MicroSoft Technology and Servers and Tricks.

Windows 10 1809 Font Install Issue

2019-07-17T15:53:00.002+05:30

Recently I asked to install fonts in 3000 Windows 10 1809 devices. So normally I have 2-3 scripts to install fonts like batchfile, VBS and customized with MSI file.

Surprisingly all methods failed to install fonts in Windows 10 1809 version.
Tried on search engines and getting many posts related to this people are having issue with installing fonts on Windows 10 1809.

Finally I have used below script for Install fonts on Windows 10 1809-

I have created Font.ps1 and follow the normal Package and distributed. Now its working great for me.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

$FONTS = 0x14;
$FromPath = ".\fonts";
$ObjShell = New-Object -ComObject Shell.Application;
$ObjFolder = $ObjShell.Namespace($FONTS);
$CopyOptions = 4 + 16;
$CopyFlag = [String]::Format("{0:x}", $CopyOptions);

foreach($File in $(Get-ChildItem -Path $FromPath)){
    If (Test-Path "c:\windows\fonts\$($File.name)")
    { }
    Else
    {
        $CopyFlag = [String]::Format("{0:x}", $CopyOptions);
        $ObjFolder.CopyHere($File.fullname, $CopyOptions);
        New-ItemProperty -Name $File.fullname -Path "HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts" -PropertyType string -Value $File 
    }
}

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks!!

Some new in Windows 8.1 ;)

2014-12-23T18:34:00.004+05:30

Have You Heard About NFC in Windows 8.1 ?

NFC (Near Field Communication –Tap to pair Printing ) is new feature in Windows 8.1.

Enabling printing support on an enterprise network can be difficult and confusing, with the worst-case scenario being that a sensitive document is sent to the wrong printer. Like If you are working in very big organization and your nearby lot of printers. If you are not sure which printer is connected with your device and your data is very sensitive. You can’t afford to find printer after printing. With Windows 8.1 Device it’s very easy to find printer with NFC-enabled enterprise printer with a simple tap. With NFC we can connect NFC based printer and Miracast Projectors and many devices which is supports NFC. Bluetooth and Wireless is medium for communication. In Present there is lot of devices like Projector , Smart TV’s , Tablet and smart phones certify miracast wireless communication.

Wi-fi direct Printing

Wi-Fi Direct printing Wi-Fi Direct is a new standard that allows devices to connect to one another over a wireless network in peer-to-peer fashion, without requiring an access point. Although the most popular uses of the technology involve consumer scenarios such as media playback, the same technology can also be used on enterprise networks to allow easy and secure connections to printers without requiring additional drivers or software on a Windows 8.1 device.

2014-02-05T10:34:00.000+05:30

Fully Automated LTI Deployment for an Upgrade Computer Scenario

[Settings]
Priority=Default
Properties=MyCustomProperty

[Default]
OSInstall=Y
ScanStateArgs=/v:5 /o /c
LoadStateArgs=/v:5 /c /lac /lae

SkipWizard=YES
DeploymentType=UPGRADE
TaskSequenceID=Enterprise
OSDComputerName=%ComputerName%

LanguagePacks001={3af4e3ce-8122-41a2-9cf9-892145521660}
LanguagePacks002={84fc70d4-db4b-40dc-a660-d546a50bf226}

UILanguage=en-GB
UserLocale=en-GB
KeyboardLocale=0809:00000809
TimeZoneName=GMT Standard Time

UserID=Administrator
UserDomain=DomainName
UserPassword=a_secure_password

Powerusers001=DomainName\proxynetadmin

MDT2013 -> Fully Automated LTI Deployments.

2014-02-05T10:32:00.004+05:30

INI settings for Automated LTI Deployments

Fully Automated LTI Deployment for a Refresh Computer Scenario

[Settings]
Priority=Default
Properties=MyCustomProperty

[Default]
OSInstall=Y
ScanStateArgs=/v:5 /o /c
LoadStateArgs=/v:5 /c /lac /lae

SkipAppsOnUpgrade=YES
SkipCapture=YES
SkipAdminPassword=YES
SkipProductKey=YES

SkipDeploymentType=YES 
DeploymentType=REFRESH

SkipDomainMembership=YES
JoinDomain=DomainName
DomainAdmin=Administrator
DomainAdminDomain=DomainName (Proxynet.local)
DomainAdminPassword=a_secure_password

SkipUserData=YES
UserDataLocation=AUTO
UDShare=\\Servername\Sharename\Directory
UDDir=%ComputerName%

SkipComputerBackup=YES
ComputerBackuplocation=AUTO
BackupShare=\\Servername\Backupsharename
BackupDir=%ComputerName%

SkipTaskSequence=YES
TaskSequenceID=Enterprise

SkipComputerName=YES
OSDComputerName=%ComputerName%

SkipPackageDisplay=YES
LanguagePacks001={3af4e3ce-8122-41a2-9cf9-892145521660}
LanguagePacks002={84fc70d4-db4b-40dc-a660-d546a50bf226}

SkipLocaleSelection=YES
UILanguage=en-GB
UserLocale=en-GB
KeyboardLocale=0809:00000809

SkipTimeZone=YES
TimeZoneName=GMT Standard Time

SkipApplications=YES
Applications001={a26c6358-8db9-4615-90ff-d4511dc2feff}
Applications002={7e9d10a0-42ef-4a0a-9ee2-90eb2f4e4b98}

UserID=Administrator
UserDomain=DomainName (Proxynet.local)
UserPassword=Passw0rd

SkipBitLocker=YES
SkipSummary=YES

Powerusers001=DomainName\ProxynetAdmin

Windows8 Internet is working but Icon shows No internet Connection

2014-01-03T14:25:00.001+05:30

Recently we have deployed Windows 8 and Windows 8.1Surface and Laptops. Everything is working fine but users complain they are able to get Internet ,but the Wifi Lan card showing exclamation mark. Means no Internet connection. Surprising issue.

We have a setup like this,

From Windows users and Internet we have install ISA TMG2012 and Cisco Firewall. Every users behind the Microsoft ISA TMG Proxy and firewall.

Working with Netmon tool found the msftncsi.com is not authorized to connect Microsoft site. So we have to add “*.msftncsi.com” to the list of TMG trusted site.

Here is the steps to add “*.msftncsi.com”

Open TMG Console .
Go Right Action Pan , Click on URL sets àSelect SEC –Allowed URLS àdouble click.

Click on Add and add this url *.msftncsi.com. Apply and OK.

After apply need to restart affected System ,I am sure Issue will resolve.

If you are facing the same problem, allow *.msftncsi.com in your firewall, definitely your issue will resolve.

If you feel it is good say thanks or comment.

Thanks.

God Mode - Windows 8X Hidden features -Step by Step

2013-12-02T12:12:00.005+05:30

One of the more interesting bits of functionality hidden in Windows 8 is "God Mode," a hidden menu that allows power users access to a massive selection of administrative, maintenance, and troubleshooting utilities and features.

1. To reveal God Mode, first bring up File Explorer and then click on the View tab.

2. Make sure that "Hidden items" and "File name extensions" are both checked.

3. Then, on your desktop, create a new folder, and change thatfolder's name to "GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}" (omitting the quotes).

4. The folder's icon will be change Like Control Panel Icon.

5. Double click on it, and Explorer will present you with a ton of little system tools to tweak your machine.

Enjoy Troubleshooting - I know this is old one but lot of friends they are not aware about GOD Mode Features.

Thanks.

Prabhas Upadhyay.

IAAS ,SAAS, and PAAS --> Windows Azure.

2013-06-26T13:10:00.001+05:30

Infrastructure as a Service (IAAS)

Vendors provide the infrastructure to build solutions, and you rent the hardware such as servers, load balancers, a firewall, and cables. You then configure these remotely and install your solutions on them. You can scale up by requesting more servers and reconfiguring the load balancer without purchasing more hardware. You can scale down at any time by reconfiguring the infrastructure you rented from the cloud service provider. This vendor approach is called Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) because a customer can rent the infrastructure without having to forecast and provision for the highest possible demand in advance. In this approach, you are responsible for correctly configuring the rented infrastructure.

Software as a Service (SAAS)

In another approach, you can rent a service offered by the vendor and then configure the service by using the interface provided by the vendor, without having to know what infrastructure the vendor uses to provide that service. This approach is called Software as a Service (SaaS) because you pay to use defined services. For example, Microsoft Exchange Online carries a per-mailbox charge. To configure it, you use a web application supplied by the vendor to request mailboxes, and name and dimension them. You receive a password for that user and nothing else is necessary—users can access their mailboxes immediately.

Platform as a Service (PASS)

The third approach is Platform as a Service, or PaaS. In this approach, you rent a platform on which you deploy your applications without configuring the infrastructure and without the limitations of the SaaS approach.

The Windows Azure platform fits best in the PaaS category, because it doesn’t provide access to the underlying virtualization environment or operating system details such as the network interface, IP configuration, and disk management.

Copied.

Windows Azure Step By Step -->

2013-06-26T12:50:00.002+05:30

What is Windows Azure ?

Windows Azure is an operating system, which is created for cloud computing. Like all operating systems, its purpose is to provide an abstraction from the physical hardware components and a set of services that every application can use.
In other words, Windows Azure has the same role as a traditional operating system on any hardware platform.

It also has many similarities to—as well as many differences from—a traditional file system. Unlike a traditional operating system such as Windows 7, which abstracts a single box with its CPU, hard disks, keyboard, mouse, and graphics cards, Windows Azure abstracts a set of servers, providing a common platform for building services and applications in a completely virtual environment. In this environment, you work with servers, but you do not install the application on server A or server B; you deploy an application, but not on a specific disk C or D; and you do not have to configure the network card or the virtual directory to expose your services.

Like traditional operating systems, Windows Azure exposes a way to store data, called local storage. However, this storage doesn’t consist of physical hard disks nor is it a traditional network share such as \\servername\sharename. Instead, Windows Azure provides shared storage. It provides CPU power—but not just the processors you can see when you open the case of a physical server. In fact, no one can see the actual disks or machines that host a Windows Azure solution; you just upload the application to the environment and let Windows Azure choose the best servers, disks, and load balancing strategies for a particular solution. You can describe your application’s needs in a logical way. For example, you can request 1 GB of local disk space to cache remote resources, but you cannot force Windows Azure to deploy your solution on a specific disk or server. You can specify that your application needs to listen for HTTPS requests on port 443, but you cannot configure the IP address of the virtual node.

Windows Azure you cannot install on locally, there is no installer available.

How to connect with Azure world ?

Open your browser and type address [www.windowsazure.com]

Click on Free Trial

Enter your Credit card details (Dont worry your data and card is safe with Microsoft - Note deduct 1.0 $ from your credit card).

After Setting up of your Windows Azure subscription, you have to open [manage.windowsazure.com] for managing your Azure.
Now you can start managing your Windows Azure.

With Windows Azure you can configure WebSite, Create Virtual Machines as per your requirement, you can start Mobile services , cloud services SQL database, Use Storage, the best thing you can create and manage your Active directory from here.

Ok, next i am going to sharing about IAAS, SAAS and PAAS.

Thanks comments awaited.

Enjoy on Microsoft Cloud.

OSD- SMSTS.LOG file locations -SCCM

2013-05-30T16:17:00.001+05:30

Hey friends,

If we are going to deploy Operating System SMSTS.LOG is very important to review. With smsts.log we can easily understand about our successful or unsuccessful deployment.

The SMSTS.LOG can be stored in one of 7 locations, depending on the stage of the build and the architecture of the OS:

WindowsPE, before HDD format: x:\windows\temp\smstslog\smsts.log

WindowsPE, after HDD format: x:\smstslog\smsts.log

Windows, SCCM agent not installed: c:\_SMSTaskSequence\Logs\Smstslog\smsts.log

Windows, SCCM agent installed: c:\windows\system32\ccm\logs\Smstslog\smsts.log

Windows x64, SCCM agent installed: c:\windows\sysWOW64\ccm\logs\Smstslog\smsts.log

Task Sequence completed: c:\windows\system32\ccm\logs\smsts.log

Task Sequence completed x64: c:\windows\sysWOW64\ccm\logs\smsts.log

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Copy Method -->SMSTS.LOG file to Config Manager Server

Common Errror -->

“Task Sequence: Windows 7 Image has failed with the error code (0×80070002). For more information, contact your system administrator or helpdesk operator. The computer will automatically restart in 15 minutes.”

When the Task Sequence: error code (0×80070002) pops up on the screen we need to press the F8 key on our keyboard to pull up command line.

Run the following set of commands in the command prompt to copy the smsts.log to our SCCM Server.

Map a drive from your SCCM server:

net use M: \\SCCMSERVERNAME\C$

Run the below syntax to copy the log file to the root of your SCCM server:

copy smstslog.log M:

Enjoy Troubleshooting..

:-) P

Windows 8 Deployment - Step 0 to Next

2013-04-03T16:09:00.004+05:30

Deploying Windows 8

With Windows 8, you can deploy custom builds to computers through manual and automated processes. To deploy Windows using manual processes, you need to create the required boot and installation images and optionally create recovery images. To automate the deployment process, you need to install Windows Deployment Services. Whether you use a completely manual process, a completely automated process, or some combination of the two, you’ll perform similar administrative tasks. These tasks require you to understand and use the Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (Windows ADK) for Windows 8 and Windows Deployment Services. The Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit for Windows 8 is available from the Microsoft Download Center (download.microsoft.com) and contains the tools for deploying Windows images, including

■ Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT)

■ The standard deployment and imaging tools

■ User State Migration Tool (USMT)

■ Volume Activation Management Tool (VAMT)

■ Windows Assessment Services

■ Windows Assessment Toolkit

■ Windows Performance Toolkit (WPT)

■ Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE)

You can use Windows Deployment Services to deploy Windows 8 over a network. You can add the Windows Deployment Services role to any server running Windows Server 2012.Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 use Windows PE 4.0. Windows PE 4.0 is a bootable startup environment that provides operating system features for the following:

■ Installation When you install Windows 8, the graphical tools that collect system information during the setup phase are running within Windows PE.

■ Deployment When a new computer performs a network boot, the built-in Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) client can connect to a Windows Deployment Services server, download a Windows PE image across the network, and then run deployment scripts within this environment.

■ Recovery Windows PE enables you to access and run the Startup Repair tool if Windows 8 fails to start because of a corrupted system file.

■ Troubleshooting You can manually start Windows PE to perform troubleshooting or diagnostics testing if Windows 8 is experiencing problems that can’t otherwise be diagnosed.

Introduction to Windows 8 Administration

Windows PE is modular and extensible, and it provides full access to partitions formatted using the FAT or NTFS file system. Because Windows PE is built from a subset of Windows components, you can run many Windows applications, work with hardware devices, and communicate across IP networks. Several command-line tools are available in Windows PE, including:

■ BCDBoot A tool that initializes the boot configuration data (BCD) store and allows you to copy boot environment files to the system partition.

■ Bootsect A tool for creating and working with boot sectors on hard disks and flash drives.

■ Copype A tool for creating a directory structure for Windows PE files and then copying the Windows PE media files. Running this tool is a prerequisite for creating bootable Windows PE media.

■ DiskPart A tool for creating and working with disks, partitions, and volumes.

■ DISM An advanced tool for servicing and maintaining images.

■ Drvload A support tool for adding device drivers and dynamically loading a driver after Windows PE has started.

■ ImageX A tool for capturing and applying Windows images.

■ Lpksetup A tool for adding and removing a language pack.

■ Makewinpemedia A tool for creating bootable Windows PE media.

■ Net A set of support commands that enables you to manage local users, start and stop services, and connect to shared folders.

■ Netcfg A tool that configures network access.

■ Oscdimg A tool for creating CD and DVD ISO image files.

■ Wpeinit A tool that initializes Windows PE every time it boots.

Copype and Makewinpemedia are new tools that allow you to more easily create bootable Windows PE media. You use Copype to set up the Windows PE build environment. After you optimize the build as necessary, you can use Makewinpemedia to create the bootable media, which can be a CD, DVD.

Windows Branding - Copy From my ITFORUM-

2013-02-10T14:22:00.002+05:30

Branding Components

Twice does Windows setup use an answer file to automate installation (“unattend.xml”); once during the initial SETUP.EXE phase, and once during the post-sysprep mini-setup phase. This is a critical component in complete branding as it includes native settings to handle much of the text-based configuration. It is also somewhat dynamic in that SCCM/MDT can update the unattend.xml during the build process with discovered information, thereby limiting the amount of additional scripting an administrator needs to do and resulting in a branding more tailored for the intended recipient. If you are not completely familiar with the unattend.xml and how it works, make sure you download the Windows 8 ADK so you have access to the Windows System Image Manager (Windows SIM). Also ensure you are familiar with the different configuration passes Windows makes during setup so you can place information correctly. I’ll cover where you can use the unattend.xml within the following Areas of Branding, and when referencing the subcomponents therein, I’ll be using the placeholder “xxxxx” instead of the individual component’s “amd64″, “wow64″ or “x86″ descriptor; you will need to adjust to match your environment.
Group Policy also plays a role, a minor and optional role, but one all the same. You can use Group Policies to change your branding from “default but changeable” to “mandatory” for your desktops. I’ll cover where you can implement Group Policy options when applicable.
Lastly, good old scripting. This is the workhorse for your branding efforts, and serves as the backbone of most deployment mechanisms. For almost every single configuration area, you’ll find yourself scripting a delivery method.

The Default User’s Profile

I will talk more about this in the upcoming sections, but in addition to branding over-all system areas, much of the branding happens within the user profile area. Because of this, it is important to understand what the “default user” (the non-existent user profile which forms the base for all future created user profiles) is. Different versions of Windows have had different methods of configuring this profile during a deployment scenario, but starting with Windows Vista, Microsoft focused on using the Local Administrator’s profile as the template. In a deployment, that profile is configured as desired prior to the mini-setup. It is not, however, the default behavior of Windows setup to use any template profile for the basis of future profiles. If you do not tell Windows specifically to do this, Windows will instead create a new generic profile based on settings found in a few different places. There is also only one way to tell Windows to use the local administrator’s profile as the default user template, and this is from the unattend.xml file.

unattend.xml
     Components
          4 specialize
               xxxxx_Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup_neutral
                    • CopyProfile

Make sure this is set or you will have unexpected results with each new user.

The Native OS Registry

Many areas will require you to make changes to the native Windows registry, which isn’t immediately accessible when you are in WinPE. You can load these registry hives while in WinPE using the REG command. The two files you will need are:

The native HKLM SOFTWARE hive:
?:\Windows\System32\Config\SOFTWARE
The default user HKU hive:
?:\Users\Default\NTUSER.DAT

To differentiate these loaded hives from the native, I’ll reference them as HKLM\WIN8LM and HKLM\WIN8U respectively.

Activation

Be aware that there are areas of customization not available or used if configured until Windows is activated. Those areas are noted in the following sections.

Areas Of Branding

There are five areas of branding available to you in Windows 8:

Registered Organization

With little exception, any time you manually install Windows or any application, they ask you for the Owner and Company name. When configured for Windows, this information serves as the default information for not only future application installations, but any time a user or company name is required. There are two locations to set organization information, one being the general Windows configuration, and the second being the IE configuration. Even if you’re not using IE as your desktop’s primary browser, its full integration with the OS means that many built-in components and third party applications will pull information from the IE settings so it is best to include the information there. This area also includes a generic Home Page URL location. It is a bit of a throw-back to the old days of single-windowed browsing, and most multi-tabbed browsers allow you to set multiple home pages, but this can still serve as go-to information for some components and is a good place to put your corporate support URL.

Configuration via Unattend.xml

This is the preferred and cleanest method for setting the information, and for the general Windows owner and company information, it can be set within the Generalize, Specialize, and OobeSystem sections, as appropriate for when you are applying your unattend.xml.

unattend.xml
     Components
          4 specialize
               xxxxx_Microsoft-Windows-IE-InternetExplorer_neutral
                    • CompanyName
                    • Home_Page
               xxxxx_Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup_neutral
                    • RegisteredOrganization
                    • RegisteredOwner

Configuration via Direct Registry Edit

Depending on your desktop deployment build process, you may find it preferable to set this information via a direct registry edit.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\WIN8LM\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\UnattendBackup\ActiveSetup\CompanyName
• CompanyName (REG_SZ)
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\WIN8LM\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\UnattendBackup\ActiveSetup\Home_Page
• Home_Page (REG_SZ)
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\WIN8LM\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion
• RegisteredOrganization (REG_SZ)
• RegisteredOwner (REG_SZ)

OEM Information

Although image branding (desktop / lock screen) is the most visible, OEM branding is much more integrated and gives companies the ability to customize the information displayed to the user when the Settings\Control Panel\System page (System page) is displayed. OEM Branding falls into two styles, which for this article I’ll reference as “Standard” and “Help Customized”. Figure: OEM Branding shows a typical “Standard” configuration. Under the “System” section, user is presented with the corporate logo, as well as information for Manufacturer and Model. Below, in a section named after your Manufacturer information is a Phone Number, Support Hours and the Website URL. “Help Customized” (no image shown) is a bit more complicated and outside the scope of this article, but summarized, it involves developing your own Help & Support file which integrates with Windows Help. When this approach is taken, the only thing the System page displays is your corporate logo with a Support Information link below it that when clicked opens the custom help file. You can find more information on developing custom Help & Support content on TechNet.

Configuration via Unattend.xml

This is the preferred and cleanest method for setting the information. There are a few items to note here. First, do not set HelpCustomized (or set it to False) or you will wind up with the “Help Customized” configuration as described above. Second, the Logo field needs a full path and file name to your corporate image (see “Required File System Changes” below). This can be either a hard coded path (e.g., “C:\Windows\…“) or an variable coded path (e.g., “%WinDir%\…“). The remaining fields are written without validation, so anything you add to the fields will be displayed as-is, with the exception of SupportURL which will become the link’s target.

unattend.xml
     Components
          4 specialize
               xxxxx_Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup_neutral
                    OEMInformation
                         • HelpCustomized
                         • Logo
                         • Manufacturer
                         • Model
                         • SupportHours
                         • SupportPhone
                         • SupportURL

Configuration via Direct Registry Edit

Depending on your desktop deployment build process, you may find it preferable to set this information via a direct registry edit. The same rules that govern the HelpCustomized and Logo entries within the unattend.xml apply to the direct registry placement.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\WIN8LM\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion
• Logo (REG_EXPAND_SZ)
• Manufacturer (REG_SZ)
• Model (REG_SZ)
• SupportHours (REG_SZ)
• SupportURL (REG_SZ)
• HelpCustomized (REG_DWORD)

Required File System Changes

Regardless of how you set this information, you will need to include your corporate logo. This image is a 120×120 pixel 32-bit depth BMP file. Although the file can be named and placed anywhere on your local system, there is a 259 character limit to the path and name, so best practices has you storing it in the following location:
?:\Windows\System32\oobe\info\info.bmp
You can find more information on the OEMInformation configuration on TechNet.

Lock Screen

The approach to the lock screen in Windows 7 was pretty straight forward, making use of the OEM configuration setting to place the image, then setting a value in the registry to ensure usage of the image. This approach still works, but there is also a new method of setting an image that is not tied to OEM configuration, but the default user profile instead. I will cover both methods; they do not conflict with each other so if you use both, you will not have any complications.

Image Configuration

Regardless of approach, the images used are the same. Unless you have an extremely homogeneous environment, you will be deploying your desktop image to multiple hardware platforms, and each platform will have different default resolution. You want your image to look correctly scaled on any resolution it is displayed on, and as such, you will need to create an separate image file for each resolution within your environment. I recommend you start with a “master” image, at a resolution of 1900×1200 pixels, and save this as a JPG file no larger than 256kb. Then for each target platform’s resolution, rework your master image to the new resolution and save it as a new file, again as a JPG and no larger than 256kb.

Common Monitor Resolutions
   • 900×1440
   • 960×1280
   • 1024×768
   • 1024×1280
   • 1280×768
   • 1280×800
   • 1280×1024
   • 1360×768
   • 1366×768
   • 1440×900
   • 1600×1200
   • 1920×1080
   • 1920×1200

Of course discovering resolutions for all your models may be time consuming, and it will not take into consideration future resolutions, so you may find it easier to just create some common resolutions, like those listed in the call-out box, and leave it at that. Keep in mind that many users have rotating monitors, which means that your image may be displayed in portrait instead of landscape: 1024×768 is much different than 768×1024.
One final design consideration for the image is the overall background color. Windows uses a white text, so if your image has too light a background, it will be difficult to see the clock/date displayed when the unit is locked.

OEM Approach

This approach involves talking all your scaled images and dropping them into a system folder. Windows will automatically pick the best resolution image as the display resolution changes, using a default image if a matching resolution image is not found.
With a copy of all your master images, rename each one to fit the pattern of backgroundWidthxHeight.jpg where Width and Height are replaced with the resolution dimensions (e.g., background1024x768.jpg). Pick one of the images (typically the largest resolution or the one that will scale best if you have not provided an exact match resolution image) and copy it to a new file named backgroundDefault.jpg. Copy all those files to the following location:
?:\Windows\System32\oobe\info\backgrounds
After this, you need to update the native registry to instruct Windows to use the OEMBackground:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\WIN8LM\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\LogonUI\Background
• OEMBackground=1 (REG_DWORD)

You can lock this down by using Group Policy as well:

Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\System\Logon
“Always use custom logon background”

Default User Approach

This approach involves taking all your scaled images and dropping them into a user-specific system folder. Windows will automatically search that folder for the file that matches the currently set resolution of the system. If it doesn’t find the file, a solid color is displayed instead.
With a copy of all your master images, rename each one to fit the pattern of LockScreen___Width_Height.jpg (three underscores after LockScreen) where Width and Height are replaced with the resolution dimensions of the image (e.g., LockScreen___1900x1200.jpg), but padded to be 4 digits long (i.e., if your image is 1024×768, the file name is LockScreen___1024x0768.jpg). Unlike the OEM methods, you do not need to create a default image. Create the folder structure listed below and copy all your files into it.
?:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\SystemData\S-1-5-18\ReadOnly\LockScreen_Z
Quick side note. Technically speaking, only one file, the one matching the current resolution, is needed within the LockScreen_Z folder. Windows isn’t enumerating all the files in the folder, only looking for a file named after the resolution currently active. But as these files are small, dumping all of them in does no harm and save you discovery and automation work. Second, each time the display resolution changes, Windows creates a new folder under the …\ReadOnly subfolder patterned as LockScreen_? where the question mark is replace by a single letter starting with Z and descending to A. If you have users that change resolution often, such as the case with a swivel monitor, you might consider pre-creating the LockScreen_Y as well and populating it with the correct resolution files.
Because “S-1-5-18” is the static SID for the Local Administrator’s account, this becomes a user-system folder and helps form the “default user profile”. No registry configurations are needed for this section.

Alternative User Images

Unless locked down by Group Policy, users can change their lock screen once Windows is activated. If they choose to do this, they are given a default selection of 5 images and allowed to upload their own. This also provides an additional area for corporate branding, providing alternative corporate images to the default one you have implemented.
?:\Windows\Web\Screen
This is the folder location that contains the images. These can be either JPG or PNG images, at a size which will scale down well (1900×1200), and at any file size (they do not adhere to the 256kb limit). These files have a specific naming convention, starting with “IMG”, followed by a number starting at 100, and ending with the correct file extension. Windows will start with IMG100 and ascend until all sequential images are displayed.

Using Group Policy to Disable Lock Screen Changes

If desired, you can restrict users from changing their background image via Group Policy. This setting has no configuration options other than Enabled or Disabled/Not Configured.

Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Control Panel\Personalization
“Prevent changing lock screen image”

Using Group Policy to Force a Specific Lock Screen Image

[Update: 12/20/12] The "Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 cumulative update: November 2012", which is comprised of several patches and updates (KB 2770917) introduced the ability to force a specific image for the Lock Screen. This image can be a local or network share image. Microsoft recommends a Dfs share for a network image for redundancy, but this obviously limits you to a single image for all display resolutions. If you select a local file, although all units will point to the same local file, you can point to a common-named image that is specifically placed on the local computer that matches that unit's display resolution, exactly as you would do with the defaultBackground.jpg image in the OEM Approach (if you take that approach, you could specify that file within the Group Policy).

Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Control Panel\Personalization
"Force a specific default lock screen image"

Start Screen

The internet is filled with conversations over customizing the Start Screen. Most of the original conversation threads focused around hacks to change the color, then pick one of the included image patterns, and finally to using your own image. I’ll say up front that I only cover changing what Microsoft has made available for change, and as with all other sections, I do not include any 3rd party utilities or other file-hacking methods.
The Start Screen is simply a solid color with an “accent” patterned overlaying it; nothing more, there is no “image”. Software you see that promises to use a custom image are performing a trick by which they are displaying an image over the solid background but under the tiles; it is not actually there, it only is visible while the utility is running, and the utility must be run on each user logon. What you can change is the solid color and the accent image.

Color

Microsoft provides 24 stock color schemes you can use. These corresponds to the image bar below. Please not that regardless of which method you use to set this, you need to use the decimal value; the registry will have a default view of the HEX value.
The desired method of changing this is using the unattend.xml:

unattend.xml
     Components
          7 oobeSystem
               xxxxx_Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup_neutral
                    VisualEffects
                         • SystemDefaultBackgroundColor

This can also be set via the registry. Note that this is set at a per-user level, so you are updating the default user profile.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\WIN8U\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Accent
• ColorSet_Version3 (REG_DWORD)

The Accent Overlay

Microsoft provides 19 overlays, and a “no overlay” option for just a solid color background. Changing the color scheme does not change the accent overlay colors. You cannot alter the overlays or add any of your own. At this time, the only method of changing the accent overlay is via the registry. Note that this is a per-user setting.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\WIN8U\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Accent
• AccentId_v8.00 (REG_DWORD)

The value will match the following values, shown in their decimal form.

Although you cannot seem to choose the default accent overlay except via the registry, you can disable the overlay via Group Policy:

Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Desktop Window Manager
“Use solid color for Start background”

One thing to note is that regardless of your direct registry selection, the accent overlay change will not take affect until Windows is activated.

Locking the Start Background

As noted above, you can set the color via unattend.xml or the registry, and the accent overlay only via the registry. But you can lock users from changing the color scheme and overlay via group policy:

Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Control Panel\Personalization
“Prevent changing start menu background”

Interestingly enough, this just removes the graphical ability; any user with registry access can change the value and subsequently the color and accent.

Desktop

If you are familiar with the methods of setting this in Windows 7, you will recognize this in Windows 8 as nothing has changed. Review the Image Configuration information from the above Lock Screen section as you will follow the same development principals.
Unlike the Lock Screen where you used all the images, for the desktop you only use one. That image must match your target’s display resolution as Windows will not scale it, and it must match the file format and size as you are replacing system files.
Windows 8 uses a single default desktop background image for all profiles. That file is called img0.jpg and is in several places on your local computer. Because this is a system file, you must change it in not only the easy to find location, but any system file backup location. The system file backup location is in a subfolder under ?:\Windows\winsxs and is cryptically named to meet the Windows CPU platform, Windows component, and service pack version. This means that it can vary from computer to computer. An example of found locations would be as below, where the first path is the easy one, and the second is the system backup.
?:\Windows\web\wallpaper\windows
?:\Windows\winsxs\xxxxx_microsoft-windows-s..l-wallpaper-windows_[Ver]
Because of this, it is best to not attempt a direct replacement, but rather query your local file system and update as found. A quick WMI query to return the locations is as follows:
SELECT Path FROM CIM_DataFile WHERE FileName=”img0” AND Extension=”jpg” and Drive=”?:”
The update process is as follows: Query your local system for each instance of img0.jpg. For each instance found, take your correctly sized image, rename it to img0.jpg, and replace the native file.

Locking the Desktop Wallpaper

You can lock users out of changing the desktop wallpaper via Group Policy:

User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Control Panel\Personalization
“Prevent changing desktop background”

Account Profile

The last area of branding are the Account Pictures. First introduced with Windows Vista, these have matured from the more simplistic smaller images to more dynamic profile objects that are used quite extensively within Windows.
The two figures to the right show two versions of the Account Picture. Figure: Profile Large shows the image as it appears on the lock screen, while Figure: Profile Small shows it as it appears on the Start Screen. Although a user is unable to change their account picture until Windows is activated, you can set the default images displayed ahead of time.
If you do use the GUI to change the account picture, Windows will create scaled images to match the display need. This can result in the single image looking incorrect at one of the scaled sized. As you can see from the figures however, you are not actually bound to a single account picture.
Three images are used by Windows for the default Account Pictures. These image default as all PNG files at a depth of 32-bit. Although not immediately clear when interacting with Windows, the three sizes are 448×448 pixels, 200×200 pixels, and 40×40 pixels. Figure: Profile Large, although displayed at logon and when you are personalizing the profile is at a 200×200 pixel size, it is actually 448×448 pixels and subsequently scaled down. Figure: Profile Small is actually the 40×40 pixels image. Create your master images to match as follows:

File Name	File Type	Diminsions	Bit Depth
GUEST.BMP	Bitmap	488×488	32-bit
GUEST.PNG	PNG	488×488	32-bit
USER.BMP	Bitmap	488×488	32-bit
USER.PNG	PNG	488×488	32-bit
USER-200.PNG	PNG	200×200	32-bit
USER-40.PNG	PNG	40×40	32-bit

Very similar to the desktop’s img0.jpg described in the Desktop section, all of the PNG files are system files located in both an easy to find common folder, and a more difficult system backup folder:
?:\ProgramData\Microsoft\User Account Pictures
?:\Windows\winsxs\xxxxx_microsoft-windows-usertiles-client_[Ver]
Therefore, as with the Desktop image, a query/replace approach is best:
SELECT Path FROM CIM_DataFile WHERE FileName=”[filename]” AND Extension=”png” and Drive=”?:”
Where [filename] is replaced with “USER”, “GUEST”, “USER-200″ and “USER-40″ in succession. This leaves you with the two BMP files, which you place into the ..\User Account Pictures directory, overwriting the images currently there.

Locking the Account Picture

As with other sections, you can user Group Policy to keep users from changing their account pictures.

User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Control Panel\User Accounts
“Apply the default account picture to all users”

Conclusion

There are quite a few tasks that must be done to fully brand your desktop with the corporate identity. The most daunting and time consuming is development of the lock screen and desktop backgrounds as scale-sensitive items such as logos, photos, and text can go from looking polished to looking amateur quickly. Back-filling an in-production or post-setup desktop build is extremely difficult, so a higher attention to configuration timing during deployment is needed. Scripting and automation are absolutely your best friends here, shrinking the time taken to incorporate all these components to seconds while giving your build the ability to dynamically change environmental settings as needed. Windows 8 may have introduced many challenges to administrators, but corporate branding doesn’t need to be one of them.

Comparison Chart for SCCM 2007 and SCCM 2012

2012-12-21T11:47:00.001+05:30

Comparison Chart for SCCM 2007 and SCCM 2012

Faced lots of Interviews with different companies, most of interviewer asked common questions, like what is the advance and difference between SCCM2012 and SCCM 2007. 8 months back I have starts working on SCCM 2012 and Still working on SCCM 2007 too. So I find some cool features on SCCM 2012 and create one table and updates when I found more features.

Its help me to give answers to my interviewer also.

Will Update Regularly

Features	SCCM 2007	SCCM 2012
Automatic Client Health Remediation	N	Y
Self Service Portal	N	Y
Uninstallation Software via Software Center	N	Y
Distribution Points Group	N	Y
Boundary Group	N	Y
Automatic Software Update Deployment rules	N	Y
Automatic clean-up superseded and expired software updates	N	Y
Collection based Policies	N	Y
Interactive and Upgraded Reporting Features	N	Y
Automatic Boundary and forest Discovery	N	Y
Non Windows Mobile Device Management	N	Y
Endpoint Protection	N	Y
Application Catalog Server role	N	Y
Interactive Management Console	N	Y

Thanks and if you can update please let me know.

Thanks.

SCCM 2007 Supports Extended

2012-12-03T09:51:00.003+05:30

Ok .. Here is good news Microsoft has extend the date of SCCM 2007. This is good news for those people who is not ready for upgrade their environment right now or they wont upgrade for while.

Check the full Details here.

http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/search/default.aspx?sort=PN&alpha=System%20Center%20Configuration%20Manager&Filter=FilterNO Read Here

Microsoft Office 2013 Preview

2012-11-28T12:55:00.004+05:30

Now Office 2013 launched recently, now its not available for users may be its available for User after 1st or 2nd month of 2013.

Personally I like office 2013, Metro looks and ready for touch screens. Multi colored Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook. Each app supports a new color-coded start screen—blue for Word, green for Excel, orange for PowerPoint, green for Publisher.

Like the other applications’ start screens, the one for Word displays a list of recent documents. Though creating a blank
document is the default option, you can alternatively select a template, search online for templates, or click Open Other Documents to search for a document on disk or in a SkyDrive folder. These screens will help new users find their way around more easily, and experienced users will appreciate having all of their options in one place at startup. The top right of the screen shows details of the SkyDrive account that you are currently logged in to use.

SkyDrive Integration
Wow , the next feature I like personally and I know like too , Office 2013 is designed to integrate with the cloud—with SkyDrive and SharePoint, in particular. That’s good news if you prefer to save your work online for anywhere-access, though most small businesses and individuals still save files locally. If you use SkyDrive, the account details will appear in the top left corner of all the application screens, as well as on their start screens. Click your account details to switch accounts and to manage them. When you save a document, worksheet, or presentation, the application will default to saving to your SkyDrive account, but you can save to your local disk if you wish.

PDF Editing
In the past you could save a Word document as a PDF file, but until now you couldn’t edit PDFs in Word without first converting them to Doc or DocX format. The new Word 2013 can open PDF files, edit them there, and then save them as either DocX files or PDFs. When opened in Word, the file retains the structure of the PDF file, even for elements such as tables. This advance will be a big plus for many users, who can simply open a PDF and get straight to work.

Setting Up Domain Controller With Windows Server 2012 Part2

2012-11-08T11:40:00.003+05:30

In Previous Post we have seen how to install Windows 2012 Server.Here is the next part of that document , how to configure ADDS role.

OK , Now on Windows 2012 Server dcpromo has been deprecated

In order to make the windows server 2012 domain controller we will install ADDS (Active Directory Domain Services) role from the server manager on Windows Server 2012. Provide logical name to server and setup IP Address.

The Changing of name of the server is same method,

Ok Next we are going to Install AD Role, open Server Manager.

Here is the Steps, which was already we used before,

On Installation Type page, select the first option “Role-based or Feature-based Installation“.

On the “Server Selection” Page, select a server from the server pool and click next.

To install AD DS, select Active Directory Domain Services in turn it will pop-up to add other ADDS related tools. Click on Add Features.

After clicking “Add Features” above, you will be able to click “Next >” as shown in the screen below.

On the “Select Features” Page, Group Policy Management feature automatically installed during the promotion. Click next.

On the “Active Directory Domain Services” page, it gives basic information about AD DS. Click Next

On the “Confirmation” Page, You need to confirm this to continue with this configuration. It will provide you an option to export the configuration settings and also if you want the server to be restarted automatically as required,

After clicking “Install” the selected role binaries will be installed on the server.

After “Active Directory Domain Services” role binaries have been installed and now it is time to promote the server to a Domain Controller.

The Next part Coming Soon,

74% of organizations have no plans to deploy Windows 8 !!!!!!!

2012-11-07T10:55:00.002+05:30

Its copied from Tech Republic

Rejected: 74% of organizations have no plans to deploy Windows 8

By Bill Detwiler

November 1, 2012, 9:03 AM PDT

Takeaway: TechRepublic’s Windows 8 Business Intentions study reveals that 74% of businesses have no plans to deploy Windows 8, and the new, touch-centric user interface is a driving factor in the decision.

Microsoft Windows chief Steven Sinofsky has described Windows 8 as “a generational change” the likes of which hasn’t been made since Windows 95. With Windows 8, Microsoft hopes to move its flagship OS beyond the PC into the fast-growing tablet market. But, according to TechRepublic Pro and ZDNet research, Microsoft hasn’t convinced many IT decision makers that Windows 8 is an essential OS upgrade.
In October 2012, we asked TechRepublic members to share with us their organization’s plans for Windows 8. Over 1,200 people responded, and we compiled the data into our Windows 8 Business Intentions report. The following are five key takeaways from the report.

73.7 percent of respondents say their organizations have no plans to deploy Windows 8, with 23.8 percent reporting that they will skip the OS altogether. By comparison, a 2009 ScriptLogic survey (PDF) found that 59.3 percent of 1,100 respondents had no current plans to deploy Windows 7.

Only 15.8 percent of respondents who run Windows XP or an earlier version as their organization’s primary OS say they plan to deploy Windows 8. This is far below the 29.7 percent of those running Windows 7 and the 50 percent of those running Windows Vista who plan to deploy Windows 8.

Security and tablet/mobile integration top the list of factors rated important by respondents who plan to deploy Windows 8. 61.2 percent of respondents rated tablet/mobile integration a 4 or 5 in importance.
The Windows 8 style UI and associated end-user training requirements are off-putting to many respondents. 41.4 percent of respondents rated the Metro user interface (now called the Windows 8 style or Modern style UI) as very important to their company’s decision not to deploy Windows 8. Open-ended responses from those without plans to deploy Windows 8 further illustrate respondents’ concerns with the new UI.

The number of respondents in Australia, Canada, Europe, and the US with plans to deploy Windows 8 was lower than in China, India, and Southeast Asia. Of all the regions, the US was lowest, with just 24.6 percent of respondents reporting current deployment plans.

These are just a few of the data points the study uncovered. The full Windows 8 Business Intentions: Deployment Plans, Driving Factors, Roadblocks, and Strategies includes the following:

A breakdown of Windows 8 deployment plans by organization size, primary geographic location, and industry sector
An in-depth look at the factors important in the decision to deploy Windows 8, such as upgrade price, administration tools, and cloud integration
Additional analysis of the driving factor behind the decision not to deploy Windows 8, such as time, resource, and budget constraints
A look at the business leaders involved in making the Windows 8 deployment decision
A complete breakdown of deployment strategies — staggered, mass deployment, or hardware refresh
Information on the percentage of computers that organizations will move to Windows 8

Download the full Windows 8 Business Intentions report.

More TechRepublic Pro original research on the horizon

TechRepublic Pro, TechRepublic’s premium service, provides information that IT leaders need to solve today’s toughest IT problems and make informed decisions. The Windows 8 Business Intentions: Deployment Plans, Driving Factors, Roadblocks, and Strategies report is the first of many original pieces of research we’re working on. In the coming months, we’ll look at big data, machine-to-machine (M2M) technology, SMB IT innovation, managing a mobile enterprise, and more.
While Windows 8 Business Intentions is free for all TechRepublic and ZDNet members, future reports will be reserved for TechRepublic Pro members or available for one-off purchase through the TechRepublic store. Visit www.techrepublic.com/pro for information on becoming a member.

Windows 2012 Server Installation and Configuration Part1

2012-10-25T12:03:00.000+05:30

Configuring Network Access Account on SCCM 2012

2012-10-12T10:49:00.001+05:30

Configure the Network Access Account in SCCM 2012

The Network Access Account in SCCM is used by client machines to talk back to SCCM systems and access network resources, as the Local System account on each workstation can’t do this.
Since installing SCCM 2012 I’ve been hunting around like a maniac for the right spot to set up this account, because it’s not in the same logical spot as it is in SCCM 2007. I finally stumbled across it today, and instantly started to write this blog post – partly so that other people don’t have to share my pain, but also so that I know exactly where to look when I invariably forget again in the future
To set up the Network Access Account in SCCM 2012, go to the Administration pane, expand Site Operations and click on Sites:

SCCM 2012 Network Access Account - Sites

Then, right-click on the Site you want to set up the account for, and select “Software Distribution“:

SCCM 2012 Network Access Account - Software Distribution

Then, click on the “Network Access Account” tab and enter the details of an appropriate user account:

SCCM 2012 Network Access Account - Credentials

And that’s it – it’s easy once you know where to look

Comparison Chart -SMS2003 /SCCM 2007 /SCCM 2012

2012-09-12T14:53:00.000+05:30

Features	SMS2003	SCCM2007	SCCM 2012
Hardware & Software Inventory	ü	ü	ü
Automatic Client Health Remediation			ü
Software Distribution	ü	ü	ü
Computer based targeting	ü	ü	ü
User based targeting		ü*P	ü
State-based Application Distribution			ü
Self-service portal			ü
App-V Package Deployment		ü	ü
Xen-App Package Deployment			ü
Uninstallation via Software Center			ü
User-Device Affinity			ü
Distribution Point Groups			ü
Boundary Groups			ü
Application Revision History			ü
Content Management			ü
Software Updates	ITMU	Via WSUS	Via WSUS
3^rd party application		ü	ü
Automatic Software Updates Deployment Rules			ü
Automatic clean-up of Superseded and Expired Updates			ü
Software Metering	ü	ü	ü
Collection-based Policies			ü
Remote Administration	Remote Tools	Remote Tools & Remote Desktop	Remote Tools + Ctrl-Alt-Del
Reporting	Basic	Basic & SQL Reporting	SQL Reporting Services
Administrator Console	ü	ü	ü
User-friendly ribbon			ü
Status reporting		ü*P	ü
Agent Managed	ü	ü	ü
Integrate with Active Directory	ü	ü	ü
Automatic Boundary Discovery			ü
Forest Discovery			ü
Discovery of Computers	ü	ü	ü
Operating System Deployment		ü	ü
Offline Servicing of OS Image			ü
Task Sequence		ü	ü
Maintenance Windows		ü	ü
Desired Configuration Management		ü	ü
Automatic Remediation of Configuration Drift			ü
Internet Based Client Management		ü	ü
Integration with Windows Server 2008 Network Access Protection		ü	ü
Intel vPro Intergration		ü SP1	ü
Role-based Access Control			ü
Power Management		ü R3	ü
User Power Management Opt-out			ü
Windows Mobile Device Management		ü	ü
Non-Windows Mobile Device Management			ü

New Microsoft Exams .... :)

2012-09-11T14:14:00.002+05:30

MCTS: System Center 2012

70-243 Administering and Deploying System Center 2012 Configuration Manager
As mentioned earlier this is just for ConfigMgr 2012. The other System Center 2012 products are bundled in the Microsoft Private Cloud exams.

MCSE: Microsoft Private Cloud

70-246 Monitoring and Operating a Private Cloud with System Center 2012
70-247 Configuring and Deploying a Private Cloud with System Center 2012
All System Center 2012 products (except ConfigMgr 2012) are bundled in these exams. More information about both exams HERE
More information: Microsoft Learning

MCSA: Windows Server 2012

70-410 Installing and Configuring Windows Server 2012
70-411 Administering Windows Server 2012
70-412 Configuring Advanced Windows Server 2012 Services
The MCSA: Windows Server 2012 certification shows that you have the primary set of Windows Server skills that are relevant across multiple solution areas in a business environment.
More information: Microsoft Learning

MCSE: Server Infrastructure

70-413 Designing and Implementing a Server Infrastructure
70-414 Implementing an Advanced Server Infrastructure
The MCSE: Server Infrastructure certification validates your ability to build comprehensive server infrastructure solutions.
More information: Microsoft Learning

MCSE: Desktop Infrastructure

70-415 Implementing a Desktop Infrastucture
70-416 Implementing Desktop Application Environments
The MCSE: Desktop Infrastructure certification validates your skills in desktop virtualization, remote desktop services and application virtualization.
70-417 Upgrading Your Skills to MCSA Windows Server 2012
If you have an MCSA: Windows Server 2008 certification, you may take Exam 417 to upgrade to the MCSA: Windows Server 2012.
More information: Microsoft Learning

MCSA: Windows 8

70-687 Configuring Windows 8
At the moment this is the only Windows 8 exam available.
70-689 Upgrading Your Skills to MCSA Windows 8 (not yet released)
The MCSA: Windows 7 certification allows you to upgrade to the MCSA: Windows 8 certification, by taking a single upgrade exam (689 – not yet released).

Want to See your Product Key --> Checked

2012-06-21T12:23:00.002+05:30

Today i am deploying Windows 8 CP with MDT 2012 and i faced Wrong key issue in LAB. After 1hour i found this file , and use above key ...and its working for me...
Thats cool ....

Surface By Microsoft --> Must See

2012-06-21T09:08:00.001+05:30

A tablet that's a unique expression of entertainment and creativity. A tablet that works and plays the way you want. A new type of computing. Surface.

From touch to type, office to living room, from your screen to the big screen, you can see more, share more, and do more with Surface.
Create, collaborate, and get stuff done with Office.
Explore your world with fast, fluid Windows 8 apps.
Discover new music, movies, and games in the Windows Store.

Microsoft's home cooked tablet is a very thin cookie: the non-Pro version is only 9.3mm thick (a little less than the iPad), 1.5 pounds (a little more than iPad), and packs a 10.6-inch, 16:9 "ClearType" 1920 x 1080 display, available with either 32 or 64 GB of storage. ClearType is definitely aiming for a Retina connotation, although Microsoft's screen falls short of Apple's 264 pixels per inch at 208.

Inside, Surface packs tablet standards like front and rear-facing cameras, an SD slot, and a full-sized USB port, along with some neat tricks: magnesium casing, DisplayPort out, Gorilla Glass, a kickstand (hmm) and a subtle groove around the entirety of the device to help keep the Pro version cool. Microsoft also claims Surface will have the best Wi-Fi reception of any tablet, ever, with 2x2 MIMO antennae—in plain english, wireless antennae that are harder to block while you're holding the thing.
Depending on who you are, but Surface, like everything Windows, will come in two flavors. The aforementioned super-skinny variant runs Windows RT on an ARM processor (like the one in your phone, or most other tablets), while the Pro copy runs an Ivy Bridge Core i5 x86 processor, USB 3.0, and other ultrabook-y specs. It'll be a little thicker (13.5mm) and heavier, though not by much. The Pro Surface will be available with either 64 or 128 GB of storage.

Surface is designed specifically for Windows 8's best tricks: it'll support semantic zoom (awesome!), a stylus (not awesome!), while providing a perfectly superflat frame for the perfectly superflat Metro UI. Only the Pro version will run the standard Windows desktop, the full OS, meaning requisite software like Office and Photoshop are on the go with you. The RT brother will only roll with Metro "apps," meaning tablet standards like Netflix. The Pro should be the best of both computing worlds, we'd hope.
The Surface can be paired with a magnetic cover, just like the iPad's. They come in a Crayola box of colors, just like the iPad's. But the Surface's cover also doubles as a full, extremely thin keyboard and multitouch trackpad, whereas the iPad's is just... a cover. This is a brilliant move on Microsoft's part—one of the most clever things it's ever squeezed out, and something that instantly makes Surface one of the most exciting devices we've eyed in some time. Not just another black rectangle.
Unfortunately, no word on pricing (beyond a meaningless claim of "competitive"). Expect to pay tablet-ish prices for the RT version, laptop prices for the Pro version—probably right around the MacBook Air. As far as availability, we only know the RT will launch alongside Windows 8, and the Ivy Bridge super-version 90 days later. Hey look, a company that isn't Apple just built something awesome.

Click Here to know more

MDT Credential Error - 800704C3

2012-06-20T15:55:00.002+05:30

If you are facing this error on MDT 2012,

Error code no. 800704C3 invalid credential issue, don't worry. here is the resolution.

don't open your shares with OPC name ,if your PC name is like SERVER.

commonly used by people - \\server\deploymentshare\script\litetouch.vbs.

use IP address instead of Server name.

Thanks ...

Why Metro now rules at Microsoft ..??

2012-06-19T11:45:00.002+05:30

Click Here

http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-57370910-75/why-metro-now-rules-at-microsoft/

Win 8 Some excellent Shortcuts...

2012-06-15T15:07:00.003+05:30

Hotkeys
Pressing the Windows key and some specific keys can make you life easier. Here are some useful shortcuts:

Windows + X : pseudo start menu.
Windows + C : Windows QuickMenu. Same as dragging you mouse to the lower right corner.
Windows + M : Minimize all apps and show the desktop, including Metro apps.(does not toggle).
Windows + D : Show the desktop (toggles).
Windows + F : search for files
Windows + Q : search for apps (My first response was why a separate search…then I thought about metro and how it is tiled and not a shortcut per-se. Not sure if that is why, but seams reasonable).
Windows + 1 through 0 : toggles between your apps you have open in the taskbar
Windows and then start typing : switches to Start and launches the app search with the letters you typed.

Say Thanks if you like..