Company Provided Cell Phones

Just curious how many of you have companies that provide mobile devices for your end users?

How do you go about managing them day to day and how many total devices?

https://redd.it/1nm36eo
@r_systemadmin

How do y’all deal with people that just seem to hate IT?

I get a ticket from a user Monday about not receiving emails from a vendor they’re expecting. Now I like this person, I feel we used to have pretty good rapport but I work with them much less now that they’re in sales. I do a message trace, no dice, nothing in quarantine, I see that vendor has sent emails, just not the ones he’s looking for. I say hey I don’t see anything that shows it even hit the server, so it likely is on their end. Maybe they don’t send it, or they’re having issues with their system? Do you have anyone from there I can talk to and sort it out with?

I then get an email I believe he meant to forward but replied and added his boss (sales) asking if I knew what I was doing because I’m always pushing back and not fixing his problems, then suggests I should take some formal classes in IT because I’m not helpful.

I just didn’t reply from there but I’m like, bro what the fuck? Half the time I ask you questions on your tickets and you just don’t reply? I know I love the quick fixes, but shit am I not allowed to take more than one email to fix an issue? I talk to the sales guy and show him our tickets and he’s like no no, I get it. I know you’re just trying to help, no one else here is doubting your abilities.

But like, what do I even do for people like these? If I don’t do it via ticket it’s not documented so I hate to call them or come to their desk. Also, turned out vendor was mid migration and had some issues come out that was making one of their programs that sends email fail to send intermittently.

https://redd.it/1nmaypc
@r_systemadmin

How do you handle problems that resolve themselves?

Exactly as stated.

We recently had an issue where a large number of our pooled VDI machines lost contact with the with the DC's and started complaining about time differences. We didnt change anything to fix it, we just rebooted the unused machines in the pool and it seems to have cleared up. The group that controls the DC's swears it wasnt a time issue on their end and I know its not a time issue on the pooed VDI machines.

The issue just went away and im having trouble letting it go. I need to know the cause before I can move on and im struggling. Besides that, its hard to give a downtime summary to leadership when you cant confirm the cause for a fact.







https://redd.it/1nmats1
@r_systemadmin

M365 Apps unexpectedly closing on their own? Follow up

Hi Folks,

I posted a while back about an issue where M365 apps (New Teams, OneDrive, Edge, and New Outlook, Word, Excel) would all suddenly close at the same time without warning.

At the time I couldn’t reproduce it consistently, so it was hard to pin down. I thought the culprit might be the M365 cloud update, but u/martinnothnagel\_msft has confirmed the cloud update ONLY impacts apps that use the C2R. As this issue was still happening at least once per, week, whilst on the monthly enterprise channel that could not be the culprit. Further, this issue continued to occur after the cloud update was paused.

This week it finally happened on my own work laptop, and I was able to spend time digging in. Here’s what I found:

The trigger appears to be updates to the AppX package e.g. New Outlook app (olk.exe), which is delivered as an AppX package via the Microsoft Store.

Around the exact time the apps all closed, the folder C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.OutlookForWindows_* had a modified timestamp, confirming an Outlook update was applied.

When this happens, not only does New Outlook restart, but other M365 apps also crash. Edge also shows “Edge closed unexpectedly” when relaunched.

In order to workaround this, i've applied a GPO to block Microsoft Store auto-updates. I’m going to monitor this week to see if the crashes stop.

This seemed to manifested the same time we enrolled all our company windows devices into Intune.
I'm not saying Intune is responsible, it's just extremely timely...!

Has anyone else seen this behavior?

https://redd.it/1nm88vr
@r_systemadmin

Moving from folder redirection to OneDrive known folder move seamlessly and transparently to users?

I'm currently using Folder Redirection & would like to move to OneDrive Known Folder Move, and am wondering how others have done this, in environments where there is a high expectation of seamlessness, simplicity and reliability for end users (who are not tech savvy), and where desktops still exist and it's not strictly one user = one device.

I know I can upload people's Desktop, Documents, etc folders to their OneDrives with the SharePoint migration tool, and have tested that far already. I know I can make OneDrive redirect known folders by default once the user logs into OneDrive.

The things I am still struggling with are:

* The GPO or Intune settings to automatically sign in OneDrive can't (obviously) do so if MFA is required and not satisfied. I don't see any option to enforce that a user has to sign into OneDrive before saving files on the machine.
* I know Windows Hello for Business is the answer for users who carry a laptop; make their Windows sign in satisfy MFA. I am referring to users who sign into the shared desktop in whichever classroom they are in today.
* I can't seem to get a machine from our current folder redirection GPO to OneDrive KFM, without the machine trying to copy files anywhere (letting us handle it with the SharePoint Migration Tool).

One of the main issues is that folders OneDrive KFM refuses to touch, such as Videos, are redirected inside the documents folder rather than alongside it in the current setup. That causes KFM to refuse to touch Documents. I assume this will be a multi step process to get Folder Redirection to pull Videos and Pictures out of Documents, let clients get that policy, and then move to KFM.

The other issue is idiot proofing. Folder Redirection has had offline files disabled for many years because with it on, users don't pay attention to or resolve sync conflicts, and data is lost. Is there any way to make OneDrive more aggressive about resolving conflicts? The goal is to eliminate cases where user error can result in saving files locally that are not backed up.

https://redd.it/1nm81s7
@r_systemadmin

Exchange hybrid free busy issue

Working on an exchange hybrid migration. Have 2 exchange 2016 servers and 1 new exchange 2019 server being used for hybrid connection to Exo, no mailboxes. Migrated 2 users as test to Exo and when they check free busy of on prem users this happens. Some work and some don't, totally random. User could work one day and not the next. All mailboxes are on a single exchange 2016 server. Not always same database for mailboxes showing no information. Any ideas?

https://redd.it/1nmg4cd
@r_systemadmin

Do you all plan to further in your career or are you comfortable at sysadmin?

Do you all plan to further in your career or are you comfortable at sysadmin? Just curious on what ppl takes are on moving up in their career.

https://redd.it/1nmcgol
@r_systemadmin

Two domain controllers

Seeing what everyone’s input is for dns settings on two domain controllers. Do you put a loop back and then the address of the opposite dns server or
Do you use the il address of the server and the. The opposite ip address of the server

https://redd.it/1nmia3n
@r_systemadmin

What would you do if your boss was fired, and your new boss was not handling the workload of the old boss? Specifically in a small team (3) situation, where the manager typically is willing to stand up and work tickets as needed, but the new manager who promised to be hands-on is simply not?

It's a very difficult situation as we are understaffed, which they acknowledge, but still refuse to even look at the ticket system. They want us to screen share it, or give verbal assessments of what our weekly focus was, as though they are above doing the work their predecessor did. In this small team, typically the breakdown has been helpdesk (little or no IT experience), sysadmin (mid-level), and manager (senior admin who now also manages IT staff). This new leader is acting like they're in a huge company with a department of 10+ people, like we can afford to have someone who doesn't cover, even when IT members are out on vacation or sick. What's the solution for us?

https://redd.it/1nmo3ag
@r_systemadmin

I might be asking too much i think, but there's any autounattend noscript that installs excel, powerpoint and word while windows in installing?

Also if there's any way to auto connect on a Set up Wi-Fi too, i don't know if any of this is possible, but i thought i might just ask anyway

https://redd.it/1nmpam7
@r_systemadmin

Exchange SE install ends prematurely Event Logs: "Installation Completed Successfully" after cancelling first install.

Was trying to install Exchange SE tools only so I could shut down my last exchange server. During the install I was missing a prerequisite (.NET 4.8). So I installed that which asked for a restart. I closed out of the Exchange installer and restarted.

After restart, updates applied, etc...

Started the Exchange SE installer again. It went through the standard MSI installer "Gathering required information" then the installer just goes away.

Checking the Event log, I see these entries all within a second of each other.

>1040 Beginning a Windows Installer transaction: E:\\Exchangeserver.msi
1042 Ending a Windows Installer transaction: E:\\Exchangeserver.msi
11707 Product: Microsoft Exchange Server -- Installation completed successfully.
1033 Windows Installer installed the product. Product Name: Microsoft Exchange Server. Product Version: 15.0.2562.17. Product Language: 1033. Manufacturer: Microsoft Corporation. Installation success or error status: 0.

The logs in C:\\ExchangeSetupLogs are from the original installation attempt. I have checked the (suggested) registry for HKLM\\Software\\Microsoft\\ExchangeServer, there are no entries there. Control Panel does not show Exchange Server is installed. I also tried renaming the Program Files\\Microsoft\\Exchange Server folder. And of course, restart.

Guess I should have double checked the Prerequisites were installed before proceeding.

Any suggestions?

Can't seem to get the installer to come back up.


x r/exchangeserver

https://redd.it/1nmrwbf
@r_systemadmin

”Cloud is more secure”

I have been wondering when this will happen. Everyone saying ”cloud is more secure than on-prem”. Yeah, sure. https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/19/microsoft_entra_id_bug/

https://redd.it/1nmsj18
@r_systemadmin

Office environment question

Going to lead off this post with a "Sorry I am not really a Sysadmin" but I do frequent (lurk) this subreddit and it has been helpful in the past.

I am a really informal tech leader at a mid-sized architecture firm. Before I arrived, much of the contents of our server were stored in the cloud, and for the past few years, and in the time I have been here, we have worked primarily with a server that is stored physically in our office, monitored by our IT service providers.

Do you think it would be worth returning to the cloud? We have been somewhat frustrated with our IT company as of late and have a previously good relationship with a company that does phone services that otherwise also could provide IT services, just via a cloud environment, that would virtualize a lot of our system. We could also tap into their broader cloud infrastructure, but I lack the technical know how to that extent to really get a sense of what is better - and most importantly if it is worth the money

Tl:dr 50-75 employees distributed in two office, should we have a physical server or work more in the cloud? I am leaning the later.

https://redd.it/1nmtirh
@r_systemadmin

Company running VMware 5.5 in 2025

Found an enterprise running VMware vSphere 5.5 (from 2013!) with 500+ Windows Server 2008/2012 boxes. They're planning to upgrade to... VMware 6.x, which is.. yeah.

Someone should tell them about Broadcom pricing before they get destroyed. Yikes.

I keep finding companies like this, maybe 20-30 per week with seriously outdated infrastructure.

How do you even approach companies that are this far behind?

https://redd.it/1nmwbn3
@r_systemadmin

Hyper-V Issue – Weird but seems to be true

TL;DR: Could removing a DVD drive (not just ISO removal, actual drive removal) from a running Gen 2 VM cause a cluster host to briefly lose all its connections to everything?

So, I was doing some routine maintenance on our Hyper-V cluster (6 hosts, Nimble SAN) last week, live migrating some VMs, updating others and suddenly one of the hosts lost all connections to the iSCSI storage and the cluster. Some of the VMs on that host failed and rebooted, some did not. After a minute everything was fine.

I couldn’t figure out what happened, but 2 minutes earlier, I had, on a different host, removed a DVD Drive from a running Gen 2 VM because I couldn’t seem to migrate it from 2019 -> 2022 with the DVD drive attached. (Currently we still have some 2019 hosts)

I didn’t think much of the DVD drive removal as I was doing other maintenance and I couldn’t imagine it caused the problem and was running on a different host, but I did read later that you shouldn’t remove DVD drives while VMs are running, even Gen 2.

Two days go by, everything has been stable, I was doing more work and again removed a DVD drive from a running VM and again 2 minutes later one of the hosts lost its connections, some VMs rebooting, some not and again it recovered quickly.

So another day goes by and now I’m curious, I still don’t believe it was the DVD drive removal and assume it was something else I must have done, so I remove a DVD drive yet again from a different running VM and this time just waited and watched and sure enough, 2 minutes later, one of the hosts lost it’s connections to the storage and the network and then came back.

Again, I know now that you are not supposed to remove DVD drives from running VMs, but has anyone ever seen this and does anyone have any idea how or why removing a DVD drive from one VM could cause a host in a cluster to basically lose its mind for a minute?  I’m still not sure I believe it, but it’s hard to deny the pattern. This cluster has been running for years without ever glitching before.

https://redd.it/1nmtxud
@r_systemadmin

Have you ever, as a system administrator, come across any organization’s business secret like I did? If yes, what is that??

As a system administrator you may have come across with any organization's business secret

like one I had,

Our organisation is a textile manufacturing one. What I came to know is, they are selling organic cotton & through which getting huge margin of profit compared to the investment for raw materials and production cost. Actually, they got certificates by giving bribes, but in reality, they use synthetic yarn... yet sell this as organic into the UK.
........... likewise any business secrets??

https://redd.it/1nn0et2
@r_systemadmin

First time sys admin

Hey everyone. Long story short, been in the army for 3 years ,transitioning out currently. Landed a job as the sole system administrator for a company, pretty much the site lead. and its my FIRST IT JOB, any tips on how I can get up to speed, and be an actual good sys admin? Im a quick learner just to add on.

https://redd.it/1nmzq3t
@r_systemadmin

Why did APC jack up their prices so much before tariffs were even a thing?

As seen in this price history graph this basic ass 700VA (\~420W) UPS used to be under $120 in 2022, after 2023 it shot up and hasn't come back down. It peaked around $170 in the last few months. Is APC showing how greedy it is?

https://i.imgur.com/wfFoQ4o.png

https://redd.it/1nn2ffe
@r_systemadmin

How are you automating compliance reporting at your company?

Hi everyone, maintaining SOX and PCI compliance across our partner network has been resource-intensive. We're spending too much time on manual audits, log collection, and meeting documentation - time we could've spent spent on billable consulting hours.

How have you centralized audit data and reduced the compliance burden at your company?

https://redd.it/1nn2vtu
@r_systemadmin

Glad to have left

I left my former employer just under a year ago. I was the IT Manager and senior sysadmin. Today I couldn’t be happier to have left. I was just told by a former coworker who sent me screenshots of users complaining, that the IT Director instructed my replacement to lower the maximum email attachment limit size from the 100mb I had set, to 8mb. That’s right. EIGHT megabytes. After an avalanche of complaints they raised it to 15mb, which is a joke by today’s standards. The complaints have been so bad the President got involved.

The reason? A handful of mailboxes (maybe 10) have reached their max 100gb size (E3 licensing). Rather than addressing the workflow of these individual users, implementing an archiving solution, or adjusting their retention policy, they came up with this asinine solution as the answer. This company does not have budget issues, just a misguided effort by a stubborn director who shouldn’t be in any place to make these decisions.

So glad I’m not there anymore because I probably would have died on that hill.

Edit: company was very behind in tech. So much of what they were doing was paper. They didn’t even have a way to pay for the service other than sending a check until 2020.

https://redd.it/1nn7pz5
@r_systemadmin

Found ghost machines that looked healthy

During an audit I saw devices marked active that had not reported in months. Some had been rebuilt, some were in storage, and a few were unaccounted for. That made me rethink how we age devices out. Have you cleaned up ghosts like this before?

https://redd.it/1nn0g0m
@r_systemadmin