OCS and Windows 7: Problems to Watch Out For
Filed under: OCS 2007, OCS 2007 R2, Reference, Unified Communications
It's bound to happen. New systems, hundreds of possible configurations…bugs will pop up. Today I've collected four bugs found when you put OCS 2007 R2 and the Windows 7 OS together. We've run across a couple of them ourselves. I'm including source links for all of them, since we definitely weren't the only ones!
Office Communicator Client Won't Open on Windows 7
On some Windows 7 PCs, the Office Communicator client application won#039;t open. This is due to a registry bug. To fix it, open RegEdit and navigate to this entry:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwarePoliciesMicrosoftCommunicator]
Change the PreventRun key value to 0 instead of 1. Apparently it works like a charm.
OCS Doesn't Inventory All Applications on a Windows 7 PC
This is something that didn't show up during Windows 7 Beta testing. It came about as a weird fluke after RTM. OCS 2007, while inventorying local software on a Windows 7 machine, will miss certain applications. These applications work just fine; OCS can”t see them.
The bug originates in the storage methods used by the Windows 7 registry governing 32-bit and 64-bit applications. In other words, a 64-bit Windows 7 PC's registry stumbles on reporting some applications to OCS.
As of yet there is no fix. However, since this bug doesn't interfere with running any applications, it's not a big reason to worry.
(Source: http://forums.ocsinventory-ng.org/viewtopic.php?id=5198 )
OCS Stops Working on a Windows 7 Beta PC
A funny thing can happen if you run OCS 2007 on a Windows 7 Beta PC - the Office Communicator client may stop working. Poof. Just like that. The event log will show a faulting module in KERNELBASE.dll.
An inventive solution comes from the LCSKid MSDN Blog: He recommends installing a patch that's actually intended for interfacing between Office Communicator and older versions of Windows (Vista, XP, 2000). Inventive! Points to “The LCS Kid” for sniffing this out.
Download the patch from Microsoft.com.
(By the way, this Windows 7/OCS 2007 only works for testing. Use Windows Server 2008 for running OCS in your office.)
(Source: http://blogs.msdn.com/jasonward/archive/2009/03/16/windows-7-and-office-communicator-2007.aspx )
Address Book Sync Error on Windows 7 PCs
Is your Office Communicator client showing a red exclamation point on its icon? When you click it, do you see this error message?
“Cannot synchronize with the corporate address book. This might be because the proxy server setting in your web browser does not allow access to the address book.”
The problem isn't with a proxy server though. It's with, of all things, Internet Explorer 8. Try unchecking the “Check for server certificate revocation” box in IE's options to fix this.
Never let it be said we aren't open about bumps in the OCS road. Thanks to everyone who documented their own encounters with these bugs.
Have you encountered a Windows 7/OCS 2007 bug (or just a weird problem that had a simple fix)? What was it? How”d you arrive at a solution?
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