Looking to run Vista RC1 on SBS 2003?

Look no futher!

[Updated to include x64 Vista clients on 9/19]

Our Client Deployment PM, Becky has put together a little guide to help you through the pop-ups, errors and just down-right confusing steps...

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With the release of the pre-RC1 32-bit Vista, we thought we’d update you on what the known issues are for joining a Vista client to an SBS 2003 SP1 or SBS R2 network. Of course, if you just want to manually join the Vista client to the SBS domain w/out using our tools, that is also supported. You just won't have the SBS-specific client customizations.

How to join the pre-RC1 32-bit Vista client to SBS
The known issues and workarounds for when you try to deploy applications using the SBS tools and for when you actually join the client to the SBS network using the SBS tools are described. This will not be the user experience once we release an update to our tools.

Create your user and computer account on the SBS Server
At the SBS server, create the user and computer accounts using the SBS tools (eg. run the Add Users and Computers task on the To Do List).

1. Choose a computer name – if you choose a name different from the existing Vista client name, it will be renamed when it is joined to the domain


2. Select client applications to deploy
   
   
   • Client Operating System Service Packs – this cannot be deselected, but it won’t be installed anyway because it’s for Windows XP and Windows 2000.
   
   
   • IE 6.0 – you can deselect since IE 7 is on Vista – leave the Advanced Client Computer Settings for IE selected to have SBS home page and favorites still set
   
   
   • Outlook 2003 – deselect if running Office 2007 – leave the Advanced Client Computer Settings for Outlook profiles settings selected to have SBS settings for Outlook 2007 configured
   
   
   • Shared Fax Client - you can deselect since Fax client is on Vista – some of the fax settings in the Advanced Client Computer Settings will be configured, but some will not. If you select this, it won't hurt anything, but you'll get an error that it cannot install during the Client Setup Wizard.


3. Mobile Client and Offline Use page
   
   
   • Connection manager – for 32-bit, this will work
   
   
   • ActiveSync 3.8 – don’t bother selecting. Vista has a newer version included. If you select this, it won’t hurt anything, but you’ll get an application compatibility error when it tries to deploy and it won’t install.

*Note: If you're running ISA 2004 on your Server, please make sure to read the ISA Specific Blog Post before continuing

Join the Vista client to the SBS network
Until we release an update to our tools, you will need to do several workaround steps to use the SBS tools to join a Vista client to the SBS network.

1. Connect the network cable for your Vista client to your SBS network


2. Log on to the local Vista client as the restricted administrator account that was created during Vista Setup.


3. Find an IE icon, right-click it (eg – there is one on the taskbar), and then click “run as admin” (this is a workaround for a known bug with our ConnectComputer page and IE protected mode)


4. Accept the User Account Control (UAC) prompt


5. Browse to http://computername/ConnectComputer


6. If you haven’t done so already, answer the questions on the IE first-run page about anti-phishing, etc.


7. Click the intranet information bar (gold bar) prompt and Enable intranet settings. (note – the intranet settings are automatically enabled after you join the domain anyway, but you have to do it now or ConnectComputer won’t work)


8. Click Connect to the network now


9. Click Install for the security prompt that appears for if you want to install SBS software.


10. Complete the SBS Network Configuration Wizard. You cannot select a profile to migrate – this is a known issue.


11. Accept the prompt to restart (so we can join your computer to the domain). At the logon prompt (ctrl+alt+delete) you may need to switch users and then logon using the account that you just assigned to this computer.
    
    
    • Click Switch User, and then click Other User
    
    
    • Enter username and password for SBS user just assigned to the computer
    
    
    • Accept the UAC prompt for the SBS client setup (there is a WSBS window minimized and flashing that is a UAC prompt).
      
      Note – if you don’t accept the LUA prompt before a timeout period, the application returns an error that it has timed out. If that happens, you’ll need to log off and then log back on.


12. x64 Vista clients have to do these additional steps. non-x64 clients can skip this step.
    
    
    • UAC will ask for an account name. You need to click the LOCAL admin account and then enter the password. As soon as you enter this, you’ll need to enter your domain credentials for the user account that you are adding to the computer (the SBS domain admin account works fine too).
    
    
    • Click OK to the warning that the Client Setup Wizard couldn’t delete a special account created to migrate user settings.
    
    
    • Click the Pearl button (the new name for the Start button), point to Computer, and then right-click and click Manage.
    
    
    • At the UAC prompt, click the LOCAL admin account and then enter the password.
    
    
    • Double-click Local Users and Group and then click Groups. Double-click Administrators. Click Add, and then enter the name of the SBS domain account(s) that you are adding to the computer. You’ll then need to enter the Network Password for the domain user account that you are joining to the domain (the SBS domain admin account works fine too).
    
    
    • Click Users, and then delete the _sbs_netsetup_ account.
    
    
    • Log off and then log back on using the user account assigned to that computer.
    
    
    • The computer does another reboot and then you need to log on again.


13. Click Start now to start the Client Setup Wizard – depending on what you selected for the client applications to deploy and depending on the applications, some applications will install/configure
    
    Note - If you selected to install a printer that requires a driver, you’ll need to accept the UAC prompt.

Post-SBS Client Setup tasks
We have a few of our custom client settings that won’t get configured. Here are a few workarounds.

1. Manually set a few Windows Firewall settings
   
   
   • Start, search for Firewall, and then click Windows Firewall
   
   
   • Click Change Settings and then accept the UAC prompt
   
   
   • Click Exceptions and then enable both Remote Assistance and Remote Desktop
     
     Note – there are some other Group Policy settings from the SBS domain that aren’t being applied, but you can still work.


2. Using OWA – you’ll need to install the hotfix for KB article 911829 on the SBS server.


3. If you’re using Outlook 2003, you’ll need to accept the prompt for making Outlook the default mail client.


4. If you are using Fax on your SBS server and use the new Vista Windows Fax and Scan, you’ll need to set the fax server the first time that you send a fax.


5. Turn off the logon script for your user account if you don’t want the UAC prompt every time you log on. Basically, at each logon we are resetting some SBS custom client settings which results in a UAC prompt to allow us to do this (yes, we’ll fix this). If it annoys you, turn off the logon script for the user account that you are using to logon to the Vista client.

Note, if you are running the Premium version of SBS w/ ISA 2004, the ISA Firewall Client currently has compatibility issues w/ Vista. See KB article 911077.

Non-joined Vista clients accessing SBS
If the Vista client isn’t joined to your SBS domain, but you want to use Vista with either Outlook over the Internet (aka RPC over HTTP) or Remote Web Workplace (aka RWW) and you have a self-signed certificate, you’ll need to add the cert to the client as follows: Find an IE icon, right-click it (eg – there is one on the taskbar), and then click “run as admin”. Browse to RWW and install the cert in the trusted store.

That's all there is to it!