Month: July 2007

The Default SMTP Virtual Server instance was failing to start after recovering from a System State Backup.  Because this was a Domain Controller the server had to be started in Directory Services Restore Mode (DSRM) in order to do the ntbackup restore.  When booted into DSRM, Chkdsk kicked in and did a scan before launching into Safe Mode.  What I didn’t know initially was that Chkdsk had gotten hold of the Exchange ‘Queue’ directory.  Here is what we did to bring it back and recover the previously queued mail. When the Default SMTP Virtual Server was failing to start, the … Continue reading Default SMTP Virtual Server instance would not start after System State Restore

Prashant Joseph who works with Microsoft’s Enterprise Messaging Support sent this to me at the resolution of a call Monday morning.  Great stuff so passing it along.  What I thought was cool is there is also a URL redirector for the ExBPA at www.exbpa.com if you want a quick link to get there. Notes from Prashant: 1)       ExBPA (Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer Tool) –          This is a tool which can help you to generate reports regarding your Exchange server and Organization.–          This can be installed on either the Exchange server or a client machine.–          The reports generated by this tool … Continue reading ExBPA and ExTRA

I’m beginning to feel like Handy Andy and his ATM experience I mentioned earlier today.  After giving up on my own resources I called Microsoft Partner Business Critical Phone Support to get a resolution on a Kerberos error that has brought down AD and Exchange on a Win 2k box.  Was confident I would make it home for a couple hours sleep before catching a ferry back over to Seattle and starting my week, but now I’m getting concerned.  I was on hold from 12:00 AM – 2:00 AM PDT before the first call terminated that had “no one in queue” … Continue reading PSS at lunch? Not the way to spend a Sunday evening in Seattle.

After experiencing Terminal Services intermittently hanging after applying Microsoft Updates I’ve come across one way that gets the server back up and responsive most of the time and a backup plan for when it still doesn’t. First, to cover yourself, it is a good idea to run a system state backup at minimum of the server before applying updates in case you need to get yourself out of a challenge resulting from the update.  Then what I’ve started doing (wasn’t an original idea, got it from others in the community) is creating a restart.bat file that consists of shutdown -r … Continue reading Lost TS/RDP after running updates?

Virtual PC 2007 is not agreeing with the network adapters on my Vista Ultimate HP tc4400 so I’m on my wife’s HP nc6320 running XP Pro while I’m doing a Swing Migration.  While on here I went to connect to my desktop back at the office and was tossed into a loop in IE7 prompting me about Active X controls when attempting to connect to my computer in Remote Web Workplace.  Had this happen the other day in RWW so guessing others are having similar hassles with it.  Here’s how to fix it. In IE7 go to Tools, Internet Options, … Continue reading Blocked in IE7 from connecting to your desktop in Remote Web Workplace?

This isn’t in the normal KB articles for antivirus scanning exclusions, so if you come across the following event ID, check out MS KB 887311.   Event Type:        ErrorEvent Source:     Microsoft ISA Server ControlEvent Category: None Event ID:            14079 http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;887311  

This is from an email I received this week from Mark Clagett over at Microsoft.  Running into an issue today where I sent it to an end user so figured I would post it here as well.  Thanks Mark for sending out the notice! – Steve ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ I thought you’d be interested in this new Solution Accelerator from Microsoft – it’s called the Malware Removal Starter Kit.  It’s a free download from TechNet, and provides you with excellent guidance and tools to help you restore PCs infected with malware.  Here’s a quick overview of what the kit can do for your organization.  … Continue reading Microsoft releases the Malware Removal Starter Kit

Microsoft will officially end support for SBS 2003 RTM (also know as SBS 2003 SP0) on July 10, 2007.  See the SBS Blog for the full story at http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/archive/2007/07/03/sbs-2003-sp-0-support-retirement.aspx. Steve