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When trying to access a windows server via a DNS alias (e.g. using \\fileserver.company.co.uk that is an alias of \\SERVER12), you will probably get a ‘duplicate name exists on the network’ error. This is because the default behaviour of windows only permits using the proper name of the server (SERVER12 in this case, or a bound IP address). This applies to both CNAMEs and A records in DNS.

You might have aliases set up so that if you ever move a service onto a different server, all you have to do is update the alias.

To enable a windows server to respond to aliases like this, you’ll need to edit the registry. Navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\lanmanserver\parameters

Then add a new DWORD value, called DisableStrictNameChecking and the the value to 1.

Once this is done, you’ll need to restart the server service, after that you should be able to access the server using the alias name!

In Windows 7, it’s been annoying me for a while how the windows explorer item on the taskbar always default to my libraries, as on most systems I use they are empty.

You can change the location by holding shift and right clicking on the taskbar item so you can select properties in the context menu (If you’ve already got explorer windows open, you’ll need to right click the taskbar item once, then hold shift and right click on the Windows Explorer entry.)

Once in the properties window, if you set the target to the following, it will open ‘My Computer’ by default…

%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /e,::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}