Windows 8 Enterprise activation DNS error

Windows 8 Enterprise defaults to using a corporate Volume License activation on a business network.  This is supposed to provide a simplified end-user activation experience focused on using the KMS server, however i fyou want to use a MAK key then you are in trouble. This is because Windows 8 Enterprise PC cannot find the appropriate DNS records to determine how to automatically activate.  

So the solution is to enter the MAK key manually from a command prompt:

Hit the Windows+R hotkeys to open the Run box and run the following command:

slmgr -ipk xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx

You can then either wait for Windows to sort itself out - or click on the activate in settings and all should come right.

For MS's explanation see here

How to make a bootable VMware vSphere 5 USB installation media

How to make a bootable VMware vSphere 5 USB installation media | satheesh.net

Add an already-created VM to ESXi 5.1

Add an already-created VM to ESXi 5.1

After uploading the VM Machines to the datastore, you can use the datastore browser in the vSphere Client to locate the .VMX file. Right-click it and choose the Add To Inventory option. VMware Converter can also be used, but might require some tweaking of the VM afterwards.

6 Great Tricks for Windows 8 that You Probably Don’t Know

I'm warming to Windows 8, however its another steep learning curve.

This article shows you how to :

1. Disable lock and startup logon screen
2. Take and save screenshots (Windows Key + PrtScn)
3. Stop Files opening in Metro (only if you really need to)
4. Display Admin Tools
5. Control Automatic Maintenance
6. Customize Search Applications

Windows 8 - add a network folder that isn't indexed to a library

To add a network folder that isn't indexed to a library

If you have a network drive but want to access it via the shortcut of library, such as a software repository then there is a workaround from Microsoft.  This involves adding a local dummy folder and then remapping it as follows:

1. Create another folder within that folder, for example c:\share\music.
2. Select the subfolder you just created, tap or click the Home tab, tap or click Easy access, choose Include in library, and then select the library to which you want to add the folder.
   
   
   
3. Delete the folder.
4. Run CMD (Command Prompt) as administrator.
5. Enter mklink /d, and then enter the path of the folder you just deleted and the path of the network folder. For example, mklink /d c:\share\music \\server\music. This creates what is called a symbolic link. (more info on symbolic link command here)

Roles Error and Features Error in Window Server Manager

Roles Error and Features Error in Window Server Manager - can be a real pain.

You can do anything to fix it and it relates to Windows update getting its knickers in a knot. 

 

In some cases Ive found that installing Hotfix for Windows (KB947821) sometimes helps.  Its the only thing Ive found that avoids a complete OS reinstall.

 

1. Download the right KB for your OS http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=947821#method2
2. Run the Microsoft Update Readiness Tool on the problematic computer.
3. You open the %Systemroot%\Windows\logs\CBS\Checksur.log file after the scan was completed.  this shows you what is the problem.
4. Most of the time if you run windows update normally after a reboot all comes right.
5. If not then check corrupt information in the files. Here are some samples at the bottom of this post on how to manually fix them:

Teamviewer duplicate IDs

We use Teamviewer all the time for support, however we were rather stumped when two of our machines had the same ID.  That made remoting onto one from the other rather tricky.

We are not the only ones to have had problems and here is a discussion giving suggestions on how to resolve this issue.

Embedding a SWF into Sharepoint

I though this would have been easy, however Sharepoint strips out the HTML as a potential security threat.  I ended up useing a web content page link to an external hosted site, however here is a different way to achieve the same thing

Working with Large Lists in SharePoint 2010 - List Throttling

Sharepoint 2010 gives a warning when your list items get near 5000, however the limit for items is 30million.

Here is a good article explaining what its all about and how you can assist sharepoint with List Thresholds....

addcontentdb Could not find stored procedure 'dbo.proc_SetDatabaseInformation'

Issue: I was attaching a restored content database using STSADM -o addcontent to a SharePoint 2007 web using the command below when I got the following error: Could not find stored procedure 'dbo.proc_SetDatabaseInformation'

stsadm.exe -o addcontentdb -url http://intranet.mycompany.local -assignnewdatabaseid -databasename WSS_Content_MyDB -databaseserver MySQL.mycompany.local

Solution: I found that the error message relates to the configuration database and there are lots of articles talking about different version patching issues.  

However the real issue seems to be the -assignnewdatabaseid parameter.  It causes SharePoint to look for the procedure which it cant find if the versions are missmatched.  If you can get away with not adding the -assignnewdatabaseid parameter you should find it will run ok

Accessing Sharepoint data directly in the SQL database - not to be recommended but interesting...

http://e-junkie-chronicles.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/closer-look-at-sharepoint-sql-query.html#!/2011/10/closer-look-at-sharepoint-sql-query.html

Sky Go Error code t6030-c150​1

Ive been fighting with the above error for several days to try to get Sky Go working on a PC.

It transpires that there is an issue with newest version of Silverlight.

My answer was to remove Silverlight using the control pannel -> uninstall programs.  Reboot and then download and install silverlight version 5.0.61118 The best place I found to download the earlier version was at http://www.oldapps.com/silverlight.php

This seemed to have fixed the issue for me.

stsadm -o import -updateversions 2 - error / doesnt do what its supposed to

I had a scynario where a site with multiple subsites needed to be restored in SharePoint 2007.

The majority of sites didnt need document history, so I thought that we could restore all of the sites without the history and then selectivly restore the ones that did need it.

There is a switch on the STSADM.EXE -o import  called -updateversions. This switch is supposed to indicate how to resolve situations where a file to be imported to a site already exists in that site.  using a value of 2 should Overwrite the file and all of its versions (delete then insert).  

BUT of course it doesnt.....  it seems to ignore my 2 switch and revert to the defaul of 1, which is to add the documents again so I get a complete set of duplicates.  Lovely......

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc287920(v=office.12).aspx

A usefull link to the Sharepoint Site Template Numbers

http://www.bfcnetworks.com/sharepoint-2010-site-template-id-numbers/

Office 365 Error- Access Services reports are not enabled.

I have long been sceptical about running custom SharePoint sites on Office 365, but I thought as its maturing I'd give it another bash.

I needed to store a list of contacts and other meta data, so I thought I'd add a "Contact Web" subsite.  This is actually an access database that is hosted in Sharepoint.  Very clever I thought, but so near and yet so far.....

The default Address book view allows you to add and edit contacts, however in the Note portion you get a correlation error saying "Access Services reports are not enabled. To view the report, open the report in the Access client." - not very helpful.  If you try to go to the Report Center tab you get the same issue.

Apparently the reason is that Office 365 hasnt turned on access services !    So the Contact Web subsite that that Office 365 allows you to create isnt fully supported by Office 365 !!

Come on Microsoft, either offer full access services or handle your errors properly and dont offer a site template you cant support.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2632471

Error- Access Services reports are not enabled. To view the report, open the report in the Access client. - Office Professional Plus developer - Office 365 - Microsoft Office 365 Community

Problems deleting a Sharepoint 2010 list

You can use the Powershell command below to delete a list, however if you get an error  in the form of "This list cannot be deleted." then go to Step B and try Step A again.

Step A - try to delete a list

$w = Get-SPWeb "http://myweb"

$w.Lists.Delete([System.Guid]$w.Lists["My List Name"].ID)

 

Step B - toggle list cannot be deleted error

$w = Get-SPWeb "http://myweb"

$list = $w.Lists["My List Name"]
$list.AllowDeletion = $True
$list.Update()

The delete command will now be visible on your list settings again and you'll run the line below:

$list.Delete()
Blog Ref:
http://jessepatricio.blogspot.com/2011/12/could-not-save-list-changes-to-server.html

Where is the "Local Drafts Folder"

Checking out Sharepoint documents to work on offline prompts you to use the Local Drafts folder - but where is it?

Try "My Documents\SharePoint Drafts"

Opening a Sharepoint 2010 site using claims authentication and the object model

ClientContext ctx = new ClientContext(someSiteUrl);

ctx.AuthenticationMode = ClientAuthenticationMode.FormsAuthentication;
ctx.FormsAuthenticationLoginInfo = new
FormsAuthenticationLoginInfo(myUserName, myUserPwd);

//get the web
Web w = ctx.Web;

//execute the query
ctx.ExecuteQuery();

http://blogs.technet.com/b/speschka/archive/2010/06/03/using-the-client-object-model-with-a-forms-based-auth-site-in-sharepoint-2010.aspx

Office 365 - Powershell connection

To connection to Office 365 use the following set of commands.  Firstly let Powershell have permission to run remotely signed scripts.  Then set the credentails to logon with, create a Powershell session to Office365.  Import the commands you can use in that session and then off you go....

Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned

$LiveCred = Get-Credential

$Session = New-PSSession -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange -ConnectionUri https://ps.outlook.com/powershell/ -Credential $LiveCred -Authentication Basic -AllowRedirection

Import-PSSession $Session
------------------------------------------


Once you have a session then you can use commands to assign permissions such as:

Add-MailboxPermission "Telephone Messages" -User IanSmit@mycompany.com -AccessRights FullAccess

Office 365 - hiding an external contact from the GAL

1. Connect to Exchange Online by using PowerShell. For more information about how to do this, see the following article:
http://help.outlook.com/en-us/beta/cc952755.aspx?sl=1

2. Run the following cmdlet to hide an external mail contact:

Set-MailContact -Identity -HiddenFromAddressListsEnabled $true

By doing so, the external mail contact will be hidden from global address list (GAL).

How to turn on email archiving in Office 365

It took me a while to see if this was even available in Office 365 P1 Plan, but it is and you can enable it as follows:

·         Login to your web login.microsoftonline.com portal

·         Admin

·         Users

·         Select user and Edit

·         More from the menu under the user name

·         Change Mailbox Settings

·         Expand mailbox features

·         Select Archive and Click Enable

(Don’t forget to check the default policies are what you require)

·         Goto Outlook Web

      ·         Options (top right)
      ·         See All Options

·         Organise Email

·         Retention Policies

Displaying other Outlook accounts when migrating to Office 365

In migrating Email accounts in Outlook 2010 to Office 365, Ive been copying email from the users existing exchange account to the new Office 365 folders (after adding the new Office 365 account as an additional Exchange account in Outlook)

I then needed to add additional mailboxes from the new Office 365 users onto the secretaries Outlook, however the normal functionality wouldnt work.  Additionally when I tried to remove the existing Exchange account from Outlook after copying all the emails and folders over, I found that Outlook wouldnt let me.

The only solution seems to be to create a brand new Outlook mail Profile for the new Office 365 user.  Then you will be able to add the new Office 365 additional users.

The reason is that Outlook doesnt allow opening multiple mailboxes that belown to different Exchange organisations or domains. 

See this thread for more information