The Dark Age Blog

Lite yes, full fat no

2008-03-05T21:30:00.002Z

I noted a post at Raymond's blog that it says that there are 2 versions of Fastpush one lite and the other one full. the Lite one can be downloaded here but the Full one is nowhere to find. So the questions is, does it exist? If not, where I can find instructions of how to use FastPush with UltraVNC?

As you say the lite version is available, however I had to remove the much larger full version because of bandwidth issues. You can use Fastpush with UltraVNC by making a subfolder in the Fastpush folder called Ultra. Dump all of the EXEs and DLLs that Ultra uses in there and then push it out using the /ultra switch.

Winter mailbag

2008-02-18T19:46:00.004Z

Hi everyone,

Richard Dedmon writes:

Where can I obtain "howto for making your own setup.exe file. You can use this in a logon script to install VNC to your target 9x workstations."?

Looks like I'd deleted that file as it got such low traffic. Still, if you find it useful, I'll put it back here.

Ronald Nissley writes:

I noticed you say you haven't worked with MACs. Well, since OS X, the kernel is similar to the Linux kernel.
VNC-wise, the two apps I like for OS X:

Chicken of the VNC - free/open VNC client
http://sourceforge.net/projects/cotvnc/

OSXvnc - free/open VNC server
http://sourceforge.net/projects/osxvnc/

Thanks for the links!

Richard Dedmon (again :-) ) writes:

I'm am using fastpush with ultravnc. I have incorporated the contents of VNCHooks_Settings.reg from an installation of ultravnc into machine.ini. I am successful except the file transfer does not work. If I then run VNCHooks_Settings.reg on the machine that I have loaded with fastpush the file transfer works. What am I missing?

If you copied the contents of the .REG file into the .INI then it won't work. The format is very different. You would be better off setting the values by imported the REG file into your test computer and then using REG to export those values to an INI file. You can then cut and paste that with the standard MACHINE.INI file. That should do it.

Neal Revell writes:

Hi, I've started looking at using your script. I was wondering though, to save 'victims' having something to play with, I was hoping that I could cut down the number of shortcuts that are installed. At present, there are 3 sub-folders under 'RealVNC' which are VNC Server - Service Mode, VNC Server - User Mode, VNC Viewer. I know there is the set command to not install any shortcuts, but ideally I would like to have just the VNC Server - Service Mode present, along with My Details.

All of the icons are created by the section entitled: CREATE A BATCH FILE TO CREATE SHORTCUTS ON REMOTE PC. The section you're interested in starts with the line:

if "%real4%"=="yes"

From there on there are some MD command (which make the folders up, natch). Just pop a REM statement at the front of each line that you don't want an icon creating. That should do you.

Lastly, and by no means least, Amit Keynan wrote in offering to share his HTA wrapper for Fastpush. Well, he's kindly supplied a copy and here it it. Use it at your own risk. As I didn't write this funky app, I'm not offering any support on it. :-)

----------------
Now playing: Razorlight - America
http://foxytunes.com/artist/razorlight/track/america

Long time

2008-01-11T14:00:00.000Z

Hello one and all,

Has it really been six months since I updated this site? Ooops. :-)

Amit wrote:

this is probably the single most useful piece of script I ever used
I compiled a little HTA gui for it, how can i send it to you so you can post it here

Well thanks! High praise indeed. I'll drop you an email about the HTA code.

David wrote:

I have noticed when I use fastpush to push ultravnc with ntlm to x64 machines in installs fine but then is unusable because it says no admin password has been set

I know x64 uses a different place to store ODBC connections if they are 64 or 32 bit links. I don't have Windows 2003 x64 to hand, but it may be worth setting up a working copy of UltraVNC with NTLM and searching the registry for that data. Perhaps Fastpush is putting the data in the wrong place?

Fun with CMD scripts

2007-09-15T21:25:00.000Z

Khiat Kurniawan wrote in asking:

I am trying to deploy VNC to multiple computers. I have created machines.cmd and put the list of computer as below. I put machines.cmd
and vnc.cmd in the same folder, open command prompt, go to the directory, type in machines.cmd and hit enter. However, only 1 computer is processed. Did I miss something here? How to make the script go through all computers?

vnc CAF0007WP014 TestDomain\Admin mypass /log
vnc CAF0007WP032 TestDomain\Admin mypass /log
vnc CAF0008WP026 TestDomain\Admin mypass /log
vnc CAF0008WP030 TestDomain\Admin mypass /log

Well the simple answer is that when you call another CMD script, you need to put the word CALL in front of each line. Otherwise, the script will just run it the once and quit.

So:

@echo off
Call VNC Machine1 TestDomain\Admin mypass /log
Call VNC Machine2 TestDomain\Admin mypass /log
Call VNC Machine3 TestDomain\Admin mypass /log

If you have time, go and have a look at www.ss64.com. That site is a wealth of scripting ideas and is very useful for beginners and up.

Mailbag - VNCenc

2007-09-14T14:50:00.000Z

Jacki wrote in asking:

Can I use this vncenc.exe in some other program. Can we use this in a commercial program? Is it under GPL, or any other license.

To be honest with you, I didn't write the program. It was written by a gentleman called Mauro Castaldi and while he made the program freely available for VNC, I cannot say if you can include it in your commercial packages. I've not spoken to Mauro for a while and the last email address I have for him is k dot astaldi at hotmail dot com.

The download manager is dead....long live the hyperlink

2007-07-06T13:46:00.000Z

Hi folks,

After much fun and games (re: nashing of teeth) I've canned the download manager for the downloads. There are now just common-or-garden links to the zip files.

So while I won't be able to stop leeching or keep an eye on the number of downloads, you should now be able to get the files you need.

Downloads go... bang

2007-07-05T21:21:00.001Z

The downloads are - as you may have guessed - off-line. The download manager is dead, kaput, it has ceased to be.

I'll let you know more when I get my hand on the backup disk. Ahhh. Backups. Where for art thou? :-D

Downloads

2007-06-25T21:50:00.000Z

Apologies for the downloads being off-line. I've been away on my holidays. Everything should now be available.

Special Characters

2007-05-28T14:00:00.000Z

Firstly, a quick thanks to 'Anonymous' over jogging my memory about Roman's codepage tweak.

> mode con codepage select=1252

It seems that using the above command line will allow REG.EXE to pick up umlauts in the German Start Menu. Seeing as my German language skills are virtually zero, does anyone have any suggestions for detecting if Windows is installed for German users?

Mailbag - Fastpush, GPO and MSIs

2007-05-11T19:35:00.000Z

Fastpush and Windows Group Policy Start-up Scripts

Joanne wrote in and asked about using the Start-up Script function of Active Directory's Group Policy:

> "'REG' is not recongised as an internal or external command....

As far as I can remember, REG is supplied in an 'out of the box' install of XP, but it's part of the Resource Kit for Windows 2000.

To be honest, I'm surprised that Fastpush can operate in a GPO Start-Up script as it's designed to push the VNC system to a remote client.

You don't need to have the full version of Fastpush in a start-up script. All you need are the registry settings and to copy the files to the right place.

To get a file that REGEDIT can understand, set up a working copy of VNC and then use the EXPORT option of REGEDIT to save your settings. Save that as something like MYVNC-1.REG or similar.

Then, all you need is a small-ish batch file that will put the VNC files in the right place. You can pull the actual code out of Fastpush to do that.

Off the top of my head, you'd need the code that finds the C:\WINNT or C:\WINDOWS folder. At a push you could cheat and say:

IF EXIST C:\WINDOWS\*.* set source=c:\Windows
IF EXIST C:\WINNT\*.* set source=c:\winnt

You then need to copy the VNC installation files from another UNC - which I guess could be from the Policy itself.

Once the files have been copied into the right locations, use REGEDIT /S \\server\shared\MYVNC-1.REG to pull the settings in.

Finally (!!) use the SC command from Fastpush - again you may want to call that from \\server\share\SC.EXE to install and start VNC.

The Icons are optional, but again you could tweak the code from Fastpush to do that for you.

Alternatively, if you're feeling clever, you could try WinInstallLE from the Windows 2000 server to make a snapshot and then create an MSI of VNC. You may want to check www.appdeploy.com for tips and tricks on that.

Downloads

2007-04-27T23:06:00.000Z

I've replaced the INI file that powers the download system, so you should now be able to get the packages you wanted. Apologies for the delay, it's been a busy week.

Mailbag

BoeserWest wrote: I wrote a batch file witch starts the fp82.cmd. Now my Problem is, that i have much more code in my batch file. The code wouldnt run as log the fp82.cmd file open.

Have you tried to use "Call c:\faatpush\fp82.cmd" in your batch file? That will run Fastpush from within your script and then return to the original script.

ken degel wrote: after I deploy a few computers the xCmd.exe file in the /utils directory disappears

That's a new one on me Ken! Have you tried making the xCMD.exe file read only? It may also be worth checking the script to ensure that there are no 'move' commands.

Darren King wrote: But I am having issues pushing out the VNCConfig settings to prompt users to accept connections.

Darren, these settings are likely to be kept in the VNC section of the registry. I think you could get this to work by configuring a client as you like it. Then, use REGDIR to dump out the settings to a new INI file. Have a look on the web site for information about exporting a configuration.

Roman wrote: I just realized, that the script works as it should in german operation system versions, if you put in "mode con codepage select=1252" at the top of your script

Thanks for the tip, Roman. Would any German users like to road test that theory please?

Sigg3 wrote: To get fastpush (and VNC) working on a default Windows XP Professional installation, I had to enable Internet Control Message Protocol.

That's the first I've heard of that issue, but there are so many variations in XP installs that it doesn't surprise me. BTW, you can tell Fastpush to skip the ICMP test by using /NOPING.

Anton Tilstra wrote: Hi! I've stumbled across what looks like a bug to me: when not updating shortcuts (shortcut=no), the XP Firewall Tweak gets bypassed regardless of its setting; this seems to be because the XP Firewall portion of the script is "embedded" inside the Shortcut section. I've moved it up to right above it (because it's easiest), which works, but logically it should come after, to stay consistent with the order of the rest of the script.

Thanks for pointing that one out. I'll look into that when I come to do the next release. To be honest, I'm running out of features to add, but bug fixes would be a good idea.

Downloads

2007-03-11T14:35:00.000Z

Downloads

The downloads are back on-line... or at least until the script's data file blows up again. Perhaps I need to learn a small amount of Perl and check that the data file isn't empty. Easy enough in VBscript or DOS..... :-)

Vista

Fastpush and Windows Vista? Does it work? I'm using Ultimate and attempting to connect...

I'm not running Vista at this time so I can't check this issue out. It looks like Fastpush has failed to read the registry to determine where Windows is installed. That's going to because:

a) Vista stores the Windows location in a new part of the registry.
b) Vista's got the same issue as XP: in that it defaults all incoming network connections as guest.
c) Your remote user account cannot read the registry for some reason.

My money would be on 'b'.

Alas poor 4.1.1 - I knew it well

2007-03-02T22:18:00.000Z

I've removed the links to the earlier editions of 'No Icons' VNC because of the exploits.

I should also point out that you should be using version 4.1.2 on your LAN. Thanks to 'user' for giving me a nudge and Lee for letting me know one of the links was still down.

Exploits

2007-02-26T21:47:00.000Z

Funny what your web site's traffic analysis shows up sometimes. There's a fascinating series of notes on the VNC 4.1.1 exploits on the Milw0rm forum. Go take a look at their search function and type in VNC. The videos of Metasploit should help focus your mind on updating your clients. :-)

Mailbag

2007-02-06T18:04:00.000Z

Seaman writes: First of all, thx for your effort !! it is a great tool for me. But, i have a question. is it possible activate the new VNC config. and no need to reboot the pc?

Well thanks for the props. We aim to please :-) With regards to the VNC config, stopping and restarting the service should be enough for the config to go live. I've always done that in the past and it's been enough for me.

There is one small snag. With the older versions of VNC - versions 3.3.3 - the VncHooks.DLL remains 'stuck' in use and you can't delete it until you have rebooted. Luckily, in Version 4 and up it's not an issue.

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Alex Chan writes: Hi, with UltraVNC releasing versions on a fairly regular basis i was wondering is it possible to update the UltraVNC server your fastpush utility pushes out to client machines. I noticed that most of the dll files are located in the UltraVNC folder and i could try copying them over and editing your script to account for new dll names. However i am unsure if will work, and was wondering is there a way of updating UltraVNC myself rather than wait for a new version of your fastpush as i only require to push the server out/ delete old servers.

If the UltraVNC files are pretty much the same name format as before, it shouldn't be too much work to update them.

Install or unzip the new UltraVNC files to a test machine.
You'll then want a copy of the new files that have been installed. Copy these to c:\fastpush\NewUltra.
When you've got them all, rename one of the existing Ultra folder to ultra.old
Now rename the newultra to the just Ultra

You should then able to test that by targeting another test machine.

Line 763 reads:

if exist "%currentpath%\%flav%\au*.dll" xcopy......

I put that in so that if there is special DLL required for Ultra, then the system will copy it. If you've got some DLLs in the new Ultra install that Fastpush doesn't cope with. You could add:

if exist "%currentpath%\%flav%\newDLL-number1*.dll" xcopy......

I hope that helps.

Mailbag

2007-01-26T23:59:00.000Z

Corcoran Smith wrote: now we just need uvnc 1.02 in there and we're good as gold.

Well, Corcoran, all you need to do is replace the current contents of the UltraVNC folder (in Fastpush) with the new files and you're done.

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David Litchman wrote: I LOOOOVE Fastpush, thank you so much! It's made my admin duties so much easier on countless occasions. One question though, is it possible to use a username with a space in it? I've tried:

fp82 /user "user name" password

(other switches omitted) but it doesn't like that.

Thanks very much David. Glad you found the tool useful. The spaces issue is a bit of a pain and I'd have to put a wodge of new code in to detect the spaces and handle that. This is because of the NET USE command:

net use \\targetpc\ipc$ /user:mydomain\mylogon mypassword

As mylogon is being piped from the command line using the %1 %2 variables (put simply), spaces are always going to be a problem. Have you tried using the UPN instead?

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Christian wrote: Nevertheless we are stuck at the point, where the fp-script (tested 8.a and 8.1) checks for the startmenu on the target machine. As we are using a german installation for our clients, the script stops and outputs the following message:
The Start Menu variable has been read from the remote registry

This is because the REG command does not read non-US (or non-English) special characters. I understand that the German for start menu has a special character rather than just a 'u'. It is possible to fix this, but I have not put this into the main script. The fix is to use VBscript to read the registry values and pipe them back to Fastpush.

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Todor Hristov wrote: How can I have fastpush not install that "My Details" shortcut?

It's been a while since I've check this, but I have a feeling that there's a variable at the start of the Fastpush script (mydeatails I think) that is set to 'yes'. Change that to 'no' and the shortcut and program will not be installed.

Alternatively, search through the script for the mention of 'MyDetails.exe' and put a REM at the start of the line. That will make the script skip that line.

Steven Wallace wrote: I need to change the password for VNC on all the machines on my network at work that have VNC.

There's a couple of ways you could do that:

You could create a file called machines.cmd and on each line put:

call fastpush mymachine1 /pwd newfastpushpassword
call fastpush my2ndmachine /pwd newfastpushpassword

That's quite a lengthly task!
You could also dump the contents of 'domain computers' - if the machines are in a domain. The NT resource kit tool 'global' will do that for you. You could pipe that to a text file (global > "domain computers" > mylist.txt) but I would recommend you remove your key servers from the text file. Then you'd do something like this:

for /f %g IN ('mylist.txt') do @call fastpush %g /pwd newVNCpassword

or

for /f %g IN ('mylist.txt') do @vncpwd /h:%g /v:VNCpassword
If you are feeling very clever, you could also write a VBscript to push the value into the target computer's registry. However, you would need to do that in the 'start up' scripts section of the Group Policy. It's a bit of a faff, but it does work!

Been a while hasn't it....

2007-01-26T23:04:00.000Z

I've been meaning to do some work on this site for a while now. The Fastpush stuff has pretty much dried up because of other things I'm working on. I've got a raft of poorly written (!!) VBscripts that may be of use to other admins. Watch this space.