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Questions and Answers from the Computing Helpdesk

Collected by the IT/User Services Team

Nicole Crémel (Editor) , IT/User Services


Abstract

This is a collection of Questions & Answers that have been treated by the Computing Helpdesk managed by the User Services group.

N.B. The number in parentheses refers to its relative numbering in the "Question-Answer" database, at URL:
http://cern.ch/consult/qa/NNN
where NNN is the problem identifier (number).


 


Windows Support  -  

(Hannes Schwarzbauer  IT/User Services)

Question (QA 691)   - Public folder inaccessible

I want to access my colleague's public folder where I *know* there is some data that is important for my work. However, the folder doesn't seem to have the necessary 'read for everyone' permission anymore, and my colleague is absent now.

Who can change the access rights?

Answer   -   CERN official statement:
----------- starts -------------------
The case of access to data under the account of someone who is absent is
specifically addressed in OC5 section IV, 18 vi). Requests are usually
sent to the CSO and should come from a Division Leader or Head of
Experiment with a justification of the serious impact on operations.
------------ ends --------------------
Conclusion:

The fact that a folder is called 'public', doesn't mean it *has* to be available on read-only for everyone, although this is the default CERN setup for filesystems like AFS or NICE.

This means that in any case the user's decision whether or not to make/leave his public folder readable for everyone has priority. The above procedure should therefore be applied in case of the owner's absence, after which a system responsible will set the necessary access rights.

Question (QA 734)   - Scratch disk space on NICE

How can I obtain temporary scratch disk space on NICE?

Answer   -   Use the web mechanism, reachable from: http://winservices.cern.ch

In the "Services" area, select "Scratch Space", under "Storage Service". You will be prompted for your login/password on NICE, and then you should obtain a page where you can request some scratch space.

This mechanism allows the users to specify if they want a public or read protected directory.

This scratch space is located on \\CERNSCRATCH02\SCRATCH which is mounted on \\cern.ch\dfs\scratch.

Please note: files kept in the scratch areas are NOT backed up and will be DELETED after a few days.

Question (QA 795)   - Windows XP support from NICE

Is there NICE support for the OS Windows XP and/or its components, like Office XP?

Answer   -   Unfortunately, and until further notice, Windows XP and all that comes with it, is not supported by the NICE team at the moment.

Please note: Windows XP is an enhanced version of Windows 2000. Or even more precisely, with Windows 2000 being Windows NT 5, Windows XP is really Windows NT 5.1.

Question (QA 800)   - Error codes on Windows - Explanation

Windows NT or Windows 2000 brings up an error message, like e.g.:

An internal error has occurred, reference xxxxxx, logon User
Code=1234
Where can I get help or documentation on these code numbers?

Answer   -  
  • Start a DOS session (on NICE/NT: start - applications - DOS prompt) or Start - Run... and type 'cmd.exe'
  • type net helpmsg NNNN (where NNNN is the code number).

The error description is mostly short and does not offer a problem solution, but it can give a good clue of what is going on with your PC.

Question (QA 810)   - Extend sound recorder time

I would like to have the Sound Recorder available for a duration of far more than the 60 seconds that seem to be the default.

Trying out to decrease the speed gives unsatisfying and inconsistent sound quality, and I didn't find anything obvious in the registries either (but there might be something hidden in hexadecimal/binary/whatever code).

Answer   -   By default, the Microsoft sound recorder offers a duration of 60 seconds.

It seems we could not find an equivalent registry entry, but this is a workaround:

  • Invent an empty wav file by recording nothing for 60 seconds. Save it as say XXX.WAV.
  • Now edit - insert XXX.WAV as many times back into the sound recorder as desired and resave it each time. To get 5 minutes, one obviously has to insert XXX.WAV 4 times.
  • Before recording a new file, insert this grown XXX.WAV file and you can record for 5 minutes at consistent speed.

Question (QA 837)   - Find large files on Windows

How can I quickly find out/display the biggest files I have on my PC, be they on my hard drive(s) or on the home server?

Answer   -   Windows 95 / NT 4.0:
1. Press Start / Find / Files or Folders.
 
2. On the Name & Location tab, enter *.* in the Named: box.
 
3. Select all your hard drives in the Look in: box or select the J:
   drive. Check "Include subfolders" (NT).
 
4. On the Advanced tab, select At least in the Size is: drop down and
   type the number of kilobytes in the KB box (and select "All files and
   folders" for W95).
 
5. Press Find Now.
Windows 2000:
 
1. Press Start / Search / For Files or Folders
 
2. Enter *.* into the Search for files or folders named: box.
 
3. Look in: should already have selected all your hard drives.
   If you want your home directory, select "My Documents".
 
4. Check the Size box and At least should be selected.
 
5. Type the number of kilobytes in the KB box.
 
6. If you click Advanced, you will notice that Search subfolders is
   checked.
 
7. Press Search Now. 

 


UNIX Support  -  


Question (QA 1631)   - Login problem on Unix (Lxplus)

I cannot login to LXPLUS, although my password has been reset by the Helpdesk.

  • When I execute "telnet lxplus" and input my usual AFS login/password the window is immediately closed (not even asking for another password in case I mis-typed it).

    or

  • When I try to login on a CERN Unix central platform I get the error:
    Failed running login shell.
    Connection closed by foreign host.
    

Answer   -   The first thing to check is the status of the registration for your PLUS account. You can do it yourself with the command "xwho" on Unix providing your AFS login, or with http://consult.cern.ch/xwho on the web providing your name, or the Helpdesk can check your registration in CCDB. Most probably, your PLUS login has been blocked, maybe after the last computing review (if no feedback has been provided by your computer administrator). With "xwho" or http://consult.cern.ch/xwho you can see it if a '*' is preceding the account line.

You need then to send a mail to User.Registration@cern.ch asking them to "de-block" the account. The Computing Helpdesk (78888) can also record the request for you, in "User Support / User registration".

Note: there can be many reasons why the login shell is failing. On all Unix machines you can check the account registration in the system file /etc/passwd. E.g. on Lxplus, with a "grep" on the login name, you can see the status of the login shell:

[lxplus013] ~ > grep pjs /etc/passwd
pjs:x:13787:1307:Paul Sellin:/afs/cern.ch/user/p/pjs:/blocked.zsh
If the shell is not valid (e.g. /usr/local/bin/tcsh) then login will fail (/blocked.zsh means that the login has been blocked).

In the case you manage to login but you see strange behaviour, you can use the CERN-made "uco" command to reset your user environment to the default one. Type "uco -h" and "man uco" for more details.

Question (QA 613)   - LSF batch system not responding

Trying to use the LSF batch system, I get the message:

 batch system daemon not responding ... still trying

Answer   -   There are several reasons this happens: the LSF system master can really be in trouble, or it can be temporarily undergoing a reconfiguration.

If the problem persists for more than 15 minutes then contact the Helpdesk who can check with the operators, and submit the problem to the Unix system administrators.

Question (QA 755)   - Linux installation on Laptops

Where can I get information for installing Linux on my PC laptop ?

Answer   -   There is a web page dedicated to laptop support for Linux at URL: http://cern.ch/linux/laptop/

Please note that if the machine is not one of the CERN standard systems then the installation procedure can fail.

Question (QA 775)   - AFS token and Kerberos Ticket

What is the difference between AFS token and Kerberos Ticket ?

Answer   -   In order to edit files etc., you only need an AFS token (see QA 365 for token expiration). Sometimes (e.g. to use a CVS repository with kserver access, or to login via ssh to a different host without specifying the password, etc.) you also need a "Kerberos Ticket Granting Token" (or "krbtgt").

Note: a normal login to Lxplus, or the klog command, gives you both. Any access via "r" commands (rsh, rlogin, rexec, etc.) only gives the AFS token, but not the "krbtgt".

In order to check whether you have what you need use the "token" command. If you have a "Kerberos Ticket Granting Token" it should also define an environment variable KRBTKFILE in your Unix session. You can check with "env | grep KRB" (for csh or tcsh shell).

Question (QA 1690)   - Invalid character in Unix filename

I have a Unix filename which starts with a hyphen ('-'). None of the unix commands like rm, vi, mv or cat seems to work, even if I include the filename in a pair of double-quotes.

How can I at least delete this file?

Answer   -   Assume the name is -thename. In this case all Unix commands will take the hyphen as indicating an option, so you must "fool" it by providing an "empty" option. One solution (for removing the file) is to use the command:
rm -- -filename

Question (QA 1599)   - Changing default shell

How can I change my default shell on CERN central machines (e.g. Lxplus) ?

Answer   -   A user himself can change his own shell on PLUS servers (lxplus, sundev, etc):
  1. The recommended way is to use the CERN command/tool "xuserinfo" which works as follow:
    • click "preferred shell" to change the value of the shell; however this will only change the shell assigned to future accounts;
    • in order to change the shell for ALL already existing CORE accounts you must click afterwards on the button marked "Reset all shells".
    Then simply quit the interface by selecting Save and Exit.
    (see also http://cern.ch/it/support/userinfo/).
    N.B. Please note that the validation for xuserinfo is not immediate and you may have to wait 15/30 mins. before the change is done on all platforms.
  2. Another possibility is to use the standard UNIX command chsh (which stands for "change shell"); this command will reset the shell only for the account where the command has been executed.
    N.B. it should be noted however that the chsh command does not work (until further notice) on the CERN servers, where users are invited to use "xuserinfo".

Note: the CCDB tool "userreg" allows a Group Administrator to change your shell, but for future accounts only.

 


Mail Support  -  


Question (QA 988)   - Many questions on mail - CERN Mail service FAQs

Where can I get help (written documentation) on the CERN Mail service ?

Answer   -   A lot of documentation is available on the web, starting from: http://mailservices.web.cern.ch/MailServices/.

The Mail service team is also maintaining a collection of FAQs at URL:
http://mailservices.web.cern.ch/MailServices/docs/problems/faq.html

On March 2002, the list of questions - with detailed answers - was:

Managing you Mail Account
 
Obtaining a Mail Account 
Registering Service Accounts 
Checking and changing your Email address 
How to handle your password 
Managing mail forwards 
Setting a vacation message 
Filtering your mail 
Out of quota ? 
Reducing your inbox size 
Archive your mail 
I have accidently deleted some mails. Can I get them back? 
A PST file takes a lot a space on the hard disk (outlook) 
 
Unsolicited e-mail (Spam) / Viruses
 
How to report Spam 
What do we filter ? 
Dangerous attachment names that are rejected
 
Other
 
Main Netscape issues 
Attachments, enclosures, MIME problems 
 
To get answers to all these questions please go to the MailServices faq web page as mentioned above.

Question (QA 579)   - Outlook and Outlook Express

What is the difference between Outlook and Outlook Express?

Answer   -   Outlook Express is an e-mail client and newsreader which comes for free with Internet Explorer. That's just about it.

Outlook (current version 2000) is part of the M/S Office package and is therefore not free.
Not only has it the facilities of Outlook Express, but it is also a good tool for some message networking, and contains modules for group work and a scheduler.

So, Outlook Express is a basic tool for a single PC, whereas Outlook 2000 is more sophisticated and desirable for LANs, networking functions, the like.

Please note: the CERN mail service is only supporting Outlook.

Question (QA 123)   - Subject in vacation message ("I'm away")

Is there a way to change the traditional "I'm away" used in the subject of a vacation message?

Answer   -   This text is taken from the "Subject" line you put in the file .vacation.msg where you edit your vacation message. However it is necessary to include a blank line just after this "Subject" line (and before the mail body).

The variable $SUBJECT can be used in your vacation message and it will be replaced with the subject of the original message when the reply is sent; thus, a .vacation.msg file such as:

          Subject: I am on vacation

          I am on vacation until July 22.
          Your mail regarding "$SUBJECT" will be read when I return.
          If you have something urgent, please contact...
will include the subject of the message in the reply.

Question (QA 761)   - Migrate address book from Netscape to Outlook 2000

I would like to migrate my address book from Netscape messenger on W95 (or WNT) to Outlook 2000 on W2000. How to do it?

Answer   -   This is well explained in the "Using Outlook 2000" documentation provided by the Winservices team, at:

http://winservices.web.cern.ch/winservices/docs/Outlook

 


Web Support  -  


Question (QA 833)   - Internet Explorer and link to Office files

Internet Explorer on NICE is configured by default to "host" documents for Office programs that are installed on the computer. Then, when clicking an HTML link to a Microsoft Office file (such as Excel or Word document), Internet Explorer opens the file in Internet Explorer, instead of opening the file in the appropriate Office program.

Is it possible to change this behaviour ?

Answer   -   Yes, you can change this default behaviour. Go to
\\cern.ch\dfs\Applications\CERN\Nice2000 Useful\OFFIE
execute the file IEandOffice.vbs and answer 'Yes'.

N.B: If you want to retrieve the default behaviour, run again this file and answer 'No'.

 


Text Processing and Desktop Publishing  -  


Question (QA 821)   - Office 2000 spell checkers

How can I get Office 2000 spell checker in other languages than English or French, for instance German and Italian?

Answer   -   Select Tools - language - set language and specify German, Italian, etc. Click on "spell checker" which should then click in.

For this recipe you must have Microsoft Office 2000 Proofing Tools installed.

Proofing Tools can be installed from :

 control panel - add/remove programs - Add New Programs
and category: Office Tools

Full documentation is available at: http://cern.ch/WinServices/docs/Office/Proof/

Question (QA 947)   - MS Download Center (Viewers fro PowerPoint, Word, Excel)

I have to read and review some presentations at home over the weekend, but I do not have PowerPoint, nor an ACB connection to CERN.

Answer   -   To get PowerPoint (or any other CERN licensed application, to that matter) one has to mirror or install it on the CERN site.

However, if a user only wants to read a presentation, (s)he can download the PowerPoint Viewer for free from the Microsoft "Download Center" web site at URL: http://office.microsoft.com/downloads/2000/ppview97.aspx

This viewer allows to read and print a presentation, but editing is not possible. Its size is fairly small, compared to PowerPoint itself.

Microsoft also offers Viewers for Word and Excel from its site.

Question (QA 565)   - LaTeX Error: File `isolatin1.sty' not found

When running LaTeX on LXPLUS for a file that was sent to me, I get the error message:

   LaTeX Error: File `isolatin1.sty' not found.

Answer   -   This file is, in principle, not needed and it should be possible just to make an empty file by, e.g., the command "touch isolatin1.sty"

Explanation: the file is a leftover of pre-latex2e history, where 8-bit input was not easy (or impossible). By default on Linux accented input (e.g., in German or French, with accents) is the default and the latin1 (AKAISO-8859-1) encoding is assumed.

Question (QA 1434)   - LaTeX at CERN

Where can I find CERN specific information for LaTeX (latest version, access, tools, etc.)?

Who is providing support ?

Answer   -   All information related to LaTeX at CERN is available at URL:
http://wwwinfo.cern.ch/asdoc/textproc.html
There is no "official" support for TeX or LaTeX. Questions can be sent to Helpdesk@cern.ch and will be treated on a "good will" basis.

 


Miscellaneous  -  


Question (QA 753)   - Character case for login (username)

Is the login-id (or login name) case sensitive ?

Answer   -   It depends on the Operating System:
  • on Unix both username (login) and password are case sensitive. This means that users must be careful with the "Caps Lock" key (when selected by mistake, it can prevent users from login).
  • on Windows: username (login) is not case sensitive, whereas the password is.
Please note:
  • In certain cases a username (login) entered in a Windows system can be used for transmission to other tools or systems that might be case sensitive (like Unix). It is then recommended to *always* use lower case in username/login on all systems to avoid any problem.
  • It is foreseen that on the coming versions of Windows (for example XP), login (username) will be case sensitive, as on Unix today.

Question (QA 840)   - New entry in CERN's phone book

Some new data has been successfully entered into the HR data base, but I cannot see it in my PC's phone book.

Answer   -   New entries are reflected the very same day in HR, but you should wait 24 hours until this data is propagated into the CERN phone book database and application.

This is true for all Windows operating systems at CERN, and also for the Unix command "xwho" (or the web version at http://consult.cern.ch/xwho).


About the author(s): Nicole Crémel is working in the User Services group and, with Roger Woolnough, is responsible for the supervision of operations of the Computing Helpdesk. Editing and revising the "Question and Answers" database is a daily task of most members of the group.


For matters related to this article please contact the author.
Cnl.Editor@cern.ch


CERN-CNL-2002-001
Vol. XXXVII, issue no 1


Last Updated on Thu Mar 28 16:36:24 CET 2002.
Copyright © CERN 2002 -- European Organization for Nuclear Research