More Small Business Server Support Bulletins

Each week I receive reader emails describing Small Business Server (SBS)-related conquests and war stories. Many readers also ask about resources and tools to make supporting SBS a little easier. My goal with Small Business Connection is to offer detailed how-to information on SBS and its related products, solutions, and platforms. During the past 2 weeks, we’ve seen highlights of new SBS 4.5 bulletins that Microsoft has updated in the Personal Support Center (http://support.microsoft.com). In case you’ve missed either of those two columns, they’re archived at http://www.winntmag.com/News/NewsStory.cfm?NewsID=1329 and http://www.winntmag.com/News/NewsStory.cfm?NewsID=1332. This week, I bring you the final segment of this three part series as you wait for SBS 4.5 to progress from the April 9 release to manufacturing (RTM) to general availability. - SBS: Share Point for Proxy Client Identical to Proxy Retail (Q196099, 1/27/99)
When you use the SBS console to create a client setup disk, you can configure the Proxy Server client for automatic installation on each Windows 9x or Windows NT-based PC that logs onto the SBS network. However, during troubleshooting, numerous occasions exist when you want to remove and reinstall the Proxy Server client software. The SBS 4.0 Proxy Server stored clients on the server under SmallBusinessClientsMsProxy. This location differed from the retail version of Proxy Server, which placed both the server and client files under msp. SBS 4.5 stores the Proxy Server files in the same location on both SBS 4.5 and the full-packaged product for Proxy Server 2.0 (MSP with MSPclients for the client file locations). The client software location is now shared under SBS 4.5 as \servernamemspclnt. http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q196/0/99.asp - SBS: Microsoft Installer Is Installed on the SBS Server (Q196098, 1/26/99)
Whenever you need to set up an Office 2000 application on an SBS client computer, the Microsoft Installer service is invoked on that client computer to attempt to pull the source files off a server share point. Even if you install SBS 4.5 without the Office 2000 bundle, you’ll still see this behavior because Microsoft bundled Outlook 2000, an Office 2000 member application, with the base install of SBS 4.5. http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q196/0/98.asp - SBS: Network Installation Is Not Available for SBS 4.5 Server (Q218151, 4/14/99)
This article affects those of you who install NT Workstation and Server 4.0 using unattended scripts pulling from a network share point. SBS 4.5 does not support network-based installations off an existing server, or installing SBS from a command line using the /b switch. For new installations of SBS 4.5, you’ll need to use the three setup disks included in the package. For upgrades from SBS 4.0a to 4.5, you can run the setup.exe directly from the root folder on SBS 4.5 CD-ROM 1. If you have discovered any workarounds for this problem, please let me know. http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q218/1/51.asp - SBS 4.5 Setup Lists Incorrect Space Required for Other Drives (Q199073, 4/19/99)
I found this article a little confusing. SBS 4.5 has a more flexible setup program than its predecessor. SBS 4.5 lets you choose which SBS BackOffice family applications to install on which partition or volume. At the bottom of the dialog box is a display of how much space is available and required, based on which applications you select and the target partition or volume and folder. If you select no applications for a particular partition or volume, the amount of required disk space on that partition or volume will be 0 and the dialog-box feedback is correct. http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q199/0/73.asp - How to Troubleshoot SBS Setup Computer Wizard (Q214688, 3/1/99)
In SBS 4.5, just like SBS 4.0, the Setup Computer Wizard (SCW) can be a huge time-saver during installations. This article helps you troubleshoot the SCW process with the client-setup disks. I suggest you don’t go on an SBS 4.5 installation call without downloading a copy of this article to take with you. SCW builds the client-setup disk by copying files from SmallBusinessFloppy to a blank 3.5” disk (the article incorrectly states SmallBusinessClientsFloppy). If this folder, or the files in it, is missing or damaged, you’ll get an error message relating to netparam.ini--the text file that tells the client-setup disk what to do. To correct this problem, you’ll need to copy the floppy subfolder from SBSADMINI386SCW on SBS 4.5 CD-ROM 3 to your hard disk's SmallBusiness folder. Be careful not to get sidetracked on CD-ROM 3, because it also contains a folder named SBSCLients. http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q214/6/88.asp
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