Ask the Directory Services Team
Microsoft's official enterprise support blog for AD DS and more
IE8 Group Policy
Ned here with a quick heads up. The IE 8 dev blog has posted some news about Group Policy changes in...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 10/06/2008
New KB Articles 9/28-10/5
Not much to talk about this week. In fact, no articles related to Directory Services at all....
Author: Craig Landis Date: 10/06/2008
Manually Clearing the ConflictAndDeleted Folder in DFSR
Ned here again. Today I’m going to talk about a couple of scenarios we run into with the...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 10/06/2008
ADFS Components missing after upgrading to Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition
Hey everyone, I’m Sean from the Directory Services team here at Microsoft. We support an up and...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 10/01/2008
New KB Articles 9/21-9/27
There were some internal issues that prevented me from getting this out for a while, but I’m...
Author: Craig Landis Date: 09/29/2008
Command-Line Compression in Core
Hi, Ned here again. Today I’m going to talk about handling compressed files in Windows Server...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 09/29/2008
Domain Locator Across a Forest Trust
Rob and Mike here. We're asked, many times, why a user does not authenticate against a local domain...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 09/24/2008
Fail to log Security Settings from Default Domain Policy
Hello everyone, Scott Goad here, and today I want to take a few minutes and talk about a recent case...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 09/22/2008
Changes to Professional Level (Non-Premier) Support Model
Ned here. On October 1, 2008 the Professional level “Enterprise Platforms Support”...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 09/22/2008
Service Connection Points (SCPs) and ADAM/AD LDS
Introduction Hello, it’s LaNae again. A major issue I see when customers call in regarding ADAM/AD...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 09/18/2008
Third Party Application Fails Using LDAP over SSL
Hi, Michael here. The following issue is one that I have seen come up from time to time and can be a...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 09/16/2008
Fun with WMI Filters in Group Policy
Hi, Ned here again. You may remember Mike Stephens writing about importing and exporting WMI filters...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 09/11/2008
Ultrasound released for Windows Server 2008 and SQL Server 2005
Ned here with a quick blurb: The latest version of the Ultrasound tool has been released to the web....
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 09/10/2008
Vista’s MoveUser.exe replacement
Hi Rob here again. I recently had a customer that needed the functionality of MoveUser.exe from the...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 09/09/2008
New Functionality in Windows Server 2008 Terminal Service Licensing
This is Paul Fragale, coming to you from my little corner of the world. With the launch of Windows...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 09/05/2008
Aktives Verzeichnis (Sagen Sie Hallo!)
Ned here. For all of our bilingual German readers, I wanted to point out that the Microsoft Germany...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 09/03/2008
Saving money and power with Group Policy
Ned here again. A few months ago Mark Aggar, Pat Stemen, and Michael Walsh wrote an excellent...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 08/29/2008
Removable Storage, Group Policy and Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista
“I don’t want my users copying data to removable drives. How can I prevent this?”...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 08/25/2008
A test case for troubleshooting group policy application – Event ID 1085 and 7016
Craig here again. Let’s take a look at a specific flavor of 1085 event, and its equivalent on...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 08/21/2008
What is the purpose of the 'Deleted' folder in DFSR?
Hi, Ned again – and surprisingly, talking about DFSR! From time to time a customer will ask us about...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 08/18/2008
Network Properties in a hurry
Hi. Jim from DS here again to show you how to quickly access the properties of your network...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 08/13/2008
Event Logging policy settings in Windows Server 2008 and Vista
Mike here again. Today I’m focusing on policy settings for the Event Logging Service. For...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 08/12/2008
MCS Talks Infrastructure Architecture
Ned here again. Adam Shepherd (one of our esteemed UK MS Consulting colleagues) wanted us to let...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 08/11/2008
PolicyMaker stops working after installing Windows XP SP3
Hi this is Rob again. We had a couple cases recently where PolicyMaker settings were not applying to...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 07/30/2008
Network Browsing with Windows Server 2008
Ned here. I wanted to make sure all of our loyal readers know about an important post at our sister...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 07/28/2008
Enabling Group Policy Preferences Debug Logging using the RSAT
Mike here. Sometimes you need to enable additional logging when you are troubleshooting a particular...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 07/18/2008
Five Common Causes of “Waiting for the DFS Replication service to retrieve replication settings from Active Directory”
Ned here again. When setting up Distributed File System Replication (DFSR) on Windows Server 2003 R2...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 07/15/2008
ADMT 3.1 Released
Hi everyone, David here. I just wanted to spread the word that ADMT 3.1 is now available for...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 07/10/2008
Installing GPMC on Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista Service Pack 1
Mike here again. For some time now, we’ve had inquiries about where the Group Policy...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 07/07/2008
What are the Schema Extension Requirements for running Windows Server 2008 DFSR?
Ned here again. With the release of Windows Server 2008, a number of customers have asked us whether...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 07/02/2008
Automatic creation of user folders for home, roaming profile and redirected folders.
Hi Rob here again. Periodically we’re asked "what is the best way to auto-create home, roaming...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 06/30/2008
Custom Certificate Request in Windows Vista
James Carr here and I would like to discuss creating custom certificate request in Windows Vista....
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 06/19/2008
User Profile Policies in Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista
Mike here. Windows Vista made numerous changes with how user profiles work. In fact, the changes are...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 06/17/2008
Understanding Kerberos Double Hop
Hi, Steve here. Kerberos Double Hop is a term used to describe our method of maintaining the...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 06/13/2008
Kerberos Authentication problems – Service Principal Name (SPN) issues - Part 3
Rob here. Now we have seen what it looks like when there is no Service Principal Name defined, and...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 06/11/2008
Kerberos Authentication problems – Service Principal Name (SPN) issues - Part 2
Rob here. So, we saw in Part 1 what kind of error you could expect when there is no Service...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 06/09/2008
How to Enable Remote Administration of Server Core via MMC using NETSH
Hello, this is LaNae Wade from the Directory Services team. Windows Server 2008 Core introduces some...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 06/05/2008
How to get the most from your FRSDiag…
Hello all, its Randy here again. The File Replication Service (FRS) is a technology used to...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 05/30/2008
Kerberos Authentication problems – Service Principal Name (SPN) issues - Part 1
Hi Rob here again. I hope that you found the first blog on troubleshooting Kerberos Authentication...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 05/29/2008
Default Security Templates in Windows 2008
Hi, David here again. You might be familiar with Security Templates that we use in Windows 2000 and...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 05/28/2008
Verifying File Replication during the Windows Server 2008 DFSR SYSVOL Migration – Down and Dirty Style
Hi, Ned here again. You’ve probably already started reading about how Windows Server 2008 now...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 05/22/2008
Bulk exporting and importing WMI filters for Group Policy
Mike again. Here is an updated version of the blog post which was originally published on the Group...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 05/16/2008
Troubleshooting Kerberos Authentication problems – Name resolution issues
Hi Rob here. I thought I would show you how we in Microsoft Commercial Technical Support typically...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 05/14/2008
The Security Descriptor Definition Language of Love (Part 2)
Hi. Jim here from DS here with a follow up to my SDDL blog part I. At the end of my last post I...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 05/07/2008
Office 2007 Group Policy - Loads of useful, free stuff released
Hi, Ned here again. The Microsoft Office 2007 product group has released a terrific new whitepaper...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 04/30/2008
Configuring Network Device Enrollment Service for Windows Server 2008 with Custom Certificates
Introduction Hello, this is Jonathan from the Directory Services team. The Network Device Enrollment...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 04/28/2008
New KB Articles April 5-11
Here are the new KB articles related to Directory Services published between April 5-11. Also note...
Author: Craig Landis Date: 04/22/2008
The Security Descriptor Definition Language of Love (Part 1)
Hi. Jim from DS here to tell you more than you ever wanted to know about the Security Descriptor...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 04/18/2008
New KB Articles March 22-April 4
Here are the new KB articles related to Directory Services published between 3/22-4/4. Obviously the...
Author: Craig Landis Date: 04/14/2008
Group Policy Best Practice Analyzer
Hi, Tim here. Ever heard of a Best Practice Analyzer, otherwise known as a ‘BPA’?...
Author: NedPyle [MSFT] Date: 04/11/2008