Block .NET 4.7.2 on Exchange 2013 and 2016

As you probably know the exchange teams has decided to skip .net 4.7.2 support for all exchange versions.
Here's a simple way to block .net 4.7.2 from auto installing on your remote exchange servers

From an elevated command prompt run:

REG ADD "\\SERVERNAME\HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\WU" /v "BlockNetFramework472" /t REG_DWORD /d "00000001"

Or if you want to create your own reg file:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\WU] "BlockNetFramework472"=dword:00000001

Exchange Server testing - Things to test

This a copy from the article Steve Goodman wrote for Techtarget.com in case it gets lost, deleted or whatever. Which would be a shame because of the relevant info it contains.

Set up Exchange for basic tests

You should test the Exchange 2016 infrastructure at a high level to verify its status. At this point, it's unlikely you have migrated the client access role across, so you might need to reconfigure the local host files on your test clients to run these trials.

Area	Test activity
User accounts	Create test mailboxes in each data center on Exchange 2016.
User accounts	Create test mailboxes in each DAG on Exchange 2010.
Client	Configure host file records to simulate connectivity to Exchange 2016 load balancers.
OWA 2016	Test Outlook on the web/Outlook Web App (OWA) login functionality for an Exchange 2016 user in each data center.
OWA 2016	Test reading, opening and replying to emails for an Exchange 2016 user in each data center.
OWA 2016	Test creating, updating and modifying a calendar item for an Exchange 2016 user in each data center.
OWA 2016	Test creating, updating and modifying a contact item for an Exchange 2016 user in each data center.
OWA 2016	Test disabling user access to OWA for security purposes.
Email	Test mail flow between Exchange 2016 users in each data center.
Email	Test mail flow to an Exchange 2016 user in each data center from Exchange 2010 in each data center.
Email	Test mail flow to an Exchange 2016 user in each data center from an external source.
Email	Test mail flow from an Exchange 2016 user to an Exchange 2010 user.
Email	Test external out-of-office settings of an Exchange 2016 user from an external source.
Federation	Test availability of an Exchange 2016 mailbox from an external partner.
Federation	Test availability of an external partner's mailbox from Exchange 2016.
Exchange general	Test mailbox move functionality from Exchange 2010 to Exchange 2016 in each DAG.
Exchange general	Test mailbox move functionality from Exchange 2016 to Exchange 2010 in each DAG.

Testing each database availability group

After you complete these basic checks, you should run tests with the following PowerShell cmdlets against each DAG to check mailbox services.

Area	Test activity
Service health	Use Test-ServiceHealth to verify services are running.
Service health	Use Get-HealthReport to check if each server is healthy.
Mail flow	Use Test-Mailflow to test the mail flow against each server.
Mail flow	Use Test-SmtpConnectivity to test connectivity to each receive connector.
Mailbox	Use Test-ReplicationHealth to validate the DAG continuous replication status.
Mailbox	Use Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus to view the health of the database copies within the DAG.
Mailbox	Use Test-MapiConnectivity to verify MAPI and LDAP work with a user's login.
Mailbox	Use Test-AssistantHealth to check that the Mailbox Assistants service is running and healthy against each server.
Client access	Use the Microsoft Connectivity Analyzer to execute the Outlook connectivity tests.
Client access	Use Test-WebServicesConnectivity to test client connectivity to Exchange Web Services virtual directories against each server.
Client access	Use Test-ActiveSyncConnectivity to simulate a full synchronization with a mobile device.
Client access	Use a browser to log on to the Exchange Admin Center to verify functionality of all Exchange 2016 servers.
Client access	Use Test-MRSHealth to verify that the Mailbox Replication service is running and that it responds to a remote procedure call ping check.
High availability	Validate that the passive copy of databases in the same data center comes online automatically after a failure of a database.
High availability	Validate that the services that are running in the secondary data center continue to operate without any interruption after failing all the servers within the DAG in the primary data center.
High availability	Manually remove a disk from a passive database to test if auto reseed works as expected. Reverse the process to return the disks to the original state.
High availability	Perform a cold start of the DAG to validate that the DAG will start correctly if a major outage occurs.
Load balancer	Disable all load balanced servers for each server in turn within the same data center. Validate client access and mail flow for mailboxes hosted on failed servers.
Load balancer	Disable all load balanced services within the first data center. Validate client access and mail flow for mailboxes hosted on the failed data center.
Load balancer	Disable all load balanced services within the secondary data center. Validate client access and mail flow for mailboxes hosted on the failed data center.
Backups	Use Get-MailboxDatabase to validate the right setting for circular logging: disabled if using backup software or enabled if there is no backup software installed.
Backups	Perform a full backup of each mailbox database.
Backups	Perform an incremental backup of each mailbox database.
Backups	Restore a full database to a temporary location and recover a mailbox.
Backups	Restore a full database to the original location and mount it.
Unified messaging	Test leaving a voicemail to an Exchange 2016 mailbox.
Unified messaging	Test receiving a voicemail in an Exchange 2016 mailbox via the Outlook client.
Unified messaging	Test receiving a voicemail in an Exchange 2016 mailbox via Play on Phone.
Unified messaging	Test access to Outlook Voice Access in Exchange 2016.
Unified messaging	Test instant messaging sign-in to Exchange 2016.
Unified messaging	Test Skype for Business meeting scheduling in OWA.

Check client connectivity

In the final stage of Exchange Server testing, you should examine client connectivity. If the Exchange system passes all the previous tests, then basic connectivity is most likely fine. It's important to run a full set of tests using the builds of the clients the end users will use.
Your checklist might vary from the one below to include the different Outlook versions and mobile devices to test.

Area	Test Activity
Outlook 2016	Test before/after migration experience.
Outlook 2016	Test Autodiscover in Exchange 2016.
Outlook 2016	Test cached mode access via Exchange 2016 in each data center.
Outlook 2016	Test offline address book download functionality via Exchange 2016 in each data center.
Outlook 2016	Test Exchange Web Services -- free, busy, out of office -- functionality via Exchange 2016 in each data center.
Outlook 2016	Test Outlook Anywhere functionality via Exchange 2016 in each data center.
Outlook 2016	Test mail send/receive/synchronization via Exchange 2016 in each data center.
Outlook 2016	Test open additional mailbox functionality via Exchange 2016 in each data center.
Outlook 2016	Test open additional on-premises mailbox functionality via Exchange 2016 in each data center.
Mobile device	Test Autodiscover functionality in Exchange 2016 in each DAG.
Mobile device	Test ActiveSync synchronization in Exchange 2016 in each DAG.
Skype for Business client	Test Exchange access after migration to Exchange 2016.

As you test, record the results for reference purposes. For example, you may wish to:

• collect screenshots or screen recordings as you test;
• work with a colleague to help oversee the testing process and sign off on the checklist; and
• there may be other areas to resolve, so add a column to add notes for any remediation actions before retesting the environment.

Clean up Exchange 2013 files and folders - Reclaim disk space

After installing CU20 last night I started the day cleaning up the mess left by the installation and by running Exchange itself. As you all know Exchange likes disk space, the more you throw at it the more it takes, it likes disk space almost as much as it does memory :-).

After coming across the V15\ClientAccess\Owa folder I noticed that it had a lot of folders and files in it with older versions like

• 15.0.1210.2
• 15.0.1210.6
• 15.0.1293.2
• 15.0.1293.4

And so on...

Now after some reading up I couldn't find a definitive answer on if I could savely delete those folders.

So my advise, when in doubt, don't delete!

This comes from my experience from once I deleted the content in the Inetpub\Temp directory, after witch IIS didn't work anymore.

The list below is what I know and found to be safe to delete:

Not that you should logging but you could.

The better solution would be to compress the logging directories, and the best is to add disk space ;-)

C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\Logging\
C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\Bin\Search\Ceres\Diagnostics\ETLTraces\
C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\Bin\Search\Ceres\Diagnostics\Logs
C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\FIP-FS\Data\ProgramLogArchive\
C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\TransportRoles\Logs\FrontEnd\Connectivity 
C:\Windows\Temp
C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Temp
C:\Windows\System32\LogFiles
C:\inetpub\logs

Happy disk space reclaiming.

aka.ms shortcut url's - aka.ms url list - index

Know a cool one not listed here? Let me know.

https://aka.ms/aadbitlockerrecovery	Shortcut url to bitlockerkeys
https://aka.ms/DocsExchange_server	Exchange Documentation on docs.microsoft.com
https://aka.ms/EDA	Microsoft Exchange Server Deployment Assistant
https://aka.ms/outlookconnectivity	Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant for Office 365
https://aka.ms/office365setup	Office 365 mail migration advisor
https://aka.ms/cutoverguidance	Exchange cutover migration assistant
https://aka.ms/imapguidance	IMAP mailbox migration assistant
https://aka.ms/gmailimapguidance	Gmail mailbox migration assistant
https://aka.ms/stagedguidance	Exchange staged migration assistant
https://aka.ms/hybrid2013guidance	Exchange 2013 hybrid assistant
https://aka.ms/hybrid2010guidance	Exchange 2010 hybrid assistant
https://aka.ms/MCRA	Microsoft Cybersecurity Reference Architecture
https://aka.ms/HybridWizard	Download Hybrid Exchange wizard
https://aka.ms/TAPHCW	Download Hybrid Exchange wizard
https://aka.ms/HCWCheck	Download Hybrid Exchange wizard
https://aka.ms/mfasetup	Office365/Azure MFA Setup page
https://aka.ms/portal	Azure Portal
https://aka.ms/exchange2016	Microsoft Exchange Product Page
https://aka.ms/ms	Microsoft Support
https://aka.ms/ehlo	You Had Me At EHLO… blog
https://aka.ms/ex2016docs	Exchange 2016 documentation
https://aka.ms/ex2013docs	Exchange 2013 documentation
https://aka.ms/ex2010docs	Exchange 2010 documentation
https://aka.ms/ex2007docs	Exchange 2007 documentation
https://aka.ms/ex2003docs	Exchange2003 documentation
https://aka.ms/exchangelicense	Exchange Server Licensing
https://aka.ms/exdeploy	Exchange Deployment Assistant
https://aka.ms/exrca	Microsoft Remote Connectivity Analyzer
https://aka.ms/senderidwizard	Sender ID Framework SPF Record Wizard
https://aka.ms/exchangetoolsdocs	Exchange Server Tools
https://aka.ms/ex2010sp1	Exchange 2010 SP1
https://aka.ms/ex2010sp1update	Latest Rollup Update for Exchange 2010 SP1
https://aka.ms/ex2010visiostencil	Exchange 2010 Visio Stencil
https://aka.ms/exwiki	Exchange Wiki Portal
https://aka.ms/ex2010wiki	Exchange 2010 Wiki
https://aka.ms/ex2007wiki	Exchange 2007 Wiki
https://aka.ms/ex2003wiki	Exchange 2003 Wiki
https://aka.ms/exurls	Navigating Exchange Content Like A Pro Using Short URLs
https://aka.ms/o365endpoints	Office 365 URLs and IP address ranges
https://aka.ms/office-install	Manage Office365 number of remaining Office installs
https://aka.ms/hybridkey	Hybrid Key
https://aka.ms/hybridfreebusy	Hybrid Free Busy Troubleshooter
https://aka.ms/exchangecalc	Exchange Server Role Requirements Calculator
https://aka.ms/HybridWizard	Office 365 Hybrid Configuration Wizard
https://aka.ms/downloadazcopy	Azure AZ Copy
https://exrca.com	Microsoft Remote Connectivity Analyzer
https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSpoofing	Anti-spoofing protection in Office 365
https://aka.ms/getteams	Get Microsoft Teams on all your devices
https://aka.ms/setupguidance	Microsoft Office365 Setup guidance
https://aka.ms/winup	Download Windows 10 updates / Media creation tool
https://aka.ms/availabilityzones	Azure Availability Zones
https://aka.ms/windowsphoneappblogpost	Microsoft Authenticator download
https://aka.ms/acdbpricing	Azure Cosmos DB pricing
https://aka.ms/DocsExchangeServer	Exchange PowerShell documentation
https://aka.ms/applicationplatform	Microsoft SQL Application Development
https://aka.ms/teamsios	Download Microsoft Teams for iOS
https://aka.ms/365admin	Office 365 Admin help center
https://aka.ms/aaddev	Azure Active Directory for developers
https://aka.ms/tcproductsservices	Microsoft Trustcenter
https://aka.ms/boosterpack	Microsoft certification and exam offers
https://aka.ms/techsummitmx	Microsoft Techsummit
https://aka.ms/D_zUjXSu8S	Monitor availability and responsiveness of any web site with Azure
https://aka.ms/accasecurity	Office365 Trust Center
https://aka.ms/exo	Exchange Online Pricing
https://aka.ms/powershell	PowerShell documentation
https://aka.ms/posh	Manoj Nair PowerShell Blog
https://aka.ms/hu992v	Hackers tell all
https://aka.ms/WindowsAdminCenter	Windows Admin Center
https://aka.ms/WACDownload	Windows Admin Center Download location
https://aka.ms/mysecurityinfo	Office365 Security settings (MFA)
https://aka.ms/sspr	AzureAD Self-Service Password Reset
https://aka.ms/no	No
https://aka.ms/securingad	Securing AD documentation
https://aka.ms/laps	LAPS Download
https://aka.ms/proofup	Reenrolling Authenticator
https://aka.ms/sorry	Sorry
https://aka.ms/hybridkey	Request On-premises Hybrid Server License key
https://aka.ms/teamsadmincenter	Teams Admin Center
https://aka.ms/Azfunpath	Azure Fundamentals Learning path
https://aka.ms/wheresmydata	Where your Microsoft 365 customer data is stored
https://aka.ms/TrainCertPoster	Microsoft certification overview
https://aka.ms/EduFrequentLinks	Frequently used MicrosoftEDU aka.ms links
https://aka.ms/AzureStack/Shortcuts	All Azure Stack shortcuts
https://aka.ms/Azure/Shortcuts	All Azure shortcuts
https://aka.ms/PBI	Power Bi portal
https://aka.ms/azureatp	Azure ATP portal
https://aka.ms/ppac	Power Platform portal
https://aka.ms/teamsadmincenter	Teams Admin Center portal
https://aka.ms/cqd	Teams CQD portal
https://aka.ms/azure	Azure admin Portal
https://aka.ms/compliancemanager	Compliance Manager Portal
https://aka.ms/flow	Power Automate/Flow portal
https://aka.ms/login	Office Portal
https://aka.ms/PSWindows	Installing Powershell core on Windows
https://aka.ms/Install-PSMac	Installing Powershell core on MacOS
https://aka.ms/Install-PSLinux	Installing Powershell core on Linux
https://aka.ms/bckeys	List of all Keyboard Shortcuts
https://aka.ms/cieonline	Discover how to drive digital transformation using Microsoft 365
https://aka.ms/mslists	Microsoft Lists Resource Center
https://aka.ms/msa	Microsoft Services Agreement
https://aka.ms/CrossTenantMailboxMigration	Public Preview of the native Cross-tenant mailbox migration
https://aka.ms/WACdownload	Windows Admin Center download
https://aka.ms/TssTools	Windows Support Platform Escalation Team tool
https://aka.ms/upgradetoteams	Teams Only mode considerations
https://aka.ms/ExchangeHealthChecker	Exchange Health Checker script
https://aka.ms/m365d	Microsoft Defender
https://aka.ms/m365goldenconfig	Identity and device access configurations
https://aka.ms/HybridWizard	Latest Hybrid Configuration Wizard
https://aka.ms/AzureATP	Microsoft Defender for Identity
https://aka.ms/CredGuard	Windows Defender Credential Guard
https://aka.ms/LeakedCreds	What is Identity Protection?
https://aka.ms/LateralmovementRisk	Microsoft Defender for Identity Lateral Movement Paths (LMPs)
https://aka.ms/CyberPAW	Securing devices as part of the privileged access story
https://aka.ms/SSMSFullSetup	SQL server management studio
https://aka.ms/HC-DisableIPv6	Roderick Milne explains why and how to disable IPv6
https://aka.ms/HC-ConfigureIPv6	Official docs.microsoft.com documentation on IPv6 disable
https://aka.ms/terminal	Windows Terminal product page
https://aka.ms/ssmsfullsetup	SQL Server Management Studio
https://aka.ms/AAgh2el	Feedback HUB
https://aka.ms/GetPCHealthCheckInsidersX64	PC health check installer
https://aka.ms/getteamsmobile	Teams mobile app
https://aka.ms/getoutlookmobile	Outlook mobile app
https://aka.ms/officetraining	Microsoft Office Help & Training
https://aka.ms/quickstart	Quick start sheets
https://aka.ms/outlooktraining	Outlook training
https://aka.ms/exceltraining	Excel training
https://aka.ms/wordtraining	Word training
https://aka.ms/accesstraining	Access training
https://aka.ms/onenotetraining	OneNote training
https://aka.ms/sharepointtraining	SharePoint training
https://aka.ms/ge	Graph Explorer