January, 2008

Vista ADMX Administrative Templates & Central Store

Windows Vista introduced a new format to display policy settings (Administrative Templates). In Windows Vista, these registry-based policy settings are defined by standards-based XML files that have an . admx file name extension. The . admx file format replaces the well know legacy . adm file format.
Windows Vista does only ship with . admx files located in the % windir%\PolicyDefinitions folder.

Download Administrative Templates (.admx) for Windows Vista

For more information on “How to create the central store“: Q929841 and Managing Group Policy ADMX Files Step-by-Step Guide

List installed software from the command line

If you want to list the software known to Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) from the command line, use WMI command line (WMIC) interface.

We can list all products installed locally by running the following command:

wmic product

Remotely manage another Hyper-V System

If you want to install the Hyper-V MMC on Windows Server 2008 to remotely manage another Hyper-V System, here are the steps:

1. Launch Server Manage from the Start Menu

2. Click Add Features

3. Under Remote Server Administration Tools  - Role Administration Tools

a. Enable Hyper-V Tools and click Next.

4. Click Install.

5. After the reboot, go to Administrative Tools in the Start Menu and you will see the Hyper-V Manager.

Hyper-V WMI API’s

Hyper-V WMI APIs. Hyper-V uses WMI APIs (similar to the Virtual Server COM API) to create, manage, monitor and configure virtual resources.

The Hyper-V WMI APIs are publicly available here:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc136992(VS.85).aspx

Important: This documentation is preliminary and is subject to change.

Microsoft releases Windows Vista SP1 RC Refresh 2 (We can call it Release Candidate 3)

Microsoft released Windows Vista SP1 RC Refresh 2 (We can call it Release Candidate 3). It will just be released to the 15,000 official beta testers.

Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) deployment - New white paper

Microsoft just released a new version of their IE7 deployment paper. The document has 156 pages. IE7 deployment can get tricky. Try to read this document before deployment, if you haven’t done it yet. It might be a useful reference if you run into problems.

Server Core Roles and Features of Windows Server 2008

For installing Server Roles & Features on Server Core we can use an OCSetup.exe (OptionalComponentsSetup).  To identify all installable and/or installed roles and features we are using other tool, OClist.exe. However, at times some of those roles are not available by default (such as Hyper-V, …).

The Server Core installation option is a new option that we can use (i think it’s a best option) for installing Windows Server 2008.

A Server Core installation provides a minimal environment for running specific server roles, which reduces the maintenance and management requirements and the attack.
To achieve this, the Server Core installation option installs ONLY the subset of the binary files that are required by the supported server roles.

Right now, a server running Windows Server Core 2008 supports the following 9 server roles:

1. Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) using dcpromo.exe
2. Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS)
3. DHCP Server
4. DNS Server
5. File Services
6. Print Services
7. Streaming Media Services
8. Web Server (IIS)
9. Hyper-V (Windows Server Virtualisation)

As i said, all Server Core server roles can be installed via OCsetup.exe, just with one exception of the Active Directory Domain Controller role. AD is done by using dcpromo and the Web Server which is done through the PackageManager (PkgMgr.exe).

Installing a specific server role follows the syntax below:

start /w ocsetup <serverrole-name>

1. Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS): dcpromo /unattend:<unattendfile.xml>
2. Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS): start /w ocsetup DirectoryServices-ADAM-ServerCore
3. DHCP Server: start /w ocsetup DHCPServerCore
4. DNS Server: start /w ocsetup DNS-Server-Core-Role
5. File Services: installed by default
6. Print Services: start /w ocsetup Printing-ServerCore-Role
7. Streaming Media Server: start /w ocsetup MediaServer (After copying the appropriate Microsoft Update Standalone package (.msu files) to your Server Core installation, and running the .msu file(s)).
8. Web Server: start /w pkgmgr /iu:IIS-WebServerRole;WAS-WindowsActivationService;WAS-ProcessModel
9. Hyper-V

Streaming Media and Hyper-V (and may be other roles) might be missing when looking through the Optional Component list (via OClist.exe).

To add updates/roles/features to the list, use the following command:  wusa <update>.msu /quiet

A typical example is the Streaming Media Server role, which only becomes available after copying the appropriate Microsoft Update Standalone package (.msu files) to your Server Core installation and running the .msu file(s).

Installing a specific feature follows the syntax below:

start /w ocsetup <feature-name>

start /w ocsetup BitLocker
start /w ocsetup BitLocker-RemoteAdminTool
start /w ocsetup FailoverCluster-Core
start /w ocsetup WINS-SC

Exchange Best Practices Analyzer Update 2.8 - Must Have :)

Microsoft has released new Exchange Best Practices Analyzer. This download contains the latest XML and ExBPA.chm files. Use this package to update your existing installation of the Exchange Best Practices Analyzer.

NOTE: If Internet connectivity is available, the Exchange Best Practices Analyzer will attempt to automatically update itself from the Internet. Where updates are being applied automatically, there is no need to download the Web Update Pack.

To find out which version of ExBPA.Config.xml is installed on your computer, click the ‘About Exchange Best Practices Analyzer‘ link within the tool. The upper version number refers to the core application (e.g. 2.9.7926.0), the lower version is for the configuration XML file.

Setting Alternate Credentials to use for Accessing a System

When you connect to a new system you might be prompted for authentication or the access will fail. You can simply configure alternate sets of credentials to be used for various systems using the CMDKEY utility, as this example shows:

C:\Users\administrator>cmdkey /add:srv01.admininfo.ca /user:admininfo\pelekan /pass:
Enter the password for ‘virt\bruce’ to connect to ’srv.admininfo.ca’: ****

Target: srv.admininfo.ca
Type: Domain Password
User: srv.admininfo.ca\admin

You can remove an entry using the cmdkey /delete: command.

Virtual PC needs to be run as Administrator ?

Virtual PC is able to run when you are using a non-administrative user account and most part will work. However - a couple of things that will not work correctly unless Virtual PC is run under an Administrative account:

• Using ping (or other ICMP based tools) over shared networking.
• Using or converting linked virtual hard disks.
• Accessing copy protected CDs.
• Configuring the Virtual PC security options.

Under Windows Vista Virtual PC will be running as a non-administrative process even if you are using an administrative account. To work under Vista you need to right click on the Virtual PC icon in the start menu and select ‘Run as administrator’.