Tag: Windows XP

Microsoft release a cool tool named Disk cleanup on Windows 7 Sp1

Microsoft released an update yesterday for the Disk cleanup utility. The problem Windows keeps copies of installed updates from Windows Update, even after installing newer version of updates. So the older versions of updates that are no longer needed and taking up space.

In Windows XP era the uninstalls were just hidden folders under Windows directory so easy to clean. Since Windows Vista this is now stored in the Windows Services folder WinSXS.

The space used by WinSXS can grow significant. In the past you could remove Service Pack uninstall files which helped, but Service Packs are not so common anymore. I think Windows 7 will never see SP2, yet the updates keep filling the WinSXS folder every month.

After the update is installed (no reboot needed) and you run Diskcleanup:

cleanup1

and when you click “Clean up system files”

You’ll see new options:

cleanup2

This update of diskcleanup delivers a new option Windows Update cleanup which deletes older versions of updates that are no longer needed and just taking up space.

The update is available through Windows Update as important or direct download at KB article posted below:

KB2852386: Update is available that enables you to delete outdated Windows updates by using a new option in the Disk Cleanup wizard in Windows 7 SP1

Now unfortunately this update is not available for Windows Server 2008 R2, while there are plenty scenarios where cleaning up WinSXS folder is helpful there too!

Bink.nu

High CPU usage Windows Update (svchost.exe) in Windows XP SP3

I had to do a fresh Windows XP SP3 installation and Windows Update has been using almost whole CPU. Very strange!

 

I fixed that problem by installing Microsoft Security Bulletin MS13-069 update  from Microsoft web.

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)

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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.

ADK for Windows 8.1.

News. Teched is coming… New version of ADK & MDT 2013

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)

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

      image

unknown device – ACPI/ACPI0004/CPUSCK0 ACPI/ACPI0004/CPUSCK0 on a HP Z420

Customer wanted to deploy Windows XP 32bit on a HP Z420 machine.
For this machine is a driver pack. I imported this driver in to MDT.

After deploying I had a unknown device – ACPI/ACPI0004/CPUSCK0

I could not find any driver. The windows device manager show still “unknown device”.

Solution:
Under: Advanced –> Bus Options you will find the setting “Legacy ACPI CPU Tables”
This settings is default disabled. Enable it en unknown device is gone!!

578:0x000004DC:0x0000001D Send-As permission with Outlook 2010 Exchange 2007

578:0x000004DC:0x0000001D Send-As permission with Outlook 2010 Exchange 2007
Error:

myaddress@mydomain.com
You are not allowed to send this message because you are trying to send on behalf of another sender without permission to do so. Please verify that you are sending on behalf of the correct sender, or ask your system administrator to help you get the required permission.

Diagnostic information for administrators:

Generating server:

myaddress@mydomain.com

#MSEXCH:MSExchangeIS:/DC=com/DC=mydomain:SERVERNAME[578:0x000004DC:0x0000001D] #SMTP

Solution:
1.Close Outlook

2.Delete the offline address book folders in

Windows 7: C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\Offline Address Books
Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\Offline Address Books

3.Open Outlook and let it download a new copy of the offline address book.

3.1 Send/Receive Tab
3.2. Send/Reveive Groups
3.3 Download Address Book
3.4 Choose Full Details and \Global Address List

VMware Workstation 9

Windows 8

Workstation 9 has been designed to run on Windows 8 and run Windows 8 virtual machines. Easy Install has been enhanced to recognize Windows 8. Workstation 9 has been enhanced to support the Windows 8 user interface (formerly known as Metro). Toggling between Metro and the Windows Desktop can be done by simply pressing the Windows key on the keyboard and Unity intelligently handles the Metro interface. Workstation 9 also includes multi-touch support for driving the Windows 8 Metro interface running in Workstation on a Windows 8 tablet.

Graphics Improvements

VMware has made substantial changes to Workstation 9 graphics virtualization infrastructure. The enhancements include a display-only graphics driver that can render 3D in Windows 8 without hardware acceleration, improvements to make graphics applications like AutoCAD and SolidWorks render more quickly and accurately, an improved Windows XP graphics driver and fundamental changes to improve performance and enable more advanced graphics capabilities in the future.

OpenGL for Linux Guests

VMware has developed an OpenGL graphics driver and up-streamed it to X.Org. This allows VMware’s customers to use the new graphics capabilities in current Linux distributions without needing to install VMware Tools. The version of X.Org that includes the driver is being shipped in Ubuntu 12.04 among other Linux new distributions. Workstation 9 includes enhancements to the virtual graphics device to improve the overall speed and accuracy of rendering OpenGL graphics in Linux virtual machines.

Restricted Virtual Machines

This new capability allows the author of an encrypted virtual machine to require users to enter an additional password to change their virtual machine settings. This feature enables IT professionals and educational institutions to create virtual machines to be used by their employees and students that prevent these users from enabling shared folders, dragging and dropping files, attaching USB devices, and overcommitting system resources. Restricted virtual machines can be run in VMware Workstation 9, VMware Player 5, and VMware Fusion 5 on Windows, Linux or Mac PCs.

WSX

WSX is a prototype of a new VMware Workstation web interface that enables users to access their Shared virtual machines via a web browser on a tablet, smart phone or PC without installing any additional applications or browser plug-ins. This service renders an HTML5 web page that can connect to your Workstation hosts, enumerate the available Shared virtual machines and allow you to power them on and interact with the desktop. Both the Windows .msi and Linux .bundle installations are available for download along with VMware Workstation 9.0

WSX is currently not supported for production environments. The number of devices and browsers available on the market make it extremely difficult to test this feature thoroughly to ensure it works well everywhere.

This feature requires a very modern browser that supports HTML5 with WebSockets. VMware recommends using the Google Chrome 17 browser on PCs and the Apple Safari 5 browser on Mac OS hosts and iPads. Currently there are issues using this feature with Microsoft Internet Explorer 10. WSX may work with other browsers and on Android tablets running Ice Cream Sandwich with the latest version of Google Chrome installed, but more testing is required.

Downloading Virtual Machines from vSphere

Workstation 8 enabled customers to upload virtual machines to vSphere. Workstation 9 now enables downloading virtual machines from vSphere by dragging them from the remote host to the My Computer section of the Virtual Machine Library.

USB 3.0

Workstation 9 supports attaching USB 3.0 devices to Windows 8 virtual machines. The latest portable devices use USB 3 (SuperSpeed) to achieve faster transfer rates for data. USB 3.0 devices such as portable storage devices and video equipment can be connected directly to Windows 8 and Linux virtual machines that contain in-box drivers USB 3.0 controllers.

Nested Virtualization

Workstation 9 improves the implementation of virtual Intel VT-x/EPT or AMD-V/RVI extensions. This allows users to run ESX as a guest OS and run a 64-bit operating system nested in ESX using less system resources.

Note: If you enabled the virtualization extensions in a virtual machine running on Workstation 8, you might need to disable the extensions, upgrade the virtual machine to the latest virtual hardware version (compatible with Workstation 9), and then re-enable the extensions.

Hyper-V

Hyper-V has been added to the Workstation 9 guest operating system list. This enables customers to run Windows 8 with Hyper-V enabled, or install Hyper-V Server. This can be used for educational purposes or for building prototype Hybrid Clouds. This feature is NOT SUPPORTED and probably never will be. Microsoft does not support nesting of their hypervisor which makes it extremely difficult – if not impossible for VMware to fix issues that may occur in this configuration. For this reason, this capability has been implemented purely to see if we could do it!

CAUTION: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO RUN HYPER-V ON A VIRTUAL MACHINE IN PRODUCTION.

Virtual Performance Counters

VMware virtual processors now include the capability to enable virtual performance counters which will allow developers to run profiling applications, such as Intel’s vTune, in a virtual machine.

Remoting Improvements

The experience when remotely connecting to a virtual machine running in Workstation 9 with a VNC client or interacting with the desktop of a virtual machine running on vSphere from within Workstation has been significantly improved.

Disk Cleanup

Virtual machines consume a large amount of space on your hard drive. Workstation 9 includes a new management option to easily recover disk space.

Quick Switch II

Previous versions of VMware Workstation included a view mode called "Quick Switch" that displayed tabs along the top of the screen to easily switch between running virtual machines. We removed this functionality in Workstation 8. The feedback we received has encouraged us to introduce a similar feature. On Windows, hosts tabs have been included in the full screen toolbar.

Thumbnail Actions

Views of your virtual machine on the task bar now include controls to change the power state.

Saved Filters

Workstation 9 automatically saves recent virtual machine library searches as filters to easily apply them the next time you run Workstation.

Download Licensed Copy

List of Performance hotfixes for Windows 7 SP1

Applies to:
Windows 2008 R2 SP1
Windows 7 Service Pack 1
Windows 7 SP1

Article ID: 2505438 – Slow performances in applications that use the DirectWrite API on a computer that is running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=2505438

Article ID: 2505454 – The startup process is delayed on a computer that has a large hard disk installed and is running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=2505454

Article ID: 2510636 – An update that improves the startup performance of Windows 7 and of Windows Server 2008 R2 is available
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=2510636

Article ID: 2523887 – You may encounter file corruption issues when you use the Offline Files feature to synchronize data in Windows 7
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=2523887

Article ID: 2524478 – The network location profile changes from "Domain" to "Public" in Windows 7 or in Windows Server 2008 R2. This problem can affect Group Policy processing at boot time because NLA does not know what network profile to use.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2524478

Article ID: 2525332 – You encounter a long logon time after you enable the "Do not automatically make redirected folders available offline" Group Policy setting in Windows 7 or in Windows Server 2008 R2
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=2525332

Article ID: 2555428 – The Windows 7 startup process is slow when you create many restore points
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=2555428

Article ID: 2561285 – You experience a long domain logon time in Windows 7 or in Windows Server 2008 R2 after you deploy Group Policy preferences to the computer
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=2561285

Article ID: 2561708 – Offline files synchronization may not finish on a computer that is running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=2561708

Article ID: 2581608 – Logon scripts take a long time to run in Windows Vista, in Windows Server 2008, in Windows 7 or in Windows Server 2008 R2
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2581608

Article ID: 2582112 – Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 stops responding when an application performs many I/O operations to a network share
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=2582112

Article ID: 2610379 – The Folder Redirection policy does not work if a previous user sets a redirected folder to an offline mode in Windows 7 or in Windows Server 2008 R2
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=2610379

Article ID: 2617858 – Unexpectedly slow startup or logon process in Windows Server 2008 R2 or in Windows 7
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=2617858

Article ID: 2625434 – "ERROR_SHARING_VIOLATION" error message in Windows XP or in Windows Server 2003 when you try to open a file on an SMB share on a server that is running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=2625434

Article ID: 2640148 – Windows Explorer stops responding if you try to expand a mapped drive in Windows 7 or in Windows Server 2008 R2
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2640148

Article ID: 2645611 – Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 stops responding if you try to log on a computer that has multiple monitors
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=2645611

Delay occurs when you log on to a domain from a computer that is running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=2709630

Article ID: 2709630  2690528 Slow performance when you browse the My Documents folder in the document library in Windows 7 or in Windows Server 2008 R2

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2690528/en-us

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