Advanced Configuration Settings

 

 

Prior to Hyena v7.5, Hyena's advanced settings were set using registry values that had to be manually created by the end-user.  These settings can now all be viewed and managed under Tools > Settings > Advanced.    These additional advanced settings are still controlled through special registry entries under:

 

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adkins Resource\Hyena\Advanced

 

Advanced Settings

 

ComputerSoftwareRegistryValues - This setting can be added for controlling the registry values (fields) that get displayed on the Computer Properties->Software dialog. Set this value to a list of the registry values in the order that they should be displayed; separate each value by a ','. For example:

 

DisplayName,DisplayVersion,Publisher,Comments,Contact

 

Note that the contents of the 'Properties' dialog is limited to displaying only the first 14 values.

 

MaxServiceControlRetry - Use this option to set the number of attempts that Hyena makes to wait for a service to start/stop.  By default, Hyena will try 15 times with a 3-second wait to see if a service responds to a start/stop request.   For example, to get Hyena to only try 5 times (5 x 3 seconds = 15 second max. wait), set this value to a '5'.

 

DoNotMakeNullIpcConnection -  This setting forces Hyena to NOT create a NULL IPC$ connection when an error is encountered reading user and group information, typically when listing user and group members.  This is only applicable to Windows NT or local group and user management.  Set to 'True' to skip attempting to establish a NULL IPC$ connection.

 

MaxNTPasswordLength - By default, Hyena restricts Windows NT passwords to 14 characters.  To use a long password length on Windows NT systems, set this registry setting to a longer value.  The default value is 14.  For setting the password length on Windows 2000 systems, see the MaxW2kPasswordLength setting below.

 

MaxW2kPasswordLength - By default, Hyena restricts Windows 2000 passwords to 30 characters.  To use a long password length on Windows 2000 systems, set this registry setting to a longer value.  The default value is 30.

 

ShowAllProfileConnectionDrives - Normally, for Windows NT users, Hyena will show drive letters A: through Z: on the user and terminal server profile dialogs.  For Windows 200x, Hyena by default will only use letters C: through Z:.  This is due to Microsoft's standard.  However, if your environment needs to use drives A: or B: for Windows 200x, enable this setting.

 

EnableTemplateButtonForMultiUsers - Hyena's home directory template options are generally used when creating new users or after a modification to an existing user's profile.  The 'Use Template...' button (User Properties->Profile) is by default only visible when modifying a single user account.  This setting will enable it for multiple user accounts.  See the Using a Template During User Modification topic for more information on this setting.

 

OverwriteHomeDirOwnership - This option only applies when the security settings are being overwritten as configured on a home directory template definition and if a non-default home directory ownership has been established in the template definition by using the Set Owner... button. By default, if the security information on a home directory is overwritten with what is specified in a template, the existing ownership of the directory is unaffected. To force the ownership to be changed as defined in the template set this value to 'True'.  Warning: Forcing the %username% to be the owner can result in the Administrators group being unable to view or manage the contents of the directory unless the Administrators group is also given rights to the directory in the template definition.

 

ShowDataTruncationWarning and ShowCopyToFileOverwriteWarning - These two settings control the display of the warning dialogs when copying data to the clipboard or to a file.  The 'Truncation' setting is used to warn when data is being copied that has been truncated, indicated by the presence of ..! at the end of any text.  The 'FileOverwrite' warning verifies that you want to overwrite an existing output file.  The default is to display both warning dialogs.  To restore the default settings, either delete these registry entries or set the values to 'True'.  

 

IncludeGroupNameOnClipboardCopy - By default, Hyena will include the group name when copying local (non-Active Directory) group member information to the clipboard.  To disable this feature, set this value to 'False'.

 

MaxEventLogsEntryBuffer - Use this setting to control how many event log entries Hyena reads at one time when viewing a single event log on one computer.  By default, Hyena will read 100 event log entries at one time.  If you want a larger buffer, set this entry accordingly.  Set it to a zero (0), to force Hyena to read ALL event log entries.

 

MaxToolProcesses - This option controls the maximum number of tool commands (processes) that can be created at one time from items selected in the right window. The default is 20.  Set it to a higher value if you want to create more processes when executing tool commands.  Note that setting it to a very large value could cause Windows to become unstable.

 

AdObjectPhotoViewCmd / AdPhotoAttributeName - These two settings allow more control over the Active Directory user photo information.  For more information about user photos and these settings, see the Active Directory User Photo Integration topic.

 

GpoEditCmd - Use this setting for controlling the command used to edit Group Policy Objects. The default command used is mmc gpedit.msc /gpobject:"%s". Use a %s as a placeholder for the GPO object GUID ID.

 

UseOuToolbarSettingsInTree - Hyena does not normally use the OU filtering toolbar for any displays in the tree (left) window.  However, if this option is enabled, Hyena will use the OU filtering toolbar settings for both the left (tree) and right results window.  OUs and Containers will always be shown in the tree window, however, regardless of the setting on the filter toolbar settings.

 

RestoreOuToolbarOnOpen - Hyena always restores the OU filtering toolbar to default settings when Hyena is opened.  To force Hyena to save the settings and restore them to the last settings used, enable this option.

 

EnableAdFindOK - Use this option to turn ON/Off the option to enable the OK button on the Active Directory 'Find' dialog.  Set this value to 'False' to remove the OK button.  The default setting is 'True' (enable/show OK), even if the value is not present or set.

 

DefaultOUsTreeQuery - All of Hyena's Active Directory displays are built using user-customizable queries.  For the left (tree) window, the directory attributes used when displaying the main OU and container listing by default are the 'name' and 'description' attributes.  To set a different list of directory attributes, set this value to the directory name(s) separated by a comma.  Enter only one or two attributes as Hyena is only able to show two attributes in the left window.

 

This setting only affects the display of the OU/container listing in the tree window directly under the main Containers/OUs object.

 

GetUserGroupsFromGC - A problem has been addressed with the new mechanism used in Hyena v6.6 to display a user's group members. Hyena will retrieve the user group members from a global catalog server using a different method than was used in the initial v6.6 release. This new functionality and method, however, will only be used if this registry setting is added and enabled. Enabling this new feature will force Hyena to retrieve a user's group members from a global catalog server using the GC:// protocol (moniker) instead of LDAP. This will allow all of the user's universal group memberships in the entire forest to be visible. Without this feature, only the user's group members in the domain will be visible.

 

NOTES

UseAdSslEncryption - To enable Active Directory encryption using SSL, create this value and set to 'True'. Note that enabling this feature requires performing the requirements outlined at

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/321051

 

Note: Hyena must be restarted when this value is changed. When enabled, Hyena will use SSL for all AD access for all domains. To work properly, the domain name in Object Manager (File->Manage Object View) should use a DNS format, ie "LDAP://mydomain.com".

 

UseAdSignAndSeal - Use this setting to enable Active Directory Kerberos-based encryption using signing and sealing.

 

Note: Hyena must be restarted when this value is changed. When enabled, Hyena will use Kerberos encryption for all AD access for all domains. To work properly, the domain name in Object Manager (File->Manage Object View) should use a DNS format, ie "LDAP://mydomain.com".

 

ForceAdUserChildDelete - By default, Hyena uses an LDAP function to delete all non-computer directory objects.  However, this function will fail if the object contains sub-containers.  Another function can be used to delete a container and sub-containers and enabled for user accounts.  Generally user account containers never contain sub-containers, but some 3rd party products and other future Microsoft products might add them.  To force Hyena to delete all AD sub-containers under a user object when a user is deleted, create this value and set to 'True'.

 

ExporterProInterfaceDirectory - This setting can be used to specify the directory to be used when creating and updating the Exporter Pro interface files HYENA_EXPORTER_PRO.DAT and HYENA_EXPORTER_PRO.INI. Normally, these files are updated in the Hyena installation directory. The contents get overwritten each time the 'Export From Selected Objects' function is used. To use a different directory, create a registry value with the name of 'ExporterProInterfaceDirectory', with a REG_SZ datatype. Set this value to the full path of the directory to place / update these files, ie: X:\Apps\Hyena\Exporter Pro Files

 

ShellOpenCommand and ShellExploreCommand - These two settings are used for controlling the commands to use for any 'Explore' or 'Open' options for directories. By default, Hyena uses a Windows shell API to explore/open Windows Explorer. This API works in the majority of cases, but recent changes by Microsoft to enhance Windows security on Windows XP/Vista can cause unexpected problems. For example, Windows Explorer will by default automatically attach to an existing Explorer process, which is always running. If an application such as Hyena was run under a higher priviledge than the current default logon account, Windows will consequently run Explorer under the reduced security context when executed from Hyena. This may be acceptable in some situations, but if the directory you are exploring requires administrative access, access will be denied. To create a command to run Explorer under the same security context as Hyena is being run under, these two different registry entries need to be created.

 

These registry values must have the REG_SZ data type. After creating these values, Hyena will use any command string entered for these values when the Explore or Open options are used on any directory context menus, as well as the Explore buttons on user property dialogs. Commands that should produce the same behavior as the standard Windows shell function are:

 

Open (ShellOpenCommand) - explorer.exe /root,%E%

Explore (ShellExploreCommand) - explorer.exe /e,%E%

 

Hyena will replace %E% with the directory path that is selected.

 

PingRetryLimit - Set this value (the default is '1') to the number of pings (retries) to attempt. If a ping is successful, Hyena will immediately stop pinging. But if a ping fails, Hyena will keep attempting to ping up to the retry limit set. See the PingTimeoutMultiplier setting below or review Ping Options.

 

PingTimeoutMultiplier - A ping timeout can be set on the Ping Options dialog (Tools->Settings->View). If a ping retry limit (see PingRetryLimit above) it set to something greater than 1, then each time a ping fails, Hyena will multiply the ping timeout value (default is 500 ms), by the ping timeout multiplier. The default value of this setting is '1', which effectively forces all ping attempts to use the same timeout value. For example, if the ping retry limit is set to '4', and the ping timeout is set to the default of 500 ms, and a ping timeout multiplier is set to 2, the following values will be used on the four (4) ping attempts:

 

Ping #1 - 500 ms timeout

Ping #2 - 1000 ms timeout (500 * 2)

Ping #3 - 2000 ms timeout (1000 * 2)

Ping #4 - 4000 ms timeout (2000 * 2)

 

Ping Notes: Keep in mind that the purpose of the ping options in Hyena is to determine if a computer is operational or not, in order to prevent lenghty RPC timeouts from causing Hyena to 'hang'. These RPC timeouts are controlled by Windows and applications like Hyena that use underlying Windows APIs that in turn use RPC are blocked by Windows until the called function returns control. Setting a ping retry limit and optionally a ping timeout multiplier can cause delays if used improperly.

 

Also, when a computer is clicked on in any of Hyena's windows, Hyena will attempt a ping so that the user can be alerted if the computer is non-functional. This is done because Hyena has no way of knowing what action (right click function, or in the case of the left window, the computer could be expanded to select a sub-object such as services, etc.) is about to be taken.

 

ReplaceEventLogParameters - Some event sub-systems will place parameters into the event message string which, if not replaced, will appear in the event description as %%<parameter number>.  To force Hyena to attempt to replace these parameters with their text replacement content, enable this option.  If Hyena crashes after enabling this option when viewing some event log message, contact SystemTools Support.

 

MicrosoftExcelExportFile - By default, when using the option to copy output to Microsoft Excel (Edit->Copy), Hyena will create a file named 'Excel_Export.TXT' in the following directory:

 

<user profile>\Application Data\SystemTools\Hyena

 

To change the default location or file name, set this entry accordingly.  Do not set a value that will be shared with other Hyena users.

 

Export Command - To use an alternate program or change the command used by Hyena to launch Microsoft Excel when copying output to Excel (Edit->Copy), set this value. Use %E% in the ExportCommand setting as a placeholder for the output file name. For example, to open the output file in Notepad, use the command:

 

notepad.exe %E%

 

AdCrLfReplacementString - Some attributes in Active Directory allow the inclusion of carriage returns and/or line feed characters (CR/LF). Windows will usually represent CR/LF characters as a square box visually on the screen, but when the data is sent to the clipboard or output file, it can cause problems with other applications, such as Microsoft Excel.  Use this setting to specify one or more characters which will replace any CR/LF combinations found in AD data.

 

ShowDeletedLocalAccounts and ShowUnknownLocalAccounts - Unresolvable SIDs can be found in local groups when a member (user or group) is added to the local group from a domain.  If the connection to the domain is unavailable, Windows has no way of looking up the member account and thereby cannot display the account name. When this happens, Windows will report the account as being 'unknown'. The SID can be represented in a text format such as S-1-5-21-....-5065.

 

If the domain is available, but the account added to the local group has been deleted, Windows will return information that the account has been deleted. These deleted SID entries can also be shown in a textual format.

 

By default, Hyena never shows either type of member when viewing local group membership listings. These two advanced options, ShowDeletedLocalAccounts and ShowUnknownLocalAccounts, can be enabled to show unresolvable SIDs. Setting either option to 'True' will display the applicable unresolvable SID type.

 

These settings only affect Hyena's display of local group members in the left or right windows; it does NOT affect how Hyena displays the group members on a local group properties dialog.

 

ForceListWindowScrollRefresh - Setting option to 'True' will force Hyena to partially refresh the right list window when it is scrolled down. This option is mainly meant to fix a long-standing Windows screen refresh issue when a list control (used in Hyena's right window) has the gridlines turned on. Under some conditions, such as when using multiple monitors or very large monitors with high resolutions, Windows will not properly redraw the gridlines when the contents are scrolled vertically. However, turning this option on may result in a noticeable and distracting flicker each time the window is scrolled. Hyena must be restarted after changing this setting.

 

WmiQueryTimeoutSeconds - Some WMI queries can result in a timeout before the results are returned back to Hyena. If a timeout-related error occurs, you can increase the value with this setting. The default timeout is 60 seconds. WMI also supports an infinite timeout, which can be enabled by setting this value to a '0'. Be careful when using an infinite timeout however, as this will cause Windows to block Hyena until the WMI function returns.

 

x64ForceWindowsRegistry - When 32-bit applications are used to access a computer running a 64-bit version of Windows, Windows will automatically redirect some registry operations to use a different section of the registry. For many registry locations, there are duplicate and alternate locations when using Windows on a 64-bit platform. This results in very confusing and in some cases misleading information when looking at registry results when using a 32-application to look at a 64-bit system.

 

This advanced option, when set to 'True', will force Windows to access the 64-bit registry locations. This option has no effect if using the 64-bit version of Hyena.

 

A context menu option is available on the main 'Registry' object for any computer, as a shortcut to switching this option on and off. When using the 64-bit version of Hyena, this menu option will not be available.

 

RegAsmLocation - Hyena should normally automatically register the COM component used for Exchange 2010 management functions.  To do this, Hyena must find and run the regasm.exe utility.  If Hyena is unable to find this file, the path and name of the registration program can be entered here. Modify this value to the full path and name of regasm.exe, for example: 'C:\Program files\.Net_Files\MyRegAsm.exe.' If you are using a 64-bit system, the regasm.exe version must be a 64-bit version.

 

UseHyenaObjectPicker - Note: To see what is meant by the Microsoft 'Object Picker', select a group, right click, select Properties, then click the Members tab, then click 'Add'. The resulting dialog is the built-in Microsoft object selection common control interface.

 

Hyena relies on the built-in Microsoft Active Directory 'Object Picker' for selection of different users, groups, etc. when managing, for example, members of a group or a user's group memberships. Unfortunately, Microsoft's implementation of the query and selection of an Active Directory object can be cumbersome and time-consuming.  This setting will allow usage of Hyena's native object picker instead of Microsoft's. To enable Hyena's new Object Picker, select Tools->Settings->Advanced, scroll to the bottom of the list and set the 'UserHyenaObjectPicker' option to 'TRUE'. T

 

Note: This setting currently only will affect the object picker used when managing groups members if you are using the native Hyena group properties dialog (ie not the Microsoft 'shell' dialog). To force the display of the Hyena group properties dialog, hold the Alt key down when accessing the Properties of a group. Alternately, change the setting under Tools->Settings->Active Directory for 'Show shell property pages by default for group objects'.  In future releases, this newer interface will be offered as the default for object selection on all object selection functions.

 

DateFormatMask and DateTimeFormatMask - Many of Hyena's displays of date and date/time information require formatting of the date/time into a format acceptable to the end-user, depending upon the user's locale and Control Panel date/time formatting settings. To create a customized format, use these two settings. Hyena uses the DateTimeFormatMask when the date contains a relevant time portion, and the DateFormatMask when the value is generally date-only. Both masks use the formatting codes as documented in the Windows strftime function. Search Google or Microsoft.com for 'strftime' to see the various formatting codes. For example, to set a format of Month - Day - Year (Weekday), use: %m - %d - %Y (%A)

 

To reset the format mask back to default, set the value to blank.

 

Important Note: Hyena has no way of validating this formatting mask and invalid format codes can have unpredictable results with Windows (ie application crashes). If this happens, simply restart Hyena and reset the masks back to an empty value.

 

This setting has no impact on some Active Directory date displays, as the formatting of these values is determined by Control Panel settings.

 

ForceWindows7RAS - Due to changes made by Microsoft in Windows 7, current release versions of Hyena will forceably disable the RAS (Dialin) properties when viewing the User Properties. This was done to prevent errors when attempting to view or save any dialin settings, since these errors were creating a large number of support incidents. These errors were the result of Microsoft changing Windows 7 system components that essentially disabled the RAS functionality. When used on Windows 7, Microsoft's own Active Directory Users and Computers snapin will also not display any RAS/Dialin settings.

 

Microsoft may have either addressed these issues, or this may only be a continuing issue when a Windows 7 client is used to manage a pre-Windows 2008 domain. To allow the possibility that some configurations can still be used to manage user dialin settings, the user properties Dialin tab can be re-enabled on a Windows 7 client by setting to true the setting 'ForceWindows7RAS'. Note that you must still also turn on the option to show user RAS (dialup) information on the Tools->Settings->User dialog. This setting also has no effect on the Shell Properties for a user as these dialogs are still controlled by Microsoft.

 

If changing this setting, Hyena must be restarted. When enabled, the Hyena user properties dialog will have a Dialin tab. If an error is encountered when trying to view or save the Dialin settings, then the client does not have the right Microsoft support libraries to manage RAS settings. Turning this advanced setting back off will prevent the errors.

 

HideFileReparsePoints - Microsoft uses file system Junction Points (called "Reparse Points") to provide backward compatibility for some Windows folders. These folders are usually pointers to another location and are therefore usually, but not always, inaccessible. Attempts to access the contents will result in 'Access Denied' errors. Hyena will now display these junction points with an alternate icon image, with a shortcut arrow, next to the folder, similar to what is done now in Windows Explorer when run on Windows 2008 or Windows 7. Normally, these directories are hidden by default in Windows Explorer, but they can be displayed by using the View menu options under Explorer.

 

Hyena will by default display all system files and folders, including junction points. To turn on or off the option to view these special system pointers on directory displays, use the HideFileReparsePoints advanced setting. Setting this option to TRUE will make Hyena NOT display the reparse (junction) points.

 

EnableCrimsonLogs - By default, Hyena will automatically detect if a remote system supports the EVTX (Crimson) format. If it does, Hyena will use EVTX functions for all event log access. To disable this capability, and force Hyena to always use the older EVT event log functions, set the advanced EnableCrimsonLogs setting to FALSE,

 

ShowDisabledCrimsonLogs - Hyena will by default only display enabled EVTX (Crimson) event log.  To display disabled logs, set this value to TRUE.

 

ReadRegistryRegistrationOnly - By default, Hyena will look in the active user's profile directory for a file named register_key.dat for any registration information.  If this file is not found, Hyena will then look in the registry for registration licensing information.  The registration locations and values are:

 

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adkins Resource\Hyena\Win32\AccessKey

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adkins Resource\Hyena\Win32\Licensee

 

The 'Licensee' value contains the upper-case name of the organization that has licensed the software; the 'AccessKey' value contains the 16-digit license key.  The values are provided in the emailed license certificate after purchasing Hyena.  Both values must be entered exactly as provided.  

 

After entering the license information into any of Hyena's licensing dialogs, Hyena will validate and automatically create/re-create the register_key.dat file.  Therefore, each time Hyena's licensing information is changed, for example, after a maintenance renewal or upgrade, the register_key.dat file will be recreated.

 

Due to the usage of group policies, it may be desirable to simple add the licensing information into the registry through a GPO, and thereby sync any updated licensing information for everyone using Hyena within an organization.  If doing this, the ReadRegistryRegistrationOnly setting can be set to TRUE to prevent Hyena from reading the register_key.dat file and only retrieve licensing information from the registry from the two locations listed above.

 

Set the ReadRegistryRegistrationOnly to FALSE to restore the default behavior.

 

UserPreviewWindowWidth - The width of the 'preview' window to the right side of Hyena's user properties dialog can be set with this setting.  The default value is 250.  

 

DefaultExchange20xxAlias - When creating new Exchange 2010 or later mailboxes, Exchange requires that alias be specified for the mailbox.  By default, the alias field is blank and must be manually entered.  To have Hyena default the Alias to the existing account's 'samaccountname' directory attribute, set this advanced setting to a value of '1'.  Set it to a zero to force manually entry of the Alias.  Note that this only will set a default Alias when creating a mailbox; the user can still override the default and enter their own.

 

AE_DisableFullRowSelectOnEdit - If the option to highlight the entire row in the Active Editor is enabled (Tools > Settings > Active Editor), enabling this setting will disable the full row selection when an item is being edited.  Depending on the Windows color scheme, the full row selection can be distracting when edits are performed.