Unable to close EMC/MMC with IE9 installed

When you try to close the EMC for Exchange 2010 you may see the following message box:-



If all dialog boxes are actually closed then this is a known bug and Microsoft are actively working on a fix.

Meantime, the cleanest workaround I have found is to press Logoff. This immediately throws up a message box advising you about saving changes, closing open dialog boxes, and then pressing OK. Don’t be in a hurry to press OK.



Wait a few seconds and you will get the opportunity to cancel Logoff:-



Press Cancel and you will be returned to the console. Now press OK:-



The message box will close and your EMC/MMC will also close gracefully without recording an application hang event.

Cannot start Microsoft Outlook (2010) Win 7 Pro

Cannot open the Outlook window.


This annoying message plagued me for a couple of days during a migration to SBS 2011. I knew the root cause was because there was a pointer to the old SBS2008 server but I couldn’t find it. I googled plenty of potential fixes, mostly involving resetting “offline files” and the CSC folder. None of them worked for me. In the end I found that %appdata% was set to the old server. You can’t delete it nor change it because it is refreshed from the registry on restart.

Type “echo %APPDATA%” in a command box to see the path:-


If you want to see all your variables then type “set” in a command box:-


I scanned the registry for \\<OldServerName> and was amazed at how many places it appeared.

NOTE: If you decide to mess about with the Registry then please remember to set a restore point before you start. It’s quick and can save you hours of agony if you delete or edit the wrong keys.

I changed the following keys to point from the deleted network connection to point to the user’s local disk.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\Desktop\Wallpaper
From: \\<OldServerName>\Users\FolderRedirections\<UserName>\AppData….
To: C:\Users\<UserName>.<Domain>\AppData….

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders\
Make the same changes. i.e. replace the network reference with a local user reference.
I had to change quite a few references in here.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders\
Make the same changes. i.e. replace the network reference with a local user reference.
I had to change quite a few references in here, also.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Volatile Environment\APPDATA
Make the same changes. i.e. replace the network reference with a local user reference.

NOTE: If you decide to mess about with the Registry remember to set a restore point before you start. It’s quick and can save you hours of agony if you delete or edit the wrong keys.

Initially this user was facing issues with slow Network Connectivity, Word, Excel, Outlook, Recycle Bins, and Wallpaper. After I changed the above-mentioned keys these issues are now fixed. This user was the only user to face problems after the migration and I strongly suspect that it was because he was the only user who had “Enabled Offline Files” and “Folder Redirection” operating at the same time.

SBS 2008 (physical) to SBS 2011 (virtual)

I’ve just completed my first migration to a virtual environment. It’s running well with a solid feeling to it but it took much longer than I expected - 12 days measured on the FSMO compliance countdown clock. I could’ve saved a few days if I had realised that 100Mbs is really slow for Network Attached Storage. Once I upgraded the central components to 1Gbs we picked up speed and finished quite quickly but it was far from smooth. I followed the Microsoft published migration guide religiously and uncovered some issues that should be clarified or even changed. All the problems I faced are known events. A quick internet search on the error message with an added SBS2011 tag produced immediate results but not always immediate solutions. I still can’t run the SBS console from the special admin account created specifically for the migration but it runs perfectly from another admin account so I’m not devoting too much time to solving that issue. I have to give a detailed write up of the migration to the business owner so expect to see that posted here in a couple of weeks. If you feel I may be able to help you don’t hesitate to post your questions. Meantime here is a list of the central components.
Dell Workstation T1600, 8GB RAM, 1TB Hard Drive, Windows 7 Pro, VMware Server 2.0
Netgear ReadyNAS 1500
Netgear 8port Gb switch
SBS 2011 Standard

Problems removing a Domain Controller

Near the end of an SBS 2008 to SBS 2011 migration I ran into issues on the Source Server. I couldn’t get dcpromo to finish correctly.I was logged in as the special admin user created for the migration. In the end I logged in with the old original administrator account for that server and dcpromo ran smoothly and finished correctly.

Remove Orphaned Routing Group Connectors

Hunting down how to do this took far longer than actually doing it.

1. Run the Exchange Management Shell
2. At the prompt:
       [PS] C:\Windows\system32>get-routingGroupConnector | ft name, guid
3. System responds with a list of Connectors by name and guid
4. At the prompt:
       [PS] C:\Windows\system32>remove-routingGroupConnector <actual guid >
5. System responds with Y/N
6. Task accomplished, woot - at last.