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PingBack from http://www.windows-vista.luiscorreia.com/remote-server-administration-tools-rsat-for-vista-sp1-released/

errr...where has the Terminal Service Profile, Environment and Sessions tabs gone from a user account objects when viewing in the new Active Directory Users and Computers console? Also how can you add a GUID/UUID to a computer object in the same console? We need to to do both these things from our Vista SP1 machines :o(

Cheers in advance. Richard - University of Bath

Hi Ned,

Thanks for the quick resposne and workaround, I'll try that later.

The GUID thing I was talking about was when you created a computer object in the ADUC. Previously there were a couple of extra pages in the wizard, asking you if you would like to create a Managed Computer and at which point you could add the PC GUID/UUID and then you would be asked which Remote Installation Server (or WDS server as it's called now) you would like to use.

Once the computer object was created there would then be an extra tab in the computer object called Remote Install (also now missing in RSAT) which you could use to change the GUID/UUID and RIS/WDS server if you needed to. Useful for me when my test machine gets RIS'd with Windows XP and WDS'd with Vista! ;o)

As it goes something that you couldn't do before, which might good if you could change it for RSAT is the ability to change a computer TO a managed computer if you didn't make it so when you created the object. Currently you have to delete the object and recreate it entering the UUID/GUID in the wizard.

Cheers, Richard - University of Bath

Hi Ned,

I guess that you guys are still scratching your heads over the whole Managed Computer thing then?

- Richard, University of Bath

What happened to the WINS snap-in for the RSAT tools? It's there in the Windows Server 2008 version of the tools (as it was in the Admin Pak for XP.

Hi Ned,

Just fired up my test machine with Windows Server Standard 2008 and it seems you CAN add a UUID/GUID in the New Computer object wizard...

...However, I've double-checked and you definately CAN'T do this on RSAT for Windows Vista SP1.

What made me check was page 224 (Ch8) of the Microsoft Press Windows Server 2008 Administrator's Pocket Consultant Book, which clearly outliines the procedure I outlined!

So, sorry guys it does look like an RSAT thing...

- Richard, University of Bath

Ned,

Here at the University of Bath we are very, very disappointed to hear that there are no plans to include the Managed Computer dialog.

When your are delegating control over areas of your Active Directory (like we do here) it is essential that someone using a client PC can stage a managed computer so that they can then RIS/WDS it.

Isn't the whole point of RSAT to allow you to remotely manage your AD/Windows environment?

I will try the unsupported fix, but it's not really ideal and I can't believe it's that big a deal just to add-in this functionailty to RSAT. They were going to add in the Terminal Services tabs weren't they? Why can't they do this too?

- Richard, University of Bath

I agree with Richard here. It seems bizarre the setup team has chosen to release rsat in its current state, and worse that this is by design.

It worries me whether the setup team fully appreciate how server admins actually use these tools in a live production environment. I use the adminpak tools every day in my job, and often perform many of the tasks Richard has mentioned as i'm sure many other Server Admins do. One of the most common being to stage a computer object for RIS.

We are encouraged to embrace Microsoft technologies such as RIS and WDS, only to have the ability for managing them removed in rsat. This is baffling.

Considering that MS are naturally trying to promote Vista, it amazes me that I can be effectively more productive on the XP/adminpak than i can on the shiny new rsat/Vista tools.

This is definitely a step backwards, and i sincerely hope a revised version is released soon to correct these issues.

Mark

Played around with this a bit and figured out some steps to get a WINS snap-in functional on Vista (x86 version) for me.  First you'll need to gather up some files.  

From a Windows Server 2008 X86 install with the WINS Server Tools, Administration Tools Feature installed you'll need the following files:  winsmgmt.msc and winssnap.dll.mui.

From a Windows XP X86 system with the Windows 2003 R2 AdminPack Tools installed you will need WINSSNAP.DLL (the one from 2008 will not work).

On your Vista management station in %systemroot%\system32, place:

1) a copy of winsmgmt.msc

2) WINSSNAP.DLL

In %systemroot%\system32\en-US, place:

1)  a copy of winsmgmt.msc

2)  winssnap.dll.mui

Register WINSSNAP.dll using regsvr32 (must be run from an elevated command prompt)

Create your shortcut to the snap-in (or copy from another system, making sure that you call the msc using the /s switch (%SystemRoot%\system32\winsmgmt.msc /s).

All I can claim is that this worked for me.  If your Vista install is X64, then chances are you'd need to source the needed files from X64 2008 and X64 XP.  The msc and mui file in the en-US directory might not even be necessary, but I was using the way things were setup in 2008 as my guide, so I included them.

We’ve been at this for over a year (since August 2007), with more than 100 posts (127 to be exact), so