Windows Server 2012 is almost here! Please join us on Tuesday, September 4th, 8:00 am (Pacific Time) to help celebrate the arrival of Microsoft’s next server operating system and the world’s first cloud optimized OS ...
This week, we've released a new Second Edition of our FREE eBook for Developers interested in Programming Windows 8 Apps. With the recent RTM of Windows 8 and the launch of the Windows 8 App Store, there's never been more opportunity than right now for Windows developers to launch your next killer app! In this new eBook, Kraig Brockschmidt, Senior Program Manager on the Windows team, takes us soup-to-nuts through the development of Windows 8 Apps using HTML5, CSS and JavaScript. In this 537-page eBook, you'll find ...
Windows Server 2012 Essentials, which will ultimately replace the existing Small Business Server (SBS) and Home Server products, has reached the Release Candidate milestone today! Essentials provides a simple to install and configure version of Windows Server 2012 intended for Small Business environments with up to 25-users and 50-devices. In addition, as your usage needs increase, Essentials can be in-place upgraded to a full copy of Windows Server 2012 Standard Edition with a single command line tool. Essentials features ...
The new Microsoft certification exams for MCSA on Windows Server 2012 will be released over the upcoming weeks and to help you prepare early for certification on Windows Server 2012, we're launching a new "Early Experts" peer study group that is available online for FREE. By joining and participating in this study group, you'll gain access to a monthly set of structured step-by-step study materials that align with the exam objectives for each of the new certification exams for Windows Server 2012 ...
As the very first Microsoft Store retail location in the US Heartland, we'll be opening a new store soon in Kenwood Towne Center in Cincinnati OH! Microsoft Stores are prime locations to connect with experts and see, touch and play with the latest Microsoft technologies - Windows slates, Ultrabooks, All-in-Ones, Phones, Xbox & Kinect. The grand opening date hasn't been announced yet, but watch this space for details over the next few weeks ...
Our blog has been nominated in BizTech's list of the "Top 50 Must-Read I.T. Blogs"! If you enjoy reading this blog, please login and vote for "IT Pros ROCK!" in the list below. Of course, if there's anyways in which we can improve, please also feel free to ...
Over the past few days, I've spoken to a number of IT Pros that were interested in how printing is improved or different in Windows 8. Even in today's age of online information and social media, I know that IT Pros spend a great deal of time managing shared printing and print drivers to make it all work as seamlessly as possible for end users. In Windows 8, the product team has taken an opportunity to design a new print class driver architecture (version 4) ...
Today, we've reached an exciting milestone that allows you to download and begin installing the final RTM releases Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8 in your shops! As of today, August 15th, the Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8 final RTM (released to manufacturing) bits are now available for download ...
The upcoming general availability of Windows 8 on Oct 26th and the launch of the new Windows App Store presents us all with the greatest Windows developer opportunities ever! Get ready by attending a Windows 8 Developer Camp! Developer Camps provide a great opportunity to jump start your development skills in a fun information-packed 1-day event that gives you all the tools, knowledge and guidance you need to get started ...
I presented at a great conference today on mobility organized by AITP Region 18 and had the opportunity to speak with lots of interesting IT Professionals. Below is a copy of my session deck on "Managing IT in an Age of Consumerization & BYOD" ...
I've been talking with IT Pros in my community about integrating ADFS 2.0 with Office 365 to establish single sign-on capabilities. Because the process involves a number of tasks and steps, I wanted to share three resources that I've personally found helpful in planning, installing and configuring ADFS for use with Office 365 ...
Don't miss your chance to see Windows Server 2012 in action! We’ve seen hundreds of thousands of downloads of the pre-release versions, thousands of engineers worked on this product – and we couldn’t be more proud to share it with you. Join us at the Cloud OS Signature Series to learn about Windows Server 2012 and a whole host of new features and updates we’ve made to Windows Azure, System Center, and Visual Studio this year.
At this one-day event, you will hear directly from our Redmond-based product team and Microsoft technology evangelists ...
This one-day event that is open to all IT professionals, but particularly those in the Akron-Canton-Cleveland area. This year's conference will focus on Mobile Computing with top speakers to bring you an informative program on current issues, considerations and best practices. I'll be speaking on "Supporting BYOD and Consumerization of IT" with Windows 8, Windows Server 2012 and System Center 2012 ...
Angelbeat is back in the US Heartland next week for additional IT Pro technical events! The Angelbeat seminar “experience” is unique because of the focus on the educational needs of each attendee. Angelbeat CEO and emcee Ron Gerber, a widely respected analyst and blogger, arranges speakers from Microsoft, Intel, Verizon Wireless, Dell and others ...
When virtualizing Active Directory Domain Controllers in the past, we've needed to be very careful that we don't invoke any steps, such as applying an old snapshot, that could possibly cause USN rollback to occur in the state of a Domain Controller's replica AD database and risk AD corruption. Beginning with Windows Server 2012, we've incorporated a new VM-Generation-ID unique identifier as an additional attribute of a Domain Controller's AD computer object as well as the VM container that is running the virtualized DC instance. In this article, I'll walk you through the process of using this new feature to safely clone a Windows Server 2012 domain controller on any Hypervisor platform that supports the VM-Generation-ID attribute.
Between now and October 26th, we're providing a Virtual "LoadFest" Kit that you can use to load Windows 8 in a dual-boot configuration without upsetting your existing Windows 7 operating system. I've made full details on this Virtual LoadFest kit available here ...
We had a wonderful time at today's Loadfest in Detroit at the IT Users Group (DITUG)! We had a standing-room only crowd that was excited to learn about What's New in Windows Server 2012. Below is a copy of the deck that I presented.
In my travels, I meet lots of IT Pros with really interesting use cases for deploying Windows clients and servers. This week, I spoke with a couple IT Pros that are planning a pilot deployment of Windows 7 and Windows 8 PCs to replace a fleet of aging Windows XP-based kiosk workstations. These kiosks will be located in public areas, such as libraries and airports, and will run a restricted set of touch screen applications. One set of requirements for these Kiosk machines is to ensure that users cannot interactively shutdown, logoff, lock or switch user accounts. My IT Pros had configured this successfully with Windows XP, but were experiencing some challenges replicating this configuration with Windows 7 and Windows 8.
Below are the steps to disable interactive shutdown, logoff, lock workstation and switch user accounts on Windows 7 and Windows 8 ...
I had a great time talking about the new technical capabilities of Windows 8 with IT Pros at the Cincinnati Network Professionals Association (CiNPA) and the Dayton Network Professionals Associations (DaNPA)! There was a ton of interest around the benefits of the new Windows 8-style UI and how to manage Windows 8 in the Enterprise. We also discussed networking and virtualization enhancements that Windows 8 brings.
I've posted my deck below for your review ...
In my recent discussions with IT Pros on systems management topics, a number of questions have arisen in regards to automating the provisioning of user identities across disparate application systems within business organizations. My initial recommendation is to always start with ...
Today, we've announced that Windows Server 2012 has been Released to Manufacturing (RTM) so that our Server OEM partners can begin preparing to integrate our latest Server operating system into their product offerings. Also, mark your calendars for general availability on ...
We've announced the Release to Manufacturing (RTM) of Windows 8 today, August 1st 2012! As we work towards general availability of Windows 8 on October 26th, I've included a series of specific dates on availability of the RTM that may be helpful to you ...
This week, we've announced the new Outlook.com as our next generation FREE webmail service for individuals that provides a ton of advantages over Hotmail and Gmail, such as:
This week, I presented "What's New in Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8" to great groups of IT Pros in Cleveland and Detroit at the Angelbeat IT Pro events. Angelbeat provides an excellent opportunity for IT Pros to learn about what's happening in the technology industry - the IT Pros in attendance appreciated seeing the presentations and then also being able to walk through more detailed demos of the products in which they were interested at the side tables. There's a number of additional upcoming Angelbeat events, so if you or your colleagues are located in Louisville KY, Cincinnati OH or Columbus OH - please feel free to sign up for FREE at http://www.angelbeat.com. I've included a copy of my presentation from this week's talks below for your convenience.
In my recent travels, several IT Pros have asked about resources to help plan a System Center Configuration Manager deployment between DMZ and/or otherwise protected subnets. Below, I've included links to some great resources that I've found very helpful in the past when planning ConfigMgr deployments of this nature.