Removing the status bar and standard buttons tool bar from the Remote Desktops MMC

Two things that have always bugged me with the Remote Desktops Administrative Snap-in was that there were no options on the menu to customize the view, specifically, the status bar and standard buttons toolbar. 

I’ve googled around trying to find a fix, then it dim 20W bulb went off in my head.  Look at a standard MMC console and make one how I want it and copy the config to the TSMMC file.

It was pretty simple.  The key line from the tsmmc.msc is:

<ViewOptions ViewMode="Report" ScopePaneVisible="true" NoStatusBar="true" NoStdButtons="true" DescriptionBarVisible="false" DefaultColumn0Width="200" DefaultColumn1Width="0"/>
    </View>

By adding NoStatusBar=”true” and NoStdButtons=”true” I was able to get more remote desktop “desktop”.

On my secondary monitor, my TS screen is now 1768×1000 vs. 1768×953.  Not a big deal on a 1920×1080 monitor, but 47 pixels on smaller screens makes a big difference.

Hotfix for Windows Virtual PC and AMD Bulldozer based CPUs

If you have an AMD Bulldozer based CPU, you probably can’t install Windows VPC successfully. AMD Bulldozer based CPUs includes the new FX series (FX-8170, FX-8150, FX-8120, FX-8100, FX-6200, FX-6120, FX-6100, FX-4170, FX-4150, FX-4120, FX-4100)

Microsoft released a hotfix yesterday for this: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2519949

You cannot install Windows XP Mode on a Windows 7-based computer that has an AMD Bulldozer-based multicore processor installed

SYMPTOMS

When you have an AMD Bulldozer-based multicore processor installed on a computer that is running Windows 7, you cannot install Windows XP Mode. Additionally, you receive an error message that resembles the following:

Could not complete Setup. Please try again.

CAUSE

This issue occurs because of a compatibility issue between Windows XP Mode and AMD Bulldozer-based multicore processors.

Hotfix information

A supported hotfix is available from Microsoft. However, this hotfix is intended to correct only the problem that is described in this article. Apply this hotfix only to systems that are experiencing the problem described in this article. This hotfix might receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next software update that contains this hotfix.

If the hotfix is available for download, there is a “Hotfix download available” section at the top of this Knowledge Base article. If this section does not appear, contact Microsoft Customer Service and Support to obtain the hotfix.

NoteIf additional issues occur or if any troubleshooting is required, you might have to create a separate service request. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for this specific hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Customer Service and Support telephone numbers or to create a separate service request, visit the following Microsoft website:

http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ws=support (http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ws=support)

NoteThe “Hotfix download available” form displays the languages for which the hotfix is available. If you do not see your language, it is because a hotfix is not available for that language.

Prerequisites

To apply this hotfix, you must be running Windows 7 or Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1).

For more information about how to obtain a Windows 7 or a Windows Server 2008 R2 service pack, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

976932 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/976932/ ) Information about Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 and for Windows Server 2008 R2

Installation instructions

To resolve this issue for OEM partners, integrate the hotfix package into the installation image of Windows 7. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Download all the necessary files and tools. To do this, follow these steps:
   1. Install the Windows 7 OEM Preinstallation Kit (OPK).
   2. Copy the hotfix package to a folder on the computer. For example, copy the package to the folder C:\Test\Updates.
   3. Copy the Install.wim file from the Windows 7 installation media to the computer. For example, copy the Install.wim file to the folder C:\Test\Images.
2. Add the hotfix to a Windows 7 image. To do this, follow these steps:
   1. Click Start, click All Programs, click Windows OPK, right-click Deployment Tools Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.
   2. At the command prompt, retrieve the name or the index number for the image that you want to change. To do this, type the following command, and then press Enter:
      Dism /Get-WIMInfo /WimFile:C:\test\images\install.wim
   3. Notice the index number or the name of the Windows 7 image to which you will add the hotfix.
   4. Use a DISM command to mount the image by using the index number or the name that you noticed in step 2C. For example, the index number of the image to which you will add the hotfix is 3. The following command mounts Index 3 to a folder that is named “offline” in the test directory:

      Dism /Mount-Wim /WimFile:C:\test\images\install.wim /Index:3 /MountDir:C:\test\offline

      Note You must create the C:\Test\Offline folder before you mount the image.

   5. At the command prompt, type the appropriate command to add the hotfix, and then press Enter.

      For x86-based versions of Windows 7:

      Dism /Image:C:\test\offline /Add-Package /PackagePath:C:\test\updates\Windows6.1-KB2519949 -x86.msu

      For x64-based versions of Windows 7:

      Dism /Image:C:\test\offline /Add-Package /PackagePath:C:\test\updates\Windows6.1-KB2519949 -x64.msu
   6. At the command prompt, type the following command to commit the changes and to unmount the image, and then press Enter:
      Dism /Unmount-WIM /MountDir:C:\test\offline /Commit

Registry information

To use the hotfix in this package, you do not have to make any changes to the registry.

Restart requirement

You do not have to restart the computer after you apply this hotfix.

Hotfix replacement information

This hotfix does not replace a previously released hotfix.

File information

The global version of this hotfix installs files that have the attributes that are listed in the following tables. The dates and the times for these files are listed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The dates and the times for these files on your local computer are displayed in your local time together with your current daylight saving time (DST) bias. Additionally, the dates and the times may change when you perform certain operations on the files.

Windows 7 file information notes

• The files that apply to a specific product, milestone (RTM, SPn), and service branch (LDR, GDR) can be identified by examining the file version numbers as shown in the following table:
  Collapse this tableExpand this table

  Version	Product	Milestone	Service branch
  6.1.760 0.16xxx	Windows 7	RTM	GDR
  6.1.760 0.20xxx	Windows 7	RTM	LDR
  6.1.760 1.17xxx	Windows 7	SP1	GDR
  6.1.760 1.21xxx	Windows 7	SP1	LDR

• GDR service branches contain only those fixes that are widely released to address widespread, very important issues. LDR service branches contain hotfixes in addition to widely released fixes.
• The MANIFEST files (.manifest) and the MUM files (.mum) that are installed for each environment are listed separately in the “Additional file information for Windows 7″ section. MUM and MANIFEST files, and the associated security catalog (.cat) files, are very important for maintaining the state of the updated components. The security catalog files, for which the attributes are not listed, are signed with a Microsoft digital signature.

For all supported x86-based versions of Windows 7

Collapse this tableExpand this table

File name	File version	File size	Date	Time	Platform
Vpcvmm.sys	6.1.7600.16782	296,064	17-Mar-2011	04:44	x86
Vpcvmm.sys	6.1.7600.20926	296,064	17-Mar-2011	06:58	x86
Vpcvmm.sys	6.1.7601.17580	296,192	17-Mar-2011	04:40	x86
Vpcvmm.sys	6.1.7601.21685	296,192	17-Mar-2011	06:57	x86

For all supported x64-based versions of Windows 7

Collapse this tableExpand this table

File name	File version	File size	Date	Time	Platform
Vpcvmm.sys	6.1.7600.16782	360,704	17-Mar-2011	05:19	x64
Vpcvmm.sys	6.1.7600.20926	360,704	17-Mar-2011	05:19	x64
Vpcvmm.sys	6.1.7601.17580	360,832	17-Mar-2011	05:29	x64
Vpcvmm.sys	6.1.7601.21685	360,832	17-Mar-2011	05:06	x64

Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 SP1 wins gold medal!

Searchdatacenter’s 2011 product of the year award for System Management is SCVMM 2008 R2 SP1!

http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/guide/SearchDataCenter-Products-of-the-Year-Systems-Management-winners-2011

Waterfox–The fastest 64-Bit variant of Firefox

This is a great upgrade to Firefox

http://waterfoxproj.sourceforge.net/

Definitely “feels” snappier than Firefox, although I have not run any benchmarks.

Windows VPC Networking Options explained

Reposted from the Windows Virtual PC help file (it always amazes me how many people ask for explanations about this on the forums, when they have the answer in their local help file):

Configure networking for virtual machines

You can configure networking to provide virtual machines with different types of network connectivity. A virtual machine can have as many as four network adapters enabled, each of which can be configured to use a different type of networking. You can use the following types of networking in a virtual machine:

• Internal network. This option provides networking between virtual machines only. This type of network connection is useful when you want to provide a networking communications channel to the virtual machines on one physical computer while isolating the virtual machines from all external networks, both wired and wireless, as well as the host operating system.
• <Network adapter name> (on host operating system). This option is sometimes referred to as “bridged mode”. It uses a physical network adapter to connect the virtual machine to a physical TCP/IP-based network as a separate computer. The virtual machine appears and operates like a separate physical computer on the network. You use this option by selecting the name of the physical network adapter that is connected to the network you want to use. You can choose from both wired and wireless network adapters.
• Shared networking (NAT). This option is available for the first network adapter in the virtual machine. It allows the virtual machine to share one connection to a physical TCP/IP network with the host operating system. When you use this option, the virtual machine is not listed as a separate computer on the network. This is useful if you regularly move the host between different network configurations, if you want to connect the virtual machine to the Internet through a broadband or dial-up connection used by the host, including a virtual private network (VPN) connection, or if there is a shortage of IP addresses. However, performance is not as fast as the performance offered by bridged mode.
  If the Windows 7 host uses a wireless WAN (WWAN) device to connect to the Internet and you want a virtual machine to be able to use this connection, you must configure the virtual machine to use shared networking (NAT).

	Note
	A network adapter that is disconnected from all available networks is listed as Not Connected. You can connect a network adapter to a network regardless of the state of the virtual machine. However, a virtual machine must be off before you can add or remove a network adapter—it cannot be running or hibernated. For information about closing a virtual machine, see Close a virtual machine.

To configure networking for a virtual machine

1. Open the settings for the virtual machine. Do one of the following:
   • In the Virtual Machines folder, right-click the name of the virtual machine, and then click Settings.
   • From the virtual machine window, click the Tools menu, and then click Settings.
2. In the left pane of the Windows Virtual PC Settings page, click Networking.
3. To add or remove a network adapter, click the new number of network adapters you want. When you add a network adapter, it is disconnected.
4. To connect the network adapter to an available type of connection, select it from the drop-down list next to an available network adapter.
5. Click OK to save the change.

 

Does your CPU have what it needs to run Hyper-V 3.0 with Windows 8?

Mark Russinovich does it again with a sweet little tool, CoreInfo.

Coreinfo is a command-line utility that shows you the mapping between logical processors and the physical processor, NUMA node, and socket on which they reside, as well as the cache’s assigned to each logical processor.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/cc835722

You will need to download, extract and run as an administrator with the -v option.

-v	Dump only virtualization-related features including support for second level address translation. (requires administrative rights on Intel systems).

here’s my i7-2620m: ( the “-” means not present, the “*” means present/supported)

Also:
Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU       M 560 @ 2.67GHz
x86 Family 6 Model 37 Stepping 5, GenuineIntel
HYPERVISOR      –       Hypervisor is present
VMX             *       Supports Intel hardware-assisted virtualization
EPT             *       Supports Intel extended page tables (SLAT)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU       X 980  @ 3.33GHz
Intel64 Family 6 Model 44 Stepping 2, GenuineIntel
HYPERVISOR      -       Hypervisor is present
VMX             *       Supports Intel hardware-assisted virtualization
EPT             *       Supports Intel extended page tables (SLAT)

Parallels Workstation 6 for Windows and Linux released!!

It’s been a long time since Parallels gave the Win/Linux community any workstation love!

I bought the upgrade to 4 back in 2009!  They had a small booth at the Cloud Expo in Santa Clara.

Too bad I missed Kurt S. from the Connectix days.

http://www.parallels.com/products/workstation/

Top Features Include:

Tested and certified on a wide variety of Windows editions and  Linux distributions to support your efforts across multiple environments.

• VM configuration capabilities for CPU and RAM allocations on a  per VM basis to help enforce good neighbor policies.

• Configurable VM isolation for advanced testing scenarios.

• Adaptive hypervisor improves performance for active window  applying the computers power where you need it most.

•  Fast virtual machines with Intel VT-x2 support (VPiDs, EPT & Flexpriority) taking  advantage of the latest hardware improvements.

• Plug and play support for a wide range of USB 1.1 and 2.0 devices.

• USB smart connections remember assignments or default to your desired configuration  eliminating reconfiguration.

• Easy virtual networking to enable moving between offices, networks and more.

• Drag and drop, copy and paste, share files between Virtual Machines as well as the host OS to simplify the movement of data.

• Coherence simplifies interaction by integrating application from multiple VMs onto the host desktop for easy access.

• Configure undo-disks to automatically reset VMs to their original starting state enabling rapid testing scenarios and share computer support for labs and  classrooms.

• Remotely start, stop & reset virtual machines without physically sitting at the computer extending administrators management reach.

• Access VMs and their applications from iPads and iPhones with Parallels Mobile allowing you to take your workstation with you, virtually.

• Easily convert physical environments into virtual machines with the Parallels Transporter application.

• Automatically encrypt virtual machines to improve privacy and security.

Supported Host OS Software

32-bit:

• Windows 7

• Windows Vista SP1, SP2

• Windows XP Pro SP3

• Windows XP Home SP3

• Debian 6.0

• Fedora 14, 15

• RHEL 6, 6.1

• SLED 11 SP1

• Ubuntu 10.10, 11.04

64-bit:

• Windows 7

• Windows Vista SP1, SP2

• Windows XP Pro SP2

• Debian 6.0

• Fedora 14, 15

• RHEL 6, 6.1

• SLED 11 SP1

• Ubuntu 10.10, 11.04

KBD Shortcut to access Control Panel–>System

I just found out about the sweet little winkey+pause short-cut that takes you directly to your System info page under Control Panel.

Great timesaver

Looking for gadgets? Sorry, wait until Windows 8

I was trying to set up my new laptop today for work and it really seems like Microsoft does want to find new ways to frustrate you.

Gadgets: Sorry, unless you want one of the 30 we kept, the rest are gone, quote” In order to focus support on the much richer set of opportunities available for the newest version of Windows, Microsoft is no longer supporting development or uploading of new Gadgets”  http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/downloads/looking-for-gadgets

 

Microsoft releases free “System Sweeper” Beta for offline malware scans

Here’s a helpful little tool for recovering infected PCs: http://connect.microsoft.com/systemsweeper

“Microsoft Standalone System Sweeper Beta, a recovery tool that can help you start an infected PC and perform an offline scan to help identify and remove rootkits and other advanced malware. In addition, Microsoft Standalone System Sweeper Beta can be used if you cannot install or start an antivirus solution on your PC, or if the installed solution can’t detect or remove malware on your PC.

Microsoft Standalone System Sweeper Beta is not a replacement for a full antivirus solution providing ongoing protection; it is meant to be used in situations where you cannot start your PC due to a virus or other malware infection. For no-cost, real-time protection that helps guard your home or small business PCs against viruses, spyware, and other malicious software, download Microsoft Security Essentials*.”