TABLE OF CONTENTS Perhaps the most common task that any system administrator performs is finding and correcting problems in a computer. Sometimes these issues are easy to identify and other times they are not. Luckily, the Windows operating system provides a set of tools that can assist administrators. However, these tools lack some of the advanced functionality required to troubleshoot some of the most intricate issues.
In this chapter, you will learn how to make sense of the infamous Blue Screen of Death (BSOD). You will also discover how to identify conflicts in settings and access permissions, as well as detect issues with loaded drivers and running processes. You will also learn how to detect and correct issues with Active Directory.
The dreaded Blue Screen of Death, or BSOD, used to be much more common than it is today. With Microsoft Windows 98 and Windows NT 4.0, the BSOD was virtually a daily occurrence for some users. With Windows 2000 and later versions, the operating system is much more stable and the BSOD is a much rarer event.
BSODs do still occur, though. For many people, the BSOD is a screen of meaningless gibberish on a blue background that immediately precedes a system reboot. Nevertheless, that gibberish, and the information extracted from memory and saved in the resulting dump file, holds the clues to help you identify what caused the system crash so that you can resolve the problem if you know...
