July, 2007

Today we're going to get started with Windows Server 2008 Server Core. First, let's talk about what the Server Core installation is (and what it is not!). Server Core is a minimal environment to run specific server roles, which reduces the maintenance...

Here on the Performance team we support the functionality of the Windows Installer engine and the installation and uninstallation of .msi packages. We are also often engaged to help with issues by other teams when an installation fails to install (or...

Today we're going to discuss IE Group Policies. If you're unfamiliar with Group Policies, I highly recommend that you read our earlier post on the Basics of Group Policies . When dealing with IE group policies, there are two types of settings to consider...

Today we are going to briefly go over the basics of some concepts that can be pretty confusing even at the best of times - Sessions, Desktops and Windows Stations. So let's dive right in ... A session consists of all of the processes and other system...

Today we're going to start looking at Clustered Print Servers. Clustering itself tends to intimidate many administrators, especially newer administrators. Much of the fear factor usually stems from being unfamiliar with how clustering works, and the fact...

In our last post on Print Clusters we went over the basics of the Print Cluster and covered the important file and registry locations. Today, we are going to quickly go over some recommendations. If you recall, the purpose of setting up a print cluster...

Today we're going to talk a little bit about Windows PowerShell. Before we get into Powershell though, let's look back at how PowerShell came about. Ever since MS-DOS and the earliest versions of Windows, there has been a command line tool. The problem...

The main benefit to Terminal Services (TS) Easy Print is a "driver-less" solution for printer redirection over a TS session. However, this is not the only benefit. The Terminal Services team blog has a post on the other benefits to Easy Print which include...

Today we're going to deviate a bit from our usual technical posts so that we can give you an insider's peek at a recent conference. Last week, Jerry Ciferri and I spent the week in Seattle at TechReady 5, which is a Microsoft-internal conference for Technical...