James OConnor Dynamics MS CRM Blog

• Databases with full-text searching enabled can’t be restored to root directories on drives for some reason, so they’re in D:\Data and the log is in F:\Logs.  Unfortunately the error message wasn’t in any way relevant, so it took some digging to find this.
• I had to manually create an FTData directory on C: and assign rights to the SQL Service account. 

Resources for this solution:

Simons Sql Blog
Martin Welch Consulting

1. Create an advanced find view of the records you want to export to Excel for example: Active Contacts.

2. Click Excel on the toolbar and select Dynamic Worksheet option

3. Open the excel workbook and enable Data Connection

4. On the excel workbook, right click and select ‘Edit Query’

5. If the pop-up window “The query cannot be edited by the Query Wizard”, opens,click OK. Now you will see the Microsoft Query window.

6. From the Microsoft Query toolbar, click View and select SQL. A new pop-up Windows showing the actual SQL statement appears.

7. Remove the part of the query that states ‘Top 10000′ from the SQL statement and click OK to exit the SQL statement window

8. From the Microsoft Query window toolbar, click File and select Return Data to Microsoft Office Excel

9. Refresh your excel worksheet if auto-refresh is not enabled and you should see all data from the select CRM view now

Sourced From: CRMConsult.info

MS CRM 2011 100 Dedicated Videos

Resourced From: Slow xRM

Adding IgnoreChecks works fine is a CRM component has already been installed but what if the registry key does not exist. In that case we need to create it to get around the missing entries and continue with our installation.

1. Create the MSCRM key in the HKLM\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT directory

2. Create a new DWORD value named IgnoreChecks, set the value to 1

3. Launch the installer, at the environment checks the ‘Next’ should will be available to you.

I set out to install the SRS Data Connector on the reporting server for my customer. In this situation, we are dealing with a hosted solution and the hosting company installed SRS. Installing the connector is normally a simple task.

Below is the error I received when installing the SRS Data Connector.

Microsoft.Crm.Setup.SrsDataConnector.AddWindowsIdentityToPrivilegeGroups failed.
Name translation: Could not find the name or insufficient right to see name. (Exception from HRESULT: 0×80072116)

When you click to view the log file you will see the account name that is trying to be added. Below are the lines from the log file just before the error

”11:54:59| Info| Executing Install action: Microsoft.Crm.Setup.SrsDataConnector.AddWindowsIdentityToPrivilegeGroups
11:54:59|Verbose| Adding account rssvr\sqlserverrssvr to group LDAP://…”

The SQL Reporting Services (SRS) were installed and running using a local computer user account on the SQL server. That account could not be added to the necessary Active Directory group because it was not a domain account. I reconfigured SRS to run using a domain account. I then attempted to install the SRS Data Connector again and successfully installed it.

Sourced From: Customer Effective

Microsoft has released Update Rollup 5. This is a tested, cumulative set of updates for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011. It includes performance enhancements that are packaged together for easy deployment.

Information Here

Download Here

Update Rollup 5 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 does not contain any hotfixes or any updates that you must configure manually.

Within MS CRM 2011 the Lead notes and attachements do not convert to the Account, Contact or Opportunity when converting the Lead. The following is a work around that allows for the information to be mapped to one or all of these entities.

Steps to copy lead notes to account:

1. Create Jscript type of web resource which holds the following Script

Download Script Here

2. Save this web resource and publish it.
3. Create an Iframe on Account form with name like “IFRAME_LeadNotes”
4. Do not select Restrict cross frame scripting checkbox.

5. After creating IFrame. Call the function from script on onLoad event of Account. Make sure that you have selected “Pass execution context as first parameter”.

6. On qualifying a lead to account. All notes of lead will be shown on account as shown in below screen shot.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server 2011

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Outlook Client 2011

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 List Component for Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 E-mail Router

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Report Authoring Extension

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Software Development Kit (SDK)

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Implementation Guide

90 Day Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server 2011 (no CAL limit):
MQM2H-JYYRB-RRD6J-8WBBC-CVBD3

90 Day Microsoft Dynamics CRM Workgroup Server 2011 (5 CAL limit):
H84KC-JH8DF-7PDYK-TXBXR-2RMMT

NOTE: This process works in 2011 or 4.0, the following screen shots are form a 4.0 system.

MS CRM does not give you the ability to, in a straightforward manner, convert Leads in bulk. The widespread knowledge is that you have to convert them one by one. However, there is a workaround…

This would be through Marketing Lists – it’s a way to exploit the features of the Marketing Lists functionality, without using the Marketing Lists to “market” per se. And there’s another plus – no plug-ins or custom development work required!
Create a new Marketing List called “Bulk Disqualify” or something; you can reuse it if this comes up later, so it’s good to know what it was used for. Set it to use Leads as the Member Type.

Add all the Leads to the Marketing List (you can do this in bulk on the toolbar, or individually). You go to More Actions (or just Actions from inside of a record), and then click Add to Marketing List.

Once you have all the Leads in the list, you can highlight them all, then click More Actions, and then click Convert Lead. It will then allow you to qualify……

…….or disqualify each of the records selected at once.

NOTE: If you have more than one page of Leads in the Marketing List, you will probably have to do the conversion process more than once (but it beats doing it 200 times!). I would do the first page entirely – then click to view the next page. Follow those steps until you have all of them disqualified. It may allow you to do all of them at once, but you’ll have to see.

Sourced From: Dynamics Care

Update Rollup 3 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 is available. This article describes the hotfixes and the updates that are included in this update rollup. This update rollup is available for all languages that are supported by Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011.

Information Here

Download Here

Hotfixes and updates that you must enable or configure manually

Update Rollup 3 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 does not contain any hotfixes or any updates that you must configure manually.

Well, after an exciting year with some great clients all the hard work has paid off with recognition from Microsoft. We have been named Microsoft Dynamics CRM Partner of the Year.

!!CONGRATULATIONS TEAM!!

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Partner of the Year

Winner: Hitachi Consulting, United States

Hitachi Consulting is helping its clients move to the cloud with Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. Hitachi has realigned its organization to capitalize on cloud opportunities with extensive sales training on the benefits of cloud-based deployment and incentive structures aligned with cloud cash flow models. Hitachi is leading the way in deploying enterprise customers in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online and in aggressively switching customers from competitive cloud offerings. They are providing measurable results across a broad customer base including public sector organizations, sports, entertainment and technology firms. Hitachi partners with Certified for Microsoft Dynamics ISVs like Scribe, ExactTarget and CWR Mobility to round out its solution offerings and ensure fast time to solution delivery for its prospects. Hitachi’s agility and ability to deliver solution to large clients has earned it recognition from Gartner who places Hitachi Consulting in its Magic Quandrant for CRM Service Providers.

Download Here

Available June 28, 2011 for Rollup 2

To automatically install Update Rollup 2 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011, you can use Windows Update. Update Rollup 2 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 will be available on Windows Update on June 28, 2011. You can also set Windows to automatically install recommended updates. This can address noncritical problems and help improve your computing experience. Optional updates are not downloaded or installed automatically.

To learn more about the kinds of updates that Microsoft publishes, visit the following Microsoft websites:

How to turn automatic updating on or off

How to change how Windows installs or notifies you about updates

To install Update Rollup 2 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 by using Windows Update, follow these steps:

– Click Start, and then type Update in the Start Search box. In the list of results, click Windows Update.
– In the navigation pane, click Check for updates, and then wait while Windows checks for the latest updates for your computer.
– If you receive a message that states that important updates are available or that prompts you to review important updates, you can view and select the important updates to install.
– In the list, click any important update for more information. Click to select the check box for any updates that you want to install, and then click OK.
– Click Install updates.
– Read and accept the license terms, and then click Finish (if the update requires this action). If you are prompted for an administrator password, type the password. If you are prompted for a confirmation, provide the confirmation.

Update Rollup 2 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 is available. This article describes the hotfixes and the updates that are included in this update rollup. This update rollup is available for all languages that are supported by Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011.

Information Here

Download Here

Hotfixes and updates that you must enable or configure manually

Update Rollup 2 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 contains the following hotfixes and updates that you must enable or configure manually. To enable or configure these hotfixes or updates on the server that is running Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011, follow the instructions in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article. The article contains steps that you can follow before you install Update Rollup 2 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 if you want to maintain the functionality of the release version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011:

2535245 You experience slow performance when you perform RetrieveMultiple queries on large datasets in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011

With CRM 2011, custom reports now look for read permission on the “Entity” and “Field” entities. IF you apply those permissions to the user, they will be able to run the report. The “Entity” and “Field” entities can be found under the customizations tab in the Security roles.

Download Here

Released May 2011

Download Here

After installation of MS CRM 2011 to a non default location the Video bar shows a 500 Internal Server Error.

The video section is looking for the default help page which is pointed to C:\Program Files\Microsoft Dynamics CRM\CRMWeb\Help\Default.aspx. However, if you do not install into the default location the system will not dynamically adjust to the new installation area.

Moving the help directory to the location it is pointing to corrected the issue.

Exception message: The base class includes the field ‘reportViewer’, but its type (Microsoft.Reporting.WebForms.ReportViewer) is not compatible with the type of control (Microsoft.Reporting.WebForms.ReportViewer).

1. Download and install Microsoft Report Viewer Redistributable 2008. http://207.46.19.190/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=cc96c246-61e5-4d9e-bb5f-416d75a1b9ef&displaylang=en

2. Search and replace within the web.config Microsoft.ReportViewer.WebForms, Version=8.0.0.0 to 9.0.0.0

3. Do an issreset following the changes

This corrected the reports.

While using custom forms for Cases you cannot Resolve the Case or Reactivate the Case like you can on the default form. This is due to a file that the default forms sources but the custom forms do not.

To resolve this you can add the Javascript to the Onload event of the custom form to activite the buttons on the ribbon which then allow you to Resolve or Reactivate a Case.

Download Javascript

Sourced: Thanks to Adam Nafke with Magma Design Automation for discovering and resolving.

 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/914921

Within CRM 4.0 and 2011 you cannot access the field mappings area for the Invoice Product, Order Product, Opportunity Product, and Quote Product entities in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM UI. To map between these entities you must query the sql database for the specific relationship GUID’s. 

In Sql run the following Query:

select SourceEntityName, TargetEntityName, EntityMapId from EntityMapBase where SourceEntityName in (‘opportunityproduct’, ‘quotedetail’, ’salesorderdetail’) and TargetEntityName in (‘quotedetail’, ’salesorderdetail’, ‘invoicedetail’);

With the appropriate result place the GUID in the following URL, setting the server:port and organiziontion appropriatly.

 http://crm:5555/Contoso/Tools/SystemCustomization/Relationships/Mappings/mappingList.aspx?mappingId={GUID}

This will return a UI that will allow you to add the desired mappings.

Recently we discovered that we could not log into the Plugin Registration tool. It would display the follow error message:

unable to retrieve the organization from the discovery service

Followed by this long detailed error message.

Unhandled Exception: System.InvalidOperationException: Metadata contains a reference that cannot be resolved: ‘https://crmnaorg54346.crm.dynamics.com/XRMServices/2011/Discovery.svc?wsdl’.
at System.ServiceModel.Description.MetadataExchangeClient.MetadataRetriever.Retrieve(TimeoutHelper timeoutHelper)
at System.ServiceModel.Description.MetadataExchangeClient.ResolveNext(ResolveCallState resolveCallState)
at System.ServiceModel.Description.MetadataExchangeClient.GetMetadata(MetadataRetriever retriever)
at System.ServiceModel.Description.MetadataExchangeClient.GetMetadata(Uri address, MetadataExchangeClientMode mode)
at Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Client.ServiceMetadataUtility.RetrieveServiceEndpoints(Type contractType, Uri serviceUri)
at Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Client.ServiceConfiguration`1..ctor(Uri serviceUri)
at Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Client.ServiceConfigurationFactory.CreateConfiguration[TService](Uri serviceUri)
at Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Client.ServiceProxy`1..ctor(Uri uri, Uri homeRealmUri, ClientCredentials clientCredentials, ClientCredentials deviceCredentials)
at Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Client.DiscoveryServiceProxy..ctor(Uri uri, Uri homeRealmUri, ClientCredentials clientCredentials, ClientCredentials deviceCredentials)
at PluginRegistrationTool.CrmConnection.get_DiscoveryService()
at PluginRegistrationTool.CrmConnection.RetrieveOrganizations()
at PluginRegistrationTool.ConnectionsForm.OpenConnection(CrmConnection con)
Inner Exception: System.Net.WebException: Unable to connect to the remote server
at System.Net.HttpWebRequest.GetResponse()
at System.ServiceModel.Description.MetadataExchangeClient.MetadataLocationRetriever.DownloadMetadata(TimeoutHelper timeoutHelper)
at System.ServiceModel.Description.MetadataExchangeClient.MetadataRetriever.Retrieve(TimeoutHelper timeoutHelper)
Inner Exception: System.Net.Sockets.SocketException: A connection attempt failed because the connected party did not properly respond after a period of time, or established connection failed because connected host has failed to respond 72.215.225.9:443
at System.Net.Sockets.Socket.DoConnect(EndPoint endPointSnapshot, SocketAddress socketAddress)
at System.Net.ServicePoint.ConnectSocketInternal(Boolean connectFailure, Socket s4, Socket s6, Socket& socket, IPAddress& address, ConnectSocketState state, IAsyncResult asyncResult, Int32 timeout, Exception& exception)

To solve this we had to delete two files.

1. Under Users\username\LiveDeviceID delete the LiveDevice.xml file.
2. Within the Plugin Registration Folder delete the Connections.config file.
3. I have run into cases where you did not have to reboot and cases where you did have to reboot as well, no set pattern.

After these two files were removed (they regenerate), were we able to access the Discovery Service via the Plugin Registration tool.

With the release of 2011 the list.aspx Metadata Browser has gone away. However, in viewing the new internal Metadata Browser it appears to have more than made up for it’s loss.

The new Metadata Browser has been released with the lastest SDK and is now  internal to 2011. To view the browser you need to import the solution from the SDK file. The browser installation files are located in SDK\Tools\Metadatabrowser and is imported to 2011 as a Solution.

Once the Solution has been added and published the Metadata Browser can be accessed via Settings within the Customizations section. The initial view is basic but allow for filtering from some list selections on the Entity and a search filter on the Properties.

However, the real information becomes available by right clicking the Entity Schema Name and choosing View Details. You can also choose Edit which will take you to the Entity within Customizations. The Copy function only copies the text value of the name.

Once the Entity Metadata View is open you have access to a lot more details within the Entity. You even have the ability to expand properties to gain more information. On the left is a navagation bar that gives you all the information the previous Metadata Browser provided before as well as a new Privileges view.

Option Sets
Option Sets can be expanded significantly showing all relevant details.

Attribues
The Attributes view provides a list of all the fields as well as a Property window on the right. Within this view you can expand some properties to gain more information.

Privileges
The new Privileges view will provide an excellent location for troubleshooting security and Role permission issues.

I am seeing more and more clients with Rollups installed but not having done the manual changes following the installation. Customer Effective has a great article on this and I believe is worth publishing here.

_____________________________________________________________

You are probably aware that approximately every 8 weeks Microsoft releases an Update Rollup, a cumulative set of updates and fixes.

When deploying an Update Rollup, it’s important to realize that update rollups include two categories of updates:

1. Bug fixes—these are fixes to issues where CRM is not working as designed, and they are applied automatically when you install the update rollup.

2. Design changes—these are updates where CRM is working by design, but Microsoft has made a change in the way CRM works. For example, there were recently some updates that changed how CRM handles housekeeping of completed system jobs. Design changes require a manual change on the CRM server, typically a registry change, to enable the update, since Microsoft doesn’t want to change the system design for users who expect it to work the way it was originally designed.

The changes that require a registry change to enable are included in knowledge base article for the update rollup under the section “Hotfixes and updates that you have to enable or configure manually.”

This is why it’s important to read the knowledge base articles associated with CRM update rollups before you roll them out. Read through the changes included. I only make the changes that require registry changes if the fix addresses an issue that I’m seeing in my environment. Making changes that fix issues that you are not experiencing can have unintended side effects. It’s ok to pick and choose which ones you enable.

This is also why, if you read a blog or hear somebody from Microsoft say “Rollup X fixes that problem,” don’t automatically assume that the problem is fixed because you have installed the update. Read the small print—there may be additional steps required to enable the change.

Sourced From: Customer Effective

Did the administrator approve the email address? As that is new in CRM 2011, where the system administrator will have to go to the user records that are set to use the Email Router and click on “Approve Email” in the CRM Ribbon. If the user Outgoing profile is set to Router, and they have a valid Primary Email address, the user still will not show up in the Email Router until the administrator selects Approve E-mail on the user record.