I installed the Beta for a suite of programs yesterday.

I very carefully followed the installation instructions (which were long and in a seperate PDF file) and yet only one application in that suite was installed.

I followed the instructions for removing all traces of an earlier installation and tried again - being even more careful this time. Still only one application.

So I started wondering which newsgroup I should post to - if any, as this is a beta - and decided that before I do any posting I was going to look again at the page that said "download here" to see if there was another download link.

There was only this one link specified as being for the whole suite of programs, BUT a few lines below was the text that read something like "the present beta contains only Application X. Applications Y and Z will come soon when they have reached beta status."

Motto: read everything. I thought I was being extremely thorough reading the installation documentation before I installed. (OK. I confess - after I'd installed it the first time!) but a little bit more reading before clicking the install link and I wouldn't have needed to.

A while back and long enough ago for me to manage to forget the details, I had the problem that having done a basic installation of WSS 3.0, I could only access the site from within the VM itself.

Today I had the same thing. Access from within the VM OK but from everywhere else it was blocked (although I could ping the server). It didn't work over the network and not even from the mother PC.

...and I'd set AAM so it wasn't that. (That I *do* remember).

Several screaming bouts later and several breaks (hoping that moving from the computer would help) later and I started looking through my old blogs (Google Search specifying the blog's URL) for something I thought I'd written on this first time around.

Despite knowing that it had something to do with Windows Server 2003 *R2*, I couldn't find a thing.

So I wander through the VM and find **Windows Firewall**.

Turn that b***** thing off and I'm OK. I can access from everywhere.

Anyone who wants to call R2 an improvement over the original version has my fist heading in their direction.

Maybe it's just the upcoming "Labor Day" weekend in the US but yesterday evening (US time) the .windowsservices newsgroup got only a few questions and most of those were for SPS 2003 or for MOSS 2007. I.e. they were posted in the wrong newsgroup completely.

Here is an Info message I felt necessary to post there.

I'm at a loss to understand why given the clear name of this newsgroup (.windowsservices) there were last night virtually only questions about SPS 2003 and MOSS 2007 here.

There is an old newsgroup for SPS 2003 and MOSS 2007 at microsoft.public.sharepoint.portalserver

There are also new newsgroups (that Microsoft prefer that people use) which cover all SharePoint products and versions and these thus cover even SPS 2003 and MOSS 2007 questions and also question on WSS 2.0 and 3.0 and questions on (for instance) WSS 3.0 and MOSS 2007.

These new newsgroups are per question type and are

microsoft.public.sharepoint.setup_and_administration (Installations; Administration)

microsoft.public.sharepoint.design_and_customization (Simple customization; typically with SPD 2007)

microsoft.public.sharepoint.development_and_programming (Difficult customization; web part creation and other programming issues typically with Visual Studio 2005

microsoft.public.sharepoint.general for questions that don't fit in any of the above three newsgroups.

There's enough choice there, so please don't post questions about SPS 2003 and/or MOSS 2007 in this WSS newsgroup but instead post to ONE of the above possibilities.

That was a catchy title wasn't it?

I'm referring of course to the fact that the "MVP Book" on SharePoint is now out.

Just like all of the other (16) writers of chapters in it, I'm duty bound to write a blog item saying that it's out.

Unlike some of them (!) I didn't jump the gun and now that Amazon are listing it as no longer "Pre-Order" status (and in fact one copy has been ordered *and delivered* by a link on my site), I can safely bang the drum for the book.

You can order it here.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0470168358/heme0f  (Amazon US)

(or see here http://wss.collutions.com/Lists/WSSv3FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=959 for a link to your local Amazon)

When you get it most of you will want to skip chapter one. That is namely my chapter for the people who were given the book by their bosses with the words "Learn SharePoint". In other words it's a very fast introduction into the basics so that people without prior SharePoint experience can have a chance at following the somewhat more difficult stuff in the specialist chapters.

I'll be looking at the first chapter too but mainly only to find the errors I missed when doing my final revision. I only hope I didn't add any in at that stage ...

Just look at it this way - even without the first chapter you are still buying 15 chapters each written by someone who knows the subject of that chapter in depth. Must surely be a worthwhile investment ...

I'm running this Acer portable on Vista Ultimate with Finnish settings (but with IE set to English (UK) for web sites).

I have Finnish settings so I can get Finnish style dates and punctuation.

As a result of this far too many companies are amazingly kind to me and offer me without me asking Finnish language downloads and products. Even Firefox and Thunderbird decide that because of my settings I must be interested in the Finnish language versions of those products and I have to do an extra click to be able to download the one any person with any sense will want - i.e. the English language version.

Now one click isn't that bad, but Apple and Microsoft have conspired to make a simple thing such as an ITunes (Windows) upgrade a nightmare - no one-click solution there.

Note: I am - as usual - running the US English version of ITunes.

What happens is that at Operating systems level I'm informed by Apple *in Finnish* that there's an Upgrade available for ITunes. I'd be stuck if I didn't speak Finnish but I do so I say I want it and a long download starts. At the end of it the installation starts and at some time crashes.

My guess is because it's trying to install a Finnish language update on top of English language software.

So I open my *English language* ITunes and look for the Upgrade this software menu item (the Finnish message when the previous installation crashed was of course no use at all). I find it and this time I presumably am installing an English language upgrade.

Well, in fact I probably am, but after a couple (maybe only one) of screens in English guiding me through that installation, there's suddenly a spate of Finnish language screens for the next stages in the installation. Again **and unlike many foreigners who live here** I can speak Finnish so I click on the right things; the installation ends and I have an upgraded and still working English language ITunes.

But this is consumer software isn't it and Apple pride themselves on producing quality software don't they?

Well this time they've overdone the "user-friendliness" !

There's no documentation about upgrading WSS 3.0 to MOSS 2007 that I have found.

This is I'm told because it's easy.

Never one to avoid trying easy things, I had a go.

I had a working and non-customized working WSS 3.0 site in a VM. I made a copy of the VM; increased the memory from 512MB to 1GB; added the MSDN MOSS 2007 .iso file as my "CDROM" and let it rip.

Note: I had the WSS 3.0 running with the built-in Windows Internal Database on a single server. This was in a Workgroup not a domain.

I thought I'd get a problem in the Configuration Wizard stage (the "installation" phase is only putting the software in place so problems don't happen until the *real* installation is going on), but it ran through completely smoothly.

At the end though it was supposed to access the MOSS site (not :80 because I didn't want to mess that up) and it couldn't. Instead I got the well-known "Server Error in "\" Application" message telling me that I should set  a part of config.web from "On" to "RemoteOnly" (or to "Off" is accessing remotely).

I was accessing from the server itself so I set this to "RemoteOnly" in every single web application's web.config file (= "the config.web in the root of the web application").

and there was no change at all.

I tried iisreset; I tried re-booting the machine; I even tried a new browser and using the TCP/IP address rather than the server address. All gave the same "you should set it to "RemoteOnly" - hello, is there anyone there - I have!

Now it may well be that what it is objecting to is that this is still in a workgroup and not in a domain (and at some stage I'm going to have to try creating a small DC in the same network and adding this supposedly OK MOSS server to it) but that certainly isn't what that message is saying. Instead it's saying do something I've done already.

Ah, the joys of installations!

Note: All of the addresses of the KB / Articles - 2007 Products / MS / Non-MS Articles below were valid at the time I added them to the WSS FAQ
site and to this file. I can't guarantee that they still are.

(This is also posted to the WSS newsgroup at microsoft.public.sharepoint.windowsservices - web access via http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/newsgroups/server/sharepoint.mspx)

(Items are added to the WSS FAQ throughout the week so you will find new items more quickly by checking at wss.collutions.com or www.wssfaq.com daily.)

From 6th - 12th August 2007

I.1 2007 KB Articles    (*now only one section for WSS and MOSS*)

New

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb%3Ben-us%3B939599

Description of the SharePoint Server 2007 hotfix package: June 29, 2007

8th August 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;940183

Workflows are incorrectly run multiple times when you add a new document to a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 document library in Explorer view

6th August 2007

Modified

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/935751/en-us

Error message when you try to iterate through Windows SharePoint Services site objects or SharePoint Server 2007 site objects by using the SharePoint object model: "Unhandled Exception: System.IO.FileNotFoundException" (ver 2.0)

31st July 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=936864

Description of the 2007 Office hotfix package: June 17, 2007 (2nd with same name) (ver 2.0)

31st July 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;936867

Description of the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 hotfix package: May 8, 2007 (ver 1.1)

31st July 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=939030

You receive an error message from the SharePoint 2007 provider when you try to provision a Windows SharePoint Services site by using HMC 4.0 (ver 1.1)

27th July 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/829065/en-us

Error message when you connect to the SharePoint Central Administration page in Windows SharePoint Services: "You are not authorized to view this page" (ver 5.1)

13th July 2007

I.2 Forefront (New) KB Articles

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=940879

Users cannot upload documents or files that are larger then 128 MB on the SharePoint site after you install Forefront Security for SharePoint

31st July 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=940874

Compatibility of Forefront Security for SharePoint with Exchange Server 2007

1st August 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=940878

After you install Forefront Security for SharePoint, and then you change the antivirus settings on the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Antivirus page, the SharePoint site stops responding

1st August 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=940875

A manual scan fails in Forefront Security for SharePoint

2nd August 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=940880

Error message when you try to upload files to or download files from a Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Web site or a Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Web site: "Virus Found"

2nd August 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=941006

You must press CTRL+C to close the Operation Completed Successfully dialog box when you import or export SharePoint Server 2007 site data on a computer that is running Forefront Security for SharePoint

7th August 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=940877

The manual scan process does not work as expected in Microsoft Forefront Security for SharePoint

9th August 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=940876

SharePoint keyword filtering does not scan 2007 Office documents correctly and the list of scanned items may not be correct

10th August 2007      

II. Articles - 2007 Products  (no longer with all links to articles for other Office 2007 and other 2007 Products)

New

A. Office 2007 Server Products

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=5b6c8fb0-9b67-47db-8a09-bca76bc9a5d1&displaylang=en&tm

SharePoint Server 2007 Sample: Creating a Custom User Site Provisioning Solution with Office SharePoint Server 2007 (ver Jul07)

8th August 2007

http://www.sharepointblogs.com/tanujashares/archive/2007/08/07/impersonation-in-sharepoint-2007.aspx

Impersonation in SharePoint 2007 (Blog - Tanuja Bapat)

7th August 2007

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=47ffc540-1858-4d80-adee-e1cdb1a46090&displaylang=en&tm

Microsoft Forefront Server Security for SharePoint 10.x Management Pack for Operations Manager 2007 (ver 6.0.5000.0)

6th August 2007

http://www.cjvandyk.com/blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?List=744536f4%2D127e%2D4c4a%2Dbcff%2Db85408e7e7e5&ID=118

How do I? – Work around the BUG where Site Columns for a custom Site Content Type do not show up as field controls in SharePoint Designer when customizing the Page Layout (Blog - Cornelius J. van Dyk)

6th August 2007

http://www.sharepointblogs.com/mirjam/archive/2007/08/06/renaming-a-moss-server.aspx

Renaming a MOSS Server (Blog - Mirjam van Olst)

6th August 2007

http://sharepointnutsandbolts.blogspot.com/2007/08/creating-deploying-and-updating-custom.html

Creating, deploying and updating custom site definitions, Part 1 (Blog - Chris O'Brien)

5th August 2007

http://www.sharepointblogs.com/tonstegeman/archive/2007/08/04/creating-custom-editor-parts-for-a-sharepoint-webpart.aspx

Creating custom editor parts for a SharePoint webpart (Blog - Ton Stegeman)

4th August 2007

http://blog.funknstyle.com/?p=577

Understanding Reusable Content in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (Blog - Amanda Murphy)

3rd August 2007

http://sharepointsolutions.blogspot.com/2007/08/take-custom-action-upon-sharepoint-fba.html

Take Custom Action Upon SharePoint FBA User Login

3rd August 2007

http://blogs.technet.com/wbaer/archive/2007/08/02/stress-testing-microsoft-office-sharepoint-server-2007-windows-sharepoint-services-3-0.aspx

Stress Testing Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007/Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (Blog - William Baer)

2nd August 2007

http://blogs.technet.com/wbaer/archive/2007/08/01/sql-server-2005-database-mirroring-and-windows-sharepoint-services-3-0-microsoft-office-sharepoint-server-2007-part-3-failover.aspx

SQL Server 2005 Database Mirroring and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0/Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 - Part 3 (Failover) (Blog - William Baer)

1st August 2007

http://www.devx.com/enterprise/Article/35068/1954?pf=true

Customize a SharePoint Login Page (devx, Robert Bogue)

31st July 2007

http://www.devx.com/dotnet/Article/35070/1954?pf=true

Sync Your Database to SharePoint Using SSIS (devx, Lee Richardson)

30th July 2007

B. Other Office 2007 products (selected few only since 1.1.2007)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=95fece79-65b6-41ad-bc52-f34ad19a6eba&displaylang=en&tm

Microsoft Office Project Server 2007 Management Pack for Operations Manager 2007 (ver 6.0.5000.0)

6th August 2007

C. Other New 2006/2007 Products  (selected few only since 1.1.2007)

None

 

Modified

None

Deleted

None

III WSS v3 FAQ

New

http://www.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/EditForm.aspx?ID=1185

III.88.03 Indexing: How do I index CSF files?

http://www.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1189

III.93 How can I adjust the display size in a List when I have an image in a "Hyperlink or Picture" column?

http://www.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1191

III.96 How do I stop WSS 3.0 asking me for login details when I open a document from a document library?

http://www.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/EditForm.aspx?ID=1188

VI.79 Brava! Enterprise for SharePoint (commercial - Informative Graphics)

http://www.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/EditForm.aspx?ID=1186

X.65 ShareIt Desktop Bundle (free - InformativeGraphics)

http://www.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/EditForm.aspx?ID=1187

X.66 Net-It Now Plug-in (free - InformativeGraphics)

http://www.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1190

X.67 Anonymous Comment Feature for SharePoint Blog (free - Codeplex [ex Microsoft])

http://www.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1192

X.68 SharePoint Web Parts for Moodle (free - Codeplex [ex Microsoft])

http://www.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1193

X.69 Microsoft Learning Gateway Refresh for MOSS 2007 and WSS 3.0 [Ed. includes various web parts] (free - Codeplex [ex Microsoft])

Modified

http://www.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/EditForm.aspx?ID=958

I.31.01 What issues are fixed in fix packs to MOSS 2007?

http://www.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1137

V.61 Exploring Microsoft SharePoint Designer 2007 (Prentice Hall - Robert Grauer, Daniela Marghitu)

(aadditional author, new [later] publication date)

Deleted

(In order to put all the webpart items together, various web part items have been moved to 33.xx)

IV WSSv2 KB Articles (plus SPS 2003 Hot fixes)

New

None

Modified

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=937462

Description of the SharePoint Portal Server 2003 hotfix package: May 15, 2007

10th August 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=933738

An update is available that addresses an issue in which items that use the Date and Time fields are off by one hour in Windows SharePoint Services (ver 4.0)

8th August 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=933853

How to manually update the TIMEZONE.XML file to be DST 2007-compliant if you cannot install update 924881 or a later update for Windows SharePoint Services software (ver 2.0)

7th August 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=840024

You cannot edit an existing document or create a new document in a document library in your Windows SharePoint Services Web site or in your SharePoint Team Services Web site (ver 1.5)

1st August 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=918744

Description of a new command-line operation that you can use to repair content databases in Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 (ver 1.4)

31st July 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/832769/en-us

How to configure a Windows SharePoint Services virtual server to use Kerberos authentication and how to switch from Kerberos authentication back to NTLM authentication

31st July 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=888946

You cannot use a Web browser to access a document library after you delete the document library Forms folder in Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 (ver 5.0)

27th July 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/826803/en-us

Server that runs Windows SharePoint Services may run low on memory resources (ver 2.1)

13th July 2007

V. MS Articles for WSSv2

New

None

Modified

None

VI Non-MS Articles for WSSv2

New or Modified

None

VII WSSv2 FAQ

New

None

Modified

http://www.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSS%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=580

I.28.02 What is fixed in the fix packs for SPS 2003 Service Pack 2

I promised more details on the disk upgrade from 60GB to 160GB in the MacBook so here they are.

In fact I could save myself the trouble and just post this URL www.macinstruct.com/node/130 which is a very high quality description of how to upgrade a MacBook's hard disk but that would be too easy, so here's a briefer description with no pictures :)

The very first thing is to make a backup of your hard disk. For this I butchered a fireware disk I had by moving most stuff from it to another external but USB2 drive and then re-formatting it for the Macintosh. I then partitioned it 70 and 160 (or so).

Having done that I used SuperDuper! (free) to make a bootable copy of the internal disk to that 70GB partition in the firewire drive; then tested that I could boot from that copy (which of course had SuperDuper! too already installed).

Then I had to deal with the hardware. The first thing is that the memory and hard disk is easily accessible when you remove the battery. They are covered by a thin metal plate held in place by three small screws, but I'd already been able to remove that easily (with a screwdriver I already had!) so it was no problem to remove it again.

Then I saw what I was completely oblivious to when I took out the memory, namely that the hard disk was on the left and that it had a piece of white "paper" covering most of the visible side of it. From that tutorial I knew in fact that this could be opened and used to pull the disk out (if I hadn't read that I wouldn't have dared !) so I did that and the disk came out remarkably easily.

The next step should have been to unscrew the protective plate on the original hard disk and put it on the new hard disk, but no screwdriver I had would fit. I did however know from the description that I needed a Torx T8 screwdriver.

So I put everything back (the shops were already shut for the day) and checked that everything still worked and next day set out to buy a Torx T8 screwdriver. There are no longer any small shops that sell that kind of thing so I went to a large handyman store quite a way away and got one there along with 10 empty DVD-RWs which cost ten times as much as the screwdriver. Next - as I was where I was, a long way from my usual haunts - I also went into a shop to buy a cheap electric razor that was on offer, only to buy one that cost twice as much ... before finally heading for home. That screwdriver had by now cost me 80 Euros or about 100 dollars plus petrol ...

Once home I opened everything again.Switched the hard disk; closed everything up and then attached the firewire disk; booted from it (hold Alt-A and start the Mac) and restored from the copy on the Firewire disk to the new internal drive (and made it bootable). All (the last bit) courtesy of SuperDuper!

There just remained the final test. Turn everything off; uncouple the firewire drive and boot from the new 160GB internal drive.

It worked so now for less than 150 dollars (and 100 dollars for the screwdriver!) I have 160GB instead of 60GB and can finally start adding my SharePoint-related VMs to the internal disk instead of to an external USB drive. Luxury!

Oh, yes, and if I ever feel like backing up that 160Gb drive I have both the software and the firewire drive partition of a suitable size waiting for me.

P.S. Thunderbird (Mac) needed a re-install.

P.P.S.Zinio's rights protection didn't like the new disk and so I had to delete the Zinio folder and re-install the Zino Reader (2.2 Mac).

One of the problems of being in the computer business for as long as I've been (which for the record is since 1968 for mainframes and 1985 for micros) is that you learn some "facts" and they stick with you.

One such fact is "you can't upgrade the hard dsk of a portable yourself". This to a certain extent even in my mind became less of a 100% fact when IBM came out with the first (?) ThinkPad models and you could easily pull out the hard disk and replace it with another one, but it still stayed with me as the revised "you can't upgrade the hard disk of a portable unless it's a ThinkPad".

This in turn naturally led to a couple of "rules" when buying portables - get the best processor; graphics card and biggest hard disk you can afford because you can't upgrade them. Memory I felt incapable of changing so I added that to the rule too.

This, naturally, led to me buying desktops (where I could change all of the above, and I did (OK, maybe not the processor)) and not portables which by the time I'd added decent processors; graphics; hard disk and memory to my standard requirements were way beyond my price range.

I suspect that if I'd stayed with PC portables, these principles would have gone with me to my grave although I must confess to increasing the Acer's memory all by myself - ca two weeks after buying it (the memory that is) and with a series of "shall I take it in for them to do - or not" moments behind me.

Luckily, though, (as I'm hopefully not that far gone) I bought the cheapest MacBook going and since then I'm having to learn everything again (which I guess makes it "re-learn" except for the fact that I'm learning them for the Mac and not for the PC).

So one of the things I learnt was that adding memory is really simple (it was easier than I thought on the Acer but on the MacBook they seem to expect people to do it themselves so made it even easier) but I thought that was it and I would be forced to stay with my far too small 60GB disk. (If you think that's not small, try adding a few SharePoint Server VMs).

But - new to the Mac as I am - I'm reading a lot of Mac magazines (from the library) and there was a casual mention in the letter section of one of them of upgrading the hard disk in a MacBook.

So a quick Google search later (maybe on "changing hard disk MacBook" - something like that anyway) and I had an article of several pages with good pictures of how to do this.

The next step of course was to buy the necessary hard disk. There's a good selection at reasonable prices at the Finnish "networksales" store ("networksales" being a term that here means Internet sales) so the first drive I picked was the largest one (250GB).

Luckily I then checked that in Google / MacBook and found a comment saying that that particular disk range had caused problems when used as a MacBook replacement because it had head parking technology built-in that was conflicting with the Mac's own head-parking technology. They then went on to say that they replaced that drive with the similarly-priced drive from another company and all was well.

That of course made me decide for the other company's drive and as the max they had was a 160GB drive, that (or rather 150GB - odd that) is what I've now got installed and running.

How, is the story for another day, but for today it's enough to say that most of the time spent doing the install was looking for a screwdriver and being distracted on the way home with that!