Tag Archives: Windows

Removing the Browser Choice option During deployment with MDT 2010

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The Guys created a nice script to remove the Browser Choice option.

If you are in the European Union, you will have seen the installation of the Browser Choice option from Update. This is a good thing if you are a consumer, however if you are managing Volume Licensed (VL) builds and you don’t want the Browser Choice in your deployment image.
But you do want to make use of the ability to go off to Windows Update or your Server and install patches automatically during your deployment task sequence.

Check HERE how to config MDT to use your WSUS server

MDT 2010 comes with a number of task sequence templates. The one I used many times is the standard client task sequence template. As part of this template there are two tasks for applying Windows updates (Pre-Application Installation and Post-Application Installation).
These tasks are really useful as part of the deployment of a client machine because you have always an up to date image.

TS

As part of this automated Windows Update process KB976002 will be downloaded and installed giving the options shown below in your core image.

image

Recently KB2019411 has been released which provides information about the Browser Choice update for system administrators who are in managed environments that are under a Volume Licensing program . De Deploymentsguys have created a MDT based script for implementing the suggestions in the article KB2019411. Adding the registry entries to control the display of the Browser Choice screen and to remove the Browser Choice icon from the desktop.

The script (CFG-HideBrowserChoice.wsf) should be placed in the MDT Distribution Share\Scripts folder and then a “Run Command Line” task should be added to your image engineering task sequence (after the last Windows Update task but before the sysprep and image capture tasks). The command you should run is cscript.exe CFG-HideBrowserChoice.wsf.

An example of this is shown below.

ts2

When the task runs, the script will turn off the Browser Choice and removes the icon from the desktop. You will also find a log file that the script generates in the usual MDT log location (MININT\SMSOSD\OSDLOGS\CFG-HideBrowserChoice.log)

You can get the CFG-HideBrowserChoice.wsf script from the Deployment Guys SkyDrive by clicking HERE

Tested and I worked great

Source: blogs.technet.com

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Exchange 2010 SP1 Prerequisites

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Some day’s ago Releases 2010 SP1. When you install 2010 SP1 you need to install some hotfixes. The Team have made a nice over witch hotfixes you need for the OS.

Hotfix Download Server 2008 Windows Server & Windows
979744
A .NET Framework 2.0-based Multi-AppDomain application stops responding when you run the application		 MSDN
or Microsoft Connect		 Windows6.0-KB979744-x64.msu (CBS: Vista/Win2K8) Windows6.1-KB979744-x64.msu (CBS: Win7/Win2K8 R2) N. A.
983440
An ASP.NET 2.0 hotfix rollup package is available for Windows 7 and for Windows Server 2008 R2		 Request from CSS Yes Yes N.A.
977624
AD RMS clients do not authenticate federated identity providers in Windows Server 2008 or in Windows Vista. Without this update, Rights Management Services (AD RMS) features may stop working		 Request from CSS using the “View and request hotfix downloads” link in the KBA | US-English Select the download for Windows Vista for the x64 platform. N.A. N.A.
979917
Two issues occur when you deploy an ASP.NET 2.0-based application on a server that is running IIS 7.0 or IIS 7.5 in Integrated mode		 Request from CSS using the Hotfix Request Web Submission Form or by phone (no charge) Yes N. A. N. A.
973136,
FIX: ArgumentNullException exception error message when a .NET Framework 2.0 SP2-based application tries to process a response with zero-length content to an asynchronous ASP.NET Web service request: “Value cannot be null”.		 Microsoft Connect Windows6.0-KB973136-x64.msu N.A. N. A.
977592
RPC over HTTP clients cannot connect to the Windows Server 2008 RPC over HTTP servers that have RPC load balancing enabled.		 Request from CSS Select the download for Windows Vista (x64) N.A. N. A.
979099
An update is available to remove the application manifest expiry feature from AD RMS clients.		 Download Center N. A. Windows6.1-KB979099-x64.msu N. A.
982867

WCF services that are hosted by computers together with a NLB fail in .NET Framework 3.5 SP1

 MSDN N. A. Windows6.1-KB982867-v2-x64.msu (Win7) X86: Windows6.1-KB982867-v2-x86.msu (Win7)
x64: Windows6.1-KB982867-v2-x64.msu (Win7)
977020
FIX: An application that is based on the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Service Pack 2 and that invokes a Web service call asynchronously throws an exception on a computer that is running Windows 7.		 Microsoft Connect N. A. N. A. x64: Windows6.1-KB977020-v2-x64.msu

X86: Windows6.1-KB977020-v2-x86.msu

Some of the hotfixes would have been rolled up in a Windows update or service pack. Given that the Exchange team released SP1 earlier than what was planned and announced earlier, it did not align with some of the work with the Windows platform. As a result, some hotfixes are available from MSDN/Connect, and some require that you request them online using the links in the corresponding KBs. All these updates may become available on the Download Center, and also through Windows Update.

These hotfixes have been tested extensively as part of SP1 deployments within Microsoft and by our TAP customers. They are fully supported by Microsoft.

The TechNet article Exchange 2010 Prerequisites is updated with the hotfixes and install the prerequisites required for your server version (the hotfixes are linked to in the above table).

You can use the Install the Windows Server 2008 SP2 operating system prerequisites on a Windows 2008 R2 server. Only you have to run the following command: Import-Module ServerManager

Installed Exchange 2010 SP1 on a Windows 2008 R2 Server with problems. I feels that the MMC is faster. Tomorrow upgrading a DAG/NLB cluster to Exchange 2010 SP1.

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Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 1 has been released

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has released SP1 Open-mouthed smile.

So What’s New in Exchange SP1:

New Functionality

During an SP1 installation, you can now select a new option to install the required roles and features for each selected SP1 server role. For more information, see New Deployment Functionality in Exchange 2010 SP1.

Exchange ActiveSync

In Exchange 2010 SP1, you can manage Exchange ActiveSync devices using the Exchange Control Panel (ECP). Administrators can perform the following tasks:

  • Manage the default access level for all mobile phones and devices.
  • Set up e-mail alerts when a mobile phone or device is quarantined.
  • Personalize the message that users receive when their mobile phone or device is either recognized or quarantined.
  • Provide a list of quarantined mobile phones or devices.
  • Create and manage Exchange ActiveSync device access rules.
  • Allow or block a specific mobile phone or device for a specific user.

For every user, the administrator can perform the following tasks from the user’s property pages:

  • List the mobile phones or devices for a specific user.
  • Initiate remote wipes on mobile phones or devices.
  • Remove old mobile phone or device partnerships.
  • Create a rule for all users of a specific mobile phone or device or mobile phone type.
  • Allow or block a specific mobile phone or device for the specific user.

SMS Sync

SMS Sync is a new feature in Exchange ActiveSync that works with Windows Mobile 6.1 with the Mobile Update and with Windows Mobile 6.5. SMS Sync is the ability to synchronize messages between a mobile phone or device and an Exchange 2010 Inbox. When synchronizing a Windows Mobile phone with an Exchange 2010 mailbox, users can choose to synchronize their text messages in addition to their Inbox, Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, and Notes. When synchronizing text messages, users will be able to send and receive text messages from their Inbox. This feature is dependent on the user’s mobile phones or devices supporting this feature

Reset Virtual Directory

In Exchange 2010 SP1, you can use the new Reset Client Access Virtual Directory wizard to reset one or more Client Access server virtual directories. The new wizard makes it easier to reset a Client Access server virtual directory. One reason that you might want to reset a Client Access server virtual directory is to resolve an issue related to a damaged file on a virtual directory. In addition to resetting virtual directories, the wizard creates a log file that includes the settings for each virtual directory that you choose to reset. For more information, see Reset Client Access Virtual Directories.

Exchange Store and Mailbox Database Functionality

The following is a list of new store and mailbox database functionality in Exchange 2010 SP1:

  • With the New-MailboxRepairRequest cmdlet, you can detect and repair mailbox and database corruption issues.
  • Store limits were increased for administrative access.
  • The Database Log Growth Troubleshooter (Troubleshoot-DatabaseSpace.ps1) is a new script that allows you to control excessive log growth of mailbox databases.
  • Public Folders client permissions support was added to the Exchange Management Console (EMC).

Mailbox and Recipients Functionality

The following is a list of new mailbox and recipient functionality included in Exchange 2010 SP1:

  • Calendar Repair Assistant supports more scenarios than were available in Exchange 2010 RTM.
  • Mailbox Assistants are now all throttle-based (changed from time-based in Exchange 2010 RTM).
  • Internet calendar publishing allows users in your Exchange organization to share their Outlook calendars with a broad Internet audience.
  • Importing and exporting .pst files now uses the Mailbox Replication service and doesn’t require Outlook.
  • Hierarchical address book support allows you to create and configure your address lists and offline address books in a hierarchical .
  • Distribution group naming policies allow you to configure string text that will be appended or prepended to a distribution group’s name when it’s created.
  • Soft-delete of mailboxes after move completion

High Availability and Site Resilience Functionality

The following is a list of new high availability and site resilience functionality included in Exchange 2010 SP1:

  • Continuous replication – block mode
  • Active mailbox database redistribution
  • Enhanced datacenter activation coordination mode support
  • New and enhanced management and monitoring scripts
  • Exchange Management Console user interface enhancements
  • Improvements in failover performance

Messaging Policy and Compliance Functionality

The following is a list of new messaging policy and compliance functionality included in Exchange 2010 SP1:

  • Provision personal archive on a different mailbox database
  • Import historical mailbox data to personal archive
  • Delegate access to personal archive
  • New retention policy user interface
  • Support for creating retention policy tags for Calendar and Tasks default folders
  • Opt-in personal tags
  • Multi-Mailbox Search preview
  • Annotations in Multi-Mailbox Search
  • Multi-Mailbox Search data de-duplication
  • WebReady Document Viewing of IRM-protected messages in Outlook Web App
  • IRM in Exchange ActiveSync for protocol-level IRM
  • IRM logging
  • Mailbox audit logging

Technet Exchange 2010 SP1 info
Release Notes for Exchange Server 2010 SP1
What’s New in Exchange 2010 SP1
Downloads:
Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 1
Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 SP1 Language Pack Bundle
Exchange Server 2010 SP1 UM Language Packs
Exchange Server 2010 SP1 Help

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Remote Desktop Services Component Architecture Poster

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This poster provides a visual reference for understanding key Remote Desktop Services technologies in Server . It explains the functions and roles of Remote Desktop Session Host, Remote Desktop Virtualization Host, Remote Desktop Connection Broker, Remote Desktop Web Access, Remote Desktop Gateway, RemoteFX and Remote Desktop Licensing.

To Download: Click on the picture.

image

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Exchange 2007/2010 Performance settings on vSphere.

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When install a 2007 or 2010 Server on there are some settings that will increase de performance.

- Use de VMXNET 3 Adapter
- Use per Disk a SCSI Controller
- Store the Log & Database files on physical Lun on a SAN
- Use the LSI LOGIC SAS controller for 2008 &
- Use the VMware Paravirtual SCSI (PVSCSI) Controller for Every physical Raw Device Mapping (RDM).

Another TIP.  & needs a lots of Memory. When choosing the size for the OS partition, swap file need also al lot of space.

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MDT 2010 Multiple Partitions Issues & hidden Bitlocker partition

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I had a new laptop where I wanted to deploy 7 x64 Enterprise and walked to a bug in . Default config.

I configured 2 partitions to use the whole disk. See screenshot.
imageimage
When I deploy the task I get the following error

IMAG0003
He wants to format partition D. But partition D is not availably. 
I ended the task and opened the PE window and started Diskpart and listed the volumes.

IMAG0001

The strange thing was that the extended partition has the drive letter S had and it was a raw partition.

After studying ZTIDiskpart.log (X:\MININT\SMSOSD\OSDLOGS\ZTIDiskpart_diskpart.log)

I found out that there was no space left to create a 300mb partition for saving Bitlocker information.

So what did ZTIDiskpart.wsf. ZTIDiskpart.wsf gave the last partition that was created the drive letter S. This is the default letter for the Bitlocker partition. So hey wanted to format the file system with fat32. Because in my case the partition size was 200GB he cannot format the disk.

Solution:

Setting the extended partition to use 95%. Then MDT have enough space to create a 300mb hidden partition for Bitlocker.

image image

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Exchange 2010 MapiExceptionLogonFailed: Unable to make connection to the server

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The Error that I get when I did a local move request to move a user to a another mailbox database.
The new user cannot send email & could not login to Web Access.

image

Error:
Failed to communicate with the mailbox database.

MapiExceptionLogonFailed: Unable to make connection to the server. (hr=0×80040111, ec=1010)
Diagnostic context:
    Lid: 37053   Win32Error: 0x6A6
    Lid: 23065   EcDoConnectEx called [length=48]
    Lid: 17913   EcDoConnectEx returned [ec=0x0][length=48][latency=31]
    Lid: 18969   EcDoRpcExt2 called [length=313]
    Lid: 27161   EcDoRpcExt2 returned [ec=0x3F2][length=342][latency=46]
    Lid: 41073   StoreEc: 0x3F2    
    Lid: 48243 
    Lid: 50033   StoreEc: 0x3F2    
    Lid: 1494    —- Remote Context Beg —-
    Lid: 1238    Remote Context Overflow
    Lid: 49213   StoreEc: 0x8004010F
    Lid: 48573 
    Lid: 64957   StoreEc: 0x8004010F
    Lid: 56253 
    Lid: 65085   StoreEc: 0x8004010F
    Lid: 40381 
    Lid: 56765   StoreEc: 0x8004010F
    Lid: 31229   Error: 0×0
    Lid: 19149   Error: 0×0
    Lid: 24509   Error: 0×0
    Lid: 1219    StoreEc: 0x8004010F
    Lid: 3225    StoreEc: 0x8004010F
    Lid: 60049   StoreEc: 0x8004010F
    Lid: 49469 
    Lid: 65341   StoreEc: 0x8004010F
    Lid: 56125 
    Lid: 47933   StoreEc: 0x8004010F
    Lid: 32829 
    Lid: 49213   StoreEc: 0x8004010F
    Lid: 48573 
    Lid: 64957   StoreEc: 0x8004010F
    Lid: 31229   Error: 0×0
    Lid: 19149   Error: 0×0
    Lid: 24509   Error: 0×0
    Lid: 1219    StoreEc: 0x8004010F
    Lid: 24041 
    Lid: 13488   StoreEc: 0x3F2    
    Lid: 28780 
    Lid: 20076   StoreEc: 0x3F2    
    Lid: 57713   StoreEc: 0x3F2    
    Lid: 49009   StoreEc: 0x3F2    
    Lid: 1750    —- Remote Context End —-
    Lid: 52465   StoreEc: 0x3F2    
    Lid: 60065 
    Lid: 33777   StoreEc: 0x3F2    
    Lid: 59805 
    Lid: 52209   StoreEc: 0x3F2    
    Lid: 19778 
    Lid: 27970   StoreEc: 0x3F2    
    Lid: 17730 
    Lid: 25922   StoreEc: 0x3F2    

Management Shell command attempted:
‘wardvissers.local/wardvissers/wardtest2′ | New-MoveRequest -TargetDatabase ‘MailStore II’

Elapsed Time: 00:00:01

Solution:

I backup the AD with Backup for sure.

Then I suspend and dismounted every mailbox database.

I opened ADSIEDIT.MSC to check the value of HomeMDB and homeMTA:

Go to:
CN=Configuration->CN=Services->CN= Exchange->CN=wardvissers->CN=Administrative Groups->CN=Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT)->CN=Servers->CN=DAGEK10-01->CN= System Attendant

The value by my mailbox server looks a bid strange:
HomeMDB: CN=InformationStore,CN=DAGEK10-02,CN=Servers,CN=Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT),CN=Administrative Groups,CN=wardvissers,CN=Microsoft Exchange,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=wardvissers,DC=local

HomeMTA: CN=Microsoft MTA,CN=DAGEK10-01,CN=Servers,CN=Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT),CN=Administrative Groups,CN=wardvissers,CN=Microsoft Exchange,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=wardvissers,DC=local

Clear the Value bij HomeMDB & HomeMTA like the picture below.
image

Important:
Clear the value by every mailbox server if you have a dag cluster

Restarted the Microsoft Exchange System Attendant Service on every mailbox server.

Mounted & Resuming the mailbox database. Now the users could login again in OWA Smile.

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Exchange 2010 Autodiscovery Issues

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Two weeks ago a build my first production cluster. The web services are causing a lot of issues to people, and my self not any more.

Well, let us first list the directories that are used in the web service:

EWS is used for OOF, Scheduling assistance and free+busy Lookup.
OAB provides offline address book download services for client.
Autodiscover is used to provide users with autodiscover service.
EAS provides ActiveSync services to Mobile based devices.
OWA provides web access for users.
ECP provides Exchange control panel feature for Exchange 2010 users only.

Issues that might be resolved using the troubleshooting steps here:

You cannot set the OOF using outlook client, you receive the server not available error.
You cannot free/busy information for other users.
You cannot use scheduling assistance, also you might receive not free/busy information data retrieved.
You cannot download Offline Address book errors.
You cannot use autodiscover externally.
Certificate mismatch error in autodiscover, users prompted to trust certificate in outlook 2007/2010.

First let us start by settings the right virtual directory configuration required for Exchange 2010 to work correctly:
Configure External and Internal URLs for OWS, ref: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb310763.aspx

You have to configure the internal URL to be the server name. In case you have multiple cas/hub servers configured in a NLB then can use the nlb cluster name for the internal url. 
External URL will be the URL used by users to access webmail e.g. https://webmail.wardvissers.nl/owa 

Configure the autodiscover internal URL, ref: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb201695.aspx

You will use the cmdlet : Set-ClientAccessServer –Identity <CAS Server Name> -AutoDiscoverServiceInternalUri: <Internal URL>, this FQDN must match the URL included in the certificate. If you have NLB cluster then you put the internal name here like nlbek10.wardvissers.local

If you cannot use autodiscover.wardvissers.nl internally (you have a domain name of domain.local and you must use it), you will get a certificate miss match error, you will have to include the internal name in the SAN certificate if you purchase an external SAN certificate. 

You cannot set autodiscover external URL since outlook will try to access https://autodiscover.wardvissers.nl/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml, this behavior is by design and cannot be changed.

Best Practice: Use SAN Certificates

Depending on how you configure the service names in your Exchange , your Exchange server may require a certificate that can represent multiple domain names. Although a wildcard certificate, such as one for *.wardvissers.nl, can resolve this problem, many customers are uncomfortable with the security implications of maintaining a certificate that can be used for any sub-domain. A more secure alternative is to list each of the required domains as SANs in the certificate. By default, this approach is used when certificate requests are generated by Exchange.

Best Practice: Use the Exchange Certificate Wizard to Request Certificates

There are many services in Exchange that use certificates. A common error when requesting certificates is to make the request without including the correct set of service names. The certificate request wizard in the Exchange Management Console will help you include the correct list of names in the certificate request. The wizard lets you specify which services the certificate has to work with and, based on the services selected, includes the names that you must have in the certificate so that it can be used with those services. Run the certificate wizard when you’ve deployed your initial set of Exchange 2010 servers and determined which host names to use for the different services for your deployment.

Which Names you must include when you use a third party SAN certificate, ref http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd351044.aspx:
External:
webmail.wardvissers.nl
autodiscover.wardvissers.nl
legacy.wardvissers.nl (If you migrating from 2003 to 2010)
Internal:
autodiscover.wardvissers.local
legacy.wardvissers.local
nlbek10.wardvissers.local(Internal NLB CAS/HUB Cluster)
casarray.wardvissers.local(I use this address for the casarray. It has the same ip as the nlbek10)

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