THE OFFICIAL BLOG OF THE SBS DIVA

For anyone burning the midnight oil rolling out MS11-100 on their servers...

http://twitter.com/#!/WithinRafael/status/153280958978732032
This email is to notify you that we have completed rolling out the MS11-100 security update to the Windows Azure platform #azure

I still say this update is a cloud risk update.   

http://blogs.technet.com/b/msrc/archive/2011/12/30/december-2011-out-of-band-security-bulletin-webcast-q-amp-a.aspx

*Q: If the main target is Internet facing systems with IIS & ASP.NET installed, should I concentrate on patching my webservers first before patching client systems?**
A:* Prioritization for this update would be specific to users’ environments, but servers that are internet-facing and accept input from unauthenticated or untrusted user-provided content are most affected and should be prioritized. Likewise, clients are typically not in a web server role, and so systems that are running a web server role should be prioritized."

Q: These updates run on Windows clients whether or not IIS or ASP is installed. Are the updates not effective in this case?
A: By default, IIS is not installed with .NET and by default, .NET is not installed by ASP.NET. Customers would first need to installed .NET framework with ASP.NET in order to be vulnerable to the vulnerabilities documented in MS11-100.

On workstations, where .net versions from 1 to 4 are installed, you are not at  risk.

On SBS servers, I just dont' see that an attacker would target a small business server. 

If you have a public web site (like ecomerce site), those would be of greatest risk.

I talked to a social expert today.  AKA the 17 year old in high school.  And despite all the Google Plus is adding millions of users talk going on (see http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/27/googleplus/) he says the reality is that it's still dead.

Social right now is still Facebook and twitter.  No matter what the pundits may predict, Google still isn't winning where it counts - in the hearts and minds of users of the platforms.

So if you still aren't into Google plus, don't worry, no one else is either.

So tonight on your wsus MS11-100 sync'd up.  An out of band .net update.

http://blogs.technet.com/b/msrc/archive/2011/12/29/microsoft-releases-ms11-100-for-security-advisory-2659883.aspx

On workstations I see no need to rush here.  In fact I see low risk if you decide to pass on this update.

On servers, unless it's a public facing web server, I'm not seeing a huge rush either. 

For anyone running high targeted cloud servers, you not only need to be concerned about .net but ruby, java and apache patching as well as this is a hash table denial of service for lots of web servers.

But for us normal folks.... this is not an out of band that I would be freaking out over.

Error message when an SBS 2011 Essentials user signs in to Office 365 after they change the password for their user account: "Microsoft Online Services ID or password is incorrect":
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2652040

The Office 365 Integration Module for SBS 2011 Essentials does not work as expected:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2652021

2012 is starting off early with the announcement of a new OEM vendor for Windows Storage Server Essentials R2:

Backup Box by Gramps is the new OEM vendor.

http://www.smallbizserver.com/store.php

Now before you go... Backup Box by .....huh?  Grey Lancaster (aka Gramps) is now an OEM vendor for Windows Storage Server Essentials r2. 

http://www.smallbizserver.com/store.php

He will build to suit on either HP's microserver hardware or a single bay foxconn box.  Why is this the perfect Windows Storage Server Essentials solution?  Well for one it's just plain Windows Storage Server software, no fancy smancy OEM customization to get in your way, and then he keeps the box under the 2 terabyte size so that when you want to make a backup of the OS part, Windows backup actually works (there's an issue if you attempt to backup more than 2 terrabytes in the current Windows setups -- you can't back it up).

It just works.  I use it to backup all of the workstations in the office as it supports 25 computers.  Whereas in the past I had to have 2 Home servers running and couldn't monitor one of them very well, now I have one unit that just chugs.

Remember what Windows Storage Server Essentials R2 is?  It's like Home Server, but it supports 25 computers and supports domain join.  Now you can opt to have it not do domain join but honestly I did it because in the SBS console when I domain join the server, it lights up as "online" so I can monitor it better.

http://sbs.seandaniel.com/2010/11/announcing-windows-storage-server-2008.html

Bottom line if you are looking for a Windows Storage Server R2 Essentials vendor, look no farther than one by Gramps.

Event ID 6398 due to CEIP Data Collection for SharePoint Foundation:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2616940/en-us?sd=rss&spid=1167
This issue can occur because of a failed job CEIP Data Collection for SharePoint Foundation.

Error 503 Service Unavailable while browsing SBS Web Sites:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2619402/en-us?sd=rss&spid=1167

Error 440 Login Timeout While Browsing OWA:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2629776/en-us?sd=rss&spid=1167

When SpecialPollInterval is used as a polling interval, the Windows Time service does not correct the time if the service gets into Spike state:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2638243/en-us?sd=rss&spid=14498

Spotted this in a forum -- latest hotfix for Win2k8 r2 sp1 for vss backups

"fvevol!FveFilterDeviceControl+1d0" Stop error when you create a VSS snapshot backup in Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2632149

Description of the Windows NT Backup Restore Utility for Windows 7 and for Windows Server 2008 R2:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/974674
The Windows NT Backup Restore Utility for Windows 7 and for Windows Server 2008 R2 is not intended to remain on computers that are running Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 indefinitely and should be removed once you have restored backups that were made on Windows XP and on Windows Server 2003.

Let's make it really clear what happens if you leave this installed.

You install that to restore some data from a 2003 era backup. You install it on a SBS2011 server.  You then go on your merry way and make backups.  You go to do a bare metal restore and upon the first boot you end up with a black screen.  Not a good place to be in.

Bottom line, if, for any reason you use this KB to restore data from a 2003 era backup to a 2011 machines, make sure you uninstall it and kick a manual backup.  Any backup made with it uninstalled will work just fine.  Any backup made with it installed will work to restore, just bare metal restore will be messed up.

You think Santa is being tracked by Norad?  Well the SMBMVPtour is borrowing his hat tonight.

Don't forget that more tour events are starting up in 2012 with one of the first being in the Netherlands on January 18th!

https://www.facebook.com/SMBMVPTOUR#!/photo.php?fbid=346028938747948&set=a.264610463556463.85421.229972950353548&type=1&theater

Greg shares --

  Hi Susan,

I have used your site many times and wanted to pass on an article that fixed a backup issue.
Since Day 1, my SBS Server 2008 windows backup has only worked intermittently, it might work for 2 days, fail 1 day, work again for 1 day, no real pattern. Microsoft had tried twice to resolve but were unable to. Finally I found an unrelated event viewer application warning telling me that my SBS monitoring database was full. It pointed me to this article: http://blogs.technet.com/b/sbs/archive/2009/07/14/sbs-2008-console-may-take-too-long-to-display-alerts-and-security-statuses-display-not-available-or-crash.aspx
After running this fix my backup has worked consistently for 3 weeks now. Please share this with the masses.

So you are meeting up with friends and family for Christmas.. and you start chatting over Egg Nog and food and well ....it comes out that they really don't like Office 2010's ribbon bar and really would like Office 2003's menu bar back.

There's a solution to your problem.... and it's free for personal use.

http://www.addintools.com/office2010/classicmenu/index.html

Download the classic menu add in that puts in a Office 2003 looking drop down in your Office 2010 application.

We're attempting to do more communication with our clients via email and we've discovered a few things... First off while everyone recommends a service like constant contact, when you are trying to make the communication real and personal, it's a bit too.... much.   We have several partners in the firm and we want the email to be sent from them, and for certain communication not be so marketingishy.  So the first change we did to the mail system was to edit the send as and send on behalf of settings.

http://www.shudnow.net/2007/08/12/send-on-behalf-and-send-as/

Doing this allows the sent email to look like it was sent from the person.  It allows someone who is more techy to send the email on the person's behalf.

Next up is the add in http://www.mapilab.com/outlook/send_personally/ where you can queue up a bunch of emails and not set them up as bcc but have them sent directly to the person.  This makes it tend to get through spam filters easier to do as well.

So there's two suggestions to make sending things a bit more... personal.

Now before you read my headline and go "huh?  I think she's been drinking too much Egg nog"... keep reading why I say that

Office 365 Integration Module for Windows SBS 2011 Essentials Released Today! - The Official SBS Blog - Site Home - TechNet Blogs:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/sbs/archive/2011/12/22/office-365-integration-module-for-windows-sbs-2011-essentials-released-today.aspx

Whatever you think about Office 365 (aka MS is out to get my clients, aka it's got lots more down time than my premise server) the integration module long long promised is finally out.

To me I consider this to FINALLY be the RTM of SBS Essentials.

From the "dang I've personally seen this and thought it was something I was doing wrong file"

The AutoComplete feature does not function as expected in Outlook 2010 when you use the "Send as Attachment" command:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2589404/en-us?sd=rss&spid=14864

Assume that you use the Send as Attachment command in a Microsoft Office 2010 application to send a file. When you type the name of a receiver in the To field, the AutoComplete feature does not function as expected in Microsoft Outlook 2010.

Note This issue occurs when you use the Send as Attachment command in the Office 2010 application before Outlook 2010 is running.
To resolve this issue, apply the following update:

The other day after connecting computers to my "Backup by Grey" (more on that later) I realized that some of my PCs were not yet on Win7 sp1.

And I went... oh yeah... when the c34 hit the you know what I stopped rolling it out.

FYI if you see the hotfix 2533552 make sure it's deployed ALL BY ITSELF.

Windows may hang up on the logon screen after installing KB2533552 with any other update packages together:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2658165/en-us?sd=rss&spid=14498

An update that prevents a "0xC0000034" error message when you try to install Windows 7 SP1 or Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 is available:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;2533552

Consider the following scenario. You install multiple updates, which include the hotfix KB2533552, from Windows Update or Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) Server, and you are prompted to reboot the machine to complete the installation. After you reboot the machine, the system may stop right before the logon screen is displayed. The following message is displayed and it doesn’t complete forever.

Stage 3 of 3

Preparing to configure Windows.

Don't turn off your computer.



If you press Ctrl+Alt+Delete at that time, the message above will disappear and the logon screen will be displayed. After that, you can logon to Windows successfully.



The symptom above occurs when the Secure Logon option (Require users to press Ctrl+Ctrl+Delete) is enabled. If the Secure Logon option is not enabled, the logon screen can be displayed but once you input your credential and attempt to logon, the same problem occurs without any message displayed.
This issue is caused by a known issue in the system Servicing Stack, and if you install a Servicing Stack Update package, such as KB2533552, with any other packages together, the problem might be exposed

To prevent this issue from happening, please install KB2533552 exclusively.

It just floors me how a corporation that builds so many communication platforms can screw up communication so badly.

Case in point -- the security forum helpers are convinced that Microsoft will no longer give free support for security issues --

Loss of free MS Support for MSE - almost all malware-removal and - Microsoft Answers:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/feedback/forum/mods/loss-of-free-ms-support-for-mse-almost-all-malware/59b0b380-b4f8-4a2c-a5a1-2d3004097157

Case in point the smaller partners are convinced that it's a sign that Microsoft is wanting to replace them

Partners Ponder Microsoft's Plans For Answer Desk:
http://www.crn.com/news/channel-programs/232300702/partners-ponder-microsofts-plans-for-answer-desk.htm;jsessionid=n-82NKW0cHIq2alpdjPNwA**.ecappj01

For once Microsoft, can't the people you pay the big bucks for in the PR department do their job and instead of "quietly" releasing this and causing all of this speculation and churn, why can't you communicate what's going on?

Meanwhile all of that "Microsoft declined to comment" just adds to the speculation and questioning.

http://msmvps.com/blogs/bradley/archive/2011/12/18/kb2596764-failing-to-install.aspx

So you have a PowerPoint 2007 update being offered up on boxes where only Office 2010 has been installed?

Check to see if you have Microsoft Office 2007 Primary Interop Assemblies installed.  If you do, remove it, as that's what is flagging the update on your systems.

So ... now you are probably wondering how do you have that?

Answer:  (at least in my office) is Quickbooks - I think 2010, maybe 2011 version -- I'll have to double check but it's a more recent vintage that installed that.

http://support.quickbooks.intuit.com/support/articles/INF12790
Microsoft Office Components

So if you have been impacted where KB2596764 errors out with a generic 0x80070643 error?  And you have Office 2010 (and only 2010) installed?  See if you have a Microsoft 2007 Primary Interop Assemblies installed on your system and remove it.

Please note this will not impact exporting to Excel.  In fact I see no change in behavior
as a result of removing it, so I'm not sure what (if anything) it was used for.

If that DOESN'T fix you up, holler and we can get some support cases set up.  To holler email me at susan-at-msmvps.com .

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2007-powerpoint/power-point-update-kb2596764-wont-install-on/9f75a583-4a2d-4c43-acd1-ee68c72f732a

Seeing four five computers in my office fail to install this update when they have PowerPoint 2010 installed.

If you are seeing this issue, please let me know as I've got a case opened up today on this.

If you are seeing this -- what version of Windows  7? (pro enter/ult?)
Was Office 2010 upgraded from Office 2007?

Let me know if you are seeing this as well.

My annual bake cookies for the neighbors includes baking Mini Cooper shaped gingerbread cookies.

Doesn't everyone bake cookies in the shape of their car?