Energized About Technology

A great teacher spoke to me today.   A challenge, a task.

A friend stuck in a bind.

“I have a series of Virtual Machines for Demos but they were prepared for Virtual PC.  I need them to run in Hyper-V and have to remove the Virtual Machine Additions...”

“But master!” I the ignorant student was about to burst out “Just uninstall….”

“Ahhhh…” knowingly interrupted the Master. “But they are in Server 2008 Core environments”

A pause.

Just how DO you do that?

A quick search online found this excellent article Uninstall applications from Server Core by Michael Greene which yielded the answer.

But I decided to go, weeeellllll just a little overboard.

What CAN you do (say the installer is pooched, Murphy is having a particularly rotten day, whatever, to make sure the VMAdditions are dead and gone BEFORE Hyper-V?  Let’s just say you only have physical access to the VHD file.  

Yeah.  Mr. Murphy at his prime.

I came a few extra bits of ammo

Location in registry for Uninstall on VMaddtions

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{E799CA03-7E46-4AE7-A7B6-E904CCFD1529}

Command line to uninstall

Uninstall

MsiExec.exe /X{E799CA03-7E46-4AE7-A7B6-E904CCFD1529}

Command line to make changes (suspiciously the SAME! :} )

Modify

MsiExec.exe /X{E799CA03-7E46-4AE7-A7B6-E904CCFD1529}

If you’d like to just make sure the VMAdditions can’t RUN the next time round

Service names to End Task

VPCMAP.EXE
VMUSRVC.EXE
VMSRVC.EXE

Rename C:\Program Files\Virtual Machine Additions\

Here’s the start key in the Registry

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\VMUserServices

Manually Delete the entry for “VMUserServices” or rename the contents by adding a “-“ to the beginning of the Command Line

Want to get MEAN and REALLY pull it out?

Fire up Notepad.exe (Yes, that’s in CORE)

Copy these contents in a file called “KILLIT.REG” and run that from a command line

---------------------------------------

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]

----------------------------------------

That will stop it from loading automatically permanently

And if ALL ELSE FAILS!

Copy these contents into a file called Deadkey.reg and run this from the command Line.  This will remove it from the “Add/Remove Programs” (which you really can’t see anyhow but is referenced by uninstallers)

----------------------------------------------------------

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{E799CA03-7E46-4AE7-A7B6-E904CCFD1529}]

---------------------------------------------------------

Honestly, the first option (uninstall with the provided lines) should just work and there is no need for drastic measures.

But by renaming the folder, killing the start key, stopping the tasks and running the two reg files (And rebooting afterwards) enough of Virtual Machine Additions SHOULD be removed that Hyper-V shouldn’t care.

Cheers
Sean
the Energized Tech

Three cheers to Mark “Chief Geek” Relph for his travels to a greater land! 

In honor of his move along, I write thee a song (I shalt not sing it!  For that would do thee injustice)

Tip a glass of cheer and thanks for helping in your own way, inspiring this silly geek :)

Sung to “Danny Boy”

Farewell to the "Chief Geek" (Mark Relph)

Oh Geeky Guy
The Bytes, the bytes are calling
From stack to stack
And down the Address Lines
The ram is done
The processes dying
For you Chief Geek
Are Flying far away

Gather ye now
The DPEs and Managers
Programmers all, IT Community
Bade thee goodbye
And safely shall thee travel
Oh Geeky Guy
Oh Geeky Guy
We'll miss thee so

And when ye sit
Upon those walls so golden
In Redmond's arms
And gaze on paradise
And see the cornucopea
At lunchtime
But There's no poutine
'Cept for Friday,
once a month

And we shall cry
Whispering our thoughts so softly
A toast to thee
before the rains doth fall
Carry life well,
and remember we'll
always be with you

Farewell Chief Geek and
do us all so proud.

First off.  BIG BIG BIG BIG Disclaimer.  I am an IT Pro, but I am not “Anti Dev / Anti Coder”.  I quite look up to the logical wonders and intricate delights they create.

I do however recognize the humor between “IT Pros VS. Devs” over permissions and security and “who gets what”

And so on the way home, stuck on the Go Train for an hour… This flowered.

Enjoy or Destroy at thy leisure :)

Sung to Billy Talent’s “Falling Leaves”

And noooooo this time I didn’t sing.   It will involve money for that (Either to prevent or to encourage it) :P

Billy Talent's Falling Leaves redone

"Circling Devs"

In a cubicle Oh so Brown
He was trapped,
The systems down
As the Devs
As the Devs
As the Devs
Circled 'round

I sat alone
On Tuesday Night
To redo A/D
Oh what a fright
I hadn't eaten
My brain was spinning

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Developers
They saw me choke
A Hershey Bar
A can of Coke

The price for this treat,
I could. not pay them
"Domain Admins"

In a cubicle Oh so Brown
He was trapped,
The systems down
As the Devs
As the Devs
As the Devs
Circled 'round

A deal that was dangled out
On a stinky Tuesday Night
As the Devs
As the Devs
As the Devs
Circled 'round

Like Vultures they
Around the prize
They stared at me
My bloodshot eyes

They laughed and cackled
As I was shackled
To the chair!

In a cubicle Oh so Brown
He was trapped,
The systems down
As the Devs
As the Devs
As the Devs
Circled 'round

A deal that was dangled out
On a stinky Tuesday Night
As the Devs
As the Devs
As the Devs
Circled 'round

The candies called me
Forbidden treasures
My spinning brain called
For sugared pleasures
"Access is all yours now"
I gave up my dignity!

In a cubicle Oh so Brown
He was trapped,
The systems down
As the Devs
As the Devs
As the Devs
Circled 'round

But he was a smart Admin
Everyone permissions,
such a sin
Trapped the Devs
Trapped the Devs
Trapped the Devs
In Hyper-v

In a Domain so virtualized
They had thought
They got their prize
Fake domain
Fake domain
Fake domain
In Hyper-v

He'll darkly rue the day

That the Devs
That the Devs
That the Devs
Circled 'round

He'll darkly rue the day

That the Devs
That the Devs
That the Devs
Circled 'round

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