Girish's Graffiti : SBS

Software Update to Support “Join Domain” Migration of Windows Small Business Server 2003 Data and Settings to New Hardware.

Girish.Rajan — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 10:05:42 GMT

From KB943494 ; SYMPTOMS The software license terms for Windows SBS enforce a limitation that permits the presence of only one Windows SBS Domain Controller in domain. However, the software license terms allow for a grace period that makes it not possible...(read more)

Error When Trying To Approve Silverlight 1.0 Within Update Services

Girish.Rajan — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 12:41:24 GMT

The Official SBS Blog- Error When Trying To Approve Silverlight 1.0 Within Update Services...(read more)

Well I am sure it has been a great spell and would be in time to come.

Girish.Rajan — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 14:43:49 GMT

My Spell In SBS - By Karan Rustagi. The link: http://blogs.technet.com/asksbs/default.aspx What can I say, Karan is starting with his new blog and it would be great to see him adding value to a broader audience. He ,sort of, has been my mentor since...(read more)

Even CEICW needs a break!

Girish.Rajan — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 13:46:51 GMT

:) To know more check this out; The CEICW Certificate Generator Will Be Out Of The Office On February 29, 2008 Good one guys!...(read more)

What is Windows Server for Small Business Server?

Girish.Rajan — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 14:55:22 GMT

Many times I see people getting confused with this. I don't blame them, I was confused myself in the beginning. :) The answer is here; http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/sbs/evaluation/faq/prodinfo.mspx Q. What is Windows Server for Small Business...(read more)

Content Released: Deploying Terminal Services in a Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 Environment

Girish.Rajan — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 14:53:00 GMT

Deploying Terminal Services in a Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 Environment This document updates and replaces both "Deploying Windows Server 2003 Terminal Server to Host User Desktops in a Windows Small Business Server Environment" and "Installing...(read more)

Network Behind a Network

Girish.Rajan — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 11:41:04 GMT

The Official SBS Blog; http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/archive/2007/11/29/network-behind-a-network.aspx...(read more)

Important DST announcement on The Official SBS Blog

Girish.Rajan — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 19:50:00 GMT

http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/archive/2007/10/25/final-dst-reminder.aspx

SBS Best Practice Analyzer is out!

Girish.Rajan — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 08:22:00 GMT

A long awaited tool, at least for someone like me, is finally out and public!

Overview

The Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 Best Practices Analyzer examines a server that is running Windows Small Business Server 2003 (Windows SBS) and presents a list of information and errors that administrators should review.
The Windows SBS Best Practices Analyzer examines the server and collects configuration information from many sources including:
• Active Directory Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)
• Registry
• Metabase
After collecting information about server configuration, the Windows SBS Best Practices Analyzer verifies that the information is correct and then presents administrators with a list of issues sorted by severity. The list describes each issue and provides a recommendation or possible solution.

You can read more about it on;
The Official SBS Blog - SBS now has a Best Practices Analyzer!

You can download it from here;

Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 Best Practices Analyzer

There is a KB about it;
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940439

If you have feedbacks on this tool, you can send them to

sbsbpabu@Microsoft.com.

SBS SP1? Are you saying Windows Server 2003 SP1?

Girish.Rajan — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 07:10:00 GMT

Ok so I am going to try and make this as simple as possible.

SBS SP1 is not the same as Windows Server 2003 SP1. Many of us get confused and I don't blame them. It was not available via windows update and in itself is very confusing.

So what is SBS SP1 then?

SBS SP1 is a separate update that will patch your SBS and some know issues would go away. Like CALs getting reset to 5 when disk space is low on system drive. (But this does not mean your server will run fine when not running with enough resources.)

SBS SP1 A is all you need to get started. All the service packs that you would want on your Small Business Server under one link.

SBS SP1 A link: Downloading and Installing Windows Small Business Server 2003 Service Pack 1.

You may want to replace the first three service packs with the latest one.

Please apply the service pack in the following order only!

Windows Server Service Pack 2.
Share Point Service Pack 3.
Exchange Service Pack 2.
Client Service Pack, Windows XP SP2. (This is important because you cannot install SBS SP1 without this.)
SBS SP1.

I recently received a question via email,

I installed SBS and I would like to update is to the latest Service Packs. What would be the right order then? I guess:

- Step 1: Windows 2003server SP1

- Step 2: Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 SP1

- Step 3: Exchange Server 2003 SP1

- Step 4: Windows XP SP2 for Client Deployment

- Step 5: SBS SP1

- Step 6: Windows 2003 server SP2

- Step 7: Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 SP2 and 3

- Step 8: Exchange Server 2003 SP2

- Step 9: Windows XP SP2 for Client Deployment

I can't find the right order and I think it has to be this, could you confirm that or tell me what the right order is?

While this can be a right order, you may want to save some time. IMHO you can download and install the latest service pack rather than doing from windows update or by downloading SP1 first. SP2 downloaded from this link will contain all previous patches including the one in SP1. If you are nervous to do so, keep backups!

If you don't know yet, SBS SP0 is not supported any longer. For Life Cycle of SBS SP0 support please refer to the following link;

http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/archive/2007/07/03/sbs-2003-sp-0-support-retirement.aspx

ALWAYS TAKE BACKUPS BEFORE APPPLYING SERVICE PACKS AND PATCHES. Be aware of know issues like the following;

Common Networking Issues After Applying Windows Server 2003 SP2 on SBS

http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/archive/2007/04/24/common-networking-issues-after-applying-windows-server-2003-sp2-on-sbs.aspx

Unable to install SP2?

Girish.Rajan — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 13:45:56 GMT

I recently worked on a case where we were unable to install SP2 on a Small Business Server 2003.

Normally this happens when there has been no service pack installed on the server however it has been receiving updates and patches from windows update.

For more information on why this happens have look at this article;

925931 You may be unable to apply more updates at a certain point on a Windows Server 2003-based computer

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;925931

Now the here are a couple of links that you may use to resolve the issue.

822798 You cannot install some updates or programs

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;822798

Now if you are getting the following error;

Pop-up error:

Failed to install catalog files.

svcpack.log:

960.484: InstallSingleCatalogFile: MyInstallCatalog failed for Tmp.0.ntprint.cat; error=0xfffffbfe.

Then KB 822798 may not help.

The best article on the web is here:

http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/archive/2007/06/22/sp2-may-fail-to-install-if-a-large-number-of-updates-are-installed.aspx

However if you are getting the following errors;

---------------------------
Setup Error
---------------------------

The system cannot find the file specified.

---------------------------
OK
---------------------------

and then,

---------------------------
Setup Error
---------------------------

installation did not complete.

---------------------------
OK
---------------------------

..the issue is completely different.

Any update or hotfix will bring the same error.
Now the case that I was working on, I saw the above two errors and noticed the following things;

> C:\Windows\System32\Catroot\{F750E6C3-38EE-11D1-85E5-00C04FC295EE} does not contain any files.
> Customer had already tried recreating the CatRoot2 folder.
> Read and Execute permission were missing on the following folder "C:\Windows\Registration\"

So I did the following things;

> Gave Read and Execute permissions to the folder: "C:\Windows\Registration\"
> Stopped Cryptographic service.
From cmd: net stop cryptsvc
> Renamed CatRoot2 folder to .old and created a new blank one.
> Reregistered the following DLLs;

REGSVR32.EXE SOFTPUB.DLL
REGSVR32.EXE WINTRUST.DLL
REGSVR32.EXE INITPKI.DLL
REGSVR32.EXE DSSENH.DLL
REGSVR32.EXE RSAENH.DLL
REGSVR32.EXE GPKCSP.DLL
REGSVR32.EXE SCCBASE.DLL
REGSVR32.EXE SLBCSP.DLL
REGSVR32.EXE Mssip32.dll
REGSVR32.EXE CRYPTDLG.DLL

> Start cryptsvc. (It may already be started.)
net start cryptsvc
> When this did not help, I again looked at the folder;
C:\Windows\System32\Catroot\{F750E6C3-38EE-11D1-85E5-0C04FC295EE}
> If you carefully look read the article on link http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/archive/2007/06/22/sp2-may-fail-to-install-if-a-large-number-of-updates-are-installed.aspx

..you will notice that the hotfix 912354 should be installed and the cab file should be in the above location.

> However the hotfix was not installed.
> Now I could not install this hotfix as it would give me the same error.
> Why is this hotfix required?
> Because it updates the file LICDLL.DLL.
> I looked at the version of file on the server and it was a older version. Can't remember the version now.
> It should at least be 5.2.3790.2598.
> Now I had the following version on my Virtual PC:
5.2.3790.3959
> I uploaded it on folders.live.com and downloaded it on his server.
> Renamed the original file to LICDLL.OLD and replaced it with the one from my server.
> Reregistered the DLL
REGSVR32.EXE LICDLL.DLL
> Restarted the cryptographic service.
net stop cryptsvc && net start cryptsvc

> And now we were able to apply SP!