Windows Server 2003 Small Business

Automatic Defragmenting

W32Time: Windows Time Service

Connecting Win98 WS to Win2k3

See also:

• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/328010 How to configure Automatic Update settings via RegEdit even when its tab on the System app in Control Panel is greyed out. This appears to be necessary when using WSUS because the DAY and TIME for the installation of automatic updates can not be set any other way. Can it?+
• http://www.avg.com/faq.keyw-server Can't login to Exchange Server from XP client The AVG firewall doesn't automatically allow the Windows RPC Service to communicate, even if you are set as a PC in a Domain.+
• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/810489 Turning off the stupid Exchange MTA warnings: Event ID: 2000 "Verify that the Microsoft Exchange MTA service has started. Consecutive ma-open calls are failing with error 3051." MTA is only used when the server is a transport bridgehead to Exchange Server 5.5 servers, or running the GroupWise, Notes or other Exchange Development Kit (EDK) connector, such as a third-party Fax connector.+

Windows Logon Failure Investigation +

Moronic behavior that M$ could easily fix:

• Why don't the "Allocated Memory Alerts" include a list of the processes that are running at that point? Wouldn't that just be a massive help to figure out why the stupid thing is running low?
• Why is there no way to suppress or downgrade the logging of B.S. errors like:
  • "document failed to print" How on earth is a printer being out of paper a freaking critical error?
  • Event ID 7515 where the "intellegent" message filter fails due to the email being larger than 3MB^.
  • Event ID 7519 The originating IP address of message with ID x could not be determined based on its Received headers^.
  • Event ID 1 SQLVDI: Loc=CVDS::Cleanup. Desc=Release(ClientAliveMutex). ErrorCode=(288)Attempt to release mutex not owned by caller^. Yes, there is a hotfix, but M$ recommends not applying it until the next rollup. If we could suppress or downgrade the error, then our bosses wouldn't freak and we could follow that recomendation.

Drive space alerts showing that a drive number which doesn't exist is at 0% free space: This seems to be related to a USB drive.
devcon restart usbstor*
from the command prompt appears to solve the problem. +

SMTP service hangs and Server must be restarted after installing new IMF Installing new Intelligent Message Filter updates causes SMTP service to stop, then trying to start it causes a hang (service does not respond to start signal in a timely fashion): This is apparently caused by interference by anti virus programs. Removing AVG from the server "solved" the problem, but we need it, so AVG support needs to fix the issue. More when I know it. James Newton replies: Uninstalling the AVG Exchange connector only seems to have solved the problem; perhaps because the machine was restarted before the uninstall. The next IMF update that came along caused the exact same problem even though AVG for Exchange was NOT installed. It may be that the over all AVG program is causing the issue. When the next IMF update comes long, I will try uninstalling AVG entirely from the server, restart first, THEN see if the install works any different. James Newton of Massmind replies: Nope, same problem without AVG installed. AVG is NOT causing this issue.+

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• http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.exchange.admin/browse_thread/thread/e4c365d07e5ae9be/8abc608a312d6feb
  "if I restart the IISAdmin service first, then I could manually start SMTP"
  "IMF updates cause an IIS admin sevice restart. This leads to restarting all IIS plug-ins including those from third parties (many AV solutions integrate with Exchange in this manner)."

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Clients fail to update In the Server Management console, under Update Services , Installation Errors, in the window titled Computers with Update Installation Errors one of the many clients continued to show as having several errors. However, clicking on it and then on View Details to the left, would always display "Message not found" and updates did appear to be going through to the workstation. On the workstation which was being falsely reported as having an error, I ran:
wuauclt /resetauthorization /detectnow /reportnow
Update Services in the Server Management console no longer shows any error for that PC. +

Comments:

• WSUS server shows client has not contacted update service in several days. Client is running AVG Firewall. Despite the fact that all the recommended setup processes for AVG have been run, triggering an update (by clicking Start / Run, entering CMD, enter then typing wuauclt.exe /detectnowsetting) while watching the "Blocked Packets" counter in AVG Firewall shows that AVG is blocking the update system. Setting the AVG firewall to "Firewall disabled" allows the update connection to progress and updates are detected and downloaded. Configuring AVG Firewall is confusing. Here are step by step instructions for AVG 8.5:
  1. In AVG, pull down the Tools menu and select Firewall settings. If you like, you can check in "Logs" with "Show Details" to see if you can see port 8530 being blocked for ...SVCHOST.EXE.
  2. under Profiles, select the profile AVG is current set to use. (see the main AVG Firewall page in the lower left corner) If the client has a WSUS server, this is most likely "Computer in domain"
  3. In "Defined networks" click Add Network, change the name to "Server", mark it as Safe, and enter the IP address of the WSUS server. It doesn't appear that there is any way to use a FQDN.
  4. In Defined services, click Add service, change the name to WSUS and click the Add button; the Protocol is TCP, the Direction is Out, the Local ports are "0-65535" and the Remote ports are "8530"
  5. Under Applications / Various System Services, ensure Application action is on Advanced settings, then click Add, Change the Detail action to Allow for safe, uncheck Log rule occurrences. In Defined services, sroll down and check the WSUS services. You can click the Expand / Collapse service so that only the WSUS service is shown.
  6. At this point, you should be able to click Apply or just Ok, and it should update the settings. This doesn't appear to reliably happen. Try returning to General in the upper left corner before clicking Apply.
     NOTE: Verify that AVG says the settings have changed and will be reloaded. If you don't see that message, your changes didn't have effect.
• Clients with Office 2003 apps (e.g. Outlook 2003) fail to update WSUS Server reports installation errors on one client; other clients are updating just fine. Client Event Viewer shows Event ID 16, Source: Windows Update Agent, Category: Software Sync, Description: "Unable to connect...". Viewing the WSUS log at C:\windows\WindowsUpdate.log (most recent entries at the bottom) shows "WARNING: SyncUpdates failure, error = 0x8024400E, soap client error = 7, soap error code = 400, HTTP status code = 200 ... SOAP Fault: 0x000190 ... faultstring:Fault occurred ... ErrorCode:InternalServerError(5)" which would tend to make one think the problem was the server, but again, other clients are updating just fine. windowsupdate.microsoft.com shows that the "Windows Genuine Advantage" verification update has not installed. Installing that does not seem to change the errors at all. More when I know it.+
  • http://blogs.technet.com/wsus/archive/2008/06/18/client-server-synchronization-issues.aspx James Newton replies: That did it. Note my post in the comments: the Outlook 2003 Service Pack 1 update wasn't even listed in the WSUS console. I had to search for it by name, then approve it before it would show up. THEN I could follow the direction to fix the problem: Decline, Approve but just hit ok, then Decline again.+

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Font size in Server Management Console In Server Management console, the font size is so small that the text is almost unreadable. There is no setting for font size in the console, and Ctrl + mouse wheel doesn't seem to have any effect. However, getting out of the console, starting Internet Explorer, then selecting View, Text size, and setting that to Large, then back to Normal seemed to fix the problem the next time the console starts. +

Emails or NDR's delayed until server or SMTP restart. Apparently, Exchange 2003 SP2 and later can fail to resend emails that are going to a server which tries to "greylist" email from an unknown source. The dest server may tell Exchange to "try again later" and Exchange fails to do so until the SMTP service is restarted. Workarounds include using your ISP's SMTP server instead of Exchange to send emails, restarting the SMTP service daily, and creating a "GlitchRetrySeconds" entry as a dword in HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\SMTPSVC\Queuing and try a value of 60 or 120, then restart the SMTP service.
http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.exchange.admin/browse_thread/thread/2ac7d5cfc8719427?hl=en+

Can't install the ActiveX control for remote desktop in remote web workspace. The popup says that the browsers security settings may be preventing installation, but Tools / Manage Add-ons shows everything listed is enabled.

Remote Web Workplace doesn't actually use the "Remote Desktop Connection" program that’s normally used to access a machine directly. It connects using an ActiveX control that allows Internet Explorer to run Remote Desktop. The plugin is required when using the RWW and is displayed in internet options, Programs, Manage Add-Ons window as 'Microsoft Terminal Services Client Control (redist)'.

The problem with new installs of XP SP3 is the ActiveX control never gets installed properly in the first place, or you could just go to the Manage Add-Ons and activate the MSTSC client control plug-in. remote desktop activex control browsers security settings

Delete the following Registry Key, and then you will be able to install the activex control as needed. This is a per user setting, so you’ll have to do it for every user affected by this issue.

NOTE: As usual, backup any registry keys you delete as a precaution
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Settings\{7584C670-2274-4EFB-B00B-D6AABA6D3850} +

Around mid April 2010, the "Server Performance Report" starts showing "The page can not be displayed" in emails and on the management console. Update Services in the same console gives error: "The Element Already Exists in the Collection". Chris Puckett found that something about the WSUS entry for update KB976703 was causing this. The solution is: Start, Administrative Tools, Windows Server Update Services. Action, Search... Text: KB976703, Find Now. Once the udpate has been found, right click it and select "Decline" then confirm. If you actually have Exchange 2000 server, manually install KB976703. Thanks to Chris and the support team.