SharePoint Business

How to delete contents of Windows.Old folder easily using a script ?

Consider this scenario:

You re-install or upgrade Vista / Windows 2008 / Windows 7 in a system. That may result the creation of "Windows.old" folder. You may try to delete that folder and its contents ; that may not work as expected - you may get multiple access denials and the folder "Windows.old" cannot be removed. This issue may be seen even if you have administrator privileges to the box.

For such a scenario, you may create a batch file based on the code below and run that batch file to delete the "Windows.old" folder:

REM JK-Windows.Old Deleter Version 1.0.181109 by jkadeesh

@echo off

setlocal

Title Windows.Old Deleter

set BAT_HOME=%~dp0
set BAT_NAME=%~s0
set BATFILE=%~nx0
set DRVLET=%~d0

if "%1"=="" goto interactive

REM Flash related lines are meant for deleting Flash specific .OCX files which cannot be easily deleted

if exist %1\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash CD /D %1\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash && cacls *.* /P Everyone:F

cd /d %DRVLET%

takeown /f %1 /R /d y
icacls %1 /grant administrators:F /t
rd /s /q %1

goto end

:interactive

cls

cd /d %DRVLET%\

IF EXIST %DRVLET%\Windows.old ECHO. && ECHO Found %DRVLET%\Windows.old && GOTO Auto

IF NOT EXIST %DRVLET%\Windows.old ECHO. && ECHO NOT FOUND %DRVLET%\Windows.old && ECHO.

echo Enter folder name [with complete path] which needs to be deleted:
echo.
echo To exit type "x" and press Enter key

echo.
echo.

set /p user=Folder Name[with path]:

if "%user%"=="x" goto end

if exist %user%\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash CD /D %user%\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash && cacls *.* /P Everyone:F

cd /d %DRVLET%\

takeown /f %user% /R /d y
icacls %user% /grant administrators:F /t
rd /s /q %user%

if not "%user%"=="x" goto interactive

goto end

:Auto
cls
ECHO.

cd /d %DRVLET%\

set user=Windows.old

if exist %DRVLET%\%user%\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash CD /D %DRVLET%\%user%\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash && cacls *.* /P Everyone:F

cd /d %DRVLET%\

takeown /f %user% /R /d y
icacls %user% /grant administrators:F /t
rd /s /q %user%

goto end

:end
ECHO.
ECHO Exiting...
ECHO.
pause

How to use the above code?

0. Disable User Access control [temporarily] - Once this task of deleting files / folders is completed, you may want to re-enable User Access Control. To disable UAC, go to Control Panel > User Accounts > Turn User Account Control on or off ; then uncheck the option "Use User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer" and click OK. Then restart the computer.

1. Copy/paste the code to Notepad

2. Save the file with the file name as: DeleteFiles.bat to C:\ drive [any location is ok - you need to go to the relevant location using the command line in step: 4]

Note that the 'Save as type' should be selected as "All Files (*.*)" before you click the Save button.

3. Go to Command prompt

4. Type CD \  to go to C:\

5. Type DeleteFiles foldername and then press Enter key

By default, the folder name is C:\Windows.old.

If the Windows.old folder resides in D:\ [or a different drive], then enter the drive letter accordingly along with the folder name.

6. Then you will notice a lot of operation in the command window and the script will end with "Exiting..." . Press any key to exit the script.

Then you will find Windows.old folder is completely removed - Note that with this method the contents of Windows.old folder will not won't be sent to the Recycle bin.

DeleteFiles.bat can be run without supplying the folder name also - in that scenario, it will consider Windows.old folder present in the current drive from which you run the batch file.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties. Use of included tools and reports are subject to the terms specified at
http://www.microsoft.com/info/cpyright.htm

How-to: SPSReport

This post is intended for:

- People who haven't yet had a chance to use SPSReport to gather SharePoint speicific information

- People who wanted to know some details about SPSReport before running it in their environment

What is SPSReport?

• It is a Microsoft Public License (Ms-PL) based utility available @ http://spsreport.codeplex.com/ to gather detailed information about SharePoint configuration in a system. You can further share that information to a Microsoft Support Professional for your SharePoint related support case(s).

SPSReport can be used to gather data for SharePoint Support Cases that involve the following SharePoint environments:

• Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 / SharePoint Portal Server 2003
• Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 & Office SharePoint Server 2007 [MOSS 2007]

 Here are some points for you about SPSReport:

1. By default, the tool is installed to this folder: %Systemroot%\SPSReports\Portal\

2. This is the default directory structure for SPSReport: %SystemRoot%\SPSReports\Portal >  Bin > Rpt > Cab  

3. SPSReports\Portal\bin\Readme.txt contains details about the tool - After extracting the data by running SPSReport.exe, this file can be accessed without running the tool further.

4. The tool does not make any changes to registry / operating system / SharePoint

5. Login to the machine with the user account that have Administrative rights to run this tool

6. Since the tool will take some time [5 to 15 minutes] to gather data, run the tool during off-peak hours if the machine is busy.

7. IIS logs are not collected by the tool and they need to be manually collected, if needed.

8. The tool cannot gather ULS logs if the trace log file location is customized - For example, if Trace Log location is set to D:\WSS-logs, SPSReport cannot gather the logs from that custom location.

9. In that case, gather the ULS logs manually if they are asked by the Microsoft Support Professional.

10. This tool gathers only three recent ULS log files at the time of running it.

11. Based on WMI settings of the machine, the tool may not collect reports based on WMI.

12. This tool may result some errors while running on Windows 2008 OS, but most of the times it can collect the required data - it normally works well with Windows 2000 or Windows 2003.

After prompting for the mode of operation, the gathering of data may fail sometimes.  In that case:

1. Make sure you login with administrative privileges to collect the data

2. Try to re-run SPSReport.exe.  Even if it fails again:

• Collect COMPUTERNAME_PROGRESS.TXT from SPSReports\Portal\rpt folder

[For example: if your machine name is MyPC, you can find a file named MyPC_PROGRESS.TXT in SPSReports\Portal\rpt folder]

• Send it to the Microsoft Support Professional of your support case.

Sometimes after completing the gathering of data, the final .CAB file may not be generated

• In that case, zip all the files in SPSReports\Portal\rpt folder
• Share the .zip file with the Microsoft Support Professional

I attached a .PDF file with screen shots of SPSReport to this post. SPSReport v3.0.0.8 which is the latest version at the time of posting this blog.

Technical Libraries for SharePoint 2007

I thought to share the following information with you, Folks! 

Updated version of Technical Libraries for Microsoft Search Server 2008, MOSS 2007 and WSS 3.0 are available - These libraries include TechNet content for MSS 2008/ MOSS 2007 / WSS 3.0 as of June 12, 2009:

Microsoft Search Server 2008 Technical Library in Compiled Help format:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=6CF0F7B6-C0A7-48F8-977E-9BC76B97FF98&displaylang=en

Office SharePoint Server 2007 Technical Library in Compiled help format:
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=124606

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Technical Library in Compiled Help format:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=C9D6C8C5-8A62-4961-8C1B-DF08B667B1C4&displaylang=en

Even though these libraries include a lot of links for online resources, the offline data inside these libraries are quite worth for a SharePoint Administrator.

Do you want to get updates about SharePoint Server 2007 Newly Published Content using RSS? Then subscribe to this RSS feed: http://services.social.microsoft.com/feeds/feed/SharePointServerNewContent 

Happy SharePointing!

Do you get the error: "The expected version of the product was not found on the system" when installing a SharePoint Update?

Issue Details

Consider this scenario:  You try to install a cumulative update [CU] for SharePoint 2007 or WSS 3.0.  During the beginning of the installation of the update, you may get this error:

"The expected version of the product was not found on the system" 

For example:

You installed MOSS 2007 SP1 with Italian Language Pack with Language Pack SP1.  You install SP2 for MOSS; but you forget to install the SP2 for the Italian Language Pack.  Then if you try to install April 2009 CU, then you will get the above given error message.

What is the cause?

This issue normally occurs:

- if you have language pack(s) installed for WSS / MOSS AND
- The language pack(s) do not have correct Service pack applied to them

How to resolve this error?

Option 1: Install the correct Service Pack for the language pack; then install the CU.

Option 2: Install the CU; then install the Service Pack for WSS/MOSS; after that install Service Pack for the Language Pack.

For example:

In the case of April 2009 CU, install the CU to the farm  [Assumption here is the SharePoint farm is already installed with SP1+Language Pack SP1+some cumulative updates] first.

Then install Service Pack 2 for WSS/MOSS; after that install Service Pack 2 for the Language Pack(s).

References

Here are the links to download the language pack [Note: You should select the correct language and then click "Change" button in the relevant Download pages of the Language Packs Service Packs to get the preferred Language Pack]:

WSS 3.0 Language Pack SP1 - x32

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=05046B1D-DD7B-456A-8838-8D978C5F3579&displaylang=en

WSS 3.0 Language Pack SP1 - x64

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=C7CF102B-5DD8-4D86-BE5A-D56F63EF37A4&displaylang=en

WSS 3.0 Language Pack SP2 - x32

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=085E5AC8-58F6-4CF9-8012-33B95EE36C0F&displaylang=en

WSS 3.0 Language Pack SP2 - x64

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=2C2B6CAF-B46D-45EB-AC4D-DEAAA48C3A2C&displaylang=en

The 2007 Microsoft Office Servers Language Pack SP1 - x32

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=47&p=4&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=c7cf102b-5dd8-4d86-be5a-d56f63ef37a4&u=details.aspx%3ffamilyid%3d3A6C26FD-0BEB-40D5-8CBA-15164FAAB150%26displaylang%3den

The 2007 Microsoft Office Servers Language Pack SP1 - x64

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=47&p=1&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=c7cf102b-5dd8-4d86-be5a-d56f63ef37a4&u=details.aspx%3ffamilyid%3d56681742-7D2C-4A6F-9178-DACD32AADC6C%26displaylang%3den

The 2007 Microsoft Office Servers Language Pack SP1 - x32

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=01C6A3E8-E110-4956-903A-AD16284BF223&displaylang=en

The 2007 Microsoft Office Servers Language Pack SP1 - x64

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=66C5026F-9F47-4642-8378-2526918009FA&displaylang=en 

http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2008/07/15/announcing-availability-of-infrastructure-updates.aspx 

Happy Patching, Folks :)

Do you get the error: "You must provision the system with at least one system administrator" while installing SQL 2008 through command line?

Issue Details

While installing SQL 2008 through command line, you may get this as the part of the error:

"You must provision the system with at least one system administrator"

I tried to find out the possible cause, but did not find any. Also I looked into this technet article: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms144259.aspx [How to: Install SQL Server 2008 from the Command Prompt] but did not find any information regarding the issue.

What is the cause?

The main cause for the error message was missing of this parameter in the command line used: '/ASSysAdminAccounts'

If you add the parameter without any value, then you will get this error:

 [because this is what the above said article mentioned:

Analysis Services /ASSYSADMINACCOUNTS Required   Specifies the administrator credentials for Analysis Services.]

The following error occurred:
The element 'ASSysAdminAccounts' in namespace 'http://www.microsoft.com/sql/configuration/AS/Public/2007/04' has incomplete content. List of possible elements expected: 'Member' in namespace 'http://www.microsoft.com/sql/configuration/AS/Public/2007/04'.
 

How to resolve this error?

In order to resolve that error, provide an user name for /ASSYSADMINACCOUNTS parameter - for example:

/ASSYSADMINACCOUNTS="<Domain\username>

Given below a sample command line to install SQL engine, Analysis Services, Integration Services and Tools in quite mode:

Setup.exe  /QS  /ACTION=Install /FEATURES=SQL,AS,IS,Tools /INSTANCENAME=MSSQLSERVER /SQLSVCACCOUNT="<Domain\Username>" /SQLSVCPASSWORD="<password>" /SQLSYSADMINACCOUNTS="<Domain\Username>" /AGTSVCACCOUNT="<Domain\Username>" /AGTSVCPASSWORD="<password>" /ASSVCACCOUNT="<Domain\Username>" /ASSVCPASSWORD="<password>" /RSSVCACCOUNT="<Domain\Username>" /RSSVCPASSWORD="<password>" /ISSVCACCOUNT="<Domain\Username>" /ISSVCPASSWORD="<password>" /ASSYSADMINACCOUNTS="<Domain\Username>"

Hope this information is helpful.
 

How to fix the error: "The language of this installation package is not supported by your system" during Office Products installation?

Issue Details 

Consider you try to install Office 2007 applications [like Office 2007 Standard / Professional / Enterprise / SharePoint Designer / OneNote 2007 / Windows SharePoint Services / Language Packs of WSS or of Office 2007 or of MOSS 2007 (i.e. SharePoint Server 2007) / Visio 2007 / Project 2007 , etc.] from files that are downloaded from the web or from a CD.

You might have downloaded the product / package as a .img file [image file] or a .ISO file or it may be an executable (i.e. .exe file).

Then you may encounter the following error immediately the setup is started:

The language of this installation package is not supported by your system

This error normally occurs if one or more of the following causes are true:

What are the possible causes? 

Cause 1:  Are you trying to install an East Asian version of the product (like Japanese or Thai)? Then this error is quite possible if your system does not have necessary supplemental language support. This normally occurs if the OS is Windows 2003 / Windows XP.

Cause 2: If you have the source file in .ISO or .IMG format, the method of extracting the setup files from the source files may result the issue. 

For example, if you download MOSS 2007 Language Packs, they are available in .IMG format.  With Virtual PC 2007 or using some third party software, it is possible to view all the files inside the .IMG file.

Sometimes, the utilities that you use may not be able to extract the files correctly and that may result the failture. For example, sometimes ISOBuster may not be able to get the files correctly even though no errors are displayed by it.

Cause 3: If you have the source file in .exe format, the method of extracting the setup files from the source files may result the issue.

For example, if you use Winzip or 7Zip to extract WSS 3.0 language pack (which is .exe file), then you may encounter this issue.

Cause 4: The CD drive in the system may be faulty.

How to resolve / workaround this error?

Let us see how to resolve / workaround the error:

For Cause 1:

1.  Click Start, click Run, type intl.cpl in the Open box, and then click OK. 
2.  Click the Languages tab. 
3.  Under Supplemental language support, click to select the following:

Install files for East Asian languages check box
Install files for complex script and right-to-left languages check box

Click OK.

4.  When you are prompted, insert the Windows Server 2003 CD into the computer's CD drive or DVD drive. Or, specify the network location where the files are located. 
5.  Click OK. 
6.  When you are prompted, restart the computer.
 

For Cause 2:

Re-extract the setup files from the source files. Try with a different utility/tool to extract the source file.

For Cause 3:

Do not use any extracting utility like Winzip or 7zip - As a self extracting .exe file, it is possible to run the setup directly by double clicking it.

If you want to customize some of the files that are present inside the .exe file, first try this method:

1. Click Start > Run
2. Drag and drop the .exe file to the Run window
3. Add these words after the path name displayed in the Run window: /?

For example: C:\Downloads\VisioSetup.exe /?

4. As a self extracting file, it may have the options defined and it may display a window with possible options

[like /q: quiet installation mode

/extract:<drive>\folder To extract the files ]

Kindly refer http://support.microsoft.com/kb/912203/en-us - Description of the command-line switches that are supported by a software installation package, an update package, or a hotfix package that was created by using Microsoft Self-Extractor for more information on this.

5. If you get above said options, click OK button on the window which shows the options so that it will disapper.  Then you can try these steps:

a. In Start > Run, drag and drop the executable file
b. At the end of it, add this parameter: /extract:<path>. Then click Ok to extract the files to the <path>

For example, entering /extract:C:\Visio will put the setup files in the folder C:\Visio [Note: There is NO SPACE between /extract: and C:]

c. Get into the folder and run the required setup file [normally setup.exe]

d. Instead, if you want to run the installation without extracting the files and you do see /quiet option, go with that one by entering the following and clicking Ok button in Start > Run:

<Execuatable file name with path> /quiet

For Cause 4: 

- First try to copy all the files from the CD media to hard drive location and then run the setup from the hard drive location.

- Even if that fails, try to install the product on a different machine (using different CD drive). If that works, connect a different CD drive to the required system and start the installation.

Happy Troubleshooting!

How to export Crawl Logs in SharePoint 2007 ?

Do you want to gather Crawl logs for documentation or troubleshooting in SharePoint 2007? With ExportCrawlLog utility from CodePlex, you can achieve that requirement. Here are the simplified steps for you:

- Download the .zip archive from http://www.codeplex.com/ExportCrawlLog to the Index Server box
- Extract the contents of the zip file
- Go to STSADMExportCrawlLog\STSADMExportCrawlLog\bin\Release folder
- Click Start > Run; type %WINDIR%\assembly
- Drag and drop the STSADMExportCrawlLog.dll into %WINDIR%\assembly folder
- Make sure STSADMExportCrawlLog.dll is present in %WINDIR%\assembly folder
- Go to STSADMExportCrawlLog\STSADMExportCrawlLog folder
- Click Start > Run; type %commonprogramfiles%\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\Config”
- Drag and drop the file stsadmcommands.STSADMExportCrawlLog.xml into "%commonprogramfiles%\Microsoft - Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\Config” folder.

Now run this command using the account which has access to SSP databases [normally using Search service account] to get the command line options:

stsadm -help ExportCrawlLog

Do you get the supported parameters for ExportCrawlLog like this one? 

-t (d|s|c|p) -site <portal url> [-outfile filename] [-history] [-s startdatetime] [-e enddatetime] [-from #] [-thru #] [-cat (Portal_Content|ProfileImport)] [-csid #] [-msgid #] [-u url pattern] [-hostname hostname] [-mt (s|w|e)]

Then You are done!

Let us see some examples about how to make use of ExportCrawlLog option with stsadm:

Example 1. To get the all results within a specific time window [like 15:10 hrs to 21:00 hrs]:

stsadm -o ExportCrawlLog -t d -site "http://sitename" -history -outfile c:\output.log -s "2009-03-25 15:10:26" -e "2009-03-25 21:00"

Example 2. To get all information in the crawl log irrespective of timeframe:

stsadm -o ExportCrawlLog -t d -site "http://sitename " -history -outfile c:\output.log

Example 3. To find out the content sources and their associated content IDs, run this command:

stsadm -o ExportCrawlLog -t c -site http://site

This will give the summary like this one:

Content Source Summary Report
=============================

4 : Local Office SharePoint Server sites
Start Addresses
---------------
http://site:4444/
http://site:5555/
http://site/
sps3://site:5555/
Operation completed successfully.

Here 4 : is the content ID for the content source. It can be associated with the ContentSourceId field of the resulting output files [for examples 1 & 2]

Hope this information is helpful!

Do you get this error: "Could not find stored procedure 'dbo.proc_getObjectsByClass' " while running SharePoint configuration wizard?

Recently I worked on a SharePoint issue and wanted to share with you the details:

Issue Details: 

You install a hotfix / cumulative update / service pack to WSS 3.0 or SharePoint Server 2007 environment.  After the installation,  you run 'SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard' (psconfigui or psconfig wizard).  Then you may get the following errors / entries:

> When running the PSCONFIG wizard, it may fail at step 2 with the following error:

Configuration Failed

One or more configuration settings failed. Completed configuration settings will not be rolled back. Resolve the problem and run this configuration wizard again. The following contains detailed information about the failure:

Failed to create the configuration database.

An exception of type System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException was thrown. Additional exception information: Could not find stored procedure
'dbo.proc_getObjectsByClass'.

To diagnose the problem, review the application event log and the configuration log file located at:

<File Path> [like C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\LOGS\PSCDiagnostics*.log]

> You may also find the following event log entries in the Application Event log:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Windows SharePoint Services 3
Event Category: Database
Event ID: 5586

Description:
Unknown SQL Exception 2812 occured. Additional error information from SQL Server is included below.

Could not find stored procedure 'dbo.proc_getObjectsByClass'. For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Event Type: Error
Event Source: SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard
Event Category: None
Event ID: 104

Description:
Failed to create the configuration database.An exception of type System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException was thrown. Additional exception information: Could not find stored procedure 'dbo.proc_getObjectsByClass'. System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException: Could not find stored procedure 'dbo.proc_getObjectsByClass'. at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.OnError(SqlException exception, Boolean breakConnection)
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnection.OnError(SqlException exception, Boolean breakConnection)
at System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParser.ThrowExceptionAndWarning(TdsParserStateObject stateObj)
at System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParser.Run(RunBehavior runBehavior, SqlCommand cmdHandler, SqlDataReader dataStream, BulkCopySimpleResultSet bulkCopyHandler, TdsParserStateObject stateObj)
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlDataReader.ConsumeMetaData()
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlDataReader.get_MetaData()
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.FinishExecuteReader(SqlDataReader ds, RunBehavior runBehavior, String resetOptionsString)
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.RunExecuteReaderTds(CommandBehavior cmdBehavior, RunBehavior runBehavior, Boolean returnStream, Boolean async)
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.RunExecuteReader(CommandBehavior cmdBehavior, RunBehavior runBehavior, Boolean returnStream, String method, DbAsyncResult result)
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.RunExecuteReader(CommandBehavior cmdBehavior, RunBehavior runBehavior, Boolean returnStream, String method)
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.ExecuteReader(CommandBehavior behavior, String method)
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.ExecuteReader(CommandBehavior behavior)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities.SqlSession.ExecuteReader(SqlCommand command, CommandBehavior behavior)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPConfigurationDatabase.FetchId(QualifiedObjectName qName)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPConfigurationDatabase.GetObject(String name, Guid parentId, Type type)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPConfigurationDatabase.Initialize(SqlConnectionStringBuilder connectionString, Boolean enableCaching)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPConfigurationDatabase.RegisterDefaultDatabaseServices(SqlConnectionStringBuilder connectionString)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPConfigurationDatabase.Provision(SqlConnectionStringBuilder connectionString)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPFarm.Create(SqlConnectionStringBuilder configurationDatabase, SqlConnectionStringBuilder administrationContentDatabase, IdentityType identityType, String farmUser, SecureString farmPassword)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.ConfigurationDatabaseTask.CreateOrConnectConfigDb()
at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.ConfigurationDatabaseTask.Run()
at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.TaskThread.ExecuteTask() For
more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Event Type: Error
Event Source: SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard
Event Category: None
Event ID: 100

Description:
Configuration of SharePoint Products and Technologies failed. Configuration must be performed in order for this product to operate properly. To diagnose the problem, review the extended error information located at C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\LOGS\PSCDiagnostics_filename.log, fix the problem, and run this configuration wizard again. For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

NOTE:  In order to resolve the issue, if you restoring the configuration database from backup, that will certainly show multiple stored procedures in that DB; but running PSCONFIG again will result the deletion of most of the stored procedures and you may get ONLY 2 store procedures in the DB as well as the similar error message]

Environment:

Windows Server 2003 SP1 or later
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 RTM / SP1 or later
SharePoint Server 2007 SP1 or later

What are the causes?

[Possible] Cause 1:

If WSS 3.0 installation is done a part of Small Business Server 3.0 AND if WSUS 3.0 is installed prior to the installation of WSS, above said issue may occur.

Cause 2:
The issue may happen even if we do not have SBS or WSUS installed on the machines - The actual cause of the issue is unknown at this time.

How to resolve this issue?

For Cause 1, install the following hotfix:

934790 Description of the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 hotfix package: April 12, 2007

Note that this hotfix is available in the 2007 Microsoft Office servers Service Pack 1 - More information is here:
942390 Description of the SharePoint Server 2007 issues that are fixed by the 2007 Microsoft Office servers Service Pack 1

 How to workaround the issue?

For Cause 2, there are two workarounds available:

Workaround 1:

Go for a new configuration database for the SharePoint farm.

[You may want to go for this option IF:

- the amount of customizations applied to the farm are less.
- Farm has single machine or minimum number of machines.]

Amount of time and the amount of reconfiguration of the environment can determine the possiblity to select this option.  As this involves reconfiguration, all the customizations to the SharePoint environment should be taken care.

Workaround 2

1. Disconnect all the SharePoint servers from the farm by running this command from Start > Run:

"%commonprogramfiles%\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\bin\psconfig" -cmd configdb -disconnect

2. Uninstall SharePoint / WSS from the machine.

[Important Note:  If Project Server is installed on the box, you have to uninstall that product also - otherwise MOSS / WSS components cannot be uninstalled completely IF Infrastructure update [IU] is installed on the box(es).

3. Restore the configuration database from backup.  Then run the following query against the config db and determine the database schema version [which should be something like 12.0.0.xxxx]

select * from versions

Reference: http://blogs.msdn.com/shaden/archive/2009/01/21/december-cumulative-update-database-schema-version.aspx

Note: Direct querying of the configuration database is NOT supported - go for this step at your own risk if you do not have any documented information about the SharePoint farm [It is always important to keep updated, detailed documentation about your IT environment especially when you handle with technical issues]. If you are unsure about the steps to be followed, kindly contact Microsoft Support for further assistance.

4. After a system restart, reinstall WSS / MOSS . Install necessary hotfixes / service pack(s) or cumulative updates to bring the server build level similar to the database schema level.

For example, if the above said query returns 12.0.0.6219 as the higher value for DB schema level,  the build level of SharePoint should be  at the same level [for which it should be installed with SP1 for MOSS/WSS ].

5. Run PSCONFIG wizard and select the option  "Yes, I want to connect to an existing server farm"

6. Repeat the steps 2, 4 & 5 for each server in the farm.

7. Install necessary custom applications, if needed [sometimes, the custom applications write files into SharePoint installation folders - since we uninstall SharePoint, that folders will be deleted.  Due to that reason, we may need to reinstall those applications again].

Happy Computing! - Jagadeesh .P

How to deal with an error in configuring 'Incoming E-mail settings'?

Let me start with my first technical post about Email enabled Lists or Email enabled Document Libraries:

Symptoms: 

Consider one fine day you decide to use e-mail enabled lists in SharePoint 2007.  Then you configure "Incoming E-mail Settings" in the Central Administration Page [related information is here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc288433.aspx]. You select 'Yes' for the option 'Use the SharePoint Directory Management Service to create distribution groups and contacts?' and provide necessary information like Organization Unit (OU) and Domain Controller (DC).

After completing the configuration, you start to configure a document library or a list to make it to accept incoming e-mails. Once you click OK button for that page, you may receive the following in the web page:

Error

Error in the application

You check application event log and you may not see any specific entry for this error.

Then you look into the SharePoint ULS log and you may find this entry:

Application error when access /_layouts/EmailSettings.aspx, Error=Error in the application.
at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPList.UpdateDirectoryManagementService(String oldAlias, String newAlias)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPList.Update(Boolean bFromMigration)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPList.Update()
at Microsoft.SharePoint.ApplicationPages.EmailSettingsPage.SubmitButton_Click(Object sender, EventArgs args)
at System.Web.UI.WebControls.Button.OnClick(EventArgs e)
at System.Web.UI.WebControls.Button.RaisePostBackEvent(String eventArgument)
at System.Web.UI.Page.RaisePostBackEvent(IPostBackEventHandler sourceControl, String eventArgument)
at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint)

If you disable custom errors for the associated web application in its web.config file, you may get the web page with this information:

Error in the application. at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPList.UpdateDirectoryManagementService(String oldAlias, String newAlias)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPList.Update(Boolean bFromMigration)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPList.Update()
at Microsoft.SharePoint.ApplicationPages.EmailSettingsPage.SubmitButton_Click(Object sender, EventArgs args)
at System.Web.UI.WebControls.Button.OnClick(EventArgs e)
at System.Web.UI.WebControls.Button.RaisePostBackEvent(String eventArgument)
at System.Web.UI.Page.RaisePostBackEvent(IPostBackEventHandler sourceControl, String eventArgument)
at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint)

NOTE: Sometimes this issue may occur when you try to disable Incoming e-mail settings option for a document library or a list.  To resolve the issue at that times, follow "For Situation 3:" in the section "How to resolve these situations?".

Why do we get this erro?

Situation 1. Application pool account that is used for the Central administration may be different from that of the web application on which you configure incoming e-mail settings.

This situation may also happen:

- if you had both Central admin and Web application service in a server

- and you moved the Central admin to a different server after some time.

In this situation, you may have two different application pool accounts for the Central admin. and for the web app (obviously in different machines). Let us say the boxes as:

Box A = Central admin. = AppPoolAccount-X
Box B = Web application = AppPoolAccount-Y

Situation 2. Your active directory may not have these attributes in it:

ms-Exch-mail-Nickname and
ms-Exch-RequireAuthToSendTo

Situation 3. The application pool account that is used for the Central admin. may not have necessary permissions in the Active Directory to create or delete objects.

How to resolve these situations?

For Situation 1:

Method 1:  If Central admin and the related web application are in the same server:

Change the application pool account to be the same for both Central admin. site and the web application.

Method 2: If Central admin. is in a different server:

1. Enable the "Windows SharePoint Services Web Application" service via the "Services on Server" on the box running the Central Admin service.

2. Create a new dummy application pool on the Box A running Central Admin and set it to run using AppPoolAccount-Y. Note that this application pool does not need to be associated with any virtual server in IIS.

For Situation 2:

This situation normally occurs if Exchange 2003/2007 is not installed [properly] in the DC.

So, how to verify whether the required attributes are available?

- Logon Domain Controller. Install Windows support tools from SUPPORT\TOOLS folder of Windows installation CD.

- Click "Start" >"Run"; type "adsiedit.msc" (without quotes).

- Expand Node Schema and click "CN=Schema, CN=Configuration,DC=Name-of-DC,DC=com".

- Search if you can find two attributes "CN= ms-Exch-mail-Nickname" and "CN= ms-Exch-RequireAuthToSendTo".

If the attributes are not available, running the setup of Exchange with setup/forestprep will automatically register the required two attributes in the active directory.

For Situation 3:

To be able to enable an email enabled list when using the "Directory Management Service" in WSS/MOSS 2007, the application pool account used for the Central admin. should have delegated Full Control of the OU that is to be used for creating contacts for SharePoint in the Active Directory.

To delegate Full Control for the application pool account, follow these steps:

1. In 'Active Directory Users and Computers', right click on the required OU and select "Delegate Control".
2. Click Next and then click Add.
2. Enter the account name that is used as the app. pool account the Central Admin site and then select OK.
3. Select Next;then select the "Create a custom task to delegate" radio button. Select Next.
4. Select "This folder, existing objects in this folder, and creation of new objects in this folder" radio button if required. Select Next.
5. In the Permissions section, select these permissions:

"Create all Child Objects" and 

"Delete all Child Objects"

6. Click Next and then click Finish.

With the above setting you may be able to enable email on a list but you will fail when attempting to disable it. Then, what are we missing here?

The failure is due to the fact that we are attempting to delete the contact from the OU. To resolve the failure when disabling the email you will need to add one additional right to the admin account

Now let us see how to set the security options for the OU:

1. In Active Directory Users and Computers, select View menu and select "Advanced Features" if it is not selected.
2. Right click on the required OU and select Properties.
3. Select the Security tab and then select the Advanced button.
4. From the Permission Entries section, double-click on the application pool account that you delegated rights as mentioned above.
5. Select the option "Delete Subtree" that is listed under Permissions.
6. Click OK twice; then restart IIS on the SharePoint box.

Thanks for visiting my blog! - Jagadeesh. P

Welcome To JK's SharePoint Business Blog!

Hello Folks,

Warm Welcome to my first blog post!

I am Jagadeesh [aka JK or Jags] and I'm a SharePoint Support Engineer working with Microsoft. I was also supported Office Biz. apps. like PowerPoint, Publisher, Producer, Word and Visio during my career in Microsoft.

Here comes Goals of this blog:

• To share with you SharePoint / Office Biz apps. related information which includes
• Common/Known issues
• Tips and tricks
• News, links and references
• Screenshots / demos & Howto's

Disclaimer:

• This blog DOES NOT provide any technical support. If you need help with a problem involving any Microsoft product.
• There is NO guaranteed response to comments on this blog.

Just FYI - For product specific support, you may want to go with one or more of the following options:

• Check Online Help of your product [mostly by pressing the F1 key].
• Checkout the self-help options on http://support.microsoft.com.
• Search Microsoft Technical Communities
• Call 800-MICROSOFT for phone based assistance
• Or go online to http://support.microsoft.com/oas and choose the application for which you are having a problem to submit a support request online.

Do you have  suggestions & feedback about the posts of this blog?  Feel free and share them.

Do you want to discuss on any topics related to SharePoint or above said Office apps? I'd love to hear them!

[Advance] Thanks for visiting this blog!

Jagadeesh .P