Exchange update - unable to access OWA

Ran into a problem with Exchange 2013 CU23, after updating OWA was unavailable. Users could login, but after doing so got an "Something went wrong" message.

Turns out the Exchange Server Auth Certificate got pointed to the wrong certificate. To solve this issue:

1. Find out what Exchange is using for the current auth certificate by running the following command:
   Get-ExchangeCertificate (Get-AuthConfig).CurrentCertificateThumbprint

2. If you get an error running the command above, it means that the patch changed your auth certificate. You need to point exchange back to the correct certificate. To do that, you need to find the thumbprint of the auth certificate on your server. You can do this by running the following command:

Get-ExchangeCertificate

1. Look for the auth certificate on your exchange server and get the thumbprint of that certificate. Output of the Get-ExchangeCertificate follows:

Thumbprint Subject

---

7F7B8143A318C4E93796099E53D9D748F2FE0xxx CN=Microsoft Exchange Server Auth Certificate

1. As other posters have mentioned, to point Exchange back to the correct certificate, run the following commands:

Set-AuthConfig -NewCertificateThumbprint 7F7B8143A318C4E93796099E53D9D748F2FE0xxx -NewCertificateEffectiveDate (Get-Date)
Set-AuthConfig -PublishCertificate
Set-AuthConfig -ClearPreviousCertificate

(copy-pasted from here).

In my case, doing the above and restarting IIS worked.

Run individual Win10 system settings

 Microsoft has removed Advanced System Settings from it's Settings app and Control Panel. To get to it, run:

 

sysdm.cpl

Some more tricks, via Reddit:

I'm sure everyone knows the shortcut to open Run is [ WIN ] + R

Another great shortcut to know from here is that when submitting your Run command. If you hold Ctrl + Shift when you push Enter, your command will be Run As Admin. If the user is not an admin, you'll be prompted to elevate.

control - Control Panel

devmgmt.msc - Device Manager

services.msc - Opens Services. This is not the same as the Services tab in Task Manager, this is the administrative, services snap-in. And it's better.

regedit - Registry Editor

fsmgmt.msc - File Share Management. I'm not even sure how else to get here. Whenever I bring this thing up people wonder what the hell it is.

appwiz.cpl - Add/Remove Programs

ncpa.cpl - Network Properties (Change Adapter Options)

dsa.msc - Active Directory Users and Computers (Domain Services Administration)

gpmc.msc - Group Policy Management Console

lusrmgr.msc - Local Users Manager

gpedit.msc - Local Group Policy Editor

mmsys.cpl - Audio Control Panel (Multimedia System Control Panel)

wf.cpl - Windows Firewall

sysdm.cpl - System Properties (Advanced System Settings)

desk.cpl - Desktop Display Control Panel. It's close. You might be able to click it faster than you can type it.

taskmgr

No administrator access in Windows 10

 I recently ran into a PC where the administrator account was forgotten.

To get into such a PC:

1. Restart into Safe mode with Command Prompt (to restart into safe mode, hold 'Shift' while restarting).

2. To actually get into Safe mode, go to Troubleshoot -> Advanced options -> Startup Settings -> Restart.

3. In the CMD, run net user administrator /active:yes (or just net user administrator to the the status).

4. Restart, this time into Safe mode with networking. It should login as the administrator user where you can create a normal user and give them admin rights.

Exchange Toolbox Snap-in Unavailable

 Sometimes when running Exchange Toolbox I'll get a Snap-in Unavailable message. Specifically:

This snap-in performed a non-valid operation and has been unloaded. To continue working with this snap-in, restart MMC or try load the snap-in again.

Exception Type: System.Runtime.Serialization.SerializationException

Exception Message: Type is not resolved for member.

The problem usually has to do with IIS. Open IIS Manager, expand the 'Sites' folder in the left menu. In the right Actions pane, select 'Bindings...'. The bindings have to be like this screenshot (via Spiceworks), specifically the binding needs to include HTTP to all assigned IPs at port 80 and HTTPS at port 443.

If that is already set, a restart of IIS has helped.

Office error 0xc0000142 (updating, please wait)

 I've run into Office 2016 failing to launch where a windows shows up which says "Updating, please wait", followed by the application (Excel, Word, etc) crashing with the above error.

The solution is to restart the 'ClickToRunSvc' service in Task Manager (under the services tab).

WS-Management service cannot process the request

WS-Management service cannot process the request

In Windows Server, launching PowerShell can sometimes result in an error where the shell can't connect to 'remote server server.contesso.local', even if this is the local computer the shell was launched on. The error message is 'The WS-Management service cannot process the request. The load quota for the system has been exceded'.

The solution is to:

Logon to the specfic Exchange server on the error message.

Open IIS Management Console and navigate to IIS Application Pools.

Restart PowerShell App Pools. 

The cause, via Solarwinds:

This issue is the result of the IIS/Powershell App Pool being overloaded. A restart of it will reset the App Pool back to zeros.  If the server is still having issues, you might see that the system load ends up maxing out again, which can cause issues with polling. Investigation into the load on the server is recommended.

Rebuild search index in Exchange 2013

The search index in Exchange 2013 can become corrupted and will need a re-seed (a re-index), you can check the status by running Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus | FL Name,*Index*

To do this, stop the MS Exchange Search and MS Exchange Search Host Controller services:

Stop-Service MSExchangeFastSearch

Stop-Service HostControllerService

Then find the folder which contains the content index catalog, this is for each mailbox database individually, found at %ExchangeInstallPath\Mailbox\<name of mailbox database>_Catalog\<GUID>12.1.Single and rename it, for instance: C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\Mailbox\Mailbox Database 0657134726_Catalog\F0627A72-9F1D-494A-839A-D7C915C279DB12.1.Single_OLD

Restart the services above:

Start-Service MSExchangeFastSearch

Start-Service HostControllerService

Then run Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus | FL Name,*Index* to check the status (this need a couple of minutes to update).

Via: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/reseed-the-search-catalog-exchange-2013-help?redirectedfrom=MSDN#Anchor_2

If this doesn't work, also check this post: http://clintboessen.blogspot.com/2014/12/exchange-2013-fast-search-technology.html