Tag: Windows 8.1

WS2012 R2 Hyper-V Manager Can Be Used With WS2012 Hyper-V

Most everything we get told at MVP Summit is under NDA, but this is an exception.  In fact, Ben Armstrong asked a few of us to blog about this last night at the Summit party.

The new generation of Hyper-V Manager (Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1) can be used to manage Hyper-V of the most recent generation (Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8). 

This is a first for Hyper-V.  We’ve always needed to use a matching version of Hyper-V Manager on our PC.  For example, you needed RSAT for Windows 7 to manage W2008 R2 Hyper-V from your PC.  Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1 introduced an anomaly; Windows 8.1 is a free upgrade from Windows 8 so it was expected that many administrators would upgrade their PCs.  However, Windows server is not a free upgrade and businesses are often slower to upgrade servers OSs, even on hosts.  This could lead to a situation where an IT department upgrades their PCs but could no longer use their shiny new 8.1 Hyper-V Manager to manage their recently new WS2012 hosts.

The new Hyper-V Manager won’t do anything noticeably different (with one tiny exception for the eagle-eyed) when you use it normally.  The GUI calls either the 2012 or the 2012 R2 binaries depending on the generation of the host you are configuring.  That teeny exception?  Hyper-V snapshots will appear as “snapshots” in the UI for 2012 hosts, and they’ll appear as “checkpoints” (the new term to cause less confusion) for 2012 R2 hosts.

There is one thing to be careful of and this will affect very few people.  A few people launch the connect tool by running the executable directly.  I’ve only ever done this by accident when searching for “Hyper-V” on Windows 8/8.1.  I normally launch connect from Hyper-V Manager or Failover Cluster Manager.  If you do run this tool directly, then you need to run VMCONNECT.EXE for the older host versions and run VMCONNECT.6.2.EXE for VMs running on Windows 8.1 or Windows Server 2012 R2 hosts.

Note that everything I have said here for Hyper-V Manager also applies to Failover Cluster Manager.  The clustering team used the same approach as the Hyper-V team.

And no, you cannot manage legacy versions such as W2008 R2.  This is because of significant changes to the underlying WMI; WS2012 introduced WMIv2.

And before you ask: you need VMM 2012 R2 to manage WS2012 R2 Hyper-V from System Center.

What I Want In A Windows 8.1 Touch Ultrabook

I’m shopping for a new Ultrabook at the moment to last me for the next 2 years and … well … I’m not very happy.  Let me list my requirements:

Haswell Processor

I want a 4th generation Intel Core i processor in my next computer.  I’m depressed by how many 3rd generation CPUs, Intel Celerons and even Pentiums are being sold on the market.  Seriously!?!?!  And OEMs wonder why their sales are falling?  They’re selling lots of shit!

I’m not even after an i7.  An i5 meets my requirements quite happily.

One of the benefits of Haswell: Miracast.

4-8 GB RAM

Nothing fancy there.  I don’t demo from my laptop any more because that’s impossible.

1920 * 1080 screen resolution

Unless you are a golden eagle, a 3200 * 1200 resolution screen will be pretty useless.  When you have to use Windows 8.1 scaling to make the screen usable, effectively bringing the screen resolution down, then mad screens make absolutely no sense to anyone but laptop bloggers and marketers.  Not to mention that the price of these mad Ultrabooks then gets pushed beyond an unrealistic €1800.

Touch

Yeah, I want a touch laptop.  I’ve ruled out otherwise superb machines as my next ultrabook because they don’t have a touch option.

Digitizer Support

Onenote is important to me.  But there are times when I need to draw … whiteboarding, or while taking notes.  No, the camera is not sufficient, otherwise I would, you know, use the camera.

Decent Keyboard

I write quite a bit.  Wet newspaper keyboards such as in the Acer S7 need not apply.

Full-Sized Touch Pad

I want a full sized touch pad with the buttons at the base.  Simple.  And I want a decent driver that is tuned by default to ignore accidental swipes while typing.  And I want the option to turn off Windows 8x gestures.

9+ Hours Battery

We were promised that Haswell processors would had 50% to battery life.  For the most part, the announced machines have not improved battery life.  It seems like the OEMs have cut corners to reduce costs, so 5-7 hours is often the advertised max.  Yes, there are exceptions, but they are exceptions. No need for you to contact me.

VGA

We live in a HDMI world.  Except we don’t.  I present for a living.  Only once have I had to option of connecting to a projector with something other than VGA – and that was because we especially brought in a high end projector to sell it at a trade show!  EVERY hotel and office I’ve been too only offers VGA.  Dongles cannot be depended upon, as I saw again yesterday when I had to borrow a laptop to present at E2EVC Rome.

Full-sized HDMI slot

Micro-HDMI slots are too loose.  Just give me a full sized slot so the cable doesn’t pop out if the dog next door barks.

256 GB SSD

128 GB is not enough.  No, I cannot live in the cloud because the cloud is not everywhere.

SD card slot

An absolute necessity for transfers from camera at speed.  I would love the card to be completely recessed into the machine, like in a camera.  That would make it almost like additional storage.

2 * USB 3.0

Why are companies putting USB 2.0 ports into their machines these days?

RJ45

Not a deal breaker, but I often have to connect to wired networks and once again, dongles cannot be relied upon.

Light & Thin

This is feasible, even with RJ45 and VGA as past Samsung models have shown.  My laptop needs to fit into my Airport Accelerator camera bag without catching the attention of cabin baggage size hawks at the airport.

TPM

I like to secure my laptop.

Support for Windows 8.1

Would you like to join me in the present?

SD card slot

An absolute necessity for transfers from camera at speed.  I would love the card to be completely recessed into the machine, like in a camera.  That would make it almost like additional storage.

Drivers

Share your drivers on your website.  Don’t make me install some crapware to download drivers.

Windows Product Key & Media

This one might be for MSFT.  I should have the right to create recovery media and install my machine.  Please include my product key either on the computer or on the PSU.  You listening Asus?

Other Stuff

After all that you can do your fancy screen twists, turns, disconnects, doo dads and all that jazz, but give me the option of a normal laptop too.

PRICE

How could I forget the price.  In an era when the APPLE MACBOOK AIR has become THE BUDGET OPTION for Ultrabook-style laptops, then you know that things are all messed up.  Nuff said.

—

I bet I am not alone in wanting the above.  But unfortunately, not one computer meets all those requirements.  Hell, it’s near impossible to even find a machine with Windows 8.1 and Haswell CPUs in the channel!!!  I know; I’ve looked!  I’ve gotten close.  Some otherwise great Ultrabooks fail my test for lack of touch.  It’s gotten so bad that I’ve considered a Macbook Air.  Right now, the Lenovo Yoga 2 is the best candidate, but it fails lots of my requirements too.

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Event: TechCamp 2013 Windows & System Center Mailshots Begin

Thanks to my employers, and sponsors of TechCamp 2013, MicroWarehouse, a shiny nice mailshot for the Windows Server 2012 R2, System Center 2012 R2, and Windows 8.1 community launch event went out today.

A special thank you to John who is working like mad on this event.

Business people group at meeting seminar presentation

Anyone can register for this 2-track community launch event.  In fact, we are recommending that more than 1 person comes from a company so that they each attend a track and share notes.

Even if you cannot go, please remember it’s a community event.  So help spread the word!!!  RT on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, smoke signals … it’s all appreciated.

Sick Of The Accidental App Switching When You Try To Click The File Menu?

Imagine this scenario: you’re working in the desktop on Windows 8 or Windows 8.1, maybe using Office.  You go to click the File Menu with the mouse/trackpad, scroll too far and that little app switching tile appears and you accidentally click on it.  Annoyed?  A little.  Do it over and over?  Probably.  Annoyance increasing?  Positively.

Windows 8.1 has a fix.  Right-click the taskbar, select Properties, and go to the Navigation tab.  Clear the When I Click The Top Left Corner check box, and click OK.  Problem solved. 

image

So how do you change apps now?  You have two options:

  • ALT+TAB on the keyboard.
  • Windows+TAB on the keyboard.
  • Move your mouse to the bottom-left and slide it up.

Of course, touch will not be affected by this setting.

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Event: TechCamp2013 – Learn About Windows Server & System Center 2012 R2 And Windows 8.1 (Dublin)

I’m delighted to announce that on November 28th in City West Hotel (just outside the M50 in Dublin), there will be a community launch of:

  • Windows Server 2012 R2
  • System Center 2012 R2
  • Windows 8.1 (in the business)

For all intents and purposes, this is the launch of the next generation of infrastructure products in Ireland.  Community launch means that you’re getting independent experts telling you the facts about these products.  The experts are Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs), including:

  • Myself
  • Damian Flynn
  • Paul Keely
  • Kevin Greene
  • Niall Brady

All the details can be found on the event website at http://techcamp2013.wordpress.com/.  The site isn’t finished yet, but I was keen to get information out to you ASAP.  More event, speaker and sponsor information will be added in the coming days. 

You can also follow @techcamp2013 on Twitter to keep up with the latest news.

We’re really excited to present this event to you.  We really hope to see you there!

Notes:

  • There is a small registration fee but all proceeds are going to a worthy tech-related charity
  • The event will be held once in Dublin and will not be repeated or travel.  This is too big of an event to take on the road.
  • We’ve deliberately selected a location outside of the city to make travel easier for long distance travellers.
  • The location, City West Hotel, has pretty economic accommodation and we’ve listed some nearby hotels that offer good rates on the site.
  • There will be no streaming of the event.

Agenda:

This is a two-track event so I’d strongly recommend that you come in pairs, maybe taking and sharing notes in OneNote or whatever your favourite note-taking tool is.

Time

Windows Server & System Center

Windows 8.1 & Device Management

09:00-09:40

Keynote

Speaker: Dave Northey, Microsoft

Learn how the entire package from Microsoft fits together

09:45-11:00

Windows Server 2012 R2

Speaker: Aidan Finn, MVP

What does WS2012 R2 bring to virtualisation, cloud, storage and networking?

Windows 8.1 in the Business

Speaker: Damian Flynn, MVP

How Windows 8.1 Pro and Enterprise can chance user experience an enable BYOD.

11:00-11:30

Break

Get a drink/snack & meet the sponsors.

11:30-12:45

System Center Virtual Manage Manager & Hybrid Cloud

Speaker: Damian Flynn, MVP

Start deploying and taking control of the entire data center with VMM 2012 R2!

Windows 8.1 Devices

Speaker: Microsoft TBA

Devices are a central ingredient to the “Windows 8.1 in the business” story. What are Microsoft and partners doing?

12:45-13:30

Lunch

Get something to eat & meet the sponsors

13:30-14:45

System Center Service manager & Self-Service/Automation

Speaker: Paul Keely, MVP

See how System Center can automate repetitive processes, optimise time planning for IT, and change the business.

Windows Intune

Speakers: Microsoft TBC

Windows Intune is a much bigger solution than you think, including branch offices, BYOD, and covering all kinds of devices (Windows & others).

14:45-15:00

Break

Refuel for the afternoon push & meet the sponsors.

15:00-16:15

System Center Operations Manager & Service Management

Speaker: Kevin Greene, MVP

It delivers a service, but just how is that service performing?

System Center Configuration Manager

Speaker: Niall Brady, MVP

Take control of every device in your enterprise like you’ve always dreamed, but keep the users happy with self-service? That’s not possible, right? Wrong!

Nokia Launches A Windows RT Tablet

In addition to 2 new Windows Phone tablets, Nokia launched “Sirius” which is officially called the Lumia 2520.  This is a Windows RT tablet.  On first impressions:

  • It looks much nicer than Surface 2
  • The camera looks impressive, even if it’s not a patch on what Nokia puts in the phones
  • Yes it is more expensive than Surface, but that’s because it includes an LTE modem, which usually adds $100 to the cost of a tablet.

All looks good but:

  • It runs Windows RT.  It might has well have a MIPS processor IMO.  I reckon Windows RT will be dead within 12-18 months of Ballmer leaving Microsoft, probably replaced by a rebranded Windows Phone on ARM devices (phones to 8” tablets).
  • It only has 32 GB storage.  Remember, that was the Surface RT that no one wanted, not that many wanted a Surface RT to begin with.  32 GB is just too small.  Nokia has a bad habit of screwing the pooch on storage, e.g. the Lumia 925 only has 16 GB.  And no, SkyDrive does not make up for this shortcoming.  LTE/3G is not omnipresent.
  • The keyboard cover is u-g-l-y.  Why the frak can’t they (Microsoft and Nokia) learn from the past and just do a clamshell keyboard that works, unlike the non-hinged unusable and space-inefficient stuff they repetitively throw at us?  The Nokia cover looks like one of those iPad covers from 3 years ago.
  • The Surface organisation will kill the Lumia tablet in a few months when MSFT gets the OK to take over Nokia.
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And Surface 2 Is GA … Sort Of

The second generation of Surface has gone live.  Surface RT becomes Surface 2 (Windows RT 8.1) and Surface Pro is Surface Pro 2 (Windows 8.1 Pro). 

Apparently, Seattle Seahawks ace cornerback, Richard Sherman, wants one. This is him in the Bellevue WA Microsoft Store.  Now I must buy an iPad in revenge!!!

The various Microsoft online stores have updated their range.  Some of the talked about accessories such as the power cover aren’t out until next year.  And the rumoured Surface Mini might not be out until late Spring.

At least distribution is better than it was a year ago.  Yes, the Microsoft brick’n’mortar stores (US only) and online stores (international) are selling the Surface.  A few direct-distribution chains such as BestBuy and PC World (DSG) have rights (though I don’t know if they have the 2 today).  And 5 of the mega-distributors have rights (also don’t know if they have the 2 today).  Sadly, the distributors who have lots of reach in local markets do not have distribution of Surface yet.

This morning (writing this early AM) will also see the launch of the Nokia Windows RT “Sirius” tablet, which I find more interesting than Surface 2, based purely on leaked info.  The presence of cellular (which adds to the cost) makes it more interesting for business uses, I think.

However, the newswires are already filled with iPad-mania.  Apple timed their next-gen launch to crush Microsoft and Nokia.  And it’s working based on what I’m hearing on the radio so far this morning.

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Installing Windows 8.1 And Missing Drivers On Samsung ATIV 500T Tablet

Last week I tried twice to perform the online update of Windows 8.1 on my Samsung ATIV Smart PC 500T.  Twice it failed.  I had the commonly encountered (during the Preview!!!!) issue where the machine would perform the install, including device detection, and then hang on the final boot up with a black screen and busy mouse cursor.  From what I can tell, that’s a graphics drivers (Intel) issue that requires some McGuyver hacking to work around (not fix).  I wanted a clean working machine.

<<<< Here’s where I should say – Don’t be a moron, do the download drivers step that I mention later, BEFORE you wipe the machine.  You will also need a keyboard that physically plugs into the tablet >>>>

So I resorted to deploying Windows 8.1 from an ISO.  The first step was to prep a USB stick that a UEFI machine would like.  And remember, this machine has an x86 processor so a 64-bit build is useless.

The Windows 7 ISO Download Tool will prep a USB stick that only works with BIOS machines.  I needed a FAT32 stick. 

Next I needed to boot the tablet up with the stick.  Turn the machine off, hold in the Volume Up button, and power it up.  This brings you to an advanced startup menu.  I muddled around in here to get the command prompt, browsed to the USB drive (D:), and ran Setup.Exe.  Now I walked through the Windows setup, including wiping all of the existing volumes. 

The first clue that something was wrong was when I was asked to name a new user and set a password.  Huh!?!?  Where was the log into my Microsoft account?  Uh oh, I was missing drivers.  I touched the screen – nada!  I had no touch.  Thank f**k that I bought the keyboard or I’d be royally screwed.

I logged in, ran Device Manager and found, yes, I was missing LOTS of drivers.  Luckily I had a USB wired network adapter.  I plugged it in and went online.

Samsung do not share drivers for this tablet on their site.  The support page had me fearing that I’d bricked the tablet.  But I remembered that the SW Update tool was available to download.  Maybe that would update my device?  I installed SW Update and check for updates.  All that was there were 2 bloatware apps and the touchpad software.  Hmm.

But there was a solution!  This is the solution that I should have run before rebuilding my machine.  It was a rookie mistake, but I’ve become so used to Windows having most, if not all, of drivers out of the box.  But it was a dumb rookie mistake.  Here’s the solution:

1) Run SW Update and click Find Model.

1 Find Model

2) Enter the SKU of the tablet.  A quick google and XE500T1C-A01US worked for me.

2 Find SKU

3) Do not select Windows Blue as the OS.  That only contained the SW Update tool.  Hopefully Samsung will replace that with a populated Windows 8.1 entry.  Instead, I selected Windows 8.

4) Select the drivers.  I did not select the bloatware. 

3 Select Windows 8 Drivers

6) Select a safe download location.  My drivers are now in my Drivers folder on my Storage Spaces share on a Windows 8 tower PC.  Pop them onto a USB stick for handy access after rebuilding your tablet.

7) Install the drivers after rebuilding the machine.

Let me remind you: PLEASE DOWNLOAD THE DRIVERS BEFORE REBUILDING THE MACHINE.

AND DO NOT REBUILD THE MACHINE WITHOUT A PLUGGED IN KEYBOARD, either USB or the clamshell keyboard that this machine sometimes is sold with.

The machine is fully working now.  I associated my Microsoft account, moved SkyDrive to the MicroSD card, and relocated My Documents to the same folder.

It’s such a pity that the online Windows 8.1 upgrade did not work.  I wonder how many retail consumers will get “bricked” by this?

Day 1 of General Availability – Windows 8.1 Is Not Here

A bit of link baiting never hurt anyone :)  While I suspect that Windows 8 to Windows 8.1 upgrades flew of the “shelves” in the Microsoft Store over the last 22 hours, it seems that the retail presence is … well …

This morning at PC World, Carrickmines, Dublin, Ireland.

I decided that I’d start of at the PC World branch in south Dublin that opens at 9am.  This store is just 5 miles from the Microsoft European Operations Centre, also one of the locations where Windows/Office/Azure/etc are developed, and the office of Microsoft Ireland.  Last year, for Windows 8, the two stores (also “ChainB”) in this park had a Microsoft presence here.  I thought it would be a good place to start.

I drove in at about 09:15 and I was greeted by the above signage. 

Windows 8 is here.

Odds are Microsoft paid for that signage in some way.  That’s how these things are done in retail – it seems mad to me that a store will not advertise its own stock without being paid by the manufacturer but that’s how it is.  But at the very least, couldn’t they have painted a “.1” on this sign?!?!?!

OK, maybe it was a weather or timing thing.  I walked inside.  This is one of the better laid out electronics stores in the country so I had high hopes.  Lots and lots of … Windows 8 machines, most of which were launched at IFA over a year ago in 2012.  There was not a single Windows 8.1 device in the store.  OK, let’s have a look at the boxed Windows product … and it was all Windows 8.1.

Note: There are no SKUs for a Windows 8.1 “upgrade”.  That means you have two choices to get from Windows 7 to Windows 8.1:

  • Pay for the full priced Windows 8.1 media.
  • Buy the Windows 8 upgrade, upgrade your machine, and then use your free Windows 8-to-8.1 upgrade rights from the Windows Store to do a second upgrade.

I abandoned plans to visit ChainB because they have a reputation for stocking older stuff.

No lessons learned.  Here we go again.  Once again manufacturers will bitch about Windows.  Once again there will be no supply until February.  Sigh!

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Time To Revisit The Retailers To See If Things Have Changed

A year ago on the first day of Windows 8 general availability, I toured some outlets of two big electronic retail chain stores, which I anonymised as ChainA and ChainB.  They’re nearly always located beside each other so touring is easy.

ChainA typically had big 1.5 inch thick 17” screen laptops running Windows 7 and a bunch of no-name Android tablets.  ChainB was mostly stocking Windows 8, but there was little in the way of touch and there were no Windows 8 tablets to be found on this island (or the UK) outside of online stores which were ripping people off.

I will revisit these outlets tomorrow on their first day of being able to sell Windows 8.1 machines.  Here’s what I saw recently:

ChainA had a few Windows 8 devices but not much.  ChainB had stocked some Windows 8 tablets and Surface.  However, ChainB was recently running a sale to clear stock.  They did that with their Windows 7 stock before Windows 8 GA.  That makes me hope that they’ll have something interesting to sell tomorrow.

We’ll see!  I’ll be interested to hear what people in other countries experience tomorrow and over the first weekend of Windows 8.1 GA in the retail outlets.  Here’s what I saw in MediaMarkt Hamburg last year.

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