Windows Small Business Server Service Pack 1 has encountered an error

Ok, so why are we getting this error if Service Pack 1 for SBS 2003 has been out for years? Well, believe it or not some people haven’t even installed it! Why, because they aren’t technical people and their previous IT people didn’t believe in Service Packs.
 
So, it’s time to roll up the sleeves and install this sucker. Everything seemed to be goin rather well until we received the following error during the installation of the final component of the SBS 2003 service pack :
 
Windows Small Business Server Service Pack 1 has encountered an error. For more information review the most recent entry in the setup error log c:\program files\microsoft integration\windows small business server 2003\logs\setup.log. Then correct the error and run Service Pack 1 again.
 
You can then click to open the log, which we did. Inside the th log we noted the following :
 
An error occurred while installing Microsoft Office Outloook 2003 (SP1). Rerun the setup and retry installaing Outlook.
 
Ok, why is this happening. Again, after a bit of Googling and troubleshooting it appears that the previous IT people deleted the entire \Clientapps folder to create space as Exchange Server information stores increased. So without the \Clientapps\outlook2003 folder and an msi inside guess what you get an error!.
 
You probably don’t need to rerun the installation just to over come this problem if Outlook is operational on the desktops. It would also appear that this error happens if you have relocated the \clientapps directory to another drive on the machine. This can be overcome by making changes to the registry to tell SBS 2003 where each \clintapp folder is.
 
Handy hint – before running SBS 2003 SP1 check to whether the entire \clientapps directories exist and that their location in the registry is correct.

Error 0xC0070643 while installing Exchange 2003 Service Pack 2

So we comence an installation of Exchange 2003 Service Pack 2 onto an SBS 2003 system and get the following nasty error :
 
Setup failed while installing sub component Exchange Activesync with error code 0Xc0070643 please consult the installation logs for detailed decription. You can cencel the installation or try the failed step again.
 
If you press the Retry button yo u receive the same error, if you press Cancel the installation process continues and completes.
 
The issue turns out to be that the version of msxml3 installed on the system is a letre version than the one that comes with Exchange Service Pack 2 ( which I think is msxml SP5). Ther version on this system was msxml3 SP7. Why oh why Microsoft.
 
A quick Google turned up two possibilities :
 
 
This one which gets you to copy and rename files, which we found didn’t work.
 
The other solution is from Susan Bradley at :
 
 
Now when we looked at the specific registry key she mentions in her article we couldn’t locate the key. so we looked through all the entries under HKLM | Software | Classes | Installer | Products till we found one where the product key equalled ‘Microsoft XML Parser‘. We then exported the key from the registry as a backup and deleted it.
 
When we reran the Service Pack setup everything went through without an error – PHEW.
 
Once again, the Susan the Diva saves the day!

Removing a share after deleting the directory

If you have created a share and then deleted the share without first deleting the directory you leave an ‘orphaned’ share that will log an error in the System Event logs (Event ID 2511) when the system boots.
 
To remove this ‘orphaned’ share simply go to the command line and type :
 
net share /delete
 
and the share name will removed from the list of shares the server creates on startup.

Lacie ethernet storage problems

Recently been working the 2TB Lacie Ethernet Network storage device and encountered a few issues when attempting to backup or copy large files to the device.
 
The device came with V5.0 software installed and (typically) the solution is to upgrade to V6.0 software. We received this from Lacie support :
 

Version 6.0.0 of the system software has been released. It is based on Windows XPE SP2 and solves many issues. Please provide your shipping address (no PO Boxes) if you wish to try version 6.0.0. We can ship you a copy.

 

Alternatively you can download a copy from the LaCie public FTP site.

 

FTP server address: 207.189.107.141

 

File name: ED v6.0.0 ECS.iso

 

Please note that the 4 HDD must be zero’ed for the v6 restore to work.

 

However, interestingly when we looked closer at the CD’s included with the device they were V6.0 software. For some reason we received an unit with an old version of software.

 

So upgrade and things should be rosy.

YAYTV ! (Yet another YouTube Video)

We have just posted another video on YouTube. This one provides a general overview of the installation and operation of the Trend Micro CSM Suite for SMB client software. The video takes you through the installation of the software on a desktop workstation as well as some basic controls of that software from the Trend Management Console on the server.
 
The direct link to the video is :
 
 
and as always we welcome any feedback or suggestions you may have about our videos. You’ll find our complete list of videos by clicking here.

Here’s an interesting site

In a World of exploding “social networking” websites here’s one that I thought was rather interesting. Basically you put a small software agent on your workstation and it keeps track (no its not spyware) if there are any updates to that software available.
 
More that that the agent keeps track of what software you use and how long you use it for. It then stores that information in an online profile. That profile can then be viewed by others so see what software you are using. This can alert people the fact that you’ve found a new piece of software and you are using it extensively.
 
Finally, all the program usage statistics are cumulated by application so you can exactly how much programs like Firefox and IE are being used.
 
Interesting concept isn’t it?