Microsoft Exchange Server - FIPS-FS Error 0x800706BE, 0x80010105

We started encountering this issue on our on-prem (Hybrid) exchange server all of a sudden which was preventing emails from being scanned by the anti malware module, and hence were being held in the submission queue and not being delivered.

You may see errors in the event log such as;

The FIP-FS Scan Process failed initialization. Error: 0x80010105. Error Details: The server threw an exception.

The FIP-FS Scan Process failed initialization. Error: 0x800706BE. Error Details: The remote procedure call failed.

Fault bucket , type 0
Event Name: APPCRASH
Response: Not available
Cab Id: 0
Problem signature:
P1: scanningprocess.exe

The usual server and service restarts did not fix the problem.

The issue appears to be related to updates not being installed correctly for the exchange anti malware scanning module.

You can check/confirm this by running these commands from Powershell;

Add-PsSnapin Microsoft.Forefront.Filtering.Management.Powershell

Get-EngineUpdateInformation

We got a response like below - note the "UpdateAttemptFailed" status

You can also check the update engine settings by running the command

get-engineupdatecommonsettings

Note the PrimaryUpdatePath - when we attempted to access this URL we were getting a 404 error - this is potentially what the problem is?

Update 4/1/22

I found the following article from the Exchange Team Blog that references this issue and provides a script to fix it

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/exchange-team-blog/email-stuck-in-exchange-on-premises-transport-queues/ba-p/3049447/page/2

Before implementing the provided fix, I can ran the default script to Enable-AntimalwareScanning (located in C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\Scripts) - mail delivery operated for a brief period of time before mails began queuing again.

I ran the script provided in the blogpost, and even after a full server restart, the problem still persists so I have disabled the antimalware scanning again

Fix/Solution/Workaround

Disable the anti-malware scanning option. This is easily done by running the included powershell script in your Exchange installation directory

C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\Scripts\Disable-AntimalwareScanning.ps1

Run the script then restart the Microsoft Exchange Transport Service

Once we did this the submission queue immediately started clearing.

You can reverse the change easily by running the Enable-AntimalwareScanning.ps1 script in the same folder later on.

We've also found this recent MS article outlining steps to manually update the scan engines used by Exchange Server, but we found it still failed to update the signatures after running it

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/troubleshoot/setup/manually-update-scan-engines

Microsoft Exchange - 451 4.7.0 Temporary server error. Please try again later. PRX5 - FIX

I encountered this error on my on-premise/Hybrid exchange server today after noticing that internal mail relay was not working. When attempting to send a test email via telnet, I got the error 451 4.7.0 Temporary server error. Please try again later. PRX5

After rebooting the server, the error still persisted - so a quick bit of searching quickly lead to me adjusting the Exchange servers DNS settings.

From within Exchange Control Panel (ECP) - go to Servers (left hand menu) and double click your Exchange server to open it's properties

Select DNS Lookups from the left menu.

By default, the option for External and Internal DNS lookups is usually All network adapters (All available IPv4). I changed this to Microsoft Hyper-V Network Adapter and the problem was immediately resolved.

Install Active Directory Powershell Module in Windows 10

For whatever reason, Microsoft has now changed the way the powershell module for Active Directory Domain Services and Lightweight Directory Services tools.

Most documentation suggests you install this from the "Turn Windows features on or off" menu located under Programs and Features within Control Panel - but in later Windows 10 releases, the feature is no longer available. It was previously called "Role Administration Tools".

Role Administration Tools is no longer visible under Turn Windows Features on or off

Likewise, the previously used powershell command is no longer recognised

Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName RSATClient-Roles-AD-Powershell

You now get an error when running this command

Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature : Feature name RSATClient-Roles-AD-Powershell is unknown.

So, how do you do it? Follow the steps below

1. Click the Start button then select Settings
2. Select Apps
3. Select Optional Features
4. Click Add a Feature
5. Search for "RSAT" and select the option for RSAT: Active Directory Domain Services and Lightweight Directory Services Tools. 
   
   
   
   

   

   Select the option for RSAT: Active Directory Domain Services and Lightweight Directory Services

   
   
6. Click Install

If you get an error saying the install failed, make sure you aren't using a WSUS server as windows will try and install it from there by default if you are.

To check, open regedit and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU and set the UseWUServer key to 0

Outlook - Mailbox Full Message after storage quota increased (or removed)

I recently experienced an issue where multiple users for a mailbox were getting a "mailbox full" message in Outlook. When the message first appeared, I removed the storage quota on the mailbox, but after a server restart (and of course restarting the outlook clients), they were still getting prompted with the same message.

The solution ended up being to remove the .ost file for this particular mailbox (default location is %localappdata\Microsoft\Outlook) and then restarting the Outlook client (you will need to close Outlook before it will let you delete the .ost file)

The .ost file will automatically be re-created when Outlook is opened, and mail will then be downloaded back into the .ost file from the server.

iPod/iPhone/iPad not appearing in iTunes

I occasionally experience an issue with my iPod, where after connecting it to my laptop via USB, and having the iPod appear in Windows Explorer, it won't appear as a device in iTunes

iPod showing in Windows Explorer but not iTunes

Follow the steps below to fix the issue;

1. Close iTunes if you already have it running
2. Click on the Start button (bottom left corner of screen) and type services.msc and press Enter
3. A new window will now open showing a list of all windows services. Sort the list by name and locate the Apple Mobile Device Service
4. Right click on this service and select Restart
   
   
5. Once the service has restarted, locate the iPod Service. Right click on this service and select Restart
   
   
6. Open iTunes. Your iPod/iPhone should now appear within iTunes correctly

Fix Windows Update Error Code 80070003

I got this error code today on a Windows 7 PC after trying to install some windows updates



Code 8007003
Code 643

To fix it, follow the steps below;

1. Click on the Start button (bottom left corner) and types services.msc and press enter (to open the Services control panel)
2. Locate the Windows Update service. Right click it and select Stop
   
   
   
3. Open Windows Explorer. Navigate to the folder C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download folder. Delete everything within this folder - (this is where the windows updates are downloaded to before being installed)
4. Go back to your list of services from Step 2. Right click the Windows Update service and select Start
5. Go back to your windows updates and click Check for updates again and proceed to install them as you normally would

Find and Change Read Only Files using Powershell

This script can be used to search for all files that are marked as "read only" on a windows file system. The script will search all files within the $targetdir variable (including all subfolders)

$targetdir = "D:\multimedia"

$readonlyfiles = get-childitem $targetdir -recurse | where {$_.isreadonly -eq $true}

If you wish to remove the read only property from any read only files that are found, we can adjust the script as per below;

$readonlyfiles = get-childitem $targetdir -recurse | foreach {if($_.isreadonly){$_.isreadonly = $false; write-host $_.fullname}}


The script will also display/echo back any files that it finds and changes from being read-only.

uTorrent - A newer version of uTorrent is already running

I've experienced this problem a few times with uTorrent - when attempting to open the application, or opening a new torrent file, the following error message is displayed;



"A newer version of uTorrent is already running. Please shut down uTorrent and try again"

After shutting down uTorrent and opening it again, the same message is displayed.

The Fix:
The issue appears to be related to uTorrent getting confused about which version it has installed, and wants to run.

Make sure uTorrent has been closed (you may need to kill the task from Task Manager)

Go to the uTorrent installation directory (usually %appdata%\uTorrent or C:\users\%username%\appdata\roaming\uTorrent) and delete the Updates folder (and everything within it). If you get an error advising the files are locked/cannot be opened, you will either need to kill the stuck uTorrent process from Task Manager, or simply restart your computer.

Try starting uTorrent again after removing the Updates folder - it should now open correctly

iTunes Artist Icons/Thumbnails Missing

It appears there is a bug (or new feature) in the latest version of iTunes (12.5) and iOS 10 where a majority of artist icons/thumbnails/images for missing when in the Library > Artists view, as per the screenshots below - they only show a generic microphone icon/thumbnail.





I haven't been able to find a setting/option to fix this at the moment. After doing some research I'm certainly not the first person to notice this "bug".

Only "workaround" for the issue currently is to not use the artist view and instead use the "Albums" or "Songs" view which show album artwork correctly and do not utilize artist images.

Let me know in the comments if you've noticed this bug as well, or if you have found a solution. I'll continue searching and will keep this posted updated with any fixes I find.

Update: I've found an apple discussion thread that states that the artist photo only shows up if you've purchased an album from that artist from the Apple Music store.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7663488?start=0&tstart=0

Windows Server - Unable to extend volume - There is not enough space available on the disk(s) to complete this operation

Came across this issue today on a virtual machine running in a VMware environment. After allocating additional hard disk space to the virtual machine (running Windows Server 2012), the following error appeared when attempting to extend the hard disk;



"There is not enough disk space available on the disk(s) to complete this operation"

Even though the space was showing as "unallocated" in disk management, this error still appeared when trying to extend the volume.

The fix - turns out it was quite simple. From within the Disk Management utility, go to Action > Rescan Disks then try running the extend disk again.

Exchange 2010 New Install - Nothing Showing Under Microsoft Exchange On-Premises

After installing Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 onto a Windows Server 2012 R2, nothing was showing under the Exchange Management Console after expanding "Microsoft Exchange On-Premises".

Everything under "Exchange 2010 Organizational Health" was showing as "Unavailable"



When selecting the option to "Collect Organizational Health Data", the below error occurs stating "MMC has detected an error in a snap-in and will unload it"



To resolve this issue you need to install the latest Service Pack (SP3) for Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 - available from the following URL:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36768

You can then install Update Rollup 14 for Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 SP3 from the following URL:

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=820579

As you can see below, once SP3 has been installed, the Configuration options are now available/showing under "Microsoft Exchange On-Premises" after the updates are installed

VMware Workstation - Internal Error when Starting Virtual Machine (VM)

Upon opening VMware Workstation and attempting to power on any virtual machine I occasionally get the error below, stating "Internal Error."



The fix for this in my experience has been to start the VMware Workstation Server service. To view your services press the Windows Key + R (to open the Run prompt) then type services.msc and press Enter

As you can see, even though it is set to "Automatic", for whatever reason it doesn't always start automatically - usually after the computer has been restarted.



Simply right click the service and select "Start". Once the service is started you should be able to power on your VM's from VMware Workstation.

Mozilla Firefox - The Proxy Server is Refusing Connections

Over the past few days I have encountered a number of users reporting issues with Firefox displaying the below error page:

The proxy server is refusing connections. Firefox is configured to use a proxy server that is refusing connections.

As at the time of this blog entry being written, the issue appears to be specifically related to version 18.0 of Mozilla Firefox. By installing a previous version of Mozilla Firefox (17.0.1), we were able to resolve the problem. Version 17.0.1 can be downloaded from here (Windows version)

In the specific environment that I discovered the issue, the proxy server involved was a Client Side Proxy (CSP) Squid server. The error page above was displayed intermittently on random pages/sites, most of which were using https.

Note: If you install a previous version of Mozilla Firefox, be sure to go into the Options and disable automatic updates for Firefox, otherwise it will simply update itself to 18.0 again automatically.