Find large files and folders in Windows

q: Our customer has a computer that is running low on space.  They asked what is the best way to scan the various folders and files to identify the largest ones?

a: TREESIZE ! We cannot recommend this application enough.  It is wonderful.
Click here to download Treesize Free - it won't work on Network shares but is great to run on your local computer.

Windows Server 2012 - Disable Server Manager

q: When a user logs onto Windows Server 2008 or 2012 they are presented with Server Manager.  What is an easy way to disable that?

a: Follow these steps to prevent Server Manager from opening every time you log into the server:

1. Open Task Scheduler
2. Expand Task Scheduler Library
3. Expand Microsoft
4. Expand Windows
5. Select Server Manager
6. Locate the "ServerManager" task
7. Right click and select Disable

Windows Server 2012 R2 - Activate Windows

q: Our customer installed a fresh copy of Windows Server 2012 R2 and the desktop displays a message that the server needs to be activated.  What can we do?

a: Follow these steps to resolve that:

1. Open an elevated Command Prompt
2. slmgr.vbs /ipk <insert your 2012 R2 product key here>

UPDATE: You can follow this up with "slmgr.vbs /ato" to activate the server and get rid of that message.

Run UniFi Controller as a Windows Service

We just installed Unifi 2.4.6 on 64-bit Windows Server 2012 R2.  Here are the steps to run UniFi Controller as a Windows Service:

1. Make sure UniFi is not running.  
2. UniFi 2.4.6 appears to install 64-bit Java 7r21.  Uninstall it.
3. Download and install jre-7u51-windows-i586.exe
4. Locate your java installation directory - C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre7\bin
5. Add the dir above to the PATH (from Computer->Properties->Advanced system settings)
6. Run a command prompt (as an Administrator, right click on Command Prompt and choose Run as administrator.
7. cd <unifi_base> (cd %userprofile%/Ubiquiti Unifi will usually do the trick, including the quote marks)
8. java -jar lib\ace.jar installsvc
9. Start the service: net start Unifi Controller
10. Don't forget to make exceptions in the Windows Firewall for C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre7\bin\java.exe - that's the process listening on :8443 for the Web site.