Archives 2008

Power Pack 1 RC for Public! (Home Server)

Looks like it is upgrade time for Windows Home Server enthusiasts! (With appropriate backup ofcourse!)

The Windows Home Server team is proud to announce the availability of a Power Pack 1 Release Candidate for public beta testing. The update package can now be downloaded from https://connect.microsoft.com/windowshomeserver in the downloads section.

Please be sure to review the release documentation contained within the download package for Power Pack 1.
Please also be sure to check out the Windows Home Server forums for important support information, an up to date list of known issues and some great test ideas. They can be found at the link below.
http://forums.microsoft.com/windowshomeserver/default.aspx?siteid=50

Below is a set of instructions to prepare a home server for testing the beta of Power Pack 1:

  • Ensure you have a complete backup of all of your files. While internal testing so far indicates that we have fixed the data corruption bug in the beta release, the whole point of a beta test is to validate internal testing. This means there is a risk that our internal tests have not detected all issues. As a beta tester it is your responsibility to ensure that your data is backed up and protected before you install the beta.
  • If you are setting up a new home server to run the beta, download and install the “Windows Home Server RTM Evaluation Edition” from Microsoft Connect.
  • Ensure that Windows Updates are enabled for your home server. Your home server must have all the latest updates from Windows Update installed before you install the beta Power Pack 1 update package.
  • To turn on automatic updates:
  • Go to the Windows Home Server Console > Settings > General page.
  • Click On (recommended) in the Windows Update section.
  • Click Update Now to get the latest updates immediately
  • Please turn on the Customer Experience Improvement for your home server. The information provided to the team through this program is invaluable in helping us understand how we are doing against our testing goals.

  • To turn on Customer Experience Improvement:
  • Go to the Windows Home Server Console > Settings > General page.
  • If you agree to opt-in to this program, ensure the Help make Windows Home Server better in the Customer Experience Improvement section is enabled.
  • Please ensure that you have a backup of all of your files and data. If your data set is large (the larger the better for testing purposes) this will take a while, so you might want to get started now!
    The Windows Home Server team

    E-mail: whsbeta@microsoft.com

    FreElearning! (Microsoft Free Voucher for training) Prep for 71-652!

    So, you’re saying “Man, I don’t want to take a test for something I’m not prepared for… I don’t care that it is free!?” After you get past that little story, wait, a free beta exam AND a free voucher for Microsoft E-Learning? Where do I sign up!??!

    Just visit this site: Get your skills up with Official Microsoft E-Learning!
    This offer is good until June 30th, so act fast!

    And after acting (fast) take another action in your benefit and go sign up for the:
    Hyper-V E-Learning training!

    At this point, you’ll be on the way to success in preparing yourself in ways you otherwise didn’t even think possible! After which point you’ll be on the road to success to becoming an MCTS in Microsoft Hyper-V Virtualization!

    Seriously, where do I find these obscure drivers?

    This pains all of us.
    Which are the right drivers to use, download and install?

    Constant complaints and gripes about what driver should we load, and what insane device is screaming with a yellow exclamation point – wanting to be installed!

    Our good friends at Microsoft have (had) the answer!

    The Microsoft Update Catalog!

    Okay, so I’m here, and I have a search bar… So.. what do I fill in there?

    This is where Device Manager comes into play. – Find yourself a driver or object which is suspect or in general you want to check out. – Wireless Drivers are always a challenge..

    What you’ll want to do, is find the Hardware Id’s – this is where the cake is at!

    At this point, take advantage of the shortest field available, and go as far as the first & – Such as:
    PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_4227

    After searching, you’ll find it will return a large number of results. (21 results)

    If you’re looking for a bit more granularity, try one of the slightly longer entries there.

    By searching for PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_4227&SUBSYS_10108086 now, we’re able to 11 results.

    This can be very beneficial if you’re trying to do things such as – Run Windows Vista 64bit, use Windows Server 2008 as a workstation, and a number of things. This will further enable you to take advantage of the hardware that may be present without having to rely upon the OEM hardware manufacturers to provide you media they tend to never get around to.

    Am I ready for Hyper-V? (CPU Doubt)

    So, this is often a debated question – Is my machine capable of doing Hyper-V?

    Well, let the doubt be cast to the wayside a bit.

    AMD Processor Utility to Check compatibility
    Intel Checker (by GRC) to check compatibility
    As seen in this screen shot as well

    This alone will not dictate whether you can support Hyper-V as a lot of it falls upon your BIOS and whether the features exist there to enable. However, just to get past that initial conversation of “Is my processor supported” we have the following link and table.

    Intel Core 2 Duo Processor Specification

    As you can likely tell, all things being equal – All things are NOT equal!

    From a validation perspective, all of the rules which apply to Microsoft’s Hyper-V should also apply to Citrix XenServer.

    More on this later…

    71-652 Hyper-V Beta Exam (FAQ of sorts) Promo Code of 652HV ?!

    So, for those interested in the Microsoft Hyper-V Virtualization Exam (71-652) which will eventually become (70-652). Here are some answers to some general questions I’ve been seeing.

    Q: What do you mean I have to pay $125.00 for this exam?

    A: So long as the voucher still has entries open, it is FREE!!! (For a period there, the voucher wasn’t working but it appears to be working again) – And that Promotional Code is 652HV

    Q: How do I sign up for this exam?

    A: If you do not have a Prometric account, you need to go to www.prometric.com and sign up! Register, etc!

    Q: How do I prepare or study for this exam? I don’t know anything about Hyper-V?!

    A: This is one of the best questions out there. For those of you who have experience with Microsoft Virtual Server 2005, that part of the exam is taken care of. For those of you with Storage experience, that part is also taken care of. But the key differentiator is actually working with and playing with Hyper-V and the interfaces, building Virtual machines, etc!
    There are a number of options available to you.

    Online Training (E-Learning for a price $39.99 it looks like)
    https://www.microsoftelearning.com/eLearning/courseDetail.aspx?courseId=84700
    https://www.microsoftelearning.com/eLearning/courseDetail.aspx?courseId=92459

    Read blogs about Hyper-V and Virtualization

    Virtual PC guy’s Blog
    Microsoft Virtualization Team’s Blog
    Virtual Varia
    John Howard – Hyper-V Team Lead
    Mike’s Virtual Blog!
    This blog as I document some of the details and the crazy In’s and Out’s in my spare time

    And anywhere else as applicable.

    So, I encourage you to sign up, give it a try, get out there and test! You’ll definitely have a better angle on what the future holds if you see what the exam is like, and see if this is something you want to pursue!