You might see this error when you logon to the console after restoring your SBS 2003 system:

Event Type:    Information
Event Source:    Application Popup
Event Category:    None
Event ID:    26
Date:        7/29/2007
Time:        6:03:02 PM
[...]

Description:
Application popup: applnch.exe - Unable To Locate Component : This application has failed to start because MAPI32.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem. 

This is Exchange-related.  In Microsoft's questionable wisdom, there are two DLLs named MAPI32.DLL.  One is for client machines such as would run Outlook and it is about 120K.  The other MAPI32.DLL is 600K and it lives inside Exchange (in %programfiles%\exchsrvr\bin).  They are not the same!

If Exchange System Manager is run on a server that has the client MAPI32.DLL in %Windir%\system32, as might happen with a restored SBS box, it will complain.  The usual workaround is to rename that DLL to "MAPI32.DLL.OLD".  (That would keep you from running Outlook, but you know you're not supposed to be doing that on a server, right?)

However, whenever you log on, you get the aforementioned error from applnch.exe.

Workaround:

Copy the MAPI32.DLL in the Exchange directory (in \program files\exchsrvr\bin, should be the 600K one.) to \windows\system32\.

For some reason, applnch is happy with that situation and won't throw you any more errors.

If you have SBS 2003 R2 and you've installed the File System Resource Manager and  you've just restored your system from backup, you may see this error in the Application log:

Event Type:    Error
Event Source:    SRMSVC
Event Category:    None
Event ID:    8197
Date:        7/28/2007
Time:        4:07:56 PM
User:        N/A
Computer:    DOT
Description:
File Server Resource Manager Service error: Unexpected error. 

Operation:
   Starting File Server Resource Manager Service.

Error-specific details:
   Error: IWbemDecoupledRegistrar::Register, 0x80041011

Do this from a command prompt:

cd %windir%\system32\wbem

mofcomp srm.mof

net stop srmsvc

net start srmsvc

I use my personal SBS box for testing and I am aggressive about trying new patches, software and configurations, things that I could not try at SATV, things that most SBS consultants would not do to their clients.

So, I do lots of bare metal restores.   There are always errors in the logs afterwards.  Always.  I'm sick of putting error codes in a search engine, so I'm blogging the ones I've resolved so I don't have to use the search box so often!

It's common for WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation) to be corrupted or miss entries in its database after a restore.  This affects Exchange in the following ways: 

• The Exchange System Manager may fail with error 0x80041010 .
• You may receive event 9098 from MSExchangeSA, "The MAD Monitoring thread was unable to read its configuration from the DS, error '0x80041010'."  This may be logged every five minutes.

Do this from a command prompt:

MOFCOMP.EXE -N:root\cimv2\applications\exchange wbemcons.mof
MOFCOMP.EXE -N:root\cimv2\applications\exchange exwmi.mof
MOFCOMP.EXE -N:root\cimv2\applications\exchange exmgmt.mof
MOFCOMP.EXE -N:root\cimv2\applications\exchange msgtrk.mof

MOFCOMP.EXE -N:root\cimv2\applications\exchange smtpcons.mof

Wait 5 minutes and verify that the 9098 events don't reappear.

I recently had to restore my brand new Tyan machine from backup, when I inadvertently broke the RAID 1 array on it.  (Of all the RAID systems I've used, Ciprico's, which the Tyan has on-board, is the most opaque to me, or so it seems.)

Every time I do a restore, I always seem to break more and more things, despite doing what I thought were best practices (install Windows, install drivers, update to Service Pack 2 and then restore with NTBackup.)

This time I'm getting errors from SceCli: 1202, "Security policies were propagated with warning".

This blog, MPECS Inc. Blog: SBS 2K3 - Group Policy computer settings not applied, had the solution:

From a command prompt do:

esentutl /p %windir%\security\database\secedit.sdb

If you're using Powershell, this is:

esentutl /p $env:windir\security\database\secedit.sdb

It'll ask you to confirm that you want to run it.  Click OK.

If you have ever used edbutil in Exchange to fix databases, you should find this familiar.  As soon as it tells you the database is repaired do:

gpupdate /force

Answer N when it asks you "OK to Logoff".  Open Event Viewer and confirm that you get an informational message from SceCli, "Security Policies are applied successfully".

Hat tip to Philip E.!

Excellent news for people with visual impairments who read books online.  Google Book Search has added accessibility features so these people can read more books!

I've been visually impaired myself for all my life.  When I had retinal surgery a few years ago and was trying to save my sight, the only books I could read were either on my Palm Tungsten or through the excellent NewsAloud RSS newsreader.  Things are much better these days but I've always set my machines to show much larger text than most people would use, and I use my PDA (now a Windows Mobile iPaq) very heavily for ebooks.

Official Google Blog: Ever more books to read

I recently got a Tyan Tomcat 1000S (S3950) motherboard and went in circles trying to get the proper drivers for SBS to see the RAID controller.  After consulting with Tyan and doing some searching, I found the drivers.  The Tyan uses the Broadcom ServerWorks HT1000 disk controller, and Broadcom has spun off its storage division (including that chipset) to Ciprico.  (I'd never heard of them;  at first thought, weren't they selling anti-anthrax drugs? Oh, that's Cipro!)

Here's the link to the drivers:  Ciprico RaidCore downloads page.