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There have been a number of people reporting that when they start a virtual machine - they get the following error:

The network adapter with address "00:00:00:00:00:00" of virtual machine "...." failed to initialize because the address is a null address.

To fix this problem you should use REGEDIT to:

• Examine the key value at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002bE10318}\<nnnn>\DriverDesc to locate the desired host adapter where <nnnn> is a four digit number.
• Look at the GUID value for the NetCfgInstanceId key value.
  Add the DWORD key at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\VPCNetS2\Parameters\Adapters\<guid>\Flags and set the value to 0 where <guid> is the GUID found in step 2.
• Restart the computer.

This registry value was added in Virtual PC SP1’s Virtual Machine Network Services driver. It is supposed to be setup during installation by the driver’s notify object. However, under certain circumstances the notify object of the old version is used during the installation of the new version and this registry value is never created. It is used by the driver to determine if a particular host adapter can be used in the MAC address generation algorithm. If the key is not present, we assume that the host adapter cannot be. In the case you experienced, none of your adapters appear suitable as a basis for MAC address generation and the driver returns a NULL MAC address which causes VPC to report the error.

Source: Link

Tools, Windows Vista

To programe python on windows you need the python source files:
Python download

 And a IDE here you can use ActiveState Komodo IDE

Tools

Here I will list some use full tools for setting up your wireless network properly. There are a lot of tools for Linux and Windows xp for discovering wireless networks and their settings and signal strength but they usually does not support Windows Vista.

Here are the tools I discovered:

• Vistumbler
• Inssider

Vistumbler

Vistumbler is a tool for Vista like the NetStumbler. It is an AutoIt script that uses the netsh to get wireless information.

Vistumbler provides information like, SSID, Encryption, signal strength etc. Below are some screen shouts shown

The program supports also GPS location tracking, this means that you can collect the GPS coordinates belonging to the AP's you discover and export them to NetstumblerToKML as shown below

Vistumbler is free and can be downloaded here

More info about Vistumbler can be found here

Inssider

Inssider is a simple free tool that allows you to visually see all wireless traffic. It graphs the signal strength along a timeline of each WLAN in a visual, simple-to-understand format.

Each network will be listed with the information discovered about it.

It is also possible to se a graph of the signal strength over time.

Download Inssider here

More about inssider

Tools

In Windows Vista have the well known HyperTerminal been removed which is a bit annoying when working with ex. Serial communication. But I found this free program, it looks like the usual hyperterminal.

Download

Tools

I have been working on refactoring a protocol for communicating with a blood glucose measurement device since the manufacture haven't released any. To make it possible to reconstruct a protocol I observed the program delivered with the device with this Free Serial Port Monitor. It enables you to se what is been send and received on a Serial Port at different levels of details.

Main site: Download

Morrow: Download

Tools

DeepBurner is available in a portable version. It can be used without install. Just unzip.

Link.

Tools

ExamDiff is a freeware Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista tool for visual file comparison. It has a number of simple and convenient features that many users have been asking for a long time from a file comparison tool.

ExamDiff is a part of a suite of products that includes FtpVC, an FTP based Version Control System that allows joint software development remotely over the Internet.

Key Features

• Automatically detects file changes.
• One push re-compare function.
• Drag and drop support.
• Easy editing of the first and second files, by spawning an external editor of choice.
• Saves the file differences in a standard UNIX DIFF file.
• Easy navigation through the differences.
• "Search" command.
• Fully customizable.
• Adjustable pane splitter with smooth synchronized scrolling.
• Extensive command line interface.

Download link.

Tools

I can recommend Avas! anti-virus home. Its free and runs with a minimal amount of resources.

Link

Tools, Windows Vista

Password: 3g040U42

Link: ftp://ftp.ealaddin.com/pub/etoken/PKI%20Client/PKI_Client_4_0.zip

Tools

The FLEXlm service does not work on windows vista:

But there is a workaround. Follow the steps below:

I had selected compatibility mode "windows xp sp2" for all the apps used below and used administrator rights for all the apps and the console as well.

• Download the files listed for your windows version xp. link
• Unzip them in a folder "c:\flexlm\"
• Place your license file in this folder with the name "license.dat"
• Run "i86_n3_lmgrd -c license.upd -l log -z"
  • z is only used to show you what the app does. incoming / outgoing connections
• Now you computer is running with the license server located on: "localhost:27000"
• Use Rational License Key Administrator
  • Then select the "Point to a Rational License Server..."
  • 
  • Add the license file as well
  •   
  • Then the list will look like
  • 
• Now you can connect to this license server and run Rational Rose as normal.
• 

Tools, Unified Modeling Language