Windows Tips & Tricks UPDATE--May 17, 2004

Windows Tips &amp Tricks UPDATE, May 17, 2004, —brought to you by the Windows &amp .NET Magazine Network and the Windows 2000 FAQ site
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FAQs

Q. How can I avoid users having to enter product keys when I deploy Microsoft applications through Group Policy or Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS)?
Q. Why do I receive errors when I use Exchange Server 2003's Microsoft Outlook Web Access (OWA) to access a front-end server--but not when I directly access the back-end server?
Q. What's the Account Lockout Status tool?
Q. What's acctinfo.dll?
Q. I configured a proxy server through Group Policy, but although I removed the proxy server policy setting, Windows Media Player (WMP) 9 still uses the proxy server. What's causing the problem?

Commentary
by John Savill, FAQ Editor, [email protected]

This week, I tell you how to configure an application installation so that a user doesn't have to enter a product key and how to resolve errors that occur when you use Exchange Server 2003's Microsoft Outlook Web Access (OWA) to access a front-end server. I also explain the Account Lockout Status tool and acctinfo.dll and provide the fix for a bug in Windows Media Player (WMP) 9.

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FAQs

Q. How can I avoid users having to enter product keys when I deploy Microsoft applications through Group Policy or Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS)?

A. If you have volume-license copies of Microsoft products, such as Microsoft Office, you don't have to activate the product after installing it and you can use one product key for all copies. However, users still must enter the product key even if you deploy the application through Group Policy or SMS.

To avoid users having to enter the product key, the best (and simplest) approach is to create an administrative installation of the application by running setup.exe with the /a switch. The /a switch lets you specify a folder into which the installation files will be copied and lets the administrator enter the product key so users don't have to. (Specifying the /a switch doesn't install the application on the machine; it just creates a new installation medium.) An administrative installation creates a new .msi file that, when it's used, doesn't prompt the user to enter the product key. To perform the administrative installation procedure, follow these steps:

Insert the Microsoft Office 2003 CD-ROM. (You can use this procedure with most Microsoft products, including Microsoft Office XP, Microsoft Office Publisher, and Microsoft Project.)
Start a command-prompt session (click Start, Run and enter cmd.exe).
Change the drive prompt to the CD-ROM drive.
Run setup.exe, specifying the /a switch:
```
setup /a
```
The Microsoft Office 2003 Setup wizard will start. At the screen that the figure at Figure 1 shows, enter an organization name, specify an installation folder, and enter the product key. Click Next.
Check "I accept the terms in the license agreement" and click Install.
An installation progress screen will be displayed. After the installation is finished, click OK to close the Installation Complete dialog box.

If you navigate to the folder you specified in step 5, you'll see a complete Office installation set that has .msi files dated with the current date. Use these files to deploy the application through Group Policy or SMS.

Q. Why do I receive errors when I use Exchange Server 2003's Microsoft Outlook Web Access (OWA) to access a front-end server--but not when I use it to directly access the back-end server?

A. If you receive errors when you use Exchange 2003 OWA's spell-checking facilities to access a front-end server, but not when you access a back-end server, the security settings on the front-end server's Microsoft IIS virtual directory might be incorrect. To check the security settings and, if necessary, correct them, perform the following steps:

Log on to the back-end server and start the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager (click Start, Programs, Administrative Tools, Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager).
Navigate to &ltserver&gt, Web Sites, Default Web Site, ExchWeb.
Right-click bin and select Properties.
Click the Directory Security tab.
Click the Edit button in the "Authentication and access control" section.
Make a note of the current Authentication Methods. Click OK.
Select bin, right-click spell (which is a child directory of bin), and select Properties. Repeat steps 4 through 6.
Log on to the front-end server and repeat steps 1 through 7, this time ensuring that the Authentication Methods match those of the back-end server. (The problem usually occurs because the "Integrated windows" security check box in the Authentication Methods section isn't selected on the front-end server.)

Q. What's the Account Lockout Status tool?

A. The Account Lockout Status tool (lockoutstatus.exe) displays lockout information for a specified user by querying every contactable domain controller (DC) in the user's domain. You can download the Account Lockout Status tool at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=d1a5ed1d-cd55-4829-a189-99515b0e90f7&displaylang=en. To use the tool, you must be running Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 (SP3) or later. To install lockoutstatus.exe, perform the following steps:

Download the Account Lockout Status tool, then execute the downloaded lockoutstatus.msi file.
Click Next to start the installation wizard.
Check "I accept the terms in the license agreement" and click Next.
Click Install Now.
After installation is complete, click Finish.

By default, the tool is installed in the C:\program files\windows resource kits\tools folder. Double-click lockoutstatus.exe. From the tool's File menu, click Select Target and enter the user whose status you want to check. You'll see a window, like the one in the figure at Figure 2, which displays the user's lockout information.

You can also check a user's lockout information at the command line. To do so, enter the command

lockoutstatus -u:[email protected]

where –u is the username.

Q. What's acctinfo.dll?

A. Acctinfo.dll is a DLL that extends the functionality of the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in. Acctinfo.dll is included in the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit tools. Installing acctinfo.dll adds the Additional Account Info tab to the user object's Properties page. As the figure at Figure 3 shows, this tab contains a variety of information, including

the last time the password was set
domain password policies
password expiration date
lockout status
last good and bad logons

To install acctinfo.dll, run the command

regsvr32 acctinfo.dll

If the command doesn't work (i.e., if Regsvr32 can't locate acctinfo.dll), specify the full path to acctinfo.dll--for example, regsvr32 C:\program files\windows resource kits\tools\acctinfo.dll (the folder in which acctinfo.dll is usually located).

Q. I configured a proxy server through Group Policy, but although I removed the proxy server policy setting, Windows Media Player (WMP) 9 still uses the proxy server. What's causing the problem?

A. The problem you describe is a known bug in WMP 9. To resolve the problem, download the patch at http://download.microsoft.com/download/b/5/6/b56b00bd-6f7f-4628-bb13-98d017b58905/windowsmedia9-kb840595-enu.exe.

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