Troubleshooting QuickBooks Network Connectivity

The following is a re-post of our post to the SBS2K Yahoo list:

***

First place to start would be with their Network Test Tool. It will give you the full host of things missing/broken between the client and the server.

1. Make sure the database manager is up to date and the exceptions are in the firewall on _both_ the server and the clients. We use a custom GPO setup for QB/Simply/LoBs.
• QuickBooks Network Troubleshooting Tool
2. Make sure that none of the previous QuickBooks user services accounts are running and/or installed in Services.MSC.
1. QuickBooksDB19
2. QuickBooksDB22
3. ETC.
• Whatever the latest one is should be the only one running.
3. You may need to use the registry editor to DELETE any references to the specific QuickBooksDB19 entries under SERVICES only (ignore Legacy).
1. We have disabled the earlier versions in Services.msc only to have QB Database Manager re-enable them.
2. Make sure that the QuickBooksDB22 or whatever has Read/Write at the NTFS level (we set share to EVERYONE=FULL) for the QB company files.
4. Direct the QB Database Manager to scan and set the folder(s) that the QB company files reside in on the server.
5. Once the above steps are run through your QB should work as expected.

As a rule we have not had to mess with anything network related on SBS 2008/2011 Standard to get QB working.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

How To Clean Up AD/DNS/Replication Links After A Failed SBS Destination OS Install or DCPromo

UPDATE: We moved the NTDSUtil step to the front of the pack.

Whenever we run into problems with getting the destination server online, for whatever reason, we have the option to do the following:

• Restore the System State.
  • This means running the SourceTool again.
• Restore the Server
  • Restore from ShadowProtect or other backup.
  • Caveat is that any incoming mail since the backup could be lost.
• Clean up the Source Server
  • Clean DNS
  • Clean AD Sites & Services
  • Verify Global Catalogue
  • Seize FSMO Roles

Please keep in mind that these instructions are specific to situations where our destination has not made it far enough to install Exchange and its connectors on the Source SBS 2003 server.

We need to run the NTDSUtil step first:

• Microsoft KB 216498: How to remove data in Active Directory after an unsuccessful domain controller demotion
• Keep that ntdsutil.exe session open from above for this one.
• metadata cleanup
• . . .
• remove selected server

We moved the NTDSUtil step to the fore as there are a few additional underlying bits that the utility removes that may help in the next SBS 2011 Standard OS run.

Our second step is in Active Directory Sites & Services

• Remove the replication links for both servers
• Source Server:
• Delete NTDS Settings
• Delete the Server Container
• NOTE:

In Active Directory Users and Computers

• Remove the Destination SBS 2011 from the Domain Controllers container

In DNS Forward Lookup Zones and Reverse Lookup Zones

• Remove all references to the Destination Server in _msdcs.domain.local
  • DNS A Records
  • DNS N (Name Server tab)
  • IP Address
• Remove all references to the Destination Server in Domain.Local
  • DNS A Records
  • DNS N (Name Server tab)
  • IP Address
• Remove all references to the Destination Server in 192.168.99.x Subnet
  • DNS A
  • DNS N (Name Server tab)
  • IP Address

Once all references in AD and DNS have been removed we need to verify that our source is still a Global Catalogue server. This is done in AD Sites & Services.

Then, we reverse the FSMO Role transfer that happens early in the SBS 2011 OS install and configuration process.

• Microsoft KB 255504: Using Ntdsutil.exe to transfer or seize FSMO roles to a domain controller
  • Schema Master
  • Domain naming master
    • Naming Master on 2008 R2
  • RID master
  • PDC emulator
  • Infrastructure master

We can verify the FSMO Role locations at the command prompt:

• netdom query fsmo [Enter]

Once we have completed our clean-up steps we are ready to make our SBS 2011 Standard OS install run attempt.

If errors were due to a Schema Mismatch error then we check the AD version here:

• Registry: HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NTDS\Parameters\<Schema Version>
  • Windows 2000 RTM with all Service packs = Schema version 13
  • Windows Server 2003 RTM with all Service packs = Schema version 30
  • Windows Server 2003 R2 RTM with all Service packs = Schema version 31
  • Windows Server 2008 RTM with all Service packs = Schema version 44
  • Windows Server 2008 R2 RTM with all Service packs = Schema version 47
  • Windows Server 2012 RC = Schema version 56

Our particular Schema version when working with SBS 2011 Standard after the SourcePrep Tool is run successfully is 47.

NOTE: The above steps are destructive! Please have a backup and make sure to verify what is being deleted _before_ the object is deleted!

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

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SBS 2003: Wants to ChkDsk on Reboot So Disable Disk Check

The SBS 2003 R2 Premium server we are migrating way from this weekend is not well. It is well enough to boot okay but it wants to ChkDsk the backup drive every time it boots.

fsutil dirty query D: [Enter]

When we query the status of the backup drive as above it comes up NOT Dirty. Yet, the server insists on checking it on a boot.

So, we disable the auto check for that volume:

chkntfs /x d: [Enter}

We can then move on with this box without having to try and catch the ChkDsk process before it starts or waiting and waiting and waiting until it finishes – if it ever does.

• Microsoft KB 160963: CHKNTFS.EXE: What You Can Use It For

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

SBS Migration Guide and SBS Setup Guide Updated

We have added quite a few steps to both our Migration Guide and our Setup Guide.

• Guide - SBS 2011 Setup
• Guide - SBS 2003 to SBS 2011 Migration

Please do use these guides for your own SBS 2011 Standard setup and migration processes!

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Exchange 2010 SP1 ExFolders Error: Active Directory User Wasn’t Found

We needed to recover an item deleted on an SBS 2011 server with Exchange 2010 SP1.

When we opened ExFolders for Exchange SP1 we ended up with an error:

An error occurred while trying to establish a connection to the Exchange server.

Exception: The Active Directory user was not found.

A search for the error turned up the following:

• TechNet Forums: EXFolders : Exception: The Active directory user wasn'f (sic) found.

The fix was to delete the CN=Servers container using ADSIEdit.msc:

First we closed ExFolders then performed the above edit.

We then opened ExFolders and were then able to recover the deleted item the user had accidentally removed in Outlook.

Note that this SBS 2011 was a migration from SBS 2003 R2.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

SBS 2008: CAPI2 Event ID 11: Failed extract of third-party root list from auto update cab at . . . /authrootstl.cab

We have a few of these showing up:

Event Properties – Event 11, CAPI2

Failed extract of third-party root list from auto update cab at: <http://www.download.windowsupdate.com/msdownload/update/v3/static/trustedr/en/authrootstl.cab> with error: A required certificate is not within its validity period when verifying against the current system clock or the timestamp in the signed file.

Source: CAPI2
Event ID: 11

The fix is found in the following KB:

• Microsoft KB 2328240: Event ID 4107 or Event ID 11 is logged in the Application log in Windows and in Windows Server

From an elevated command prompt we run:

• certutil –urlcache * delete
• 

We then need to clean out a series of folders.

1. LocalService:
   %windir%\ServiceProfiles\LocalService\AppData\LocalLow\Microsoft\CryptnetUrlCache\Content
   %windir%\ServiceProfiles\LocalService\AppData\LocalLow\Microsoft\CryptnetUrlCache\MetaData

2. NetworkService:
   %windir%\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\AppData\LocalLow\Microsoft\CryptnetUrlCache\Content
   %windir%\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\AppData\LocalLow\Microsoft\CryptnetUrlCache\MetaData

3. LocalSystem:
   %windir%\System32\config\systemprofile\AppData\LocalLow\Microsoft\CryptnetUrlCache\Content
   %windir%\System32\config\systemprofile\AppData\LocalLow\Microsoft\CryptnetUrlCache\MetaData

Once done the CAPI2 errors should be gone.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Fonality–Setting up Windows Server/SBS DHCP After the Fact

We ran the SBS 2011 install via Answer File for this new network setup that we are working on.

They already had a peer to peer setup in place with SonicWall devices serving DHCP and acting as edge.

Two Fonality servers were set up in redundant mode.

So, prior to running the SBS OS install we deleted the SonicWall DHCP subnet scope to make sure we had SBS based DHCP this morning.

Well, no go.

We had the SBS is Installed Successfully green check mark but no system had an IP address.

Checking in the SBS Native Tools console we saw that DHCP had no scope.

We ran the Internet Address Wizard and:

The SBS wizard found a DHCP server at the Fonality’s primary server IP. We logged into the admin site with no DHCP Server options anywhere to be found.

In the end we needed to call them to have them log in via their own backend management and turn the DHCP services off for both the primary and secondary servers.

Moral of the story: If there are any third party devices and/or services in place before, or coming in afterwards, verify with the vendors whether anything in them will conflict with a Windows Domain/DNS/DHCP setup and have their “This is how you set things up on a Windows Domain/DNS/DHCP based network” documentation at hand.

The Fonality and other systems on this particular network require DHCP scope options along with custom DNS Forwarders for the phone “domain” among other things.

Got coffee? ;)

UPDATE: Fonality’s Support Site for DHCP and DNS setup on a Windows Network

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Slow Network Speeds with SBS 2008 and 2011: NIC Binding Order

Most server boxes today come with at least 2 NICs. In some cases they come with four or more! As a result we need to pay particular attention to how the networking structures are set up in the OS.
The following is a Snip of a production SBS 2008 server:

To get the Advanced Settings screen:

1. Start –> NCPA.CPL [Enter]
2. Hit the ALT key if the File menu is not seen.
3. Click Advanced.
4. Click Advanced Settings.

Note the order that the NIC bindings are shown in.
In this case, Local Area Connection 2 is the NIC that was not plugged in during the OS setup phase. Yet, the OS somehow managed to place that NIC at the top of the binding order.
What does that mean?
Network services run slower as the OS will poll the disabled NIC _first_ before the NIC that the services are actually connected to.
So, for any network that is experiencing any kind of slowness the following should be done in the troubleshooting process before touching any of the NIC driver settings or OS internal configuration:

1. Check the Switch!
   • Gigabit on _all_ ports please.
   • Make sure that switches with a higher port density have the internal backbone to handle all or most ports running at full duplex Gigabit.
2. Change the patch cable between the server and the switch.
   • Please.
3. Verify the binding order on the NICs.
   • If a change is needed note that the server would need to be rebooted!
   • In the case above:
     1. Move Local Area Connection 2 to the bottom of the list.
     2. Uncheck File and Printer Sharing on Local Area Connection 2.
     3. Uncheck Client for Microsoft Networks Local Area Connection 2.
4. Check the Provider Order tab
   • 
   • Place the Microsoft Windows Network at the top of the list since it is definitely the most accessed part of the server’s networking.

We helped out a fellow consultant that was working with a client that had a really slow ACCPACC problem. Reports were taking _a long time_ to run. After running through a series of tests we checked the binding order and sure enough the NICs were way out of order.
After a reboot things took a day or so to straighten out. But once they settled down the reports were running in a fraction of the time it took before the change.

• TechNet Library: Modify the protocol bindings and network provider order
• TechNet Library: Network Connections Best Practices
  • Note mention of the Provider Order recommendation near the bottom of this page.

UPDATE: Thanks to Michael’s pointer in the comments. The order change was missing the “2”!
Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book
*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

SBS 2008 and SharePoint Errors 3760 and 27745

We have spent the better part of the day troubleshooting an SBS 2008 Companyweb that went offline this morning without any real indication of _why_ that happened.

The server has been up for about 30 days with no SharePoint updates applied for at least a couple of update cycles.

• Error 1: 3760 (A few of these just before things went offline)
  • SQL Database ‘ShareWebDb’ on SQL server instance ‘…’ not found.
• Error 2: 27745 (happens every second or more)

  Log Name:      Application
  Source:        Windows SharePoint Services 3
  Date:          09/06/2011 12:02:30
  Event ID:      27745
  Task Category: General
  Level:         Error
  Keywords:      Classic
  User:          N/A
  Computer:      xxxxxxxx.local
  Description:
  The description for Event ID 27745 from source Windows SharePoint Services 3 cannot be found. Either the component that raises this event is not installed on your local computer or the installation is corrupted. You can install or repair the component on the local computer.

  #50071: Unable to connect to the database SharePoint_Config_xxx-xxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx on xxxxxx\Microsoft##SSEE.  Check the database connection information and make sure that the database server is running.

We went through a very long process of trying to figure out the source of the problem.

Both Companyweb and the SharePoint Administration sites were offline.

Ultimately, the steps we took are to be found in this Experts Exchange Question:

• Experts Exchange: Sharepoint Sites Down /  Event ID 27745  Windows SharePoint Services 3 cannot be found error / SBS 2008

About two thirds of the way down is a transcript of the process Microsoft Product Support Services took to figure out what the problem was. The lines below are the ones relevant to our own situation with the lines starting with an asterisk (*) being steps we did on our own.

• Tried to browse companyweb, came up with error:  HTTP 404   The webpage cannot be found
• Tried to browse Sharepoint central Administration, get the error: HTTP 404   The webpage cannot be found
• Ran the PSconfig and gave the error: Unhandled exception has occurred in your application
• Checked if the database were attached in SQL and found them there.
• Ran PSconfig and failed again.
• We checked CLICONFG and found that TCP/IP was listed on enabled protocols.
• On a working machine, it was (sic) a disabled protocol.
• 
• Left = Bad | Right = Good
• We moved it to disabled protocol.
• * We restarted the Microsoft##SSEE service and SP Timer service.
• Ran psconfig and this time it was successful.
• Browsed to Sharepoint central admin and it was working.
• * Ran the Credential Management step in SP Operations.
• 
• * Restarted IIS: IISReset /Noforce
• NOTE: We had to manually shut IIS down and restart as it hung at “Stopping”.
• * Refreshed SP Admin site and all was good.
• Browsed companyweb and that was successful.

It is very important to note that an out-of-band management module such as the iDRAC Enterprise, HP iLO Advanced, Intel RMM, or other KVM over IP should be used.

The RD Gateway service consistently stopped and stayed down during our troubleshooting processes. An IP restricted direct to SBS RDP rule in the firewall would be a good second option though not perfect if the OS stops in its tracks!

While we tried to outline every step we took troubleshooting this process, there may be a few steps that we missed documenting in the process.

As always, have a backup of that server before making any changes!

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

SBS 2003 Error: DNS Event ID 4521: The DNS server encountered error 9002 attempting to load zone . from Active Directory

This has been mentioned before but bears being mentioned again since the SBS 2003 we are just getting ready to migrated to SBS 2011 on a 2 node Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 failover cluster is throwing these errors:

Event Type:    Warning
Event Source:    DNS
Event Category:    None
Event ID:    4521
Date:        9/9/2011
Time:        2:30:39 PM
User:        N/A
Computer:    -SBS01
Description:
The DNS server encountered error 9002 attempting to load zone . from Active Directory. The DNS server will attempt to load this zone again on the next timeout cycle. This can be caused by high Active Directory load and may be a transient condition.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

The fix is quite simple:

1. Open a command prompt.
2. dnscmd /config /BootMethod [Enter]
3. net stop dns && net start dns [Enter]
4. Close the command prompt.

Now that we have run the above commands we are no longer seeing the errors in the DNS Event Log:

Since this particular domain is one of our own creations we are pretty confident that everything is okay health wise. We will still walk through all of the source server health steps found in our Migration Guide here:

• MPECS Inc. Blog: SBS 2003 to SBS 2011 Migration Guide – v1.2.0

Our original blog post is here:

• MPECS Inc. Blog: SBS 2003 – DNS Event IDs 4521 - Error 9002 attempting to load zone

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

SBS 2003 to SBS 2011 Migration Exchange 2003 Uninstall Fail – Manual Removal Required

We were in the final stages of the SBS 2003 to SBS 2011 migration when the Exchange 2003 setup routine failed to complete.

The very last line in the “Exchange Server Setup Progress.log” file found in C:\ was:

[17:08:51]  Deleting the public store

When we looked in the Exchange System Manager we saw the following on the source server:

Nothing. No routing connectors, no Public Folders, no databases, nothing at all.

We were not able to run the uninstall process again.

So, to see if we were even remotely close to having our source server’s Exchange 2003 uninstalled we ran the Exchange 2010 BPA on the destination server leaving out the source server and admin group in the scan:

The only flag that came up was the following:

Write DACL inherit (group)

The Write DACL inherit (group) right for the Exchange Enterprise Servers group should be removed from the root of the domain.

The Tell Me More link takes us to:

• Microsoft TechNet: The Write DACL for the Exchange Enterprise Servers group should be removed from the root of the domain

It is indicated that we need to run a PowerShell script:

• Remove-ADPermission "dc=<Domain>" -user "<RootDomain>\Exchange Enterprise Servers" -AccessRights WriteDACL -InheritedObjectType Group

Now, deciphering how the above command was actually supposed to be entered was another story.

After a number of different searches we came up with the right combination of keywords that brought us here:

• Microsoft Exchange Server Forums: Error when trying to remove last legacy Exchange server

Thanks to LuccianoDuckman we have:

The proper syntax for the command:

• Remove-ADPermission "dc=DOMAIN,dc=Local" -user "DOMAIN.Local\Exchange Enterprise Servers" -AccessRights WriteDACL -InheritedObjectType Group

When we punched the above into the Exchange Admin PowerShell console we saw the following:

[PS] C:\Windows\system32>Remove-ADPermission "dc=DOMAIN,dc=Local" -user "DOMAIN.Local\Exchange Enterprise Servers" -AccessRights WriteDACL -InheritedObjectType Group

Confirm
Are you sure you want to perform this action?
Removing Active Directory permission "DOMAIN.Local" for user "DOMAIN.Local\Exchange Enterprise Servers" with access rights "'WriteDacl'".
[Y] Yes  [A] Yes to All  [N] No  [L] No to All  [?] Help (default is "Y"): A
[PS] C:\Windows\system32>

We then re-ran the Exchange 2010 BPA to make sure that there were no other lingering issues and it came up clean.

We were good to remove the last remnants of Exchange 2003 from the source server. Note that the ESM on the source no longer functioned so we were not able to delete the source object there.

• Microsoft KB 833396: How to remove Exchange Server 2003 from your computer
• Specifically: The How to Manually Remove.
1. Services stop and Disable.
2. Registry entry removal.
• Many keys were missing already.
3. Rename the Microsoft Exchange folder under C:\Program Files \Microsoft Integration\Microsoft Exchange
• This folder was gone.
4. Left the IIS component alone.
5. Remove the Exchange Server object from AD using ADSIEdit.msc.
• 
6. Reboot.
7. Re-run the Exchange 2010 BPA on the destination to confirm that there are no problems.
8. Proceed to DCPromo the source out of the domain.

In the end, the choke may have been caused by two e-mails destined for the Public Folder store on the source server caught in the destination server’s queue! So, prior to uninstalling Exchange 2003 on the source server we will verify the queue on the destination server _first_.

We deleted those to e-mails.

With a little help from Susan:

• SBS Diva Blog: SBS 2011 Migration Keys to Success

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

SBS 2003 to SBS 2011 Migration Error – You must be logged on using the built-in administrator account.

We have a number of SBS 2003 sites where we created a new domain administrator account with identical permissions to the built-in 500 account.

Microsoft Windows Small Business Server Setup

Setup has detected the following requirements have not been met: You must be logged on using the built-in administrator account.

The above error message came up when we were running the Add/Remove Programs process to uninstall Exchange 2003 on the source server.

So, we enabled the built-in 500 domain admin account, reset the password, logged off, logged on, and re-ran the Add/Remove process.

We were then able to move on with removing Exchange 2003.

NOTE: It is important to have the Exchange 2003 install directory (exchsrvr65) or CD 2 from the SBS 2003 setup disks handy!

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Outlook Error – Cannot open your default e-mail folders. You must connect to Microsoft Exchange with the current profile . . .

We ran the gamut of trying to figure out the following error:

Microsoft Outlook

Cannot open your default e-mail folders. You must connect to Microsoft Exchange with the current profile before you can synchronize your folders with your Outlook data file (.ost).

And:

Microsoft Outlook

Cannot open your default e-mail folders. The file C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Microsoft\Outlook\UserEmail@Domain.ca – First.ost is not an Outlook data file (.ost).

We tried everything from recreating her Outlook Profile, removing the OST file just in case it was corrupted, a number of combinations including the aforementioned steps along with others, and finally flattening her local profile and starting fresh.

It was not until we signed into a desktop OS VM with the user’s credentials after they mentioned that Outlook threw the same error for them when signing into a spare laptop that it became apparent that we were dealing with a server problem.

There was no clue that the problem was with SBS 2003 and Exchange 2003 because no other users were complaining about a Disconnected Outlook.

After combing through the logs on the SBS 2003 server we turned up the following:

Event ID: 9646 MSExchangeIS

Mapi session “/o=DOMAIN/ou=first administrative group/cn=Recipients/cn=Username” exceeded the maximum of 32 objects of type “session”.

Searching for this error brought us to the following KB article:

• Microsoft Knowledgebase KB842022: Event ID 9646 is logged in the application event log of your Exchange Server 2003 computer when a client opens many MAPI sessions

We needed to add the following registry key and restart the Information Store on the problematic server:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.
2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeIS\ParametersSystem

3. If the Maximum Allowed Sessions Per User entry does not exist, do the following:
   1. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
   2. Type Maximum Allowed Sessions Per User as the entry name, and then press ENTER.
4. Right-click the Maximum Allowed Sessions Per User entry, and then click Modify.
5. Click Decimal, type the value that you want to set in the Value data box, and then click OK.
1. We used the value of 128.
6. Exit Registry Editor.
7. Click Start, click Run, type services.msc in the Open box, and then click OK.
8. Click the MSExchange Information Store service, and then click Restart Service.

We confirmed that the Information Store restarted properly and our stores were mounted. We then started Outlook on the user’s system and were finally greeted with their mailbox!

Note that the user was using OWA when the problem started so it did not become apparent that the problem was on the server until _well_ into this troubleshooting process.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

SBS 2003 to SBS 2011 Migration Prep Tool Error – Managed Recipient Policies Mailbox Manager Enabled

While running the Migration Prep Tool on the source SBS 2003 we hit the following error:

Scan the source server for problems

Managed Recipient policies

The Mailbox Manager setting is enabled for one or more recipient policies. As a result, the recipient policies will not be upgraded if you migrated to Windows SBS 2011 Standard and Exchange Server 2010.

So, we open up the Exchange System Manager under the Advanced node of the SBS 2003 Console and we see:

We have two policies created to handle the ISP’s e-mail domains for the users.

Both policies have the Mailbox Manager Settings tab:

Now, in this case neither ISP domains are being used anymore so we can safely delete both.

However, if the recipient policies were indeed in use then we would copy out the filter settings for applying each policy along with its place in the policy order before deleting and recreating them without the Mailbox Manager setting.

Once the offending recipient policies were taken care of:

Note: A System State and full ShadowProtect backup were run prior to running the source Migration Prep Tool.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

SBS 2003 to SBS 2011 Migration Error – Cannot Find the Source Server

On this last migration we came to realize that we were seeing this particular error frequently:

The above screenshot was borrowed from the Official SBS Blog.

A quick question to my fellow MVPs and Susan Bradley pointed us to:

• The Official SBS Blog: You May Get an Error "Verify that the Source Server Name is Correct" While Trying to Install SBS into an Existing Domain

When it happened to us, we had jumped into the command line (SHFT+F10) and began to ping the source IP and DNS A with the name failing the first time. We ran an IPConfig /All and verified that the IP information on the destination was right which it was.

When we went to ping the source name again it was properly resolved to the source server’s IP.

In our case it meant waiting an extra minute or so before we could click that Next button.

What does this mean?

We need to have our destination server configured with an Intel RMM, Dell iDRAC KVM enabled, HP iLO Advanced, or other out-of-band remote management module so that we can keep an eye on things if we had left the site after running the SBS 2011 Migration Mode OS install!

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

SBS 2003 to SBS 2011 AD and DNS Problem– _msdcs Folder Is Empty?

When we were performing the last clean up steps in our client’s SBS 2003 to SBS 2011 migration by removing all references to the source server’s IP, DNS A, and NS references in DNS Management we encountered this bit of strangeness:

Note that the folder icon is wrong and there was only an NS reference in that folder.

Searching around produced a lot of fluff with no real substance on how to fix the problem.

Our own SBS 2011 DNS Domain.local zone subfolder looks like the following:

After posing the question to some fellow MVPs, Michael B. Smith gave us the instructions we needed to fix things:

1. Open Windows Explorer
2. Navigate to: C:\Windows\System32\Config\
3. Open an elevated command prompt.
4. Net Stop NetLogon [Enter]
5. Delete the following two files in the Config folder:
• netlogon.dnb
• netlogon.dns
• 
6. Net Start NetLogon [Enter]
7. Verify in DNS that the _msdcs folder is now properly populated.
• 

Thanks Michael!

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

SBS 2011 Error–SQL Server Management Studio Hangs On Combined Help Collection

We are in the process of troubleshooting some issues with e-mailed reports from our own SBS 2011. While working our way through the SBSMonitoring database SQL Server Management Studio hung.

Eventually we saw a message with a Switch To button, a Cancel Operation button, and a Continue button that was all but useless. We had to figure out how to kill SSME.

When we did we got the following message:

SQL Server 2008 R2 Combined Help Collection – Microsoft Document Ex…

SQL Server 2008 R2 Combined Help Collection – Microsoft Document Explorer cannot shut down because a modal dialog is active. Close the active dialog and try again.

Well, the only dialog box we kept getting every once in a while was the one with the three buttons with either two or three of them active. The Cancel Operation button did not work.

We tried to get to the Task Manager via CTRL+ALT+DLTE to no avail. Right clicking on the Task Bar produced the same results . . . nothing.

We ended up needing to copy ProcessExplorer onto the SBS 2011 desktop, opening it, and killing SSMS from there:

Once SSMS was terminated we still could not get into the Task Manager so we needed to reboot the server. Once the server came back up things were working as expected.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

SBS 2011 Standard Setup Crashes Unexpectedly: Error: Cannot commit configuration changes because the file has changed on disk

Microsoft has the following KB about a relatively infrequent crash that can happen during the SBS OS setup:

• Microsoft KB: 2535810: SBS 2011 Standard Edition Setup Crashes Unexpectedly

From the KB:

[4624] 110318.160407.0793: TaskManagement: In TaskScheduler.RunTasks(): The "ConfigureSharePointTask" Task threw an Exception during the Run() call:Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Common.IWorker.IISConfig.IISConfigException: IIS Server Administration threw an exception. See inner exception for details. ---> System.IO.FileLoadException: Filename: \\?\C:\Windows\system32\inetsrv\config\applicationHost.config
Error: Cannot commit configuration changes because the file has changed on disk (emphasis ours)

We _have_ seen this error on systems we were installing while working with the OS prior to RTM. So far, we have not seen the problem on any of the servers we have installed using the RTM bits.

The only resolution at this point is to contact Microsoft Support via the provided link in the KB. Note that the current system is call-back based. Keep this in mind when quoting on migrating SBS between versions.

MIGRATION NOTE: It is _always_ important to take a full backup plus a System State backup _before_ making any changes to a source SBS when migrating to a new version of SBS. Without a good backup it is very difficult to step back if something goes wrong during the migration.

Please look into Jeff Middleton’s Swing Migration method if there is an absolute need for a fall back just in case something fails. Jeff’s method provides fall back while the Microsoft Method is committed once the mailbox move has been initiated.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

SBS 2011 – Exchange Services Do Not Start

We see this often in our SBS 2003 to SBS 2011 migrations where certain Exchange 2011 services fail to restart after a reboot.

• Official SBS Blog: Exchange Services May Not Start Automatically After a Reboot

Quote from the above on which services may fail to start:

• Microsoft Exchange Information Store
• Microsoft Exchange RPC Client Access (SBS 2011 Server Only)
• Microsoft Exchange Forms Based Authentication (SBS 2011 Server Only)

We have definitely seen the second and third services fail to start. So much so that we would make sure they were running after a reboot on all servers we were worked with.

We are pointed to the following KB:

• Microsoft KB 940845: Services for Exchange Server 2007 or Exchange Server 2010 cannot start automatically after you install Exchange Server 2007 and Exchange Server 2010 on a global catalog server

The article has a number of different methods for addressing the problems from starting the services manually, through to a number of Microsoft Fix its:

Note that the various Fix its are all for different registry settings applicable to the affected Exchange services.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

SBS 2003 – SBS Network Configuration Wizard Error–Logon Name and Password Wrong?

We had set up three identical Toshiba Tecra S11 laptops with Windows 7 Enterprise x64 and all of the necessary drivers prior to delivering them to our client’s site.

When we first fire up the laptops we jump into the BIOS to enable vPro, set date and time, enable Intel Virtualization, and other BIOS related features.

When it came time to join the SBS 2003 domain where these laptops ended up one of them threw the following error:

Small Business Server Network Configuration Wizard

The system could not log you on. Make sure your logon name and password are correct.

We tried all known good username and passwords with no results.

With some help from fellow MVPs it turned out that somehow the laptop’s time and date were not in sync anymore. Time was not the first place we checked since all three laptops were set up at the same time with the same settings.

So, how the date and time on that one laptop fell out of sync is a mystery.

But, once the date and time was set correctly we were able to join the SBS 2003 domain!

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer