I came across this error during an Exchange 2010 deployment in one of the Universities of Canada . The EMC would not connect:

“The attempt to connect to http://server.domain.com/PowerShell using “Kerberos” authentication failed: connecting to remote server failed with the following error message : The WinRM client cannot complete the operation within the time specified.  Check if the machine name is valid and is reachable over the network and firewall exception for Windows Remote Management service is enabled.  For more information, see the about_Remote_Troubleshooting Help topic.”

There are some blog posts on the internet around how to fix the connectivity problem to the server, but none of them were working in my case. 

In my situation, the server EMC was pointing to the server that didn’t come back after reboot (but this is another story). EMC would connect fine to a different working server.

As a workaround I’ve added a “new” Exchange forest and was managed toconnect, but I wanted to actually fix the issue.

So, the solution is simple .

Close EMC

Execute the following commands (in CMD):

DEL "%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\MMCDEL "%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\MMC\Exchange Management Console.*"
REG DELETE HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\ExchangeServer\v14\AdminTools /v NodeStructureSettings /f

Now, the EMC correctly rediscover an active Exchange 2010 server.

Be aware that there are a few issues with ECP in Exchange 2013 RTM when it comes to remove and re-create ECP virtual directory in IIS (The new name is Exchange Administrative Console EAC).

The process to re-create Virtual Directors in IIS is still the same as for Ex2010 but you can came across some bugs. When you remove ECP virtual directory, which can be done by running the below command from EMS it can leave some leftovers in AD configuration and IIS configuration files.

This command removes the ECP virtual directory located on the default IIS website on the Exchange server Server01.

Remove-EcpVirtualDirectory -Identity " Server01\ecp (Default Web Site)" 

But what it also does, it removes ECP virtual directory from “Server01\ecp (Exchange Back End)”.  If you still see ECP under the Default Web Site and Exchange Back End, remove it manually from IIS.

As per Microsoft’s documentation, to create a new ECP virtual directory you can run the following command:

New-EcpVirtualDirectory -Identity "Server01\ecp (default Web site)" 

But in my case, after I removed ECP virtual directory and it seems to work properly, I was not able to create it back.

I was getting an error that this directory already exists. To solve this issue:

• Remove MSExchangeECPAppPool from IIS.
• Open C:\Windows\system32\inetsrv\config\applicationHost.config in Notepad
• Remove all configuration lines related to ECP (the example from below)

<add name="MSExchangeECPAppPool" managedRuntimeVersion="v4.0" managedPipelineMode="Integrated">
</key>
            <key path="LM/W3SVC/1/ROOT/ecp">
                <property id="2102" dataType="String" userType="100" attributes="Inherit" value="ecp" />
                <property id="45054" dataType="DWord" userType="1" attributes="Inherit" value="1" />
<application path="/ecp" applicationPool="MSExchangeECPAppPool">
                <virtualDirectory path="/" physicalPath="C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\FrontEnd\HttpProxy\ecp" />
</application>
                <application path="/ecp" applicationPool="MSExchangeECPAppPool">
                    <virtualDirectory path="/" physicalPath="C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\ClientAccess\ecp" />
<location path="Default Web Site/ecp">
        <system.webServer>
            <directoryBrowse enabled="false" showFlags="Date, Size, Extension, LongDate" />
            <handlers accessPolicy="Read, Script" />
            <security>
                <authentication>
                    <windowsAuthentication enabled="false">
                        <providers>
                            <clear />
                        </providers>
                    </windowsAuthentication>
                    <anonymousAuthentication enabled="true" />
                    <digestAuthentication enabled="false" />
                    <basicAuthentication enabled="true" />
                </authentication>
            </security>
            <defaultDocument enabled="true">
                <files>
                    <clear />
                    <add value="default.aspx" />
                </files>
            </defaultDocument>
            <urlCompression doStaticCompression="true" doDynamicCompression="true" />
        </system.webServer>
    </location>
    <location path="Exchange Back End/ecp">
        <system.webServer>
            <security>
                <authentication>
                    <windowsAuthentication enabled="true" />
                </authentication>
            </security>
        </system.webServer>
    </location>

• Now you can re-create ECP virtual directory, but the command needs to be in the following format:

New-EcpVirtualDirectory -WebSiteName "Default Web Site" -InternalUrl "https://server1.domain.intra/ecp" 

• After you ran the previous command, check wither ECP virtual directory was created under “Default Web Site”
• Now, we need to re-created ECP virtual directory under “Exchange Back End”.
• I am not sure if it is right way to do it but you can try to run:

New-EcpVirtualDirectory -WebSiteName " Exchange Back End " -InternalUrl https://server1.domain.intra/ecp 

In my case the command failed with the error:

So, when I opened ADSIedit I found the configuration for “Exchange Back End /ECP” still there.

I didn’t try to remove it and run New-EcpVirtualDirectory to re-create it. What I did is:

• In IIS, Add Application under “Exchange Back End”
  
  

• Enable Windows Authentication for the ECP directory:
  

Microsoft has released new versions of latest Rollups for Exchange 2010 and 2007.

When you are trying to install Rollup 4 or Rollup 5 for Exchange 2010 SP2 you can get error 0×80070643

Now, let see how to resolve issue with Rollup 4/5 for Exchange 2010 SP2 error code 0×80070643

If during installation of Rollup you will get error code 0×80070643 then you have to do following:

• Uninstall from Windows Server Windows Management Framework 3.0 (WMF 3.0) (Windows6.1-KB2506143-x64)
• Reboot server
• Install update Rollup for Exchange 2010 SP2 Reboot server Install Windows Management Framework 3.0 after installing the Rollup (I didn’t install it on my servers )
• Reboot server

I hope it will help to update yours environments.

Have you ever used NetMeeting in Windows XP? Then continue reading.

Bad news is  that you are out of luck in Windows 7 and Vista. Oh, and in Windows 8 too, by the way. There is no good old NetMeeting in the newer Microsoft OS’s. Why? Obviously, Microsoft is pushing companies to deploy their fully-featured unified communication solution – Lync.

Lync is no doubt a great all-encompassing tool. But what about those who are not ready to pay the premium price or just don’t need the complexity of such solution? Don’t fret, all is not lost.

The answer is a lightweight Peer-To-Peer (P2P) desktop sharing tool – Inletex Easy Meeting Classic (Disclaimer: I’ve been their technical advisor for a while).

Inletex just released version 1.2 of the tool. Currently it offers just a basic NetMeeting desktop sharing functionality. It’s simple, fast, and easy to use. For those of you who merely want to share their desktop with others it is definitely worth to look at.

Some of the features:

• Greenware: No installation required. Zero footprint.
• Peer-to-peer for LAN/WAN: No Internet required. All information stays in your private network.
• Ease of use: Whether you share your desktop or join a shared session – one application, one click operation.

Product page: NetMeeting for Windows 7

Update Rollup 3 for Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 2 resolves issues that were found in Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 2 since the software was released. This update rollup is highly recommended for all Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 2 customers.

For a list of changes that are included in this update rollup, see KB2685289.

Download Update Rollup 3 for Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 2 (KB2685289)