If you have a Technet or a MSDN account you can download Windows 8.1 & Server 2012 R2 Preview
Windows 8.1 Preview
Server 2012 R2 Preview
Category: Windows Servers
ADK for Windows 8.1 Preview Available
Here is a quick summary of the changes in ADK for Windows 8.1. MDT 2013 and ConfigMgr 2012 R2 requires ADK for Windows 8.1.
Windows 8.1 Image Size (Preview)
- Windows 8.1 Preview Code Image (x86), 2.13 GB (WIM), 7.65 GB expanded on disk.
WinPE 5.0
- Profiling in WinPE 5.0 is removed
- WinPE 5.0 x64 supports 4 TB of RAM (still 64 GB for x86)
- Scratchspace set automatically to 512 MB when having more than 1 GB of RAM, otherwise 32 MB
USMT 6.3
- Support for Windows 8.1
- You cannot use USMT 6.3 to migrate settings from Windows XP to Windows 8.1
- Supports Office 2013 (hotfix available for USMT 5.0).
Windows 8.1 Upgrade / Update
- You are likely to have more free space available on the disk after upgrading Windows 8 to Windows 8.1
- Windows 8.1 upgrade time, less than 20 minutes
Misc. Updates
- Export compressed recovery image (/Export-Image)
- Cleanup base components when superseded. (/StartComponentCleanup /ResetBase)
Configuring disks to use VMware Paravirtual SCSI (PVSCSI) adapters
PVSCSI adapters are high-performance storage adapters that can result in greater throughput and lower CPU utilization. PVSCSI adapters are best suited for environments, especially SAN environments, where hardware or applications drive a very high amount of I/O throughput. PVSCSI adapters are not suited for DAS environments.
This table shows the support matrix for use of Paravirtual SCSI adapters for data disks and boot disks for the various guest operating systems and ESX versions. Support shown in the table is from the listed ESX/ESXi version and later versions.
|
Guest operating system |
Data Disk |
Boot Disk |
|
Windows Server 2012 (64 bit only) |
ESXi 5.0 Update 1, ESXi 5.1 |
ESXi 5.0 Update 1, ESXi 5.1 |
|
Windows Server 2008 R2 (64 bit only) |
ESX/ESXi 4.0 Update 1, ESX/ESXi 4.1, ESXi 5.x |
ESX/ESXi 4.0 Update 1, ESX/ESXi 4.1, ESXi 5.x |
|
Windows Server 2008 (32 and 64 bit) |
ESX/ESXi 4.x, ESXi 5.x |
ESX/ESXi 4.0 Update 1, ESX/ESXi 4.1, ESXi 5.x |
|
Windows Server 2003 (32 and 64 bit) |
ESX/ESXi 4.x, ESXi 5.x |
ESX/ESXi 4.x, ESXi 5.x |
|
Windows 7 (32 and 64 bit) |
ESX/ESXi 4.1, ESXi 5.x |
ESX/ESXi 4.1, ESXi 5.x |
|
Windows Vista (32 and 64 bit) |
ESX/ESXi 4.1, ESXi 5.x |
ESX/ESXi 4.1, ESXi 5.x |
|
Windows XP (32 and 64 bit) |
ESX/ESXi 4.1, ESXi 5.x |
ESX/ESXi 4.1, ESXi 5.x |
Because the default type of newly hot-added SCSI adapter depends on the type of primary (boot) SCSI controller, hot-adding a PVSCSI adapter is only supported for those versions that support booting from a PVSCSI adapter.
Paravirtual SCSI adapters also have these limitations:
- Hot add or hot remove requires a bus rescan from within the guest.
- Disks with snapshots might not experience performance gains when used on Paravirtual SCSI adapters if memory on the ESX host is overcommitted.
Active Directory Replication Status Tool
The Active Directory Replication Status Tool (ADREPLSTATUS) analyzes the replication status for domain controllers in an Active Directory domain or forest. ADREPLSTATUS displays data in a format that is similar to REPADMIN /SHOWREPL * /CSV imported into Excel but with significant enhancements.
Specific capabilities for this tool include:
- • Expose Active Directory replication errors occurring in a domain or forest
- • Prioritize errors that need to be resolved in order to avoid the creation of lingering objects in Active Directory forests
- • Help administrators and support professionals resolve replication errors by linking to Active Directory replication troubleshooting content on Microsoft TechNet
- • Allow replication data to be exported to source or destination domain administrators or support professionals for offline analysis
System Requirements
Supported Operating System
Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Vista, Windows XP
- • ADREPLSTATUS does not install on server core installs of Windows
- • Windows 2000 not supported due to lack of support for .NET Framework 4.0
Domain membership requirements:
- • Must be joined to the Active Directory domain or forest you intend to monitor
.NET Framework requirements:
- • .NET Framework 4.0 (you may be prompted to install .NET Framework 3.5.1 first on Windows Server 2008)
Required User Credentials:
- • Target forest/domain user account
Supported DC OS versions that can be monitored by ADREPLSTATUS:
- • Windows Server 2003
- • Windows Server 2003 R2
- • Windows Server 2008
- • Windows Server 2008 R2
- • Windows Server 2012
Active Directory Accidental Deletion – Prevention
Accidental deletions in active directory can cause havoc and unfortunately. This may have been avoided and secondly could have been fixed in less than 10 % of the actual time spent if the environment was using one of the latest features that we included in Windows 2008 R2 ( Active Directory Recycle Bin ). Most critical situations arise due to accidental human /tool interference or configuration and it is important to be able to come out of such situations within minimal down time, Accidental Deletion in Active Directory is one such situation.
Powershell Enable Protected From Accidenta lDeletion:
Get-ADobject -Filter * -SearchBase “DC=wardvissers,DC=local” | Set-adobject -ProtectedFromAccidentalDeletion $true
Windows 7 and Windows 8 Optimization Guide for Horizon View Virtual Desktops & Antivirus Best Practices for Horizon View 5.x
VMware released two great documents!!
Windows 7 and Windows 8 Optimization Guide for Horizon View Virtual Desktops
Configure DirectAccess for Loadbalacing (Server 2012)
Add Extra Windows 2012 server to DirectAccess NLB Cluster
First you install Server 2012 and you add the Remote Access Server Role.
And Install
KB2788525: You cannot enable external load balancing on a Windows Server 2012-based DirectAccess server.
Add or Remove Server
Server 2012 Dedub
Start Windows PowerShell. Right-click the Windows PowerShell icon on the taskbar, and then click Run as Administrator.
Run the following Windows PowerShell commands:
PS C:\> Import-Module ServerManager
PS C:\> Add-WindowsFeature -name FS-Data-Deduplication
PS C:\> Import-Module Deduplication
PS C:\> Enable-DedupVolume E: & Enable-DedupVolume D:
And wait….
Saving already 240GB on my home lab…. Dedub is great
Setting Up Windows 8 Mail for Exchange or Office 365
Before beginning these steps, ensure that:
You have setup a Microsoft account in Windows 8.
You have your Active Directory (AD) username and password. Your username is usually the first part of your UCSD email address (before the @ symbol). If you forgot your password, you can reset it.
You have an Exchange account in the UCSD Campus Exchange Organization.
Click the Mail tile in the Start screen to open the Mail program
Press Windows key + I on the keyboard to open Mail settings
Select Accounts
Enter your e-mail address in the Email address field
Enter your AD passsword in the Password field
Select Show more details
Enter <yourservername> in the Server address field
Enter <yourdomain> in the Domain field
Enter your AD username in the Username field
Click Connect to add the account