SBS Wizards won't come up

So this week was pretty busy. From my last post I was in a server closet rebuilding a network and as I was updating SBS Premium 2003 with service packs I updated my blog.

After I was finished with the updates I continued with the process of adding users and computers, configuring reports and backups as is typical with the SBS To Do List. Well, well, well.... wouldn't ya know it - none of the wizards worked.

This wasn't the only problem with the install I also had issues with Exchange not installing or some of the other Support Tools. So the first thing I did was to reinstall the Server Tools/Console.

To reinstall the Server Tools do this:

Place Disk 1 in CD player and either through autoplay or by drilling down to the setup.exe file choose the Set Up Windows Small Business Server on the SBS Splash Screen.

It will run through it's processes and end up on the Welcome to Microsoft Windows Small Business Server Setup page. Click Next three times until you are at the Setup Requirements page.

Here you will click on the down arrow next to the Server Tools list and choose the Maintenance option. This will open up the secondary options. Next to Administration
click the down arrow and choose Reinstall.

Click Next twice and then Finish. Once it is done it will ask you to restart the computer go ahead and log on as Administrator to finish the install. Try the wizard again.

In my case it didn't work for the wizards. So I went ahead and switched the DEP settings to Turn on DEP for all Windows Programs and Services only. This has happened to me a couple times and it soooooooooo frustrating to have Microsoft break their own equipment with Service Packs and Upgrades, but it is not that uncommon with them.

To turn on DEP as stated above:

Go to My Computer, right click and choose Properties. Click on the Advance tab and click on the Performance Settings button. Choose the Data Execution Prevention tab and choose Turn on DEP for all Windows Programs and Services only.

Restart the Computer. Log on as Administrator and try the wizards again.

Both these steps worked for me with the last one being what allowed for the wizards to function properly again. I was able to finish the install and get the clients back into the network properly with a User Migration from the //servername/connectcomputer set up tool.

DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT add users and computers like you do in Windows Server 2003 from the AD. If you do the first thing you will notice is authentication problems, next you will see your Default Domain Policy is not being recognized by the clients, due to no authentication within the directory. With SBS you MUST use the wizards for everything.

J