Archive for category Windows Infrastructure
Configure IP address in Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE)
Posted by Victor Tong in Windows Infrastructure on December 20th, 2012
In W2K8 R2 WinRE, when I used netsh to configure IP address to the NIC, it said “invalid interface name” all the time.
After googling, I found out that a command is needed before setting IP address.
That command is “wpeinit”.
Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 Host backup (wbadmin)
Posted by Victor Tong in Hyper-V / Virtual Server, Windows Infrastructure on May 12th, 2011
Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 Host backup (wbadmin)
After using Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 (Free edition), I have a question about how to backup the Host.
I did research on Internet, most people is talking about using Windows Server Backup to do Host backup. Their instruction is based on Windows Server 2008 GUI.
Then, I tried to use the general server core approach to add Windows Server Backup to Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 to see if it works or not.
And the testing result is positive.
Steps for adding Windows Server Backup in Hyper-V Server 2008 R2
Step 1: Check if Windows Server Backup is installed by using the following command
oclist
Step 2: Use the following command to add feature
ocsetup WindowsServerBackup
Step 3: Check again to see if Windows Server Backup is installed
oclist
Step 4: Use the following command to do system backup with system state
wbadmin start -backuptarget:p: -allcritical -systemstate
Step 5: Backup completed
Failed to start VM in my i7-2600K Hyper-V server 2008 R2
Posted by Victor Tong in Hyper-V / Virtual Server, Windows Infrastructure on May 5th, 2011
MS Hyper-V R2 SP1 (workgroup), Virtual Machine failed to change state
Backgroud:
1. Download Hyper-V R2 SP1 from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/dd776191.aspx
2. This server is running in workgroup mode
3. Disable firewall for all profiles
4. Enable all remote access through sconfig
5. Connect through Vista and Win7 in same workgroup with using Administrator account (Same administrator’s password on all machines)
6. hosts file modifed with adding hyper-v server name and IP
7. Windows firewall is disabled on all clients and server.
8. HRremote run to configure anonymous DCOM on client.
9. Remote Management can access to Hyper-V server and create Virtual Machine.
Problem:
When I start Virtual Machine. It has the error message “XXXXX failed to change state”.
I tried to simulate this issue with W2K8 R2 to the same machine. But this issue does not appear in W2K8 R2. I faced this problem in MS Hyper-V R2 SP1 only.
I re-installed 3 times and this issue can be reproduced in my machine.
I tried W2K8 R2 Standard (Full and Server Core) without problem. I can use my Vista to manage it succesfully.
I checked in event viewer. It has an event 3040.
Log Name: Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-Worker-Admin
Source: Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-Worker
Date: 5/4/2011 9:27:08 AM
Event ID: 3040
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords:
User: NETWORK SERVICE
Computer: hyperv
Description:
‘W2K8_R2_Trial’ could not initialize. (Virtual machine ID CEF2E5E4-97A1-4393-9B5D-24805C81BE09)
Event Xml:
< Event xmlns=”http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event“>
<System>
<Provider Name=”Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-Worker” Guid=”{51DDFA29-D5C8-4803-BE4B-2ECB715570FE}” />
<EventID>3040</EventID>
<Version>0</Version>
<Level>2</Level>
<Task>0</Task>
<Opcode>0</Opcode>
<Keywords>0×8000000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime=”2011-05-04T01:27:08.857Z” />
<EventRecordID>14</EventRecordID>
<Correlation />
<Execution ProcessID=”808″ ThreadID=”2224″ />
<Channel>Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-Worker-Admin</Channel>
<Computer>hyperv</Computer>
<Security UserID=”S-1-5-20″ />
</System>
<UserData>
<VmInitialize xmlns:auto-ns2=”http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events” xmlns=”http://www.microsoft.com/Windows/Virtualization/Events“>
<VmName>W2K8_R2_Trial</VmName>
<VmId>CEF2E5E4-97A1-4393-9B5D-24805C81BE09</VmId>
</VmInitialize>
</UserData>
< /Event>
Solution:
Finally, I find out a hotfix which is related to this issue.
KB2517374: “You cannot start virtual machines on a computer that is running Windows Server 2008 R2 and on which a CPU is installed that supports the AVX feature”
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2517374
After applying this Hotfix, I can start the Virtual Machine.
Total views: 27,549 viewsMicrosoft Security Essentials (MS free antivirus software)
Posted by Victor Tong in Windows Infrastructure on March 25th, 2010
Just received e-letter from MS and it mentioned that MS has free AntiVirus software for Vista and Win7.
This software is called Microsoft Security Essentials.
I just installed. It looks good.
Reference:
Total views: 20,758 viewsBackup Personal Certificate Store
Posted by Victor Tong in Windows Infrastructure on January 27th, 2010
Platform: Windows XP
Personal Certificate Store is stored in user profile instead of registry.
Location:
%userprofile%\Application Data\Microsoft\SystemCertificates\My\Certificates
Reference:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc787544(WS.10).aspx
Total views: 53,175 viewsCertutil.exe – Check Personal Certificate Store
Posted by Victor Tong in Windows Infrastructure on January 27th, 2010
Certutil.exe can be found in Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2003 Administration Pack.
Following command and parameters can let you to query certificates stored in Personal Certificate Store.
That is very useful if you want to verify if user certificate deployed to user computer or not.
certutil -store -user My
Other Certificate Store reference information:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc787544(WS.10).aspx
Reviews: Windows 7 – Virtual PC and WinXP Mode Comments
Posted by Victor Tong in Product Review, Windows Infrastructure on January 16th, 2010
Just have time to re-install my Vista box to Windows 7.
My initial planning is using Windows 7 Virtual PC for my PoC Lab testing.
After I have installed Win7 and configured the Virtual PC. I found that it is only support Win32 Virtual Machine.
I am very disappeared to it.
And the so-called killer feature “WinXP Mode”. My comment is “that is a marketing word”.
It is a monster for pushing customer moving to Win7.
The cost is very high to maintain 2 OSs for every users.
Overall comments:
1. The interface of Virtual PC for Windows 7 is not good
2. It does not support 64bit platform OS.
3. Monster “WinXP mode” sound attractive. But actually, it is quite difficult to maintain it.
Read text file for bulk folders creation
Posted by Victor Tong in Windows Infrastructure on September 27th, 2009
Text file name:
folders.txt : Content
folder_a folder_b folder_c
CreateFolders.bat
FOR /F "tokens=1 delims=" %%i IN (folders.txt) DO ( md %%1 ) pause
CreateFolders.bat will read file folders.txt and create folder_a,folder_b and folder_c for you.
Total views: 3,995 viewsDeploy Trusted Root CA Certificate (command line)
Posted by Victor Tong in Windows Infrastructure on September 20th, 2009
In Windows XP, local computer certificates are stored in registry
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SystemCertificates\
Trusted Root CA certificates
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SystemCertificates\Root\
Intermediate CA certificates
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SystemCertificates\CA\
Before install trusted Root CA certificate

Root CA cert registry
After install Root CA certificate, one more entry created (D0836D774C16xxxxxx..)

Root CA cert registry 02
For the Root CA certificate deployment, you can export this registry and import this registry to target deployment machine by using the following command with local administrator right.
Command line deployment example:
regedit /s root_cert.reg
IE8 – Control Panel Lockdown
Posted by Victor Tong in Windows Infrastructure on August 13th, 2009
Some people is asking how to lock down IE8 Internet Option settings.
You can consider the following way to lock it down at computer level.
1. Open regedit.exe
2. Add the following registry key
\Internet Explorer\Control Panel
3. Add the following DWORD to lock down “Advanced” Tab and “Programs” Tab.
And set its value to “1″.
4. Close and re-open IE8 Internet Option.
Available Options
AdvancedTab = Advanced tab
ConnectionsTab = Connections tab
ContentTab = Content tab
GeneralTab = General tab
ProgramsTab = Programs tab
SecurityTab = Security tab
Windows 2008: NewSID
Posted by Victor Tong in Windows Infrastructure on July 25th, 2009
Recently, I am preparing my Exchange 10 testing lab.
I tried to use NewSID.exe for prepare W2K8 OS SID.
Environment:
OS: W2K8
SP: Service Pack 1
Arch: x64
Screens
Enter Computer name if you want to rename it.
Completed
Total views: 10,251 viewsWindows Server 2008 x64 installation Screens
Posted by Victor Tong in Enterprise Document Library, Exchange Server, Windows Infrastructure on July 20th, 2009
It is a time for me to test Exchange 2010.
Following pdf contains some Windows Server 2008 x64 installation Screens for my E14 Beta testing.
Download PDF file:
Windows Server 2008 installation
MS will not provide hardcopy certificate anymore
Posted by Victor Tong in Active Directory, Exchange Server, Hyper-V / Virtual Server, Uncategorized, Windows Infrastructure on July 17th, 2009
Today, I receied July 2009 MCP Flash. It has big news. MS will not provide hardcopy certificate by default. If you need hardcopy, please pay $$$.
In my career, I took a lot of MS exam and got a lot of MS certificates. If they need me to pay extra $$ for my certificate, I will consider to end my MS certificate plan.
If you are not agree to MS new certificate arrangement, please goto the following url to express your angry and complain.
I left my comment to this url too.
Actually, I paid a lot of effort to take different MS exam from NT4 to Windows 2008. If exam will not provide paper printout certificate any more, I consider to discontinue my MS cert path in coming future. And in my peer group, I am one of the driver to encourage my peers to take MS exam. In coming, I will discourage my peers to take MS exam and technology. I am strongly disappointed to this arrangement.
I would like to propose the following suggestion for MS if they are really consider to our voice.
1. establish a plan for existing holder to choose to maintain the existing plan. They can order paper certificate w/o paying extra shipping and handling charge
2. Discount the exam fee (Not a short period to CHEAT user), deduct whole shipping and handling fee.
3. Send me an official email and tell me that it is MS new arrangement.
And please note it in the email “if you don’t accept it please do not use MS product”.
I am vvvvvery angry w/ this new arrangement.
I just planned my OCS and W2K8 virtualization in coming months. I will cut it. And I won’t suggest OCS as Enterprise Voice and IM solution to my customer. I will not suggest Hyper-V as Virtualization platform.
I will not take Win7 exam for driving new Desktop deployment.
Angry Loyal MS user
Victor Tong
http://www.0101news.com/?page_id=165
How to check disk usage in Windows command prompt?
Posted by Victor Tong in Windows Infrastructure on July 4th, 2009
Windows 7 System Requirement
Posted by Victor Tong in Windows Infrastructure on July 1st, 2009
After reading Windows 7 System Requirement,I puzzle that why memory requirement for x86 and x64 is different.
Basically, my understanding is that x64 can locate more memory address space than x86 architecture.
I don’t know why memory requirement for x64 Windows 7 is higher than x86?? 1GB vs 2GB ?? 50% more ???
x64 needs more RAM???? I wonder if there is any MS product team guy can explain it more. It is interesting that why x64 needs more memory for running Windows 7.
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