Scott Oseychik : Communicator

October 2009 Office Communicator/Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Cumulative Update ("CU3")

Scott Oseychik — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 02:04:00 GMT

Summary:

Microsoft's RTC Sustained Engineering Team just released their latest Cumulative Update (“CU3”) for Office Communicator 2007 R2 (as well as Office Communicator Phone Edition), and Office Communications Server 2007 R2.

Notes:

1. As of 10/29/09, KB 968802 is in the process of being updated (should be completed within 24-48 hours), and will contain additional guidance regarding installation method options available.

2. The RTC Sustained Engineering Team will deliver the Office Communicator 2007 R2 patch via Microsoft Update. Office Communications Server 2007 R2 updates will also be posted to Microsoft Update, but due to the dependency on the backend database update in KB 969834, it will only be visible if KB 969834 has already been installed (see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/969834).

Updates:

KB 968802, “List of available updates for Communications Server 2007 R2”

· http://support.microsoft.com/kb/968802

· http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=b3b02475-150c-41fa-844a-c10a517040f4

KB 975611, “Cumulative Update for Office Communications Server 2007 R2: October 2009”

· http://support.microsoft.com/kb/975611

· http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=b3b02475-150c-41fa-844a-c10a517040f4(server.msp)

KB 972884, “Cumulative Update for Communicator 2007 R2: Oct 2009”

· http://support.microsoft.com/kb/972884

· http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=515d6dba-4c6a-48bb-a06a-d99c5742676d&displaylang=en

KB 977065, “Office Communicator 2007 R2, Phone Edition update: October 2009”

· http://support.microsoft.com/kb/977065

· http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=565595BE-6CF3-4A61-A1E4-12555749CA64&displaylang=en

Credit:

Again, big ups to the entire RTC Sustained Engineering Team! If you’re on campus, truck on down to Building 30, 2nd floor, and thank them for their hard work (plus, Ken Ewert always welcomes a good Canadian joke)!

Communicator 2007 R2 fails to open new window when double-clicking a Contact

Scott Oseychik — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:55:00 GMT

Summary:

When using Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2, double-clicking a Contact fails to launch a new conversation window. However, you are still able to right-click a Contact, and start an IM session by selecting “Send an Instant Message.”

Cause:

When double-clicking a Contact, OC 2007 R2 uses XML to initialize a new conversation window, and we’re finding several customers who have incompatible and/or legacy builds of MSXML.DLL that are encountering these failures.

Example Callstack:

ChildEBP RetAddr

0006f98c 00475448 communicator!CDUIBase<DirectUI::Button>::InitializeFromXML

0006f9c4 00475309 communicator!CRosterContactView::CreateInstance+0x8b

0006f9e4 004dd544 communicator!CContactManager::CreateElement+0xeb

0006f9fc 004dd563 communicator!VirtualListView::CreateElement+0x30

0006fa14 004dc3af communicator!VirtualListView::FillVisibleLink+0x122

0006fa48 004d57db communicator!VirtualListView::FillViewWithoutRefresh+0xbd

0006fa80 004f347b communicator!VirtualListView::FillView+0xa9

0006fa90 004f3489 communicator!VirtualListView::OnThaw+0x30

0006fa98 00482d69 communicator!Freezable::Thaw+0xf

0006facc 0046cd9c communicator!CContactGroupItemBase::AddItemAtIndex+0xba

0006fadc 0046d13e communicator!CContactGroupItemBase::AddItemLast+0x10

0006fb08 0046d0e3 communicator!CContactManager::AddContact+0x57

0006fb20 004b0d40 communicator!CRosterListView::OnParticipantAdded+0x3f

0006fb60 0046d2b1 communicator!CRosterListView::SetContext+0x10a

0006fb94 0046cf79 communicator!CDUIConversationFrame::InitializeChildren+0xd0

0006fbe0 00479f8b communicator!CDUIConversationFrame::Initialize+0x234

0006fc34 0045cba0 communicator!CDUIConversationFrame::EnsureConversationWindow+0xe3

0006fc60 0045bf6a communicator!CDUIConversationFrame::CreateNewWindow+0x76

0006fcac 0045cb89 communicator!CDUIConversationFrame::FindOrCreateTwoPartyConversationWindow+0xde

0006fcd0 00427ba3 communicator!ConvUI_FindOrCreateTwoPartyConversationWindow+0x1e

0006fd68 0055d909 communicator!CSelectedContacts::StartActionWithSelectedContacts+0x1a3

0006fd88 7e418734 communicator!CSelectedContacts::WndProc+0x4e

0006fdb4 7e418816 user32!InternalCallWinProc+0x28

0006fe1c 7e4189cd user32!UserCallWinProcCheckWow+0x150

0006fe7c 7e418a10 user32!DispatchMessageWorker+0x306

0006fe8c 00505efb user32!DispatchMessageW+0xf

0006fed8 005079ac communicator!COcApp::RunMessageLoop+0xa1

0006fee8 00507b85 communicator!ATL::CAtlExeModuleT<COcApp>::Run+0x1e

0006ff18 00507a9c communicator!COcApp::RunApp+0xed

0006ff30 00507a05 communicator!WinMain+0x7e

0006ffc0 7c817067 communicator!__tmainCRTStartup+0x140

0006fff0 00000000 kernel32!BaseProcessStart+0x23

Example incompatible/legacy version of MSXML.DLL:

0:008> lmvm msxml

start end module name

71130000 711b3000 msxml (export symbols) msxml.dll

Loaded symbol image file: msxml.dll

Image path: c:\windows\system\msxml.dll

Image name: msxml.dll

Timestamp: Fri Nov 05 13:10:21 1999 (38230F7D)

CheckSum: 000850E5

ImageSize: 00083000

File version: 5.0.2919.6303

Product version: 5.0.2919.6303

File flags: 0 (Mask 3F)

File OS: 40004 NT Win32

File type: 2.0 Dll

File date: 00000000.00000000

Translations: 0409.04b0

CompanyName: Microsoft Corporation

ProductName: Microsoft(R) Windows (R) 2000 Operating System

InternalName: MsXML.dll

OriginalFilename: MsXML.dll

ProductVersion: 5.00.2919.6303

FileVersion: 5.00.2919.6303

FileDescription: XML OM for Win32

LegalCopyright: Copyright (C) Microsoft Corp. 1981-1999

Resolution:

To resolve this issue, please install XML Version 6.0 and XML Version 3.0 SP7.

Microsoft Core XML Services (MSXML) 6.0

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=993C0BCF-3BCF-4009-BE21-27E85E1857B1&displaylang=en

Microsoft XML Parser (MSXML) 3.0 Service Pack 7 (SP7)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=28494391-052b-42ff-9674-f752bdca9582&displaylang=en

Huge credit goes to Dieter Eckstein for this solution!

Cumulative Post: All the latest Unified Communications update packages (as of August 6, 2009)

Scott Oseychik — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 20:15:00 GMT

Summary:

As a single point of reference, here are all of the latest updates/releases for our Unified Communications suite of products ...

Office Communicator R2, Office Communications Server R2, Conferencing Attendant R2, and Communicator Mobile R2

KB 968802, "Updates for Communications Server 2007 R2"

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/968802

KB 969695, "Update for Communicator 2007 R2: July 2009"

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/969695

KB 970275, "Office Communicators Server 2007 R2 Attendant hotfix rollup package: July 2009"

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/970275

KB 972398, "Office Communicator 2007 R2 Phone Edition update: July 2009"

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/972398

Live Meeting Console & Conferencing Add-ins for Outlook

KB 969696, "Update for Live Meeting Conferencing Add-in for Outlook: July 2009"

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/969696

KB 969697, "Windows-based Live Meeting 2007 client update package: July 2009"

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/969697

Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Group Chat

KB 969819, "Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Group Chat Hotfix"

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/969819

KB 969817, "Update for the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Group Chat Administration Tool: July 2009"

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/969817

Credit:

Huge props to the entire RTC Sustained Engineering Team; if you're around Building 30, roam around the 2nd floor & thank them for their hard work!

Availability announcement for latest OC R2 and OCS R2 updates via Microsoft Update, Catalog Server, and WSUS

Scott Oseychik — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:31:00 GMT

Summary:

Our Real Time Collaboration (RTC) Sustained Engineering Team has recently released two updates:

Communicator 2007 R2 hotfix rollup package: June 2009

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/972042

Update package for Office Communications Server 2007 R2: June, 2009

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/972041

The Office Communicator R2 hotfix rollup package (972042) will be made available via Microsoft Update, the Microsoft Update Catalog Server, as well as Windows Software Update Services (WSUS). This release is scheduled to be available today (June 15, 2009) through these distribution channels shorly after 10:00am Pacific time.

The Office Communications Server R2 hotfix rollup package (972041) will be made available via Microsoft Update, the Microsoft Update Catalog Server, but not through Windows Software Update Services (WSUS). This release is scheduled to be available tomorrow (June 16, 2009) through these distribution channels shorly after 10:00am Pacific time.

Issue:

The update package for Office Communications Server 2007 R2 will only be made available via Microsoft Update and the Microsoft Update Catalog Server, but not through WSUS. The reason for this absence on WSUS is due to the fact that this package contains a change to a kernel-mode binary, which will cause a prompt (thereby interrupting the automated installation process). For this reason we are not publishing this particular update to WSUS. Moving forward, we are exploring various approaches to suppress these prompts on future updates.

In the meantime, for customers who intend on installing the Update package for Office Communications Server 2007 R2 (972041) and are using WSUS, they would need to import this from the Microsoft Update Catalog server if they want to deploy this update through Microsoft Update.

More Information:

For more information on how to import this update into WSUS using Microsoft Update, please refer to:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc708583.aspx

Office Communicator 2007 hangs on shutdown/logoff - FIXED!

Scott Oseychik — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 17:16:00 GMT

SOLVED!

Customers running Office Communicator 2007 + Office 2007:

This issue is fixed by applying the hotfix referenced in KB 961752 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/961752), and although the KB article does not specifcally call out this issue, we are working on both creating a new KB to address this, as well posting this blog entry to increase its visibility.

Customers running Office Communicator 2007 + Office 2003:

Our Office Development Team is moving forward with creating corresponding official hotfix for Office 2003. Although it’s a bit early to discuss timeframes in terms of when you can expect the public hotfix, we have a private copy of the fixed MSMAPI32.DLL. If you would like to test this build, please engage Microsoft Customer Support Services via http://support.microsoft.com. Premier customers: please leverage your Technical Account Manager to initiate the case creation process.

Cannot connect Office Communicator 2007 R2 to Office Communications Server 2007

Scott Oseychik — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 21:18:00 GMT

Summary:

You cannot connect to an Office Communications Server 2007 using an Office Communicator 2007 R2 client.

Details:

There are architectural changes introduced into Office Communicator 2007 R2 that are only compatible with Office Communications Server 2007 R2.

Workaround:

On Office Communications Server 2007, you can select to block Office Communicator 2007 R2 clients from connecting.

Why is Communicator prompting me for credentials?

Scott Oseychik — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 21:09:00 GMT

Summary:

When signing-in to Office Communications Server 2007 using cached Domain Credentials (e.g. you login to your corporate domain-joined laptop at home), Office Communicator 2007 may prompt you with an additional authentication dialog box:

Details:

When Office Communicator 2007 signs in, it also attempts to retrieve availability data via Exchange 2007 Web Services. It does so by leveraging the Autodiscover functionality built into olmapi32.dll's HrGetAutoDiscoverXML function.

Communicator will issue SOAP requests (over HTTPS) to the published Autodiscover (*1) server, who returns the URLs for the Microsoft Exchange 2007 Client Access Server(s) that will feed the availability data back to Office Communicator.

The additional prompt for authentication stems from Communicator being hard-wired to authenticate using NTLM. When IIS (on the Exchange 2007 CAS machines) returns it's WWW-Authenticate headers, it does so in the form of:

WWW-Authenticate: Negotiate

WWW-Authenticate: NTLM

When Communicator attempts to negotiate authentication using your cached credentials (over the Internet), it will fail with a "401.2 Unauthorized" (*2), and subsequently prompt you for authentication as above. However, if we force NTLM from either the client side or the server side, we eliminate these additional prompts for credentials.

Client-side fix:

After de-selecting "Enable Integrated Windows Authentication" (*3) in Internet Explorer (Tools, Internet Options, Advanced, scroll down to the "Security" section), you should no longer receive the additional authentication prompt from Office Communicator 2007 (to retrieve availability + out-of-office data via Autodiscover / Exchange Web Services.

This checkbox & the wording is admittedly a bit misleading in that it DOES NOT turn on/off NTLM; it simply controls whether Internet Explorer and the underlying Win32 API will perform security negotiation against IIS (that is Kerberos or NTLM; checkbox enabled), or simply default to NTLM (checkbox disabled).

This is the registry location/value that this checkbox controls:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings

Name: EnableNegotiate

Type: REG_DWORD

Data: 0 (Disabled, unchecked in the UI) or 1 (Enabled, checked in the UI); default is Enabled

Server-side fix:

Essentially, we are instructing IIS on the Exchange 2007 CAS server(s) to offer NTLM as the first authentication provider (with Negotiate as the fallback provider) in the WWW-Authenticate header.

For Internet Information Services 6.0:

1. On the Exchange 2007 CAS machine(s), start -> run -> cmd -> OK. Change to the C:\Inetpub\AdminScripts directory.

2. Execute the commands below ...

a. Inspecting current status:

C:\Inetpub\AdminScripts>cscript adsutil.vbs get w3svc/1/root/NTAuthenticationProviders

Microsoft (R) Windows Script Host Version 5.6

The parameter "NTAuthenticationProviders" is not set at this node. (*4)

b. Setting the parameter:

C:\Inetpub\AdminScripts>cscript adsutil.vbs set w3svc/1/root/NTAuthenticationProviders "NTLM,Negotiate"

Microsoft (R) Windows Script Host Version 5.6

NTAuthenticationProviders : (STRING) "NTLM,Negotiate"

c. Verifying the output:

C:\Inetpub\AdminScripts>cscript adsutil.vbs get w3svc/1/root/NTAuthenticationProviders

Microsoft (R) Windows Script Host Version 5.6

NTAuthenticationProviders : (STRING) "NTLM,Negotiate"

3. Restart the IIS Admin Service (which will restart all dependent services) on the Exchange 2007 CAS machine(s).

For Internet Information Services 7.0: (*5)

Lists configuration
appcmd list config /section:windowsAuthentication

Removes Negotiate
Appcmd.exe set config /section:windowsAuthentication /-providers.[value='Negotiate']

Adds Negotiate
appcmd.exe set config -section:system.webServer/security/authentication/windowsAuthentication /+"providers.[value='Negotiate']" /commit:apphost

Lists configuration
appcmd list config /section:windowsAuthentication

Here is a list of the results:

C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv>appcmd list config /section:windowsAuthentication
<system.webServer>
<security>
    <authentication>
      <windowsAuthentication enabled="true" useKernelMode="false">
        <providers>
          <add value="Negotiate" />
          <add value="NTLM" />
        </providers>
      </windowsAuthentication>
    </authentication>
</security>
</system.webServer>

C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv>Appcmd.exe set config /section:windowsAuthentication /-providers.[value='Negotiate']

C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv>appcmd.exe set config -section:system.webServer/security/authentication/windowsAuthentication /+"providers.[value='Negotiate']" /commit:apphost

C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv>appcmd list config /section:windowsAuthentication
<system.webServer>
<security>
    <authentication>
      <windowsAuthentication enabled="true" useKernelMode="false">
        <providers>
          <add value="NTLM" />
          <add value="Negotiate" />
        </providers>
      </windowsAuthentication>
    </authentication>
</security>
</system.webServer>

Server-side fix (specific to Exchange 2010):

I had a customer report (my sincere thanks, Elan Shudnow!) that their OAB wasn’t working externally. Once they fixed the OAB, the [Communicator Credentials] prompt went away and other users reported it went away for them as well.

References:

(*1) "Overview of the Autodiscover Service"

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb124251.aspx

(*2) “401.2 Denied by Server Configuration”

http://blogs.msdn.com/david.wang/archive/2005/07/14/HOWTO_Diagnose_IIS_401_Access_Denied.aspx

(*3) “Integrated Windows Authentication (IIS 6.0)”

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/WindowsServer2003/Library/IIS/523ae943-5e6a-4200-9103-9808baa00157.mspx?mfr=true

(*4) This is expected output as per http://support.microsoft.com/kb/215383

(*5) Big thanks to Jason Dozier for the IIS7 instructions

Wanna win $500?

Scott Oseychik — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 01:08:00 GMT

I need your help getting an issue to reproduce consistently, and the first person to give me verifiable repro steps will win *$500.00 (USD)!

While this problem has reared its ugly head sporadically, I can't get a consistent repro, and therefore, have little to go on in terms of debugging. However, more and more customers are reporting this issue, and I'm quite sure we have a bug somewhere. But this son of a beesting is quite the elusive one, and I'm turning to the OCS community at large for help!

Issue/Symptoms:

When attempting to shut down Windows (XP SP2, XP SP3, Vista, or Vista SP1), Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 will occasionally hang on shutdown, and the user will be prompted with the following dialog box:

End Program - communicator.exe

This program is not responding. To return to windows and check the status of the program click cancel. If you choose to end the program immediately, you will lose any unsaved data. To end the program click END NOW or the other option is to CANCEL.

Environment:

· Office 2003 SP3 (or Office 2007 SP1)

· Outlook running in Cached Mode against Exchange Server 2007

· Office Communicator 2007 (builds 2.0.6362.0 - 2.0.6362.64)

· Outlook is set as the Personal Information Manager in Communicator 2007

· "Save my instant message conversations" checkbox can be either enabled or disabled

Notes:

This problem typically manifests itself after Outlook has been closed, yet Communicator is running (then the user shuts down Windows)

Contest Details:

If you can reproduce this error 100% of the time, and can furnish detailed steps (with an accompanying video demonstrating the repro) that will enable me to build out a lab topology causing this issue to reproduce consistently in-house here at Microsoft, I will personally pay the person who provided the repro steps $500 USD out of my own pocket. The key here is so long as I'm able to reproduce it 100% of the time based of the steps you provided me, I will declare you the winner, and will gladly pay you your winnings.

*Please note that this is not a Microsoft-sponsored contest nor sanctioned event. However, the self-inflicted price tag is worth it, as I've already burned way too many hours (both my own, and my customers) trying to get this issue to manifest itself consistently. Oh, and Microsoft employees (that is, full-time employees, contingent staff, and their respective families) are considered ineligible for this contest.

UPDATE: We finally fixed this! I'll create a new post shortly with full details ...