Exchange 2007 SP£: Exchange Server Setup encountered and Error.

By Craig August 10th, 2010, under Exchange

Not the most useful error message that you will ever see. Combine this with a lack of information in the Exchange Setup Log and in the Event Viewer you have a small mystery.

However, the answer is probably really simple: Check you have met the pre-requisites for the setup to run.

  • Member of Enterprise Administrators
  • Member of Schema Admins
  • Member of Exchange Organisation Administrators

And the final check, which allowed setup to run for me. If you have UAC enabled on your server, then right click the setup application, and select Run As Administrator.

Feeling a bit stupid for forgettting about this feature. 2 weeks working on Windows Server 2003 makes you forget that these new-fangled security features exist!

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Specified Port is Unknown error when adding Network Printers

By Craig July 1st, 2010, under Server 2008

Just finished investigating and resolving an error whereby the message ‘Specified Port is Unknown’ appears when adding a network printer. This was first noticed when running a login script that add’s printers didn’t actually add any printers.

To fix this problem, you need to delete references to the printer drivers in the registry. I had already deleted any references to any network printers in an earlier attempt to fix the problem, so I wil;l include that as a step as it will not affect any functionality.

  1. Open Registry Editor, making sure that you have administrator rights.
  2. Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environments\Architecture\Drivers\Version-3
  3. Delete any subkeys for printer drivers that have been installed.
  4. Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Print\Printers
  5. Delete any subkeys that reference any network printers.
  6. Close Registry Editor
  7. Restart the Print Spooler services

After this had been completed, all of the shared printers as part of the login script connected and functioned as they should.

All I can imagine is that one of the drivers was corrupt, or information had not been removed from the registry when a printer was removed.

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Installing SharePoint 2010 on a DC

By Craig June 8th, 2010, under SharePoint

A disclaimer fist: I am in no way advocating the installation of SharePoint 2010 on a DC in a production environment. This information should only be used to set up SharePoint in a lab environment. Microsoft do not support the installation of SQL Server on a DC, which is why the Standalone option is not available in the SharePoint setup.

Firstly, you need to download SQL Express from here. Install it on your Windows Server 2008 box (I was running R2). Use the default setup options, provide a user account for the service to run under.

Next, install the SharePoint Server. You can choose the installation location, but you will be guided through the complete setup without any choice. Choose any options that you require.

At the end, you will run the SharePoint Technologies Configuration Wizard. In the wizard you will be asked for the location of your SQL Server which is SERVERNAME\SQLEXPRESS. Enter this alongside the user name and password to access the server with. In this very initial test, I have used the administrator password for everything, no permissions issues with anything at the minute.

At the end you will have a working installation of SharePoint 2010 on a DC – great for testing.

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My Profile in My Site – Error 404 File Not Found (SharePoint 2007)

By Craig June 4th, 2010, under SharePoint

Just doing some pre-upgrade checks on SharePoint 2007. Want to make sure that everything is working as it is before upgrading.

As part of this I went to edit my profile on my personal site. Whenever I did though, I got an error message stating 404 File Not Found. Symptoms are described exactly in this Microsoft KB. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/924399

Started reading through the solution, and walking through the steps. I hesitated on adding another Managed Path though, as there were already managed paths for MySite and Personal.

My advice is to skip to point 3 of the solution first and check that. In my case, it was that the Personal Site Services URL in SharedServices had been changed, which was causing the link to fail.

  1. Under Shared Services Administration, click Shared Service Provider (SSP).
  2. On the home page, click My Site settings under User Profiles and My Sites.
  3. On the My Site settings page, type the URL of the included path in the Personal site provider box in the Personal Site Services area.
  4. Configure the options that you want for the other settings, and then click OK.

In my case, putting ‘/mysite’ at the end of the URL and saving it solved the problem.

So, if you already have a load of Managed Paths, which include MySite, then check your URL first. May save you some time.

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Exchange 2010: No In-Place Upgrade

By Craig June 2nd, 2010, under Exchange, SharePoint

Really disappointed to have just found out that an in-place upgrade is not available when migrating from Exchange 2007 to 2010.

Totally understand why this is the case though. Database schema changes and the lack of storage groups in 2010 being the root cause. Not great news for the smaller places which probably haven’t got the finances to purchase a new server for a bare metal installation, or enough hardware to perform some sort of swing installation.

At least on a plus point, SharePoint 2010 does support an in-place upgrade from SharePoint Server 2007 SP2. At least one of the upgrades will be simple this year. Looking forward to trying out the new features. Shortly going to be getting our development system up and running ready to formulate our deployment plans.

Anyway, enough of my drivel. Back to coming up with a plan for our Exchange 2010 upgrade.

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Windows 2008 R2 RDS: Print Spooler Stops

By Craig June 2nd, 2010, under Server 2008, Thin Client

We have two servers running Windows Server 2008 R2 Remote Desktop Services. On both servers the Print Spooler service kept randomly stopping. In the Application event log, we noticed this error keep appearing:

Faulting application name: spoolsv.exe, version 6.1.7600.16385, timestamp: 0x4a5bd3d1
Faulting module name: ntdll.dll, version 6.1.7600.16385, timestamp: 0x4a5bd3d1
Exception code: 0xc0000374

After trying to replicate the problem, we found that it only occurred when certain groups of users, all with the same login script, logged in to the server. Part of this login script adds some network printers for the user.

Turns out, we had just updated one of the print drivers for the printers, and whenever the user logged in, it was unable to install the new print drivers, because of the user’s access rights. Instead of it popping up asking for an administrators credentials to add the driver, the print spooler service was just failing.

The fix in this case was to simply log in as an administrator, add the printer, so that the driver gets installed.

Other fixes that I found on the internet all relate to driver issues, so do check that the drivers you are using are suitable for Windows Server 2008 and are WHQL.

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Login Script Not Running Windows 2008 Remote Desktop Services (Terminal Services)

By Craig May 24th, 2010, under General Stuff, Server 2008, Thin Client

Call today: User has not got any network drives when logging on to the thin clients.

The setup for this is as follows:

  • 2 x Windows Server 2008 R2 servers running RDS, DNS round robin, load balanced.
  • 56 x ThinStation 2.2.2 clients

A VBS login script is applied using Group Policy. All student users have a Mandatory Roaming Profile.

Any user that was not the user that I used to create the template could not run the login script. Took quite a while to work out that the mandatory profile was the cause.

To solve the problem:

  1. Open Registry Editor
  2. Select HKEY_USERS, then click File –> Load Hive
  3. Select the mandatory profile file (NTUSER.MAN) and give it a name.
  4. Right click on the key that you typed in in step 3 and select Permissions.
  5. Remove the user that you used to create the Mandatory Profile
  6. Add in the Authenticated Users (or a different group if you want to restrict access further) and assign it Full Control.
  7. Propagate the permissions to all child objects.
  8. Select the hive that you added in step 3, click File –> Unload Hive
  9. Test.

I suggest creating a backup of the original hive before you make any changes. Just in case.

Now, whenever a user logs in the script should run, and create all of the necessary network drives that you have defined in your script.

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T-SQL Case function

By Craig May 19th, 2010, under Programming

I have just discovered that my favourite function exists in SQL.

Select Case is to me, the best thing ever. Elegant, simple and powerful. Makes short work of processing and sorting in most scripts and programs.

And today – whilst writing some queries for reports, I have now found that it exists in SQL!

My sample below shows what I have made work here. Think this could be extended a lot further to make really powerful Select statements. Going to have to give it a try some time.

The whole statement is constructed in much the same way as when programming with scripts.

SELECT DATEPART(yy, RecordTable.date) AS Year, DATEPART(wk, RecordTable.date) AS ‘Week’, COUNT(RecordTable.ID) AS Incidents,
CASE
WHEN Descript.Action LIKE ‘%racist%’ THEN ‘Racist Incident’
WHEN Descript.Action LIKE ‘%bully%’ THEN ‘Bullying Incident’
ELSE ”
END AS Category

Easy. Just saved me a load of time with filters too.

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Removing All Users Desktop using Group Policy

By Craig May 12th, 2010, under General Stuff

This is one of those really frustrating finds, which if only the title mentioned the right words, would have been done in minutes.

Setting up a group policy for use with some on-screen tests that we wanted to perform. We wanted a custom desktop with only the icons that they required.

Little did I know after 15 minutes searching through a list of GP settings that the option to disable the All Users Desktop is called Remove Common Program Groups from Start Menu. How un-obvious is that? Not even the setting description mentions that it has an effect on the Desktop!

For everyone else out there looking for this setting:

User Configuration –> Administrative Templates –> Start Menu & Taskbar

 

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HP Z600 Workstation

By Craig May 11th, 2010, under General Stuff

Just received my new PC for home. After finally getting rid of all most of my old stuff.

I had a rough outline of what I wanted – a single computer, capable of running 2-3 virtual machines concurrently, good sound, and good upgrade capabilities. Also I have been promising myself since completing my MCSE that I could purchase two monitors and an Ergotron monitor stand.

In the end I was deciding between 2 machines: A Dell Precision T5500 and a HP Z600 Workstation. I’ve always had a preference to HP over Dell – personally I feel that the build quality is far superior for similar specification and similar price machines.

After some research and review, I have ended up with the following configuration:

HP Z600 Workstation – KK598ET

  • Intel Xeon Quad Core 2.26ghz
  • 6GB 1066mhz RAM
  • nVidia Quadro NVS 295 graphics card
  • Creative X-Fi Titanium
  • Windows 7 Professional 64 bit

My display configuration:

  • 2 x HP LP2275W22″ Widescreen TFT Display
  • 1 x Ergotron Dual LX Side by Side Arm

So far I am very impressed with the whole thing. The machine is precision engineered – nigh on silent too – which is great. Everything is screw-less. Nothing feels plastic or cheap. Installing the additional cards and a second hard disc was extremely quick and painless. As a bonus on the security front, the case lock feels substantial. Once locked, nothing moves. Everything is well laid out, and the cable channels which keep everything tucked away neatly really aid access to the case. Of course having all of those cables neatly out of the way under the motherboard also means that airflow is nearly unrestricted throughout the case. You would never know it had 6 fans constantly running either!

Performance wise – it flies! Booting up to Windows 7 takes less than 30 seconds from cold. Have it on standby and I can be back working in only a couple of seconds. With a virtual server running, I can still be copying files, listening to music on iTunes, browse the Internet, have my email open, and still not notice that the machine is working. I’m yet to have to wait for something to load.

Graphics performance is absolutely fine for what I use the machine for. I am not a heaby gamer, and that is clearly reflected in my choice of graphics card here. The nVidia Quadro 295, with 256mb RAM is plenty adequate for my needs. It does run games fine. Nothing special though.

Sound is amazing. After being really happy with my Creative Audigy 2 for nearly 10 years now, I have obviously missed out on what 10 years of sound technology in a PC has done. Crisp, clear, well defined full range sound is the order of the day. Of course, the speakers are a major player in this. I still love the sound of my Cambridge SoundWorks 4.1 system.

The displays are clear, stylish and simple. No problems reading or looking at them for long periods of time. Two gripes with them. They seem to be slow to turn on, and they default to DVI input, with Auto Input Select turned off. Took me 5 minutes to work out how to change the input. Surely Auto Select should be turned on in the factory?

Looking to get some programming done on the machine a bit later, and I am hoping that the performance will be as good as I expect.

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