How to programmatically setup a dialup connection - windows

I have a question - is there some way to set a login and password for a certain dial up connection?
I am able to create a Dial Up connection, however I'm unable to "save" the password and login into Windows (so it would remember them).
Please note that I want to do it without the Windows GUI, ideally just using regedit/cmd or windows default tools (that can be executed from cmd).

I needed to do this for Windows CE so I used the remote registry editor to compare before and after adding a dial up connection. I found the settings in [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Comm\RasBook\ConnectionAddedByMe], hopefully you can do the same locally.

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How to restore access to a windows shared folder after host password change?

I have a shared folder on a windows 10 host machine. I could access it from a windows 10 client machine, where I had set "remember credentials" when first accessing the share. I changed the password on the host. Now the client cannot access the shared folder. That was expected. But I could not find a way on the client to allow the user to re-establish access to the shared folder.
I expected it would ask for credentials again. However I got a network error saying that windows cannot access the host machine.
Based on a number of entries on various forums, I tried a few things. The credentials manager on the client does not show the host. I stopped and restarted file and printer sharing on the client, without any change in the result. Network diagnosis and the windows troubleshooter gave no help.
The problem was due to some previous connections remaining in the network table, even though disconnected, as presented by the "net use" command from the command prompt.
>net use
Status Local Remote Network
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disconnected \\192.168.1.71\IPC$ Microsoft Windows Network
Disconnected \\HOST\IPC$ Microsoft Windows Network
After deleting them (via "net use /delete") the next attempt to access the host asked for credentials. Yay!
I began the path to the solution when I tried
net use z: \\host\shared /user:admin password
which gave system error 1219 stating multiple connections to a server are not allowed. Disconnect all previous connections and try again. Obviously, even though known to be disconnected, the entries prevented reconnection.

Why is remote SmartCard not found when using RDP

I'm using Windows Server 2008 R2 which runs a VB6.0 application that uses a smartcard locally.
I then connect to this machine remotely using Remote Desktop Connection (6.3). However now the application shows the following error (SmartCard):
0x8010001d The Smart card resource manager is not running.
Research so far:
I don't want to use redirection as the card is on the remote machine already.
Using RDP the way I am trying to use it for is wrong and tightVNC is more appropriate (This does fix the issue)
Unsure - SCardEstablishContext API is returning that error because it gets an Access Denied error when trying to open an event called "Global\Microsoft Smart Card Resource Manager Started" with OpenEvent API. The default security for that event on Vista and Windows 7 specifies that only SYSTEM, LOCAL SERVICE and INTERACTIVE users have access to it. NETWORK SERVICE or non-interactive users won’t be able to access the event.
Why is the SmartCard not being recognised?
Any Information would be appreciated.
NOTE: The smartcard works fine when the application is on Windows Server 2008 R2 - however only fails when connecting remotely.
It is not possible, you can't use the locally plugged smartcard of the server you RDP into, as your session is redirected to the client then only the clients smartcard is accessible in the rdp session.
Microsoft made it like this for security reasons.
But there is a turn around, like sharing the device (smartcard reader, Usb token, Usb devices ) using software or hardware :
softawre examples (i only found paid solutions), see link
or hardware using a Device server but it doesn't work through WAN only LAN.
Use VNC instead of RDP
TLDR: Use VNC as a Windows Service
If you insist on using RPD, then you'll have to patch your RDP DLLs. If you don't want to do this, then instead use ANY OTHER PROTOCOL other than RDP. If it's a vmware VM, then just use the vcenter console. If it's an Azure VM where you don't GET a console, then just install VNC-server-softer on the server that has the Smart Cards and then access from somewhere else via VNC-client. "TightVNC" (https://community.chocolatey.org/packages/tightvnc) worked nicely for me.
There are two ways to run TightVNC server:
TightVNC Server (Service Mode) -- Connecting with VNC-client will take you to the Windows logon screen.
TightVNC Server (Application Mode)
You will need to run TightVNC as a Windows Service. Then you will start a NEW session. Otherwise you'll just be on top of the existing RDP session and still not see remote Smart Cards.
Long Version
If you RDP into a remote server, then that remote server's Smart Cards will be hidden. That behavior is baked into RDP and it is BY DESIGN.
You can optionally take your LOCAL Smart Cards along into the RDP session. (Via mstsc.exe's "Local Resources" tab and then checking "Smart cards".) But these are the Smart Cards connected LOCALLY to your laptop. And NOT the Smart Cards connected to the remote server.
So if you use RDP, then you have option to either see no Smart Cards at all (neither local, nor remote) or just see your LOCAL Smart Cards. To see the REMOTE Smart Cards is NOT possible via RDP.
This is by design inside RDP. And if you want to change it, then you have to manually patch some .DLL files. And somebody has actually done this. See this question here:
How to Access Remote USB Smartcard during RDP
Before you create your Remote Desktop session, click on "Show options". Under the "Local Resources" tab there is a "Local devices and resources" panel. Click the "More" button.
Click on "Smart Cards". No complete the remote desktop session.

Windows Azure VM Filezilla FTP Setup

I am using Windows 2012 R2 VM machine in Azure. I have read multiple article to setup Filezilla server in this environment. However, I am not successful. Any one faced this issue? Any solution will be greatly appreciated.
Just remember to add Filezilla to Windows Firewall :-)
I'm dealing with the same thing right now. locally the FTP serv works great. remote I cannot establish a passive connection. Based on my research this is because Azure is not set up for Passive-FTP. I am uncertain if we can get FileZilla to operate in a active-FTP mode. Will post back if I ever get to the bottom of it. Mine currently connects and authenticates but 'cannot retrieve directory listing' when it tries to kick over to passive (transfer) mode.
In addition to checking the Virtual Machine endpoints are open, be sure to also add the appropriate Windows Firewall rules if you have Windows Firewall enabled on your Windows VM.
Yes, We can connect to Azure server via FileZilla Client.
Steps:
Login to Azure portal: https://portal.azure.com
Click on App Services.
Select the Site and then click on Get publish profile.
Save the file and open it in notepad.exe.
The file contains 2 <publishProfile> sections. One is for Web Deploy and another for FTP.
Under the <publishProfile> section for FTP make a note of the following values:
publishUrl (hostname only)
userName --------------------------> This is the information you are looking for
userPWD
Add the PublishUrl to Hostname, Username and password in their respective fields.
Connected.
The link will give the detailed description of the steps flow with images.
Here is the link.
Thanks

Postgres ODBC: connection "actively refused"

I'm using SSH tunneling to connect from a Windows 7 machine to a remote Postgres database.
The tunnel works fine when I use pgAdmin to connect to the remote database. However, I haven't managed to set up an ODBC DSN to connect to the remote database.
I'm creating a System DSN with the same server address/username/password/port/ssl mode as pgAdmin but when I click "Test" I get: "Could not connect to server; No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it."
Any ideas on where to start debugging? I've ruled out Windows Firewall and remote server configuration, since I can connect with the exact same information in pgAdmin.
Edit
The problem resolved itself after reinstalling Windows.
When debugging this the first thing to do is to start testing the PostgreSQL server with the psql command line utility. This avoids issues of drivers etc to see what is actually going on. Generally speaking my troubleshooting process is:
Can I ping the server?
Can I connect with psql?
When I test my connection via the control panel, does it work?
Now, assuming the problem is on #2, the first thing I would do is try disabling firewalls on both sides (they can be brought up and tuned after trying with both down). This rules out misbehaving firewalls and if it shows this to be a problem then you have the answer on where to troubleshoot.
In my experience Windows firewall can cause all manner of problems. I have even seen it block web pages halfway through the web page. I don't think you can rule out Windows Firewall based on the information you have provided.
If this happens again, the first things to do include disabling both any antivirus software and firewalls.
The other possibility would be a bad ODBC config (maybe port 5423 instead of 5432) or a badly installed DLL of some sort. The latter may be fixed (or not) using sfc /scannow or reinstalling the odbc driver, or other actions.

windows cmd connection to remote mysql dbf

is there a way of how to connect to mysql dbf on a remote server and run sql queries using windows command line?
Yes, you can connect to a different host by running mysql -h 123.45.67.89.
Please note that there are a few security implications:
You will have to grant yourself access. You will need to run something like GRANT ALL on db_name.table TO user#your_ip IDENTIFIED BY 'password'. db_name, table and your_ip can be * but beware of opening your server to hackers.
You will have to open your server's firewall if you are not on the same LAN. Again, ymmv and you should be aware not to open the door to exploits.
You may want to use SSL and use secure-auth in order to protect your traffic and credentials.
Hope that helps.
MySQL has a command-line client, where you can run queries. If you don't want to allow remote connections to the database on the server, you can still script things into a batch. There are command-line telnet/ssh clients, that either accept external file as a list of commands to run remotely, or you can pass it with the input stream redirection (less then symbol) to them.
When opening a connection to server - most clients are programmed so that the only way to specify the login password is by typing it in from keyboard (yeah, they don't use default input stream). Things like that make it hard to script it. However, it may be possible to set up a certificate based login on SSH - you'd actually have to research that.
If the server that's hosting the MySQL database is also a web server - you could also think about putting some script (PHP, Perl, Python, Ruby - whatever you like) on the password protected area, that would allow you to execute queries by simply making a HTTP(S) queries on that script. Although, Windows doesn't have a command-line HTTP(S) client, you can always get something like wget.exe and perform queries with it. Note, that if you choose this approach - I strongly advice to put that script under HTTPS - if discovered by malicious user, it could be lethal to your data.
You could use telnet, or SSH if you want to be more secure.
If the MySQL is running on Linux or BSD, you need a Telnet or SSH connection through something like putty
This will open a command line on the remote server. The command is mysql. There will be issues around authentication of remote users (as you would expect).
If the remote server is running Windows, you have a whole different set of issues.
I'm not sure you can connect to a remote Windows server and control it this way.
I should say I'm not sure HOW you could connect to a remote Windows server and use it this way. But no doubt it's possible.

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