Knowledge Management , Sharepoint , and Related Technologies

SPS 2010 & MSF 2010 August 2011 CU Released

2011-09-08T11:36:00Z

An updated version of SPS 2010 & MSF 2010 August 2011 CU are now ready for you to install .

+ MSF 2010 August 2011 CU Full -Server-Package >>> http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=2553050&kbln=en-us
+ SPS 2010 August 2011 CU Full -Server-Package >>> http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=2553048&kbln=en-us
More details about the updates:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;2553050
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;2553048

We recommend to install MSF 2010 /SPS 2010 SP1 http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ahmad_adainat/archive/2011/05/16/sp1-released-for-msf2010-and-sps-2010.aspx and then the June August to be on the latest bits.

Dont forget to run the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard or “psconfig –cmd upgrade –inplace b2b -force -wait” command line on all servers on the farm. To know more about the sharepoint Patching check this out http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ahmad_adainat/archive/2010/08/18/whats-new-with-patching-with-msf-2010-and-sps-2010.aspx

MOSS 2007 & WSS3.0 August 2011 CU Released

2011-08-31T11:44:00Z

MOSS 2007 & WSS 3.0 August 2011 CU are now ready for you to install .

+ WSS 3.0 August 2011 CU Full -Server-Package >>> http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=2553022&kbln=en-us
+ MOSS 2007 August 2011 CU Full-Server-Package >>> http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=2553020&kbln=en-us

More details about the updates:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;2553022
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;2553020

As all Post updates of WSS3.0/MOSS2k7 SP2 , make sure you have SP2 in place, then also as usual dont forget to run the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard or
“psconfig –cmd upgrade –inplace b2b -wait -force” command line on all servers where MOSS or WSS3.0 installed.

SPS 2010 & MSF 2010 June 2011 CU Released

2011-06-29T22:22:00Z

SPS 2010 & MSF 2010 June 2011 CU are now ready for you to install .

+ MSF 2010 June 2011 CU Full -Server-Package >>> http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=2536601&kbln=en-us
+ SPS 2010 June 2011 CU Full -Server-Package >>> http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=2536599&kbln=en-us
More details about the updates:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;2536601
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;2536599

We recommend to install MSF 2010 /SPS 2010 SP1 http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ahmad_adainat/archive/2011/05/16/sp1-released-for-msf2010-and-sps-2010.aspx and then the June CU to be on the latest bits.

MOSS 2007 & WSS3.0 June 2011 CU Released

2011-06-29T22:10:00Z

MOSS 2007 & WSS 3.0 June 2011 CU are now ready for you to install .

+ WSS 3.0 June 2011 CU Full -Server-Package >>> http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=2544399&kbln=en-us
+ MOSS 2007 June 2011 CU Full-Server-Package >>> http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=2544398&kbln=en-us

More details about the updates:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;2544399
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;2544398

SP1 Released for MSF2010 and SPS 2010

2011-05-16T22:06:00Z

Announcing Service Pack 1 availability for Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 has been made at the official blog of the Office Sustained Engineering and Release team
http://blogs.technet.com/b/office_sustained_engineering/archive/2011/06/28/announcing-office-2010-and-sharepoint-2010-service-pack-1-availability.aspx

More information about SP1 can be found here :

White paper for SharePoint Foundation 2010 (MSF2010) SP1
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh301732.aspx

White paper for SharePoint Server 2010 (SPS2010) SP1
http://technet.microsoft.com/library/hh285676(office.14).aspx

List of all SharePoint 2010 and Office Server 2010 SP1 packages
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2510766

1 - 5 Common questions regarding the Service Pack
http://blogs.technet.com/b/office_sustained_engineering/archive/2011/07/06/office-2010-service-pack-1-5-common-questions-regarding-the-service-pack.aspx

SharePoint 2010 SP1 and the June Cumulative Update for SharePoint 2010
http://blogs.technet.com/b/office_sustained_engineering/archive/2011/06/29/sharepoint-2010-sp1-and-the-june-cumulative-update-for-sharepoint-2010.aspx

SPS 2010 & MSF 2010 April 2011 CU Released

2011-05-01T09:02:00Z

SPS 2010 & MSF 2010 April 2011 CU are now ready for you to install .

+ MSF 2010 April 2011 CU Full -Server-Package >>> http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=2512804&kbln=en-us
+ SPS 2010 April 2011 CU Full -Server-Package >>> http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=2512800&kbln=en-us
More details about the updates:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;2512804
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;2512800

SPS 2010 & MSF 2010 February 2011 CU Released

2011-03-06T08:05:32Z

SPS 2010 & MSF 2010 February 2011 CU are now ready for you to install .

+ MSF 2010 February 2011 CU Full -Server-Package >>> http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=2475880&kbln=en-us
+ SPS 2010 February 2011 CU Full -Server-Package >>> http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=2475878&kbln=en-us
More details about the updates:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;2475880
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;2475878

MOSS 2007 & WSS3.0 February 2011 CU Released

2011-02-23T22:55:00Z

MOSS 2007 & WSS 3.0 Feb 2011 CU are now ready for you to install .

+ WSS 3.0 February 2011 CU Full -Server-Package >>> http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=2475886&kbln=en-us
+ MOSS 2007 February 2011 CU Full-Server-Package >>> http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=2475885&kbln=en-us

More details about the updates:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;2475886
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;2475885

Security hardening for SharePoint 2010 with SCW- Part 2

2011-01-10T14:12:00Z

This is part 2 out of two parts talking about SharePoint hardening with SCW. In part 1 I went through the basic steps to setup a sharepoint2010 security server hardening (lockdown) and on this part will go through some related issues about the outcome of this tool.

On part 1 we built the policy and applied it right away which is something I don’t recommend. The tool suppose to help you generate the policy but you should not leave it all to the tool.

Instead you may save the policy as we did, then revise the policy before applying it. Although this task should be assigned to the security team, but the engagement of IIS specialist, Networking specialist, Windows Specialist and SharePoint specialist is always needed.

As part of SharePoint related settings, the SharePoint template (manifest) by default disables some SharePoint important services causing some SharePoint functionalities to totally stop, whats important to be mentioned that some of these functionalities keep working till the next reboot for the server:-

- Clicking on My Site link throws error "Could not load user profile", that was due to the fact the security policy we applied has disabled the FimService and the FIMSynchronizationService, see the below step that was part of the running wizard.

- it also disables some other important services such the timer service , administration service and the tracing service, see below.

That can be confirmed by have a look at the service.msc

- Plus that it disables the IIS Admin service.

[Solution]

What you need to do in this case is to rollback the last applied security policy we did , so run the SCW again and choose Rollback the last applied security policy and keep hitting next till you get to the complete window.

- Open the Policy that has been built in part 1 , in our example it has the name of "LockDownWFE.xml"
then you will notice the Sharepoint related service mentioned above all are set to be disabled.

- Open the same file with any XML editor. could be notepad.
- Change the SharePoint related services to be StartupMode="Automatic" for all SharePoint related service.
- and here you may change the settings of services, firewall, registry , ...etc
- Then reapply the policy as below, keep hitting next till you get the completed window.

- Likewise you can change any setting on the same XML policy file and reapply it as needed.

Security hardening for SharePoint 2010 with SCW- Part 1

2011-01-10T14:08:00Z

This is part 1 out of two parts talking about Sharepoint hardening with SCW. In this part will show the basic steps to setup a sharepoint2010 security server hardening (lockdown) and with part 2 will go through some related issues about the outcome of this tool.

SharePoint uses several technologies to function the way you would like it. it uses Windows, IIS, ASP.NET, SQL Server ,AD, AD FS, RMS, File Services, ISA/TMG, ..Etc. All of these technologies must be considered and incorporated within any Security plan.

The security plan depends on the topology of the each of the Servers, Network, OS and the logical topology. The categories of settings are detailed in the following figure:

In this article we will touch base the topic of how to harden the SharePoint servers in your farm. An excellent detailed guidance for this exists here http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262849.aspx or http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262849.aspx. in this post we will make use of the Security Configuration Wizard (SCW),

What’s SCW?
It’s simply an Attack-Surface reduction tool. Available since Windows Server 2003 SP1, it allows creating security policies based on the functionality required by a server’s role(s), it can be applied on individual server or to be part of the domain group policies.

The SCW is a multipart tool, with many options, and using it without understanding what it is doing can harm the system, including total loss of functionality of the server or application, so be very careful. Testing on a non-production system is highly recommended.

The tool helps you to define and configure security settings:

-       Server Roles
-       Client Features
-       services
-       Ports
-       Installed Options
-       Networking settings
-       Registry Settings
-       Auditing

For details about SCW on Windows 2008/R2 you may read here http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc754997(WS.10).aspx. The SCW can be found under the administrative tools in Windows 2008.

With SharePoint 2010 Administration Toolkit V1 a new SharePoint security policy template “Security Configuration (SCW) Manifest” has been released. This manifest adds roles for SharePoint 2010 Products to Windows Server 2008 with SP2 or Windows Server 2008 R2.
The toolkit can be downloaded from here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=718447d8-0814-427a-81c3-c9c3d84c456e&displaylang=en

This link http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc508849.aspx shows the installation steps of the tool.

As shown below four tools including the SharePoint manifests will be installed as part of the toolkit.

The toolkit documentation can be found here:
SharePoint Foundation 2010: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc508986.aspx
SharePoint Server 2010: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc508851.aspx

The toolkit by default gets installed on “C:\Program Files\Microsoft\SharePoint 2010 Administration Toolkit\”, and it installs the security templates for MSF 2010, SPS 2010 and project server 2010 as shown below:

To start configuring SharePoint related settings you may read here http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee373829.aspx.

First and foremost you need to register the SCW SharePoint manifest for MSF 2010 and SPS 2010:-

1. Open a Command Prompt window.

2. At the command prompt, type cd C:\Program Files\Microsoft\SharePoint 2010 Administration Toolkit\SCWManifests, or type the location where you installed the SharePoint 2010 Administration Toolkit.

3. Register the Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 SCW manifest, on which the Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 SCW manifest depends:

· If you are using Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2, type scwcmd register /kbname:SPF2010 /kbfile:SPF2010W2K8.xml and press ENTER.

· If you are using Windows Server 2008 R2, type scwcmd register /kbname:SPF2010 /kbfile:SPF2010W2K8R2.xml and press ENTER.

4. Register the SharePoint Server 2010 SCW manifest:

· If you are using Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2, type scwcmd register /kbname:MSS2010 /kbfile:MSS2010W2K8.xml and press ENTER.

· If you are using Windows Server 2008 R2, type scwcmd register /kbname:MSS2010 /kbfile:MSS2010W2K8R2.xml and press ENTER.

To start building the security policy you require.

Open the SCW under start

èAdministrative tools or by clicking Start è Run è scw.exe

Known Issues:-
You need to read part 2 of this post which will highlight some known issues about the sharepoint manifest settings.

SPS2010 - Unable to do any operation on sharepoint rather than read only

2011-01-04T17:59:00Z

[Issue]

In your SharePoint 2010 farm , if you all of sudden woke up in the morning and you found yourself cannot do any SharePoint operation ( add , edit , delete or any administration action ..etc) and even when using the super user on the farm, then you are lucky if your quickly found this post before the crises gets escalated.

[More Information and Solution]

if you check the permission of any user using the check permission button under the site permissions , you will find all users including the site administrators and the farm account having deny permission on all rights available.

This issue occurs if the site collection was set to Read-only (blocks additions, updates, and deletions) . This setting prevents users from adding, updating, or deleting content.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff631148.aspx
To lock or unlock a site collection by using Central Administration

1. Verify that you have the following administrative credentials.

- You must be a member of the Site Collection Administrators group for the site collection.

2. In Central Administration, click Application Management.

3. On the Application Management page, in the Site Collections section, click Configure quotas and locks. The Site Collection Quotas and Locks page opens.

4. If you want to change the selected site collection, in the Site Collection section, on the Site Collection menu, click Change Site Collection. Use the Select Site Collection page to select a site collection.

5. On the Site Collection Quotas and Locks page, in the Site Lock Information section, select one of the following options:

- Not locked: To unlock the site collection and make it available to users

[Possible Cause]
This issue might be caused by backup failure
You may read here for details
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee748617.aspx

If the site collection’s Lock status is set to Not locked or Adding content prevented, Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 temporarily sets the site to Read-Only while the backup operation is occurring. SharePoint Server 2010 does this to reduce the possibilities of users changing the site collection while it is being backed up. After the backup is finished, the setting is changed back its normal status

SPS2010 - PowerPivot System Service is invalid or does not exist

2011-01-02T08:47:00Z

Problem –
when trying to start the SQL service analysis service form Central administration you get the error:-
"The PowerPivot solution that is associated with the PowerPivot System Service is invalid or does not exist "

Root Cause-
The SQL analysis service tried to load the assembly "Microsoft.AnalysisServices.SharePoint.Integration.DLL" which is by default located under "C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\SDK\Assemblies\" but it couldnt find it .

Resolution –
The issue might appear if the installation of the PowerPivot add on on different location from the SQL server default installation location.
to workaround this:-

- Copy the Microsoft.AnalysisServices.SharePoint.Integration.dll to "C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\SDK\Assemblies\" and create "SDK\Assemblies" if they don't exist.

- Then from Add/Remove Programs , run repair for the default PowerPivot instance. this would reinstall the PowerPivot add on the new location "C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\SDK\Assemblies\".

A simillar error and solution exists here http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2261507

SPS 2010 & MSF 2010 December 2010 CU Released

2010-12-31T19:59:00Z

SPS 2010 & MSF 2010 December 2010 CU are now ready for you to install .

+ MSF 2010 December CU Full -Server-Package >>> http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=2459125&kbln=en-us
+ SPS 2010 December CU Full -Server-Package >>> http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=2459257&kbln=en-us
More details about the updates:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;2459125
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;2459257

MOSS 2007 & WSS3.0 December 2010 CU Released

2010-12-31T19:13:00Z

MOSS 2007 & WSS 3.0 December 2010 CU are now ready for you to install .

+ WSS 3.0 December CU Full -Server-Package >>> http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=2458606&kbln=en-us
+ MOSS 2007 December CU Full-Server-Package >>> http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=2458605&kbln=en-us

More details about the updates:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;2458606
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;2458605

Move-SPProfileManagedMetadataProperty - Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131040

2010-12-23T17:29:00Z

if you are working on upgrade User Profile from MOSS 2007 to SPS 2010 using the DB Detach approach and you came to the step where you need to use the cmdlet "Move-SPProfileManagedMetadataProperty" because multi-value properties must be manually mapped…
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee731990.aspx#dbattach
During a database attach upgrade, user profile and taxonomy data from the SSP database is upgraded when the SSP database is attached, but the database is not copied and renamed. You can copy the taxonomy data into a Taxonomy database for use by the Managed Metadata service after upgrade is complete by using the Move-SPProfileManagedMetadataPropertyWindows PowerShell cmdlet.

Example:
Move-SPProfileManagedMetadataProperty -ProfileServiceApplicationProxy 97ebb413-0398-43eb-a2a6-497bee70e7b4 -Identity SPS-Skills -AvailableForTagging

Here where you might encounter lots of issue , one of them could be the below:

The located assembly's manifest definition does not match the assembly reference. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131040)

[Solution]

This error might be related to permission issue, so the best thing to do is to run the SharePoit 2010 Managment Shell as administrator and try again.

But if you get the error

Move-SPProfileManagedMetadataProperty : The Identity parameter must be set properly.

[Solution]

Then you wrote the wrong name of the property . Make sure to write the name not the display name of the property. That you can get it when you edit the profile property under the User Profile services.

Good Luck!!

List view does not show the username values for "Person or Group" column

2010-12-23T16:12:55Z

- Have any custom list on SPS 2010 on SharePoint team site , here the topology or site collection templates doesn't matter , as the issue is reproducible on all topologies and site collection templates.
- create a new column from type "Person or Group" and choose to show the filed "UserName".
- go back to the list and add new item , and fill up the userName filed/column manually .
- open the default view where the column will by default show.
- the userName value doesn't appear, it shows empty space.

AD is not related to the issue, as the data when you manually enter it it will be saved to the SharePoint DBs.

Solution
=========
With the help of my colleague Joerg Sinemus http://blogs.msdn.com/b/joerg_sinemus/ we identified the problem as below

- For any user you want to use its username value in Person or Group columns you have to import its profile. So running profile import is a must here.
- The username value needs a couple of minutesto sync up with the list , so you need to wait for sometime before you see the value shown as expected.
- The above behaviors is tested and verified with October CU , so if you have different behavior than the above then you may need to consider the October CU as described here http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ahmad_adainat/archive/2010/10/27/sps-2010-amp-msf-2010-october-2010-cu-released.aspx

Workaround
=========
The workaround is not to show the field using the "UserName" filed , you can choose "account" or any other field value but not "UserName"

UserProfile System.IO.FileLoadException 0x80131040

2010-12-23T15:48:00Z

This error occurs if when you create User Profile Serice Application , and try to manage the UPA from the central administration . Then you get the famous error pae that has the correlation ID . Digging more into the ULS log would show the exaxt message as below:

UserProfileServiceUserStatisticsWebPart:LoadControl failed, Exception: System.IO.FileLoadException: The located assembly's manifest definition does not match the assembly reference. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131040)
at Microsoft.Office.Server.UserProfiles.UserProfileConfigManager.InitializeIlmClient(String ILMMachineName, Int32 FIMWebClientTimeOut)
at Microsoft.Office.Server.UserProfiles.UserProfileConfigManager..ctor(UserProfileApplicationProxy userProfileApplicationProxy, Guid partitionID)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal.WebControls.UserProfileServiceStatisticsWebPartBase.LoadControl(Object sender, EventArgs e)

System.IO.FileLoadException: The located assembly's manifest definition does not match the assembly reference. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131040)
at Microsoft.Office.Server.UserProfiles.UserProfileConfigManager.InitializeIlmClient(String ILMMachineName, Int32 FIMWebClientTimeOut)
at Microsoft.Office.Server.UserProfiles.UserProfileConfigManager..ctor(UserProfileApplicationProxy userProfileApplicationProxy, Guid partitionID)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal.UserProfiles.AdminUI.ProfileAdminPage.IsProfileSynchronizationRunning()
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal.WebControls.UserProfileServiceImportStatisticsWebPart.RenderSectionContents(HtmlTextWriter writer)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal.WebControls.UserProfileServiceImportStatisticsWebPart.RenderWebPart(HtmlTextWriter writer)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages.WebPart.Render(HtmlTextWriter writer)
at System.Web.UI.Control.RenderChildrenInternal(HtmlTextWriter writer, ICollection children)
at System.Web.UI.Control.RenderChildrenInternal(HtmlTextWriter writer, ICollection children)
at System.Web.UI.HtmlControls.HtmlForm.RenderChildren(HtmlTextWriter writer)
at System.Web.UI.HtmlControls.HtmlForm.Render(HtmlTextWriter output)
at System.Web.UI.HtmlControls.HtmlForm.RenderControl(HtmlTextWriter writer)
at System.Web.UI.Control.RenderChildrenInternal(HtmlTextWriter writer, ICollection children)
at System.Web.UI.HtmlControls.HtmlContainerControl.Render(HtmlTextWriter writer)
at System.Web.UI.Control.RenderChildrenInternal(HtmlTextWriter writer, ICollection children)
at System.Web.UI.Control.RenderChildrenInternal(HtmlTextWriter writer, ICollection children)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls.UnsecuredLayoutsPageBase.RenderChildren(HtmlTextWriter writer)
at System.Web.UI.Page.Render(HtmlTextWriter writer)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls.UnsecuredLayoutsPageBase.Render(HtmlTextWriter writer)
at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint)

[Solution]

in this case you may forgot the step of reseting the IIS as outlined on http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee721049.aspx

Phase 1: Start the User Profile Synchronization service
During this phase, you start the User Profile Synchronization service.
This phase involves the following tasks:

1- Start the User Profile Synchronization service
2- Remove unnecessary permissions
3- Reset IIS

Updated SPS 2010 October 2010 CU Released again

2010-11-18T12:51:00Z

Updated SPS 2010 October 2010 CU has been released again, please have a look at the original post here : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ahmad_adainat/archive/2010/10/27/sps-2010-amp-msf-2010-october-2010-cu-released.aspx

Q & A:

Question: What if I applied the regresed CU packages as explained here http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ahmad_adainat/archive/2010/11/07/critical-information-about-the-sharepoint-server-2010-october-cu.aspx?

Answer: If you have applied the regressed Oct CU Server-Package(s), you will only need to apply this new replacement package(s) and everything will be functioning as normal.

Question: What if I already applied the workaround explained here http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sharepoint/archive/2010/11/06/details-and-workaround.aspx?

Answer: If you have applied the workaround then again you will only need to apply this new replacement package(s) and everything will be functioning as normal.

Critical Information about the SharePoint Server 2010 October CU

2010-11-07T06:00:00Z

Microsoft has discovered a critical issue in the recently released October Cumulative Updates for SharePoint Server 2010 and Project Server 2010, and we have removed the files from download availability. If you have already downloaded the CU, do not install it. If you have installed the CU, please contact Microsoft Support for assistance. We will be posting additional information about the issue here as soon as we have it, and will make the Cumulative Update available for download again as soon as the issue has been fully resolved.

for more information and details you may have a look at the sharepoint team blog post here http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sharepoint/archive/2010/11/06/details-and-workaround.aspx

[Update 18th November 2010]
Packages are released again. go back to the original post here http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ahmad_adainat/archive/2010/10/27/sps-2010-amp-msf-2010-october-2010-cu-released.aspx

SPS 2010 & MSF 2010 October 2010 CU Released

2010-10-27T19:14:00Z

SPS 2010 & MSF 2010 October 2010 CU are now ready for you to install .

+ MSF 2010 October CU Full -Server-Package >>> http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=2394323&kbln=en-us
+ SPS 2010 October CU Full -Server-Package >>> http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=2394320&kbln=en-us
More details about the updates:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;2394323
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;2394320

Important Note:
The Security bullttin MS10-72 http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ahmad_adainat/archive/2010/10/10/security-bulletin-ms10-072-down-the-road.aspx is also included on this CU.

[Update 18th November 2010]
Packages are released again. You may use the same links above.

MOSS 2007 & WSS3.0 October 2010 CU Released

2010-10-27T18:51:00Z

MOSS 2007 & WSS 3.0 October 2010 CU are now ready for you to install .

+ WSS 3.0 October CU Full -Server-Package >>> http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=2412268&kbln=en-us
+ MOSS 2007 October CU Full-Server-Package >>> http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=2412267&kbln=en-us

More details about the updates:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;2412268
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;2412267

As all Post updates WSS3.0/MOSS2k7 SP2 , make sure you have SP2 in place, then also as usual dont forget to run the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard or
“psconfig –cmd upgrade –inplace b2b -wait -force” command line on all servers where MOSS or WSS3.0 installed.

Important Note:

The Security bullttin MS10-72 http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ahmad_adainat/archive/2010/10/10/security-bulletin-ms10-072-down-the-road.aspx is also included on this CU.

Security Bulletin MS10-072 down the road

2010-10-10T18:08:00Z

The information on this blog is just a heads up for the new security release "Microsoft Security Bulletin (MS10-072)" that will be released on Tuesday, October 12, 2010.

It includes an important public update that affects Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services, SharePoint Foundation 2010 and Office SharePoint Server 2007. The following KB articles will go live on the release date:

· KB 2345304, MS10-072: Description of the security update for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0: October 12, 2010

· KB 2345212, MS10-072: Description of the security update for Office SharePoint Server 2007: October 12, 2010

· KB 2345322, MS10-072: Description of the security update for Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010: October 12, 2010

In case you countered any problems like the ones we experienced with the previous security hotfix http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ahmad_adainat/archive/2010/06/30/microsoft-security-bulletin-ms10_2d00_039-for-wss3.0-and-moss-2007.aspx after having it installed we recommend that you check the below article :

944267 - How to troubleshoot common errors that occur when you run the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard on a computer that is running Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 or SharePoint Server 2007.

[Update 27th October 2010]
This Security Update is included on the October CU please read here http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ahmad_adainat/archive/2010/10/27/moss-2007-amp-wss3-0-october-2010-cu-released.aspx

Calendar view does not open on Sharepoint 2007

2010-10-10T12:08:00Z

Issue

You get “ an unexpected error has occurred” when trying to access any calendar list in WSS 3.0 and MOSS 2007, and you can not create any calendar view as well.

More Information
The event viewer shows the below related errors:

Log Name: Application

Source: Windows SharePoint Services 3

Event ID: 5586

Task Category: Database

Level: Error

Description:

Unknown SQL Exception 102 occured. Additional error information from SQL Server is included below.

Incorrect syntax near ')'.

Event code: 3005

Event message: An unhandled exception has occurred.

Process name: w3wp.exe

Account name: .....

Exception information:

Exception type: SqlException

Exception message: Incorrect syntax near ')'.

Request information:

Request URL: http://ServerName/SiteDirectory/PricingMemo/Lists/54/calendar.aspx

Request path: /SiteDirectory/PricingMemo/Lists/54/calendar.aspx

User host address: .....

User: .........

Is authenticated: True

Authentication Type: NTLM

Thread account name: ..............

Thread information:

Thread ID: 8

Thread account name: ...............

Is impersonating: False

Stack trace: at Microsoft.SharePoint.Library.SPRequestInternalClass.GetListItemDataWithCallback(String bstrUrl, String bstrListName, String bstrViewName, String bstrViewXml, SAFEARRAYFLAGS fSafeArrayFlags, ISP2DSafeArrayWriter pSACallback, ISPDataCallback pPagingCallback, ISPDataCallback pSchemaCallback)

at Microsoft.SharePoint.Library.SPRequest.GetListItemDataWithCallback(String bstrUrl, String bstrListName, String bstrViewName, String bstrViewXml, SAFEARRAYFLAGS fSafeArrayFlags, ISP2DSafeArrayWriter pSACallback, ISPDataCallback pPagingCallback, ISPDataCallback pSchemaCallback)

at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPListItemCollection.EnsureListItemsData()

at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPListItemCollection.get_Count()

at Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls.CalendarSourceView.initCollection

The SQL server profile trace shows that the query sent from the SharePoint server to the SQL server have some missing datetime input parameters. Plus that the ULS log also shows the following :

w3wp.exe (0x0DA4) 0x1004 Windows SharePoint Services General 8e2r Medium Possible mismatch between the reported error with code = 0x81070504 and message: "There is no Web named "/SiteDirectory/PricingMemo/Lists/ytrew/calendar.aspx"." and the returned error with code 0x80070002.

w3wp.exe (0x0DA4) 0x1004 Windows SharePoint Services General 0 Verbose Releasing SPRequest with allocation Id {0220C001-2AD8-40AB-97EF-071BE423457E}

w3wp.exe (0x0DA4) 0x0F98 Windows SharePoint Services Database 880i High System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException: Incorrect syntax near ')'.....

Cause
It turned out that this could occur if DST related hotfixes were not installed correctly, as an example this year 2010 there was an obvious changes for the time in Egypt and they have to install this hotfix http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2297272 and all related " fix it" mentioned on the article.

Solution

For the"Egypt - Year 2010" example the issue has been noticed on octobor 2010 , this means that it was the time for installing the third " fix it" as per to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2297272

After September 10th and before 31 December 2010

Turns off DST on 30 September 2010. Restores approximate DST history (April to September) for 2010.

Fix this problem
Microsoft Fix it 50490

MOSS 2007 & WSS3.0 August 2010 CU Released

2010-09-09T21:32:00Z

MOSS 2007 & WSS 3.0 August 2010 CU are now ready for you to install them.

+ WSS 3.0 August CU Full -Server-Package >>> http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;2276474

+ MOSS 2007 August CU Full-Server-Package >>> http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;2276472

As all Post updates WSS3.0/MOSS2k7 SP2 , make sure you have SP2 in place, then also as usual dont forget to run the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard or “psconfig –cmd upgrade –inplace b2b -wait” command line on all servers where MOSS or WSS3.0 installed

Important Note:

From now on you must have WSS3.0 and MOSS 2007 SP2 in place before you install the post SP2 hotfixes, this would make the CUs smaller in size.

MSF 2010 and SPS 2010 August 2010 CU

2010-09-03T20:13:00Z

Its good to know in the first place that The Microsoft Office team changed the way that it delivers hotfixes for reported problems. This change comes in the form of cumulative updates and critical on-demand hotfixes. The objective is to deliver high-quality fixes in an acceptable time and on a predictable schedule.

so the new article Cumulative updates are available from the Microsoft Office team to fix reported problems http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;953878 has been introduced, so you may need to check this article to get to know more about the Office 2010 updates..

below are the links to the august CU for MSF and SPS 2010 and some related details:

+ MSF 2010 August CU Full-Server-Package >>> http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;2352346
+ SPS 2010 August CU Full-Server-Package >>> http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;2352342

Its important to know that the new CU of SPS 2010 includes the MSF 2010 CU . so you dont need to install MSF 2010 CU if you have SPS 2010 farm. and that will be always the model for all coming server packages.

As usual after installing the binaries you need to run the Configuration Wizard or “psconfig –cmd upgrade –inplace b2b -wait”.

To know more about Whats new with Patching on MSF 2010 and SPS 2010 Read here http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ahmad_adainat/archive/2010/08/18/whats-new-with-patching-with-msf-2010-and-sps-2010.aspx

Knowledge Management , Sharepoint , and Related Technologies

SPS 2010 & MSF 2010 August 2011 CU Released

MOSS 2007 & WSS3.0 August 2011 CU Released

SPS 2010 & MSF 2010 June 2011 CU Released

MOSS 2007 & WSS3.0 June 2011 CU Released

SP1 Released for MSF2010 and SPS 2010

SPS 2010 & MSF 2010 April 2011 CU Released

SPS 2010 & MSF 2010 February 2011 CU Released

MOSS 2007 & WSS3.0 February 2011 CU Released

Security hardening for SharePoint 2010 with SCW- Part 2

[Solution]

Security hardening for SharePoint 2010 with SCW- Part 1

Known Issues:-You need to read part 2 of this post which will highlight some known issues about the sharepoint manifest settings.

SPS2010 - Unable to do any operation on sharepoint rather than read only

[Issue]

[More Information and Solution]

[More Information and Solution]

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff631148.aspx To lock or unlock a site collection by using Central Administration

[Possible Cause] This issue might be caused by backup failure You may read here for detailshttp://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee748617.aspx

[Possible Cause]

SPS2010 - PowerPivot System Service is invalid or does not exist

SPS 2010 & MSF 2010 December 2010 CU Released

MOSS 2007 & WSS3.0 December 2010 CU Released

Move-SPProfileManagedMetadataProperty - Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131040

List view does not show the username values for "Person or Group" column

UserProfile System.IO.FileLoadException 0x80131040

[Solution]

Updated SPS 2010 October 2010 CU Released again

Critical Information about the SharePoint Server 2010 October CU

SPS 2010 & MSF 2010 October 2010 CU Released

MOSS 2007 & WSS3.0 October 2010 CU Released

Security Bulletin MS10-072 down the road

Calendar view does not open on Sharepoint 2007

MOSS 2007 & WSS3.0 August 2010 CU Released

MSF 2010 and SPS 2010 August 2010 CU

Known Issues:-
You need to read part 2 of this post which will highlight some known issues about the sharepoint manifest settings.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff631148.aspx
To lock or unlock a site collection by using Central Administration

[Possible Cause]
This issue might be caused by backup failure
You may read here for details
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee748617.aspx