Windows 7 Tidbits

I found some interesting Windows 7 things online recently and wanted to share.

For those of you wanting to administer servers using a Windows 7 workstation, here is the list of tools currently available in RSAT for Windows 7. The chart lists out the differences between managing Windows 2003 and Windows 2008.

Check out the agenda for the Windows 7 Online Summit being held on October 7th. I’m hoping I’ll be able to keep people from interrupting me at work for a few hours that day.

Finally, if you haven’t had a chance to demo Windows 7 and you aren’t a TechNet/MSDN subscriber or a volume license customer, the Enterprise version is now available as a 90-day trial, from the TechNet Springboard.

Mark Your Calendar

Mark your calenders, Microsoft has two upcoming Windows 7 and Windows 2008 R2 events planned in San Francisco.
TechNet Presents: Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 – September 9th.
Topics include: Migrating Windows XP to Windows 7, Securing Windows 7 in a Windows Server 2008 R2 Environment, and New Features in Windows Server 2008 R2 Directory Services
The New Efficiency – Windows 7/Server 2008 R2/Exchange Server 2010 Launch – October 20th.
Several lectures in 3 different tracks, include topics such as: Introducing Windows 7 and the Windows Optimized Desktop, Windows Server 2008 R2 Virtualization Technologies– Saving IT Costs, and Exchange 2010 Archiving and Retention.
Other dates and cities are available as well. See you there!

XP Mode in Action

Today I arrived at the office to find a new workstation ready for me to set up with our volume licensed version of Windows 7. (Kudos to my collegue who makes my hardware wishes come true.) My goal is to replace my primary XP workstation, so I decided to start with our ImageRight client software, since I use/administer that daily and it’s fast become one of our key enterprise applications.

I remembered that I was able to install ImageRight successfully on Windows Vista once before, so I expected success with Windows 7. However, my new box is 64-bit and the ImageRight installer program was not recognizing the 64-bit version of .NET Framework 2.0. I don’t know if this is just an issue with the installer prerequisite check or if the program just won’t run at all on 64-bit, but I guess I’ll save that question for the ImageRight conference at the end of the month.

So I opted to install XP Mode and setup the software there. The ImageRight installation was successful on the XP VM and I was happy to see the program begin to launch. However, it stalled out due to a logon failure. We use the ImageRight Active Directory integration to take advantage of single sign-on, but the XP Mode VM wasn’t part of our corporate domain and automatically logged on as “XPMUser” when launched. Thus, ImageRight could get past the logon screen.

I loaded the desktop of the VM and joined it to our domain. Then I tweaked the registry settings for the automatic logon enough that it now prompts me for my domain credentials. The ImageRight software launched properly, so for the sake of today’s goals I’m happy with having to re-enter my credentials when the VM launches for the first time.

I’d like to refine the authentication issue further and might take a closer look into MED-V, especially if we start planning to roll out Windows 7 in the near future on 64-bit boxes and need a more managed solution. If we are sticking with our existing 32-bit hardware, it’s less likely that we’ll need XP Mode to support this particular application, but we have other legacy application that may need similar handling.

Until then, I’ve got what I need from XP Mode.

Where to Get Started with XP Mode for Windows 7

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Thinking about checking out XP Mode for Windows 7? The one-stop shop to get you started is at the Microsoft product area for Virtual PC. Don’t forget to confirm that your PC can run XP mode. Turns out my “lab” desktop machine at the office doesn’t cut it, so I’m going to have see if we have something newer available.

My office runs a variety legacy and homegrown applications that currently work on XP, so the ability to use XP Mode might impact how soon we can consider upgrading to Windows 7.

Windows 7 Pre-Order Offer

With the Windows 7 release date scheduled for October 22, now is the time to take advantage of Microsoft’s offer to save at least half off your upgrade from Vista or XP. Check out the details!

Also, if you are still running the Beta version of Windows 7 or want to try out Windows 7 RC for the first time, the last day to download the RC is August 15th.

Windows 7 RC on my Samsung NC10

Finally got around to installing Windows 7 on my Samsung NC10 netbook – not that I haven’t been dying to since TechEd in Los Angeles, I just hadn’t the time until the other night. It probably helped that PacITPros was having a Windows 7 Loadfest meeting and I wanted to have it ready to go.

The install was pretty quick and although I had backed up all my personal files, it was great that everything that was on XP was convienently backed up to the “windows.old” folder. (It made reinstalling iTunes extra fast since I didn’t have to reload my music from backup DVDs.)

I love the way it looks and it didn’t have any trouble finding drivers for all the basics – wireless network card, bluetooth mouse, built-in video. Had to use some Vista drivers from the manufacturer for some of the Samsung specific things, like the special function keys, battery manager, etc. Found a great blog article by Ade Miller about installing Window 7 on the Samsung, which was really helpful in the driver search.

The biggest issue so far has been with the free version of AVG anti-virus, which was severely slowing down the boot. I’m trying out the free version of Avaste and that seems to be working well so far. Now I need actually start using it do my regular work.