Alexander’s Blog

Have you ever experienced the following error in SharePoint Server 2010 when you try to open a Microsoft Word 2010 file? I have run across this error a few times on Windows Server 2008 R2 computer running SharePoint Server 2010 and Office 2010.

Word experienced an error trying to open the file.

Try these suggestions.

* Check the file permissions for the document or drive.

* Make sure there is sufficient free memory and disk space.

* Open the file with the Text Recovery converter.

Here’s a solution that has worked for me.

1. Open Word 2010.
2. Click File, Options, Trust Center, Trust Center Settings.
3. Select the Protect View option.
4. Deselect all the Protected View options. You may not have to disable Data Execution Prevention mode. Experiment with the various options until you get the results.
   WARNING! Obviously, depending on your environment and security requirements you may be taking risks when you disable Protected View. Microsoft recommends that you do not change any Trust Center settings. I know, I know! Easy for them to say.

   

5. Open Word 2010 file. It should open fine.
6. I have noticed that once I am able to open the file I can go back and enable the Protected View and it still open the files just fine. Hmmm? I haven’t spent enough time to really research this but just wanted to let you know.

You may also experience this error in other Microsoft Office 2010 applications. Just use the same method to disable Protected View.

My students are often asking me about this and it’s hard to remember all the applications that are included in various Microsoft Office editions so I put together a list for myself and thought I should share it with others because it can come handy. I am assuming Microsoft probably has something similar somewhere on its Web site but finding it is not always easy.



You can download a PDF version here.

My students are always asking me where to get the evaluation copies of various Microsoft products. I’ve put together a list of some of the latest software evaluation downloads. My goal is to try and keep this list updated but frankly it is going to be challenging because Microsoft is known for changing the URLs without any redirection. Here is a list of either free or trial editions of some of the popular Microsoft products. A typical Microsoft evaluation software includes a 180-day trial but some are limited to 60 or 90 days.

1. Exchange Server 2010 (120-Day Trial)
2. Exchange Server 2013 (180-day Trial)
3. Forefront Threat Management Gateway (TMG) 2010 (180-day Trial)
4. Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2006 (180-day Trial)
5. Office 365 Pro Plus Preview
6. Office Communications Server 2007 R2 (180-Day Trial)
7. Office Professional Plus 2010 (60-day Trial)
8. Project Professional 2010 (60-day Trial)
9. Project Professional 2013 (60-day Trial)
10. Project Server 2013 (180-day Trial)
11. SharePoint Foundation 2010 (Free)
12. SharePoint Server 2010 (180-day Trail)
13. SharePoint Server 2013 (180-day Trial)
14. Small Business Server 2008 (60-day Trial)
15. SQL Server 2008 Enterprise (180-day Trial)
16. SQL Server 2008 R2 (180-day Trial)
17. SQL Server 2012 (180-day Trial)
18. System Center Data Protection Manager 2010 (180-day Trial)
19. System Center Essentials 2010 (180-day Trial)
20. System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 (180-day Trial)
21. Visio Premium 2010 (60-day Trial)
22. Visio Professional 2013 (60-day Trial)
23. Windows 7 Enterprise (90-day Trial)
24. Windows 8 (90-day Trial)
25. Windows Server 2008 R2 (180-day Trial)
26. Windows Server 2012 (180-day Trial)

WARNING! I should warn you that sometimes when you download a trial software you may think that you are opting out of receiving phone calls and e-mails from Microsoft but you are not. For more information read my blog post: When Microsoft Says No, It May Mean Yes.

Microsoft offers more free products to consumers than any software manufacturer I know. And I am not talking about free evaluation software, I am talking about free tools, utilities and various products and services. Besides software, Microsoft offers these free TechNet and MSDN labs. These are a series of guided, hands-on labs which can be completed in 90 minutes or less. SharePoint Foundation 2010, which I included in the above list for convenience, is a free product from Microsoft. In the past, it was known as Windows SharePoint Services (WSS).

Updated: May 27, 2011

Last Updated: December 12, 2012

If you are new to Microsoft SharePoint technologies you might want to check out these demos. They are also a good resource to show in your class if you are an MCT.

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007 demo

Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) 3.0 demo

A lot of people, especially those who are relatively new to managing and editing Web sites, use Microsoft FrontPage. More experienced people prefer other tools, such as Dreamweaver or Microsoft SharePoint Designer, or even Expression Web because they do a much better job of editing HTML pages than FrontPage. This blog post is for those individuals or Internet Service Providers (ISPs) who are using FrontPage Server Extensions (FPSE).

Once you’ve upgraded your Windows Server 2003 to Windows Server 2008 (WS08) you may realize that the IIS 7.0 in WS08 no longer supports FrontPage Server Extensions (FPSE). Same is true for IIS 7.0 in Windows Vista. Because there are tons of Web hosting providers who rely on FPSE, Microsoft and Ready-to-Run Software offer a special version of FPSE. This new version is called FPSE 2002 and will work on IIS 7.0 running on 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows Vista and WS08 computers. You can download FPSE 2002 here.

To install FPSE on your WS08 server, login as an administrator account, or start the command prompt using “Run As Administrator” and type the following command.

msiexec /i <path to FPSE 2002 file>\fpse02_win2008_vista_rtm_ENG.msi

Installing FPSE 2002 on WS08 requires that you install several additional services and features. If you don’t want these services installed then you can’t install FPSE 2002. These include the following:

Web Server (IIS) Role Services

Web Server
- Common HTTP Features (Static Content, Default Document, Directory Browsing, HTTP Errors)
- Application Development (ISAPI Extensions, ISAPI Filters)
- Security (Windows Authentication, Request Filtering)
- Health and Diagnostics (HTTP Logging, Request Monitor)
- Performance (Static Content Compression)

Management Tools (Role Services)
- IIS 6 Management Compatibility (IIS 6 Metabase Compatibility)
- IIS Management Console

Features

Windows Process Activation Service
- Process Model

I should point out that Microsoft’s FrontPage Server Extensions have a history of known issues so be very careful. Backup your server before installing FPSE 2002. Make sure you read the note at the end of installation, as shown below.