QuickBooks: Save Open Windows For Next Session

Search Foo was turning up literally nothing on how to set a window, in this case Create Invoices, in QuickBooks to open by default the next time the company file was opened.

Why?

Because we invoice on the fly. When QuickBooks gets opened via RemoteApp it could be a bad thing to have things like vendor windows open, product properties with pricing opened, and so much more while the client is standing right there.

An ask via Intuit's Twitter account turned up the following resolution:

• Edit --> Preferences --> Desktop View --> Desktop: Save when closing company

When the above window was opened the setting was "Don't save the desktop" which was a bit frustrating.

Prior to our upgrade to version 2013 the only window that would open was Create Invoices. After our upgrade that somehow was lost with any searching, when the thought arouse to look, turning up nothing due to improper search terms.

We can now safely open QuickBooks anywhere we are working to fire off an invoice via e-mail right there and then.

Philip Elder
Microsoft Cluster MVP
MPECS Inc.
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

Chef de partie in the SMBKitchen ASP Project
Find out more at
Third Tier: Enterprise Solutions for Small Business

A Microsoft Cluster Troubleshooting Guide

Here are some of the tools we can use when troubleshooting a cluster, Scale-Out File Server, Hyper-V, and other cluster issues:

Failover Cluster Manager 

The FCM gives us the ability to dig into the various Windows Logs and delimit them by time, node, and log type.

• FCM --> Cluster Name --> Cluster Events --> Query

We set up a few different queries out of the box. One with everything Cluster, Failover Clustering, and Hyper-V related. We then create a subset of queries. The various queries get saved to a local folder on the management DC/RSAT system.

Get-ClusterLog

The Get-ClusterLog PowerShell commandlet allows us to pull the full log set from one or all nodes. Note that the default output folder is \\NODE\C$\Windows\Cluster\Cluster.LOG (C:\Windows\Cluster\Cluster.LOG) unless specified in the command.

This log can be very busy and a bit of a challenge to work through. If one has a good idea of what to look for then the log can be quite informative.

• Get-ClusterLog -Destination .
  • Places the log in the local directory (we create C:\Temp on all nodes for this kind of thing)
• (get-cluster).ClusterLogLevel=5
  • There are five levels with 5 being the most verbose. Default level is 3 and best left there unless absolutely needed. Level 5 file can be large.

EDIT: The Default cluster log location is C:\Windows\Cluster\Reports\Cluster.log

Microsoft Message Analyzer

This is an in-depth tool. There is no way around it. Thus, a learning curve is required.

• TechNet Blogs: MessageAnalyzer
• Download the Microsoft Message Analyzer

However, there is an amazing amount of information that we can then have at our fingertips and not only that colour coded!

One can use a series of filters under the log file settings to delimit by time period among others.

We can set up our columns:

Once we have our Cluster column, for example when looking for a problematic cluster component, we can set up a filter:

And that is just the tip of the iceberg. One will need to spend some time with this tool to really get into its abilities such as colour coding source node, information levels, and so much more!

Please check the Message Analyzer Blog for more information.

Note that an absence of System Centre and its components is deliberate. We find, at least at this time, that Failover Cluster Manager provides a far superior cluster management experience.

Philip Elder
Microsoft Cluster MVP
MPECS Inc.
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

Chef de partie in the SMBKitchen ASP Project
Find out more at
Third Tier: Enterprise Solutions for Small Business

A very cool blog milestone

We are not much on beating our own drums and blowing our own horns but this is really cool:

We are about to hit 3,000,000 page views.

Why that number over any other? Because it is the first time in a long while we've checked the stats. ;)

And, it just happens to tickle the kewl factor neat feeling area.

Thank you to all of our readers that have stuck it out over the years. We know there are some of you on our e-mail list that have been with us from pretty much the beginning of this blogging journey.

Thanks to all of you that have taken the time to comment, ping us with a question, and even reach out for assistance on various projects. It is very muchly appreciated.

Have a great day!

Philip Elder
Microsoft Cluster MVP
MPECS Inc.
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

Chef de partie in the SMBKitchen ASP Project
Find out more at
Third Tier: Enterprise Solutions for Small Business

SMB Kitchen ASP Project Chat at 1700 MST - Join Us!

We are holding our last freebie author's chat this afternoon/early evening depending on where you are in North America or later for those of you across the Pond. :)

• SMB Kitchen ASP Project Webinar Lync Link

For Windows 8 and up please install Lync from the Store. Once installed and logged into the meeting hit the Charms --> Settings to verify both microphone and speaker settings.

We will cover some of the content we have published to date, some of the ongoing concerns for IT Professionals today, and what we are planning on publishing in the coming weeks.

If we have time we can have a Virtualization and Hyper-V Q&A session too!

Philip Elder
Microsoft Cluster MVP
MPECS Inc.
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

Chef de partie in the SMBKitchen ASP Project
Find out more at
Third Tier: Enterprise Solutions for Small Business

Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 Update 1 Caveats

Whenever we hear about updates for any device firmware, application software, or operating system software it is _always_ a good idea to read the Release Notes (we probably all know the acronym that comes to mind here ;) ), README.TXT, _and_ do a search for the update to see if anyone is complaining about it. Unfortunately, this major update for Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 has its issues some of which are full-stop problems. The first place to start for this update is here:

• Gladiator@MSFT BLog: Information Regarding the Latest Update for Windows 8.1

There is a lot of information there.

1. Update 1 is the new baseline for all updates going forward.
• Meaning, no more updates to that OS if the bits are earlier than 8.1 U1 or 2012 R2 U1.
2. Update 1 breaks SSL communications between endpoints and WSUS

This last one is a deal breaker for many enterprises, medium enterprises, and especially in our own SMB/SME environments where WSUS is virtually everywhere for patch management.
We just stood up a new cluster on 2012 R2. After our Cluster-Aware Update run:

Our cluster nodes now have the update. Since this cluster setup is Greenfield with WSUS ultimately ending up _on_ the cluster the nodes were updated via Microsoft Update.

• WSUS Product Team Blog: Windows 8.1 Update (KB 2919355) prevents interaction with WSUS 3.2 over SSL

The workaround for this situation is to enable TLS 1.2 as instructed in the above blog post. Since we are deploying Windows Server 2012 R2 into client sites we will have no choice but to make this change.
Then, when Microsoft releases an update to the update to hopefully fix the problem we will need to test that update extensively _especially_ in a cluster setting!
Yo Microsoft! There is a huge pool of folks willing to test and break this stuff for you! Please get us involved in the early bits for operating systems, applications, and updates again. This ongoing situation of releasing patches and updates to the public without testing them on disparate systems is a _bad_ thing. :(
EDIT: Updated the Gladiator link since between Live Writer and Blogger it got mangled.
Philip Elder
Microsoft Cluster MVP
MPECS Inc.
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book
Chef de partie in the SMBKitchen ASP Project
Find out more at
Third Tier: Enterprise Solutions for Small Business

A Small Chunk of Bandwidth for Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1 Pro/Enterprise with Update 1

Okay, so here we go updating our ISO library:

And:

And finally:

Note that all Windows 8.1/Server 2012 R2 operating systems in the field _must_ be updated to Update 1 or they will not receive any further starting with Patch Tuesday this coming May!

That does not give us a lot of time to test the patch setup. But test we must! :(

By the way, is there any need to download the 32-bit version of a desktop OS anymore? We've not had to use one in ages!

Philip Elder
Microsoft Cluster MVP
MPECS Inc.
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

Chef de partie in the SMBKitchen ASP Project
Find out more at
Third Tier: Enterprise Solutions for Small Business

Intel NUC: Wall Mount Monitor And NUC

We initially had a bit of a puzzle as to how to mount both a monitor and the Intel NUC on the same wall mount monitor arm.

In the end the solution proved to be quite simple.

As seen above we took the stock Intel NUC mounting plate and attached it on top of the Ergotron's mounting plate using the Erogotron supplied mounting screws. The Intel supplied screws were a bit too short to pass through both mounting plates.

The finished product looks like this:

It will be used as a training station for our client. The keyboard and mouse are wireless so they can sit or stand anywhere in the area to work on the machine.

Philip Elder
Microsoft Cluster MVP
MPECS Inc.
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

Chef de partie in the SMBKitchen ASP Project
Find out more at
Third Tier: Enterprise Solutions for Small Business

Cluster-Aware Update Runs: How Long?

When one needs to provision a new Windows Server 2012 RTM/R2 cluster one of the time factors to keep in mind is the Cluster-Aware Update runs that will happen once the cluster has been brought up.

The above is a new Windows Server 2012 R2 four node cluster that we finished configuring last night.

The first CAU run started around 2300Hrs. As can be seen each node took about an hour to run through the process.

Even though we are not too far into the product release cycle for R2 one needs to keep in mind the update maintenance process if one is not using an up-to-date image for deployment. This would be especially true if deploying 2012 RTM or 2008 R2 clusters.

Cluster node configuration:

• Intel Server System SR1695GPRX2AC with RMM
• Intel Xeon Processor X3470, 32GB ECC, 120GB Intel SSD RAID 1, Dual Intel SAS HBAs

Some important Cluster update tracking links:

• TechNet: List of Failover Cluster Hotfixes for Windows Server 2012
• Microsoft Support: KB2784261 Recommended hotfixes and updates for Windows Server 2012-based failover clusters
• Microsoft Support: KB2920151 Recommended hotfixes and updates for Windows Server 2012 R2-based failover clusters

Philip Elder
Microsoft Cluster MVP
MPECS Inc.
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

Chef de partie in the SMBKitchen ASP Project
Find out more at
Third Tier: Enterprise Solutions for Small Business

A couple of Published Articles and an ASP Document Published

While we have been quite busy I have managed to put some aside to do some writing.

•   Windows Server News: Restoring a Windows Phone
• I walk through how to get a Windows Phone right back to where it was before the previous one pancaked on the floor!
• The Microsoft ID associated with the phone is priceless.
• Experts-Exchange: Some Hyper-V Hardware and Software Best Practices
• An aggregate of may posts on this blog, Yahoo Groups, and other locations.

I have also posted the first of many documents to the SMB Kitchen ASP Project that we use for our ongoing day-to-day business here:

This document is the foundation on which we manage all of our clients. We track _everything_ in this document. It gets posted to a SharePoint library with versioning enabled for major and minor versions as well as mandatory check-out and check-in.

Soon to come will be some of the quote templates we use to cost out or IT Solution Sets for our clients.

Philip Elder
Microsoft Cluster MVP
MPECS Inc.
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

Chef de partie in the SMBKitchen ASP Project
Find out more at
Third Tier: Enterprise Solutions for Small Business

Allowing Expired or Forced Password Changes on RDWeb

When we deploy a greenfield Windows Server 2012 setup or migrate to one we always make the following small change to the RDWeb configuration:

• IIS --> Sites --> Default Web Site --> RDWeb --> Pages --> Application Settings

This allows the user to change their password if it has expired which would otherwise be a helpdesk call.

When the user goes to log on to RDWeb they will see the following:

• Your password is expired. Click here to change it.

Once they click the link:

The page will indicate the change was successful:

Click OK and the user will be directed back to the logon page.

When we access a user's profile for whatever reason we trigger a password change on the DC and they know to hit RDWeb to log on the first time if they are remote.

Philip Elder
Microsoft Cluster MVP
MPECS Inc.
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

Chef de partie in the SMBKitchen ASP Project
Find out more at
Third Tier: Enterprise Solutions for Small Business