DNT TXT N DRV – Remember Alex Brown Foundation

Not being one for “Reality” shows, I was caught by the message of last night’s Extreme Makeover Home Edition show.

• DNT TXT N DRV – Remember Alex Brown Foundation

The r.a.b. was founded by a mom and dad that lost their daughter to an accident because she was texting. Alex’s truck rolled over several times and she did not survive.

During the show there was a segment where a couple of well known NASCAR drivers were put to the test to text while driving and they failed.

While I “know” that texting while driving is not a good idea, even trying to troubleshoot a problem with a client while on the phone is bad. Any distraction from keeping the vehicle on the road and not in contact with another vehicle or object is a bad thing.

Both of our vehicles have built in Bluetooth for cell phones. The GMC’s works well while the Dodge’s U-Connect taps right into the phone and its address book providing full hands free dialling straight from the phone’s address book. Ford’s new Sync apparently has the same abilities as the Dodge’s with even more hands free options.

This post is both a reminder to me to _not_ type a text, read a text, or do any in-depth troubleshooting, but to keep both hands on the wheel and stay focused on the task at hand – driving! :)

This is especially true of being aware of what the other drivers are doing. We do a fair amount of local on-site support so it is almost a daily experience trying to avoid folks doing everything _but_ driving

I will be signing the r.a.b. Pledge, though by E-mail since the online version is for the US only at this time.

Be safe out there! :)

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

Sage Simply Accounting Support Chat Links

We have a client that had an issue with a Simply Accounting order and none of the phone calls they made were getting anywhere.

After clicking through Simply’s support site we came to the following page:

• Chat with Sage Simply Accounting Analysts

Since we were having an order/registration problem we clicked on the Chat with a registration analyst. Our connection was made in less than a minute to analyst Ryan A. He had the answer we needed within a minute or two and we were on our way.

Total time taken to find the chat support page, connect with Ryan, and get our answer was less than then minutes. Any further needs should be pretty quick since we now have quick access to the chat links page! :)

All in all, our experience was a very positive one.

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

One of the things that kept me busy this week.

In the various parts of Canada we have had all sorts of whacky weather. Out West here we have have a lot of snow.

In our area we had about 24” (60cm) of snow in a very short period of time. The snow was fine and densely packed everywhere so my concern was towards the weight of it on our home’s roof.

A friend and I took care of removing all of the snow off of the roof of our small bungalow this week when the weather warmed up from –25 Celsius temps we had been seeing the previous weeks.

Here I am digging out the front door’s pile. We used that pile to heighten a pile I had already made just to my right. The kids have been using that other pile for a sled run. By the time we were done shovelling out the front door out the kid’s sled run was well over the eavestroughs . . . that brought a huge smile to their faces! :)

We figure that between the three huge piles we created that we pulled at least a couple of tons of the snow off of the roof. About half of it averaged around 2.5’ (45cm) while the other half averaged about 3.5’ (105cm).

Supposedly things are going to cool off again as it is a balmy +3 Celsius right now and we are going to get a lot more snow! Yay! :|

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

Server Core Error – The requested operation requires elevation

After migrating our SBS 2003 R2 domain to SBS v7 we cleaned out our Active Directory OU and GPO structure. Since we were anticipating the subsequent migration to SBS v7’s RTM bits (SBS 2011) we did not rebuild our standard OU and GPO structures.

One of the GPO setups that we do is to mandate UAC, Secure Desktop, prompt for admins, and credentials for Standard Users.

Now that we have finished migrating to SBS 2011 we have discovered that a couple of our Server Core installations running the Hyper-V role don’t have their DNS settings up to date. So, we need to verify and update any of our Core and Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 server’s DNS settings that needed it to point to the new SBS 2011 as we are running a solo DC in SBS at this time.

When we went to update the DNS settings we hit the following:

netsh interface ipv4 add dnsserver name="2" address=192.168.xx.xx index=2 [Enter]
The requested operation requires elevation.

A little bit of searching turned up the following blog post:

• Microsoft TechNet Server Core Blog: User Account Control (UAC) and Server Core

The second step to run Regedit shown in the above screenshot came from the blog post to test whether UAC was indeed causing the block.

C:\Windows\Regedit.exe
The specified service does not exist as an installed service.

Well, since we have a mandated UAC structure in place via group policy post SBS 2011 migration, it is indeed to culprit.

So, We created a new OU for our Core servers (Windows SBSServers – Server Core)

• 

Then linked a new GPO for that OU. The GPO settings to properly disable UAC in that GPO were found here:

• Petri: Disable UAC in Windows 7: Option 2
• 

We then moved all of our Core and Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 servers into that new OU and ran GPUpdate /Force to get the settings to take right away.

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

Microsoft Hosting U – SPLA And Cloud Training

Microsoft has a Web site dedicated to those of us building Cloud based solutions on their products:

• Microsoft Hosting University

The above shot is for beginners while below is the Expert version:

There are some interesting resources applicable to those that work with developers, Web hosts utilizing IIS for their platform, and those that run data centers.

There seems to be a lack of material for those of us that host entire virtual infrastructures for our clients.

For us, it is worth a look if not for the most current SPUR (Services Provider Use Rights) (DOC Download). As we have more time we will work our way through the site.

Some of our current SPLA based offerings:

• Hosted SBS 2011/2008 in a Co-Lo data centre with Win7 and Office 2010 based desktops.
• Leased equipment with SPLA licensed SBS, Win7, and Office.
• Equipment rentals with SPLA licensed Win7 and Office.

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 To SBS 2011 Exchange Services Fail To Start

During our migration process from SBS v7 NDA bits to SBS 2011 RTM bits we ran into all sorts of hiccups and hang-ups along the way.

One of those hang-ups was that every time the destination server would reboot certain Exchange 2010 SP1 services would not start on their own.

The two common ones were:

• Microsoft Exchange Forms-Based Authentication service
• Microsoft Exchange RPC Client Access

The first would be known as soon as a user tried to connect to their mailbox using the Outlook Web App.

• MPECS Inc. Blog: SBS 2011 Exchange 2010 SP1 – Outlook Web Access HTTP 500 Error

The other one was not so easy to pick up on since the source SBS v7 was picking up the RPC calls and delivering the mailboxes to any connected Outlook client.

This was found out by running: Outlook /RPCDiag from Start –> Run.

As soon as we managed to remove Exchange 2010 from the source server _every_ Outlook client’s connection to Exchange was broken.

That is when we discovered that the RPC Client Access service was not starting on a reboot.

So, when migrating to SBS 2011, make sure to check the Exchange Services right after a reboot and then make that the first troubleshooting step when something is not cooperating as expected during the migration 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

QuickBooks 2010 and 2011 Update – Another Database Change Coming

Not too long ago one we had a problem with a client not being able to open the company file in QuickBooks (QB) after QB downloaded an update.

We ended up needing to copy the company file to the local machine, running the update to QB, then updating the company file. Once we dropped the company file back on the server we were hit with the 6000 series errors that indicated the database manager was not handling the company file.

We then downloaded the latest R Web patch from Intuit’s site for the client’s version and updated the database manager on the server. Sure enough, their company file opened.

Intuit is indicating that another change is coming:

Important

Due to a minor database change included in this release you will be required to upgrade your company file again.

The above screenshot is from here: QuickBooks and Payroll 2011 Update.

We will see if this database change will require us to update all of our client’s QB database manager installations once this update hits.

One of the issues addressed:

• QuickBooks Support KB 4784: Why are the YTD (year to date) amounts on employee pay cheques incorrect, missing, zero, or negative.

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 Setup Guide Version 1.5.0

Our SBS 2011 Setup Guide has been updated.

We added a few Microsoft Knowledgebase articles in the troubleshooting section as well as the common setup errors link at the beginning of the Guide.

We also added the necessary firewall configuration steps to SBS for Simply and QuickBooks.

• SBS 2011 Setup Guide v1.5.0

Note that the guide post has been bumped to today’s date.

Thanks for reading!

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 – Simply Accounting Firewall Exceptions Needed for Db Manager and MySQL

It seems that Simply Accounting’s database manager will need to be allowed through the Windows Firewall with Advanced Security:

When we look in the Windows Firewall log we see lots of dropped packets:

The base connection port required is 13531:

While that port is listed in the dropped packets list, there are also others. So, we need to make an exception for the Simply Database Manager program as well as others.

• Simply Connection Manager
• 
• Simply Tray Icon
• 
• Simply’s MySQL Daemon
• 
• Simply’s MySQL Admin Service
• 

Once the rules were created we restarted the Simply Accounting Database Manager in Services.msc we were able to make a successful company file connection to the server.

We will also be setting this configuration into our GPO linked to the Computers OU so that any workstation or Remote Desktop Server will not get hung up on Simply connections.

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

Windows Vista to Windows 7 In-Place Upgrade – Data Was Gone Afterwards?!?

A client of ours did an in-place upgrade of Windows Vista Ultimate to Windows 7 Ultimate on their home system.

Everything seemed to go okay until they logged in after the upgrade process completed and they were greeted with empty Documents, Pictures, and Videos folders for all four profiles on the system.

We could not find them while coaching over the phone so they dropped the system off this morning.

As a just-in-case measure we slaved up one of the 150GB VelociRaptors (RAID 1 array with OS) and one of the 1TB Seagate ES series (RAID 1 array with data) drives to see what was happening.

What we discovered was the following folder:

• $INPLACE.~TR

There was a folder with that name on both the C: partition and the D: partition. The folder was both hidden and set as a system folder so the default search settings did not pick up its presence for our client.

When we drilled down into that folder on the D: partition we discovered the “missing” Users folder that contained the four profile’s content:

The UsersOLD folder was ours from the original system to system transfer that was done when they purchased this box.

Note that this system had all of the user’s profile folders moved over to the D:\Users folder before the in-place-upgrade was run. After the fact, it was discovered that this is not a supported setup for an in-place upgrade of a desktop OS.

To us, it looks as though the upgrade process was trying to move all of that content back into the “original” C:\Users location but could not do so because the volume of content far exceeded the storage capacity of the VelociRaptors.

In the end our client was happy that the data was there.

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 SharePoint Foundation Default Job Definitions Settings

We are in the process of migrating our existing SharePoint Foundation database that is running on SQL 2008 R2 Standard for Small Business from our SBS v7 Companyweb site to the SBS 2011 Companyweb site.

For reference purposes, here are the out of the box settings for SharePoint Foundation running on SBS 2011 without any changes:

Note that the red arrows point to services that are disabled by default.

A PDF document can be had from our Web site’s blog downloads section.

These settings may be needed for reference if connecting to a content database that is resident on a dedicated SQL server.

We used the following for reference when bumping out the default SBS 2011 Companyweb content database for our already existing content database on SQL 2008 R2.

• TechNet: Move content databases (SharePoint Foundation 2010).

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 Migration – Destination Server Countdown Timer

As we are running through our SBS v7 migration to SBS 2011 RTM, we are discovering all sorts of nuances with the migration process. This was the case when migrating from SBS 2003 R2 to SBS v7, and now is also the case with this migration.

Once the migration process has been started, the Migration Wizard has a countdown timer built right into it:

Given that we will be running a number of migrations to SBS 2011 over the next few months, having that little indicator can be very helpful.

When migrating to SBS 2008 we always set a timer in place for the particular migration we were working on but could never be 100% sure that the source server would start misbehaving when our timer hit 21 days.

Here we can be reasonably assured that when that statement says 1 day we better have our stuff together and be ready to demote and remove the source SBS from the 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

SBS 2011 Migration – Change That GP Preference for Source Server Drive Maps

We use Group Policy Preferences for a lot of the settings that get delivered to users.

For one, all drive maps get set up by GP Prefs. Our usual setting is to Update for any drive map that gets created. We have discovered that in our current settings have not updated the backend SBS server name and location change as expected.

• Previous setting: O: \\Source-SBS\Company
• New setting: O: \\New-SBS\Company

For whatever reason, the change does not seem to be taking.

So, we changed that Update setting to Replace and our new Company folder took over the O: drive letter as expected.

Note that entry number 2 is a drive map for our Companyweb site.

Once we logged off and back on again our drive letters pointed to the new SBS server destination folders.

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

Intel Remote Management Module – Black Screen Or No Screen Refresh

One one of our Intel Server Systems deployments we had a really strange behaviour start to show itself after the box was delivered and set up at the client site.

Many parts of the screen were blacked out like the above. When trying to log onto the console via the RMM3’s Web management portal from our office the SBS 2008 logon page would be almost completely black.

Hitting the video refresh would sometimes work to bring things up, but the only time we could really get anywhere with the RMM3 connection was just after a reboot.

While searching for some information on the new memory available for Intel Xeon 3400 series platforms we came across a mention of the black screens for certain Linux distros.

• Bing Search: Intel RMM3 Black

Once we knew what to look for we could see that there were other results showing that there is indeed an issue and that some platforms may have received a fix while others have not.

The cause of the problem turns out to be the colour depth the physical console was set to _before_ dropping the box into the enclosure and locking it up headless.

After an update on this particular box we were able to log on using the RMM3 and bring up the Display Settings window. Sure enough, our colour depth was 24bpp:

We managed to change the bit depth to 16bit:

And, with that we now have a full SBS 2008 desktop running on an Intel Server System SR1630HGPRX!

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 2010 SP1 – Outlook Web Access HTTP 500 Error

This is a strange situation in that everything was working fine. Because we are in the middle of a migration from SBS v7 to SBS 2011 on our network there are a lot of changes going on because of the migration.

So, it is tough to pinpoint exactly when OWA on SBS 2011 stopped working.

When we hit our SBS 2011 OWA to log on we get the following:

Punch in a username and password and we are greeted with:

There are very few results in our search attempts but it turned out that the second item in our Bing search did the trick:

• Microsoft Exchange Forms-Based Authentication service: Not Running.

The Recovery tab for the service shows “Restart the Service” for all three options. Yet, the service is not running.

So, we go ahead and start the service:

Sure enough, we were able to get in:

Hat tip: Henrik Walther Blog on MSExchange.org: Exchange 2010 SP1 – Experiencing an OWA HTTP 500 Error?

As Henrik indicates, the cause of the no-start situation with the FBA service is unknown at this point. We will be keeping an eye on this one for our SBS 2011 installs post reboot.

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– Trial Available for Download

The Official SBS Blog has a post indicating that SBS 2011 is now available for download as a trial.

• SBS Blog: SBS 2011 Standard Now Available for “Try and Buy”

The trial version can be set up at the client site and if they decide that SBS 2011 fits their needs they can then go ahead and license the SBS 2011 installation.

• Microsoft SBS Site

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

8GB Intel Validated Kingston Memory For S3420GP(RX) – Finally!

When it comes to supporting Intel’s server products, one of the first questions we get from the support technician when we start troubleshooting a problem is, “What type of memory is in the system?”

If that memory is not on the tested memory products list for that particular server board then we will be asked to install Intel Validated memory products.

Up to now there have been two 8GB sticks available for the Intel Server Board S3420GP(RX), one by Hynix and the other by Samsung (though not listed now), listed as validated for this series of server boards and the server systems based on them.

That has finally changed!

We now have two new Intel Validated Kingston parts:

• KVR1333D3D4R9S/8Gi
  • Cost: ~$350/Stick
• KVR1066D3Q8R7S/8Gi
  • Cost: ~$200/Stick

The catch for us here in Canada is that there is lots of stock for the 1333 MHz part while the 1066 MHz parts are in short supply at the moment. There are also kits of 2 (16GB) for each part number as well.

• Kingston’s site for the Intel Server Board S3420GPRX
• Intel’s Server Configurator
  • Start with Server Boards –> 3000 Series.

Why is this so important?

Because the Hynix and Micron parts have only been available via resellers in the US. So, any warranty issues were questionable since that list of resellers is very small and they are relatively unknown to us. RMA processes can be painful with some manufacturers and their resellers so we are cautious when it comes to new points of product supply.

We have had a lot of success with Kingston’s memory parts and when there have been times where we have needed to call them they have always been very helpful.

So, this news is a definite plus for us!

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 Migration OS Install – Microsoft Exchange Search ExSearch CPU at 100%

We are in the process of migrating our SBS v7 to SBS 2011 installed as a VM on one of our Hyper-V servers.

Once we had completed the Migration Mode OS install of SBS 2011 RTM we saw the following:

The Microsoft.Exchange.Search.ExSearch.exe process was keeping one of the vCPUs pinned at 100% even after a reboot.

Now, since we did not have our mailboxes migrated over we did not pay too much attention to the situation until now.

The process is still running at 100% even though our Public Folders and our mailboxes are now resident on the new SBS 2011 RTM VM.

So, we needed to figure out where the problem was.

The first step we did was to move the Arbitration and FederatedMail system mailboxes following these instructions:

• Microsoft Unified Communications – User Group, India: Delete default Mailbox Database & move Arbitration Mailboxes

Note that the text of one command is missing a bit at the end:

• 
• It should be:
  • New-MoveRequest –Identity “SystemMailbox{abcdeotrnsdosd-thedefaultname-nsdfrnfsfdsds}” TargetDatabase “E-DB02”

Once we completed the above steps, though we did not go so far as to delete the source SBS v7 Exchange databases yet, we still saw the process running at 100%.

So, we rebooted the box.

That did not work and the Exchange BPA came up clean as well.

We then reset the index service using the following instructions:

• SHEENAUSTIM.com Exchange 2010 Search Reset Search Index

The first few minutes after we ran the reset script the service went right back to 100%. Though, after a few minutes the process actually dropped down to a reasonable level.

Hat Tip: Michael B. Smith

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

Funny – My Blackberry is Not Working!

What a great way to start a Monday morning (tea on the screen funny):

Enjoy your week and thanks for reading! :)

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 Migration – Moving Mailboxes But No “New Local Move Request” Option Available?

When we were at the point where we needed to move our mailboxes off of the SBS v7 NDA bits onto the SBS 2011 RTM bits we were stymied by what seemed to be a missing command.

Right click on any user’s mailbox that did not have a green arrow on it and the New Local Move Request . . . option was available but not so with any user’s mailbox that had a green arrow already there.

It turns out that we needed to clear the previous move requests.

Click on Move Request under Recipient Configuration and we see a list of the mailboxes that have the move request menu item missing.

Right click on the mailbox and we see:

We highlighted all of the listed mailboxes right clicked and then clicked on Clear Move Request. All of the mailboxes were available to move after that.

• Fix found here: How Exchange Works: Can’t Move Mailbox In Exchange 2010…

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 – Setting Limits To RDP Sessions

As the Windows Server operating system gets more advanced in the methods that we use to remotely connect to our Remote Desktop Services/Terminal Services servers or desktops behind TS/RDS Gateway we need to be mindful of the bandwidth requirements for the connections.

With SBS 2011 we can connect to our office based PC with multiple monitors, stream video, stream sound, and a lot more on that one connection.

So, out of the box we set some limits to what we can and cannot do with our RDP connection to an SBS network.

The above screenshot is of a GPO setting opened in our SBS 2011’s GPMC. In this setting we are putting a limit on the number of monitors that a remotely connected user can use for their connection at 2.

Note that in any GPO setting that allows for a comment, including the GPO itself, we put comments in as above or with a brief description as to why the policy was enabled or disabled. We try and do this to keep track of the changes we have made with the descriptions helping us to understand why things were they way they were later on in the life of the SBS network.

The rest of the settings in the Windows Computers Policy are as follows:

• Enforce removal of the remote PC’s wallpaper.
  • This one is pretty obvious as the high resolution colour images will hit the screen refresh rate significantly.
• Limit colours to 15 bits.
• Maximum remotely connected monitors: 2.
• Remove the “Disconnect” button from the Shutdown Dialogue.
  • We request that users always log off their remote sessions when done.
• Enable the Windows Security item on the Start menu.
  • This item gives them the ability to access the Windows Security menu to make changes if they get stuck.
  • 

The settings will be in a slightly different location for GPOs in SBS 2008 and SBS 2003 as RDS was Terminal Services in those editions.

In certain circumstances we will also enable the Restrict Remote Desktop Services users to a single Remote Desktop Services session setting.

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 Setup Guide v1.4.0 Released

Our SBS 2011 Setup Guide has been updated.

We added the removal of the speaker from the System Tray, enabling remote management for the Event Logs, and a number of other minor tweaks.

• SBS 2011 Setup Guide v1.4.0

Thanks for reading!

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 to SBS 2011 Microsoft Migration Document Download Now Available

The Microsoft method for migrating SBS 2003 to SBS 2011 is now available as a Word document download.

• Microsoft Downloads: Migrate to Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard from Windows Small Business Server 2003

Our previous post pointing to the TechNet content:

• Blog Post: SBS 2003 to SBS 2011 Microsoft Migration White Paper on TechNet

Hat Tip: Susan Bradley 

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 – Event Viewer Error – RPC server is unavailable – GP Setting Fix

When we go to remote manage a computer in Active Directory Users & Computers on an SBS 2011 network we will see:

Event Viewer

Connecting, please wait . . .

After a short pause we will then see:

Event Viewer

Event Viewer cannot connect to computer ‘Computer.Domain.LOCAL’. The error reported is: The RPC server is unavailable (sic)

When the computer management console does come up the Event Viewer looks like:

Note the hole where an icon should be to the left of Event Viewer.

To fix this we make a change in a GPO that we create and link to the Computers OU called Windows Computers Policy.

The change would be as follows:

1. Computer Configuration –> Policies –> Windows Settings –> Security Settings –> Windows Firewall with Advanced Security –> Inbound Rules
2. Right click and left click on New Rule.
• 
3. Click the Predefined radio button.
4. Choose the Remote Event Log Management option in the drop down list.
• 
5. Click Next.
6. Leave the defaults and click Next.
• 
7. Choose Allow the connection and click Finish.

Please note that it may take anywhere up to 90 minutes for the machines on the network to refresh their Computer Configuration policies.

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