Microsoft Outlook Signature : Location of the File

Another simple post - Where is the location of Outlook Signature ? It is at........

C:\Users\<UserID>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Signatures



So there are 3 files : 

*.htm - for HTML email format
*.rtf - for Rich Text email format
*.txt - for plain Text email format


all of them can be edited via Microsoft Word. simple as, aye?

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Windows OS Deployment : Windows setup could not configure Windows to run on this computer's hardware.

I got this error while deploying Windows OS to my environment. It should be straightforward process, but somehow I got stuck with this. Clicking OK will restart the machine, and it still won't resolve the issue. Workaround? run msoobe.exe manually.


Issue : 
Windows setup could not configure Windows to run on this computer's hardware.




Workaround :

1.  Press Shift + F10, command prompt window will opened
   
   
   
2.  Change the directory to C:\Windows\System32\oobe
   CMD : cd C:\Windows\System32\oobe
   
   
   
3.  execute msoobe.exe
   CMD : msoobe or msoobe.exe
   
   
   
   
4.  This screen appeared. Proceed with deployment.
   
   
   
   
5.   Once all done, we'll be back to this screen, restart the machine by using command prompt or just click OK at the message box.
   
   
   
   

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Power Shell : Check Microsoft Service Name / Display Name

One line script - a quick note for myself.


To find the service display name based on service name

get-service -Name "<serviceName">

To find the service name based on service display name

get-service -DisplayName "<serviceDisplayName">

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How To : Group Policy Processing ( GPP ) : Add / Edit / Remove INI FIle

It is a common practice for applications to have configurations set in INI file. It may contain information such as language, key, connection setting, version, and so forth. Updating INI file might not affect the application coding, but it may affect on how the application behave. There are multiple ways to update the file, one of it is by using Group Policy Preference ( GPP ). 

In this example, I want to update a key file at a specific location with a specific information.

Information : 

• File Location : C:\Temp\key\keyfile.key
• Content of AppsKey.key :

          [Setup]
          Key=XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX


As mentioned by Microsoft here, below format must be followed :

[SectionName]
PropertyName1=PropertyValue1
PropertyName2=PropertyValue2

How To Do :

1.  Edit the policy. Navigate to Preference | Windows Settings
   
   
   
   
2.  Right click INI Files | New | Ini File
   
   
   
   


3.  This screen will appear...
   
   
   Action = Different action will do different thing. Refer to the table below
   
   
   File Path = where to put the file. If the folder does not exist, the folder will be created. If the file does not exist, the file will be created. If the file exists, the action will affect the INI file content.
   SectionName = In which section the key will resides
   PropertyName = the property of the key
   PropertyValue = value of the key


4. Therefore...
   Action = Replace
   File Path = C:\Temp\key\keyfile.key
   SectionName = Setup
   PropertyName = ApplicationKey
   PropertyValue = XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX





5.  If there are more keys needed, create more entries. Note that, Update and Replace will give the same result.
   
   
   

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GPO : Failed to Open Group Policy Object

This happened to my environment anew days ago, where I was not able to edit my group policy with below error. The GPO is working fine, just that I could not make any changes on it.

Issues :

Failed to open the Group Policy Object. You might not have the appropriate rights.

Details :

The system cannot find the path specified.

Troubleshooting :

1. Manually assigned delegated permission (with Edit settings, delete & modify security) - not working
2. Tried to edit the policy from PDC Emulator server - not working
3. Checked the availability of the GPO folder in SYSVOL, the GPO folder is available.
   
   
   
   
   
   

Resolution :

A bit of Googling, I got this :

This is the issue, I executed the Procmon & found that process is trying to access the Registry.pol file under User folder under the policy path & it is failing to access, even though user configuration are not configured.

It turned out, a folder named 'User' was missing from the GPO folder, which causing GPO Editor unable to read the content, thus throwing the error. 

An empty folder created with the name of User, and it resolved the issue.

Reference 

• https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/office/en-US/b91f3726-3a8c-42c4-9ac9-0fce356cc29d/failed-to-open-the-group-policy-object-you-may-not-have-the-appropriate-rights-the-system-cannot?forum=winserverDS

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Enterprise Vault - This version of the Enterprise Vault Outlook Add-In is not compatible with the Enterprise Vault server version.

Orait.. Let's talk about Enterprise Vault Outlook Plugin again... The project that I involved requires a few versions jump - from EV ver 9 to EV ver 12. The planning was to upgrade Plugin to version 12 first, followed by servers upgrade. According to EV Compatibility List ( https://www.veritas.com/support/en_US/article.000097605 ), the plugin will be supported if the server is either the same version(n), n-1 or n+1. 

Now back to the issue. Due to version incompatibility between the plugin and the server, during my testing, there was an information box appeared whenever I opened my MS Outlook, as documented below.


Issue :

Received below error after upgrading EV Outlook Plugin from version 9 to version 12 (where the EV server was still at ver 9).

This version of the Enterprise Vault Outlook Add-In is not compatible with the Enterprise Vault server version.

Contact your Help Desk for details of how to resolve the issue.

At the same time, the Enterprise Vault plugin was missing :

Before EV Plugin upgrade :

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Enterprise Vault Outlook Plugin - Location is not valid. Choose a different installation location.

I was part of a project to upgrade Enterprise Vault system - my task was to ensure the Enterprise Vault Outlook plugin is properly deployed to Outlook clients. However, during my testing to install Enterprise Vault Outlook Plugin ver 12, I faced an issue as below :

Location is not valid. Choose a different installation location. 

No logs, just a warning. 


Thererfore, I performed some troubleshoting, which leads to the resoluton.


Issue : 
Unable to install Enterprise Vault Outlook Plugin version 12 - error : Location is not valid. Choose a different installation location. 



Troubleshooting

1.  Normal EV Outlook plugin installation won’t produce any log. Therefore, for troubleshooting purpose (which then be used during automation), the installer executed with MSIEXEC command :
   
   msiexec /i "C:\temp\EVOutlookClient\Veritas Enterprise Vault Outlook Add-in (x86).msi" /qn /norestart /l* C:\temp\EV12Installation.log
   
   
2.  Based on the log, these error (marked in yellow) captured
   
   
   

   Action ended 12:44:38: Set_TARGETDIR. Return value 1.Action 12:44:38: DiscoverUserProfileFolders.
   Action start 12:44:38: DiscoverUserProfileFolders.DiscoverUserProfileFolders:  Initialized.DiscoverUserProfileFolders:  GetRegKeyChildren : BEGINDiscoverUserProfileFolders:  Reading Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\ for childrenDiscoverUserProfileFolders:  GetRegKeyChildren : ENDDiscoverUserProfileFolders:  ReadRegistry : BEGINDiscoverUserProfileFolders:  Reading Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\S-1-5-18 for value ProfileImagePathDiscoverUserProfileFolders:  ReadRegistry : ENDDiscoverUserProfileFolders:  Found profile with SID S-1-5-18 and path %systemroot%\system32\config\systemprofileDiscoverUserProfileFolders:  ReadRegistry : BEGINDiscoverUserProfileFolders:  Reading Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\S-1-5-19 for value ProfileImagePathDiscoverUserProfileFolders:  ReadRegistry : ENDDiscoverUserProfileFolders:  Found profile with SID S-1-5-19 and path C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\LocalServiceDiscoverUserProfileFolders:  ReadRegistry : BEGINDiscoverUserProfileFolders:  Reading Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\S-1-5-20 for value ProfileImagePathDiscoverUserProfileFolders:  ReadRegistry : ENDDiscoverUserProfileFolders:  Found profile with SID S-1-5-20 and path C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\NetworkServiceDiscoverUserProfileFolders:  ReadRegistry : BEGINDiscoverUserProfileFolders:  Reading Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\S-1-5-21-2058597364-130651613-2805778835-2401 for value ProfileImagePathDiscoverUserProfileFolders:  ReadRegistry : ENDDiscoverUserProfileFolders:  Found profile with SID S-1-5-21-2058597364-130651613-2805778835-2401 and path C:\Users\.zHISclientDiscoverUserProfileFolders:  ReadRegistry : BEGINDiscoverUserProfileFolders:  Reading Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\S-1-5-21-2058597364-130651613-2805778835-26805 for value ProfileImagePathDiscoverUserProfileFolders:  Error 0x2: RegQueryValueEx failed to read ProfileImagePath with error 2DiscoverUserProfileFolders:  ReadRegistry : ENDDiscoverUserProfileFolders:  Found profile with SID S-1-5-21-2058597364-130651613-2805778835-26805 and path
   DiscoverUserProfileFolders:  ReadRegistry : BEGINDiscoverUserProfileFolders:  Reading Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\S-1-5-21-2058597364-130651613-2805778835-26814 for value ProfileImagePathDiscoverUserProfileFolders:  Error 0x2: RegQueryValueEx failed to read ProfileImagePath with error 2DiscoverUserProfileFolders:  ReadRegistry : END

   
   
3.  Check on Registry Editor (REGEDIT) under HKLM\ Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList, there are some registry keys which do not point to any profiles. It is most likely the profiles have been improperly deleted before this.
   
   Example of Registry Key Which Ties to User Profile : 
   
   
   
   Registry Key Which Not Ties to Any User Profile
   
   
   

 

Resolution :

1.  Either, look for the keys one by one and delete them, or 
   
2.  Run below script
   

On Error Resume Next
Const HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE = &H80000002
Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set objRegistry=GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\.\root\default:StdRegProv")
strProfileListKeyPath = "Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList"
objRegistry.EnumKey HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, strProfileListKeyPath, arrProfileList
For intCurrentSID = 0 To UBound(arrProfileList)
objRegistry.GetStringValue HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE,strProfileListKeyPath & "\" & arrProfileList(intCurrentSID),"ProfileImagePath",strProfileImagePath
If Not (objFSO.FolderExists (strProfileImagePath)) Then
DeleteRegEntry  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, strProfileListKeyPath & "\" & arrProfileList(intCurrentSID)
End If
Next

Function DeleteRegEntry(sHive, sEnumPath)
' Attempt to delete key.  If it fails, start the subkey
' enumration process.
lRC = objRegistry.DeleteKey(sHive, sEnumPath)
' The deletion failed, start deleting subkeys.
If (lRC <> 0) Then
' Subkey Enumerator
   On Error Resume Next
   lRC = objRegistry.EnumKey(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, sEnumPath, sNames)
   For Each sKeyName In sNames
      If Err.Number <> 0 Then Exit For
      lRC = DeleteRegEntry(sHive, sEnumPath & "\" & sKeyName)
   Next
   On Error Goto 0
' At this point we should have looped through all subkeys, trying
' to delete the registry key again.
   lRC = objRegistry.DeleteKey(sHive, sEnumPath)
End If
End Function

 

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