JeroenvanRoon.nl

Determining Exchange 2013 version

18/04/2015/in Exchange, Microsoft, Windows Server/by Jeroen van Roon

This week I had to update an Exchange 2013 environment. Before the update I wanted to check the current Exchange 2013 version. This post provides the build numbers and general release dates for each version of Microsoft Exchange Server 2013. To view the build number for the version of Exchange 2013 that you’re running, run the following command in the Exchange Management Shell.

Get-ExchangeServer | Format-List Name, Edition, AdminDisplayVersion

The versions of Exchange 2013 are as following:

Product name	Release date	Build number
Exchange Server 2013 CU7	December 9, 2014	15.00.1044.025
Exchange Server 2013 CU6	August 26, 2014	15.00.0995.029
Exchange Server 2013 CU5	May 27, 2014	15.00.0913.022
Exchange Server 2013 SP1	February 25, 2014	15.00.0847.032
Exchange Server 2013 CU3	November 25, 2013	15.00.0775.038
Exchange Server 2013 CU2	July 9, 2013	15.00.0712.024
Exchange Server 2013 CU1	April 2, 2013	15.00.0620.029
Release to Manufacturing (RTM) version	December 3, 2012	15.00.0516.032

Recreate default mailboxes Exchange 2013

15/03/2015/in Exchange, Microsoft, Windows Server/by Jeroen van Roon

A few weeks ago I have installed an Exchange 2013 environment. After several weeks some strange behaviour started. Exchange was giving me errors when configuring several tasks. It seems like some of the internal databases or mailboxes were corrupted. To resolve this I have re-created the system mailboxes.

Step 1

Remove all Exchange mailboxes from the Active Directory Users and Computers console.

Step 2

Prepare Active Directory by running Microsoft Exchange 2013 Setup with the /PrepareAD switch in the root domain of your Active Directory forest. Make sure you are using the same version of the Exchange setup as the version that is installed. I have used the following command. Make sure you replace the “ExchangeName” with the name of your Exchange organisation.

Setup.exe /PrepareAD /OrganizationName:”ExchangeName” /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms

After Setup finishes preparing Active Directory for Exchange, you’ll need to wait while Active Directory replicates the changes to all of your domain controllers.

Step 3

Re-enable the mailboxes with the Exhange Management Shell PowerShell module. Use the following commands:

Enable-Mailbox –Arbitration “SystemMailbox{1f05a927-53ec-455e-b236-02df87905326}”
Enable-Mailbox –Arbitration “SystemMailbox{bb558c35-97f1-4cb9-8ff7-d53741dc928c}”
Enable-Mailbox –Arbitration “SystemMailbox{e0dc1c29-89c3-4034-b678-e6c29d823ed9}”
Enable-Mailbox –Arbitration “FederatedEmail.4c1f4d8b-8179-4148-93bf-00a95fa1e042”
Enable-Mailbox –Discovery “DiscoverySearchMailbox {D919BA05-46A6-415f-80AD-7E09334BB852}”

Make sure you replace the GUID’s with the GUID’s that are created in your environment. You can look these GUID’s up in the Active Directory Users and Computers console after running the /PrepareAD command.

Remote manage Hyper-V host without domain

09/03/2015/in Microsoft, Windows Client, Windows Server/by Jeroen van Roon

While setting up a test Hyper-V lab I have been doing a few steps to remotely manage both Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1 machines. Both machines are in a WORKGROUP. To make remote management of Hyper-V possible a few steps are required.

Step 1

Enable WinRM on both machines. This can be done trough an elevated command prompt. The command used for enabling WinRM is:

winrm quickconfig

Step 2

On the Hyper-V Management client open cmd.exe as administrator and add the server as a trusted hosts. Here you can comma separate to add multiple machines.

winrm set winrm/config/client @{TrustedHosts=”PC-I5″}

Step 3

On the Hyper-V Management client add credentials to make the connection possible.

cmdkey /add:PC-I5 /user:ADMINISTRATOR /pass:Password

Step 4

The last step that needs to be done is allowing Remote Access for Anonymous Logon. This has to be configured on the Hyper-V Management client. This can be done by following the next steps.

Type ‘dcomcnfg.exe’ in the Windows Search field and run this as admin.

Right click my computer and click properties.

Go to the tab COM Security and click ‘Edit Limits’

Allow ‘Remote Access’ by ‘ANONYMOUS LOGON’

Click ‘OK’ and start Hyper-V Manager again. At this point you’re able to manage the Hyper-V host remotely.

2015-03-09 21_50_13-Hyper-V Manager

Change Windows 2012 Server Edition

11/01/2015/in Microsoft, Windows Server/by Jeroen van Roon

You can use DISM to change the Windows Server 2012 edition after installation. To determine the current edition of Windows Server installed run the following command:

DISM /online /Get-CurrentEdition

To determine which versions the server can be upgraded to run the following command:

DISM /online /Get-TargetEditions

As can be seen from the above screenshot this version of Windows Server can be upgraded to Target Edition: ServerDatacenter.

To complete the conversion between editions we use the DISM command with the following format:

DISM /online /Set-Edition:<Version> /ProductKey:XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX /AcceptEULA

The server needs to be rebooted.

A reboot of the server and a check of the server edition reveals that is has indeed been successfully upgraded to DataCenter.