“You don’t have permission to modify files in this network location” error on Windows 7 x64

I noticed a reproducible error on both my work and personal Windows 7 x64 machines.

If you create a new document or file and try to save it to a library location, you are prompted with the error below:

You don't have permission to modify files in this network location

 

The problem appears to be caused by Eset NOD32 AntiVirus software. The fix is simple.

Cannot Open .eml Files with Outlook 2007

I was annoyed to find that trying to open an .eml file with Outlook 2007 wasn’t working.

The solution was just to run a command that used the .eml file as a parameter:
Start > Run, type:

“%PROGRAMFILES%\Microsoft Office\Office12\OUTLOOK.EXE” /eml “<path to .eml file>”

or in my case (x64), use %PROGRAMFILES(X86)% instead

See KB956693 for more information.

STOP Error 0×0000007B or Setup Hangs or Freezes during Windows 7 Install

Had an odd problem with one of my home machines while trying to install Windows 7.

I almost always do a clean install, and since I was upgrading from Windows XP Professional, this was no exception. I backed up my files, and restarted, booting from the Windows 7 Setup Disc.

At the point that Setup shows you the nice Windows 7 desktop wallpaper and turns your cursor into that “waiting circle”, setup just hung there and froze. I could still move the mouse around but there was no hard drive activity and nothing changed on my screen for about 15 minutes.

I tried disconnecting everything I could and tried it again – same thing.

This time I booted into Windows XP and started setup from there. I got as far as I could in setup before having to reboot – upon reboot my machine started the Windows 7 setup and BAM – BSOD. I got one of those generic 0×0000007B stop errors.

After some troubleshooting, I ended up doing a BIOS update along with clearing the CMOS. As soon as I did that and restarted setup from a cold boot – the installation of Windows 7 was smooth. Hope that helps someone out there that has a similar problem.

Slow SharePoint (MOSS 2007) Windows Explorer View using Windows 7 and Internet Explorer 8 (IE8)

Ever since installing Windows 7, it was excruciatingly painful waiting for the “Open With Windows Explorer” view to work with SharePoint. Click-throughs, renames, file copies and any other operation in this view took 50x’s longer than it did in Vista.

I found a fix that was relatively simple, though I don’t really have an explaination.

1. In IE8, go to Tools > Internet Options
2. Click the Connections tab, then the LAN Settings button
3. If Automatically detect settings is checked, uncheck it
4. Reboot

A word of warning – I had multiple windows and applications open while I tried this operation and it slowly locked up the system to the point I couldn’t close windows, reboot or even bring up task manager. This happened on another machine I was using as well. Consider performing this operation and rebooting immediately.

Separate BES Exchange Calendar and Google Sync Calendar on Blackberry

I use the Gmail Email Application on my Blackberry instead of the built in IMAP functionality of the Blackberry. For a variety of reasons, this is the ideal way for me to have Gmail access on my mobile device.

Because I didn’t add my Gmail account to my Blackberry (because I’m using the app), I only had one calendar on my device – my Exchange calendar synced through BES.

So when I installed the Gmail Sync Application to get my Gmail calendar as well, I was expecting it to create a new calendar on my blackberry. Instead, the application syncs to your default calendar. As soon as the Gmail Sync Application synced the calendar information with my default calendar, it then synced all my Gmail calendar items to Exchange – not good!

After deleting all my personal Gmail calendar item’s from Exchange, this was the solution I used:

1. Uninstall Google Sync
2. Add the Gmail account to the Blackberry using the Add email account button in Email Settings – this adds a new calendar to the device as well.
3. (Optional) Go to Setup > Email Settings
   Click on the gmail account you just added with your trackball and choose “filters”
   Edit the filters of the Gmail account and change “When no filters apply:” to “Do not forward messages to the device”. Since there are no filters added, this effectively means emails will never be downloaded. This is what I want – to be able to continue to use the Gmail Mail Application and to add a new Gmail Calendar to the Blackberry.
4. Go to Options > Advanced Options > Default Services and change the “Calendar (CICAL)” to your Gmail account.
5. Reinstall Google Sync and the calendar will now sync with your new calendar.

Duplicate Meetings and Appointments on my Blackberry Tour Calendar

During our trial of Blackberry Enterprise Server, I had my Blackberry Tour activated for enterprise so I could sync my work email and calendar. Once the trial was up, we decided to go ahead with the project but wanted to start with Blackberry Profession Server first because we didn’t have enough users to warrant needing the full BES.

After uninstalling the trial of BES and installing BPS, I reactivated my Tour and ended up with two calendars on my blackberry. I had a “device default” calendar and a “desktop” calendar.

One common solution to this problem is to remove the duplicate CICAL service book. In my case, because my duplicate calendar was from a secondary enterprise activation, I only had one CICAL service book, and it was the one I wanted to keep.

I came across an unlikely (to me, anyway) solution. KB19240 on blackbery.com.

How to merge multiple calendars into one calendar on the BlackBerry smartphone

Warning: This command will irreversibly move the calendar entries to one calendar. Please back up the BlackBerry smartphone prior to doing this.

If calendar entries exist on a Device Default calendar, complete the following steps:

1. Open the Calendar.
2. Press the menu key.
3. Choose Options
4. Type MOVE on the keypad.
5. You will be asked to move all appointments in the base system calendar. Choose YES to accept moving all entries in the Device Default calendar to the default active calendar.
6. Perform a hard reset of the BlackBerry smartphone by taking the battery out while the BlackBerry smartphone is still powered on and placing it back in.

Not only did this take my duplicate meetings that showed up in both calendars into just one meeting on my default calendar, but it actually removed my unused calendar (“device default”) once the operation was finished.

Finally! Just one calendar!

Server Administration Tools for Windows 7

I was looking around for the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) in Windows 7 RC, but found nothing.

Turns out you need to download the Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7 first.

After the install:

1. Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click Programs.
2. In the Programs and Features area, click Turn Windows features on or off.
3. In the Windows Features dialog box, expand Remote Server Administration Tools.
4. Select the remote management tools that you want to install. Click OK.
5. Configure the Start menu to display the Administration Tools shortcut.
   • Right-click Start, and then click Properties.
   • On the Start Menu tab, click Customize.
   • In the Customize Start Menu dialog box, scroll down to System Administrative Tools, and then select Display on the All Programs menu and the Start menu. Click OK. Shortcuts for snap-ins installed by Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7 are added to the Administrative Tools list on the Start menu.

Now I can run “gpmc.msc” from the Run prompt as well. I’m happy again.

General failure. The URL was: “”. The system cannot find the file specified.

Clicking links in Outlook 2007 mail with Firefox installed on Windows 7 x64 (b7100) was giving me an error:

General failure. The URL was: “<insert url here>”. The system cannot find the file specified.

Found a few “fixes” for this problem including deleting the data from the (Default) String in HKCR\FirefoxHTML\shell\open\ddexec. Another one was to change the default browser directly from the “Set Your Default Programs” area of the control panel. One other suggestion was to change the URL file type association.

My problem, specifically, wasn’t just that I was getting there error window, but also that the link wouldn’t load.

The solution that finally worked for me:

1. Exit Outlook, IE and Firefox (and Live Communicator since it has hooks into Outlook)
2. Make IE the default browser
3. Run the Firefox installer to reinstall Firefox
4. Make Firefox the new default browser

After this, I opened Outlook and links worked perfectly again.

Setup was unable to create a new system partition or locate an existing system partition. See the Setup log files for more information.

I was installing Windows 7 (build 7100) on my workstation to check it out today. At the drive selection screen during install, I tried to select the 2nd primary partition on my hard drive, but received an error:

Setup was unable to create a new system partition or locate an existing system partition. See the Setup log files for more information.

The solution was easy; just disconnect all other hard disks in the system and restart setup. I sure hope MS fixes that before RTM.

Pandora Sidebar Gadget on Windows 7 x64

Brad Greco has a great Pandora Sidebar Gadget for Vista/Windows 7. There is a problem running this gadget on the x64 flavors though; Pandora requires Adobe Flash, and Adobe Flash is currently 32-bit only…at least until Adobe Flash 10 is released.

The fix: Run the 32-bit version of sidebar.exe instead.

The x64 version of sidebar.exe is stored in C:Program FilesWindows Sidebar and the x86 version is stored in C:Program Files (x86)Windows Sidebar

Fire up regedit and drill down to HKCUSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRun. Right click “Sidebar” and choose “Modify”. Change the value data to “C:Program Files (x86)Windows Sidebarsidebar.exe” (no quotes).

Next time you reboot, the 32-bit version of sidebar will run at startup and the Pandora Gadget will run.