Lync Server Installation Error: Prerequisite installation failed – Wmf2008R2

June 21st, 2011

On some occasions, when you try to install a Lync Server on Windows Server 2008 R2, you’ll receive an error message stating that one of the prerequisites failed to install: Wmf2008R2. It was already known that sometimes this installer needs a reboot; now it is failing completely.

The installer fails with exit code “3″;

The actual problem is, that it can’t find the correct “MUM” file mentioned in the install command. It has been replaced by some update with a newer version.

Microsoft has released this issue in KB 2522454. The official workarround is to run the following command prior running the lync components installer;

%systemroot%\system32\dism.exe /online /add-package /packagepath:%windir%\servicing\Packages\Microsoft-Windows-Media-Format-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~6.1.7601.17514.mum /ignorecheck

Actually, this is just installing the same prerequisite, but with the correct command line instead of the incorrect one used in the Lync setup. Afterwards, a reboot may be required. After the reboot, run the lync components installer, and it will detect this prerequisite as installed, and will continue as expected.

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Posted in Lync Server 2010, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Tabbed conversations in Lync 2010

June 6th, 2011

Microsoft introduced a new feature recently, a very nice one if you ask me.

As tabbed browsing was already introduced with Internet Explorer for a long time, now it has been added as a feature into the Lync 2010 client; tabbed conversations. It looks good:
Tabbed Conversations for Lync 2010


This feature can be used by installing a separate application from microsoft, download it here.

Although it looks nice, it also has some downsides:

  • although it’s a Lync feature, a separate download and installation is needed.
  • As it is a separate application, it need to be started in parallel with the Lync client. The application “catches” new chat-, video- and call-windows form Lync, add them to the “tabbed window” and close the original lync window. Not thát nice, if you ask me.
  • It will pop up as a separate icon in the task bar, instead of a nice Lync window/icon. However, combined with the “compatibility trick“, it’s not that bad.

Hopefully this feature will be integrated in Lync 2010 with one of the next client updates.

 

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Start Lync 2010 in system tray only (remove from taskbar)

June 6th, 2011

 

One other cosmetical complaint I sometimes hear from my customers, is the new task bar view behaviour of the Lync Client in Windows 7. Like other programs, new conversation windows will be “stacked” behind the Lync-logo in the task bar. Also, when you close the conversations, Lync will remain active in the task bar. If you like a clean task bar, this is not a wanted behaviour; but leave the lync/commonicator icon in the system tray instead.

To get this done, is relatively simple, you just have to know it;

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Posted in Lync 2010 | 8 Comments »

Replica Replicator Agent service encountered an error while accessing a file share

May 17th, 2011

Lync uses a Central Management Store database to store all its configuration, and all Lync servers (even when co-located on the server where the CMS is located) use a local replica of this database. In between is a replication mechanism which updates the local replica periodically.

This mechanism makes use of a directory: C:\RtcReplicaRoot . As you may have already noticed, the directory inside (xds-replica) is not accessible by default. When trying to open it, Windows will ask if you want to take permission and ownership of the directory:

This is apparantly normal behaviour, and one should not press “continue”, nor change file permissions on the folder or structure beneath it! But, as you are reading this post, you’ve probably  pressed continue and meshed up the file permissions, ending up with a non-working CMS replication to the current lync server.

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Posted in Lync Server 2010 | 2 Comments »

Failed to register with back-end database after april 2011 updates

May 16th, 2011

Today, after installing the April 2011 updates on one of my Lync Server environments, I’ve encountered a whole bunch of errors after the first reboot. This involved an Standard Edtion Server, its separate mediation and edge servers updated just fine.

These errors all pointed in the direction of a database connection error.

These errors kept returning with event ID 2032:

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Posted in Lync Server 2010 | 1 Comment »

Installing updates for Lync Server fails when using UAC

February 8th, 2011

While the first round of updates is already available for some weeks now (mentioned in KB 2493736), I’ve tried to install them with one of my clients. However, installing the update for the Web Components, “WebComponents.msp”, failed. I’ve tried several times, but still it failed and rolled back its configuration changes. Then it shows an error message;

KB2493736 Error

Failed to open XML File, system error: -2147024786

Googling this error message didn’t show any relevant results. After some investigation I was able to review the install log, and saw some more messages about opening an XML file. This told me it could be some permission issue. Then, I remembered this server was configured using UAC, as it was not disabled. Even though the installer asks for elevated access, it thought it might not elevate completely.

So, I tried to start the installer itself with elevated rights. To do this, I opened an elevated command-prompt window and started the installer from there. Et voilá, the installer now completed succesfully!!

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Posted in Lync Server 2010 | 1 Comment »

Lync Server 2010 beta exams

January 31st, 2011

Hello,

I’ve completed both Lync Server 2010 béta exams from microsoft:

- 71-664 :TS: Microsoft Lync Server 2010, Configuring
- 71-665: PRO: Microsoft Lync Server 2010, Administrator

While awaiting the results of these tests (approximately 8 weeks), I just wanted to post my bits about these exams.

For those wo want to apply for the TS exam when it becomes live: expect lots of powershell-questions. Microsoft wants you to know which cmdlets to use for what particular task, so be prepared and know what the lync powershell cmdlets are capable of :-) For the rest, the standard installing and configuring knowlegde. Know how to install and configure the Lync server environment.

The PRO exam is more challenging, and requests more specific knowledge. This time about scaling, so calculating bandwith, scaling (how many servers), and be able to read into a specific case to answer some scaling, load balancing or roles-based questions.

Over all, this time microsoft included more voice and conferencing questions into the Lync Server exams, which I think is good. Just prepare well, but take special care to know all the cmdlets!

In the coming weeks I have some new Lync / UC  projects started, so  I’ll might have some new posts to share with you on this blog during these projects!

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Using Lync 2010 client in Office Communications Server 2007 R2 environment

December 15th, 2010

While the new Lync Client brings a lot of new functionalities and a complete new look, it isn’t compatible with a OCS 2007 R2 environment. Another downside is that it can’t be installed together with Communicator 2007 on a single machine. When working on both 2007 R2 and Lync 2010 projects, this means the usage of VM’s or uninstall and re-installing a lot, two options which I don’t like personally.

Out-of-the-box the client will give you an error message when you try to sign in into an OCS 2007 R2 pool, stating that the version is not correct. This tells me there IS some kind of communication, however, it’s being detected and blocked.

After some research I found a way to be able to run the Lync 2010 client on a OCS 2007 R2 environment – simply by bypassing a version check. To bypass this check, you have to create a new registry entry:

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Posted in Lync 2010, Office Communications Server 2007 R2 | 47 Comments »

Lync Server 2010 – The Beginning

November 21st, 2010

Now Lync Server 2010 has been presented and we have gained access to the Lync Server 2010 RTM, it’s time to get a closer look for a lot of people. While following the Lync Server launch event, and several insiders via their blogs and tweets, I have collected a nice set of information.

This post is a collection of some of these which I found the most impressive or informational.

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Exchange Unified Messaging – enable multiple mailboxes for UM

November 18th, 2010

When configuring Exchange Unified Messaging, the last step in the process is to enable a mailbox for Unified Messaging. This means, each individual user from OCS need to have a mailbox, and this mailbox needs to be enabled for UM. In my situation, all OCS users already had an exchange mailbox, as only the UM role was new to them. So, the only thing to do (after installation and configuration / integration of the UM role) was to enable the mailboxes for UM.

However, I found that there is no simple way to enable multiple users for UM. While this should be possible – I only had to mention Exchange aliasses and the UM policy – the rest could be set automatically. Yes, of course, the PIN code should be set as expired, but the random PIN would do since exchange will send the affected users a mail with this random, expired PIN.

I decided to create a simple, but effective PowerShell command. It reads a file “EndUsers.CSV” but this can be configured. For each line it will trigger the powershell-command to enable the mailbox for UM, with the defined options. With a little tweaking (input file, output file, create correct formatted CSV, set applicable command-options) this script could be used by anyone, which is why I share it with you here.

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Posted in Exchange Server 2010, Lync Server 2010, Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Unified Messaging | No Comments »

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