MS Exchange 2016 [ERROR] Cannot find path ‘..\Exchange_Server_V15\UnifiedMessaging\grammars’ because it does not exist.


So recently I ran into this annoying error message with Exchange 2016 CU11 Update.

Environment info-

  • Exchange 2016 upgrade from CU8 to CU11
  • Exchange binaries are installed under D:\Microsoft\Exchange_Server_V15\..
Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetItemCommand.ProcessRecord()". [12/04/2018 16:41:43.0233] [1] [ERROR] Cannot find path 'D:\Microsoft\Exchange_Server_V15\UnifiedMessaging\grammars' because it does not exist. 
[12/04/2018 16:41:43.0233] [1] [ERROR-REFERENCE] Id=UnifiedMessagingComponent___99d8be02cb8d413eafc6ff15e437e13d Component=EXCHANGE14:\Current\Release\Shared\Datacenter\Setup
[12/04/2018 16:41:43.0234] [1] Setup is stopping now because of one or more critical errors. [12/04/2018 16:41:43.0234] [1] Finished executing component tasks.
[12/04/2018 16:41:43.0318] [1] Ending processing Install-UnifiedMessagingRole
[12/04/2018 16:44:51.0116] [0] CurrentResult setupbase.maincore:396: 0 [12/04/2018 16:44:51.0118] [0] End of Setup
[12/04/2018 16:44:51.0118] [0] **********************************************

Root Cause

Ran the Setup again and it failed with the same error
while going though the log files i notice that the setup looks for this file path while configuring the "Mailbox role: Unified Messaging service" (Stage 6 on the GUI installer)

$grammarPath = join-path $RoleInstallPath "UnifiedMessaging\grammars\*";

There was no folder present with the name grammars under the Path specified on the error

just to confirm, i checked another server on CU8 and the grammars folder is there.

Not sure why the folder got removed, it may have happened during the first run of the CU11 setup that failed,

Resolution

My first thought was to copy the folder from an existing CU8 server. but just to avoid any issues (since exchange is sensitive to file versions)
I created an empty folder with the name "grammars" under D:\Microsoft\Exchange_Server_V15\UnifiedMessaging\




Ran the setup again and it continued the upgrade process and completed without any issues...¯\_(ツ)_/¯











[12/04/2018 18:07:50.0416] [2] Ending processing Set-ServerComponentState
[12/04/2018 18:07:50.0417] [2] Beginning processing Write-ExchangeSetupLog
[12/04/2018 18:07:50.0420] [2] Install is complete. Server state has been set to Active.
[12/04/2018 18:07:50.0421] [2] Ending processing Write-ExchangeSetupLog
[12/04/2018 18:07:50.0422] [1] Finished executing component tasks.
[12/04/2018 18:07:50.0429] [1] Ending processing Start-PostSetup
[12/04/2018 18:07:50.0524] [0] CurrentResult setupbase.maincore:396: 0
[12/04/2018 18:07:50.0525] [0] End of Setup
[12/04/2018 18:07:50.0525] [0] **********************************************

Considering cost of this software M$ really have to be better about error handling IMO, i have run in to silly issues like this way too many times since Exchange 2010.


Exchange 2010 Mailbox PST export – New-MailboxExportRequest

Remember the Export-Mailbox command on exchange 2007??? The main problem I personally had was the annoying outlook requirement. 
With the exchange server 2010 service pack 1 release, M$ introduced a new Cmdlet to export mailboxes on the server. And it does not require outlook.
New-MailboxExportRequest

Step 01 – Mailbox Import Export Role Assignment
Grant the user account permissions to export mailboxes (By default no account has the privileges to export mailboxes)
New-ManagementRoleAssignment -Role “Mailbox Import Export” -User administrator

Step 02 – Setup the Export File Location
We need a network share to export files. (Eg – \Exch01PST_export)
Note:
The Cmdlet gives an error if you point to a directory directly on the Hardisk (Eg – F:PST_export)
Create a Shared folder on a serverNAS and grant Exchange Trusted Subsystem user account read/write permissions to the folder
Exporting Mailbox Items with “New-MailboxExportRequest”

Supporting Cmdlets that can be used with MailboxExportRequest
Cmdlet
Description
Topic
Start the process of exporting a mailbox or personal archive to a .pst file. You can create more than one export request per mailbox. Each request must have a unique name.
Change export request options after the request is created or recover from a failed request.
Suspend an export request any time after the request is created but before the request reaches the status of Completed.
Resume an export request that’s suspended or failed.
Remove fully or partially completed export requests. Completed export requests aren’t automatically cleared. You must use this cmdlet to remove them.
View general information about an export request.
View detailed information about an export request.
In this example
Shared folder name-  PST_export
server name- EXCH01
Share Path –  \Exch01PST_export
Mailbox – amy.webber

Folder permissions – 

For this example we are going to use New-MailboxExportRequest cmdlet with the following parameters :

-baditemlimit 200 -AcceptLargeDataLoss
AcceptLargeDataLoss
The AcceptLargeDataLoss parameter specifies that a large amount of data loss is acceptable if the BadItemLimit is set to 51 or higher. Items are considered corrupted if the item can’t be read from the source database or can’t be written to the target database. Corrupted items won’t be available in the destination mailbox or .pst file.
baditemlimit
The BadItemLimit parameter specifies the number of bad items to skip if the request encounters corruption in the mailbox. Use 0 to not skip bad items. The valid input range for this parameter is from 0 through 2147483647. The default value is 0.
Exporting the Whole Mailbox
Run the following Cmdlet to initiate the mailbox move request:  New-MailboxExportRequest
New-MailboxExportRequest -baditemlimit 200 -AcceptLargeDataLoss -Mailbox amy.webber -FilePath \Exch01PST_exportamy.webber.pst

Exporting the User’s Online Archive
If you want to export the user’s online archive to .pst, use the –IsArchive parameter.

New-MailboxExportRequest -baditemlimit 200 -AcceptLargeDataLoss -Mailbox amy.webber  -IsArchive -FilePath \Exch01PST_exportamy.webber-Archive.pst

Exporting a Specific Folder
You can export a folder from the users mailbox using the -IncludeFolders parameter
Eg: inbox folder layout-
To export the inbox folder
New-MailboxExportRequest -baditemlimit 200 -AcceptLargeDataLoss -Mailbox amy.webber -IncludeFolders #Inbox# -FilePath \Exch01PST_exportamy.webber.pst
Checking the Progress of the Mailbox Export Request

To check the current statues of the mailbox export request use the following cmdlet:
Get-MailboxExportRequest | Get-MailboxExportRequestStatistics
People do crazy stuff scripting with this Cmdlet. Look around in the interwebs for some scripts.
Useful links:
Until next time…

Deploying User Cutomizations & Office suit setting for M$ Office via Group Policy

Hello internetzzz

As an Administrator, you might run in to situations that requires you to Deploy UI customizations such as customized Ribbon, Quick toolbars, etc for Office applications on user Computers, or in my case Terminal servers.

here is a quick and dirty guide on how to do this via group policy.

For instance, lets say we have to deploy a button to initiate a 3rd party productivity program with in outlook and MS word.

First off, make the necessary changes to outlook or word on a Client pc running MS office.

To customize the Ribbon

  • On the File tab, click Options, and then click Customize Ribbon to open the Ribbon customization dialog.

To customize the Quick Access Toolbar

  • On the File tab, click Options, and then click Quick Access Toolbar to open the Quick Access Toolbar customization dialog.

You can also export your Ribbon and Quick Access Toolbar customizations into a file.

 

when we make changes to the default Ribbon these user customizations are saved in as .officeUI Files

%localappdata%MicrosoftOffice

The file names will differ according to the office program and the portion of the Ribbon UI  you customized.

Application Description Of .Ribbon File .officeUI File Name
Outlook 2010 Outlook Explorer olkexplorer.officeUI
Outlook 2010 Contact olkaddritem.officeUI
Outlook 2010 Appointment/Meeting (organizer on compose, organizer after compose, attendee) olkapptitem.officeUI
Outlook 2010 Contact Group (formerly known as Distribution List) olkdlstitem.officeUI
Outlook 2010 Journal Item olklogitem.officeUI
Outlook 2010 Mail Compose olkmailitem.officeUI
Outlook 2010 Mail Read olkmailread.officeUI
Outlook 2010 Multimedia Message Compose olkmmsedit.officeUI
Outlook 2010 Multimedia Message Read olkmmsread.officeUI
Outlook 2010 Received Meeting Request olkmreqread.officeUI
Outlook 2010 Forward Meeting Request olkmreqsend.officeUI
Outlook 2010 Post Item Compose olkpostitem.officeUI
Outlook 2010 Post Item Read olkpostread.officeUI
Outlook 2010 NDR olkreportitem.officeUI
Outlook 2010 Send Again Item olkresenditem.officeUI
Outlook 2010 Counter Response to a Meeting Request olkrespcounter.officeUI
Outlook 2010 Received Meeting Response olkresponseread.officeUI
Outlook 2010 Edit Meeting Response olkresponsesend.officeUI
Outlook 2010 RSS Item olkrssitem.officeUI
Outlook 2010 Sharing Item Compose olkshareitem.officeUI
Outlook 2010 Sharing Item Read olkshareread.officeUI
Outlook 2010 Text Message Compose olksmsedit.officeUI
Outlook 2010 Text Message Read olksmsread.officeUI
Outlook 2010 Task Item (Task/Task Request, etc.) olktaskitem.officeUI
Access 2010 Access Ribbon Access.officeUI
Excel 2010 Excel Ribbon Excel.officeUI
InfoPath 2010 InfoPath Designer Ribbon IPDesigner.officeUI
InfoPath 2010 InfoPath Editor Ribbon IPEditor.officeUI
OneNote 2010 OneNote Ribbon OneNote.officeUI
PowerPoint PowerPoint Ribbon PowerPoint.officeUI
Project 2010 Project Ribbon MSProject.officeUI
Publisher 2010 Publisher Ribbon Publisher.officeUI
*SharePoint 2010 SharePoint Workspaces Ribbon GrooveLB.officeUI
*SharePoint 2010 SharePoint Workspaces Ribbon GrooveWE.officeUI
SharePoint Designer 2010 SharePoint Designer Ribbon spdesign.officeUI
Visio 2010 Visio Ribbon Visio.officeUI
Word 2010 Word Ribbon Word.officeUI

You can use these files and push it via Group policy using a simple start up script..

@echo off 
setlocal
set userdir=%localappdata%MicrosoftOffice
set remotedir=\MyServerLogonFilespublicOfficeUI 
for %%r in (Word Excel PowerPoint) do if not exist %userdir%%%r.officeUI cp %remotedir%%%r.officeUI %userdir%%%r.officeUI
endlocal 

A basic script to copy .officeUI files from a network share into the user’s local AppData directory, if no .officeUI file currently exists there.
Can easily be modified to use the roaming AppData directory (replace %localappdata% with %appdata%) or to include additional ribbon customizations.

 

Managing Office suit setting via Group Policy

Download and import the ADM templates to the Group policy object editor.
This will allow you to  manage settings Security, UI related options, Trust center, etc.. on office 2010 using GPO

Download Office 2010 Administrative Template files (ADM, ADMX/ADML)

hopefully, this will be help full to someone..
until next time cháo