Archive for the ‘Windows’ Category

I am having such a hard time telling my clients whether they can or can’t upgrade to Vista, or it they will need a clean install. To help with all of this stupid and insane dilemma, I found the link to Microsoft’s upgrade table. Hope it helps…. I know I’ll refer to it. Vista! Uggghhh!!!

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/get/upgrade-your-pc-options.aspx

I was working on a client’s Microsoft Server 2003 box, when I added some MS patches and then recieved the following error:

“MMC cannot open the file C:\WINDOWS\system32\rrasmgmt.msc.

This may be because the file does not exist, is not an MMC console, or was created by a later version of MMC. This may also be because you do not have sufficient access rights to the file. ”

Ah nooooooooooooooo… I screwed the server. Well, before I almost decided to reload Service Pack 2, I decided to do a little research first. Turns out that the file indeed exists and file permissions are correct.

Well, how did I fix it…. it was so easy I got scared.

You have to follow the path: C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Application Data\Microsoft\MMC

and fom there you can either rename or delete the file of the corresponding Snap-in. Use the profile of the user, which starts the Snap-in.

In may case I just renamed the “rrasmgmt.msc”  and then I was good to go. Easy, peezy!

Apparently the Event ID 21 for VolSnap seems to be a bug within the SP2 created for the Server OS. What else should we expect…. it’s a Microsoft product.

Anyway, after a little research I found the link to the hotfix provided by Microsoft to take care of this issue. Keep in mind that the server would need to be restarted after the hotfix is applied.

Here’s the link: http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=940239&kbln=en-us

Well, I almost goofed up again…. well, actually I did, but I was just trying to fix it. I worked on a PC and attempted to install Internet Explorer 7, but the dang thing screwed up the PC. What else is new about Microsoft!?!?

The icon on the desktop resembled that of Internet Explorer 6, and when I would try to open the browser, it would just create a new shortcut on the desktop. What?!?!?

Well, after a few tries, this is what I did, and in these steps:

1. Right-click on IE icon and select to delete. Just click ‘OK’ at the next message to confirm.

2. From the Control Panel, open the ‘Add & Remove Programs’ list and from the list on the left of the window select ‘Add/Remove Windows Components’. At the Windows Components Wizard, uncheck Internet Explorer, and hit ‘Next’. This will go through the process of removing IE.

3. Run the Dial-a-fix tool, which you can find a link to here ->

4. Restart the PC. (So you may want to add this page to your favorites to come back to easily ; ) )

5. Download Internet Explorer 7 here, then proceed with install.

That is exactly what I did to resolve this issue. If you are having problems with installing the updates that you have downloaded for Windows XP, you can find a quick solution here - >

That’s it.

You may have a client or user who receives the 0×85010014 error when trying to synchronize his mobile to an Exchange server. In my case it was with a Verizon Treo.

I couldn’t figure out for the life of me what the heck to do. I knew there was something wrong in IIS, because I had just previously created a new site and I didn’t think it was coincidence that the synchronization all of a sudden stopped working.

Basically, I knew it was my fault and I had to fix it…..aaaahhhhh.

So I did a little research, well you know, I googled it. That’s research!

I kept running into sites that had the same solution:

Problem:

ActiveSync will not work when the /Exchange virtual directory on the Exchange back-end servers is configured to require SSL.

Solution:
Remove the port 443 from the default web properties in IIS Manager snap in.

Well, that was not the fix in my case…..

That’s until I found this:

Note These steps affect both Outlook Mobile Access connections and Exchange ActiveSync connections. After you follow these steps, both Outlook Mobile Access and Exchange ActiveSync connections use the new virtual directory that you create.
1.     Start Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.

2.     Locate the Exchange virtual directory. The default location is the following:
Web Sites\Default Web Site\Exchange

3.     Right-click the Exchange virtual directory, click All Tasks, and then click Save Configuration to a File.

4.     In the File name box, type a name. For example, type ExchangeVDir. Click OK.

5.     Right-click the root of this Web site. Typically, this is Default Web Site. Click New, and then click Virtual Directory (from file).

6.     In the Import Configuration dialog box, click Browse, locate the file that you created in step 4, click Open, and then click Read File.

7.     Under Select a configuration to import , click Exchange, and then click OK.

A dialog box will appear that states that the “virtual directory already exists.”
8.     In the Alias box, type a name for the new virtual directory that you want Exchange ActiveSync and Outlook Mobile Access to use. For example, type exchange-oma. Click OK. If exchange-oma already exists, you have to delete it.

9.     Right-click the new virtual directory. In this example, click exchange-oma. Click Properties.

10.     Click the Directory Security tab.

11.     Under Authentication and access control, click Edit.

12.     Make sure that only the following authentication methods are enabled, and then click OK:
•     Integrated Windows authentication
•     Basic authentication

13.     Under IP address and domain name restrictions, click Edit.

14.     Click Denied access, click Add, click Single computer, type the IP address of the server that you are configuring, and then click OK.

15.     Under Secure communications, click Edit. Make sure that Require secure channel (SSL) is not enabled, and then click OK.

16.     Click OK, and then close the IIS Manager.

17.     Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.

18.     Locate the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MasSync\Parameters

19.     Right-click Parameters, click to New, and then click String Value.

20.     Type ExchangeVDir, and then press ENTER. Right-click ExchangeVDir, and then click Modify.

Note ExchangeVDir is case-sensitive. If you do not type ExchangeVDir exactly as it appears in this article, ActiveSync does not find the key when it locates the exchange-oma folder.

21.     In the Value data box, type the name of the new virtual directory that you created in step 8 preceded by a forward slash (/). For example, type /exchange-oma. Click OK.

22.     Quit Registry Editor.

23.     Restart the IIS Admin service. To do this, follow these steps:
a.     Click Start, click Run, type services.msc, and then click OK.
b.     In the list of services, right-click IIS Admin service, and then click Restart.

Note If the server is Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 (SBS), the name of the Exchange OMA virtual directory must be exchange-oma.