stilldrey

in february channel9.msdn.com started a history of microsoft series that has been very entertaining to watch.  in a few short months, the series has covered 20 years of microsoft, computing, and the world.  check it out here.

i noticed up in my netflix watch instantly queue that the second season of the it crowd is available on demand.  i quickly checked the availability of the dvds and best buy has the first and second season in stock.  the third season is scheduled to be released here in september.  i am so into this show, i own the uk dvds, itunes downloads and now will watch the netflix on demand seasons and by the fall pick up the dvds somewhere.

before i started at microsoft on october 31, 2005 (yes – it’s almost been four years!) i spent a lot of time combing through posts on channel9, jobsblog and the careers site.  i wanted to get a sense of whether i would fit in.  fortunately i was interviewed for and accepted the perfect job and armed ahead of time with information from these three sites (as well as others), i began the process that eventually led to joining the company (more on that in future posts).  this evening i came across another tremendous blog for anyone considering a career at microsoft – microspotting.  i’ve always been a huge fan of how the internet brings people together and how the web has made it possible to learn about people and do research on just about anything (keeping in mind that the posts may or may not be fair and balanced…) – this site is yet another opportunity to get an idea of what it’s like to work for microsoft.  hope you enjoy checking out the profiles as much as i did this evening…

i’ve got two systems left on the windows 7 beta that i’ll be upgrading either tonight or on july 1st.  i don’t speak that much spanish but even i understood this:  “a parte de julio su pc va a apagar todas 2 horas. download la rc”

the release candidate is available for download and gives you plenty of time to continue using windows 7 while deciding what version you’d like to run permanently when it’s released on october 22nd (general availability) – you can even pre order windows 7 home premium or windows 7 professional now.

almost a year ago we had a portable media session at cwug (chicago windows user group) which was a lot of fun.  we had people bring their archos media players, ipods, psps and zunes.  when we talked about the zune, one of the questions was do you need the hardware device to use the software or a zune pass and the answer is no – you can load the software on a system without a zune media player (you can even load it along with itunes).  i use the zune pass ($14.99/month for unlimited music downloads and you also get 10 free song credits as well) and the music from the subscription is separated from the rest of my collection (so you can easily identify permanent files from the files that were downloaded using your zune pass subscription).  i began using the zune pass around the holidays one year, but found that there were certain categories that i didn’t want to own permanently – comedy performances and holiday music for example.  now if there’s one or two great songs, i can use a credit to keep them permanently (many of these downloads are now in mp3 format).  zune software even works on 64 bit version of windows vista or 7.

it’s a great friday – today you can reserve your production copy of the windows 7 upgrade for as little as $49.99!  the professional version upgrade is only $99.99.  not certain which version you’re interested in?  check out the pricing and capabilities here.  i have been using windows vista home premium for over three years at home and with windows home server addressing the domain issue (backing up and centralizing my critical data) it’s worked out great.  with windows 7 and the windows virtual pc that will run on windows 7 professional (as well as the fact that there aren’t consumer features left out of the business edition), i will most likely standardize most of my home computers on windows 7 professional (netbooks or older equipment that can’t take advantage of windows virtual pc will be an exception and i’ll run windows 7 home premium on those).

friday i posted information about dynamically shrinking a partition from your windows vista or windows 7 installation (making room for another operating system) but what if you are already running windows xp and would like to take advantage of this feature?  you can, but before the step by step a disclaimer:  back up your critical data first.  if you care about it, make sure it’s on a separate computer, hard drive drive, dvd or my favorite - windows home server.

now onto the how to stuff.  first you’ll need a windows 7 release candidate (32 or 64 bit – my preference is 64 bit) and you’ll need to start your computer from the dvd.  after the very first screen (where you choose install windows 7), press shift + f10 and this should display a command prompt

type the following commands:

diskpart

select disk 0

select part 1

shrink querymax

this is the same system that i shrunk on friday, so the reclaimable space is not very large.  you can see the commands and the outputs.

help shrink gives you the additional syntax for the command.

i’ve been running windows vista for over 3 1/2 years now (before it was even released publicly) and windows 7 for almost a year.  most of the it professionals, consultants and trainers i speak to feel pretty comfortable and knowledgeable with microsoft operating systems and many have also begun testing windows 7, but almost no one is aware of something i’ve been using for the past 3 1/2 years – dynamically shrinking a hard drive partition.

screen shot of windows 7 release candidate – shrinking a partition

this is my production computer that i’m typing this post on – and i’m going to shrink the c drive without a reboot required.

here’s that same hard drive – only with a smaller c partition and 21 gb free

next posting we’ll talk about how to do this to support dual boot scenarios!

so i’ve made the switch – yesterday i picked up a brand new 2010 ford fusion hybrid with sync (and navigation so i can pay attention to driving and not where i’m supposed to be on any particular day).  this marks my return to ford (the last one we owned was an escort in the 90s).  having a zune that i control by voice commands as opposed to the navigation was the primary purpose (and what was missing on my previous vehicle – a toyota prius).  when sync was first introduced i went to our local ford dealer and took a car (a focus) for a test drive.  i also looked at the taurus while i was there, but i ended up buying a prius.

i usually rent a different car than i drive when travelling and this is the other experience i’ve had with sync on various ford models (i think an escape was the most recent).  even without navigation it can do some amazing stuff.

so far it’s been easy to learn and very accurate.  i’m sure i’ll be posting more about it over the coming weeks (and months and years) about both my experiences with sync but also with my second hybrid vehicle.

i’ve been asked a few times how to install windows 7 onto a netbook and i believe these are the minimum requirements:

1. format the usb stick (for example e:) within windows from a command prompt using the following command:
format e: /fs:ntfs /q

2.  from the command prompt window, change directories to your windows 7 dvd (for example d:) and type the following commands: 
d:
cd boot
bootsect /nt60 e:

3.  copy the entire dvd contents to the usbstick (you can use windows explorer for this)

i’ve read a lot of how to posts on the internet and many of these seem to have additional directions, tools or suggestions none of which were required on the sticks i have purchased.

this thursday is the next springboard series virtual round table focused on application compatibility https://ms.istreamplanet.com/springboard.

thursday, june 18th

11 a.m. pst

windows 7, is approaching fast and from the application standpoint is very similar to windows vista. we’re going to examine windows 7 application compatibility not only from the perspective of moving from windows vista, but also for those coming from windows xp. join us to discuss the most common challenges around application compatibility when coming from a legacy operating system, why changes were made along the way, compatibility technologies inside the os and methods for getting incompatible applications to run on windows 7. along the way we share tips and tricks, demonstrate free tools to analyze and fix applications and answer your specific questions about application compatibility live.

 

in part 2 of this virtual round table discussion (planned for later this summer/fall), we’ll discuss the options and approaches for using virtualization tools In depth to address application incompatibilities – including presentation virtualization, desktop virtualization and application virtualization. we’ll be sending out more details and posting information to www.microsoft.com/springboard for part 2 as the dates are finalized.

 

as part of the “virtual” experience, you may submit your questions about windows 7 application compatibility to the panel live during the event—or submit questions in advance to vrtable@microsoft.com.

 

 

springboard series: the resource for windows desktop it professionals

 

friday my uncle phil passed away.  i have known him most of my life (he married my aunt when i was very young) and he always had a gentle tone and served his family, church, state and others selflessly.  when i think of my dad who has so many of these same qualities, it reminds me just a week before father's day how important strong male role models can be for kids.  i'm now a father of two beautiful children myself as well as a husband, cousin, uncle, nephew, son, big brother, in law, etc. and it reminds me of just some of the ways that i can follow in the footsteps set before me by other men in my family and life that have influenced me.  phil will be missed yet remembered for all he did for others.

this is the second year that i'll be volunteering as part of chicago cares.  more on this soon, but this is the second saturday in a row that has began with a drizzly cool rain (just the way i like to bike 65 miles) - at least today there is a plan for the weather...

i came across the following today – a site sponsored by microsoft that will donate 8 meals to feeding america for every download of internet explorer 8 from the site.  now the challenge – finding a computer that i’m not running internet explorer 8 on yet (i think my aging windows xp media center desktop is still running an older version of the browser) – windows 7 includes internet explorer 8 and i’ve upgraded my windows vista systems based upon my experience with it on windows 7.

firing up my “old” windows xp media center desktop will also be another opportunity to install windows 7 (marching towards my goal of 700 installations of the windows 7 software)

update – so if you don’t want to use bing to find this site, here’s a link.

boot from vhd is a great new feature of windows 7 enterprise.  it allows you to start an operating system configured in vhd file.  i have been using this to run 64 bit builds of windows 7 on a system that is natively running the 32 bit version.  how do you create the vhd?  install windows 7 in hyper-v or virtual pc, sysprep it and then save it or use the wim2vhd tool from msdn here.  here are the steps for setting up boot from vhd.

copy a sysprepped vhd into a directory (for this example, we’ll use the c:\vhd directory and a file called win7-64.vhd)

from an elevated command prompt type:

bcdedit /copy {current} /d "windows 7 64 bit"

the output from this command provides you a guid that you will use in the next three commands.  replace the %guid% with the actual guid you received from the first command above.

bcdedit /set %guid% device vhd=[locate]\vhd\win7-64.vhd

bcdedit /set %guid% osdevice vhd=[locate]\vhd\win7-64.vhd

bcdedit /set %guid% detecthal on