Win with Microsoft and Keep Your Business Moving!

Every week we invite you to join us online for an interactive session with our Microsoft experts covering a range of topics, which will help you as an SMB, grow your business. We will focus on topics, which include Windows 8.1, Office 365, Windows Server, Business Intelligence and SQL, every Tuesday from 5:30pm (GMT +4). 

Not only do we want to help you with your business and grow it we want to also reward some of our loyal fans for joining these sessions by giving away a Free Nokia Lumia!

How do you enter to stand a chance of taking home one of these devices?

1. Register for our weekly roundtables here.

2. Join the roundtable discussion to gain insight into the topic for the week.

3. Follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn and answer our weekly question related to the roundtable.

4. Every two weeks we will select a winner who will receive a brand new Nokia Lumia.

We are excited to be able to offer you one on one support for your business and to be able to connect and understand what matters most to you as an SMB, plus giving you an opportunity to possibly win a new mobile phone.

See you online and Good Luck!

Microsoft Keep Your Business Moving Team.

TERMS & CONDITIONS

ELIGIBILITY:

1. This Contest is open to any small or medium businesses in Egypt, Gulf, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, NEPA, WECA and South Africa.

2. SMBs in these regions who are members of our LinkedIn group or Twitter follower

   LinkedIn:  http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Microsoft-Keep-Your-Business-Moving-4663666?trk=my_groups-b-grp-v

   Twitter: https://twitter.com/MicrosoftKYBM

3. All government officials, employees of government and semi-government associations/offices/organizations cannot participate

Microsoft reserves the right to disqualify any participant that does not adhere to the terms and conditions or make any change to the terms and conditions at any point of the contest.

TO ENTER:

1. Share a unique tweet answering the question shared on our LinkedIn group or Twitter each week after each roundtable using # SMBConnect.

2. The most realistic and impressive tweets will be collected and through a random draw a winner will be selected.

Participants will be disqualified immediately if:

1. They use offensive, rude and impolite words or tweets

2. Copy tweets

3. Duplicate tweets of other participants

SELECTION OF WINNERS: 

• Winners with the most remarkable answers will be selected by Microsoft MEA, whose decisions is final.

• Entrants will be judged from their tweets answers. Each answer will also be weighted. From all the entries and the scoring, up to 5 Finalists will be selected each week and the final winner (ONE Winner) each 2 weeks will be chosen.

• If a winner cannot be contacted or fails to confirm his or her eligibility or shipping address within 3 days due to falsified information, an alternate winner will be selected by Sponsor.

Participant must:

1. Be following KYBM Twitter account

2. Be following KYBM LinkedIn

3. Answer the question posed correctly

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Each entrant has the responsibility to review and understand its policies regarding its eligibility to participate in this contest. If an individual is participating in violation of Entrant's policies or any applicable law or regulation, that Entrant may be disqualified from this Contest at the Organizer’s sole discretion.

THE PRIZES:

Nokia Lumia Windows Phone 4 devices (2 Nokia 520, 1 Nokia 625, 1 Nokia 925)

• The Prizes are not transferable.

• Microsoft MEA reserves the right to substitute the Prizes for other prizes of equal or greater value.

• All winners will be immediately communicated via email/phone.

• Prize cannot be exchanged for cash or any other prize

• Microsoft MEA will not be viable for any corrupted prize once the prize has been given to the winner.

• The winner must present the National ID or passport

• All prizes must be collected from the Microsoft office in each country within 4 weeks of the winner’s announcement otherwise a new winner will be selected

• Microsoft reserves the right to delay the submission of the prize in case of shipping issues.

WINNER LIST:

The winners will be announce on LinkedIn and Twitter.

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Microsoft-Keep-Your-Business-Moving-4663666?trk=my_groups-b-grp-v

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MicrosoftKYBM

DURATION OF COMPETITION:

The contest from March till May 

 OTHER: 

• No correspondence will be entered into regarding either this Contest or these Terms and Conditions.

• In the unlikely event of a dispute, Microsoft MEA decision shall be final.

• Microsoft MEA reserves the right to amend, modify, cancel or withdraw this promotion at any time without notice.

• Microsoft MEA cannot guarantee the performance of any third party and shall not be liable for any act or default by a third party.

• Participants in this campaign agree that Microsoft MEA will have no liability whatsoever for any injuries, losses, costs, damage or disappointment of any kind resulting in whole or in part, directly or indirectly from acceptance, misuse or use of a prize, or from participation in this contest.

Women who are using technology to inspire young women to get more involved in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) are being celebrated by Skype ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8, including three who use Skype in the classroom:

· Heather Heenehan, a Ph.D. student in marine science and conversation at Duke University, joined Skype’s “Exploring Oceans” unit last year. Heenehan, who had hosted educational outreach programs related to STEM for fourth- through sixth-grade girls in Durham, N.C., developed her own Skype classroom lessons, “Sounds of the Sea.”

· Jennifer Reiter, a Baltimore-based teacher, aims to help save the sled dog culture and Alaskan huskies, which are being replaced by snowmobiles in Alaska; and to preserve the historical Iditarod Trail between Seward and Nome. She has used Skype to bring experts into her classroom, and held pre-race Skype visits with 35 schools to educate them about the Iditarod Race.

· Sarah Weldon, a cognitive neuropsychologist from Great Britain, first used Skype when she played BBC’s “Oceans” series to her classroom in the country of Georgia in 2010. Many of the students had never seen an ocean animal before. Weldon arranged to have the cast of “Oceans” use Skype to speak directly to her students. Since then, Weldon’s “Oceans Project” has grown into an organization that provides free STEM education to more than 17,000 students worldwide.

Read more about these talented women and their educational programs on Skype’s Social Good blog.

You might also be interested in:

· Meet five Microsoft women inspiring change in technology
· Another Amelia Earhart helps women soar, and relies on Office 365 to do so
· Chats away! Facebook Messenger now on Windows Phone

Suzanne Choney
Microsoft News Center Staff

Comenzamos con una nueva serie de videos "Buenas prácticas sobre Microsoft Visio", en este primer video vamos a aprender a trabajar con una plantilla.

(Please visit the site to view this video)

Vicente Rubio Peinado (AIC) | v-TSP Project y Visio | Microsoft Project MVP

2º Video sobre "Buenas prácticas con Microsoft Visio", aprenderemos a trabajar con los datos de las formas en Visio.

(Please visit the site to view this video)

Vicente Rubio Peinado (AIC) | v-TSP Project y Visio | Microsoft Project MVP

For developers, it can be helpful to create apps that adapt to users in a specific region and provide content that makes sense for their culture and habits. Windows architecture allows developers to create apps and easily make then available to people all over the world.

The Windows App Builder Blog reports on ways to design user experience based on the locale, using Windows localization tools. A locale represents the settings for a local language applied within a language-independent cultural context (i.e., a region). For example, the locale for English users based in the U.S. (en-US) is different from the locale for English speakers based in Australia (en-AU). It’s also important to use fonts, colors and images that are relevant for a particular culture, including mirrored images when working with right-to-left languages.

Head over to the Windows App Builder Blog for some examples of app designs that automatically adapt to the user locale.

You might also be interested in:

• Tame taxes with the help of Bing Finance and other Windows and Windows Phone apps
• Watch your favorite SyFy, USA and Telemundo shows on your Windows device
• Weekly Windows Store sale includes “Bejeweled LIVE” and Phototastic Pro

Athima Chansanchai
Microsoft News Center Staff

Starting next week at select retailers in the U.S., a digital copy of “Forza Motorsport 5” will be included with the purchase of an Xbox One for the retail price of $499.99, writes Larry Hyrb on Major Nelson’s blog.

Turn 10 Studios recently said that more than one-third of Xbox One console owners worldwide have bought “Forza Motorsport 5”  since its Nov. 22 launch, with players participating in more than 94 million races, for a combined 8 million hours of total gameplay.

Check with your local retailer for details about the Xbox One-“Forza Motorsport 5” offer, which will be available for a limited time, and to learn more, head over to Major Nelson’s blog.

You might also be interested in:

· Muscle cars and speed demons part of Alpinestars Car Pack for “Forza Motorsport 5”
· Free “Forza Motorsport 5” Road America track add-on, game’s first, now available
· Be a game developer using Project Spark, now in global beta for Xbox One

Suzanne Choney
Microsoft News Center Staff

Vinnaren av Årets IT-tjej 2014 är Sofie Lindblom, 24 åring från Stockholm som studerar till civilingenjör i medieteknik på Linköpings Universitet (LiU). Förutom studierna arrangerar Sofie arbetsmarknadsdagar på sitt universitet, är studentambassadör för Spotify samt bloggar för Womengineer. Hon har också startat en meet-up i Norrköping som kallas Peking Hackers, för studenter och andra unga som är nyfikna på IT.  

"Jag vill visa hur coolt IT är, "it"-girls ska vilja vara IT-girls!" säger Sofie Lindblom.

"Jag tror många tjejer inte vet hur mycket roliga, häftiga och kreativa områden man missar när man väljer bort utbildningar inom IT och teknik. Jag vill inte att flera duktiga tjejer ska gå miste om möjligheterna, och jag tror att många arbetsgivare i Sverige är beredda att hålla med mig," säger Sofie.

Årets it-tjej är en utmärkelse instiftad av Microsoft i samarbete med Universum i syfte att uppmuntra och inspirera tjejer att söka sig till IT-branschen.

Priset delades ut ikväll på Universum Awards på Berns i Stockholm av Microsofts Therese Thorstorp, med följande motivering:

"Med ett starkt engagemang, driv och enorm talang uppfyller Årets IT-tjej 2014 de kvaliteter som eftersöks. Hon jobbar redan aktivt för att fler tjejer skall söka sig till IT- och teknikutbildningar genom att bryta den stereotypa bilden av vem en IT-tjej är. Hon, liksom Microsoft, ser en framtid där fler kvinnor behövs inom branschen för att driva utvecklingen framåt."

Sofie Lindbloms glädje och entusiasm över vinsten gick inte att ta miste på. "Jag vill tacka mitt 16-åriga jag som valde natur på gymnasiet, och därför hade möjlighet att välja en teknisk utbildning på universitetet, och nu har så otroligt många möjligheter. Det är en härlig känsla av att ingenting är omöjligt," säger Sofie.

Microsoft delar ut priset Årets IT-tjej för elfte gången, till en kvinnlig student som är initiativrik och som inspirerar andra tjejer att söka sig till en utbildning och en bransch med oändliga möjligheter. Priset innebär, förutom äran, ett års ambassadörsskap för IT-tjejer i Sverige. Dessutom tilldelas vinnaren ett resestipendium till en teknikkonferens, medlemskap i ett nätverk, och en Windows Phone.

Efter en hård gallring av alla inkomna ansökningar valdes åtta kandidater ut som alla, förutom goda studieresultat, visat genuin passion och engagemang för IT och dess möjligheter. Under en heldag på Microsoft utmanades de med case-lösning, intervjuer samt mingel med Microsoft-anställda, vilket sedan landade i tre finalister.

Vinnaren hade hård konkurrens från de andra två välkvalificerade finalisterna Amanda Pethrus och Sarah Bernelind, båda från Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan i Stockholm.

This video shows you how to automatically collect Windows Azure Storage Analytic logs. Storage Analytics are key to diagnosing issues with blob, table and queue storage. You can run the Windows Azure Storage Analytics Diagnostics package (.DiagCab) to automatically collect the logs previously generated.

Before using this package, you will need to enable Windows Azure Storage Analytics.

Links:

Download .DiagCab http://dsazure.blob.core.windows.net/azuretools/AzureStorageAnalyticsLogs_global.DiagCab

How to use .DiagCab http://blogs.msdn.com/b/kwill/archive/2014/02/06/windows-azure-storage-analytics-sdp-package.aspx

Storage Analytics Video http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/DIY-Windows-Azure-Troubleshooting/Storage-Analytics

Storage Analytics Documentation http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/hh343270.aspx

Storage Analytics Billing http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/hh360997.aspx

Storage Analytics Log Format http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/hh343259.aspx

Storage Analytics Logging - How to Enable and Where to Find the logs. http://blogs.msdn.com/b/cie/archive/2013/10/10/storage-analytics-logging-how-to-enable-and-where-to-find-the-logs.aspx

Note:

This package will only work on a Windows 7 or later, or Windows Server 2008 R2 or later computer. You will need to have Microsoft Excel installed on the machine where you run this package in order to see the charts.

This video shows how to fix the Error ACS50008 in the context of Windows Azure Access Control Service.

This error usually is displayed as an Inner Message like this:

An error occurred while processing your request.
HTTP Error Code: 401
Message: ACS20001: An error occurred while processing a WS-Federation sign-in response.
Inner Message: ACS5008:SAML token is invalid.
Trace ID: 903f515f-3196-40c9-a334-71277700aca6
Timestamp: 2014-03-02 10:16:16Z

Links:

How to fix Error ACS50008 http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/jj571618.aspx

ACS Error Codes http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/gg185949.aspx

ACS Documentation http://msdn.microsoft.com/acs

The newest addition to Microsoft Advertising’s Consumer Decision Journey research, “The Consumer Decision Journey: Financial Services,” provides ways to help brands better reach new audiences while meeting consumer needs.

This research provides fresh insight into how marketers could give consumers the tools they need. For instance, consumers want more transparency from financial institutions and more control over how these institutions use their data. Consumers also want curated examples on how they can establish the right goals and make progress in meeting them. Consumers also seek better connections to their financial institutions, not only through advisors, but also through easy online and mobile tools.

The study found that 70 percent of consumers strongly agree that it’s more important than ever to have savings, but only 28 percent of them have a clear dollar amount in mind. It also revealed that consumers feel bombarded with irrelevant information overload, which is why search can be a very effective curation tool, filling knowledge gaps and helping them identify content they need to make decisions. 

Head over to the Microsoft Advertising Blog to find out more about this study.

You might also be interested in:

• Tame taxes with the help of Bing Finance and other Windows and Windows Phone apps
• Skype celebrates women inspiring children in science, technology, engineering and math
• Weekly Windows Store sale includes “Bejeweled LIVE” and Phototastic Pro

Athima Chansanchai
Microsoft News Center Staff

Semiconductor maker AMD has decided to implement a Business Intelligence (BI) solution based on SQL Server 2014 Enterprise and SharePoint Server 2013. Doing so will take advantage of built-in, self-service BI tools such as Power View, an interactive data visualization feature of Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Reporting Services.

“With SQL Server 2014 and SharePoint Server 2013, we saw an opportunity to gain a highly integrated environment that would give end users more control over their data without requiring us to increase the complexity of our architecture,” said Jesse Cantu, IT director of data warehousing and engineering at AMD.

The company expects that the BI tools will benefit multiple business processes worldwide, including supply chain management.

To learn more, head over to the SQL Server Blog, or read the detailed case study about AMD here.

You might also be interested in:

· Microsoft Advertising study shows insights into consumer financial decisions
· Tame taxes with the help of Bing Finance and other Windows and Windows Phone apps
· Skype celebrates women inspiring children in science, technology, engineering and math

Suzanne Choney
Microsoft News Center Staff

By Adrienne Hall, General Manager, Trustworthy Computing

Since 2004, the Microsoft Security Development Lifecycle (SDL) has helped developers to build more secure software from the ground up. It’s a key component of the Trustworthy Computing Group’s mission to expand trust on the internet.

As the SDL enters its second decade of service, Microsoft is telling the inside story: Life in the Digital Crosshairs.   See more >>

Here are the top Microsoft Support solutions to the most common issues IT Pros experience using or deploying Windows 8 (updated quarterly).

1. Solutions related to installing Windows updates or hotfixes:

• Troubleshoot problems with installing updates
• How do I reset Windows Update components?
• Failure configuring Windows updates. Reverting changes. Do not turn off your computer error when you try to install Windows updates
• Error 0x800B0100 when you try to install Windows Updates or Microsoft Updates
• Windows Update freezes when you install updates in Windows 8, Windows 7, or Windows Vista
• Temporary connection-related errors may occur when you use Windows Update or Microsoft Update
• Error 0x80070424 ocurs when you use Windows Update, Microsoft Update, or Windows Firewall
• Error Code 0x80073712 occurs in Windows Update or Microsoft Update
• Error 0x80070005 when you try to install updates by using Microsoft Update or Windows Update
• How to fix errors found in the CheckSUR.log
• Windows Update error 0x800b0100

2. Solutions related to Windows Volume Activation:

• Update adds support for Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 clients to Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 8, and Windows Server 2012 KMS hosts
• Update adds support for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 to Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 R2 KMS hosts
• Volume Activation Troubleshooting
• Windows activation fails and may generate error code 0x8004FE33
• Solutions to Common Volume Activation Errors
• Activation Error Codes
• Volume Activation Overview

3. Solutions related to modern apps install\start:

• Win8: App: Modern: Modern Apps Fail to Start if the User Profiles or the ProgramData directory are Moved from their Default Location
• Win8: App: Modern: Modern applications fail to start if "Audit the access of global system object" is enabled
• Win8: App: Modern: Apps fail to start if default registry or file permissions modified
• Win8: App: Modern: Application considrations for roaming profiles
• Win8: App: Store related group policy settings
• Win8: App: Modern: Modern UI Apps fail to install with error 0x80073d0a if the Windows Firewall service is disabled

4. Solution for modern apps through authenticated proxy:

• Using authenticated proxy servers together with Windows 8

5. Solution for application not seen on Start screen:

• Application is not shown on the Start screen after switching to another user

6. Solution for Wi-Fi Direct (WFD) may not be available after suspend/resume:

• Wi-Fi Direct (WFD) may not be available after Suspend/Resume on Windows 8

7. Solutions related to .Net 3.5 installation issues:

• How to enable .NET Framework 3.5 on Windows 8 in Offline Mode
• Installing the .NET Framework 3.5 on Windows 8 or 8.1
• How to troubleshoot error 0x800F081F when installing roles and features

8. Solutions related to Key Management Server (KMS) and MAK key:

• When trying to activate you get 0xC004F074 with description "The Key Management Server (KMS) is unavailable"
• "Change product key" link is not available in Windows 8 or in Windows Server 2012
• Volume Activation Overview
• An update is available for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 KMS hosts to support Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012
• How To Verify or Check your KMS/MAK Product Key
• Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 Recommendations for Activation

9. Solutions related to resuming work after system is in “hibernation”:

• 0x0000007a Stop error when you resume a Windows 8-based computer from Hibernate mode
• Windows 8 restarts to a blank screen after a standard shutdown or hibernation

Starting March 7, Eric Larsen and his three-person team of adventurers will start off on an epic journey to traverse the Arctic Ocean from Northern Ellesmere Island in Canada to the geographic North Pole. The goal: break the current expedition speed record that was set in 2006 by a Norwegian team to cover the nearly 500 miles to the North Pole in less than 49 days.

The team will use skis and snowshoes, and have sleds made out of lightweight Kevlar that will also serve as make-shift rafts as needed for large open-water crossings. They have to take everything they need for the trek – including food – with them, writes Brandon LeBlanc. Also going along with Larsen: Nokia Lumia 1020 and Nokia Lumia 1520 Windows Phones, to take photos and share the journey on his website and on Twitter. He has also been using the Nokia Lumia 2520 and Panasonic ToughPad G1 tablets to track and train for the expedition.

To read LeBlanc’s entire post, head to the Windows Phone Blog. Throughout the entire journey, Larsen will provide daily updates, podcasts, photos and videos. You can follow updates on his website, or on Twitter.

You might also be interested in:

• Tame taxes with the help of Bing Finance and other Windows and Windows Phone apps
• Watch your favorite SyFy, USA and Telemundo shows on your Windows device
• Weekly Windows Store sale includes “Bejeweled LIVE” and Phototastic Pro

Suzanne Choney
Microsoft News Center Staff

My name is Aditya and I am a Senior Support Escalation Engineer for Microsoft on the Windows Core Team. I am writing today to shed some light on a the new changes that have been made to the Windows Servicing Stack in Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2. This is a 4 part series and this is the first one:

Windows 8.1 brings in a lot of new features to improve stability, reduce space usage and keep your machine up to date. This blog series will talk about each of these new features in detail and talk about some of the troubleshooting steps you will follow when you run into a servicing issue.

What is Servicing and The Servicing Stack: Windows Vista onwards use a mechanism called Servicing to manage operating system components, rather than the INF-based installation methods used by previous Windows versions. With Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, component-based builds use images to deploy component stores to the target machine rather than individual files. This design allows installation of additional features and fixes without prompting for media, enables building different operating system versions quickly and easily, and streamlines all operating system servicing.

Within the servicing model, the update process for Vista+ Operating systems represents a significant advance over the update.exe model used in previous operating systems. Although update.exe had many positive features, it also had numerous issues, the foremost of which was the requirement to ship update.exe engine with each package.

Servicing is simplified by including the update engine, in the form of the servicing stack, as part of the operating system. The servicing stack files are located in the C:\Windows\WINSxs folder.

This folder can grow very large on Windows 2008 and Windows 2008 R2 system and more information can be found at why this happens at :

What is the WINSXS directory in Windows 2008 and Windows Vista and why is it so large?
http://blogs.technet.com/b/askcore/archive/2008/09/17/what-is-the-winsxs-directory-in-windows-2008-and-windows-vista-and-why-is-it-so-large.aspx

What’s new in Windows 8.1 and Server 2012 R2:

1. Component Store Analysis Tool:

A new feature has been added to the DISM command that will allow users to get detailed information on the contents of the Component Store (WinSxS folder).

There have been many users, mainly power users and IT Admins of Windows, who have raised concerns around the size of the WinSxS store and why it occupies so much space on the system. These users also have complaints about the size of WinSxS growing in size over time and are curious to know how its size can be reduced. A lot of users have questioned what happens if the WinSxS store is deleted completely. There have been multiple attempts in the past to explain what the WinSxS store contains and what the actual size of the WinSxS store is. For this OS release, a reporting tool has been created that a power user can run to find out the actual size of the WinSxS store as well as get more information about the contents of the Store. This is in addition to the article we will be publishing for users to understand how the WinSxS is structured, and what the actual size is as compared to the perceived size of this store.

The purpose of this feature is two-fold. First, is to educate power users and IT Admins of Windows about what WinSxS is, what it contains and its importance to the overall functioning of the OS. Second, this feature will deliver a tool via the DISM functionality to analyze and report a specific set of information about the WinSxS store for power users.

From various forums and blog posts, there seem to be two main questions that users have:

· Why is WinSxS so massive?

· Is it possible to delete WinSxS in part or completely?

In addition to this, OEMs do have questions about how they can clean up unwanted package store, servicing logs, etc. from the image.

Based on these questions, we felt that the most important metric for our tool would be the actual size of WinSxS. Secondly, it would be good to report packages that are reclaimable so that a user can startcomponentcleanup to scavenge them. Lastly, for devices like the Microsoft Surface, which remain on connected standby, it may be possible that the system never scavenged the image. In that case, considering that these tablets have small disk sizes, it becomes important to let users know when it was last scavenged and whether scavenging is recommended for their device.

We expect the amount of time for completion of the analysis to be somewhere between 40 and 90 seconds on a live system. In this scenario, there needs to be some indication of progress made visible to the user. We will use the existing progress UI of DISM to indicate the % of analysis completed to the user. The user will also get the option to cancel out of the operation through the progress UI.

The following steps describe the end to end flow of using the component store analysis tool:

· The user launches an elevated command prompt by typing Command Prompt on the Start screen.

· The user types in the DISM command:

Dism.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /AnalyzeComponentStore

At the end of the scan, the user gets a report of the results like this:

2. Component Store Cleanup:

The Component Store Cleanup functionality is one of several features aimed at reducing the overall footprint and footprint growth of the servicing stack. Reducing the footprint of Windows is important for many reasons, including providing end users more available disk capacity for their own files, and improving performance for deployment scenarios.

Component Store Cleanup in Windows 8 was integrated into the Disk Cleanup Wizard. It performs a number of tasks, including removing update packages that contain only superseded components, and compressing un-projected files (such as optional components, servicing stack components, etc.). For Windows 8.1, we will add the capability to perform deep clean operations without requiring a reboot.

Today, Component Store Cleanup must be triggered manually by an end-user, either by running DISM, or by using the Disk Cleanup Wizard. In order to make Component Store Cleanup more useful for the average end-user, it will be added into a maintenance task, automatically saving disk space for end-users. To enable this, a change will be made to allow uninstallation of superseded inbox drivers without requiring a reboot (today, all driver installs/uninstalls done by CBS require a reboot).

The superseded package removal feature of deep clean attempts to maintain foot print parity between a computer that has been serviced regularly over time vs. a computer that has been clean installed and updated.

2.1. How can Component Store Cleanup be initiated?

Component Store Cleanup will support being initiated in the below 3 ways:

1. Dism.exe /online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup

2. Disk cleanup wizard :

a. To open Disk Cleanup from the desktop, swipe in from the right edge of the screen, tap Settings (or if you're using a mouse, point to the lower-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer up, and then click Settings), tap or click Control Panel, type Admin in the Search box, tap or click Administrative Tools, and then double-tap or double-click Disk Cleanup.

b. In the Drives list, choose the drive you want to clean, and then tap or click OK.

c. In the Disk Cleanup dialog, select the checkboxes for the file types that you want to delete, tap or click OK, and then tap or click Delete files.

d. To delete system files:

i. In the Drives list, tap or click the drive that you want to clean up, and then tap or click OK.

ii. In the Disk Cleanup dialog box, tap or click Clean up system files. You might be asked for an admin password or to confirm your choice.

c. In the Drives list, choose the drive you want to clean, and then tap or click OK.

d. In the Disk Cleanup dialog box, select the checkboxes for the file types you want to delete, tap or click OK, and then tap or click Delete files.

e. Automatic from a scheduled task:

i. If Task Scheduler is not open, start the Task Scheduler. For more information, see Start Task Scheduler.

ii. Expand the console tree and navigate to Task Scheduler Library\Microsoft\Windows\Servicing\StartComponentCleanup.

iii. Under Selected Item, click Run

The StartComponentCleanup task can also be started from the command line:

schtasks.exe /Run /TN "\Microsoft\Windows\Servicing\StartComponentCleanup"

For all three methods, an automatic scavenge will be performed after the disk cleanup in order to immediately reduce the disk footprint. When scavenge is performed for option 1, NTFS compression will not be used since it has a negative impact on capture and apply times, but Delta Compression will be used since it will help with both capture and apply. When run automatically for option 3, deep clean and the scavenge operation will be interruptible in order to maintain system responsiveness.

2.2. What does Component Store Cleanup do?

During automatic Component Store Cleanup, packages will be removed if the following criteria apply:

§ All components in package are in superseded state

§ Packages are not of an excluded class (permanent, LP, SP, foundation)

§ Package is older than defined age threshold

· Only packages that have been superseded for a specified number of days (default of 30 days) will be removed by the automated deep clean task. In order maintain user responsiveness automatic Component Store Cleanup will perform package uninstall operations one at a time, checking to see if a stop has been requested in between each package.

· The Component Store Cleanup maintenance task will be incorporated into the component platform scavenging maintenance task. This task runs every 1 week, with a deadline of 2 weeks. This ensures that scavenging and deep clean processing happens relatively quickly after patches are released on patch Tuesday.

Manual Component Store Cleanup

During manual Component Store Cleanup, packages will be removed if the following criteria apply:

· All components in package are in superseded state

· Packages are not of an excluded class (permanent, LP, SP, foundation)

The functionality for manual Component Store Cleanup largely already exists in Win8. To improve performance, manual deep clean will perform all package uninstall operations in a single KTM transaction, and is not interruptible. Superseded packages are not subject to an age limit. Instead they are removed immediately.

The next blog in the series we will discuss more about Delta Compression & Single Instancing…

Aditya
Senior Support Escalation Engineer
Microsoft Platforms Support

2014年 3 月の月例セキュリティ リリースの事前通知を公開しました。
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Hi Folks,

Today I’m going to talk about CRM Outlook Silent configuration.

CRM 2011 Outlook client provides silent configuration option to help administrators to deal with situations where users are remote, travelling and/or non-savvy to run Configuration Wizard with correct inputs. Configuring CRM 2011 Outlook client using silent method in a claims enabled environment can pose a challenge. The client Configuration Wizard when run in claims enabled environment and silent (/Q switch); the wizard expects the user’s CRM credentials in Credential Manager (a.k.a. Windows Vault) found in Control Panel->User Account->Manage your Credentials. In case of non-silent configuration when it doesn’t find CRM credential in Windows Vault it prompts user to enter CRM credentials and saves it to Vault based on user input for remembering credentials.

In case of silent configuration (i.e. /Q switch with Microsoft.Crm.Application.Outlook.ConfigWizard.exe) user’s credentials are expected in the Windows Vault. If configuration wizard doesn’t find the credentials or it’s not in required format, the wizard fails to configure the client and error like below is reported in configuration log file:

Stack Trace

13:43:35| Error| Error connecting to URL: https://orgname.domain.com/XRMServices/2011/Discovery.svc Exception: Microsoft.Crm.CrmException: Credentials required
at Microsoft.Crm.Outlook.ClientAuth.ClaimsBasedAuthProvider`1.AuthenticateClaims()
at Microsoft.Crm.Outlook.ClientAuth.ClaimsBasedAuthProvider`1.SignIn()
at Microsoft.Crm.Outlook.ClientAuth.ClientAuthProvidersFactory`1.SignIn(Uri endPoint, Credential credentials, AuthUIMode uiMode, IClientOrganizationContext context, Form parentWindow, Boolean retryOnError)
at Microsoft.Crm.Application.Outlook.Config.DeploymentsInfo.DeploymentInfo.LoadOrganizations(AuthUIMode uiMode, Form parentWindow, Credential credentials)
at Microsoft.Crm.Application.Outlook.Config.DeploymentsInfo.InternalLoadOrganizations(OrganizationDetailCollection orgs, AuthUIMode uiMode, Form parentWindow)
13:43:35| Error| Exception : Credentials required at Microsoft.Crm.Application.Outlook.Config.DeploymentsInfo.LoadOrganizations(AuthUIMode uiMode, Form parentWindow)
at Microsoft.Crm.Application.Outlook.Config.ClientConfig.AddDeployment(DeploymentsDeployment[] deployments, AuthUIMode uiMode)
at Microsoft.Crm.Application.Outlook.Config.ClientConfig.Run(Boolean runInsideOutlook)
at Microsoft.Crm.Application.Outlook.Config.ClientConfig.Start(String[] args, Boolean runInsideOutlook)
13:43:35|Verbose| Method entry: Microsoft.Crm.Application.Outlook.Config.ClientConfig.Terminate
13:43:35| Info| Exit code: Failure
13:43:35|Verbose| Method exit: Microsoft.Crm.Application.Outlook.Config.ClientConfig.Terminate
13:43:35| Info| === Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook Configuration Wizard logging stopped: 10/30/2012 1:43:35 PM ===

Possible Solution/Recommendations

Simple solution is to add the credentials to Windows Vault before running configuration wizard; same is described in this blog post by field engineering team. In case silent configuration and/or non-savvy user this could be a challenge for system administrators.

Cmdkey command can be great help in this situation. Here is TechNet document describing cmdkey command http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc754243(v=WS.10).aspx.
This command can be used in logon batch script like below example to add the credentials before running the Configuration Wizard and then calling the Microsoft.Crm.Application.Outlook.ConfigWizard.exe with required switches and parameters.

Here is the sample logon script:

@echo off
ECHO Logon Script to configure CRM Outlook client
@echo on
@echo off
reg query HKCU\Software\Microsoft\MSCRMClient /v OrgId
IF errorlevel=1 ( GOTO Configure) ELSE ( GOTO End)
:Configure
cmdkey /generic:Microsoft_CRM_https://orgname.domain.com/ /user:%username%@%userdnsdomain% /pass
ECHO Configuring CRM Outlook client
cd C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Dynamics CRM\Client\ConfigWizard
Microsoft.Crm.Application.Outlook.ConfigWizard.exe /Q /i c:\config.xml /l c:\crmclientinstall.log
:End
ECHO CRM Outlook client is configured.
PAUSE
EXIT

Basic requirements

There are few basic requirements for the entry made to Windows Vault;

• It must be added as generic credential
• Internet or Network Address must specified as Microsoft_CRM_https://orgname.domain.com/ (don’t miss the slash (/) at the end of URL)
• The Username must be in UPN format, i.e.@. E.g. – Jdoe@contoso.com.

When using CMDKEY command with /pass switch and w/o password supplied as parameter CMDKEY prompts for password. To get this command to work as part of logon script it’s mandatory that you have Run Logon Script Visible Group policy enabled. Run logon scripts visible can be found under User Configuration\Administrative Templates\System\Script and here is TechNet document describing this policy. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc975927.aspx

Thanks & Regards
Bhavesh Shastri