Office 2010 Beta – Office 2007 Uninstall Fail?

After uninstalling Office 2007, we installed Office 2010 Beta. But, things were not working as we had expected. So, into the Programs and Features we went on this Windows 7 laptop and we found:

Note that the above was found after uninstalling Office 2007 and rebooting the laptop.

So, what does that mean?

It means that the script used to deploy Office 2007 on our network via Group Policy does not detect the newer version installed on this laptop and proceeds to install Office 2007.

It looks as though the script is not aware of the 64bit versions. We will need to look into updating it to work with the new versions of Office 2010 when we have access to our Open Value Licensing version.

The script:

setlocal

REM *********************************************************************
REM Environment customization begins here. Modify variables below.
REM Modified 2009-10-06 by Philip Elder for company variables.
REM *********************************************************************

REM Get ProductName from the Office product's core Setup.xml file.
set ProductName=Enterprise

REM Set DeployServer to a network-accessible location containing the Office source files.
set DeployServer=\\SBS\ClientApps\Office2007Ent

REM Set ConfigFile to the configuration file to be used for deployment REM (required)
set ConfigFile=\\SBS\ClientApps\Office2007Ent\Enterprise.WW\config.xml

REM Set LogLocation to a central directory to collect log files.
set LogLocation=\\SBS\ClientApps\Office2007Ent\Office12Logs

REM *********************************************************************
REM Deployment code begins here. Do not modify anything below this line.
REM *********************************************************************

IF NOT "%ProgramFiles(x86)%"=="" SET WOW6432NODE=WOW6432NODE\

reg query HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\%WOW6432NODE%Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\%ProductName%
if %errorlevel%==1 (goto DeployOffice) else (goto End)

REM If 1 returned, the product was not found. Run setup here.
:DeployOffice
start /wait %DeployServer%\setup.exe /config %ConfigFile%
echo %date% %time% Setup ended with error code %errorlevel%. >> %LogLocation%\%computername%.txt

REM If 0 or other was returned, the product was found or another error occurred. Do nothing.
:End

Endlocal

So for now, we will restructure our OU and GPOs for the moment to exclude the GPO setting to deploy Office 2007 for any machines the Office 2010 Beta will be installed on.

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 2010 Send/Receive And Exchange Settings After Upgrading

Since most folks will have a version of Office installed on their machines before installing the new Office 2010 Beta, one thing to keep in mind is that if installing the 64bit version of Office 2010 Beta the previous Office 32bit version will need to be uninstalled first.

This is how our Send/Receive settings looked after the whole process:

By default, our send/receive time limit will be 5 minutes.

Click on the Edit button in the above window and we found:

The “Include the selected account in this group” setting was unchecked.

So, we made sure to check it:

Once the settings were configured correctly, Outlook started to behave as expected for content flow.

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

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

SBS 2003/8 – Receive Confirmation Of Successful Fax Send In Windows Vista/7

To connect to the fax service on an SBS 2003 or SBS 2008 server with Vista or Windows 7 do the following:

1. From a computer that is running Windows Vista/7, open Windows Fax and Scan.
2. Click New Fax.
3. Click Connect to a fax server on my network.
4. Type the name of the server that is running Windows SBS, for example \\servername. If you do not know the name of the server, click Start, type cmd, and then type:
• set sbsserver [Enter]
• Answer will be: SBSSERVER=My-SBS
5. Type a name for the fax account, such as SBSServer.

To receive a confirmation when sending a fax do the following once an outgoing fax has been initiated:

1. After filling in the above form click on Tools.
2. Click on the Options… menu item.
3. Set the appropriate actions:
1. 
4. A confirmation e-mail will show up when the fax has sent successfully.

The delivery receipt option needs to be set each time a fax has been sent.

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

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

What Version of SQL Is That?

We have a client that needs to update a Line of Business application that is using a SQL 2005 Express instance.

The LoB has a major update coming down the pipe and the product developer has stated that we need to have SQL 2005 SP2 at the minimum to support the newest features in the update.

The following SQL version comes via a screenshot of SQL Server Management Studio Express:

Okay, so, now what version and service pack level are we at?

Apparently SP2+Q954606 (GDR):

The above screenshot was taken from this site:

• SQLSecurity.com: SQL Server Versions List 

The SQLSecurity.com site has an extremely comprehensive list of each version level depending on which SQL patches were installed.

So, we now know that we have SQL 2005 Service Pack 2 installed with Service Pack 3 looming in the near future and that our LoB can be safely updated.

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

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

Two Service Packs NOT To Install At This Time

Currently, we are abstaining from installing the Windows SharePoint v3 Service Pack 2.

The second service pack we are holding off on installing is Exchange 2007 Service Pack 2 on our SBS 2008 installs.

• Official SBS Blog: Microsoft Exchange 2007 SP2 installation is blocked on Windows SBS 2008.
• Microsoft Knowledgebase: KB973862: You cannot install Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 2 on a Windows Small Business Server 2008-based computer.

While the KB article contains some content addressing things that break when Exchange 2007 SP2 gets installed on SBS 2008, there is no real need at this point to install the Service Pack.

Also, there will be an SBS 2008 specific Exchange Service Pack 2 package released at some point that will allow us to install the Service Pack without it breaking things.

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

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

Moving From 3G CDMA to 3G+ HSPA In Canada

We just picked up a Sierra Wireless 306 USB HSPA (SW 306) 3G+ cellular modem that runs on the CDMA carrier’s networks here in Canada.

Now, with the Sierra Wireless 598 3G modem, there was no real worry about hitting the 1GB data plan’s soft limit as the modem rarely gave us over 20KB/sec despite the 3Mb connection claim it made when it connected to the Internet.

This is definitely _not_ the case when it comes to the SW 306. While no speed claims are made when the connection to the Internet completes, we have already seen the need to do some downloading of drivers and other software packages using the new modem.

Thus, we have a very practical view of just how fast this thing is . . . and it is _really_ fast!

One Microsoft download came down at close to 1MB/Sec.

This morning, as a test, we downloaded IE8 for Windows XP:

In the above screenshot the SW 306 3G+ cellular modem is on par with our close to the Central Office ADSL 6Mb connection that runs closer to 7.5Mb.

So, what does that mean for us? It means that we need to be aware of our RDP settings when connecting to remote systems for the day. 32bit colour depth is not necessary, nor is full screen on a larger high definition laptop screen.

We will need to keep an eye on our usage via our provider’s online portal that allows us to do so.

It also means that our Canadian cellular data providers will be needing to restructure their data plans that span 500MB to 5GB per month. Obviously, even the 5GB soft limit will not be enough for bandwidth intensive users.

Though, with little competition between the providers up here, there is really not a lot of incentive to do that.

We have clients that have one of the provider’s early unlimited data plans. The provider has a policy of taking away great plans and replacing them with whatever is current, and more restrictive, than the previous plan. So, we are going to encourage our clients to hold onto that plan and their current SW 598 modems as long as possible.

And one more thing. We are required to pay an extra $5/Mth per device that requires any form of PPTP/L2TP VPN access. VPN connections are not allowed out of the box.

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

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

TechDays Success And A TS Gateway Error

The feedback received on the WSUS presentation was quite positive. Hopefully the evaluation forms back that up.

Before heading backup up I stopped in at a client we have in Calgary to set up a couple of new backup hard drives and try and get their copier to e-mail PDFs into a SharePoint library.

It’s not like we have not done this before!

But, no matter what we tried, we could not get this particular copier to send e-mail via SBS 2008. There will be more troubleshooting to be done to figure out the “why” as it does not make sense.

I ended up being there until late working on that. So, after working on that for a while some Windows Server 2008 x64 updates were installed on SBS and a reboot was to be had with the hope that something would kick into gear and start working.

Well, after the reboot things did not improve so we decided to call it a night as I still had a 3.5 hour drive ahead of me.

About an hour into the drive, our client called to say that his and his wife’s systems were not able to connect to Exchange via Outlook Anywhere and that their iPhones stopped syncing earlier that evening . . . right around the time the updates and reboot happened.

The TS Gateway service was up and running despite the fact that no one could RDP into the server using the remote.domain.com gateway or via RWW.

This particular server has a DRAC installed so I was able to remote into the console and work on the server from Red Deer where I stopped to address the problem.

Nothing looked to be amiss and there were absolutely no clues in the logs as to why the TS Gateway service was not allowing anything through.

After running the Fix My Network wizard with nothing turning up, the Set Up Your Internet Address wizard, and then the Certificate wizard to reseat their GoDaddy certificate, nothing changed.

As a last resort, a reboot was initiated.

Since this troubleshooting was going on in a Red Deer parking lot via a 3G+ Internet connection, I left the DRAC console window open and started back on my way towards Edmonton/St. Albert.

This particular box takes about 15-20 minutes to reboot.

One advantage of having a Solid-State Drive in the Tecra was the ability to drive off without worrying about a hard drive problem due to the bumps and vibrations of driving.

An RDP shortcut on the Tecra’s desktop was saved with credentials embedded before heading out.

About 20 minutes into my resumed trip the SBS 2008 logon screen showed up. A double tap later and the SBS 2008 desktop showed up after a minute or so.

The key to figuring out what was happening was when the console screen went black, the Dell BIOS POST stuff went by, and then a Windows Registry update series of registry strings went by.

It seems that some of the updates applied before the previous reboot did not take properly and required yet one more reboot before things settled down.

We will make sure to check that the TS Gateway service is functioning as expected after updates as its misbehaving impacts a lot of different SBS services.

Once logged off the server the Tecra was shut down and I had an almost uneventful trip home.

A rather large Coyote jumped out in front of me from the median side of the highway close to Leduc. It is the first time that I have laid into the brakes hard enough to set off the ABS on dry pavement all the while swerving to avoid the animal.

Needless to say I barely missed the coyote and was a little surprised that they could be Jacklit. It pretty much stood still as soon as it turned its head towards me.

I did not have to worry about being tired for the rest of the ride home! ;)

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

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

TechDays Calgary – WSUS Presentation Soon

My presentation on Best Practices in Architecting and Implementing Windows Server Update Services will be starting in just about an hour.

It is the last Server Track presentation of the day.

• TechDays 2009 

So far, the content here has been excellent and the quality of the speakers has also been excellent.

It was well worth the trip.

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

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

TechDays Calgary – WSUS Presentation Soon

My presentation on Best Practices in Architecting and Implementing Windows Server Update Services will be starting in just about an hour.

It is the last Server Track presentation of the day.

• TechDays 2009 

So far, the content here has been excellent and the quality of the speakers has also been excellent.

It was well worth the trip.

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

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

Office 2010 Beta – A Step In The Right Direction

Indeed, the Dev Team has fixed one of the most critical problems with the Release Candidate!

The above screenshot is of our own audit notes opened from a remote SharePoint library.

Since we use SharePoint a lot for our document collaboration, having the ability to open SharePoint documents remotely is absolutely critical to the way we do business. That bug put a quick end to the use of Office 2010 Release Candidate in our company.

It looks as though that will change as of tonight!

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

Office 2010 Beta Available For Download For TechNet Subscribers

It’s official, the Office 2010 Beta has arrived . . . at least for TechNet Plus subscribers:

We shall soon see if Microsoft has addressed some of the issues that plagued us with the Release Candidate as the Beta has been downloaded and will be trialed on the Asus Eee PC that is here in Calgary with me.

Our main concerns:

• Remote documents stored in a SharePoint library will open properly.
• Outlook Search does not keep breaking.
• Recurring Calendar items do not get deleted when only one in the series 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

TechDays: Three boxes & Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 = High Availability Virtualization

A really inexpensive way to build a High Availability virtualization solution:
+ 3x Core 2 box with Intel-VT enabled.
+ 2 NICs, 3 is better.
+ Switches and cables.
+ TechNet Plus for:
+ Storage Server 2008 for iSCSI Target
+ System Center Virtual Machine Manager
+ Microsoft OSs and servers for VMs

PC's 1 & 2 will have Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 installed.
PC 3 will have Storage Server to host the shared storage.

NIC 1: Local LAN for management.
NIC 2: VMs.
NIC 3: Cluster heartbeat.

From there, putting things together is fairly straight forward.

Another machine can be used to facilitate set up of the HA solution.

We have a few solutions coming that will be built on individual servers as well as on the Intel Modular Server so we will try to build some comprehensive guides for building the HA setup along with its management needs.

Philip

Sent from my SBS Integrated Windows Mobile® phone.
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Sierra Wireless 306 USB Modem Install On The MacBook Pro

We picked up a new Sierra Wireless 306 HSPA cellular modem on Friday.

Unfortunately, our carrier seemingly had issues getting it activated so we had no cellular modem available to us over the weekend. A call from them this morning, and a flip of some sort of switch and we now have connectivity on our Windows machines.

The MacBook Pro did not install the same way for the 306 as the previous Sierra Wireless 598 CDMA 3G modem.

Once the post install reboot was finished, we had the strangest message about a New Network Found when the 306 was plugged into the MacBook Pro.

When we clicked through the message, we were presented with the following nondescript, and really strange window:

Now, our provider did not give us any information to fill out the requested fields.

After searching around for a while, some information on Sierra Wireless's Web site provided a clue as to what we needed to do. We say clue because the instructions linked to do not apply specifically to Snow Leopard as there are differences in the set up routine.

Note that in the above screenshot that the Apply button is no longer available. That is because it was available and clicked on even though no specific information was entered in any of the fields.

Strangely enough, even with the empty fields, the 3G Watcher utility's Connect button showed up after clicking Apply.

The new 3G HSPA network is significantly faster than the "3G" CDMA network that the Sierra Wireless 598 connected to. As a result, we will need to keep an eye on the data usage as a true 3Mb connection can add up very quickly.

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.

MVP Oliver Sommer Interview at TechEd Europe 2009

Have a few minutes to burn?

Fellow MVP Oliver Sommer, along with other Microsoft MVPs, were interviewed by Karen Young while attending TechEd Europe recently.

• YouTube: MVP Oliver Sommer at TechEd Europe 2009

Besides Oliver’s interview, there are a number of other Microsoft MVPs from various disciplines interviewed by Ms. Young.

Check them out! :)

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

Presenting on WSUS At TechDays In Calgary On Wednesday!

A little while back, Kevin Kaminski gave a Windows 7 presentation to all of us at the Intel Technical Solutions Training event here in Edmonton.

Afterwards he and I got to chatting about various topics including the next TechDays event in Calgary which happens to be running tomorrow and Wednesday.

He was going to be giving three of the presentations at TechDays. After finding out which ones I volunteered to take over the WSUS Architecture presentation.

• What:
• TechDays Calgary - D2 S4 - Best Practices in Architecting and Implementing Windows Server Update Services (WSUS)
• Where:
• Palomino Room
• When:
• Wednesday November 18 @ 14:45Hrs (2:45PM)

So, if you have some time, need to get caught up on some in-depth technical information on Microsoft products in a short period of time, TechDays is the place to do it!

It is worth it.

UPDATE: Added the "I" in "he and I got to chatting" since I missed it the first time!

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