Thin Clients, VDI and Linux integration from the front lines....

If you can’t be bothered reading the details – simply use this? :-)

Because the Windows 7 Beta will be offered download-only, it will be provided to you as an ISO image (an .iso file) that you download.  more details below

And just in case you are interested in the Keynote at CES from Steve Ballmer regarding the release of Windows 7

Windows 7 Home Page

As of today, I am running the Windows 7 Beta on several different PCs including my laptop, my work PC, and my PC at home, which I upgraded recently to Windows 7 from Windows Vista SP1. (I’ll be outlining the PCs I’m using to test Windows 7 shortly.) I’m all connected with HomeGroup, I’ve got several different Libraries set up, and I’m loving the new Windows Taskbar. I’ve got Windows Media Center recording my favorite TV shows and my Zune 80 syncing up with the Zune software. And things are even better with Windows Live Essentials installed. I find the Windows 7 Beta to be an amazing beta release and I am extremely excited for you to get your hands on it later this week! I’d like to take a moment to share some specifics regarding the Windows 7 Beta that I think are very important for people looking to give Windows 7 a spin.

On January 9th, the Windows 7 Beta will be available for Windows enthusiasts to download via the Windows 7 page on Windows.com. The Windows 7 Beta is going to be available download-only (we’re not sending out physical media) and available for a limited time to the first 2.5 million people who download the beta.

The Windows 7 Beta will be available in English, German, Japanese, Arabic, and Hindi, and each language will be available in 32-bit and 64-bit versions (except Hindi which will only be available in 32-bit). Because the Windows 7 Beta will be offered download-only, it will be provided to you as an ISO image (an .iso file) that you download. After downloading either the 32-bit or 64-bit ISO image of the Windows 7 Beta, you will be required to burn the ISO image to a DVD to install Windows 7. So you want to be sure you have a DVD burner before spending the time downloading the ISO image.

To burn the ISO image of the Windows 7 Beta to DVD, if your PC comes with Nero or Roxio products – you should be able to burn the ISO image to DVD. If you don’t already have DVD burning software on your PC, you can also check out ImgBurn which is free and can be downloaded here.

The Windows 7 Beta only supports Windows Vista SP1 to Windows 7 upgrades. So if you intend to do an upgrade – be sure it is on a PC running Windows Vista with Service Pack 1. We are not yet announcing anything regarding finalized upgrade paths for Windows 7.

The Windows 7 Beta will be only available in one edition, which is roughly equivalent the Ultimate edition of Windows Vista.

Also, another important thing to keep in mind is that the Windows 7 Beta will expire on August 1st, 2009.

I also need to emphasize that this is a beta of an unreleased operating system. Be sure to backup all your important data. As much as the Windows 7 Beta completely rocks, part of the beta process is discovering bugs and reporting those bugs. Some of those bugs could possibly lead to data loss. I tend to be a risk-taker myself and have gone all-out with the Windows 7 Beta by putting it on almost all my PCs both at work and at home, but not everyone should do this. I recommend using Windows Vista’s Backup and Restore features to ensure your information is backed up before trying out the Windows 7 Beta. Click here for several methods of backing up your data in Windows Vista.

The Windows 7 Beta is targeted toward the enthusiast crowd – people excited and knowledgeable with technology. If you don’t quite understand much of what I’ve written above, it is probably best you don’t try to install the Windows 7 Beta.

If you are an IT Professional, you can visit the Springboard Series for Windows 7 on TechNet (see the Windows 7 tab) on January 9th to sign up for the Windows 7 Beta but also can also get access to dynamic resources including video walkthroughs and the new Windows 7 forums.

So I have been asked a few questions regarding FBWF (File Based Write Filter) in the last few days and thought this might also be useful to others?

By default in XP Embedded there is a component called EWF (Enhanced Write Filter) that acts as an overlay to catch actions that require write access like the Cache for the browser and these are discarded during a reboot. As an Admin you can set up the XPe system as you like and then COMMIT the changes to the flash memory via Command Line or using the icon in either the system tray or the Control Panel.

The main difference between the older EWF mechanism and the newer FBWF is that the EWF is pretty much an "All or Nothing" affair, where as with the FBWF you protect the entire partition and can then selectively "punch holes" in the protection based on Files, Directories or Registry entries to allow persistent write access to the Flash Memory so that these changes will be committed and maintained.   

Example of setting FBWF via Command Line:

fbwfmgr /enable
fbwfmgr /addvolume c:
fbwfmgr /addexclusion c: "\Program Files\Citrix"
fbwfmgr /addexclusion c: "\Program Files\Citrix\ICA Client"
fbwfmgr /addexclusion c: "\Program Files\TeemNT"
fbwfmgr /addexclusion c: "\windows\system32\ccm"
fbwfmgr /addexclusion c: "\windows\system32\ccmsetup"
fbwfmgr /addexclusion c: "\windows\system32\wbem"
fbwfmgr /addexclusion c: "\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop"
fbwfmgr /addexclusion c: "\Documents and Settings\User\ntuser.dat"
fbwfmgr /addexclusion c: "\Documents and Settings\User\ntuser.dat.log"
fbwfmgr /addexclusion c: "\Documents and Settings\User\Desktop"
fbwfmgr /addexclusion c: "\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Desktop"
fbwfmgr /addexclusion c: "\Documents and Settings\User\Application Data\ICAClient"
fbwfmgr /addexclusion c: "\windows\system32\config"
fbwfmgr /addexclusion c: "\windows\bginfo.bmp"
fbwfmgr /addexclusion c: "\RegfData"

As you can see from the above this was to allow the Thin Client to continue to be Write Protected, but at the same time allow the Users to effectively save their settings and have this maintained between reboots.

Anyhow, just one important point……  IF you need to punch in some RegFilter exclusions so that some registry keys “stick” between reboots then it is absolutely mandatory that you have a file exclusion for : fbwfmgr /addexclusion c: "\RegfData" because this is how the data is “saved” and it then gets injected in to the registry after the reboot has settled down – Does this make sense?

For the registry entry below you can see that the first two are in the image by default because they look after the TSCal and Domain membership, but after that I was adding additional Reg keys for information that I wanted to be persistent between reboots – my earlier comment was that you needed the additional file to be excluded at “fbwfmgr /addexclusion c: "\RegfData"” so that these keys will actually work, as the data is stored using RegfData and then "injected" on the next reboot.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\RegFilter\Parameters\MonitoredKeys]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\RegFilter\Parameters\MonitoredKeys\0]
"ClassKey"="HKLM"
"FileNameForSaving"="MSLic.rgf"
"RelativeKeyName"="Software\\Microsoft\\MSLicensing"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\RegFilter\Parameters\MonitoredKeys\1]
"ClassKey"="HKLM"
"FileNameForSaving"="MacAcc.rgf"
"RelativeKeyName"="Security\\Policy\\Secrets\\$MACHINE.ACC"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\RegFilter\Parameters\MonitoredKeys\2]
"ClassKey"="HKLM"
"FileNameForSaving"="TeemNT.rgf"
"RelativeKeyName"="Software\\Pericom\\TeemNT\\Sessions"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\RegFilter\Parameters\MonitoredKeys\3]
"ClassKey"="HKLM"
"FileNameForSaving"="TtNTCon.rgf"
"RelativeKeyName"="Software\\Pericom\\TtNTConWiz"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\RegFilter\Parameters\MonitoredKeys\4]
"ClassKey"="HKLM"
"FileNameForSaving"="Citrix.rgf"
"RelativeKeyName"="Software\\Citrix"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\RegFilter\Parameters\MonitoredKeys\5]
"ClassKey"="HKCU"
"FileNameForSaving"="ControlPnl.rgf"
"RelativeKeyName"="Control Panel"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\RegFilter\Parameters\MonitoredKeys\6]
"ClassKey"="HKLM"
"FileNameForSaving"="Print.rgf"
"RelativeKeyName"="System\\CurrentControlSet\\Control\\Print"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\RegFilter\Parameters\MonitoredKeys\7]
"ClassKey"="HCC"
"FileNameForSaving"="ScreenRes.rgf"
"RelativeKeyName"="SYSTEM\\CurrentControlSet\\Control\\Video"

I have also found another article stating how it is possible to get FBWF working on XP Pro, and although I haven't tested this it certainly looks like a much simpler way of achieving effectively the same thing as SteadyState? But I would consider modifying the registry components below to CurrentControlSet instead of ControlSet001?

Guide to using FBWF on Windows XP Pro

---

Hi there. my first post, hope its of use to people here. I am using FBWF on a standard Windows XP Pro installation (SP3 RC1 to be exact). Finding no guide available online, I thought I'd write this one.
--EDIT--
Quick note for those of you who don't know what FBWF is. It is very similar to EWF, but FBWF (file based write filter) offers some important advantages. FBWF uses less ram (you can reclaim ram overlay space when you delete files), you can also commit on the fly (without restarting or disabling), and have persistent (write through) folders that write straight to the drive (so you can have a persistent My Documents for example).
--EDIT--
You will need the following files from the XPe feature pack 2007 trial.
fbwf.sys fbwfdll.dll fbwflib.dll fbwfmgr.exe
If you're not sure how to extract these files, please see the "New EWF + MinLogon and CF instructions" thread by SFiorito.
1.Copy fbwf.sys to \WINDOWS\system32\drivers
2.Copy all other files to \WINDOWS\system32\
3.Add the following to your registry (it's probably easiest to copy it into an empty txt file, rename it to fbwf.reg, and load)

Code:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\FBWF]
"Start"=dword:00000000
"Type"=dword:00000002
"ErrorControl"=dword:00000001
"ImagePath"=hex(2):73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,44,00,\
  52,00,49,00,56,00,45,00,52,00,53,00,5c,00,66,00,62,00,77,00,66,00,2e,00,73,\
  00,79,00,73,00,00,00
"Group"="FSFilter System Recovery"
"DisplayName"="File-Based Write Filter"
"Description"="File-Based Write Filter driver"
"DependOnService"=hex(7):46,00,6c,00,74,00,4d,00,67,00,72,00,00,00,00,00
"DebugFlags"=dword:00000000
"EnabledOnAllSkus"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\FBWF\FBA]
"EnablePostFBA"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\FBWF\Instances]
"DefaultInstance"="Fbwf Instance"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\FBWF\Instances\Fbwf Instance]
"Flags"=dword:00000000
"Altitude"="226000"

4.Reboot
5.Go to your command prompt, and type in the following commands.
fbwfmgr /enable
fbwfmgr /addvolume X:
fbwfmgr /setthreshold S
X is the drive you want to protect (most will want to protect c. S is the size you want your ram drive to be in MB(mine is 256).
6. Reboot, and your done!
There are 4 other commands in fbwfmgr you may want to play with. /setpreallocation 1 reserves the ram space (I.E does not dynamically change with the amount of actual used space). /setcompression 1 compresses the date to save more ram space, but at the cost of CPU time. /overlaydetail tells you what files are being stored in ram, and how much ram space is being used. /addexclusion X: "\persistent\folder" enables write through on the folder X:\persistent\folder.
For those used to EWF, unfortunately there is no way to commit all data, and each file has to be committed manually with the following command /commit X: "\windows\file.exe"
I hope I haven't left anything out! Hopefully this guide will be usable and somewhat clear...and if it breaks your puter, well, I'm sorry :P

So I don't know if anyone has noticed something similar recently but shortly after my recent trip away I found that my Posts via "Windows Live Writer" were somehow being truncated or something similar and the Paragraph and Tagging syntax was getting muddled on my WordPress site.

At first I thought it might be Windows Live Writer as I had recently upgraded to a beta version 14.x... , so I downgraded (very bloody difficult that...), tried other blogging tools and found that this did not appear to be the root of the problem.

So as I was still on WordPress 2.2.3 I decided to upgrade the whole site and this time used funtastico to move from Wordpress 2.2.3 to 2.6.5 - that was also not the cause of the problem.

Then tried taking a native post and cut and pasting in to wp-admin/write on the site and all worked well. So this would appear to indicate that the site was fine, but there appeared to be some issue with posting remotely, and that this wasn't just related to "Windows Live Writer" exclusively.

So after a bit of research I'm seeing in these web links some details that this issue is caused by some variation of the lib files underpinning PHP? So I shot of an email to my Hosting company (OnyxServers) to see if they had any advice?

WordPress Bug Trac #7771 XMLRPC api stripping leading angle brackets
PHP Bug #45996 libxml2 2.7.1 causes breakage with character data in xml_parse()
http://www.geekyramblings.org/2008/09/20/wordpress-xml-rpc-error/

And it looks like this specific PHP libxml2 is linked to PHP 5.2.6 - or at least it is in the case of my hosting service?

So the answer I got was:

I did quite a bit of googling around and there are a few different suggestions as to what causes the problem and what might fix it. But most seem to point to libxml. It wasn't clear to me which versions of libxml have the bug and whether the bug has fixed in the latest release. Either way, any change to libxml would require us to recompile PHP and Apache which is very risky.

However one suggestion I have is try running Wordpress using PHP 4 instead of PHP 5 and see if the problem persists. This might be the easiest way to avoid the issue given your web site will work OK with PHP 4.

To try it out, create a .htaccess file in your public_html/ folder and enter the following in the file:
AddHandler application/x-httpd-php4 .php
Your PHP files will now run using PHP 4.4.9 and a different version of libxml.

Let me know if this works around the problem

And this has indeed worked for me. I can't say it will work for everyone, as it will clearly depend on the particulars of how your hosting system is set up, but at least it's one way that might be of some help?

And a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year to all ;-);-)

PS: Except the bs*%tards who broke in to my Brother-in-laws while we were all sleeping and took care of the ladies handbags, the wide screen TV and the car!!!!

Cheers,
Dave

Recently I found myself at a school down near Melbourne carrying out what should have been a relatively simple PoC (Proof of Concept) of 20 x BC2500 BladePC’s in an Enclosure with some T5730 Thin Clients, and initially all went pretty well and then I found that I had some issues with the SAM Registration service….. from the BladePC’s not communicating very well (or at all) with the SAM Server

BTW – SAM = HP’s Broker, Session Allocation Manager

So then I was thinking through some ideas about what the next steps might be to help isolate it?

Initially I was getting a note in the Application Event Log for all the BladePC’s that they are unable to contact the SAM Server, and yet:

• they can ping it successfully
• I can connect to the blades using RGS fine
• The Windows Firewall is disabled for now
• There are exceptions in the firewall any way for the SAM Service

So I then used WireShark to take a trace and isolated one conversation with a blade and the SAM Server and got it to translate the TCP conversation and the resultant HTTP reply from the SAM Server indicated an internal error – so I simply rebooted all the Blades and the SAM server and I finally got the devices registered – hurrah!! I thought I was out of the woods.

Then as the day wore on it appeared that after a period of time the Blades would become “Offline” with a red circle and the diagonal slash indicating they were offline and they would no longer respond – a reboot will get them going again.

Now if I was just troubleshooting this it would not have been too bad – but I was also seeing some other very curious issues like:

• When I connected from the T5730 to the BladePC via RGS direct (no SAM) it is verrrrry slow (5 – 10min login)
• When I connected from the T5730 via the SAM Client it is verrry slow just to start the Login process (even longer?)
• Once connected the experience is not too bad (not real snappy, but just about useable)
• Connecting a USB device to the T5730 to test Video causes the RGS session to drop – with no warning – before the Media Player comes up

Now was I right to suspect the network at this point? I’m not a Network/Switch expert, but I know enough to be dangerous? ;-) but it was starting to look like there was more than just a hint of coincidence with what was going on?

Curiously enough I’ve also found that while my laptop is connected to their network and using the proxy to gain access to the ‘net to get email that the connection to exchange keeps bouncing quite a bit and when I send an email it can sometimes hold in my Outbox for hours before finally getting under way….

Outcome – all now sorted – it would appear that even though the SAM/Altiris Server AND the BladePC Enclosure was plugged in to the Core Switches there was a ProCurve 2650 that was throwing out FCS Errors and causing a ruckus – this also happened to be the unit that I was trying to go through with the T5730 Thin Clients……

This morning a Network Guru from their integrator turned up and updated all the firmware on the Cores and 2650 alike, found the issues were related to the 2650 only, this was then swapped out for a temp unit – then it seemed like nothing was working at all with no connectivity to the Enclosure, then it was discovered that Spanning Tree was the cause of this, so that was hit on the head – and now everything has settled down nicely.

Good news is that apparently HP’s ProCurve Switches come with a lifetime warranty – I learn something new every day? – so as it turns out it’s not too bad?

So a day or two late, but finally back on track.

Incidentally, when I was trying to update the Firmware in the Enclosure for the Switch and the IA (Integrated Administrator) via a simple TELNET I was getting timeouts and errors, after this wayward Switch was replaced it all worked a treat.

Lesson:
As with Citrix and VDI, as well as BladePC/BladeWS, it’s always worth remembering that this is typically the first time that a network will have been asked to provide “real time” network performance. Up to this point even things like email are effectively only “store and forward” process’s so do not be surprised when a relatively simple PoC (Proof of Concept) shines a Spotlight on any Network issues?

I hope this helps others?

One thing I do enjoy when travelling in the US is getting up to date on some of the Magazines that I don’t always get a chance to get hold of, or get a chance to read, as there’s usually a lot of time sitting in Aircraft or Airports? ;-)

I caught this article in the PC Mag and found it quite useful, but I’ve cut their list down to the 11 that I thought were keepers. I could make that 10 really as I hadn’t come across Kayak before, but there you go?

Top 100 Classic Web Sites from PC Magazine

Digital Photography Review
www.dpreview.com

Celebrating its tenth birthday this November, Digital Photography Review is hands down one of the most influential—and popular—camera sites on the Internet. You'll find in-depth reviews of all kinds of camera gear, product announcements, and tips from photography pros in the discussion forums.

SmugMug
www.smugmug.com

SmugMug lets users share their photos with the world, order photo-centric gifts, and even make a little extra cash on the side. 
Read our review of SmugMug.

Dynamism
www.dynamism.com

It's a truism that the U.S. lags behind Japan when it comes to cool tech like cell phones, laptops, and similar gadgets. If you don't feel like waiting years for a cool piece of tech to make it to the U.S. and can't figure out how to order from a Japanese Web site, chances are good that you can find it on Dynamism.

LinkedIn
www.linkedin.com

The social network for professionals has been slow to add new features and capabilities, and that's just the way its users like it. No music playing in the background, no blinking Flash modules, no SuperPokes, just simple, intuitive online networking. 
Read our review of LinkedIn.

AVS Forum
www.avsforum.com

Like all the geekiest forum sites, AVS Forum isn't much to look at. But the frequently updated home-theater site has loads of expert tips and how-tos for audio- or videophiles with a DIY streak.

DistroWatch.com
www.distrowatch.com

The definitive Web site for Linux fans, DistroWatch.com keeps track of the ever-expanding universe of Linux distros with news, reviews, and downloads. Like many Linux-related projects, the site is indispensable to the Linux community and incomprehensible to most everyone else.

The Register
www.theregister.co.uk

El Reg skewers the tech and IT industry with its perfect mix of in-depth news reporting and snark. And if you're having a bad day on the IT desk, perusing the brilliantly biting headlines on The Register's homepage will serve as the perfect pick-me-up.

Engadget
www.engadget.com

After several years and thousands of upstart competitors, Engadget's no-holds-barred gadget coverage is still the gold standard for tech blogging.

Wired
www.wired.com

The Web site is just as multifaceted as the magazine, covering technology, gadgets, science, environmentalism, gaming, music, movies, politics—all with a cool look and a geeky slant.

Google Maps
maps.google.com

Google Maps just keeps adding great features, yet it still doesn't feel bloated in the least. The service offers driving directions, satellite views, street views, business and restaurant locators, user-created maps, public transit routes—the list goes on.

Kayak
www.kayak.com

Looking for the cheapest price on plane tickets? Kayak makes comparison shopping easy by showing you the prices of all the available flights. The service can find you a good price on a hotel room, too.

So anyway, I figured that with the stories getting around regarding the recent PDC that there would be Virtual Machines of Windows 7 being handed out on the portable Hard drives that it wouldn't take long for them to appear on Torrent sites etc... And so it would appear ;-) Download 64-bit Windows 7 6801 Pre-Beta ISO (Microsoft.Windows.7.64Bit.Build.6801.DVD-WinBeta Torrent)

So I started looking around to see how easy this might be to crank up under the old trusty VMware Workstation 6 (I really have been slack, haven't I, must update that shortly?) and this again didn't take long at all to find an authoritive article that shows the only real thing that needs to be set is the HDD to IDE as opposed to SCSI? Windows 7 + VMWare 6/VMWare Fusion 2

So this only left the possibility of the O/S complaining about needing to be activated, blah, blah, so I was wondering if this might be able to be bypassed as I was only curious about checking it out - not necessarily running the O/S on hardware anytime soon, and I turned this article out that solves that quite neatly at 15 Windows 7 Pre-Release Preview MAK Unlimited Activation Product Keys

All in all, this might take you about a hour or two after you have finished downloading to install and start testing Windows 7 - happy trails? :-)

So it's been quite some while since I last did a post of any kind as I was away from Aust. sailing and sampling the hospitality in the British Virgin Islands thanks to my brother (thanks Martin), and then on to New York City, and finally London and Guilford (thanks to Lou and David) before making it back home.

Incidentally just before leaving for this trip the Volvo Ocean Race set off - and if you'd like to navigate your own 70 footer around the world and compete then get on to http://www.volvooceanracegame.org/play.php and sign up?

I'm just getting in to Cochin with 51 miles to go. Look out for “WhyKnot”, and Martin my brother is “EverRest”

See you on Leg 3? :-)

Hi All,

Just a note regarding an issue I had to help resolve a little while back?

Issue:
We had a pre-sealed image of an XPe intended for a customer, who wanted to join it to the domain, come through and during testing at our location and on site for the customer it was found that it simply refused to get it's time in sync 

Research:
What we able to narrow down to is that the Registry Entry for:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Parameters was listed as Type = NoSync and what was really needed to be changed to NT5DS.

What we were also able to identify is that while we are quite certain that any *Local* user on an XPe device will always get “access denied” when trying to run NET TIME as they are not a valid domain user – what can be done though is run the w32tm /resync command (if the module/executable is available? AND ONLY if the time is within the default 5 minute max…) *OR* alternatively simply restart the Windows Time Service. Both of these commands can be run without issue using Local credentials.

Looking deeper in to why the W32Time Type was incorrect we managed to come up with this little gem from Microsoft:

Registry entries for the W32Time service and within this we found the following:

Type : REG_SZ
Used to control how a computer synchronizes.
Nt5DS = synchronize to domain hierarchy [default]
NTP = synchronize to manually configured source
NoSync = do not synchronize time
The Nt5DS setting may not use a manual configured source.
Note When you join a Microsoft Windows Server 2003-based computer to a domain, the computer may not synchronize its time setting with the time setting of the domain controller if the Automatically synchronize with an Internet time server check box in the Date and Time Properties dialog box is not selected. The default option (NTP) for Windows Server 2003 workgroup computers is disabled if the Automatically synchronize with an Internet time server check box is not selected. When you join the computer to a domain that has this setting, the default synchronization type (Nt5DS) for computers that are joined to a domain is not set and the time service does not synchronize from the domain hierarchy.

I have highlighted the interesting section in red. After further testing we found that the default image had this check box unchecked, however, once this was checked before joining the domain then the NT5DS setting would be in place immediately after the reboot following the Joining to the Domain and as a consequence the device would time sync correctly as soon as it was booted.

From what we can see this is an issue that is not restricted to purely XPe but XP as well and hopefully thi info might be useful to others?

So I have been very quiet of late and there really is no excuse, I guess I just needed a bit of a break?

But as we look around the Global Markets this morning I can barely believe the amount of the drop on Wall St. overnight - the Dow Jones being down some 7+% doesn't even do it justice - looking at how the individual sectors have fared makes it look even worse?

Energy and Financial's are both down close to 9%

Scary stuff, and from the sounds of there's very little end in sight and we could be riding this for some time yet?

At least here in Australia (if we believe our Govt.?) we are well positioned with very little debt and current accounts that are in surplus, along with a current base rate of 6.0% there is at least some room to manoeuvre, where as in the US now down to 1.5% it is beginning to look like there is no room left?

Given that Hyper-V has now just been released as RTM it’s likely that more people are looking at the product and quite possibly for the first time so this sort of information might be very useful? 

10 commonly asked questions or issues seen during Hyper-V beta

With the RTM release of Hyper-V just around the corner, I thought it would be a good idea to re-visit some of the top things we have seen customers encounter when installing and configuring Hyper-V for the first time and give pointers to resources we have available to eliminate those when you start rolling this out in production for the first time. I have taken the liberty of linking many of these questions/issues to blogs written by our program managers on the virtualization team. We did a previous post on their sites but I thought this would serve as a quick reference and a pointer to them at the same time.

1. You don't have mouse functionality in your VM. One of the most commonly asked questions during the beta, internally and externally had to do with lack of mouse support in a guest when its running. One of the main reasons we saw this happening was that people were remoted into the parent and then controlling the guest from there, that wont work in Hyper-V. More information about best practices can be found here:

http://blogs.technet.com/jhoward/archive/2008/03/23/controlling-vms-under-hyper-v-without-the-mouse.aspx

2. Hyper-V wont install. Another common question had to do with Hyper-V not installing at all. People would add the role and either would get errors post installation, prior to installation, etc. So, to revisit the core requirements for the Hyper-V role to be installed and functional on your machine, see the release notes once we RTM. Top issues here though were folks not enabling Virtualization and DEP in their system BIOS, not shutting down the parent completely at the end of installation but rebooting the parent instead, and not adding the proper entries to the BCD store on a Core installation (hint: rebooting twice takes care of this in Core).

3. Import isn't working within Hyper-V for your Virtual Server VMs. Another common question is what the Import Virtual Machine button does within the Hyper-V console. Many people, myself included early on, thought that it was there to import a .vhd from a Virtual Server installation. It's not. It's there to import an exported Hyper-V virtual machine. The proper way to import a previously used Virtual Server .vhd file is to create a new virtual machine and use the existing hard drive function during setup.

4. Hyper-V clustering: Clustering Hyper-V installations is new and different in Windows 2008. Rather than re-inventing the wheel here I strongly encourage you all to use the excellent whitepaper thats out on the external Microsoft site:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=CD828712-8D1E-45D1-A290-7EDADF1E4E9C&displaylang=en

5. Snapshotting in Hyper-V. Snapshotting confuses a lot of people because they liken them to un-do disks in Virtual Server. They aren't the same thing. Excellent references below to how snapshotting works in Hyper-V and how to get the undo functionality that you're used to are linked below.

http://blogs.technet.com/roblarson/archive/2008/05/15/getting-undo-functionality-with-hyper-v-snapshots.aspx

and

http://blogs.technet.com/roblarson/archive/2008/04/26/virtual-machine-snapshots-with-hyper-v.aspx

6. Virtual Networks. Additionally virtual networking has been totally revamped in Hyper-V and many dont understand the purpose of the individual networking options within the console. Linkage to a great article on them is below:

http://blogs.technet.com/jhoward/archive/2008/06/16/how-does-basic-networking-work-in-hyper-v.aspx

and

http://blogs.technet.com/jhoward/archive/2008/06/17/hyper-v-what-are-the-uses-for-different-types-of-virtual-networks.aspx

7. Using Hyper-V in Windows Server Core. Server Core is the new command line only installation option and its perfect for Hyper-V. For many people it can be hard to navigate and install new roles however. Below is a good link on installing Hyper-V in a Server Core environment.

http://blogs.technet.com/jhoward/archive/2008/03/30/how-to-add-the-hyper-v-role-to-a-windows-server-2008-server-core-machine.aspx

8. Remote Management. Managing Hyper-V installations, be they GUI or Server Core, is always a concern. An excellent two part article on this is located here:

http://blogs.technet.com/jhoward/archive/2008/03/28/part-1-hyper-v-remote-management-you-do-not-have-the-requested-permission-to-complete-this-task-contact-the-administrator-of-the-authorization-policy-for-the-computer-computername.aspx

and

http://blogs.technet.com/jhoward/archive/2008/03/28/part-2-hyper-v-remote-management-you-do-not-have-the-requested-permission-to-complete-this-task-contact-the-administrator-of-the-authorization-policy-for-the-computer-computername.aspx

9. Issues deploying virtual machines within a virtualized environment. I have seen this a lot internally, you have a RID/WDS server in a VM that you've used forever in Virtual Server. You decide to move that installation to Hyper-V and now you cant deploy new children VMs in Hyper-V. The problem here lies in the fact that you need to use the legacy network adapter rather than the synthetic device for the child VM you are trying to deploy to. We dont support PXE boot on the synthetic NIC in Hyper-V. You can add a Legacy NIC in the Add Hardware section of the Virtual Machine Settings.

10. One other virtualized hardware issue we have seen is SCSI boot. Or more specifically, the lack of it. We no longer support booting from the virtualized SCSI controller in Hyper-V. You can still use the SCSI controller for storage drives and you can utilize iSCSI or SAN storage as well, you just cant boot SCSI anymore.

Author: Joseph Conway
Support Escalation Engineer
Microsoft Enterprise Platforms Support

Ask the Core Team : 10 commonly asked questions or issues seen during Hyper-V beta

So this mornings news from Alessandro is the release of Hyper-V - Download a trial here.

I have also included at the bottom of this post a number of links that Justin Zarb helped collate regarding where to find all kinds of info relating to Hyper-V

Release: Microsoft Hyper-V 1.0

Thursday, June 26, 2008   |   0 Comments   |  

After over three years of development (the product was originally announced at WinHEC 2005 conference) Microsoft finally releases today its first bare-metal virtualization platform: Hyper-V.
During this very long process the product was delayed, changed name, and lost some planned key features.

Unlike Virtual Server and Virtual PC, Hyper-V is a type-1 virtual machine monitor (aka hypervisor) which features an architecture very similar to the one used by Xen and its commercial derivatives.
This allows a direct comparison with platforms like Citrix XenServer, Virtual Iron, the upcoming Sun xVM Server and obviously with VMware ESX.

Unlike the latter, Hyper-V adopts a microkernel developed from scratch (so it's not the Windows kernel) which is less than 1MB in size and delegates most of the tasks to a so called Parent Partition.
Depending on the configuration you adopted, the parent partition automatically loads a full copy of Windows Server 2008 or the new Windows Server 2008 Core.

Being a first generation product, Hyper-V cannot really compete with the above in features, but it clearly offers a performance boost (up to +107% in case of disk I/O activity) and some much deserved improvements over Virtual Server 2005 R2:

• Support for 32bit and 64bit virtual machines
• Support for up to 4 virtual CPU per VM (the actual number depends on the guest OS)
• Support for up to 64GB RAM per VM
• Support for the Windows 2008/2003/2000, Windows XP/Vista and Novell SUSE Enterprise Linux guest operating systems
• Quick Migration (the capability to suspend, migrate and resume a VM from one host to another)
• Automatic patching through Windows Update and WSUS

……

Microsoft Hyper-V is fully integrated with Windows Server 2008 64bit so any download of the OS includes it. Download a trial here.
For those customers already using the beta or the release candidate of Hyper-V, the product will be updated through the Windows Update service beginning July 8.

To demonstrate how much the company bets on this new product, Microsoft is internally adopting Hyper-V since a while and already migrated inside its virtual machines all the web front-ends that serve TechNet and MSDN websites.

Now the customers wait for the upcoming System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008, currently in beta, to centrally manage Hyper-V (along with Virtual Server and VMware ESX), and MAP 3.1, in beta as well, to perform accurate capacity planning.

Release: Microsoft Hyper-V 1.0 | virtualization.info

Where should I look for Hyper-V Information?

So your looking for information on Hyper-V and struggling for where to look! So I wanted to get a nice bit of compiled information that Jeff did....

Websites

Microsoft Virtualization Home Page
Virtualization Case Studies
Virtualization Solution Accelerators
Windows Server 2008 Virtualization & Consolidation:
Hyper-V FAQ
Optimized Desktop Infrastructure (VDI and much more):
Virtualization TechCenter:
How to Install Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V RC
Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V Performance Tuning Guide
MSDN & TechNet Powered by Hyper-V
MSDN & TechNet Powered by Hyper-V Whitepaper

Blogs:

http://blogs.technet.com/virtualization/default.aspx
http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy/
http://blogs.technet.com/jhoward/
http://blogs.technet.com/roblarson/
http://blogs.technet.com/virtualworld/
http://blogs.technet.com/windowsserver/
http://blogs.technet.com/mapblog/
http://blogs.technet.com/stbnewsbytes/

Webcasts:

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?culture=en-US&EventID=1032368894&CountryCode=US
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?culture=en-US&EventID=1032372420&CountryCode=US

While the deployment we were assisting with today was maybe not that large even by local standards the issue was something that comes up on a some what regular basis.

A customer wants to have a number of Thin Clients imaged to their specifications and then drop-shipped to various locations ready to go. Part of this involves creating and applying Asset Tags to the devices – a small thing to be sure – but for the poor folks in charge of keeping track of the devices this was vital.

The issue was that part of the FBReseal (First Boot Reseal) process renames the devices based on a process that combines the MAC address and the serial number and then comes up with a random name, and of course that was not making things that easy for the “Asset Taggers” ;-)

So we were testing the imaging process at the Integrators site using Altiris as the deployment mechanism and trying to figure out how we might be able to achieve something that would leave everybody happy and we discovered “COMPNAME.EXE”

My hats off to Oli at Willowhayes.co.uk as this is a great tool that does exactly what we were after, but it clearly has some great functions that make it really well suited for RIS with references to UUID and the ability to create and reference fake UUID’s when needed.

It is so easy because you can easily see the info it can pull out via the summary switch (examples below) and then reference them via the template function – so in our specific case we simply called a job that ran “COMPNAME.EXE /c HP-?s” and this then appended the serial number after the HP- prefix.

Now it was possible for the customer to receive a spreadsheet of all the devices, including a listing of the specific Computer Names so that Asset Tags can be printed and applied ahead of delivery.

Summary switch provides the following info:
Mainboard manufacturer : Hewlett-Packard
          model        : 30C8
          serial       :
Chassis   manufacturer : Hewlett-Packard
          model        : Notebook
          serial       : 2CEXXXXH29
System    manufacturer : Hewlett-Packard
          model        : HP Compaq 2710p (#ABG)
          serial       : 2CE8060H29
Ethernet address       : 00:1F:3B:09:XX:XX
IP address             : 192.168.0.4
NetBIOS name           : xxxxxxxxxxx
DNS Host name          : xxxxxxxxxxx
System UUID            : 21FFBB999ADCXXXX111XXX8410012529

Switch Examples are:
?u = System UUID                        ?U = Fake UUID (24 zeros plus MAC).
?G = If System UUID is FFFF... or 0000... or null it uses ?U, otherwise ?u.
?i, ?j, ?k, ?l            = 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th octets of IP (decimal).
?I, ?J, ?K, ?L            = 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th octets of IP (hex).
?d = Hostname found by reverse DNS lookup of IP address.
?m = First MAC address.                 ?e = Existing NetBIOS computer name.
?D = day    ?M = month    ?Y = year
?1, ?2, ?3, ..., ?0       = 1, 2, 3, ..., 10 random alphanumeric characters.

COMPNAME /c acme-?s   Changes computer name to "acme-ABCDEF" where ABCDEF is the system serial number.

Well as far as I am aware, XPe as it stands to day will be available through till sometime in 2010, but it seems more news is getting out about is’s possible Vista based replacement? My personal view is that MS should take a deep hard look at the *LACK* of take up and interest in Vista before heading down this path anytime soon – but that doesn’t mean they won’t try regardless.

Now of particular note from the details below from Mary Jo Foley is the indication of the size of the OS? XPe may have a *core* size of 40Mb but it is typically 350Mb or so when deployed - does that mean that with a core of 300Mb for Quebec that the typical load will be around 2.5Gb and larger? If this is the case then it’s just as well that Flash manufacturers are able to keep making larger and larger memory modules?

But, really…. activation?? for an embedded OS – give me a break!!!  That is unless MS are going to repeal the restriction that they have always had with the embedded OS in that they have always insisted that you are NOT able to install any of the Office products locally?

Who know’s? is it that far fetched? Thin Clients are getting more powerful CPU’s, RAM is pretty cheap, Flash sizes are going up and the price is coming down and yet here is an OS that is cut down to what we’d probably want Windows 7 to be? It also has (should have?) either EWF (Enhanced Write Filter) or the File Based Write Filter to maintain it’s integrity?

Interesting times ahead? :-)

Windows Embedded ‘Quebec’ due in 2010

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 6:23 am

Although it hasn’t said much about its plans for a Vista-based successor to its Windows XP-based  embedded operating system, Microsoft already is working on one.

Microsoft released during the first week of June a new test build of its latest Windows XP-based embedded operating system, known as “Windows Embedded Standard 2009,” the final version of which is slated to ship by the end of 2008.

However, Microsoft also is readying the 2010 successor to this product — another Windows Embedded release codenamed “Quebec.” Unlike the 2009 release of Windows Embedded, the Quebec product will make use of a number of features that are part of Windows Vista.

Microsoft is on tap to share some information about the Vista-based embedded release at its TechEd Developers Conference this week in Orlando. A first widescale Community Technology Preview (CTP) test build of Quebec is due out next year.

Microsoft’s Windows Embedded family of products, which Microsoft sells to device makers, is designed to power thin client terminals, point-of-service terminals, gaming devices, medical-imaging systems, DVRs and industrial-automation systems, among other products. Windows Embedded is not at the core of cell phones or ultra-low-cost PCs (ULPCs), however. Windows Mobile phones currently are built on top of a Windows CE-based core and ULPCs run full-fledged Windows. (Microsoft has OK’d ULPC makers shipping Windows XP on their systems through 2010.)

The forthcoming Quebec embedded release will include BitLocker drive encryption, Windows Firewall, Windows Defender, Address-Space Load Randomization — and on the memory-management front, support for SuperFetch, ReadyBoost and Dynamic System Address Space. On certain devices, the Quebec release will also provide as optional components Aero user-interface, Windows Media Player 11 and various Internet Explorer 7 features. Unlike Microsoft’s XP-based embedded releases, which are 32-bit only, Quebec will support both 32-bit x86 and 64-bit x64 processors.

Not surprisingly, support for all these features comes at a cost — size. According to a slide deck available to TechEd attendees, while Windows XP Embedded core’s minimum image size is around 40MB, according to a slide deck to be presented at TechEd on June 6, Quebec’s core is expected be around 300MB — not counting all the optional add-ons like Media Player, IE 7, etc.

The other cost is Quebec will require product activation; XP Embedded does not. The Quebec release will require basic retail activation or OEM activation. There will be a default evaluation product key that will allow the Quebec image to run for 30 days without activation.

Windows Embedded ‘Quebec’ due in 2010 | All about Microsoft | ZDNet.com

So if you have a look at the MSTSC.EXE file that starts the RDP session and use the /? to call further info from the component you get something very much like this:

But if you dig a just a touch deeper you will find that the MS Terminal Services Client or RDP Client as it is more commonly known draws the config information for most of its settings from the simple DEFAULT.RDP file that will typically be saved in the Users profile. (see example below)

So if you want to make changes to the way it behaves then it is fairly straightforward to make the changes in the GUI of the Client and then use the “Save As…” command from within the GUI – but what happens if you’d like to replicate this as standard behavior across multiple devices?

Search in the target computer to find the default.rdp file? (they should be hiding in each users profile) This is the settings that are used when the RDP Client is used – so open default.rdp in notepad or similar and you will find it is pretty straightforward to read?

Here in this example I have set the local C,D and E drives to be visible:

But at the same time some of these settings are pretty easy to guess at and start modifying with a reasonable degree of being able to accurately guess what they will change? I’ve highlighted some of the pretty obvious ones?

++++Example++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
screen mode id:i:2
desktopwidth:i:1280
desktopheight:i:800
session bpp:i:32     <<< Colour depth
winposstr:s:0,3,0,0,800,600
full address:s:
compression:i:1
keyboardhook:i:2    <<<Keyboard Shortcuts
audiomode:i:0   <<<Sound
redirectprinters:i:1   <<<attach local printers? 1 is on
redirectcomports:i:0
redirectsmartcards:i:0
redirectclipboard:i:1
redirectposdevices:i:0
drivestoredirect:s:C:;D:;E:;
displayconnectionbar:i:1
autoreconnection enabled:i:1
authentication level:i:0
prompt for credentials:i:0
negotiate security layer:i:1
remoteapplicationmode:i:0
alternate shell:s:
shell working directory:s:
disable wallpaper:i:1    <<<part of controlling “the experience”
disable full window drag:i:1
allow desktop composition:i:0
allow font smoothing:i:0
disable menu anims:i:1
disable themes:i:0
disable cursor setting:i:0
bitmapcachepersistenable:i:1
gatewayhostname:s:      <<<Part of the TS Gateway from here down
gatewayusagemethod:i:0
gatewaycredentialssource:i:4
gatewayprofileusagemethod:i:0
++++Example++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

If this is the case then make the changes to the user's default.rdp – then use the “save as”... then test Test, and then replicate to the same location on all devices?

I have an old blog site at www.geekswithblogs.net/wallabyfan as well as the new one at www.techagility.info and things have been very quiet for the last three weeks or so as I have been under something of a cloud. It would appear that at some stage I may have inadvertently upset someone with one of my posts – and rather than approach me to discuss this the complaint has been forwarded in to local HP management here in Sydney.

I still have no details what so ever as to what the issue is (or was?) as no details have been forthcoming – however for the record I have updated my Disclaimer as detailed below:

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights. The opinions expressed within are my own and should not be attributed to any other Individual, Company or the one I work for.

I just happen to be a classic techie who is passionate about getting things to work as they should do (and are sometimes advertised and marketed as being able to?) and when I can I drop notes here to help others falling in to the same traps that I have fallen in to.

If this has helped then please pass it on - if you feel that I have commented in error or disagree then please feel free to discuss with me either publically or privately?

Cheers,
Dave

Please respect this Disclaimer for what it is?

I do not, nor never have, or intended to claim that my opinions expressed here are anything to do with anyone else, or any other company.

As much as I may express an opinion here in public, it is public much in the way that you might have a discussion over a glass of wine with friends and family at the end of dinner, and as such please feel free to launch in with your own “take” on the matter at hand, just as you would at dinner?

Thanks,
Dave