Some days I’m a tech-head, and some days. . .well you get the rest.
So I just said in my iPhone post that I don’t like being an early adopter - right, Dave - shake your head. XP SP3 probably has cost me ~4 hours of grief over the last couple of months. Maybe I’m just a poser, but I think not - people keep telling me I know what I’m doing, which feels great, but I’d rather be golfing than troubleshooting an RWW problem.
So I created an XP slipstream install disc for a client PC that needed a wipe & load, thinking it would ’save me time’ (I can hear you laughing). I’ve done a few SP3 upgrade installs, and also had the RWW issues that are widely known (you have to manually enable the TS ActiveX control in IE to get RDP working from within RWW). BUT with the Slipstreamed installation, the ActiveX control ISN’T even there. Here’s a Technet thread talking about this, and there are even comments on Susan’s blog asking about it.
So figuring I’d get a credit because it appeared to be a genuine Microsoft issue, I whipped out my credit card and spent 2 hours on the phone with Microsoft support on Thursday, after getting a poor response from the SBSC managed news groups (it doesn’t seem to matter sometimes how much effort you put into detailing the initial questions there - 50% of the time, they come back with suggestions that aren’t related). The final result was to RESET IE7, and voila, the ActiveX control installs.
Funny, I just noticed the MS support guy who helped diagnose the problem posted the fix at the end of the Technet thread. They did give me a credit too. Isn’t this how it’s supposed to work?
So why does resetting fix the issue? I’ll never know, but I know I’ll do this next time before calling support. I had the Google toolbar installed, and the MS tech suggested this might have caused the issue, so I tested the theory out on an slipstreamed XP SP3 installed PC I built the other day to do Wireshark captures on my VoIP system. I hadn’t tried to use RWW with it, so I knew it would be a good test. I HAD already installed the Google toolbar on it as well, so before doing a RESET on IE7, I manually uninstalled the toolbar, and reboot. The problem still was there, so Google wasn’t to blame, and nothing else except Wireshark and OfficeScan were on the PC.
RESET IE7, and boom - all fixed.
While I’m at it, I can also say the upgrade-SP3 method (not slipstreamed) is far from an automated process to make sure it works correctly. Basically, the only time it’s been successful (and they have ALL had the TS ActiveX issue) is when there’s no anti-virus installed. In Calgary the beginning of June, and upgraded my parents XP MCE 2005 Dell, and all sorts of issues (freezing menus & just general weirdness). MS telephone support was there to make suggestions (forgot about this one, so add another 2 hours onto my SP3 labour this past while), and in the end, the solution, which has worked reliably for me since, is to use MSCONFIG to do a selective startup, go to the Services tab, check the checkbox to hide all Microsoft Services, and disable the rest. Reboot, install SP3, reboot, reset MSCONFIG to start normally, and then the only issue (I know of) that’s left is to enable the TS ActiveX control (not an issue for my parents).
Some days.