Showing posts with label Troubleshooting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Troubleshooting. Show all posts

Monday, January 2, 2017

Sunday, December 25, 2016

How to troubleshoot the RPC server is unavailable

Recently I got this odd error called RPC server is unavailable , none of the .exe files in my PC ran and it was very slow , also some settings were unavailable ,I found this solution in the net and thought I would share it .
If you are a Windows user, there is a high probability you have encountered an “RPC server is unavailable” error. RPC errors, which occur in situations involving communication between two or more machines through a network, are all too common in Windows. Before tackling the causes of the error and and ways to fix it, it is essential to first know about RPC in detail.

What is RPC?
RPC stands for Remote Procedure Call, which utilizes inter-processing communication technology for Windows processes within a network. RPC works on the basis of a client-server communication model, wherein client and server need not always be a different machine. RPC can also be used to set up communication between different processes on a single machine.
RPC is a kind of request-response protocol, which can be easily explained using a client/server communication model. For purposes of this tutorial, a process invoking a request will be termed as a “client” and the process responding back to the request as a “server.” Do note that here the client or the server can be different devices in a network system or can be different processes residing within a single system.
In RPC, a procedure call is initiated by a client system, which is encrypted and then sent to the server. The call is then decrypted by the server and a response is sent back to the client. RPC plays a vital role in managing devices remotely across a network and is used to share access to peripherals such as printers and scanners. On a simple note, any Windows process involving the distribution and sharing of data over a network usually uses RPC technology. Therefore, it is quite common to face an “RPC server unavailable” issue if you are a Windows user. Remote calls are, however, very intermittent when it comes to the performance and are therefore difficult to trace down.

Reasons for RPC errors
1.     File and printer sharing are disabled
This is the most common cause of RPC errors. When a procedure call or a request is made to a peripheral device such as a printer, the peripheral must be enabled for RPC and must be connected to the network with the client for it to function. If anything goes wrong here, RPC will cease to function.
2.     Network connectivity issues
Since remote procedure call relies on the network for its functioning, lack of a proper network connection might lead to server unavailability issues. In such cases, a client fails to send out a procedural call to the server resulting in the “RPC server unavailable” error.
3.     Name resolution issues
When a client initiates a request, the request is sent to the server using its name, IP address, and port address. If an RPC server’s name is mapped to a wrong IP address, it results in client contacting the wrong server and can possibly result in an RPC error.
4.     Firewalls
A third-party firewall or any other security application running on a server, or on a client, might sometimes block the traffic from reaching the server on its TCP ports, resulting in the interruption of RPCs.
5.     Registry corruption
RPC depends on a valid Windows registry to work. If any of these entries are modified incorrectly or become corrupted, the RPC service will likely stop functioning.
Dealing with RPC errors -
As mentioned earlier, firewalls or any other security-related applications running on the system can block traffic from RPC requests. If you have a third-party firewall installed, try configuring it to allow incoming and outgoing connections for RPCs and other applications that you intend to use in RPCs.

If you’re unable to configure the firewalls, try to turn off the feature for a while until your RPC is successfully made. This way, you can find out whether your firewalls are the root cause for RPC errors.

If you use the default Windows firewall, make an exception for Remote Procedure Calls and Remote desktop for RPC to function.

It can be way to complex to fix these RPC errors manually. Same for me ;) . So I suggest using 3rd party softwares such as SpeedyPC and Reimage.

These tools can  fix all the registry entries in the system and clean all the obsolete items in the registry to improve the overall system’s performance. Tool scan be quite handy to repair your system.

Thursday, January 7, 2016

How To Remove Shortcut Virus in one minute

What is a Shortcut Virus?
A shortcut virus is nothing but a malware that hides your original files/folders inside shortcuts.
Even though  the original files are in the drive itself, you can neither find it nor copy/cut it to another location using the windows explorer .(in the advanced stage).
At first, it doesn’t harm your files but if not cured later, it makes them corrupt and can even delete all the files depending on the type of shortcut virus.

How Did the Shortcut Virus landed in your USB Drive?
1. You downloaded an executable (.exe) file from untrustworthy third-party software which had the virus hidden.
2. You connected someone’s  infected USB Stick/Pen drive which spread the virus in your PC from where it entered your USB drive after connecting it.
3. You connected your own Flash Drive into someone’s PC which contained the shortcut virus from which it spread over to your removable device .

Method 1 Using Software named USBFix- 

USBFix is a free virus removal tool which will help you to detect and remove shortcut virus. It can scan infected removable devices, USB’s external HDD’s, smartphones, digital cameras, etc.
It’s a plug and play software. Just Download, Open, Run.
This software is designed by El Desaparecido and developed by sosvirus.net.
The options in it are ,
Vaccinate: It is the permanent solution for the shortcut virus. This option will create a new autorun.inf file in your removable drive. An autorun file handles the auto-starting of the drive. So, the newly created file will have protective measures to prevent the shortcut virus from spreading.
Repair: It repairs the damaged files in your removable drive. This will help in the recovery of hidden files, registry entries, task manager and many more
1. Back-Up: This option will backup your files before running UsbFix to revert things back later if something goes wrong. You would be pretty  smart to do this first .
Steps To Remove Shortcut Virus Using UsbFix are given below:
1.First Download USBFIX.
2.Then connect your USB drive/removable device which contains the shortcut virus.
3. After that run USBFIX software.
4. Lastly click on Deletion. On clicking it, the process to remove shortcut virus will start. It will then ask you to restart your PC.

Method 2 > Using command prompt
Some shortcut virus can be harder to remove ,try using command prompt to remove then-

First open Command prompt as Administrator .
For Windows 10/7: Windows key + R > Type CMD & ENTER,
For Windows 8: Search for “CMD” > Right click to CMD and Select “Run as Administrator” or right click over Start button and select “command prompt (Admin) “.
Link Your USB storage (Pen drive/SD card) to your Computer.
Scan your storage with your antivirus program (even free antivirus like Avast would do good) > If your antivirus finds virus then clean/delete/quarantine it.
Type in Command prompt :  attrib -h -r -s /s /d <Your USB drive letter>:\*.* (See <Your USB drive letter> from My computer and then type it For ex, if your drive letter is “D” then the command is like: ” attrib -h -r -s /s /d D:\*.* “)
To know about this command Type ” attrib /? ” In CMD.

Now your Shortcut files again convert to normal files. Delete unknown files from your storage after command process is done. I highly recommend you to after removing shortcut virus copy your USB data to your computer > Format the USB storage > Then again re-copy USB data back.

Well that’s the way I remove shortcut virus when I encounter them. My university computer lab is overflowing with them ;).Know any other way , feel free to discuss .