Unable to contact IP driver. General failure.

For some reason I cannot ping my domain controller.(It runs on Windows 2008 r2)

Pinged the server ip for the server itself , got the below error

c:\>ping xx.xx.xx.xx
Unable to contact IP driver. General failure.
 Tried to ping the loop back ip
c:\>ping 127.0.0.1
Unable to contact IP driver. General failure.

After extensive Googling, here is a solution I found:

It appears the TCP/IP stack may be corrupt.

Logged into the server via admin account , turned off the UAC then taking the following steps to reinstall and reset TCP/IP heap to its original state:

 1)Run the cmd as administrator (operation requires elevation (Run as administrator).
2)Type  netsh int ip reset in the Command Prompt shell, and then press the Enter key.
3)Restart your computer.
 Eventually pleasedownload and update the network driver to the latest version. If you server is VM, then goahead and update you VM tools.

Simple Exchange 2010 installation

Cut the bull crap. I have been through what seems like endless amounts of tutorials, blogs, and other instructional guides on a simple Exchange 2010 install for a small Windows domain environment(100 total systems/200 AD users). Why so many nonsensical/fluff included in these guides is beyond me.

Here is what worked for me:

• Pre-reqs: 
• Configure a Windows 2008 r2 domain controller and DNS server. (same system is fine)
• Create a domain account that is part of the following groups: <Schema Admins, Domain admins, and Enterprise Admins>
• Load the Exchange 2010 DVD and perform the three separate commands from command line on the DC itself since it also 'extends the AD schema'. Make sure you prepare AD first: 
• Log in as a member of the schema admins domain security group. If there is an existing Exchange organization in place, run setup /prepareAD from the drive containing the Exchange 2010 installation DVD. If there is no existing Exchange organization in this environment, run setup /prepareAD /OrganizationName:”<the name of your new exchange organization>”. In the example below, the following command is used: setup /prepareAD /OrganizationName:”First Organization”.
  
• Schema Updates (setup.com /pl, /ps and /p)
• Build a separate Windows 2008 r2 server with all updates for you Exchange server
• Load the Exchange 2010 DVD
• From command line: Install the Exchange pre-reqs:
• Run from this directory of the DVD: install\scripts>ServerManagerCMD -ip Exchange-Typical.xml
• Reboot
• Run the setup.exe file from Exchange DVD and complete installation.

• Make sure you uncheck those two options in IE as was previously mentioned in an earlier post or you will not be able to open the Exchange MMC.
• Then click on Exchange MMC and allow it to complete its initial setup.
• Bingo bango! Finished.

*Now remember this is for a small business or lab environment. When you get into Exchange clusters Edge Transport servers yada yada yada, it will be more complex than this. If your objective is to have an Exchange mail server to work for your internal network, this is all you have to do.

Resetting GPOs to factory default

You ever work so tediously to customize the local GPOs on a Windows Operating system and something just goes array? Then you lose track of what changes need to be made to fix the issue? You can't revert to a 'known good configuration' when it comes to GPO customization...or can you?

I found a solution where you can just remove the GPO you set completely so you can start over from scratch...sometimes you need to do this regardless of the reason/situation. This technique works for Windows Vista/7 and Windows 2008. I did not test on previous operating systems...

Here are the steps:


*Step 1 removes the password restrictions along with other security policies that may prevent you from running steps 2-3.

1) 'Run as' administrator and open up command prompt. Type the command below
and press enter:

Secedit /configure /cfg c:\windows\inf\defltbase.inf /db defltbase.sdb
/verbose

2) In the command prompt, type the command below and press Enter. (see
screenshot below step 7)
NOTE: Substitute D in the command below with your drive letter from step 4
instead.

    RD /S /Q "D:\Windows\System32\

GroupPolicy"

3) In the command prompt, type the command below and press Enter. (see
screenshot below)
NOTE: Substitute D in the command below with your drive letter from step 4
instead.

    RD /S /Q "D:\Windows\System32\GroupPolicyUsers"