Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 KMS hosts to support Windows 8, Windows Server 2012 and Office 2013 (KB2691586)

This update extends the Key Management Service (KMS) for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 to allow enterprise licensing of Windows 8 and of Windows Server 2012. KMS provides support for the following KMS activations:

• Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1)
• Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 (SP2)
• Windows 8
• Windows Server 2012
• Windows 7 and Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1)
• Windows Vista and Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2)
• Office 2013 (Preview)

Microsoft User Experience Virtualization and Microsoft Application Virtualization 5.0 Betas Now Available!

Microsoft announces the beta versions of Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) 5.0 and a new MDOP product Microsoft User Experience Virtualization (UE-V) are now available for download from
Microsoft Connect.

UE-V is an enterprise-scale user state virtualization solution that delivers a user’s personal Windows experience across devices, is simple for IT to deploy, and easily integrates with existing management tools.

Some of the main features of UE-V are:

• Users retain their application experience without having to reconfigure applications when they log in from a different Windows instance – regardless of whether it is a rich desktop or virtual desktop session. 
• Automatically delivers a personal experience to Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Server 2008 R2, and Windows Server 8 based devices, giving users the flexibility to work from anywhere.
• If a user accidently applies unwanted changes, IT can simply roll back to the initial state.
• Seamlessly integrates with Microsoft desktop virtualization products to roam the user experience in heterogeneous environments.

 Some of the new features in the App-V 5.0 Beta are:

• Flexible virtualization choices let virtual applications work more like traditionally installed applications, allowing local and virtual applications to communicate and enabling control of which virtual applications can share environments.
• There’s no dedicated drive letter required, and no 4 gigabyte maximum package size. It’s easy for IT to work with and take action on App-V diagnostic information because App-V logs Windows events instead of separate log files.
• Easy and efficient to use in VDI environments, allowing IT to make the best use of expensive disk resources without changing the way they get their jobs done.
• Web-based management makes it easy for busy IT professionals to get their work done while away from their desk.
• Rich PowerShell scripting allows IT to automate repetitive tasks and to integrate App-V with existing processes.

These products will be part of a future version of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP).  If you want to learn more about App-V 5.0 and UE-V now, check out the Windows for your Business Blog were we have posted even more information about the products.

Download and try the betas of UE-V and App-V 5.0.

 

Sources:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/mdop/archive/2012/04/04/microsoft-user-experience-virtualization-and-microsoft-application-virtualization-5-0-betas-now-available.aspx

http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/b/business/archive/2012/04/04/introducing-ue-v-and-app-v-5-0.aspx

DirectAccess Client Cannot Establish Tunnels to the DirectAccess Server

This week I noticed some issues with DirectAccess on my Windows 7 client. For some strange reason both Infrastructure and Intranet tunnels are not established. When walking through the Advanced Firewall configuration I noticed that Internet Protocol security (IPsec) tunnel mode security associations (SAs) were not initiated. After some searching if found a post on Forefront forum which describes more or less the same behavior.

Thanks to Jason Jones if found my issue. By verifying the Name Resolution Policy Table (NRPT) configuration using netsh dnsclient show state and noticed that Direct Access Settings is misconfigured. The NRPT is configured using the DirectAccess Setup wizard. You can configure the rules also directly by yourself but take into account these settings are overridden when running the DirectAccess wizard!

Windows 7 Deployment Options for Small and Midsize Businesses

Download a printable overview of Windows 7 deployment options for small and midsize organizations that includes the advantages and limitations of each option.

Explore the different options for deploying Windows 7 in a small or midsize organization. This print-ready poster from the Springboard Series for Windows 7 features an overview of each method, details on advantages and limtations, basic requirements, and helpful links to additional tools and guidance. You’ll also find a helpful step-by-step overview of the Windows 7 deployment process.

Download the handy overview in PDF, XPS or VSD here

How to Discover 16-Bit Applications Before Migrating to 64-Bit Versions of Windows 7

How to Discover 16-Bit Applications Before Migrating to 64-Bit Versions of Windows 7
By Andreas Stenhall, Microsoft MVP — Windows Expert – IT Pro

When companies migrate to Windows 7, most of them look at deploying the 64-bit version of Windows 7. The x64 architecture of Windows does not support running 16-bit applications as the 32-bit version does. Unfortunately, 16-bit applications are still widely in use—even though you might not know it.

You can use the Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) to take an inventory of all applications on your client machines. This is a great way to find applications when migrating to Windows 7. The ACT inventory does contain information about 16-bit applications that are still on client computers and being used in your business, but there is one slight challenge.

How #Microsoft secures its data in a worldwide environment

This Microsoft IT Showcase slide gives you an overview how Microsoft secures its data. Maybe little bit outdated but still informative to get a picture of the high-level basics how to secure your corporate data.

Corrupted Name Resolution Table (NRPT) #DirectAccess

Last week I had some issue’s with connecting to corporate network by DirectAccess. The System Log pointed me tot the following: Event ID: 1023 Source: DNS Client Events. Name resolution policy table has been corrupted.

For some reason, the rules that come from DA GPOs had been duplicated. The originals from GPOs were named as “UAGDA Rule1″ to “UAGDA Rule3″ and the duplicates were named simply “Rule 1″ to “Rule 3″  (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\DnsClient\DnsPolicyConfig).

Introduction to Windows #Intune | part 1 – Infrastructure overview #sysctr

Last week I was at Microsoft site following a technical workshop of Windows Intune.

Windows Intune is a cloud based services which provides client management solution for managing and securing PC’s for small and midsize companies in any location throughout the internet. Today companies are facing challenges in managing PC’s. Think about multiple configurations, different versions and licenses. Lack of insight and reactive response instead of pro-active to support issues are topics on top of mind of administrators. Windows Intune provides online PC management from anywhere over the internet. The management console is browser-based (Silverlight is required), so administrators can be anywhere. Windows Intune requires no server infrastructure, offers per-seat licensing and it is easy to deploy, use and maintain.

#Forefront #UAG 2010 SP1 | #DirectAccess Resources

Past few weeks I have been involved with the implementation of direct access to one of our customers. This implementation was successfully achieved by using the following resources:

 

Planning & Design

• Forefront UAG DirectAccess technical overview 
• Forefront UAG DirectAccess Design Guide
• Forefront UAG DirectAccess Deployment Guide
• Forefront UAG DirectAccess with SP1 planning guide
• Forefront UAG DirectAccess performance information
• DirectAccess with UAG – Under the hood!
• DirectAccess Technet Site

 

Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 RTM, released to OEMs today ?

Microsoft has removed references to the final SP1 build for Windows 7 from an official blog post.

The software giant confirmed the golden version of Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 on Friday in a Russian blog post. Microsoft officials edited the post late on Friday to remove references to 7601.17514.101119-1850 and confirmed that some details of the post were inaccurate. The post was updated with the following disclaimer:

“Microsoft Has Not Released SP1 to OEMs at this time, Though We Are on Track for a Q1 release, AS We Previously Announced. The Comments made in this blog entry included Some inaccuracies.”

Microsoft’s wording is vague and many are taking this as confirmation that the company has not signed off on Windows 7 SP1. Microsoft’s statement does not clarify whether SP1 is finished, it simply states it has not been shipped to OEMs yet. According to sources close to the matter, Microsoft has sent out internal announcements to mark the RTM of Windows 7 SP1. Russian site Wzor confirmed the RTM too and has leaked several versions of Windows 7 SP1 for various languages.

At this time it’s not clear why the company is refusing to confirm the RTM milestone publicly. WinRumors asked Microsoft officials multiple times to confirm whether Microsoft had reached the RTM milestone for Windows 7 SP1 but company officials would only reply with “Microsoft has not released SP1 to OEMs at this time.” As always, we’d advise against installing leaked bits on production machines but at this time we’re confident build 7601.17514.101119-1850 is the final RTM.

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