"Cannot start service SPAdminV4 on computer '.'." error on SharePoint configuration wizard

This entry is for those environments with the June 2012 CU for SharePoint 2010 (And as Mike notes in the comments 2012 December CU) .  This patch causes CRL checks to be enforced, which in turn affects some native functionality of SharePoint AdminV4 service.
When running the SharePoint Product Configuration Wizard, the configuration will fail with the following error:


Failed to create the configuration database.
An exception of type System.InvalidOperationException was thrown.  Additional exception information: Cannot start service SPAdminV4 on computer '.'.

In order to bypass the CRL Check for SPAdminV4 service startup, the following steps need to be completed on each SharePoint server.
 

1.) Add a new computer policy which alters the options for retrieving certificate validation on a network.

2.) Add host file entries into the local computer host file.

• Alter the computer policy
• Click on Start-Run
• Type in "GPEdit.msc" and click "OK"
• Expand Computer Configuration-Windows Settings-Security Settings-Public Key Policies
• Double-click "Certificate Path Validation Settings"
• Click on the "Network Retrieval" tab
• Check the box "Define these policy settings"
• Uncheck "Automatically update certificates in the Microsoft Root Certificate Program (recommended)" and "Allow issuer certificate (AIA) retrieval during path validation (recommended"
• Click on "OK"
• Close out of GPEdit.msc

• Add host file entries
• Click on Start-Run
• Type in "C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\Etc" and click "OK"
• Double-click the file "Hosts"
• Select "Notepad" as the program to open the file
• Insert the following lines into the hosts file
• 0.0.0.0 crl.microsoft.com
• 0.0.0.0 crl.verisign.com
• 0.0.0.0 ocsp.verisign.com
• 0.0.0.0 SVRSecure-G2-crl.verisign.com
• 0.0.0.0 SVRSecure-G3-crl.verisign.com
• 0.0.0.0 www.download.windowsupdate.com
• 0.0.0.0 SVRSecure-G2-aia.verisign.com
• Save the file and exit notepad

SharePoint 2013 Pre-Upgrade Cleanup

SharePoint 2013 Pre-Upgrade Cleanup

I saw this link thanks to my former co-worker, Richard Harbridge, and he mentions the blurb contained in the above link about "Wide Lists".  This was news to me and my team as well. Everyone is aware of the item limitations within SharePoint, but had never heard about the "wide list" caveat.  With items you can throttle those settings but no settings for columns.  Irregardless, the need to perform a clean up of your environments prior to upgrading is a point that can never be made enough.

One Note: An error occurred while attempting to sync this section or notebook

So this is one that comes up often, when attempting to sync up a One Note Notebook with a SharePoint 2010 site, you will get a red icon on the notebook and some variation of: "An error occurred while attempting to sync this section or notebook."

Basically this is due to the fact that "Require Documents to be checked out" is enabled on the library.  From everything I've seen online, this is a known bug with Microsoft, but no fix available that I could find.  Now the workaround of course is to uncheck that setting in the Library Settings/ Versioning Settings, BUT forcing Check out is a huge part of certain governance standards, so make sure you check with the site users so that they can determine which need is more pressing.

Office App Store for SharePoint 2013 is now live

One of the new features of SharePoint 2013 is the creation of an "App Store" for custom widgets and templates for all to share either as free downloads or as a pay for model.  The link to the SharePoint specific portion of the office app store is below:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/store/apps-for-sharepoint-FX102804987.aspx

As the Apple vs. Android app stores have shown, the key is consistency of the apps, and making sure that they are vetted properly.  This feature will be a huge component of 2013, but as an admin I potentially see some governance opportunities as to how to handle these.  That would be along the lines of coming up with an approved list or process of allowing these into various environments, and creating an internal app store that our developers can use to share features across farms and platforms.