Tag: Windows

How to create a Windows 7 x86 or x64 WMI Filter

I want to deploy some applications to different OS versions. I created some WMI filters. I added the right Group Policy to the right WMI filter.

Target Win 7 32 bit machines:

select * from Win32_OperatingSystem WHERE Version like "6.1%" AND ProductType="1" AND NOT OSArchitecture = "64-bit"

Target Win 7 64Bit machines:

select * from Win32_OperatingSystem WHERE Version like "6.1%" AND ProductType="1" AND OSArchitecture = "64-bit"

Target any 32 bit OS;

SELECT AddressWidth FROM Win32_Processor WHERE AddressWidth =’32’

Target any 64Bit OS:

SELECT AddressWidth FROM Win32_Processor WHERE AddressWidth =’64

GAL Photos in Exchange 2010 and Outlook 2010

With Microsoft Exchange 2010 and Outlook 2010 & Lync & Sharepoint 2010 you can finally get photos into your global address list (GAL) and see just who’s who on your emails. You can do this on 2 way’s

1. Using Powershell Smile

    A minor schema change

    First stop, the AD Schema. A minor schema modification is required to flip the thumbnailPhoto attribute to make it replicate to the Global Catalog.

    1. If you haven’t registered the Schema MMC snap-in on the server you want to make this change on, go ahead and do so using the following command:

      Regsvr32 schmmgmt.dll

    2. Fire up a MMC console (Start -> Run -> MMC) and add the Schema snap-in

    3. In the Active Directory Schema snap-in, expand the Attributes node, and then locate the thumbnailPhoto attribute. (The Schema snap-in lists attributes by its ldapDisplayName).

    4. In the Properties page, select Replicate this attribute to the Global Catalog, and click OK.

      Figure 1: Modifying the thumbnailPhoto attribute to replicate it to Global Catalog

      Loading pictures into Active Directory

      Now you can start uploading pictures to Active Directory using the Import-RecipientDataProperty cmdlet, as shown in this example:

      Import-RecipientDataProperty -Identity "Ward VIssers" -Picture -FileData ([Byte[]]$(Get-Content -Path "C:\pictures\wardvissers.jpg" -Encoding Byte -ReadCount 0))

      To perform a bulk operation you can use the Get-Mailbox cmdlet with your choice of filter (or use the Get-DistributionGroupMember cmdlet if you want to do this for members of a distribution group), and pipe the mailboxes to a foreach loop. You can also retrieve the user name and path to the thumbnail picture from a CSV/TXT file.

      2. Using a Free tool like Outlook Photos from Exclaimer

      Download the Tool HERE

      The tool is easy to use Smile.

      Prerequisites

      User Preferences

        Domain user – The logged in user’ account is required to be an Active Directory account.

        Domain computer – The computer the user is logged into needs to be joined to an Active
        Directory domain.

        Active Directory permissions – The logged in user must have permission to upload photos to the required Active Directory accounts. (Alternate credentials can be supplied or control of the thumbnailPhoto field can be delegated to the logged in user.)

      Operating System

      • Windows Server 2003 x86 (including all service pack levels).
      • Windows Server 2003 R2 x86 and x64 (including all service pack levels).
      • Windows Server 2008 x86 and x64 (including all service pack levels).
      • Windows Server 2008 R2 x86 and x64 (including all service pack levels).
      • Windows Small Business Server 2003 (including all service pack levels).
      • Windows Small Business Server 2008.
      • Windows Small Business Server 2011.
      • Windows XP x86 and x64 (including all service pack levels).
      • Windows Vista x86 and x64 (including all service pack levels).
      • Windows 7 x86 and x64 (including all service pack levels).

      Other Software

      Microsoft Outlook 2010 x86 and x64

      Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1

      Microsoft Exchange 2010 RTM and above

      Active Directory

      You must be logged into an Active Directory domain to run the application.

      Active Directory Forest
      Domain and Forest functional level of Windows Server 2008 and above.
      For Domain or Forest functional level of Windows Server 2003, the Windows Server 2008 Forest preparation must first be complete.

      Screenshots

        image image

      Issue with MDT 2010 Update 1 and Windows AIK for Windows 7 SP1

      With the release of the Windows AIK for Windows 7 SP1 supplement (see Windows AIK for Windows 7 SP1 Released for details), there is a new version 3.1 version of Windows PE available. If you plan to install this update, you need to be aware of an issue when using this with MDT 2010 Update 1.

      With MDT 2010, Deployment Workbench will look for a “boot.wim” file from one of the imported operating systems that has the same build number as Windows AIK (e.g. “boot.wim” from a Windows 7 RC, build 7100, operating system to go with the Windows AIK for Windows 7 RC). If it finds a match, it will use that WIM instead. Why do we do this? Because the “boot.wim” contains the Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE), a component that isn’t available in Windows AIK.

      So let’s get a little more specific. First, some background details:

      • The build number for the RTM version of Windows 7 is 6.1.7600.16385.
      • The build number for Windows AIK for Windows 7, released with Windows 7 RTM, is also 6.1.7600.16385. This is stored in the registry.
      • The build number for Windows 7 SP1 is 6.1.7601.17514.
      • The build number for the files included in the Windows 7 AIK for Windows 7 SP1 supplement, including Windows PE 3.1 and all the Windows PE feature packs, is also 6.1.7601.17514. But since this supplement is installed by replacing files in the Windows AIK installation directory using XCOPY, the registry isn’t updated so MDT still thinks the Windows 7 RTM version (6.1.7600.16385) of Windows AIK is installed.

      Now, let’s assume that you have Windows 7 RTM x86 installation files present in your deployment share, and you haven’t installed the Windows 7 AIK for Windows 7 SP1 supplement. MDT’s processing when creating a boot image will look like this:

      • Is there a boot.wim available with the same version number as Windows AIK (6.1.7600.16385 = 6.1.7600.13685)? Yes, copy it to a temporary folder and mount it.
      • Inject the required Windows PE optional components from the Windows AIK installation directory into this mounted boot image.
      • Inject the needed MDT scripts.
      • Commit the changes to the WIM file and copy it to the deployment share.

      Now, install the Windows 7 AIK for Windows 7 SP1 supplement and update the deployment share:

      • Is there a boot.wim available with the same version number as Windows AIK (6.1.7600.16385 = 6.1.7600.13685)? Yes (because MDT doesn’t know that Windows AIK has been updated, the registry still says it is version 6.1.7600.16385), copy it to a temporary folder and mount it.
      • Try to Inject the required Windows PE feature packs from the Windows AIK installation directory into this mounted boot image. All fail, because they are for Windows PE 3.1 and won’t work with the Windows PE 3.0 boot image copied from the Windows 7 RTM files.
      • Stop.

      The actual error will look something like this (repeated for each Windows PE feature pack):

      Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
      Version: 6.1.7600.16385
      Image Version: 6.1.7600.16385
      Processing 1 of 1 – Adding package WinPE-HTA-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~x86~~6.1.7601.17514
      Error: 0x800f081e
      The specified package is not applicable to this image.
      The DISM log file can be found at C:\Windows\Logs\DISM\dism.log
      Exit code = –2146498530
      DISM /Add-Package failed for component C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\amd64\WinPE_FPs\winpe-hta.cab, rc = -2146498530.

      Solution:

      Modify the Settings.xml file in the deployment share’s “Control” folder to tell MDT to never use the boot.wim. The settings look like this:

      <Boot.x86.UseBootWim>True</Boot.x86.UseBootWim>
      <Boot.x64.UseBootWim>True</Boot.x64.UseBootWim>

      They should be changed to instead say:

      <Boot.x86.UseBootWim>False</Boot.x86.UseBootWim>
      <Boot.x64.UseBootWim>False</Boot.x64.UseBootWim>

      As a result of this change, MDT will no longer use the boot.wim from the Windows 7 RTM installation files. Instead, it will always use the winpe.wim from Windows AIK. And since the Windows PE feature packs in Windows AIK should always match the winpe.wim in Windows AIK, this will always work.

      Note that this will never be an issue with MDT-generated boot images used with ConfigMgr 2007, as MDT will always use the winpe.wim from Windows AIK when generating these. (ConfigMgr 2007 doesn’t yet support Windows PE 3.1, so don’t install the Windows AIK for Windows 7 SP1 supplement yet if you are using ConfigMgr.)

      More info check: Issue with MDT 2010 Update 1 and Windows AIK for Windows 7 SP1 Supplement

      Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V SP1 Component Architecture Poster

      This poster provides a visual reference for understanding key Hyper-V technologies in Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1. It focuses on architecture, snapshots, live migration, virtual networking, storage, RemoteFX and Dynamic Memory.

      To download the poster click on the picture
      image

      System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 Beta Evaluation

      System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 delivers industry leading fabric managment, virtual machine management and services deployment in private cloud environments. Virtual Machine Manager 2012 offers key new features that include hypervisor creation and management, network management, storage management, private cloud creation, self-service usage and service creation. It features deep investments in server application virtualization, service design and service modeling all of which can be used to efficiently offer an on-premises private cloud.

      Feature Summary

      • Fabric Management
        • Hyper-V and Cluster Lifecycle Management – Deploy Hyper-V to bare metal server, create Hyper-V clusters, orchestrate patching of a Hyper-V Cluster
        • Third Party Virtualization Platforms – Add and Manage Citrix XenServer and VMware ESX Hosts and Clusters
        • Network Management – Manage IP Address Pools, MAC Address Pools and Load Balancers
        • Storage Management – Classify storage, Manage Storage Pools and LUNs
      • Resource Optimization
        • Dynamic Optimization – proactively balance the load of VMs across a cluster
        • Power Optimization – schedule power savings to use the right number of hosts to run your workloads – power the rest off until they are needed
        • PRO – integrate with System Center Operations Manager to respond to application-level performance monitors
      • Cloud Management
        • Abstract server, network and storage resources into private clouds
        • Delegate access to private clouds with control of capacity, capabilities and user quotas
        • Enable self-service usage for application administrator to author, deploy, manage and decommission applications in the private cloud
      • Service Lifecycle Management
        • Define service templates to create sets of connected virtual machines, os images and applica tion packages
        • Compose operating system images and applications during service deployment
        • Scale out the number of virtual machines in a service
        • Service performance and health monitoring integrated with System Center Operations Manager
        • Decouple OS image and application updates through image-based servicing
        • Leverage powerful application virtualization technologies such as Server App-V

      System Requirements

      • Supported Operating Systems:Windows 7 Enterprise;Windows 7 Professional;Windows 7 Ultimate;Windows Server 2008 R2;Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter;Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise
        • Windows Server 2008 R2 (full installation) Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter x64
        • Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, Ultimate x32, x64
        • Windows Remote Management (WinRM) 2.0
        • Windows PowerShell 2.0
        • Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 (SP1)
        • Windows Automated Installation Kit (AIK) for Windows 7
        • SQL Server 2008 or SQL Server 2008 R2 Standard, Enterprise, and Datacenter
        • Windows Deployment Services (WDS) – (Version on Windows Server 2008 R2)
        • Windows Software Update Services (WSUS) 3.0 SP2 64bit

      Download System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 Beta Evaluation HERE

      VMware Workstation 7.1.4

        What’s New

        Support for Windows 7 SP1

        Security Fixes

        • Workstation 7.1.4 addresses a local privilege escalation in the vmrun utility

          VMware vmrun is a utility that is used to perform various tasks on virtual machines. The vmrun utility runs on any platform with VIX libraries installed. It is installed in Workstation by default. In non-standard filesystem configurations, an attacker with the ability to place files into a predefined library path could take execution control of vmrun. This issue is present only in the version of vmrun that runs on Linux

          The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name CVE-2011-1126 to this issue.

            Other Resolved Issues

            • In Workstation 7.1, the default main memory VA cache size (mainMem.vaCacheSize) for 32-bit Windows guests was reduced to accommodate 3D emulation memory requirements. However, the reduced value resulted in performance loss. For 7.1.4, the default main memory VA cache size has been be increased to 1000 MB and performance is improved.

            • Because Workstation failed to identify more than 10 USB host controllers in newer Windows guests, some USB devices did not appear in the Removable Devices menu. Now Workstation shows all USB devices in the Removable Devices menu as long as they are connected to the first identified 16 USB controllers.

            • When using the Capture Movie option, the captured video stopped playing around the 1GB mark if the video file exceeded 1GB. Now you can capture and play video files that are greater than 1GB. 

            • On Windows host systems that have more than 4GB of memory, Workstation sometimes crashed during cryptographic operations, for example, when performing disk encryption.

            • VMware Tools upgrade could be started by a non-administrator user from the VMware Tools Control Panel in a Windows guest. In this release, only administrator users can start VMware Tools upgrade from the VMware Tools Control Panel. To prevent non-administrator users from starting VMware Tools upgrade from a guest by using other applications, set isolation.tools.autoinstall.disable to TRUE in the virtual machine configuration (.vmx) file.

            • When a virtual machine running on a Windows host was used to access an Omron Industrial CP1L Programmable Logic Controller, Workstation generated an unrecoverable error.

            • When using NAT virtual networking on Windows hosts, the traceroute command did not work when used within virtual machines.

            • Workstation crashed with an access violation when a user tried to open the sidebar after closing all tabs in Quick Switch mode. 

            • The VMware Tools HGFS provider DLL caused a deadlock when making calls to the WNetAddConnection2 function from an application such as eEye Rentina in a Windows guest operating system.

            • There was no option to disable guest time sync when a host resumes. Now you can set time.synchronize.resume.host to FALSE in the virtual machine configuration (.vmx) file to disable guest time sync when a host resumes. See VMware Knowledge Base Article 1189 for other time sync options.

            • Setting a hidden attribute on a file in a shared folder from a Windows guest on a Linux host failed with an error. This problem caused applications such as SVN checkout to fail when checking out to shared folders on Linux hosts from Windows guests

            Passed the 70-659 Exam Windows Server 2008 R2, Server Virtualization

            Yesterday I did 70-659 exam Windows Server 2008 R2, Server Virtualization and passed it with 825 points Open-mouthed smile. I’m very pleased with this result.

            VMware vCenter XVP Manager and Converter

              VMware vCenter XVP Manager and Converter provides basic virtualization management capabilities for non-vSphere hypervisor platforms towards enabling centralized visibility and control across heterogeneous virtual infrastructures. It also simplifies and enables easy migrations of virtual machines from non-vSphere virtualization platforms to VMware vSphere.

              Features

              • Management of the following Microsoft Hyper-V platforms:
                • Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008
                • Microsoft Windows Server 2008 (64-bit) with Hyper-V role enabled
                • Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2
                • Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V role enabled
              • Familiar vCenter Server graphical user interface for navigating through and managing non-vSphere inventory
              • Ease of virtual machine migrations from non-vSphere hosts to vSphere inventory
              • Compatible with VMware vCenter Server 4.0 & 4.1
              • Scalable up to management of 50 non-vSphere hosts

            For more detailed information refer to the vCenter XVP Manager and Converter Technology Preview Release Notes and Installation Guide (included in zip file download).

            VIDEO’s

            Installation

            Host Operations

            Convert HyperV VMs to vSphere

            Guest VM Operations inside HyperV

            Download: HERE

            VMware View 4.6 New Features

            VMware released VMWare View 4.6

            Updated Features:
            Security servers can now accommodate PCoIP connections – Security servers now include a PCoIP Secure Gateway component. The PCoIP Secure Gateway connection offers the following advantages:

            • The only remote desktop traffic that can enter the corporate data center is traffic on behalf of a strongly authenticated user.
            • Users can access only the desktop resources that they are authorized to access.
            • No VPN is required, as long as PCoIP is not blocked by any networking component.
            • Security servers with PCoIP support run on Windows Server 2008 R2 and take full advantage of the 64-bit architecture.

            Enhanced USB device compatibility – View 4.6 supports USB redirection for syncing and managing iPhones and iPads with View desktops. This release also includes improvements for using USB scanners, and adds to the list of USB printers that you can use with thin clients. For more information, see the list of View Client resolved issues.

            Keyboard mapping improvements – Many keyboard-related issues have been fixed. For more information, see the list of View Client resolved issues.

            New timeout setting for SSO users – With the single-sign-on (SSO) feature, after users authenticate to View Connection Server, they are automatically logged in to their View desktop operating systems. This new timeout setting allows administrators to limit the number of minutes that the SSO feature is valid for.
            For example, if an administrator sets the time limit to 10 minutes, then 10 minutes after the user authenticates to View Connection Server, the automatic login ability expires. If the user then walks away from the desktop and it becomes inactive, when the user returns, the user is prompted for login credentials. For more information, see the VMware View Administration documentation.

            VMware View 4.6 includes more than 160 bug fixes – For descriptions of selected resolved issues, see Resolved Issues.

            Support for Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 operating systems (Not Experimental of RC wrong on the VMware site)

            VDI Documentation
            VMware View 4.6 Release Notes
            VMware View Architecture Planning
            VMware View Administration
            VMware View Installation
            VMware View Upgrades
            VMware View Integration
            View4_Marketecture_05

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