December 2006 - Posts
When the new CRM Outlook client was released this week, I couldn't wait to install it. I've been wanting to be able to run Outlook 2007 on my notebook and run the Outlook client on my Vista machine. The installation went flawlessly on the Vista machine. It works like a champ. But I ran into a snag or two on my notebook.
First, I uninstalled the old Laptop client as recommended in the Readme as well as Outlook 2003. Then (with some unrelated issues) I installed Outlook 2007. Installing the Laptop client first requires installing MS SQL 2005 Express which the Laptop install kindly offers to do for you. Unfortunately my attempt to install SQL failed with an error 28062. I decided to try uninstalling the MSDE instance used by the old CRM client. No luck. I removed everything relating to SQL, still no joy. So, I decided until I could figure out the problem with SQL, I'd simply run the Desktop client on my notebook. It had worked great on my Vista desktop. Installation was a snap. But running it proved the bigger challenge. Whenever I'd launch Outlook, I'd get errors saying my browser would not accept cookies. Unfortunately any attempts to reconfigure Internet Explorer 7 had no effect. Now I was totally out of luck and without CRM on my notebook.
A suggestion today from the CRM team indicating that the error 28062 had to do with a problem with installing SQL 2005 Express on a compressed folder proved to be the key. I have compressed my notebook's hard drive because I have several VPC images and I'm a bit of a pack rat. I uncompressed the \program files\Microsoft SQL folder and tried reinstalling the CRM Laptop client once again (after uninstalling the Desktop client). This time it took! I was able to completely install the Laptop client.
Launching Outlook 2007 I expected to still encounter the browser errors I'd received with the Desktop client. Much to my suprise, amazement, and delight, Outlook 2007 opened fine, the CRM toolbar populated without error, and CRM was live on my notebook's Outlook 2007!
The new V3C client is now the client of choice. It replaces the previous CD client and the very recently released Update Rollup 1 client. And since it now installs SQL 2005 Express which replaces MSDE, the hotfix I needed to be able to use the rollup client is no longer needed. Just be sure you don't try to install it on a compressed folder.
That's the headline from an announcement I received late tonight. This is the awaited update of CRM for Vista and Outlook 2007 compatability, and it seems much more. Here is the release from Michael Lu of the CRM team:
V3C has been RELEASED!
And with that, CRM has picked up its surfboard and will be “riding the wave” with Windows Vista, Office 2007, and the biggest chain of releases in Microsoft history.
This project, codenamed V3C, is a compatibility update of the CRM v3 Outlook Client for Vista and Office 2007. V3C is a culmination of new features, updates, and enhancements, driven by our customer commitment in ensuring that users worldwide are able to use their CRM solution against the latest and greatest of Microsoft technologies. These improvements are not simply a rollup of fixes…we have implemented features and updates originally reserved for the Titan release and taken large steps forward with V3C.
Nearly every aspect of the CRM Outlook Client has been touched and updated…
- Integration with the Office 2007 “Ribbon”
- Custom MAPI Store (no more PST file!)
- SQL Express Edition 2005 SP1
- Inclusion of all existing client hotfixes
- Windows Vista Support
o User Access Control
o GPO deployments
o Internet Explorer 7
In addition, we now also support…
- Clean installation of V3C
- Upgrade from CRM V3 Outlook Client to V3C
- Support for hotfixes and patching using MSP technology
Supported Versions
The following versions of Windows and Office are now officially supported.
Windows
- Windows 2000 SP4
- Windows XP SP2
- Windows Vista
Office
- Office XP SP3 (with Windows 2000 and XP only)
- Office 2003 SP2
- Office 2007
Availability
Users can download V3C from this page below (please be patient, as bits are still propagating).
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=740E1B3B-11C3-4AEF-B2E3-8309E0CF1BB0&displaylang=en
The 90-day trial site has also been updated.
Today’s release is only for English, but all other languages are already undergoing localization testing and will be released in waves beginning in January.
Physical media will be updated within the next three to four months.
Follow On Releases
An updated set of scripts for Terminal Server deployment will be released in early-January.
An update to the Exchange E-mail Connector (including the Rule Deployment Wizard) for Exchange 2007 compatibility will also be released in early-January.
A date has not been set for compatibility updates to the CRM v3i and v3 SPLA Clients, but these are in the plan and forthcoming.
Thanks and see you all next year,
Mike
I've written a couple of posts about the rollup, how to get it and how to overcome a problem that seems to crop up with the Laptop client and the SQL MSDE when you apply the client rollup. But just what's actually IN the rollup? It's actually a bunch of hotfixes and such that have been released over the past year since CRM 3.0 was released back in December, 2005. The complete list of fixes, and their KB articles, are located at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/908951. This is actually a list of all the hotfixes that have been released for CRM 3.0, and as I said, that's what the rollup included. You may also want to check out http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=922815.
Again, the Rollup is available at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?amp;amp;amp;displaylang=e&familyid=08BADB01-4984-458E-96E6-4F08622CFE63&displaylang=en.
Recently I blogged about the new CRM 3.0 Update Rollup that was released last week. Unfortunately I seemed to have run into a bit of a snag. Seems that with the Rollup, there is a problem going OffLine with the CRM Outlook Laptop client. I was unable to synch either my Leads or Contacts, two rather important entities.
I posted my problem to the Partner Support Newsgroup and was instructed to acquire the hotfix for KB923327 which is actually a fix for the MS SQL desktop edition, MSDE, that the laptop client uses for the local database. You'll have to call Microsoft support to acquire it but it is supposed to be a free support incident. After installing the hotfix, which went smoothly, I was instructed to delete any .FMT files from the computer. I found that there were a number of them. They mostly had names that corresponded to the CRM database entities. I found a few others that probably didn't have anything to do with CRM and were kinda old. But I deleted those as well.
Now my CRM once again merrily goes offline and back online again as it used to. Thanks to Mike Christl and Greg Nichols, both with Microsoft.
In San Antonio we have an expression when it gets real cold, "Who left the gate open?". Now I know where that gate is. It's up here in Chicago! The reason we don't get much cold weather in South Texas is they use it all up up here in Chicago. I'm back up here teaching a CRM Customizaton course, and finding my way around the piled up snow banks. It's been single digits!
One of my students asked the question today, or more appropriately made the observation, that when he is using the Outlook Desktop client for CRM and then opens the CRM web client, that he is unable to access the Settings area to include Customizations. I have noticed this as well on my installation. Whenever I am on my Office workstation which uses the Desktop client, I have to close Outlook in order to perform any kind of administrative functions in CRM using the web client. However I seem to have no such restriction when running the Laptop client from my notebook. I am able to bring up all functions in the web client while still using the Laptop Outlook client. I'm sure this is 'by design', but why?
Another question came up concerning the Check Activities condition in CRM Workflow. This basically checks to see if the entity instance (record) has any Activities. If it does, the condition is true. It is true regardless of how long ago the activity occurred. It would be nice if the condition could include a time frame. In other words, let's check to see if the record has any Activities within the last 6 months. Or better yet, if there has been an Appointment with in the last 6 months. Or perhaps check to see if a new Activity occurs after a point in time, like the application of the workflow rule. That would be more useful than simply knowing whether there had EVER been an Activity.
Back to God's Country, and warmer weather, tomorrow.
I just downloaded and installed the new CRM 3.0 Update Rollup 1. Piece of cake, so far. It is actually two downloads, one for the server and another for the clients. I installed the client on my notebook with the Laptop client first, then I installed the server update. All went well. Haven't had a chance to see how it drives but will let you know if I encounter anything 'interesting'. Off to Chicago tomorrow to conduct more CRM training for a few days, then back to God's Country.