Sandra's questions

Here's the scenario.

• Client - Windows 7 workstation
• ServerA - Windows 2008 file server
• ServerB - Windows 2008 file server

On ServerA:

mklink /D c:\Share\Link \\ServerB\Share\Dest

That works great. It's what happens on the client that's of interest.

What I want to happen on the client as you drill down into the folders:

\\ServerA\Share
\\ServerA\Share\Link
\\ServerA\Share\Link\Folder1... etc

I.e. seamless access across the link, and the user doesn't even have to know we've linked to somewhere else.

What actually happens is:

\\ServerA\Share
\\ServerA\Share\Link

When you drill into Link, the path switches! The link is literally followed to ServerB.

\\ServerB\Share\Dest
\\ServerB\Share\Dest\Folder1... etc.

Is there anything that can be done to allow the client to follow the link seamlessly / transparently?

Note: even though drilling down causes the path to switch to ServerB, typing in a full path using ServerA works perfectly across the link.

\\ServerA\Share\Link\Folder1

Note: this does not happen with links made using /J, but since I need to link to another server (Remote to Remote), I don't have the luxury of using /J

I'm having a really strange issue. I'll try to be brief as possible, but I've been through a lot of testing to get here.

Our Environment leading up to this point

• Office 2010
• Deployed Lync 2013 (as part of Office 2013 Pro Plus), along side Office 2010
• Also deployed Excel 2013 to some users
• KMS used for licensing for Office 2013
• SP1 is integrated into the Office 2013 source being used, and I used the OCT that comes with the SP1 DVD
• Deploying 32-bit Office 2013 just like we did with Office 2010
• This all worked perfectly. Lync installs, and just runs perfectly on first launch and every launch

Now the present issue

• Now it's time to deploy the rest of Office 2013 and remove Office 2010
• This works perfectly for people who have no part of Office 2013 already
• But it has one flaw if part of Office 2013 was previously installed: Lync starts up and says it failed to activate. Then mere seconds after you click Close, it succeeds.

after that, it's fine for future launches of Lync. Also the Lync icon in the task bar looks like the OneNote icon for that first launch.

Other than that, my deployment would be perfect.

What I've tried

I've updated to the latest OCT and imported my existing MSP. That was just last week to try to resolve some different issues, so pretty sure I have the latest and greatest there.

I tried various attempts with msiexec /p CustomOCT.msp to add the remaining Office 2013 components, but encountered the Lync activation issue PLUS Lync running a repair on first launch, plus some inconsistent behaviour of sometimes seeing the first-run wizard (disabled in the MSP), or having to accept the license (accepted in the MSP).

I even added repair of Lync, Excel and ProPlus after the install to try to avoid Office repair launching on first run of Lync. It worked for Excel but not Lync.

Based on all that, I decided to take a more drastic approach, but one that would even the playing field - I'm now removing Office 2010 and removing Office 2013 before installing Office 2013 again. I figured that would get me back to a 'clean install'. However, the Lync activation problem still persists!

I added a reboot, but same thing. As soon as Lync launches at login, the activation problem occurs, even after the reboot.

I've also tried removing Lync from startup before rebooting so it doesn't start automatically at next login. After the reboot, I waited a while and launched Excel. SAME activation issue! Interesting. This is not a Lync only problem.

I'm removing both Office 2010 and Office 2013 using the respective OffScrub scripts provided by Microsoft.

I'm totally out of ideas why I may be getting this Lync Activation issue.

We have implemented the Enterprise Mode Site List and have a few sites in there working as expected at various emulation mode levels.

For one particular internal site, we used IE's Developer Tools (F12) to determine which emulation mode makes the site work. We walked back through all of the modes under Browser Profile = Desktop, but none worked. Then we switched to Browser Profile = Enterprise, and started trying those. The answer was:

Browser Profile = Enterprise
Document mode = Edge

Now we need to configure this site in the Enterprise Mode Site List Manager tool, but it is unclear which setting to choose. That's one part of the question.

Once we configure it, we'd like to go to a user's machine, open the site, and then somehow verify that it is indeed using the expected emulation mode.

If I hit F12 for Development Tools, it's really not clear whether it is telling me the emulation level currently being used on the page that is open, or if it's just showing whatever setting was there last.

What is the correct way to determine which emulation mode is actually being used by a page? If I knew that, I wouldn't have to ask the first question because I could check for myself. :)

Oh, and I was hoping to avoid turning on the logging feature that Enterprise Mode has. It would probably tell me what I need to know, but I'm trying to keep it simple and not add any overhead.

I've used the Office Customization Tool to create an Excel Only install. However, in addition to Excel, it installs Lync. These are my settings for feature states in the OCT:

I've most definitely set Lync to Not Available, but it still installs.

Things I've tried.

I've downloaded updated OCT files (part of the Office 2013 Admin Templates download), imported my existing ExcelOnly.MSP, and then unset and set the Not Available state on Lync just to re-iterate that I don't want it installed. --> Nope, still installs Lync.

I've added an entry in the config.xml file specifically for Lync:

<OptionState Id="LyncCoreFiles" State="Absent" Children="force" />

But nope, still installs Lync as well as Excel.

Any other suggestions?