Ask the Directory Services Team
Microsoft's official enterprise support blog for AD DS and more
New Directory Services KB Articles/Blogs 3/28-4/3
KB 979751 A domain user account that has a blank password cannot be used to authenticate against...
Author: Craig Landis Date: 04/09/2010
Friday Mail Sack – Marshmallow Bird Edition
Hi there intarwebz, Ned here. Hopefully you’re at home right now filling up the basket with Peeps...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 04/02/2010
New Directory Services KB Articles/Blogs 3/21-3/27
KB 981477 You cannot run a TS RemoteApp application in Windows XP SP2 981478 Error message when you...
Author: Craig Landis Date: 04/02/2010
Event 17 errors in Terminal Services / Remote Desktop Services license servers
Ned here. If you have started having event 17 errors with your licensing servers for Terminal...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 04/01/2010
Tuning replication performance in DFSR (especially on Win2008 R2)
Hi all, Ned here again. There are a number of ways that DFSR can be tuned for better performance....
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 03/31/2010
Best practices around Active Directory Authoritative Restores in Windows Server 2003 and 2008
It’s your guest writer Herbert Mauerer again. A very common AD disaster is an unexpected...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 03/30/2010
Friday Mail Sack – Missed Week Edition
Hiya folks, Ned again. The mail sack was a no-show last week since I was out of town; I hope you can...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 03/26/2010
Group Policy Script Processing Behavior
Hi Everyone, Mike here. Today I am discussing the default processing behavior for Group Policy...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 03/23/2010
New Directory Services KB Articles/Blogs 3/14-3/20
KB 981665 Code sample that shows how to filter IOCTLs that retrieve ATRs from a smart card reader...
Author: Craig Landis Date: 03/22/2010
Background uploading of User Registry Settings
Hey everyone, Mike here again to discuss an interesting feature I learned about in Windows 7. Many...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 03/22/2010
New Directory Services KB Articles/Blogs 3/7-3/13
In addition to the normal list of KBs and blog posts, here is a look at the topics related to...
Author: Craig Landis Date: 03/17/2010
Friday Mail Sack – Mogwai Edition
Hi folks, Ned here again. This week we hunt down some documentation gremlins and give them a...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 03/12/2010
USMT and /SF
Hi all, Ned here again. I’ve seen an emerging issue with USMT that I need to address while our...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 03/11/2010
New Directory Services KB Articles/Blogs 2/28-3/6
KB 980027 A Windows Server 2008 domain controller cannot allocate new ports when Server for NIS is...
Author: Craig Landis Date: 03/08/2010
Read-Only Replication in R2
Ned here again. I’ve been involved with DFSR since its late beta days in 2005. Through good luck and...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 03/08/2010
Friday Mail Sack - Something Something Edition
Hi folks, Ned here again. Despite worries in our Comments sections, the Friday Mail Sack is GO. This...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 03/05/2010
TechNet Wiki – Contribute Boldly!
Earlier this week the TechNet Wiki Beta site went live. Now instead of just providing additions to...
Author: Craig Landis Date: 03/05/2010
USMT 4.0 and Custom Exclusion Troubleshooting
Ned here again. Because Windows XP cannot be in-place upgraded to Windows 7 and because XP has ruled...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 03/03/2010
New Directory Services KB Articles/Blogs 2/21-2/27
KB 976264 Application Compatibility Update for Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, and...
Author: Craig Landis Date: 03/01/2010
USMT 4.0: Cryptic Messages with Easy Fixes
Ned here again. As you begin the process of moving off your older operating systems to Windows 7 you...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 03/01/2010
Get Shiny with USMT: Turning the Aero Theme on During XP to Windows 7 Migration
Ned here again. Today’s post is quick and dirty… and glossy! One thing users notice immediately...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 02/24/2010
New Directory Services KB Articles/Blogs 2/14-2/20
KB 979231 Memory usage keeps increasing if Schannel authentication is used after the update 968389...
Author: Craig Landis Date: 02/22/2010
Friday Mail Sack – Big Picture Edition
Hi folks, Ned here again. Here are this week’s sample of interesting questions sent to AskDS. RID...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 02/19/2010
AD’s Maybe Birthday
Nearly forgot: depending on who you ask, Active Directory turned 10 years old yesterday. Or nearly...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 02/18/2010
USMT 4 and WinPE: Common Issues
Ned here again. As odd as it sounds, when you call Microsoft for USMT 4.0 support, you will be sent...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 02/18/2010
New Directory Services KB Articles/Blogs 2/7-2/13
KBNo new Directory Services-related KB articles this week.Blogs Strict Replication Consistency -...
Author: Craig Landis Date: 02/15/2010
Strict Replication Consistency - Myth versus Reality
Hi, David here again. Having worked numerous lingering object cases, I find a common...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 02/15/2010
USMT, OST, and PST
Ned here again. Do you remember time before email in the office? It’s been a while now. Email isn’t...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 02/11/2010
USMT Custom XML the Free and Easy Way
Ned here again. XML is used to configure all aspects of USMT 4.0 migration and is especially...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 02/10/2010
New Directory Services KB Articles/Blogs 1/31-2/6
KB No new DS-related KBs this week. Blogs Friday Mail Sack – First Attempt Edition...
Author: Craig Landis Date: 02/09/2010
GP Editorial on the Group Policy blog
Ned here. Mike Stephens has a short editorial on the GP development team blog. It addresses the...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 02/08/2010
Inventorying Computers with AD PowerShell
Hi, Ned here again. Have you ever had to figure out what operating systems are running in your...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 02/04/2010
New Directory Services KB Articles/Blogs 1/24-1/30
KB 977357 A memory leak issue occurs in the Windows Management Instrumentation service on a computer...
Author: Craig Landis Date: 02/01/2010
Certificate Enrollment Web Services
Hey everyone, Rob here again. With the release of Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 we have added...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 02/01/2010
It’s Lucha Libre Friday
I have a teammate with too much time, money and Ebay expertise on his hands. So I am now a luchador....
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 01/29/2010
DCDIAG Advertising test with error 81
David Everett here again with an interesting issue that causes the Advertising test in DCdiag.exe to...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 01/27/2010
New Directory Services KB Articles/Blogs 1/10-1/23
KB 978155 A memory leak occurs when an ADO Recordset object calls the UpdateBatch method 976779...
Author: Craig Landis Date: 01/25/2010
File Services Management Pack for System Center Operations Manager 2007 – Beta now open
Hi all, Ned here again. We’ve gotten word that the SCOM 2007 management pack for file services...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 01/22/2010
New Directory Services KB Articles/Blogs 1/3-1/9
KB 977983 Group Policy preferences client-side extension hotfix rollup for Windows Vista 971357 User...
Author: Craig Landis Date: 01/11/2010
The importance of following ALL the authoritative restore steps
Hello, David Everett here again. Recently a customer contacted Microsoft Product Support to...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 01/08/2010
Clustered Certification Authority maintenance tasks
Hi all Rob Greene here again. I thought I would share with you how to do some common tasks with a...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 01/07/2010
New Directory Services KB Articles/Blogs 12/20-1/2
KB 974841 An update is available for Windows XP to support protocol negotiation for remote procedure...
Author: Craig Landis Date: 01/05/2010
Understanding DFSR conflict algorithms (and doing something about conflicts)
Ned here again. I’m frequently asked to explain the DFSR conflict algorithm – i.e. what happens when...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 01/05/2010
New Directory Services KB Articles/Blogs 12/13-12/19
KB 978335 Windows Server Update Services keeps reinstalling the root certificates update that is...
Author: Craig Landis Date: 12/21/2009
Our Long Winter's Nap
Hi all. Most of us that maintain this blog are out of the office for Christmas and New Year....
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 12/18/2009
Troubleshooting Credential Roaming
Hi. Jim here again from Directory Services with a follow up to my Understanding Credential Roaming...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 12/18/2009