TechNet Unleashed- The Microsoft Virtualization Tour… Registration OPEN!

Live TechNet Training On Boot to VHD (Natively), Windows XP Mode, Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V, and System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008

I was just starting to write a post about my upcoming schedule for the TechNet Tour and my outlook inbox “Binged” at me.  It was my good buddy Yung Chou who just posted about the same events. 

TechNet Events Presents “Microsoft Virtualization Tour” for IT Pros!

No point in recreating the wheel, so I copied the post here.  Thanks a million to Yung for doing this and sharing with the team!!!

TechNet Events Presents “Microsoft Virtualization Tour” for IT Pros!

Brought to you by your US East Microsoft IT Pro Evangelist: Blain, Dan, John, and Yung!

Come spend an afternoon with us as we highlight some of the great virtualization solutions Microsoft offers.  We’ll go from the desktop to the enterprise starting with VHD native boot, a new feature for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 where you will learn about some really cool command line tools like BCDEDIT.EXE and DISKPART.EXE as well as detailed information about Disk Manager followed by discussions of…

· Windows XP Mode sprinkled with a bit of Med-V for the enterprise

· Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V 

· System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008

We listened to you, our customers on how we could improve on the success of the TechNet branded events.  Topics chosen and details being provided will be of great value to all audiences.  We are not leaving anyone out especially not our enterprise customers and consultants. It will be fast and it will be furious. 4 Evangelists, 8 Cities, and one focus: getting you fully charged with virtualization. Not only do we have a full Virtualization agenda but we will be doubling up so there are two presenters at each location which means we will have plenty of time to take your questions and give you an incredible training experience! Act quick and act now to register as there are limited seats at these venues. Registration links by city:

Event Date City, State
11/30/2009 Reston, VA
12/1/2009 Alpharetta, GA
12/2/2009 Rochester, NY *
12/3/2009 Charlotte, NC
12/7/2009 Bridgewater, NJ *
12/9/2009 Waltham, MA *
12/11/2009 Malvern, PA
12/14/2009 Orlando, FL *

* Events that I am scheduled to present at. I hope to see you there!

More details on these event as well as other events this quarter coming very, very soon!!! 

PS.  Check out my About page… I have made some significant changes to it recently!  :)

Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7 System Will NOT Boot After Making Changes To Boot Manager Using BCDEdit

I messed up.  It happens to everyone from time to time.  In my case, I was playing around with my system boot manager because I wanted to setup Boot To VHD.  Well being tired and not thinking to clearly, I made the changes to the {current} boot item instead of the new one I had just created.  You guessed it… After making this mistake my machine would no longer boot.  Since it is Saturday late afternoon and I have to be on stage in Boston on Monday, I need to fix it NOW!

I had two options…

1) Restore from backup: Yes, I have a backup of my entire machine from just a few days ago.  However, since then I have added some 20 virtual machines to this windows Server 2008 R2 machine and I really do not want to do that again.   If I have to go this way, It is going to be a very long weekend.

2) Figure out how to fix my screw up:  This is the option I chose and I am glad I did.  After about 30 mins of playing with it, I got everything back up and running.  Add another couple hours to create this post for you and I am ready to get back to work. 

I am not going to bother telling you all the things that I tried that did not work,  it is safe to say that I got pretty familiar with the BCDEdit tool using the /? key :)  I also tried the automated repair but the first time I tried it I had several drives plugged into the system and the repair did not work so great. 

You can find details of the BCDEdit.exe tool here: 

Bcdedit.EXE  - I did not find this one particularly useful

BCDEdit.EXE Command-Line Options – This one is for Vista

I am hopeful as the Windows 7 and 2008 R2 Product Releases to General Availability, that the documentation will get better!

I could not find any good resources for the tool (other than the /? for help on the tool).  There is a Microsoft site on BCDEdit but I found that link to be pretty useless because the word docx requires a password which I do not know.  I will see about getting that fixed.

However, I will share what did work so you do not have to struggle with it.

I disconnected all but my boot drive and DVD drive. I booted from a Windows Server 2008 R2 DVD (if you are on Vista or Windows 7 or Server 2008, use that DVD instead). While it was on the screen asking me what language I wanted I pressed Shift-F10 (sorry no screenshot, will try to add one next week when I have more time). This dropped me to a command prompt.  From the command prompt, I browsed to see what my drive letters were and what files I had.  The DVD for me happened to be the X drive.  I drilled down on my cd to the Sources folder then the Recovery Folder and I found an executable called StartRep.exe (hum, that is interesting… Let’s see what it will do)  I ran the file, it took about 20 seconds to scan my machine looking for problems and told me that if the problems were fixed, my machine would boot after doing a restart.  I restarted my machine and… OUTSTANDING my machine was booting normally.  Deep breath and sigh of relief.  Simple troubleshooting and I dodged a bullet.  So the complete path to the file for me was x:\sources\recovery\StartRep.exe.  I assume StartRep.exe stands for Start Repair. 

It worked wonders for me and I can tell you that I LOVE SERVER 2008 R2 AND WINDOWS 7!  

I could not get into my machine but my hypervisor would not boot any of my VM’s (major bummer).  I was getting Event ID 14050 error messages. One more thing was needed.  Because this is a Hyper-V machine I needed to tell the boot manager that it is using a hypervisor.  From an elevated command prompt, I had to run the following…

bcdedit /set {current} hypervisorlaunchtype auto

Then POWER OFF AND UNPLUG the machine (not just restart)

I left it off for a minute, booted it back up and fired up a couple VM’s… SUCCESS! 

Of, I am a bit particular because I noticed that the description of my boot was not “Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise (recovered)” and I did not want that so I needed to make one more change…

bcdedit /set {current} description “Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise” 

This renamed the boot item and I now believe I am done!  I ran BCDEdit again and all looks good.

Just in case you need it, after fixing my machine, I printed out the BcdEdit Details…

The TEXT Version…

C:\>bcdedit

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier              {bootmgr}
device                  partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume1
path                    \bootmgr
description             Windows Boot Manager
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {globalsettings}
default                 {current}
resumeobject            {3938319b-a727-11de-99f0-d2ca60b37081}
displayorder            {current}
toolsdisplayorder       {memdiag}
timeout                 30

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {current}
device                  partition=C:
path                    \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description             Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise
locale                  en-US
recoverysequence        {3938319f-a727-11de-99f0-d2ca60b37081}
recoveryenabled         Yes
osdevice                partition=C:
systemroot              \Windows
resumeobject            {91dd3e04-b052-11de-8ed0-806e6f6e6963}
hypervisorlaunchtype    Auto

Graphic Version…

Here is what the BCDEdit looks like on my Windows 7 Machine that is setup for dual boot with the second boot partition being on a separate hard drive.

The text version…

C:\>bcdedit

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier              {bootmgr}
device                  partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume1
description             Windows Boot Manager
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {globalsettings}
default                 {current}
resumeobject            {fdf03d8b-19b0-11de-98ce-001c2512ad0f}
displayorder            {fdf03d90-19b0-11de-98ce-001c2512ad0f}
                        {current}
toolsdisplayorder       {memdiag}
timeout                 15

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {fdf03d90-19b0-11de-98ce-001c2512ad0f}
device                  partition=D:
path                    \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description             Windows Server 2008 R2
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {bootloadersettings}
recoverysequence        {fdf03d91-19b0-11de-98ce-001c2512ad0f}
recoveryenabled         Yes
osdevice                partition=D:
systemroot              \Windows
resumeobject            {fdf03d8f-19b0-11de-98ce-001c2512ad0f}
nx                      OptOut
hypervisorlaunchtype    Auto

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {current}
device                  partition=C:
path                    \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description             Windows 7
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {bootloadersettings}
recoverysequence        {dfb74341-6571-11de-8673-002269c69093}
recoveryenabled         Yes
osdevice                partition=C:
systemroot              \Windows
resumeobject            {fdf03d8b-19b0-11de-98ce-001c2512ad0f}
nx                      OptIn

The Graphic Version…

I hope if anyone out there makes the same mistake as me, you find this post and can fix it pretty easily.  Once I get my Boot to VHD working (After Monday) I will do a Step By Step post on that process and put a link here.

iSCSI SAN for VERY Easy Storage Virtualization – All About Storage From Virtualization Group Boston

A quick update on Virtualization Group Boston’s, “All About Storage” event. Thanks to our Community Sponsors: PerfectDisk, and StarWind Software. We had a great turnout with strong presentations from two big names in the industry, StarWind Software and PerfectDisk (Raxco Software).  One of the topics we discussed and I wanted to explore more is iSCSI Storage and shared storage. Lots of people have been asking…"when do I use shared storage" and "‘why ?" so I thought I would try to quickly answer these questions.

SAN (Storage Area Network) or what some people call Shared Storage, and especially iSCSI Storage, has been a hot topic at virtualization forums.  Outside of the virtualization circles, there have been many questions about reasons for using iSCSI shared storage:

1. Your existing Ethernet network already supports iSCSI: iSCSI simply encapsulates SCSI commands in IP and transfers the storage data via TCP/IP. If you can setup a Linksys router, you can setup networked storage and you are good to go! I got my iSCSI SAN device setup and hosting a VM in about 5 mins with no special hardware.  I actually used a laptop running Windows Server 2008 on my first test system. 

2. Ability to centralize your storage: Not only does this enable you to plan your disaster recovery and business continuity but also, with centralized shared storage, you can now dynamically provision storage to any of your server applications which need it. In fact, it does not even have to be a server.  In one case, I created a target that my laptop uses for fast network storage.  I have one setup on expensive SCSI 320 disk array for VM’s and other things that I need fast disk access and another on on a SATA drive set for very inexpensive storage.  I use this very inexpensive storage solution for store all of my ISO images from my TechNet subscription and other downloads. I also store VM’s that I have taken offline but may need to bring back online in the future.  Having them on the inexpensive storage is smart and I can still bring them online almost instantly in case I need them in a hurry. Obviously these simple reasons for storage are not the mainstream uses. 

3. Server Clustering: You need shared storage to configure server clusters which permits you to have a high availability and fault tolerant environment. With shared storage you can now have automatic failover of Hyper-V servers, SQL or Exchange servers or any other server applications. No downtime! Imagine that.

4. Scaling your business as your data infinitely grows: With Networked Storage, instead of pulling drives, you can provision disks. Instead of buying a new additional SAN, you can just add disk to an existing storage server. It's that easy. This is out of the box thinking which will save valuable budget dollars without adding additional tasks to your daily duties.

5. Data Level Protection: Shared storage solutions on the market today offer volume/block level protection to enhance backup and recovery practices. Be it scheduled automatic snapshots, synchronous data mirroring, or the ability to replicate remotely to a second site, it’s important to have a multifaceted approach to protecting your storage data. Are storage vendors encouraging you to adjust or move away from your current application level backup approach? Of course not! But Storage Disaster Recovery ensures that your data (and you) are protected from loss and can rest assured about your SLA agreements.

6. Data backup: You may have noticed that the data center as well as small and medium businesses (even home users) are moving to online disk for backup.  Now, I know many are saying that you no longer need tape.  I am not of that mindset.  I believe in a dual backup strategy.  Short-term and very fast backup to disk and long term backup to tape.  Most backup solutions on the market today have an option to backup to disk.  Then from that disk they can backup to tape .  Setting this back to go to your centralized storage give huge performance benefits.  This can greatly increase the performance of the backup.  This increased performance means more data and more servers can be protected in an ever shrinking window.

Finally, how could I leave out Virtualization?

7. LiveMigration with Hyper-V and SCVMM is one the main attractions to rolling out a virtualization environment. The ability to seamlessly move VMs from one hypervisor host to another enhances disaster recovery in ways that we could only imagine years ago. But the underlying storage supporting Hyper-V allows for live migration to be active and in use. Don’t be left behind,  your virtualization deployment can be so much better with storage virtualization.  The enhancements of Hyper-V with Windows Server 2008 R2 and System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) make shared storage a must have component on your network.

Upgrading Windows XP to Windows 7 and Migrate Microsoft Office and Other Applications Using The User State Migration Tool (USMT)

At recent TechNet events, I had questions about migrating applications using the User State Migration Tool (USMT).  As I suspected, there is support for migrating some applications including Microsoft Office.  In fact, for Microsoft Office it can even migrate settings from an older version of office on the source machine to a newer version of office on the destination machine.  In case you need to know more about running the USMT tools, check out this post: Migrate Windows XP to Windows 7 Using USMT (User State Migration Tool) [Upgrade XP or Vista] Step By Step.  Here are the full details on what applications can be migrated (without customization) using the migapp.xml configuration file… 

What Does USMT Migrate?

Applies To: Windows 7, Windows Vista

Default Migration Scripts

Microsoft® Windows® User State Migration Tool (USMT) 4.0 is designed so that an IT engineer can precisely define migrations using the USMT .xml scripting language. USMT provides the following sample scripts:

• MigApp.XML. Rules to migrate application settings.
• MigDocs.XML. Rules that utilize the MigXmlHelper.GenerateDocPatterns helper function can be used to automatically find user documents on a computer without the need to author extensive custom migration .xml files.
• MigUser.XML. Rules to migrate user profiles and user data.
  MigUser.xml gathers everything in a user’s profile and then does a file extension- based search of most of the system for other user data. If data doesn’t match either of these criteria, the data won’t be migrated. For the most part, this file describes a “core” migration.
  The following data does not migrate with MigUser.xml:
  • Files outside the user profile that don’t match one of the file extensions in MigUser.xml.
  • ACLs for folders outside the user profile.

User Data

This section describes the user data that USMT migrates by default, using the MigUser.xml file. It also defines how to migrate access control lists (ACLs).

• Folders from each user profile. When you specify the MigUser.xml file, USMT migrates everything in a user’s profiles including the following:
  My Documents, My Video, My Music, My Pictures, desktop files, Start menu, Quick Launch settings, and Favorites.
• Folders from the All Users and Public profiles. When you specify the MigUser.xml file, USMT also migrates the following from the All Users profile in Windows® XP, or the Public profile in Windows Vista® or Windows® 7:
  Shared Documents, Shared Video, Shared Music, Shared desktop files, Shared Pictures, Shared Start menu, and Shared Favorites.
• File types. When you specify the MigUser.xml file, the ScanState tool searches the fixed drives, collects and migrates files with any of the following file extensions:
  .accdb, .ch3, .csv, .dif, .doc*, .dot*, .dqy, .iqy, .mcw, .mdb*, .mpp, .one*, .oqy, .or6, .pot*, .ppa, .pps*, .ppt*, .pre, .pst, .pub, .qdf, .qel, .qph, .qsd, .rqy, .rtf, .scd, .sh3, .slk, .txt, .vl*, .vsd, .wk*, .wpd, .wps, .wq1, .wri, .xl*, .xla, .xlb, .xls*.

  Note The asterisk (*) stands for zero or more characters.

• Access control lists. USMT 4.0 migrates access control lists (ACLs) for specified files and folders from computers running both Windows® XP and Windows Vista. For example, if you migrate a file named File1.txt that is read-only for User1 and read/write for User2, these settings will still apply on the destination computer after the migration.

Important To migrate ACLs, you must specify the directory to migrate in the MigUser.xml file. Using file patterns like *.doc will not migrate a directory. The source ACL information is migrated only when you explicitly specify the directory. For example, <pattern type=”File”>c:\test docs</pattern>.

Operating-System Components

USMT migrates operating-system components to a destination computer running Windows 7 from computers running Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7.

Note: If you are using USMT 4.0 to migrate a user state to Windows Vista instead of to Windows 7, use the /targetvista option with the ScanState tool. Without the /targetvista command-line option, some operating-system settings can be lost during the migration. For more information, see ScanState Syntax.

The following components are migrated by default using the manifest files:

• Accessibility settings
• Address book
• Command-prompt settings
• *Desktop wallpaper
• EFS files
• Favorites
• Folder options
• Fonts
• Group membership. For example, right-click My Computer, and then click Manage. USMT migrates the groups under Local Users and Groups for the users who are included in the migration.
• *Windows Internet Explorer® settings
• Microsoft® Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) settings
• Mouse and keyboard settings
• Network drive mapping
• *Network printer mapping
• *Offline files
• *Phone and modem options
• RAS connection and phone book (.pbk) files
• *Regional settings
• Remote Access
• *Taskbar settings
• Windows Mail. Microsoft Outlook Express Mail (.dbx) files are migrated from Windows XP.
• *Windows Media Player
• Windows Rights Management

* These settings are not available for an offline migration. For more information, see Offline Migration.

Important: This list may not be complete. There may be additional components that are migrated.

Note

Some settings, such as fonts, are not applied by the LoadState tool until after the destination computer has been restarted. For this reason, restart the destination computer after you run the LoadState tool.

Supported Applications

Although it is not required for all applications, it is good practice to install all applications on the destination computer before restoring the user state. This ensures that migrated settings are preserved..

Note: The versions of installed applications must match on the source and destination computers. USMT does not support migrating the settings of an earlier version of an application to a later version, except for Microsoft Office.

Note USMT migrates only the settings that have been used or modified by the user. If there is an application setting on the source computer that was not touched by the user, the setting may not migrate.

When you specify the MigApp.xml file, USMT 4.0 migrates the settings for the following applications:

Product (Versions)

• Adobe Acrobat Reader (9)
• AOL Instant Messenger (6.8)
• Apple iTunes (7, 8)
• Apple QuickTime Player (7)
• Apple Safari (3.1.2)
• Google Chrome (beta)
• Google Picasa (3)
• Google Talk (beta)
• IBM Lotus 1-2-3 (9.8)
• IBM Lotus Notes (8)
• IBM Lotus Organizer (9.8)
• IBM Lotus WordPro (9.8)
• Intuit Quicken (2009)
• Money Plus Business (2008)
• Money Plus Home (2008)
• Mozilla Firefox (3)
• Microsoft Office Access® (2003, 2007)
• Microsoft Office Excel® (2003, 2007)
• Microsoft Office FrontPage® (2003, 2007)
• Microsoft Office OneNote® (2003, 2007)
• Microsoft Office Outlook® (2003, 2007)
• Microsoft Office PowerPoint® (2003, 2007)
• Microsoft Office Publisher (2003, 2007)
• Microsoft Office Word (2003, 2007)
• Opera Software Opera (9.5)
• Microsoft Outlook Express (only mailbox file)
• Microsoft Project (2003, 2007)
• Microsoft Office Visio® (2003, 2007)
• RealPlayer Basic (11)
• Sage Peachtree (2009)
• Skype (3.8)
• Windows Live Mail (12, 14)
• Windows Live Messenger (8.5, 14)
• Windows Live MovieMaker (14)
• Windows Live Photo Gallery (12, 14)
• Windows Live Writer (12, 14)
• Windows Mail (only shipped with Vista)
• Microsoft Works (9)
• Yahoo Messenger (9)
• Zune™ (3)

What USMT Does Not Migrate

The following is a list of the settings that USMT does not migrate. If you are having a problem that is not listed here, see Common Issues.

Application Settings

USMT 4.0 does not migrate the following application settings:

• Settings from earlier versions of an application. The versions of each application must match on the source and destination computers. This is because USMT does not support migrating the settings of an earlier version of an application to a later version, except for Microsoft Office, which USMT can migrate from an earlier version to a later version.
• Application settings and some operating-system settings when a local account is created. For example, if you run /lac to create a local account on the destination computer, USMT will migrate the user data, but only some of the operating-system settings, such as wallpaper and screensaver settings, and no application settings will migrate.
• Microsoft Project settings, when migrating from Office 2003 to Office 2007 system.
• ICQ Pro settings, if ICQ Pro is installed in a different location on the destination computer. To successfully migrate the settings of ICQ Pro, you must install ICQ Pro in the same location on the destination computer as it was on the source computer. Otherwise, after you run the LoadState tool, the application will not start. You may encounter problems when:
  • You change the default installation location on 32-bit destination computers.
  • You attempt to migrate from a 32-bit computer to a 64-bit computer. This is because the ICQ Pro default installation directory is different on the two types of computers. When you install ICQ Pro on a 32-bit computer, the default location is "C:\Program Files\...". The ICQ Pro default installation directory on an x64-based computer, however, is “C:\Program Files (x86)\...”.

Operating-System Settings

USMT 4.0 does not migrate the following operating-system settings.

• Mapped network drives, local printers, hardware-related settings, drivers, passwords, application binary files, synchronization files, DLL files, or other executable files.
• Permissions for shared folders. After migration, you must manually re-share any folders that were shared on the source computer.
• Files and settings migrating between operating systems with different languages. The operating system of the source computer must match the language of the operating system on the destination computer.
• Customized icons for shortcuts may not migrate.
• Taskbar settings, when the source computer is running Windows XP.
• Network printers and the following firewall settings when the destination computer is running Windows XP.
  • Only the Internet Connection Firewall check box and setting is migrated. USMT supports Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)-based settings and the Windows XP Service Pack 2 registry settings.
  • The Internet Connection Sharing setting is not migrated because it can make the network less secure if it is migrated to the destination computer.
  • The firewall advanced-configuration settings are not migrated because of increased security risks.
  • The Network Connections user interface will not completely refresh until you log off or press F5.
  • Bridge settings are not migrated; for example, bridging a virtual private network to a second network adapter.

You should also note the following:

• You should run USMT from an account with administrative credentials. Otherwise, some data will not migrate. When running the ScanState and LoadState tools on Windows Vista and Windows 7, you must run the tools in Administrator mode from an account with administrative credentials. If you do not run USMT in Administrator mode, only the user profile that is logged on will be included in the migration. In addition, you must run the ScanState tool on Windows XP from an account with administrative credentials. Otherwise, some operating-system settings will not migrate. To run in Administrator mode, click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.
• The data located on external universal serial bus (USB) hard disks will be migrated even when you specify the /localonly option. However, this issue does not occur with USB flash drives. That is, the data on USB flash drives (UFDs) will not be included when you specify the /localonly option.

Troy TechNet and Northeast Roadshow Advisory – Important Update!

If you’re planning to join my colleagues, Jim O’Neil and Chris Bowen, and myself for one or both of our back-to-back events at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute this Tuesday (Sept. 22), here’s a few important notes about the venue that aren’t immediately obvious.

• The University address is 110 8th Street, Troy, New York; however, that is a mailing address and not a valid physical address.  There is no building at that location!
  
  Additionally, the reference in the on-line registration pages to the “Golisano College” is incorrect.  This is a different venue (in Rochester!); I just noticed the error and hope to have it rectified shortly.
• The events are taking place in the auditorium within the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies, which is physically on 15th street directly across from the Alumni Sports & Rec Center.  The auditorium is on the ground level at the end of the building farthest from 15th street.  [map below]
• There is a visitor parking lot across 15th street from the event venue  [see map below].  Note that this is a metered lot ($0.25 per 15 minutes), but that parking passes for a fee of $5 are available from the Public Safety and Parking Access Office, which is directly next to the visitor lot on 15th Street.

• If you’ve registered for both events (TechNet Unleashed and the Northeast MSDN Roadshow), please note there will be a one-hour break for you to grab lunch on campus or at a nearby eatery.  Lunch is not provided as part of the events, but there will be a continental breakfast for the morning event and afternoon snacks at the Northeast Roadshow. 
• If you haven’t registered for the events – why not??!  There’s still space available at  both; you can view the program and register at the links below:

TechNet Unleashed – Game On Tour!: 8:30 a.m. – 12 noon

Northeast Roadshow – Food for Thoughts Tour:  1 p.m. – 6 p.m.

How to Extend Your Activation Grace Period on Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 (Activate Now Message)

Most of the content I use for webcasts and live events have virtual machines that have been created either by someone on my team or by someone at Microsoft corporate.  The virtual machines are not created with trial versions of the operating system but with fully licensed product.  For obvious reasons they are not activated, so when I first boot up I usually get a message saying the machine has to be activated within a few days.  Sometimes though, the machines have past the activation grace period and will not log on unless they are activated NOW!!  This can be somewhat annoying because most of the time I only need the machines for a demonstration the following week, maybe for the next month or so, and I don’t want to use one of my product keys for such a short term machine life.  So what can I do?  

The first thing I do with machines that are requiring immediate activation is simply turn them off.  I then change my host machine date back to a date closer to when the virtual machines were originally created and boot them up one more time.  Now the virtual machine thinks my date is kosher and is within the activation grace period, and lets me logon.  That’s great but the date is wrong and I need to access the internet with the host as well as do my demos, and having a wrong date causes issues.  Never fear, one of the things we can do with Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 (actually this works with Windows Vista and Windows 7 as well), is re-arm the machine and extend the activation grace period another 60 days.

So How’s This Done?

Simple… all we need to do is run a script in the windows\system32 folder called slmgr.vbs.  Check the steps below:

1. Bring up a Command Prompt.
2. Type slmgr.vbs –rearm, and press ENTER.
3. Restart the computer.

You computer has now extended the evaluation period 60 days!!!  You can re-arm up to 3 times giving you an activation-free trial period of a total of 240 days!!

How Much Time Is Remaining in the Evaluation Period

You can find out by running the same script this time with different switch:

1. Type slmgr.vbs -dli, and the current status of the evaluation period is displayed.  (the dli switch means – display license information)

If you want to find out what else you can do with the script type slmgr.vbs –? and you’ll get a full list and explanation of all the switches.

Migrate Windows XP to Windows 7 Using USMT (User State Migration Tool) [Upgrade XP or Vista] Step By Step

In this 22 Minute video we walk through the process of upgrading a machine from Windows XP to Windows 7.  There is no direct upgrade path from XP to Windows 7 so we are using the User State Migration Tool to migrate user data and settings.  Note that this USMT example does not migrate OS or Applications.  You will have to install the operating system and the applications on the destination computer.  Some applications do not have to be installed on the destination computer.  For details on what applications are covered in the MigApp.xml file check out the USMT Application blog post: Upgrading Windows XP to Windows 7 and Migrate Microsoft Office and Other Applications Using The User State Migration Tool (USMT)

You can find the downloadable files at the following URLs on Edge: Right-Click, Save As below links… Windows Media Video (WMV) Windows Media Audio (WMA) iPod Video (MP4) MP3 Audio Streaming WMV (512kbps) High Quality WMV (2.5 Mbps) Zune Video (WMV)   Download PowerPoint

Lite-Touch, High-Volume Deployment. This strategy requires limited interaction during deployment. Interaction occurs at the beginning of installation, but the remainder of the process can be automated. Microsoft recommends this strategy to organizations with a dedicated IT staff that have managed networks with 200–500 client computers. Prior deployment experience is not required but is beneficial for using this strategy.  Personally, I would use this method for almost all size organizations.  Maybe not to upgrade Gramma’s computer but certainly would for even small companies.

This step-by-step guide to Windows migration for IT pros provides a basic example of how to migrate files and settings from Windows XP to Windows 7 using USMT 4.0. (You can also migrate files and settings from a computer running Windows Vista®.) At the end of this process, you will have used the ScanState and LoadState tools to complete an end-to-end migration.

You can also customize your migration by editing configuration files used by these tools. For a comprehensive description of all of the tools and configuration files, see the User State Migration Tool (USMT) 4.0 User's Guide (Usmt.chm) downloaded with the Windows Automated Installation Kit (Windows AIK) or this Microsoft Web site.

In this example, you gather data from a source computer running Windows XP, create a migration store using the default settings in ScanState, install Windows 7 on a new or newly repartitioned computer, and then apply data from the migration store.

This process includes:

Step 1: Gather data using the Scan State tool
Step 2: Install Windows 7
Step 3: Apply data using the LoadState tool

Step By Step Detail…

Step 1: Gather data using the Scan State tool – From your XP or Windows Vista (SOURCE) computer…

Step 2: Install Windows 7

Step 3: Apply data using the LoadState tool

loadstate <StorePath> /c /lac /lae /i:miguser.xml /i:migdocs.xml

WAIT

If you want additional information on what applications can be migrated check out this blog post…

Upgrading Windows XP to Windows 7 and Migrate Microsoft Office and Other Applications Using The User State Migration Tool (USMT)

Other Resources:

User State Migration Tool 4.0
Windows Automated Installation Kit for Windows 7 RC
Step-by-Step: Windows 7 Upgrade and Migration

What's New in USMT 4.0

Applies To: Windows 7, Windows Vista

This topic describes new features as well as changes in command-line options in Microsoft® Windows® User State Migration Tool (USMT) 4.0.

Overall Changes from USMT 3.0

• Hard-link migration store
  The new hard-link migration store is for use in computer-refresh scenarios only. Hard-link migration stores are stored locally on the computer that is being refreshed and can migrate user accounts, files and settings in less time using megabytes of disk space instead of gigabytes.
• Improved Space estimation
  The ScanState command now more accurately estimates the size of the migration store as well as the additional temporary disk space required to create the migration store. This results in a reduction of migration failures due to low disk space. The ScanState command now also estimates the size of the compressed migration store.
• Ability to gather data from an offline Windows® operating system using the ScanState command
  You can gather data from an offline Windows® operating system using the ScanState command in Microsoft® Windows PE. In addition, USMT now supports migrations from previous installations of Windows® contained in Windows.old directories. The offline directory can be a Windows directory when you run the ScanState command in Windows PE or to Windows.old when you run the ScanState command in Windows.
• Domain controller access is no longer required by ScanState and LoadState. It is now possible to complete an end-to-end migration of domain user accounts without having domain controller access.  The destination computer must be domain-joined before any newly applied domain accounts can be used.
• Integration with Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) and the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT)
  You can reduce end-user and deployment time. You can use USMT 4.0 to retain end-users’ digital identities as well as application and operating system settings, in conjunction with SCCM and/or MDT.
• Configurable file errors
  You can use the new <ErrorControl> section in the Config.xml file to configure which file or registry read/write errors can be safely ignored by the /c command-line option and which might cause the migration to fail. In addition, the /genconfig command-line option now generates a sample <ErrorControl> section that is enabled by specifying error messages and desired behaviors in the Config.xml file.
• New helper functions
  The ScanState command has two new helper functions that enable new migration scenarios. The MigXmlHelper.FileProperties function can be used to control which files migrate, based on properties you specify; for example, date created, date modified, date accessed, and file size. The MigXmlHelper.GenerateDocPatterns function can be used to automatically find user documents on a computer without authoring extensive custom migration .xml files.
• Volume shadow copy support
  With the /vsc command line option, the ScanState command can now use the volume shadow copy service to capture files that are locked for editing by other applications.
• Local group migration
  You can use the new <ProfileControl> section in the Config.xml file to configure the local group membership of users during the migration. This enables scenarios such as changing users from being members of the local administrators group to being members of the local users group during the migration.
• List files being migrated
  You can use the /listfiles command-line option for the ScanState command to generate a text file list of all files included in the migration.
• Usmtutils.exe
  This new executable file supplements the functionality in Scanstate.exe and Loadstate.exe.
• New AES encryption options
  USMT 4.0 enables support for stronger encryption algorithms, called Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), in several key size options, based on support in the source computers' operating system.

Changes to the ScanState Command

USMT 4.0 contains new ScanState command-line options. In addition, some command-line options have changed.

New Command-line Options

The following table lists new command-line options for the ScanState command.

Option
Explanation

/listfiles: "path to a file"

Generates a text file listing all the files included in the migration.

/p: "path to a file"

When an optional file location is specified, the /p option indicates that the new space-estimate algorithms are used. If you do not specify the optional file location, the /p option's functionality is the same as in USMT 3.0. These include an estimation of the disk space that is needed to create and build the migration store, as well as the space needed to host the migration-store contents. These estimates are provided in an .xml file at the location specified on the command line.

If the /nocompress option is also specified, the estimate will be for an uncompressed migration store. If the /nocompress option is not specified, the estimate will be for a compressed migration store.

/hardlink

Enables the creation of a hard-link migration store at the specified location. The /nocompress option must be specified with the /hardlink option. Additionally, the <HardLinkStoreControl> element can be used in the Config.xml file to change how the ScanState command creates hard-links to files that are locked by another application.

/vsc

This option enables the volume shadow copy service to migrate files that are locked or in use by another application.

This option can be used only with the ScanState executable file and cannot be combined with the /hardlink option.

/auto: "path to script files"

This option enables you to specify the location of the default .xml files and then launch your migration. If no path is specified, USMT will reference the directory where the USMT binaries are located. The /auto option includes the following options /i:MigDocs.xml /i:MigApp.xml /v:13.

/offline: "path to an offline.xml file"

This option is used to define a path to an offline .xml file that specifies offline migration options; for example, an offline Windows directory to capture user state from, as well as remapping on drive letters and mount points.

/genmigxml: "path to a file"

This option specifies that the ScanState command should use the document finder to create and export an .xml file that defines how to migrate all of the files found on the computer on which the ScanState command is running. The document finder, or MigXmlHelper.GenerateDocPatterns helper function, can be used to automatically find user documents on a computer without authoring extensive custom migration .xml files.

/offlinewindir: "path to a windows directory"

This option specifies the offline Windows directory that the ScanState command gathers user state from. The offline directory can be Windows.old when you run the ScanState command in Windows or a Windows directory when you run the ScanState command in Windows PE. This option is incompatible with the /offline option.

/offlinewinold <Windows.old directory>

This command-line option enables the offline migration mode and starts the migration from the location specified. It is only intended to be used in Windows.old migration scenarios, where the migration is occurring from a Windows.old directory.

/efs:hardlink

Creates a hard-link to the EFS file instead of copying it. Use only with the /hardlink and /nocompress options.

Changed Command-line Options

The following ScanState command-line options have changed in USMT 4.0.

Option in USMT 3.0
Explanation for change in USMT 4.0

/p

The /p option estimates the space needed to contain the compressed or uncompressed migration store. When an optional file location is specified, the /p:"path to a file" command-line option uses the new space-estimation algorithms.

/encrypt: "encryption strength"

You can specify a parameter to define the desired encryption strength for the migration store.

/genconfig

The /genconfig option now generates sample <ErrorControl> and <ProfileControl> sections in the Config.xml file that enable the new error control and local group migration behavior.

/o

The /o option is now is required to overwrite both the migration store and the Config.xml file.

Changes to the LoadState Command

USMT 4.0 contains new LoadState command-line options. In addition, some command-line options have changed.

New Command-line Options

The following table lists new LoadState command-line options.

Option
Explanation

/hardlink

Enables user state data to be restored from a hard-link migration store. The /nocompress option must be specified with the /hardlink option.

/auto: "path to script files"

This option enables you to specify the location of the default .xml files and then launch your migration. If no path is specified, USMT will reference the directory where the USMT binaries are located. The /auto option include the following options /i:MigDocs.xml /i:MigApp.xml /v:13.

Changed Command-line Options

The following LoadState command-line options have changed in USMT 4.0.

Option in USMT 3.0
Explanation for change in USMT 4.0

/decrypt: "encryption strength"

The /decrypt option now accepts a command-line parameter to define the encryption strength specified for the migration store encryption.

/targetxp

The /targetxp command-line option is no longer valid in USMT 4.0 because Windows XP is not supported on a destination computer.

MigSys.xml

The MigSys.xml file is no longer valid. This file was used only in Windows XP migrations where Windows XP was the operating system on the destination computer.

/q

The /q option is no longer supported, because both the ScanState and LoadState commands require administrator privileges to run.

Usmtutils.exe

The following table lists all new Usmtutils.exe command-line options in USMT 4.0.

New option in USMT 4.0
Description

/ec

This option returns a list of supported cryptographic algorithms (AlgIDs) on the current system.

/rd <storeDir>

Removes the directory path specified by the <storeDir> argument on all of the fixed drives. This command is useful for deleting hard-link stores that cannot otherwise be deleted due to a sharing lock. For example: usmtutils /rd D:\MyHardLinkStore

Boston TechNet Unleashed 9-28-2009 Cancelled

TechNet Unleashed Comes To Boston – Free Training on Migrating Windows XP to Windows 7, DirectAccess, RDS and VDI

Tuesday, September 28, 2009 8:30 AM - Tuesday, September 28, 2009 12:00 PM Eastern Time (US & Canada)

Event Cancelled! due to conflict with Launch event schedule.  We will reschedule this soon.  Watch my blog for the details.

All who were registered were sent an email announcement.

TechNet Unleashed Comes To Boston – Free Training on Migrating Windows XP to Windows 7, DirectAccess, RDS and VDI

Tuesday, September 28, 2009 8:30 AM - Tuesday, September 28, 2009 12:00 PM Eastern Time (US & Canada)

Welcome and Registration Time: 8:00 AM

Event Cancelled! due to conflict with Launch event schedule.  We will reschedule this soon.  Watch my blog for the details.

Microsoft
New England Research & Development Center
One Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02142
Directions

Join Microsoft's Dan Stolts for a free morning of technology training on the latest Microsoft technologies at the Microsoft New England Research & Development (NERD) Center in Cambridge, MA.  See below for the agenda.

After the TechNet Event, there will be an MSDN event so if you want to make it a full day register for the afternoon. 

Event Overview

TechNet Events Presents: TechNet Unleashed: Game On Tour!

After a long summer, you’re probably ready to get your game on with some tools and techniques to speed up your IT strategy.  Touring this fall, the East Region TechNet team of John Baker, Dan Stolts, Blain Barton and Yung Chou are bringing you a game plan of sessions that are sure to spike your productivity.  From current tools and technologies to practical insights, there will be plenty of action for everyone!

Reservations are required, so register today for a seat at this free and fun technology event. 

1st Down: Migrating Windows XP to Windows 7: Get it Done with the Microsoft Deployment Tools
You've gotten the handoff on upgrading your desktops from Windows XP™ to Windows 7™ and you know there isn't a direct upgrade path, so what’s the best strategy?  This session will give you the answers and tools that will make your migration from Windows XP to Windows 7 an easy touchdown.  First we’ll discuss standalone migrations using standard methodologies.  Then we’ll explore large scale migrations with the Microsoft Deployment Tool Kit 2010 technologies, covering the "Lite-Touch” Installation (LTI) method leveraging User State Hard-Link Migration which will minimize network traffic and get the migration done in a timelier manner.  What tools will we use?  The User State Migration Tool (USMT) in the Automated Installation Toolkit (AIK) has everything you need to kick off the migration and deploy Windows 7 without a single fumble.

2nd Down: DirectAccess™ With Windows 7: No More VPN!!
Looking for ways to save some money and enable better employee productivity on the road?  Tired of being unable to VPN from certain remote locations?  Then DirectAccess is the solution you’re looking for!  What is DirectAccess?  DirectAccess provides secure, seamless, always-on networking and represents a fundamental shift in the way network boundaries are defined and how access is managed.  It provides a consistent experience regardless of location, device, or network topology.  It “just works” and accommodates today’s flexible “offices” and requirements for remote connectivity.  Not only does it give an “always on the corporate network” experience for end users, but it also provides administrators the ability to manage remote machines through the DirectAccess connection.  That's right, if it’s connected to the Internet, it’s connected to the corporate network… SECURELY, and therefore the manageability of remote resources is greatly improved.  This session will explain in detail what DirectAccess is and will demonstrate how to configure both the client and server components of DirectAccess.

3rd Down: Optimizing Your Environment with Remote Desktop Services™ and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
You’ve been successfully using Terminal Services for some time now and have enjoyed the ability to centrally manage your remote desktop environment.  But there have been challenges in Terminal Services. Interference issues such as printer drivers, applications that take resources away from other users, and users wanting to remote to a desktop instead of the server.  Windows Server 2008 R2 represents a paradigm shift in remote connectivity. Come and see how the next generation of terminal services, now called Remote Desktop Services (RDS), can take you to the next level.  RDS has been expanded to include Hyper-V integration for deploying virtual machine-based desktops in addition to the standard session-based remote connectivity. Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) is an emerging desktop optimization vehicle and delivery architecture to centralize the storage, execution, and management of desktops in a data center. In this session we will examine the architecture, essential services, and user experience of RDS and VDI while walking through deployment scenarios based on business requirements.

4th Down: Score!
We’ll call it a day, collect your surveys, and you just might score one of the day’s giveaways.

DPM eLearning is now online – How to Backup SharePoint, SQL Server, Exchange Server and Virtulized Environments (Hyper-V), Including Disaster Recovery

Announcing DPM eLearning is now online

This week, I am very happy to announce the availability of eLearning for DPM 2007.

This is a collection of 6 two-hour eLearning modules that include hands-on labs, much of the same courseware as our newly announced classroom-based DPM course, and is built for to prepare you for the DPM Certification exam.

There are six modules –each approximately two-hours long

eLearning course 10144 – Installing and Configuring DPM 2007

eLearning course 10145 – Protecting and Recovering SQL Server with DPM 2007

eLearning course 10146 – Protecting and Recovering Exchange Server with DPM 2007

eLearning course 10147 – Protecting and Recovering SharePoint with DPM 2007

eLearning course 10148 – Protecting and Recovering Virtualized Environments with DPM 2007

eLearning course 10149 – Disaster Recovery and Monitoring the DPM server

And Microsoft Learning has them in a bundle, so you can get all 6 modules as a kit.

Jason Buffington’s Post about this training, the development and the details of these great training sessions.

Virtualization Group – Boston All About Storage Live Event in Waltham Ma Sept 9th 2009

"All About Storage"

Waltham MA 6:00-9:00pm

Monthly Meeting of the Virtualization Group - Boston (www.virtg.com)

Tuesday September 8, 2009

6:00 PM - 9:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time

Microsoft Office - Waltham

201 Jones Road, Waltham MA

Sixth Floor: Room MPR-B

Directions & Map link

Thanks to our Community Sponsors: PerfectDisk, and StarWind Software

Join us for en evening of Pizza and Tech Talk as we explore an important part of virtualization -- where we put out stuff.  It's storage night in the big room!  We have two great presentations on tap looking at two different aspects of storage and the impacts they have in our brave new virtualized world.

6:00-7:00   

Networking, News, Introductions, Pizza

7:00-7:50

The Impact of Logical and Physical Fragmentation in a Virtual Environment by Bob Nolan of PerfectDisk (Raxco)

Abstract: Fragmentation is a normal byproduct of the Windows file system, but there is a great deal of misunderstanding with respect to what it really is and its impact. This presentation debunks the myths, describes the differences between logical and physical fragmentation,  and explains the impact both have on real and virtual system performance. We examine the implications of fragmentation in a virtual environment where there is competition for finite resources between guests, and between the guests and the host. The presentation addresses issues with both ESX and Hyper-V virtualization platforms and offers solutions to minimizing the potential for conflicts and maximizing virtual I/O throughput.

8:00-8:45   

Presentation by Bob Boule of StarWind Software

8:45-9:00   

Raffle and Prizes

Cleanup Immediately after

Registration Links:

http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=140759

Registration not required, but is strongly recommended to let us know how much food we need to purchase. 

· Live Event In Waltham: http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=140759 · Online Attendance:  Not Available

Our VirtG monthly meetings are free for members and non-members (thanks to our great sponsors).  We prefer that you register for the event in advance so that we know how much Pizza to purchase.  Please register using the link above.

Resource Handout and Slides from Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 TechNet Unleashed Events can now be found online

TechNet Events Presents TechNet Unleashed Game On Tour!  <<- Registration Links

Resource Handout and Slides from FY 10 Q1 Flex Events (TechNet Unleashed) can now be found online.

TechNet Subscription Discount Code TMSAM15 for 25% Savings – Download Windows 7 RTM Bits Now!

TechNet Subscription Discount Code TMSAM15 for 25% Savings – Download Windows 7 RTM Bits Now!

Go to the TechNet Subscription Center and use the code TMSAM15 to get your savings.

As many of you know I present at TechNet and other live events around the country (mostly in the northeast). I've found that many of you already have a TechNet subscription and it has become your best friend.  However, some have not found this incredible program so here is your introduction to it... 

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For NEW subscriptions, from now until June 2010, you can save 25% on any version of a TechNet Plus subscription, yes 25%!! I’m pretty confident that if you try it, you’ll see enough value in it to renew your subscription next year!! Price was $349.00.  Now, with this discount save $87.25 and get it for $261.75.

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Windows 7 RTM now available on TechNet and MSDN

Windows 7 RTM is now available on TechNet and MSDN subscriber downloads.  Happy Downloading…