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Creating an Office365 app password for emailing with Microsoft Dynamics GP

Tuesday 5th May 2020Saturday 2nd May 2020 Ian Grieve2 minute read0 comment

In a post a couple of weeks ago on emailing from Microsoft Dynamics GP, I mentioned using Office365 Exchange integrationfor sending the emails. Usually this works fine, but, increasingly, clients are activating 2FA (Two-factor authentication) is being enabled, which means users cannot log on using their normal password as the Microsoft Dynamics GP doesn’t use 2FA.

You can however create an app password in Office365 which you can use to log in when emailing documents from Microsoft Dynamics GP.

To create an app password, log into your Office365 account and select My account by clicking on your avatar in the top right corner.

The on the left-hand navigation pane select Security & privacy and then, on the right, click Additional security verification:

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Manifest to manage scaling for for High DPI displays

Monday 4th May 2020Saturday 2nd May 2020 Ian Grieve5 minute read0 comment

With more clients working remotely, there has been an increase in the number of people asking me about Microsoft Dynamics GP not scaling text properly. The problem can occur in the text showing either very small or very large (with different versions of Microsoft Dynamics GP handling fonts differently they can display with different problems):

This issue has been raised with me by users with the issue on local clients running on high DPI devices like the Microsoft Surface or when using them to access Microsoft Dynamics GP via RDP.

Fortunately, there is a known workaround available for this issue. Steve Endow on his old Dynamics GP Land blog post about resolving the issue using a manifest file. Then in 2018, Nathan Hayden posted about a similar approach for remote desktop connections.

The first step is to create a manifest file called Dynamics.exe.manifest or Mstsc.exe.manifest (depending on whether you’re fixing the issue for a local or remote desktop accessed client) containing this XML:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<assembly xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" manifestVersion="1.0" xmlns:asmv3="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3">
<dependency>
  <dependentAssembly>
    <assemblyIdentity type="win32" name="Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls" version="6.0.0.0" processorArchitecture="*" publicKeyToken="6595b64144ccf1df" language="*">
    </assemblyIdentity>
  </dependentAssembly>
</dependency>
<dependency>
  <dependentAssembly>
    <assemblyIdentity type="win32" name="Microsoft.VC90.CRT" version="9.0.21022.8" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b">
    </assemblyIdentity>
  </dependentAssembly>
</dependency>
<trustInfo xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3">
  <security>
    <requestedPrivileges>
      <requestedExecutionLevel level="asInvoker" uiAccess="false"/>
    </requestedPrivileges>
  </security>
</trustInfo>
<asmv3:application>
  <asmv3:windowsSettings xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/SMI/2005/WindowsSettings">
    <ms_windowsSettings:dpiAware xmlns:ms_windowsSettings="http://schemas.microsoft.com/SMI/2005/WindowsSettings">false</ms_windowsSettings:dpiAware>
  </asmv3:windowsSettings>
</asmv3:application>
</assembly>

This file should be placed next to the exe file to which it should be applied. By default, this will be %ProgramFiles(x86)%\Microsoft Dynamics\GP (adjust based on your version or install folder) or %windir%\SysWOW64\ depending on if the fix is for a local or remote desktop accessed client.

Then use the below to create a manifest.reg file to add the DWord registry entry which tells Windows to prefer and use the external manifest just created:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SideBySide]
"PreferExternalManifest"=dword:00000001

Once you’ve created the registry file above, double-click it to add the DWord to the registry.

When you next launch Microsoft Dynamics GP or connect to the RDP session and launch it, the text in the client should display correctly.

Hide Desktop Icons

Friday 1st May 2020Monday 4th May 2020 Ian Grieve2 minute read0 comment

A few years ago I used to have a Windows desktop covered in icons, which was almost a throwback to the old Windows 3 Program Manager (I think that’s what it was called, but I had to look it up). In recent years, I’ve tended to go for a much cleaner look to the desktop and use a lot of shortcuts to start applications instead.

I dislike having the Recycle Bin on the desktop, which is there by default, but because Microsoft have been shuffling settings around a lot, I never remember where the setting is to turn it off, so this post is a reminder.

To switch off (or on) the desktop icons, launch the Themes Settings applet by right-clicking the desktop and select Personalise (or launch it using the ms-settings:themes URi).

When launched, select Desktop icon settings on the right (or at the bottom if the window is narrow):