Full of I.T.

Best of Questions and Answers from the TechNet Webcast: Automating Windows 7 Deployment Using System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2 SP2

2009-11-18T14:06:26Z

Greetings!

As promised, here are the best of the questions (with answers) from our November 11, 2009 “TechNet Webcast: Automating Windows 7 Deployment Using System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2 SP2”

BIG THANK YOU to John Weston, John Baker, and Dan Stolts for handling the Q&A during the live event. Most of what follows started with their answers to these very good questions.

I hope you find these resources useful!

-Kevin

PS – The resources, including links to screencast recordings I did of the complete demos for this content, are available HERE.

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Questions and Answers

“Is it possible to manage Blackberry devices with SCCM?”

No. Only the following devices are supported: Windows Mobile 2003 Smartphone Windows Mobile for Pocket PC 2003 Second Edition Windows Mobile for Pocket PC 5.0 Windows Mobile for Pocket PC Phone Edition 5.0 Windows Mobile 6 Standard Windows Mobile 6 Professional Windows Mobile 6 Classic

“How well does this integrate into MDT 2010?”

The two actually share some technology. Both use tools from the Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) for portions of their solution. Both create and drive task sequences.

But as far as integration, they are different tools. The Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) is free, and is purely for addressing the creation and management of Operating System deployment. System Center Configuration Manager 2007 (SCCM) is not free, but does deployment of applications, updates, operating systems, as well as collection and management of computing inventories (hardware and software) and licensing. SCCM is also scalable to support the largest of any businesses out there, with an architecture that lets you define and distribute roles across large geographic boundaries.

So.. if you are a small-to-midsized business who just need a toolset to drive deployment, and if you don’t already have SCCM, you’ll want to look at the MDT.

“How do you capture an image?”

You can capture images using ImageX, which is a part of the Windows Automated Installation Kit. Instructions are here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc749003(WS.10).aspx

You can also use SCCM 2007 to build a deployment of your “reference computer”, so that your task sequence will install the OS, install apps, drivers, packages, and then capture the image for you. A description of this, plus instructions, can be found here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb632585.aspx

“Can you have a SEPARATE server added into SCCM that can host the PXE environment... we have a separate MDT2010 server stood up today...”

MDT and SCCM can be integrated in the sense that you can use either to build deployments, and to take advantage of the same capture, PXE, WDS, and image tools. They also natively support the same boot and os image files (.wim files – the first containing WinPE, and the second having the captured OS).

At the end of the session, could you go over implementation costs for this new system before logging off? Also could you address user licence agreements. I have three office locations in the US and Canada with 15-20 computers.

These webcast are so packed full of information, and with one hour to fill, we really can’t get into these kinds of details. Certainly this information is available either online, or from your local reseller or Microsoft Partner.

If you only have a total of 15-20 systems, you might want to just use the MDT 2010. (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=3bd8561f-77ac-4400-a0c1-fe871c461a89&displaylang=en )

Here’s the licensing information for SCCM:
http://www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/configurationmanager/en/us/pricing-licensing.aspx

“Why is he using a winpe boot.wim made from build 7100? doesnt sp2 install a boot.wim that build 7600?”

These images were created before RTM occurred.

“How do you find the smbios guid on a machine?”

“Where does SMBIOS GUID come from? How do you know it from a bare metal ws?”

“Where did he get the guid for his bare metal pc?”

“How did he come up with an SMSBIOS GUID for the machine provisioning when it is bare metal system and has never been an SCCM client? I can see how you can give it a NetBIOS name and a MAC address but how do you pre-determine an SMSBIOS GUID?

One way against a running machine would be to use WMI and the .\root\cimv2 namespace “Win32_ComputerSystemProduct” class. Or using PowerShell, you can run this command:

Get-WmiObject Win32_ComputerSystemProduct uuid

But if, as in the example I demonstrated, the machine doesn’t have an OS installed yet, that’s not going to help much. What you’ll do in that case is boot into the system settings. You should be able to find it there. (On my Lenovo, the UUID is right there on the first screen in the BIOS info.)

“In SCCM 2007 R2 SP1, you could also advertise the task sequence and packages to unknown computers. Is this option still available in SCCM 2007 R2 SP2?”

Yes. Here’s a really good post on how to enable and use this:

http://www.deploymentforum.com/Community/Forums/tabid/124/forumid/23/postid/2133/view/topic/Default.aspx

“What are the options for advertising a task sequence via PXE to all KNOWN computers without advertising the task sequence to a collection?”

SCCM advertises to collections only, but that certainly that collection could contain all of your KNOWN computers.

“If the image is captured using standard TS, the Configmgr client is installed into the WIM image. Why therefore does the deployment TS install the client if it is already there?. I believe the capture TS "prepares" the SCCM client i.e. removes sitecode, stops ccmexec service and removes cetificates so I would expect the deploy task sequence running ccmsetup to realise client is already present and just activate it - instead it does a reinstall which wastes time - why?”

Good point. If your captured image already has the client, then I don’t see why another install would be necessary. My image didn’t have it.

Remember also that you could use the ‘intall.wim’ file directly off of the Windows OS DVD, which has absolutely nothing in it. In that case your deployment would include the ConfigMgr Client, as well as any-and-all other drivers, updates, and applications.

“Is there any advantage to importing the computer information vs. using R2's ‘Unknown Computer’ support?”

The only advantage I can see is to restrict just anyone from being able to start an installation.

“I missed the first part. Did he talk about configuring WDS and the PXE for SCCM?”

Yes, I did briefly. Basically I just showed where in the Server Manager you add the WDS server role. I took the defaults. And then I showed where I added the PXE Service Point site server role in SCCM.

“What version of WinPE are supported with SCCM?”

Configuration Manager 2007 requires Windows PE 2.0. Configuration Manager 2007 SP1 requires Windows PE 2.1. Configuration Manager 2007 SP2 requires Windows PE 3.0.

“For WDS, do we need to configure it to reply to PXE boot? Do I need to configure any options in WDS or i just install the feature and only do the configuration on the PXE site system in SCCM?”

The default in WDS it to respond to Known and Unknown computers. But in my demonstration, I didn’t do anything at all in WDS, other than add the role. The PXE Service Point, and allowing only known or unknown computers support, is where this happens in SCCM.

“Where do i get the USMT for windows 7?”

It is part of the Windows AIK http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=136976

“Where does USMT store the data it gathers? How do you set that up?”

Here is the User Guide: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd560801(WS.10).aspx

“Can you use the SCCM tools to add an image to an existing wim or do you have to use something else for that?”

I don’t think there is a way to have SCCM do that automatically for you – unless perhaps you could add a custom step to a task sequence that drives the ImageX tool to merge a newly captured image into another file. (“I’ll leave that for you as an exercise.”)

“How do i install USMT on Windows XP?”

You can install the WAIK on Windows Vista and later, and then copy the USMT files over. NOTE that you can only run the ScanState utility on XP. You can’t use LoadState. (And why would you?)

Check out Dan Stolt’s excellent blog post and video: http://blogs.technet.com/danstolts/archive/2009/09/02/migrate-windows-xp-to-windows-7-using-usmt-user-state-migration-tool-upgrade-xp-or-vista-step-by-step.aspx

“Can you put the Product Key in there? Do you need KMS server?”

You can do either.

“Can i use the USMT if i have a x86 XP but want to image/migrate over to x64 Win7 PC?”

Yes. You can use USMT to migrate x86 to x64. You can’t go 64-bit to 32-bit, though.

“What does the USMT4 Hardlinking feature do with the data on disc during the OS installation?”

It simply keeps it in a folder that it doesn’t touch during the installation. Starting with Windows Vista, these “image-based” installations are non-destructive by default, as a benefit of the fact that the image is a file-based image and not an image that simply throws bits on a disk. So if you don’t partition and/or format the drive, and if you have sufficient space on the disk for the installation files on top of your existing disk, then you can keep the data on the local disk.

“For OEM editions that do not require a product key (Dell DVD's for example), does licensing carry over in the imaging process?”

You don’t have a distributable OS with just the copy that comes on your computer. The OEM copy is firmly linked to the hardware it was sold on. To do what we’re discussing here, you have some kind of volume licensing on top of this that allows you to create and deploy OS installations onto those boxes.

“Do I need to configure any options in WDS or i just install the feature and only do the configuration on the PXE site system in SCCM?”

The WDS role is simply added to the server. You'll do all you configuration from within SCCM.

“Do we install the PXE role on secondary servers and primary servers or just the central server?”

PXE service point is configured on a site system. It doesn’t have to be a primary or secondary site server and definitely shouldn’t be put on the Central Site server. It will however, be servicing a primary or secondary site.

“Leveraging the new Virtual Windows XP Mode available in Win7 Pro and Ultimate, would it be possible to deploy that along with the Windows 7 image, and simultaneously create a virtual machine running Windows XP for legacy applications?”

It would be a rather fat image, but I don’t see why you couldn’t build a reference system that included the XP mode .vhd, and Windows Virtual PC already configured. There’s nothing special about the XP machine (it’s just a .vhd after-all). Don’t boot it before capturing the image. Leave it be in a pre-run state.

“Where do i get the Windows PE 3.0?”

Windows Automated Installation Kit

Where does USMT store the data it gathers? How do you set that up?

Two choices: You can point the scanstate tool to the destination using command-line parameters, or you can configure the appropriate .xml files to make these designations.

See the User State Migration Tool “components” page for more details: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd560755(WS.10).aspx

“Where can you configure USMT like what files,settings get backed up?”

See the User State Migration Tool “components” page for details on how you can specify such things: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd560755(WS.10).aspx

“Does the USMT copy all the multiple users info?”

It can, yes. In my demo, it did (though I only had the one user).

“Can i have your email?”

Can I have yours?

“How do you capture data and save it locally instead of on the server?”

In my last demo that’s exactly what I did. I configured the task sequence to store the users settings locally. If you’re just using USMT from the command-line, you can do that in options for the scanstate tool.

“The last demo - Was it using USMT hard links”

Yes. It’s a very fast restore.

“Is SCCM SP2 supported in windows 2008 R2?”

Yes.

“How to you create a wim image for Windows 7”

See the WAIK and the documentation on the ImageX tool. But if you simply want to have an OS image to deploy (with nothing extra installed within the image), you can just use the install.wim file found on the Windows 7 DVD, or in the Enterprise installation you got with Volume Licensing.

“What is the difference between SCCM and MDT 2008?”

http://www.bing.com/search?q=What+is+the+difference+between+SCCM+and+MDT+2008%3F&src=IE-SearchBox&FORM=IE8SRC

“When the LTI deployment fails, where are the log files stored?”

A list of the log files in SCCM and where they’re found can be found here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb892800.aspx

Resources from the TechNet Webcast: Automating Windows 7 Deployments using System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2 SP2

2009-11-11T11:30:00Z

Greetings!

Here are the resources relating to the TechNet Webcast: “Automating Windows 7 Deployments using System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2 SP2”, delivered November 11, 2009.

I hope you find them useful!

-Kevin

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Demo Screencasts

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“Best of” Q&A

Best of Q&A post is now available here!

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Related Resources

System Center Configuration Manager 2007
http://www.microsoft.com/sccm

Asset Intelligence in Configuration Manager 2007
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc161988.aspx

Inventory in Configuration Manager 2007
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb632437.aspx

Modifying Task Sequences
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb978347.aspx

Windows 7 Deployment
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd349337(WS.10).aspx

Step-by-Step: Windows 7 Upgrade and Migration
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd446674(WS.10).aspx

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit
http://www.microsoft.com/deployment

U.S. Live, In-Person TechNet Events
http://www.technetevents.com/KevinRemde

TechNet Edge:
http ://edge.technet.com/People/KevinRemde

Hurry! Save 25% on a TechNet Plus Subscription!
http://blogs.technet.com/kevinremde/archive/2009/08/21/TMSAM08.aspx

Good Fun: Windows 7 Film Festival – The Results

2009-10-30T11:34:20Z

Just got an e-mail from Stephen Rose. He writes:

17 film teams in the Seattle area competed. Rules were to create a 30 second to 2 minute film, targeted to IT Pros. Each team picked a different genre from a hat (e.g. Comedy, Music, Parkour, Blast from the Past, etc.). And they had to include the following in their film: 1) a character called “CIO Wiggins”, 2) a line of dialog “The guys in IT are going to like this” and 3) mention “Windows 7”. The results are hilarious and interesting. Check them out! http://www.youtube.com/user/Win7FilmFest

Good stuff!

Cool: New Career Planning Resources

2009-10-28T18:18:07Z

Microsoft Learning has a new site (and really a global campaign) devoted to helping you plot out your career, and to help you then find the trainings and resources that can help you get there.

From the site:

“Today, more than ever, your career is the best investment you can make. Microsoft provides certifications, guidance, career paths, and special offers associated with some of the most commonly recognized IT job roles in the industry.
Microsoft Learning Plans and offers help you train on and become certified in the most notable and current Microsoft products, including Windows Server and Windows client technologies, Microsoft Exchange Server, and Microsoft SQL Server.”

Click here for more information.

Breaking News: You want PowerShell 2 on XP? Server 2003? You got it!

2009-10-28T14:29:13Z

I fired up my tweetdeck just a minute ago and saw this tweet from Jeffrey Snover (the architect of PowerShell):

“What does it mean?

It means that the new version of PowerShell (version 2.0) is now RTW (Released to Web). And not only PowerShell 2.0, but also WinRM 2.0 and BITS 4.0. It’s called the “Windows Management Framework”.

“But aren’t those already included in Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7?”

Yes.. but you who are running Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, or even Windows XP would like to (or need to) take advantage of this powerful new management platform as well. And now you can!

Here’s the link to the PowerShell Blog that Jeff’s tweet mentions above: http://blogs.msdn.com/powershell/archive/2009/10/27/windows-management-framework-is-here.aspx

And here’s the KB where you can learn more about it, as well as download these tools: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/968929

Oh.. and one more link – this one to the Windows Management Infrastructure team blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/wmi/

Just for fun…

2009-10-26T03:05:00Z

I just think this is so very clever. So I had a little fun with it.

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Featuring (in order of appearance): Laura, Kevin, Amy, Nancy, and Andy Remde

Breaking News: Big Day!

2009-10-22T14:29:27Z

Technorati Tags: Windows 7

Best of Questions and Answers for the IT Manager Community Talk with Kevin – Windows 7 “What’s in it for you?” (Part 3 of 3)

2009-10-21T10:59:00Z

Attention IT Managers!

The other day we had a fantastic chat with Venky Chandrasekharan, and nearly 200 live attendees, all about Windows 7 and what it provides you in your IT organization and for your business.

(You can listen to that recorded chat session HERE.)

As I like to do with these, I promised that I would take the Q&A log from the event and expand upon the answers we gave, as well as answer the more technical questions that we didn’t have a chance to get to. And we had so many wonderful questions that I is taking me quite some time to get through them all.

So, here is PART THREE of our three parts.

My apologies if you don’t see your question here. It’s either coming in a later post, or it simply was too technical (or off-topic) to be worth addressing here.

I hope you find these question, answers, and resources useful!

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Questions and Answers (Part 3 of 3)

“When running Virtual XP on a Windows 7 computer and you connect to a server do you need two licenses? One for Windows 7 and one for Windows XP?”

My understanding is that, no, your Windows 7 machine CAL will cover you for the XP installation and its access to your server. (Please, if you have heard otherwise, let me know. Like you, I’m finding information on this very hard to find.)

“The option you were talking about connecting to your PC remotely. You need to have Server 2008 R2, with Windows7 to do this?. So if I have the Server 2003 I cannot do this? & what is the security risk involved?”

For DirectAccess, you need to have Windows Server 2008 R2 as your DirectAccess Server – the machine that your Windows 7 clients connect to/through to get to your internal network. But that doesn’t restrict what servers or resources you can then connect to on the internal side.

“You mentioned earlier about ‘capturing’ problems in Windows 7 - do you have a link to info outlining how to do this? I am currently experiencing failures with Word and Excel 2007 trying to print to my Dell network attached printer. I would really like to generate a ‘log’ and get assistance to solve this.”

The Problem Steps Recorder is really just a simple screen-capture-with-every-action kind of a tool, so it’s not recording anything in the way of items that might be captured in the event log. Which I suppose is also to say – you already have a log. J It’s the Windows event logs. Errors related to application failures or devices can be found using the event viewer.

“What version of IIS supported by Windows 7?”

Well.. if you’re asking “What version of IIS is available to add to and run locally on Windows 7, the answer is IIS 7.5 (same as with Windows Server 2008 R2).

The first and best place for IIS-related information, plus forums where you can ask questions or search on other people’s answers is at www.iis.net.

“Would you briefly explain how Windows 7 will be easier to deploy? Create and manage images?”

http://www.microsoft.com/deployment - get the MDT (Microsoft Deployment Toolkit). It has great documentation and step-by-step instructions.

“Can I use Problem Step Recorder in Vista or XP? If not, can you recommend any tool?”

No. Unfortunately the Problem Steps Recorder is only available as a part of Windows 7. There may be other tools out there that will work for XP or Vista. Sounds like a good opportunity for someone to develop a useful shareware utility…

“Anti-Virus that would run are Windows 7 could be find in this link http://www.microsoft.com/windows/antivirus-partners/windows-7.aspx . Windows Anti-Malware Engine improved a lot in Windows 7 and it is different from Windows XP and Windows 7 one. So user encourage to use only anti-malware which are ready for their platform. user should not use compatibility mode to run incompatible antivirus (same apply to other system tools).”

Thanks for sharing that!

“Can you give an overview of Problem Steps Recorder and how and when it should be used. Are there any security concerns to be aware of?”

As we discussed in the live chat, the only security concerns I could see would involve the fact that the PSR is taking screenshots, which could potentially include confidential information that is somewhere on the desktop or within the applications visibly running at the time. You’d be wise to include that warning when instructing your users on using this tool.

“I set up Virtual XP on Win 7 and ran into a NAT issue, similar to ICS. I could not add the virtual PC to the domain. Was I doing something wrong?”

By default XP mode does indeed do NAT for the sake of the XP running virtually on Windows 7. You can change it and essentially let the XP machine connect directly to the network through the Windows 7 machine’s NIC.

See this excellent blog post on working with networking in Windows XP Mode.

“I am finding that win7 don't like some of my newer network dirve and can become very un stable i and wil just sit and do noting and have to be rebooted before it will work with the app you trying to load. is this to be addressed”

That's a little hard to troubleshoot in a live chat, I'm afraid. :) My advice would be (if you haven't already) to look at the event logs and see if there are any clues there. It also could be a network issue - timeouts on connections that aren't able to be maintained.

“Can you name two or three of the specific positive comments made by the business community for the deployment of Windows 7?”

You can find those all at http://www.microsoft.com/windows - and go more specifically down to any items "for business".

“Can Windows 7 be installed on an Intel Mac at this time?”

Yes. http://www.bing.com/search?q=install+windows+7+on+mac&src=IE-SearchBox&FORM=IE8SRC

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Good stuff? Hopefully you saw PART ONE and PART TWO also.

Best of Questions and Answers for the IT Manager Community Talk with Kevin – Windows 7 “What’s in it for you?” (Part 2 of 3)

2009-10-20T09:56:00Z

Attention IT Managers!

The other day we had a fantastic chat with Venky Chandrasekharan, and nearly 200 live attendees, all about Windows 7 and what it provides you in your IT organization and for your business.

(You can listen to that recorded chat session HERE.)

So, here is PART TWO of our three parts.

My apologies if you don’t see your question here. It’s either coming in a later post, or it simply was too technical (or off-topic) to be worth addressing here.

I hope you find these question, answers, and resources useful!

---

Questions and Answers (Part 2 of 3)

“Will Win 7 integrate well with XP in the environment until a full implementation is completed in the environment?”

Yes.. everything you might be doing as far as XP systems relating to one another is supported in a mixed XP/Windows7/Vista environment as well.

“Are there any thoughts going around to make XP Mode 64 bit to take advantage of more memory?”

Great question. And as we mentioned in the live chat, we’re not aware of any plans to create a XP-Mode 64-bit virtual machine. You can run XP-Mode on top of 64-bit Windows 7 (so you can have more memory on the host to work with), but the XP itself is 32- bit.

“The real time response of windows, xp, vista is very poor. Many seconds can elapse before a mouse click is recognized or a switch to another application is acknowledged. Has that changed significantly in W7?”

I don’t know if your particular situation is specifically related to XP or Vista, so I’m certainly not able to say for sure that your issue will be fixed with Windows 7. However, I do know that a lot of low-level optimizing has taken place in Windows 7, so that might improve things for you. Practically everyone I’ve talked to about their early experiences with Windows 7 have said that they noticed a dramatic improvement in responsiveness.

“I have just installed Win 7 Pro today. I was able to get it installed with no errors and it worked fine the first time. I was also able to get my HP k550dn printer setup and working without any software installation. That was very impressive.”

Cool! Thanks for sharing that.

“What versions of Windows 7 will run Virtual XP? Does it require special hardware?”

The free (no additional cost) XP OS is only for Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions. Yes, it does require that your CPU be the newer Intel or AMD ones that have built-in support for virtualization. And keep in mind that memory will also be important, because your virtualized XP is configured to use real memory while it’s running.

“Can you talk about the HighDPI feature in Win7?”

You can get more detail from the “Engineering Windows 7” blog.

“Do you have a list of search connectors available for download?”

I found this list (http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/742-windows-7-search-federation-providers.html ), but of course this is going to hopefully be an ever-expanding list.

“XP mode is amazing. i am running ms dyamics nav into xp mode and he works great !!!”

Excellent! Thanks for sharing that!

“We are currently running a Windows Server 2008 domain controller. What additional options will we see moving to the 2008 R2 (in regards to the Windows 7 clients)?”

As we discussed in the chat, there are a couple of new features/capabilities that do require both Windows 7 as the client and Windows Server 2008 R2 as the solution. Check out this good “better together” page: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/R2-Better-Together.aspx

“Is there a network equivalent of OneCare (that I have at home)?”
“Is the free anti virus tool from Microsoft will be installed by default? What is the memory limit? Will there be 64 of Windows 7?”

Microsoft just recently released a free antivirus product for home users called Microsoft Security Essentials. http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials

For AV in business, you should consider the solutions in the Microsoft ForeFront set of products. http://www.microsoft.com/forefront/en/us/default.aspx

“With the virtual options in Win7, can I make a virtual machine of a user's old computer and then run it on their new Win7 computer? (A sort of backup feature)”

I suppose this could be done. Taking an image and then installing the image into a virtual machine is one way to accomplish it. Or if you have System Center Virtual Machine Manager you could do a “P2V” (physical to virtual) migration in order to create the VHD (though the resulting machine will be built for Hyper-V).

Remember, though, that the “XP Mode” capability is not really supposed to be a backup of a previous machine. The main goal is to give people a platform as a last resort for application compatibility. The effort to build and maintain the old desktop within the new is, in my opinion, more work than it’s worth.

“Are there any differences between Windows 7 Ultimate and Enterprise?”

Functionally, with the exception of some features that are not enabled (but can be) by default (such as games in Enterprise), the two are the same. Where they differ is with regard to licensing benefits that you get with Enterprise, because it is only through Volume Licensing and with Software Assurance that you can have Enterprise Edition. Products such as MDOP (Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack) become available to you to add to your license as well.

“How will Windows 7 improve my user's ability to search for files on our network?”

Yes. As we discussed in the live chat, we want to provide (because people want) a common platform to launch a search. Adding the ability to plug into other search services and launch them from within the Windows Explorer window (a feature called “Federated Search”) is how we make this happen.

“Is Windows Defender still available in Windows 7?”

Yes.

“Windows XP would often lock up and just wait for some internal time out on a resource. There was no straight forward way to release the resource or even know what application or resource was, that caused the lock up. This often led to restores to earlier working points, loosing desktop changes and other app changes: a lot of work was lost. What does windows 7 have that allows a user to know what is wrong with the OS and what to do about it without having a Systems Admin IT professional diagnose the system?”

Windows 7 has built-in Troubleshooting now that goes above and beyond even what we did in Windows Vista. I use Vista as the example all the time, because when it came to trying to solve networking issues, Vista really had the right idea. Instead of just tearing down and re-building the connection and hoping it works (ala XP), Vista had a top-down, decision-tree approach to trying to solve the problem. Sometimes the troubleshooter will solve the issue, and other times at the very least it will give the end-user better, more useful information that they can pass on to their administrator.

Windows 7 takes it several steps beyond that to not only let the end user troubleshoot networking, but also application compatibility issues or errors, hardware/device issues, display issues, and system and security issues.

Check out this Channel 9 video that goes into the details on how this new troubleshooting and diagnostics functionality works.

“What are the upgrade paths to Windows 7? Can you upgrade from XP?”

From XP, no, you cannot do an in-place upgrade. There are tools that can help with the migration of your files and settings. There are also tools that can automate the process for business IT people who need to do this for many machines.

Here’s a good “Upgrading to Windows 7” page: http://windows.microsoft.com/upgrade?os=other

And even a step-by-step tutorial here: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/help/upgrading-from-windows-xp-to-windows-7

“Are you going to go over Windows 7 and Direct Access more?”

No, we really didn’t have time to go deep into any particular technology area in the live chat. However, here is a good “Executive Overview” of DirectAccess in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

And not too long ago I recorded a screencast demonstrating how to configure DirectAccess.

“Does Windows 7 require Windows Server 2008 R2 to effectively manage the desktop?”

No.

“What version of PowerShell comes with Windows 7?”

PowerShell 2.0 In fact, it’s installed by default now, rather than having to download or add it.

“How do I go about using Windows 7 Compatible logo for my application?”

Here is the Windows 7 Software Logo Program

“Would you briefly explain how Windows 7 will be easier to deploy? Create and manage images?”

That is a big topic. I recommend you start here: http://www.microsoft.com/deployment.

Look for information about and download tools such as the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) and the Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK).

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Good stuff? Hopefully you saw PART ONE also.

Best of Questions and Answers for the IT Manager Community Talk with Kevin – Windows 7 “What’s in it for you?” (Part 1 of 3)

2009-10-19T14:55:13Z

Attention IT Managers!

The other day we had a fantastic chat with Venky Chandrasekharan, and nearly 200 live attendees, all about Windows 7 and what it provides you in your IT organization and for your business.

(You can listen to that recorded chat session HERE.)

So.. I’m going to post these in 3 parts. Here is part 1 of 3.

My apologies if you don’t see your question here. It’s either coming in a later post, or it simply was too technical (or off-topic) to be worth addressing here.

I hope you find these question, answers, and resources useful!

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Questions and Answers (Part 1 of 3)

“How can I change the default keyboard for all running applications in Win7? When I try it, I change only for current Application.”

Enter “keyboard language” in the Start menu’s searchbox and hit return. You should see “Change keyboards or other input methods”. Click it.

“Are the ‘Win7 64bits’ faster than 32bits? How much in percentage?”

64 bits are twice as fast as 32. (I’M JUST KIDDING!!!)

I really don’t know the answer in actual percentage. It’s going to be faster when you have more memory than a 32-bit OS and the 32-bit address space can support, of course.

I “binged it”. There are some good comparisons and data here: http://www.bing.com/search?q=64-bit+vs.+32-bit+performance+comparison&src=IE-SearchBox&FORM=IE8SRC

“How will Windows 7 improve my user's ability to search for files on our network?”

In the chat we discussed this one. Basically you’re going to want to look at how Search Federation in Windows 7 can be used to unify the search experience (and so improve their ability) on the desktop.

And if you’re curious, I found a list of Search Federation providers here:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/742-windows-7-search-federation-providers.html

“What is MS recommending in terms of adoption of the 32-bit or 64-bit version? Is future development going to focus on 64-bit?”

On the Server side it’s all going 64-bit. Most new server products (and even our latest OS, Server 2008 R2) are 64-bit only. And that’s because server-class hardware is all 64-bit for the past several years now.

The same can’t be true for desktops and laptops. 32-bit will still be an option for awhile. So we’ll have 32-bit and 64-bit versions at least for the near-term. I can’t predict when the switch to all 64-bit will happen on the desktop side.

“How is Win7 compatible with older servers and Group policy and security settings?”

As we discussed in the live chat, there isn’t really anything special about Active Directory or how Group Policy objects are replicated to and supported by Domain Controllers that Windows 7 requires that is any different than any other AD joined client operating system. And if a policy is set that configures new functionality in Windows 7, or for that many ANY operating system that is newer than the one where a policy is being applied, it will just be ignored.

“I noticed that also in Windows 7, sometimes drivemappings are been lost, and only the red cross is been displayed. The names are lost of the mappings, but!!! the drives are still there and accessable....according supportsites from msft this already should have been solved in Vista..but also in my Win7 syst. x64 its still a problem...”

That’s a bit more of a technical support issue than we usually attempt to address in these IT Manager Community Chats, I’m afraid. But you might want to see if you have some kind of a networking issue.. where unexpected latency is causing these “connections” to time out. The documentation you saw on a fix might not relate to the problem you’re having, so it’s hard to say that this was the fix you were expecting.

“Is there a view of the presentation that shows windows 7, all I see is a cover page of the presenters?”

Did you join late? (smile) As I explain up at the front of all of these sessions, the idea here is to make it a live, interactive session. We only put a few resources up there for your use… but we really want the end result to be something you can get value from by simply listening to it – not having to focus on slides or demos. And it gives us the opportunity to keep it interactive, too.. much more fluid than having to follow a slide deck or script.

“How will anti-virus work with the resources? Will anti-viruses slow down the computer like it did in Windows XP?”

I don’t know of anything special about Windows 7 that will make Antivirus perform any slower or faster than it does on our older operating systems. If your AV solution is a memory/resource hog or duplicates existing functionality already in XP SP2 and beyond, then it’s going to do the same thing in Windows 7.

Related note: Microsoft just recently released a free antivirus product for home users called Microsoft Security Essentials. http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials

For AV in business, you should consider the solutions in the Microsoft ForeFront set of products. http://www.microsoft.com/forefront/en/us/default.aspx

“What are the settings for configuration on UAC?”

Here’s a great TechNet Magazine article by Mark Russinovich on User Account Control that, among other things, shows off the new User Interface: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2009.07.uac.aspx

For changing the settings using Group Policy: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-IN/windows7/How-do-I-change-the-behavior-of-User-Account-Control-by-using-Group-Policy

For a great whys-and-wherefores discussion of UAC, check out the “Engineering Windows 7” blog post here: http://blogs.msdn.com/e7/archive/2008/10/08/user-account-control.aspx

“Will networking be enabled in xp mode?”

The thing to remember about “XP Mode” in Windows 7 is that at the heart of it, it is another running operating system (XP SP3), running as what it thinks is it’s own machine. And as such, yes, you can network it. Applications running there can (and will be default) have access to the same network that your host Windows 7 machine has.

Remember: Issues of security such as antivirus, antispyware, firewall, etc.. all apply to this other “machine” also. Keep it up-to-date!

“With the virtual options in Win7, can I make a virtual machine of a user's old computer and then run it on their new Win7 computer? (A sort of backup feature)”

It’s an interesting idea.. and I suppose it’s doable if you have some way to capture their machine as an image that you then could deploy to the virtual machine. Seems like a lot of work, though, to give them an old operating system on top of the new one.

“Windows 7 will support booting from VHD files at a software level?”

Not sure what exactly you’re looking for when you say “software level”. As we discussed in the chat around this question, it really is a combined hardware/software solution as it exists. It’s all software, after all, but it is at a lower level. You boot to a VHD using the new bootloader, which is able to see and launch/run an operating system from within that .vhd file as if it were just another disk partition. And once it’s running, the OS itself has full access to the hardware. Heck, you can even see your own OS disk, and along side it (probably your D: drive) is the actual physical disk that contains your .vhd file.

Now.. if you’re looking for running a .vhd file from within a currently running OS, there’s still Windows Virtual PC (the Virtual PC software that supports XP-mode can run other Operating Systems, too) as running virtual machines. That’s probably the more “software” level idea you’re thinking of.

“Can you please email updates to your blog to sort of an email list who are here?”

Sorry, I can’t. I don’t have access to the names/addresses of the people attending the webcast.

“In Windows 7, can you create virtual machines ? and are you capable of saving VM's to a USB flash drive?”

Yes, and yes.

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Watch this blog for parts 2 and 3!

Celebrate! I’ve been “Full of I.T.” for five Years!

2009-10-17T13:28:20Z

Wow.. I just looked at my calendar, and noted that this here blog has reached the five year mark TODAY.

“Really? Five years?”

Yep. You and I have been chatting here ever since my first blog post back on October 17, 2004.

Since then I’ve posted 891 blog posts, and only 6 inaccuracies. (okay.. I made up that last one. So now it’s 7.)

Let’s keep the momentum going!

Breaking News: Microsoft WebsiteSpark

2009-09-25T00:10:00Z

Today we’re launching a new opportunity for web developers in small companies (10 or fewer employees) who would like a free “leg-up” from Microsoft.

“Visibility, support and software for professional Web Developers and Designers - at no upfront cost!” is what the heading on the site reads.

Here is a good summary straight out of the official Program Guide:

WebsiteSpark is a new global program, designed by Microsoft to help small professional Web development and design service companies succeed, by providing new business opportunities through connections with global partners and customers, support and training, and software tools – at no upfront cost. WebsiteSpark provides professional Web development and design companies with an innovative vehicle to get access to:

Business Opportunities: Opportunities to expand their customer base and drive new business, by showcasing their capabilities and connecting with partners via the WebsiteSpark Marketplace and other Microsoft marketing and business networking vehicles.

Support and training: Professional support from Microsoft and connections with WebsiteSpark Network Partners, Hosting Partners, and other Web developers and designers with complementary technologies or business models—an entire ecosystem that can provide a wide range of technical and business resources for every Web professional need.

Software and solutions: Fast, easy, and immediate access to current full-featured Microsoft development tools and Web server production licenses at no upfront cost, to build, design and bring to market differentiated, innovative, and rich Internet sites.

“Hey Kevin.. that’s a developer opportunity, isn’t it? I thought this was an IT Pro-focused blog.”

Yes, it is. And yes, it is. But I know that small company developers are also the IT guys and gals. Maybe they read this blog. And it’s just such a great opportunity for free stuff to support the birth and growth of a small business that it’s news that’s definitely worth spreading.

Go to the Microsoft WebsiteSpark site for all the details.

Today “the NEW efficiency” starts…

2009-09-24T16:44:00Z

Today, September 24, 2009, in three cities in the U.S. we’re holding our first of what we internally are calling the “trifecta launch” events, launching Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, and Microsoft Exchange Server 2010. In fact, this morning I was up bright and early and in front of a movie theater in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, plugging in my laptops and making sure that all audio and video were working well.

“Were they?”

Yep.

So now I’ve got some time to kill before my first of four sessions on Windows 7 begin this afternoon. It’s a full house, and we’re going to ROCK IT!

And hey.. if you want the resource page that I put together to hand out to attendees, you will find it attached to this post, and well as online HERE.

Enjoy!

It’s a big day! …and not just musically!

2009-09-09T20:37:52Z

Sure.. today is a big day for Beatles fans. (My wife is out right now picking up the pre-ordered deluxe Rockband set.) And I’m not sure if I want to pay extra money for re-mastered “mono” recordings, when God gave me two perfectly good ears. (PS – I also enjoy colorized B&W movies.***)

Also, at this moment, Steve Jobs is on stage talking up new iTunes features that sound suspiciously like features that a ZunePass and Windows 7 homegroups will give you.

But – Hey! Let’s talk deployment!

Microsoft yesterday RTW’d (Released to Web) the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010. (MDT 2010) This is the version that is all set and ready to support the deployment of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. Both 32-bit and 64-bit versions are available, as well as release notes and documentation.

GET ‘EM ALL HERE

or visit the Microsoft.com/deployment page for more documentation and news around all-things-deployment.

“What’s new?”

Here’s the text from the download page:

Overview
Deploy Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 with the newly released Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010. MDT is the recommended process and toolset for automating desktop and server deployment. MDT provides you with the following benefits:

Unified tools and processes required for desktop and server deployment in a common deployment console and collection of guidance.

Reduced deployment time and standardized desktop and server images, along with improved security and ongoing configuration management.

Fully automated Zero Touch Installation deployments by leveraging System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 2 Release Candidate and Windows deployment tools. For those without a System Center Configuration Manager 2007 infrastructure, MDT leverages Windows deployment tools for Lite Touch Installation deployments.

What’s New in MDT 2010
Improvements to the newest version of MDT allow you to:

Access deployment shares from anywhere on the network and replicate files and settings across organizational boundaries or sites.

Organize and manage drivers, operating systems, applications, packages, and task sequences with an improved UI.

Automate UI functionality using the Windows PowerShell command line interface.

Go get it!

***Just Kidding

Check Out My 5 New Windows Server 2008 R2 Screencasts

2009-09-04T22:38:00Z

Hey IT folks,

Back on July 30th, 2009, I presented what ended up being a pretty highly rated webcast on Windows Server 2008 R2 entitled “How Windows Server 2008 R2 Affects Your IT Infrastructure”. And as I’ve done in the past, I promised that soon after I would record the demos and get them up on TechNet Edge as screencast demo recordings. Well, they’re up there now!

“Hey Kevin.. that was July 30th? And here it is September 4th? That not very ‘soon after’, dude.”

Sorry “dude”. I got busy with other things.

“I forgive you.”

Thanks. (Wow.. they’re going to lock me up someday.)

Anyway.. as I said, I finally got them recorded and they are now up and online for your viewing pleasure, entertainment, or.. well.. just plain learning-goodness.

And as a side benefit, I was able to expand out the demos to their full glory, and was even able to add a couple that were in the original session as created. For example, you didn’t see the demo of Fine Grained Password Policies on the webcast. And I didn’t have time to show BOTH the “distributed mode” and “hosted server mode” implementations of BranchCache.

So.. here they are:

Also, for your benefit, HERE is a link to the webcast itself. And I posted the resources relating to the webcast HERE.

I sincerely hope you’ll find these useful! (And please let me know in the comments, either there or here, if you do!)

Full of I.T.

Best of Questions and Answers from the TechNet Webcast: Automating Windows 7 Deployment Using System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2 SP2

Resources from the TechNet Webcast: Automating Windows 7 Deployments using System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2 SP2

Good Fun: Windows 7 Film Festival – The Results

Cool: New Career Planning Resources

Breaking News: You want PowerShell 2 on XP? Server 2003? You got it!

Just for fun…

Breaking News: Big Day!

Best of Questions and Answers for the IT Manager Community Talk with Kevin – Windows 7 “What’s in it for you?” (Part 3 of 3)

Best of Questions and Answers for the IT Manager Community Talk with Kevin – Windows 7 “What’s in it for you?” (Part 2 of 3)

Best of Questions and Answers for the IT Manager Community Talk with Kevin – Windows 7 “What’s in it for you?” (Part 1 of 3)

Celebrate! I’ve been “Full of I.T.” for five Years!

Breaking News: Microsoft WebsiteSpark

Today “the NEW efficiency” starts…

It’s a big day! …and not just musically!

Overview Deploy Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 with the newly released Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010. MDT is the recommended process and toolset for automating desktop and server deployment. MDT provides you with the following benefits:

Check Out My 5 New Windows Server 2008 R2 Screencasts

Overview
Deploy Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 with the newly released Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010. MDT is the recommended process and toolset for automating desktop and server deployment. MDT provides you with the following benefits: