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Customers Running into Problems Installing SharePoint Services

Microsoft acknowledged an installation problem this week with Windows SharePoint Services, an add-on for Windows Server 2003 and a central component of Windows Small Business Server 2003 that is one of the most highly touted new features in the server OS.

Currently Microsoft offers a workaround for the issue, which arises from a problem in the way certain dynamic-link libraries (DLLs) are validated. If the system date is Nov. 24 or later, the validation fails and an error message appears.

"Microsoft is currently working on a software update to Windows SharePoint Services and Windows Small Business Server 2003 that will resolve this DLL issue. We expect to deliver the update in the next several days," Microsoft said in a statement.

The company's customer update page about the problem focuses primarily on its Small Business Server customers. That product, released in September, relies heavily on SharePoint Services to help small organizations with limited IT staff create intranet sites for collaboration and other purposes.

The workaround involves setting the system date to a time between May 24, 2002, and Nov. 23, 2003, then uninstalling and reinstalling the intranet component and Microsoft SQL Server Desktop Engine. The final step is resetting the system date and time.

Users who successfully installed SharePoint Services or Windows Small Business Server 2003 prior to Nov. 24 won't run into the problem unless they reinstall the SharePoint components, according to Microsoft.

Microsoft's Web page describing the problem and the workaround is available here: www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/sbs/techinfo/sharepointinstall.mspx.

About the Author

Scott Bekker is editor in chief of Redmond Channel Partner magazine.

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