17 December 2013

Get rid of partitions that are not created with windows

If you try to remove partitions on a harddrive that has been partitioned with a non windows tool you are not able to do this with the disk management tool "diskmgmt.msc".
An easy way is to do this is the use of diskpart.exe
Just type the following:
  • list disk -to find out the number of the disk
  • select disk ### - to select the disk you want to clean
  • clean - to delete all partitions (be careful with this command :) )


After the cleaning the easiest way to create a new partition is to use diskmgmt.msc or just type in the following commands:

  • create partition primary 
  • select partition=1 
  • active 
  • format fs=fat32 QUICK 
  • assign
That's all you have to do to get an active primary partition formated with fat 32 that is assigned to a drive letter.

16 December 2013

Data Import Export Framework - Problems with shared working directory

Recently I had issues with access validation of the shared working directory for the data import export framework (alias data migration framework).

If the validation is telling you that the service is not able to access the directory you should check on the SQL Server
  • if the data import export service is running
  • which account is used to run the service
  • is this account able to write into that shared dirctory
If the service is not running AX is alsojust telling you that the service account is not able to access the folder. even though the user has the right credentials.


28 November 2013

AX 2012 Setup requires Windows Update service

I just tried to install EP on an AX Server at a customer. But i always got the following error message telling me that AX Installation was not able to start a service. But there is no hint about the service that is required to be started. After a sharp look at the services that has been deactivated I found out that the "Windows update" service was deactivated. Due to the fact that the installer is searching for updates during installation progress it requires this service. If this service is not set to manuel or automatic the setup is not able to continue.

The German message was:
System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x80070422): Der angegebene Dienst kann nicht gestartet werden. Er ist deaktiviert oder nicht mit aktivierten Geräten verbunden. (Ausnahme von HRESULT: 0x80070422)

So if you have an error message that contains the number 0x80070422 or 80070422 better check if the windows update service is running.

31 October 2013

Search and Replace new lines in Excel

To search and replace newlines in Excel I just found out that you don't use "\n\r" like in all other Tools I know but instead just press STRG + J. Than the cursor changes a little an it will find new lines in cells. Thank you Microsoft for hiding this feature :)

29 October 2013

Data Import Export Framework Installation (DIEF)

If you are installing DIEF for AX 2012 on the AOS and SQL Server you might get an error requesting the GacUtil

To solve this issue I tried to install Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4

But that didn't solve the problem. After the installation I navigated to the folders of the Microsoft SDK where I couldn't find the gacutil. On another machine it was located there. So I just copied itinto the following folders:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0\Bin
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0\Bin\NETFX 4.0 Tools

If you don have the Folder v7.0A instead of v7.0 just use this one. 

For all of you looking for the gacutil it can be downloaded here (without any warranty).

14 October 2013

The specified client configuration does not contain valid WCF settings

When you get the error Message: The specified client configuration does not contain valid WCF settings in Dynamics AX 2012



there is an easy way to fix it. Just open Microsoft Dyanmics AX Client Configuration Tool and load the Configuration or the .axc file that results in this error message.
Got to Connections and click configure. In some cases you need to confirm upcoming dialogs in my case it just went through and after thet the error is gone :)


26 July 2013

AIF Activation Error

After installing AX 2012 CU6 on an environment I got the following error after trying to reactivate the AIF inbound ports:

Faulted: System.OperationCanceledException: AIF service group not activated.  Service group: AifGDS.  Error: There is already a listener on IP endpoint 0.0.0.0:8201.  Make sure that you are not trying to use this endpoint multiple times in your application and that there are no other applications listening on this endpoint. ---> System.ServiceModel.AddressAlreadyInUseException: There is already a listener on IP endpoint 0.0.0.0:8201.  Make sure that you are not trying to use this endpoint multiple times in your application and that there are no other applications listening on this endpoint. ---> System.Net.Sockets.SocketException: Only one usage of each socket address (protocol/network address/port) is normally permitted

I was confused about the wrong WSDL Port in the error cause the port of the AOS where I was working on was 8103. After some research in the WorldWideWeb I found a solution that solved this issue for me:


  1. navigate to server bin folder:
    C:\Program Files\Microsoft Dynamics AX\60\Server\DAX2012\bin
  2. open Ax32Serv.exe.config file in an editor
  3. replace 8101 with your WSDL Port
  4. replace 8201 with your servicePort




17 July 2013

Getting access to SQL Server

Everyone of us knows the problem that after a SQL Server Installation you suddenly recognize that you have forgotten to grant your user access to the SQL Server instance.
Due to the fact that the NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM account alwas has access to the SQL server a simple workaround is using PsExec. It allows you to run programs as the SYSTEM user.
  1. download PsExec and extract it somewhere
  2. open CMD and navigate to PsExec folder
  3. start SQL Server Manager with the following command:
    PsExec -s -i "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\110\Tools\Binn\ManagementStudio\Ssms.exe"

Add your user in the Security settings :)

For me this worked fine with SQL Server 2008 but seems to be not working with SQL Server 2012. You can get access to the SQL Server but you are not allowed to change Security settings or add users.

07 June 2013

AX2012 Export / Import Error

When the following error occurs during data import via DAT/DEF then the following could help:


Cannot execute the required database operation. The SQL database has issued an error.
An error occured during data import

First of all this message does not tell where the error came from. So I checked the error log of the SQL Server and found this message:

Object Server 03: The database reported (session 3 ()): [Microsoft][SQL Server Native Client 10.0][SQL Server]Invalid object name 'DBO.[AX2012_model] .[dbo].SECURITYROLE'.. The SQL statement was: "UPDATE "DBO"."T073473B435914AF595C2B7075BD5D7D6" SET "CONFLICTS" = 1, "NEWRECID" = "DBO".SYSOLD2NEWRECID.IDREF FROM "DBO"."[AX2012_model].[dbo].SECURITYROLE","DBO".SYSOLD2NEWRECID WHERE "DBO"."T073473B435914AF595C2B7075BD5D7D6"."CONFLICTS" = 0 AND "DBO"."T073473B435914AF595C2B7075BD5D7D6".RECID = "DBO".SYSOLD2NEWRECID.ID AND "DBO"."[AX2012_model].[dbo].SECURITYROLE".RECID = "DBO".SYSOLD2NEWRECID.IDREF AND "DBO".SYSOLD2NEWRECID.TABLEREF = 65491 AND "DBO".SYSOLD2NEWRECID.SOURCEGUID = '{F20E9748-9070-4138-8546-38B382154E08}' AND "DBO".SYSOLD2NEWRECID.TARGETVIRTUALCOMPANY = '""' AND "DBO".SYSOLD2NEWRECID.PARTITION = 5637144576"

This message indicates that there is a problem with the table SecurityRole. So I tried to find out why the system want's to import records from this table even though it was not included in the tablegroup. After exporting into a comma seperated file i could find records with this table in the exported DAT File. Searching for the RecID of these records I found a refernce from the DirExternalRole table.

After removing this Table from the tableGroup I exported the data again and nowthe import is not throwing this error anymore :)

29 May 2013

AX 2012 Shortcut to view details

If you want to view details in AX 2012 the standard way is using the mouse -> Right click -> click on view details. But you can get there evan faster and without using the mouse.

The ShortCut to open the context menu is SHIFT + F10 or the ContextMenu Key between ALT GR and STRG. Clicking this followed by the key V will open the View details.

SHIFT + F10 -> V

or



 -> V


This also works with other letters. If you use F for example then you need to press enter if you want to Filter by Field or use the down arrow and press enter.


06 May 2013

Get a list of users in a Windows Active Directory group

Because I always forget this short and important command I post it here. It is the shortest command line prompt to get a list of users in an AD Group:

net group /domain


07 March 2013

Microsoft Product Lifecycle - Mainstream and extended support end dates


Products ReleasedLifecycle Start DateMainstream Support End DateExtended Support End DateService Pack Support End Date
Dynamics AX 20098/14/200810/8/201310/9/20181/11/2011
Dynamics AX 2009 Service Pack 111/3/2008 Support ends 24 months after the next service pack releases or at the end of the product's support lifecycle, whichever comes first
 
Dynamics AX 20129/25/201110/11/201610/12/2021
Dynamics AX 2012 R22/19/201310/11/201610/12/2021

29 January 2013

Default number sequence list - AX 2012

Here is an Excel spreadsheet providing all the default number sequence configurations in Dynamics AX 2012  as it is set up through the configuration wizard:

Dynamics AX 2012 - Default number sequence list