Ask the Directory Services Team
Microsoft's official enterprise support blog for AD DS and more
New Directory Services Content 7/25-7/31
KB Articles Number Title 2253680 Crypt32 8 events continuously reported on Windows Server 2003,...
Author: Scott Goad Date: 08/02/2010
New DNS and AD DS BPA’s released (or: the most accurate list of DNS recommendations you will ever find from Microsoft)
Hi folks, Ned here again. We’ve released another wave of Best Practices Analyzer rules for...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 08/02/2010
Friday Mail Sack: Newfie from the Grave Edition
Heya, Ned here again. Since this another of those catch up mail sacks, there’s plenty of interesting...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 07/30/2010
Post-Graduate AD Studies
Hello world, Ned here again. I was out of the office late last week so there was no mail sack;...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 07/27/2010
New Directory Services Content 7/18-7/24
Sorry we weren’t able to get you this content reporting for a bit. We changed over to a new...
Author: Craig Landis Date: 07/26/2010
Friday Mail Sack: Saturday Edition
Ned here. As you may have noticed, it is not Friday. You may also have noticed that this post is...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 07/17/2010
Service Pack 1 Beta out for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2
Ned here again. You may have missed this on Monday, but the Beta version of Service Pack 1 for...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 07/17/2010
No Friday mail sack
Ned here again. This week has been hecklacious and I did not find time for the Sack. Actually...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 07/16/2010
Goodbye Windows 2000
On April 9, 1999 the first Windows 2000 Active Directory domain went online in Redmond Washington....
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 07/13/2010
Migrating Vista and Windows 7 profiles with ADMT 3.2
Ned here again with another ADMT post – this one’s a quickie. V2 profiles were...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 07/10/2010
ADMT 3.2: Common Installation Issues
Hello folks, Ned here again. ADMT 3.2 was released a few weeks ago and we have a decent...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 07/09/2010
Reminder: Windows 2000 Support ends July 13 (and other lifecycle stuff for 2003, XP, SfU)
Ned here again. If you’ve been under a rock for the past year, here it is one more time:...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 07/07/2010
Announcing the Group Policy Search service
Hello, Kapil here. I am a Product Quality PM for Windows here in Texas [i.e. someone who falls...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 06/24/2010
We are hiring
We are hiring again (in your face, 2008 economy!) and if you think you have what it takes to do my...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 06/23/2010
ADMT 3.2 released
Come and get it. Especially you commenters that liked to swear at me anonymously :-). Besides now...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 06/19/2010
How to Virtualize Active Directory Domain Controllers (Part 2)
Hello everyone, this is Shravan from the Active Directory team and Jason from the System Center VMM...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 06/15/2010
Friday Mail Sack: Shut Up Laura Edition
Hello again folks, Ned here for another grab bag of questions we’ve gotten this week. This late...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 06/11/2010
How to Virtualize Active Directory Domain Controllers (Part 1)
Hello Everyone, this is Shravan from the Active Directory team and Jason from the System Center VMM...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 06/10/2010
Son of SPA: AD Data Collector Sets in Win2008 and beyond
Hello, David Everett here again. This time I’m going to cover configuration and management of...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 06/08/2010
Friday Mail Sack: Walking Tall Edition
Hello folks, Ned here again. After a week in Las Colinas Texas, the blog migration, and Jonathan’s...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 06/04/2010
New Directory Services Content 5/23-5/29
KB 983456 SMTP configuration options are reset in Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008...
Author: Craig Landis Date: 06/02/2010
One Stop Shop for Windows Time Information
Hi folks, Ned here again. After much noodling and work here with our TechNet writer team, there is a...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 06/01/2010
New Directory Services Content 5/16-5/22
KB 983254 The first data point that is in a Performance Monitor log .csv file may be a larger number...
Author: Craig Landis Date: 05/28/2010
Designing and Implementing a PKI: Part III Certificate Templates
The series: Designing and Implementing a PKI: Part I Design and Planning Designing and Implementing...
Author: Jonathan Stephens, MSFT Date: 05/27/2010
FRS to DFSR Migration Tool Released
Heya, Ned here again. I am out of my barrel and on the road again this week, coming to you live from...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 05/27/2010
Enabling CEP and CES for enrolling non-domain joined computers for certificates
Hey all, Rob here again. I thought I would expand upon my last blog describing Certificate...
Author: Jonathan Stephens, MSFT Date: 05/25/2010
AD FS 2.0 and AD FS 1.x Interoperability
Hi, it’s Adam Conkle again. I am excited about our recent release of AD FS 2.0 on May 5. I...
Author: Jonathan Stephens, MSFT Date: 05/25/2010
File Services Management Pack has been released
Hello there file server admins and datacenter monitoring gurus, Ned here again. After much skull...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 05/24/2010
New Directory Services Content 5/9-5/15
KB 972779 Some smart cards performing requests cause performance issues 978098 Errors when you have...
Author: Craig Landis Date: 05/24/2010
New Directory Services KB Articles/Blogs 5/2-5/8
KB 982879 Microsoft Advisory Services Engagement Scenario - Internet Explorer 7 and 8 Group Policy...
Author: Craig Landis Date: 05/14/2010
Friday Mail Sack – It’s About To Get Real Edition
Hello Terra, it’s Ned here again. Before I get rolling, a big announcement: On May 16th all the MSDN...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 05/14/2010
Validating your AD Schema Prior to Upgrade (a Followup)
Hi folks, Ned here for a quickie. Back in April I posted a short mail sack piece about Schema...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 05/13/2010
Migrated Users Get Prompted To Change Password at First Logon Even After Migrating Their Password with the PES
Hello all, Jason (J4) here again. I recently experienced an issue with ADMT and the Password Export...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 05/12/2010
New Directory Services KB Articles 4/25-5/1
KB 980650 You cannot generate FSRM reports in Windows Server 2008 if the policy for the United...
Author: Craig Landis Date: 05/03/2010
Friday Mail Sack – Cup Runneth Over Edition
Hello there fellow humanoids, Ned here again. Last week the Mail Sack was a bit thin. This week I...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 04/30/2010
Win2008 R2 BPA Updates Released for April 2010 wave
Ahoy hoy. The BPA release release cycle has just ticked over once for Windows Server 2008 R2. This...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 04/28/2010
New Directory Services KB Articles/Blogs 4/18-4/24
KB 980409 You cannot log on to a Swedish or to a German edition of Windows 7 when you enter...
Author: Craig Landis Date: 04/26/2010
New Directory Services KB Articles/Blogs 4/11-4/17
KB 982591 Startup application may not run after disabled and re-enabled in MSConfig 977629 Terminal...
Author: Craig Landis Date: 04/23/2010
The Case for Migrating SYSVOL to DFSR
Hello folks, Ned here again. Recently I was asked to provide a technical assessment of the risks of...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 04/22/2010
FRS to DFSR migration guide published
Hi all, Ned here. A new Technet operations guide has been published that walks you through how to...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 04/20/2010
It’s our turn to ask you a question
Hi. Russell here. Scott and I are in the pre-production stages for a series of AskDS podcasts and...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 04/14/2010
New Directory Services KB Articles/Blogs 4/4-4/10
KB 980794 System state backup error in Windows Server 2008 and in Windows Vista: "Enumeration of the...
Author: Craig Landis Date: 04/12/2010
Friday Mail Sack – While the Ned’s Away Edition
Hello Internet! Last week, Ned said there wouldn’t be a Mail Sack this week because he was...
Author: Jonathan Stephens, MSFT Date: 04/09/2010