Microsoft Open Specifications Support Team Blog
The official blog of the Engineers supporting the Microsoft Open Specifications Documentation
An Exploration of CFB using Python 6
Directory Entries The general concept of a CFB File is the containment of a hierarchical structure...
Author: King Salemno Date: 05/18/2011
Implementing the Algorithm for Deriving Password and encrypting Connection String in MS-RAIOP
In Microsoft Open Protocol documents, there are many algorithms that involve with crypto operations...
Author: Hongwei Sun-MSFT Date: 05/13/2011
Notes on Kerberos kvno in Windows RODC environment
This blog talks about key version number (kvno) in a read-only domain controller (RODC) environment....
Author: Edgar A Olougouna Date: 05/11/2011
RemoteFX RLGR3 decoding
Microsoft introduced a new remote desktop (RDP) technology called RemoteFX in Windows 7 SP1 and...
Author: Obaid Farooqi Date: 04/29/2011
An Exploration of CFB 5
An Exploration of CFB 5 CFB Mini FAT The Mini FAT is used to allocate much smaller units of...
Author: King Salemno Date: 04/27/2011
MS-PST - The Relationship Between Nodes and Blocks
The current version of the MS-PST open specification document can be found here:...
Author: JCurry Date: 02/11/2011
OOXML SmartArt Pie Chart Construction
OOXML SmartArt Pie Chart Construction In recent years, vector graphics have become much more...
Author: King Salemno Date: 12/03/2010
MS-PST - How to Navigate the Node BTree
The current version of the MS-PST open specification document can be found here:...
Author: JCurry Date: 11/30/2010
Encryption Type Selection in Kerberos Exchanges
The types of encryption used in various Kerberos exchanges are very important and sometime confusing...
Author: Hongwei Sun-MSFT Date: 11/17/2010
NTLM Terminology: MS-NLMP vs. https://davenport.sourceforge.net/ntlm.html
The NTLM Authentication protocol is an old relic. Microsoft, the inventor of the protocol, itself...
Author: Obaid Farooqi Date: 11/15/2010
Notes on sparse files and file sharing
Sparse files are generally referred to as files, often large, that contain only a small amount of...
Author: Edgar A Olougouna Date: 11/05/2010
Common mistakes when reading TS_ICON_INFO in [MS-RDPERP]
Hi, today I’ll brief you about some common mistakes when reading the TS_ICON_INFO structure....
Author: Sebastian Canevari Date: 06/25/2010
.MSG File Format, Rights Managed Email Message (Part 2)
In my last blog, I discussed the general format for an email message saved to disk by Outlook or a...
Author: tomjebo Date: 06/20/2010
RDP 6.0 Bulk Decompression Walkthrough
n a previous blog, RDP 6.0 Bulk Compression Walkthrough, we looked at how a data stream is...
Author: Pyralanna Date: 06/10/2010
RDP 6.0 Bulk Compressing Data Walkthrough
The aim of this blog is to walk through an example of compressing a data sample using RDP 6.0...
Author: Pyralanna Date: 05/26/2010
NTLM V1… no, excuse me… NTLM V2… oh, no, you were right… it’s V1…
… and the discussion goes like that for a couple hours. Have you been in that situation before? If...
Author: Sebastian Canevari Date: 05/03/2010
ActiveSync III
ActiveSync III Dominic Salemno Introduction In the last segment I went over some basic details...
Author: doms Date: 04/24/2010
NTLM keys and sundry stuff
Recently I worked on issues related to NTLM and SMB signing. Reading MS-NLMP made me realize that...
Author: Obaid Farooqi Date: 04/19/2010
About the ACCESS_MASK Structure
Unless otherwise specified, references in this document are from the Windows Software Development...
Author: Bill Wesse Date: 04/01/2010
Understanding the minimum set of DIT elements required by the first DC using MS-ADTS
Active Directory contains a group of objects that also have a group of attributes. All of them exist...
Author: Hongwei Sun-MSFT Date: 03/18/2010
Inside look at one of the domain controller promotion process using DCPromo
In order to add an additional domain controller to an existing domain, DCPromo must be used to...
Author: Hongwei Sun-MSFT Date: 02/01/2010
Verifying the server signature in Kerberos Privilege Account Certificate
This blog post focuses on understanding how a server signature is verified in a Kerberos Privilege...
Author: Edgar A Olougouna Date: 12/31/2009
Details of three TIFF Tag extensions that Microsoft Office Document Imaging (MODI) software may write into the TIFF files it generates
Microsoft Office Document Imaging (MODI) software includes specific tags/constants in the documents...
Author: Mark Miller (WFH) Date: 12/08/2009
Reflecting on another successful Interoperability Lab event
Engagement with partners is an integral part of achieving interoperability with Windows. In addition...
Author: Edgar A Olougouna Date: 12/04/2009
To KVNO or not to KVNO, what is the version!?
Shakespeare knew nothing about Kerberos V5… Nothing! But, I still like him! And that, despite...
Author: Sebastian Canevari Date: 11/13/2009
.MSG File Format (Part 1)
In my previous two blog entries, I’ve focused on becoming familiar with the Compound File Binary...
Author: tomjebo Date: 11/06/2009
Using Openssl to implement Crypto Operations in Netlogon Remote Protocol
Background The Netlogon Remote Protocol remote procedure call (RPC) interface is used primarily by...
Author: Hongwei Sun-MSFT Date: 10/23/2009
Beginning with the PowerPoint Document Stream
This blog will expand on my previous blog Parsing Pictures in a PowerPoint binary file, which...
Author: Mark Miller (WFH) Date: 10/19/2009
A successful story of an Interoperability Lab event
As the protocol documentation support team, we have the responsibility of helping the users of our...
Author: Hongwei Sun-MSFT Date: 10/14/2009
More ActiveSync
More ActiveSync Dominic Michael Salemno Introduction In my previous ActiveSync blog, entitled An...
Author: doms Date: 10/03/2009
Exploring the Compound File Binary Format (part deux)
Exploring the Compound File Binary Format (part deux) In this, part ni (pronounced ne; Japanese for...
Author: tomjebo Date: 09/25/2009
An ActiveSync Primer
An ActiveSync Primer Dominic Salemno What is ActiveSync? When I speak of ActiveSync, I am speaking...
Author: doms Date: 09/18/2009
msDS-SupportedEncryptionTypes – Episode 1 - Computer accounts
Introduction In order to be concise with this article, I need to assume that the reader is familiar...
Author: Sebastian Canevari Date: 09/12/2009
Parsing Pictures in a PowerPoint binary file
In this blog I’d like to cover every aspect of parsing Office binary documents, and do it in less...
Author: Mark Miller (WFH) Date: 09/04/2009
Understanding security descriptor defaulting rules for Active Directory objects
This blog post is to help understand the defaulting rules when assigning security descriptors to new...
Author: Edgar A Olougouna Date: 08/28/2009
Active Directory Technical Specification Control Access Rights Concordance
Active Directory Technical Specification Control Access Rights Concordance The attached PDF document...
Author: Bill Wesse Date: 08/19/2009
Stronger Keys for Netlogon Remote Protocol in Windows 7
Background Netlogon Remote Protocol (MS-NRPC) provides a secure communication between domain members...
Author: Hongwei Sun-MSFT Date: 08/07/2009
S4U_DELEGATION_INFO and Constrained Delegation
Background The constrained delegation extension, also called S4Uproxy, is one of the Service for...
Author: Hongwei Sun-MSFT Date: 07/31/2009
Exploring the Compound File Binary Format
Although the march of progress steadily tramples the old tried and true in favor of enlightened file...
Author: tomjebo Date: 07/24/2009
Overview of Protected Office Open XML Documents
Suppose your application requirement is to programmatically create password “protected” Office Open...
Author: Mark Miller (WFH) Date: 07/17/2009
Understanding unique attributes in Active Directory
In this blog, I would like to help the reader understand the rules that govern unique attributes in...
Author: Edgar A Olougouna Date: 07/10/2009
NegTokenInit2
Just when you think that you have figured out SPNEGO, boom! NegTokenInit2 hits you. At least, that...
Author: Obaid Farooqi Date: 07/06/2009
Using the Windows Server Protocols documentation set to better understand the Active Directory Schema
Implementing an interoperable directory service requires an LDAP compliant backend. At some point...
Author: Pyralanna Date: 06/26/2009
SMB 2.1 Multi-Credit (Large MTU) Operations
One design goal for the SMB 2.1 protocol implementation on Windows 2008 R2 and Windows 7 was to...
Author: Bill Wesse Date: 06/22/2009
PEAP Phase 2 encapsulation examples for a client authenticating with MS-CHAPv2
Protected Extensible Authentication Protocol, or Protected EAP (PEAP) uses EAP as a transport. The...
Author: Edgar A Olougouna Date: 06/05/2009
mechListMIC token
Security can be a tricky business. This is especially true when you want security on an open network...
Author: Obaid Farooqi Date: 05/29/2009
Client caching features: Oplock vs. Lease
Opportunistic locks ,or oplock is a client caching mechanism that allows SMB/SMB2 clients to...
Author: Hongwei Sun-MSFT Date: 05/22/2009
Adventures in Debugging – A protocols perspective
Many times when looking at the details of a network protocol you find yourself asking questions...
Author: rguthrie-msft Date: 05/15/2009
RC4 CryptoAPI Encryption Password Verification
RC4 CryptoAPI Encryption Password Verification -=- Dominic Salemno -=- Information security is...
Author: doms Date: 05/08/2009
NTLM Overview
This blog entry is intended for those readers seeking a consolidated reference for high-level...
Author: Bill Wesse Date: 05/01/2009