SMS “HRESULT E_FAIL from COM component” workaround coming
Heya, Ned here again. Storage Migration Service admins: if you're seeing "Error HRESULT E_FAIL has been returned from a call to a COM component" during transfer validation after installing the November cumulative update, we have a workaround coming to WAC, ... continue reading
Defending SMB Clients from Interception Attacks
Heya folks, Ned here again. I recently wrote a guest post on the IT Ops Talk blog about increasing security on your SMB clients. It's about defending against interception attacks (previously called "man-in-the-middle" attacks) and includes specific recommendations, steps, and ... continue reading
SMB Traffic Control
Heya folks, Ned here again. I recently wrote a guest post on the IT Ops Talk blog about increasing security by controlling SMB traffic's ingress, egress, and lateral movement. You'll learn best practices, hands-on steps, and gain a deeper understanding ... continue reading
SMB over QUIC
Heya folks, Ned here again. I wrote a new blog post, SMB over QUIC: Files Without the VPN. Learn about this new optional feature coming to replace TCP/IP for scenarios like hybrid computing and mobile workers - VPN'less SMB 3.1.1 ... continue reading
SMB is Dead, Long Live SMB!
Hello again, James Kehr here with another guest post. Titles are hard to do. They must convey the topic to the reader while being both interesting and informative, all at the same time. Doing this with a technical article makes ... continue reading
SMB and Null Sessions: Why Your Pen Test is Probably Wrong
Hi everyone, James Kehr here with a guest post. One of the SMB cases we get regularly at Microsoft Support is, “my pen test says you allow Null sessions!” Followed by a string of CVE numbers; like, CVE-1999-0519 and CVE-1999-0520 ... continue reading
Fix for the Storage Migration Service “Couldn’t transfer storage on any of the endpoints” issue
Heya folks, Ned here again. For those of you seeing this issue: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/storage/storage-migration-service/known-issues#error-couldnt-transfer-storage-on-any-of-the-endpoints-and-check-if-the-source-device-is-online---we-couldnt-access-it With an error in WAC like: "Couldn't transfer storage on any of the endpoints. 0x9044" And detailed error in WAC like: "Check if the source device is ... continue reading
Controlling write-through behaviors in SMB
Heya folks, Ned here again. In my continuing series on offbeat SMB settings, today I’m going to explain how to control SMB write-through and data consistency in Windows 10 and Windows Server. Background Network protocols like SMB or NFS are ... continue reading
Controlling SMB Dialects
Heya folks, Ned here again. As part of a small series on esoteric SMB settings, today I’m going to explain how to control SMB client dialects in Windows 10 and Windows Server 2019. Background SMB Dialects are simply significant versions ... continue reading

New SMS log collector available
Heya folks, Ned here again. I've published a new version of the Get-SMSLogs PowerShell script on https://aka.ms/smslogs. It improves the logging of time stamps and event IDs for the non-debug event logs. And by improving, I mean, it actually has ... continue reading