Please wait…. (for more information?)

I had a mail from one of the people in a Windows 7 class a couple of weeks ago asking a simple question really – How do I get Windows 7 to show more information when deploying applications with Group Policy?

In the good old days of Windows XP if you deployed an application with Group Policy then when it was being installed you got feedback from Windows about what it was doing. Such as “Installing Office 2007” – the same operation in Windows 7 shows “Please wait..” but doesn’t tell you what it is waiting for. If you are deploying multiple apps then you really have no way of what is going on.

Turns out there is a group policy setting that has been around for a while but has the opposite default in Windows 7 (normal status messages) than it does in Windows XP (verbose status messages).

So the answer is to head to Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\System then look for the setting "Verbose vs normal status messages" – enable this setting then it overwrites the default of Normal status messages and you then get all the messages you are missing.

Enjoy!

Kyle

WindowsPCGuy on Talking about Windows

A little while ago I recorded an “interview” for the Talking about Windows website. It has now made an appearance on the site.

I have a general discussion about some of the tools that are available for us as IT Pros to be able to deploy Windows. If you have been to one of my presentations you probably have heard about them already and if you have read posts on here then you would know about them!

Cheers

Kyle

Deployment from A to Z

If you are looking for a really good guide on deploying Windows 7 – then here it is – Deploying Windows 7 from A to Z.

Written by Jeremy Chapman it offers some good high level steps for IT Pros like us to start the process of enterprise deployments. Starting with Windows XP and then moving to Windows 7.

Sounds too good to be true? well it is isn’t and it is free.

Cheers

Kyle

I woke up this morning to some exciting news!

The Microsoft Assessment and Planning toolkit guys have been at it again. A new Solution Accelorator has been released.

The Proof of Concept Jumpstart kit – this looks really handy.

From the website:

This self-contained, self-service kit will help you complete a Proof-of -Concept (PoC) at your organization, allowing you to quickly evaluate the new Microsoft desktop technologies, including Windows 7, Office 2010 Pro Plus, Internet Explorer 8, and Application Virtualization with Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack technology App-V. It will also familiarize you with some of the important deployment tools provided by Microsoft to assist with your broader deployment efforts. This PoC is not meant to be comprehensive training mechanism but rather an introductory set of modules to familiarize you with tools and technologies.

• Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition – A platform that helps IT Professionals increase the flexibility and reliability of their server infrastructure.

• Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit (MAP) – A tool to assess your hardware readiness for Windows 7 and Office 2010.

• Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) – A tool to assess your software readiness for Windows 7 and Office 2010.

• Microsoft Office Migration and Planning Manager (OMPM) – A tool to assess and upgrade Office versions and files.

• Microsoft Deployment Toolkit – A tool to create, configure, and deploy custom images, applications, and components.

• Windows 7 Enterprise 90-day Trial image – This evaluation edition forms the base image for deployment on client computers.

• Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 – This system is the best productivity experience across the PC, Phone, and Web.

• Office 2010 with Application Virtualization – This system is deployed virtually to streamline and centralize operations.

• Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition – This database system is used to store application compatibility and Microsoft Office assessment data for the ACT and OMPM tools.

• Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Express Edition – This database system is used to store image and task sequence data for MDT Deployment Workbench.

• Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Evaluation Edition – This database system is used to store hardware assessment data for the MAP tool.

The PoC Jumpstart is intended to show you that an upgrade to new Microsoft Optimize Desktop technologies can be seamless, feasible, easy and cost-effective. The PoC Jumpstart will also shed light on the deployment process (tools and technologies) and give your organization confidence for undertaking a broader deployment motion. After completion of the PoC, you should have a test environment setup that will allow you to evaluate the various features of the Microsoft Optimized Desktop and help you make informed decisions to meet your business needs.

So – go get it.. from here

It is the simple things..

Thanks to Gordo for this tip.. simple but easy..

If you want to open up the Network Configurations control panel in Windows 7 or Windows 2008 R2 – you could navigate your way through the menus, or even type in the ncpa.cpl into the start search.

Or you could just type IP in Start Search – very nice..

Cheers

Kyle

Missing the switch user option?

So.. an odd thing that came up today – I had 2 people ask me about the same basic issue – from opposite sides of the planet.

As it turned out – I suspect the issue looked the same but was a different problem – so let me tell about the problem and then the possible solutions to try.

If you have a machine with Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 and you are greeted with a login screen that only gives you one user to log in with – ie you are missing the switch user option.

There are a couple of things to have a look at.

1. Check that you have users in the Users group on the local machine – this obviously is mainly if you are using a machine with local logins – but if the Users directory is empty then you cannot log in as a user – apart from the nominated local administrator account. In this particular case the issue was not only the above but that someone had added the user accounts to have remote access – so it meant that users could connect remotely using RDP – but not locally – in a word.. awesome.

2. If the above is not your case then you might have an issue with account corruption – so to fix this a couple of options exist – boot off the Windows installation disk and take the recovery option – and try and system repair – or use if you have access to it – then try the Diagnostics and Repair toolkit in the Microsoft Desktop Optimisation Pack (MDOP).

So there you go – 2 problems that looked the same – but with different solutions.. and that my friends is why I love IT..

Cheers

Kyle

ipconfig /allcompartments

A short post on the MCT newsgroup led me on a bit of a search tonight … what is a compartment? Vague memories of reading about this when Vista and Server 2008 was released sent me searching the Net. The Windows 2008 Reviewers Guide has a good paragraph (on page 102):

“Routing Compartments

To prevent unwanted forwarding of traffic between interfaces for VPN configurations, the Next-Generation TCP/IP stack supports routing compartments. A routing compartment is the combination of a set of interfaces with a login session that has its own IP routing tables. A computer can have multiple routing compartments that are isolated from each other. Each interface can only belong to a single compartment.

For example, when a user initiates a VPN connection across the Internet with the TCP/IP implementation in Windows XP, the user’s computer has partial connectivity to both the Internet and a private intranet by manipulating entries in the IPv4 routing table. In some situations, it is possible for traffic from the Internet to be forwarded across the VPN connection to the private intranet. For VPN clients that support routing compartments, the Next-Generation TCP/IP stack isolates the Internet connectivity from the private intranet connectivity with separate IP routing tables.”

So, another tool to use when troubleshooting VPN connections, in Vista and above, the command ipconfig /allcompartments /all will show the details of the different routes packets can take to their destination. Great security feature, preventing rogue traffic from your Internet connection possibly getting inside your Corporate LAN.

targets down, patch out.

Wayne

Locale codes for Windows Deployment

Thanks to DreamensioN for pointing this out..

If you are looking to deploy Windows using an unattended installation file, and you want to set the locale to en-AU – there are some incorrect entries on the MS websites for the codes to be used for en_au in the unattend files..

Listed as English_Australia here…

http://www.microsoft.com/globaldev/reference/win2k/setup/lcid.mspx

Listed as English_Australia here…

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/goglobal/bb895996.aspx

In both locations Australia is listed as 0c09:00000409 but it should be 0c09:00000C09 (so the 409 at the end is incorrect – that is the correct entry for US not AU)

Cheers

Kyle

Tweakui for Windows 7

G’day all,

One of the great little utilities that I used for Windows XP has surfaced for Windows 7. It’s not made by Microsoft – the original tweakui was a “Power Toy” and available as a download from Microsoft. This one is from http://www.thewindowsclub.com/ultimate-windows-tweaker-v2-a-tweak-ui-for-windows-7-vista and works the same way: it makes changes to the registery for you. I used it the remove the ugly shortcut arrow on the desktop and to remove the word “shortcut” itself. Give it a try.

targets down, patch out.

Wayne

Sharing connections?

I came across a handy little tool the other day – for sharing out network connections wirelessly. Basically this takes your wifi card and makes it an access point – not an ad-hoc point – but a full access point. It uses the new virtual network capability of Win7 and Win2008 R2.

So it means that you can happily share your network connections via your wireless card – with full WPA2 security. I right now have my wireless data card shared via my built in wifi card.

Works with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 – and works with a bunch of wireless cards.

Check out Connectify here

Cheers

Kyle