Other day my Internet was slow on Vista Machine. No matter what I use (Outlook 2007, Browsing website etc). After a bit of tuning in Vista I could find this setting and made a huge differernce in the performance:

netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=disable

Enjoy Computing on Vista!!

 

MSCRM v4 Trial Keys and Upgrade Matrix

The trial version limitations depend on which key you enter. 

Versions

• Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Workgroup Edition. This version is limited to 5 or fewer users. It can be installed on Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition, any of the supported Windows Server 2003 editions, or Windows Server 2008 (when available). 

     

Trial key (5 CAL limit):

V8QCJ-74RXV-FF27W-TY3V2-92MJY

 

• Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Professional Edition. This version has no user limit. This version is limited to a single organization, but Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Professional Edition Server can be installed to more than one computer.

 

 Trial key (no CAL limit):

P6MYC-RPKCC-QWWCM-6MTJ3-RT3DY

 

• Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Enterprise Edition. This version has no user limit. Additional features include support for multiple organizations, multiple server instances, and role-based service installation. Role-based services let you increase performance by installing component services on different computers.

                  

             Trial key (no CAL limit):

             QCKXD-BDH8R-G74H8-RDYHX-R4K4T

 

 

There would be time when you want to  upgrade your trial keys into professional ones or to enterprise ones, In Microsoft CRM v4 you can convert your MSDN installation into professional version. Here’s a MATRIX provided by Simon Houston which helped me at many occasions. Here’s the link to that blog:

 

http://blogs.msdn.com/ukcrm/archive/2008/03/29/crm-4-0-license-key-upgrade-matrix.aspx

 

Thanks

 

Piyush

Many times  MS CRM in outlook prompts for username and password. if you just cancel it. CRm works sometime and other times it just give error. This problem occurs when Microsoft CRM and IE 7 are installed on the same computer.

To work around this problem, disable the FEATURE_SUBDOWNLOAD_LOCKDOWN registry subkey. To do this, follow these steps on the computer that is running the Microsoft Dynamics CRM desktop client for Outlook:

For more information refer to KB Article:  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/934243

Thanks,

Piyush

Some report management tasks are done using Microsoft CRM, and others are done using Reporting Services Report Manager.

• In Microsoft CRM, use System Settings to define the report categories available. Use the Reports feature to add, delete, rename, and edit the properties of reports, including where in the user interface the reports should be visible.
• In Report Manager, you can schedule reports, set up subscriptions for reports, and control access to reports. Use Report Manager to view report properties and manage individual subscriptions to reports.

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa682806.aspx

The procedure for publishing a report to Microsoft CRM is as follows.

1. Create a new report or modify an existing report using Visual Studio .NET.
2. In Microsoft CRM, click New in the toolbar located above the Reports grid.
3. In the Report:New dialog box, fill in the source file location. Also, fill in the Details section of the form.
4. Click Save and Close.
5. Your report will now be displayed in the Reports grid. You may need to select an appropriate category or entity from the drop-down menus above the toolbar in order to see the report. Select your report in the Reports grid.
6. If you do not want to define a default filter, skip to step 10.
7. In the toolbar, point to More Actions, and then click Edit Default Filter from the menu.
8. In the Report Viewer dialog, define the default filter criteria that will be used every time the report is run.
9. Click Save Default Filter.
10. Test run the report.

After the report is tested and functions correctly, follow these steps to add the report to context-sensitive lists and forms within Microsoft CRM.

1. Select the report in the Reports grid.
2. From the More Actions menu, select Edit Report.
3. In the Report dialog box, fill in the Categorization section according to the following descriptions:

   Categories: Categorizes the report according to its intended purpose. For example, a sales report can be included in context-sensitive lists and forms in the Sales area of Microsoft CRM.

   Related Record Types: Associates the report to specific entities, such as accounts or contacts.

   Display In: This setting enables the report to be displayed in context-sensitive forms and lists. You can restrict where the report is displayed. If you intend to publish a hidden report, clear the Display In text box.

4. Click Save and Close.

After a report is deployed, it is visible to all Microsoft CRM users unless it is marked hidden.

There is a shared data source named MSCRM_DataSource that is located in the /organization_MSCRM folder on the report server. When you deploy a report through Microsoft CRM, the report is automatically connected to this data source.

I have used VNC for doing remote support. You also have an option doing remote control directly via Active Directory. how?

Use rControlAD.EXE. For more information try the following link:

 http://www.petri.co.il/quickly_connect_to_remote_computers.htm

Give the best support  via Microsoft Technologies.

Thanks

Piyush

Some time we need to access server and we want to access from internet explorer. I would say the power of tabbed browser. I can flip through many RDP connections at a same time. Well Remote Desktop Web Connection is a cool feature which I used to use only occasionally. but now as I have to broswe through many connections I prefer using it all the time.

www.petri.co.il is an excellent resource for people like me. petri has put the steps in very simple terms. I have been a fan of this person since i started in IT.

I don’t want to copy and cut paste the steps but they are given at this link.

http://www.petri.co.il/remotely_enable_remote_desktop_on_windows_server_2003.htm

Now you wouldn’t have issues toggling around different RDP connections. 1 IE broswer can handle all of them.

Now you want to access the session running  on the server, instead of starting a new session. Try out this procedure:

http://www.petri.co.il/install_remote_desktp_web_connection_on_windows_xp.htm

Happy Computing.

You get this error while updating SQL 2005 to SQL 2005 Sp2. It took me very long to figure out what’s the solution. Infact my colleague “Henri Lo” only posted the solution for it.

Browse to the Registry Key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion. 

Update the ProgramFilesDir value to C:\Program Files, then start the SP2 install again (Give restart if doesn’t work and then it should work).

Any issues please leave a comment.

 Check out the thread http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=1315260&SiteID=1

Thanks

Piyush

CRM 4.0  - Installing without Internet Access

Philip Richardson has written how to do the installation of CRM 4.0 without internet access. You can find that blog at http://www.philiprichardson.org/blog/post/Installing-CRM-40-without-Internet-Access.aspx.

It took me sometime to make the folder structure as I had downlaoded the CRM software from Microsoft Website and I renamed for my convienence. But I changed the structure of the folders exactly as told in the blog. It worked like a charm

I also came across blog of David jennaway who wrote additional points on the same topic: http://mscrmuk.blogspot.com/2007/12/crm-40-installation-with-no-internet.html

This 2 blogs will definetly solve your problems.

Thanks

Piyush 

Quite common error in CRM Outlook Client installation. You have installed the CRM Client withoutt any issues but still Outlook doesn’t show any trace of it. or very frequently CRM disappears (when you close and open outlook many times) . One of the main reason is CRM Addin. Follow the steps below to get your CRM back.

I remember seeing this solution at someone’s blog and I copied on my notepad. But I use it so many times and I couldn’t trace the orignal blogger thus I have copied his solution here.

A. Launch Outlook.

Thanks

Piyush