Database Info

Office Re-install - (ActiveSync Question!)

Hi
I have a complex situation, that probably has a very simple answer. I am probably being paranoid, but hopefully someone knowledgeable about ActiveSync will be able to quickly sort me out.
My laptop was recently repaired, (with a replacement motherboard fitted). When I got it back, Windows XP & Office XP of course both asked to be re-activated.
Windows succeeded, however Office asks me to insert the Office CD to be able to activate. When I do this the activation notification disappears, but Office is left in Reduced Functionality mode (eg I never get to the phone Microsoft to activate bit!)
Unfortunately, my phone is now 6 weeks out of date with Syncing (also due to the laptop being in repair!). I haven't run an ActiveSync since I got the laptop back as I have been worried about running an ActiveSync whilst Outlook is in reduced functionality mode. I was concerned it might lose data (as most Outlook features become read only!), so I have kept them out of sync (and getting more so daily) until I know the best way to proceed.
So, I need to either fix Office re-activating, (which doesn't seem possible) OR to find out how to get ActiveSync to work, with an Office re-install from scratch, without losing or duplicating any of my data. I just don't know enough about ActiveSync to know if it will just work without a problem, or if I need to do things in a certain order.
The current thinking is that I will have to manually remove Office XP (as the uninstall process also doesn't work!), before reinstalling it again, and re-activating the new copy.
So lots of possible paths to the solution, but I'm not sure which order to proceed in.
I ultimately want Office re-activated and fully working again and want the phone fully synced and no lost or duplicate data in either the phone or Outlook.
So some direct questions:
Can the phone Sync with Outlook in Reduced Functionality mode? (or might I lose data?). It seems that if they are synced before I uninstall Outlook, then everything becomes a lot simpler.
Failing that....
What will happen if I forceably remove Office by a manual uninstall. When I re-install Office and put in the my PST files, will ActiveSync cope OK, just pick up where it left off, and happily cope with the data currently being out of Sync? (might I get missing or duplicate data?)
What would be the suggested method to achieve my end result with minimum grief and hassle? And which order should I take these steps?
Thanks for reading this far.
Details:
Windows XP; Office XP Pro (the Product key is valid, I just can't get the software to get far enough to the actual activation screen);
Activesync 4.1; XDA Mini-S;
Mike

If you have a backup program for your phone just make a backup to your memory card. You will now always have a copy of where you are today. Set your active sync in your phone (activesync, menu, options, select your computer, settings) to 'keep the item on your device' and sync away. The worst that could happen is you may have to restore your phone to where it was today when you made the backup. Most likely all will go well and you'll sync up normally. My outlook information on my computer was accidentally erased and fully restored this way. Made my day!

I've always treated active-sync as my backup of the phone, and I am quickly realising why this a foolish approach to have taken!
Your advice seems to be spot on and is what I will do. However, as I don't currently have a backup program for my phone, which would you recommend? I guess it needs to be something that I can install without Active-Sync?
I suspect that a backup to the memory card is a better plan than running an activesync with a new computer (temporarily) as a means of backup - is that right?
Thanks for your help.
Mike

Try putting the office cd in while the PC is booting, so that when it asks, it's already there, which it may or may not detect?
Also, you could do set-up an account on http://live.mail2web.com to sync your contacts, calendar etc too, but you will lose any mail on there. Hopefully this isn't something you are desperate to keep though?

When I to do a "detect & repair" of Office, it actually says "source not available", but it doesn't give that info when I try to re-activate with the CD. However it doesn't give me an option to find the source. I've tried leaving the CD in when booting up, but sadly it made no difference. Certainly if I can just get Office to re-activate without any un-installing then there are no other problems, however that is looking increasingly unlikely. I do have one suggestion to follow there, which is to remove various registry entries before doing another "detect & repair", which might sort itself out.
Failing that I am on a backup PDA, then mannual removal route.
I will look into http://live.mail2web.com and see what it can offer me by way of a backup.
Thanks for your help.
Mike

Final update.
Thanks everyone for your help. I have finally got it all sorted. It turns
out I probably WAS being overly paranoid (but better that, than losing all my
data because I didn't think first!).
What I did:
1) I got a trial copy of SPB Backup for my Phone. (you get 5 runs of the
program before you have to buy - but I will be buying it anyway as I am very
impressed with it). The big advantage of this program is that it can be
installed directly on the storage card which some others can't. It could even
be downloaded as a CAB file (directly in Pocket Internet Explorer) and
executed on the device directly without needing an ActiveSync install. This
was the clincher for me, as I needed to take a backup before running
ActiveSync.
2) Took backups of the phone with SPB and of the PST files from Outlook.
3) Tried an ActiveSync with Outlook in reduced functionality mode. It worked
mostly fine. Came up with some "support code 1" errors for a handful of
contacts, but nothing major. So it appears that ActiveSync mostly works fine
with reduced functionality mode (hence I was probably being paranoid for not
trying this sooner!).
4) With the phone & Outlook now back up to date, there was less of an issue
as to what happened next. However I decided to see which bit of the various
instructions solved my problem. I did this by trying them bit by bit, and
testing with re-activation, re-install, detect & repair etc at every stage.
By process of elimination, I found out that removing the program files folder
made no difference, as did deleting the two Office reg key branches. The
crucial part was the Windows Installer Cleanup. So I restored all the reg and
program files back as they were before the tests, and ONLY ran the Windows
Installer Cleanup program.
5) I was then able to re-install Office over the top of itself, and I was
pleased to note that by keeping the files and reg keys all my settings were
retained.
6) Office happily Activated by the Internet. Hurray!
7) Connected to "Microsoft Update" to get SP3 and all subsequent updates &
patches for Office (re-installing over itself loses all the updates
previously installed)
8) Checked my email accounts, rules, etc and ActiveSync are still working
correctly. Which they are!
So, it seems that if I'd had the guts to go for it, I could have JUST done
the Windows Installer Cleanup trick keeping everything else intact ready to
sync. OR equally I could have just run ActiveSync to get the up to date and
them blown Office all away for a complete re-install. As it happens I am VERY
pleased with the route I took and the end outcome. It is far better than my
expectations of the hassles I would face. The hardest part was gathering all
the information to make me happy enough to proceed... oh and finding the
guts! The actual re-install was totally painless.
Anyway, I hope my findings of using JUST Windows Installer Cleanup, help
someone else who wants to try keeping their settings in the future.
I also hope my findings that ActiveSync mostly works in reduced
functionality mode, also helps others.
Anyway, so thank you to everyone who patiently shared their knowledge with
me. Without you all I would have gone into a flat-spin and struggled to get
my head round it all.
Thanks again

Startup folder Contents - need explanation please

Hey Mates,
I was looking through my \windows\startup folder and I noticed a few .lnk files, some of which I didn't know what they were for. If I can determine that they aren't neccessary maybe removing them could speed things up a little. Here are the links I have so far:
AEBPlus.lnk - this is a great button mapping prog
PKG.lnk -???
poutlook.lnk - Pocket Outlook, I'm guessing it needs to be there
sddeaemon.lnk -???
spbmobileshell.lnk - SPB mobile shell obviously
I was also wondering if I removed poutlook will activesysnc stop running on it's own. I tried the sched trick to keep it from running all the time but that doesn't seem to work. I shut it down and then it keeps showing up in the task manager. Thanks in advance to any help, Cheers!

Hi,
Here you have informations about startup folder.
@+

Jules Winnfield said:
Hi,
Here you have informations about startup folder.
@+
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That link is for WM Standard, not really applicable in this situation.
The Sddaemon is most likely the drivers to recognize your sd card.
As for Activesync you can try the following:
If you go into settings/System/Memeory and check what programs are running your more then likely will see active sync. This is due to the following fact: ActiveSync on Pocket PC side with its default settings does following - Pocket PC ActiveSync activates itself every five or ten minutes and tries to sync with the desktop.
So if you dont want your battery to be drain again, you need to prevent the ActiveSync from waking up the device every five minutes. To do this read the lines below and follow the instructions:
1. Start ActiveSync on your Pocket PC.
2. Tap "Menu", then "Add Server Source"
3. Configure a server source with a fake IP address, id and password - you can enter anything you like, it doesn't matter
4. After that you will notice that "Menu -> Schedule..." item is no longer greyed out.
5. Change your schedule to manual under both fields.
6. You can now delete your fake server - your changes to the schedule will remain in effect. ActiveSync will no longer be able to drain your battery.
Also make sure your error reporting is turned off.
Start/Settings/System/Error reporting.Set it to disable error reporting and save more battery life
HTH!

JNGold said:
That link is for WM Standard, not really applicable in this situation.
The Sddaemon is most likely the drivers to recognize your sd card.
As for Activesync you can try the following:
If you go into settings/System/Memeory and check what programs are running your more then likely will see active sync. This is due to the following fact: ActiveSync on Pocket PC side with its default settings does following - Pocket PC ActiveSync activates itself every five or ten minutes and tries to sync with the desktop.
So if you dont want your battery to be drain again, you need to prevent the ActiveSync from waking up the device every five minutes. To do this read the lines below and follow the instructions:
1. Start ActiveSync on your Pocket PC.
2. Tap "Menu", then "Add Server Source"
3. Configure a server source with a fake IP address, id and password - you can enter anything you like, it doesn't matter
4. After that you will notice that "Menu -> Schedule..." item is no longer greyed out.
5. Change your schedule to manual under both fields.
6. You can now delete your fake server - your changes to the schedule will remain in effect. ActiveSync will no longer be able to drain your battery.
Also make sure your error reporting is turned off.
Start/Settings/System/Error reporting.Set it to disable error reporting and save more battery life
HTH!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks JN,
I tried the fake server method but activesync still seems to start up on its own. Does windows live or gmail need to call it up when they sync? it seems the polaris is the first device I've had that persistently keeps activesync running even when i shut it down.
btw, my sd card was still functional even when i removed sddaemon.lnk from the startup folder and did a soft reset??? weird. We still don't know what PKG.lnk is either.

@gatordent,
My mistake, the Sddaemon is the Cyberon voice speed dial that comes with most HTC devices.
As for AS, I don't use W.Live and do you have google mail set for auto mail retrieval? Maybe when the device goes to get the mail at your specific time, AS launches itself?

JNGold,
Alright, here is what I've done, I removed sddaemon.lnk AND PKG.lnk from startup and left the others. So far, so good... seems to have saved about 3% of memory upon soft resetting. I left outlook.lnk b/c messaging broke when i tried to startup without it. AS still starts on it's own immediately after a soft reset. The TC is definitely a little peppier.

JNGold said:
As for Activesync you can try the following:
If you go into settings/System/Memeory and check what programs are running your more then likely will see active sync. This is due to the following fact: ActiveSync on Pocket PC side with its default settings does following - Pocket PC ActiveSync activates itself every five or ten minutes and tries to sync with the desktop.
So if you dont want your battery to be drain again, you need to prevent the ActiveSync from waking up the device every five minutes. To do this read the lines below and follow the instructions:
1. Start ActiveSync on your Pocket PC.
2. Tap "Menu", then "Add Server Source"
3. Configure a server source with a fake IP address, id and password - you can enter anything you like, it doesn't matter
4. After that you will notice that "Menu -> Schedule..." item is no longer greyed out.
5. Change your schedule to manual under both fields.
6. You can now delete your fake server - your changes to the schedule will remain in effect. ActiveSync will no longer be able to drain your battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thought I'd try this but how do I 'delete' the fake server. There's no such option that I can see. Am I just being thick?

My findings on disabling automatic activesync in WM6

Hi everyone,
I'm new to the forums, but after running into you guys every time I try and google something related to my Treo 750, I wanted to share my two cents.
I've been looking for a way to stop the "automatic activesync" thing that everyone seems to be complaining about. I have a new Treo 750 running WM6out of the box. Everything I've seen has not worked, short of totally killing activesync entirely.
Now, I can't guarantee that it works, or that it's safe and has no other side effects! Use your own judgement, I'm by no means a Treo or WM6 expert.
------
1) Install RegEdit on the Treo
I found the tool on another thread here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=273693
You put it on the treo itself, and run from the treo too.
You can't use Mobile Registry Editor for this. You get "Access Denied" errors on the key. You have to run this prog directly from the Treo.
2) Edit registry entry on treo:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\ActiveSync\Engines\{guid}\Settings\SyncAfterTimeWhenCradled
The original value is 5 (5 minutes? Like how often ActiveSync seems to run? hmmm!). If you change it to 0, it will revert back to 5. Instead, change it to something like 300.
Then SOFT RESET THE TREO! Changes don't take effect until you restart windows, remember the old days?
3) Edit this registry entry on your COMPUTER:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows CE Services\Partners\#####\Services\Synchronization\Continuously Update
Set it to 0. This is the fix that didn't work anymore, I dunno if it has anything to do with anything but I set it and it didn't destroy anything
So, now what will happen is you'll plug in your Treo. It will sync ONCE. Then it should shut up and not sync anymore until you click the Sync button. I think the "automatic syncing" was the activesync on the TREO's doing, not the activesync in windows. It's that WM6 registry entry that controls how often it goes. I presume now, the Treo WILL sync five hours from now since I set my setting to 300, but I'm sure you can set it to 999 or something and get a sufficiently long time that it really doesn't matter.
As we speak, my Treo has been plugged into the USB charger for a good 15 minutes while I wrote this post, and it hasn't woken up or done anything!
-----------
Here's one other thing. If you go into the registry on your COMPUTER:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows CE Services\Partners\#####\Services\Synchronization\Enable Sync
And set that to 0, when you plug in the Treo it will pop up an error saying that it couldn't sync the device and see the windows troubleshooter for more info. Then it signs you on as a "guest" on the Treo. I imagine you could make a REG file or something that turns this on or off.
---------

Oh, an update, it appears when I go into the sync options in ActiveSync on the computer and enable syncing "Media", e.g. windows media player library... it syncs continuously all the time forever. The "Media" part of the sync progress seems to behave differently on its own.
I guess syncing media is different? I dunno. Try it with it turned off.

Thanks a lot.
Can we have at least one week. So 300 = 5 hours. 24 hours = 1,440 while one week is 10,080. Is this gonna work or not ?

Have you tried setting up an exchange server account?
What I have done was to go into...
Programs>Active Sync>Menu>Configure Server.
At which point it will ask you for Server Info...\Type in...
"fake" then next
User Name & Password can also be "fake">next
then uncheck all the boxes.
Once you do this the "Schedule" & "Options" menus should be available.
Click on Schedule & change the settings to "Manually"
& check off "Use above settings when roaming"
This will have your treo only open active sync when starting EVDO, Soft Resetting, Connecting to your computer directly or when you start Active Sync ONLY.
Try it & let me know...

via startup folder and reg file
Hi all,
I've triend the above-mentioned fake server trick and it did not work for me (HTC Touch Cruise 2009 running Windows Mobile 6.1). ActiveSync kept coming on after a soft restart (the 'reboot, if you will) - it was driving me crazy. (In all honesty, it should be mentioned that I do not think AS chews up much battery power, memory and/or processor clock cycles, but I just absolutely, positively hate it when programs start themselves up on my (P)PC. I like to be in control!
As mentioned, I've triend the fake server trick to no avail, and I've tried disabling the notification in the notification queue as well - no permanent result, since the entries there seem to be regenerated by some other application. I ended up with several duplicate entries (which were easily removed, but nonetheless, this doesn't seem to be the best way of going about).
Anyway, it seems I've finally found a synthesis of all kinds of help available here on XDADEV (I've been lurking in here for a while) that actually seems to kill off ActiveSync's automatic starting. I am posting this from work in the hospital, so it's a quickie, but bear with me and I'll give proper credit when I can finally attribute at (while at home).
Usual disclaimer: registry editing is bliss, but when you ***** up, it may be that you have to do a hard reset and several hours of work
All revolves around the entry in the registry at:
Code:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/ActiveSync
which has an entry called "KeepAlive" (which is valued 1 for 'yes'). Now, if I change this to 0 (for 'no'), ActiveSync doesn't start itself any longer. However, this registry entry resets itself again upon starting ActiveSync(sigh). So, I made a reg file that writes the 'correct' value for KeepAlive and pu a link to it in the /Windows/Startup folder on my device. The reg file is very simple, it only contains:
Code:
REGEDIT4
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\ActiveSync]
"KeepAlive"="0"
which makes it perfect for me: less risks for typos and stuff
You can put the reg file in the /Windows/Startup folder (or 'Opstarten' as it called on my device since I have a Dutch ROM) or put it in the Programs folder and drop a link to it in /Windows/Startup. That way, it runs every time you boot and in my case, this seems to hold off AS for a while. As said before, the registry key resets itself upon starting AS. I'll research a bit more and the above works in combination with the reg file, and that should put AS out of business. (Maybe the above works even on its own?)
Have fun, take care.
Marty

MartyHulskemper said:
Hi all,
I've triend the above-mentioned fake server trick and it did not work for me (HTC Touch Cruise 2009 running Windows Mobile 6.1). ActiveSync kept coming on after a soft restart (the 'reboot, if you will) - it was driving me crazy. (In all honesty, it should be mentioned that I do not think AS chews up much battery power, memory and/or processor clock cycles, but I just absolutely, positively hate it when programs start themselves up on my (P)PC. I like to be in control!
As mentioned, I've triend the fake server trick to no avail, and I've tried disabling the notification in the notification queue as well - no permanent result, since the entries there seem to be regenerated by some other application. I ended up with several duplicate entries (which were easily removed, but nonetheless, this doesn't seem to be the best way of going about).
Anyway, it seems I've finally found a synthesis of all kinds of help available here on XDADEV (I've been lurking in here for a while) that actually seems to kill off ActiveSync's automatic starting. I am posting this from work in the hospital, so it's a quickie, but bear with me and I'll give proper credit when I can finally attribute at (while at home).
Usual disclaimer: registry editing is bliss, but when you ***** up, it may be that you have to do a hard reset and several hours of work
All revolves around the entry in the registry at:
Code:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/ActiveSync
which has an entry called "KeepAlive" (which is valued 1 for 'yes'). Now, if I change this to 0 (for 'no'), ActiveSync doesn't start itself any longer. However, this registry entry resets itself again upon starting ActiveSync(sigh). So, I made a reg file that writes the 'correct' value for KeepAlive and pu a link to it in the /Windows/Startup folder on my device. The reg file is very simple, it only contains:
Code:
REGEDIT4
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\ActiveSync]
"KeepAlive"="0"
which makes it perfect for me: less risks for typos and stuff
You can put the reg file in the /Windows/Startup folder (or 'Opstarten' as it called on my device since I have a Dutch ROM) or put it in the Programs folder and drop a link to it in /Windows/Startup. That way, it runs every time you boot and in my case, this seems to hold off AS for a while. As said before, the registry key resets itself upon starting AS. I'll research a bit more and the above works in combination with the reg file, and that should put AS out of business. (Maybe the above works even on its own?)
Have fun, take care.
Marty
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you tell me what program to make the REG file? because I tried Notes but it make the *.PWI format?
TIA

The ultimate solution.
Ok here's what you do. The fake exchange server solution never worked for me.
First of all you need FdcSoft's Task Manager program. It is the best and a must have.
Use the Notifications editor to disable the repllog.exe for RunAfterTimeChange.
Use the registry editor to go to [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\ActiveSync] Change the KeepAlive value to 0. Tap and hold "KeepAlive" (or go to file menu) and select "Export...". (not Export All) Save this .reg file in the \\Windows\StartUp folder or save it somewhere else and copy it there.
Now you will need Ghisler's Total Commander.
Using Total Commander, browse to \\Windows\Startup folder or wherever you saved .reg file. (Windows mobile doesn't automaticaly know that .reg file should be opened with TaskMgr so you have to associate it.)
Tap and hold your .reg file and select Properties. Select "Associate" tab. Tap gray box that says "Associate..."
In "Command:" box browse to the folder where TaskMgr.exe is. (\Program Files\FdcSoft\TaskMgr\TaskMgr.exe)
In "Parameter:" box leave the "%1" there, and type "/silent" right after. ("%1/silent") This will keep a dialog box from poping up on start up.
"Ok" everything and you're done! Enjoy.

[DEV] trying to develop auto-BT-sync using mortscript.

I had no luck finding a software that will automatically syncronize my laptop with the device using activesync when the devices are in BT proximity - if someone knows of such a software please let me know.
well the concept i am trying to achieve is a script that will have a running time interval and will :
1) verify that the device is in standby
2) wake up the device
3) connect via BT and sync
4) go to standby again (syncing in the background)
this way the whole calendar and files syncing is user transparent (like in Nokia s60 devices)
I tried using the new BlueStarter freeware to launch a script but it's too laggy and won't work when the device is in standby.
the help i'm after is this :
1. if someone has any knowledge of the activesync (repllog.exe) command line syntax, i couldn't find it anywhere. if there's a way to have it connect and sync through BT it would spare me the need to go through the menus with emulated key presses (which can be a bit buggy as i noticed)
2. a way to wake up the device from standby using a mortscript command. or running a file. probably also a way to bypass any screen locking SW will be needed but let's cross that bridge when we'll get there.
3. more important is a way to indicate that the device is in standby prior to waking it. (i don't want this script to launch during calls, videos etc...)
so that's it for now, if someone knows of something that might be helpful please repond as this lack of automatic BT sync drives me crazy (i am a former nokia user).

1. this thread will be moved to the Q&A section.
2. this is a guide i wrote on how to do that.. including a mortscript and the use of bluestarter...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=466909&highlight=guides

Windows Mobile Device Centre (Vista) Problems!

Ok, my phone is connected to my shiny new Vista PC with the cable, and WMDC is running. I go to view my files, and it isn't showing the Windows folder or any of it's contents. Does it think I'm going to be stupid and delete something vital, therefore I have to be babysat by Microsoft? Please tell me if there is a way around this
Also, I have the HTC official cradle, but it seems very tempromental. When I plug it in and put my phone in it will sometimes sync but not very often. And if it does it loses the connection again quite quickly. There is definitely a connection though because the phone continues to charge throughout. and before anyone says it I've tried the tickbox that says enable advanced functionality and it's not that this time
Has anyone got any answers to these, or a better syncing solution for Vista?

As found here (with pictures):
Fuze Mobility
See More of Your Fuze on Your PC
Posted by David KJanuary 12, 2009 Many of you have realized that when connecting your Fuze over ActiveSync the \Windows directory cannot be seen and there are other files that are hidden. Because of this, we’re often forced to do a lot of the changes on our Fuze using File Explorer or using apps like TotalCommander. There have been plenty of times where going to the Windows directory is needed (like changing the programs located in the Programs directory) or modifying the name of TF3D tabs. Well Rainfreak of PPCGeeks was kind enough to give a set of step by step instructions on how to change this on our PC so we can see all files and the Windows directory and it’s actually embarrassingly easy.
Step 1:Go to Organize and click on Folder and Search Options
Step 2: Go to the View tab and change the Hidden files and Folders option to ‘Show hidden files and folders’
Step 3: Uncheck the box for ‘Hide protected operating system files [Recommended]‘ and click Yes to disregard the warning that pops up.
Step 4: Press OK to close out of the Folder Option settings and navigate to your Windows directory and then wait a few seconds cause just like doing this directly on the Fuze it takes a while to propagate.

Haha, I did step 2 almost instinctively, but not step 3. All sorted now
Now if I could just get my cradle to sync