Being ... ALI HASSAN

One of the great things about Windows Server 2008 R2 - there is an easy way to change editions from the command line.

FYI, you can only go “up” in editions; you couldn’t go from Enterprise to Standard.

To check the current edition of your Windows Server 2008 R2 installation, run this command:
DISM /online /Get-CurrentEdition
The response should be ServerStandard
To change to Enterprise edition, run
DISM /online /Set-Edition:ServerEnterprise /ProductKey:XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX

The process for a domain controller looks like this below

1.      DCPROMO down the domain controller.

2.      Open an elevated command prompt window.

3.      To check the current edition of your Windows Server 2008 R2 installation, run this command:
         DISM /online /Get-CurrentEdition
         The response should be ServerStandard

4.      To change to Enterprise edition, run
         DISM /online /Set-Edition:ServerEnterprise /ProductKey:XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX

5.      Reboot when prompted.

6.      DCPROMO the server back to a domain controller.

-Alstar

Today when I opened up Server Manager on one of my Windows 2008 R2 servers I encountered an error while accessing the Roles and Features option.

I saw an RPC error 0X800706BE and in the event log I saw an error 1000 for the TrustedInstaller.exe faulting application

==========================================

Faulting application name: TrustedInstaller.exe, version: 6.1.7600.16385, time stamp: 0x4a5bc4b0

Faulting module name: ntdll.dll, version: 6.1.7600.16695, time stamp: 0x4cc7b325

Exception code: 0xc00000fd

Fault offset: 0x0000000000052200

Faulting process id: 0x844

Faulting application start time: 0x01cc3961da8ad674

Faulting application path: C:\WINDOWS\servicing\TrustedInstaller.exe

Faulting module path: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll

Report Id: 3a2ce2b7-a555-11e0-b747-782bcb07d726

============================================

I looked around on the internet and found that I needed to download a "System Update Readiness Tool" for the version of my server and install it, which can be found at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/947821

After I downloaded the appropriate version for my R2 box and installed it the error went away and now I am able to open up Server Manager and install the Roles and Features I wanted.

If that did not fix it for you then you have to look at the log file the tool generates under C:\Windows\logs\CBS\CheckSUR.log and try and see at what package it is failing on.

 I found the below articles which might be useful in troubleshooting your issue, so please have a look at them if the tool didn't fix your error.

http://blogs.technet.com/b/roplatforms/archive/2010/05/12/how-to-fix-server-manager-errors-after-installing-updates-hresult-0x800f0818-hresult-0x800b0100.aspx

http://www.itsolutionskb.com/2009/04/roles-error-when-viewing-roles-in-windows-server-2008-server-manager/

http://www.eggheadcafe.com/microsoft/Windows-Update/35325680/could-not-discover-the-state-of-the-system-0x800706be.aspx

-Alstar

Alright this morning I faced some issues while connecting to my work using the Nortel VPN Client, it kept coming back with an error "Remote Host not reponding". My internet was working just fine and also I was able to ping the FQDN of the vpn box of my company but whenever I tried connecting it gave me the error, I have a Linksys router at home by the way.

So I decided to dig into it a little deeper and disconnected from my home wi-fi and connected to a different wi-fi connection which had no security password on it and once I got into that I was able to use my Nortel Vpn client and connect to my work... So there had to be something wrong with the router setting which I had at home and it wasnt allowing VPN traffic to pass???

I opened up a webpage and went to the administration page of the Linksys router by going to 192.168.1.1 and the default password for most Linksys routers are admin/admin (Username/Password). Once in that I clicked the Security tab and then the VPN tab and enabled the protocols for the VPN passthrough and clicked Save Settings.

After a while I was able to connect using the Notel VPN client through my home wi-fi!!

Hope this helps!

If not then go to homesupport.cisco.com and post a question in the forums and I bet someone will repond back to you or call the Linksys support line.

-Alstar

Here is another trick played by Microsoft on us! first they change the cmdlet from export-mailbox to New-mailboxexportrequest which applies to the import-mailbox cmdlet too and then even if you are a part of the Organisation Management role group and when you try and run the "New-MailboxExportRequest" its comes back with an error!

So it turns out you have to grant this particular permission seperately through the shell!

Example:

New-ManagementRoleAssignment -Role "Mailbox Import Export" -User <user name>

Then you can double check by running

Get-ManagementRoleAssignment -Role "Mailbox Import Export" | ft Identity

Hope  this helps!

-Alstar

So I downloaded the Exchange 2010 Roll up 4 released by Microsoft today and was trying to install it on my servers along with a little prayer that it wont mess up my databases which the last Roll up did for some users (Roll up 3!!).

Okay now I am all excited but when I start the installation after a while it would say "Rolling back actions" and fail (Booooo!) so I looked at the event logs and spotted the 1603 error code which I instantly thought will be some kind of a generic error message. So I looked up the Install log file and saw an "Access Denied" error while the installation was trying to stop the Exchange services and that was the issue!

So this time when I ran the install I did it from an "Elevated Powershell command prompt" and guess what it worked! That was simple!

Now I know for some of you guys out there the solution is not going to be as simple as this so let me know what issues you face and maybe I can help you figure it out!

 Tips: You can also give it a shot by disabling UAC from the contol panel under "Change User Account Settings" menu and you can manualy stop all the Microsoft Exchange Services and give it a try!

-Alstar