I had been installing plenty of Windows Server 2008/R2 servers on the VMWare infrastructure as of late. The only issue I could find was after installation – the console connection would drag. It seemed like the server was very slow at responding. RDP into the server and blamo, everything slow about the console went away. I didn’t really think much of it until a fellow IT worker (Bib) brought it up after his first time using ESXi. Apparently it all comes down to a driver that doesn’t get installed by default.

ESXi 4.1 patched through April 2011 (two outstanding updates slated for install next month)
Windows Server 2008 R2 as a test
VM Tools fully up to date
Windows Updates fully patched

Here’s the fix:
Open Device Manager
Expand Display adapters – you should see Standard VGA Graphics Adapter
Right-click on this and choose Update Driver
Select Browse my computer for driver software
Browse to C:\Program Files\Common Files\VMware\Drivers\wddm_video
Finish the wizard, then reboot the guest

Next time you’re in the console you should see VMware SVGA 3D driver listed for the display adapter. And you’ll notice the system seems a lot more peppy.

In 2003 we could use a standalone utility called Exmerge. In 2007/2010 we’re forced to utilize the built-in standards of the PowerShell. I’m not complaining too much as I really enjoy the command line more than the GUI, but I’d prefer if Microsoft would keep to the same standard through all the version increases (exmerge worked in 5.5, 2000, and 2003 exchange).

So first thing is first – assign the Mailbox Import Export role to your user. Note: even if you’re using the domain administrator account with which you installed Exchange 2010, you will have to do this – by default NO users have this ability.
New-ManagementRoleAssignment -Role "Mailbox Import Export" -User YOURUSERNAMEHERE
Or if you want to give an AD group this role, and avoid any future powershell typing:
New-ManagementRoleAssignment -Role "Mailbox Import Export" -Group ADGROUPHERE

Now you must install Outlook 2010 x64 on the Exchange Server. I honestly have no idea why this is required, but apparently you get the following message if it’s not installed:

To export to or import from a .pst file, the 64-bit version of Outlook 2010 or later must be installed on the server to which you are connecting (server fqdn).

So then run the following command to export:
Export-Mailbox -Identity USERNAME -PSTFolderPath c:\path\to\saving\file.pst

Then you can import using a similar command:
Import-Mailbox -Identity USER@EMAILADDRESS.TLD - PSTFolderPath c:\path\to\saved\file.pst

If you want to import all of the pst files in a certain directory, make sure the pst is named with ‘alias.pst’ where alias is the name of the mailbox to which the data shall be imported.
Dir c:\path\to\pstfiles | Import-Mailbox -StartDate 01/01/2010
If you leave off the startdate, it will merge all mail in the PST

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb629586.aspx

***EDIT***
So apparently the above did not work on the Exchange 2010 SP1 system I was running against – command not found. Perhaps it was because I refused to install Outlook 2010 x64 on the system. Perhaps that was meant for pre-SP1? Or maybe 2007? I stopped really caring.

You still have to assign the Mailbox Import Export role to the user running the command.
New-ManagementRoleAssignment -Role "Mailbox Import Export" -User USERNAMEHERE

Export the mailbox to a PST
New-MailboxExportRequest -Mailbox MAILUSERNAME -FilePath "\\path\to\dir_or_c:\path\to\dir\FILENAME.pst"

Check the progress of your export
Get-MailboxExportRequest | Get-MailboxExportRequestStatistics

Remove the request after completion
Get-MailboxExportRequest | Remove-MailboxExportRequest

Thanks to Stevieg http://www.stevieg.org/2010/07/using-the-exchange-2010-sp1-mailbox-export-features-for-mass-exports-to-pst/

Windows 2003/2008 mixed AD environment with Exchange 2010 single server all roles.

The administrator was “trying” to fix an issue with logging in on some specialized third party software – it wouldn’t accept modified AD logins but would work if you deleted the user and recreated the same user. Unfortunately this led to a removal of the mailboxes as well.

Checked under Recipient Configuration to Disconnected Mailbox. Unfortunately it was only showing a much-older deleted user in there – none of the newly deleted/recreated users were listed.

clean-mailbox -identity "mailbox name"

Or this should also work piping them together:
get-mailbox | clean-mailbox

Then refresh your Disconnected Mailboxen – works like a charm.
I should really create categories for Exchange 2000/2003 and then 2007/2010, no?

I was having some problems getting SQL express management studio tools to load. I needed to allow remote access to the database – I had already started the SQL agent service, so here was the next step.

Unfortunately I was getting an error:
The following error has occurred:
Another version of Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 has been detected on this system that must be updated to SP1. Please update all Visual Studio 2008 installations to SP1 level, by visiting Microsoft Update.

Microsoft Update did nothing for my needs. Apparently citrix installs some libraries (C++) for visual studio 2008 and they need to be updated. So you can either uninstall citrix and install the express management studio first, or you can:
Open the Registry on XenApp machine using Start > Run > Regedit
Browse for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\DevDiv\VS
Rename this key to VS_1 or something similar
Install the SQL database and management tools
Rename the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\DevDiv\VS_1 to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\DevDiv\VS
Reboot.
Go to Start > All programs > Microsoft SQL Server 2008 > SQL Server Management Studio and connect to your database instance as shown below

I also had this issue:
The tools were not in the list of items to be installed
1. Download and run the SSME installer from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=08e52ac2-1d62-45f6-9a4a-4b76a8564a2b&displaylang=en
2. Click Installation on the left side of the the wizard.
3. Select “New SQL Server stand-alone installation or add features to an existing installation”. Click OK.
4. On the Setup Support Files page, select Install.
5. On the Setup Support Rules page, click Next (the Windows Firewall warning is ok).
6. On the Installation Type page of the wizard, select “Perform a new installation of SQL Server 2008”, then click Next. (I realize that this is counter-intuitive, but if you select “Add features to an existing instance of SQL Server 2008”, you will be met with a greyed out pre-selected option to install the SQL Client Connectivity SDK, and you will not even see an option to install “Management Tools – Basic”.) You will see that SQLEXPRESS is recognized as an installed instance.
7. The Product Key screen is all greyed out with the “Specify a free edition” selected. Click Next.
8. Agree to the License Terms as usual. Click Next.
9. On the Feature Selection page, you will FINALLY have a blank checkbox next to “Management Tools – Basic”. Put a check in that box. SQL Client Connectivity SDK is selected and greyed out by default; so is the install location. Click Next.
10. Click Next on the Disk Space Requirements screen.
11. Check both boxes to send error info to Microsoft if you wish. I usually do so that they can make the product better. 🙂 Click Next.
12. Click Next on Installation Rules page if your system passed.
13. Click Install on the Ready to Install page.
14. Hopefully you will see a “Management Tools – Basic Success” message on the Installation Progress page of the wizard. Click Next.
15. You should see a “Your SQL Server 2008 installation completed successfully” message on the Complete page. Click Close.

Clean up later