Exchange Server Pro » Microsoft

The Simplest Improvement to the MS Help and Support Site

Paul Cunningham — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 04:03:23 +0000

I’ve griped about a similar thing in the past. Web sites can tell what operating system and browser you’re using to visit them. They can use this info to tailor your user experience.

Microsoft definitely knows this, because when I read support articles from my admin laptop it warns me that the article doesn’t apply to my operating system.

Thats great. But also pretty pointless, at least for me. I guess its handy for your average home consumer if they happen to be researching KB articles.

But one simple way that Microsoft could use those same smarts to improve my experience would be to detect when I’m browsing from a Windows Server operating system, and serve me a version of the website optimized for low bandwidth conditions.

That way I wouldn’t have to wait while flashy graphics slowly paint their way across the screen, and then painfully repaint when I scroll or at other seemingly random intervals.

And they could stop offering me Silverlight or Internet Explorer updates that try to swoosh in from the corner of the screen as a graphics heavy popup. Ditto for surveys that appear as lightbox popups.

A very simple improvement that could really improve things for IT admins trying to support remote customers.

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Security descriptor error during Exchange Server 2007 schema extension

Paul Cunningham — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 03:19:00 +0000

During Exchange Server 2007 schema extension you may encounter a security descriptor error which will cause setup to fail. The error may occur specifically during the “setup /PrepareAD” stage.

>setup /preparead

Welcome to Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Unattended Setup

Preparing Exchange Setup

No server roles will be installed

Performing Microsoft Exchange Server Prerequisite Check

    Organization Checks              ......................... COMPLETED

Configuring Microsoft Exchange Server

    Organization Preparation         ......................... FAILED
     You do not have permissions to read the security descriptor on CN=Deleted O
bjects,CN=Configuration,DC=domain,DC=com,DC=au.

The Exchange Server Setup operation did not complete. For more information,visit
http://support.microsoft.com and enter the Error ID.

Exchange Server setup encountered an error.

To resolve this issue use the following steps for Windows Server 2003. For Windows Server 2008 skip to step 3, and be sure to launch an elevated privileges command prompt to run the commands.

Download and install the ADAM tools from Microsoft.
Go to Start -> Programs -> ADAM and launch ADAM Tools Command Prompt.

In the command prompt, run the following command (substitute your domain name where appropriate):

C:\WINDOWS\ADAM>dsacls "CN=Deleted Objects,DC=domain,DC=com,dc=au" /takeownership
Owner: DOMAIN\Domain Admins
Group: NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM

Access list:
{This object is protected from inheriting permissions from the parent}
Allow BUILTIN\Administrators  SPECIAL ACCESS
                              LIST CONTENTS
                              READ PROPERTY
Allow NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM     SPECIAL ACCESS
                              DELETE
                              READ PERMISSONS
                              WRITE PERMISSIONS
                              CHANGE OWNERSHIP
                              CREATE CHILD
                              DELETE CHILD
                              LIST CONTENTS
                              WRITE SELF
                              WRITE PROPERTY
                              READ PROPERTY

The command completed successfully

Re-run Exchange setup. It should now successfully extend the schema.

Link: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;892806

Updated: 25/2/2010 with Windows Server 2008 information.

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Steve Riley on hypervisor attacks

Paul Cunningham — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 07:42:15 +0000

You have to ask: is there malware on my system? You can be 100 per cent certain there is no malware that you can detect, but less than 100 per cent certain that there is no malware at all. Now, ladies and gentlemen, isn’t this true of every computer we already have? There is no difference just because it’s virtualisation.

Read the entire article at ZDNet.

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Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates Microsoft ad

Paul Cunningham — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 01:59:10 +0000

Not sure what they’re advertising…

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Windows Server 2008 activation gripe

Paul Cunningham — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 00:24:38 +0000

Here is a tip for Microsoft, if you’re going to pop up and remind me to activate my Windows Server 2008 installation, give me the option right here to enter my product key so that when I hit “Activate Windows online now” it doesn’t fail.

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Exchange Server 2007 is now supported for hardware virtualisation

Paul Cunningham — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 10:00:19 +0000

We’ve been virtualising Exchange Server 2007 since it was first released but this week Microsoft has announced their official support policies for virtualised Exchange environments. It is a bit heavy on the Hyper-V but also references the list of support partners for non-Microsoft hardware virtualisation. When I checked this earlier in the week VMWare was a notable absence but today Dugie confirmed for me that they’ve been added to the list, which now stands as follows:

Cisco Systems, Inc.
Citrix Systems, Inc.
Novell, Inc.
Sun Microsystems
Unisys Corp.
Virtual Iron Software
VMware, Inc.

If you’re planning an Exchange Server 2007 deployment using a virtualisation platform be sure to read Microsoft’s recommendations for sizing virtual machines.

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I deleted Temp files and now the SCE console won’t open

Paul Cunningham — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 08:50:12 +0000

I was doing a little cleanup of the C: drive on a server that was unfortunately created with too small a volume size. One of the things I deleted was all of the files and subfolders in the Temp folder of my user profile. A few minutes later I launched the System Center Essentials 2007 console and was greeted with this error.

Could not find a part of the path “C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Temp\2\0_u8ex1o.tmp”.

The fix was simple enough – create the “2″ folder again and then relaunch the console. Here is the stupid part – the “2″ folder doesn’t exist in the Default User profile on this server. So presumably the first time the SCE console is run it is able to create that folder itself as required. I guess after that it forgets how to do it.

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Exchange Server Pro » Microsoft

The Simplest Improvement to the MS Help and Support Site

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Security descriptor error during Exchange Server 2007 schema extension

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Steve Riley on hypervisor attacks

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Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates Microsoft ad

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Windows Server 2008 activation gripe

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Exchange Server 2007 is now supported for hardware virtualisation

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I deleted Temp files and now the SCE console won’t open

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