Windows 7 Printer Driver Installation Error 0x00000057

*Update - we are seeing this issue less these days.  Are many of you still having this issue?  If so, please describe for me in the comments section so I can see if I can recreate the pattern or if I can come up with a better solution.  Or email me.

We are seeing this error when attempting to install printers (drivers) on new Windows 7 builds. The simplest solution I have found is reboot the computer and log on with a different administrative account. Often then the printer driver can be installed without getting the error.

Here's another thing I have found. Running procmon during the installation shows 'access denied' on C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\infpub.dat. Try editing the security on this file and add the local Administrators to it, will full control. After doing this I've had success getting printer drivers to install that would give the error 0x00000057. Note - it may be necessary to change the security on all of the .dat files in the DriverStore folder to get the driver to install. Here's a script that will change the security on all the files for you.

*****Note***** - This problem is not limited to printer drivers.  Also, if you use my script, as ridiculous as it sounds, you have to be quick.  Get everything ready to perform the driver install, run the script, and then run the install, as quickly as possible after running the script.  You are racing against windows resetting the permissions.

Also, I have noticed after changing the permissions on the files Windows will change them back, removing what you have added.

If you need help on changing the permissions on the file maybe these will help:

Change permissions on C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\infpub.dat to include Administrators with Full Control.

Browse to C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore
Right click the file infpub.dat
Choose Properties
Click Security Tab
Click Edit Button
Click Add Button
Click Locations button and choose the local computer account (should be first item in list)
In the box type: Administrators
Click Check Names – this should come back underlined
Click Ok
With Administrators highlighted, put a checkmark in the checkbox next to Full Control
Click Ok
Click Ok
Retry installing the printer driver.

Cannot open VCD error with Virtual Clone Drive on Windows 7 x64

Right click Computer and choose Properties. Click Device Manager. Under Storage Controllers right click Virtual Clone Drive. Choose Uninstall. On the Uninstall dialog box check the box for 'Delete the driver software for this device'. Click Ok.

Now reinstall Virtual Clone Drive. When prompted about the driver choose to trust it and click the Install button. After VCD installs it should work now.

Windows 7 Internet Explorer 8 will not open

On a freshly built machine (Windows 7 x64 Enterprise) Internet Explorer would not open. If I brought up task manager, I could see the iexplore.exe process start and run briefly, but close without ever opening an IE Window.

Resetting the Internet Explorer settings fixed this issue:

Open the Control Panel, in the upper right change the view to small icons.
Click Internet Options.
On the Advanced tab, click the Reset button, click Reset in the Reset Internet Explorer Settings dialog box, and then click Close.

Retry IE and see if it works now.

How to view more than 64 snapshots (shadow copies) on Windows 7 / Windows 2008

Windows can store a max of 512 Volume Shadow Copy Snapshots. But you may have noticed when you go to view the list of snapshots in Windows 7 or Server 2008, no more than 64 are displayed.

To gain access to the additional snapshots, above the 64 limit you will need a Windows XP machine (and have set the server to store more than 64).  I use a Windows XP virtual machine for this purpose.  If you get on a server 2008R2 or higher server, and view previous versions, you will not see them all if you have increased the number above 64.  In that case, boot up a XP machine, like a VM,  Next, you can make a UNC connection to the share or folder of interest.  From there go to properties>previous versions.  If you have the server set to the max 512, using this method, you will have access to all 512 previous versions.  Because our servers are configured to store the max number of VSS snapshots, I have to use this method to gain access to the larger number.  

I am not sure if there is another way to gain access to the additional snapshots.  All I know is this is how we have to do it at work and it works.

On the server perform the following regedit to enable viewing more than 64 snapshots:

HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters
Create a value with the name Smb2 and type DWORD.
Set the value to 0
Reboot the server

Try viewing snapshots and you should now be able to see more than 64 provided you have configured your server to store more.

Incidentally, if you want your server to provide more snapshot perform the following regedit:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\VSS\Settings
Create a value with the name MaxShadowCopies and type DWORD. Set the value to the number of snapshots you want to keep. The max is 512
Reboot the server

Samsung LCD TV makes clicking sounds when attempting to turn on

This recently happened to my father's Samsung LCD TV. When he would go to turn it on it would click but not turn on. Often, if he kept trying, it would eventually turn on. Once it was powered on it would work fine. He could then turn it off and if he tried to turn it on within a few minutes, it would turn back on. If he waited a while and the internals cooled down, it would not turn back on without multiple tries.

He had a tech come out and the problem was bad capacitors. The tech demonstrated that the capacitors were 'popped' and the tops were pushed out and a small amount of gel was exposed. Upon replacing the bad capacitors the tv now turns on properly.

SCCM client will not uninstall using ccmsetup.exe /uninstall

I had a system where the SCCM client was installed but the client was not functioning correctly. I attempted to uninstall the client using the usual method which is running ccmsetup /uninstall command. Whenever I would run this command it would not uninstall. In the ccmsetup.log file I would get:
==========[ ccmsetup started in process 3040 ]========== ccmsetup 4/11/2011 1:54:23 PM 1796 (0x0704)
Version: 4.0.5931.0000
Command line parameters for ccmsetup have been specified. No registry lookup for command line parameters is required.
Command line: ccmsetup.exe /uninstall
Updated security on object C:\Windows\system32\ccmsetup\.
Sending Fallback Status Point message, STATEID='301'.
State message with TopicType 800 and TopicId {B81805F6-98AA-4C2D-918A-D15E6974FFE3} has been sent to the FSP

That's all.

I tried another method of uninstalling and it appears to have worked. On a 32-bit system ccmsetup is located at %windir%\System32\ccmsetup and on 64-bit systems it is at %windir%\ccmsetup. In these directories should be subfolders. Open the subfolder i386. Inside should be a client.msi. From that directory run msiexec.exe /x client.msi. This should uninstall the client.

Office documents open slowly in SharePoint

I'm on Windows 7 with IE 9. I believe this works with other versions of IE also. When clicking on a document in SharePoint it opens very slowly. It appears there is a fix for this. Go to Control Panel>Internet Options>Connections>LAN Settings and uncheck 'Automatically detect settings'. Now try opening a document from the Sharepoint site. It should pop right up.