I got hit by a problem on a freshly installed virtual machine using a slipstreamed SP1 installation and promoted to a domain controller. Two events were appearing in the event log which were unexpected. Source: MSDTC Event ID: 4143 Information MS...

This was an interesting problem I was discussing with a customer today. The customer had a concerning looking error appearing periodically in the event log: Event ID: 40961 Source: LSASRV Version: 5.2 Symbolic Name: NEGOTIATE_INVALID_SERVER Message...

Most of you know the limit of 10 times authenticated users can join machines to a domain. Upping the limit, or removing it is a very simple thing to do, however everytime someone asks me, I have to go back to look it up again. At least if I have it on...

It had to happen - RSS everywhere, and this is another great example. The Help and Support site ( http://support.microsoft.com ) can now provide an RSS feed to your favorite RSS reader program with daily feeds of new articles relating to the products...

Part of the ongoing saga with my backup solution (see earlier posts today) was a seemingly fantasic way of ensuring that out on the road, should my laptop hard-disk fail, I'd still be able to continue working. The theory was simple. Install a base copy...

Following the HUGE Virtual Server announcements made by Steve Ballmer a couple of days ago at the MMS conference, if you want to here what Steve had to say first hand, click here to hear his keynote speech streamed directly over the Internet. On that...

I was playing this weekend trying to get the VHD (Virtual Hard Disk) size down to the barest minimum. I thought I did OK - WS2003 SP1 with Support Tools, Admin Pack, Group Policy Management Console, Small Office 2003 installation running Word+Excel patched...

As I mentioned at the Technical Roadshow yesterday in the Virtual Server session, the VSMP or Virtual Server Management Pack for Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 was released just a few days ago. This is a really great way to monitor your virtual environment...

The Windows Server 2003 resource kit will be hitting the streets next month. This is a fabulous resource to have to hand, and is now a full seven volumes covering the entire Windows Server family. The good news for UK people is that by pre-ordering now...

I was setting up a new virtual machine (for playing with Windows Server 2003 R2 as it happens, but that's for another day) this morning and getting frustrated when you double-click files which have no application associated with them. On most machines...

I've just been listening to Steve Ballmer give his keynote session at the MMS (Microsoft Management Summit) and in particular wanted to tell you about some really significant changes to Virtual Server and Virtualisation in general which are happening...

Following my blogcast in February and subsequently posting the markShareforABDE tool for download a few days later, the official download is now available. There's a GUI thrown in as well for good measure for those who try to steer clear of the command...

The second of my blog entries about the MMS announcements made only minutes ago by Steve Ballmer relate to the longer term strategy for Virtualisation within Microsoft. You can see my commentary highlighting the shorter term vision for Virtual Server...

I am currently updating my slidedeck for the webcast I'm doing this Friday on Virtual Server bringing it up to date in terms of the recent MMS (Microsoft Management Summit) announcements. I got to the slides comparing the differences between the Virtual...

Sometimes the most blindingly obvious and simple utility become a weapon of choice in your toolbox arsenal. Here's one such example I stumbled across a few days ago and am now wondering how I ever coped before. Over on longhornblogs.com, Robert (who I...

Yesterday was significant for two reasons. Two related announcements were made on microsoft.com regarding the support policy for those of you running microsoft applications in virtual environments. I am asked about this so often, and am frustrated by...

To participate in the beta program, you need to: Go to http://beta.microsoft.com . (Note: You need a Passport account to sign in. If you don’t have one, BetaPlace will help you create one.) Once logged into Beta Place with a Passport account...

One of the things about playing with Software Restriction Policies is that you can go too far and end up not being able to do anything to rectify the situation. Active Directory Group Policy applied through a link to an OU is easy enough to fix - simply...

Version 1.1 of the WSSRA was released to the web for download this morning. The WSSRA deliver architectural guidance on enterprise level IT infrastructure. Download from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=d44e34ec-b4e2-49a1-9f40...

A significant press release was made this morning regarding WS-ReliableMessaging or WS-RM moving one step closer to being an industry standard. WS-ReliableMessaging (WS-RM) is the first specification to pass through the full WS-* Workshop Process and...

Small Business Server (SBS2003) is a really great product for (unsurprisingly) small and medium businesses to operate a one-stop server shop comprising most of the major server components from Microsoft. For example, email, firewall, remote access, collaboration...

A new self-paced on-line course (also available offline) is now available entitled "Using Microsoft Virtual Server 2005". The course takes around 5 hours to complete and prepares students to migrate legacy applications and consolidate server functions...

For those of you using Tablet PCs, The "Experience Pack" has just been released to the web for free download through the Windows Genuine Advantage programme. The Experience Pack extends how you use the great pen and ink capabilities of the Tablet PC....

Something which cropped up internally over the past couple of days has been a discussion about how many people at Microsoft must have moved on beyond using the standard HTML interface to their blog engine for posting. I kept quiet at this point once discussions...

Somewhat of a cynical post, but there's always a bright side to even the darkest of corners. So here's a "glass half full" reason why not to do a backup, or at least not to do a backup in the way I tried yesterday. I run Windows Server 2003 on my main...