Action Required by: October 31, 2017 at 5:59 PM UTC
Details: On October 31st, 2017, Exchange Online mailboxes in Office 365 will require connections from Outlook for Windows use MAPI over HTTP, our new method of connectivity and transport between Outlook for Windows and Exchange. In May of 2014, Microsoft introduced MAPI over HTTP as a replacement for RPC over HTTP. RPC over HTTP was a legacy connection protocol that is being deprecated from Exchange Online. Beginning October 31, 2017, Outlook for Windows clients using RPC over HTTP will be unable to access their Exchange Online mailbox. The necessary action depends on the version of Outlook in use in your organization. If you are using Outlook 2007 or earlier, you need to upgrade. Outlook 2007 does not contain support for the MAPI/HTTP protocol. We encourage you to update to the Office 365 ProPlus subscription, or access Outlook via the web browser (which is included in your current subscription plan). Outlook 2010-2016 customers will need to ensure their version of Outlook for Windows is set up to support MAPI/HTTP. At a minimum, you should ensure you have installed the December 2015 update. Lastly, ensure your Outlook clients are not using a registry key to block MAPI/HTTP.
Message Center: MC85988 – Potential service disruption for Outlook for Windows users
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***Register for the exam at the same site and use code EXCH2016010B to take it for free, but these codes are only valid for exam dates on or before Feb. 12, 2016. Remember: There are a limited amount of spots, so when they’re gone, they’re gone. You should also be aware that there are some country limitations where the beta code will not work (e.g., Turkey, Pakistan, India, China, Vietnam); you will not be able to take the beta exam for free in those countries.
Also, keep in mind that this exam is in beta, which means that you will not be scored immediately. You will receive your final score and passing status once the exam is live.
Well…what are you waiting for? Register before all the seats are gone!
The Skype for Business Team released Skype for Business 2015 Planning Tool. This tool asks you a series of questions about your organization and the features that you are interested in. The planning tool will then use your answers to recommend a topology based on the tested Skype for Business 2015 user model. Your organization may have a different user model. If so, you should adjust the recommended topology as necessary to fit your organization’s needs. What’s in the Planning Tool for Skype for Business 2015?
The Planning Tool now allow user to have up to 10 sites, including central site and disaster recovery site
The Planning Tool offers capacity guidance for Skype for Business Server 2015 new and updated features listed below.
You can answer the questions about these features in the Planning Tool, and then the suggested topology will contain information for those features, e.g hardware, network, DNS, certificate, IP, etc, according to the Skype for Business 2015 user model.
Persistent Chat
Archiving with Exchange integration
Mobility
Multi-view Video
SQL AlwaysOn
High Availability and Disaster Recovery
Office Web Apps
Exchange Mailbox
Skype for Business Server Planning Tool 2015 allows you to specify IPv6 IP addresses
Planning Tool identifies the IP conflicts across sites in the suggest topology. You can then choose to show or hide IP conflict in the topology
Planning Tool offers more user-friendly FQDN/IP/Port editing dialog
Planning Tool updates the suggested hardware requirements, DNS, and certificates with Skype for Business Server 2015 changes
Planning Tool updates the planning steps and deployment steps with Skype for Business Server 2015 changes
Planning Tool offers better support for accessibility requirements
Skype for Business Server Planning Tool 2015 offers improved export of Visio and Excel files. An exported Visio file matches the suggested topology diagram in the Planning Tool as well
Planning Tool no longer supports the following features:
The MCSE: Communication certification is being updated to support Skype for Business skills.
Starting 28-December, 2015, the following two new Skype for Business exams (currently in beta) will fulfill the MCSE: Communication requirements, provided that the candidate has already earned a qualifying MCSA credential:
The following Microsoft Lync Server 2013 exams retire on 31-March, 2016, but will remain an accepted path towards earning MCSE: Communication until 31-July, 2016:
This update also includes new daylight saving time (DST) updates for Exchange Server 2010 SP3. For more information about DST, go toDaylight Saving Time Help and Support Center.
About two weeks October 13, 2015 this is the final day of mainstream support for Outlook 2010.
This is especially relevant to Exchange Online users as the system requirements for Office 365 state that it is designed to work with “any version of Microsoft Office in mainstream support”. While Microsoft does not actively block you from connecting to Office 365 with legacy versions or client applications, the text around older versions includes phrases like “does not recommend”, “limited support” and “quality of user experience will diminish over time”.
I wanted to install Exchange 2013 CU10 on my lab. But i get the following error.
[09-22-2015 11:31:09.0224] [2] Saving object “My Marketplace Apps” of type “ExchangeRole” and state “Unchanged”. [09-22-2015 11:31:09.0240] [2] Used domain controller DC01.wardvissers.local to read object CN=My ReadWriteMailbox Apps,CN=Roles,CN=RBAC,CN=First Organization,CN=Microsoft Exchange,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=wardvissers,DC=local. [09-22-2015 11:31:09.0271] [2] [ERROR] The given key was not present in the dictionary. [09-22-2015 11:31:09.0271] [2] [WARNING] An unexpected error has occurred and a Watson dump is being generated: The given key was not present in the dictionary.
The list of known issues below provides a number of workarounds that are currently available to help unblock affected customers. We will revise the list as needed. Given the number of issues with this build we will release a newer build of MDT 2013 Update 1 in the next several weeks to address as many of these issues as we can. Watch this blog for more information.
Release Notes
TechNet documentation is not updated
The MDT product documentation published on TechNet is current as of MDT 2013; it has not yet been updated for MDT 2013 Update 1.
Do not upgrade from Preview to RTM
MDT 2013 Update 1 Preview should be uninstalled before installing the final MDT 2013 Update 1. Do not attempt to upgrade a preview installation or deployment share. Although the product documentation is not updated for MDT 2013 Update 1, the information on upgrading an installation still holds true.
Windows System Image Manager will fail to validate MDT Unattend.xml templates
The Windows System Image Manager (WSIM, a component of the Windows ADK used to create and modify unattended installation answer files) does not allow blank values which exist in the default MDT Unattend.xml templates. MDT removes blank values before injecting the file during deployment, so Windows always receives a valid XML answer file.
Integrating with System Center Configuration Manager
When integrating MDT with Configuration Manager, follow the version of the Windows ADK. MDT 2013 Update 1 only works with the Windows 10 ADK, so make sure it is used with a version of Configuration Manager that supports and also uses the Windows 10 ADK.
Image files larger than 4 GB are not split by default
Split image (.SWM) support is now off by default. It must be enabled by modifying %DeployRoot%\Control\Settings.xml with the following:
<SkipWimSplit>False</SkipWimSplit>
Using HideShell with Windows 10
The behavior of the HideShell option changed with Windows 10. Michael Niehaus explains this in great detail on his blog.
Known Issues
Disk partitioning issues
Symptoms:
Recovery partition consumes the majority of the disk on BIOS systems
LTIApply fails with DISM error 112, There is not enough space on the disk.
Recovery partition is unnecessarily visible on both UEFI and BIOS systems
You can’t specify a custom partition layout containing a recovery partition for UEFI systems
Workarounds: Keith Garner provides some suggestions on his blog: uberbug06 and uberbug07.
Static IP not restored when using media deployment
When doing a media deployment and using a static IP the static IP does not get restored.
Workarounds:
Modify Litetouch.wsf to enable MEDIA deployments (Keith Garner explains in this forum post) or
Add an extra Apply Network Settings action (alternative suggested by Johan Arwidmark on his blog)
Static IP not set in Network Adapter Configuration Wizard
When initializing a deployment in Windows PE and clicking Configure Static IP Address, if you uncheck Enable DHCP and enter static IP information, the following Network Settings Error will display:
This warning may also be seen in the results screen and log files during a deployment.
Workaround: a static IP can be manually set from Windows PE using netsh, but otherwise there are no workarounds at this time.
Monitoring does not work after Windows 10 upgrade
After successfully upgrading a system to Windows 10 the MDT monitoring fails to report information. You will see the following warnings:
Unable to create WebService class
Workaround: None.
MDAC component fails being added to Windows PE
This is a known bug with DISM; it is external to MDT. DISM can sometimes fail to add the MDAC component to WinPE boot images. This seems to be a timing issue which most commonly occur when you are using SSD disks.
Workarounds:
Remove MDAC. On the deployment share properties, Windows PE tab, Features subtab, uncheck Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC/ADO) support.
If you need MDAC for database connectivity, you can try updating your boot images from a system where the %TMP% directory is located on a non-SSD drive. This is not a guaranteed workaround, but has been seen to work.
NOTE: we are also aware of reports of similar issues regarding Windows PowerShell and WMI components in Windows PE (as well as some functional issues with these components). We have not been able to reproduce these issues, and are working with the Windows team to investigate further. If you have a reproducible issue with these components in Windows PE, please open a case with Microsoft Support to troubleshoot.
Upgrade task sequences are displayed when not applicable
Windows 10 upgrade task sequences are available when starting a deployment from Windows PE or on a non-matching architecture, however the in-place upgrade scenario is only supported when started from the full OS (it cannot be started from Windows PE) and from the correct architecture.
Workaround: Modify your upgrade task sequence properties to exclude client platforms that are not applicable. On the task sequence properties, General tab, select This can run only on the specified client platforms and then choose platforms that you want to target, for example, All x86 Windows 7 Client. This example will exclude Windows PE and Windows 7 x64 systems.
Applications with a command file (.cmd) use a Windows system working directory
If you have an application that uses a command file (.cmd) as the installation command line it will be launched from C:\Windows\System32 instead of the application’s working directory.
Workaround: See the associated bug on Connect for sample edits to ZTIApplications.wsf.
Application bundles successfully install but log an error
Application bundles will successfully install but the following warning is logged in ZTIApplications.log:
SelectSingleNodeString(CommandLine) Missing Node.
as well as the following error:
Application <app bundle name> returned an unexpected return code: 87
Workaround: See the associated bug on Connect for sample edits to ZTIApplications.wsf.
Deployment Wizard error for Keyboard Locale
Changing the keyboard locale in the Deployment Wizard will result in a script error:
Type mismatch: 'SetNewKeyboardLayout'
This error is non-fatal. Click Yes and continue.
Workarounds:
Specify the keyboard locale in CustomSettings.ini and hide this wizard page.
Edit %DeployRoot%\Scripts\DeployWiz_LanguageUI.xml to remove onchange="SetNewKeyboardLayout" from line 62.
ZTI: Offline installation of language packs or software updates fails
Using the “Install Language Packs Offline” or “Install Updates Offline” step in an MDT-integrated task sequence in Configuration Manager results in the language packs or updates not injected, and the following errors in the ZTIPatches.log:
ZTI ERROR - Unhandled error returned by ZTIPatches: Object required (424)
This error is only seen in logs, the deployment appears to be successful otherwise.
Workaround: apply updates and language packs online
Split image files do not apply
If you split a large image file to create .SWM file(s), then applying this split image file will fail.
Workaround: edit %DeployRoot%\Scripts\LTIApply.wsf, both lines 915 and 918, to add a colon and remove a space, for example on line 915 change:
Deployment fails due to unattend.xml errors during oobeSystem
If you have edited unattend.xml and then start a deployment with the wizard page for administrator password enabled, or specified AdminPassword in CustomSettings.ini, the deployment will fail during Windows OOBE:
Windows could not parse or process Unattend answer file [C:\Windows\Panther\unattend.xml\ for pass [oobeSystem]. The settings specified in the answer file cannot be applied. The error was detected while processing settings for component [Microsoft-Windows=Shell-Setup].
Workaround: edit %DeployoRoot%\Scripts\ZTIConfigure.wsf lines 343 and 344 to append unattend: before PlainText. For example, on line 344 change:
oCurrent.parentNode.selectSingleNode("PlainText").text = "true" to oCurrent.parentNode.selectSingleNode("unattend:PlainText").text = "true"
Do the same on line 343.
ZTI: LTIBootstrap.vbs script not found
Towards the end of a MDT-integrated task sequence deployment in Configuration Manager a Windows Script Host popup will appear with a message similar to the following:
Can not find script file "C:\LTIBootstrap.vbs".
(The drive letter may be different depending upon the specific scenario.)
Workaround: Script changes are possible but difficult and challenging. Johan Arwidmark provides an option on his blog (see Issue #2).
LTI: Cleanup is not complete after image capture
After capturing an image and rebooting back to the drive, autologon is still configured and an error will appear about LTIBootstrap is not found. This is a minor, non-fatal error that does not affect the captured image.
Workaround: Script changes are possible but difficult and challenging, especially given the minor severity of the issue.
DISM returns error 87 when applying image
A deployment fails with the following error from DISM:
Error: 87 (The parameter is incorrect)
With further detail in the dism.log:
Failed to get the filename extension of the image file
Workarounds: This is seen when the server name is only two characters, for example DC, such that the /ImageFile parameter is similar to the following:
Windows 10 build 10240 has been released to the Fast Ring. That’s what I’m running on my laptop now. There were heavy rumors yesterday that this is the to Release To Manufacturing (RTM) build and is the one to be publically available on July 29th. But there is no hard confirmation on this by Microsoft yet Build 10240 now available for Windows Insiders in Fast and Slow rings.
“Over the past few days we’ve been preparing our release pipelines and processes, and this build is one step closer to what customers will start to receive on 7/29 …
On Monday we announced that builds from here on will only be available through Windows Update, so to get this one you can either wait and it will be installed automatically.”
Here’s how you prepare to roll it out in your company.
Windows 10 Professional: W269N-WFGWX-YVC9B-4J6C9-T83GX Windows 10 Professional N: MH37W-N47XK-V7XM9-C7227-GCQG9 Windows 10 Enterprise: N: NPPR9-FWDCX-D2C8J-H872K-2YT43 Windows 10 Enterprise N: DPH2V-TTNVB-4X9Q3-TJR4H-KHJW4 Windows 10 Education: NW6C2-QMPVW-D7KKK-3GKT6-VCFB2 Windows 10 Education N: 2WH4N-8QGBV-H22JP-CT43Q-MDWW Windows 10 Enterprise 2015 LTSB: WNMTR-4C88C-JK8YV-HQ7T2-76DF9 Windows 10 Enterprise 2015 LTSB N: 2F77B-TNFGY-69QQF-B8YKP-D69TJ
Do note this is the key you use when you activate the Windows 10 Client against a KMS server. It is not the KMS license server key. That one you’ll need to obtain from your valid Microsoft licenses.
