Tag Archives: microsoft
Azure Lab Services (Lab Account) – Planned Outage – May 24th, 2024
Dear Users,
We will be updating the Lab Account service on May 24th, 2024, from 1PM to 11PM UTC. During this time, please expect downtime affecting common operations. The service will be fully operational after the updates are applied.
We’ll promptly remove the maintenance banner upon completion of the maintenance task. Your patience and cooperation are highly appreciated.
– Lab Services team.
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
LeVar Burton joins Vasu Jakkal to share his hope for transformative technologies like generative AI
LeVar Burton—known for his role as Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge in Star Trek and as the host and executive producer of the beloved PBS children’s series Reading Rainbow—recently sat down for a one-on-one chat with CVP of Microsoft Security, Vasu Jakkal, to discuss the impact of generative AI on our world.
The conversation began with a discussion of the impact of Star Trek on both speakers’ lives. Burton spoke about how seeing actress Nichelle Nichols on the bridge of the USS Enterprise meant the world to him, as it showed him what creator Gene Roddenberry said was true: “When the future came, there would be a place for me.” Jakkal shared how Star Trek was a pivotal influence in her childhood and is in part responsible for her career in cybersecurity. “Star Trek is a perfect example of what we imagine is what we create in this realm. Human beings, we are manifesting machines,” said Burton. “And Star Trek has been responsible for helping to sow the seeds of germination for a lot of different technologies that are in use in our everyday lives today.”
Generative AI (GenAI) is the transformational technology of our generation. So, we asked LeVar Burton—one of the world’s foremost storytellers and champions of learning through his work in Reading Rainbow —to help us tell the story of how GenAI will improve education and opportunities for everyone across the globe. In addition to reshaping our everyday lives, our emails, and meetings, GenAI is changing how security work gets done. These new solutions—like Microsoft Copilot for Security—help SecOps professionals make sense of large amounts of data at machine speed. They simplify the complex to help defenders find a needle in the haystack, or even a specific needle in a needle stack. Jakkal also discussed how AI can help reduce the talent shortage in the security industry and make it more diverse.
The Microsoft mission is to empower every person and organization in the world to achieve more. And the security mission is to build a safer world for all. Burton expressed his hope that generative AI will help in ways that we haven’t thought of before, referencing the cultural shift that happened in just eight nights when the groundbreaking television miniseries Roots aired. “My hope, my prayer is that generative AI can help us educate our kids in ways that we haven’t been able to and perhaps haven’t even thought of,” stated Burton. He also emphasized the importance of making GenAI safe and accessible to all. Jakkal agreed, touching on the importance of responsibility when using AI, mentioning the Microsoft responsible AI framework—a set of steps to ensure AI systems uphold six principles: fairness, reliability and safety, privacy and security, inclusiveness, transparency, and accountability.
Central to the conversation was the concept of hope, and hope for the future. Burton said the younger generation gives him hope, as they see the world and technology in a different way. Jakkal expressed her hope that we can use GenAI to change the world in a good way, by working together and being responsible. Jakkal closed the discussion by saying “I think collectively together we have to use generative AI and the technologies that we have to change this course. Storytelling, the narrative to change the narrative to one of optimism, to one of hope, to one of inclusion… for all and done by all.”
Watch the full video here:
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
One drive encryption
Hello, I was wondering what ways can you password protect a folder that allows oneDrive to sync the files.
Hello, I was wondering what ways can you password protect a folder that allows oneDrive to sync the files. Read More
Highlighting a part of a row based on 1 cell
Hi all, I know that you can’t create a checklist in excel online so I’m trying this as an alternative.
I’d like to highlight columns H to L if the cell in column I contains Y (or YES if needed). Can you help with the exact formula and what cells I need to highlight please?
If I need to highlight the whole row instead then I’m happy to do that as an alternative.
Hi all, I know that you can’t create a checklist in excel online so I’m trying this as an alternative.I’d like to highlight columns H to L if the cell in column I contains Y (or YES if needed). Can you help with the exact formula and what cells I need to highlight please? If I need to highlight the whole row instead then I’m happy to do that as an alternative. Read More
Prohibit the deletion of a room reservation from the room calendar
Hello, we have just put into production the provision of rooms and equipment on our exchange server (hybrid mode for now). In the tests, a user made a reservation in their calendar and chose a room. The room calendar would update with the meeting and only the meeting organizer could delete the meeting directly on the room calendar.
Now anyone can go to the venue’s calendar and view it (which is ok for me) but they can also delete a booking.
Therefore, I would like to prohibit the deletion of room bookings on the room calendar except by the meeting organizer.
How to do it?
Thanks a lot.
Guillaume P.
Hello, we have just put into production the provision of rooms and equipment on our exchange server (hybrid mode for now). In the tests, a user made a reservation in their calendar and chose a room. The room calendar would update with the meeting and only the meeting organizer could delete the meeting directly on the room calendar.Now anyone can go to the venue’s calendar and view it (which is ok for me) but they can also delete a booking.Therefore, I would like to prohibit the deletion of room bookings on the room calendar except by the meeting organizer.How to do it?Thanks a lot.Guillaume P. Read More
OneDrive app opens web version of OneDrive/differences menu “shared” OneDrive vs. Microsoft 365 app
Opening the OneDrive desktop app (Windows 11, Microsoft 365 Family account) opens a login window on the web for me. After signing in, the web version of OneDrive opens. In the background, the OneDrive app tries to do something that the app cannot do. A restart or a login of the app is requested. And the game starts all over again.
Is this a bug or does it have to be like this?
OneDrive and Microsoft 365 have a different “shared” menu. I don’t understand why.
I have tried to document both points with a video.
Thank you very much for your feedback.
Best regards
Andreas
Opening the OneDrive desktop app (Windows 11, Microsoft 365 Family account) opens a login window on the web for me. After signing in, the web version of OneDrive opens. In the background, the OneDrive app tries to do something that the app cannot do. A restart or a login of the app is requested. And the game starts all over again.Is this a bug or does it have to be like this? OneDrive and Microsoft 365 have a different “shared” menu. I don’t understand why. I have tried to document both points with a video. Thank you very much for your feedback. Best regardsAndreas Read More
New 365 Admin portal showcases ‘Business Advisors’ that aren’t my company?
Hello
For years, we as partners have requested better tie ins to the Office 365 portal regarding support, but as it stands, we don’t even have permissions to change the customer’s Help Desk setting to redirect to us unless we log in directly as a Global Admin on their tenant. It’s not available via GDAP (nor DAP).
Now, I’ve logged in to setup a new customer’s tenant, and I’m greeted with this popup at the bottom of the screen prodding my customer to connect with some Business Advisor that is very likely not my organization.
What is the purpose of this pop-up and what is being done to connect it directly and solely to us, the selling partner instead of some other unknown partner? Moreso, how can it be turned off for all our customers?
The only consolation here is that it does nothing at all except take you to O365 support, yet another item Partners have requested for years that’s gone unfinished. All the customer gets after they spend their precious time entering all the details of their issue is that they need to contact us directly for support, which has been a horrible customer experience according to my customers.
So when will this all get resolved and what is the plan here for this new pop up?
Hello For years, we as partners have requested better tie ins to the Office 365 portal regarding support, but as it stands, we don’t even have permissions to change the customer’s Help Desk setting to redirect to us unless we log in directly as a Global Admin on their tenant. It’s not available via GDAP (nor DAP). Now, I’ve logged in to setup a new customer’s tenant, and I’m greeted with this popup at the bottom of the screen prodding my customer to connect with some Business Advisor that is very likely not my organization. What is the purpose of this pop-up and what is being done to connect it directly and solely to us, the selling partner instead of some other unknown partner? Moreso, how can it be turned off for all our customers?The only consolation here is that it does nothing at all except take you to O365 support, yet another item Partners have requested for years that’s gone unfinished. All the customer gets after they spend their precious time entering all the details of their issue is that they need to contact us directly for support, which has been a horrible customer experience according to my customers. So when will this all get resolved and what is the plan here for this new pop up? Read More
Inserting copied cells in one sheet without shifting cell references in another sheet
I have a master sheet with multiple entry rows and other sheets that reference cells in the master sheet. When I insert copied cells from another source into the master sheet and shift cells down, the references in the other sheets also shift down. I’m attempting to insert additional data in the master sheet without changing the other sheet references. I’ve tried both absolute and relative cell references in the other sheets with no luck. Also, copying values only doesn’t work because I need to shift content down on the master sheet.
I have a master sheet with multiple entry rows and other sheets that reference cells in the master sheet. When I insert copied cells from another source into the master sheet and shift cells down, the references in the other sheets also shift down. I’m attempting to insert additional data in the master sheet without changing the other sheet references. I’ve tried both absolute and relative cell references in the other sheets with no luck. Also, copying values only doesn’t work because I need to shift content down on the master sheet. Read More
Forms only appears in Excel when new book opened in MS365 but not from SharePoint
Hi,
Sorry not sure if this is the correct forum for this question…
I just wondering why Forms can be access from an Excel work book when opened from MS365 but, not when it’s opened from within SharePoint using the ‘New’ button??
This is opened from SharePoint
Open from MS365
Would this have anything to do where the Form and Data is stored when opened from MS365??
Hi,Sorry not sure if this is the correct forum for this question…I just wondering why Forms can be access from an Excel work book when opened from MS365 but, not when it’s opened from within SharePoint using the ‘New’ button??This is opened from SharePoint Open from MS365 Would this have anything to do where the Form and Data is stored when opened from MS365?? Read More
Feature Request: Mounting Onedrive/Sharepoint as a network drive
It used to be posssible to mount Sharepoint as a network drive with a letter like U:, now with Internet Explorer being out of service that’s no longer possible;
Google Drive also supports this feature and it’s extremely useful, why:
– If you use a lot of Excel files with Sharepoint and want to link them, it’s not easy because onedrive folders are stored in user folders so the path changes with the username;
– Some programs use Project files that load other files with a full path, not relative path, so it’s not compatible with Onedrive;
– Users constantly confuse the personal Onedrive folder with the Sharepoint folder, having a network drive instantly simplifies this for the user;
– As an MSP employee we often cannot sell a 365 solution because everything the company has traditionally done is with network drive letters and it’s not possible to transition even simple file servers to Sharepoint without months of work.
Please add this to Onedrive, thank you!
It used to be posssible to mount Sharepoint as a network drive with a letter like U:, now with Internet Explorer being out of service that’s no longer possible;Google Drive also supports this feature and it’s extremely useful, why:- If you use a lot of Excel files with Sharepoint and want to link them, it’s not easy because onedrive folders are stored in user folders so the path changes with the username;- Some programs use Project files that load other files with a full path, not relative path, so it’s not compatible with Onedrive;- Users constantly confuse the personal Onedrive folder with the Sharepoint folder, having a network drive instantly simplifies this for the user;- As an MSP employee we often cannot sell a 365 solution because everything the company has traditionally done is with network drive letters and it’s not possible to transition even simple file servers to Sharepoint without months of work. Please add this to Onedrive, thank you! Read More
How to Remove Someone’s “@” Information from an Excel cell?
Hello Excel Team,
I don’t know how this happened, but someone’s “@” name was entered on my Excel report and I can’t figure out how to remove it.
I’ve removed the entire row and it’s still in the field.
Anyone know how to remove this please?
if I hover over the initials, a name is displayed:
This person does not know how her name was accidentally added to my report.
Thank you in advance for your help.
Hello Excel Team,
I don’t know how this happened, but someone’s “@” name was entered on my Excel report and I can’t figure out how to remove it.
I’ve removed the entire row and it’s still in the field.
Anyone know how to remove this please?
if I hover over the initials, a name is displayed:
This person does not know how her name was accidentally added to my report.
Thank you in advance for your help.
Read More
Support for local PST files in Outlook and Copilot
Hi, as of now, it seems that Copilot is only available in the new Outlook 365 UI. Unfortunately the new Outlook is still lacks the feature for archiving/local PST files.
What’s the workaround to index archived mailboxes and make their content available in 365 Copilot ? Thanks !
Hi, as of now, it seems that Copilot is only available in the new Outlook 365 UI. Unfortunately the new Outlook is still lacks the feature for archiving/local PST files.What’s the workaround to index archived mailboxes and make their content available in 365 Copilot ? Thanks ! Read More
Understanding the core concept and routing of vWAN with Example.
What is virtual WAN?
Azure Virtual WAN is a NAAS (networking as a service) to enable simplified global transit networking architecture that brings many networking, security, and routing functionalities together to provide a single operational interface.
virual WAN overall architecture:
Virual WAN component:
Vitrual WAN hub:
A virtual hub is a Microsoft-managed virtual network that contains various service endpoints to enable connectivity.
The virtual hub is the core of your network in a region.
Multiple virtual hubs can be created in the same region.
A virtual hub can contain gateways for site-to-site VPN, ExpressRoute, or point-to-site User VPN. For example, when using Virtual WAN, you don’t create a site-to-site connection from your on-premises site directly to your VNet. Instead, you create a site-to-site connection to the virtual hub.
The traffic always goes through the virtual hub gateway. This means that your VNets don’t need their own virtual network gateway.
Virtual WAN lets your VNets take advantage of scaling easily through the virtual hub and the virtual hub gateway.
Hub Virtual Network Connection:
which represents the connection between spoke virtual networks and the Virtual WAN Hubs. These connection types can be site-to-site VPN, point-to-site VPN and Express Route.
Hub-to-Hub Connectivity:
All the virtual HUB with in the virtual WAN gets connected with mesh topology no addition configuration is require.
Hub Route Tables:
serve as the regional routing construct and can be populated manually or dynamically using BGP.
Route Tables:
Collection of routes in each Hub.
Each Hub may contain multiple Route Tables.
Each Hub always contains Default and None Route Table.
Route Tables across Hubs can be grouped under Labels.
Benefits of virtual wan?
It provides a centralized manage service to mange your network, routing, security under single operational interface.
Why to chose virtual WAN?
Azure Virtual WAN helps simplify the overall architecture by replacing the transit vNet with the new Virtual WAN Hub construct, which offers increased scale for site-to-site VPN tunnels, a doubling of the overall aggregate VPN throughput and a mechanism to simplify the overall design and routing architecture. Furthermore, Virtual WAN Hubs are zone redundant by default, eliminating the need to select appropriate zone redundant SKUs for the VPN and ER Network Gateways.
All routing is performed within the Virtual WAN Hub, any vNet that is peered to the Virtual WAN Hub will automatically trigger an update to the global routing table, eliminating the need to configure routing within the spoke vNet itself and/or establishing peering relationships between spoke vNets that need to communicate with each other.
Propagation and Association:
Propagation
VNET’s/Branch should always propagate/advertise their route to Route Table so peers can discover them in the network.
Propagation inserts route information from Connections in Route Table.
Connections can propagate to multiple Route Tables (RT).
Connections must Propagate to RT’s in all Hubs (or use Labels) for inter-hub connectivity.
Association
VNET’s/Branch should always associate with RouteTable to reach their peers in the network. With association, when a packet from the Connection comes into the hub, this is the route table that the hub uses to make a forwarding decision to respective destination spoke.
Association programs route information from Route Table into Connections so that a Connection can lean for learning the destination route.
Each Connection will always associate with one Route Table.
Controls flow of traffic
Routing Scenario:
Single Vhub Any-to-Any:
Multi Vhub Any-to-Any:
Isolating vnets:
Custom route with next hop:
Any-to-Any in Secure HUB:
Custom isolation in Multihub:
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Intelligent FinOps in Azure
Leverage FinOps in Azure to optimize your cloud spend and drive accountability across your organization. With Microsoft Cost Management, gain complete visibility into your cloud costs, track spending by department or project, and forecast future expenses. Utilize management groups, subscriptions, and tags to organize costs and allocate resources efficiently, ensuring alignment with organizational priorities.
Make informed decisions with proactive cost reduction recommendations from Azure Advisor and architectural best practices like Azure Landing Zones. Operationalize FinOps practices with centralized management focus and continuous evaluation through the FinOps Review assessment. Azure expert, Matt McSpirit, shows how to improve your organization’s capability and operational agility with FinOps on Azure.
Manage cloud spend and drive accountability.
Establish control in the Cloud with FinOps on Azure. Get started.
Track spend by structure, region, or timeline.
Utilize subscriptions, tags, and management groups for granular cost control and role-based access. Check out FinOps on Azure.
Drive efficiency with FinOps.
Use Azure Advisor to optimize spend with recommendations tailored to usage. Implement architectural best practices with Azure Landing Zones for consistent cost management and policy differentiation. Take a look.
Watch our video here:
QUICK LINKS:
00:00 — Improve control on Azure through FinOps
01:01 — Gain visibility and accountability over Cloud spend
02:11 — Track and report spending
03:28– How to track costs
04:14 — Tagging resources
05:57 — Optimized efficiency
07:02 — Maintain FinOps practices
08:05 — Wrap up
Link References
How to implement FinOps on Azure at https://aka.ms/FinOps
Leverage Cloud Adoption Framework guidance at https://aka.ms/C-A-F-Tagging
Click-through demos at https://aka.ms/finops/guides
FinOps Review assessment at https://aka.ms/finops/review
Start using Microsoft Cost Management at https://aka.ms/CostManagement
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Video Transcript:
-Are you truly set up to run your organization in the cloud, and do you have the right controls in place to manage your spend and drive accountability?
-Well, the more you’re in control of the mechanics of operating in the cloud, the more you’ll be able to do in the cloud, especially when you consider the agility the cloud gives you, with on-demand resources, along with the latest silicon, managed services that remove complexity, and evolving AI capabilities all at your command. There’s in fact a whole industry movement and framework for establishing this control, called FinOps, established by the FinOps Foundation.
-Similar to how DevOps provides a continuous feedback process aided by technology to bridge the gap between developer and IT operations teams, FinOps helps you to bridge the gap across stakeholders, from financial, business, and technical teams to efficiently build organizational capabilities in the cloud. This includes achieving more predictable cloud spend with less wastage, commitment-based savings, and better ongoing collaboration on how the cloud can help improve operations for your organization, both now and in the future.
-So, where do you start? Well, job number one is to set the foundation for visibility and accountability over your cloud spend. Here, Microsoft Cost Management in the Azure portal as the core source of consumption data gives you complete visibility of accumulated costs across your entire account at a monthly run rate, or even across selected date ranges, without you having to do anything.
-Cost trends help with forecasting at an aggregate level, and you can drill down in granular detail so that you can start to see your typical run rates, for example, by resource type. Then with Microsoft Copilot for Azure built in, you can ask natural language questions to get the insights you need faster, for example, breaking down how costs compare over previous months to help find trends and anomalies.
-Additionally, if you don’t want to use the Azure Portal or if you’re a business user, you can consume this usage data in your environment of choice, such as powerful visualizations available with Power BI reports for your business analysts, or you can integrate the data within your internal apps and financial systems with available APIs for your business and financial teams to consume the data the way they want, which brings everyone together with a common understanding on cloud costs. That said, the crux of driving more accountability is to track and report spending in a way that makes sense to the stakeholders across your organization based on agreed priorities.
-For example, mapping costs against your organizational structure or regions to be able to potentially charge back costs or tracking against a specific timeline to help with budget management of projects, or where you have shared apps and workloads in use across your organization, you may need more specificity on the granularity of spend to understand how costs should be. The mechanics of achieving this timely and accessible visibility come down to a few things, the first of which is a subscription that you can use to delineate departments, apps, or cost centers in your organization.
-Underneath each subscription are your resources, which are organized in resource groups. Now, importantly, tags work to track specific consumption and can be assigned for your subscriptions, resource groups, and all the way down to specific resources, and if you’re an Enterprise Agreement customer, overseeing all of this are management groups, which can help you define a hierarchy over your subscriptions and resources.
-For example, using this construct, you can group sets of subscriptions and their resources for cost management by business unit, and you can configure role-based access to offer privileged views over cost analysis at the department or down to the individual user level. So, let me give you a snapshot of what you can achieve with an example of how this helps you track costs by different segments in your organization.
-So here, within your Azure tenant, you can use management groups aligned to your organizational hierarchy. You can nest multiple management groups under higher level management groups, and within each of them, you can define one or more subscriptions, and this hierarchy allows you to view costs at the subscription level. Now in Microsoft Cost Management, I’m in cost analysis, and this is my view of costs across the entire account. I can group costs, for example, by department name, resource group, subscription, and others.
-So, I’ll choose Resource Group in my case, which represents the costs for resources to run workloads, or projects in our case, and I can see the cost breakdown by service name, location, and enrollment account name. And in the group by dropdown, you might have noticed the tag option. This is where tagging resources comes in. These are important in order to associate cloud usage costs appropriately, which can be a department or a cost center. Now, you’ll want to spend some time establishing the right approach and naming your tags for consistency, leveraging our cloud adoption framework guidance at aka.ms/C-A-F-Tagging.
-In Azure policy, you can enforce tags on future or existing resources at scale using pre-configured policies that work at the subscription, and optionally the resource group level, such as adding a specified tag if its missing on a resource in the subscription, or ensuring that new resources created inherit a tag from the subscription.
-Then under Remediation, tags can be applied to existing resources as well as any new resources created on the subscription. Now, if I move back to Cost Management using the tags we’ve established, it’s now easy to filter costs by tags, which represent the individual resource usage. And if I group costs by tags, I can also track costs by category, for example, how different environments are used.
-From there, using budgets, you can also use the tags you’ve created and assigned for things like cost centers to set targeted budgets by month, quarter, or year, along with the budget amounts that you define, and based on alert conditions that you set within each budget, these can automatically alert the people accountable within your defined cost center. Everything I’ve shown you are foundational core competencies, which you can also learn more about with our click-through demos at aka.ms/FinOps/Guides, where each provides click-by-click guidance by FinOps capabilities.
-This one, for example, is guiding me through how to enforce tag inheritance on resources and establish policies to require that tags are added to any new resource. By now, you’ll have established a degree of collaboration across stakeholders as you determine priority workloads and stakeholder interest, so with your baselines established, how can you make sure you’re optimized for efficiency?
-Well, to help you look for areas for optimization, tools like Azure Advisor surface proactive recommendations for cost reduction by subscription, where, for example, you might be paying for idle compute resources or paying too much for virtual machines, and with Quick Fix items, you can rightsize directly for Azure Advisor to implement those recommendations. It also shows you recommendations for commitment-based discounts, with savings plans and reserved instances, which can be over one- to three-year terms.
-These recommendations are based on an analysis of cloud resource usage over an extended period of time, and there are also architectural considerations that can lead to more consistency in how costs are managed and distributed among your stakeholders. So here, you can use architectural best practices with Azure Landing Zones, which comprise a set of shared services and dedicated per-app subscriptions to more easily allocate costs and differentiate policies.
-Next, once you’ve done the work to identify and optimize your existing cloud footprint, how do you maintain your FinOps practices moving forward so that you can operationalize what you’ve already done as you modernize or roll out new workloads in the cloud?
-Well, ultimately, this speaks to making FinOps part of your organization’s DNA, with a centralized management focus that continually evaluates business objectives, tracked metrics, and their trends. Now to assist, the FinOps review assessment at aka.ms/FinOps/Review can help you initiate or strengthen the FinOps practice for your organization.
-Now, after starting the assessment, it will ask you to indicate what stage your organization is in today, then the FinOps domains that you’re interested in improving. Once you select those, it walks you through a series of questions tailored to each domain and underlying capabilities. When you’ve completed the survey, the assessment will output an overall score and point you to important resources as well as improvement recommendations based on your responses for each of the FinOps capabilities.
-You will use these as you continue your FinOps journey. Adopting FinOps can help your entire organization to make better decisions with the cloud to improve your organization’s capability and operational agility, whether that’s through adopting more cloud-native approaches or managed services, or building better experiences around your data with generative AI.
-To learn more about FinOps on Azure and how to implement it, go to aka.ms/FinOps, and to start using Microsoft Cost Management, go to aka.ms/CostManagement. Subscribe to Microsoft Mechanics for the latest tech updates, and thanks for watching.
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
MVP’s Favorite Content: Copilot Studio, Fabric, OpenAI, D365
In this blog series dedicated to Microsoft’s technical articles, we’ll highlight our MVPs’ favorite article along with their personal insights.
Shrushti Shah, M365 MVP, India
Configure user authentication with Microsoft Entra ID – Microsoft Copilot Studio | Microsoft Learn
“I have been playing and working on Copilot Studio and this documentation is one of the greatest finds for me where you get to understand how to set up authentication when Copilot is built on SharePoint or private websites as a data source.”
*Relevant Activity: I have recently demonstrated the authentication capability as part of Women’s Day #ShareToInspire community event in India, you can find that here, https://youtu.be/t4eSiUiCilc?si=wZuSdNMkTgbqZPyI
Yoichi Ishikawa, Data Platform MVP, Japan
“Microsoft Fabric, a leader in AI-era data analytics SaaS, opens new avenues in machine learning for Power BI users. Through Synapse Data Science, users can deepen their understanding of environments like PySpark via Learn modules with sample code exercises. Fabric’s trial version offers these features at no extra cost, making it an excellent resource for enhancing machine learning and data analytics skills.”
(In Japanese: 「Microsoft Fabric」はAI時代のデータ分析をリードするSaaSで、Power BIユーザー向けに機械学習の新たな扉を開きます。「Synapse Data Science」を通じた探求は、サンプルコード付きのLearnモジュールにより、PySparkなどの環境への理解を深めることができます。Fabricの試用版は追加費用なしで利用可能で、機械学習とデータ分析のスキル向上に役立ちます。)
*Relevant Activity: Power BI Weekly News – connpass
Akira Hatsune, Windows Development MVP, Japan
Microsoft Azure AI Fundamentals: Generative AI – Training | Microsoft Learn
“If you want to learn about generative AI (Azure OpenAI Service), this is it! “Exercise – Explore Azure OpenAI Service” is full of illustrations, so you can proceed while looking at the diagrams and become proficient in no time. You will gain a deeper understanding of Azure OpenAI Service by experiencing it firsthand.”
(In Japanese: 生成系AI(AOAI)について学びたいとしたらここ!「演習 – Azure OpenAI Service を探索する」は、図解も多く、図を見ながら進めることで、一通りできるようになります。AOAIは体験することで一気に理解が深まります。)
Parag Chapre, Business Applications MVP, Australia
Virtual entities overview – Finance & Operations | Dynamics 365 | Microsoft Learn
“I recommend exploring “Streamlining Employee Image Approval with Workflows in Dynamics 365 Human Resources” for its efficiency-boosting potential. By leveraging workflows within Dynamics 365 HR, organizations can automate and standardize the employee image approval process. This ensures consistency, saves time, and reduces manual effort. Additionally, streamlined approval workflows enhance compliance and security by enforcing standardized procedures. With this content, HR professionals gain insights into leveraging technology to optimize HR processes, improve employee experience, and focus on strategic initiatives. Ultimately, it empowers organizations to efficiently manage employee image approvals while enhancing overall HR operations.”
*Relevant Blog: Streamlining Employee Image Approval with Workflows in Dynamics 365 Human Resources – Parag Chapre
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Planner Premium Plan tasks are now available in My Tasks view within the new Planner
We are excited to announce the rollout of Planner Premium Plan (formerly known as Project for the web) task syncing with Planner and To Do. With this, users will be able to view their premium plan tasks seamlessly integrated within the “Assigned to me” view in To Do, Planner web as well as the new Planner app.
The feature is being rolled out in phases and would be available across geographies in coming weeks.
The Assigned to me view
The Assigned to me view within My Tasks in Planner app provides users a consolidated view of their tasks spread across To Do, Outlook, Meeting notes, Loop and Planner, however, the missing link has been the tasks created in the Planner premium plans formerly known as Project for the web. This is changing now, premium plan tasks too are being added to Assigned to me view within My Tasks in Planner.
Learn more about the feature:
How to Access
How can I access my Premium Plan tasks in Planner and Todo?
All users with M365 licenses are already equipped to access Planner Premium Plan tasks assigned to them in the “Assigned to Me” view across Planner and To Do. The feature is being rolled out in phases over coming weeks, If you don’t see your Premium Plan tasks in the Assigned to me view yet, please wait till the time the feature is rolled out to your tenant.
All Premium plan tasks which you create after the feature has been rolled out to your tenant would automatically be synced to your Assigned to me view.
What it means for the user
All your tasks in one place. The “Assigned to Me” view provides a centralized interface for managing your Premium plan tasks alongside other M365 tasks. You can not only see the premium plan tasks but can also update the progress of the task and mark it as complete right within the Assigned to Me view. Editing remaining fields is just a click away; you can do so by clicking “Go to premium plan” in the task details view, which would then enable full task management capabilities.
If you are using web app you can do so by clicking “Go to Project” in the task details view, which would then open the task in Project for the web, enabling full task management capabilities.
Share your Feedback
Your feedback is valuable as we continue to release new capabilities. There are several ways to share your feedback with us. You can share feedback through the new Planner app in Teams directly. You can also send us your feedback via the Planner Feedback Portal.
Here is how you can share your feedback directly from within the new Planner app:
Coming soon
We will be adding more capabilities along the way, some notable ones that will be coming:
Ability to edit more fields from Assigned to Me view
Syncing of Labels, Checklist
Syncing of tasks from Plans in Named org
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Are licenses required for IVR
Hello
I understand that AA or CQ need licenses.
Are additional licenses needed for IVR’s in AA’s?
According to this site
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/plan-auto-attendant-call-queue
there are no needs for additional licenses, right?
Regards
JFM_12
HelloI understand that AA or CQ need licenses.Are additional licenses needed for IVR’s in AA’s?According to this sitehttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/plan-auto-attendant-call-queuethere are no needs for additional licenses, right?RegardsJFM_12 Read More
Opening an Outlook account for the first time
I have tried several times over the last (10?) years to open an Outlook account. When asked for the password for my IMAP I cannot remember of find it. How can I find that password? Thank you
I have tried several times over the last (10?) years to open an Outlook account. When asked for the password for my IMAP I cannot remember of find it. How can I find that password? Thank you Read More
.NET 4.7.2 SSLStream on Windows Server 2019 ignore proxy settings while checking CRL
Hi everybody,
on a Windows Server 2012 R2 server I have a .net 4.7.2 library using SSLStream class to connect to a SMTP server to send an e-mail. Everything was working fine till we upgraded the machine to Windows Server 2019, when the library stopped working as it was unable to check the revocation list (CRL) for the remote server certificate.
My understanding is that SSLStream.AuthenticateAsClient method uses windows crypto API to check the CRL, which is downloaded through winhttp API to reach the CRL endpoint specified in the certificate itself, through the winhttp proxy set for the server. This behaviour is embedded in the SSLStream class, and not customizable by the developer (well, you can disable CRL verification, but this is not desirable).
My analysis (with the help of procmon 🙂 ) showed that the W2019 machine is trying to reach the CRL distribution endpoint bypassing the proxy settings, that is correctly showed with ‘netsh winhttp show proxy’ command, and it tries to reach the remote endpoint directly, failing because without the proxy the host is unreachable. Further analysis showed that on W2012 right before contacting the enterprise proxy to download the CRL the system is accessing the winhttp settings in the registry (I presume to read proxy settings), while the W2019 server is looking in the user registry section for internet settings: since my application runs with a non-interactive user there’s no profile for it, thus no proxy settings.
Restoring a previous W2012 snapshot of the server fixed the issue, so it seems that W2019 introduced a different behaviour for the winhttp api, breaking somehow backward compatibility with the software.
Do any of you have experienced a similar issue or just have some info about this?
Thanks!
Hi everybody, on a Windows Server 2012 R2 server I have a .net 4.7.2 library using SSLStream class to connect to a SMTP server to send an e-mail. Everything was working fine till we upgraded the machine to Windows Server 2019, when the library stopped working as it was unable to check the revocation list (CRL) for the remote server certificate. My understanding is that SSLStream.AuthenticateAsClient method uses windows crypto API to check the CRL, which is downloaded through winhttp API to reach the CRL endpoint specified in the certificate itself, through the winhttp proxy set for the server. This behaviour is embedded in the SSLStream class, and not customizable by the developer (well, you can disable CRL verification, but this is not desirable). My analysis (with the help of procmon 🙂 ) showed that the W2019 machine is trying to reach the CRL distribution endpoint bypassing the proxy settings, that is correctly showed with ‘netsh winhttp show proxy’ command, and it tries to reach the remote endpoint directly, failing because without the proxy the host is unreachable. Further analysis showed that on W2012 right before contacting the enterprise proxy to download the CRL the system is accessing the winhttp settings in the registry (I presume to read proxy settings), while the W2019 server is looking in the user registry section for internet settings: since my application runs with a non-interactive user there’s no profile for it, thus no proxy settings. Restoring a previous W2012 snapshot of the server fixed the issue, so it seems that W2019 introduced a different behaviour for the winhttp api, breaking somehow backward compatibility with the software. Do any of you have experienced a similar issue or just have some info about this? Thanks! Read More
What causes QuickBooks Error 3371 and how to fix it?
Troubleshooting Solutions: QuickBooks Error 3371
QuickBooks Error 3371 typically occurs due to issues with the software’s licensing information. Here’s how you can troubleshoot and resolve this error:
Update QuickBooks: Ensure that your QuickBooks software is updated to the latest version. Sometimes, outdated versions may encounter compatibility issues that trigger Error 3371.
Install Windows Updates: Install any pending Windows updates on your computer. Outdated Windows components can sometimes interfere with QuickBooks’ licensing processes, leading to this error.
Rename Entitlement File: Close QuickBooks and navigate to the folder containing the entitlement file. Rename the file by adding “.old” as a file extension. This action forces QuickBooks to re-create the file, resolving any corruption issues.
Run QuickBooks Tool Hub: Download and run the QuickBooks Tool Hub, a comprehensive diagnostic tool provided by Intuit. Use the “Fix Installation Issues” tool to repair any installation-related issues that may be causing Error 3371.
Recreate damaged entitlementDataStore.ecml file: If renaming the entitlement file doesn’t work, try recreating it. Close QuickBooks, delete the entitlementDataStore.ecml file, and then re-run QuickBooks to re-register the software.
Use QuickBooks Install Diagnostic Tool: Download and run the QuickBooks Install Diagnostic Tool, another utility provided by Intuit. This tool automatically diagnoses and resolves various installation-related issues that could lead to Error 3371.
Manually Resolve Microsoft .NET Framework Issues: If the error persists, manually resolve any Microsoft .NET Framework issues on your computer. Repair or reinstall .NET Framework using the built-in Windows features or Microsoft’s official support resources.
Check for Third-Party Software Conflicts: Temporarily disable any third-party antivirus or security software on your computer and then attempt to open QuickBooks again. Sometimes, these programs can interfere with QuickBooks’ licensing processes.
Reinstall QuickBooks: If all else fails, consider reinstalling QuickBooks on your computer. Uninstall the existing installation, download the latest version from the official Intuit website, and perform a clean installation.
Contact QuickBooks Support: If you’re unable to resolve Error 3371 after trying all troubleshooting steps, contact QuickBooks customer support for further assistance. They can provide personalized guidance and escalate the issue if necessary.
Following these troubleshooting solutions should help you resolve QuickBooks Error 3371 and resume using the software without interruptions. Remember to regularly update QuickBooks and perform maintenance tasks to prevent similar errors in the future.
Troubleshooting Solutions: QuickBooks Error 3371 QuickBooks Error 3371 typically occurs due to issues with the software’s licensing information. Here’s how you can troubleshoot and resolve this error:Update QuickBooks: Ensure that your QuickBooks software is updated to the latest version. Sometimes, outdated versions may encounter compatibility issues that trigger Error 3371.Install Windows Updates: Install any pending Windows updates on your computer. Outdated Windows components can sometimes interfere with QuickBooks’ licensing processes, leading to this error.Rename Entitlement File: Close QuickBooks and navigate to the folder containing the entitlement file. Rename the file by adding “.old” as a file extension. This action forces QuickBooks to re-create the file, resolving any corruption issues.Run QuickBooks Tool Hub: Download and run the QuickBooks Tool Hub, a comprehensive diagnostic tool provided by Intuit. Use the “Fix Installation Issues” tool to repair any installation-related issues that may be causing Error 3371.Recreate damaged entitlementDataStore.ecml file: If renaming the entitlement file doesn’t work, try recreating it. Close QuickBooks, delete the entitlementDataStore.ecml file, and then re-run QuickBooks to re-register the software.Use QuickBooks Install Diagnostic Tool: Download and run the QuickBooks Install Diagnostic Tool, another utility provided by Intuit. This tool automatically diagnoses and resolves various installation-related issues that could lead to Error 3371.Manually Resolve Microsoft .NET Framework Issues: If the error persists, manually resolve any Microsoft .NET Framework issues on your computer. Repair or reinstall .NET Framework using the built-in Windows features or Microsoft’s official support resources.Check for Third-Party Software Conflicts: Temporarily disable any third-party antivirus or security software on your computer and then attempt to open QuickBooks again. Sometimes, these programs can interfere with QuickBooks’ licensing processes.Reinstall QuickBooks: If all else fails, consider reinstalling QuickBooks on your computer. Uninstall the existing installation, download the latest version from the official Intuit website, and perform a clean installation.Contact QuickBooks Support: If you’re unable to resolve Error 3371 after trying all troubleshooting steps, contact QuickBooks customer support for further assistance. They can provide personalized guidance and escalate the issue if necessary.Following these troubleshooting solutions should help you resolve QuickBooks Error 3371 and resume using the software without interruptions. Remember to regularly update QuickBooks and perform maintenance tasks to prevent similar errors in the future. Read More