PowerPivot Overview

PowerPivot refers to a collection of applications and services that provide an end-to-end solution for creating and sharing business intelligence using Excel and SharePoint.
PowerPivot integrates with Excel and SharePoint. In an Excel environment, PowerPivot for Excel provides a familiar authoring and analytical experience on the workstation. In a SharePoint farm, PowerPivot for SharePoint adds server-side applications and features that support PowerPivot data access and management for workbooks that you publish to SharePoint. PowerPivot server components load the data, process queries, perform scheduled data refresh, and track server and workbook usage in the farm.
This topic contains the following sections:
What is PowerPivot for Excel
What is PowerPivot for SharePoint
Querying PowerPivot Data in SharePoint
Who is PowerPivot for?

What is PowerPivot for Excel?

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PowerPivot for Excel is an authoring tool that you use to create PowerPivot data in an Excel workbook. You use Excel data visualization objects such as PivotTables and PivotCharts to present the PowerPivot data that you embed or reference in an Excel workbook (.xlsx) file.

PowerPivot for Excel supports self-service business intelligence in the following ways.

• Current row-and-column limitations in Excel are removed so that you can import much more data.
• A data relationship layer lets you integrate data from different sources and work with all of the data holistically. You can enter data, copy data from other worksheets, or import data from corporate databases. You can build relationships among the data to analyze it as if it all originated from a single source.
• Create portable, reusable data. Data stays inside the workbook. You do not need manage external data connections. If you publish, move, copy, or share a workbook, all the data goes with it.
• PowerPivot data is fully and immediately available to the rest of the workbook. You can switch between Excel and PowerPivot windows to work on the data and its presentation in PivotTables or charts in an interactive fashion. Working on data or on its presentation are not separate tasks. You work on both together in the same Excel environment.

PowerPivot for Excel lets you import, filter, sort many millions of rows of data, far beyond the one million row limit in Excel. Sort and filter are extremely fast because the operations are performed by a local Analysis Services VertiPaq processor that runs inside Excel.

More importantly, PowerPivot for Excel lets you build relationships between data that is from completely different data sources by mapping columns that contain similar or identical data. When you build relationships in the data, you create something entirely new in Excel that can be used in PivotTables, PivotCharts, or any Excel data presentation object.

Saved data is stored inside the Excel workbook. The data is highly compressed, creating a file that is a manageable size on a client workstation.

In the end, the user has a single workbook (.xlsx) file that contains embedded data that is extracted and processed by an internal processor, but rendered exclusively through Excel. Compression and processing is through the Analysis Services VertiPaq engine. Query processing runs transparently in the background to provide the large scale data support in Excel. Sorting and filtering is very fast because it is performed by the local Analysis VertiPaq engine.

What is PowerPivot for SharePoint?

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PowerPivot data in an Excel workbook is an Analysis Services data source that requires an Analysis Service server instance in SharePoint integrated mode to load the data and respond to interactive queries that are issued from an Excel workbook. On a client workstation, the Analysis Services server runs in-process within Excel. On a SharePoint farm, Analysis Services runs on an application server where it is paired with the PowerPivot System Service to handle server-side requests for PowerPivot data. Sharing PowerPivot workbooks in a farm is enabled through Excel Services and SQL Server PowerPivot for SharePoint.

PowerPivot for SharePoint adds services and infrastructure for loading and unloading PowerPivot data. In contrast with other large, corporate BI data sources that are limited in number and closely managed by database specialists, PowerPivot data is managed by services and infrastructure. At any given time, there might be tens or hundreds of PowerPivot workbooks open in memory on application servers in the farm. The PowerPivot System Service tracks this activity, setting up new connections to data that is already loaded in memory, and caching or unloading data if it is no longer used or when there is contention for system resources. Server health data and other usage data is gathered and presented in reports to give you insight into how well the system is performing.

Querying PowerPivot Data in SharePoint

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When you view a PowerPivot workbook from a SharePoint library, the PowerPivot data that is inside the workbook is detected, extracted, and processed separately on Analysis Services server instances within the farm, while Excel Services renders the presentation layer. You can view the fully-processed workbook in a browser window or in an Excel 2010 desktop application that has the PowerPivot add-in.

The following diagram shows how a request for query processing moves through the farm. Because PowerPivot data is part of an Excel 2010 workbook, a request for query processing occurs when a user opens an Excel workbook from a SharePoint library and interacts with a PivotTable or PivotChart that contains PowerPivot data.

Excel Services and PowerPivot for SharePoint components process different parts of the same workbook (.xlsx) file. Excel Services detects PowerPivot data and requests processing from a PowerPivot server in the farm. The PowerPivot server allocates the request to an Analysis Services service instance, which extracts the data from the workbook in the content library and loads the data. Data that is stored in memory is merged back into the rendered workbook, and passed back to Excel Web Access for presentation in a browser window.

Not all data in a PowerPivot workbook is handled by PowerPivot for SharePoint. Excel Services processes tables and cell data in a worksheet. Only PivotTables, PivotCharts, and Slicers that go against PowerPivot data are handled by the PowerPivot service.

Who is PowerPivot for?

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SQL Server PowerPivot client and server applications support self-service business intelligence that puts powerful analytics within your reach, enabling you to find better information and insight into the numbers that drive decisions, objectives, and initiatives throughout your organization. Together, PowerPivot for Excel and PowerPivot for SharePoint provide new tools and infrastructure for:

• Excel users who know how to structure, analyze, and calculate multidimensional data in workbooks and PivotTables.
• SharePoint users who use team sites and document management features to store information and collaborate with colleagues.
• Database professionals and IT pros who want to delegate business data development tasks to those who need the data most, but want to retain sufficient controls so that data can be secured, monitored, reproduced, and archived.

Activate PowerPivot Feature Integration for Site Collections

Feature activation at the site collection level makes application pages and templates available to your sites, including configuration pages for scheduled data refresh and application pages for PowerPivot Gallery and Data Feed libraries.

1. On a SharePoint site, click Site Actions.
   By default, SharePoint web applications are accessed through port 80. This means that you can often access a SharePoint site by entering http:// to open the root site collection.
2. Click Site Settings.
3. In Site Collection Administration, click Site collection features.
4. Scroll down the page until you find PowerPivot Integration Site Collection Feature.
5. Click Activate.
6. Repeat for additional site collections by opening each site and clicking Site Actions.

For more information, see How to: Activate PowerPivot Feature Integration for Site Collections.

Activate Online Help

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PowerPivot for SharePoint includes online help that you can access from pages in your SharePoint site. The online help provides information about PowerPivot application pages, plus links to updated content on the web. The online help is installed but not activated. For instructions, see Activate the SQLPowerPivot Help Collection.

Verify Installation

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PowerPivot query processing in the farm occurs when a user or application opens an Excel workbook that contains PowerPivot data. At a minimum, you can check pages on SharePoint sites to verify that PowerPivot features are available. However, to fully verify an installation, you must have a PowerPivot workbook that you can publish to SharePoint and access from a library. For testing purposes, you can publish a sample workbook that already contains PowerPivot data and use it to confirm that SharePoint integration is correctly configured.

To verify PowerPivot integration with a SharePoint site, do the following:

1. In a browser, open the Web application you created. If you used default values, you can specify http:// in the URL address.
2. Verify that PowerPivot data access and processing features are available in the application. You can do this by verifying the presence of PowerPivot-provided library templates:
   
   1. On Site Actions, click More Options...
   2. In Libraries, you should see Data Feed Library and PowerPivot Gallery. These library templates are provided by the PowerPivot feature and will be visible in the Libraries list if the feature is integrated correctly.

To verify PowerPivot data access on the server, do the following:

1. Upload a PowerPivot workbook to PowerPivot Gallery or any SharePoint library. For more information about how to access sample files, see Roadmap to Creating PowerPivot Workbooks in Excel.
2. Click on the document to open it from the library.
3. Click on a slicer or filter the data to start a PowerPivot query. The server will load PowerPivot data in the background and return the results. In the next step, you will connect to the server to verify the data is loaded and cached.
4. Start SQL Server Management Studio from the Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 program group in the Start menu. If this tool is not installed on your server, you can skip to the last step to confirm the presence of cached files.
5. In Server Type, select Analysis Services.
6. In Server Name, enter \powerpivot, where  is the name of the computer that has the PowerPivot for SharePoint installation.
7. Click Connect.
8. In Object Explorer, click Databases to view the list of PowerPivot data files that are loaded.
9. On the computer file system, check the following folder to determine whether files are cached to disk. The presence of cached files is further verification that your deployment is operational. To view the file cache, go to the \Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSAS10_50.POWERPIVOT\OLAP\Backup folder.

Post-Installation Steps

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After you verify the installation, finish service configuration by creating a PowerPivot Gallery or tuning individual configuration settings. To make full use of the server components you just installed, you can download PowerPivot for Excel to create and then publish your first PowerPivot workbook.

Create a PowerPivot Gallery

PowerPivot Gallery is a library that includes preview and presentation options for viewing PowerPivot workbooks on a SharePoint site. Using PowerPivot Gallery to publish and view PowerPivot workbooks is recommended for its preview capability. In addition, if you also deployed Reporting Services to the same SharePoint server, a PowerPivot Gallery provides ease of use in creating reports. You can launch Report Builder from within PowerPivot Gallery to base a new report on a published PowerPivot workbook. For more information about creating and using the library, see How to: Create and Customize PowerPivot Gallery and How to: Use PowerPivot Gallery.

Create Additional Trusted Sites in Excel Services

You can add trusted sites in Excel Services to vary permissions and configuration settings on sites that provide Excel workbooks and PowerPivot data. For more information, see How to: Create a trusted location for PowerPivot sites.

Tune Configuration Settings

A PowerPivot service application is created using default properties and values. You can modify configuration settings for individual service applications to change the methodology by which requests are allocated, set server timeouts, change the thresholds for query response report events, or specify how long usage data is retained. For more information about configuration in Central Administration or about using PowerPivot features in SharePoint Web applications, see Configuration (PowerPivot for SharePoint) and Operations (PowerPivot for SharePoint).

Install PowerPivot for Excel and Build a PowerPivot Workbook

After you have the server components installed in a farm, you can create your first Excel 2010 workbook that uses embedded PowerPivot data, and then publish it to a SharePoint library in a Web application. Before you can build Excel workbooks that include PowerPivot data, you must start with an installation of Excel 2010, followed by the PowerPivot for Excel add-in that extends Excel to support PowerPivot data import and enrichment. For instructions on how to install PowerPivot for Excel and create PowerPivot data, see How to: Install PowerPivot for Exceland Roadmap to Creating PowerPivot Workbooks in Excel.

Add Servers or Applications

When you deploy the PowerPivot solution, feature integration is activated at the site collection level for all site collections in the web application. As you create new Web applications over time, you must deploy the powerpivotwebapp solution to each one. For instructions, see How to: Deploy PowerPivot Solutions.
Depending on how you configure the PowerPivot service application, the PowerPivot System Service will be added to the default connection group, making it available to all web applications that use default connections. However, if you configured your Web applications to use custom service application connection lists, you will need to add the PowerPivot service application to each SharePoint web application for which you want to enable PowerPivot data processing. For more information, see How to: Connect a PowerPivot Service Application to a SharePoint Web Application.
Over time, if you determine that additional data storage and processing capability is needed, you can add a second PowerPivot for SharePoint server instance to the farm. The installation process is almost identical to the steps you followed to add the first server, except for requirements in how you specify instance names and service account information. For instructions, see How to: Add PowerPivot Servers to a SharePoint Farm.

Enable Excel Services For Power Pivot Purpose

PowerPivot for SharePoint requires Excel Services to support PowerPivot data access in the farm. You can determine whether Excel Services is already enabled by confirming whether Excel Services Application appears in the list of service applications in Central Administration. If Excel Services is not listed, follow these steps to enable it now.

1. In Central Administration, in Application Management, click Manage service applications.
2. In the Service Applications ribbon, in Create, click New.
3. Select Excel Services Application.
4. In Create New Excel Services Application, specify a name (for example, Excel Services Application).
5. In Application Pool, select Create new application pool and give it a descriptive name (for example, Excel Services Application Pool).
6. In Configurable, select a Windows domain user account for this application pool identity.
7. Keep the default checkbox that adds the service application proxy to the default service connection list.
8. Click OK.
9. Click the Excel Services application you just created.
10. Click Trusted File Locations and on this page, select your trusted location. (Typically, this is listed as http:// in the Address column.) To ensure that both Excel Services and PowerPivot service have access to the workbook, you must include SharePoint as an Excel Services trusted location. PowerPivot System Service cannot access workbooks that are stored outside of a SharePoint farm.
11. In the Workbook Properties area, set Maximum Workbook Size to 50.
12. In External Data, set Allow External data to Trusted data connection libraries and embedded. This setting is required for PowerPivot data access in a workbook.
13. Clear the Warn on Data Refresh checkbox to allow preview images of individual worksheets in PowerPivot Gallery. If you choose to keep the warning and workbook settings specify refresh on open, you might get a single preview image of the warning instead of the pages in your workbook.
14. Click OK.

Enable Secure Store Service and Configure Data Refresh

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PowerPivot for SharePoint requires Secure Store Service to store credentials and the unattended execution account for data refresh. You can determine whether Secure Store Service is already enabled by confirming whether it appears in the list of service applications.

Important
If Secure Store Service is enabled, you should still verify that a master key has been generated for it. For instructions, see Part 2: Generate the Master Key in the following procedure.

If Secure Store Service is not listed, follow these steps to enable it now. By enabling Secure Store, workbook authors and document owners can access a broader range of data source connection options when scheduling data refresh for their published workbooks.

Part 1: Enable Secure Store Service

1. In Central Administration, in Application Management, click Manage service applications.
2. In the Service Applications ribbon, in Create, click New.
3. Select Secure Store Service.
4. In the Create Secure Store Application page, enter a name for the application.
5. In Database, specify the SQL Server instance that will host the database for this service application. The default value is the SQL Server Database Engine instance that hosts the farm configuration databases.
6. In Database Name, enter the name of the service application database. The default value is Secure_Store_Service_DB_. The default name corresponds to the default name of the service application. If you entered a unique service application name, follow a similar naming convention for your database name so that you can manage them together.
7. In Database Authentication, the default is Windows Authentication. If you choose SQL Authentication, refer to the SharePoint administrator guide for guidance on how to use the authentication type in your farm.
8. In Application Pool, select Create new application pool. Specify a descriptive name that will help other server administrators identify how the application pool is used.
9. Select a security account for the application pool. Specify a managed account to use a domain user account.
10. Accept the remaining default values, and then click OK. The service application will appear alongside other managed services in the farm's service application list.

Part 2: Generate the Master Key

1. Click the Secure Store Service application from the list.
2. In the Service Applications ribbon, click Manage.
3. In Key Management, click Generate New Key.
4. Enter and then confirm a pass phrase. The pass phrase will be used to add additional secure store shared service applications.
5. Click OK.

Part 3: Configure the Unattended PowerPivot Data Refresh Account

Creating an unattended data refresh account for PowerPivot data access is often required for external data access during data refresh. For example, if Kerberos is not enabled, you must create an unattended account that the PowerPivot service can use to connect to external data sources.
For instructions about how to modify the unattended account later or configure other stored credentials used in data refresh, see How to: Configure the PowerPivot Unattended Data Refresh Account and How to: Configure Stored Credentials for PowerPivot Data Refresh.

Start PowerPivot Services on the Server

A PowerPivot for SharePoint deployment requires that your farm include the following services: Excel Calculation Services, Secure Store Service, and Claims to Windows token service.

The Claims to Windows Token Service is required for Excel Services and PowerPivot for SharePoint. It is used to establish connections to external data sources using the Windows identity of the current SharePoint user. This service must run on every SharePoint server that has Excel Services or PowerPivot for SharePoint enabled. If the service is not already started, you must start it now to enable Excel Services to forward authenticated requests to the PowerPivot System Service.

1. In Central Administration, in System Settings, click Manage services on server.
2. Start the Claims to Windows Token Service.
3. Start Excel Calculation Services.
4. Start Secure Store Service.
5. Verify that both SQL Server Analysis Services and SQL Server PowerPivot System Service are started.

Create a PowerPivot Service Application

The next step is to create a PowerPivot service application.

1. In Central Administration, in Application Management, click Manage service applications.
2. In the Service Applications ribbon, click New.
3. Select SQL Server PowerPivot Service Application. If it does not appear in the list, PowerPivot for SharePoint is not installed or the solution is not deployed.
4. In the Create New PowerPivot Service Application page, enter a name for the application. The default is PowerPivotServiceApplication. If you are creating multiple PowerPivot service applications, a descriptive name will help other administrators understand how the application is used.
5. In Application Pool, create a new application pool and select a security account for it. A domain user account is required.
6. In Database Server, choose a database server on which to create the service application database. The default value is the SQL Server Database Engine instance that hosts the farm configuration databases.
7. In Database Name, the default value is PowerPivotServiceApplication1_. The default database name corresponds to the default name of the service application. If you entered a unique service application name, follow a similar naming convention for your database name so that you can manage them together.
8. In Database Authentication, the default is Windows Authentication. If you choose SQL Authentication, refer to the SharePoint administrator guide for best practices on how to use this authentication type in a SharePoint deployment.
9. Select the checkbox for Add the proxy for this PowerPivot service application to the default proxy group. This adds the service application connection to the default service connection group. You must have at least one PowerPivot service application in the default connection group.
   If a PowerPivot service application is already listed in the default connection group, do not add a second service application to that group. Adding two service applications of the same type of the default connection group is not a supported configuration. For more information about how to use additional service applications in a connection group, see How to: Connect a PowerPivot Service Application to a SharePoint Web Application.
10. Click OK. The service will appear alongside other managed services in the farm's service application list.

Deploy the PowerPivot Solution Package

Deploying a PowerPivot solution to SharePoint web application is required for server configuration.

1. Click the Start button, select All Programs, select Microsoft SharePoint Products 2010, and then select SharePoint 2010 Central Administration.
2. In SharePoint 2010 Central Administration, in System Settings, click Manage farm solutions.
   You should see two separate solution packages: powerpivotfarm.wsp and powerpivotwebapp.wsp. The first solution (powerpivotfarm.wsp) is deployed when you install the first PowerPivot for SharePoint instance and never needs to be deployed again. The second solution (powerpivotwebapp.wsp) is deployed for Central Administration, but you must deploy this solution manually for each SharePoint web application that will support PowerPivot data access.
3. Click powerpivotwebapp.wsp.
4. Click Deploy Solution.
5. In Deploy To?, select the SharePoint web application to which you want to add PowerPivot feature support.
6. Click OK.
7. Repeat for other SharePoint web applications that will also support PowerPivot data access.

Install SQL Server PowerPivot for SharePoint

Run SQL Server 2008 R2 Setup to add PowerPivot for SharePoint to a SharePoint farm. If the farm consists of multiple SharePoint servers, you must run SQL Server 2008 R2 Setup on an application server that is already joined to the farm.

Note
This procedure assumes that the computer does not have a prior SQL Server installation. If you previously installed SQL Server components, pages in the Installation Wizard will appear in a slightly different order.

1. On computer that already has an installation of SharePoint 2010, insert the installation media or open a folder that contains the setup files for SQL Server 2008 R2.
2. Run SQL Server Setup with administrator permissions. Right-click Setup.exe and select Run as Administrator.
3. Click Installation on the navigation pane to the left.
4. Click New installation or add features to an existing installation.
5. In Setup Support Rules, click OK if no problems were detected. Otherwise, follow the instructions on the page to correct the problems and then restart setup.
6. In Setup Support Files, click Install.
7. Click Next.
   

   Note

   If Windows Firewall is enabled, you will be warned to open ports to enable remote access. This warning is generally not applicable to PowerPivot installations. Connections to PowerPivot services and data files are made using the SharePoint ports that are already open for SharePoint service-to-service communication. You only need to open ports if you are installing other SQL Server features that require data access from a remote computer. Examples include using traditional Analysis Services data sources as an external data source for a PowerPivot workbook, using client applications such as SQL Server Management Studio to browse a PowerPivot workbook that is loaded on a remote SharePoint server, or setting up a Database Engine as a database server for a multi-server SharePoint farm. For more information about how to open ports used by these servers, see Configuring the Windows Firewall to Allow SQL Server Access.

8. In Installation Type, select New installation or add features. This page only appears if you already have an existing instance installed. Do not select Add features to an existing instance of SQL Server 2008 R2. PowerPivot for SharePoint must be installed as a new instance. Click Next.
9. In Product Key, specify the Evaluation edition or enter a product key for a licensed copy of the Enterprise, Developer, or Data Center edition. Click Next.
10. Accept the Microsoft Software License Terms of agreement, and then click Next.
11. In Setup Role, select SQL Server PowerPivot for SharePoint.
12. Also on the Setup Role page, in Add PowerPivot for SharePoint to:, select Existing farm. Click Next.
13. In Feature Selection, view a read-only list of the features that will be installed. This list is displayed for informational purposes. You cannot add or remove items that are preselected for this role. Click Next.
14. In Installation Rules, click Next.
15. In Instance Configuration, a read-only instance name of 'PowerPivot' is displayed for informational purposes. This instance name is required and cannot be modified. However, you can enter a unique Instance ID to specify a descriptive directory name and registry keys. Click Next.
16. In Disk Space Requirements, verify you have sufficient disk capacity to install the feature, and then click Next.
17. In Server Configuration, specify a domain user account for SQL Server Analysis Services. Do not use a built-in system account, such as Local System or Network Service. Specifying a domain user account is required for installing Analysis Services in a SharePoint farm. For more information about account recommendations, see Plan a PowerPivot Deployment in a SharePoint Farm. Click Next.
18. In Analysis Services Configuration, click Add Current User.
19. In the same page, add the Windows user account of any person who requires administrative permissions on the Analysis Services service instance. Any user who wants to connect to an Analysis Services service instance in SQL Server Management Studio to troubleshoot database connection problems or get version information must have system administrator permissions on the server. Add the user account of any person who might need to troubleshoot or administer the server now.
20. Click Next.
21. Click Next on each of the remaining pages until you get to the Ready to Install page.
22. Click Install.

3 strikes and you're out - XP and IIS-SharePoint site logon failure

Here there is a scenario in the project, the team has faced...

 

Issue :

 

When attempting to authenticate to a SharePoint 2010 site from Windows XP SP3, I am prompted for credentials three times, and then I receive a blank page in IE ( Chrome & FireFox too).  The site works fine with Vista and Windows 7.  The SharePoint site is configured with Windows NTLM authentication.  Has anyone seen and resolved this?

 

The following errors appear in the Security log on the SharePoint server:

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Log Name:      Security

Source:        Microsoft-Windows-Security-Auditing

Date:          4/24/2010 5:15:58 AM

Event ID:      4776

Task Category: Credential Validation

Level:         Information

Keywords:      Audit Failure

User:          N/A

Computer:      SRVSP2010.demo.lab

Description:   The computer attempted to validate the credentials for an account.

 

Authentication Package:    MICROSOFT_AUTHENTICATION_PACKAGE_V1_0

Logon Account:  launchuser

Source Workstation:  WSXP01

Error Code:     0xc000006a

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Log Name:      Security

Source:        Microsoft-Windows-Security-Auditing

Date:          4/24/2010 5:15:58 AM

Event ID:      4625

Task Category: Logon

Level:         Information

Keywords:      Audit Failure

User:          N/A

Computer:      SRVSP2010.demo.lab

Description:   An account failed to log on.

 

Subject:

     Security ID:         NULL SID

     Account Name:        -

     Account Domain:      -

     Logon ID:       0x0

     Logon Type:                3

 

Account For Which Logon Failed:

     Security ID:         NULL SID

     Account Name:        launchuser

     Account Domain:      demo

 

Failure Information:

     Failure Reason:      Unknown user name or bad password.

     Status:              0xc000006d

     Sub Status:          0xc000006a

 

Process Information:

     Caller Process ID:   0x0

     Caller Process Name: -

 

Network Information:

     Workstation Name:    WSXP01

     Source Network Address:    192.168.17.5

     Source Port:         12411

 

Detailed Authentication Information:

     Logon Process:       NtLmSsp 

     Authentication Package:    NTLM

     Transited Services:  -

     Package Name (NTLM only):  -

     Key Length:          0

 

Solution:

 

Is the server on Win 2008 R2 ?

Support of WinXP requires downgrading NTLM hash/encryption level on the servers.

Eg: for OCS R2007 R2 on Win R2 with XP clients:

The default security setting on Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system for NTLM SSP requires 128-bit encryption. Depending on the client operating system mix in the enterprise, you may have to reduce this setting on a Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system that is running Office Communications Server 2007 R2 as a down level operating system. The key is set to "No requirement."

a.     For any down level operating system, such as Windows XP or for Windows Vista, the default value is set to "No Minimum."

b.     For a Windows 7 operating system, the default value is set to "Requires 128-bit encryption."

For more information about the “Changes in NTLM Authentication” as it applies to Windows 2008 R2 and Windows 7 operating systems, please visit the following Microsoft Web site:

Learn more about the changes in NTLM Authentication (http://technet.microsoft.com/pl-pl/library/dd566199(WS.10).aspx)

If you want to change the NTLM setting, follow these steps:

1.     Start secpol.msc on a Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system server.

2.     Click to select Local Policies and then click Security Options node.

3.     Make sure that the following values of the policies are set to "No Minimum."

o    Network Security: Minimum session security for NTLM SSP based (including secure RPC)

o    Network Security: Minimum session security for NTLM SSP based (including secure RPC) servers