SQL Server, Windows locales, and the default user

I've run into this before, so I'm writing it down now.

I have a package of software that contains an interactive component, as well as several services. All pieces add and update SQL server database entries that contain dates. These dates are of DateTime type.

We ran the package on a machine that was originally configured with a Canadian locale, and its associated date formats. At some point, the admin user account had its locale changed to US and then SQL server 2005 was installed.

The problem was that the interactive component created database entries with correct date formats, but the services were trying to update with incorrect date formats. Both pieces got their date values using the DateTime.Now function.

Turns out that the services were running as the LocalSystem user, and the interactive piece was running as the logged in admin user. The LocalSystem uses the locale associated with the Default user. The admin user had been configured with a US locale, and the Default user still had the Canadian locale that was set during the initial Windows install.

To fix this,

- Open Control Panel
- Select Regional and Language Options
- In XP, select the Advanced tab
- Select the check box "Apply all settings to the current user and to the Default user profile"
- Click Apply
- In Vista, select the Administrative tab
- Click the "Copy to reserved accounts..."
- Click Apply

You will need to restart any services that are running as the LocalSystem user for this to take effect.

Whew!!

Fixing Vista's Folder Views

I finally had enough of Vista seemingly randomly setting the folder view on me. It never seems to be right. I want a details view for everything, so I went digging for the answers and came up with the following.

You can force the 'All Items' template on to all folders with the following:

Copy the text between the lines below into notepad & save as a .reg file.
Watch out for line wrap -- [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\...\Shell] is all one line,
there is a space between 'Local' and 'Settings'.

--------------------------------------------------
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell]
"FolderType"="NotSpecified"

--------------------------------------------------

Merging the .reg file will set the 'All Items' template for any folders that
don't currently have a view saved with a different template. You can clear
all saved views by deleting the

"HKCU\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags"

key BEFORE merging the .reg file. If any folders open with a different
template after clearing the 'Bags' key & merging the .reg file, they most
likely have a template specified via their desktop.ini file.

How To Reboot From A Remote Desktop

When you are connected to a remote Windows machine using Remote Desktop, you need to restart that computer. Maybe you installed some new software, or maybe something whacky is happening and you need a reboot to 'start fresh'.

Unfortunately, you can't restart the remote machine using the Start menu. That option is not there.

You can restart the remote machine from the command prompt.
From the command-line ("cmd"), just do one of the following.

- "shutdown" to shutdown
- "shutdown -r" to reboot
- "shutdown -i" to get a GUI
- "shutdown -l" to logoff