SBS 2011 install and why Windows 2008 R2 SP1 doesn’t get offered

**After installing SBS 2011 I was looking to install Windows 2008 R2 SP1 but instead I got offered 59 other updates!  So of course you can just roll with that …but I really wanted to lay down SP1 and then build from there.  Why isn’t it being offered though …even if you scan via Windows Updates?  Google didn’t give me any good results on Windows 2008 R2; however, remembering that since the Vista ‘major release’ kernel unification change to align the desktop and server kernel led me to look at Windows 7 information.

The following article identifies the two required updates that must be installed in order to get offered W2k8R2 SP1.  Interestingly I was offered the KB2534366 patch (required a reboot) via WSUS but I had to go out to Windows Update to be offered the KB2533552 patch (didn’t require a reboot)

Update 2534366, and 2533552 may have to be installed on your computer before Windows 7 SP1 will be offered in Windows Update.

SharePoint 3.0 Patch Gotha – Ouch! …don’t do it

Just found out my installing a SharePoint patch in my lab has now fully broken the site and made it unusable.  In my case this is a SharePoint 3.0 installation on a Windows 2003 R2 x86 server.  Unfortunately this comes at a bad time and who really ever wants something broken by a patch?

So FYI consider laying off installing this patch if you can.

http://blogs.technet.com/b/sbs/archive/2010/06/18/companyweb-and-sharepoint-central-admin-not-accessible-after-installing-kb983444.aspx

You got a love an explanation that starts off backpedaling some CYA:

"The first thing we want to clarify is how SharePoint 3 updates are being installed. There are two main phases (detailed description <link>) Phase one is the binary deployment, this is where the actual SharePoint files are updated. The second phase is the provisioning of the databases, if for any reason the provisioning doesn’t complete, your sites will be inaccessible. You may see errors similar to the ones mentioned on this blog post “Companyweb Inaccessible After SharePoint 3.0 Service Pack 2”, also, you may see an event with an error mentioning the text “Invalid Signature” or “missing Windows Internal Database signatures.". Almost all of this issues we have seen on this update is phase two failing."

Here’s how my failure of their fix went from my command prompt:

C:\Documents and Settings\dale>C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\We

b server extensions\12\BIN\psconfig -cmd upgrade -inplace b2b -wait -force

‘C:\Program’ is not recognized as an internal or external command,

operable program or batch file.

;REM note that I had to put quotations around the path for it to work (article incorrectly implied cut and paste were sufficient)

C:\Documents and Settings\dale>"C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\W

eb server extensions\12\BIN\psconfig" -cmd upgrade -inplace b2b -wait -force

SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard version 12.0.6500.5000

Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation 2005. All rights reserved.

Performing configuration task 1 of 4

Initializing SharePoint Products and Technologies upgrade…

Successfully initialized SharePoint Products and Technologies upgrade.

Performing configuration task 2 of 4

Initiating the upgrade sequence…

Successfully initiated the upgrade sequence.

Performing configuration task 3 of 4

Upgrading SharePoint Products and Technologies…

Failed to upgrade SharePoint Products and Technologies.

An exception of type Microsoft.SharePoint.Upgrade.SPUpgradeException was thrown.

  Additional exception information: Upgrade completed with errors.  Review the u

pgrade.log file located in C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Se

rver Extensions\12\Logs\Upgrade.log.  The number of errors and warnings is listed

at the end of the upgrade log file.

Total number of configuration settings run: 3

Total number of successful configuration settings: 2

Total number of unsuccessful configuration settings: 1

Successfully stopped the configuration of SharePoint Products and Technologies.

Configuration of SharePoint Products and Technologies failed.  Configuration must

be performed before you use SharePoint Products and Technologies.  For further

details, see the diagnostic log located at C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft

Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\LOGS\PSCDiagnostics_6_28_2010_21_14_15_740_7

85893312.log and the application event log.

Just the Fax – Where did it go? Pt. 2 …as in ‘why isn’t the default viewer opening up my .tif?’ – Vista edition

 

Just the Fax – Where did it go? Post Office 2003 SP3 Blues – **note** this former blog entry pertained to XP and its instructions are still relevant; however, Vista presents its own unique challenges

Just the Fax – Where did it go? Post Office 2003 SP3 Blues « Upwards with SBS – SBSisyphus’ Weblog

The above link is from XP and Office 2003 days gone bye.  In the new era of Vista we have a new problem, .tif files are not opened by this same program and registering the .dll mentioned in the former blog article won’t set thing straight.  Instead you will have to attempt to open a .tif and then choose the correct program file along with “always” to set this as the default program for .tif viewing going forward.

The default should be the Windows Photo Gallery.  To choose this to open the single targeted file and not a whole gallery, rather than select the Windows Photo Gallery program instead choose to browse to %systemdrive%\Program Files\Windows Photo Gallery\PhotoViewer.dll.

A Microsoft KB has come out with a fix:  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/967054/en-us

You can also do this without invocation by instead opening Default Programs (Winkey – Default Programs) and then specifying by file type association the above path and file.

**note** Quicktime seems to like to set itself to open .tiff files so just change that one too why you are at it.

Server 2008 Core Windows Updates Full Management

The latest version of the SmartX Core Configurator takes a stripped down default process and makes it fully admin friendly. No more do you have to unplug and pray that the updates install while your reboot the Core machine. WSUS can tell you what you need installed, you can approve the install but there is no way to ‘on demand’ force it to initiate the installation process. If it fails to install you aren’t given easy access to the relevant logged information. If you feel like the Core OS’ scant footprint is too scant in this are then you need this tool. Like Exchange 2007 which is fully Power Shell driven so is Core; and also like Exchange you can build a nice GUI to call common shell scripts to do some quick work rather than fill your mind with more information to memorize (and forget).

In next window hit Advanced button.

And then you can Search for needed updates and check the box and install whatever subset of updates you wish. You can even see a history of whatever is installed on the Core machine – very nice!

Reference – WSUS 3.0 wsusutil command-line utility

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc708604.aspx

Summary of wsusutil Commands

 

configuressl

Updates the WSUS server registry key after the IIS configuration has changed.

healthmonitoring

Configures health monitoring values in the database. If new values are not specified, the current values are displayed.

export

Part of the export/import process used to synchronize a downstream WSUS without using a network connection.

Exports update metadata to an export package file. You cannot use this parameter to export update files, update approvals, or server settings.

import

The second part of the export/import process.

Imports update metadata to a server from an export package file created on another WSUS server. This synchronizes the destination WSUS server without using a network connection.

movecontent

Changes the file system location where the WSUS server stores update files, and optionally copies any update files from the old location to the new location

listfrontendservers

Lists the front-end servers related to this WSUS server.

deletefrontendserver

Deletes the specified front-end server from the WSUS database.

checkhealth

Checks the health of the WSUS serve. Results will appear in the Application Event log.

reset

Checks that every update metadata row in the database has corresponding update files stored in the file system. If update files are missing or have been corrupted, downloads the update files again.

listinactiveapprovals

Returns a list of update titles with approvals that are in a permanently inactive state because of a change in server language settings.

removeinactiveapprovals

Removes approvals for updates that are in a permanently inactive state because of a change in WSUS server language settings.

usecustomwebsite

Changes the port number used by the WSUS Web services from 80 to 8530 or vice versa.