Are alle necessary updates in place

When you are setting up servers and installing Server software you will often discover that you are missing certain KB updates that are requirements for the software. Often will this be related to that server are patch from a strict security related point of view, so new "features", will not be pushed out by SCCM or other similar tools. Sadly with this strategy important optimization and stability upgrades as well as necessary updates for application installation are missing.

When was Windows started?

How long have the Server of PC been running? Sometimes you need to figure when the OS was started. As always there are different was of getting this information. Some ways are quick and easy when you are sitting with the OS GUI in front of you, but other times you might want to use it in a script or get it from the command line. Here are a selection of methods I use.

GUI

You can checkout network adapter duration, but you will easier find the "Task Manager - Performance - Up Time"

When was Windows installed?

For different reason, you might want to know when Windows installed.

Luckily you can find this information other places then checking out the date on certain system files that was created/modified and stamped at the same time as when you installed Windows. The file date stamp method does not in calculate that files change this information during upgrades etc. during the lifecycle of the installation 

In registry, you have a Key to help you with this information.

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\InstallDate

The Bluescreen Brothers - Device storage investigation deep-dive

"The Bluescreen Brothers" are now online

And to celebrate this we have just published a video on Channel9

How to get and use the Windows key from UEFI/BIOS

I found myself in the situation that I needed to get the Windows key out from the ACPI in the UEFI bios and preferable get to use it in a task sequence in MDT.

There are different ways of doing this, but I wanted to do this with little code and easy to understand.

There is a nice tool created to get the key on github, created by Christian Korneck, called get_win81key. This tool gives you the key in plane text. You can get it

HERE: https://github.com/christian-korneck/get_win8key

If I were supposed to do this manually, I now would just take that key and type it in with slmgr command or in the GUI. But I want to do this within a task in MDT.

Testing a couple of solutions without using the get_win8key with my great scripting guru colleague Håvard ( www.grondal.me) and figuring out that it cannot be done with default powershell stuff, it needs more code. Therefore, we quickly figured out that some use of the “get_win8key” files is the easiest way, but we need a way of setting the output from the file into a variable that we can use with the slmgr command.

Testing out some different solutions we ended up in this nice little line:

for /F "delims=" %%a in ('%~dp0get_win8key.exe') do set key=%%a

The get_win8key.exe files need to be located in the same folder as the cmd files that we want to run the script. We now have a variable with the result from the get_win8key

Next thing is that we want to insert that key into Windows with the “slmgr” and active it. We also want this to be done quiet. The quiet part are done with the parameter //B in cscript. We then need 2 lines of slmgr :

cscript //B %windir%\system32\slmgr.vbs /ipk %key%

cscript //B %windir%\system32\slmgr.vbs /ato

Pasting the code together it will look like this:

The next step is to copy both the get_win8key.exe and a cmd file with the script into the script folder at out MDT deployment share. I have simply called the script file “Get-Winkey.cmd”

I then need to modify the task sequence that I use to install Windows Pro (Remember that you need to have a BIOS with the key for this to work, and if you are deploying anything else then a version matching the version of the key in BIOS it will fail. Try doing it manually if you are unsure)

Check if your script are running in administrator context

Doing system changes via a script files will often require that you run it in the context of administrator.

Doing this with script I run myself is easy enough, I know that if it fails it is because I forgot to use "Run as administrator" when I started it (or did a poor job creating the script).
However when creating scripts that other people will run it will be a good idea to add a check in the script and give feedback to the person running it.

Microsoft jumps over the number 9, Windows 10 Technical Preview are here

Windows 10 can now be downloaded from MSDN or from http://preview.windows.com/ if you dont have MSDN access.

 

 

Preview site don't have the enterprise version, but it should soon be ready for download from the Technet evaluation center HERE.

MSDN contains Windows 10 Enterprise and the Windows Server preview too. Server will be available later and also as a Azure VM :-)

 And the version number are adding up to 10 (6+4)

 

:-)

More info in Technet can be found here HERE

DEP causes old applcation or modules to crash

Every now and then, you have to run older software that do not comply to newer ways of doing stuff. One of the problem you might run into is the “Data Execution Prevention” feature in short just called DEP.

To learn more about the DEP feature you can go here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/875352
it is an old article for Windows XP and Server 2003, but still explains it right.

The way that the software behaves are often that it does not start and gives you a “Software” has stopped working error message. However, in some cases the software works until you call up features that crashes with DEP. This is what happened to me to day.

Unidentified network problems

One of the most annoying thing is sitting with a problem you know that you have solved before but you do not remember the solution too anymore. That is just what I now have spent the last 2 hours doing.

I am sitting and testing out Windows Server 2012 R2 and DirectAccess feature, and suddenly my domain controller are not reachable from any other computers on the network. I only have one domain controller since I am using Microsoft Lab guide setup, so this means nothing works. All other server and computer can communicate. Some testing shows me that I can ping the server name but with IPv6 address only, no response on IPv4. Checking out the network settings shows that the «Network Location Awareness» service reports the network on the domain controller as an «unidentified network» and automatically sets it up with a «Public network» profile.

 

KMS Client Setup Keys to use during deployment

If you are using KMS server or stuff like creating templates without using you licens key you can use KMS setup keys. This keys cannot be activated but works for deployment scenarios where you have to type in a key under installation. For instance Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2 ask for a key if deploy With MDT, then you can use the keys.

Using the summer to get smarter

If you do not want to use the summer to be sunburned or eaten by mosquitos, and in stead doing some brain sit-ups you can visit Microsoft’s “Join The Tech Elite” webpage.

 

Updating your WIM file with DISM

If you want to patch up your Windows image file (wim file) with the newest patches you can use the DISM commando. The DISM commando are available in Windows 8 as default or as a part of the WAIK or ADK download from Microsoft.

TechED session getting closer and some recommandations

Soon I will leave for TechED and New Orleans, looking forward to both TechED and the city, never been in New Orleans before and always wanted to go. I am sure it will be amazing.

 

My session is getting ready and I can promise a lot of demonstrations, for now it looks like it will be 9.

Seeing is believing :-)

 



Showing saved credentials

Sometime you just get frustrated, you have forgotten a password and you know it is saved on of your computers. However, you need to use it from another device or maybe use it with a mail client program instead of webmail. In many cases, you can just ask for a password reset, but if you have changed email since you first time create a user on that service it will not work, or it can be a service without the possibility to reset.

I had the experience myself just the other day. For me it was a NAS box (network storage device), that I for the first time in ages need to access as admin instead of using it as an ordinary file service. To make things difficult I had changed IP address on the device since last login from my computer so the automatic login from the computer that had stored the password did not recognize it as a saved connection. What to do now!

Maybe one of the most ordinary examples for when you need this tip I am going to give now is for users that have saved their password for web pages like facebook or twitter, or mail. Mail is the typical thing user’s just setup once and never ever thinks about again, so when transferring the typical home user over to a new computer you need to request the password from the provider. Well as long as the old computer are still running, there might be a better way!

Creating a lab environment

Personal Labs

Microsoft have created lots of test lab for us geeks to try out different Microsoft stuff easy.

The range of product and technologies are wide, we will find basic things like “Step-by-Step Guide for Setting Up IPv6 in a Test Lab” to learn more about IPv6, and more sophisticated guides that also might be more product focused like the “Test Lab Extension: System Center 2012 Endpoint Protection”.

MDT Template creation settings

Working with a longer blog about MDT template creation, but for to nights MTUG - MDT session here are the necessary settings for the Template creation share:

Customsettings.ini

Nordic Infrastructure Conference sessions

The second edition of NIC will be held january 24-25, and a killer a program this year too.

I will host two session this year too, and enjoy lots of top class speakers rest of the time

Free Windows Server 2012 book based on RTM version



From Keith Mayers blog:

This week, Mitch Tulloch and the Windows Server team have released a new updated version of the FREE e-Book for IT professionals: Introducing Windows Server 2012 RTM Edition. With Windows Server 2012 RTM launching on Sept 4th, this book is a great way to get quickly skilled up on all the new improvements in this latest Windows Server - one of the most ambitious releases of Windows Server for IT Pros since Active Directory was released in Windows Server 2000!  In this 256-page eBook, you'll find 5 chapters of detailed technical content covering the following key improvements to building a Private Cloud at your shop with Windows Server 2012:



TechED Amsterdam: Using the POC Jumstart Kit

During my session at TechEd Europe I talked about and showed the "POC Jumpstart Kit". This is a smart solution to test out Windows and Office readiness, deployment or just play around With MDT, SCCM, ACT and MAP.

It's a large download, but you get a great demo environment ready in no time. A bit like the Hydration Kit, but you don't have to do the installation process. Everything is on one server, and the server is ready to be used on Hyper-V or Virtual PC. There is no Integration Components installed so it's works well on both platforms. Convertion to other platforms should work as well.

Among the greates benefits are that you get a "instructions manual" with it. There is 13 lab guides Learning you how to use all the powers installed in the "Jumpstart Kit"

There is some "minor" issues to get it to work, but luckily there is workarounds :-)

Deployment session on Technet

TechNet Webcast: Everything You Wanted to Know and Ask about Windows Deployment (Part 1)

Registration URL:  http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9807963  or  http://bit.ly/JLTQLM

Date/ Time:    Tuesday, May 15, 2012 - 9-10am (Pacific)

Abstract: In this demonstration-rich, question and answer webcast, Windows Product Manager Stephen Rose moderates an open conversation with Microsoft Deployment Toolkit Product Manager Michael Niehaus and deployment guru Johan Arwidmark. They discuss the new Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2012 release as well as tips and tricks from the experts about using the Windows Deployment Toolkit.

TechNet Webcast: Everything You Wanted to Know and Ask about Windows Deployment (Part 2)

Registration URL:  http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9807964   or  http://bit.ly/Kgny8y

Date/ Time:    Thursday, May 17, 2012  - 9-10am (Pacific)

Abstract: In this demonstration-rich, question and answer webcast, Windows Product Manager Stephen Rose moderates an open conversation with Microsoft Deployment Toolkit Product Manager Michael Niehaus and deployment guru Johan Arwidmark. They discuss the new Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2012 release as well as tips and tricks from the experts about using the Windows Deployment Toolkit.