Run, Alina, run!

    There was a running competition in Timisoara, and I went with my colleagues :) from Haufe-Lexware.
It was cold and windy and I have never run this much in my life, but somehow it was worth it.
I felt like quiting many times, but managed to run 5km in 27:16 minutes, winning a 10th place in the women category: http://www.crosulfirmelor.ro/index.php/ro/rezultate-2012.html

    It was a really interesting experience. I had "Run, Alina, run!" written on the back of my tshirt, and people that I did not know where cheering. That was really nice and gave me a warm feeling of hope that I could do it.

    Here is a foto of me just before the finish line. I'm the one in blue :)
(oh, yeah I did not see that girl coming :P )

Timisoara - Solden

    For all you ski fans out there, if there is one close to perfect place to go, this is for sure Solden in Austria.

    I am going to tell you a little bit about the expenses you might have when tarveling from Timisoara, Romania (my location) to Solden, Austria:
- 26 euro vignette for Hungary and Austria;
- distance Timisoara - Solden ~ 1150 km (made by car in 14 hours, with a 2 hours brake from driving)
- gas prices: an average of 1.6 euro per liter (diesel was arround that price also).
- ski pass: 231 euro for 6 days for one person.

It was a wonderful experience, great slopes and perfect snow. The people were very nice, and the weather was fine and sunny at the begining of March.

The internet however is not so great, it's slow and expensive: 21 euro for 7 days, or 5, 6 euro for 1 hour in restaurants/bars/caffes. Rip-off! if you ask me... and it's really slow, it's like someone is counting the bytes :)
There was free wireless though at the base of the slopes, at the cable cars, and in a mall in Salzburg. Considering it's a vacation, I gues we can live without good internet speed for a few days, right?


Another nice place to go was the Aqua Dome (http://www.aqua-dome.at/xxl/_lang/en/_area/therme/index.html). It's about 18 euro for 3 hours (http://www.aqua-dome.at/xxl/_lang/en/_area/therme/_subArea/532066/index.html), but there's not much you can do there so 3 hours after ski, is more than enough. The thermal spa is relaxing and a good way to recharge your batteries.

You can also visit Budapest, Vienna, Salzburg, Munich along the way, stop at Pandorff if you want and overall enjoy the local hospitality.

That's about it. Solden is one of the nicest places you can visit, especially if you go there for skiing. I fully recomend it :)

Remove service from Services.msc

If one of the programs you have uninstalled leaves a service in Services.msc and you want to get rid of it, here is what you can do:
- Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Services
- Delete the services that you don't need.
- Restart OS.

"Tabara de Testare" Timisoara

A new event is happening in Timisoara: "Tabara de Testare".
I attended yesterday, with this presentation on Tester Mindset:

http://prezi.com/eoavxqev5stf/tabara-de-testare-2-tester-mindset/

Hope you like it :)
Switch to full screen for the full experience.

Exchange Server 2010 EMC Initialization failed because the user was not found it was running 'Get-logonuser'

I have found the following resolution:

"This usually happens in Hyper-V or another Virtualization software, when the same Image that was created is used without Sysprep, EMC will not start if the Machine SID conflicts with Virtual Machine or Host.
To sysprep try to go to c:\windows\system32\sysprep, and make sure you check GENRALIZE."

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/exchange2010/thread/375cf88d-4879-4dc9-a522-bcbf6bedc1b0/

VERY IMPORTANT! Run sysprep on clean OS, before installing Exchange.

My scenario:
Install Exchange 2010 SP1 Hub Transport Role and Client Access Role on one machine and Exchange 2010 SP1 Mailbox Role on a different machine. I was using the same 2008 R2 base image. After installing Mailbox Role on the second machine, the Exchange Management console would fail to initialize. So I started from the begining:
- installed Hub Transport and CAS roles one the first machine;
- run sysprep on the clean OS for the second machine;
- installed Mailbox role on the second machine;

=> and no error :)

Make Exchange 2010 coexist with Exchange 2003 in the same domain

Useful links:

http://www.jesswatts.com/it/exchange-owa-redirect

http://www.ipsure.com/blog/2011/outlook-web-app-access-in-an-exchange-2010-%E2%80%93-exchange-2003-coexistence-scenario/

Raise Forest (Domain) Functional Level - Exchange 2003

- Log into DC machine.
- Start -> Administrative Tools -> Active Directory Domains and Trusts
- Right-click on Active Directory Domains and Trusts -> Raise Forest Functional Level...

- Right-click on domain name -> Raise Domain Functional Level...