Microsoft Dynamics CRM UK Reseller: Fixes and Patches

C: Drive Full

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 03:57:04 GMT

I regularly come across customer systems where the C: drive is full or almost full. This is especially true of Dell systems as the default system partition size is only 10Gb on older machines

The cause is almost always IIS Logs. IIS Logging is turned on by default and generally for OWA and other web sites you can find log files going back 2-3 years! Each log file may only be a few Mb but overtime this can easily reach 1-2Gb.

So it is a good idea to keep track of the Logs which can be found in C:\Windows\System32\LogFiles and clear down old logs regularly or turn off Logging in IIS if you don't need it

Internet Explorer crashing in CRM

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 11:30:38 GMT

If you are running Windows XP Service Pack 2 and Internet Explorer 6 and downloaded the latest IE security fixes then you may be experiencing IE crashing.

There is a hotfix for this. See KB946627 and KB942367

You also need to set the registry described in the document. For those who have difficulty or need to roll this out to multiple machines Jesper has done the hard work for you.

Install CRM SBE on SBS 2003 Premium with ISA 2004

Sun, 16 Apr 2006 01:05:52 GMT

Andy Goodman has documented step by step instructions for installing CRM 3.0 on an SBS 2003 Server with ISA 2004 installed which if you read back to November you will see has a number of gotchas.

CRM SBE on SBS 2003 SP1 Resolution

Thu, 24 Nov 2005 11:01:38 GMT

The problems with installing CRM 3.0 Small Business Edition on SBS 2003 with SP1 have been identified around ISA 2004 and the SP1 change to prevent reflection attacks on the server. Microsoft have made available instructions which Ihave copied below. A KnowledgeBase article is being prepared and I suspect this will find its way into the Readme available from the Microsoft downloads page.

Issue
The following error appears in the Microsoft CRM V3.0 Environment Diagnostic Wizard:

“The Web site for installing SQL Reporting Services was not found. Setup requires the presence of the Web site configured to run at port 80 with an empty Host Header.”

Cause

There are multiple identities that exist on the Default Web site. This can be the result of installing Microsoft ISA Server on the Windows Small Business Server 2003 computer.

Resolution
Complete the following steps on the Windows Small Business Server 2003 computer:

1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.
2. Expand the <server name> node and then expand the Web Sites node.
3. Right-click on the Default Web site and select Properties.
4. Click the Advanced button on the Web Site tab.
5. Select the Identity with 127.0.0.1 as the IP address and then click Remove.
6. Select the SSL identity with 127.0.0.1 as the IP address and then click Remove. There should be one identity and one SSL identity remaining.
7. Click OK on the Advanced Web Site Configuration dialog box and then click OK on the Default Web site’s Properties dialog box.
Note: If you encounter the error in the V3.0 Environment Diagnostic Wizard before completing these steps, you must close the installation wizard and restart the install.
8. Complete the steps in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;896861

9. After setup installs Microsoft CRM successfully you can add back the loopback identities to the Default Web site by completing the following steps:
a. Follow steps 1-4 to open the Advanced Web Site Identification dialog box on the Default Web site.
b. Click the Add button under the Multiple identities for this Web site area.
c. Enter 127.0.0.1 for the IP address and 80 for the TCP port and then click OK.
d. Click the Add button under the Multiple SSL identities for this Web site area.
e. Enter 127.0.0.1 for the IP address and 443 for the TCP port and then click OK.
f. Click OK on the Advanced Web Site Configuration dialog box and then click OK on the Default Web site’s Properties dialog box.

More Information:

The following error may appear if the installation of ISA Server creates a certificate on the Default Web site named publishing.<your domain>.<your domain suffix>:

“Activating SQL Server Reporting Services failed. Setup failed to validate specified Reporting Services Report Server https://publishing.<your domain>.<your domain suffix>/ReportServer.
Error: The request failed with HTTP status 401: Unauthorized”

Windows Server 2003 SP1 includes a loopback check security feature that is designed to help prevent reflection attacks on your computer. The 401 error occurs because the name of the certificate does not match the name of the local computer. For example: The name of the Windows Small Business Server 2003 computer might be named MySBSServer.domain.local. The certificate created on the Default Web site during the installation of Microsoft ISA Server will be named publishing.domail.local. Following the Knowledge Base article in step 8 will resolve this issue.

Windows 2003 Service Pack 1

Mon, 12 Sep 2005 17:14:17 GMT

A number of our customers have had problems with CRM after installed Windows 2003 Service Pack 1.

The issues surround authentication and security levels for javascript. At one customer the problems have been so bad that we had had to back out the service pack until Microsoft can come up with a definitive answer.

So if you are preparing for Windows 2003 Server Service Pack 1 I advise you do not do so without proper assistance but if you insist you will want to look at the following:

Take a full backup of you system - you may need to restore to before the service pack
Install the Rollup Patch KB892949
Add the CRM website to the Allowed sites for Popups in IE. In Internet Explorer, Select Tools menu and select Pop-up Blocker and click on Pop-up Blocker Settings. Enter the CRM website URL and click on Add then Close.
Add the CRM website to either the Intranet Zone or Trusted Sites. In Internet Explorer, Select Tools menu and select Internet Options. Click on Security Tab. Highlight Trusted Sites and click on Sites button. Enter the CRM website URL and click on Add and then Close
Check out my previous post on the Hotfix for problems with Manual Workflow and Bulk E-mail - KB898654
If you are still having problems there are other hotfixes available from MBS Support - contact them
You may need to disable the lookup check as described in KB896861
Review the user that is running the CRM Services and if it is Local System consider changing to a User Account
If the Crystal Reports services fail to start then you will need to exclude the Crystal Executables from DEP

Hotfix for Windows 2003 Service Pack 1

Mon, 04 Jul 2005 12:03:11 GMT

If you have installed Service Pack 1 for Windows 2003 server or Small Business Server 2003 then you may need this hotfix to solve problems with direct email and manual workflow

This is also on the KnowledgeBase KB898654

SQL Server Service Pack 4

Thu, 26 May 2005 08:54:13 GMT

Microsoft have released Service Pack 4 for SQL Server 2000. As with Windows 2003 SP1 there are some reports on the newsgroups of this service pack causing problems with CRM.

We are therefore advising our customers not to install SQL Server SP4 until we know what the issues are and how to fix them. Will update with more information as we find out.

Windows 2003 Service Pack 1 and MSCRM

Wed, 25 May 2005 17:02:48 GMT

There have been several issues with applying Windows 2003 Service Pack 1 reported on the newsgroups varying from Crystal Reports not starting to getting HTTP 500 errors.

We are therefore advising our customers not to install W2K3 SP1 until we know what the issues are and how to fix/avoid them. Will update with more information as we find out.

On a further note if you have SBS2003 (if you read some of my older posts you will realise what a fan of SBS I am) then do not install the Windows 2003 SP1 - there is a separate Service Pack 1 especially for SBS2003. The SBS Diva has all the information you need for SBS2003 SP1 but again if you have CRM on your SBS server hold off for now.

SQL Reporting Services Service Pack 2

Wed, 25 May 2005 16:55:11 GMT

If you read my original article on SQL Reporting Services you will know how much a fan I am of it.

There is a new Service Pack for SQL Reporting Services which I recommend you install.

As well as the bug fixes the Service Pack adds:

client side printing from within IE
Sharepoint web parts for your reports

Before installing the service pack make sure you backup both the ReportServer and ReportServerTemp databases. You should also copy your encryption keys out to a file using the rskeymgmt command line utility e.g. to write the key file to a floppy

rskeymgmt -e -fa:\rsdbkey.txt -p<password>

Rollup Patch for Sales for Outlook

Tue, 08 Mar 2005 16:51:53 GMT

A new rollup patch, KB892949, has been released for the SFO client which brings together a lot of the patches, hotfixes and the updates from the feature pack into one package.

This should help with many of the SFO problems I outlined in an earlier post so I recommend you download it from http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;892949

Sales for Outlook

Wed, 16 Feb 2005 01:01:47 GMT

The Sales for Outlook client probably counts for a lot of the support issues our helpdesk receives. Problems fall into the following categories:

Installation
Missing toolbar
Sync problems
Promoting Emails
CRM Buttons do not work

Installation

Sales for Outlook (SFO) must be installed when logged on as the user who will be using CRM. This user must have administrative rights on the PC. This is often a problem in most organisations as users are not normally part of the local administrators group. If another user logs onto the PC starts Outlook, they will not see the Microsoft CRM folders or the toolbar. This means that the SFO client is only viable where only PC is used by one person. In any other circumstances the browser client is the only guaranteed way of accessing CRM.

This is due to the way Microsoft have architected the Sales for Outlook client. SFO uses the MSDE SQL Server system to store data locally and installs MSDE as a named instance called CRM. You can have more than one named instance of MSDE on a machine but each must be called a different name hence this restriction to only the user who first installed CRM. I am expecting this to be addressed in the next version as it is very restrictive.

This is the reason behind why SFO is not supported under Terminal Services (and therefore Citrix).

Missing Toolbar

Apart from the problem described above where the CRM toolbar only works for the user who first installed CRM the CRM toolbar can disappear from Outlook. There are many causes for this but the solution which tends to work is to simply re-enable the CRM COM Addin (from the Outlook Menu choose Tools | Options | Other | Advanced Options | COM Add Ins) either by checking it and re-starting Outlook or by removing it and then adding back in CRMAddin.dll.

We tend to find that either a SFO installation is solid and never loses the toolbar or is very problematic. You must make sure all patches for SFO are installed including those from the 1.2 Feature Pack and the XP Service Pack 2 patch (if applicable). Then there is a further hotfix which is available from Microsoft. If all else fails then uninstall SFO and re-install

Sync

There are a number of problems with Going Online/Offline and contacts/appointments not being copies to Outlook. If you have these problems contact your reseller.

Promoting Emails

Promoting emails into CRM is a good way of tracking important emails that your customers have sent directly to you and have not been trapped by the Exchange CRM router. However, you cannot promote emails sent from Outlook unless you have used the CRM Email button on the CRM Toolbar.

CRM Buttons

Sometimes clicking on the buttons on the CRM Toolbar fails to open the form. The solution to this is quite simple; from the Outlook Menu choose Tools | Options | Other | Advanced Options | Custom Forms. Increase the maximum space to 20480 and click on Manage Forms and click on the Clear Cache button.

I hope this helps with some of the more common SFO problems.

UPDATE: There is a rollup patch which fixes a lot of the above problem. See this later post for more details.