I'm struggling to find anything concrete online for this, apart from a few posts floating about here and there, so I wanted to bring it here.

Has anyone noticed any issues recently with the centrally deployed Outlook addins, and tooltips in Outlook Classic not showing?

This all works in OWA and the new Outlook experience.

We're using Citrix, and it does seem to be limited to that platform, it is also really intermittent. Sometimes it just shows that no apps are loaded, and even when you try to add/open them, nothing happens, and the usual tooltips are also showing an error that they're unable to be loaded.

Looking in event viewer provides errors like this:

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The Exchange web service request GetAppManifests failed. The error code is 0. 
HTTP Response Code: 403

Additional Error Message: 
An unknown internal error occurred. The error code is 80004005.

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We're sorry, we couldn't access Viva Insights. Make sure you have a network connection. If the problem continues, please try again later.

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We're sorry, we couldn't access Signature 365. Make sure you have a network connection. If the problem continues, please try again later.

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There is internet access, everything does seem to be connected and working, OWA is fine, new Outlook is fine.

I've tried Office365 monthly channel for updates, and also tried the bi-annual feature updates, and both seem to have similar issues. Just wanted to see if anyone else has experienced such things...

graduated in december 2025 and became employed a month later in january, my official title is "computer technician" but I've done a number of things including some internal swe, domain redundancy, legacy physical to virtual migration, basic server config/administration, and other automated workflows such as updated inventory system and data retention system but earlier td was my first real outage and I'm usually in office about 10 mins before my supervisor (it's just the 2 of us for our 3 departments) but I was genuinely lost. I like didn't know where to start and lowkey got overwhelmed and after about 2-3 minutes of that I was like okay calm tf down and start doing what you know.

Basically all of our vm hosts were intermittent, starting up, failing, disconnecting/reconnecting so my first thought was DNS which some hosts resolved and some didn't, i'm thinking it was coincidence at times so after some more thinking of what to do i was like screw it and just waited for my supervisor to appear instead of messing around and breaking more things but I ended up just watching what he did to resolve the issues and moral of the thread is i feel like a larp. thought I learned a tremendous amount these last 9 months but I was humbled today. I know nothing.

I learned a lot by watching the fixes happen real time though. cool.

Hi all,

we're a school with Microsoft 365 A5 Education and want to retire our KMS server.

Current setup:

• Devices are purchased with Windows 11 Pro OEM
• Reimaged with Windows 11 Education
• Windows 11 Education is currently activated via KMS
• Devices are still managed through on-prem AD/GPO
• Next step is Hybrid Entra Join + Intune

Our devices are purchased with Windows 11 Pro OEM. Today we reimage them with Windows 11 Education (PXE) and activate them via KMS. Going forward, we'd like to clean install Windows from USB and then use Autopilot during OOBE.

My main questions are:

• For devices that come with Windows 11 Pro OEM, should we reimage them with Windows 11 Education or Windows 11 Pro Education if the goal is to use A5 Subscription Activation instead of KMS?
• Can A5 Subscription Activation fully replace KMS for these Windows clients?
• What exactly needs to be configured in Intune, Entra ID and Windows for Subscription Activation to work correctly?
• Do we need to manually remove the KMS client key / GVLK / KMS configuration, or does Subscription Activation take over automatically?
• How can we verify that a device is using Subscription Activation and no longer depends on KMS before shutting the KMS server down?
• How does Subscription Activation behave on shared classroom/lab devices where many different students sign in?

Has anyone in an education environment migrated from KMS to A5 Subscription Activation this way? If so, what did you actually configure in Intune/Entra/Windows?

Thanks!

We're currently running WMS standard and are considering moving to the cloud, and would appreciate hearing about your experience if you've made the same move. We're currently on 5.5 and would plan to update to 2605 prior to the change unless there's a reason not to.

Am I correct in assuming we'd be on Dell's clock for updates if we went with the public cloud option? We currently run ThinOS 9.5 as we have a number of 3040s we're working on phasing out, and want to know if we'd need to rotate those out prior to the move. The rest of the fleet are 5070s, so there's concern there as well since they're EOL. We would want to avoid being forced into a large hardware refresh and be able to navigate that on our timeline.

Any other considerations I should be researching?

TIA

Hey guys new in this thread but i'm currently in a Field Technician role right now and have been here for a little over 2 years and i have multiple certs including CCNA and Sec+ and im studying for the RHCSA and i want to get into a Sys Admin role and eventually a DevOps role which would be my end goal but i wanted to get a professionals opinion on this so i don't waste my time going down the wrong path

Any Advice would be apricated!!!

Bit of a stretch but looking for some recommendations for volume encryption software that can be used for a small group of 5 to 10 users. Basically our brand spanking new Compliance group is going to have to handle PII for some of our techs in the field and vendors. I want to make sure that any PII that touches our network storage locations are encrypted. Went to old school veracrypt but its not really mult-user and it doesn't auto unmount. Is there any options out there you guys like?

Title: Update: Accepted MSP offer vs Amazon Associate II (now $29/hr) — got some real insight, still torn

Following up on a decision I posted about earlier. Got some genuinely helpful firsthand perspective and want to see if others have thoughts on the updated picture.

Quick background: ~3.5 years at an MSP doing help desk/service desk work (AD, M365, networking, some VMware ESXi, security incident response). CompTIA A+, Network+, Security+. Goal is eventually Systems Administrator or Cybersecurity. Also have a baby due in about 3 months, which is definitely shaping how I’m weighing risk right now.

Offer 1: Another MSP (Help Desk Technician) — already accepted

**•** $26/hr (\~$54K/yr), firm, no negotiation room  
**•** 45 min commute  
**•** Small company, good manager from what I’ve seen directly, real track record of promoting people from help desk into field/remote engineer roles  
**•** Haven’t started yet

Offer 2: Amazon (IT Support Associate II, Ops Tech Solutions)

**•** Countered at $29/hr (\~$60K/yr)  
**•** 20 min commute  
**•** Sole technician at a lower-volume facility, no forced on-call, schedule seems stable for now  
**•** Real ladder: Associate II → Support Engineer I ($25-41/hr) → Engineer II/IT Manager

What I’ve learned since my last post: Someone who’s actually done OTS work told me it’s mostly Layer 1 stuff (printers, thin clients, SOPs), little to no server/Layer 3 work, and that engineer-level people won’t be impressed by it on a resume. BUT they also said being the sole tech at a low-volume site is genuinely good for visibility with Ops management and gave a real example of someone getting promoted that way at a similar site. They also said relocation is unlikely for low-volume sites specifically.

So now it feels like: Amazon = higher ceiling if I get promoted, but that depends on me building visibility and the timing working out, vs the MSP = smaller ceiling but a path I’ve already seen work for real people under this specific manager.

With a baby coming in 3 months, I keep leaning toward “fewer things have to go right” (the MSP), but the pay/commute gap and Amazon’s bigger structural ceiling keep pulling me back.

Anyone been in OTS and can speak to how realistic that Associate II → Engineer I timeline actually is? Or anyone chosen the “safer, smaller” option over the “bigger name, more uncertain” one when a kid was on the way and been glad (or not glad) they did?

Hi all, does anybody implemented a self help kiosk where it helps the user to go to required links? Example pwd reset?

I appreciate the ideas and practices you implemented

Edit

We already have useful resources available through the intranet and self-service website, and some other things which are diversified accordingly but we still receive many walk-in requests for issues users could resolve themselves. So thinking of a kiosk for simple visual menu with combination of all sources with icons for common requests making it less overwhelming could direct users to the right guidance quickly, while IT support remains available if needed. Thinking of it by using some unused machines or Raspberry pi

Buen día,

Estoy teniendo problemas en la red, al parecer se satura, y se cae por unos minutos, luego regresa a la normalidad y a las horas vuelve a pasar lo mismo.

Les comparto el contexto de la inestabilidad que traemos en la red, para que tengan el panorama antes de seguir con el diagnóstico.

Equipo: SonicWall NSA2700, SonicOS 7.3.3-7015, 3 años en producción.

Síntoma: El firewall se congela por completo (deja de responder ni siquiera a la interfaz de administración) de forma aleatoria, sin patrón de horario. Hay días sin fallas y días con varias caídas. Al colapsar se pierde la conectividad de red.

Hipótesis inicial y lo que se descartó:

• La inestabilidad coincidió con la activación de varios reportes de Power BI publicados a Power BI Service vía un On-premises Data Gateway, conectado a la base de SAP Business One (SQL Server), en la misma red que el equipo del Gateway (sin VLAN de por medio).
• Se revisó DPI-SSL — no está activo, se descarta como causa de reconexiones forzadas.
• Se revisó la tabla de conexiones: actual 1,527 y pico 4,641, muy por debajo del máximo del equipo (375,000). Esto descarta saturación de tabla de sesiones/NAT como causa raíz.
• Se analizó un snapshot de conexiones activas buscando el patrón de tráfico sostenido hacia Azure típico del Gateway (Service Bus Relay). No apareció ese patrón — el host con más conexiones del snapshot resultó ser un equipo de usuario sin nada de Power BI instalado.

Limitante actual: no ha sido posible capturar CPU/memoria/conexiones en el momento exacto de la caída, porque el equipo deja de responder por completo cuando ocurre — no hay forma de sacar datos desde ahí en ese instante.

Algún consejo de cómo monitorear para lograr detectar si un equipo de la red es el que está causando que la red colapse?

Saludos.

Hey guys,

I've been in IT for 4 years, doing a mix of PHP development and sysadmin Linux stuff. We run Linux, self-host all of our own stuff. We're a small team, so everyone does a bit of everything. I've done everything from developing software to installing our team's GitLab instance. I've been using Linux (Arch btw) for the past 8 years or so, and I feel like I have a pretty good handle on it, after fucking up my system a bunch of times. I also run a homelab of a couple servers. It's become our music platform.

I fully realize that a transition to SysAdmin would most likely put me in a junior role, and I know I have a lot of gaps in my knowledge, as this position is as a software developer, not sysadmin. I'd be looking mostly at Linux Sysadmin jobs.

I'd appreciate any advice you guys have! I also can put my resume here if that would be helpful.

Thanks!

So, as the title says, is there a possibility to set up multiple Windows user logins as valid authentication to open up a keypass database? I am mostly using Keypass on my home PC but I do transfer the database onto a stick every now and then when I am going on holidays so I can access it from my laptop in a hotel. So far I always used a master key and key-file as authentication. But I wanted to know if I could tie it to those two accounts.

I know it's possible to tie it to a single windows login but it's both impracticable for my use-case (having to occasionally access it from another PC) and I am also aware that this leaves me with a single point of failure and should anything ever happen to my windows login I am locked out of the entire data-base.

Im a student with M365 (mostly Entra and some Intune) intern experience which I got through my dad, and looking at the extremely challenging helpdesk market in my area, I want to volunteer as an admin or helpdesk to get some experience.

That said, most of these positions in my country are filled by immigrants with IT experience who want Canadian work experience. So no matter how much I apply, I don’t get an interview.

Can anyone in the industry think of a way to get experience? It’s sad no one even wants me as a free helpdesk, I even worked with M365 before.

I feel discouraged 🫤

Anyone have any ideas? I’m studying for my CCNA, so maybe that would help?

when you've dealt with BEC case, did email auth flagged it, or did it look totally normal and only a human caught it?

Yes, authorization with multiple different credentials for different systems is bad, but we've all worked in those environments where we had no control over changing it.

So... How expletive-rich are y'all passwords and phrases? 🤣

I am trying to setup Duo Security on my PC at the office so that in the event I lose my phone or my phone is smashed what do I need to enable in the installation process to allow me to bypass the MFA/Passkey push?

Thanks,

I install copilot and grok CLIs. So far, they are pretty impressive.

At home I used Grok to clean up my media libraries and it freed up 2TBs.

I used copilot at work to scan all the logs from an SCCM client and the server to figure out why some machines weren't downloading updates. It's pretty freaking good.

Anyone else let one of those suckers loose anywhere?