Dwayne's Blog : Vista

SP2 Beta for Vista & Server 2008

dwaynef — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 17:05:00 GMT

So one of the good parts of the shared code base between Vista & Server 2008 is the move to a single service pack for both client & server (hmmm ... used to do that a while back in the NT days). Early betas are now available to certain customers.

Technet take on it ->

Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 (SP2) and Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) Customer Preview Program (CPP)

December 2, 2008

Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 and Windows Vista Service Pack 2 Beta is an update to Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. It provides customer and partner feedback driven fixes into a single service pack, minimizing deployment and testing complexity. In addition to all previously released updates, SP2 will contain changes focused on addressing reliability and performance issues, supporting new types of hardware, and adding support for several emerging standards.

More here

Windows SteadyState 2.5

dwaynef — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 20:16:00 GMT

Windows SteadyState is the successor to Shared Computer Toolkit, it allows creater control over shared access computers (schools/internet cafe's/libraries/etc or even a shared household computer) with the ability to limit access to functionality and bascially not save changes, reboot and you return to original state.

SteadyState hompage, technical faq, 2.5 handbook, Steadystate download

Windows SteadyState is free, features include

Getting Started – Provides the initial steps to help you during your first time use of Windows SteadyState.

Windows Disk Protection – Help protect the Windows partition, which contains the Windows operating system and other programs, from being modified without administrator approval.Windows SteadyState allows you to set Windows Disk Protection to remove all changes upon restart, to remove changes at a certain date and time, or to not remove changes at all. If you choose to use Windows Disk Protection to remove changes, any changes made by shared users when they are logged on to the computer are removed when the computer is restarted

User Restrictions and Settings – The user restrictions and settings can help to enhance and simplify the user experience. Restrict user access to programs, settings, Start menu items, and options in Windows. You can also lock shared user accounts to prevent changes from being retained from one session to the next.

User Account Manager – Create and delete user accounts. You can use Windows SteadyState to create user accounts on alternative drives that will retain user data and settings even when Windows Disk Protection is turned on. You can also import and export user settings from one computer to another—saving valuable time and resources.

Computer Restrictions – Control security settings, privacy settings, and more, such as preventing users from creating and storing folders in drive C and from opening Microsoft Office documents from Internet Explorer®.

Schedule Software Updates – Update your shared computer with the latest software and security updates when it is convenient for you and your shared users.

Sysinternals on Live

dwaynef — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 05:51:00 GMT

Access Sysinternals tools strait from a web folder here

Windows 2008 Server Admin Tools for Vista

dwaynef — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 23:16:00 GMT

Good post from the DS blog below, thanks to Ned Pyle ..

The long-awaited Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) have been released for Windows Vista. These will allow administrators to use their Vista machines to manage their Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Server 2008 infrastructure from the comforts of the cubicle. Come and get 'em.

Microsoft Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows Vista for x86-based Systems
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=9ff6e897-23ce-4a36-b7fc-d52065de9960&DisplayLang=en

Microsoft Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows Vista for x64-based Systems
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=d647a60b-63fd-4ac5-9243-bd3c497d2bc5&DisplayLang=en

After you install this, open Control Panel and start Programs and Features. Click Turn Windows Features on or off then scroll down to the Remote Server Administration Tools. From there you can turn on everything, certain things, or... nothing. Your call, unlike the old ADMINPAK.MSI...

Backup to VHD

dwaynef — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 18:57:00 GMT

Vista's CompletePC backup allows you to backup to VHD (the standard for Microsoft's Virtual Hard Drives, used with VirtualPC/Server & Hyper-V). You can mount it, nice article here on how to use the Mount VHD tool to set up a double click mount. Unfortunately you can't yet boot from it, but an interesting contest going on here to see if someone can make the adjustments to allow that to happen.

Same functionality is supposed to be available in Windows 2008 Server ... off to test ... will update