License Issue: Clients unable to login to OWA

 

 

Descriptions of the problem:

Clients unable to login to OWA from inside or outside the domain.

Issue with all clients. Some clients have issues logging into the network.

 

Diagnosis:

Licenses were not available to users, the licenses issue was caused by low free disk space on c:\.

The authentication on Virtual directories in default website related to OWA was incorrect

 

Solutions :

Get error that username and password is incorrect when logging to OWA.

Also receive this warning on licenses issue.

The server was working fine and users were able to login normally few hours back the licenses should have been fine

Checked the licenses under licensing in server management.

Installed licesnses : 5

Maximum Usage : 1

 

Checked the disk space available

 

Total Size : 12 Gb

Free space: 117Mb

 

To retrieve licenses

1. Stopped the license logging service

2. Browse to c:\windows\system32

3. Renamed

4. Licstr.cpa à licstr.cpa.old

5. Autolicstr.cpa à licstr.cpa

6. Started license logging service

7. Went back to licensing in server management and saw that the licenses reappeared

To create space in c:\ moved the following files to a new folder under d:\

1. W3SVC1 folder which contains log files for IIS default website.

2. Downloaded updates

3. Drivers

Created 1.67 Gb of space.

Users still cannot login to OWA

1. Opened IIS console

2. Under default web site and OWA virtual directory, found that the authentication was incorrect.

3. Set it to default

virtual directory	Enable Anonymous Access	integrated authentication	Basic authentication	SSL required
Default Website	yes	yes
Exchange			yes	yes

4. Users able to login to OWA and network

 

Note : Product ID for windows SBS 2003 server is 74995-xxxxx-xxxx

If the server is OEM , you will see 74995-oem-xxxx

Windows Small Business Server 2003 SP1

 

Windows server 2003 SP1 and Windows Small Business Server 2003 SP1 are two different service packs. If you are not sure about this, windows server 2003 SP1 is meant for all windows 2003 servers including Small Business Servers. Windows Small Business Server 2003 SP1 is a service pack for Small business server 2003 only.

How to check if Windows server 2003 SP1 in installed?

 

1. Click start , then run.

2. Type winver and hit enter.

3. In the new windows that comes up you can check the service pack level.

There are other ways to check the SP level , but this is my favourite.

 

 

How to check if Windows Small Business Server 2003 SP1 is installed on your server?

 

1. Open Regedit. Start – Run -- Regedit

2. Browse to servicepacknumber number under

HKEY_local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\small business server

3. If the key is absent or is set to 0 , the service pack is not installed. A value of 1 indicates that Windows Small Business Server 2003 SP1 is installed.

 

 

A thing worth mentioning here , in case you are migrating to SBS 2008 from SBS 2003 you will notice that SBS 2003 should be updated with Windows Small Business Server 2003 SP1. However , you may not know that you can create the above key and assign it a value 1 , and the SBS 2008 will not come to know that Windows Small Business Server 2003 SP1 is not installed and will let you continue.

Do I see a smile there. It’s a work around worth mention.

Now that there are no doubts about Windows Small Business Server 2003 SP1 lets shed some light on issues you may encounter while installing Windows Small Business Server 2003 SP1. If you are managing Microsoft products for some time not you should be aware that you are instructed by Microsoft to take a good backup. GOOD is the golden word here.

Let me share a recent exploit. I installed SP2 for exchange 2007 on a SBS 2008 without a online exchange backup, something went wrong with the install and on rebooting , exchange binaries were completely installed. This had happened before in a test environment. I did try to dig down to the cause and found a reasonable explanation. It’s a feature of windows 2008 servers where it rolls back to a restoration point in case of a failed install. My restore point must have ...... . . . aargh!

 

 

You need to install the following before you can install Windows Small Business Server SP1

1. Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1

2. Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 Service Pack 1

3. Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 1

4. Windows XP SP2 for Client Deployment

 

 

If your install fails you can refer setup.logs.

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Integration\Windows Small Business Server 2003\logs\setup.log.

If the damage is irreversible revert to backup. If not try to resolve the issue you found in the logs and install again.

 

Scenario 1:

Most of the issues are encountered with Client deployment.

Make sure the following is inplace

1. ClientApps folder is located in the root of C: drive. It may have been moved to a new location to free space in C: drive.

If it has been moved , move back to original location.

2. The permissions are default on c:\ , c:\ClientApps and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SmallBusinessServer\clientsetup

3. Check if all ClientApps components are installed in integrated setup, I bet they won't be, in that case install them.

 

 

Scenario 2:

"THIS COMPUTER CANNOT BE UPGRADED TO THE OEM VERSION OF SMALL BUSINESS SERVER"

You may get this error if you install SP1 on a OEM machine. Try these steps

1. Open Regedit and browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \software\microsoft\smallbusinessserver\IsRunFromWeb.

2. Set the value to 0X1.

If this does not work try

1. Browse on the SBS 2003 server to C:\program files\Microsoft integration\windows small business server 2003

2. Locate suiteinfo.dll and go to the properties. Under resource tab expand string
If it is OEM version, it will have an entry that says 74995-OEM
If it is the retail version, it will say just 74995

If it still doesn’t work replace the file from a OEM machine.

 

 

Scenario 3:

Event ID: 11714

If you encounter this error, try the steps below

Event Type: Error

Event Source: MsiInstaller

Event Category: None

Event ID: 11714

Description:

Product: Windows Small Business Server Fax -- Error 1714. The older version of

Windows Small Business Server Fax cannot be removed. Contact your technical

support group.

 

 

Are you using SBS Fax.

 

Yes

Reinstall Fax from integrated setup.

 

No

1) Remove fax using integrated setup

2) Export and delete the following keys

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Fax

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Fax

3) Rename the following files/folders

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Windows Small Business Server\fax

C:\Winnt\FaxSetup.log

4) Run client deployment again.

SBS BPA(best practice analyser ) does not update

 

Have you ever used the SBS best practice analyser from Microsoft. If you have , you must be impressed with the depth it reached. It runs a few WMI queries to get you results that may astonish you.But there is a slight flaw with this program.

You may have observed that you ran the BPA and it showed some error , you tried your best to fix it and there is no other way to tackle the issue.However , the BPA is still showing that error.

The BPA goes through the event viewer for the last 24 hours, so its bound to pick up errors that you may have resolved.This just stumps a lot of people , and they ridicule the BPA before a second thought.

From here on , don't ridicule the BPA. understand why its behaving the way it shouldn't. If its shows the error you resolved and you need to show your adamant boss that the BPA shows no errors , you need to go ahead and clear the event logs or just let him know that the BPA will  not show the errors after 24 hours.

How to Backup and Restore Your SBS and Default Group Policies.

In Windows 2003 server we have 2 default policies

1. The default domain

2. The default domain controller policy

In SBS 2003 we have 7 additional Group Policies, In SBS 2003 R2 we have 3 more for WSUS.If the SBS Vista Update is configured there will be another GP.

There may be issues in the domain when a policy is corrupt or while fixing NTFRS issues you may lose the policies. DCGPOFIX will only get default policies back and you may have to restore from another SBS 2003 server. It is a good idea to backup your GPs in spite of having a regular backup program. Check the easy steps below to backup and restore Group Policies.

 

 

HOW TO BACKUP?

1. Open Group Policy Management Console (Start – Run -- gpmc.msc).

2. From within GPMC expand domain.local and then Group Policy Objects.

3. Right click on Group Policy Objects and select Backup All.

4. Specify a location and a description for your Backup.

 

5. Click the Backup Button. You will get a progress bar which will show the status of the operation.

 

 

And you have a backup of the GPs on your server.

 

Restore Procedure:

1. These are the two default GPs in windows server 2003 and are necessary to run the DC stably. You cannot delete these policies.

 

 

2. To restore these policies from GPMC, right click on Group Policy Objects and select Manage Backups.

3. Select the Group Policy object we want to restore and click on restore. You will only be allowed to restore one policy at a time. You can see the progress of the operation in the progress.

4. Once policies are restored you need to re-link them to their appropriate OU. All of the SBS policies are linked at the domain level while The Small Business Server Auditing Policy is linked to the Domain Controllers OU.

Troubleshooting Issues with Remote Web Workplace-Part 3

 

It has been a few days since the last blog. Lets gets started with this one right away.

You can get to the RWW page however you are unable to login.

 

 

Scenario 1: The login gets stuck at “LOADING”

You may rarely see this one across the domain. This error is specific to client machines.

This is surely a problem with your web browser. You may not be using IE , or cookies may be turned off or its not allowing add-ons.

If you have not done this already, add the RWW URL to trusted sites

 

 

Scenario 2: The Loop of login page

You provide correct credentials and it gets redirected to the login page again and again and again.

This may be a very common one.It can be resolved by doing either of the following:

 

Method 1: Configure the number of worker processes for the DefaultAppPool application pool to 1

1. Open IIS manager (start à run à inetmgr), browse to Application Pools.
2. On the work pane, go to the properties of DefaultAppPool.

3. Under the Performance tab set the Maximum number of worker processes to 1.

4. Click OK and run IISRESET from command prompt.

OR

 

Method 2: Create a new application pool for the remote virtual directory

1. Under Application pools, in the Action menu, create a new Application Pool.

2. Give the app pool a sensible name like RWWAppPool.

3. Select Use default settings for new application pool option, and click OK.

4. In IIS console , Expand Web Sites, expand Default Web Site, right-click Remote, and then select Properties.

5. From the Application pools listed there, select the application pool that you created.

6. Click OK and run IISRESET from command prompt.

The next post will be up soon.No screenshots were available.