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Irritated Goat posted:Reading 2 threads worth of IT peoples and I've come to the conclusion, I am a gigantic door mat. I've got relevant certs but I've been on the Tier 1 Helpdesk for almost 4 years. It's an MSP so I'm not getting much experience working in a normal enviroment. Problem is, I like the company and the people. I'm just not going anywhere. I quite liked a number of the places I worked and got along fine with the people. The work was easy and I was well-liked and very much appreciated. But once I decided I had learned all I could and realized I wasn't going to get a raise I decided to move on for something more challenging. The anxiety is perfectly natural, and quite frankly I find it reassuring because you won't go into a situation brimming with over-confidence and royally screw something up. It's when you no longer feel anxious about something that you need to start worrying. I'm surprised that the vast majority of competent (and I like to think I'm included in those exalted ranks) CJs and System & Network Administrators aren't on a cocktail of anti-anxiety meds. Take the plunge and put yourself out there - your checkbook and brain will thank you later. Your best bet is to plan on where you want to be, then work to make it happen. I started out in 2006 on Helldesk and did that for 30 months, then moved to another job 650 miles away and did CJ/Desktop Support for another 30 months for 2 different companies. Did helldesk for another 6 months after that (but for 45% more pay), before finally jumping into my current job as a Systems Administrator/Server Farm Technician for the last 10 1/2 months. It's starting to feel like old hat, so I spoke to my PM yesterday about moving to the Virtualization team.
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Feb 5, 2014 16:52
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If I move on, I'm worried I'll not have the hands on experience I need and screw up. Hi to you anxiety 
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Sickening posted:This is the first time I have ever heard of someone saying they are having a hard time touching things at a MSP. Have you tried asking to learn new stuff at your current gig? As helpdesk, I just get to answer the most basic calls like password resets. Due to circumstances, another group handles normal Tier 1 stuff like break\fix. I'm trying to get on that for more of what I'm used to but can't guarantee anything. Daylen Drazzi posted:I quite liked a number of the places I worked and got along fine with the people. The work was easy and I was well-liked and very much appreciated. But once I decided I had learned all I could and realized I wasn't going to get a raise I decided to move on for something more challenging. I'm going to figure out where I want to be first and then push for it. I'm leaning towards specializing in storage since it's something I enjoy.
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Feb 5, 2014 16:58
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Irritated Goat posted:As helpdesk, I just get to answer the most basic calls like password resets. Due to circumstances, another group handles normal Tier 1 stuff like break\fix. I'm trying to get on that for more of what I'm used to but can't guarantee anything. Have you introduced yourself to the manager of that group, or other peers over there? Have you let yur current manager know that that's where you want to be? It seems simplistic, and if I sound like a jerk, I apologize, but those two steps are stuff you should do if you havn't yet. Either manager should tell you what they'd need to see to have you take a spot in that dept. Ask 'em.
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Feb 5, 2014 17:54
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Lum posted:Supposedly it's now Games for Windows Marketplace Yeah, that bit (and the old GFWL) install fine. However when running either of them it pops up saying it requires some login application that does something? Which won't even attempt to install. I will look into alternative methods as I wasn't aware those existed. Thanks.
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Feb 5, 2014 18:31
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I want to get out of my current job to find someplace that pays better. Other than the money I love this place and the people here. However it seems every job posted anywhere is through a recruiter, Helldesk or for programmers. I live in a pretty large metro area too so it's not like I am trying to find a job in a little town. I can't really move because of house/wife's job/kids etc. I think the IT job market around here is just total poo poo unless you can program. The few jobs that I do see posted are paying super low. I saw a posting that I wish i can remember where that sounded great until you got to the compensation part where they wanted to pay $15K/year.
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Feb 5, 2014 18:45
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HAHAHAHAH My boss is such a penny-pinching dipshit. Everyone at our company has dual 19" monitors like it's 2005 or something. I had triple (!) 19" monitors when I started, and I asked for dual 22" monitors. He has as stockpile of HP 19" refurbs in various rooms across the building. We're using some new application for our operations department where they can see all of our trucks/drivers via GPS on this map screen. So instead of just buying dual 22" monitors (or hell, one) for $100 each, he bought everyone a third, non-matching 19" monitor. And a $50 video card to run the thing on. There are 19 workstations that need upgraded. So for the past 2 hours, helpdesk has been trying to add this video card to the first one, going through graphics driver hell, and haven't gotten it to work yet. Meanwhile we've got someone who can't do their job because they can't use their PC. Down the road I forsee video cards dying and fans going out, making cool grinding noises for people to bitch about, and Windows crashing because of video driver issues.
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Feb 5, 2014 19:42
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Sickening posted:I don't install windows manually. Its MDT/WDS or bust. I've gone the WDS route before and it's awesome. Is there a way to use WDS to deploy Windows 7/8 to a machine without having it automatically join your AD? I'd love to be able to boot a machine and have an installation start, but most times I don't want that machine on my home domain.
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Feb 5, 2014 20:03
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Hah, reminds me of the time I opened up the side of a PC and stuck an oscillating fan right next to it to keep a video card cool. The fan on it died and it ran the room info abstraction display for the nursing station; if it ever goes down or doesn't display the right info it takes them milliseconds to call about it. No spares so it had to run like that for a day while a replacement was overnighted. Ended up being two days but it held on until then at least.
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Feb 5, 2014 20:12
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Agrikk posted:I've gone the WDS route before and it's awesome. Is there a way to use WDS to deploy Windows 7/8 to a machine without having it automatically join your AD? Absolutely. Basically the setup I use WDS to keep the clean images (using dism scripts to updates them from my WSUS server directories). I install MDT on my WDS server and import WDS images into it. The task sequence you create in MDT you can specify it to not join the domain (among other stuff). I also import office into MDT and all my other apps. Its the only way to go. Its also free!
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Feb 5, 2014 20:41
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GargleBlaster posted:
Haha. Ahahahahaha. Yeah see that's how it starts. "Oh I don't know what everyone's talking about, it was acting weird but now it's working fine!" Let me know how it's going in 3 weeks. If you don't have at least one failed job, I'll eat a delicious cookie. (To be honest, it's perfectly possible that Symantec has actually fixed all the issues through hotfixes and I'm just not aware of it because we've moved away from it, but I rather doubt it - we do still have two clients on it so I'll check and see if their situation has improved any).
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Feb 5, 2014 21:59
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), causing a warning.
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Potato Alley posted:(To be honest, it's perfectly possible that Symantec has actually fixed  poo poo that pissed me off today: wet snow, which broke my snow shovel 
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Feb 5, 2014 22:52
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Potato Alley posted:Haha. We are still on Backup Exec 2010. I had an issue where I had to call support and before they could suggest I upgrade to the latest version I told the tech that I will never upgrade to 2012 because of the way they changed doing backups. He basically said he understands and they get that a lot. It wasn't a problem. We fixed the issue, which wasn't even the fault of their system, and I was on my way. I rarely have issues with the 2010 version, which they still upgrade/patch. Usually it is something with my server or tape library. I do restores almost every day and the only time I had an issue was when a tape actually broke in the library but the data was on another tape and after tearing the library apart to get the bad tape out I was good to go.
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Feb 5, 2014 22:59
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Daylen Drazzi posted:Take the plunge and put yourself out there - your checkbook and brain will thank you later. I was helldesk manager at a company 17 months ago. I am now unironically interviewing for positions that literally pay 4 times what I was making there. If you feel like you can do better, it's because you probably can.
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Feb 5, 2014 23:08
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nitrogen posted:Have you introduced yourself to the manager of that group, or other peers over there? Definitely do this. My tier 1 tech support MSP job (a web hosting company in the old days before "MSP" was really a thing) was how I went from barely knowing how to log into a Unix system and change directories to essentially being a junior sysadmin in all but title within a couple years. If you show the ability and desire to learn new stuff and you aren't a complete fuckup, they'll probably be happy to work with you on moving up to a higher team. And if for some strange reason they don't want to work with you, then don't waste any more time with them; go find yourself a position somewhere else with room to grow. There are plenty of other good companies with good people out there, so don't get yourself stuck in a rut just because your current place is familiar and comfortable and a new job is unknown and scary. After several months in a new job, it'll be just as familiar and comfortable as your current one. Also, don't stress out about screwing up in a new job with more responsibilities; it'll happen eventually no matter how careful you are. If you aren't breaking something now and then in your IT career, it means you're not really doing your job. Just make sure you don't get careless and start making stupid mistakes, and when things do go wrong, make sure that you own up to any issues that were your fault and fix them instead of trying to shift blame or hide them, know (and document) what went wrong and how to avoid it in the future, and don't make the same mistake twice.
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Feb 5, 2014 23:24
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Trastion posted:I do restores almost every day and the only time I had an issue was when a tape actually broke in the library but the data was on another tape and after tearing the library apart to get the bad tape out I was good to go. Pulling bits of tape out is never fun but at least you're you're not running BE12.5 which shits the bed as soon as you look at the library...
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Feb 5, 2014 23:47
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underlig posted:3 meters from me people are having a discussion/meeting at the big desk. IT report to facilities in my company So technically I report to the facilities manager on my project, however he is a bit of an idiot so I just ignore him usually and he doesn't get involved in my work so suits me. Anyway, I have a nice small office that is IT only and everyone else except the main boss share their offices The other week I was asked to leave my office so Facilities manager could use it for a meeting, I laughed at first to pretend to think he was joking, I knew it was a real request but good luck with that! Then yesterday I came back to my office to find the H&S lady sat in my chair, the facilities manager had pulled the other chair right over and they were looking at a paper sat face to face, a few feet apart. On top of that the lights were off and the blinds were pulled. He hadn't noticed I knew they were there so I walked round to HR and said just stick your head in your office and tell me if that is weird, just say you are looking for me or some thing... I could have kicked him out but I don't like him so I thought HR should see it as they think he is a bit of a sleaze anyway. I guess it's a bit of a shitbag way to deal with it but apparently he didn't get the message the first time I said no.
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Feb 5, 2014 23:52
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What the gently caress? If I was asked to leave my office, I'd just go home. How does an IT person (or most office workers) do any work when they're kicked out of their desk/computer?
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Feb 5, 2014 23:56
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Orcs and Ostriches posted:What the gently caress? If I was asked to leave my office, I'd just go home. How does an IT person (or most office workers) do any work when they're kicked out of their desk/computer? Unfortunately its a rather "wonderful" thing called a Company Laptop... Anyone who calls their wife/wedding ring a Ball and Chain has no idea.
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Feb 6, 2014 00:07
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Orcs and Ostriches posted:What the gently caress? If I was asked to leave my office, I'd just go home. How does an IT person (or most office workers) do any work when they're kicked out of their desk/computer? That's why I don't get on with the guy... Because he is more senior he thinks he can just demand anything at any time. He usually back downs when you apply logic to agreeing deadlines to his absurd request so it is all quite manageable, however... The first time he asked to nick my office I might have said no nicely if he had just said please but to just take my office over whilst I'm not there... It was just an added bonus you were seated in an arguably compromising position with a female manager and I got HR to check it out.
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Feb 6, 2014 00:19
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Volmarias posted:poo poo that pissed me off today: wet snow, which broke my snow shovel Pissing me off: working from home full time means no days off due to weather. Having to shovel before the days starts then clearing the driveway apron again during lunch after the plows fills it back in again.
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Feb 6, 2014 01:28
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guppy posted:Last time I sent text like this I specifically included something like "nothing terrible" so they'd know. Never send a non emergency text that sounds like an emergency Yeah pretty much this. I'm always careful with messages like that to not cause panic. "I'll be late because my cars in a ditch, but everyone including the car is fine!", "Give me a call (not an emergency)". Just a few extra words to avoid panic. I've started doing that to e-mails I send to my boss because even on his days off he responds to/fixes things I send him when they aren't important. He works way too hard for this company. I'm glad he's my boss though, aside from giving me a chance to do system administration and well pretty much everything related to IT here despite no real experience outside of compute repairs, he's unbelievably patient and understanding, especially since I'm writing python scripts for our servers while still learning the language and it takes me forever to write things. He's taken time to go over specific areas to try and help me get better at programing since everything I know is self-taught. He also actually asks and listens for my comments/suggestions on various things which is nice, even if the higher ups don't listen to him. poo poo that's pissing me off: VirtualBox. I have a few virtual environments set up (ok, only 2 right now) on my laptop so I can test my scripts locally since I don't always have a connection to our test environment here. Everything was working fine for weeks but now for some reason I can't ssh from the host into any of the virtual machines. I can ssh out to another system and back in to the VM no problem, but not directly from the host to VM. One of the following things happen now: - I get a garbled encryption error through putty/winscp - It works for about a bit but after a certain amount of data is sent/received I lose access - It just fails to connect. The network on all the virtual machines is set as a bridge off my wireless card (no wired connection here ) and gets a DHCP lease since I may be on one of 3 subnets. I only run a single VM at a time because my laptop isn't super powerful. Disabled firewall and av, and sometimes for no apparent reason it will work for a bit (5min or so, giving me false hope), then dies even if I'm just moving files around on the VM itself. Aside from being annoyed that it was working perfectly well up until a week or two ago, it's irritating because not only is my desktop at home setup exactly the same way at multiple VMs with no issue sshing into them but switching to my OpenSUSE partition on my laptop and running the VM there, it all works perfectly fine. I've reinstalled VirtualBox, reinstalled my wireless drivers, checked to see if there were windows updates from when it broke(there wasn't), restored my computer to an earlier point, tried the setup using a wired connection and set up a dummy VM which had the same results. Now, I know at least for the newer VM, I should really have it set up with it's own NAT, since it's FreeBSD with 2 jails and I don't want 3 dynamic IPs. I plan on doing that but I'll still be annoyed with it until I fix the original problem. I may reinstall the windows partition this weekend to see if that fixes it. Edit: vvv Thanks, I will look into those. A c E fucked around with this message at 02:18 on Feb 6, 2014 |
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Feb 6, 2014 02:05
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A c E posted:Virtualbox TCP segment offloading or TCP checksumming problems
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Feb 6, 2014 02:12
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... just use hyper-v?
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Feb 6, 2014 02:31
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Doesn't look like it runs on Windows 7 from my quick google search. I like VirtualBox because I can run the same VM container from both Windows and Linux since I dual boot. It's worked great for me for so long, only just recently decided to poo poo itself on my laptop.
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Feb 6, 2014 04:25
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A c E posted:Doesn't look like it runs on Windows 7 from my quick google search. VMplayer https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/free#desktop_end_user_computing/vmware_player/4_0 Can be a good alternative
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Feb 6, 2014 04:39
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Dilbert As gently caress posted:VMplayer I like VMware and all, but player is a terrible product. It's getting less terrible, but I'd still never use it unless I was heavily invested in Workstation elsewhere
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Feb 6, 2014 04:46
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evol262 posted:I like VMware and all, but player is a terrible product. It's getting less terrible, but I'd still never use it unless I was heavily invested in Workstation elsewhere What did you not like about it? It's good for just a couple vm's. poo poo pissing me off? Having to cancel a gug because "Environment down" only to find out it's not.  I can't login to any of the labs Uhh try blah1 blah2 blah3 Not working need this fixed we've had 2 weeks of cancels due to class needs to work perfect tonight Okay on my way-45 minutes of traffic-  oh hey it was up I guess I didn't try blah1
Dilbert As FUCK fucked around with this message at 05:10 on Feb 6, 2014 |
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Feb 6, 2014 05:05
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Dilbert As gently caress posted:What did you not like about it? It's good for just a couple vm's. The ui is antiquated and looks like it belongs in XP MCE, but mostly that it was crippleware which could use virtually any non-teamed/non-esxi feature workstation supported as long as you imported a VM from a "real" VMware product but couldn't actually create the vmxes, and wasn't (probably still isn't) at feature parity with virtualbox
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Feb 6, 2014 06:11
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evol262 posted:The ui is antiquated and looks like it belongs in XP MCE, but mostly that it was crippleware which could use virtually any non-teamed/non-esxi feature workstation supported as long as you imported a VM from a "real" VMware product but couldn't actually create the vmxes, and wasn't (probably still isn't) at feature parity with virtualbox Uh, no. It can create VMs. It doesn't need to import one at all. It can definitely generate vmx files. There was probably a time when it didn't, but it is not this time, and hasn't been that crippled for a long time.
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Feb 6, 2014 09:40
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HalloKitty posted:Uh, no. It can create VMs. It doesn't need to import one at all. It can definitely generate vmx files. There was probably a time when it didn't, but it is not this time, and hasn't been that crippled for a long time. Seconding this. I use it at work all the time to build quick test environments for the myriad constantly changing diagnostic tools/pre-OS environments that we are supposed to be experts on. Great tool.
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Feb 6, 2014 09:59
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Irritated Goat posted:Reading 2 threads worth of IT peoples and I've come to the conclusion, I am a gigantic door mat. I've got relevant certs but I've been on the Tier 1 Helpdesk for almost 4 years. It's an MSP so I'm not getting much experience working in a normal enviroment. Problem is, I like the company and the people. I'm just not going anywhere. Sometimes you just gotta let management know that if your career doesnt start getting mobile upwards, you'll be forced to start looking around. Don't get stuck in a rut, becoming known as "the helpdesk guy" is harder to break out from than just coming in off the street.
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Feb 6, 2014 11:04
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I'm not in IT, and not entirely sure which thread to post this in, but I saw this today and it seemed a bit off. Hopefully the unplugged ones are the ends of the same cable abandoned in place.
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Feb 6, 2014 12:36
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Bad Angus! Bad!
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I'm interested in the cable in port 11 of the second switch appearing to be a clothes line.
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Feb 6, 2014 13:54
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Caged posted:I'm interested in the cable in port 11 of the second switch appearing to be a clothes line. Well, that's what they get for making the IT department pull all nighters. Next thing he'll find is a set of smart clothes being washed in the dishwasher.
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Feb 6, 2014 14:01
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ArcMap decides to crash due to me doing dangerous and experimental tasks such as 'pressing the print button' and 'changing legend text'. Esri 
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Feb 6, 2014 14:39
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HalloKitty posted:Uh, no. It can create VMs. It doesn't need to import one at all. It can definitely generate vmx files. There was probably a time when it didn't, but it is not this time, and hasn't been that crippled for a long time. It's been able to create then since 3 or something, yes, but my problem is that features it supports (forcing entry into BIOS, for example) work if you edit the vmx by hand or import from workstation, but player had no way to do it last time I used it.
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Feb 6, 2014 15:00
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Delivery McGee posted:I'm not in IT, and not entirely sure which thread to post this in, but I saw this today and it seemed a bit off. The other week, I visited a remote office to install a PoE switch and some new WAPs:  I didn't have time do do anything about it, so I had to put the new switch in and leave it like that. At least I documented it was a mess, so it will be sorted at somepoint. no it won't
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Feb 6, 2014 15:30
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Feb 6, 2014 15:32
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Still better than having an installer just restart your computer, happend to me on a Remote desktop server not long ago, thank god it was not in production yet.
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Feb 6, 2014 15:53
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Oh you guys and your small network closets are cute. at a customer site, but we're technically responsible for it. It doesn't look like this anymore.
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