Special Note: (to run 25th October and 1st November only).

I've been posting this weekly to first the .teamservices newsgroup and then to the .windowsservices newsgroup since early 2002.

I'm now moving more and more over to the forums where no longer need to read all the threads and also can move posts to more appropriate places without annoying people, so it's perhaps time to call it a day with this post here and just leave the weekly (and better looking) post to my blog at mikewalsh.bilsimser.com.

If you have strong feeling for or against this idea send me mail to my hotmail account (englantilainen = Englishman in Finnish))

-----------------

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 my blog at http://mikewalsh.bilsimser.com)

(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 26th - 1st November 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;958847

Cumulative update packages for the 2007 Microsoft Office core suite applications and for 2007 Microsoft Office servers: October 28, 2008

28th October 2008

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;958569

Description of the SharePoint Server 2007 hotfix package (Dlc.msp): October 28, 2008

28th October 2008

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;958567

Description of the SharePoint Server 2007 hotfix package (Coreservermui.msp): October 28, 2008

28th October 2008

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;957693

Description of the SharePoint Server 2007 hotfix package (Coreserver.msp): October 28, 2008

28th October 2008

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;958565

Description of the SharePoint Designer 2007 hotfix package (Spd.msp): October 28, 2008

28th October 2008

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;958692

Description of the SharePoint Designer 2007 hotfix package (Spd.msp, Fpac.msp, Ewd.msp): October 28, 2008

28th October 2008

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;959375

How to change the Default Web Site port on a Team Foundation Server 2008 Application Tier Machine

28th October 2008

Modifed

None

I.b Forefront KB Articles

New

None

Modified

None

I.c InfoPath 2007 KB Articles

New 

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;957695

Description of the InfoPath 2007 hotfix package (Ipeditor.msp): October 28, 2008

28th October 2008

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;958787

Description of the InfoPath 2007 hotfix package (Contactpicker.msp): October 28, 2008

28th October 2008

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;958139

Description of the InfoPath 2007 hotfix package (Infopath.msp, Ipeditor.msp): October 28, 2008

28th 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://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=34fd138a-f3e9-4ea0-ae60-dad4b8dab7ec&displaylang=en&tm

Windows SharePoint Services Add-in for Windows Essential Business Server (version 6.0)

29th October 2008

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=c523ac7a-5724-48be-b973-641e805588f4&displaylang=en

Whitepaper - Understanding and Troubleshooting the SharePoint Explorer View

26th October 2008

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc766807.aspx

Archive and retrieve content by using Stsadm import and export operations (Office SharePoint Server 2007) (updated 23rd October 2008)

23rd October 2008

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc706866.aspx

Archive and retrieve content by using Stsadm import and export operations (Windows SharePoint Server 3.0) (updated 23rd October 2008)

23rd October 2008

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc825328.aspx

Move site collections to a new database (split a content database) (Office SharePoint Server 2007) (updated 23rd October 2008)

23rd October 2008

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc825327.aspx

Move site collections to a new database (split a content database) (Windows SharePoint Services 3.0) (updated 23rd October 2008)

23rd October 2008

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc896556.aspx

Migrate an SSP to another farm (Office SharePoint Server 2007) (updated 9th October 2008)

9th October 2008

B. Other Office 2007 products

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=cd39607f-7bfb-4a07-844e-b00602ddeb38&displaylang=en&tm

Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 Technical Library in Compiled Help format

29th October 2008

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=019e280a-ac1c-4182-bda2-c32730aa230e&displaylang=en&tm

Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 Samples

22nd October 2008

C. Other relevant products

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=060f0c51-339a-4c4e-bb6e-716bb7401fd4&displaylang=en&tm

Windows Server 2008 Evaluation Virtual Hard Drive Images (for Hyper-V)

24th October 2008

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=5bbcc7fb-8ca0-43b3-86bd-0a42186e12ef&displaylang=en&tm

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 Virtual PC

22nd October 2008

Modified

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=c1039e13-94da-4d7d-8cae-3b96fa5a4045&displaylang=en&tm

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Application Template: Application Template Core (ver 2)

29th October 2008

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=aae4cb5a-91d2-4f1b-9a45-3bb894e218f8&displaylang=en&tm

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Application Templates: All Server Admin Templates (v2)

29th October 2008

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=5807b5ef-57a1-47cb-8666-78c1363f127d&displaylang=en&tm

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Application Templates: All Templates (v2)

29th October 2008

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=1e53f882-0c16-4847-b331-132274ae8c84&DisplayLang=en

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services Add-in for Microsoft SharePoint Technologies (ver 9.00.3204)

26th October 2008

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

None

IV WSS v3 FAQ

New

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3 FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1556

III.47.05 E-Mails: Can you customise the Request Access E-mail?

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3 FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1557

III.104 Is it possible to export from MOSS 2007 to WSS 3.0?

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3 FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1552

V.168 Building the SharePoint User Experience: Understanding and Implementing SharePoint Design Principles (Apress - Björn Christoffer, Thorsmaehlum Furuknap)

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3 FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1553

V.169 Professional SharePoint 2007 Web Content Management Development: Building Publishing Sites with Office SharePoint Server 2007 (Kindle Edition) (Wrox - Andrew Connell) *released*

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3 FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1554

V.170 Microsoft Office 2007 Business Intelligence (Kindle Edition) (McGraw-Osborne, Doug Harts) *released*

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3 FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1555

V.171 Microsoft Office 2007 Business Intelligence (McGraw-Osborne, Doug Harts) *released*

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3 FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1559

V.172 Workflow in the 2007 Microsoft Office System (Kindle Edition) (Apress - David Mann) *released*

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3 FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1560

V.173 Designing Forms for Microsoft Office InfoPath and Forms Services 2007 (Kindle Edition) (Addison-Wesley - Scott Roberts, Hagen Green) *released*

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3 FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1569

VI.129 Pointadmintoolset (commercial - Idera)

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3 FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1570

VI.130 Site Administrator for SharePoint (commercial - Quest)

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3 FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1571

VI.131 Capacity Manager for SQL Server-SharePoint Module (commercial - Quest)

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3 FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1572

VI.132 FoxIt PDF IFilter (commercial - FoxIt)

(Yes, this has been available for years - I thought it was already in the list!)

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3 FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1558

VII.39A Expert WSS 3.0 and MOSS 2007 Programming (Wrox - ISBN: 978-0-470-38137-3) Chapter 1: The SharePoint 2007 Architecture

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3 FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1561

X.204 ARF (development environment) (free - Vincent Rothwell)

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3 FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1562

X.205 CKS EBE – Comments Manager – Version 1.1.0.0 (free - Tobias Zimmergren)

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3 FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1563

X.206 WSS and MOSS Google Directions 1.2 (codeplex - "gilesh")

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3 FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1564

X.207 Sharepoint Download Zipped List Items (codeplex - Mohamed Zaki)

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3 FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1565

X.208 BKS (makes sites accessible to people with special needs) (codeplex - J. Weibel)

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3 FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1566

X.209 SPAdvancedSearch v1.0 (codeplex - "emau")

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3 FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1567

X.210 SharePoint Workflow Library for ASP.NET Forms 2.0 (codeplex - "hauser")

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3 FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1568

X.211 SharePoint 2007 Web Part Zone Management Tools: Zone Hider (codeplex - "cdomino")

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3 FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1573

X.212 MSIT SharePoint Reporting Framework (codeplex - MS IT team)

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3 FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1574

X.213 SharePoint Calculated Field: IconSet (codeplex - Stefan Costan)

Modified

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3 FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1372

V.115 SharePoint for Project Managers: How to Create a Project Management Information System (PMIS) with SharePoint (O'Reilly - Dux Sy) *released*

V WSSv2 KB Articles (plus SPS 2003 Hot fixes)

New

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;958706

Description of the SharePoint Portal Server 2003 post-Service Pack 3 and the Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 hotfix package (Sts.msp): October 28, 2008

28th October 2008

Modified

None

VI WSSv2 FAQ

New

None

Modified

None

VII. MS Articles

New

None

Modified

None

Can Channel 9 really be a Microsoft site ? If so it's the first one I've seen that has a download specifically for the IPod!

Look at this page for example

http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/PDCNews/First-Look-Office-14-for-Web/

It's a useful thing to watch anyway (being about Office 14 for the Web) but here I'd like you to look at the list of formats you can download the thing in.

IPod (mp4)

MP3

PSP (MP4)

WMA

WMV

WMV (High)

Zune

 

So that's (looking it from the viewpoint of Microsoft) a competing product to Zune AND a competing product (Sony's PSP) to the XBox and still they provide native downloads for them.

This is really great!

I only wish the more standard technical MSDN and TechNet web casts had this, because the first thing I have to do with them is to spend hours (almost literally) using Nero 8 to convert the WMV download to mp4.

 

 

I've been running for a long time with my OneNote 2007 files in a couple of Shared Notebooks that were stored in the WSS 3.0 VM of my MacBook.

In that way I could synchronize the copies of OneNote 2007 that were in my work portable; my home portable and my home desktop (and were full of SharePoint stuff) with the MacBook (which meant that occasionally I had to bring it to work because most of my OneNote additions were made at home).

But now I finally had a work portable with enough power and memory to use it for VMs and so I wanted to be able to at least get the present work copy of OneNote 2007 into the WSS 3.0 VM on that machine, yet without moving any of the files from the OneNote 2007 Notebooks that were shared with the MacBook.

The first thought was to create a new couple of Shared Workbooks that were stored in the work VM. That failed when I found that mass copying (in the UI) was impossible. I could either drag and drop items one by one (which would be *moving* them which I didn't want) or open each item in turn and then copy the contents of each item into a section of the same name in the new Shared Workbook.

Neither of these appealed.

So I looked to see if I could synchronize what I already had to a second server in addition to synchronizing it with the MacBook.

That wasn't possible either - not as such - but what was posssible was changing the location to which the OneNote 2007 copy on a particular client would synchronize to.

So there was the solution.

1. Keep synchronizing the home portable and desktop with the MacBook.

2. Synchronize the office OneNote 2007 to the office VM.

3. At occasional intervals, bring the MacBook to work and make a temproary change to the office OneNote 2007 so that it synchronizes to that. Then once that two-way synchronization has updated both the office OneNote 2007 and the MacBook, change the synchronization on the office OneNote 2007 back so that it again synchronizes with the office VM (which will just update that copy with the changes made in the meantime at home).

Nice and reasonably simple.

The next step has already been taken. The new portable which also runs the VM also has OneNote 2007 on it. That has now been synchronized with its own VM and so has an up-to-date copy of my OneNote SharePoint stuff.

So now that copy of OneNote 2007 can be removed from the now old portable as part of the process of removing everything and converting it into maybe a Server 2008 DC.

P.S. When I was doing the first sync on the office VM there was an error message saying that not everything had been synced. The same thing happened with both the OneNote 2007 notebooks.

What had happened is that in both cases a single section had not been synced. The reference to the section was still there but when I tried to open it I got the following message.

"Another One Note Program created it but it has not yet uploaded the content".

Obviously the way round that is to make a copy of the section's .one file (when connected to the Mac's VM version) and then somehow (simply replacing the .one file might not work but it's the first thing I'll try) get the information into the Office VM's version.

It's also curious that the first time I tried to open one of these two sections, it gave a different message (something about it not being copied because it wasn't in the cache).

I don't know about you, but I expect that the electronic version of a book is considerably less than the printed copy.

After all just what are the costs involved to the publisher and even the distributor/seller?

My book is a good example of the positive side of this.

The printed copy costs $29.99 and via Amazon US this was for a long time just less than $20 (and is now just more than $20).

Meanwhile the Kindle edition (US only still as far as i know) has been listed at Amazon US at $ 9.99 (a snip!)

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B001I8QVII/heme0f

So that's a good reduction on "the real thing". Even though I prefer real books, 10 dollars is the sort of price that would encourage even me to take a chance on a "book".

But then I noticed that Andrew Connell's WCM book is also available in Kindle form.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B001CN4CN0/heme0f

But what's this ? List price $ 59.99 Amazon price: $ 47.99....

Now it's certainly a good book, but almost 50 dollars for an electronic version is way too much.

Perhaps it's a good job they are still only selling the Kindle device (and the "books") in the US. These differing price levels make no sense to my European mind.

I have two (8GB) Zunes and for a long time I needed to take both of them with me because the battery always seemed to be either empty or near empty.

I was fully charging them; using them for about 40 mins and then turning them off by the method in the brochure that came with them (hold down the pause button for a long time). But most of the time this seemed to just turn the screen off and put the music on pause, with the result that the battery was being used up when I thought the thing was off.

i bought a (Universal) Zune wall adapter from Amazon US (the company - which wasn't Amazon but the makers themselves - delivered to non-US destinations at a reasonable price) so I no longer needed to spend hours with Zunes connected via USB to the portable just to charge them, but it still was extremely annoying.

Finally I asked the group of SharePoint MVPs.

You turn the Zune off by holding down both the back button (top left) and the bottom part of the ring.

What you then see happen is the Zune's volume going way down and then the Zune switches itself off.

Of course I didn't really believe it was doing anything more than go into screen display off mode, so I left that particular Zune alone for a couple of weeks. But when I then turned it on the battery was still showing Full.

So, yes, that method really does work.

P.S. Another SharePoint MVP then said that a cold re-boot was holding down the same back button and the top part of the ring. I've never needed that, so it's not tested by me, but just in case you need it ....

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.

(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 19th - 25th 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;953449

The upgrade schema does not consider the v3Type attribute when you upgrade SharePoint Portal Server 2003 customizations to SharePoint Server 2007

18th October 2008

Modified

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;948321

How to create a custom e-mail alert alert handler in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (ver 2.0)

20th October 2008

I.b Forefront KB Articles

New

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;957752

The Getenginefiles.exe process in Forefront Security for SharePoint may stop responding, and this generates a Dr. Watson crash that references Bucket ID 454637394

20th October 2008

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://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc879144.aspx

Prescriptive Guidance for SharePoint Server 2007 Web Content Management Sites (Andrew Connell, Andrew Connell Inc.)

18th October 2008 (date added - date of article October 2008)

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd162431.aspx

Performing Incremental Crawling with the Business Data Catalog in SharePoint Server 2007 (Joel Krist, Akona Systems)

18th October 2008 (date added - date of article October 2008)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=cb5b328c-bd4a-4daf-ae49-f50ffbc49f1b&displaylang=en&tm

Enterprise Search Datasheet [Note: SharePoint Enterprise Search Deployment Portfolio]

17th October 2008

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=103b2e33-90dd-4e55-8691-80b1115934bc&displaylang=en&tm

Enterprise Portal and Collaboration Datasheet [Note: SharePoint]

17th October 2008

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=57f5d542-07ce-4894-b855-6337ef1ecb26&displaylang=en&tm

Enterprise Portal and Collaboration Migration Service for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server Datasheet

17th October 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 FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1548

V.166 Sams Teach Yourself SharePoint 2007 in 24 Hours (Kindle Edition) (Sams - Mike Walsh) *released*

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3 FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1549

V.167 SharePoint Best Practices: Improve workplace productivity, Help your people work together. 100 Most Asked Questions on Windows SharePoint Services (WSS), ... and Microsoft SharePoint Designer (SPD) (Enmereo Pty Ltd - Kevin Foster) *released*

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3 FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1550

X.203 SharePoint Page Column Filter Web Part (codeplex - Ton Stegeman)

Modified

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/EditForm.aspx?ID=1314

V.88 Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Best Practices (MS Press - Ben Curry, Bill English) *released*

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/EditForm.aspx?ID=1516

V.157 Expert WSS 3.0 and MOSS 2007 Programming (Wrox - Shahram Khosravi) *released*

V WSSv2 KB Articles (plus SPS 2003 Hot fixes)

New

None

Modifed

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSS FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=198

III.64.1 I am getting "#50070: Unable to connect to the database STS_Config?". What's my problem?

VI WSSv2 FAQ

New or Modified

None

VII. MS Articles

New or Modified

None

 

After I'd installed WSS 3.0 on one VM, I naturally wanted to install MOSS 2007 on another.

After the trials and tribulations of doing the OS part of this correctly, (see recent blogs) I had a VM setup that had all the pre-requisites for a Basic MOSS installation.

I have a personal MSDN subscription so all I do is to download the latest version from the MSDN site and install. Right?

Yes, BUT.

The first day the link to the subscriber downloads refused to work.

The second day, that link worked but when I tried to download MOSS 2007 + SP1 I got a mysterious message "The response from the web site is missing required information" and the download went to "Interrupted" state in the Download Manager.

Later that day I finally managed to start the download. The next morning it was all downloaded except for the last 3.2MB and obviously didn't intend on downloading them.

So I grabbed the only MSDN DVD I could find with MOSS 2007 on it. This was only the initial version not the one with SP1. In addition I couldn't make the VM realise that I had a DVD player with that file in it. So i was forced to use the DVD Player of the Host and copy enough directories across to the VM.

Once I'd done that I started the installation and naturally - as I ought to have remembered, as I've said it often enough in the newgroups/forums - it refused to install as the OS I was using was Windows Server 2008 and that requires you to have the 'MOSS 2007 + SP1' distribution.

Naturally I'm too lazy to create that from the distribution I have plus SP1, so I went back to the PC and decided to unload from the MSDN site again, only this time to the Host from where I'd copy it to the VM.

Naturally this gave me a series of  "The response from the web site is missing required information" messages and nothing happened.

What's left is

a) seeing if i really don't have a copy of 'MOSS 2007 + SP1' somewhere in my set of DVDs. (If I don't have one in English, maybe I have one in some other language).

b) waiting for the MSDN upgrade that an e-mail yesterday told me is on its way. maybe that will have the right DVD.

c) Trying at home on Vista (or even OSx) to do the download. Maybe then I won't get that message and the download will download 100% of the file and not 99.9%.

d) Giving up and installing Virtual Server 2005 and the vhd of MOSS that will only run on Virtual Server 2005 and will only work for 30 days.

e) Giving up and downloading the (public) evaluation version of MOSS. With luck that will be valid for a couple of months and maybe, just maybe, my MSDN license code will work on it too.


Plenty of more fun and frustration ahead !

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 ...