The Data Migration Manager encountered an error while setting up the temporary migration database

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Data Migration Manager can be used to import data from other systems into CRM 4.0 and is a vastly improved version over 3.0. This tool can be used to map data into all standard and custom entities and is very simple to use.

However, I ran into a couple of small issues on my first encounter with this tool.

Having made my installation on a different machine to the SQL Server, I immediately encountered security issues. The selected user needs to have full administrative rights to the SQL Server installation. After making the necessary changes to my administrative rights, installation and setup proceeded smoothly, bet then upon sign in I encountered the following error:

The Data Migration Manager encountered an error while setting up the temporary migration database. Restart the data migration manager and try migrating the data again.

With Albert Einstein's looming in the back of my mind I did the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result... Needless to say, it drove me mad.

Interestingly I found that the temporary migration database was actually created on the remote SQL Server.

The accompanying Readme file suggests the folowing:

One possible source of this error message may be the UserReplicationID registry key. You can resolve this issue by deleting the registry key, restarting Data Migration Manager, and signing in again.

You can find this registry key in the following path (depending on your system type):

* 32-bit systems: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Data Migration Wizard
* 64-bit systems: HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Data Migration Wizard

Unfortunately this did not work for me. My solution was to uninstall and re-install the package, using SQL Server Express on the same machine as the DMM installation. Due to performance issues, we were finally forced to move the entire installation to the local machine hosting the full SQL Server deployment.

It seems this issue was related to the use of DMM with remote access to the temporary migration database. Although my user is a local admin of all machines involved and has full access to SQL Server, I still believe the issue is caused by a lack of security rights to something along the chain.

I've since found that the package will install, but configuration will fail for 64bit SQL Server 2005, even on the local machine. This is entirely unsupported by that application.

See the Dynamics Team Blog for more tips on using and getting the best performance out of DMM and the Dynamics Data Migration Trouble Shooting page.

Display Database Image in SSRS from Northwind demo database.

If you’re reading this, then like me you probably fiddled around for an hour or so, scratched a hole in your head and wondered how such an easy job can be so impossible.

We’re building a SQL Server Reporting Services report that displays an image retrieved from a database field. This is easy.. Assuming that you already know how to build a simple SSRS report, to add a database image, simply select the image field into your dataset, drop an image control onto your report and select its “value” to the value of the image field from your dataset.

If you try this using the SQL Server version of Northwind, you’re sure to have trouble. The image will not display and you’ll get a little red cross in the control.

After a quick google search I came across these sites:

http://www.rp2c.com/blogofbob/NorthwindDatabaseEmployeePhotoInfo.aspx

Northwind employees table - photo field

Robert Porter speaks the fact that the images saved in the Northwind database are not standard GIF formats, but OEM. Basically caused by converting a MS Access database to SQL Server. There’s also some sample there, but that didn’t work for me. Eventually after a lot more research and help, we have this line of code that converts the OEM GIF image into one readable by SSRS:

System.Convert.FromBase64String(Mid(System.Convert.ToBase64String(Fields!Photo.Value), 105))

If you must use Northwind’s original data to display an image on an SSRS report, then use the above line as the image value. Any other SQL Server image field would not need this and will work just fine by simply using the plain field value.