Thursday, November 07, 2013

Exchange 2010 Error: A reboot from a previous installation is pending.

If you are seeing this error while trying to apply an Exchange SP or RU and you have restarted here's a quick fix for it:

**MAKE SURE YOU RESTART FIRST JUST TO MAKE SURE IT IS NOT CLEARING**

Delete the  below key from the registry:
 HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\PendingFileRenameOperations

After this you will be able to continue your service pack install.

Good luck.


Exchange SP2 Install Error: This Server Role Can't Be Installed Because the Following Roles...

Mailbox role
Error: this server role can't be installed because the following roles aren't current: AdminToolsRole MailboxRole
Here's the fix for it:
Open REGEDIT
1. HKLM\Software\ExchangeServer\V14\AdminTools\ConfiguredVersion
Change ConfiguredVersion from 14.1.218.5 to 14.2.247.5

2. Repeat this process for the other keys labeled TRANSPORTROLE or MAILBOX role as needed.  The different versions on those numbers are the source of the problem.

3.  Restart server and then start Exchange 2010 SP2 setup again.


Good luck!

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

PST Capture Tool Setup and Use

Exchange PST Capture Use

There's a few things to do to get this to work properly.  Here's how mine is setup and I have no problems pulling PST files into Exchange 2010.

1. Windows 7 Professional on the domain.

2. Install .NET 4.5 framework.

3. Install Powershell 3.0.  It's part of the Windows Management Framework.  Download HERE.

4. Install Outlook 2010.  Make sure you use the 64-bit version.  Even if the PST file comes from a 32-bit machine.  This is because Exchange 2010 is 64-bit.

5. Run this command using Exchange Powershell  "New-ManagementRoleAssignment -Role "Mailbox Import Export" -User "PSTImportUser"

**If you do not run the Powershell command you will get ERROR OPENING MAILBOX**

6. Install PST Capture.

Once these things are done you are ready to pull the PST files into Exchange using PST Capture.

I highly recommend you go into Settings and remove the check box  beside "Create a subfolder for each PST file".  This will put all mail into the proper folder structure as what is inside the PST.


Also make one more edit under Non-mail items. Check both boxes so it will get their calendar, contacts, etc.






That's pretty much it.  The rest inside PST Import is pretty easy to understand and you're on your way to importing files as needed into a new or existing Exchange server.

Good luck!

Friday, October 11, 2013

Repair Windows 7 ISO Burn

If you have a 3rd party app that breaks your option for Windows 7 to burn an ISO file this is how to fix it.

Create a file named ISO.reg on your desktop.  Copy the text below and paste into it.  From there just right click and select MERGE.  This will repair the Windows 7 registry so the OS can again burn ISO files.

This is all it takes to fix the problem.  Good luck.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.iso]
@="Windows.IsoFile"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Windows.IsoFile]
@="Disc Image File"
"FriendlyTypeName"=hex(2):40,00,25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,\
  00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,\
  32,00,5c,00,69,00,73,00,6f,00,62,00,75,00,72,00,6e,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,\
  00,2c,00,2d,00,33,00,35,00,30,00,00,00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Windows.IsoFile\DefaultIcon]
@=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\
  00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,69,00,73,00,\
  6f,00,62,00,75,00,72,00,6e,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,00,2c,00,2d,00,31,00,30,\
  00,31,00,00,00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Windows.IsoFile\shell]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Windows.IsoFile\shell\burn]
"MUIVerb"=hex(2):40,00,25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,\
  6f,00,74,00,25,00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,\
  00,69,00,73,00,6f,00,62,00,75,00,72,00,6e,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,00,2c,00,\
  2d,00,33,00,35,00,31,00,00,00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Windows.IsoFile\shell\burn\command]
@=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\
  00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,69,00,73,00,\
  6f,00,62,00,75,00,72,00,6e,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,00,20,00,22,00,25,00,31,\
  00,22,00,00,00

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.iso\UserChoice]

Tuesday, October 08, 2013

Export Emails within a Date Range from Exchange 2010

Today I had to do this to assist with an email audit for a government agency.  Below are the steps you need to follow to make this happen.  The TechNet article leaves out a very important step that I have included for you below.


1. Open up the Exchange Management Shell and enter the following command:  New-ManagementRoleAssignment –Role “Mailbox Import Export” –User "DOMAIN\USERACCOUNT"

**NOTE:  Now close the EMS and reopen it.  You have to do this because the roles for the user logged in are loaded when the EMS is started.

2. Use this command to export your email date range and the location where you want to save it: New-MailboxExportRequest -Mailbox "SAMPLE USER" -ContentFilter {(Received -lt '01/01/2012') -and (Received -gt '03/31/2012')}  -FilePath "\\SERVER\EXPORTS\SAMPLE_USER.pst"

Depending on the size of the user's email you may get a file rather quickly or you may get a message from the EMC that the job is queued and will be filled when it is completed the search and export process.

What lead me here was the error "The Term 'New-MailboxExportRequest' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program".

The steps above will avoid this error and get you exactly what you need from the email box.

If you just want to dump the entire mailbox use this:  New-MailboxExportRequest -Mailbox "SAMPLE USER" -FilePath "\\SERVER\EXPORTS\SAMPLE_USER.pst"

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

iOS 7 “Software Update Failed” Message

The iOS 7 rush is causing lots of problems for a lot of people.

iOS 7 downloaded fine for me but then I received a “Software Update Failed” message. 
Follow these steps and your problems will be solved:
1. Restart your device.
2. Disable your Wi-Fi.
3. Turn off your device and keep it off for 5 minutes.
4. Turn your device back on and enable Wi-Fi.
5. Try the download again.
It sounds simple but it has worked 100% of the time for the people I’ve told about it.
Feel free to share this fix on Facebook or tweet about it on Twitter to help others getting this error. 

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Removing Exchange 2007 Public Folders from Exchange 2010 Environment

Before beginning any of this work make sure you either no longer need public folders in your environment (Office 2000/2003 has to have them) or that they have fully replicated to your new Exchange server.

1. Try to remove the public folders through the EMC.  If this fails now it's time to get tough.

2. Open Exchange Management Shell and enter the following:


Get-PublicFolder -Server SERVERNAME "\" -Recurse -ResultSize:Unlimited | Remove-PublicFolder -Server SERVERNAME -Recurse -ErrorAction:SilentlyContinue
3. Next run this command:
Get-PublicFolder -Server SERVERNAME "\Non_Ipm_Subtree" -Recurse -ResultSize:Unlimited | Remove-PublicFolder -Server SERVERNAME -Recurse -ErrorAction:SilentlyContinue
4. Refresh the EMC and the public folders will be gone.  If this does not work and you're fully sure you need them removed then this last step truly removes them from the environment.  All that's left is to manually delete the files if needed.

  1. Connect to your DC.
  2. Open ADSIEDIT.MSC console and connect to configuration.
  3. Go to the following path.
–> CN=Configuration –> CN=Services –> CN=Microsoft Exchange –> CN=YOUR ORGANISATION –> CN=Administrative Groups –> CN=First Administrative Group –> CN=Servers –> CN=SERVER NAME +—> CN=InformationStore

 
This final step ensures that even though the folders/files may still exist they are removed from AD and will not prevent removing Exchange 2007 at that point.

Good luck! 

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

FOG server error "host unreachable" when trying to upload an image

Tonight I'm doing some imaging of HP tablets and upgrading them from Windows XP to Windows 7.  This is a new FOG installation and I just ran into this error.  Here's the fix:

No matter what you named the FOG server on your network, make sure you have a DNS entry on your DNS server that DHCP is pointing to and create an A record named "fogserver" minus the quotes of course.

Once you do that then restart the machine you want to push the image of to your FOG server.  Problem solved and it will upload after that.  On a 100M switch you can expect about 1.4 to 1.5G/min so the average new image runs about 20-25 minutes to upload.  Obviously gig switches are much faster provided your backend can keep up.

Good luck.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Installing VMware Tools on Ubuntu or Ubuntu Server


Ubuntu or Ubuntu Server with a Graphical User Interface

To mount the CD image and extract the contents:
  1. Power on the virtual machine.
  2. Log into the virtual machine using an account with administrator or root privileges.
  3. Go to Virtual Machine > Install VMware Tools (or VM > Install VMware Tools)..

    Note: If you are running the light version of Fusion, a version of Workstation without VMware Tools, or VMware Player, you are prompted to download Tools before they can be installed. Click Download Now to begin the download.
  4. Open the VMware Tools CD mounted on the Ubuntu desktop.
  5. Right-click the file name that is similar to VMwareTools.x.x.x-xxxx.tar.gz, click Extract to, and select the Ubuntu Desktop to save the extracted contents.

    The vmware-tools-distrib folder is extracted to the Ubuntu Desktop.
To install VMware Tools in Ubuntu:
  1. Open a Terminal windows.
  2. In Terminal, run this command to navigate to the vmware-tools-distrib folder:

    cd Desktop/vmware-tools-distrib
  3. Run this command to install VMware Tools:

    sudo ./vmware-install.pl -d

    Note: The -d switch assumes that you want to accept the defaults. If you do not use -d, press Return to accept the defaults or supply your own answers.
  4. Enter your Ubuntu password.
  5. Restart the Ubuntu virtual machine after the VMware Tools installation completes.

Saturday, August 17, 2013

"Active Directory Replication is taking longer than expected" message stops SBS installation

SBS 2008 Event ID 13552 and 13555

Today I'm working a migration from SBS 2008 to SBS 2011.  This error came up.  In order to apply a fix I had to do some digging to get rid of this error.  The new SBS 2011 VM could not become a domain controller until this was fixed so here's what I have done.

Once this process is done then click Yes on the prompt from the new SBS server.  Replication will successfully complete and the setup of SBS 2011 will continue.

- Performing an authoritative restore:

1) Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.
2) At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
net stop ntfrs
3) Click Start -> Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
4) Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\NtFrs\Parameters\Backup/Restore\Process at Startup
5) Right-click the BurFlags entry, and then click Modify.
6) In the Value data box, type D4 and then click OK, on the File menu, click Exit.
7) At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
 net start ntfrs


 

Thursday, August 01, 2013

dcpromo demote Win2k3 server Failed to configure the service NETLOGON as requested

Here's the full text of the error received:

the operation failed because:

Failed to configure the service NETLOGON as requested.
"The wait operation timed out"

and in the dcpromo.log is the following:

07/07 09:02:24 [INFO] Informed NETLOGON to deregister records
07/07 09:02:24 [INFO] Stopping service NETLOGON

07/07 09:04:24 [INFO] StopService on NETLOGON failed with 258

 To fix:

Change the first DNS setting on your network card to point to your new DNS server, not the server you are currently demoting.  Once you change the DNS setting to the new DNS server you will be able to demote the server without this issue.

Monday, July 22, 2013

Releasing licenses from Citrix License Server 11.10.0

This is pretty easy actually.  

1. Right click the command prompt icon and open as administrator. (It won't work if you don't run as admin.
2. Navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\Citrix\Licensing\LS
3. There you will find the udadmin.exe file.  This is how you will remove the licenses.

First run a list of all licenses in use by users and devices:  udadmin -list

To release a user:  udadmin -f XDT_ENT_UD -user {username} -delete

To release a device: udadmin -f XDT_ENT_UD -device {devicename} -delete

After you have deleted everything you need cleared just stop and restart the Citrix Licensing service.  When you rerun the -list command you'll see only the licenses still in use.

That's all there is to it. 

Windows XP can't access Server 2012 File Cluster

I ran into this one today and it took me all morning to finally find a fix for it.  It appears this is a known issue with Microsoft and even though they have a supposed "hot-fix" for it you can install on the 2012 file servers that doesn't fix it.

There is however a work around that immediately fixed the problem for me once I found it out about it.

The text of the error follows:

You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permissions.
Logon Failure: The target account name is incorrect.

I also noted in the event log on the client a kerberos event failure every time the share was attempted to be accessed.

kerb error
Event Type: Error Event Source: Kerberos
Event Category: None
Event ID: 4
Date: 14/05/2013
Time: 08:27:30
User: N/A
Computer: XPClient
Description:
The kerberos client received a KRB_AP_ERR_MODIFIED error from the server fileservernode$. The target name used was cifs/Server.domain.int. This indicates that the password used to encrypt the kerberos service ticket is different than that on the target server. Commonly, this is due to identically named machine accounts in the target realm (Domain.INT), and the client realm. Please contact your system administrator.


Open Failover Cluster Manager
Go to Roles - Resources Tab - File Server
Right Click the File Server role - Take Offline
Wait for it to go offline, then Right Click - More Actions - Repair
Wait for it to come back online

This seems to take care of the problem....also while you're at it upgrade from XP.  :)

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Capture Cisco confgs with Putty

You can easily capture the configuration file from any network devices like Cisco Routers, Switches etc.. with Putty.  Download Putty

Follow below steps..
1. Launch Putty and connect to your Cisco router/switch/ASA

2. Enter the user exec mode (router> enable)

3. Enter the terminal length 0 command (router# terminal length 0) in order to force the router to return the entire response at once, rather than one screen at a time.  
 
NOTE:  If this is an ASA the command is a bit different (ASA#terminal pager 0)

This allows you to capture the configuration without extraneous −−more−− prompts generated when the router responds one screen at a time.
 
4. Right-click on the menu bar of the putty screen and select “change Settings

5. Go to Session and click on Logging, select “Log all session output

6. Click on Browse and choose the location and name of the file (I like to place my config file on my desktop – C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Desktop\ASAconfig.txt or SW1config.txt)

7. Click apply

8. Now enter the show run command (router# show running-config), Logout and see the output in config.txt on your desktop (or the location you chose).


That's all there is to it.  I highly recommend that each time you make a config change you do a quick backup like this.  There's nothing easier to do to come back from a failure than to have a recent config just waiting to be pasted in to get your device back online as quickly as possible.

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Installing Windows 8.1 in VirtualBox

When I tried to install the 64-bit version or even upgrading my already existing 8.0 install I kept getting Error 0x000000C4 until I found a fix on the Web.


I had to run the following at an administrator command prompt (all on one line):

c:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VBoxManage.exe setextradata "VM Name" VBoxInternal/CPUM/CMPXCHG16B 1

Replace [vmname] with the name of the virtual machine you want to add the instruction to. If your vm name has spaces in it, enclose it in quotes.

This command adds the CMPXCHG16B CPU instruction that's missing from the default configuration of VirtualBox.

That's all it takes and then you can install Windows "Blue" 8.1 and give it a run.  

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Server 2012 Event ID 13555

I ran into this one today.  It involved two brand new 2012 servers that had only been in service since December of 2012.  The error appears to have started on 4/27/2013 and didn't present itself as an issue (since there's no IT staff there to review server logs) until new workstations were being put in and group policy was not applying to some of them.

The event log gave error 1355.  In order to fix it you need to do a non-authoritative restore of the SYSVOL folder.  Just make a simple backup of it just in case from another good domain controller.  Follow the steps below and for me it fixed it right away.  There's no need to restart the server and I noticed the replication began and ran properly right away.

Here's the exact fix:

To back up and restore the SYSVOL data, follow these steps:
  1. Back up the following folders in a temporary location that is not in the SYSVOL folder:
    • %SystemRoot%\SYSVOL\Domain\Policies
    • %SystemRoot%\SYSVOL\Domain\Scripts
    Note To retain the permissions for these folders, back up these folders in a location that is on the same volume as the SYSVOL folder.
  2. Perform a non-authoritative restore on this replica set. To do this, follow these steps:
    1. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.
    2. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
      net stop ntfrs
    3. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
    4. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\NtFrs\Parameters\Backup/Restore\Process at Startup
    5. Right-click the
      BurFlags
      entry, and then click Modify.
    6. In the Value data box, type D2, and then click OK.
    7. On the File menu, click Exit.
    8. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
      net start ntfrs

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Windows Update Error Code 800B0001

When trying to update Server 2012 you may see the error below when using WSUS 3.0 SP2.


To fix the above issue there is an update for Windows Server Update Services 3.0 Service Pack 2 that is available. Download it from below link.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;2720211

Once downloaded just run the setup file



Check for updates again..


In my experience this fixes the problem every time.

If you'd rather use the Microsoft Fix it then use THIS link.  The reference page can be found at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/822798

Good luck!

Friday, April 19, 2013

Make Your Own Start Button for Windows Server 2012



I know many of you have experienced the frustration of not having a start menu with Windows 8 and Windows 2012.  

This is especially a pain in an RDP session because you have to find that one pixel to click on to bring up the start menu.  I found this easy to use shortcut that gives you a quick link to the Windows 2012 or Win 8 start menu. 


-          Simply create a shortcut and point it to the following path. 
  explorer.exe shell:::{2559a1f8-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}


-          Set a pretty icon from imageres.dll, and then pin this to the taskbar.  BAM!  Instant Start button.
 
There are also applications like Start8 by StartDock ($5 program) or Windows 8 Start menu that you can download from www.ninite.com that you may want to look at too.  

This only takes a couple of minutes to put together and makes all the difference when working with these operating systems

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

How to Enable Server 2012 Deduplication


Borrowed from HERE:
Deduplication is a new feature in Windows Server 2012, which deduplicates files at a block level on Windows Server 2012 File Servers. 
To enable Deduplication on a Windows Server 2012 File Server, do the following:
  1. Open Windows Server 2012 Server Manager
  2. Install the Data Deduplication role and associated required role services (It’s actually a role: File And Storage Services -> File Services -> File Server)
  3. In Windows Server 2012 Server Manager, click on File and Storage Services
  4. Right click on the server and click Deduplication Schedule
  5. Set-up the required deduplicaton schedule (Background optimization may be sufficient) and click OK
  6. In Windows Server 2012 Server Manager, under Volumes, right click the volume you would like to enable Deduplication on and click Enable Deduplication.
  7. Tick the box to enable data duplication. You may wish to change the number of days that the files have to be older than to be deduplicated and set any specific file or folder exclusions before clicking OK
You now know how to enable data Deduplication in Windows Server 2012 File Server. But to see deduplication happening on your volume, you have to wait for the schedule to run (or wait for the background optimization to finish). Alternatively, you can kick start deduplication using PowerShell commands.
To manage Deduplication from the PowerShell, in Windows Server 2012 Server Manager, click Tools (at the top right hand corner) and Windows PowerShell ISE. Next, import the PowerShell Deduplication module with this command: Import-Module Deduplication
To see how many files have been deduplicated and how much data has been saved, type:
Get-DedupStatus
To start the deduplication job, type:
Start-DedupJob -Type Optimization  -Volume X
Where X is theletter of the volume you want to deduplicate, ie. X could equal e:  (Note that you must have enabled deduplication prior to running this). You will then be able to check the status of the deduplication job by running the following PowerShell command:
Get-DedupJob
That's all there is to it.  Leave me comments if you have any questions or concerns.