Install Nero 11 on Windows server 2008 R2 and Windows 8

According to the Nero 11 page, Nero 11 supports all modern Windows operating systems, including Windows 7. And according to Microsoft, software that work on Windows 7 should work fine on Windows 8 as well. So, that means Nero 11 should work fine on Windows 8 but it doesn’t! In fact, you can’t install Nero 11 on Windows 8 Or windows server 2008/R2 When you try to install Nero 11 on Windows 8, you get “Nero requires that your computer is running Windows XP at least SP3, Windows Vista with at least SP1, or Windows 7” error.

Running Nero 11 setup in compatibility mode doesn’t help either. 

Users who have a legal copy of Nero 11 and can’t live without Nero 11 on Windows 8 may want to know a possible workaround to install Nero. If you are one of the early adopters of Windows 8 and missing Nero 11 on Windows 8, then you’ll be glad to know that it’s possible to install Nero 11 software on Windows 8 with a simple workaround.

Procedure:

Step 1: First things first. Download your copy of Nero 11 from here. You may need to provide your email address to download a trial copy from Nero web page. Users who have a copy of Nero 11 on CD may skip this step.

Step 2: Run the setup and proceed until you get “Nero requires that your computer is running Windows XP at least SP3, Windows Vista with at least SP1, or Windows 7” error. Click Ok button to cancel the installation.

Step 3: Open Run dialog (use Windows + R keys). In the Run dialog box, type %temp%and press enter key to launch Temp folder.

Step 4: Here, locate the folder named NeroInstallFiles and copy the folder to your desktop (or any other location).

Step 5: Open NeroInstallFiles folder and locate nero.mmstrial.msi file. Do a right-click on the file, select Properties. Switch to Compatibility tab, and then select Run this program in compatibility mode for Previous versions of Windows option. Click Apply button.

Step 6: Now run nero.mmstrial.msi file and follow the normal installation procedure to install Nero 11 on your Windows 8 PC without any issues. Do note that you need at least 5 GB of free disk space on your Windows 8/Windows server 2008 drive to be able to install Nero 11.

Changes required for Windows Server 2008/R2-:

1.  Download Orca MSI Editor (alt link ) and install it.
2. Search for .msi files in the  NeroInstallFiles folder.
3. Right click first msi file and select "Edit with OCRA" from the menu.
4. Select "Launch Condition" from left-hand side window pane
5. Edit the "Condition" value and remove the word "Not" (without quotes) from the last ( Remember not to remove the first Not word)
6. Save the msi and close ocra.
7. Repeat the above steps for all msi files.
8. Also replace the contents of file oslist.txt located inside the folder <Nero install folder>\ISSetupPrerequisites\systemRequirementValidator with the below...

#White/Black list (+/-): Arch Major.Minor.SP.Build

#x32 systems

#XP SP3+

Arch=32 OS=5.1 SP>=3

#Vista SP1+

Arch=32 OS=6.0 SP>=1

#Win7 SP RTM and higher

Arch=32 OS>=6.1.0.7600

#Vista SP1+

Arch=64 OS=6.0 SP>=1

#Win7 RTM and higher

Arch=64 OS>=6.1.0.7600

#Windows Server 2008, 2008 R2 (ProductType!=VER_NT_WORKSTATION)

OS>=6.0 ProductType=1

OS>=6.1 ProductType=1

#Win7 SP SP2 and higher

Arch=32 OS=6.1 SP>=2

Arch=64 OS=6.1 SP>=2

#Win8 and higher

OS>=6.2

Post modifying all MSI files start the setup again and this time you should be able to install Nero on windows 2008 server /R2. Contact me if you face any issues.

Modify sandbox code/solution execution timeout value using powershell

Default value of sandbox code/solution execution timeout is 30 seconds, there are times when one needs to increase this value to get complex code executed.

To view execution timeout value use following PS command-:

Write-Host $uc.ResourceMeasures["CPUExecutionTime"].AbsoluteLimit

Write-Host $uc.ResourceMeasures["CPUExecutionTime"].ResourcesPerPoint

To Modify above values use the following PS Commands-:

1. Verify that you meet the following minimum requirements: See Add-SPShellAdmin.
2. $uc=[Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPUserCodeService]::Local
   $uc.ResourceMeasures["CPUExecutionTime"].AbsoluteLimit = <LimitValue>$uc.ResourceMeasures["CPUExecutionTime"].ResourcesPerPoint = <PointValue>$uc.ResourceMeasures["CPUExecutionTime"].Update()$uc.Update()
   Where:
   
   
   • <LimitValue>
    is the new maximum limit value.
   • <PointValue>
    is the new number of resources per resource point.

For more information on sandbox solutions refer to the this link.

Unable to connect to configuration database

The main reason behind this exception is due the SharePoint server  inability to contact server. This may be due to

• SQL server/Cluster is down,
• Network is down.
• SPN not configured properly

If all above are correct and SQL server box up and reachable using ping command from SharePoint servers, the go to command prompt and type the following command

C:\> IPCONFIG /flushdns

Type Services.msc in Start Menu--> Run and hit enter to open services mmc console.

Restart services named netlogon, dhcp client, and dns client.


Also if your server are VM boxes, then make sure system time in all servers are in sync with the server hosting active directory.

PowerPIvot for Sharepoint 2010 Installation/ Setup SharePoint 2010 Development box

Was never able to install this until Microsoft released Sharepoint 2010 service pack1.
All my previous SQL server installation used to fail because of the calls to integration dll.

Dev environment details-: This is single server farm installation
Windows 2008 R2 Enterprise, SQL Server 2008 R2 Enterprise, SharePoint Server 2010 Enterprise, Visual studio 2010 ultimate and MS office 2010 professional.

• Install Windows 2008 R2 and activate it
• Apply Windows 2008 R2 SP1
• Configure Active directory using dcpromo command
• Create domain accounts for SharePoint farm and other service applications and for SQL server too.
• Install SharePoint server 2010 enterprise, but do not run product and technologies wizard. Remember to uncheck the checkbox at the finish of the SharePoint installation wizard.
• Install SharePoint server 2010 SP1 (Download links to SP1 and other CUs are available here.
• Install June 2011 cumulative update.
• Restart the machine for any registry changes to take affect.
• Start the installion SQL Server 2008 R2
• Select PowerPivot for Sharepoint.
• Select new Farm from the dropdown of SQL server installation wizard window.
•  Enter Farm credentials, Passphrease, Central Administration port number, and other SharePoint related details.
• Above details which you enter will be used by SQL server to configure SharePoint, basically what SharePoint product and technologies wizard.
• Proceed by clicking next and let SQL server installation wizard configure Sharepoint and create database.
• Once SQL server installation finishes successfully, Open central administration site and check it everything has been configured as the entries made by you during SQL installation.
• Install Visual Studio 2010, ultimate edition and activate it.
• Install Office 2010 Professional and activate it.
• Optionally Install Visio 2010 Premium Edition if you want to create workflow that can be imported into SharePoint 2010.
• Configure SSRS (SQL server reporting services) for Access services feature using Start Menu--> Programs-->Configuration Tools->SQL Server 2008 R2-->Reporting services configuration  Manager.
• Post above step, configure SSRS association from central administration site.
• Optionally install Office web apps in you need it.

State Service error while working with infopath forms on Sharepoint 2010 farm

You will get this error while working with infopath forms on a Sharepoint 2010 farm.
"The form cannot be rendered. This may be due to a misconfiguration of the Microsoft SharePoint Server State Service. For more information, contact your server administrator."

This happens because state service application has not been configured properly or it does not have a database and is not associated with default proxy settings. State service is used by SharePoint to store temporary objects.

Follow the steps below to create state service application instance, create database and associate it with default proxy

To create a service application, type the following command:
$serviceApp = New-SPStateServiceApplication -Name "State Service"

If State service already exists and there is no database for it. type the commands below to create one
$ServiceApp = Get-SPStateserviceapplication
New-SPStateServiceDatabase -Name "svcApp_StateService" -ServiceApplication $serviceApp

To associate the State service with default proxy, type in the command below..
New-SPStateServiceApplicationProxy -Name "State Service" -ServiceApplication $serviceApp -DefaultProxyGroup

Once this is done, error you are getting should be gone.

Error details of correlation id using SQL queries

Execute the below query against the log database usually named as WSS_Logging unless we have changed to something else...


select [RowCreatedTime], [ProcessName], [Area],
[Category], EventID, [Message]
from [WSS_UsageApplication].[dbo].[ULSTraceLog]
 where CorrelationId='<GUID>'


Replace <guid> with correlation id.


Note-: Prior to executing the above query make sure that timer job name "Diagnostic Data Provider: Trace Log " job (you should see this at Central Admin -> Monitoring -> Review job Definitions) is enabled. If the dbo.ULSTraceLog view does not exist this job will create it.

Find error details of correlation ID using powershell

replace the <GUID> with the Correlation Id in below command

get-splogevent | ?{$_Correlation -eq "<GUID>" }

This will give you the details about your specific error like this in the console:

 if you would want these messages to be put into a text or log file instead, you could just add the classic output redirect tag as shown below...
“> C:\SPError.log” after the command like this:

get-splogevent | ?{$_.Correlation -eq "<GUID>"} | select Area, Category, Level, EventID, Message | Format-List > C:\SPError.log