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  • Have you loaded R2, changed the settings in WSUS and now the R2 controlling of WSUS no longer works?

    I know this has happened to me, and a partner contacted me last week and it had happened to them. The green check (tick for the English speaking crowd ;-) ) turns to a blue one. This means that it is still running, but the WSUS console is now in control, not the nice things in R2. I tried to fix it by following the info in the KB article, but it just didn't work. I was then pointed to the blog by the SBS heros and all my questions went away once I had followed the instructions. To get to the road to the Emerald city, go to http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/archive/2006/07/13/441594.aspx Why Emerald city - green check - green city... Oh, go watch the Wizard of Oz :-) ttfn David

  • Is Microsoft Driving Innovation Or Playing Catch-Up With Rivals?

    I saw this over at the Wall Street Jounral ( http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB116490323676636989-HnHPKLzkyy9xKy2wnokbd2bc_bE_20071130.html ) and it made me think. Can I point to Innovation from Microsoft in the small business arena? I'd be happy on your thoughts, but her are some areas I think MS is innovating: SBS - an amazing package of great technologies, not just the "enterprise" version at a lower price, but some thought put in to make the wizards workable for small businesses, with defaults that won't scale to 5,000 users, but will work just fine for 100 Publisher to enable small businesses to participate in marketing and image management without having to learn a package as complex as Pagemager or Quark Express - something I used to earn great money training people to use Office 2007 - making great presentation of documents accessable without a marketing degree Vista - Getting the balance right between onus on the user vs the system for security I have some more in mind, but what do you think?

  • Who is Captain Campaign and how to sell more?

    Time and again the number one question I get outside the technical arena is people want leads from Microsoft - "go and advertise for me and hand me the leads so I can do business with these customers." I know this sounds pointed, and it is meant to, I have had partners be even more direct with me as to what they think Microsoft should do for them to make them acquiring customers easier! Now we do do advertising, but we don't "hand" the leads to you. We take customers to the "find a partner tool" on bCentral and ask them to find a partner. If the find you, click on the link for you, but the web site does not entice them to call, there is nothing we can do about it as Microsoft - (have you asked some prospective customers to look at your website to see if it is a plus or a minus?). So what can we do to help, well, besides our campaigns, we can help you run mini-campaigns that align to what we do ourselves, but you get to customise it to your needs. To find out how this works, how to do it and who captain campaign...

  • Are your customers getting too much junk into Outlook - use this tool to tell Microsoft about it

    I saw this on the Technet Newsletter and thought it was worthwhile. Obviously you will have enabled IMF in Exchange on SBS 2003, so what else can you do? The Junk E-mail Reporting Tool lets you directly report junk e-mail to Microsoft and its affiliates for analysis to help us improve the effectiveness of our junk e-mail filtering technologies. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=53541292-ce94-4c5b-9127-b7d56f11b619&DisplayLang=en
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  • How to manage Shadow Copies (Previous Versions of files) in Windows Vista and SBS 2003

    At the Kent partner group I was asked if shadow copies applied to all volumes or just the main system volume. To find out the answer I typed "vssadmin list shadowstorage" and the result was: C:\Windows\system32>vssadmin list shadowstorage vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool (C) Copyright 2001-2005 Microsoft Corp. Shadow Copy Storage association For volume: (C:)\\?\Volume{f2dea953-2674-11db-b0e9-806e6f6e6963}\ Shadow Copy Storage volume: (C:)\\?\Volume{f2dea953-2674-11db-b0e9-806e6f6e6963}\ Used Shadow Copy Storage space: 5.622 GB Allocated Shadow Copy Storage space: 5.874 GB Maximum Shadow Copy Storage space: 6.05 GB Shadow Copy Storage association For volume: (E:)\\?\Volume{f2dea955-2674-11db-b0e9-806e6f6e6963}\ Shadow Copy Storage volume: (E:)\\?\Volume{f2dea955-2674-11db-b0e9-806e6f6e6963}\ Used Shadow Copy Storage space: 33.453 MB Allocated Shadow Copy Storage space: 300 MB Maximum Shadow Copy Storage space: 961.343 MB This tells me how much storage is used on each...

  • Loading Windows SharePoint Services V3 (WSSv3) onto SBS 2003

    WSS V3 has many new refinements, but putting it on SBS 2003 is something that has to be considered due to the impact. From the documentation, this is what it says: This is Version 1 of this document. To download the latest updated version, visit the Microsoft Web site ( http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=77404 ). The update might contain critical information that was not available when this document was published. The Microsoft® Windows® Small Business Server 2003 server software (Windows SBS) deeply integrates key Microsoft business productivity server products, including Microsoft Windows SharePoint® Services 2.0. A new version of the Windows SharePoint technology, Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, is now available, and it provides enhanced features for your Windows SBS network. However, some of the differences between Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 break the integration between Windows SBS and Windows SharePoint Services. For this reason, if you want to install Windows...

  • Need a machine to practice or simulate Windows Server, Exchange 2007, SQL 2005 or ISA 2006? Download the pre-configured VHDs for these virtual machines

    I am sure you have seen these already, but if not, these are great tools to help when you quickly need a machine to test something on, or spend longer learning about a product. I know you can get the disks in the action pack, but then you have to load it up on a PC or VPC - this saves you all the trouble. Windows Server 2003 R2 Windows Server 2003 R2 helps to simplify branch server management, can improve identity and access management, helps to reduce storage management costs, provides a rich Web platform, and offers cost-effective server virtualization. In this VHD, you'll have the opportunity to road-test new and improved features and functionality of Windows Server 2003, including management and usability enhancements to Active Directory. Exchange Server 2007 Learn how to take advantage of key features of Exchange Server 2007. This VHD provides an exploration of Active Directory and the new features in Exchange Server 2007, new features in Outlook Web Access 2007, enforcing compliance and retention policies...

  • Vista and Office 2007 for Small Business (responding to more comments) - and the EVO Tour and more learnings (updated with links)

    Well, the EVO Tour is underway, with some initial bad feedback, we have taken that on board and now the feedback is MUCH better from all partners, including SBSC members, so the inital concerns appear have been answered - which is well done to the team for such a quick turnaround. When I answered the previous complaints " here ", I wanted to respond more fully to Martin's comments, so I will do that here. This is what Martin said that I will respond to now: "because this customer has temps that may or may not work on these platforms[David: Vista machines], the changes in UI between XP and Vista are significant that this solution[David: Using Vista on some machine] will not work. They believe (and so do I knowing the workforce) they are going to have to upgrade all of their Computers all 35 Desktops. On top of this, they are then going to have to ensure that all of the other LOB Apps run, and then train all users on the diverencies. That will cost the IT budget for the next 12 months so just isn't going to happen...

  • Recapping - what parts of Server 2003 R2 are in SBS 2003 R2

    This is one question I get asked a lot, which parts of R2 are in SBS 2003 R2. Obviously SBS 2003 R2 has the new WSUS tools for small business, which make patching easier, but people often ask about the other elements. This is discussed in more detail at http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/archive/2006/02/28/420825.aspx . We have heard that some people want DFS-R, but this is not part of this package. Sorry - we are aware of the desire. ttfn David

  • BSOD screensaver - how to frighten people

    I saw this little ditty that is part of the SysInternals acquisition - http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/Miscellaneous/BlueScreen.mspx - it simulates a BSOD on your system as a screen saver and then even goes as far as to show the boot screen. Amazingly funny and I had to check that the machine was really ok by stopping the screen saver. Enjoy

  • Restoring SBS 2003 to different hardware

    I saw this internal comment from Mark Stanfill and thought it was too good not to share. When moving to new hardware, this article is a good reference point: 249694 How to move a Windows installation to different hardware http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;249694 This article pre-supposes that they know a lot of details about their server (ACPI settings, filter drivers, HAL, etc) that they may not have access to. You should set the expectation that they will likely have to change some BIOS settings and that failures are likely and will have to be troubleshot on a case-by-case basis. If they have any concerns, this is a case where a call to CSS is highly advisable. Mark Stanfill, MCSE+I, MCSE 2000/2003, MCDBA Technical Lead, SBS http://blogs.technet.com/sbs One really important item in the mail - " If you have any concerns - call the support desk " - in the UK this might cost a couple of hundred pounds, but when doing a recovery and you are having problems, it might save you days of sweat,...

  • Help test Centro - MS's beta &/or TAP that requires 3 x64 machines and includes Longhorn and Exchange?

    From the SBS Blog: We are looking for a few good testers to help influence the direction of this new Microsoft® Windows Server Solutions Product. Do you have three 64 bit machines that you can spare to test some of the most exciting technology Microsoft is working on? I know the system requirements are a daunting one, but this is the only way we can test "Centro". So, if you are already on the Longhorn Beta or the Exchange Beta, then you are already two thirds of the way there. For more information, codes to access the beta, how to sign up etc, go look at The SBS and Centro Community Lead Blog : So, what is "Centro" you ask...........?
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  • Important Sneak Peak – UK Small Business Symposium coming

    I can't reveal all the details, although I am sure others will, however we are working on special event for SBSC members. This event design incorporates your feedback and suggestions as to what you want to hear about, share as a community as well as information Microsoft needs to share with you. Expect useful information, the opportunity to network with your peers, Microsoft and partners and the ability to socialise too J The timeframe for this event is February 2007, in Reading, Manchester (or Leeds) and Edinburgh, although more sessions will happen in the afternoon in Reading due to availability of speakers and rooms. The ROUGH agenda looks like this Morning: UK Exec who actually cares about Small Business (such as Natalie Ayres - Director of SMS&P*) talking about: What's the view from the top? Why does everything you've heard matter? What's the opportunity for partners? Aileen Hannah – responsible for SBSC programme in the UK, talking about: Highlights & lowlights of the program so far Latest resources...

  • Daily Telegraph - Story of how SBS and a retail system has greatly enhanced an amazing Manchester Arts and Crafts shop

    I have been to visit Fred Aldous in Manchester - the range of arts and crafts items was baffling to me, a non-artist, however with their help I was able to find the perfect things for my wife. The reason I was there though, was not to buy some paint, but to meet with the current family owners. They are an amazing showcase of what technology can do without damaging the fabric of what makes a family run business great. I have spoken about them before and yesterday someone asked me to provide the references, but the great success has been written up in the Daily Telegraph in the UK, so it is not something I can send out. A quick search of the Telegraph site has produced two stories on Fred's transformation - one as it was happening and one six months later. I strongly suggest a read to learn more! Victorian ledgers give way to age of Epos (Filed: 12/09/2005) A city craft shop founded in 1880 is going for the latest retail software to provide 21st century service, says Selina Mills Source: Telegraph | Money | Victorian...
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  • IE7 Installation and Anti-Malware Applications - why you should turn them off for the install!!

    I saw this and because IE is coming soon, thought you might like to read this! IE7 Installation and Anti-Malware Applications A few people have asked why we recommend temporarily disabling anti-virus or anti-spyware applications (which I’ll refer to together as anti-malware) prior to installing IE7, so here’s a little insight to the situation. Along with copying IE7 files to your system, IE7’s setup writes a large number of registry keys. A common way anti-malware applications protect your computer is by preventing writes to certain registry keys used by IE. Any registry key write that fails during setup will cause setup to fail and rollback changes. We work around the problem in most instances by checking permissions at the beginning of setup, but many anti-malware programs monitor the key rather than change permissions. Therefore, setup thinks it has access when it starts, but then fails when it later attempts to write the key. The majority of users likely haven’t seen any such problems even with anti-malware...

  • Virtual PC Guy's WebLog : Virtual PC 2007 Beta now available!

    FYI - I use this for all my testing, including my WSS v3 on SBS 2003!! Virtual PC 2007 Beta now available! Good news - the Virtual PC 2007 Beta is now available. You can sign up for it here: https://connect.microsoft.com/programdetails.aspx?ProgramDetailsID=874 . Major changes include: Support for hardware virtualization (Intel and AMD) Support for Windows Vista as a host operating system Support for Windows Vista as a guest operating system Note: No support for Aero Glass though - just Aero Basic Support for 64-bit host operating systems Note: Virtual machines are 32-bit only Improved performance There are also a plethora of bug fixes. Some notable ones include: Lots of work to allow Virtual PC to play better with laptop power management Fix for IntelPPM issue ( http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2005/10/24/484461.aspx ) Virtual PC now supports greater than 2.2GB ISO images Source: Virtual PC Guy's WebLog : Virtual PC 2007 Beta now available!
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  • iQubed on Vista vs Linux - and not from Microsoft, but a partner who has sold both Microsoft and Linux Solutions

    I like Vijay - he never lets me get away with cutting corners and has an honest perspective on many things. His personal review of what Exchange, Vista and Office will bring to the world is refreshing because he can say he has been there!! Vista vs Linux October 13, 2006 on 6:51 pm | In Linux , Vista | As Vista nears the business launch date of November 2006 the articles doing a comparison are appearing thick and fast. Firstly, let me say I’m an advocate of Open Source and what it has brought to the world. It’s given us some great solutions and powers the heart of the internet as we know it and companies like Google have built their business on it. That’s not a bad achievement! However, Microsoft has a formidable offering to both consumers and businesses alike. This offering is only getting stronger through EVO (Exchange Server 2007, Vista and Office 2007) and issues such as the WGA debacle and delays in Vista aren’t going to make the impact of these new technologies any less dramatic. Source: iQubed Blog » Vista...

  • Small Business News : Small firms 'overlooking' networking benefits

    From bCentral : Small firms 'overlooking' networking benefits Thu, 12 Oct 2006 16:21:12 GMT Many of Britain's small businesses could be losing out to competitors because they are not making enough of networking opportunities. Many of Britain's small businesses could be losing out to competitors because they are not making enough of networking opportunities. The latest research report from Lloyds TSB Business and the SERTeam at the Open University found that two fifths of small firms do not believe that networking can boost their businesses' chance of growth and success. It also shows that one in ten small firms say they do not devote any time to networking, while 42 per cent admit they only get involved a few times a year. Lloyds TSB believes that those businesses that do become adept at networking are likely to gain significant benefits. It reveals how almost three quarters of firms have won new customers over the past year as a direct result of marketing, while two fifths have found new suppliers. more at Small...
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  • Do you remember that little "poster" that came with SBS 2003 - do you want to make it better? We want your feedback on the SBS Quick Start Poster

    I saw this over on the SBS Documentation blog - please give generously to make it better in the future!! Using the SBS Quick Start Poster We've entered the planning phase for the next batch of Windows SBS product releases, and we're interested in hearing from those of you who have unfolded and presumably used the "Quick Start" poster that came in the box with the SBS discs. Most importantly, do you find the poster useful? Does it contain information that is helpful to you? Do you use the worksheets in the poster to help collect information about your Internet connection? Where is the poster now? Back in the box? Hanging on the wall? (It does add a big splash of color to a cubicle or drab IT office.) We want to know what you think! Submit your comment or send us your feedback in e-mail . Either way, we want to hear from you! Source: Windows Small Business Server Documentation : Using the SBS Quick Start Poster

  • Small Business News : SME leasing identified as means to growth

    Just saw this on the bCentral news site - always useful to know!! Of course, this can include IT solutions and of course, the MS Finance offers found at http://www.microsoft.com/uk/partner/sales_and_marketing/promotions/default.aspx?page=product can be used to cover the whole solution, so your fees, SBS server and desktops with Office... ;-) SME leasing identified as means to growth Thu, 05 Oct 2006 12:05:05 GMT Leasing has been identified as a cost effective option for smaller businesses, according to the Forum of Private Business (FPB). Leasing has been identified as a cost effective option for smaller businesses, according to the Forum of Private Business (FPB). Source: Small Business News : SME leasing identified as means to growth

  • Vista and security - are Microsoft doing the right thing?

    This is something I have thought long and hard about and as such I have to caveat things by saying this is my opinion and that I am no more informed than any other member of the public or IT community. Having said that, I have done my time as a Windows Developer and even once worked on emulation systems such as Wine. These protections will be coming to all OSs - so Vista, Longhorn, SBS - all of them! I really think this is some of the worst mud slinging I have seen in a long time and much is wrong! So what have I seen in the Press. McAfee and Symantec have complained that they want the ability to ignore the APIs in Vista and bash at the Kernel directly for security services. However, Kernel code has to be signed for the integrity of the system. Microsoft will not stick to the rules above and will gain advantage by using unknown APIs That the security prompts and center can not be turned off That Microsoft is right to make these changes and want to increase the integrity of the system As someone who once worked...

  • KB for SBS and your customers - MS06-055: Vulnerability in Vector Markup Language could allow remote code execution

    I almost feel that I don't need to publish this, but even though the next round of patches is just a day away, you need to think about this one too. MS06-055: Vulnerability in Vector Markup Language could allow remote code execution View products that this article applies to. Article ID: 925486 Microsoft has released security bulletin MS06-055. The security bulletin contains all the relevant information about the security update. This information includes file manifest information and deployment options. To view the complete security bulletin, visit one of the following Microsoft Web sites: IT professionals: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms06-055.mspx Source: MS06-055: Vulnerability in Vector Markup Language could allow remote code execution ttfn David

  • IE is Coming This Month...Are you Ready?

    From the IE Blog is the following - we have all heard that IE7 is coming, but that day is almost upon us, so time to get ready. I finally installed IE7 for my wife yesterday - for the 1st time in a long time she actually said "Oh, that is useful" when talking about technology - a win for everyone! IE7 Is Coming This Month...Are you Ready? The final release of IE7 is fast approaching … and I mean really fast … and will be delivered to customers via Automatic Updates a few weeks after it’s available for download. We want to ensure that you are ready and the information below will help get you there. Compatibility with sites, extensions and applications has been a very high priority for us as we develop new features, enhance the existing features and move the platform forward to be more secure and standards compliant. We are continually listening to feedback from our customers, partners and leaders in the industry to resolve major compatibility issues to ensure our common customers have...

  • E-Bitz - SBS MVP the Official Blog of the SBS "Diva" : Upgrading to SQL 2005 workgroup from SQL 2000

    Upgrading to SQL 2005 workgroup from SQL 2000 When upgrading from SQL 2000 to SQL 2005 workgroup there's a couple of things you should read up ahead of time... the first being the "official" upgrade guide . the second is the "Susan" version of the document that just covers the needed steps for upgrading SQL 2000 to SQL 2005. For more information, go to E-Bitz - SBS MVP the Official Blog of the SBS "Diva" : Upgrading to SQL 2005 workgroup from SQL 2000
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  • Compatibility Chart for Windows Small Business Server 2003 (Product, Server applications and desktop)

    A great new set of pages that shows what works and does not work with SBS 2003. using a simple traffic light system = The product is an integrated component of Windows SBS, or it is known to be compatible with Windows SBS. The product was tested and you can obtain support for this configuration. = The product has not been fully tested on Windows SBS and support for this configuration is not available from the Windows SBS product support team. Other groups may offer support for this configuration; contact the appropriate group for information. Some product features may not be fully functional in a Windows SBS environment. = Not compatible. The product is known not to work and you should not install the product in a Windows SBS environment. Product Technologies Compatibility Chart for Windows Small Business Server 2003 An at-a-glance compatibility chart for installing and running standalone versions of SBS 2003 technology on a server running Windows Small Business Server 2003. Server Application Compatibility Chart...
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