Symantec Endpoint and disappearing file shares

So it seems that Symantec Endpoint Protection 11 is trying to make my life difficult again when I really would prefer that it stays simple. One of my clients called me in a panic saying that her, and everyone elses, "My Computer" screen was empty. Convinced that this could not be the case and that the description she was giving was "erroneous" I told her not to worry and that I would be there soon.

Upon arrival I had a quick look at in Windows Explorer and My Computer and sure enough everything was gone, not just network drives but C: and D: as well. Strange, very strange. Looked at a couple of other workstations and sure enough everyone was the same. Quickly logged into the server thinking the worst (SBS 2008) and everything was exactly as it should be. All the files there, all the shares there and everything accessible. Not to worry, a quick restart should fix the problem and sure enough it did.....for about a week and then it all happened again. After a bit of trouble shooting (ok, a lot) I got round to checking out the AV and after a bit of googling I found a lot of other people having the exact or very similar problem.

No problem I thought, Ill just uninstall Endpoint...but Endpoint had different ideas. I tried to uninstall it but it refused to go and I ended up with a hung server. No choice but to hard power it down. Came back up again and it was half uninstalled. Ok try and uninstall again......hmmmm server hung again so have to hard power it down....again. Start back up.....server has crapped itself and tells me it will be shutting down in 1 minute. About now I am starting to get nervous. Server comes back up and I can log in but all sorts of services are failing and error messages are showing up in the logs. I bounce it again to give it a clean shutdown and restart and it seems to work ok. Decide to try reinstalling Endpoint to see if that will let me uninstall it. Seems to install ok......restart server.....buggeration, its stuffed again.

I continue until I strike some lucky combination of uninstalled and installed state where the server seems happy to come up and everything is working. I tentatively disable the on access scan and still everything works. Hurray, I can go home about 5 hours late.

I am now trying to get my hands on the Symantec Uninstall tool that they apparently have to get rid of the "software" once and for all. I mean, how good can a piece of software be that it needs to have a special tool written just to uninstall it properly.

So, I hear Kaspersky is pretty good, maybe Ill give that I go.

RSAT Tools for Windows 7 RC and Beta

I ended up reinstalling Windows 7 RC on a different computer just because it was time for a change however when I came to install the Remote Server and Administration tools (RSAT) I couldnt find my original download. No worries I thought, Ill just download them again from Microsoft however when I downloaded them I just got an error message that says "The update is not applicable to your computer". That had me scratching my head for a while as they definitely used to work. Turns out that the latest version of the tools that Microsoft released do not seem to be compatible with either the Beta or the RC and after searching around the net for a while, nobody seems to have them.

Luckily for me I was clearing up some old files today and I found the original install package for the RSAT tools.

If you need a copy of the tools then drop me an email at geoffcashmoney at gmail dot com and I will send you the rapidshare link.

Edit: I have been overwhelmed with people looking for this file so am just going to post the RSAT tools link up and can always up them again if they disappear....seems that someone linked to me from a Microsoft forum somewhere and lots of people are looking for these.

In answer to some common questions.....no it doesnt have a virus (but would I tell you if it did and I was trying to give it to you...sheesh) and the file name is the same as described in the link i.e. Windows6.1-KB958830-x86.msu

Cheers guys and gals.

http://rapidshare.com/files/274537551/Windows6.1-KB958830-x86.msu

UPDATE: - guys, I no longer have this so please stop asking. I don't know why anyone would still need them anyway as Windows 7 has been out for ages...why would you still be trying to use a beta release candidate?