Featured learning path
Office IT Admin Survival Guide
New users, Active Directory, permissions, Microsoft 365, email, printers, SharePoint, OneDrive, MFA, troubleshooting, and escalation.
View the course outlineThe IT work people actually ask you to do
Everyday IT
Practical guidance for helpdesk technicians, junior administrators, MSP techs, and office admins who inherited IT and need to get common work done without guessing. Start safe. Understand what matters. Fix the problem. Know when to stop.
Start here if the ticket is sitting in front of you
Everyday IT is the practical front door to Aki Inu Tech. It focuses on repeatable work, common mistakes, safe changes, and the checks that help you avoid turning a small issue into a bigger one.
Core method
Users → Groups → Access
Learn the simple mental model behind onboarding, permissions, Microsoft 365 access, SharePoint, and many of the problems new technicians see every week.
Everyday IT topics
Built around the work that shows up constantly in offices and MSP helpdesks.
01 · Available now
New Users & Onboarding
AD accounts, Microsoft 365 licensing, groups, email, access, devices, and the things people forget during new-hire setup.
Set up a new user02 · Available now
Active Directory
Creating users safely, copying known-good setups, OUs, useful user properties, group membership, lockouts, and common logon issues.
Work safely in Active Directory03 · Available now
Groups & Permissions
Security groups, distribution lists, role-based access, NTFS versus share permissions, and a practical way to think through access denied.
Understand groups and permissionsFile Permissions · Diagnose
Share Permissions vs NTFS Permissions
When the UNC path works but access still fails, prove the identity and separate the SMB share layer from NTFS and effective access.
Find the failing permission layer04 · Available now
Microsoft 365 & Email
Licensing, user and shared mailboxes, distribution lists, common mailbox problems, and basic mail trace.
Troubleshoot Microsoft 365 email05 · Available now
Printers
Drivers, ports, PCL versus PS, quick installs, test prints, spooler problems, and why a printer works on one machine but not another.
Troubleshoot a printer06 · Available now
SharePoint & OneDrive
Plain-English file access, group-based permissions, sync problems, and why something can work in the browser but fail in File Explorer.
Fix SharePoint and OneDrive accessSharePoint & OneDrive · Diagnose
Browser Works but OneDrive or File Explorer Does Not
Use the working browser path as known-good evidence, then isolate account, sync relationship, client state, and the local File Explorer path.
Diagnose browser versus local access07 · Available now
Passwords & MFA
Resets, cached credentials, lockouts, registration problems, mobile versus desktop symptoms, and safe MFA recovery concepts.
Troubleshoot sign-in and MFAIdentity & Access
Conditional Access Sign-In Failure
Match the exact Entra sign-in, read the policy result, prove the failed control, and preserve tenant-wide security boundaries.
Follow the decision tree08 · Available now
Troubleshooting & Escalation
What changed, one user versus everybody, where to look first, what to verify, and which changes should not be made casually.
Use the troubleshooting frameworkOutlook
Rebuild an Outlook Profile
Prove the mailbox is healthy, create a fresh Classic Outlook profile, let it resync, and verify before removing the old profile.
Rebuild the profileWindows
Clear Windows Temp Files Safely
Clean the common Temp locations, skip active files, and know when cleanup is no longer the real answer.
Clean Temp filesOneDrive
Recover Disk Space with Files On-Demand
Understand OneDrive status icons, distinguish logical size from physical disk use, and release cached files without deleting cloud content.
Recover disk spaceVPN
VPN Troubleshooting
Separate the client, gateway, reachability, credentials, MFA, backend authentication, and post-connect resources.
Prove where the VPN failsVPN · Post-connect
VPN Connected but Nothing Works
When the tunnel is up, prove the exact resource, DNS, route, service, identity, and permission path before changing the VPN client.
Troubleshoot the resource pathScanner
Scanner Not Detected
Work from power and USB path through Windows detection and vendor software before blaming the device.
Troubleshoot a scannerScan to Email
Copier or Microsoft 365?
Use scan time, Exchange receive time, quarantine evidence, and copier transmission history to locate the delay.
Trace scan-to-emailFile Access
Mapped Drives & File Access
Figure out whether the user really needs an SMB share, drive mapping, SharePoint library, or OneDrive location before changing access.
Find the real resourceVPN Follow-on
VPN Works but the Drive Does Not
Move past the tunnel and test DNS, routing, server reachability, UNC paths, credentials, and permissions.
Troubleshoot post-connect accessScan to Folder
SMB Path, Account & Permissions
Build and troubleshoot scan-to-folder using a known UNC path, approved scan identity, least-privilege access, and a real copier test.
Troubleshoot scan to folderOutlook
Outlook vs Outlook on the Web
Use the browser version to separate mailbox and Microsoft 365 problems from local Outlook client, profile, cache, and workstation problems.
Isolate Outlook vs cloudMicrosoft 365
Office Account & Licensing Problems
Untangle personal-versus-work sign-ins, missing entitlements, old subscriptions, and unclear Office ownership before reinstalling apps.
Troubleshoot Office activationWorkstations
New PC Setup Checklist
Build the user's working environment across identity, data, apps, printers, scanners, docks, access, updates, and final validation.
Build the workstationWorkstations
When to Replace a Workstation
Recognize when repeated software failures, severe slowness, hardware trouble, and constant resource pressure have crossed into replacement territory.
Know when to stop repairingWorkstations · Decision
Repair, Rebuild, or Replace a Workstation
Use data risk, fault scope, repair history, hardware trust, downtime, and recovery confidence to choose the smallest durable option.
Choose the durable pathMicrosoft 365
Former Employee Mailbox Handling
Separate account access, mailbox retention, shared-mailbox conversion, delegation, and verification when an employee leaves.
Handle the mailbox safelyMicrosoft 365
Mailbox Restore, Delegation or Forwarding?
Decide whether the real need is historical recovery, mailbox access, future delivery, sending identity, or former-employee preservation before changing the mailbox.
Choose the mailbox pathShared Mailboxes
Shared Mailbox Permissions
Understand Full Access, Send As, Send on Behalf, propagation, auto-mapping, and reliable access verification.
Verify shared mailbox accessMail Flow
Message Trace: Prove Delivery
Use exact timestamps and message trace to prove whether Microsoft 365 received, delayed, delivered, rejected, or quarantined a message.
Trace the messageOutlook
Outlook Signature Troubleshooting
Compare Outlook with the web and use a clean test signature to isolate client formatting, roaming-signature, and mail-flow causes.
Troubleshoot the signatureCalendars
Calendar Sharing Troubleshooting
Identify the mailbox, tenant, sharing policy, recipient domain, and exact sharing path before changing permissions.
Troubleshoot calendar sharingMobile Sync
Mobile Exchange Sync Troubleshooting
Separate mailbox health from stale Apple Mail authentication and token state after password, MFA, or security changes.
Restore mobile syncOutlook
Outlook Profile Creation Fails
Use web sign-in, connectivity, Office state, cached credentials, and Autodiscover evidence before rebuilding Outlook again.
Diagnose profile creationSharePoint Sync
SharePoint Sync Troubleshooting
Separate library sync, OneDrive shortcuts, browser access, File Explorer state, and pending changes before rebuilding anything.
Troubleshoot SharePoint syncPermissions
Access Denied After a Group Change
Verify the permission path, Effective Access, share and NTFS layers, and the user’s refreshed access token before rebuilding ACLs.
Verify the access changeMFA
MFA Recovery Without Weakening Security
Recover lost phones, broken registrations, and missing prompts with identity verification and approved recovery methods.
Recover MFA safelyAccounts
Recurring Account Lockout Troubleshooting
Find stale credentials, forgotten devices, services, saved sessions, and other sources instead of repeatedly unlocking the account.
Find the lockout sourceShared Mailboxes
Shared Mailbox Not Showing in Outlook
Prove delegation, propagation, and auto-mapping before treating mailbox visibility as an Outlook profile problem.
Troubleshoot mailbox visibilityTroubleshooting Hub
Troubleshooting Paths
Start with the symptom, establish scope, compare a known-good path, and follow the evidence to the failing layer.
Choose the next testField Checklist
IT Troubleshooting: The First 10 Minutes
Define the symptom, time boundary, scope, known-good comparison, likely layer, evidence, and one safe next test before making broad changes.
Use the checklistScope
Scope the Problem Before You Fix It
Determine whether the issue affects one user, one device, one location, one resource, or everyone before changing anything.
Find the blast radiusCompare
Use a Known-Good Comparison
Change one variable at a time across users, devices, clients, networks, and resources to isolate the failing layer.
Run a controlled comparisonChange Safety
Change Safety & Rollback Planning
Capture current state, understand blast radius, define rollback, and make the smallest justified change.
Plan the change safelyVerification
Verify Before You Close
Separate change verification, technical proof, workflow testing, and user validation before declaring the work resolved.
Prove the outcomeEscalation
Escalate With Evidence
Hand off the scope, evidence, failed tests, risk boundaries, rollback state, and exact unresolved question.
Build the handoffTicket State
Workaround vs Resolution
Distinguish restored productivity, containment, validation pending, and a verified resolution with an explicit exit plan.
Name the outcome correctlyAfter Resolution
Prevent Recurrence
Turn resolved incidents into better documentation, monitoring, configuration, ownership, and reusable knowledge.
Keep the lessonFile Permissions
Restrict Inherited Folder Permissions Safely
Preserve a known-good access path, define rollback, change inheritance carefully, and prove both allowed and denied access.
Protect the access pathDisk Failure
Failing Disk: Protect Data Before Rebuilding
Verify the protection state, reduce unnecessary writes, preserve recoverable data, and replace failing storage before rebuilding.
Protect the data firstSecurity
Suspicious Sign-In First Response
Verify the user, preserve sign-in evidence, use approved containment, and escalate when account compromise is plausible.
Protect the identity boundarySecurity
Malware Alert First Response
Confirm the alert, preserve evidence, contain through approved tooling, verify mitigation, and escalate unresolved risk.
Triage the alert safelySecurity · Action State
Quarantine, Delivery or False Positive?
Separate detection from the action taken, delivery state, user impact, and evidence before deciding an alert is a false positive.
Prove what happenedInfrastructure
Shared Service Outage Triage
Recognize shared symptoms, identify the common dependency, gather evidence, and move upstream without redesigning production.
Find the shared layerInfrastructure
Server Restart Safety
Know the server role, dependencies, recovery access, evidence, reason, and success criteria before restarting production.
Plan before restartingDo the common work confidently without pretending every problem is simple.
Everyday IT teaches the safe, practical layer first. When the problem gets deeper, Aki Inu Tech's tutorials, cases, Practical IT Library, PowerShell, and advanced material are there for the next level.