UK Microsoft Dynamics Support Team Blog : CRM 4.0

Calendar Control cut off within IE8 in CRM 4.0 web clients.

ukdynsupport — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 09:34:41 GMT

Popup are shown cut-off if the CRM window is maximised and the popup is near the edge of the window.

This was resolved in the following Updates for Internet Explorer 8
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/974455

To fix this issue install the update by going to Windows Update:

Windows Update is included in Control Panel.

Click the Start button, click All Programs, and then click Windows Update.

Once you have installed the update, reboot the machine. The change is behind a Feature-control-key, which means, that you have to set an additional registry-key in order to enable the fixed functionality:

On the Client machine, log on with a user with local admin privileges. Browse to the below registry path:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl
Create a new Key, and name it as follows:
FEATURE_FORCE_POPUPS_ONTO_MONITOR_KB974537
Within this key, point to New , and then click DWORD Value
Type iexplore.exe for the name of the key
Right-click iexplore.exe , click Modify and then type 1 in the Value data field

After setting this registry-key the behaviour is changed and the text does no more go out of the monitor.

Regards
Jibran Ali
CRM Support Escalation Engineer
CRM Supports UK Team

Import Organization problems - ExecuteNonQuery requires an open and available Connection. The connection's current state is closed

ukdynsupport — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:25:18 GMT

The Import organization process is failing with the following error message:

Platform Error

=====================================

19:03:33| Error| Import Organization (Name=<OrgName>, Id=<OrgID>) failed with Exception:
System.InvalidOperationException: ExecuteNonQuery requires an open and available Connection. The connection's current state is closed.
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.GetOpenConnection(String method)
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.ValidateConnectionForExecute(String method, SqlCommand command)
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.ValidateCommand(String method, Boolean async)
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.InternalExecuteNonQuery(DbAsyncResult result, String methodName, Boolean sendToPipe)
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.ExecuteNonQuery()
at Microsoft.Crm.CrmDbConnection.InternalExecuteNonQuery(IDbCommand command)
at Microsoft.Crm.CrmDbConnection.ExecuteNonQuery(IDbCommand command, Boolean impersonate)
at Microsoft.Crm.CrmDbConnection.SetTransactionIsolationLevel(IsolationLevel il)
at Microsoft.Crm.CrmDbConnection.Dispose(Boolean disposing)
at Microsoft.Crm.SqlExecutionContext.Dispose(Boolean disposing)
at Microsoft.Crm.SqlExecutionContext.Dispose()
at Microsoft.Crm.Tools.Admin.ImportOrganizationInstaller.Import(Guid organizationId, String organizationUniqueName, String organizationFriendlyName, String sqlServerName, String databaseName, Uri reportServerUrl, String privilegedUserGroupName, String sqlAccessGroupName, String userGroupName, String reportingGroupName, String privilegedReportingGroupName, ICollection`1 users, MultipleTenancy multipleTenancy)

This is likely caused by a Microsoft.Net Framework 2.0 issue. If your System.data.ni.dll file is less than 2.0.50727.1813, then you need to update the Microsoft.Net Framework version on at least your Microsoft CRM server and also your Microsoft SQL Server. You can get the update in KB article, http://support.microsoft.com/kb/948815 . The problem is described in the KB article, http://support.microsoft.com/kb/948868 .

Jibran Ali
CRM Support Escalation Engineer

Slow CRM performance with McAfee script scanning enabled

ukdynsupport — Thu, 28 May 2009 12:33:00 GMT

We have had numerous reports that the loading of CRM pages is delayed on clients that use McAfee and have the script scanning option enabled.

An option to whitelist the CRM namespace is now avalable. Further details at https://kc.mcafee.com/corporate/index?page=content&id=KB65382

Best Regards

Lutz Eickenberg
CRM Escalation Engineer

Identify and kill SQL processes causing CPU shortage

ukdynsupport — Fri, 08 May 2009 12:58:00 GMT

There might be cases in which the SQL processes running against the MSCRM database, start using all available CPU resources causing bad performance and downtimes. Using the following script it is easy to identify which processes are running in the SQL instance and, take reactive actions.

-- THIS SCRIPT HAS TO BE USED IN CASE THE SQL SERVER CPU REMAINS CONSTANTLY AT 100%

-- IT ALLOWS TO INTERCEPT (AND KILL IF NECESSARY) THE PROCESS CAUSING THE PROBLEM

-- CHANGE THE CONTEXT TO MASTER AND LIST ALL THE PROCESSES RUNNING

-- AGAINST THE CRM DATABASE SORTING BY CPU UTILIZATION.

-- REMEMBER TO CHANGE THE DATABASE NAME ACCORDING TO THE NAME OF THE CRM DATABASE

USE Master

-- RETRIEVE THE DATABASE ID FOR THE MSCRM DATABASE

DECLARE @DATABASE_ID INT

SET @DATABASE_ID = DB_ID(N'OrganizationName_MSCRM');

SELECT ST.TEXT,

SP.*

FROM DBO.SYSPROCESSES SP

CROSS APPLY SYS.DM_EXEC_SQL_TEXT(SP.SQL_HANDLE) ST

WHERE SP.DBID = @DATABASE_ID

ORDER BY CPU DESC

-- ONCE YOU IDENTIFY THE PROCESS, IF IS POSSIBLE, KILL IT. TO KILL THE PROCESS IDENTIFY ITS

-- SPID AND USE THE KILL COMMAND (REMEMBER TO REMOVE "<" AND ">")

KILL <SPID>

Carlo Gallazzi | Business Systems Architect | Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Update Rollup 4 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 is available

ukdynsupport — Fri, 08 May 2009 12:18:00 GMT

KB968176 Update Rollup 4 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 is available:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/968176

You can download Rollup 3 from the following link:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=0ddf8e83-5d9c-4fe7-9ae6-f2713a024071

The update is applicable to the following CRM Components:

· Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Server

· Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Email Router

· Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Outlook Client

· Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Connector for SQL Reporting Services

- You can uninstall Update Rollup 4. However, you should back up your databases before you install Update Rollup 4.

Fixes worth noting…

· Increased robustness in CRM Offline Sync

· Watson reporting instrumentation improvements

· Improvements in email promotion

· Improvements in Email Router

· Data Import Wizard with IE8

· Improved scalability for multi-tenant

· Provided an alternative to Smart Matching for email tracking

· Watson fixes

· Clean-up to AsyncOperationBase table to control size

· Enable tracking of appointments in shared calendars

Script to clean up SyncEntry_ and SubscriptionStatistics_ tables in the SQL database

ukdynsupport — Thu, 07 May 2009 13:10:00 GMT

SyncEntry_<GUID> and SubscriptionStatistics_<GUID> tables are created in the <CompanyName>_MSCRM SQL Database when using the CRM-outlook clients. Generally you will have 2 of each table for each Online Client, and 3 of each table for each Offline Client. However, these tables are created per user per machine, so in a citrix farm environment or if users have recently changed hardware, you may find that you have an extraordinary amount of these tables and would like to remove them from the database.

Below is a script that removes all SyncEntry_<GUID> and SubscriptionStatistics_<GUID> tables, along with corresponding records in other tables:

Declare @SyncEnt char(60),

@sql nchar(100),

@sqlSync nchar(100),

@DN char(50)

Declare User_cursor CURSOR for

select DomainName from SystemUserBase

OPEN User_cursor

FETCH NEXT FROM User_cursor INTO @DN

WHILE @@Fetch_Status = 0

BEGIN

DECLARE CRMSync_cursor CURSOR FOR

select substring(SyncEntryTableName,11,42) as SyncEntryGUID from subscription where systemuserid in

(select systemuserid from systemuserbase where domainname =@DN)

OPEN CRMSync_cursor

FETCH NEXT FROM CRMSync_cursor INTO @SyncEnt

WHILE @@Fetch_Status = 0

BEGIN

SELECT @sql = 'DROP TABLE SubscriptionStatistics_' +(@SyncEnt)

SELECT @sqlSync = 'DROP TABLE SyncEntry_' +(@SyncEnt)

EXEC sp_executesql @sql

EXEC sp_executesql @sqlSync

FETCH NEXT FROM CRMSync_cursor INTO @SyncEnt

END

CLOSE CRMSync_cursor

DEALLOCATE CRMSync_cursor

delete from subscriptionclients where subscriptionid in

(select subscriptionid from subscription where systemuserid in

(select systemuserid from systemuserbase where domainname = @DN))

delete from Subscriptionsyncinfo where subscriptionid in

(select subscriptionid from subscription where systemuserid in

(select systemuserid from systemuserbase where domainname = @DN))

delete from subscription where systemuserid in

(select systemuserid from systemuserbase where domainname = @DN)

FETCH NEXT FROM User_cursor INTO @DN

END

CLOSE User_cursor

DEALLOCATE User_cursor

Best Regards,

Justin Thorp

CRM Senior Support Engineer

Update Rollup 3 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 is available

ukdynsupport — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 12:17:00 GMT

Update Rollup 3 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 is available. This update rollup is available for all languages that are supported by Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0.

The Below link contains the Issues addressed in this rollup

961768 Update Rollup 3 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 is available
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;961768

You can download Rollup 3 from the following link

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=05453fa4-9551-4a88-9852-634a9ad0e140&displaylang=en

The update is applicable to the following CRM Components:

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Server
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Email Router
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Outlook Client
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Connector for SQL Reporting Services
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Data Migration Manager Client

Update Rollup 1 & 2 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 is not a prerequisite for the installation of Rollup 3. Rollup 3 is cumulative and contains all the fixes that were part of Rollup 1 & 2.

Best Regards

Kevin Tunstall BSc

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Support Engineer

Update Rollup 2 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 is available

ukdynsupport — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 22:56:39 GMT

Update Rollup 2 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 is available. This update rollup is available for all languages that are supported by Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0.

The Below link contains the Issues addressed in this rollup

959419 Update Rollup 2 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 is available
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;959419

You can download Rollup 2 form the following link

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=aa671769-61e9-45c4-919f-c88199aa4241&displaylang=en

The update is applicable to the following CRM Components:

Update Rollup 1 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 is not a prerequisite for the installation of Rollup 2. Rollup 2 is cumulative and contains all the fixes that were part of Rollup 1, Rollup 2 is language specific and hence the size is smaller than Rollup 1.

For more information, check the following Blog

Jibran Ali

CRM Support Escalation Engineer | EMEA CRM Support Team | GTSC UK MBS | Microsoft UK Ltd.

Enabling Automatic Deletion of Queue Emails from Dynamics CRM 4.0

ukdynsupport — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 22:49:21 GMT

Dynamics CRM 4.0 does not automatically delete the emails from the exchange mailbox of the queue. This results in the mailbox filling up with Emails which are not needed, as the activities are already created within the Dynamics CRM 4.0 application.

To automatically delete emails from within the mailbox of a queue, one would need to follow the steps below.

Important: Make a copy of the Microsoft.CRM.Tools.emailAgent.xml file located in C:\Program Files\Microsoft CRM Email\Services and move it to a backup folder

1. Once the Microsoft.CRM.Tools.emailAgent.xml is backed up, please open the file using visual Studio

2. On Opening the file locate the portion which refers to your queue. for example mentioned below my Queue is called Support with an Email address Support@adventureworks.local.

<EmailAddress> support@adventurework.local </EmailAddress>

(see below)

3. Change the deploymentId for the queue to “Manual”

<ProviderConfiguration deploymentId="Manual">

4. Change the <DeleteEmails>false</DeleteEmails> to true

<DeleteEmails>true</DeleteEmails>

5. Save the XML file. Once saved the Support details within the XML would look like this

6. Log in to the CRM web application using an account with administrative privileges within CRM application

a. Click on Settings
b. Click on Business Management
c. Click on Queues
d. Double click the queue that we edited in the XML file
e. Under E-mail Access Configuration, set None for E-mail Access type – Incoming

7. Restart the Microsoft CRM Email Router or the changes will not take effect

Disclaimer - This information is provided by way of general information only and should not be relied on without obtaining independent expert advice. These postings are provided "AS IS" with no warranties and confer no rights. You assume all risk for your use.

Jibran Ali

CRM Support Escalation Engineer | EMEA CRM Support Team | GTSC UK MBS | Microsoft UK Ltd.

Compare XML Customization files tool

ukdynsupport — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 18:17:00 GMT

Users often wonder how to compare XML customization files.
XML compare tools we can see are not specially targeted to compare our CRM XML Customization file.

We now have a special tool to do this which can be downloaded from Here

You can easily compare your customizations against the out of the box RTM Schema.

It will show you easily:

- The changes attributes, entities

- The new attributes

- The attributes removed.
- The differences within FormXML

In order to get the tool, you need to do this:

1°) Download the EXE, unpack it.
2°) Inside the unzipped folders you’ll get a solution file (.SLN) double click on it, this will open the project in Visual Studio.

3°) Build the project.

4°) Go to %YouFolder%\microsoft.crm.isv.customizationcomparer.setup\Debug or Retail, there you will have SETUP.EXE.

5°) Run the setup, it will install the tool by default here: C:\Program Files\Microsoft CRM Tools\CRM Customization Comparison Utility

6°) Run CRM Customization Comparison Utility.exe from the above specified folder.

More info: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd442453.aspx

Kind regards,

Olga Beatty.

Standard Rate of VAT for Microsoft Dynamics Customers

ukdynsupport — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 17:50:00 GMT

In November 2008 the Chancellor stated that the standard rate of UK VAT will drop from 17.5% to 15% on 1st December 2008, until end of Year 2009.

The guidance documentation for partners and customers is now up and live and up on our public facing website.

The standard rate of VAT will affect customers using the following Microsoft software products:

Microsoft Dynamics AX, Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Microsoft Dynamics RMS

Microsoft Dynamics CRM*1, Microsoft Dynamics SL*2, Older versions of Microsoft Axapta, Great Plains and Navision*3

Please click this Link for the page.

Best Regards

Kevin Tunstall BSc

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Support Engineer

Update Rollup 1 is available for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

ukdynsupport — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 11:59:00 GMT

Update Rollup 1 is available for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

Update Rollup 1 is available for all languages that are supported by Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0.

The build number of the Update Rollup 1 packages for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Server, Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 client for Microsoft Office Outlook, and Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 E-mail Router is 4.0.7333.1113.

The file names for the x86-based Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Update Rollup 1 packages are as follows:

For the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Server Update Rollup 1 package, the file name is CRMv4.0-KB952858-i386-Server-INTLexe.
For the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 client for Outlook Update Rollup 1 package, the file name is CRMv4.0-KB952858-i386-Client-INTL.exe.
For the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 E-mail Router Update Rollup 1 package, the file name is CRMv4.0-KB952858-i386-Router-INTL.exe.

The file names for the x64-based Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Update Rollup 1 packages are as follows:

For the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Server Update Rollup 1 package, the file name is CRMv4.0-KB952858-amd64-Server-INTL.exe.
For the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 E-mail Router Update Rollup 1 package, the file name is CRMv4.0-KB952858-amd64-Router-INTL.exe.

This can be downloaded by clicking on the Rollup 1 link below:

Rollup 1

Please click here for KB 952858, for full details of the Rollup

Best Regards

Kevin Tunstall BSc

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Support Engineer

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Management Pack for Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 is now released.

ukdynsupport — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:25:20 GMT

It is now possible to manage your Dynamics CRM 4.0 environment from within Microsoft Operations Manager 2005, using the download available here

The following overview is taken from the same article :-

The views, tasks, rules, and knowledge specific to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 that comprise this Management Pack provide the means for MOM users to centrally manage the server application, its component services, and the computers on which they run. The Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Management Pack also collects performance analysis and capacity planning data by tracking application performance and user load.
By managing these Microsoft Dynamics CRM components in MOM, the administrator can respond quickly to critical events and key performance indicators, and take action to prevent service outages, reduce the resolution time for alert conditions, and increase the overall availability and performance of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM system.
Feature Bullet Summary:

Monitors the availability and health of the following component services:
- Microsoft Dynamics CRM Asynchronous Processing service
- World Wide Web Publishing
- Microsoft Dynamics CRM Deletion service
- Microsoft Dynamics CRM databases
Monitors the availability and health of the following application components and functionality:
- Deletion of deleted records
- Operability of ISV plug-ins
- Web application requests processing, SOAP exceptions, and unexpected failures
Detects brute-force attacks and denial of service attacks.
Monitors the performance metrics of the following components:.
- Web application requests processing
- Database query processing
Monitors the system for configuration-related failures.

Regards,

Iain McDonald.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Technical Lead.

EMEA Customer Support & Services - SMS&P

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 updates and hotfixes

ukdynsupport — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 20:29:21 GMT

Now that we are starting to see our first hotfixes being released for Dynamics CRM 4.0, I wanted to let you know where you can review these as they are released.

Microsoft have published a Knowledge Base article here which will be updated with any new updates or hotfixes, as they become available.

Currently there are some updates to the Setup files for CRM 4.0 and also updated Help Files.

For me, the key issue that has been addressed is the "Microsoft.Crm.CrmArgumentException: Invalid domain name. Domain name is either invalid or unreachable" error that many of you reported running into during installations or upgrades.

Regards,

Iain McDonald.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Technical Lead.

EMEA Customer Support & Services - SMS&P

Support for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 on Windows Server 2008

ukdynsupport — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 20:20:34 GMT

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 is compatible with Windows Server 2008 based computers, however there are some known issues at this stage.

We have published a Knowledge Base article that detail all the issues, including any workarounds that might be available.

This article can be accessed here or by searching for KB950100 on our support pages, and will be updated frequently with any new information.

It is also worth mentioning that Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 can be installed in a Windows 2008 domain, however the computer where you install Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 must be running Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2000.

Regards,

Iain McDonald.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Technical Lead.

EMEA Customer Support & Services - SMS&P