Yearly Archive for 2009

Local host file not resolving correctly

We recently re-built a machine with a fresh copy of Windows that had issues resolving names listed in the local host file. All of the entries matched the ones that were on PCs that were able to resolve them. We made sure that the file had no extension listed, and it didn’t. We even copied over a file from a machine that worked thinking something may have happened to the file itself. However, nothing we did worked.

After some searching around, I came across an entry that stated that the Network Service account needs rights to the host file. I verified that the DNS service running on the machine was indeed the Network Service account (which it was), and gave the account rights to the file.

image

Once I made the change, the entries inside the host file started resolving properly.

Cannot start Microsoft Office Outlook

A great way to start a Monday morning after a break is to not be able to check your email. I fired up Outlook, and got the error “Cannot start Microsoft Outlook. Cannot open the Outlook window.” (see below)

11-30-2009 8-49-58 AM

After some searching around, I came across a solution that fixed the problem.

I ran the following command in a Run box:

Outlook.exe /resetnavpane

Once I ran that command, Outlook opened with an error informing me that the data file for my mailbox wasn’t closed properly (see below). After it ran its check, Outlook opened fine.

11-30-2009 8-50-41 AM

Exchange 2007 support on Server 2008 R2

Microsoft has decided to offer support for Exchange 2007 running on Server 2008 R2 after customers gave some feedback. They are going to release an update early next year.

Distribution Group Management in Exchange 2007

Managing a distribution group in Exchange 2007 works little differently than it did in Exchange 2003. In Exchange 2003, you could select a user to manage a distribution group, and select the option so that they could update the members in the list. (see image below)

DGManagement_Ex2003

In Exchange 2007, you have the ability to select a manager to manage the members of the list as well. However, the manager has no rights to add/remove members from the list. (see image below)

DGManagement_Ex2007

In order to grant this permission to the user, you have to run the following command from the Exchange Management Shell:

Add-ADPermission -Identity:'Group Display Name’ -User:domain\username -AccessRights ReadProperty, WriteProperty -Properties 'Member'

Make sure you have the appropriate permissions before you run that command, or it will error out. According to the Technet article, you will need the following permissions to run the command successfully:

1) Exchange Recipient Administrator role.
2) Account Operator role for the applicable Active Directory containers.

Microsoft cuts BPOS pricing.

Microsoft Cuts E-Mail Price, a Bid to Ward Off Google. It seems that Microsoft it getting aggressive with their pricing to compete with Google. Of course, they say it has nothing to do with Google.

Free Exchange 2010 e-book

Red Gate Software is offering a free e-book on Exchange 2010. (via SysAdmin Network)

L.A. adopts Google e-mail

Los Angeles adopts Google e-mail system for 30,000 city employees. I recently switched my email to Google Apps and have been pretty pleased with it so far. This along with Google Sync made it easy for me to sync my contacts, calendar and email in near real-time. However, I’m not 100% convinced that the “cloud” is ready to use especially with the downtime that Google has had recently.

Error logging in to Outlook Web Access (OWA) on Exchange 2007

When we had completed our migration from Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2007, there were a couple of users that informed us that their Outlook Web Access wasn’t working anymore. The error they received was:

A problem occurred while trying to use your mailbox. Please contact technical support for your organization.

After expanding the error message, it showed the following:

Request
Request
Url: http://[owa servername]:80/owa/lang.owa
User host address: [user ip]
Exception
Exception type: Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Storage.StoragePermanentException
Exception message: There was a problem accessing Active Directory.
Call stack
Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Storage.ExchangePrincipal.Save()
Microsoft.Exchange.Clients.Owa.Core.RequestDispatcher.DispatchLanguagePostLocally(OwaContext owaContext, OwaIdentity logonIdentity, CultureInfo culture, String timeZoneKeyName, Boolean isOptimized)
Microsoft.Exchange.Clients.Owa.Core.RequestDispatcher.DispatchLanguagePostRequest(OwaContext owaContext)
Microsoft.Exchange.Clients.Owa.Core.RequestDispatcher.PrepareRequestWithoutSession(OwaContext owaContext, UserContextCookie userContextCookie)
Microsoft.Exchange.Clients.Owa.Core.RequestDispatcher.InternalDispatchRequest(OwaContext owaContext)
Microsoft.Exchange.Clients.Owa.Core.RequestDispatcher.DispatchRequest(OwaContext owaContext)
System.Web.HttpApplication.SyncEventExecutionStep.System.Web.HttpApplication.IExecutionStep.Execute()
System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionStep step, Boolean& completedSynchronously)
Inner Exception
Exception type: Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Directory.ADOperationException
Exception message: Active Directory operation failed on [active directory servername]. This error is not retriable. Additional information: Insufficient access rights to perform the operation. Active directory response: 00002098: SecErr: DSID-03150A45, problem 4003 (INSUFF_ACCESS_RIGHTS), data 0
Call stack
Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Directory.ADSession.AnalyzeDirectoryError(PooledLdapConnection connection, DirectoryRequest request, DirectoryException de, Int32 totalRetries, Int32 retriesOnServer)
Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Directory.ADSession.ExecuteModificationRequest(ADRawEntry entry, DirectoryRequest request, ADObjectId originalId)
Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Directory.ADSession.Save(ADObject instanceToSave, IEnumerable`1 properties)
Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Storage.ExchangePrincipal.Save()
Inner Exception
Exception type: System.DirectoryServices.Protocols.DirectoryOperationException
Exception message: The user has insufficient access rights.
Call stack
System.DirectoryServices.Protocols.LdapConnection.ConstructResponse(Int32 messageId, LdapOperation operation, ResultAll resultType, TimeSpan requestTimeOut, Boolean exceptionOnTimeOut)
System.DirectoryServices.Protocols.LdapConnection.SendRequest(DirectoryRequest request, TimeSpan requestTimeout)
Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Directory.PooledLdapConnection.SendRequest(DirectoryRequest request, LdapOperation ldapOperation)
Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Directory.ADSession.ExecuteModificationRequest(ADRawEntry entry, DirectoryRequest request, ADObjectId originalId)

After searching around the web, I found a few posts that referenced this error. The users account needed to have the inheritable permissions option checked for their account.

To perform this,
1. Open Active Directory Users and Computers (ADUC).
2. Locate the user account and view the properties for the account.
3. Select the Security tab. NOTE: If you don’t see the security tab, you will have to enable Advance Features from the View menu.
4. Select the Advanced button.
5. Check the option box for “Allow inheritable permissions from the parent to propagate to this object…”

6. Click Apply and then OK to close out the properties for the user account.

Once this option is selected, the user was able to log in to OWA successfully.

Windows 7 shortcuts

The Master List of New Windows 7 Shortcuts. There are a few more in the comments too.

Windows 7 deployment tools

7 deployment tools for Windows 7.