Key Small Business Server 2011 Essentials Log Files
[Today's post comes to us courtesy of Ashish Sukhija and Rituraj Choudhary from Commercial Technical Support]
In SBS Essentials the location of the log files is under C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows Server\Logs. From a support perspective this can be very handy as you will always know where the log file will be located. We have compiled a list of important logs and their associated wizards below. Please note that there are a few wizards which refer to one or more logs. C:\ProgramData is hidden by default. Please use Folder Options in Windows Explorer to unhide it.
Log files on the Windows SBS 2011 Essentials Server:
 |
Alert viewer | ProviderRegistryService.2.log |
 |
Server Settings | ProviderRegistryService.2.log |
| GETTING STARTED TASKS | |
| Set up Server Backup | Dashboard.log |
| Set up Remote Web Access | Dashboard.log, SharedServiceHost-DomainManagerServiceConfig.log |
| Set options for sharing | Dashboard.log |
| Set up alert email notification | Dashboard.log |
| Set up Microsoft Office 365 Integration | |
| COMMON TASKS | |
| Add a user account | Dashboard.log |
| Add a shared folder | Dashboard.log |
| Deactivate User Account/ Activate User Account | SharedServiceHost-O365ProviderServiceConfig.log, SharedServiceHost-O365ProviderServiceConfig.#.log and Dashboard.log |
| Assign Office 365 account | SharedServiceHost-O365ProviderServiceConfig.log, SharedServiceHost-O365ProviderServiceConfig.2.log and Dashboard.log |
| Unassign Office 365 account | SharedServiceHost-O365ProviderServiceConfig.log, SharedServiceHost-O365ProviderServiceConfig.2.log and Dashboard.log |
| Add a user account | Dashboard.log |
| Set the password policy | Dashboard.log |
| Remove the user account | Dashboard.log |
| Change the user account password | Dashboard.log |
| View the server properties | ProviderRegistryService.2.log |
| Restore files or folders for the server | SharedServiceHost-AlertServiceConfig.2.log |
| Customize Backup of the server | SharedServiceHost-SystemServiceConfig.2.log |
| View alerts for the server | ProviderRegistryService.2.log |
| Additional client computer backup tasks | ProviderRegistryService.2.log |
| Move a folder | storageservice2.log, Dashboard.log |
| Add a folder | storageservice2.log, Dashboard.log |
| View the folder properties | storageservice2.log, Dashboard.log |
| Change the Office 365 administrator account | OIMGettingStartedWizard.log |
| Link a domain to Office 365 | Dashboard.log |
| Uninstall Office 365 Integration Module | OIMUninstallWizard.log |
Other log files:
| Remote Web Access browsing | C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows Server\Logs\WebApps\RemoteAccess.log |
| My Home Server app on Windows 7 Phone | C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows Server\Logs\WebApps\MobileData.log |
| Active Directory Domain Setup Log | DCPromo_date_time.log |
Few relevant log files on the Windows SBS 2011 Essentials Client:
The log files for the Vista and later clients are located in C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows Server\Logs. The log files on Windows XP clients are present under C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows Server\Logs.
| Windows Small Business Server 2011 Launchpad | Launchpad.log |
| Backup | BackupLaunchpad.log |
| Opening the Dashboard from the client | DashboardClient.log |
| Presence of Essential Server and configures the local DNS services | Launchpad.log |
| Windows Firewall Configuration for Remote Desktops on Clients | RemoteDesktopClientConfig.log |
| Backup Launchpad | BackupLaunchpad.log |
| Added Scheduled Tasks | RunTask-AddScheduledTasks.log |
| Scheduled Backup Task | RunTask-Backup.log |
| Customer Experience Improvement Program | Run Task-SaveCEIPData.log |
| Windows Small Business Server 2011 Connector | ComputerConnector.log |
| Client Setup | ClientCore.msi.log, ClientDeploy.log |
For non-Windows client computers, the following log files are referred:
1. System.log
2. Library/Logs/Windows Server.log
3. Library/Logs/CrashReporter/LaunchPad-<nnn> (all of the LaunchPad-<nnn>.crash files)
4. Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/LaunchPad-<nnn> (all of the LaunchPad-<nnn>.crash files)
Windows Server Solutions Log Collector Tool is an efficient way to collect all of the logs and can be downloaded here.