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Thursday, June 25, 2009
Friday, June 19, 2009
ACT: improved your calendar load speed
Microsoft have a hotfix for Windows systems that will improve nearly any application that uses dates. Tests by Sage have found loading 16,000 Activities in ACT! by Sage contact manager reduced from 4 minutes to 9 seconds!!!
You can download and read more about the update here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/960417/en-us
Please post here to share experiences and verify improvements to your ACT! by Sage system (or other applications) speed.
Thanks.
You can download and read more about the update here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/960417/en-us
Please post here to share experiences and verify improvements to your ACT! by Sage system (or other applications) speed.
Thanks.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
CONNECTIT: Windows 7 compatibility
Please find below some feedback we received regarding ConnectIT running on Windows 7 from one of our valued partner resellers - Matthew Rose from Quintadena
We’ve got two customers running Windows 7, company wide.
One of them are [ABC Widgets ltd], they’re also running ConnectIT.
Just for your awareness, we/Aspire can’t find a resolution for a PDF generator issue with Win7 builds before the Release Candidate.
Anything greater than build 7100 can use QW as normal - with a minor configuration setting change.
[ABC Widgets ltd] have never experienced any issues with running C-IT before/after Release Candidate.
If you have experience (positive or otherwise) of running ConnectIT on the Windows 7 operating system, then please post and/or email support@connectit-online.co.uk - your input will be truly valued.
We’ve got two customers running Windows 7, company wide.
One of them are [ABC Widgets ltd], they’re also running ConnectIT.
Just for your awareness, we/Aspire can’t find a resolution for a PDF generator issue with Win7 builds before the Release Candidate.
Anything greater than build 7100 can use QW as normal - with a minor configuration setting change.
[ABC Widgets ltd] have never experienced any issues with running C-IT before/after Release Candidate.
If you have experience (positive or otherwise) of running ConnectIT on the Windows 7 operating system, then please post and/or email support@connectit-online.co.uk - your input will be truly valued.
QUOTEWERKS: Windows 7 compatibility
Please find below some feedback we received regarding QuoteWerks & ConnectIT on Windows 7 from one of our valued partner resellers - Matthew Rose from Quintadena:
We’ve got two customers running Windows 7, company wide.
One of them are [ABC Widgets ltd], they’re also running ConnectIT.
Just for your awareness, we/Aspire can’t find a resolution for a PDF generator issue with Win7 builds before the Release Candidate.
Anything greater than build 7100 can use QW as normal - with a minor configuration setting change.
[ABC Widgets ltd] have never experienced any issues with running C-IT before/after Release Candidate.
If you have experience (positive or otherwise) of running QuoteWerks or ConnectIT on the Windows 7 operating system, then please post and/or email support@quotewerks.com or support@connectit-online.co.uk - your input will be truly valued.
We’ve got two customers running Windows 7, company wide.
One of them are [ABC Widgets ltd], they’re also running ConnectIT.
Just for your awareness, we/Aspire can’t find a resolution for a PDF generator issue with Win7 builds before the Release Candidate.
Anything greater than build 7100 can use QW as normal - with a minor configuration setting change.
[ABC Widgets ltd] have never experienced any issues with running C-IT before/after Release Candidate.
If you have experience (positive or otherwise) of running QuoteWerks or ConnectIT on the Windows 7 operating system, then please post and/or email support@quotewerks.com or support@connectit-online.co.uk - your input will be truly valued.
Monday, June 15, 2009
MSCRM: upgrade 32-bit MSCRM 3.0 to 64-bit MSCRM 4.0
Below are our notes from recently upgrading a clients 32-bit Small Business Server 2003 (SBS2003) with SQL Server 2000 to 64-bit Windows Server 2008 with SQL Server 2008. We hope that you find them useful.
As you may probably be aware - in the above situation, it is not possible to upgrade directly. MSCRM 3.0 is not supported on 64-bit Windows Server 2008 and MSCRM 4.0 is not supported on SQL Server 2000. So a transitional interim server is required. We set up a Virtual Machine with Windows Server 2003 and SQL Server 2005 to act as the transitional server. Both MSCRM 3.0 and 4.0 are supported in a Windows Server 2003 and SQL Server 2005 environment.
Before starting, you'll need to make sure that all prerequisites have been installed on the interim Windows Server 2003 and the new Windows Server 2008 machines. For details of the prerequisites, refer to the Microsoft CRM 3.0 Implementation Guide and Microsoft CRM 4.0 IG Planning document.
Also, please note that if the interim server has had MSCRM 4.0 installed on it previously (perhaps it was used for testing purposes?) then we recommend that you manually remove the Microsoft Dynamic CRM 4.0 server before starting. Just using Add/Remove programs does not remove all files and/or registry entries which can cause anomalous errors when upgrading.
In summary, these are the steps which we went through:
* Install the Microsoft CRM 3.0 Redeployment Wizard on the transitional server
* Redeploy the Microsoft CRM 3.0 installation from the SBSSVR 2003 box to the Windows Server 2003 - see Microsoft CRM 3.0 Redeployment guide
>> See this article if get the error "you cannot mix small business edition and professional edition license keys"
>> See this article if you get a warning "the specified database has a later version"
* Thoroughly test the new MSCRM 3.0 installation!
>> See the article here is you get warning messages about "word breaker for language 9999 is not installed"
* Thoroughly test the interim MSCRM 4.0 installation!
>> See the article here if "custom ISV Config menu options do not show".
* Redeploy MSCRM 4.0 to the 64-bit Windows Server 2008 / SQL Server 2008 environment as according to the Microsoft "How to move the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 deployment" Knowledgebase article.
>> See the article here if, when installing MSCRM 4.0, you get the error "the instance name must be the same as the computer name" from the Microsoft SQL Server System Requirements check.
>> Note that the final step to change the Organization in the Deployment Manager does take a while to execute at the stage where you can "Auto-map users" (or at least it did for us!). To speed up the process, then assuming that the old and new servers are on the same domain, then you can just "Keep existing" which is significantly quicker.
* Thoroughly test the final MSCRM 4.0 installation!
>> See the article here if "custom ISV Config menu options do not show".
We hope that this article has helped! Please comment to add any further tips and links that might be useful to people upgrading to MSCRM 4.0.
For more Microsoft Dynamics CRM resources and more including applications such as QuoteWerks, ACT! by Sage, plus software and website development tips, then please see the Hilltops IT website.
As you may probably be aware - in the above situation, it is not possible to upgrade directly. MSCRM 3.0 is not supported on 64-bit Windows Server 2008 and MSCRM 4.0 is not supported on SQL Server 2000. So a transitional interim server is required. We set up a Virtual Machine with Windows Server 2003 and SQL Server 2005 to act as the transitional server. Both MSCRM 3.0 and 4.0 are supported in a Windows Server 2003 and SQL Server 2005 environment.
Before starting, you'll need to make sure that all prerequisites have been installed on the interim Windows Server 2003 and the new Windows Server 2008 machines. For details of the prerequisites, refer to the Microsoft CRM 3.0 Implementation Guide and Microsoft CRM 4.0 IG Planning document.
Also, please note that if the interim server has had MSCRM 4.0 installed on it previously (perhaps it was used for testing purposes?) then we recommend that you manually remove the Microsoft Dynamic CRM 4.0 server before starting. Just using Add/Remove programs does not remove all files and/or registry entries which can cause anomalous errors when upgrading.
In summary, these are the steps which we went through:
* Install the Microsoft CRM 3.0 Redeployment Wizard on the transitional server
* Redeploy the Microsoft CRM 3.0 installation from the SBSSVR 2003 box to the Windows Server 2003 - see Microsoft CRM 3.0 Redeployment guide
>> See this article if get the error "you cannot mix small business edition and professional edition license keys"
>> See this article if you get a warning "the specified database has a later version"
* Thoroughly test the new MSCRM 3.0 installation!
* Install MSCRM 4.0 as according to the Microsoft Dynamics CRM IG Installing document section 2-16
>> For more details on warnings and errors that you might get during the installation wizards final checks, then review the installation log here: C:\Documents and Settings\(user)\Application Data\Microsoft\Mscrm\Logs\Crm40svrsetup.log>> See the article here is you get warning messages about "word breaker for language 9999 is not installed"
>> See the article here if you get an error that "The full-text indexes on the Microsoft Dynamics CRM database are not consistent with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 full-text indexes"
>> See the here article if you have been using the unsupported currentUserHasRole to control field access.
* Thoroughly test the interim MSCRM 4.0 installation!
>> See the article here if "custom ISV Config menu options do not show".
* Redeploy MSCRM 4.0 to the 64-bit Windows Server 2008 / SQL Server 2008 environment as according to the Microsoft "How to move the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 deployment" Knowledgebase article.
>> See the article here if, when installing MSCRM 4.0, you get the error "the instance name must be the same as the computer name" from the Microsoft SQL Server System Requirements check.
>> Note that the final step to change the Organization in the Deployment Manager does take a while to execute at the stage where you can "Auto-map users" (or at least it did for us!). To speed up the process, then assuming that the old and new servers are on the same domain, then you can just "Keep existing" which is significantly quicker.
* Thoroughly test the final MSCRM 4.0 installation!
>> See the article here if "custom ISV Config menu options do not show".
We hope that this article has helped! Please comment to add any further tips and links that might be useful to people upgrading to MSCRM 4.0.
For more Microsoft Dynamics CRM resources and more including applications such as QuoteWerks, ACT! by Sage, plus software and website development tips, then please see the Hilltops IT website.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
MSCRM: CRM 4.0 install starts then crashes, Managed Setup exited with code -532459699
When running the ServerSetup.exe a screen appears initially, but then the installation crashes fata error.
In the C:\Documents and Settings\(user)\Application Data\Microsoft\Mscrm\Logs\Crm40svrsetup.log installation log file is the message:
"Managed Setup exited with code -532459699"
In the C:\Documents and Settings\(user)\Application Data\Microsoft\Mscrm\Logs\crm40setup.log installation log file is the message:
"Microsoft Dynamics CRM is already installed."
18:02:39 Info Bootstrap version: 4.0.7333.3.
18:02:39 Info User: administrator.
18:02:39 Info === Setup bootstrap logging ended 13/06/2009 18:02:39 ===
18:02:40 Info === Setup bootstrap logging started 13/06/2009 18:02:40 ===
18:02:40 Info Bootstrap version: 4.0.7333.3.
18:02:40 Info User: administrator.
18:02:41 Info .NET version found is 3.0.30618.0
18:02:41 Info IsDotNetInstalled=1
18:02:41 Info IsDrWatsonInstalled=1
18:02:41 Info MSXML found is 6.20.1099
18:02:41 Info IsMsXmlInstalled=1
18:02:41 Info Installer path for Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime set to D:\Redist\amd64\VcRedist\vcredist_x64.exe
18:02:41 Info IsReportViewerControlInstalled=1
18:02:41 Info Sql Native Client version found is 9.0.3042
18:02:41 Info IsSqlNativeClientInstalled=1
18:02:41 Info Installing Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime
18:02:43 Info Installation of Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime has completed. Exit code: 0. Result: Version installed: 8.0
18:02:43 Info === Setup bootstrap logging ended 13/06/2009 18:02:43 ===
18:02:46 Info === Setup bootstrap logging started 13/06/2009 18:02:46 ===
18:02:46 Info Bootstrap version: 4.0.7333.3.
18:02:46 Info User: administrator.
18:02:46 Info Managed Setup exited with code -532459699.
18:02:46 Info === Setup bootstrap logging ended 13/06/2009 18:02:46 ===
crm40setup.log
18:02:38 Info === Setup bootstrap logging started 13/06/2009 18:02:38 ===
18:02:38 Info Bootstrap version: 4.0.7333.3.
18:02:38 Info User: administrator.
18:02:38 Info Invoked with command line: setupserver /InstallAlways
18:02:39 Info Running D:\Server\amd64\SetupServer.exe
18:02:39 Info Loading bootstrap library D:\Server\amd64\ServerSetup.dll
18:02:39 Info Microsoft Dynamics CRM is already installed.
18:02:39 Info Closing bootstrap library D:\Server\amd64\ServerSetup.dll
18:02:39 Info Copying installer files to local directory:
18:02:39 Info Package: D:\Server\amd64\Server.msi, Options: REINSTALL="Installer" REINSTALLMODE=vo INSTALLDIR="C:\Users\ADMINI~1.DYN\AppData\Local\Temp\2\MSCRM_{03A7A017-659A-4914-8400-3EC097D33A22}" TARGETDIR="C:\Users\ADMINI~1.DYN\AppData\Local\Temp\2\MSCRM_{03A7A017-659A-4914-8400-3EC097D33A22}" ALLOWRUN=1
18:02:40 Info Loading bootstrap library C:\Users\ADMINI~1.DYN\AppData\Local\Temp\2\MSCRM_{03A7A017-659A-4914-8400-3EC097D33A22}\ServerSetup.dll
18:02:46 Info Closing bootstrap library C:\Users\ADMINI~1.DYN\AppData\Local\Temp\2\MSCRM_{03A7A017-659A-4914-8400-3EC097D33A22}\ServerSetup.dll
18:02:46 Info === Setup bootstrap logging ended 13/06/2009 18:02:46 ===
Even though Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 may not appear on the Add/Remove Programs list, some files or registry entries may have been completely removed. We recommend that you go the setps in the How to anually remove the Microsoft Dynamic CRM 4.0 Microsoft Knowledgebase article to ensure that a previous installation has been completely removed.
In the C:\Documents and Settings\(user)\Application Data\Microsoft\Mscrm\Logs\Crm40svrsetup.log installation log file is the message:
"Managed Setup exited with code -532459699"
In the C:\Documents and Settings\(user)\Application Data\Microsoft\Mscrm\Logs\crm40setup.log installation log file is the message:
"Microsoft Dynamics CRM is already installed."
Complete log file entries look like this:
crm40svrsetup.log
18:02:39 Info === Setup bootstrap logging started 13/06/2009 18:02:39 ===18:02:39 Info Bootstrap version: 4.0.7333.3.
18:02:39 Info User: administrator.
18:02:39 Info === Setup bootstrap logging ended 13/06/2009 18:02:39 ===
18:02:40 Info === Setup bootstrap logging started 13/06/2009 18:02:40 ===
18:02:40 Info Bootstrap version: 4.0.7333.3.
18:02:40 Info User: administrator.
18:02:41 Info .NET version found is 3.0.30618.0
18:02:41 Info IsDotNetInstalled=1
18:02:41 Info IsDrWatsonInstalled=1
18:02:41 Info MSXML found is 6.20.1099
18:02:41 Info IsMsXmlInstalled=1
18:02:41 Info Installer path for Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime set to D:\Redist\amd64\VcRedist\vcredist_x64.exe
18:02:41 Info IsReportViewerControlInstalled=1
18:02:41 Info Sql Native Client version found is 9.0.3042
18:02:41 Info IsSqlNativeClientInstalled=1
18:02:41 Info Installing Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime
18:02:43 Info Installation of Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime has completed. Exit code: 0. Result: Version installed: 8.0
18:02:43 Info === Setup bootstrap logging ended 13/06/2009 18:02:43 ===
18:02:46 Info === Setup bootstrap logging started 13/06/2009 18:02:46 ===
18:02:46 Info Bootstrap version: 4.0.7333.3.
18:02:46 Info User: administrator.
18:02:46 Info Managed Setup exited with code -532459699.
18:02:46 Info === Setup bootstrap logging ended 13/06/2009 18:02:46 ===
crm40setup.log
18:02:38 Info === Setup bootstrap logging started 13/06/2009 18:02:38 ===
18:02:38 Info Bootstrap version: 4.0.7333.3.
18:02:38 Info User: administrator.
18:02:38 Info Invoked with command line: setupserver /InstallAlways
18:02:39 Info Running D:\Server\amd64\SetupServer.exe
18:02:39 Info Loading bootstrap library D:\Server\amd64\ServerSetup.dll
18:02:39 Info Microsoft Dynamics CRM is already installed.
18:02:39 Info Closing bootstrap library D:\Server\amd64\ServerSetup.dll
18:02:39 Info Copying installer files to local directory:
18:02:39 Info Package: D:\Server\amd64\Server.msi, Options: REINSTALL="Installer" REINSTALLMODE=vo INSTALLDIR="C:\Users\ADMINI~1.DYN\AppData\Local\Temp\2\MSCRM_{03A7A017-659A-4914-8400-3EC097D33A22}" TARGETDIR="C:\Users\ADMINI~1.DYN\AppData\Local\Temp\2\MSCRM_{03A7A017-659A-4914-8400-3EC097D33A22}" ALLOWRUN=1
18:02:40 Info Loading bootstrap library C:\Users\ADMINI~1.DYN\AppData\Local\Temp\2\MSCRM_{03A7A017-659A-4914-8400-3EC097D33A22}\ServerSetup.dll
18:02:46 Info Closing bootstrap library C:\Users\ADMINI~1.DYN\AppData\Local\Temp\2\MSCRM_{03A7A017-659A-4914-8400-3EC097D33A22}\ServerSetup.dll
18:02:46 Info === Setup bootstrap logging ended 13/06/2009 18:02:46 ===
Even though Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 may not appear on the Add/Remove Programs list, some files or registry entries may have been completely removed. We recommend that you go the setps in the How to anually remove the Microsoft Dynamic CRM 4.0 Microsoft Knowledgebase article to ensure that a previous installation has been completely removed.
MSCRM: Installing - the instance name must be the same as the computer name
When installing Microsoft Dynamics CRM MSCRM 4.0 you get the error "the instance name must be the same as the computer name" from the installation wizard Microsoft SQL Server System Requirements check.
This may be because 1) the server name has been changed since SQL Server was installed, or 2) you are running a 64-bit or Windows Server 2008 environment.
Note that in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 "Help", it may state that only SQL Server 2005 is supported. This is not the case; for more information please see the Microsoft Knowledgebase article "Support for running Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 together with Microsoft SQL Server 2008".
To check if the server name has been changed since SQL Server was installed, open Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio and run the following query:
SELECT * FROM sys.servers
If the current server name is not listed, then use the following procedures to correct the issue:
Execute sp_dropserver <OldServerName>
Execute sp_addserver <NewServerName>, local
If you are running a 64-bit or Windows Server 2008 environment, then check that Named Pipes have been enabled in the SQL Server Network Configuration (Start menu All Programs Microsoft SQL Server Configuration Tools SQL Server Configuration Manager expand SQL Server Network Configuration highlight Protocols for <SQLInstanceName> Enable Named Pipes.
This may be because 1) the server name has been changed since SQL Server was installed, or 2) you are running a 64-bit or Windows Server 2008 environment.
Note that in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 "Help", it may state that only SQL Server 2005 is supported. This is not the case; for more information please see the Microsoft Knowledgebase article "Support for running Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 together with Microsoft SQL Server 2008".
To check if the server name has been changed since SQL Server was installed, open Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio and run the following query:
SELECT * FROM sys.servers
If the current server name is not listed, then use the following procedures to correct the issue:
Execute sp_dropserver <OldServerName>
Execute sp_addserver <NewServerName>, local
If you are running a 64-bit or Windows Server 2008 environment, then check that Named Pipes have been enabled in the SQL Server Network Configuration (Start menu All Programs Microsoft SQL Server Configuration Tools SQL Server Configuration Manager expand SQL Server Network Configuration highlight Protocols for <SQLInstanceName> Enable Named Pipes.
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