There is a new version of the Windows AIK available for Windows system integrations and deployments.
The new version supports Windows Vista (RTM, SP1 and SP2), Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 and also Windows 7 Beta.
I’m sure there will be an update for this once Windows 7 goes RTM, but for now its good, because the previous version of WAIK does not work with Vista SP2 WIM files.
For the download, just click
So I know that Windows 7 is Release Candidate now, but that doesn’t mean people don’t still want to install Windows Vista, and what a better time to rebuild your Vista box if you don’t fancy the step to 7 than now?
I spent a few hours last night working on my Vista image on my WDS (Windows Deployment Server) and I’m really happy with it. I’ve never really meddled with the Vista DVD much in the past because I got confused by the Windows Image format and how to service it initially but once you get your head round it, it’s really easy.
I’ve now got a Vista DVD with the following integrated:
So today I built a Windows 7 Build 71000 (RC) Hyper-V virtual machine for a lab environment at work.
Once the install finished, I was surprised to see that the NIC in the VM was already up and had stolen an IP address from DHCP (I wanted to make it static, but never mind).
The reason I was surprised was that in Server 2008 (R1) and Windows Vista the NIC doesn’t appear – You need to install the Host Integration Services (Microsoft’s version of VMWare Tools) to make the drivers get in there.
I went into the Services Manager to check that I hadn’t already installed it and somehow had a brain fit, but the services where listed. I checked the Event Logs for Windows Installer messages thinking I surely could not have forgotten that already and sure all hell, there was nothing.
So there you have it….Windows 7 RC includes the files for the Hyper-V Host Integration Services and Windows 7 RC loves to be virtualized.
Well Microsoft have certainly been busy little bee’s with Windows 7 as a lot of my recent blogs show, but today is the next milestone and not just for Windows 7.
Microsoft today released Windows 7 RC, Windows Server 2008 R2 RC and also the Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista.
Vista users using RTM with the blocker tool will be disappointed to note that this tool has now been removed and will have to upgrade to SP1, however I personally think you should just go all the way to SP2.
Going along with the whole RC & SP release, last week also saw the release of Office 2007 Service Pack 2 which has a lot of stability and performance improvements, which for some will be welcome although I never really see any problems except perhaps in Outlook opening a huge attachment.
Windows 7 RC is available in x86 and x64 builds and is available currently to all TechNet and MSDN subscribers, as is Server 2008 R2 RC, however Windows 7 RC will be making it’s way to the public in the next few days.
Office 2007 Service Pack 2 and Windows Vista Service Pack 2 are both available from the the Microsoft Download Center at www.microsoft.com/downloads.
Have a great weekend.
So this week, I setup a lab environment to try out some things in System Center Mobile Device Manager (SCMDM). We have a new product at work which is in the Alpha phase and I’m doing some management testing to check out some functionality while one of the guys from the US is over wielding the device.
http://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-trial-the-verdict-090417/
It’s all over the web already, so why not stick it in one more place.
The verdict on the Pirate Bay case is out and they have all been found guilty and issued one year jail sentences.
According to the comments over at TorrentFreak this could actually mean as little as 3 months jail time for good behaviour etc. I do tend to agree with the other comments regarding bribery or maybe higher pressures applied from MPAA or RIAA like when the US previously threatened to trade embargo Sweden because of TPB. During the case it was very one-sided in favour of the four of them due to such terrible evidence.
SideShow is probably one of the most underrated and under used features in Windows Vista, and I was really glad Microsoft kept going with in in Windows 7 especially as the Windows Mobile client still works well especially for PowerPoint Remote Control.
As I got my new phone yesterday I thought I’d install the SideShow client on it and see how PowerPoint Remote looks on the beautiful WVGA display.
To my horror, Microsoft have removed SideShow from Build 7068 of Windows 7. It was defiantly there in 7000 so where has it gone?
According to Seven Forums, it’s also missing from Build 7048 x86 but still present in the x64 build. As I’m running x86 I can’t look to see if it still exists in the 7068 Build for x64, but I’m guessing it might be gone also.
I really hope this is just temporary and it comes back for the next build.
So today was contract renewal and phone upgrade day.
I went to Carphone Warehouse on my way home knowing that on Monday they had 200 HTC Touch HD’s in stock in the warehouse.
Much to my disappointment they have managed to flog all 200 of them so they are out of stock and probably won’t get more for another two weeks. It’s just lucky my Nicky loves me as she’s let me have her two day old Touch HD and she’s going to take my upgrade.
Thanks x
So in case reading my recent blogs you hadn’t noticed, I’m posting a lot of my blogs with Polaroid style images which hasn’t appeared before.
Well it’s all part of the all new Baby-Green. Last weekend I was up until 3:30am migrating the site to a new web host to give us some more functionality. The new host lets me use Silverlight and ASP.NET code which I’m going to be taking advantage of soon starting with the wedding subdomain (http://wedding.baby-green.co.uk).
The problem previously was that TextDrive did not permit FTP access to the server where as the new host does which allows me to directly add content via Windows Live Writer.
On the cards are a recode of the PHP scripts for the wedding site into ASP.NET and using Silverlight Adaptive Streaming and Silverlight Slideshows to show off the media from the wedding.
Over time I’m going to be redesigning the Baby-Green site in this way also which will be version 3 of the website. My plan is to make it not only better looking and give a much better user experience for the users of the site but to make it easier for me to manage and generate content. That way you get a better looking, better working and more current website for viewing.
The forum and the blog will also get updates to the latest code base and the same redesign. The blog is already running the latest code base with the latest updates to the add-on’s in use which I did as part of the migration.
So I took the plunge deeper into the Beta pool today and upgraded to Windows 7 x86 Build 7068. This build has lots of improvements over the Build x86 7000 build which was the original public build.
