be the default browser and you want Internet Explorer to stop
checking if its the default browser, you do that from Internet Options within the Control Panel. Open the
Programs tab and you will see the checkbox for Internet browser should check to see whether it is the default
browser.
Internet Options Programs tab also lets you select which programs Windows will use for default
• HTML editor
• E-mail program
• Newsgroup program
• Internet call program
• Calendar
• Contact tool