New Features

Hyena v7.1 New Features

Dynamic WMI Method Execution

WMI contains a number of class methods that provide functionality that is often difficult or impossible to perform remotely through other tools.  Previous releases of Hyena only provided support for a small fraction of the methods offered by WMI, since a separate dialog and software function was required for each method.

Hyena v7.1 now can access nearly any WMI method, including both class and instance methods.   This new functionality now makes it possible to access previously inaccessible WMI methods to perform actions such as network address changes, DNS updates, Exchange queue functions and more.

Other Changes

Improved AD 'Manage Directory Attributes' function by adding an option to allow the attributes in any AD query to be selected as the attribute set.  This new option, labeled 'Show all attributes defined in this Active Directory query' will by default automatically select the current query used to generate a set of AD objects, but any previously defined query can be selected from the combo box.  

• Added support for new Windows Vista user rights:
  SeTimeZonePrivilege
  SeIncreaseWorkingSetPrivilege
  SeCreateSymbolicLinkPrivilege
  
• Modified the checking done for RAS support when run under Vista so that all Vista RAS functions use MPR interfaces and do not require the RAS .dll file(s).  
• Modified the AD user groups dialog so that any information entered in the manual group add text box will be added when closing the dialog with Enter / OK.  
• Removed trailing spaces from WMI 'Where' conditions.
• Added an advanced registry setting to force Hyena to delete all AD sub-containers under a user object when a user is deleted.  See the 'Advanced Registry Settings' help topic on how to configure this option.
• Added an advanced registry setting to force Hyena to NOT create a NULL IPC$ connection when an error is encountered reading user and group information, typically when listing user and group members.   This is only applicable to Windows NT or local group and user management.   See the 'Advanced Registry Settings' help topic on how to configure this option.
• Increased the number of characters available to enter the username when using the Batch Service Startup dialog.  
• Modified the Shutdown dialog to support entering the shutdown timeout in any combination of hours, minutes, and seconds.  

Hyena v7.0 New Features

Improved Active Directory Query Management

The Active Directory query options have been both streamlined and simplified in Hyena v7.0.   Queries can now be created or customised more easily, and a new View All Directory Attributes option lets you see all existing AD elements for any object.  The 'View All' option is convenient for determining the attribute names used by Active Directory.  

Custom Active Directory LDAP Filtering

Active Directory has always included a powerful mechanism that supports server-side filtering, but until now this capability was difficult to fully utilise.   Hyena now provides an easy method of assigning the LDAP filter from Microsoft's query builder to Hyena's Active Directory engine, a combination that provides for a lot of new flexibility and performance improvements.   New All Disabled Users and All Contacts default queries have been added which use this new capability and any number of other custom filters can be easily created.

Custom LDAP filters can also be executed at sub-container levels, providing the capability to search multiple directory levels, or even the entire directory at one time.

Microsoft Vista Compatibility

We've made a number of minor changes to address compatibility and integration issues with Microsoft Vista and will continue to monitor Vista feedback by our customers.

Other Changes

• Added a Registry Security dialog.
• Improved the Active Directory filtering options (through the AD toolbar) to improvement performance and integration with the new query options.
• Added a new column (cn) for the name of the group when displaying group members.
• When a column in Hyena's results window (right window) has been sorted, the sorted column will be highlighted if a Windows XP manifest file (enabled by default) is being used.
• Improved the performance of reading from a shared settings file stored to a network or WAN location.
• Added capability to enter multiple target computers in the Copy Printers To...  option.   Also saved previous settings on this dialog.
• Enabled copying (Control-C) of the SID and GUID information on the Object tab of any AD properties page.
• Enabled context and property sheet extensions for Active Directory contact objects.
• Added status bar message when retrieving directory information for multiple objects when using the Manage Directory Attributes function.
• Enabled the Security and List Security options for Active Directory public folder objects.
• Added additional space to the Computer Properties->Software->Properties dialog, and also enabled multi-select on the main computer software listing, so that multiple items can be copied to the clipboard.  

Hyena v6.7 New Features

Exporter Pro Improvements

Numerous changes have been to the interface of Exporter Pro to make it easier to view and modify export settings.   We've also updated the documentation.   For a complete list of the changes to Exporter Pro v2.0, included with Hyena v6.7, see the Exporter Pro help file.

Adding Custom Active Directory Attributes to AD Queries

When creating or modifying Active Directory queries using Object Manager (File->Manage Object View->AD Queries), Hyena uses an external text file (ad_schema.dat) to control the display of the Active Directory attribute names and to categorise them by object type.  This is done because Active Directory lacks any simple, fast, and flexible way to show all of the attributes for a given object type.  Moreover, the majority of AD attributes are named in a very user-unfriendly way and the majority of them are not useful or undocumented.  

Hyena's approach was worked well over the years but has one drawback : There isn't a readily apparent way to add custom, new, or specific attributes that are not part of Hyena's built-in attribute list (schema).  Hyena now includes a mechanism to add new or custom attributes to any AD query.  To access this feature, click the dropdown combo box labeled Attribute Category on the AD queries dialog in Object Manager (after selecting the query that you want to modify).  Select the "Other (specify attribute)" category.  The resulting dialog will prompt for the name(s) of the attributes to add.  To add multiple attributes, separate each attribute with a comma ( , ), or a new line by pressing Control-Enter.  

Using Home Directory Templates when Modifying Users

By default, if a user's home directory path is changed, Hyena will prompt after updating the user if a home directory template should be used to set the home directory security.  

A new option has been added to the user Profile and Terminal Server Profile dialogs to select a template.  When a template is selected through the Use Template...  button, Hyena will update the profile path, logon script (non-Terminal Server profile only), drive connection, and home directory path with the values from the template.  The template values will only be used if the settings to be replaced are currently empty.  

When the user is updated after clicking the OK button to close the User Properties dialog, Hyena will apply the security settings, if any, from the template on the user's home directory; Hyena will not re-prompt for the home directory template again, as its assumed that the template selected previously should be used when setting security options.

This new option has been added for instances where it is desirable to have an existing user get a standard set of Profile values without the need to manually enter the settings, and potentially cause problems if typographical errors are introduced.  

This new option is not available when adding users or performing multi-user updates.  

Entering Active Directory Alternate Credentials

Active Directory lacks a domain-level 'logon' capability other than logging in as a particular user or running an entire application under a particular security context ('Run As').  Instead, Active Directory allows an application to provide a username and password each time any directory object is accessed.  Previously, Hyena would let Windows use the current username and password for any directory operation.  Now, an optional different set of credentials can be provided for any domain in Hyena's console.  

Hyena Windows XP Manifest File

Some time ago with the release of Windows XP, Microsoft created a little-known mechanism for developers (or users) to get their applications to use the newer Windows XP 'look' by using a specially formatted XML file called a 'manifest'.  Hyena now includes a manifest file in its installation.  The file is named hyena.exe.manifest and will be installed into the application directory.  You can view the contents of the file if you want; its in XML.  

What the manifest file essentially does is forces Windows to use the newer v6.x of comctl32.dll, which is available on Windows XP.  

Hyena has nothing to do with this mechanism and should not be affected by the changes in the GUI that result when using a manifest file.  

Using a manifest also fixes a problem if you have installed the newer Windows 2003 administration tools and are trying to use the Microsoft Shell Properties dialog for an OU.   If you have the Windows 2003 Admin Tools loaded, the Group Policy tab on the Properties dialog for OUs will have a hotlink to the newer GPMC tool.  Without the manifest, this tab won't function properly if you click on it.  With the manifest file present, it works as expected.   Note that all 'Shell Properties' are not Hyena functions per-se, but are Microsoft-created mechanisms.  

If you prefer the 'older' look of Hyena when run on Windows XP, simply rename the hyena.exe.manifest file to something else.   Note that it will be re-installed when installing updates or patches.

Visual Studio 2003 Conversion

Hyena and Exporter Pro have been rebuilt using Microsoft Visual Studio 2003, including using new MFC and runtime 'C' libraries.  Due to this change, a new installation program is included, which copies new library (.dll) files.  

These new .dll files are named mfc71u.dll, msvcp71.dll, and msvcr71.dll

Visual Studio 2003 is also referred to as the .Net architecture.