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Chris Hall

Principal Technical Consultant

PolarCloudsUK Chris LinkedIn Github
Chris Hall Nutanix Certified Master - Multicloud Infrastructure 6 Chris Hall VMware vExpert 2024 Nutanix Certified Professional - Cloud Integration Chris Hall Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Infrastructure 6 Chris Hall Nutanix Certified Professional - Unified Storage 6 Chris Hall VMware vExpert 2023 Chris Hall VMware vExpert 2022

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2015

Subnet Cheat Sheet

OK, a tad of a “dry” subject, but hardly a week goes by without having to Google myself a subnet cheat sheet. Saves me from having to work this out manually!...

Hello and Welcome

So here we are. Finally a propper domain name for a propper blog!

MS15-034 Patch NOW!

So I finally had a chance to test this little doozy of an issue this lunchtime. Crash a webserver by issuing a simple wget command?

2014

Fix Boot/BCD 0xc000000f Error

File this one under a post for another day / ah yes, I’ve seen that before, cant remember how I fixed it however…

LDWin v2.0 Released

Quick post to let you know that yes, I’m still alive and I’ve just released version 2.0 of my popular link discovery tool for Windows, LDWin.

2013

Screaming Woods Pluckley

So what do you and 10 other people do in the woods at night??  No, not that... Ghost hunting of course!Where better to find some ghosts? Why, Pluckley; ...

UCS Blade Discovery Failed

A simple job then; lift and shift some Cisco UCS blades from a legacy site to into the Datacentre to help with capacity for consolidation in the Datacentre.

LDWin: Link Discovery for Windows

 Brand New!!!So you regularly use and enjoy using my WinCDP program.  You wish it could also discover link information for devices connected to dev...

Cisco UCS: What The?

A quick non-too-technical post detailing the Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) and how it works.  No, I'm not affiliated with Cisco, I just work on U...

2012

Adding VLANs to Cisco Nexus 1000v

Having scoured the internet and drawing a blank when looking  for a simple process to follow when adding a VLAN and subsequent VMware VM access port gro...

BSOD Debugging Part 2: Debugging

Check out BSOD Debugging: Part 1 if you missed it.  OK, so you have your Windows debugging environment set up and you have a dump file to analyse. Lets ...

BSOD Debugging Part 1: Setup

By now I'm sure we are all familiar with the humble Windows 'Blue Screen Of Death' (BSOD), displayed when windows crashes. No? Strange as they do tend to pop...

vSphere 5.1 Update to Build Number

Once again, continuing series of VMware vSphere update to build number tracking.As always, it's a simple bit of info, often hard to find.ESXi 5.1: ESXi 5.1 =...

What The Blog Reader v0.7 (Beta 3)

Yep all 'pimped out' and looking good in its new Android Ice Cream Sandwich compliant style, checkout beta 3 of What The.....? Blog Reader for android. ...

Easy Bootable Antivirus CD/USB: UPDATED

Weighing in at fourth place most popular post on this site is Easy Bootable Antivirus CD/USB written in April 2010,  just over two years ago (yes, time ...

Fixing Remote Desktop Annoyances

Please don't get me wrong, Microsoft Remote Desktop is a great tool for remote control / administration of Windows Servers and desktops.However in later vers...

vSphere 5.0 Update to Build Number

Once again, continuing series of VMware vSphere update to build number tracking.As always, it's a simple bit of info, often hard to find.ESXi 5.0: ESXi 5.0 =...

Cloud: What is it? Free Cloud?

OK lets cut the jargon, the buzz words, the  misconceptions, the downright rubbish.  What is this 'cloud' all about?  What exactly is cloud c...

Chris' Better Jam Cams

No one likes to get stuck in a traffic jam.  Much less one that could be avoided.  Even more annoying is the 'jam out of the blue' on what is usu...

Access VM Consoles From Linux

So you want to access the consoles of your VMware virtual machines, yet your chosen administration client is running Linux? No problem.Sure VMware provide th...

Disable IE Enhanced Security

Another one to file in the "Yes, done that before, but I can't remember how" pile. Probably because it is so easy to do has some bearing on not being able to...

Build it Again

Lego.Hate it when stepping barefoot on a stray piece left hanging around or love it for keeping the kids quiet for hours... and hours.What other toy gives y...

Sky HD: Highlight HD Programmes

So you have got a High Definition Television.  You have also taken the plunge and gone for a Sky HD box (other HD solutions are available).  You ha...

New and Improved What The Mark IV!

Happy new year.  No your eyes do no deceive you, it is all change on the only blog that counts (TM).  Now it counts even more!!!Hopefully you'll fi...

2011

Raspberry Pi - A £16 Linux PC!

A credit card sized computer being developed by a UK based charitable foundation that is hoped will promote the education of computer science at school level...

vSphere VM Clone Problems + Fixes

Just recently a colleague of mine had some fun and games completing what should have been a simple clone of Windows 2008 R2 64bit VMware virtual machine.We m...

Find HBA WWNs from ESXi Console

 A question this comes up quite a bit:  How can I find the World Wide Names (WWNs) of the fibre channel Host Bus Adapters (HBAs) my ESXi server fro...

Beta 1 What The Android Released

Yes that's right the What The.....? Android application has just gone Beta!To mark this momentous occasion (remember developing in Java is completely new to ...

VMware vSphere Client Download URL

Ever since VMware stopped bundling the vSphere client in with ESX / ESXi, try as hard as I can, I can never seem to quickly and easily find the URL to downlo...

Extended Disks Remain Wrong Size

Whats wrong with this picture?Spotted it yet?Yes, that's right.  The Data (D:) Properties dialogue does not tie up with the details shown in Disk Manage...

Location via Wi-Fi MAC Address

With all the iPhone tracking claims and counter claims, (see here for details) it appears that Google have been silently collecting and building a publicly a...

Reminder: Win2008R2 SQL Clustering

Yet another reminder / quick fire how to post.  This time Windows 2008 R2 Clustering ready for a clustered SQL install.In it's latest guise, Windows 200...

The Dot Slash Login Shortcut

Consider the above login screen, as seen when you login to either a Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 2008 machine that is joined to an Active Directory. The quest...

Making Good Use of Technology

Think of some of the great technological advances of the 20 century, the industrial revolution, the advent of the internet, the desktop computer, the mobile ...

What the....? Anywhere

Thats right, What the.....? is now mobile! There's no excuse now for a bit of What the.....? even on the move! Everyone needs a bit of What the.....? in th...

Vertigo? Don't Look Down!

"Vertigo is the conflict between the fear of falling and the desire to fall." I couldn't have put it better myself.Have you ever suffered from vertigo withou...

ESX Reminder 2: Patching & USB Errors

Continuing my series of quick fire reminders for when (a) I *think* I've seen that issue before and (b) I dont remember what the fix is / was. Previous post...

Remote Control via Web Browser

Over the years, I've tried many, many remote administration tools.For Windows, built in remote desktop is the best choice but you need an RDP (Remote Desktop...

Disaster and Emergency AlertMap

What's happening around the world now?  No, right now: this minute?Agreed dear readers, we have indeed looked at real-time trending before right here in...

Video for Android or iPhone

Long gone are the days when mobile phones were simply used for making telephone calls.Nowadays these mini devices that we still call "mobile phones" more clo...

2010

Enjoy Vinyl - NOW!

OK, time to go out on a limb here. It is a well known fact that reproduction from vinyl records and analogue audio equipment is superior to digital reproduct...

Gawker Hacked. Am I affected?

On the weekend of 11 and 12 of December 2010 it was discovered that the servers of Gawker Media (that includes the websites Gawker, Deadspin, Kotaku, Jezebe...

Memtest and Build ESX from USB

REDUX Adj: Brought back; returned.  Used postpositively.Back in November last year, I showed you how to easily create a VMware ESX4.x Installation USB u...

Signing Android apk or zip Files

Bit of a memory jogger for me this post, but possibly handy for others too. Yes I realise that this information is almost everywhere on the net, but I can ne...

Windows: Lost User & Password?

Windows users: Lost both Administrator user account name and password?  Perhaps you need access without changing any existing administrative accounts?&n...

Lotus Sametime for Android

The holy grail of Android and Lotus users is one step closer!  A Lotus Sametime client that runs on Android!  Almost.  Let me clarify this a l...

Keep Calm...

From the 1939 propaganda poster, with a dash of IT Crowd.If ever you have a tech problem and don't know what to do, just complete the above.  You'll be ...

Facebook: The Movie??!!!?

Well here it is - the trailer!  Now, now, now, contain yourself dear reader!One thing to keep in mind whilst watching; it just goes to show that Radiohe...

Dungeness: A Way of Life

Not sure how I found this on youtube... Dungeness is about twenty minutes car drive from me. Very well made and interesting short film.  Well worth a wa...

Sky Plus Noisy Fan Fix

Sky+ receiver sounding like it's about to take off?  Don't remember parking that F1-11 in the lounge?OK this has happened to me a couple of times now, u...

Remote Support: Get the Basics

When it comes to supporting friends, family, whomever remotely - perhaps over the telephone - it is not unusual to spend extended amounts of time just answer...

Sherlock - It's Good!

Having finally got around to watching the first episode tonight, and unaccustomed as I am for posting about TV shows on this here Blog, I feel compelled to s...

Welcome What the.....? MarkIII

Bye Bye What the.....? Blog Mark II, hello Mark III.I'm sure you'll agree, Mark III is a significant improvement over its predecessor in ease of use, navigat...

VMware ESX 4.1 Update to Build Number

Continuing series of VMware ESX update to build number tracking.As always, it's a simple bit of info, often hard to find.ESXi 4.1 = Build 260247 - Released 1...

Browser Extensions Link-around

A quick link-around post detailing the browser extensions I usually install plus a bit of info on each.  The idea is to try and keep a frequently used e...

ARGH! Thrips!

It's that time of year again. Only this time, I have a name for the enemy that plagues us.Why it's thips (there is no singular term apparently).Thrips (Order...

Killing Blogger Comment Spam

I like comments.  They make blogging worthwhile.  Its good to feel engaged. However, Blogger's comment system is primitive to say the least. I...

Android Market Fingerprints Demystified

Like it or not smartphone applications ("apps") are here to stay.Lets face it, we all like to have that "wizzy" app that allows us to do this or that, or dis...

Summer Views from 'Mount' Ashford

Mount Ashford?  What's all this?Didn't you know Ashford had a 'mountain'? OK, OK, Ashford doesn't.  However, it does have a triangulation point (ak...

Dyson AirBlade: Wet Sleeves Since 2006

Had occasion to visit a customer's site last week.  Business as usual, nothing much to write home about.All except their hand dryers in the Gents lavato...

Easy Facebook Privacy

Make no mistake, Facebook privacy is at best, so overly complicated, it's pants.With around 50 settings and over 170 options, Facebook's privacy settings are...

When All Else Fails, Kon-Boot

*** NOTE***  This post relates to bypassing Windows and Linux Operating System security.  The tool discussed here is for HOME USE ONLY!  ...

USB Boot Without BIOS Support

Here is a great little workaround; how to boot any PC (or virtual machine) from a USB device.As shown in previous posts USB Antivirus, Ubuntu USB and ESX4 US...

Easy Bootable Antivirus CD/USB

*** Checkout Easy Bootable Antivirus CD/USB: UPDATED  for an even easier process!*** With the prevalence of Viruses / Rootkits / Spyware and all sorts o...

On the Day the Skies Went Quiet

If you are not aware, all UK airports are closed tonight due to an ash cloud from a volcanic eruption in Iceland:See this BBC article for additional detail. ...

Ubuntu 10.04 Beta2: First Look

As last Thursday (April 8th) saw the Beta 2 release of Ubuntu v10.04-LTS (Long Term Support), I thought I would give this new version a trial run on my test-...

What the.....? Blog Tour 2010 - A Diary

With over 10,000 hits coming from America alone, it was decided that this year's What the.....? Blog tour should be to go visit Uncle Sam - to say thank you ...

T-Mobile Pulse Eye Candy

A couple of gratuitous eye candy screenshots from my Android T-Mobile Pulse (based on the Huawei U8220).You'll see why I know it as my "Funky Phone":Operatin...

CHoogle: Power Searching Google

Google.Love them or hate them as a company and leaving the privacy issues aside for a moment, you have to agree that Google have built themselves a pretty go...

Easily Test for 64bit Capability!

It's a simple question.  A question that seems to be popping up more and more these days."Can my laptop / desktop / server / whatever run a 64bit Operat...

Google: Lesson in Advertising

As readers will know, advertising in general really does wind me up. So, why prey tell am I posing an advert here?Simple.  This advert typifies the exac...

Windows 7: Fix Wireless Trouble

With the proliferation of wireless networks, it is becoming more and more likely that if you live in upwards of a fairly well a populated area, you are going...

Blogger Related Posts Widget

Do you like my latest addition?Yeah, I do too!In an effort to lower the bounce rate of this site, I found this excellent related posts widget.  The kill...

Live Aircraft Tracking Link-around

Ever looked up into the sky and thought "I wonder where that plane is off to or coming from?"Or more importantly "I bet they're going somewhere warm.... luck...

VMware ESX 4 Update to Build Number

Simple bit of info, often hard to find:ESX 4.0 = Build 164009 - Released 21 May 2009ESX 4.0 Update 1 = Build 208167 - Released 19 Nov 2009ESX 4.0 Update 2 = ...

Expected Drugging?

Just signed in to facebook.  Sending a quick reply to a comment, you know, no biggie.Looks like you have to enter some captcha words before you are allo...

ChrisControl v2 Beta - 06 Jan

OK, OK, It's been a while since I promised to, but I've started development on ChrisControl again.Decided to host the shebang over at google code.  Link...

2009

Happy Christmas

As is almost traditional on this blog, (see my Halloween post), it's time for some more cards.And finally, not a Christmas card per-se, but topical anyway:Fr...

Black Mesa: Return to the Lamda Complex

I'm not that much of a game player. XBox, Playstation, Wii, PC - I can take or leave them all, and I generally leave them.In the true sense of the phrase; I ...

VMware ESX 4: Install From USB

This took a bit of searching and a fair bit of trial and error, but here it is, how to install VMware ESX from a USB stick.RequirementsA copy of VMware ESX 4...

VMware ESX Trouble Shooting

Just recently I've had cause to analyse some VMware ESX logs in a bid to understand what was going on with a problematic ESX server and just what could be do...

Slimbox2 Blogger Integration

Click on any image in this blog and you will see that it opens in a 'floating dialogue' above the current web page.  Perhaps Wikipedia describes it bett...

Ubuntu 9.10 - CH Installation Guide

Regular readers will have noticed that one of the countdown timers on this blog (they are gone now) was to the latest Ubuntu release - version 9.10 aka "Karm...

Religion. Decide yours now

The old religion chestnut cracked once and for all:lol. Love the first three questions.Via ffffound.com- Chris

Happy Halloween!

A bit of humor as the weather forecast for trick-o-treating doesn't look up to much. From someecards.- Chris

Windows 7 RC & TrueCrypt 6.3

Update to my Windows 7 and Truecrypt 6.2a post.Truecrypt 6.3 is now available. One slight problem when trying to upgrade:Ho Hum.... This will be because I'm...

If you need a laugh, try this

Very very funny.  A must see:Some say the site makes fun of misfits.  And they are right.I'm just enjoying these photos of human beings in all thei...

Cisco Discovery Protocol For Windows

UPDATE: Checkout and download my CDP client for Windows over on github Lets face it.  We have all been there; "where does this network cable / upli...

New Look!

Well I've been umm-ing and arr-ing about a new blog layout for a while now.So after a bit of searching and some minor tweaking of the new template, here we a...

Who Else Wants To Make Music?

You've never tried?You don't know where to start?You can't read music?You don't know your semi-breve from your semi-tone?No problem!  If you can use a m...

STOP 0x05001146

No I don't know what STOP 0x05001146 BSOD stop code stands for either.Seen on a HP DL580 G2 when booting from either Windows 2003 or Windows 7 based WinPE CD...

Dr Who: Official New Series Logo

The eleventh logo for the eleventh Doctor:Looks better than the flying discotheque sign....!Also found this. The show is due to air 2010 on Disney XD in the...

Word Clock

A free, small, simple and functional piece of software I love.Word Clock is a typographic screen-saver for Windows and Mac OS X. It displays a fixed list of ...

Windows 7 & TrueCrypt 6.2a

I like Windows 7.  I also like TruCrypt full disk encryption on my personal laptop. It may potentially be the last line of defence should my personal la...

Minimalist Fading Google Homepage

I know what your thinking, Google's home page is pretty minimalist already. How can it cut down down any further?Have a look at this:Looks pretty minimal to...

VMware ESXi SSH & SCP Access

Understandably, the free hypervisors (or Virtual Infrastructure Nodes - VINs - as we used to call them back in the old days) ESX 3i and 4i from VMWare have s...

Advert Free Radio

Continuing on in the "I don't like being advertised AT" series [previous posts here and here]. Quick recap for those catching up; As you may have guessed, I ...

Win7 Launch Party

Is this really for real?When was the last time you watched something that cringe-worthy?My favourite quotes (ohh but there are so many):2:41 - "Ohh you went ...

Ad Block Plus

Following on from my post blog post regarding TV advertising.  As you may have guessed, I really don't like being advertised at.  Yes thats right, ...

Garmin Nuvi Won't Switch On

Panic stations everyone! The Sat-Nav is not switching on!!Good job I was at home and only had to find the location of a birthday party my son had been invite...

VMware ESX Reminders

Because I can never remember and the pieces of paper floating around in my laptop bag are looking more and more dog-eared...Mounting USB Stick (needs to be f...

Annoying TV Adverts - At What Cost?

OK, you are happily watching your favourite TV programme and it’s time for the adverts.Before you know it, a whole stream of those really annoying adverts co...

Toilet Twitter

In this age of social-networking, video-sharing, wikis, blogs, mashups, etc, it's always refreshing to see these technological advances being put to good use...

Remote Desktop Grid Corruption

Recently when using MS Remote Desktop (aka RDP) I've started to notice this kind of screen corruption:  Weird grid lines, "noise" type artefacts an...

Handwriting Fonts

Just found this website http://www.fontcapture.com/The purpose of the site is to turn your handwriting into a Windows true type font.  It's quite clever...

Early Christmas Present

Just found out about this. What an excellent piece of kit. I want one. TV-B-Gone KitWhat is it?Put simply this little gizmo will switch off pretty much any...

VPN Around Your ISP?

I know I downloaded that 25Mb file a couple of hours ago, but I've no idea where I saved it. Oh well, I'll download it again. I've got broadband, it's all g...

£££££'s off

Just received a letter from a holiday company we have dealt with before offering us "£££££'s off on visits to local attractions." Obviously the company is t...

3Mb Barrier Smashed!

Following on from my Cheapest way to faster broadband?!? post in May...Things seemed a bit r-r-rapido this morning, so a quick look around settings / speedte...

Ashford Lightning

Taken with my own fair hand during last night's storm over Ashford:OK, Lets get one thing straight off the bat here -My first attemptI'm no David BaileyI'm u...

VMware ESX 3.5 Update to Build Number

Simple bit of info, often hard to find:ESX 3.5.0 Update 1 = Build 64607ESX 3.5.0 Update 2 = Build 110268ESX 3.5.0 Update 3 = Build 123630ESX 3.5.0 Update 4 =...

Free Foot / Rugby / Tennis Balls

This summer Mars is giving away 100,000 balls at this promotional websiteAll you need to do is enter a promotional code into the site and click "CHECK CODE"....

ABSL!

Well that's it then. I'm a fully paid up leader now. Time to start behaving I suppose!!Thank-yous should go to all that helped me get here, especially:Andrea...

Bye Bye Max Mosley

Shame. No more Christmas cards...From the very funny Sniff Petrol of course - http://www.sniffpetrol.com/ - Having a tantrum about rule changes, every month....

Freeview Firmware Upgrade

The Digihome DTR160 - Just like mine!The Digihome DTR160 PVR (Personal Video Recorder) - Based on the Vestel T825. Great unit, shame about some of the stupi...

Cheapest way to faster broadband?!?

The broadband speed test figures on the left speak for themselves.Around double the download speed all for less than £20. How is this done?Back StoryFor sev...

VM Tools Upgrade - Error 1722

Here's the fix:1. Create a directory (c:\vmtools)2. Mount the VMware Tools CD3. Copy VMware Tools.msi to the directory you created4. Copied the VCBRequested....

Windows 7 - Dual VPN

Often it's said that you cannot install and run 2 VPN clients on a Windows platform.Well, whatever...Those, like I, that know different and have legitimate u...

2008