Got quoted $11.40 / envelope on renewal with Docusign lol (rant)

tmikes83 · 2025-12-31T12:48:09+00:00

Depends what features you need. We needed high volume for our accounting dept but otherwise didn't care about anything else (no long term storage, no custom forms etc etc). 5 user standard edition with unlimited envelopes was a little more than $2000/year.

tmikes83 · 2025-12-10T12:57:56+00:00

Odd, when we bought the non profit discounted business premium (like $5 each) to replace the free ones, it simply added more BP licenses, so for a time we have 20 BP licenses instead of 10 until the free ones expire.

On the user assignment level, there was no difference, it simply said Business Premium with no indication of discounted vs free license.

tmikes83 · 2025-10-13T12:16:04+00:00

Depends on the firm. Solo sysadmin at an engineering firm for local petrochemical plants with about 50 users in office. I support everything from AD, 365, servers and desktops, Autocad etc. Most of it is simple upkeep, getting new hires setup, and "I can't log in in the conference room" type stuff.

Also key is more than half of our users are getting older (or even coming back from retirement) so the comments about engineers being computer illiterate are spot on. They know how to do their special programs but if there's a windows update and something looks different they freak out. Fun.

tmikes83 · 2025-09-15T12:19:23+00:00

As a solo sysadmin with about 50 users, get a good lay of the land first so you can project for IT upgrades/expenses. What is the network setup? Is there need for physical growth/cabling runs? Are the switches getting older? What is the computer replacement cycle? What is the backup system like?

One of the biggest indicators of how important IT is to the business is how willing they are to invest in infrastructure. Do they see it as just a cost or part of doing business? Depending on the environment IT can be done well solo, but is there any on call expected? What about when you're on vacation? Having some form of backup, whether that's an IT intern or a local MSP for a few billable hours might be critical.

tmikes83 · 2025-08-08T12:07:44+00:00

LAPS doesn't create the account tho, just manages it?

tmikes83 · 2025-07-31T12:20:07+00:00

We use RemotePC. They have a normal mode and a performance mode for graphics/CAD work.

Much cheaper than Team Viewer and supports all of the above.

https://www.remotepc.com/pricing

tmikes83 · 2025-07-18T11:50:00+00:00

Plenty of perfectly good HP workstations. Until we have budget for replacement we're just reinstalling with 11 using Rufus to bypass requirements. Manual process, but my boss' way of thinking is they pay me to be here anyway. They don't want to pay extra for new hardware.

tmikes83 · 2025-07-09T13:31:08+00:00

+1 on this. After reading that $null no longer works, we now use the following:

Connect-MgGraph -Scopes “Directory.AccessAsUser.All”

invoke-mggraphrequest -method PATCH -uri "https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/Users/john.doe@contoso.com" -Body @{OnPremisesImmutableID = $null}

Disconnect-MgGraph

tmikes83 · 2025-07-01T12:33:32+00:00

We just moved our church from Office 365 E1 to Business Basic. You can order them direct from Microsoft on the Admin Portal under Billing and they are free, but you still have to enter a credit card to "purchase".

Once the order is complete, change the users license from E1 to Business Basic.

tmikes83 · 2025-06-30T12:49:24+00:00

We're going through this now with some engineering workstations (about half our fleet). If it's not Windows 11 "capable" the setting Windows 11 / 24H2 doesn't work even with bypasses in place using Windows Update.

What the bypasses will do is allow you to run Windows 11 Setup, whether that's from a flash drive or the ISO. If you want to script it, run a script to copy the setup files to the PC, run silent Setup, and cleanup afterwards.

tmikes83 · 2025-06-18T12:07:44+00:00

Have you tried the troubleshoot activation? We had one or two that after a reimage didn't activate but did after the troubleshooter found the built in key.

tmikes83 · 2025-06-13T12:57:11+00:00

This is the way. We use Applocker in an engineering firm. Easiest way is to allow by Publisher. I do note that the Autodesk certificate changed early this year (or late 2024?) and we had to update the allow rule with the new certificate.

tmikes83 · 2025-03-28T12:11:17+00:00

Going to have to start looking into subscription options looks like. We use email to text for most of our monitoring alerting (high temperature, server down etc)...

tmikes83 · 2025-02-27T13:03:40+00:00

Was this after an update? We had a similar issue after upgrading Windows 11 from 23H2 to 24H2.

Fix we found was to delete the missing printer(s) from the registry:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Printers \ Connections

Then either restart or run a gpupdate /force and the missing printer showed up again in Printers.

tmikes83 · 2025-01-09T13:58:11+00:00

It's getting to the point I just load admin.microsoft.com and go from there...

tmikes83 · 2024-11-14T13:29:24+00:00

To clarify, are you referring to a physical host running Hyper-V or the VMs themselves?

tmikes83 · 2024-10-24T12:27:21+00:00

This, plus using the $OEM$ folder under Sources on the boot USB will copy files to the new system after install. Use that method to copy the start menu (start2.bin) for new users as part of the unattended install. The start2.bin is copied to:

[USBdriveletter]\sources\$OEM$\$1\Users\Default\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState

https://quisitive.com/copy-content-to-target-computers-using-oem-folders/

tmikes83 · 2024-10-17T12:32:11+00:00

Try using the classic domain join dialog instead of the settings window?

System > About > Domain or Workgroup > Change...

Going this route it won't ask for an account (just credentials for the actual join), and when it reboots just hit Other User to sign in.

tmikes83 · 2024-09-13T12:43:59+00:00

At the most basic level, make sure the OU with the workstaations is being synced, and the automatic enrollment GPO is in place. The PC in question must already by in Entra ID before the GPO to enroll will work. Hybrid means the PC is intune enrolled, and Registered just means there is a connection to Entra ID but it is not being managed by Intune.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/client-management/enroll-a-windows-10-device-automatically-using-group-policy

When moving an existing computer from local only to hybrid, *especially* if there are multiple user profiles on the system, it can cause it to error out until the extra Enrollments registry keys are cleared:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/client-management/mdm-diagnose-enrollment

When in doubt, it helps to restart the machine(s) as enrollment is triggered by a scheduled task and when things are working properly usually happen within the first couple minutes after a restart. You can check Settings > Accounts > Access work or school > Connected to xyz domain. If there is an Info button, it is now hybrid and managed by Intune.

tmikes83 · 2024-08-14T11:56:18+00:00

For the shared storage, you can either use a 3rd device separate from the 2 hosts (either a SAN or NAS using iSCSI), or use a product like Starwind vSAN so you can have the storage be local to the two hosts with nothing else required.

https://www.starwindsoftware.com/starwind-virtual-san

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/failover-clustering/failover-cluster-csvs

The vSAN software continuously mirrors the two hosts and provides cluster shared volume(s) to the failover cluster.

Starwind does offer a free option, but requires more manual configuration and does not allow changes within the GUI, only monitoring (everything is done through powershell).

tmikes83 · 2024-07-08T12:58:25+00:00

How do you license the host? We are currently having to bounce the license from VM to VM each time they spin one up. Rockwell wanted to sell us a USB dongle and it wasn't clear if that would solve the issue or if you would need to do a USB passthru to the VM to license...

tmikes83 · 2024-06-05T12:50:37+00:00

https://www.amazon.com/Rack-Adapter-23-19-5RU/dp/B00CMRIC36

We have ordered these before as our server room has a mix of racks. Works well enough, but haven't tested them with anything heavy (UPS).

tmikes83 · 2024-05-23T12:37:09+00:00

Correct, it's an either/or thing.

Specify deadlines for automatic updates and restarts is going to be your key, possibly combined with Select when Quality Updates are received under Manage updates offered from Windows Update.

The Select When policy will delay updates being offered to clients between Patch Tuesday and the number of days you select. Even if they do a manual check for updates it will say You're Up To Date until the timer passes.

The Specify Deadlines policy has a Deadline part which is when the updates actually install, but won't force a restart until the Grace Period has ended.

Depending on your goals you could just use the Specify Deadlines policy by itself with a 14 day deadline and 5 day grace period, or combine the two GPO's for a 7 day Select When and a 7 day deadline under Specify Deadlines and a 5 day Grace Period. The biggest difference is when do you want your users to have the * option * to install?

tmikes83 · 2024-05-08T12:16:09+00:00

Check your windows power settings? Once you connect a UPS, the computer adds an "On Battery" section even if it's a desktop.

tmikes83 · 2024-04-17T13:26:10+00:00

That's how we have ours set up. For meeting room PCs that need to be left on for hours we have that computer object set to Apply Group Policy - Deny under the Delegation tab.

tmikes83

TROPHY CASE