Clearing out move requests

When you perform a successful mailbox migration, either from another version of Exchange or from another mailbox database the move request is "left" behind as such and should be cleared out as part of good housekeeping.

My favourite command for doing this is:

Get-MoveRequest -MoveStatus Completed | Remove-MoveRequest

Exchange 2010 EMC "Kerberos" authentication failed

Came across an issue today where when I launch the Exchange 2010 EMC I was presented with the error message:

"The attempt to connect to http://server.domain.com/PowerShell using "Kerberos" authentication failed: connecting to remote server failed with the following error message : The WinRM client cannot complete the operation within the time specified. Check if the machine name is valid and is reachable over the network and firewall exception for Windows Remote Management service is enabled. For more information, see the about_Remote_Troubleshooting Help topic."

Not an error I had seen before so after searching around the Internet for awhile I came across the correct fix for this issue.

1. First Close EMC

2. Navigate to C:\users\specific user\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\MMC and delete the Exchange Management Console config file

3. Then within the registry HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Exchangeserver\v14\AdminTools\NodeStructureSettings delete the value NodeStructureSettings

4. Log off and back on

5. The EMC should now launch fine

WMI Filters

More often than not when deploying Group Policy you need to target specific types of machine, or OS, or architecture and do this you need to use WMI filters.

Here are some helpful tips on what the numbers you are using mean:

WMI Win32_OperatingSystem ProductType:

ProductType 1 = Desktop OS
ProductType 2 = Server OS - Domain Controller
ProductType 3= Server OS - Non domain controller

WMI Win32_OperatingSystem Version:

5.1 - Windows XP

5.2 - Windows Server 2003

5.2.3 - Windows Server 2003 R2

6.0 - Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008

6.1 - Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

6.2 - Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012

6.3 - Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2


In my case today I had to target servers that weren't domain controllers and were running Windows Server 2012 R2 so I used the following WMI filter:

select * from Win32_OperatingSystem WHERE Version like "6.3%" AND ProductType="3"

The following filter is also useful, it will select all Windows Server 2012 R2 objects, normal servers and domain controllers:

select * from Win32_OperatingSystem WHERE Version like "6.3%" AND (ProductType="2" or ProductType="3")


IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: 
Always test your Group Policies and WMI filters before deploying.