Dynamics CRM

Have you ever googled or bing'ed an error and notice that everyone is missing the boat? Well, that happened recently while doing a mail merge of CRM Contacts with Microsoft Word.

Here's the setup:
Using Microsoft Dynamics CRM Internet Facing Deployment with a view that was setup to e-mail newsletters
Using Microsoft Internet Explorer v 8.0
Using Microsoft Word 2010

The process:
Selected the records/view to mail merge to
Clicked on the mail merge button
Microsoft Word opened and when I went to step through the Wizard, it gave me the error: Error 52 Bad file name or number

The Rabbit Hole:
Upon searching for a solution, I kept finding articles about how it worked before but now it doesn't. Further, I found solutions that led a person to believe it was an authentication issue.

The REAL Solution:
It was very simple. It struck me that on my Windows 7 64 bit OS and IE v8.0 64 bit, that this might very well be the issue.
I launched IE v8.0 32 bit, performed the same steps and the process worked.
My presumption is that since the Mail Merge puts a text file out there for the Word doc to use, there was some confusion between the 32 and 64 bit filepath.

Hope this helps!

“Problem communicating with the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server” Configuring CRM 2011 Outlook Client. (Yet another solution to try)

We ran into another issue while configuring the Outlook Client for CRM 2011. In this case the client was migrating form CRM 4.0 on premise to CRM 2011 Partner-Hosted/IFD. The users uninstalled the 4.0 client and installed the 2011 client without issue but received the following error “Problem communicating with the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server” Configuration Wizard.

After making sure it wasn’t an issue with the clocks being out of synch (see http://njevity.com/blog/crm-2011-outlook-client-cannot-authenticate) or that it wasn’t an issue with Windows Live ID (see http://njevity.com/blog/crm-2011-outlook-client-cannot-connect-microsoft...) we tried something completely different.

We set up a VPN connection to the Active Directory network that was hosting the CRM 2011 site. Once the VPN was connected we were able to configure the Outlook client. After the CRM 2011 Outlook Client was configured we could drop the VPN and the client functioned as designed.

I just found this great blog article on how to get your Closed Activities Nav Bar item back. Check it out: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/4808.aspx

In the article, the entity that they are working with is the Case Entity. In my situation, I needed to get the Closed Activities item back on my Account Entity. Here is how I did it:

1. 1. I created a new solution in my problem organization called AccountTest and I put just the account entity into it. I then exported the solution to AccountTest.zip.
2. I repeated this process from another CRM organization that still had the Closed Activities Nav Bar on the Account Entity. This solution was called AccountOriginal. I exported it to AccountOriginal.zip.
3. I extracted the customization.xml file from AccountOriginal.zip, opened it and searched for the following xml tag: <NavBarByRelationshipItem
4. I was able to quickly find the xml section dealing with Closed Activities. I copied it to a notepad and closed the xml file.
5. I extracted the customization.xml file from AccountTest.zip and searched for the same xml tag as above. I pasted the xml snippet into this xml file. Then saved the xml file, deleted the original from the AccountOriginal.zip and then copied the new customization.xml file into the zip.
6. I imported the AccountOriginal.zip back to my problem organization. And just like that, Closed Activities was BACK! Easy Pleasey.

This was so much simpler than I thought it would be. Thanks for the great article, TechNet!

Here is the xml snippet that I need for the Account Entity:

<NavBarByRelationshipItem RelationshipName="Account_ActivityPointers" TitleResourceId="Tab_Label_History" Icon="/_imgs/ico_18_history.gif" ViewId="21E2B905-6FDB-470d-8517-AD69B4C01268" Sequence="20" Area="Info">

   <Privileges>

      <Privilege Entity="" Privilege="ReadActivity" />

   </Privileges>

   <Titles>

      <Title LCID="1033" Text="Closed Activities" />

   </Titles>

</NavBarByRelationshipItem>

While trying to configure the CRM client for Outlook on Windows XP you get the error: "Cannot connect to Microsoft Dynamics CRM server because we cannot authenticate your credentials. Check your connection or contact your administrator for more help."

First make sure that the time is synchronized with the time on the CRM server. Go to the following link for instructions on setting the time http://www.njevity.com/blog/crm-2011-outlook-client-cannot-authenticate.

Then you have to follow these steps:

1. Close Outlook
2. Remove Windows Live ID Sign-in Assistant
3. Install Windows Identity Foundation for Windows Server 2003 from here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=be4db6a0-b76...
4. Reboot computer
5. Open Outlook and configure ORG as normal

1. You will need:
a. SQL Server 2008 or newer. (If you don’t use the Enterprise version then you will need take some extra steps)
b. IIS 7.
2. Start the process by contacting Live Customer Service by calling 1-877-276-2464. They will open a case for you.
3. On the Thursday following opening the case Microsoft will pull a backup of CRM Online database.
4. On Sunday they will email you the information to FTP the backup.
5. Logon to the FTP site and download the database.
6. Install CRM and create a dummy organization. DO NOT use the same name as your Online Organization. I suggest using “TEST” or something like it.
7. Log on to your Online copy of CRM and go to File > Help > and note the full version (5.0.xxxx.xxxx)
8. Download the Rollup package that will get you closest to that version without being newer.
9. If you are not using the Enterprise version of SQL Server 2008 you will have to get access to an Enterprise version. (I haven’t tried using the trial installation but I would imagine it would work) and follow Pablo Peralta’s instructions at http://community.dynamics.com/product/crm/crmtechnical/b/pabloperalta/ar...
10. Restore the database to your SQL Server.
11. Use the CRM Deployment Console to Import the restored Organization.
12. You can now connect to the On-premise version and test.
13. Microsoft will supply you with up to two test copies.
14. Once you are ready to migrate contact your case technician and ask for the final copy.
15. The procedure is the same as steps 3 and 4 except that your Online version will be deactivated and unavailable once they cut the backup.
16. If necessary run the conversion script from step 9.
17. Restore the database to SQL server.