When upgrading to SharePoint 2010 from SharePoint 2007, there are lots of things you can before upgrading to resolve issues itself prior to upgrading.  And there are things you can do after upgrade to verify upgrade went okay as well.  Obviously, there needs to be involvement from the end users...

Yes my dear 7 readers, not only am I back to blogging but I come bearing free gifts.  There is a utility in Windows 7 that many users don’t know about, and it will probably become one of your favorites after reading this.  It’s called the Problem Steps Recorder .  It’s perfect for documenting...

It’s okay… it happens.  You can’t retrieve it, but you can reset it using PowerShell.  Make sure that the account you are logged in as is: (1) a farm admin and (2) local admin on server   $passphrase = ConvertTo-SecureString -asPlainText –Force Set-SPPassPhrase -PassPhrase $passphrase...

7 Readers, I’ll let you in on a secret.  I’m horrible at Math.  To make it worse, I really suck at conversions.  I’ve been using this site for many years now to do my conversions for me, and thought I would share it for those that have problems converting bytes.  http://www.onlineconversion...

Working in a new server farm, it’s inevitable that you’ll have a moment where somebody (application) or something (server) is not talking to each other.  Windows Firewall, Hardware Firewalls, ISA Server, Named Instances, Non-Default ports, Load Balancing, Multiple Nics, IIS Ports, and more. ...

Oops.  I stopped central admin.  Can’t access the site to start services… no bueno.  No worries however, because you can actually start Central Administration up via STSADM (don’t you just love this utility?) Web Service stsadm -o provisionservice -action start -servicetype Microsoft.SharePoint...

Taking over administration for SharePoint after a previous administrator was ‘let go’ always has little gotchas that pop up. One of those can be needing to create a new site collection administrator.  If you can’t get access to the site, you can use stsadm to create a site collection administrator...

I saw this question asked on Twitter, and thought of this idea.  Was pretty simple, so I thought I would share.  What if you wanted to display a code example in SharePoint?  It could be on a page, blog post, wiki, etc…  For this specific question, it was in reference to displaying...

If you are one of the 7 readers of this blog, then you have seen a post or two from me in reference to stsadm and some tips to it:  Shortcuts, command history, posters, etc…  Well snap!  The SharePoint Server TechCenter just published another fantastic tool (in Silverlight) for us stsadm...

I can’t believe I didn’t know about this little shortcut already *hangs head in shame*.  I thought I would post this just in case I’m not the only GUI dork who isn’t a command line master-jedi. When working with the command prompt (in our case stsadm), you probably already know that you can navigate...

I typically always hit a snag when implementing FBA for a SharePoint site.  *shrugs*   I just accept it… it will not always go smoothly for me.  :) However, there are several resources that I typically lean on as a reference if I get stuck or something isn’t working the way it’s ...

Not a new concept here, but I thought I would add this to my blog so I’m not always referencing other blogs for it. Plus I will be referring to this post very soon.  :) When you get an error in SharePoint, by default it’s not going to be very descriptive.  Actually, all it’s going to say is...

Do you browse the web for SharePoint information?  Keep an eye on RSS feeds for that next latest and greatest piece of info or tidbit that will make you more knowledgeable on all things SharePoint? You do?  Me too!  Luckily for us, we aren’t the only ones.  Which means there is also...

Did you know that the content on TechNet for SharePoint Server (MOSS) is available for download in compiled help format (CHM)?    It’s been available for a few months now, but today they just released version 4.  That’s a great file to keep on a USB drive, phone, or on your mobile...

What a great little tool by Eric Meyer.  Input a nasty looking URL string, and it will make it into something that you can read.  To explain the possible benefit, let me show you what I used it for. In SharePoint, when viewing a list's settings you can see the guid for the list in the URL....

I recently did an implementation of ISA Server 2006 in a SharePoint farm.  The server was being utilized as a Reverse Proxy in the DMZ.  Security was a key element in this project so after implementation there was some penetration testing completed.  That revealed my server was allowing...

I'm doing some architecture diagrams and site layouts for SharePoint, and came across some great stencils for use in Visio.  Enjoy... MOSS Architecture Diagrams - Visio Server Stencils Visio Stencils for Sharepoint 2007 Site Structures documentation Visio Stencils for Information Architects Update...

Quick way to determine which SP is on your SQL Server:   "If you are a DBA in a big SQL Server database shop, keeping track of what service packs are on each SQL Server can become daunting. Here are a couple of scripts that help you determine what service pack you are running on a SQL Server...

Microsoft has a good amount of downloadable content for SharePoint.  They make some pretty good references as all of the content is actually available on TechNet.  I like to keep these on an external drive however, In case i need to research something but don't have Internet access at a client...

When new items are added to a list in SharePoint, a 'New Item' icon is displayed next to the new item.    So how long is new for you?  1 hour?  1 day?  1 week? 1 month? 1 year?  1 decade?  1 century?  1... okay I'll stop there.  Hopefully in 100 years we have...

A quick way to access STSADM is to set a Path for the 12 Hive's bin folder.  Doing this, you can type " stsadm " at anytime in a command prompt window to access the operations it provides.  Access Environment Variables Go to your server's System Properties RClick 'My Computer' >...

This registration edit allows you to right-click on a folder, and select Go To CMD.  It will open the command prompt with it already on that folder's directory path, thus you don't have to open a command prompt and then change directories.     Download by right-click and save as, then...

SharePoint Out-of-Box Themes If the blue and white default theme for SharePoint does not fit your style, you can choose another theme in WSS 3.0 or MOSS 2007.  SharePoint provides 18 themes out of the box.   To change the theme of a site 1. Select Site Settings under Site Actions 2. Click on...

Buddy of mine (Scott Helm) created a nifty utility for SharePoint that allows you to change url strings in a publishing web.  Cool stuff Scott! SharePointUrlChanger - Home out on CodePlex. Project Description This is a utility that I created to change url strings that were placed in navigation and...

Joe Stagner has a great post on how to set up Live Writer to blog at asp.net's weblogs.  I like a lot of Live's tools, so going to start using this for blogging my posts.  (Mainly so I have a better system of managing my drafts). Setting up Live Writer to Blog on Weblogs.asp.net