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Thursday, April 22, 2010

You cannot compose or reply to messages in Exchange OWA using Internet Explorer 7 or 8

After e.g. upgrading to VISTA or Windows 7 which comes with Internet Explorer 7 or 8 you're not able to use your Exchange based webmail. If you hit Reply or New - you'll not be able to type anything, you'll see a red cross in the message body. That was done, of course, for your own good - to make your email more secure. Don't you get it? If you don't use email - you have less chance to get a virus out of it, right? Ironically you can still use Chrome or Firefox.

There are 3 ways to fix the issue:

1. Use another browser , e.g. Chrome ( most preferable one :-) )

2. Fix your browser. This is not recommended (you don't want to fix everybody's browser do you?)
Use it at your own risk - I haven't tested it.
Here are some explanations:
http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2006/06/27/648850.aspx

Here is another fix , but it only works with Exchange 2003 OWA (Exchange 2000 doesn't have "Email security" under "Options")
http://mustech.net/2007/02/20/windows-vista-webmail-owa-fix-for-internet-explorer-7-five-step-fix

3. Fix your Exchange server.
The hotfix itself never appears on Windows/Microsoft Update - this is not a bug, this is a feature, right :-)?
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/911829

You can download the hotfix for Exchange 2003, but if you have Exchange 2000 then you can call MS back for support and they gladly provide you with the hotfix for Exchange 2000.... for additional cost of course. Be prepared to pay at least $300 upfront. You can also download it from 3-rd party at your own risk here:
http://thehotfixshare.net/board/index.php?autocom=downloads&showfile=3638

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Connecting to a printer, shared on Windows 32-bit, from Windows 7 64-bit

Mapping a printer being hosted by a computer running 32bit Windows OS on a VISTA/Windows 7 64bit machine is a bit tricky.
You cannot do it by simply adding Network printer as you do it usually - via searching AD or directly by name - it will say that driver is not available even though you have it installed already e.g. by connecting similar printer locally. Windows will suggest you to browse your computer for .inf files and even if you know where they are (C:\windows\inf folder) or you have printer's CD it will still say driver is not available and will not present you list of available printers to choose from.

First, you need to know exact name of shared printer (what you see in Windows 7 when you search for network printers is not really printer shared name but description which could be different)

On the host computer:
Start > Settings > Printers and Faxes > Right click on the shared printer > Properties > Sharing tab > write the name down
On the Windows 7 / Vista 64bit computer:
Start > Control Panel > Printers > Add printer > Add a local printer > Click on ‘Create a new port’ > ‘Local Port’ > ‘Next’.
Type the port name like this: "\\Computer name\printer shared name", click ‘OK’.
After that continue installation as you would do it normally. You can either select the make and model of your printer from the lists (for Windows 7 it will most likely be there) or use your printer installation disk.

Friday, April 16, 2010

SceCli Warning 1202 Events

I've seen 2 cases for those 1202 events so far (see below)
Lately I had lot of NullDACL issues (Case 2) specifically on VM servers connected to SAN.
It's usually this folder
\\server\C$\Documents and Settings\User\Local Settings\Application Data\VMware
and this file
\\server\C$\Documents and Settings\User\Local Settings\Application Data\VMware\hgfs.dat

Additionally it could be some file related to Symantec Antivirus.

It could also some file under \windows\system32\ that is being created by an OpenSSH freeware

So far I couldn't find the reason why it's happening but I think the reason could be that SAN VM servers using gets too busy sometimes (e.g. during backups)

Case 1
If your Windows 2000 Server posts the following events to the Application event log, every five minutes, your local Group Policy database file is corrupt:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Userenv
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1000
Date: 6/7/2000
Time: 2:56:53 PM
User: WINDOWS NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
Computer: ASKO-ONE
Description: The Group Policy client-side extension Security was passed flags (17) and returned a failure status code of (1208).

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: SceCli
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1202
Date: 6/7/2000
Time: 2:56:53 PM
User: N/A
Computer: ASKO-ONE
Description: Security policies are propagated with warning. 0x4b8 : An extended error has occurred.
Please look for more details in TroubleShooting section in Security Help.

Event Type: Error
Event Source: ESENT
Event Category: Logging/Recovery
Event ID: 454
Date: 6/7/2000
Time: 2:56:53 PM
User: N/A
Computer: ASKO-ONE
Description: services (304) Database recovery/restore failed with unexpected error -530.

Event Type: Error
Event Source: ESENT
Event Category: Logging/Recovery
Event ID: 412
Date: 6/7/2000
Time: 2:56:53 PM
User: N/A
Computer: ASKO-ONE
Description: services (304) Unable to read the log header. Error -530.

To resolve the problem, and return the Local Security Policy to its' installation state:

01. Create an OldSecurity subfolder at %SystemRoot%\Security.

02. Move the log files and chk file from %SystemRoot%\Security\logs to %SystemRoot%\Security\OldSecurity.

03. Move the database from %SystemRoot%\Security\Database\Secedit.sdb to %SystemRoot%\Security\OldSecurity and change the file extension to .old.

04. Start / Run / MMC / OK.

05. Console / Add/Remove Snap-in.

06. Add the Security and Configuration Analysis snap-in. Press Close and OK.

07. Right-click Security and Configuration Analysis and press Open Database.

08. Navigate to the %SystemRoot%\Security\Database folder, type Secedit.sdb into File name, and press Open.

09. When prompted to import a template, select Setup security.inf.

10. Press Open. Ignore any Access Denied error.

11. Right-click Security and Configuration Analysis and press Configure Computer Now.

Case 2
http://edwinfriesen.nl/content/?p=238

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Error message when you try to start Outlook 2003: "MAPI32.DLL is corrupt or the wrong version"

Happened on 2 newly bought computers (laptop and desktop) with Windows 7 64-bit, that had Microsoft Office 2007 pre-installed. I had to uninstall it because I use Office 2003. Trick is that there is really nothing wrong with MAPI32.DLL. You need to rename C:\Program Files\Common Files\System\Msmapi\1033\MSMAPI32.DLL to fix the issue.

(But, if you ever need to rename MAPI32.DLL you wouldn't be able to do it unless you take ownership and give yourself RW permission, even if you have admin credentials already).

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