WP7 – How I changed my country location on LiveID

I have had my Microsoft Windows Phone 7 for some time now and when I got this the Marketplace in Denmark was not launched. Because of that my Microsoft XBOX Live account (that was attached to my Microsoft LiveID) was created to the location of United Kingdom.

Microsoft went live with their Danish marketplace, but I soon figured out that it wasn’t easy to change my country on the XBOX Live account that was used on the Windows Phone 7. It was a permanent link to the wrong country. I tried to change this on the XBOX Live account management pages with no success. Afterwards I called the XBOX Live support and got the message to create a new LiveID with the location of Denmark because you cannot change this. Even google didn’t help me out…. Sigh…

Okay, but my LiveID has been around for a long time and it is attached to many services in the Microsoft MSDN, Partner and other networks – so I wasn’t going to create a new one.

Then one came to me with a suggestion:

Use an XBOX 360 to change the XBOX Live accounts between Microsoft LiveID accounts!

AND —- IT WORKS !

Just remember that if you use this account for XBOX Gaming you need to use the new Microsoft LiveID if you saved games, credits etc. on the account.

Here is how I change my LiveID to Denmark:

1. Power off your Windows Phone 7
2. Create a new Microsoft LiveID account but do NOT log on to XBOX Live with this yet
3. On the XBOX 360 download your profile from the LiveID that is bound to the wrong country
4. Under Account Management, slide to the menu that contains the “Microsoft LiveID” menu and use this to change to a new LiveID. (This will un-link the old XBOX Live account from the Microsoft LiveID)
5. Power on your Windows Phone 7
6. Enter the Marketplace and this should create a new XBOX Live account for your Microsoft LiveID – and you can choose your country

If by any change the “Microsoft LiveID “menu isn’t there try to change your XBOX system location to United States and set it back when you are finished.

I hope this helps anyone else that was linked to the wrong country in the first place.

Bulk change list item metadata in SharePoint 2010

Sometimes we need to change one or multiple items in a SharePoint list, and this PowerShell script helps us accomplish this task very easy:

Change a single item (with a known ID)

$SPAssignment = Start-SPAssignment
$SPWeb = Get-SPWeb http://intranet.domain.local/sitename -AssignmentCollection $spAssignment
$SPList = $SPWeb.Lists["Contacts"]
$SPItem = $SPList.GetItemById(“37″)
$SPItem["Company"] = “New value”
$SPItem.Update()
Stop-SPAssignment $SPAssignment

 

Change multiple items (with a known field value)

$SPAssignment = Start-SPAssignment
$SPWeb = Get-SPWeb http://intranet.domain.local/sitename -AssignmentCollection $spAssignment
$SPList = $SPWeb.Lists["Company"]
$SPItems = $SPList.Items | Where { $_["Company"] -eq “Old value” }
foreach($item in $SPItems){
$item["Konsulent"] = “New value”
$item.Update()
}
Stop-SPAssignment $SPAssignment

 

A late night installing PowerPivot on an existing SharePoint 2010 Farm

“Okay, this feature should be a quick installation and afterwards I want to test my new ideas…..”

-like many products out there today this was no walk in the park either. 8 hours of troubleshooting, reading TechNet articles and blogs I finally nailed it!

I found a GREAT installation guide on installing PowerPivot for SharePoint 2010 that Cornelius J. van Dyk wrote, and I came 98% of the way.

Still I need 100% to have a working installation J

The error I constantly got was: The given key was not present in the dictionary

Digging through the log files I found an error – not a SQL Server installation issue but a result of the SharePoint Product and Services Configuration part of the installation (see the full error log last the end of the blog post):

2011-12-28 22:37:05 Slp: Microsoft.SqlServer.Setup.Chainer.Workflow.ActionExecutionException: The given key was not present in the dictionary. ---> System.Collections.Generic.KeyNotFoundException: The given key was not present in the dictionary. 
2011-12-28 22:37:05 Slp: at System.ThrowHelper.ThrowKeyNotFoundException() 
2011-12-28 22:37:05 Slp: at System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary`2.get_Item(TKey key) 
2011-12-28 22:37:05 Slp: at Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities.SPUtility.GetUserPropertyFromAD(SPWebApplication webApplicaiton, String loginName, String propertyName) 

-so I checked the permissions in Active Directory and found I have missed setting the READ flag on the SPServices and SPFarmAdmin accounts.

I followed this guide and if someone has a better solution, please advise me J

1. Open up “Active Directory Users and Computer”
2. Select “Advanced features” from the “View” menu
3. Right-click the relevant account and select “Properties”
4. Select the “Securities” Tab
5. Scroll down and select “Authenticated users”
6. Allow “Read” permissions
7. Hit Ok

Afterwards I installed the PowerPivot again and it completed successfully.

Thanks again Cornelius – you lead me almost there and saved a good night’s sleep

Full error log:

2011-12-28 22:37:03 AS: Performing configuration task 3 of 3 
2011-12-28 22:37:03 AS: Finalizing the SharePoint Products configuration... 
2011-12-28 22:37:03 AS: 
2011-12-28 22:37:03 AS: Successfully completed the SharePoint Products configuration. 
2011-12-28 22:37:03 AS: 
2011-12-28 22:37:03 AS: Total number of configuration settings run: 3 
2011-12-28 22:37:03 AS: Total number of successful configuration settings: 3 
2011-12-28 22:37:03 AS: Total number of unsuccessful configuration settings: 0 
2011-12-28 22:37:03 AS: Successfully stopped the configuration of SharePoint Products. 
2011-12-28 22:37:03 AS: Configuration of the SharePoint Products has succeeded. 
2011-12-28 22:37:03 AS: Running function ConfigExistingFarmFirstASserverUseSharedService(). 
2011-12-28 22:37:03 AS: Running function GetSolutionProductVersion(). 
2011-12-28 22:37:03 AS: File name is Microsoft.AnalysisServices.SharePoint.Integration.DLL 
2011-12-28 22:37:03 AS: Found solution location in regsitry setting 
2011-12-28 22:37:03 AS: The location is C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\SDK\Assemblies\Microsoft.AnalysisServices.SharePoint.Integration.DLL. 
2011-12-28 22:37:03 AS: The product version of solution is 10.50.1600.1. 
2011-12-28 22:37:03 AS: Running function UpdateEngineServiceInstanceIMBIVersionAndUnprovisionedBySetupBit(). 
2011-12-28 22:37:03 AS: Running function GetLocalEngineServiceInstance(). 
2011-12-28 22:37:03 AS: Found Gemini Engine Service instance on current machine. 
2011-12-28 22:37:03 AS: Found Gemini Engine Service instance on current machine. 
2011-12-28 22:37:03 AS: Current IMBI version of engine service is null. It means the engine service is newly installed. It should be turned on by Setup if its version is desirable. 
2011-12-28 22:37:03 AS: Existing IMBI version is null 
2011-12-28 22:37:03 AS: CurrentIMBIVersion property of Gemini Engine Service instance on machine SHARE2010 is set to 10.50.1600.1 
2011-12-28 22:37:03 AS: Running function GetSolutionProductVersion(). 
2011-12-28 22:37:03 AS: File name is Microsoft.AnalysisServices.SharePoint.Integration.DLL 
2011-12-28 22:37:03 AS: Found solution location in regsitry setting 
2011-12-28 22:37:03 AS: The location is C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\SDK\Assemblies\Microsoft.AnalysisServices.SharePoint.Integration.DLL. 
2011-12-28 22:37:03 AS: The product version of solution is 10.50.1600.1. 
2011-12-28 22:37:03 AS: Running function UpdateMidTierServiceSolutionVersion(). 
2011-12-28 22:37:03 AS: CurrentSolutionVersion property of Gemini Mid Tier Service instance on machine is set to 10.50.1600.1. 
2011-12-28 22:37:03 AS: Entering function ChangeUserAccount() 
2011-12-28 22:37:03 AS: Switching Service Account to desired user 
2011-12-28 22:37:03 AS: Action: Failpoint id: Switching_Service_Account 
2011-12-28 22:37:03 AS: Result: Success 
2011-12-28 22:37:03 AS: Action: (Utility) Detecting Service Name 
2011-12-28 22:37:03 AS: Result: (Utility) MSOLAP$POWERPIVOT 
2011-12-28 22:37:05 AS: Exception!! 
2011-12-28 22:37:05 AS: The given key was not present in the dictionary. 
2011-12-28 22:37:05 Slp: Error: Action "Microsoft.SqlServer.Configuration.AnalysisServices.ASSPIInstallFarmAction" threw an exception during execution. 
2011-12-28 22:37:05 Slp: Microsoft.SqlServer.Setup.Chainer.Workflow.ActionExecutionException: The given key was not present in the dictionary. ---> System.Collections.Generic.KeyNotFoundException: The given key was not present in the dictionary. 
2011-12-28 22:37:05 Slp: at System.ThrowHelper.ThrowKeyNotFoundException() 
2011-12-28 22:37:05 Slp: at System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary`2.get_Item(TKey key) 
2011-12-28 22:37:05 Slp: at Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities.SPUtility.GetUserPropertyFromAD(SPWebApplication webApplicaiton, String loginName, String propertyName) 
2011-12-28 22:37:05 Slp: at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPManagedAccount.GetUserAccountControl(String username) 
2011-12-28 22:37:05 Slp: at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPManagedAccount.Update() 
2011-12-28 22:37:05 Slp: at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPProcessIdentity.Update() 
2011-12-28 22:37:05 Slp: at Microsoft.SqlServer.Configuration.AnalysisServices.ASSPIConfigExtension.ChangeUserAccount(String userName, SqlSecureString password) 
2011-12-28 22:37:05 Slp: at Microsoft.SqlServer.Configuration.AnalysisServices.ASSPIInstallFarmAction.ConfigExistingFarmFirstASServerUseSharedService() 
2011-12-28 22:37:05 Slp: at Microsoft.SqlServer.Configuration.AnalysisServices.ASSPIInstallFarmAction.ExecuteAction(String actionId) 
2011-12-28 22:37:05 Slp: at Microsoft.SqlServer.Chainer.Infrastructure.Action.Execute(String actionId, TextWriter errorStream) 
2011-12-28 22:37:05 Slp: at Microsoft.SqlServer.Setup.Chainer.Workflow.ActionInvocation.ExecuteActionHelper(TextWriter statusStream, ISequencedAction actionToRun) 
2011-12-28 22:37:05 Slp: --- End of inner exception stack trace --- 
2011-12-28 22:37:05 Slp: at Microsoft.SqlServer.Setup.Chainer.Workflow.ActionInvocation.ExecuteActionHelper(TextWriter statusStream, ISequencedAction actionToRun) 
2011-12-28 22:37:05 Slp: at Microsoft.SqlServer.Setup.Chainer.Workflow.ActionInvocation.ExecuteActionWithRetryHelper(WorkflowObject metaDb, ActionKey action, ActionMetadata actionMetadata, TextWriter statusStream) 
2011-12-28 22:37:05 Slp: at Microsoft.SqlServer.Setup.Chainer.Workflow.ActionInvocation.InvokeAction(WorkflowObject metabase, TextWriter statusStream) 
2011-12-28 22:37:05 Slp: at Microsoft.SqlServer.Setup.Chainer.Workflow.PendingActions.InvokeActions(WorkflowObject metaDb, TextWriter loggingStream) 
2011-12-28 22:37:05 Slp: The configuration failure category of current exception is ConfigurationFailure 
2011-12-28 22:37:05 Slp: Watson Bucket 1 
 Original Parameter Values 
2011-12-28 22:37:05 Slp: Parameter 0 : SQL Server 2008 R2@RTM@ 
2011-12-28 22:37:05 Slp: Parameter 1 : Microsoft.SqlServer.Setup.Chainer.Workflow.ActionInvocation.ExecuteActionHelper 
2011-12-28 22:37:05 Slp: Parameter 2 : System.ThrowHelper.ThrowKeyNotFoundException 
2011-12-28 22:37:05 Slp: Parameter 3 : Microsoft.SqlServer.Setup.Chainer.Workflow.ActionExecutionException@1203@1 
2011-12-28 22:37:05 Slp: Parameter 4 : System.Collections.Generic.KeyNotFoundException@-2146232969 
2011-12-28 22:37:05 Slp: Parameter 5 : ASSPIInstallFarmAction 
2011-12-28 22:37:05 Slp: Parameter 6 : INSTALL@STARTUPFINALIZE@ANALYSIS_SERVER_SPI 
2011-12-28 22:37:05 Slp: 
 Final Parameter Values 
2011-12-28 22:37:05 Slp: Parameter 0 : SQL Server 2008 R2@RTM@ 
2011-12-28 22:37:05 Slp: Parameter 1 : 0xD42B86D4 
2011-12-28 22:37:05 Slp: Parameter 2 : 0xA0A72FEE 
2011-12-28 22:37:05 Slp: Parameter 3 : 0x30E00066@1203@1 
2011-12-28 22:37:05 Slp: Parameter 4 : 0xD05BC945 
2011-12-28 22:37:05 Slp: Parameter 5 : ASSPIInstallFarmAction 
2011-12-28 22:37:05 Slp: Parameter 6 : 0x0FF251A7 
2011-12-28 22:37:09 Slp: Sco: Attempting to write hklm registry key SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server to file C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Setup Bootstrap\Log\20111228_222512\Registry_SOFTWARE_Microsoft_Microsoft SQL Server.reg_ 
2011-12-28 22:37:09 Slp: Sco: Attempting to write hklm registry key SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall to file C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Setup Bootstrap\Log\20111228_222512\Registry_SOFTWARE_Microsoft_Windows_CurrentVersion_Uninstall.reg_ 
2011-12-28 22:37:09 Slp: Sco: Attempting to write hklm registry key SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSSQLServer to file C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Setup Bootstrap\Log\20111228_222512\Registry_SOFTWARE_Microsoft_MSSQLServer.reg_ 
2011-12-28 22:37:09 Slp: Sco: Attempting to write hklm registry key SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server to file C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Setup Bootstrap\Log\20111228_222512\Registry_SOFTWARE_Wow6432Node_Microsoft_Microsoft SQL Server.reg_ 
2011-12-28 22:37:09 Slp: Sco: Attempting to write hklm registry key SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall to file C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Setup Bootstrap\Log\20111228_222512\Registry_SOFTWARE_Wow6432Node_Microsoft_Windows_CurrentVersion_Uninstall.reg_ 
2011-12-28 22:37:09 Slp: Sco: Attempting to write hklm registry key SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\MSSQLServer to file C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Setup Bootstrap\Log\20111228_222512\Registry_SOFTWARE_Wow6432Node_Microsoft_MSSQLServer.reg_ 
2011-12-28 22:37:12 Slp: The given key was not present in the dictionary. 
2011-12-28 22:37:14 Slp: Watson bucket for exception based failure has been created 
2011-12-28 22:37:14 Slp: at Microsoft.SqlServer.Setup.Chainer.Workflow.ActionEngine.RunActionQueue()Error: Action "ASSPI_Install_ASSPIInstallStartupFinalize_Cpu64" failed during execution.

Browser error: ”Only secure content is displayed” on SharePoint 2010 site

I recently ran into this issue after the migrating of a SharePoint Server 2010 site to a new domain name.

At the front page our Internet Explorer 9 showed this error message:

-and the people using this site was annoyed as they needed to click the “Show all content” button each time they visited the SharePoint site.

This error appears if you access a SSL encrypted site (https://) and some elements or content on the page is unencrypted (http://). IFRAMES, images, scripts and other elements can be causing this to happen, but in my case I couldn’t see any difference just by looking at the page or examining the HTML source.

Instead of disabling this message box (by allowing the browser always to show unsecure content – please do not do that) I performed the following steps to find out what was causing this error.

 

1. I visited the SharePoint site and saw the error message in the bottom of the screen
2. I entered the build-in “Developer Console” feature of Internet Explorer 9 by hitting F12

   
   

3. I refreshed the SharePoint page by hitting F5
4. On the developer console these lines appeared:

   

Excellent – here I had the “root of the problem”

I hope this post helps others with the same problem

 

 

 

 

Cloudshare – for IT-Pro and developers

I stumbled over a twitter update by Joel Oleson regards this cloud service – and I really like this new functionality in the cloud!

Cloudshare (http://www.cloudshare.com) is an online service where you easily can create a demonstration, development or test environment of e.g.

• Windows Client
• Windows Server with
  • Active Directory
  • Exchange Server
  • SharePoint Server
  • Etc.
• Other clients

The service delivers a virtual environment where you can choose between different templates or scenarios to install. You will have access through the cloudshare portal where you can get a remote desktop to the individual servers, configure hardware settings and manage the virtual machines (snapshots, restore etc).

One of the most cool functions is that you will have access to your local environment/drives through the RDP or a VPN connection. The next cool functionality is the ability to share your environment(s) with other people.

Cloudshare is a really cool project/product and within the first day of the 14 days trial I decided to continue with one of their subscriptions – it is not expensive at all ! –and you will be up and running in minutes.

I encourage all IT consultants, developers and administrators to check this out – at least the 60 secs of their online demonstration video

Just remember only to test/develop/demo – and not running it in production….yet

Happy clouding J

Jesper

How I use social media

Sometimes I get a question like “Why do you use Twitter when you have Facebook?” or “Why are you active on different social networks? It is from IT guys that have been around since the good old BBS times where we dialed up to these with our 9.600 baud modem and “networked” with other IT guys.

Typically my answer is: “It is really not the same you can do in these social places…” – and this is why I write this blog-post. I wouldn’t say I am right about all things, but this is how I use social media.

Online forums

I use and try to help others on the Microsoft Technet SharePoint forums – to keep myself up-to-date and help others with the things I know something about. I am also a bit active in the Danish IT community forum www.IT-Experts.dk and typically browse around, try to help people and occasionally ask questions, debate and write blog posts.

Facebook

I only use this for my personal friends and family

LinkedIn

I use this to keep my online profile up-to-date with work-related skills and information. Former and present colleagues and IT guys I know are also invited to keep track on their professional information. This helps me to easily find persons with a special expertise.

Twitter

I am a bit new on twitter but find this social media easy to use. It keeps me informed about events, news and what my contacts are doing/thinking about right know. Also the search functionality helps to find a post I can remember to have read sometime.

TripIt

My TripIt application online and on my phone keeps me informed about my travel plans, flight schedules and reservation numbers. The hotel and location features are also awesome! When I am traveling It is easy to find other people I know in the same area – this is especially useful when participating in conferences.

Foursquare

This is a bit of a playing-app – and still. I use Foursquare to find good deals in shops/restaurants and I can see if any in my network is around and where they might be staying so I can meet them there. Also a good conference app to have.

 

All of these I check with my laptop – or mostly now with my Windows Phone 7. With these social applications I can keep in touch with a great SharePoint community and of course also any other person online J

Brand your SharePoint within your organization

I recently saw a session with Symon Garfield on successful enterprise social computing with SharePoint 2010 and stumbled across an interesting comment:

“… Don’t call Mysite Mysite. Come up with an exciting name for it. Run a competition – sounds cheap but it works! Come up with a logo for it”, Symon Garfield

I thought about it for a while…. –and I totally agree on this. We brand everything that we’d like to distribute, grow and evolve: Companies, products and individual people.

If we think of the different areas of functionality in SharePoint as a set of services instead of one product, brand these individual services and afterwards roll these out to the information workers… then adoption and success of the technology will definitely improve.

The whole idea of making small steps to get the “service” adopted within the organization is brilliant:

• Awareness
  • Branding this with a cool name – make an internal competition for a name and logo for it
  • Inform users about a challenge or situation and the solution
  • Advertise for it internally
• Availability
  • Make a launch event (the size depends on the size of the SharePoint service)
  • Make a culture around the service
• Usage
  • First steps – positive experience is important – do not make it too complicated in the beginning
  • Train the users – add optional training also
  • Make a sandbox for people to try ideas out away from the production environment
• Adoption
  • Support desk
  • New employee orientation
  • Follow up and expand the service

In his example this was the MySite functionality to brand and implement but also search, knowledge bases, blogs and product information portals could be deployed using this method.

Also remember to have a realistic time schedule for the whole project

Think about – and comment on this post J

Thanks Symon for your show!

My new laptop testing and demo setup

I have searched for a solution that makes it possible for me to use my laptop with Windows 7 to host a SharePoint 2010 demo environment with 2 Windows Server 2008 R2 machines.

Now it is actually working great, and if anyone else are looking for an okay performance solution for testing/demo or developing solutions here is my configuration:

• Lenovo T410, i5 2.5GHz CPU, 8GB RAM, Intel 80GB SSD disk
• LaCie d2 quadra 1TB external storage through eSATA cable
• VMware Workstation 7.1

With this setup I can easily take the laptop and external drive with me as it does not take up much space J

Finding missing or faulty features in SharePoint

During maintenance or upgrading you SharePoint farm you could run into a problem with missing or faulty features in your farm. Sometimes it can be difficult to determine which feature it is, where it is used and remove it if it is not used.

Check your MOSS 2007 /WSS 3.0 SP2 environment regulary with the following command:

      stsadm –o preupgradecheck

Different methods can be used in this process, and here is an example of how you can find the features

Windows PowerShell – finding a featule by the ID

You can search the features-folder on your SharePoint server and find the definition XML file:

   $path = ‘C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\Web Server Extensions\12\TEMPLATE\FEATURES’
   $term = “AEBDD598-142F-4A93-8AA5-54F66B776CDF”
   Get-ChildItem $path -Recurse -Include *.* | Select-String $term

 

STSADM – find features and where they are used

This command is implemented in the October Cumulative hotfix

      stsadm -o enumallwebs -includefeatures > c:\migration\features.txt

 

Feature Admin Tool – Finding, identifying and fremoving missing and faulty features

This tool is very handy in investigating and pinpoint where the features are. Especially if the feature binaries and definitions are removed from the filesystem. Please use the tool with care and perform a full backup of your SharePoint farm before use.

• http://featureadmin.codeplex.com/

 

More information

For more reading regarding missing features, please visit these pages:

• http://sharepointreporter.wordpress.com/2010/07/30/fix-pre-upgrade-check-errors/
• http://www.sharepointjoel.com/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?List=0cd1a63d%2D183c%2D4fc2%2D8320%2Dba5369008acb&ID=371

-og do a google search on your errors

Thank you for the European SharePoint Best Practices Conference 2011

A big thank you to the people that made this years European SharePoint Best Practices Conference possible and to a success. A special thianks to the speakers that delivered the great content – we have again a lot of things to take back and work with to design and implement even better solutions.

In one of the sessions, Bill English also explained how crusial it was to understand the business vision and strategy – and afterwards choose and design the solution based on this knowledge. Encuraging everyone to get more knowledge in these areas – and for us to take a MBA.

This conference had it all: An exibit with lot’s of good solutions, great speakers and good content for information workers, IT pro’’s and developers. A rich posibility to get insight in stuff we do not normally do every day but that op our eyes for the challenges others have in other SharePoint positions than the one we are in ourselves.

Special thanks to Joel Oleson also for speaking in this conference, as he is changing job position and is stopping his traveling around the globe to make and speak about SharePoint solutions.

A great quote I got with me home: “you don’t know what you don’t know”, Mark Orange