Lync Client Password Recovery

I have been thinking about blogging about this cool little tool for a long time now
- the Lync Client Password Recovery Tool.

This is simply a tool that dumps out Lync passwords (which also are the user’s domain password) from the local credential manager store found in the Control Panel / User Accounts / Manage your credentials. Now the reason why I have not made a post about this before was because I expected this issue (security hole) to go away in Lync 2013, but today I had a chance to try it with the Lync 2013 Preview client (but still connected to a Lync 2010 Server.)

And to my surprise - the tool still works even with the Lync 2013 Preview client!?

The issue is of course the widely used and very convenient "Save Password" check box found when logging in to Lync.

Checking the "Save password" box in Lync 2013 Preview will however bring up one additional warning compared to Lync 2010.

There is a “SavePassword” setting in the Lync group policy settings that could be set to
0 = "Users do not have the option to save password", that have the following explanation.

"Allows Microsoft Lync to store user passwords.  If you enable this policy setting, Microsoft Lync can store a password on request from the user.  If you disable this policy setting, Microsoft Lync cannot store a password.
Note: You can configure this policy setting under both Computer Configuration and User Configuration, but the policy setting under Computer Configuration takes precedence."
Microsoft Lync 2010 Client Group Policy Documentation

And this could also be quick-fixed with a registry key hack.
reg add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Communicator /v SavePassword /d 0 /f

I also believe that the Registrar settings found in the Lync control panel / Security / Registrar / Global will have some effects on this.

 
But seriously - I really hope something more is done about this in Lync 2013 - or?
Please comment so that I can update this post soon!

Thanks and greetings to Mr. Remko Weijnen!

Profiles for Lync 2013

Working as a consultant with several customers I spend my days with logging in and out of Lync systems. That is why I love this little tool called profiles for Lync. This tool allows you to enter and save login details to several customers and quickly enter these into your Lync client with a single mouseclick, extremely time saving!

The tool is just updated to version 2 and is also available in two versions, one for the Lync 2013 client and one for Lync 2010.

Get it here:
Profiles For Lync 2013
Profiles For Lync 2010
Thank you Greig Sheridan for this tool!

SUCK - Svenska UC Klubben - meeting 2012-10-04

Post in Swedish about a meeting in our local UC user group in Sweden.

På Torsdag den 4:e Oktober drog vi igång exakt 17:30 eller kanske 17:45 hos Uclarity på Brunnsgatan. Som mest var vi 18 personer på plats och 15 online. Uclarity ställde upp med lokal och dricka. Magnus / Mailmaster bjöd på mackor. Stort tack!

  

Live / på plats
Mattias Kressmark - Kressmark Unified Communications
Martin Lidholm - Uclarity
Tommy Clarke - UCaware
Mats Lundqvist - Videointresserad
Daniel Banfield - Cygate
Zvonimir Markic - Interoute
Stefan Petersson - Relevo
Håkan Andersson - Invid Globen
Johan Hallström - Aleste
Ove Bristrand - Netitegrate
Tomas Rönnberg - Uclarity
Per Sundqvist - Competella
Fredrik Blid - Uclarity
Martin Malm - Uclarity
Mårten Ekblad - Relevo
Fredrik Karlsson - CellIP
Magnus Björk - Mailmaster
Emelie Ekblad - Microsoft

Online via Lync möte
Jessica Augustsson - Atea
Jonas Fogelström - Atea
Henrik Börjesson - Atea
Joakim Forsström - Atea
Fredrik Björk - Logica
Johan Jisborg - Södra Skogsägarna
Johan Rydin -  Rydin Consulting
Marcela Vásquez  - Alfa Laval
Mattias Huber - Uclarity
Mattias Boss - Uclarity
Peter Möller - Atea
Lotta - Atea
Simon Walsh -Atea
Anders Green
Jonny F

Martin och Tommy börjar med att prata om nyheter i "Wave 15" Lync 2013 och Exchange 2013.
Relativt få i UC klubben har sett och testat Lync hittils.
Persistant chat (Group chat) ingen speciell klient behövs längre som i Lync 2010, demo på denna.
Det finns en ikon i klienten - "Chat Rooms" där man kan skapa nya rum via webbsida.
Det går att koppla en RSS feed till ett rum.
Historik spars i x (365 default) dagar.
Använder sin egen SQL databas.
Inställningar för "Persistant chat" finns i Lync kontrolpanelen.

Video!

HD 1080p peer-to-peer och konferans - Dyr (bra?) skärm behövs om man vill visa alla 5 feeds i HD.
Man skulle alltså kunna få varje ström i HD 1080p.
h.264-based - det är alltså en "dialekt" det kommer inte funka rakt över med andra system.
h.265 - inte i Lync 2013.
Face detection / smart framing - demo - Bandbreddsbesparande funktion
Måste upplevas - men i stort sett - rör man på skallen så följer kameran med.
När två pers kommer i bild så breddas bilden.
Går det att slå av denna funktion?
Lync 2013 Byter upplösning och bandbreddskrav snabbare än Lync 2010.
När video inte visas så visas istället din bild (bliden blir alltså viktigare i Lync 2013)
Sitting row - bilder på de som inte snackar.
Det går att poppa ut video och flytta det fönstret till en annan skärm, med bra kvalite.
URL baserade bilder försvinner, AD lagrade bilder behövs, eller bättre, Exchange kan lagra HD blider.

Lync Web App - är en MÖTES klient.

HTML5 baserad - plug in behövs (8MB) om man vill visa ljud och bild.
Samma plug in för Safari, Firefox, Chrome.
Ljud och bild kommer funka i Safari i Mac.
Safari kommer inte utvecklas på PC.
Lync attendee försvinner.
Video i PPT kommer fungera även i Lync möten.
Fullskärm fungerar i Webmöte.
Video preview finns också i webklienten.
Support för touch skärmar kommer finnas på något sätt.
Lägg till "?sl=1" i URL för att testa Web App om du har Lync klienten installerad.
(Vill man använda kontaktlista och chat så finns ju detta i OWA (Outlook Web App))

Det finns fler möjligheter att customisera mötesinbjudan, logo, footer, help, disclaimer.
Det går att schemalägga möten från OWA.

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Plug-in, en ljud/bild stack som körs lokalt på klienten.
Support för ljud och bild i Citrix / tunn klienter
Ljud / bild renderas lokalt.
VMware / Citrix / Microsoft etc måste lägga till support för denna plug-in, de har uttalat ambition att göra detta.

Server förbättringar
WAC server behövs för att dela PPTs i Lync möten.
Monitoring servern co-lokeras med front-end
Archiving kan användas mot Exchange 2013, eller SQL.
Data från Lync sparas i Exchange och man kan använda Sharepoint för att titta på denna data...
SQL Express finns alltid på all Lync server roller.
Director är inte rekommenderad längre, den är numera "Optional".
Speglade databaser
A/V MCU kan inte separeras från front-end längre.
Poolerna kan nu innehålla fler maskiner och det går även att spegla hela pooler.
Persistant chat är också en typ av pool.
SQL kluster är inte längre supportat, däremot speglad SQL.
Enklare att sätta upp och bygga om.
Lazywrite används i SQL, ger mindre last på SQL.

Vid användning av Backup site i Lync 2010 har man fått den begränsade klienten, i Lync 2013 bibehålls full funktionalitet.
XMPP stöd är med default, ingen separat server behövs.
Unified Contact Store - problemet med dubbla kontakter försvinner om man kör Lync och Exchange 2013.

Inga större förändringar i Response groups.
Det går att delegera rättigheter för response groups, typ telefonist kan ändra vissa inställningar.

Lync kan nu ta in samtal på en Trunk och skicka ut på en annan (transit PBX).
I Lync 2010 kunde man bara sätta trunk inställningar på Global / Site nivå, i Lync 2013 kan man sätta detta på Trunk nivå.

Hybrid Voice - Kör Lync från Office365, och voice från en lokal Lync installation.
O365 edge snackar med lokal edge, lokal mediation server bypassar all media lokalt.

GET / SET SIP verbs (som annonserades i Lync 2010 ignite) kommer nu med.
Detta kan användas för integrationer med mobilnät.

Stöd för IPv6 finns.
Hur skall man göra med Direct Access och Lync i 2013?
Media trafik mår alltid bäst via Edge.
Skype integration - support för presence, IM och ljud kommer efter Lync 2013 GA.
Vi hann inte med att snacka mobila klienter...

19:40 Break för mackor och mingel.

20:00 Magnus Björk pratade Exchange 2013, där arkitekturen ser ut att likna Exchange 5.5.
Konsumtionen av IOPS är betydligt mycket mindre.
"Every server is an island"
Public folders är förändrat.
MAPI är borta.
TMG försvinner, funkar realtivt väl med 2013, men begränsningar finns (logoff sidan syns inte.)
UAG funkar inte heller 100%, F5 / Apache kan vara alternativ.
Exchange UM och språkstöd diskuterades.

(Som ni märker så brinner inte antecknaren riktigt för Exchange på samma sätt som för Lync...)

Det blir en Lync konferans i San Diego i Februari 2013 kom dit!
Det blir en Sharepoint och Exchange konferans i Munchenbryggeriet i Stockholm
den 22-23 Oktober kom dit!
Magnus & Martin kör en Exchange och Lync 2013 Roadshow i Stockholm, Göteborg och Malmö i höst, kolla in!
När kommer då Lync 2013 och Exchange 2013?
Kolla LinkedIn gruppen för information om detta och om nästa SUCK möte...

Improvements in Lync 2013 (Preview)

It is nice to see a lot of little things being fixed here and there in the software we use daily.
Do you remember this fine dialog from the Lync 2010 client?
(Tools / Options / Personal / Advanced...)

It governs how the client tries to connect to the server. Way back in the days of Office Communications Server 2007 R2 it was possible to connect to the server using TCP rather than TLS. This option was removed in Lync 2010 when TLS became the one and only secure way to communicate server/client in Lync, but the setting remained even in Lync with this radio box of the connection type greyed out.

If you are really alert you will even notice it says "...server name or IP address:" and that was supported when using TCP, to use an IP address that is. In Lync 2010 this GUI is a bit misleading since an IP address can never be used when connecting with TLS.

Now in the Preview of Lync 2013 (version 15.0.4128.1019) the dialog window looks like this.

Much simpler, clearer and easier to use.

Mmm, delicious Toast!

 

I also like how the toast pops-up with photo as you have tagged someone, a simple improvement that makes the software more fun to work with.

In Lync 2010 when you hold down the Control key and right click the Lync tray icon, you will see the additional "Configuration Information" menu selection in the list. In Lync 2013 this is even easier to reach, you simply press the Control key once and the next time you right click the tray icon, the menu selection will be there. I do not know if this happens by chance or by design - but I like it!

Adding contacts is definitely a clearer task in Lync 2013 than before. The user will be much more aware about if they are adding an internal colleague or an external contact via federation.

There is also a video preview, like a mirror, straight in the chat window that one could use to check the tie and hair before starting a video call; could be important since people can see you even when you are not speaking using the new gallery view in a Lync 2013 video call.

There are of course many more good new and enhanced features in Lync 2013.

You can try the "Lync Client 2013 Preview" yourself as part of the "Office 365 ProPlus Preview". Lync 2013 can be connected to a Lync 2010 server and it is even possible to install the Lync 2013 client on the same computer as a Lync 2010 client and run them in parallel.

Happy testing!

Where did the Audio Selection icon go?

Running the Microsoft Lync courses this is an interesting bug in the Lync client that always comes up for discussion. Even if we have several audio devices and we can select which one to use through Tools / Options / Audio Device, the little audio selection icon that should be in the bottom left corner of the main Lync screen will not show up.

This holds true even if the client is updated to Lync CU6 (version 4.0.7577.4103)

This is a known bug described in the following KB article:
The Audio Selection Button is missing in Lync
(Article ID: 2616187)

Unfortunately the article reports: "there is no date that is available for a resolution." So, as a workaround for this problem we must enable Enterprise Voice for the user of this client:

Set-CsUser -Identity mattias -EnterpriseVoiceEnabled $true

Then the user must sign out, wait, and sign back in to the client, it is not necessary to actually restart the client. Once back in the client the little icon (and also the dial pad icon and call forwarding information) is visible again.

Lync Busylight

Finally received my Lync Busylight from Plenom!

It came in a small box containing the unit and a minimal sheet with instructions. "Use common sense" and "Do not immerse the product in any type of liquid" were the most interesting guidelines, but also there was a link to a driver download page.

On the driver download page you could register for software updates, there was a FAQ section, a quick guide and a datasheet; informative, simple and to the point.

The drivers are available in a version for all users of the computer which requires administrative rights to install, and a user version which installs the software locally under your user profile folder.

The installation was straightforward, but to many "nexts" I think: Next, I agree, Next, Next, Next, Next, Finish. Then the light started to shine in green. The light can show 5 colors: dark red (Do Not Disturb), red (Busy), yellow (Away/Off Work), green (Available) and blue flashing (Incoming call) but the difference between red and dark red is probably too small to be visible to anyone walking up to your desk. At an incoming call the light will play a ringtone and there are 8 different tones to choose from, and you can even set the volume of it. The driver installs a tray application where you can control the tone and volume.

So far I really like this little product and I think it can be really useful when sitting in an open office environment with a headset glued to your skull. The Microsoft Lync team tweeted about busylight with this post: "15% of employees cite distraction by colleagues as a drain on productivity" and pointed to busylight as a solution, I second that.

Thanks Plenom for a great product!

TechEDs 2012 - NA & EU

TechED 2012 in Orlando was the first TechED I attended, all-in-all a great event! Well organized, and really great to meet with all these people. Someone said that techED is about the people - the community - and I agree. 

The event started out with a keynote session, it was so-so, not that the speaker did not do a good job, but there was really not that much new to get excited about. Windows 8 and Server 2012 looks good, but since most people in attendance had already seen these products it was not too exciting to see the switching between metro style and old-school windows. A new Hypervisor and SQL server looks nice, delivering a million IOPS. Clearly Lync were not the focus of techED this year, but I was a bit disappointed that they hardly mentioned Lync in the keynotes. There were a couple of really good sessions on Lync and many good speakers present.

The place we were in was really good, ample space for everyone. There were a big exhibitors section were a lot of companies talked about their products and gave away t-shirts and stuff. From a Lync perspective it was nice to meet with Jabra, Plantronics, Snom, HP, NET Technologies and Audiocodes among many others. I was helping out in the Hands-on-labs area where we had around 500 workstations set up and some 140 different labs that the attendees could play around with. You can still try the labs here for some time.

Some were really comfortable in our little lab area

I also joined the "Twitter army" which was a bunch of people tweeting from the event and a jury gave away some stuff for different categories of tweets and twitters. I really enjoyed that and I think it was a good way to follow the event online even though I was there. (Follow me, @mkressmark)

We also did have a lot of fun at the event; there was a garden sized chess table in the games area which was nice. There were a delegate party at the convention center and another one at Universal studios, and there were numerous other side events, meetings and parties you could attend.

 The coolest giveaway of TechED 2012!

I have to thank Specops / Knowledge Factory for a great "Swedish" party, nice to meet a few of the approximately 150 swedes that came to TechED i North America. Unfortunately, I got to see two terrible soccer games from a pub in Orlando, first Sweden lost to Ukraine and then to England and were out of the Euro2012 :-( 

 Walking a dog at Universal studios

TechED in Amsterdam followed the agenda of TechED in Orlando pretty closely. The keynotes were pretty much the same, many of the sessions had other speakers but the material was mainly the same with a few good exceptions. We all know everything in America is big, and everything in Amsterdam were a bit smaller, smaller convention center, exhibitors area, hands on lab area, twitter army, people, etc. However, I think I met with even more good people in Amsterdam, plenty of Swedes and Europeans. The parties were also really nice. Microsoft arranged a soccer viewing at the Amsterdam Arena (video here), and Microsoft Sweden also arranged a soccer night were we saw Italy defeat Germany.  

 The boxing bots and hands-on-lab area in Amsterdam RAI

All in all I had a great June this year, and I will try to attend TechED in New Orleans next year, hope to meet you there!