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Office 2010 Installation Failures
Everyone that has used any of the Office 2010 Beta’s know that the new office program just rocks! It certainly makes all the things they introduced in 2007 much much better and more user friendly…
However my post is not about how cool Office 2010 is but rather how much trouble it is getting it installed in the first place – especially when you have a previous copy of Office 2010 (one of the Beta’s).
I just upgraded my beta to a version I downloaded via my Partner MAPS program. However you need to first make sure you totally uninstall the previous versions before upgrading/installing the new version. This is something that may cause a bad response from customers – i.e. the customer upgrade/install experience :(..
This afternoon, I spent over an hour trying to get the new version installed without a hitch… It took about 4 different tries and many searches online to figure out why it kept failing…
Errors received: Error 2203 or 1935 both indicate some sort of access permission issues – even though I ran as Administrator and had full permissions to all the folders for Office installation.
Things I had to do to get the install to work include the following:
– uninstalling all office options – including
– Hotmail Connector
– Live Meeting (any version)
– Office communicator (any version).
– Make sure my account was added to all folders where office installs – under Program Files as well as under \windows\installer.
I then went into my Services.msc console and disabled and stopped Forefront Antimalware services – there are two related to forefront you need to set to disabled. After doing all of these, it’s good to reboot the system to make sure no office files are running nor Antimalware scanning is going on.
Next I went into the folders under Program Files\Microsoft Office and deleted what I could from that those folders. If you cannot delete some of the DLL’s, i suggest renaming them to something else and then rebooting after completing.
I then went into the registry and backed up some of the settings under HKCU\software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\.. there are folders for each application within Office where you can export settings such as where all your OneNote folders are as well as Outlook PST & OST files.
Finally after completing all of the above I was able to install Office 2010 Professional Plus without any blips.
The funny thing (or one of them anyway) about the failures is that it tells you the customer to call PSS for help on the setup and it references a path and a file on your computer that actually doesn’t exist :(.. So when the customer does end up calling PSS they have nothing to give to the PSS engineer :(… Pretty sad messaging there in the UI… The log files are actually found under: Systemdrive\users\username\appdata\local\temp\
the files start with: SetupExe(20100516..Plus a bunch of numbers).log
it is here that all the errors are reported and it takes a bit of searching to figure out what’s really going on.
Honestly, I think there is a lot to be said about proper error reporting as to why something doesn’t install properly. Rather than waste the customer’s time, why not just state in the installer for the customer to make sure all office applications + communicator are removed and to disable the antivirus software they are running before trying to install. Or make the installer do all these things for the customer so they’re experience will be made much better. Just a thought :)..
Anyway, I will continue to promote Office 2010 because I think it’s an awesome product… Where the customer may suffer is during the upgrade/install part. I hope Microsoft Office team can make things better for everyone prior to official release.
Activesync and Office 2010 64bit – no workie
Today I discovered that my phone wasn’t synchronizing my calendar with my laptop. I am running Windows7 64bit with Office 2010 64bit (yes the recently released RTM from Microsoft). My phone is a T-Mobile Dash smartphone. I upgraded to office 2010 64bit a week or two ago and didn’t really notice a difference since doing so.. until today when i realized my calendar from work wasn’t getting synchronized to my home calendar. :(..
When I did connect my phone to the computer either via Bluetooth or via the USB cable connection, a little window would pop up with just “Error” and nothing else in the box.. When I right clicked on the box in the system tray it had something about Mobile sync center… hmm. Okay so there’s some kind of a problem with the connection.
– I tried uninstalling the smartphone device in Device manager along with the network adapter for the phone – neither of which worked :(. I uninstalled WMDC and reinstalled, deleted partnerships and recreated them – yeah no workie there either.
Checked event logs and found this event:
Log Name: Application
Source: RapiMgr
Date: 5/5/2010 9:24:26 AM
Event ID: 8
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: JDEX
Description:
Windows Mobile-based device failed to connect due to communication (0x80072745) failure (see data for failure code).
Event Xml:
will skip the xml portion of this event.
I searched on the above error message and found a slew of stuff on the web but with no real resolution. For some it was a bang on the device manager object, for others if they just left it plugged in it started working… for yet others it was this or that…
Anyway I tried a bunch of things with no resoution. That is until I stepped in the shower and it just popped into my fron… I remembered I installed 64bit Office 2010 last week… hmmm previously I had 32bit office installed. I wonder…
Sure enough after uninstalling office 2010 64bit and re-installing 32bit… activesync worked again – right away!
whew!… but what a pain. Hopefully something is in the works to get this fixed before it really releases to our customers.
Task Manager has been disabled by administrator….
Came across this issue with a client a few days ago. They had a virus… or rather a few of them where one of the things it did was disable the taskmgr.exe so you couldn’t open it – even if you renamed it to taskmgr.com – all received the same error message.
A Bing search found a couple of solutions but this one stuck and resolved the issue:
The local group policy setting was changed for Taskmgr.exe :(..
To review/change this open up GPedit.msc from the Run line (Start -> Run -> Type: gpedit.msc
Navigate in the console under User Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Ctrl+Alt+Del Options
In the right side of the screen verify that “Remove Task Manager” option is set to Disable or “Not Configured”
Close Gpedit console
Open cmd prompt and run: gpupdate /force
Other settings were found in the registry:
From Start > Run > type: Regedit.exe
Open these keys to determine if taskmgr.exe is set to disabled:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]”DisableTaskMgr”=dword:00000000
(Note if set to 1, then it would be disabled; Default setting should be 0)
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy Objects\LocalUser\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]
“DisableTaskMgr”=dword:00000000
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\system\]
“DisableTaskMgr”=dword:00000000
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
“DisableCAD”=dword:00000000
After doing this you should have access to taskmgr again (if not a reboot will make it so).
If the virus is still around, Suggest using System Restore… and or other Cleaning Agents like Http://housecall.trendmicro.com to help clean out the riff-raff Virus or Trojan :).
Exchange Mailbox Size via Powershell
Exchange 2007 Mailbox Size
Get-MailboxStatistics |where {$_.TotalItemSize -gt 1MB} | sort $_.TotalItemSize |FT DisplayName,ItemCount,TotalItemSize >c:\size.txt
To determine globally what size limits are for Transport:
Get-TransportConfig | FL *size
[PS] C:\> Get-TransportConfig | FL *size
MaxReceiveSize : 20MB
MaxSendSize : 50MB
To set the Transport size limits – for example to 1000MB:
Set-TransportConfig -maxsendsize 1000MB
To set Receive size settings:
Set-TransportConfig -maxreceivesize 1000MB
The connector by default has 10MB limit; Exchange Org level and Mailbox Level settings default to “unlimited”
Get-SendConnector |FL name, *size – shows the maxSendSize on SendConnector
To Set SendConnector size: Set-SendConnector -maxmessagesize 100MB
**********************
Below is some info I found while troubleshooting an Exchange OWA size issue.
OWA Attachment limits – yes there are limits to the size of attachments you can add via OWA… But these are changeable too!
By default the limit in Exchange 2007 OWA is 30MB. Depending on what your company needs, you might want to increase or decrease this size.
To do so, follow these steps:
1. You need to set the MaxRequestLength in web.config to a value larger than 50 MB. The MaxRequestLength in web.config is an ASP.NET setting that prevents requests larger than a certain length which was added to prevent DOS attacks. It is set to 30 MB by default and needs to be increased in order to send attachments larger than 30 MB. This could also be decreased to enforce a lower limit.
2. You need to increase the MaxSubmitMessageSize which is a readonly Mailbox property (MaxSubmitMessageSize = 0x666D0003) and this is where we are getting the 10 MB limit from.
This is read from the following places:
First read from Mailbox object of the user itself
if not found as denoted by “unlimited”, Transport Settings Container
if not found as denoted by “unlimited”, from Org Container (default read from Org Container)
In order to set the value, use the following tasks in the Exchange Management Shell:
1. set-transportconfig and then set MaxSendSize (this is in KBs) to 51200 for 50 MB attachments. This will set it for all users
Or
2. set-mailbox and set the MaxSendSize (this is in KBs) to 51200 for 50 MB attachments for a specific set of users.
Once you set either, you need to recycle store or not access the mailbox for about 15-20 minutes (to let store cache expire) in order for the size change to have affect. Also, the property is stored in AD and subject to replication delays.
One more thing that you need to be aware of (sorry, the list just goes on):
We have a Request timeout of 60 minutes for any attachment upload request or attachment download (in OWA Basic and Premium). So, if you are trying to upload a 50MB attachment over a 56Kbps link, you will time out and get a HttpWebException (e.g., the max upload is about 25 MB over a 56 Kbps link).
So, to summarize, there are two keys to send a large attachment:
1. Modify ASP.NET web.config settings.
2. Modify the MaxSendSize using either the set-TransportConfig (for all users) or Set-Mailbox for individual users.
And you need to
3. Make sure the total upload time will be less than 60 minutes (based on your size and the speed of your network link)
The web.config change is immediate but the MaxSendSize change takes time, due to caching policy (Mailbox cache, DSAccess delays, and replication delays).
Examples:
Web.Config change
By default, web.config under OWA Vdir (Microsoft\Exchange Server\ClientAccess\Owa) will have the following entry (by default, the max request size is approximately 30MB):
….
Change to where X is the desired value in KBs. So, for 50MB, X will be approximately 50000.
Change per-user message size limit
Go to Exchange Management Shell, and type the following command:
Set-mailbox -id:”username” -MaxSendSize:50000
Where “username” is the mailbox identity. This will set the maximum message send limit to approximately 50 MB. You will need to restart store to see the effect immediately.
Change all-user message size limit
Go to Exchange Management Shell, and type the following command:
Set-transportconfig -MaxSendSize: 50000
This will set the maximum message send limit to approximately 50 MB. You will need to restart store to see the effect immediately.
ActiveSync with PC & Exchange
For those of us that use smartphones (or pocket pcs) out there and want to synchronize their contacts and calendar between their main work Exchange account and their home email account via their home computer activesync partnership – whether it be another Exchange account just a POP account in Outlook, here is a way to quickly enable this. Unfortunately it’s not set by default (arg!) but can be quickly changed by using any number of smartphone registry applications. This also applies to Pocket PCs or other Windows Mobile phones.
The following key needs to be set:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\ActiveSync\EnableNonLocalCrossPollination]
Type: DWORD
Value: 1
Once you have the key set, you can then go via the phone into the activesync tool – then click on the options… Here you can then go through the check-boxes to enable sync to the “other” connection (typically the computer partnership) and select which options you want to synchronize.
I typically do this so that I can synchronize my phone’s contacts & calendar to my Microsoft exchange account and my personal computer at home.
Run Once Problem with IE
Don’t you hate it when after you’ve upgraded to the latest version of IE, the very first time you open IE again it prompts you to run the wizard to make all the default settings for things like your default search engine etc. Well here’s a way to get rid of this:
You’ll have to edit the registry to make these changes:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main]
“RunOnceComplete”=dword:00000001
“RunOnceHasShown”=dword:00000001
Pasted from
To make the change from a cmd prompt:
REG ADD “HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main” /V “RunOnceComplete” /T REG_DWORD /D 1 /F
REG ADD “HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main” /V “RunOnceHasShown” /T REG_DWORD /D 1 /F
Outlook Connector Prompts to be Upgraded
I got a call tonight from my sister asking for some help with fixing her Outlook Connector. Apparently today she started receiving a prompt every time she opened Outlook to upgrade the Outlook Connector… It gave her the option to Upgrade now or later. If she chose later, then Outlook wouldn’t be able to connect to Hotmail. :(.
The problem was that even if she chose to upgrade the connector, after restarting Outlook, she would receive the same error message :(.
I quickly connected to her computer using my LogMeIn account and started troubleshooting.
– I uninstalled and re-installed Outlook Connector – every which way I could think of – tried a very old copy – fail, tried version for first 2007 Outook – fail, tried the latest and greatest version 12.0.6xxx.1 – all failed! Each time it prompted to be upgraded again! Arrghh!
I did some searching out on the Newsgroups (there wasn’t much really because this appears to be a new issue) and found that the only way to resolve this was to install the OutlookConnector version for Outlook 2010.
Since Outlook 2007 is 32bit, I downloaded the 32bit version of OC for Office 2010 & installed it. It did prompt me one more time to upgrade but this time around it upgraded to the most recent version of 14+. Thereafter, Outlook opened and started to send/receive mail without any issue.
The link to Outlook Connector for Office 2010 is:
for 64bit version: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=8a31fbf4-f4bf-4751-954b-5b36d80ec375
for 32bit version: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=39db2b89-af2e-41f9-a175-f93e1377959f
On their pages it states that it supports Outlook 2003, 2007 and 2010.
Hopefully this will work for you as well.
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