Windows | Ward Vissers

Configuring disks to use VMware Paravirtual SCSI (PVSCSI) adapters

PVSCSI adapters are high-performance storage adapters that can result in greater throughput and lower CPU utilization. PVSCSI adapters are best suited for environments, especially SAN environments, where hardware or applications drive a very high amount of I/O throughput. PVSCSI adapters are not suited for DAS environments.

This table shows the support matrix for use of Paravirtual SCSI adapters for data disks and boot disks for the various guest operating systems and ESX versions. Support shown in the table is from the listed ESX/ESXi version and later versions.

Guest operating system	Data Disk	Boot Disk
Windows Server 2012 (64 bit only)	ESXi 5.0 Update 1, ESXi 5.1	ESXi 5.0 Update 1, ESXi 5.1
Windows Server 2008 R2 (64 bit only)	ESX/ESXi 4.0 Update 1, ESX/ESXi 4.1, ESXi 5.x	ESX/ESXi 4.0 Update 1, ESX/ESXi 4.1, ESXi 5.x
Windows Server 2008 (32 and 64 bit)	ESX/ESXi 4.x, ESXi 5.x	ESX/ESXi 4.0 Update 1, ESX/ESXi 4.1, ESXi 5.x
Windows Server 2003 (32 and 64 bit)	ESX/ESXi 4.x, ESXi 5.x	ESX/ESXi 4.x, ESXi 5.x
Windows 7 (32 and 64 bit)	ESX/ESXi 4.1, ESXi 5.x	ESX/ESXi 4.1, ESXi 5.x
Windows Vista (32 and 64 bit)	ESX/ESXi 4.1, ESXi 5.x	ESX/ESXi 4.1, ESXi 5.x
Windows XP (32 and 64 bit)	ESX/ESXi 4.1, ESXi 5.x	ESX/ESXi 4.1, ESXi 5.x

Because the default type of newly hot-added SCSI adapter depends on the type of primary (boot) SCSI controller, hot-adding a PVSCSI adapter is only supported for those versions that support booting from a PVSCSI adapter.

Paravirtual SCSI adapters also have these limitations:

Hot add or hot remove requires a bus rescan from within the guest.
Disks with snapshots might not experience performance gains when used on Paravirtual SCSI adapters if memory on the ESX host is overcommitted.

ADK for Windows 8.1.

News. Teched is coming… New version of ADK & MDT 2013

Here is a quick summary of the changes in ADK for Windows 8.1. MDT 2013 and ConfigMgr 2012 R2 requires ADK for Windows 8.1.

Windows 8.1 Image Size (Preview)

Windows 8.1 Preview Code Image (x86), 2.13 GB (WIM), 7.65 GB expanded on disk.

WinPE 5.0

Profiling in WinPE 5.0 is removed
WinPE 5.0 x64 supports 4 TB of RAM (still 64 GB for x86)
Scratchspace set automatically to 512 MB when having more than 1 GB of RAM, otherwise 32 MB

USMT 6.3

Support for Windows 8.1
You cannot use USMT 6.3 to migrate settings from Windows XP to Windows 8.1
Supports Office 2013 (hotfix available for USMT 5.0).

Windows 8.1 Upgrade / Update

You are likely to have more free space available on the disk after upgrading Windows 8 to Windows 8.1
Windows 8.1 upgrade time, less than 20 minutes

Misc. Updates

Export compressed recovery image (/Export-Image)
Cleanup base components when superseded. (/StartComponentCleanup /ResetBase)

Active Directory Replication Status Tool

The Active Directory Replication Status Tool (ADREPLSTATUS) analyzes the replication status for domain controllers in an Active Directory domain or forest. ADREPLSTATUS displays data in a format that is similar to REPADMIN /SHOWREPL * /CSV imported into Excel but with significant enhancements.
Specific capabilities for this tool include:

• Expose Active Directory replication errors occurring in a domain or forest

• Prioritize errors that need to be resolved in order to avoid the creation of lingering objects in Active Directory forests

• Help administrators and support professionals resolve replication errors by linking to Active Directory replication troubleshooting content on Microsoft TechNet

• Allow replication data to be exported to source or destination domain administrators or support professionals for offline analysis

System Requirements

Supported Operating System

Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Vista, Windows XP

• ADREPLSTATUS does not install on server core installs of Windows

• Windows 2000 not supported due to lack of support for .NET Framework 4.0

Domain membership requirements:

• Must be joined to the Active Directory domain or forest you intend to monitor

.NET Framework requirements:

• .NET Framework 4.0 (you may be prompted to install .NET Framework 3.5.1 first on Windows Server 2008)

Required User Credentials:

• Target forest/domain user account

Supported DC OS versions that can be monitored by ADREPLSTATUS:

• Windows Server 2003

• Windows Server 2003 R2

• Windows Server 2008

• Windows Server 2008 R2

• Windows Server 2012

Active Directory Accidental Deletion – Prevention

Accidental deletions in active directory can cause havoc and unfortunately. This may have been avoided and secondly could have been fixed in less than 10 % of the actual time spent if the environment was using one of the latest features that we included in Windows 2008 R2 ( Active Directory Recycle Bin ). Most critical situations arise due to accidental human /tool interference or configuration and it is important to be able to come out of such situations within minimal down time, Accidental Deletion in Active Directory is one such situation.

Powershell Enable Protected From Accidenta lDeletion:
Get-ADobject -Filter * -SearchBase “DC=wardvissers,DC=local” | Set-adobject -ProtectedFromAccidentalDeletion $true

unknown device – ACPI/ACPI0004/CPUSCK0 ACPI/ACPI0004/CPUSCK0 on a HP Z420

Customer wanted to deploy Windows XP 32bit on a HP Z420 machine.
For this machine is a driver pack. I imported this driver in to MDT.

After deploying I had a unknown device – ACPI/ACPI0004/CPUSCK0

I could not find any driver. The windows device manager show still “unknown device”.

Solution:
Under: Advanced –> Bus Options you will find the setting “Legacy ACPI CPU Tables”
This settings is default disabled. Enable it en unknown device is gone!!

Windows 7 and Windows 8 Optimization Guide for Horizon View Virtual Desktops & Antivirus Best Practices for Horizon View 5.x

VMware released two great documents!!

Windows 7 and Windows 8 Optimization Guide for Horizon View Virtual Desktops

Antivirus Best Practices for Horizon View 5.x

Immidio releases new version of Flex+ with Support of Windows 8 & Server 2012 & APP-V 5.0

Today, Immidio releases an updated version of its flagship product Flex+. With the Immidio Flex+ workspace virtualization solution, end users get a personalized and dynamic Windows desktop that adapts to their specific situation based on aspects like role, device and location.

Modern workforces expect flexibility from their employers; users need to have the capability to work anywhere with multiple devices and a high degree of self-service. With Flex+ workspace virtualization, Immidio enables such a flexible workstyle in a simple, scalable, extensible and affordable manner, without introducing additional complexity. Immidio Flex+ uses the existing Windows infrastructure, ensuring a low total cost of ownership.

Next to many small improvements, the latest version of Immidio Flex+ contains new features that were mostly developed based on feedback from Immidio’s partners and customers. The focus of this release is to support the latest Windows versions and application virtualization technologies, providing users with an even more dynamic desktop experience and improving the administration of Flex+ in enterprise environments.

Flex+ multi-tenancy support for IT departments
Immidio Flex+ has always supported multi-tenant environments, and this release introduces much improved management of scenarios with multiple environments, such as different customers, DTAP, or separately managed organizational divisions, for instance.

Such setups can now be managed from within a single instance of the Flex+ management console, making it possible for the IT department to switch between these environments and also export configuration items from one environment to another.

An even more dynamic desktop experience
In the initial release of Flex+, Immidio introduced many capabilities for managing the user environment. Flex+ support for shortcuts, file type associations and printers is now even more powerful thanks to the new UEM Refresh feature, which during a Windows session reapplies these user environment settings, dynamically re-evaluating conditions.

Another new feature is Triggered Tasks which executes a custom or built-in task (like UEM Refresh) when a certain trigger occurs. The triggers that Flex+ supports are the lock/unlock of a workstation and disconnect/reconnect of a remote session in VDI and RDS environments.

To improve the dynamic adaption of the Windows user environment, based on role, device and location, this release extends the conditions available in Flex+. The new battery condition makes it easier to detect laptops and tablet devices. The new “Computer or User in Active Directory” condition helps determine the role of the user within the organization and the place of the currently used device within the IT infrastructure.

Support of latest technologies
Immidio Flex+ now supports personalization for Microsoft App-V 5.0, in addition to the existing App-V 4.x integration. Platform support has been extended with Windows 8 and Server 2012.

Other improvements
Many other improvements have been made to the Flex+ management console and client component. These are all documented in the Administrator’s Guide of this Flex+ release.

Error while installing WebComponents.msi

When configuring certificates for a lync 2010 environment, I noticed that I made a typo. Failing to correct the problem via the topology builder, I had to uninstall the lync software. After correcting my typo, the installation failed to install. This was the error I got:

After doing some digging I noticed also an event in the eventviewer
:

Opening the log file as mentioned in the event, it turned out I had something to do with an duplicate entry in the applicationhost.config.

As stated in the error it had something to do with a duplicate entry at line 421. Opening the applicationhost.config learned that line 421 didn’t had anything to do with lync. The trick was to find OCSAuthHelperModule:

After deleting this entry, the installation went good!

%Windir%\System32\inetsrv\config\

Special thnx to Techsps

Convert VHD to VHDX

VHDX is the new and default format of virtual hard disk (VDH) that is provided by Windows 8 Client Hyper-V and Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V. There are many reasons to favor VHDX files over VHD files, including:

scalability to 64 TB instead of 2040GB
better performance by offering 4 K sector matching
protection against data corruption during power outages

Using PowerShell to Convert to VHDX

You can dispense with the time-consuming wizard by using PowerShell. This will be extremely useful if you need to use a script to automate lots of VHD conversions across many virtual machines. The following snippet will convert a VHD to a VHDX:

Convert-VHD –Path d:\VM01\Disk0.vhd –DestinationPath d:\VM01\Disk0.vhdx

When you create a new VHDX file (not converted) it has a physical sector size of 4 K. A converted VHDX file has a physical sector size of 512 Bytes. You can change the physical sector size of a converted VHDX by running this piece of PowerShell before you power up the virtual machine:

set-vhd d:\VM01\Disk0.vhdx -PhysicalSectorSizeBytes 4096

Now you have a virtual machine that is using the best kind of virtual machine storage, the VHDX format virtual hard disk

The above instructions do not finish the job. The next essential set of steps are:

Open the settings of the virtual machine.
Replace the VHD with the VHDX.
Start and test the virtual machine.
Delete the VHD file.

Add Extra Windows 2012 server to DirectAccess NLB Cluster

First you install Server 2012 and you add the Remote Access Server Role.

And Install

KB2788525: You cannot enable external load balancing on a Windows Server 2012-based DirectAccess server.

Add or Remove Server

Tag: Windows

Configuring disks to use VMware Paravirtual SCSI (PVSCSI) adapters

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