Technical |
Posted by Tom Carpenter
Jan
26
2010
A great new technet blog post was added yesterday that provides an overview of the deployment tools for Windows 7. You can see how to deploy from media, a network share or from a WDS (Windows Deployment Services) implementation. You'll find the blog post here: http://edge.technet.com/Media/Deploying-Windows-7/
I am in the process of shooting some videos on the Windows 7 deployment process, so watch out for my post about the video availability. I'm still toying around with the idea of a dedicated website for Windows 7-related videos, but for now I'll probably just HD YouTube the videos and link to them here.
Enjoy the new TechNet post.
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Technical |
Posted by Tom Carpenter
Dec
17
2009
Starting with Windows Vista, thought it was missed by many IT professionals since Vista was largely ignored, the boot ini file is no longer used to store boot configuration information. Instead the boot configuration database (BCD) is used. Windows Server 2008 and now Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 also use the new BCD. Instead of editing the boot ini file, you will use the command line command BCDEDIT to work with the BCD. To learn more about BCDEDIT, just launch a command prompt in administrative mode (right-click it on the Start menu and select Run as administrator) and type bcdedit /?. You'll see all the built-in help in its full glory.
You'll also see that you have to work with nasty long BCD entry identifiers. Thank God we have Quick Edit mode. If you haven't enabled Quick Edit mode (or you've disabled it since it's on by default in Windows 7), just right-click on the Command Prompt shortcut and select Properties. On the Options tab, check Quick Edit mode. Now you can highlight text, press Enter and then right-click anywhere to paste it into your command line. This will remove those nasty typos we make when entering long numbers like the BCD entry identifiers.
Here are a few BCDEDIT commands you should know about:
Viewing the BCD data set:
bcdedit
Backup the BCD data set:
bcdedit /export filename
Restore the BCD data set:
bcdedit /import filename
Set the default OS:
bcdedit /default {identifier}
Note that you can use the keyword current when setting the default if you're currently booted into the system you wish to be the default. For example:
bcdedit /default {current}
Remember, in Windows 7 boot ini is dead, long live the BCD!
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The most up-to-date list of compatible (or incompatible) applications is now available at Microsoft's website. The Windows 7 Application Compatibility List for IT Pros is available for download at the Microsoft TechNet site. The list includes more than 7000 applications and covers both business apps and games. The Windows 7 Application Compatibility List is a Microsoft Excel file that rates apps from compatible to future compatibility to incompatible. If your application is on this list, it will save you lots of analysis time so take advantage of it. I know I am.
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DirectAccess (which is properly spelled as one word and not two, such as Direct Access – even though Microsoft gets it wrong in their website meta tags – though possibly intentional) is one of the most touted new features in Windows 7. Sadly, it’s not really a Windows 7 feature alone. You must deploy Windows Server 2008 R2 in order to take advantage of the DirectAccess feature.
Microsoft has, however, provided a lab demo configuration document here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=8d47ed5f-d217-4d84-b698-f39360d82fac
You can use this document as a starting point to explore DirectAccess configuration processes even if you don’t have a Server 2008 R2 machine at this time. Now, for some really good news. If you just want to play with WIndows Server 2008 R2, get the evaluation VHD that works in Hyper-V here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=9040A4BE-C3CF-44A5-9052-A70314452305&displaylang=en
Hopefully this information will help you get started with configuring DirectAccess. Remember, you must configure DirectAccess on the Server 2008 R2 server as well as the Windows 7 clients.
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