Mickey Jervin's SharePoint blog

Couldn’t install programs (Messenger on Win2003)

mickeyjervin — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 11:12:26 +0000

Couldn’t install programs
Sorry, you cannot install the programs you’ve chosen on this operating system.

Error: os_check: 0×80280004
Next steps: Check the system requirements for more details.

I have several times tried to install Windows Live Messenger 2009 on my Windows Server 2003 without any luck. Simply because the new version wasn’t supported in Windows Server 2003

I have managed and accepted that until for now.
But this morning I wasn’t able to login unless I upgraded my Messenger, and I couldn’t upgrade because I was running Windows Server 2003! The chicken or the egg again???

Anyway I found this great blog post that does the hack:

http://devadraco.blogspot.com/2009/03/installing-windows-live-messenger-2009.html

Just follow the steps and you are home safe again

SharePoint Saturday CPH

mickeyjervin — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 11:12:10 +0000

I was participating in the great SharePoint event last Saturday in my hometown, Copenhagen.

http://www.sharepointsaturday.org/copenhagen

It was a great day so thank you all for make it happened
- especially to the SharePoint folks who arranged it

Fixing the SharePoint Timer Service with PowerShell

mickeyjervin — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 11:16:09 +0000

My colleague Søren Nielsen wrote this blog post, click here, regarding fixing the Timer Service when everything breaks down.
I will not go through those bullet points, this blog post are only giving you a PowerShell script there can fix the problem automatically.

The PowerShell script:







# clear the SharePoint Timer Cache

#

#

#

# 2009 Mickey Kamp Parbst Jervin (mickeyjervin.wordpress.com)
#write program information

Write-Host -foregroundcolor White ""

Write-Host -foregroundcolor White "Clear SharePoint Timer Cache"
#**************************************************************************************

# references

#**************************************************************************************

[void][reflection.assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.SharePoint")

[void][reflection.assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration")

[void][reflection.assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System")

[void][reflection.assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Collections")

#**************************************************************************************
#**************************************************************************************

# In this section are all the functions declared

#**************************************************************************************
#


# Stop Windows Services in a SharePoint Farm. Stop service on each "Front End" server in the farm.

#


#An array with the Windows Services there should be restarted

#The SharePoint farm object.

function DoStopSharePointServicesInFarm

{

Param

(

[Object] $winservice,

[Object] $m_farm

)
if (-not ($m_farm -is 'Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPFarm'))

{

throw '$m_farm: variable needs a farm'

}
Write-Host -foregroundcolor DarkGray ""
foreach($server in $m_farm.Servers)

{

foreach($instance in $server.ServiceInstances)

{

#if the server is a "frontend" server

if($instance.TypeName.Contains("Windows SharePoint Services Web Application"))

{

Write-Host -foregroundcolor DarkGray -NoNewline "Stop services on server: "

Write-Host -foregroundcolor Gray $server.name
foreach($winser in $winservice)

{

Write-Host -foregroundcolor DarkGray " -" $winser
Get-WmiObject -ComputerName $server.name Win32_Service -Filter "DisplayName='$winser'"  | Stop-Service

}

}

}

}
Write-Host -foregroundcolor DarkGray ""

}
#


# Start Windows Services in a SharePoint Farm. Start service on each "Front End" server in the farm.

#


#An array with the Windows Services there should be restarted

#The SharePoint farm object.

function DoStartSharePointServicesInFarm

{

Param

(

[Object] $winservice,

[Object] $m_farm

)
if (-not ($m_farm -is 'Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPFarm'))

{

throw '$m_farm: variable needs a farm'

}
Write-Host -foregroundcolor DarkGray ""
foreach($server in $m_farm.Servers)
{

foreach($instance in $server.ServiceInstances)

{

#if the server is a "frontend" server

if($instance.TypeName.Contains("Windows SharePoint Services Web Application"))

{

Write-Host -foregroundcolor DarkGray -NoNewline "Start services on server: "

Write-Host -foregroundcolor Gray $server.name
foreach($winser in $winservice)

{

Write-Host -foregroundcolor DarkGray " -" $winser
Get-WmiObject -ComputerName $server.name Win32_Service -Filter "DisplayName='$winser'"  | Start-Service
}

}

}

}
Write-Host -foregroundcolor DarkGray ""

}
#


# A list of SharePoint related services to stop

#


#

function ListOfStopSharePointServices

{

$winServices = @()

$winServices += "Office SharePoint Server Search"

$winServices += "Windows SharePoint Services Timer"

$winServices += "Windows SharePoint Services Administration"

$winServices += "Windows SharePoint Services Search"

$winServices += "Windows SharePoint Services Tracing"

$winServices += "World Wide Web Publishing Service"
return $winServices

}
#


# remove all xml files recursive on an UNC path

#


#The SharePoint farm object.

function DeleteXmlFilesFromConfigCache

{

param

(

[Object] $m_farm

)
if (-not ($m_farm -is 'Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPFarm'))

{

throw '$m_farm: variable needs a farm'

}
Write-Host -foregroundcolor DarkGray ""

Write-Host -foregroundcolor DarkGray "Deleting xml files"
[string] $path = ""
foreach($server in $m_farm.Servers){

foreach($instance in $server.ServiceInstances){

#if the server is a "frontend" server

if($instance.TypeName.Contains("Windows SharePoint Services Web Application"))

{

#remove all xml files recursive on an UNC path

$path = "\\" + $server.name + "\c$\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\SharePoint\Config\*-*\*.xml"

Remove-Item -path $path -Force

}

}

}
Write-Host -foregroundcolor DarkGray -NoNewline "...done"

Write-Host -foregroundcolor DarkGray ""

}
#


# clear the SharePoint cache on an UNC path

#


#The SharePoint farm object.

function ClearTimerCache

{

param

(

[Object] $m_farm

)
if (-not ($m_farm -is 'Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPFarm'))

{

throw '$m_farm: variable needs a farm'

}
Write-Host -foregroundcolor DarkGray ""

Write-Host -foregroundcolor DarkGray "Clear the cahce"
[string] $path = ""
foreach($server in $m_farm.Servers){

foreach($instance in $server.ServiceInstances){

#if the server is a "frontend" server

if($instance.TypeName.Contains("Windows SharePoint Services Web Application"))

{

#clear the cache on an UNC path

#1 = refresh all cache settings

$path = "\\" + $server.name + "\c$\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\SharePoint\Config\*-*\cache.ini"

Set-Content -path $path -Value "1"

}

}

}
Write-Host -foregroundcolor DarkGray -NoNewline "...done"

Write-Host -foregroundcolor DarkGray ""

}
#


# A wait function there is writing a dot for each waiting second

#


#Seconds to wait

function WaitForTimerToFillCache

{

Param

(

[int] $seconds

)
#waiting a number of seconds for timer service to fill cache

$i = $seconds
Write-Host -foregroundcolor DarkGray  ("Waiting " + ($i/60) + " minutes for timer service to fill cache")
#write status (the first dot on "the progress bar"

Write-Host -foregroundcolor DarkGray -NoNewline "."
while ($i -ne 1)

{

#write status (new dot for every second on "the progress bar"

Start-Sleep 1

Write-Host -foregroundcolor DarkGray -NoNewline "."

$i--

}
#write status

Write-Host -foregroundcolor DarkGray -NoNewline "...done!"

Write-Host -foregroundcolor DarkGray ""

}

#**************************************************************************************
#init the SPFarm

$farm = [Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPFarm]::get_Local()
#init an array to the SharePoint Services

$winServices = @()

$winServices = ListOfStopSharePointServices
#Call the Methods for restarting the SharePoint Services

DoStopSharePointServicesInFarm $winServices $farm
#Delete all xml files from cache config folder

DeleteXmlFilesFromConfigCache $farm
#Clear the timer cache

ClearTimerCache $farm
#1st:

#Start the SharePoint Timer

$winServices = @()

$winServices += "Windows SharePoint Services Timer"

DoStartSharePointServicesInFarm $winServices $farm
#2nd:

#Wait for on the timer service to fill the cache

WaitForTimerToFillCache 120
#3rd:

#start the rest of the SharePoint Services

$winServices = @()

$winServices += "Office SharePoint Server Search"

$winServices += "Windows SharePoint Services Administration"

$winServices += "Windows SharePoint Services Search"

$winServices += "Windows SharePoint Services Tracing"

$winServices += "World Wide Web Publishing Service"

DoStartSharePointServicesInFarm $winServices $farm

How to start the PowerShell script

Like always I have a bat file there are executing the PowerShell script.

Copy the PowerShell code into a file called “ClearTimerCache.ps1″.
Place the ps1 file in a folder called “Code”

In the “root” folder create a bat file and copy following script into this.

The bat file:







%~d0

cd "%~dp0"

cd Code
Powershell.exe .\ClearTimerCache.ps1

Pause

Change Event Log properties with PowerShell

mickeyjervin — Wed, 06 May 2009 07:58:53 +0000

If you need to change the Event Log Properties like when you deploying SharePoint, here are a code snippet you can use.
In this case I need to change the properties on multiple servers on a SharePoint farm, that’s why I’m looping through the arguments of servers.
Like always I have prepared my script so I can use it on my different environments. In this case they are called (surprise) Test and Prod

The bat file in Test and Prod folder are the same, but the arguments there is coming from servers.txt are different. ‘Cause the server names in Test and Prod aren’t the same…

The core PowerShell script to change Event Log properties

#gets the WMI object to change the event log
$colItems = get-wmiobject -class "Win32_NTEventlogFile" -namespace "root\CIMv2" -computername [servername]
$item = $colItems[0]

#Change the Log size
#set the "Maximum log size"
#69952*1024=71630848
$item.MaxFileSize = 71630848

# When maximum log size is reached
# If the settings should be: "Overwrite events as needed"
# $item.OverwriteOutDated = 0
# If the settings should be: "Overwrite events older than 7 days"
# $item.OverwriteOutDated = 7
$item.OverwriteOutDated = 0

# Make it happen
$item.Put("&h20000")

The result:
Before

After

File and folder structure:

Normally I have my files and folders like this

\PowerShell\
\PowerShell\code
\PowerShell\code\EventLog.ps1
\PowerShell\prod1_EventLog.bat
\PowerShell\prod\servers.txt
\PowerShell\test1_EventLog.bat
\PowerShell\test\servers.txt

Folder function:
\PowerShell
This folder is the root folder

\PowerShell\code
This folder contains the PowerShell files

\PowerShell\prod
This folder contains the executable bat file and a file to the specific environment stuff for the Production environment

\PowerShell\test
This folder contains the executable bat file and a file to the specific environment stuff for the TEST environment

File comments
The 01_EventLog.bat is the same but copied twice because of the servers.txt file
The servers.txt files have different content regarding the environment
The EventLog.ps1 contains the custom PowerShell code

\PowerShell\Code\EventLog.ps1
# Change Event Log # # # 2009 Mickey Kamp Parbst Jervin (mickeyjervin.wordpress.com)


if( $args.length -eq 0 ){

write-error "Usage: EventLog.ps1 server1 [server2 [...] ]"

exit

}
foreach( $server in $args ){

 #write servername to change eventlog properties

 Write-Host -foregroundcolor White “Eventlog (” $server “)”
 #gets the WMI object to change the eventlog

 $colItems = get-wmiobject -class “Win32_NTEventlogFile” -namespace “root\CIMv2″ -computername $server
 $item = $colItems[0]
 $item.MaxFileSize = 71630848

 $item.OverwriteOutDated = 0

 $null = $item.Put("&h20000")

}


\PowerShell\[Environment]1_EventLog.bat



echo off

%~d0

cd “%~dp0″
set file=servers.txt
set servers=
for /f “tokens=*” %%a in (‘type %file%’) do set servers=%%a
rem echo %servers%
cd ..

cd Code
Powershell.exe .\EventLog.ps1 %servers%
pause


\PowerShell\[Environment]\Servers.txt



server1 server2 server3



Read xml from PowerShell
mickeyjervin — Mon, 04 May 2009 11:32:16 +0000
I just love reading xml from PowerShell. It could be so hard in VBScript and all those lines of code…
But in PowerShell you just do like this:

[xml]$list = [XML]$(Get-Content C:\PowerShell\WinServices\Code\SharePointServicesConfig.xml)
And now you simply dot you through your xml document

$list.WindowsServices.SharePointService
Thanxx alot  
Result:

The xml file – SharePointServicesConfig.xml














         


Start PowerShell.ps1 from a bat file
mickeyjervin — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 19:19:45 +0000
I have to create my PowerShell scripts so even untrained PowerShell users can execute the scripts!

Everybody can execute a bat file, so many of my PowerShell scripts is executed from a bat file.
Often I need environment variables in the scripts so I have some text files to keep the environment stuff
File and folder structure:




Normally I have my files and folders like this:






\PowerShell root\

\PowerShell root\code

\PowerShell root\code\PowerShell.ps1

\PowerShell root\prod\args.txt

\PowerShell root\prod\runme.bat

\PowerShell root\test\args.txt

\PowerShell root\test\runme.bat


Folder function:
\PowerShell root

This folder is the root folder
\PowerShell root\code

This folder contains the PowerShell files
\PowerShell root\prod

This folder contains the executable bat file and a file to the specific environment stuff for the Production environment
\PowerShell root\test

This folder contains the executable bat file and a file to the specific environment stuff for the TEST environment
File comments

The runme.bat is the same but copied twice because of the args.txt file

The args.txt file have different content regarding the environment

The PowerShell.ps1 contains the custom PowerShell code
Run the eksampel

Just copy the lines between  and paste it into the the files

\PowerShell root\[environment]\runme.bat



%~d0

cd “%~dp0″

echo off
rem ** get the file

set file=args.txt
rem ** clear the variable

set param=
rem ** loop through the file and set the variable

for /f “tokens=*” %%a in (‘type %file%’) do set param=%%a
rem ** enter the folder where the custom PowerShell file is located

cd..

cd Code
rem ** run PowerShell with the custom PowerShell code with some arguments

Powershell.exe .\PowerShell.ps1 %param%
pause


\PowerShell root\test\args.txt



TestEnvironment


\PowerShell root\prod\args.txt



ProdEnvironment


\PowerShell root\code\PowerShell.ps1



#write program information

Write-Host “”

Write-Host -foregroundcolor White “Mickey Jervin – Run PowerShell.ps1 from a bat file”

Write-Host “”

#check if there is any arguments

if( $args.length -eq 0 ){

write-error “Usage: PowerShell.ps1 args1 [args2 [...] ]”

exit

}
Write-Host “”

Write-Host “Welcome to the PowerShell.ps1 eksempel”

Write-Host “”

Write-Host “This is the argument:” $args[0]

Write-Host “”

Write-Host “”


Result:


Have PowerShell fun

         


Error 1718. File was rejected by digital signature policy
mickeyjervin — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 13:01:03 +0000
When I was trying to install a large .msi package from VMWare on my machine there was running Microsoft Windows Server 2003, I got the following error message








—————————


C:\Install\

VMware-server-2.0.0-122956.exe


—————————


Error 1718. File C:\WINDOWS\Installer\50c1776.msi was rejected by digital signature policy.


—————————


OK





The problem is described in this knowledge base article [KB925336]

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/925336

 




 






Download the update from Microsoft Download Center for Windows Server 2003
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=8EFFE1D9-7224-4586-BE2B-42C9AE5B9071&displaylang=en

         


Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file when installing an executable file like VMware
mickeyjervin — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 13:30:44 +0000
I tried to install an executable file like VMWare-server-installer-1.0.8-126538.exe on a Win2003 x64 installation and ran into this problem.






—————————


C:\Install\VMware-server-installer-1.0.8-126538.exe


—————————


Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file.  You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item.


—————————


OK





The problem occurs when you copy files over the network.


To solve the problem, right click the file and click properties.


On the General tab click the Unblock button




         


SharePoint Error: This item cannot be deleted because it is still referenced by other pages
mickeyjervin — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 13:17:35 +0000
When you try to delete a master page/page/page layout file from the “Master Page and Page Layout Gallery” on the Site Settings page in MOSS 2007, you receive the following error message: “SharePoint Error: This item cannot be deleted because it is still referenced by other pages“
I got this problem ’cause I got a corrupt Content type.
Fix 1:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/926812
But this will not fix your problem, that just a workaround that can hide your problem
Fix 2:

http://www.jamik.de/news.php?item.48
But I don’t like to use the SharePoint Designer (SPD) to fix these kinds of problems
Fix 3. (The one I preferred.)

Create a new subfolder
Open with Windows Explorer
Move the master page/page/page layout to the new folder
Delete the new folder where you have moved your new item to.

A strange solution to the problem!
It seems that the deleting method within the Windows Explorer view doesn’t have the same validation when deleting items