Microsoft Recite is a search technology for your voice that runs on Windows Mobile* devices. With Microsoft Recite, you can use your voice to easily store, search and retrieve the things you want to remember, where and when you need them. Microsoft Recite is available as a free technology preview beginning February 16, 2009.
*Microsoft Recite can be used on devices running Windows Mobile version 6.0 or higher. Not sure what you’re running? A complete list of devices can be found at http://recite.microsoft.com
Microsoft Recite’s voice search makes it easy to retrieve your stored thoughts and notes by using voice pattern matching. It analyzes the patterns in your speech and finds matches between two recordings -- the notes you stored on your phone, and the search you do using your voice. With Recite you can store thousands of spoken notes, and then later retrieve the notes you want based on a match with your search term(s). This is different from speech recognition, which has to accurately convert spoken words to application-readable input.
For more information about the Microsoft Recite visit the Official Recite Blog https://blogs.msdn.com/recite/
Happy Reciting…
Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization is one of the six technologies in the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack. MED-V 1.0 provides deployment, management and user experience capabilities for Virtual PC images in a corporate environment, and the beta can be downloaded here. A short survey will need to be answered before downloading the software.
Microsoft® Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V, formerly known as Kidaro) enhances deployment, management and user experience for Virtual PC images on a Windows® Desktop, independent of the local desktop configuration and operating system (OS). MED-V leverages Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 to provide an enterprise solution for desktop virtualization streamlining OS upgrades, and increasing IT control and user flexibility in enterprise environments.
MED-V solution for Application-to-OS incompatibility accelerates the upgrade path to Windows Vista®. Applications that cannot be installed on Windows Vista® or have not been fully tested on Windows Vista® may be installed by the administrator in a virtual machine that runs a previous version of the OS (e.g., Windows XP or Windows 2000) and operate in their native, supported environment.
Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization is an integral tool in the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack, a dynamic solution available to Software Assurance customers that helps reduce application deployment costs, enable delivery of applications as services, and better manage and control enterprise desktop environments.
To learn more about MED-V and MDOP visit http://www.microsoft.com/windows/enterprise/products/med-v.aspx For more details about how to license MDOP please refer to: http://www.microsoftvolumelicensing.com/userights/PUR.aspx
For any question regarding the MED-V beta please contact medvbeta@microsoft.com
For more information visit
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/enterprise/products/med-v.aspx (Microsoft’s Site containing whitepapers, datasheets)
http://blogs.technet.com/mdop/default.aspx (The Official MDOP Blog)
Happy Virtualization
Microsoft Virtual TechDays to be held in February, 2009 brings you three days packed with back to back training sessions on technical topics that you want to hear about.
This will not only enhance you learning but will also give you an insight on what future has in store, what to expect going forward.
All this delivered to you at the comfort of your workstation, may it be your office or home. All you need to have is Internet access to tap on this knowledge bank.
Registrations are now open for FREE. We would appreciate if you can also provide us with your inputs on the topics to be covered through the registration form.
Note: Users who have registered in the past need not fill the entire registration form again.
Blogs
Use the list below to find blogs about Microsoft technologies written by Microsoft employees.
These blogs will provide you insights and opinions about using Microsoft technologies and software.
» MSDN India Blog
» TechNet India Blog
TechDays Quiz
Developers
Developer Quiz: Security
This Security Quiz is designed to build on your knowledge of security features available in various Microsoft product offerings e.g. SQL Server‚ Windows‚ etc. So‚ get set to put your knowledge to test‚ and in the process‚ win some EXCITING PRIZES.
IT Professionals
TechNet India Quiz: Security
This Security Quiz is designed to build on your knowledge of security features available in the various operating systems offered by Microsoft. So, get set to put your knowledge to test, and in the process, win some EXCITING PRIZES.
For more information about Virtual TechDays visit http://www.virtualtechdays.com
ADD TO CALENDAR Date: Tuesday, February 12th Time: 11:00am Pacific Time
Join Mark Russinovich and a panel of subject matter experts for a live discussion of what's in store for IT pros with Windows® 7.
Learn about the evolution of features like Group Policy, BitLocker To Go™, DirectAccess, BranchCache™, and AppLocker™ then get tips on troubleshooting, deployment, and application compatibility.
Bring your questions—Mark and the panel will answer as many as they can during the hour-long event, then publish the rest in a Q&A after the event.
Find answers to your Windows client OS deployment and management questions with resources, tools, monthly feature articles, and guidance from subject matter experts and early adopters. To learn more, visit www.microsoft.com/springboard, As part of the “virtual” experience, you may submit your questions about Windows 7 Beta to the panel live during the event—or submit questions in advance to vrtable@microsoft.com.
For further details visit Springboard events
Windows 7 Lineup Offers Clear Choice for Consumers and Businesses. Windows General Manager Mike Ybarra announced the Windows 7 Editions.
REDMOND, Wash., Feb. 3, 2009 — Last month Microsoft delivered the beta version of Windows 7 for public testing. Today the company announced its plans for Windows 7 SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) strategy, explaining that Microsoft expects that a majority of customers will be best served by two primary editions of Windows 7: Windows 7 Home Premium for consumers, and Windows 7 Professional for businesses.
To get some more detail on today’s news, PressPass spoke with Mike Ybarra, general manager for Windows.
PressPass: What will change in the way you package and market Windows 7?
Ybarra: We've received great feedback from customers and partners through Windows XP and Windows Vista, and have learned a lot about how to communicate what’s available in different editions of the operating system. At the same time, we have a customer base of over 1 billion along with many partners, so it’s important to make sure the right edition of Windows with the right features set is available for them.
The first change in Windows 7 was to make sure that editions of Windows 7 are a superset of one another. That is to say, as customers upgrade from one version to the next, they keep all features and functionality from the previous edition. As an example, some business customers using Windows Vista Business wanted the Media Center functionality that is in Windows Vista Home Premium but didn’t receive it in Business edition. Customers won’t have to face that trade-off with Windows 7. With Windows 7 there is a more natural progression from one edition to the next.
The second change is that we have designed Windows 7 so different editions of Windows 7 can run on a very broad set of hardware, from small-notebook PCs (sometimes referred to as netbooks) to full gaming desktops. This way, customers can enable the scenarios they want across the broad hardware choices they have.
The third change lies in how we broadly communicate in the marketplace, to make these choices as simple and clear as possible for customers and partners.
PressPass: Does that mean you’ll be streamlining the product lineup?
Ybarra: With Windows 7 there will be two primary editions: Windows 7 Home Premium, and Windows 7 Professional. We think those two SKUs will meet most customers’ needs.
Windows 7 Home Premium is the recommended choice for consumers. It gives them a full-function PC experience and a visually rich environment in everything from the way they experience entertainment to the way they connect their devices.
Windows 7 Professional is the recommended choice for small businesses and for people who work at home but have to operate in an IT-managed or business environment where security and productivity are critical. For those running Windows Vista Business, it will be a very logical move to Windows 7 Professional.
For further details visit PressPass
Microsoft released the the documents required to test out the Live Migration using Windows Server 2008 R2.
Hyper-V Live Migration Overview & Architecture
With Hyper-V™ live migration, you can move running VMs from one Hyper-V™ physical host to another without any disruption of service or perceived downtime. Live migration is integrated with Windows Server 2008® R2 Hyper-V™ and Microsoft® Hyper-V™ Server 2008 R2. Since Hyper-V™ live migration can move running virtual machines without downtime, it will facilitate greater flexibility and value: • Provides better agility: Datacenters with multiple Hyper-V™ physical hosts will be able to move running VMs to the best physical computer for performance, scaling, or optimal consolidation without impacting users. • Reduces costs and increase productivity: Datacenters with multiple Hyper-V™ physical hosts will be able to service those systems in a more controlled fashion, scheduling maintenance during regular business hours. Live migration makes it possible to keep VMs online, even during maintenance, increasing productivity for both users and server administrators. Datacenters will be also able to reduce power consumption by dynamically increasing consolidation ratios and powering off un-used physical hosts during times of lower demand.
Click here to download
Hyper-V: Step-by-Step Guide to Using Live Migration in Windows Server 2008 R2
Live migration is a new Hyper-V feature in Windows Server 2008 R2, which requires the failover clustering role to be added and configured on the servers running Hyper-V. Live migration allows you to transparently move running virtual machines from one node of the failover cluster to another node in the same cluster without a dropped network connection or perceived downtime. In addition, failover clustering requires shared storage for the cluster nodes. This can include an iSCSI or Fiber-Channel Storage Area Network (SAN). All virtual machines are stored in the shared storage area, and the running virtual machine state is managed by one of the nodes. For a detailed overview of live migration and the benefits of using it, see Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V Live Migration.
Hi everyone,
Those days gone when we used to carry floppy disks to copy small documents, text files here and there. Now, we prefer USB thumb drives or pen drives for copying documents, multimedia files. Over the last few years USB drives have been quite cheap to buy. And these days when we have operating system size grown into GBs we have to burn the DVD disc every time we want to install the OS. But using USB thumb drive we install Windows 7 without wasting any DVD disc. Many of us who try different builds and format the machine often; for such users installing from USB drive is peace of mind. No need to burn the DVD every time. Also, the netbooks are getting very common for eg. Asus Eee PC. As netbooks don’t have built-in DVD drive, installing from USB drive is the most convenient option than hunting for USB Optical drive.
So, what do we need to install the Windows 7 from USB drive ? A USB thumb drive with capacity 4 GB or more and of course Windows 7 DVD media. Right now we have Windows 7 Beta build 7000 having total DVD media sizing just over 2.4 GB.
Let’s start by pluggin the 4 GB USB thumb drive.
Open the elevated command prompt with administrator privileges and type the following commands.
C:\Windows\system32>diskpart
Microsoft DiskPart version 6.1.7000 Copyright (C) 1999-2008 Microsoft Corporation. On computer: AVIRAJ
DISKPART> list disk
Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt -------- ------------- ------- ------- --- --- Disk 0 Online 149 GB 0 B Disk 1 Online 3834 MB 0 B
DISKPART> select disk 1
Disk 1 is now the selected disk.
DISKPART> clean
DiskPart succeeded in cleaning the disk.
DISKPART> create partition primary
DiskPart succeeded in creating the specified partition.
DISKPART> format fs=fat32 quick
100 percent completed
DiskPart successfully formatted the volume.
DISKPART> active
DiskPart marked the current partition as active.
DISKPART> exit
Leaving DiskPart...
C:\Windows\system32>exit
Now, just copy the files located on Windows 7 DVD Media.
Make sure in the BIOS you have selected USB Boot option. Otherwise you won’t be able to boot from the USB thumb drive.
Next step, plug in the USB thumb drive into the notebook or netbook, where you want to install Windows 7. It will boot from the USB thumb drive. Installing from USB drive improves installation time vs installing from DVD Media as optical media is lower that USB.
Using this same USB thumb drive you can install Windows 7 on any computer that supports booting from USB. And now on you won’t be wasting the DVD disc for burning any new build of Windows 7. Just replace the media files on the USB thumb drive and install the OS. :)
Enjoy
Lot of people over here have shifted to Windows 7 Beta Build 7000. But most of them saying they are not able to use the Tata Indicom Huawei V-Data Card. And therefore they are not able to surf the net when they are on the move. Basically TATA Indicom Data card given to the users so that they can access their mail whenever they are on the move but because the dialer is not compatible many of them are not able to use the TATA Card.
This V-Data Card is Huawei EC321 is PCMCIA based device. You need to plug it and install the driver. The dialer can be downloaded from this site. When you initially plug in the V-data card in the PCMCIA slot the Windows 7 automatically tries to install the drivers but cannot install all the drivers. After installing the Huawei Mobile Connect dialer when you try to connect using Dialer, you will end up getting following message.
RESOLUTION
STEP 1
Now, here is a trick. DO NOT PLUG IN THE HUAWEI V-DATA CARD. Without plugging the PCMCIA Card install the Huawei Mobile Connect Dialer. Then visit the following installed dialer location and copy the ‘Drivers’ folder to somewhere else say ‘Desktop.’ This folder contains the necessary drivers. After copying it, uninstall the Huawei Mobile Connect Dialer application since we copied the required drivers folder.
STEP 2
Now, PLUG THE HUAWEI V-DATA CARD in the PCMCIA slot, it will try to install the drivers but fail to install the drivers for the Data Interfaces. We will manually install the drivers for these Data Interfaces.
Right click on ‘Data Interface’ in Other devices and click on ‘Update Driver’ and then click on ‘Browser my computer for driver software’
In the next box select the location where you have copied the ‘Drivers’ folder. In the drivers folder select Vista for 32-bit. If you using Windows 7 x64 then select Vista-AMD64. Then click on ‘Next’ to install the drivers.
After that you will get the message saying Updated Driver Software successfully for ‘HUAWEI Mobile Connect – 3G Modem’ Click on Close.
Similarly, do the same procedure for 2nd Data Interface. Right click –> Update Driver –> Next. And it will install ‘HUAWEI Mobile Connect – 3G Application Interface’
Now, in the Device Manager you can see both the drivers installed successfully.
STEP 3
Create a new Dial-Up connection. To do this Open up the ‘Networking and Sharing Center’ and click on ‘Set up a new connection or network’ and click on '’Next.’ On next page click on ‘Next.’
On next screen click on ‘Dial-Up’ and then on next screen click on ‘HUAWEI Mobile Connect – 3G Modem’
Now, fill up the information for the Internet Service Provider (ISP)
For TATA INDICOM, fill up the following details.
Dial-ip phone number: #777
User Name: internet
Password: internet
Connection Name: TATA (This can be anything)
Click on Remember this Password and click on CONNECT. On next page you will get message ‘You are connected to the Internet'.’ Click on ‘Close.’
STEP 4
Create dialer shortcut on Desktop for quick access.
Open up the ‘Networking and Sharing Center’ and click on ‘Change Adapter Settings’ then Right click on ‘TATA' Dial-Up Connection’ and click on ‘Create Shortcut’; click on ‘Yes’ and it will create dialer shortcut on Desktop.
Double click on dialer to connect to internet or to disconnect the internet connection.
NOTE: SOMETIMES WHEN YOU CREATE NEW CONNECTION AND CLICK ON CONNECT AFTER ‘VERIFYING USER NAME AND PASSWORD’ YOUR CONNECTION GETS DISCONNECTED WITH ERROR 629: THE CONNECTION WAS CLOSED BY REMOTE CONNECTION. IN THIS CARE REBOOTING THE MACHINE RESOLVES THE ISSUE.
Happy Browsing
Hello All,
In last 2 parts we have seen how easily we can create/attach VHD files in Windows 7 and how easy it is to boot from VHD. In this part we will see booting the VHD file from PC running Windows Vista operating system. We have native support for VHD in Windows 7 and the bootloader in Windows 7 understands the VHD files that is the reason we can actually boot from VHD file.
In order to boot a vhd file in Windows Vista, we will have to follow 3 steps.
Copy the Windows 7 bootloader from a machine running Windows 7
In order to boot from VHD we need to have the bootloader that understands the VHD file. Apparently, Windows Vista bootloader does not understand VHD files and hence cannot boot into the VHD file.
To solve this issue, we will first obtain the bootloader from PC running Windows 7. Now, boot into a machine Windows 7. You can download Windows 7 Beta build 7000 and use that bootloader.
Basically, we require 2 files BootMgr and BCDEdit.exe. If you have Windows 7 installed on a single partition then your ‘bootmgr’ file is located on ‘C:\’ (i.e. your system, active, primary partition) and your ‘bcdedit.exe’ file is located in ‘C:\Windows\System32’ folder.
After booting into Windows 7, connect the USB thumb drive or flash drive. For this step open the Elevated Command Prompt with Administrator Privileges and type the following commands.
C:\windows\system32>xcopy /h /y bcdedit.exe f:\ (Note: F: is the external USB Thumb Drive or Flash Drive)
/H - Copies hidden and system files also.
/Y - Suppresses prompting to confirm you want to overwrite an existing destination file.
C:\>cd\
C:\>xcopy /h /y bootmgr f:\
Once done unplug the USB thumb drive, we will need it when we will replace the files to Vista machine.
Create the back up of a existing bootloader on a PC running Windows Vista (MAKE SURE YOU PERFORM THIS ON YOUR VISTA MACHINE)
In this step, we will take the back up of existing bootloader. Basically, the backup of the 2 files BootMgr and BCDEdit.exe if in case. The ‘bootmgr’ file is located in ‘C:\’ and your ‘bcdedit.exe’ file is located in ‘C:\Windows\System32’ folder. Boot into WINDOWS VISTA.
For this step open the Elevated Command Prompt with Administrator Privileges and type the following commands.
C:\windows\system32>cd\
C:\>xcopy /y /h bootmgr bootmgr.sav
Press f after prompted
C:\>cd Windows\System32
C:\windows\system32>xcopy /y /h bcdedit.exe bcdedit.sav
Replace the Windows 7 bootloader files on a PC running Windows Vista Operating System (MAKE SURE YOU PERFORM THIS ON YOUR VISTA MACHINE)
In this step, we will replace Windows 7 bootloader with existing Windows Vista bootloader. Thus, we will overwrite BootMgr and BCDEdit.exe, which are located in ‘C:\’ and ‘C:\Windows\System32’ folder.
For this step use Windows Vista Bootable DVD or Windows 7 Bootable DVD and Boot into Windows Recovery Environment or WinPE.
After selecting the operating system open the Elevated Command Prompt and type the following commands.
C:\>attrib bootmgr –s –h –r (Note: C: is the Windows Vista OS Partition)
Attribute command with –s –h –r changes the System, Hidden and Read Only attributes of a given file.
C:\>e: (Note: E: is the Thumb Drive or Flash Drive)
E:\>xcopy /y /h bootmgr c:\bootmgr
E:\>xcopy /y /h bcdedit.exe c:\windows\system32
Now you are ready to Boot from VHD on your Windows Vista machine.
Copy/Create VHD files Vista machine and Adding the VHD entry in Boot Menu for VHD Boot and then Boot from VHD
Rest all is same as my previous posts. Refer Windows 7- Boot from VHD First Impression- Part 1 and Windows 7- Boot from VHD First Impression- Part 2 for creating the VHD and adding them into the Boot Menu.
After the booting up you will see two entries Windows Vista and VHD file. Select the VHD and hit, and you are now booting from VHD.
Aviraj Ajgekar
Hello,
In my previous post i.e. Windows 7: Boot from VHD First Impression: Part 1 we seen creating and attaching the VHDs. Using the Disk Management or Diskpart utility we can attach the existing VHDs. In this part we will actually cover the boot from VHD feature.
We will cover the different ways by which we can actually boot from VHD file. In order to boot from VHD, the bootloader needs to support boot from VHD file. So, what are the basic benefits of having VHD Booting.
You can use Boot for VHD feature in your test environment or development where you want to try out different applications or devices, which is not possible in Virtual Environment.
Booting from VHDs means booting the machine as if running from primary hard disk so your operating system will leverage all the hardware available in your system like Graphics, Wireless, USB etc. which is not possible in most of the virtual environment.
This is good for multi-boot environment where you want to run multiple operating systems on same machine without losing the performance. This is possible by VHD booting. As every VHD is like a Hard disk with primary partition; so you can create multiple VHDs with operating systems installed onto it.
In this discussion we will cover the following key points.
Booting a Windows 7 VHD or Windows Server 7 (aka Windows Server 2008 R2) VHD
This feature is only supported by the Windows 7 client VHD and Windows Server 7 aka Windows Server 2008 R2 VHD.
In order to boot from VHD we need to prepare the VHDs using any of the two methods.
Sysprep provides the following benefits:
For more information about sysprep visit How sysprep works ? and What is Sysprep ? that will give you clear idea about sysprepping a system.
The ImageX utility is part of WAIK. i.e. Windows Automated Installation Kit. You can download the WAIK for Windows 7 from here
From my previous post create a new VHD and attach it using Disk Management. Now, you will have newly attached X: created with label 'Windows7', which is of size 20 GB.
Now, you will require the 'install.wim' file from the Windows 7 Media or Windows Server 7 Media. Along with that we will require ImageX utility.
In order to extract image to the X: we will use the following syntax.
d:\imagex>imagex /apply d:\install.wim 1 x:\
In the above syntax we can see we have used 'd:\install.wim' followed by '1' and 'X:\' (this is the attached VHD.) Now this 1 denotes Image Index i.e. edition of the Operating System.
As you can see I have used the 'install.wim' file from the Media of Windows Server 7 Beta and 1 denotes Enterprise Edition.
In order to check the Image Index we will use the following command
d:\imagex>imagex /info "d:\Download\Windows Server 7 R2\install.wim" (i.e. the location of the install.wim file)
Once finished the extracting the OS using ImageX it will look like this
Once the image is applied to particular drive in our case X:\. Detach the X: Drive from the Disk Management. Now your VHD file is ready to boot.
Preparing the VHD file using Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V
If you have Windows Server 2008 running Hyper-V, launch the virtual machine running Windows 7 or Windows Server 7 aka Windows Server 2008 R2 and the run the following command
c:\windows\system32\sysprep>sysprep /generalize /shutdown
After running the above command in the virtual machine, this will launch the System Preparation Tool 3.14. Select the checkbox for 'Generalize' and click on OK.
Once the sysprep is completed the virtual machine will be shutdown and ready for booting. You can copy that VHD now.
Note: Sysprep does not work on upgrade. You need to have Clean Installed Windows 7
Adding the VHD Entry in Boot Menu and then Boot from VHD
Now that we have successfully created VHD files. The last step is adding boot entry for the VHD file in your Windows 7 or Windows Server 7 using BCDEdit.exe tool.
C:\>bcdedit /copy {current} /d "My New VHD Description"
Note: This will Return the GUID of the Loader Object that you will use to replace <guid> below C:\>bcdedit /set <guid> device vhd=[driveletter:]\<directory>\<vhd filename> C:\>bcdedit /set <guid> osdevice vhd=[driverletter:]\<directory>\<vhd filename>
Note: vhd=[driveletter:]\<directory>\<vhd filename> is the new syntax supported for BCDEdit.exe to locate VHD File and Bootmgr will locate the partition containing the VHD File to boot from. C:\>bcdedit /set <guid> detecthal on
Note:
Following is the attached screenshot of the my machine. In this case I have Windows 7 as the default OS and I have added the VHD File in the Boot Entry.
Well just after that run the following command to test if your boot entry is successfully created using C:\>bcdedit /v
Similarly, if you want to add multiple VHDs into Boot entry you can use the following lines to the command prompt
C:\>bcdedit /copy {current} /d "New VHD Description" C:\>bcdedit /set <guid> device vhd=[driveletter:]\<directory>\<vhd filename> C:\>bcdedit /set <guid> osdevice vhd=[driverletter:]\<directory>\<vhd filename> C:\>bcdedit /set <guid> detecthal on
Note: detecthal is used to force windows to auto detect the Hardware Abstraction Layer.
If you want to delete any existing VHD entry from the Boot Menu you can always use the command C:\>bcdedit /delete <guid> /cleanup This deletes the specified operating system entry from the store and removes the entry from the display order.
Well, we are ready to Boot from VHD. Once you restart the computer you will see additional entry in Boot Menu along with the default Windows 7 or Windows Server 7 OS.
Here is the screenshot from newly booted Windows Server 2008 R2 Beta from VHD. I have installed Desktop Experience Pack and enabled Aero Glass.
Update 1: Thanks much Mark Shyn for pointing out method 1 correction.
As you all know Microsoft released the Windows 7 BETA build 7000 for testing. Many of you must be excited about the much more enhanced version of the operating system.
Windows 7 is much more faster that the Windows Vista and utilizes the resources more efficiently improving end user performance. We have seen many new features related to UI and Performance.
One of the best features that is being discussed around is the native support for VHD (Virtual Hard Disk) Yes the same VHD files that are used in virtualization platform i.e.. Hyper-V, Virtual Server and Virtual PC.
Today we will see the following key items.
Creating Native Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) in Windows 7
Right Click on My Computer and Click 'Manage' that will open up Computer Management, in that click on Disk Management.
Right Click on Disk Management and select 'Create VHD' This will open new windows 'Create and Attach Virtual Hard Disk'
In this windows select the location where you want to create the VHD file. Make sure you have sufficient free space while creating new VHD file. After that provide the Virtual Hard Disk size and format of the VHD.
By default the Fixed size is recommended but you can select Dynamic expanding if you don't want to allocate the disk space. There would be slight performance difference between fixed size and dynamically expanding.
For production environment it is suggested to go for Fixed size. For the demo purpose we will go ahead with dynamically expanding VHD format.
Click on OK and that will install newly attached (mounted) VHD. Now next step will be initializing the disk
Alright now Right Click on Disk 1 (Blue icon) and click on 'Initialize' This will open a new window 'Initialize Disk.'
Select the partition and click on 'OK.' You can leave the current selection to default.
As you can see now the status of the Disk 1 is changed to 'Online.' We create a new simple volume on the Disk 1
So Right Click on the 'Unallocated' area and select 'New Simple Volume' This will launch 'New Simple Volume Wizard.'
After that click on next and specify size, we will keep the default NTFS File System and select the complete size i.e. 20 GB and click on 'Next' to specify drive letter. I will select Drive Letter 'X:' and click on 'Next'
On the next page we will select Label for the drive (in this case 'Windows7') and click on 'Next.' Now, we will get the brief summary of the choices we selected. Click on 'Finish' to continue.
This way we have successfully created a new Virtual Hard Disk. As you can see the status of the
Creating and Attaching VHD using Diskpart utility
Open the Elevated Command Prompt with Administrator Privileges and type the following commands
DISKPART
CREATE VDISK FILE="c:\win7\win7.vhd" MAXIMUM=20000
SELECT VDISK FILE="c:\win7\win7.vhd"
ATTACH VDISK
CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY
ASSIGN LETTER=X
FORMAT QUICK LABEL=Windows7
EXIT
This will create the VHD file of primary partition. You will see the newly attached disk in Disk Management with Drive Letter X:
Attaching and Detaching VHD in Windows 7
Right Click on My Computer and Click 'Manage' that will open up Computer Management, in that click on Disk Management. Just like previous part.
Then Right Click on Disk Management and select 'Attach VHD' This will open new windows 'Attach Virtual Hard Disk'
Click on OK and that will attach the existing Virtual Hard Disk. Now, if you don't want to make write anything on the VHD, we will select the 'Read-only' check box
And subsequently we will have the attached VHD in explorer.
NOW WE WILL DETACH THE VHD
To detach the VHD simply Right Click on the 'Disk 1' (Blue Color) and select 'Detach VHD'
After clicking on 'Detach VHD' you will be prompt you with 'Detach Virtual Hard Disk' message. Click on OK to detach. Also, if you want delete the VHD permanently you can select the Checkbox.
This way we have seen how can we create new VHDs, attach/detach existing VHDs using Disk Management and Diskpart utility.
In the next part we will how can we boot the newly created VHDs using Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 (aka Windows Server 7)
Thanks
Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 is stand-alone product for virtualization for better utilization of your hardware reducing cost. Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 comes with lot of new features like Live Migration, Expanded Processor and Memory support for host machines. Along the ways single solution for all of your consolidated virtual servers running on single physical server.
Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 beta is available for download. Back in September 2008 Microsoft released the standalone virtualization server solution for virtualization called as Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 for free. Requirements for the Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 are similar to Hyper-V Server 2008.
The Microsoft Hyper-V Server solution is good for the Test & Development Environments, Branch Offices and for Basic Server Consolidation.
Note: This is a pre-release version of Microsoft® Hyper-V™ Server 2008 R2 and not intended to be used in a production environment.
For more information visit about Hyper-V Server 2008 visit http://www.microsoft.com/servers/hyper-v-server/default.mspx
You can download Microsoft® Hyper-V™ Server 2008 R2
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=E464E255-CDD5-44B2-84E6-3233EAE3F356&displaylang=en
Also, download Microsoft® Hyper-V™ Server 2008 R2 (beta) Configuration Tool Guide
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=5C88B04D-2896-4FA4-9E59-7BC4442FF333&displaylang=en
Remote Server Administration Tools are released for Windows 7. Using RSAT tools that enables Windows 7 client to configure roles and features that are installed on computers running Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2003.
You can download the Windows 7 RSAT Tools from the following location.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=82516c35-c7dc-4652-b2ea-2df99ea83dbb&displaylang=en
The RSAT tools available in both x86 and x64
Windows6.1-KB958830-x64.msu 30.9 MBWindows6.1-KB958830-x86.msu 24.3 MB
Supported Operating Systems: Windows 7 Business, Enterprise and Ultimate Edition.
Some of the important things before installing RSAT Tools from Microsoft.com
Installing Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7 You must be either a member of the Administrators group on the computer on which you want to install the Administration Tools pack, or you must be logged on to the computer by using the built-in Administrator account. Important: Remove all versions of Administration Tools Pack or Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows Vista with SP1 from the computer before installing Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7. Important: Only one copy of Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7 can be installed on a computer at one time. Before you install a new package, remove any existing copies of Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7. This includes any copies that are in different languages. To remove existing copies of Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7, see Removing the complete Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7 pack on this page.
Visit the download link for much more detailed information. RSAT tools for Windows 7 will enable IT Professional to easily manage the IT Infrastructure more confidently.
TechNet and MSDN Subscribers can now download the Windows 7 Beta release. At PDC, you have seen the M3 Build in action.
The Windows 7 Beta relesae is the build 7000 available for both x86 and x64 bit platforms.
For more info visit windows team blog: http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windows7/archive/2009/01/07/information-on-downloading-and-installing-windows-7-beta.aspx
Welcome to my blog. This is my first blog post and over the time, we will have lot of technical discussion.
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