I've been reading (roughly on an open at a random page basis for the moment) the Ben Curry / Bill English Best Practices book

(http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0735625387/heme0f)

and really like the way that it includes all kinds of different small but very useful facts.

Here's one from today that I didn't know.

When you take a (content) database off-line all that it means is that you can no longer add site collections to it. Otherwise it works just as before and you can read; update; amend; delete just as normal.

In other words the point of doing it is when you want the site collection(s) it contains to be the only site collection(s) in that particular database. (and it's not really off-line in the sense most people would consider to be off-line)

p>

I wanted to change the name of the server in the "Provide Computer Name and Domain section of the Initial Configuration Tasks page.

I made the mistake of starting to change the description (first screen) rather than the server name (second screen) so I removed the two characters I had typed in there and then went on to the second screen.

Only to find that I could no longer remove the server name in that screen nor could I type in any characters to that field.

I tried backing out with Cancel and then re-accessing "Provide Computer Name and Domain" and then going directly to the second screen and I still couldn't type in a new name for the server. I also tried this after adding a description in screen one - still no entry of characters in screen two was possible.

In the end I was forced to re-boot the server. Then when I went to "Provide Computer Name and Domain" and didn't enter the Description field but went directly (with "Change") to the second screen, I could enter my new name (MOSSSP1).

The SharePoint newsgroups - and these days the forums - are full of messages from me saying that you should not mix Office 2003 apps with Office 2007 apps on the same client and also making it clear that that applies also to things like Visio and FP/SPD.

So what do you think (almost!) happened when I needed to install SPD 2007 on a new portable I got at work ? Yes, I almost installed it on the portable.

Probably, if in fact I hadn't had problems downloading it from MSDN late yesterday afternoon (when it was impossible in IE7 to even access subscriber downloads), I would have just installed it. I was certainly tired enough by then.

As it was, I was still (relatively!) fresh when that same MSDN site worked fine in the identical Portable and identical IE7 copy this morning and so just as I'd burned a DVD for SPD 2007 and was about to install it, I said to myself "hang on a minute" and didn't.

You see, even though that portable is the first one I have ever had at work that is at least as good as my home machines (well except for the new HP workstation desktop but that doesn't count) and does have 4GB unlike all the previous ones where I always seemed to get one with half the memory I wanted, that NEW (did I say that already) portable had been installed with XPPro (no problems with that) and Office *2003*. [Shakes head and decides not to write any more about that decision.]

So installing SPD 2007 would not have been a good idea. That's for sure.

My choices were the usual ones. Create a VM running a Client OS and install (just) SPD 2007 in that OR upgrade my Office 2003 to Office 2007 and then install SPD 2007.

I chose the second option because at some stage this new PC is going to take over from portable-1 (almost 4 years old), which IS running Office 2007 (again after upgrading from the supplied Office 2003), as my main office machine.

[At that point and when convinced I've not forgotten to move anything from portable-1 I'll probably install Windows Server 2008 on it and use it as a portable (SP 2007) server *without any Office client product installed*. I already am running Windows 2003 and WSS 2.0 (and Office 2003 and FP 2003) on portable-2 (7 years old) so that would match that idea which has been very useful when the occasional WSS 2.0 question comes up.]

So now, finally, I have an Office PC capable of running even a MOSS VM and also where SPD is installed. Time for some further investigation of SPD 2007 I think. The book chapters (of my book) are fine but there's a lot more there I'm sure.

I've re-done the entire installation that leads to WSS 3.0 (using the Windows Internal Database) on Windows Server 2008 and now I think I know why it is more difficult to get things right than it was on Windows Server 2003.

Cause 1: Administrator

When you install Windows Server 2003 on a server you automatically use Administrator and give it a password. If you've done this before it will automatically be a strong password. You will then - equally automatically - use this "user" when you install the Application Server and Web Server roles AND when you then install WSS 3.0.

When you install Windows Server 2008 it requires you to create a new user (walshmi in my case) and doesn't even require a password to be defined for that. So it's not as obvious as with Windows Server 2003 that you should use Administrator for the following installations.

Cause 2: Choice of two users

The way to be prompted to give Administrator a password is to re-boot. You will then see a screen with both Administrator and (say) walsmi. A 50% chance of getting this bit right!

Later: Unfortunately if you have not bothered giving walshmi any password, the system re-boots (as walshmi) and doesn't show the option of Administrator or walshmi. Thus simply by not bothering to enter a password (and the installation routine says you don't need to!) all further installations you do (without accessing Control panel etc. and manually giving Administrator a password) are done under the insufficient authority of walshmi - something you only discover right at the end of the WSS 3.0 installation!

Best Practice therefore is to always to specify a password for the user you add when following the standard installation screens!

(After you use (Control Panel) / Administrative Tools / Computer Management / Local Users and groups (etc.) to specify password for both Administrator and walshmi, you still don't on re-boot get a screen offering you a choice of Administrator or walshmi. Instead the system assumes that you are logging in with walshmi and no password (which of course doesn't work).If you then go to the change users screen, you are offered TWO walshmi icons and one Administrator icon. I regard this as extremely messy, so I'm going to delete the VM I did when specifying walshmi with no password and start again from the beginning - this time with a password).

If you do select Administrator then you will be forced to give a password and if you have done this before it will be a strong one. There is however nothing at this stage demanding a strong password.

Once you have specified Administrator, you'll probably keep doing so for the further installations.

Cause 3: Small print warning of strong password

Before you install the Applications server there's a few lines in very small print saying what the three requirements are (Administrator has a strong password; network address; something I can't remember).

You still get this message if you already HAVE a strong password and a network address which is perhaps why it is in such small print. However that means that it's easy to miss if you don't.

It also doesn't say (I think - this is from memory) that you should be running under Administrator  (!!) just that the Administrator account has to have a strong password. Not much use that strong password requirement if you are running under walshmi.

Cause 4: Poor Keyboard implementation

In order to make things easier for US users no doubt, there is no longer a step in the normal installation where you can specify which keyboard you are using.

At first sight it's odd that there still is a time-zone specification that is in your face when you do the installation, but then you realise that the US itself is in several time zones and you have your explanation.

Having no step in the normal installation for keyboards means that the US keyboard is ALWAYS installed. It also means that in order to add a different keyboard, the installer has to go to Control Panel; select Regional and Language options and then Keyboards and Languages. None of that is necessary in a Windows Server 2003 installation where the equivalent of the screen you then get is part of the standard installation - you don't have to go off and find it.

The annoying thing here is that it would have very simple for the Server guys to add a line to the "Provide Computer Information" section of the "Initial Configuration Tasks" screen through which amending the keyboard used would have been as simple (and "in your face") as amending the time zone.

But, No, for some reason, the server guys decided to ignore that fact that a good number of all non-US installations of a Operating System would use the US English version and make it unnecessarily difficult for them.

(Maybe they assumed that the people who knew enough to use the US English version of an OS would be able to work out how to change the keyboard, and they are probably right, but was it really necessary?)


Anyway, once I was aware of the points above, once again the installation of WSS 3.0 + SP1 (using Basic Installation) on a Windows Server 2008 was straightforward and after it finished the default page opened OK.

One of the problems with trying to support people in the forums and newsgroups is that often in order to help you have to have experienced the same problems and got out of them.

Mostly I've installed WSS 3.0 on Windows Server 2003 and apart from a problem with the Windows Firewall unexpectedly causing access problems when I used R2 (but never before with the initial version of Windows Server 2003) everything has gone smoothly and I could probably do it in my sleep.

Installations on Windows 2008 I've only done (until recently) a couple of times. Twice maybe in the beta phase of that product and once for the Appendix of my book. All these three went fine but looking back after yesterday's experiences that was no doubt because I was doing those installations and nothing else.

Yesterday, however, I was back in "I can do this in my sleep" mode and while doing something else on another machine I installed Windows Server 2008. The results of that in pass one was that I managed to specify that unknown password that I mentioned yesterday because I typed in my usual (Finnish keyboard) password in a system that thought I had a US keyboard.

Oddly enough there I had (in my sleep!) managed to create an Administrator and give him a strong password (including that unknown character) so the installation completed with the WSS 3.0 default web site appearing as usual.

The second pass however I concentrated a bit more (although obviously not enough) and this time changed the keyboard very quickly - noting however that this was by no means as straightforward and is no longer part of the main installation process of the Operating System as it is in Windows Server 2003.

What I however didn't manage to do was create an Administrator with a strong password even though at one point during the installation there was a text (in minute letters!) saying the before you proceed make sure you have a strong password for Administrator.

So Administrator hadn't got a password at all and when the WSS 3.0 default site was due to appear it refused to do so. (This may also have something to do with the fact that I was using the account (walshmi) the system had prompted me to create and not as usual the Adminstrator account - excuse: that didn't have a strong password!)

Now this kind of problem is something that has been reported with Windows Server 2008 and I've always had the feeling "it's always worked for me" and just moved on. Now it seems that I might have a chance to, if not solve each problem, at least show some sympathy.

The question however remains "how come it's worked every time before?".

The answer to that is that on earlier runs I probably did at least one re-boot. If you do a re-boot and attempt to log-in as Administrator then it will demand that you specify a password. Once you've done that you (hopefully) have the strong password the system demands for the next phase AND you will not be tempted to use an other account than Administrator for the WSS 3.0 installation phase.

It's all very simple really.

But I'm still annoyed that a Windows Server 2008 is - in these respects at least - so much more difficult than a Windows Server 2003 installation ...

This is a follow-up to the previous post but indicates probably a much more serious problem than the one there which was due only to me using a particular key for my Administrator password.

The English-US Windows 2008 installation installs the US keyboard and doesn't give you during the installation the opportunity of selecting a different keyboard.

So you need to go to Regional Settings after the installation is complete in order to add a different keyboard - in this case the Finnish/Swedish keyboard.

When you do there is a "Keyboard Layout Preview" which shows which keys on the keyboard are what.

Now I have looked at the Finnish and the two different Swedish keyboard previews and ALL of them are incorrect.

I have at work old and new (IBM and Lenovo) ThinkPads with Finnish keyboards; a MacBook with a Finnish keyboard AND and desktop keyboard (Lenovo). At home I have various MS keyboards. ALL without exception have a middle keyboard row that has three keys to the right of the L.

That "Keyboard layout preview" shows a keyboard which while otherwise correct shows TWO keys to the right of the L.

It also shows three keys to the right of the P in the top row of (normal) keys whereas in all my keyboards there are only two keys there.

In other words the keyboard definition used by Windows 2008 for Finnish/Swedish is incorrect because the final key in the second row has been mapped to be beyond the final key in the top row.

I can't believe that no-one has seen this up to now.

Can it be that this error is only in the MSDN version (downloaded only a few days ago)? It seems unlikely.

 

I did an automatic installation of Windows Server 2008 in VM Workstation and was thus given a US keyboard automatically.

Although I use a Finnish keyboard, there have been enough cases in the past where early beta software only worked with a US keyboard so I know where most of the differences are.

This meant that I carried on first customizing the server and installing WSS 3.0 and only then decided I was fed up with having to use a US keyboard and specified a Finnish one and made sure that was the one being used.

The next time I tried to log-in as Administrator (or indeed as me as I had cleverly (!) used the same password for that) I couldn't.

The problem was that my standard password for test machines includes a (number and a) "*" to get over the need in some OS's for strong passwords.

I had typed this in as usual but as I was using a US keyboard (and as I did this automatically) I wasn't actually selecting a "*" (which on my Finnish keboard is Shift-8 or "(") but was selecting something else.

So I went to the Internet and searched for a layout of a US keyboard. Easy, I thought, find which character the one I pressed is in a US keyboard and then type that character in my Finnish keyboard.

Did I tell you that I used the "*" .....  that key on my Finnish keyboard is three keys (and shift) to the right of the L in the middle line starting A,S,D,F,G,H,J,K,L ?

Look at the US keyboard layout and what do you find ? That's right there are only TWO keys to the right of the L (despite the middle line also starting A,S,D,F,G,H,J,K,L).

In other words, there is no way of finding a Finnish keyboard equivalent to that key and all I can do to login as Administrator for the server is to - it seems - remove the Finnish keyaboard and only have the US keyboard left - then I can click on that key three to the right of the L. 

(Attempts to just have the US keyboard selected (and retain the Finnish keyboard but not selected) led to masses of incorrect logins.)

For now I'm back to having only US keyboard specified. That isn't satisfactory for a proper test machine as I haven't even got a genuine US keyboard (and this is anyway a portable) so at some stage I'm going to have to do the whole thing again. This time specifying Custom installation!

Did I mention that all the client PCs have Finnish keyboards ...

Guess what! I can't log in to my WSS sites from any of them ...

Now where can I specify a US keyboard in XPPro ....

Before someone points out the obvious. The specification of the keyboard isn't done by VM Workstation (where Custom did allow me to specify the bridged networking I wanted) but by the Operating system installation. This time I'm going to go slower to see where I missed it. I've done this so many times I can't believe that I did miss it, though.

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 12th - 18th October 2008

NOTE: Amendment to KB articles: Microsoft are now not amending the date of a KB article if the change made is marked as a version point change (so from 2.2 to 2.3 for instance).
This ought to mean that the amendment made is cosmetic rather than important as important text changes ought to result in a major version change (such as from 2.2 to 3.0).
Because of this change and to avoid unnecessary effort I will in future not amend the listings in the WSS FAQ sites if only a minor version change has taken place.
I will continue to amend both the date and version numbers of major version changes and of course will continue to add all relevant new KB articles that my RSS feeds and other sources give me.

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

New

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;956612

Description of an update for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 that applies to daylight saving time (DST) changes

15th October 2008

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;955937

MS08-057: Description of the security update for Excel Services in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007: October 14, 2008

14th October 2008

Modifed

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=67f93dcb-ada8-4db5-a47b-df17e14b2c74&displaylang=en&tm

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 VHD (ver 1.0) [Note: third
version of version 1.0!]

17th October 2008

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;952683

The welcome name on a site is not changed as expected after you edit the name of a user profile in SharePoint Server 2007 (ver 2.0)

15th October 2008

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;956057

Description of the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 hotfix package (Sts.msp): August 26, 2008 (ver 1.1)

26th September 2007 (date of ver 1.0 - name changed as there were two WSS 3.0 fixes on August 26 2008)

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;956056

Description of the SharePoint Server 2007 hotfix package (Coreserver.msp): August 26, 2008 (ver 1.1)

26th September 2007 (date of ver 1.0 - name changed as there were two MOSS 2007 fixes on August 26 2008)

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;956947

Description of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2003 hotfix package (Sps2003.msp): August 26, 2008    [note: new title]

15th September 2008

Deleted

was http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;946791

was You cannot install SharePoint Server 2007 or SharePoint Portal Server 2003 when you are running SQL Server in a geographically dispersed cluster environment (ver 1.1)

was (ver 1.1) 17th January 2008 deleted 15th October 2008

I.b Forefront KB Articles

New or Modified

None

I.c InfoPath 2007 KB Articles

New 

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;955426

Error message when you try to open multiple instances of the InfoPath form concurrently with different input parameters

16th October 2008

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;953920

Description of the Office InfoPath 2007 hotfix package: June 19, 2008

15th october 2008

Modified

None

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://download.microsoft.com/download/1/6/f/16f53b33-a118-4d78-a3d8-653a139aec0e/Virtualization_of_SharePoint_Products_and_Technologies_White_Paper_-_final1%20(2).pdf

Virtualization of Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies (Michael Noel - Convergent Computing)

16th October 2008 (date added - article dated October 2008)

http://blogs.msdn.com/excel/archive/2008/10/15/using-office-data-connection-files-odc-and-the-dataconnections-web-part-in-sharepoint-to-specify-external-data-connections-in-newly-created-excel-workbooks.aspx

Using Office Data Connection files (.odc) and the DataConnections Web Part in SharePoint to Specify External Data Connections in Newly Created Excel Workbooks (MS TeamBlog - Joseph Chirilov)

15th October 2008

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=a645ed81-1219-4a32-9229-b7c36c72ab88&displaylang=en&tm

Update for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 x86 Edition (KB956612)

14th October 2008

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=9aa9d20c-c574-447d-a364-f5613e5d301d&displaylang=en&tm

Update for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 x64 Edition (KB956612)

14th October 2008

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc950780.aspx

Internet presence scenario (Starter Page only - links to articles)

13th October 2008 (date added)

http://www.thesanitypoint.com/archive/2008/10/12/finding-buried-treasure-built-in-usage-reports-in-sharepoint-and-search-server.aspx

Built-in Usage Reports in SharePoint and Search Server (Blog - Woody Windischman)

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262979.aspx

Security for Federation (Office SharePoint Server 2007) (updated 9th Oct 2008)

9th October 2008

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc263242.aspx

Create a custom dictionary (Office SharePoint Server 2007) (updated 9th Oct 2008)

9th October 2008

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=6372c24f-67dd-42dd-b034-748907b23420&displaylang=en&tm

PerformancePoint Server 2007 Evaluation Version (x86) (v2)

9th October 2008

http://blogs.technet.com/isablog/archive/2008/10/02/unable-to-check-out-a-document-in-moss-2007-published-through-isa-server-2006.aspx

Unable to “Check Out” a Document in MOSS 2007 Published Through ISA Server 2006 (MS TeamBlog - Yuri Diogenes)

2nd October 2008

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc263513.aspx

Design extranet farm topology (Office SharePoint Server) (updated 18th Sept 2008)

18th September 2008

B. Other Office 2007 products

None

C. Other relevant products

None

Modified

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=ba006584-711d-4ce7-9e1f-181aedf6434a&displaylang=en&tm

Office SharePoint Server 2007 Technical Library in Compiled Help format (Downloadable CHM version of SharePoint Server content on TechNet) (ver 2)

13th October 2008

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=60c92a37-719c-4077-b5c6-cac34f4227cc&displaylang=en&tm

2007 Office System Converter: Microsoft Filter Pack (ver 2)

9th october 2008

III WebCasts (+ PodCasts, On-Line courses) for 2007 Products

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032390725&EventCategory=5&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US

MSDN Webcast: geekSpeak: SharePoint Wikis with David Mann (Level 200) (David Mann - Mann Software, LLC)

9th October 2008

IV WSS v3 FAQ

New

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3 FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1544

V.163 SharePoint 2007 How-To (SAMS - Ishai Sagi)

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3 FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1545

V.164 Office SharePoint Server Security (Microsoft Corporation - CIA Training Ltd) *released*

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3 FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1546

V.165 Getting Started with Office SharePoint Server (Microsoft Corporation - unknown) *released*

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3 FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1547

X.202 Visio template for SharePoint 2007 (free - Ferry den Dopper)

Modified

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3 FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1362

V.112 Professional Microsoft Office Business Application Development: Using SharePoint and VSTO to Automate Business Processes (Wrox - Steve Fox, Bill Sheldon) *released*

V WSSv2 KB Articles (plus SPS 2003 Hot fixes)

New or Modified

None

VI WSSv2 FAQ

New

None

Modified

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSS%20FAQ/EditForm.aspx?ID=595

VII.10.45 Free WSS-relevant Programs - Visio template and stencil for designing SharePoint sites (Ferry den Dopper)

(URL updated)

VII. MS Articles

New or Modified

None

My new TV has an input for USB drives that you can use to play MP3 files and see JPG images via/on the TV. [But not .mp4 or divx files which would surely be more sensible for a TV set.]

Naturally I tried this out with all my USB sticks only to find that there were very few .mp3 files on them. But I have a mass of external, (some of which are powered), disks that contain backups of my CDs - typically in .wmv format (which it doesn't play either I suspect) or done for the Ipod, but surely I thought there are some .mp3 files there somewhere.

So I connected them one-by-one and found that  although in each case the drive was recognized as being connected the TV wouldn't open it. Obviously a disk format problem I thought but it took some scouring of the TV manual to find the place where it said FAT16 or FAT32 only.

Well naturally I'd formatted all my hard disks (except those USB sticks) as NTFS (or for the Mac in a couple of cases, I discovered) so as I still wanted to see if a large powered drive could be connected to the TV and work, I set about moving everything off a 340 GB drive to the desktop and then planned to re-format that drive as FAT32 and move the stuff back.

Moving the stuff took quite a while of course and then I was ready to format the empty disk. The system (XPPro) gave me the opportunity of formatting it as NTFS. Nothing else.

So much for that idea.

(The next non-FAQ post here will be about dragging in a portable and a new keyboard in order to play music files from the same NTFS formatted via the TV. Completely pointless really but still.)

 

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 5th - 11th October 2008

NOTE: Amendment to KB articles: Microsoft are now not amending the date of a KB article if the change made is marked as a version point change (so from 2.2 to 2.3 for instance).
This ought to mean that the amendment made is cosmetic rather than important as important text changes ought to result in a major version change (such as from 2.2 to 3.0).
Because of this change and to avoid unnecessary effort I will in future not amend the listings in the WSS FAQ sites if only a minor version change has taken place.
I will continue to amend both the date and version numbers of major version changes and of course will continue to add all relevant new KB articles that my RSS feeds and other sources give me.

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

New

None

Modifed

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;956947

Description of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2003 hotfix package (Sps2003.msp): August 26, 2008    [note: new title]

15th September 2008

I.b Forefront KB Articles

New or Modified

None

I.c InfoPath 2007 KB Articles

New  or Modified

None

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.devx.com/codemag/Article/39028/1954?pf=true

SharePoint: 10 Things You Wish They Had Told You, Part 1 (devx - Sahil Malik)

7th October 2008 (date added)

http://www.devx.com/codemag/Article/39279/1954?pf=true

SharePoint: 10 Things You Wish They Had Told You, Part 2 (devx - Sahil Malik)

7th October 2008 (date added)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=15d9d316-2ff3-40c9-85ed-4537657fa965&displaylang=en&tm

Office SharePoint Server 2007 Workflow Whitepaper

6th October 2008

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=717a3870-520e-4e4f-b996-a067d13cd4ad&displaylang=en&tm

Office SharePoint Server 2007 Records Management Whitepaper

6th October 2008

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=5dda96c8-3744-48c4-9bda-c271929fd4aa&displaylang=en&tm

Office SharePoint Server 2007 Web Content Management Whitepaper

6th October 2008

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=d1aa2974-7b03-4ff3-86ff-58db2819c1dd&displaylang=en&tm

Office SharePoint Server 2007 Document Management Whitepaper

6th October 2008

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc990273.aspx

Integration of SQL Server 2008 and Office SharePoint Server 2007 (updated 2nd October 2008)

2nd October 2008

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc879113.aspx

Estimate performance and capacity requirements for InfoPath Forms Services environments (Office SharePoint Server) (updated 2nd October 2008)

2nd October 2008

**** Special Section for Search Server 2008 articles ****

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc994302.aspx

Use scripts to install Search Server 2008 (updated 25th Sept 2008)

25th September 2008

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc280343.aspx

Plan to crawl content (Search Server 2008) (updated 19th Sept 2008)

19th September 2008

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc979157.aspx

About performance and capacity planning (Search Server 2008) (updated 11th Sept 2008)

11th September 2008

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc979155.aspx

Estimate performance and capacity requirements for Search Server 2008 (updated 11th Sept 2008)

11th September 2008

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc789332.aspx

Plan for availability (Search Server 2008) (updated 5th Sept 2008)

5th September 2008

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc850684.aspx

Change the index file location on the index server (Search Server 2008) (updated 28th August 2008)

28th August 2008

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc789331.aspx

Plan for redundancy (Search Server 2008) (updated 31st July 2008)

31st July 2008

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc788930.aspx

Change the Indexer Performance setting (Search Server 2008) (updated 31st July 2008)

31st July 2008

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc788927.aspx

Change credentials for the Search service accounts (Search Server 2008) (updated 31st July 2008)

31st July 2008

B. Other Office 2007 products

None

C. Other relevant products

None

Modified

None

III WebCasts (+ PodCasts, On-Line courses) for 2007 Products

None

IV WSS v3 FAQ

New

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1536

V.161 Sharepoint 2007 for Office 2007 Users (Wiley UK - Martin WP Reid)

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1539

V.162 SharePoint Designer Tutorial: Working with SharePoint Websites (Packt Publishing Limited - Mike Poole) [PDF ebook version] *released*

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1533

VI.127 docBlock (commercial - Black Blade)

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1534

VI.128 Sharepoint Zip (commercial - Black Blade)

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1535

X.195 SharePoint Zip (free version at codeplex of commercial product - Black Blade)

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1537

X.196 Sharepoint Samples - Remove Breadcrumb using Javascript (code gallery - Muralidharan)

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1538

X.197 SharePoint FaceBook WebParts (codeplex - Erik Lieben)

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1540

X.198 SharePoint Farm Site Collection Backup (codeplex - fmuntean)

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1541

X.199 SharePoint Search Administrator Toolkit (codeplex - emau)

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1542

X.200 SharePoint RegEx Search (codeplex - Dan Griffin)

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1543

X.201 Sharepoint Feature Manager 1.0 [codeplex not Todd Baginksi]  (codeplex - "sharepointkings")

Modified

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3 FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1322

I.31.09 What issues are fixed in the hot fixes to WSS 3.0 Service Pack 1?

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=892

X.16 SharePoint Manager 2007 (codeplex - Carsten Keutmann)

(moved to codeplex; link to latest version)

V WSSv2 KB Articles (plus SPS 2003 Hot fixes)

New

None

Modified

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;957046

Description of the Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 post-Service Pack 3 hotfix package (Sts.msp): August 26, 2008 (ver 1.1)

16th September 2008   [Note: name changed since v 1.0]

VI WSSv2 FAQ

New or Modified

None

VII. MS Articles

New

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=9820f6c8-228f-4eee-841c-c232e32effb8&displaylang=en&tm

Microsoft Antigen for SharePoint Trial Software

7th October 2008

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=3ac57999-ad9b-47d9-a5b3-706cd4b37ada&displaylang=en&tm

Antigen for Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services Trial Software

7th October 2008

Modified

None

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 28th September - 4th October 2008

NOTE: Amendment to KB articles: Microsoft are now not amending the date of a KB article if the change made is marked as a version point change (so from 2.2 to 2.3 for instance). Because of this change and to avoid unnecessary effort I will in future not amend the listings in the WSS FAQ sites if only a minor version change has taken place. I will continue to amend both the date and version numbers of major version changes and of course will continue to add all relevant new KB articles that my RSS feeds and other sources give me.

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

New

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;956056

Description of the SharePoint Server 2007 hotfix package: August 26, 2008

26th September 2008

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;956057

Description of the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 hotfix package: August 26, 2008

26th September 2008

Modifed

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;948725

Restoration of the configuration database by using the built-in backup and restore functionality is not supported in SharePoint Server 2007 or in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (ver 4.0)

26th September 2008

I.b Forefront KB Articles

New or Modified

None

I.c InfoPath 2007 KB Articles

New or Modified

None

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://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc983683.aspx

Extending Office Applications with Web Services (TechNet Mag Nov 2008 - Pav Cherny)

2nd October 2008 (date added)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=333e8024-5feb-4272-832a-ac989256f961&displaylang=en&tm

Desired Configuration Monitoring for SharePoint Collaboration Services Datasheet

30th September 2008

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=b72ef7b3-0291-4c15-b669-e94c685b00ba&displaylang=en&tm

Risk and Health Assessment for MIcrosoft Office SharePoint Server Datasheet

30th September 2008

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc948982.aspx

Using Team Foundation Server to Develop Custom SharePoint Products and Technologies Applications

29th September 2008 (date added - article dated September 2008)

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc973103.aspx

Capitalizing On the Social Network Capabilities of SharePoint Server 2007 User Profiles (Antoine Atallah, Martin Gagné)

29th September 2008 (date added - article dated September 2008)

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc936628.aspx

Visual How To: Creating SharePoint Sequential Workflows with Visual Studio 2008 (Steve Hansen, Dakota Technology Group, Inc.)

29th September 2008 (date added - article dated September 2008)

http://www.sharepointblogs.com/tommysegoro/archive/2008/09/25/sharepoint-team-development-with-visual-studio-part-3.aspx

Sharepoint Team Development with Visual Studio 2005 2008 Part 3 (Blog - Tommy Segoro)

25th September 2008

B. Other Office 2007 products

None

C. Other relevant products

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=82e632a7-faf9-41e0-8ec1-a2662aae9dfb&displaylang=en&tm

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Software Development Kit (SDK) (ver 4.0.7)

1st October 2008 (added to SDK section)

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb848116.aspx

PerformancePoint Monitoring SDK Documentation (on-line version)

29th September 2008 (date added - article dated September 2008)

Modified

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=5e94ad07-902c-422f-aadd-ff2bba9e540a&displaylang=en&tm

SharePoint Products and Technologies Protocol Documentation (ver 1008)

3rd October 2008

III WebCasts (+ PodCasts, On-Line courses) for 2007 Products

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/msdn/en-us/office/media/MOSS2007CreateSeqWFUsingVS2008.wvx

Visual How To: Creating SharePoint Sequential Workflows with Visual Studio 2008 (Video) (Steve Hansen, Dakota Technology Group, Inc.)

29th September 2008 (date added - article dated September 2008)

IV WSS v3 FAQ

New

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1527

V.158 SharePoint Server 2007 Survival Guide (Manning Publications - Penelope Coventry, et. al.)

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1528

V.159 SharePoint 2007 Developer's Guide to Business Data Catalog (Manning Publications - Brett Lonsdale, Nick Swan)

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1529

V.160 SharePoint 2007 Site Administrator's Handbook (Manning Publications - Yvonne M. Harryman)

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1521

VI.119 Lightning Jump Web Part (commercial - Lightning Tools)

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1522

VI.120 DeliverPoint 2008 (commercial - DeliverPoint (?))

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1524

VI.121 Document Import Kit for SharePoint 2007 (commercial - Vyapin)

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1525

VI.122 Admin Report Kit for SharePoint 2007 (commercial - Vyapin)

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1526

VI.123 SPList Export for SharePoint 2007 (commercial - Vyapin)

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1530

VI.124 SharePoint Wiki Plus (commercial - KWizCom)

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1531

VI.125 Lightning Storm Forums for SharePoint (commercial - Lightning Tools)

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1532

VI.126 SharePoint Remote List Viewer (commercial - KWizCom)

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1523

X.194 DeliverPoint 2008 "Registered version" (free - DeliverPoint)

Modified

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1321

I.31.10 What issues are fixed in the hot fixes to MOSS 2007 Service Pack 1?

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1337

V.101 Sams Teach Yourself SharePoint 2007 in 24 Hours: Using Windows SharePoint Services 3.0  (SAMS - Mike Walsh) *released*

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1409

V.126 Programming Microsoft SharePoint Server 2007 (Charles River Media - Thom Robbins)

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1152

VI.46 SharePoint List Filter Plus (commercial - KWizCom)

(Note: was Sharepoint List Filter - Multiple Dropdown and was much cheaper)

V WSSv2 KB Articles (plus SPS 2003 Hot fixes)

New or Modified

None

VI WSSv2 FAQ

New or Modified

None

VII. MS Articles

New or Modified

None

I've had a copy of my "Sams Teach Yourself SharePoint 2007: Windows SharePoint Services 3.0" book in my hands for about five days now (thanks to over 24 hours delivery time for the last 15 miles of the journey from the US) and in that time Amazon US have still been showing it as being at Pre-Order status.

Today, finally, the Amazon US site is showing it as being in Stock

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0672330008/heme0f

Now all it needs is someone to buy it.

(Somehow the fact that that same Amazon site is showing it as the 550,732 "best-selling" book doesn't in my book indicate massive sales. Here's hoping that's a pre- "In Stock" figure).

It's very very rarely that I post anything in this blog that doesn't have anything to do with SharePoint. Typically they are then computer (and/or Zune/IPod) questions.

This one can just about be described as a computer issue ...

The British football club Newcastle United is up for sale.

These days that means a foreign bidder. Manchester City has just gone to a Middle Eastern Sheikh so it was interesting to see a report of a Nigerian bidder for Newcastle United.

I understand that they were offering $ 400 million and - rumour has it - requesting the Newcastle owner to send them $ 10,000 as an indication of his good faith.

People writing to forums are sometimes very odd.

I came today across a post where the poster felt compelled to tell us that it was his second post to that forum. How that is relevant to any question is beyond me.

That on the other hand is fairly rare.

What is more common are the people who write at the bottom of their posts "please help me!" or even the more strident "PLEASE HELP ME!!!!!!". Do they really think that this line makes the people who spend some of their free time answering other peoples questions more likely to answer just this one? If so, they are wrong.

Finally there are the relatively few people who write that their own question is "Urgent!" - usually in the subject and often also in the text. Well that is a real turn-off as when you look at the questions there is NEVER anything there that is any more urgent than any other forum question. (Even if there is, the forums are not the place to post urgent questions - instead they should take the risk of being forced to pay and call Microsoft Customer Support Services [if that's this week's name]) with their problem).

Luckily in the forums I can do something I can't do in the equivalent newsgroups and edit the subject lines. Usually I do this when someone posts a question in say the Workflow forum that has a Subject of "Workflow" which doesn't help people scanning that forum to see if there is something they can answer, so I change the subject to better reflect the question put, but I can also use that possibility to get rid of all "Urgent"s from the Subject.