Windows 8 Mail Error: You can’t connect this account to any more devices.

The exact error is this:

• You can’t connect this account to any more devices. Remove another device first with help from your system admin or Internet service provider.

Okay, so what exactly does that mean?

Well, it turns out that an e-mail showed up in the corresponding Inbox to explain things a bit further:

• Microsoft Outlook:
• Error with your new cell phone partnership.
• You have 10 phone partnerships out of the allowed maximum 10 partnerships. Once you reach the maximum, no more partnerships may be created until you delete partnerships from your account. To do so, please log into your Outlook Web Application account cell options and remove unused partnerships.

And, sure enough, under Options –> See All Options –> Phone the following was found:

Oops. It looks like we will need to be mindful of our client’s ongoing device connectivity habits especially if they change devices on a frequent basis.

For those that have not looked into Exchange 2013 yet this situation and the BYOD question are addressed quite nicely via the new Exchange Admin Center (EAC).

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

Windows Live Writer

Windows Phone 7 – No GAL Access on Exchange 2003

It looks as though ActiveSync connectivity on the newly released Windows Phone 7 may not be totally there yet.

• Microsoft KB2463128: You cannot search the Global Address List with Windows Phone 7 when connecting to Exchange Server 2003

Quote:

When using a Windows Phone 7 device to connect to Exchange Server 2003 using Exchange ActiveSync, you are unable to resolve user names within your Global Address List (GAL). 

When creating a new e-mail message, you type the name or alias of an e-mail recipient in your organization's GAL in the TO field and the name is not resolved.  In addition, you are unable to Search the GAL, and can only search local Contacts.

A workaround for now is to use the full e-mail info@sbscougar.ca in order to send an e-mail on a Windows Phone 7.

Judging by the Windows Phone site, the release version of the product looks as though it is more focused on consumers as opposed to corporate users:

• Windows Phone 7 Site – Discover

There is no real indication as far as ActiveSync feature integration other than Email, Calendar, and some sort of “Social networking” address book integration. People Hub may pull from Contacts on Exchange, but the Tasks synchronization seems to be missing completely.

If Tasks are indeed missing, then there will be no real incentive to drop the ailing HTC Touch Pro that I currently use until Windows Phone 7 gets a more business like approach. The Tasks/To Do list is needed to manage the little things that may get lost in the rush of day-to-day business.

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

HTC Touch Pro swap experience and OMA

One thing sure is apparent when it comes to swapping out a data enabled phone: It takes a long time and multiple syncs to get the data onto the new phone.

In this case, we are talking about the Contacts, Calendar, and Tasks folders with their default content.

The e-mail was set to synchronize the last two weeks of e-mail in about 30 sub folders and nested folders.

The whole process took at least 2-3 hours with the need to initiate a Sync from within the ActiveSync application on numerous occasions to get things moving again.

When working with client's data enabled devices, the amount of data to synchronize is something to keep in mind if there is a need to get another phone working for their SBS based Outlook Mobile Access.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.