[finze]

I lost my Blackberry and need to connect a new unit to my account on my company's BES. However, our IT department has been brainwashed or bought-off by Microsoft. We have grandfathered in all old users, but the BES administrators are no longer allowing people to replace devices. So, I need to get my new hardware working without going thru our BES administrator. My local skunkworks guy tells me that everything is tied to my PIN on the BES. Since I can't change the device PIN, I have to push a PIN change to the BES without the Admins. (....right..?) He tells me that, if I had backed up my old unit via the Desktop software, I could connect my new unit, do a restore, and it would push the PIN change to the server and life would be good. He swears that he did it and it worked. The problem is that I was 100% wireless. I didn't use the desktop software and its too late now; my old unit is lost.

Is there a way to manually configure a fresh install of the Desktop software with my old PIN so it can push the change anyway?

Is there another way?

I REFUSE to move to a Windows Mobile device.

[cdoggLBC]

As long as you can install Desktop Manager on your PC at work, no sweat. You will need admin / power user privilages on the local machine to do this.

You could also do this from any machine as long as you can get Outlook to access you Exchange server (i.e. sneak a laptop into work or via Outlook RCP over HTTPS).

Of course I must say you are violating your company's policy, but you aren't creating any security risks by swapping Blackberrys, so I have no problem giving you a work around.

[Thatzmister2u]

I will let the BES guru's weigh in but I am almost certain there is no way to do this without the BES Admin. Can you access your work email via the Web? If so you might look into setting up a BIS account to get it. You loose the calendar synch but you can do that with a cable.

Personally, I would challenge the company. If you need a BB for business you need a BB. It is a simple Enterprise Activation and would take them less than a minute to do it.

Good Luck!

E-

[finze]

cdoggLCB - Great news! I really hope that you are right! I've already got a corp laptop with the Outlook client and local admin access. So, I may be good to go. I'm normally a straight-arrow guy and am generally on-board with our corporate IT policies; but agree with you about not creating any security risks by swapping Blackberrys. So, I'm going to order my illegal BB now.

Thatzmiter2u- thanks for the quick reply. Unfortunately, a colleague of mine tried BIS. Sync time for mail was unacceptable vs BES (5-20 min delay) and I need calendar sync. As for challenging policy... it is a BIIIIG organization. Challenging policy would be like arguing with the IRS about having to pay taxes. IT folks are good people, but not in a position to impact policy. Besides, they'll buy me whatever Windows Mobile device I want. Just no BB. ... (I rather use my own $ for the real thing) Lets hope cdoggLCB is right

[TroyDBrown]

Without your BES admin you are out of luck. You can try everything you want but at the end of the day you will not be on BES without the admin.

[Thatzmister2u]

Start a new thread called "What is the best way to bribe your BES Admin".... I am sure they will give you some suggestions on ways to get your EA.

[juwaack68]

If your new device has been activated, and you don't have the old device, you're SOL.

And being a BES Admin, if you worked for my company I'd push a special IT Policy to your device to force it to lock every 2 minutes and require a long, complex password, and disable as much stuff as I could (no camera, no wifi, no bluetooth, no 3rd party apps, no SMS/MMS, no personal email).

smfh.

[juwaack68]

Oh, and just in case I'm wrong, I moved your thread to the BES Admin Corner so some other admins can chime in.

[TargetIT]

Can't be done - OWA would work if they haven't blocked it on the firewall, but it's not true push and doesn't do anything but email (no calendar, contacts...).

Sounds like your IT Dept. needs a case of beer.

[TroyDBrown]

How bitter do you have to be to be a BES admin?

[juwaack68]

Oh, you don't have to be bitter, but having users who pull crap like this will only bring out the very best in your vengeful personality.

[cdoggLBC]

Originally Posted by TroyDBrown

Without your BES admin you are out of luck. You can try everything you want but at the end of the day you will not be on BES without the admin.

He is already on the BES. Just needs to switch the device. This can be done with Desktop Manager without the BES admin.... When you plug in a device with a different PIN then the one currently attached to you mailbox, it is the first thing it asks you. Hell, he could use the switch device wizard and the entire thing will be done for him with minimal fuss.

[Thatzmister2u]

Where is my popcorn...this is gonna get good!

[juwaack68]

He doesn't have the old device anymore. Said it's 'lost'. And if it's lost, the BES Admin probably removed him from the BES (since he has to get a nasty WM device - something I would not do to my users).

[TroyDBrown]

Original device is "lost". Welcome to Windows Mobile. I at least hope to get an HTC Diamond!

PopCorn in hand.

Originally Posted by cdoggLBC

He is already on the BES. Just needs to switch the device. This can be done with Desktop Manager without the BES admin.... When you plug in a device with a different PIN then the one currently attached to you mailbox, it is the first thing it asks you. Hell, he could use the switch device wizard and the entire thing will be done for him with minimal fuss.

[Brendan42]

Load Desktop Manager onto your work laptop with your Outlook profile set up and connected to exchange. When you connect a new device, the software will prompt something like "This account already registered to PIN-old, do you want to use PIN-new instead". Click yes and wait for activation to complete.
This assumes your BES Admin hasn't disabled or deleted your account from the BES.