Tag: Windows Vista

KB2990170 – MPIO Identifies Different Disks As The Same Disk

Microsoft posted a fix for Windows Server 2012, Windows 8, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows 8.1, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 R2 for when multipath I/O identifies different disks as the same disk in Windows.

Symptoms

The code in Microsoft Windows that converts a hexadecimal device ID to an ASCII string may drop the most significant nibble in each byte if the byte is less than 0x10. (The most significant nibble is 0.) This causes different disks to be identified as the same disk by Multipath I/O (MPIO). At the very least, this may cause problems in mounting affected disks. And architecturally, this could cause data corruption.

Resolution

When you apply this hotfix, the conversion algorithm is fixed. Disks that were masked by this issue before you installed the hotfix may be raw disks that still have to be partitioned and formatted for use. After you apply this hotfix, check in Disk Management or Diskpart for previously hidden disks.

A supported hotfix is available from Microsoft Support.

KB2846340 – Duplicate Friendly Names Of NICs Displayed In Windows

This KB applies to Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 up to Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012. There’s no mention of Hyper-V, but considering that hosts have lots of NICs, it seemed relevant to me. The scenario is when duplicate friendly names of network adapters are displayed in Windows.

Symptoms

Consider the following scenario:

  • You have one or more network adapters installed on a computer that is running one of the following operating systems:
    • Windows Vista
    • Windows Server 2008
    • Windows 7
    • Windows Server 2008 R2
    • Windows 8
    • Windows Server 2012
  • The display names of the network adapters are changed. For example, the device driver is updated.
  • You add new network adapters to the computer. The new network adapters are of the same make and model as the original network adapters.

In this scenario, duplicate friendly names of the original network adapters are displayed in Device Manager.
For example, you have two network adapters installed on a computer. Before you update the driver, Device Manager shows the following:

  • <Network adapter name>
  • <Network adapter name> #2

After the driver is updated, the names of the network adapters are changed to the following in Device Manager:

  • <Network adapter new name>
  • <Network adapter new name> #2

After you add new network adapters that are of the same make and model, Device Manager shows the following:

  • <Network adapter new name>
  • <Network adapter new name> #2
  • <Network adapter new name> #3
  • <Network adapter new name> #4
  • <Network adapter new name> #5
  • <Network adapter new name> #6
  • <Network adapter new name>
  • <Network adapter new name> #2

In this scenario, Device Manager displays duplicate friendly names of the original network adapters.

A hotfix is available to resolve this issue.

KB2710870–No DHCPv4 Address After Restarting Hyper-V VM with Vista, Win7, W2008 or W2008 R2

Microsoft has posted a support article that deals with a situation where a DHCPv4 IP address cannot be obtained after you restart a Hyper-V virtual machine that is running Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2.

The description is:

The time zone on the virtual machine is set to a time zone other than Pacific Standard Time (PST). In this situation, you may experience a DHCP IP address acquisition issue in the following scenarios:

  • The guest operating system and the host operating system are set to use the same time zone other than PST, such as Eastern Standard Time (EST). The Hyper-V time synchronization service is enabled. In this situation, the DHCPv4 IP address cannot be obtained after you restart the guest operating system for the first time.
    Note This issue only occurs after you restart the virtual machine for the first time.
  • The guest operating system and the host operating system are set to use different time zones. For example, the guest operating system uses the PST time zone, and the host operating system uses the EST time zone. The Hyper-V time synchronization service is enabled. In this scenario, the DHCPv4 IP address cannot be obtained after you restart the guest operating system.
    Note This issue occurs every time that you restart the virtual machine.

A hotfix is available from Microsoft to fix the issue.

Altaro Giving Away 50 Free PC Backup Licenses To All Hyper-V Administrators!

I’ve gotten some very exciting news from Altaro, makers of Altaro Hyper-V Backup (that supports Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V and Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V).  Altaro wants to give away for free 50 copies of their desktop backup product, Oops!Backup, to each Hyper-V administrator that can prove that they run Hyper-V.  Here’s the press release:

Altaro Software, a fast-growing developer of backup solutions for Microsoft Hyper-V, today announced that it is giving every Microsoft Hyper-V administrator 50 free licenses of Oops!Backup, their desktop backup solution.

“Following the success of our Hyper-V Backup solution this year, we wanted to give something back to the Hyper-V community during the holiday season” commented David Vella, CEO of Altaro. “Hyper-V admins can give out these licenses to their colleagues, friends and family, for use at work or at home.”

Oops!Backup is a popular desktop backup solution that allows users to preview & restore versions of their files from different points in time.

Any network administrator who uses Microsoft Hyper-V is eligible for the free license keys, they simply need to visit the Altaro website, send in a screenshot of their Hyper-V Manager and expect an email with their respective keys.

To claim the 50 free licenses go here. Thanks Altaro!

Note: Giveaway expires on Monday December 24th. Licenses are Not-For-Resale (NFR) keys.

Expanded Supported Guest Operating Systems on WS2012 Hyper-V

The support for Windows Server 2012 guest OSs has been expanded by Microsoft.  On the server OS side the changes are mostly on the Linux side; OpenSuse and Ubuntu are now listed as supported. Previously they were not supported but they worked.

Guest operating system (server)

Maximum number of virtual processors

Notes

Windows Server 2012

64

Integration services do not require a separate installation because they are built-in.

Windows Server 2008 R2 with Service Pack 1 (SP 1)

64

Datacenter, Enterprise, Standard and Web editions. Install the integration services after you set up the operating system in the virtual machine.

Windows Server 2008 R2

64

Datacenter, Enterprise, Standard and Web editions. Upgrade the integration services after you set up the operating system in the virtual machine.

Windows Server 2008 with Service Pack 2 (SP 2)

8

Datacenter, Enterprise, Standard and Web editions (32-bit and 64-bit). Install the integration services after you set up the operating system in the virtual machine.

Windows Home Server 2011

4

Edition information is not applicable. Install the integration services after you set up the operating system in the virtual machine.

Windows Small Business Server 2011

Essentials edition – 2

Standard edition – 4

Essentials and Standard editions. Install the integration services after you set up the operating system in the virtual machine.

Windows Server 2003 R2 with Service Pack 2 (SP2)

2

Standard, Web, Enterprise, and Datacenter editions (32-bit and 64-bit). Install the integration services after you set up the operating system in the virtual machine.

Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 2

2

Standard, Web, Enterprise, and Datacenter editions (32-bit and 64-bit). Install the integration services after you set up the operating system in the virtual machine.

CentOS 5.7 and 5.8

64

Download and install Linux Integration Services Version 3.4 for Hyper-V.

CentOS 6.0 – 6.3

64

Download and install Linux Integration Services Version 3.4 for Hyper-V.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.7 and 5.8

64

Download and install Linux Integration Services Version 3.4 for Hyper-V.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.0 – 6.3

64

Download and install Linux Integration Services Version 3.4 for Hyper-V.

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP2

64

Integration services do not require a separate installation because they are built-in.

Open SUSE 12.1

64

Integration services are built-in and do not require a separate download and installation.

Ubuntu 12.04

64

Integration services are built-in and do not require a separate download and installation.

Note that Linux (physical or virtual) requires numa=off in the grub file if you have more than 7 CPUs or 30 GB RAM in the (virtual) machine. That’s a Linux thing, not a Hyper-V or virtualisation thing.

The client OS list now is:

Guest operating system (client)

Maximum number of virtual processors

Notes

Windows 8

32

Integration services do not require a separate installation because they are built-in.

Windows 7 with Service Pack 1 (SP 1)

4

Ultimate, Enterprise, and Professional editions (32-bit and 64-bit). Upgrade the integration services after you set up the operating system in the virtual machine.

Windows 7

4

Ultimate, Enterprise, and Professional editions (32-bit and 64-bit). Upgrade the integration services after you set up the operating system in the virtual machine.

Windows Vista with Service Pack 2 (SP2)

2

Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate, including N and KN editions. Install the integration services after you set up the operating system in the virtual machine.

Windows XP with Service Pack 3 (SP3)

2

Professional. Install the integration services after you set up the operating system in the virtual machine.

Windows XP x64 Edition with Service Pack 2 (SP 2)

2

Professional. Install the integration services after you set up the operating system in the virtual machine.

You can see the supported list of guest OSs for the legacy versions of Hyper-V (2008, 2008 R2) here.

Microsoft Updates The Free Security Essentials Antivirus

According to Neowin, Microsoft has released a new version of Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE), their free antivirus protection for PCs.  It supports:

  • Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3)
  • Windows Vista (Service Pack 1, or Service Pack 2)
  • Windows 7

Yes, Windows XP and Windows Vista are both still supported for this new development, even though they are both in extended support.  You can understand this exception when you consider the reason for MSE’s existence.  It exists to help prevent the spread of malware on PCs that otherwise would not be protected:

  • People who get free 90 days of AV with an OEM PC but never buy the subscription
  • People who can’t afford to or won’t buy AV

One of the best stories we have of MSE locally was when we did a community launch event for Windows 7 in Belfast.  We talked about MSE and how it could help defend against Conficker which was all the rage with unpatched PCs at the time (and unfortunately still is thanks to negligent [IMO] admins/managers).  Irish DPE, Dave Northey, saw a photographer was taking photos on behalf of the venue and asked for a copy of some of the photos.  The photographer came over at the end of the event with a USB stick.  Dave joked that he hoped that Conficker wasn’t on the stick – MSE was on Dave’s laptop and screamed about finding Conficker on the photographer’s USB device Smile

You might ask about support for Windows 8.  Good question.  Windows 8 comes with Defender built in (more later).  Defender in Windows 8 is not the Defender of old.  It actually is anti-spyware and antivirus, meaning that you don’t need to download/install MSE on it.

Built-in AV, eh?  Imagine what Symantec’s lawyers, the EU, and so on will think of that!  Many of us are presented with a browser chooser when we setup Windows 7 for the first time.  I wouldn’t be surprised if we see something similar for AV.  Personally, I’d stick with Windows 8 Defender, but there’s nothing to stop you from choosing an alternative.  I wouldn’t be surprised if OEMs continue to ship subsidised trial copies of AV and retail stores continue to push AV boxes on customers with their PC/laptop/tablet purchase.  You still have a choice, but at least with Windows 8, you have protection by default.

Internet Explorer 9 Beta

The IE9 beta has been launched by Microsoft.  I just read a review that says it brings features that have been long needed.  One of those si a download manager.  Yup, IE badly needed this.  In the age of wifi networking (prone to interruption) and mobile computing (who hasn’t had to hibernate the laptop in the middle of a download) IE has needed this since … well … 1996 maybe?  Plenty of people have used other browsers or independent download managers to compensate.

I’m told the UI is smaller because, like with Office, many of the browser features aren’t used by most people.  That gives more viewing space for the content.  I’ll wait and see.

A nice new bit takes advantage of the way people work with Windows 7.  You can grab a tab, apparently, and drag it to a location where the shortcut can be tabbed.  Lots of people do this with programs so they can be quickly launched.  We’re moving to browser based SaaS so this makes sense.

Something very cool was demonstrated by MS Ireland’s DPE, Martha Rotter, at our user group event last week.  IE9 can use a graphics card in a client machine to process graphics.  You can see this in action using the test drive website.

Stuck on XP?  Sorry folks, MS aren’t exactly going to be developing much (if anything) new for you folks anymore.  You’ll need Vista or Windows 7 for IE9.

I’m hoping to download and install IE9 on my Windows 7 netbook today.

P2V Migration for Software Assurance

This just appeared in my inbox, regarding a new beta available on Connect:

“P2V Migration for Software Assurance uses the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit and Sysinternals Disk2VHD to convert a user’s existing Windows XP or newer client environment to a virtual hard disk then automates the delivery of an updated and personalized Windows 7 operating system containing a virtual machine with the user’s previous Windows environment, applications and Web browser. The user’s previous virtual desktop retains its existing management components, domain membership and policies. The process also publishes applications and the browser for the user to access them seamlessly within Windows 7’s start menu.

Help Reduce Windows 7 Deployment Times: The ability to perform P2V conversion of Windows XP or newer 32-bit systems as part of Windows 7 and/or 64-bit deployment means that IT organizations do not need to wait as long to get value from Windows 7. IT organizations will deliver the new Windows 7 operating system builds while preserving the old environments of a limited set of users that would otherwise delay production deployment.
Extend the Timeframe to Mitigate Application Compatibility: Using this solution, targeted users can have access to their previous set of applications, just in case something was not provisioned as part of the Windows 7 deployment. Accessing previous applications is also easy for end users, as those applications are published to the Windows 7 start menu.

Users can Access Incompatible Legacy OS Applications: Using this solution, targeted users can have access to their previous set of applications, just in case something was not provisioned as part of the Windows 7 deployment. Accessing previous applications is also easy for end users, as those applications are published to the Windows 7 start menu”.

Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit 5.6

Microsoft released a new version of ACT, 5.6, last week.  ACT will provide you with the tools to help “fool” incompatible applications into working on Windows Vista or Windows 7.

When doing an upgrade, you’ll identify those applications that won’t work on your new OS.  You would try to either fix the application or get a new version that won’t work. Maybe you’ll try to find an alternative application.  If that’s not possible (no budget, vendor is gone, developer is gone, etc) then you would try to get the application working.  ACT works by providing shims that sit between the OS and the application.  For example, an application may not be UAC aware and you make it aware via a shim.  It might explicitly check for Windows XP so you use a shim to lie to the application about the version of the OS.  It is pretty cool stuff.