DesktopControl

The Best of Windows Deployment

2011-01-04T08:00:00.000+01:00

Jeremy Chapman wrote an excellent article where he sums up a great list of resources about Windows deployment. If you are new to the Windows deployment game or are stuck in the spooky world of drive-cloning with older sector-based processes, this should help you get started.His topics include an overview, Video Demonstrations, Deployment Tools and VHDs to Download, Deeper Technical Guidance,

Setting up a bluetooth connection on Windows Server 2008

2010-02-26T20:10:00.002+01:00

Last week when I was in Redmond I bought myself a wireless bluetooth Microsoft Mobile keyboard and mouse. Back there I connected the devices to my Dell Latitude D630 laptop running Windows 7 and everything worked great. But back home when I was booting my dual-boot machine in Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 I noticed that the Bluetooth devices did not connect to the laptop. After a small investigation

App-V 4.6 and ConfigMgr 2007 SP2: even better together

2010-02-22T08:58:00.004+01:00

Organizations that are moving towards Microsoft Application Virtualization are often wondering what the best delivery infrastructure is for their environment. In the days of SoftGrid there was only one way of delivering your virtual applications to the end-user, by building a dedicated SoftGrid infrastructure. But since the introduction of App-V 4.5 the possibilities have extended, making the

The Configuration Manager Service Pack Install Guide

2010-01-07T20:39:00.001+01:00

Got this information from fellow App-V MVP Kevin Kaminski on his twitter page. The Configuration Manager Support Team blog posted a great article on ConfigMgr 2007 SP2 install failures. This document was created to help in troubleshooting Configuration Manager Service Pack 2 (SP2) install failures. This document is not entirely specific to Service Pack 2 and can apply to Service Pack 1

Popular and useful tools for ConfigMgr 2007

2009-12-21T14:35:00.001+01:00

Peter van der Woude just posted a nice sum up of some popular free tools and website for Configuration Manager 2007, in any particular order: SCCM Right Click Tools SCCM Client Center OSD++ SMSMap SCCMAutoDoc SCCM 2007 SDK SCCM-Tools.com BitsAdmin WMI Administrative Tools WMI Diagnosis Utility Please visit his website to view details about these tools and

Setup SQL Reporting Services (SRS) in SQL 2008 for Configuration Manager 2007

2009-11-30T09:46:00.003+01:00

As I’ve described in some earlier posts the Reporting functionality will be fully based on SQL Reporting Services in future versions of Configuration Manager. This means we will have to say goodbye to our familiar standard reporting functionality. SQL Reporting services have some benefits over the current reporting solution: Provide best in class reporting capability by integrating SQL Reporting

Installing Configuration Manager 2007 SP2 R2 on Windows Server 2008 R2 and SQL 2008 SP1

2009-11-29T11:57:00.001+01:00

Recently I’ve reinstalled my lab environment with the latest versions of: Windows Server 2008 (R2 x64) SQL Server 2008 (SP1 x64) Configuration Manager 2007 (R2 with Service Pack 2) As I’ve ran into some issues while installing this configuration I thought it would be nice to share them with you. The installation I did (for lab purposes) was all on a single box. Of course this is not

ConfigMgr 2007 R3 and 2011 (vNext) preliminary features

2009-11-18T09:13:00.001+01:00

So unfortunately I couldn’t make it into TechEd 2009 Berlin, so I know I missed out on a whole lot of information. Luckily the guys from the System Center User Group in the Netherlands and Belgium organized an event and had Wally Mead (Microsoft) come in to talk about the current and future versions of Configuration Manager. I visited the Belgian event last night and had some nice conversations

ConfigMgr vNext becomes ConfigMgr 2011

2009-11-10T15:25:00.002+01:00

It looks like Microsoft renamed the next version of Configuration Manager from ConfigMgr vNext to ConfigMgr 2011.Given the fact that 2011 is now part of the productname means that Microsoft plans the release of the product way ahead to 2011. This should buy them plenty of time to do some massive changes. Can´t wait for the next public announcement of what´s to come...

Importing and exporting machines in Hyper-V

2009-11-08T18:42:00.001+01:00

As I’ve described in a previous post I’ve restaged my laptop with a dual boot system including Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 including Hyper-V. This also means I have to start updating my Virtual PC images to Hyper-V. Some information on how to migrate from earlier version (like Virtual Server or Virtual PC) can be found here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd296684(WS.10

Altered website layout

2009-11-03T21:42:00.001+01:00

I am running the DesktopControl blog for about 2 years now and was getting a bit tired of the layout it was having, so I thought I’d alter it a little bit. I sticked with the 3 column layout but I’ve changed some other things: The posts are now aligned in the left (widest column) and I have two smaller columns on the right. Posts are now displayed in short. Clicking on Full Story will

Restaged my laptop: Dual boot W2K8R2 and WIN7

2009-11-01T14:54:00.006+01:00

After Windows 7 was officially released I was planning to reimage my laptop to the final version. I was running the RC all that time. Also I’d ordered a solid state disk to fit my laptop and when that package arrived I decided to pull the plug on my old laptop this weekend. Intel X25-M Postville After I’d read some reviews I had decided to order the Intel X25-M Postville SSDSA2MH080G2C1 80GB,

Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 2

2009-10-23T10:32:00.003+02:00

I’m catching up on email after a holiday and it seems that Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 2 has been released. Service Pack 2 for Configuration Manager 2007 delivers new platform support for Windows 7 client, Windows Vista SP2, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2008 SP2. In addition, Service Pack 2 delivers continued innovation with Intel vPro technology, support for Branch

Using ConfigMgr task sequences to chain App-V applications to MSI installations

2009-10-15T14:47:00.003+02:00

It is a fact that many applications require other applications to run properly. In App-V these dependencies can be sequenced along with the main application in the same virtual environment or they can be sequenced separately and joined together through Dynamic Suiting Composition. However it’s also a fact that not all applications can be virtualized. So you often find yourself in a situation

How to enable Autologon in Windows 7

2009-09-18T13:08:00.003+02:00

On my development machines I allways like to enable the Autologon feature of Windows. I know this might be a security breach, but I'm comfortable with it.When upgrading my development machines to Windows 7 I was struggling a bit on how to set the AutoLogon feature in Windows 7. I used to edit the information directly into the registry, but I found there are other ways as well.I found a good

ConfigMgr 2007 R3 is all about power

2009-09-09T08:31:00.004+02:00

The System Center Team announced the plans to release System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R3. One of the focus areas of R3 will be centralized management of power management on Windows Desktops.Our approach is based on 3 primary areas: A. Help the organization plan a power strategy by monitoring current power state and consumptions and reporting on machine utilization trends, current power

Login Education: Technology Partner and CPLS

2009-07-22T13:21:00.010+02:00

As you might know I work for Login Consultants and besides consultancy we have been delivering various training programs to our customers all over the world. We’ve always had a quite unique training approach because the training program combines theoretical knowledge with real life experience from the field. So we are not only talking about the products we train in, we have actually implemented

Microsoft Management Summit 2010

2009-07-21T11:52:00.005+02:00

I just noticed on the website of Matthew Hudson that the website of Microsoft Management Summit (MMS) 2010 is up-and-running. There is not a lot of info on there yet but you request update notifications. I visisted this event in 2007 (in San Diego) and I was really impressed by the content. If you are into application / operating system management (as I am) this is the event for you.

April has been a rewarding month for me so far

2009-04-20T11:32:00.002+02:00

We are halfway across April now and I must say that it has been very rewarding so far. As you might have read on softgridblog I recieved notice on the 1st of April that I have been rewarded with the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Award (MVP) on Microsoft Application Virtualization (Softgrid), which is why the MVP logo is located proudly on my blog. The Microsoft MVP Award Program

TAP: Configuration Manager Service Pack 2

2009-03-02T07:34:00.002+01:00

This weekend I received an email announcing the System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 2 Technology Adoption Program. Microsoft is currently building the update to System Center Configuration Manager 2007 (ConfigMgr07) titled Service Pack 2. The ConfgMgr Technology Adoption Program (TAP) team is pleased to announce that we are now soliciting participation in the System Center

Login Consultants releases two new App-V tools

2009-02-23T12:00:00.003+01:00

Today Login Consultants releases two new freeware tools to support Microsoft Application Virtualization. The first one is called App-V 4.5 Client Diagnostic and Configuration Tool 1.0 (ACDC for short) and is created by myself. ACDC makes it possible for administrators or users to troubleshoot virtual applications and the environment they run in: Launch predefined and custom commands

Windows Live Writer updated

2009-02-17T11:48:00.002+01:00

I personally use Windows Live Writer to support my blogging and a new version was recently released. Windows Live Writer makes it easy to share your photos and videos on almost any blog service. With Writer, you can preview everything you’re adding to your blog, and see exactly how the fonts, spacing, colors, and images will look, before you publish. It's fast and easy to make photos and

ConfigMgr Right Click Tools new version

2009-02-12T08:02:00.002+01:00

A couple of days ago a new version of the Configuration Manager 2007 Right Click Tools was released. New in version 1.8 Added Support for Windows 2008 64bit. New Tool to Re-run advertisements from a drop down list. Added the ability to run client actions from the Query results. Check it out here. Download here.

How To: User Based and Machine Based App-V deployment in SCCM 2007 R2

2009-02-07T22:34:00.006+01:00

The App-V 4.5 Full Infrastructure scenario (with App-V Management / Streaming server) only supports User Based application deployment. If you are using the Configuration Manager 2007 R2 integration of App-V 4.5 you can do both User and Machine based deployment. Since I often receive questions about user based and machine based deployment with App-V 4.5, I thought I would be nice to explain the

Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2 VHD

2009-01-26T14:30:00.002+01:00

For all of you wanting to get a jumpstart at installing and evaluating a Configuration Manager 2007 R2 environment you might want to take a look at this download. This download comes as a pre-configured VHD. This download enables you evaluate Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2. System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2 is the next-generation release of Systems