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If you need to backup a folder with symlinks and keep them intact use the following from the shell:

tar -csf folder.tar /folder/location/with/symlinks/

This is a fun issuer I can into, but gladly I had the keyboard working on the Windows 7 computer that I was fixing. This can be caused by the “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power” setting being Enabled in Device Manager. Below is a direct copy (Click here for the Original Post) from the Microsoft Community discussion that solved this issue, but be warned it has solutions that involve editing the registry (doing so incorrectly can cause serious issue with Windows) so you should always backup the registry before starting any changes in the Windows registry (See Microsoft KB 322756 for more information):

Perform these steps and check if it helps.

1. Click Start, type Device manager in the Search box and then click Device Manager from the returned list
2. Click to expand USB Root Hub and click the Power Management tab
3. Uncheck the option to Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power and click OK

Note: You may see multiple listings for USB Root Hub, uncheck this option for all USB Root Hubs.
Close the Device Manager

Advance steps would be modifying the registry.

1. Click Start
2. type regedit in the Start Search box, and then click regedit in the Programs list.
3. Locate and then click the following registry subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Executive
4. In the details pane, right-click AdditionalCriticalWorkerThreads, and then click Modify.
5. In the Value data box, type 2, and then click OK
6. Note You can specify a value that is between 1 and 16.
7. Exit Registry Editor.

After listening to a new podcast from Packet Pushers I thought I’d share an awesome looking resource and a link to the podcast:

PQ 158: Introducing NRE Labs For Network Automation Training

NRE Labs – “NRE Labs is a no-strings-attached, community-centered initiative to bring the skills of automation within reach for everyone. Through short, simple exercises, all right here in the browser, you can learn the tools, skills, and processes that will put you on the path to becoming a Network Reliability Engineer.”

Need to get a USB drive back to full space to format after writing it with a different OS? I have had this happen when using an 8GB USB for a Linux Distro install, and then I can’t format it back to the full 8GB again in Windows.

NOTE: You can now format your USB drive.

If you are like me and sometimes close Firefox by accident you should do the following:

Open a new FireFox tab and go to about:config (click the I accept the risk!)
Search for browser.showQuitWarning and change it from false (default) to true