Bitlocker TPM and Active Directory Batch File Script for Windows 7

This DOS batch file script does everything for Bitlocker:

-Updates Group Policy and forces no logoff (we use a separate OU for computers staged to be encrypted)
-Enables the TPM
-Sets the TPM password
-Asks for USB drive letter
-Enables Bitlocker
-Backs up key to USB drive
-Backs up key to Active Directory, creates folder based on Hostname of PC
-Copies .BEK key file from USB drive to the network location of your choice (must edit)

rem bitlocker.bat copyright Galen Wollenberg LagunaBeachComputer.com 2014
@echo.
@echo )\.-. /`-. .') )\.---. )\ )\ ' )\.--.
@echo ,' ,-,_) ,' _ \ ( / ( ,-._( ( \, / ( ._.'
@echo( . __ ( '-' ( )) \ '-, ) \ ( `-.`.
@echo ) '._\ _) ) _ ) )'._.-. ) ,-` ( ( \ \ ,_ ( \
@echo( , ( ( ,' ) \ ( ) ( ``-. `.)/ ) ( '.) ) v1.0
@echo )/'._.' )/ )/ )/,__.' )..-.( '.( '._,_.'
@echo 888888b. d8b 888 888 888
@echo 888 "88b Y8P 888 888 888
@echo 888 .88P 888 888 888
@echo 8888888K. 888 888888 888 .d88b. .d8888b 888 888 .d88b. 888d888
@echo 888 "Y88b 888 888 888 d88""88b d88P" 888 .88P d8P Y8b 888P"
@echo 888 888 888 888 888 888 888 888 888888K 88888888 888
@echo 888 d88P 888 Y88b. 888 Y88..88P Y88b. 888 "88b Y8b. 888
@echo 8888888P" 888 "Y888 888 "Y88P" "Y8888P 888 888 "Y8888 888
@echo .d8888b.
@echo d88P Y88b
@echo Y88b.
@echo "Y888b. 888 888 88888b. .d88b. 888d888
@echo "Y88b. 888 888 888 "88b d8P Y8b 888P"
@echo "888 888 888 888 888 88888888 888
@echo Y88b d88P Y88b 888 888 d88P Y8b. 888
@echo "Y8888P" "Y88888 88888P" "Y8888 888
@echo 888
@echo 888
@echo 888
@echo .d8888b. d8b 888 888 888 888
@echo d88P Y88b Y8P 888 888 888 888
@echo Y88b. 888 888 888 888
@echo "Y888b. .d8888b 888d888 888 88888b. 888888 888 888 888
@echo "Y88b. d88P" 888P" 888 888 "88b 888 888 888 888
@echo "888 888 888 888 888 888 888 Y8P Y8P Y8P
@echo Y88b d88P Y88b. 888 888 888 d88P Y88b. " " "
@echo "Y8888P" "Y8888P 888 888 88888P" "Y888 888 888 888
@echo 888
@echo 888
@echo 888
@echo.
@echo *** Did you Move the USAVxDxxx to Bitlocker Staging in AD?
@echo.
@echo n | gpupdate /force

@echo.
@echo *** Enable TPM
manage-bde -tpm -t
@echo.
@echo *** Set TPM Password
manage-bde -tpm -o P@ssw0rd

@echo off
@echo.
set usbletter=e:
Set /p usbletter= "Enter the letter of the USB drive ([e:]): "
If "%usbletter%"=="e:" goto :sub_gotlettere

@echo.
echo * USB Drive is %usbletter%
echo.
echo *** Deleting existing .BEK files on USB...
echo.
attrib -h -s -r -a %usbletter%:\*.BEK
del %usbletter%:\*.bek
echo.
echo *** Enabling Bitlocker Encrytion on C: ...
@echo.
Manage-BDE.exe -on c: -recoverypassword -recoverykey %usbletter%
@echo.
goto sub_go

:sub_gotlettere
@echo.
set usbletter=e:
echo * USB Drive is %usbletter%
@echo.
echo *** Deleting existing .BEK files on USB...
echo.
attrib -h -s -r -a e:\*.BEK
del e:\*.BEK
echo.
echo *** Enabling Bitlocker Encrytion on C: ...
@echo.
Manage-BDE.exe -on c: -recoverypassword -recoverykey e:
goto sub_go

:sub_go
@echo.
Manage-BDE.exe -protectors -get c:|findstr ID >%Temp%\ID.txt
echo+
echo+
echo+
echo *** Saving Bitlocker Key to Active Directory...
echo.
for /f "tokens=1,2" %%a in (%temp%\ID.txt) do manage-bde -protectors -adbackup c: -id %%b
echo+
@Echo ****** VERIFY THE KEY WAS SAVED TO AD, ignore 1st/3rd ERROR ABOVE ^ *****
@echo.
@Echo ****** LOOK FOR this V , up Above ^ *****
@Echo ****** "Recovery information was successfully backed up to Active Directory." *****
@pause
echo.
echo * This is %computername%
Echo.
echo *** Creating folder at I:\BITLOCKER\Saved_Keys\Enterprise\%computername%
echo.
md \\data\it\BITLOCKER\Saved_Keys\Enterprise\%computername%
attrib -h -s -r -a %usbletter%\*.BEK
@echo.
@echo *** Copying .BEK key file from USBdrive to
@echo *** I:\BITLOCKER\Saved_Keys\Enterprise\%computername%
echo.
copy %usbletter%\*.BEK \\data\it\BITLOCKER\Saved_Keys\Enterprise\%computername%
start \\data\it\BITLOCKER\Saved_Keys\Enterprise\%computername%\
echo.
@echo ****** NOW You Just Need to RENAME the .BEK file
@echo ****** adding the %computername%_xxxxxxxx_xxxx_xxxx_xxxx_xxxxxxx.bek ******
@echo.
@echo 8888888b.
@echo 888 Y88b
@echo 888 888
@echo 888 d88P .d88b. 88888b. 8888b. 88888b.d88b. .d88b.
@echo 8888888P" d8P Y8b 888 "88b "88b 888 "888 "88b d8P Y8b
@echo 888 T88b 88888888 888 888 .d888888 888 888 888 88888888
@echo 888 T88b Y8b. 888 888 888 888 888 888 888 Y8b.
@echo 888 T88b "Y8888 888 888 "Y888888 888 888 888 "Y8888
@echo.
@echo 888888b. 8888888888 888 d8P 8888888888 d8b 888
@echo 888 "88b 888 888 d8P 888 Y8P 888
@echo 888 .88P 888 888 d8P 888 888
@echo 8888888K. 8888888 888d88K 8888888 888 888 .d88b.
@echo 888 "Y88b 888 8888888b 888 888 888 d8P Y8b
@echo 888 888 888 888 Y88b 888 888 888 88888888
@echo d8b 888 d88P 888 888 Y88b 888 888 888 Y8b.
@echo Y8P 8888888P" 8888888888 888 Y88b 888 888 888 "Y8888
@echo.
@echo .d8888b. 8888888b. 888 888
@echo d88P "88b 888 Y88b 888 888
@echo Y88b. d88P 888 888 888 888
@echo "Y8888P" 888 d88P .d88b. 88888b. .d88b. .d88b. 888888
@echo .d88P88K.d88P 8888888P" d8P Y8b 888 "88b d88""88b d88""88b 888
@echo 888" Y888P" 888 T88b 88888888 888 888 888 888 888 888 888
@echo Y88b .d8888b 888 T88b Y8b. 888 d88P Y88..88P Y88..88P Y88b.
@echo "Y8888P" Y88b 888 T88b "Y8888 88888P" "Y88P" "Y88P" "Y888
@echo.
@pause
rem ren \\data\it\BITLOCKER\Saved_Keys\Enterprise\%computername%\*.bek rem \\data\it\BITLOCKER\Saved_Keys\Enterprise\%computername%\

Windows 7 Media Center MCE Losing or Changing ClearQAM Channels After Channel Scanning or Internet TV Guide Update – How to Fix

Windows 7 Media Center MCE Losing or Changing ClearQAM Channels After Channel Scanning or Internet TV Guide Update – How to Fix

After setting up Windows Media Center with my new Hauppauge 2250 Tv Tuner Card, I had all of my HD digital TV clearQAM channels piped in from Cox coax and it was wonderful.
However after the MCE tv guide updated on the internet, my channel listing dropped some good channels and changed the listing numbers. Here is how I fixed my MCE channels and stopped Media Center from changing the channels automatically (wrong) on me.

read this:

http://joelsef.blogspot.com/2011/01/clear-qam-channels-remapping-in-windows.html

you have to scan for channels with the network disconnected.
This will pull a ‘real, full scan’
You will want to stop the scan once a few channels show up, but not let it complete. IE stop around %45 scan complete.
now go into the channel editor in MCE and write down which frequency/channel the station is actually using such as ‘86.1’ and the detected bitrate QAM64
now repeat re-scanning/overwriting channels until you get all the ones you want written down. see my list below as an example.

now, when you plug your network back in, the internet directory info will ‘correct’ a few stations, this is actually screwing them up and overwriting actual signals with what it thinks should be there from the info in the internet lookup.

since you have written down the actual frequecies for the stations prior, you can go into the ‘add missing channels’ setup and manually add the ‘overwritten channels’

THEN YOU HAVE TO DISABLE CHANNEL UPDATING IN THE REGISTRY:
http://joelsef.blogspot.com/2011/01/clear-qam-channels-remapping-in-windows.html

here are my Cox Orange County, CA HD channels

internet guide channel# desc real chl/freq QAM bitrate
4.1 KNBCDT 23.45 64
4.2 KNBCDT2 23.315 64
5.1 KTLADT 86.2 64
5.3 KTLADT3 88.6809* 64
6.4/2.1 KCBSHD 2.1 40.3 256
7.1 KABCDT 31.1 256
7.2 KABCDT2 31.4 256
9.1 KCALDT 40.1 256
11.1 KTTVDT 31.3 256
12.1 KDOCHD 35.43284* 256
13.1 KCOPDT 80.19653* 64
13.3 KCOPDT3 6.7123* 64

*MCE windows 7 only allows up to 3 decimal places for manual channel entry. These channels had to be auto scanned by MCE for me to receive them. I was not able to manually add them due to the longer digits

more info here http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6069&p=73943#p73943

Bitcoin exchange to resume withdrawals after slump

Major bitcoin exchange Mt Gox announced on Monday that users should soon be able to withdraw funds from their accounts amid growing tensions and a price collapse for the virtual currency.
Japan-based Mt Gox is the second-biggest bitcoin exchange in the world – representing around 18 percent of total bitcoin trade in the last week, according to Bitcoinity.org. A halt in withdrawals last weekend left customers unable to transfer their investments into U.S. dollars.
The price of the virtual currency has plunged to below $300 on the exchange in recent days, compared to a figure of around $650 on other major exchanges. Bitcoin had traded above $1,200 at its peak back in November but has since halved in price.

In a new statement on Monday Mt Gox apologized for the inconvenience caused by the recent suspension of external bitcoin transfers and said that it had implemented a workaround that should enable withdrawals and mitigate any issues.

“With this new system in place, Mt Gox should be able to resume withdrawals soon. At the beginning we will do so at a moderated pace and with new daily/monthly limits in place to prevent any problems with the new system and to take into account current market conditions,” it said in a statement on its website on Monday.
“We will update everyone again by Thursday at the latest.”

Withdrawals were halted last week as the exchange’s technical team investigated a problem with the way bitcoin withdrawals were processed. This followed several weeks of users complaining of slow withdrawal rates. Mt Gox blamed its ongoing technical issues on a critical flaw in the cryptocurrency which it said affected all exchanges.
It detailed a bug in the bitcoin software that made it possible for people to use the bitcoin network to alter transaction details. That could give the false impression that bitcoins had not been sent to a bitcoin wallet, when in fact they had.
Mt Gox caused anger in the bitcoin community when it blamed the fault on this issue — known as called “transaction malleability”. A representative from the Bitcoin Foundation, an organization that aims to promote and protect bitcoin, hit back at Mt Gox’s claims, saying that it was actually due to its highly customized software, its customer support procedures, and its unpreparedness.
This war of words continued with Mt Gox chief executive Mark Karpeles suggesting to Forbes magazine on Thursday that the flaw ought to have been solved by the Bitcoin Foundation as it has been known about since 2011.

The “Fast Money” crew reacts to tech investor Marc Andreessen’s comments on Bitcoin. And trader Brian Kelly sees promise in the digital currency.
Mt Gox has been described as the “original” bitcoin exchange by fans of the digital currency who see it as facilitating its fledgling growth in the early days of the technology. Mt Gox once claimed that it handled around 80 percent of all global dollar trades for the currency. However, the exchange hasn’t been without its own set of public relation disasters.
It recently experienced lengthy delays when exchanging bitcoin into U.S. dollars and has previously experienced high-profile DDoS (distributed denial-of-service attacks) hacking attacks which slow down its user experience. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security seized its bank account in May 2013, saying it had never properly registered as a money services company.
Customers have taken to social media to express their dissatisfaction about the latest halt to trade, and bitcoin news website CoinDesk reported on Friday that a small protest had been conducted outside the offices of Mt Gox in Tokyo.

Bitcoin is a “virtual” currency that allows users to exchange online credits for goods and services. While there is no central bank that issues them, bitcoins can be created online by using a computer to complete difficult tasks, a process known as mining. Some 12 million bitcoins are believed to be in circulation, with a cap of 21 million — meaning no more bitcoins can be created after that point.

—By CNBC.com’s Matt Clinch; Follow him on Twitter @mattclinch81

Bitcoin Price Tumbles Over %50 In Six Days On News Of Bugs, Exchange Glitches and DDoS Attacks

bitcoin_falls

Important Announcement: In order for our team to resolve the BTC withdrawal issue it is necessary for a temporary pause on all external bitcoin withdrawal requests in order to obtain a clear technical view of the current processes. We have updated our statement on this matter HERE. The MtGox trading platform, deposits, and withdrawals will perform as usual for the needs of our customers.
Dear MtGox Customers and Bitcoiners,

As you are aware, the MtGox team has been working hard to address an issue with the way that bitcoin withdrawals are processed. By “bitcoin withdrawal” we are referring to transactions from a MtGox bitcoin wallet to an external bitcoin address. Bitcoin transactions to any MtGox bitcoin address, and currency withdrawals (Yen, Euro, etc) are not affected by this issue.

The problem we have identified is not limited to MtGox, and affects all transactions where Bitcoins are being sent to a third party. We believe that the changes required for addressing this issue will be positive over the long term for the whole community. As a result we took the necessary action of suspending bitcoin withdrawals until this technical issue has been resolved.

Addressing Transaction Malleability
MtGox has detected unusual activity on its Bitcoin wallets and performed investigations during the past weeks. This confirmed the presence of transactions which need to be examined more closely.

Non-technical Explanation:
A bug in the bitcoin software makes it possible for someone to use the Bitcoin network to alter transaction details to make it seem like a sending of bitcoins to a bitcoin wallet did not occur when in fact it did occur. Since the transaction appears as if it has not proceeded correctly, the bitcoins may be resent. MtGox is working with the Bitcoin core development team and others to mitigate this issue.

Technical Explanation:
Bitcoin transactions are subject to a design issue that has been largely ignored, while known to at least a part of the Bitcoin core developers and mentioned on the BitcoinTalk forums. This defect, known as “transaction malleability” makes it possible for a third party to alter the hash of any freshly issued transaction without invalidating the signature, hence resulting in a similar transaction under a different hash. Of course only one of the two transactions can be validated. However, if the party who altered the transaction is fast enough, for example with a direct connection to different mining pools, or has even a small amount of mining power, it can easily cause the transaction hash alteration to be committed to the blockchain.

The bitcoin api “sendtoaddress” broadly used to send bitcoins to a given bitcoin address will return a transaction hash as a way to track the transaction’s insertion in the blockchain.
Most wallet and exchange services will keep a record of this said hash in order to be able to respond to users should they inquire about their transaction. It is likely that these services will assume the transaction was not sent if it doesn’t appear in the blockchain with the original hash and have currently no means to recognize the alternative transactions as theirs in an efficient way.

This means that an individual could request bitcoins from an exchange or wallet service, alter the resulting transaction’s hash before inclusion in the blockchain, then contact the issuing service while claiming the transaction did not proceed. If the alteration fails, the user can simply send the bitcoins back and try again until successful.

We believe this can be addressed by using a different hash for transaction tracking purposes. While the network will continue to use the current hash for the purpose of inclusion in each block’s Merkle Tree, the new hash’s purpose will be to track a given transaction and can be computed and indexed by hashing the exact signed string via SHA256 (in the same way transactions are currently hashed).

This new transaction hash will allow signing parties to keep track of any transaction they have signed and can easily be computed, even for past transactions.

We have discussed this solution with the Bitcoin core developers and will allow Bitcoin withdrawals again once it has been approved and standardized.

In the meantime, exchanges and wallet services – and any service sending coins directly to third parties – should be extremely careful with anyone claiming their transaction did not go through.

Note that this will also affect any other crypto-currency using the same transaction scheme as Bitcoin.

Conclusion
To put things in perspective, it’s important to remember that Bitcoin is a very new technology and still very much in its early stages. What MtGox and the Bitcoin community have experienced in the past year has been an incredible and exciting challenge, and there is still much to do to further improve.

MtGox will resume bitcoin withdrawals to outside wallets once the issue outlined above has been properly addressed in a manner that will best serve our customers.

More information on the status of this issue will be released as soon as possible.

We thank you for taking the time to read this, and especially for your patience.

Best Regards,
MtGox Team

More Bitcoin Exchanges Forced Out of Sync After Massive DDoS Attack
http://it.slashdot.org/story/14/02/12/1559233/more-bitcoin-exchanges-forced-out-of-sync-after-massive-ddos-attack
An anonymous reader tipped us to news that several Bitcoin exchanges have joined Mt Gox in suspending withdrawals after being forced out of sync with the Bitcoin network at large. After Mt Gox blamed transaction malleability for forcing them to suspend withdrawals, miscreants started flooding at least Bitpay and Btc-e with bogus transactions. Quoting the Bitcoin Foundation:
“Somebody (or several somebodies) is taking advantage of the transaction malleability issue and relaying mutated versions of transactions. This is exposing bugs in both the reference implementation and some exchange’s software. We (core dev team, developers at the exchanges, and even big mining pools) are creating workarounds and fixes right now. This is a denial-of-service attack; whoever is doing this is not stealing coins, but is succeeding in preventing some transactions from confirming. It’s important to note that DoS attacks do not affect people’s bitcoin wallets or funds. “

Mt. Gox Bitcoin Exchange Halts Withdrawls, Bitcoin Price Tumbles %33

Statement Regarding BTC Withdrawal Delays – UPDATE
Posted: Feb 07 14:34 JST

Dear MtGox Customers,

In our efforts to resolve the issue being encountered by various bitcoin withdrawals, it was determined that the increase in the flow of withdrawal requests has hindered our efforts on a technical level. To understand the issue thoroughly, the system needs to be in a static state.

In order for our team to resolve the withdrawal issue it is necessary for a temporarily pause on all withdrawal requests to obtain a clear technical view of the current processes.

We apologize for the sudden short notice. All bitcoin withdrawal requests will be on pause, and the withdrawals in the system will be returned to your MtGox wallet and can be reinitiated once the issue is resolved. The trading platform will perform as usual for the needs of our customers. 



Our team will resolve this problem as soon as possible and will provide an update on Monday, February 10, 2014 (JST).



We deeply apologize for the inconvenience caused, and thank you for your kind support and considerations. 


Sincerely,

The MtGox Team

bitcoin falls 33
-gman

BitFinex Bitcoin Exchange Experiences Major Margin Limit Accounting Glitch

BitFinex Bitcoin Exchange Experiences Major Margin Limit Accounting Glitch

Starting the evening of Tuesday Feb 5, 2014, the Hong Kong based bitcoin exchange BitFinex experienced a MAJOR Margin Limit Accounting Glitch.

I had about BTC 0.38 in my account (approx $300 USD), and suddenly could trade with a margin of over $130,000!
I was able to make a few small trades before the error was notices, the exchange locked up, and the error was fixed. My outstanding position with over $4000 in ‘overdrawn’ margin was promptly cancelled by morning.

If I ever see this glitch again I will not hesitate to take out a $130,000 position and trade with it.
bitfinex_margin_glitch

Bitcoin Tops $1,000 Again on Acceptance by Zynga

Bitcoin Tops $1,000 Again on Acceptance by Zynga

The price of Bitcoin surpassed $1,000 again on the Mt.Gox exchange, after Zynga Inc. (ZNGA) said it would start accepting the virtual currency for some of its online social games as the digital money becomes more widely used.

Bitcoins, which exist as software and aren’t controlled by any country or banking authority, surged to about $1,119 on the exchange today, one of several markets where they are traded for dollars, euros and other currencies.

Bitcoins first crossed the $1,000 threshold in late November and reached record at $1,238 on Mt.Gox on Dec. 4, but then plummeted to as low as $640 after China’s largest online market for the virtual currency stopped accepting deposits. The digital currency has rebounded as more merchants accept Bitcoins for everything from Gummi bears to smartphones on the Internet. Zynga is the latest merchant to accept Bitcoins, which can be used to buy virtual items in games.

“Bitcoin has been remarkably resilient in the face of all the bad news out of China,” Nicholas Colas, chief market strategist at ConvergEx Group, wrote in an e-mail. “The strength shows a continued interest, which is a very positive sign.”

Bitcoin Accepted by Zynga
Bitcoin Accepted by Zynga

China Bans Financial Companies From Bitcoin Transactions

China’s central bank barred financial institutions from handling Bitcoin transactions, moving to regulate the virtual currency after an 89-fold jump in its value sparked a surge of investor interest in the country.

Bitcoin plunged more than 20 percent to below $1,000 on the BitStamp Internet exchange after the People’s Bank of China said it isn’t a currency with “real meaning” and doesn’t have the same legal status. The public is free to participate in Internet transactions provided they take on the risk themselves, it said.

China Banns Banks from Bitcoin Transactions