Ask the Core Team : Windows Vista

Windows Vista Boots to a Black Screen with only the Mouse Cursor

tomac — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 22:31:00 GMT

Problem

Upon startup, Windows Vista Boots to a Black Screen with only the Mouse Cursor

Resolution

This is most likely due to the Remote Procedure Call service (rpcss) running under the LocalSystem account rather than NT Authority\NetworkService account.

To resolve the issue, follow this procedure on the problem machine:

1. On the affected machine, boot using the Vista Media (i.e. the Vista install DVD or any Vista Media that is bootable will work) and Select “Next”

2. Then in the bottom left you will see “Repair your Computer”

3. Select Next

4. Then Select Command Prompt.

5. At the command prompt, launch regedit.exe and load the SYSTEM hive, following the next steps below.

a) Select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

b) On the File menu, select Load Hive.

c) Browse to %WINDIR%\System32\Config Folder (typically C:\Windows\\System32\Config) and select “SYSTEM”

d) Select Open.

e) In the Load Hive dialog box, type in “MySYSTEM” box for the registry hive that you want to edit.

6. After the hive is loaded, modify the following key value per the instructions below:
You will need to know what ControlSet the machine is currently running on, this can be determined by going to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\MySYSTEM\Select

and find the “Current” value in the Right hand side. (Example: Current value is 1 then the ControlSet will be ControlSet001)

7. Navigate to the following key:
Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet00X\Services\RpcSs (X is the Number from the Current Key from above)

Double click the value:
Value Name: ObjectName

Change the value:
Old Value: LocalSystem
New Value: NT AUTHORITY\NetworkService

8. Unload the SYSTEM hive by selecting the key “MySYSTEM” and then select File -> Unload Hive… menu item.

9. Exit regedit.exe

10. Restart the system normally

* If you do not have the Vista Boot CD, you can download Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset from this link:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=5D600369-0554-4595-8AB4-C34B2860E087&displaylang=en

We are still investigating root cause of this issue. At this time, a 3rd party remote access program is suspected.

Author:
Tanner Slayton
Senior Support Engineer
Microsoft Corporation

Technorati Tags: black screen,Vista,repair,recovery

What is the WINSXS directory in Windows 2008 and Windows Vista and why is it so large?

jeffhugh — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:18:56 GMT

A commonly asked question among people looking at a Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 installation is “why is the WinSxS folder so big?!” To answer that question I need to first describe componentization, and how components are managed in Windows Vista.

One of the largest changes between previous versions of Windows and Windows Vista was a move from an INF described OS to componentization. A component in Windows is one or more binaries, a catalog file, and an XML file that describes everything about how the files should be installed. From associated registry keys and services to what kind security permissions the files should have. Components are grouped into logical units, and these units are used to build the different Windows editions.

All of the components in the operating system are found in the WinSxS folder – in fact we call this location the component store. Each component has a unique name that includes the version, language, and processor architecture that it was built for. The WinSxS folder is the only location that the component is found on the system, all other instances of the files that you see on the system are “projected” by hard linking from the component store. Let me repeat that last point – there is only one instance (or full data copy) of each version of each file in the OS, and that instance is located in the WinSxS folder. So looked at from that perspective, the WinSxS folder is really the entirety of the whole OS, referred to as a "flat" in down-level operating systems. This also accounts for why you will no longer be prompted for media when running operations such as System File Checker (SFC), or when installing additional features and roles.

That explains why the folder starts off big, but not why it gets larger over time – the answer to that question is servicing. In previous versions of Windows the atomic unit of servicing was the file, in Windows Vista it’s the component. When we update a particular binary we release a new version of the whole component, and that new version is stored alongside the original one in the component store. The higher version of the component is projected onto the system, but the older version in the store isn’t touched. The reason for that is the third part of why the component store gets so large.

Not every component in the component store is applicable, meaning that not every component should be projected onto the system. For example, on systems where IIS is available but has not been installed, the IIS components are present in the store, but not projected into any location on the system where they might be used. If you’re familiar with how multi-branch servicing works in previous versions of Windows then it’ll make sense to you that we have a different version of the component for each distribution branch and service pack level, and that all these different versions are also stored in the WinSxS folder, even if they’re not immediately applicable. So a single Post SP1 GDR package that contains an update to one component will end up installing four versions of that component in the WinSxS folder – double that on a 64 bit operating system for some components.

Now that you know why the store can grow to be so large, your next question is probably to ask why we don’t remove the older versions of the components. The short answer to that is reliability. The component store, along with other information on the system, allows us to determine at any given time what the best version of a component to project is. That means that if you uninstall a security update we can install the next highest version on the system – we no longer have an “out of order uninstall” problem. It also means that if you decide to install an optional feature, we don’t just choose the RTM version of the component, we’ll look to see what the highest available version on the system is. As each component on the system changes state that may in turn trigger changes in other components, and because the relationships between all the components are described on the system we can respond to those requirements in ways that we couldn’t in previous OS versions.

The only way to safely reduce the size of the WinSxS folder is to reduce the set of possible actions that the system can take – the easiest way to do that is to remove the packages that installed the components in the first place. This can be done by uninstalling superseded versions of packages that are on your system. Service Pack 1 contains a binary called VSP1CLN.EXE, a tool that will make the Service Pack package permanent (not removable) on your system, and remove the RTM versions of all superseded components. This can only be done because by making the Service Pack permanent we can guarantee that we won’t ever need the RTM versions.

So yes, the WinSXS folder is very large, and it will continue to grow as the OS ages. I hope that this clears up some of the questions about why that is, and what you can do about it. Note that the Windows servicing structure and the layout of the store is subject to change.

Joseph Conway
Senior Support Escalation Engineer
Microsoft Enterprise Platforms Support

Yes, you CAN run Windows on your Mac!

tomac — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 18:15:00 GMT

Yes, that's right, running Windows on a Mac. This isn't new to those of us who have been using virtualization, but with the introduction of the Intel-based Macs, users have a whole new area to explore running Windows or Windows based applications.

For virtualization, there were many options to run on the older Mac OS like Virtual PC and GuestPC. These types of applications emulated a PC environment inside an application that ran on the Mac OS. This was functional but each had limitations most notably the speed at which they ran Windows.

But now Macs have the Intel chip sets and everything changes. You have some new options that weren't available before. For running Windows, you can use a virtual environment still (Parallels Desktop and VMware Fusion are some example options here) or you can run it directly on the Mac hardware.

Mac's software that allows you to do this is Boot Camp (comes with Mac OS X 1.5 Leopard). Boot Camp essentially emulates a BIOS which will then allow you to boot to a Windows XP or Vista CD and install directly onto the Mac. You can do this using their instructions which would give you a dual boot environment (Mac and Windows), or you can install Windows as the only OS on your Mac.

To run Windows as the only OS on your Mac:

1) Insert Windows XP CD or Windows Vista DVD into the drive.

NOTE: You must use a licensed copy of Windows XP Home Edition or Professional, or Windows Vista Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, or Ultimate.

2) Boot the Mac computer and during the boot process , press and hold the option key.

3) This will bring the boot menu and one of the options should be the /CD DVD.

4) You will boot into the familiar Windows boot process, follow this as normal.

5) When selecting a hard drive and partition, you will need to create the disk as an MBR disk.

a) Press SHIFT+F10 to get a command prompt

b) Run diskpart and convert the GPT disk to an MBR disk (this must be done for the primary boot drive only).

282793 HOW TO: Change a GUID Partition Table Disk into a Master Boot Record Disk in Windows XP

WARNING: This will erase all data on this disk and you will no longer be able to boot it to any MAC operating system. You will need to boot back to your Mac OS CD/DVD to reset the disks and reinstall your Mac OS (which will erase all data on the disk again).

c) Close the command prompt window and you can now select this drive for installation with Windows.

How to configure Windows Vista to support running Virtual Server R2 SP1

jeffhugh — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 15:44:00 GMT

If you’re trying to run Virtual Server on Vista, you need to do two things.

STEP 1: Enable IIS and the correct settings. To do this, go to Control Panel and under the Programs category click on Windows Features to Turn Windows features on and off. Here you will see a long list of features that can be enabled/disabled in Vista. For this discussion were specifically interested in enabling features under Internet Information Services (IIS). I’ve typed out what needs to be enabled below and included a screenshot.

STEP 2: Run IE using elevated privileges. To do this, right click on IE and select Run as Administrator.

You must do both.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

IIS Features that need to be enabled for Virtual Server to function properly

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Under Web Management Tools enable:

IIS Management Console

Under IIS 6 Management Compatibility enable:

IIS Metabase and IIS6 configuration compatibility

Under Application Development Features enable:

Under Common Http Features enable:

Default Document
Directory Browsing
HTTP Errors
Static Content

Under Health and Diagnostics enable:

HTTP Logging
Request Monitor

Under Performance Features enable:

Static Content Compression

Under Security enable:

Windows Authentication

Author: Jim Collins

Microsoft Enterprise Platforms Support

Support Engineer