I've seen issues with search for the last week or so. A few people here have been unable to search public folders or their inboxes on and off. Supposedly resolved. We'll see...

@Carnival-Boy said in Learning Python from Microsoft: I'm planning on learning Python to help my son who is studying it at school (with a useless teacher). Python 3 is definitely the best option for learning. My kids have had some luck using the learn online free tools out there.

@JaredBusch said in MS SQL on Linux rpm missing in repo: Good work Microsoft...... msodbcsql17-17.4.1.1-1.x86_64. FAILED https://packages.microsoft.com/rhel/7/prod/msodbcsql17-17.4.1.1-1.x86_64.rpm: [Errno 14] HTTPS Error 404 - Not Found --:--:-- ETA Trying other mirror. To address this issue please refer to the below wiki article https://wiki.centos.org/yum-errors If above article doesn't help to resolve this issue please use https://bugs.centos.org/. mssql-tools-17.4.1.1-1.x86_64. FAILED https://packages.microsoft.com/rhel/7/prod/mssql-tools-17.4.1.1-1.x86_64.rpm: [Errno 14] HTTPS Error 404 - Not Found --:--:-- ETA Trying other mirror. Error downloading packages: mssql-tools-17.4.1.1-1.x86_64: [Errno 256] No more mirrors to try. msodbcsql17-17.4.1.1-1.x86_64: [Errno 256] No more mirrors to try. There is no 17.4 in the repo... https://packages.microsoft.com/rhel/7/prod/ Something they released and then pulled, maybe?

Looks like Microsoft finally allowing licenses to be used in hosting services in a way that doesn't mean purchasing a license for every server at the host, but only for a select few places. I'll grant you that they are the major hosting providers, but that still leaves out a bunch of our favorites around here.

@Dashrender I just checked a couple of clients and Time To Live where set to 3600 at most and counting down. @Obsolesce If it's default then one hour it is.

That screwed me over the other day with Exchange 2016, I clicked on Check updates and it started installing updates without any permission....

I was only looking at exchange online plan 1, but possibly also Azure AD functionality since I was getting into O365 by a toe.

@Obsolesce said in What Happens When Microsoft Doesn't Issue Licenses: @scottalanmiller said in What Happens When Microsoft Doesn't Issue Licenses: So the reset and query tool that Microsoft provide do not work (they don't claim that they do in 2016, just that they thought that they would.) They report that all is well, and then RDS fails anyway. So there is both the licensing issue, and an issue with a lack of working tooling. Next time do it properly? And not use Microsoft? We did everything we were supposed to do, Microsoft messed it up. Short of not using anything that depends on Windows, what's the solution? Right now Insight and Microsoft are still going back and forth blaming each other. Unfortunately, not using Windows isn't something we control. But without being able to control that, having a reliable product isn't always something IT determines.

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@pmoncho said in The Hidden Cost of Licensing Windows Server - Activation: @scottalanmiller said in The Hidden Cost of Licensing Windows Server - Activation: Just looking at this with a customer that just put in a new Windows 2019 server. The machine was purchased with a volume license agreement for Server 2019 Standard. Everything should be super easy, in theory. Problem is, license key from the volume license center doesn't work. We spend a bit of time trying to get this to apply, but no luck. I have run into a similar situation this morning and not being able activate the VLSC liscense. Before I decided to call MS and getting frustrated, I was able to activate from an elevated command line. cscript c:\windows\system32\slmgr.vbs /ipk <product key> Throwing this out here in case someone comes along this post at a later time. I've heard that that often works. We had tried that in our case and it had failed.

@wrx7m said in PowerShell - Off-boarding Script: @dafyre said in PowerShell - Off-boarding Script: @wrx7m said in PowerShell - Off-boarding Script: @dafyre I think I found where you got it - https://www.powershelladmin.com/wiki/Powershell_prompt_for_password_convert_securestring_to_plain_text Anyway, I am not sure where, in my script, I should place that function. You'd put the actual function at the top of your script, and then just $myPassword=convertFrom-SecureToPlain -securepassword $MySecurePassword Wherever you need the password in plain text form. Thanks. It mostly works. The only problem is that it isn't actually using the password I specify at the top. It is somehow generating its own and then writing it at the end. I put in write-host "Plain Text Says: $plainText" and it shows the password that I typed in for the secure variable at the beginning, followed by the one that it generated. Plain Text Says: $#@%4#@177 Jof91348 Works fine for me here.... Check and make sure you don't have an extra write-host or anything somewhere.

@Emad-R said in Download Windows Server 2019: @scottalanmiller https://software-download.microsoft.com/download/sg/17763.253.190108-0006.rs5_release_svc_refresh_SERVER_EVAL_x64FRE_en-us.iso Thanks @Emad-R with this link you don't have to go through all the paperwork.

@DustinB3403 said in Office 365 OWA blocks Microsofts own content: Would you really want MS making exceptions on your behalf and without your knowledge? I don't have a safe senders list. Yet I get attachments and links all the time. More than likely, the DKIM/SPF checks failed to cause that.

@scottalanmiller said in Nadella: Microsoft will sell war tech to democracies to “protect freedoms”: A growing number of employees feel that the military project crosses a line. Speaking to CNN Business, Nadella defended the decision to enter the contract, saying, "We made a principled decision that we're not going to withhold technology from institutions that we have elected in democracies to protect the freedoms we enjoy," adding, "We were very transparent about that decision and we'll continue to have that dialogue [with employees]." I can get behind this statement. Don't we all want the best tech to help us perform our job? Individuals protecting one's homeland deserve no less than the best offered.

@Mike-Davis said in Server 2019 Essentials - Domain controller requirement: @Dashrender said in Server 2019 Essentials - Domain controller requirement: @IRJ said in Server 2019 Essentials - Domain controller requirement: @Dashrender said in Server 2019 Essentials - Domain controller requirement: @IRJ said in Server 2019 Essentials - Domain controller requirement: @Dashrender said in Server 2019 Essentials - Domain controller requirement: @CCWTech said in Server 2019 Essentials - Domain controller requirement: @Dashrender said in Server 2019 Essentials - Domain controller requirement: No one here knows - we don't run that software. No one here runs Server 2019 Essentials? No - most here run standard Windows Server or some flavor or Linux. Essentials is only for SUPER tiny environments (I think it's limited to 25 connections)... a version that at least with 2012 didn't require User CALs, making it significantly cheaper for super tiny shops that required Windows, but once you hit over 25, you got a HUGE upgrade cost i.e. full server license and 25+ CALs. Yep. It is generally not reliable either. At least earlier version weren't. Throw all MS services on one piece of underpowered hardware and then throw all your apps over it. What could go wrong? I guess i was lucky - when they started calling it Essentials - there weren't that many services left - File/Print/AD/DNS/DHCP and what WSUS? that's all pretty typical single box stuff in my mind. WSUS could be shit for sure, but the rest can work together no issues. Back when it was SBS server and had Exchange and possibly a corporate firewall and SQL server - OMG - yeah, kill me now!. That's just the out of the box stuff that can be simple solved off windows very easily Dont forget that these businesses like to throw quickbooks and other poorly made sofware on their Essentials server including these other services which are already too much to have on one box IMO. It's 2019, virtualize It would be interesting to know if Essentials allows for the install of 3rd party software like that? Probably does.. QuickBooks is the reason I have so many Essentials servers out there. If the environment is large enough where you can't just make one computer "the server" and share QuickBooks from there, Server Essentials goes in along with QuickBooks Database manager and its 25 year old architecture and you call it a day. Same kind of problem here.