May 2005 - Posts

31 May 2005
Turn Off Low Disk Space Notification
Next part of a series of blogs about changes to my home network, but equally as valuable to anyone who runs Virtual Machines in the sort of way I'm going to explain. For performance and due to lack of physical memory on my Virtual Server host, I've seperated Read More...
1 Comments  
30 May 2005
ISA Server cannot load the property page 0xc0040357 on export or backup
How to fix the following error on ISA 2004 backup or export: ISA Server cannot load the property page. Error: 0xc00403557 The Server referenced by Array [ArrayName] does not exist A bit off topic for my usual blogging activities, but I had to share the Read More...
19 Comments  
27 May 2005
May I move an OEM license for Windows to a virtual machine?
This question was asked of me at the roadshow this week and I expect this is going to become a far more common situation with the use of tools like Virtual Server Migration Toolkit (VSMT) increasing as organisations consolidate and virtualise environments. Read More...
0 Comments  
27 May 2005
Smartphone is smarter than I gave it credit for
Bit of a Friday blog this, but this may be something you didn't know or maybe I just should have read the manual :-). I've been using an SPV C500 Smartphone since joining Microsoft last September. It's a great phone, but I've had one small annoyance. Read More...
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26 May 2005
Account Lockout Policy cannot be changed and is greyed out
I received an email overnight asking about greyed out settings in the local security policy on a newly installed Windows Server 2003 machine. In my group policy session on Tuesday, I was talking around this whole area, and the reason for it is related Read More...
2 Comments  
25 May 2005
Virtual Server 2005 comparison with Virtual PC 2004 - definitive statement
Now this is worth a read having just found about it internally. Megans whitepaper which I blogged about recently is now available in its completed from on microsoft.com. The whitepaper discusses in detail the differences between Virtual PC 2004 and Virtual Read More...
0 Comments  
25 May 2005
Running Windows Server 2003 SP1 under Virtual Server 2005
I was speaking to Pertti from Finland earlier today about a common problem people are finding with Windows Server 2003 SP1 running under Virtual Server 2005. Coincidentally, I also had two people ask me also exactly the same thing today following my Virtual Read More...
10 Comments  
24 May 2005
Group Policy resetting of local user passwords
Quick blog today - I'm presenting at the Technet Roadshow event in Birmingham today (Harrogate is next week, and London the week following), and am connected to the Internet by something which must be a 2K dial-up line shared between 20 users - slow doesn't Read More...
0 Comments  
23 May 2005
Executive Chat - Windows Server Vision
Now this really is something you will want to attend online on 15th June at 5PM (UK time). How about a chance to ask whatever you want about where Microsoft is taking server operating systems (I can think of a few things....)! Bob Muglia is the Senior Read More...
0 Comments  
20 May 2005
Windows Small Business Server 2003 (SBS2003) SP1 - Ask your questions
Following my blog entry a couple of days ago, I've just found out about an online chat taking place next week on 24th May at (gulp) 11PM for those of use in the UK (3PM PST). However, it will be an invaluable opportunity to pose your questions or concerns Read More...
0 Comments  
20 May 2005
Virtual Server 2005 Cluster Resources, Chats and more
There's an interesting article recently published by Mike Otey which leads you through building a virtualized Windows Server 2003 cluster. You will need to be a paidup member to view unfortunately. Thanks Adam for that link. You can find similar information Read More...
0 Comments  
20 May 2005
Roll your own service account
Something which came up a couple of days ago was a question about creating a service account for a custom service, but not being able to logon interactively with it. The solution is very simple through the use of User Rights Assignment. Fire up the Local Read More...
0 Comments  
19 May 2005
Colossus Rebuild at Bletchley Park - Tony Sales presentation
I felt very privileged to be able to attend a BCS (British Computer Society) event held last night, purely co-incidentally, at the Microsoft Campus in Reading where I happen to work. The event was presented by Tony Sale and about how he led the project Read More...
1 Comments  
19 May 2005
Windows Small Business Server 2003 (SBS2003) SP1 Now Available
Just gone live is Service Pack 1 for Small Business Server SP1. This builds on the Service Pack 1 release for Windows Server 2003, but is tuned more specifically to the overall capabilities of SBS and introduces some additional features in this really Read More...
0 Comments  
19 May 2005
Microsoft System Centre Data Protection Manager (DPM)
Here's (IMHO) an interesting webcast I've just found out about coming up next week covering a topic many people ask me about. The webcast is on 25th May starting at 11:30 PST (which should be, if my timezone calculator is correct 19:30 BST). In the webcast Read More...
0 Comments  
19 May 2005
Technet Sessions - Post Event Archive
A few people emailed me asking where they could locate the download for the webcasts I recently gave, such as on Windows Server 2003 SP1 and Virtual Server 2005. I had to ask internally to find them - unfortunately, it's not as intuitive as I thought. Read More...
0 Comments  
18 May 2005
DHCP Authorization problem - Event ID 1046
I was speaking to a customer yesterday who was telling me about a problem he was having with DHCP in his reasonably small office network (something like three servers). He had recently upgraded to Windows Server 2003 and implemented Active Directory. Read More...
1 Comments  
17 May 2005
TechEd Europe 2005 - Amsterdam 5th to 8th July. Early bird reminder
Just a quick reminder that there are only three days left now to qualify for the "early bird discount" for TechEd Europe 2005 being held in Amsterdam from the 5th to 8th July, with 4th July as an addition pre-conference day packed full of content. For Read More...
0 Comments  
16 May 2005
Megan Davis - Virtual Server Superstar
I blog about Virtual Server a lot (as you may have noticed), but I'm not alone. Megan Davis is a technical writer/author at Microsoft who especially focuses on Virtual Server & Virtual PC and is extremely active both internally within Microsoft answering Read More...
0 Comments  
16 May 2005
Bad day at the office - disk help needed please
I know how you all love horror stories, so for what it's worth, here's my sob story for the day. The good news (if there can be such a thing) is that I have a (hopefully) reliable backup of my data as of the end of last week. The bad news is that my Seagate Read More...
7 Comments  
16 May 2005
Change System/Boot drive letter
Due to some really strange disk partitioning I have on my laptop, I ended up in a situation where one operating system had an incorrect system or boot drive letter. Of course, through the Logical Disk Administrator in computer management, you get an error Read More...
0 Comments  
13 May 2005
It's Showtime on Technet
Just gone live are a series of video recordings of live sessions on Technet UK. Come and choose from some of the best recordings of sessions for IT Pro's over the past few months from speakers including John Craddock, Andreas Luther, Jesper Johansson, Read More...
0 Comments  
12 May 2005
Group Policy Settings Reference for Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1
I've had a couple of people ask me about this over the past week, so rather than answer individually, here's the location for the latest version of the Group Policy Settings Reference spreadsheet. This spreadsheet lists Group Policy settings described Read More...
3 Comments  
11 May 2005
Security Configuration Wizard
Topical after yesterdays webcast on Windows Server 2003 SP1, here's a link to documentation on SCW (Security Configuration Wizard) which contains lots of information to assist you in deployment, extensibility and troubleshooting. Apart from the quick Read More...
1 Comments  
10 May 2005
microsoft.com continues to amaze me
I'm simply staggered at the size of the microsoft.com site, so it's not surprising when you find a dead useful page or sub-site up there which you never knew of before. If anyone knows of a link to the stats for microsoft.com, I'd love to hear from you. Read More...
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10 May 2005
Access Based Enumeration Update + Blogcast
Following todays webcast on Windows Server 2003 SP1, here's the blogcast on Access Based Enueration I promised to record and post up. Apologies for the technical difficulties during the webcast - unfortunately I wasn't able to show the last demonstration Read More...
4 Comments  
10 May 2005
Automated Deployment Services (ADS) 1.0 and Windows Server 2003 SP1 Gotcha
This seemed a timely reminder with my webcast on Windows Server 2003 SP1 this afternoon. A small gotcha which caught me out last week when installing an ADS controller was that when ADS asks for the Windows Server 2003 media, you must use the RTM version, Read More...
3 Comments  
10 May 2005
Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA) 2.0
MBSA 2.0 is the next version of the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer, which utilizes the Windows Update Services infrastructure for security update scanning. You can sign up for the beta of MBSA by nominating yourself through visiting http://beta.microsoft.com Read More...
4 Comments  
10 May 2005
DSI (Dynamic Systems Initiative)
Some of you may have heard of DSI - the Dynamic Systems Initiative. Understanding DSI can be difficult, hence I thought I'd alert you to a really great new Flash-based demonstration of DSI which has just gone live on the DSI webpage. This demo examines Read More...
4 Comments  
09 May 2005
Windows Server 2003 R2 Customer Preview Program (CPP)
At the end of last week, the long awaited R2 Site on microsoft.com was launched where you can now also register for the R2 Beta 2 Customer Preview Program . I'll be blogging a lot more about R2 in the coming weeks, but for now, have a browse through the Read More...
4 Comments  
09 May 2005
Join me for a webcast on Windows Server 2003 SP1 tomorrow
Just a reminder that I'll be presenting a webcast about the changes to Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1. I'll be talking about the Windows Firewall, the Security Configuration Wizard (SCW), the Post Setup Security Updates (PSSU), Access Based Enumeration Read More...
1 Comments  
09 May 2005
European MIIS User Group Meeting - Reading, 17th June
There are two events in one on 17th June at the Microsoft offices in Thames Valley Park, Reading under the banner of the "European MIIS User Group Meeting". One track is for MIIS, and the second track is for Identity Management. Both are free to attend. Read More...
0 Comments  
06 May 2005
Virtual Server Migration Toolkit (VSMT) Guidelines
If you're interested in using VSMT (Virtual Server Migration Toolkit) for migrating a physical machine into a virtual machine, there was a new KB article posted up a few days ago which gives you some general guidelines. Note that there is one error in Read More...
0 Comments  
05 May 2005
Outlook Date Confusion
Here's some wierdness for the day. My collegue Eileen blogged about the Outlook calendar ending on 31st August 4500 . As soon as she mentioned it, a light-bulb immediately lit up as I've done many years of Exchange developer stuff in the past ranging Read More...
3 Comments  
04 May 2005
VMRC connection limits under Virtual Server
Here's an interesting tidbit which came up a few days ago internally at Microsoft which I've never seen documented anywhere. You learn new things every day.... I always thought that there wasn't a limit to the number of concurrent connections to a single Read More...
0 Comments  
04 May 2005
VSPlus - Virtual Server 2005 Management Utility
Another example of a really useful utility is VSPlus written by Jin Mao . VSPlus is essentially a thick client implementation of the web admin interface to Virtual Server 2005. As you may know, Virtual Server 2005 has a very comprehensive scripting capability Read More...
3 Comments  
03 May 2005
Group Policy Circumvention by Local Administrators
The reasonably well known about danger of users running as local administrators being able to circumvent group policy settings has been excellently documented and explained by Mark Russinovich with an article on his blog . If you didn't know about this Read More...
0 Comments  
03 May 2005
Hyperthreading and Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 SP1
Back in January , I blogged about remembering to turn off Hyperthreading if you're running Virtual Server 2005 base release. Although well documented, many people contacting me about this. The good news is, if you're now running SP1 Beta, this no longer Read More...
0 Comments  
03 May 2005
Virtual Server 2005 SCSI Shunt Driver
It's rare you see something in a beta release which makes such a dramatic difference to performance. This is one such instance. If you want to save yourself over 5 hours when installing a Virtual Machine under Virtual Server 2005, read on.... Last week Read More...
1 Comments  
03 May 2005
Timezones on your desktop
Another one of these really useful utilities which I could have done with it when I was posting another entry on my blog this morning. Adding 8 shouldn't be taxing, although it can be depending on how tired you feel (London is 8 hours ahead of Seattle Read More...
0 Comments  
03 May 2005
How Microsoft manages Group Policies internally
If you want to find out how, take an hour out online on Tuesday 17th May at 4PM UK time . Learn how Microsoft's own IT organization manages Group Policies across Microsoft Corporation's own internal Active Directory Forest. In this webcast IT professionals Read More...
0 Comments  
02 May 2005
Common problems - Virtual PC Additions
I work with Virtual PC and Virtual Server all the time, but am continually astonished by some of the problems I see people having with Virtual machine technology. Here's one of the most common problems I see, and it frequently seems to catch out so many Read More...
2 Comments  
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