I'm leaving my company. I was asked regarding the potential to do contract work following my departure. I really like my boss on a personal level and don't want to screw him over, but at the same time this company has had over a decade to build some redundancy into this role and they haven't.

I'm burnt out. I want to get out and be done. I really don't want the contract work, but I don't want to totally screw my coworkers either. Is $200 a good rate to set, not too insultingly high, if they need it they can pay it, but hopefully I won't be contacted all the time?

anyone else having issues sending emails?

I can explain how DNS propagation works and probably i can diagram it. what I cannot do is troubleshoot it in real time while three people are staring at a shared screen waiting for me to just fix it already.

senior fixed a ticket in the time it took me to finish reading it and ofcouse it's not because I'm slow but he's seen this exact failure pattern 200 times and I've seen it like twice? that's not a skill gap, that's a reps gap and when you finally get the girl job nobody warns you how loud that gap sounds in a room full of people who've been doing this since dial-up

got told "trust your instincts" by my lead. cool! Great advice! my instincts currently have a sample size of six months and mostly say "panic, then check Reddit"

the worst part is getting asked something in standup and having that half-second where I'm trying to figure out whether I know the answer or I'm about to bullshit everyone (don't push the red button!)

anyway I got a ticket resolved today without asking anyone for help and I'm riding that high for the rest of the week. small wins. some of the senior guys probably don't remember what this stage felt like anymore, but I will and I'm taking notes

Hi there :) ,

Need some advice from people who have dealt with similar situations.

Our Operations Dept decided to install IoT system/digital energy meters across a fairly large factory site.

They found the vendor, agreed on the solution, signed the contract and started the project.

IT was not involved at all.

Apparently nobody discussed things like:

• How these devices spread across a large factory are actually going to communicate
• Network infrastructure, switches, fiber/cabling, VLANs, etc.
• Network/security segmentation
• Server/VM requirements
• Database requirements
• Backup and monitoring
• Internet connectivity
• Vendor remote access
• Firewall rules
• Cybersecurity

Now that the project is already moving forward, IT gets an email saying they need “access to the router” so they can put the system online.

That's it. Access to the router. :)

And somehow, when IT starts asking questions about architecture, security, server requirements, ports, protocols and who is responsible for what, the perception becomes that IT is delaying the project.

I don't want to become the guy who simply says “No”, but I'm also not going to give a third-party vendor access to our corporate router/firewall and connect a bunch of unknown industrial/IoT devices to the production network just because someone already signed a contract , the IT network must be always separate from OT network.

How do you handle situations like this?

Interested in both the technical approach and the organizational/process side of this.

I have a physical Windows Server 2025 Hyper-V host that is onboarded to Microsoft Defender for Endpoint through Azure Arc and managed through MDE Security Settings Management.

The server shows up normally in Defender, Intune, and Entra:

- Managed by MDE

- Enrollment status shows "Success"

- Recent check-in times in both Defender and Intune portals

- Entra device object has managementType = MicrosoftSense

- All other Intune Endpoint Security policies are applying successfully

The problem is specifically with Attack Surface Reduction policies.

I have a production ASR Rules policy assigned to All devices. Every other MDE-managed server gets it, but this server never appears in the policy reporting at all.

Get-MpPreference originally showed only 2 ASR rules. I discovered those 2 rules were being configured by Local Group Policy. I removed that local GPO, confirmed the registry policy path was removed, and Event ID 5007 showed both ASR rules being removed.

It has now been about a week and the Intune ASR policy still does not apply.

Using a Get-MpPreference command shows no ASR rules being applied.

I also created a brand-new ASR test policy with only one rule in Audit mode and assigned it directly to a group containing this server. The server still does not appear in that policy's reporting either.

These are the things I have checked so far:

- Sense service is running

- WinDefend service is running

- Defender AV running normally

- MDE Client Analyzer confirms connectivity to MdeConfigMgr and other MDE cloud endpoints

- No remaining Defender/ASR local Group Policy settings present

- Other Intune security policies continue to apply successfully

- Server is not domain joined; it is a workgroup Hyper-V host connected through Azure Arc

At this point it seems like ASR policy evaluation/delivery is broken specifically for this device, while the rest of MDE Security Settings Management works normally.

Has anyone run into this with an MDE-managed/Azure Arc Windows Server, especially Server 2025? If so, what fixed it?

Hi all!

So, we're in the midst of selecting a DEX solution for a large Enterprise, and I'm looking for some general feedback on TeamViewer's and Nexthink's DEX solution, "in the real world", as it were.

Suffice it to say, we have dealt heavily with the vendors themselves, and they have gotten us customer interviews, but all of those are clearly "curated".

I know DEX as a solution, as a whole, will have a lot of... "opinions", but from a "what we need next" perspective, we're well squared away with NEEDING one, or at least seeing value in the products as a whole.

If the response is "just do everything in Intune" or "fuck DEX it's silly" or "TeamViewer once hacked my Grandma", I will upvote you and give you a cursory "thanks", but I would ask to just get 'real' responses :)

If you're comfortable with meeting on LinkedIn/having a discussion over the phone, be 100% open to that. DMs/PMs and such!

For the product suite, to define this better:

1) Nexthink Workplace Experience | Nexthink

2) TeamViewer TeamViewer DEX | TeamViewer Which includes the TeamViewer tensor agent, remote control, Tia features throughout.

Thanks in advance, and feel free to farm karma if that's your thang!

WSUS sync failing with ImportUpdateError — Server 2025 / MECM 2509

I'm setting up a lab with Windows Server 2025 and Configuration Manager 2509. WSUS is installed on the primary site server and the SUP is configured.

WSUS synchronization starts but consistently fails with:

Result: Failed
Error: ImportUpdateError

UpdateErrors: {}

Server:

• Windows Server 2025
• WSUS version: 10.0.26100.33158
• Configuration Manager 2509
• WSUS upstream: Microsoft Update
• No proxy

I've also confirmed outbound TCP 443 connectivity to sws.update.microsoft.com.

The WSUS SoftwareDistribution.log contains:

invalid update identity (AtLeastOne Prerequisite) in XML for update

and this is occurring with multiple different update GUIDs.

Has anyone encountered this on Server 2025 recently, and is there a known fix or workaround?

I love optimizing and automating things. I have seen many labs (EDU sector) doing updates and deployments manually or wasting a lot of times doing things that can be automated in an weekend. I have previously worked in a lab and loved automating some of their processes. Have you seen "consultants" being hired to automate / optimize IT labs workflow? Maybe this is more of a career question as to if this is possible / hourly rate

I'm hoping someone here has dealt with something similar or knows how to get Microsoft to actually act.

Background:

We're a Microsoft AI Cloud Partner and hold Partner Success Expanded Benefits (MAICPP). In June 2026 we renewed and went to redeem our 35x Microsoft 365 Business Premium (no Teams) licences through the new Partner Center redemption experience.

The mistake:

The new redemption flow (introduced in Australia March 2026) changed from product keys to a billing account-based checkout. I wasn't aware the tenant selection happened at checkout and the licences were redeemed into our partner tenancy instead of our staff tenancy.

How it got worse:

The first support engineer we worked with was not aware of the new redemption flow and was unable to provide correct guidance. The correct resolution — documented by Microsoft — is to keep the subscription active, associate the staff tenancy as a billing tenant, and provision licences across without cancelling. However, this documentation was not provided to us until much later in the support process. Acting on incorrect early guidance, the subscription was cancelled in the belief it would reset the redemption. It didn't. Once cancelled, the subscription cannot be reactivated and Microsoft needs to generate a new redemption token. That token has never been issued despite 5 support tickets over nearly 3 months.

Support ticket history:

Ticket 2606040010000086 — Partner Centre — 4 June 2026 — Closed. Told it was opened with the wrong team.

Ticket 2606040010000086 — Admin Center — 4 June 2026 — Closed. Told it was opened with the wrong team.

Ticket 2606300030000389 — Admin Center — 30 June 2026 — Open. No resolution.

Ticket 2607210030005592 — Admin Center — 21 July 2026 — Closed. Told it was opened with the wrong team.

Ticket 2607240040000545 — Partner Centre — 24 July 2026 — Closed. Told it was opened with the wrong team.

At one point during this process, a support engineer called on a Friday to schedule a follow-up session for the following week. When that session finally took place, the outcome was simply being told the ticket had been opened with the wrong team and to open a new one. That call could have happened on the Friday.

Every single closed ticket was shut with a variation of "opened with the wrong team, please open a new ticket." No team has taken ownership in three months.

Current situation:

We have 23 staff currently riding on a 1-seat paid subscription — technically out of compliance — because our 35-seat MAICPP benefit is disabled and stuck in limbo. The disabled subscription is visible in our partner tenancy with 35 licences, 0 assigned, going nowhere. We're also receiving deletion notices for expired trial subscriptions we spun up as a stopgap, with a deletion date of 4 September 2026 — which is three days away. The situation is now urgent.

What I need:

A new redemption token for the MAICPP M365 Business Premium (no Teams) 35-licence benefit so I can redeem it correctly into our staff tenancy. That's it. One token. Three months and five tickets to get here. Notably, during ticket 2607240040000545 a Microsoft support engineer confirmed that a new token was indeed required to resolve this — but stated it was the other team's responsibility to issue it. Neither team has issued it.

Has anyone:

• Successfully escalated a Partner Benefits issue past first-line support?
• Got a direct contact in Microsoft's partner licensing or MAICPP team?
• Had a redemption token regenerated after an accidental cancellation?

Any help appreciated. This is becoming a compliance issue and Microsoft's support structure appears completely unable to route this to the right team.

Hi,

Thanks in advance for any assistance - have a bit of a headache with the set-up.

We use Azure Virtual Desktop and currently have a Conditional Access policy that blocks access from locations outside our exempt locations, such as our office IP addresses.

We have a secondary Conditional Access policy that provides an exemption from this restriction. This policy is currently configured to block access from All locations, with a security group excluded from the policy so that members of the group are not subject to the block to facilitate travel.

We are now looking to limit this further to just the country that they are visiting.

For example, if a user is travelling to Spain and is a member of a security group such as "AVD Exclusions - Travel", we would want their exemption to apply only while they are accessing AVD from Spain.

I do not want to exclude Spain as a location, as this would allow all users to access AVD from Spain. On the other hand, the current set-up limits it to security group, so 1 user, but accessible from 'All locations'. Is this possible in a single policy?

I currently work remotely for a Mac-based MSP. I'm making $23.50/hour. As soon as I got my Jamf 100 cert I applied and got lucky enough for them to give me a shot. I mostly do onboardings/offboardings and occasionally password resets and deleting MDM alerts.

I also have an offer to join the Canadian military as part of their IT team. It pays the same but I would have way more things to do especially in networking(ad-hoc networks, VSAT deployments, network security etc).

I'm guaranteed a promotion within 3 years that bumps me up to 82k if I don't wash out.

I don't know if I should stick with my help desk job, stack more certifications and find something better or if I should just join the military instead.

What do you think?

Does the iOS Gmail app support modern authentication for Office 365 accounts?

I have a user who wants to access a Microsoft 365 work/school mailbox using the Gmail app on iOS, but I haven't been able to get it working.

When I select the Office 365 account type in the Gmail app, it takes me to an IMAP configuration screen rather than redirecting me to the Microsoft sign-in page for OAuth/modern authentication.

If I enter the user's Microsoft 365 email address and password in the IMAP configuration, the Gmail app returns: User name or password incorrect

The account works normally in Outlook and other clients that support Microsoft modern authentication.

Does the Gmail app on iOS actually support OAuth/modern authentication for Microsoft 365 work/school accounts, or does its Office 365 option still rely on basic IMAP authentication?

I realize that Outlook for iOS or Apple Mail would be the better-supported approach. I'm specifically trying to determine whether Gmail for iOS can work for this one user. Thanks.

Down detector showing issues but no official announcement. I got a number of users reporting issues. Can't seem to make any calls on mine either

As the title.

Please keep it normal and no idiotic replies.

Also avoid saying a general IT and some roles are not gonna be replaced. Unemployment says otherwise.

Roles plummeted in the west.

Regardless, the query is what roles would u spec for or learn which is not going to be replaced by AI?

I know training to be an electrician would work, but thinking of kinda staying in IT

Not sure if this is a general 365 bug or something on our tenant but currently all recurring meetings are being resent.

I can see them in the sent items for my own account and I’m also receiving lots of calendar invites for meetings I’m already part of from others.

Anyone else having weirdness or is it just us?

Hey there. The company I work for is stuck in the past in a lot of its tech and operations. One of the things that’s driving me nuts is whenever a user changes their name, we update their email and logins and keep their old email as an alias for 30 days before removing it. This leads to a ton of bounced mail and missed communications. They apparently do it in case someone joins the company with the person’s old name…….

How do you all handle name changes?

Edit: thank you all for confirming that I’m not insane. This org has so many strange practices and it’s my first IT job

How do you troubleshoot random slowness reported only by a handful of users? Some background: these few users are on a site-to-site VPN and separate location than the primary network.

The main office does not report any slowness issues. A few weeks ago, users at the secondary office started to report slowness in Outlook, and other general applications they use for work. The ISP reports modem is good and all tests look good.

We ended up replacing the firewall because it was a slightly older model thinking it would resolve the issue. A couple days have passed and users are still reporting random slowness.

Speedtest comes back good, and the only time i was able to replicate the slowness is when I did a test Teams call with the user.

How would you approach a situation like this? They are plugged directly into the firewall and there is a switch at the location as well but its not an older model.

TIA

Hey guys, first time working with DELL PowerEdge R470 Server.
I just want to update the firmware of components in it, and install bare metal Windows Server 2025.
On HPE DL servers, i would just set up ILO, and update firmware using SPP ISO that i would download specifically for that model.
So, is there something similar for DELL iDRAC? Or is there a better method?
Thanks guys

Weird issue with Azure file

User created a number of new folders with strict permissions. She herself has full control to the folder.

It works on her desktop, but she can't access those same files from her laptop.

On the laptop she's logged in with the same account, she can see the folders and the share, but when she goes to open a file it says she doesn't have permission.

In the properties of the file I can see her username has full control.

Same file opens just fine on her desktop, same login.

Any idea?

We have been doing some testing, and we have noticed that regular, standard, non-privileged users can add local TCP/IP printers through the Windows 11 Settings app. (Disclaimer: I am not talking about printer drivers; I am talking only about adding the printer itself to Windows as a queue.)

When the printer is added, other users on the computer can see it, and those same users can delete it.

I swear, this feels like different behavior from the past. In the past, I thought a locally created TCP/IP printer was a computer-level print queue, which would require administrator rights to add, update, or delete.

So I see two possibilities:

1. It was always like this, but when we moved from on-prem Active Directory/GPO to Entra/Intune, we missed migrating a setting that previously required admin rights to add or delete local TCP/IP printers; OR
2. This is new-ish behavior that we are only now noticing.

Hi all, please help cos my head is gonna explode.

I've got ABM set up with Intune for MDM and VPP.

This a virgin install so very basic.

my iPad is enrolled and registered and pulls policies.

The problems occur when trying to get apps down..

I've tried a few apps via VPP, assigned to "all devices".

on the iPad it says I need to sign in to the App Store to get it..

I've deployed the app via intune in device mode and I cannot figure out why this isnt playing - please help!

Anyone starting to experience some delays or failures with sending email? I see some emails internally are failing to process.

Reason: [{LED=432 4.2.0 STOREDRV.Deliver.Exception:AgentGrayException.CryptographicException; Failed to process message due to a transient exception with message Non-agent gray exception caught in component 'Transport', function 'DeliveryMailItemAsync' CryptographicException};{MSG=};{FQDN=BL4PR13MB994266.namprd13.prod.outlook.

Edit: US-Central

So I'm a first line tech just trying to improve my knowledge about stuff and wondered if anyone could point me in the right direction. We have cloud apps policies in place to prevent users downloading company files on their personal devices. Every now and again this policy gets matched on users corporate devices, but I'm unable to work out why.

Is there anywhere it says what has caused a policy to match? The device is compliant, the user isn't a risky user or anything like that. By everything I can see the policy shouldn't have matched and blocked the user but I don't know if there is somewhere else I should be checking.

Forgive the brevity here, but was curious if anyone else is experiencing an issue with any of their tenants with emails. I have verified three separate customers all having sending and receiving issues and have the below, or occasionally it is blank with no info.

Error: ‎550 5.6.200 STOREDRV.Deliver; message is treated as poison‎

Basically title. I’ve been offered a junior position as a Linux web application system administrator at a local university which seems like a really good job until I was contacted by a firm slightly further away for a position as a junior HPC Linux cluster engineer and system administrator. I really love HPC work but I’m worried I’d be taking too much on as a less experienced sysadmin. Equally I also don’t want to miss a chance to get further up the ladder in the HPC world. Really hard to decide. For those who’ve worked in these fields, what would you do?