Entries tagged with windows vista - TechNet Edge

Migrate WinXP to Win7 Using USMT (User State Migration Tool) [Upgrade XP or Vista]

Dan Stolts — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:00:00 GMT

In this 22 Minute video we walk through the process of upgrading a machine from Windows XP to Windows 7. There is no direct upgrade path from XP to Windows 7 so we are using the User State Migration Tool to migrate user data and settings.
Note that the USMT does not migrate OS or Applications. You will have to install the operating system and the applications on the destination computer. I have posted a complete Step-By-Step detail of the video along with live links to all the tools and resources you will need on my blog post: Migrate Windows XP to Windows 7 Using USMT (User State Migration Tool) [Upgrade XP or Vista] Step By Step

Pocket Webcast: Uso de Windows Defender en Windows Vista

Jorge Aristizábal — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 13:07:00 GMT

Pocket Webcast Una manera sencilla y práctica de mostrar “¿Cómo se hace?”.
Tema: Uso de Windows Defender en Windows Vista.
Autor: Rubén Colomo - México

Client Performance Tuning

Ralf M. Schnell — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 08:54:00 GMT

Eines der häufigtsten Urteile über Windows Vista ist: Zu langsam!!! Um diesem Problem sachlich und gründlich auf die Spur zu kommen, habe ich mich mit einem Experten zusammengesetzt, meinem Kollegen Bernd Stetter, der als Premier Support-Techniker viele unserer Kunden vor Ort betreut und insbesondere einer unserer angesehensten Experten weltweit für die Optimierung von Windows Client-Installationen ist. Bernd hatte mich bereits bei der Vorbereitung einer Technet-Seminarreihe zu diesem Thema unterstützt. In diesem Interview geht er anhand von xPerf-Traces sehr detailliert auf die Unterschiede zwischen Windows XP, Windows Vista und Windows 7 ein und erklärt die Änderungen auf Kernel-Ebene, durch die die von Windows Vista bekannten Probleme in Windows 7 nachhaltig gelöst werden. Außerdem zeigt er Anzeichen für typische Fehlkonfigurationen auf, die Windows unnötig verlangsamen und die oft sehr einfach zu beheben sind.

MTR 2009: Windows Client - Windows 7 i Windows Vista

Mariusz Kędziora — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 07:39:00 GMT

Microsoft Technology Review to cykl spotkań technologicznych poświęconych najnowszym produktom i technologiom Microsoft.

18 marca 2009 odbyło się pierwsze z cyklu czterech spotkań technologicznych organizowanych przez Microsoft. W imprezie uczestniczyło ponad 150 osób.

Tematyka pierwszego pierwszego spotkania to: "Wszystko o Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 7 i dlaczego występują w duecie".

Paula Januszkiewicz opowiedziała, dlaczego Windows 7 jest przełomowy, dlaczego opinie środowiska IT o systemie są bardzo pochlebne i dlaczego z Windows 7 warto!

Filmy z tej serii:

Screencast Series: Step-By-Step Windows Vista "Nibbles" - Part 4 of 12 - Changing Your Desktop Background

johnbake — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 07:37:00 GMT

In this screencast we're going to take a look at how easy it is to change desktop background in Windows Vista. There are a variety of options available to us including over 20 different wallpapers, sample photographs and solid colors. And if that isn’t enough, you can use your own photographs too!!!

These are the default five areas you can get your wallpaper files from:

Windows Wallpapers
Pictures
Sample Pictures
Public Pictures
Solid Colors

Of course you can also browse to anywhere on your computer to select the file too.

Screencast Series: Step-By-Step Windows Vista "Nibbles" - Part 3 of 12 - Viewing Folders and Files in Different Ways

johnbake — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 07:33:00 GMT

The Windows Explorer window is dynamic and changes to reflect the content you are viewing. In this screencast we'll look the new layout of Windows Explorer and how we can customize our view.

The core elements of Windows Explorer are:

Back and Forward buttons - works in the the same way as Internet Explorer.
The address bar - again the same as Internet Explore, except the address will be a folder structure.
Search box - where you type in criteria for searches.
Search Pane - when enabled displays above the toolbar (not displayed by default).
Tool bar - is context sensitive depending on what type of file or folder is selected as well as the customization of Windows Explorer
Navigation Pane - Navigation around Windows Explorer can be done through this pane or through the address bar.
Content Pane - This is where the contents of the drive or folder are listed.
Preview Pane - is on the right side of the window and obviously displays a preview of the selected file (not displayed by default).
Details pane - gives detailed information based on the selected item, for a folder it shows the content information and for a file it gives some extra detail on the file.

Screencast Series: Step-By-Step Windows Vista "Nibbles" - Part 2 of 12 - Using and Modifying the Start Menu

johnbake — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 07:27:00 GMT

This is the second screencast in my 12-part series and will look at Using and Modifying the Start Menu. The Start Menu is what links you into all the programs and tasks you can run on your computer. It is very different from the Windows XP start menu as it has much more information and is customizable.

What we're going to look at in this screencast are the various areas of the Start Menu: Pinned Programs Area, Recently Opened Programs List, the All Programs link, all of the fast links to different resources on your computer as well as the Shutdown and Logoff buttons.

After reviewing the layout of the Start Menu we'll walk through how to customize the menu and do things like add programs to the Pinned Program Area.

Screencast Series: Step-By-Step Windows Vista "Nibbles" - Part 1 of 12 - Updating Windows System Files

johnbake — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 07:22:00 GMT

I have put together a 12-part screencast series on Windows Vista with content taken from the MSPress book: Windows Vista™ Step by Step.

Each part in the series excerpts a section from a chapter. I'm calling each of these excerpts a "nibble", hence the series title: Step-By-Step: Window Vista Nibbles.

The first screencast in the series is Chapter 1: Updating Windows System Files. In this short screencast I'll take you through how to modify the Windows Update settings and how to install any available updates.

Screencast: Ways to Improve Your Windows Vista Computer Performance

johnbake — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 07:07:00 GMT

I decided for my first screencast that I would leverage the Windows Vista Help and How-to website. After reviewing the content available there, I thought it would be useful to do a quick run through of Performance Information and Tools in the control panel.

Turns out it wasn't as quick as I thought it would be, but I'll work on making sure future screencasts are much shorter.

Volume Activation Demystified

Adam Bomb — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 23:29:00 GMT

When the Volume Activation team invited me to come interview them, I jumped at the chance. There are lots of myths and misconceptions around activation, and I wanted them to explain them to me.
In this video, I sat down with Ram, a Director in the Volume Activation group, who explained the different methods of activation, and the why and how activation happens.
Some of the questions we cover:

What is product activation and why should we care?
Is activation something new for Microsoft? Does it imply that MSFT does not trust its customers?
Tell us about the process of activating Windows? What is the story with getting Windows activation going?
Do we take any functionality way if Windows not activated?
There are two methods of activation. How do I decide which one to pursue (KMS or MAK)?
Where people can go to find more information in detail about volume activation?

Here are a few more resources that the team asked me to pass along:
You can also download this volume activation guide (decide which way to activate with: KMS or MAK). Only have a few mins? Watch this volume activation demo. Craving new information? Learn from the challenges of other IT Pros and check out our latest “Top 5 Product Key Activation Challenges IT Pros Encountered and Solved” and “Customizing Windows Business Edition” white papers.

Or you can learn all you need to know about volume activation at www.technet.com/volumeactivation/. Use this library with step-by-step guides & white papers, videos 10 languages (RU, GER, IT, KO, JP, PORTG, CH, FR, SP, TW). Participate in active discussions on Windows Vista Activation Forum, address your concerns and share ideas to help us improve your product experience. Come back to this library for upcoming Windows 7 volume activation tutorials and demos

SP2 Customer Preview for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista now available.

Joey Snow — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 22:32:00 GMT

Customer Preview Program (CPP) availability for Service Pack 2 for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista was announced today over at the Windows Client Springboard TechCenter. MSDN and TechNet subscribers can download the SP2 CPP now, the rest of you will get access on Thursday.

I wanted to take a few minutes and share with you all some of the changes that are included in this service pack. What makes this service pack interesting is that it's a single service pack that applies to both the client and server operating systems (Vista and Windows Server 2008). How is this done? Well the code base for Windows Vista is shared with the same code base of Windows Server 2008. This means a single update can be deployed across your entire infrastructure. This also helps provide the ability to detect and incompatible driver and warn users of loss of functionality during installation or even use that detection to block the installation of this service pack.

On the server side there are three main features:

Improved power savings over the RTM release of Windows Server 2008
Integration of Hyper-V into Windows Server 2008. SP2 includes the Hyper-V RTM Code.
All previously released hotfixes and security updates are rolled into SP2.

For Windows Vista IT Pros will see improvements in:

Emerging Hardware Support such as the ability to record data on Blu-Ray media, Bluetooth 2.1 feature pack as well as support for the new VIA 64-Bit CPU.
Improvements in performance including Windows Search 4 that enhances indexing performance and integrating Windows Search into Group Policy.
A new Wireless Feature Pack and fixes for issues where Wi-Fi Connections were lost after resuming a PC from Sleep.
A really cool service pack clean-up tool that restores hard disk space by deleting the previous versions of the files serviced by Windows Vista SP2.
Of course this service pack includes all previously released updates, hotfixes, and patches since the release of Vista Service Pack 1.

You do need to be aware that you must have Windows Vista Service Pack 1 installed (or Windows Server 2008) in order to get Service Pack 2 installed. I reccomend pulling down this service pack and get your testing started on your lab machines.
For more information on Windows Vista SP2 take a look at the Notable Changes in Windows Server 2008 SP2 Beta and Vista SP2 Beta post on TechNet. Of course for all of your Windows Vista needs head on over to Springboard.

Video Customer Interview with Mark Nasky (on Windows Vista)

Harold Wong — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 02:16:00 GMT

At the Virtualization Mini-Conference hosted by the Rocky Mountain Windows Technology User Group, a Mark Nasky was willing to share his thoughts and experiences with Windows Vista.

Video Customer Interview with Kyle Schneider (Phoenix, AZ)

Harold Wong — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 01:48:00 GMT

During a TechNet Event in Phoenix, AZ, some customers agreed to share their thoughts on Windows Vista and do it on camera. Kyle happens to be one of these guys and here is the video interview.

Video Customer Interview with David Lindley (Phoenix, AZ)

Harold Wong — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 01:44:00 GMT

During a TechNet Event in Phoenix, AZ, some customers agreed to share their thoughts on Windows Vista and do it on camera. David happens to be one of these guys and here is the video interview.

Customer Interview with Brian Fields (Phoenix, AZ)

Harold Wong — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 20:46:00 GMT

During a TechNet Event in Phoenix, AZ, some customers agreed to share their thoughts on Windows Vista and do it on camera. Brian happens to be one of these guys and here is the video interview.

Customer Interview with Alex McEachern (Phoenix, AZ)

Harold Wong — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 20:30:00 GMT

During a TechNet Event in Phoenix, AZ, some customers agreed to share their thoughts on Windows Vista and do it on camera. Alex happens to be one of these guys and here is the video interview.

Customer Interview with Chris Reinhard (Regarding Vista)

Harold Wong — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 20:36:00 GMT

Chris Reinhard is a customer and a partner who talks about his experience with Microsoft Vista and why he doesn't use it. We also get into an off topic discussion around his band and his home recording environment.

Screencast: Windows PowerShell introduction

Jeff Alexander — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:34:00 GMT

Windows PowerShell is without a doubt one of the most important tools we have released for administrators for some time. However it's often overlooked and a lot of IT Pro's I talk with think it's perhaps better suited to developers.

In this Screencast I go through the basics to get you started. I'll also post the sample files I've used at my blog which is http://blogs.technet.com/jeffa36

Enjoy!

jeffa

Windows Vista Complete PC Backup and Restore

Keith Combs — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 17:55:00 GMT

It’s been a while since I brought up a great feature in Windows Vista (not present in Windows XP) called Complete PC (CPC). Available in Windows Vista Business, Ultimate, and Enterprise editions, Windows Complete PC Backup and Restore is a image-based backup tool that will help you out of a tight spot if you need to recover your entire system.

While file restore is useful in cases of file loss and data corruption, Windows Complete PC Backup and Restore is most useful for disaster recovery when your PC malfunctions. This feature helps you create complete PC backups, and then in the event of a serious system issue or data loss, Windows Complete PC Backup and Restore can restore your entire PC environment, including the operating system, installed programs, user settings, and data files.

You can restore your PC back to its original state or onto another PC. Windows Complete PC Backup and Restore can be initiated from within Windows Vista or from the Windows Vista installation CD, if the PC is not able to start up normally from the hard disk. This feature is also now integrated into Windows Server 2008 and part of the backup and recovery toolset on that platform.

Checkout the FAQ from the team that developed the feature. It’ll answer some questions about security, network backups, etc. If you really must have a Powerpoint slide deck on the subject, check this out.

Here’s a screencast on Complete PC. Don’t forget you can view this full screen by double clicking the video during playback or using the button on the player toolbar.

Vista 30, Rootkits 0

Keith Combs — Wed, 28 May 2008 18:21:00 GMT

I’m glad to see some positive press on Windows Vista. Security is a tough business and when you’re on the desktops of millions of computers, everything is magnified to the Nth degree. A couple of recent articles and postings are getting a lot of attention. See “Vista's Despised UAC Nails Rootkits, Tests Find” by John E. Dunn. This of course got picked up on the popular site Neowin.

Since a lot of you aren’t yet running Windows Vista, here’s a quick refresh on the tech. In Windows Vista, there are two types of user accounts: standard user accounts and administrator accounts. Standard users are equivalent to the standard user account in previous versions of Windows. Standard users have limited administrative privileges and user rights—they cannot install or uninstall applications that install into %systemroot%, change system settings, or perform other administrative tasks. However, standard users can perform these tasks if they are able to provide valid administrative credentials when prompted. With UAC enabled, members of the local Administrators group run with the same access token as standard users. Only when a member of the local Administrators group gives approval can a process use the administrator’s full access token. This process is the basis of the principle of Admin Approval Mode.

See the TechNet article, “Understanding and Configuring User Account Control in Windows Vista” for a detailed review of UAC. If you want to see it in action, see the four minute video.

Windows Vista SP1 outperforms Windows XP SP2 in file copy

Michael Kleef [MSFT] — Tue, 20 May 2008 07:22:00 GMT

Its interesting that people seem to think that Vista underperforms in every area of the system which is quite an incorrect perception. In this demo I show how Vista outperforms Windows XP and I show the under the covers process traces of just how it achieves it.
Demo environment consists of two images. One Vista SP1 and the other Windows XP SP2 both on the same HDD IO and communicating across my home wireless network to a Windows Server 2008 box on my main LAN. Once the two images get going latency gets introduced and things start to slow down....except Vista doesnt slow down. Watch and see!

Las Vegas Windows Server 2008 Launch event - Paul Chrisco

Keith Combs — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:22:00 GMT

Matt Hester and I just got back from Phoenix, Arizona and Las Vegas, Nevada where we attended the Windows Server 2008 launch events on both locations. We took along our video cameras for the ride and captured some customer and partner conversations.

Checkout the conversation I had with Paul Chrisco of Chrisco Consulting. Paul is the owner of his firm and as you can clearly see in the video, a straight shooter. Anyone that starts a business from scratch needs confidence, and Paul’s confidence in himself and his business comes across very nicely as well. The video is just over 10 minutes in length. Enjoy.

Vista Deployment and the Windows Deployment Toolkit

Joey Snow — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 06:59:00 GMT

When Windows Vista shipped, there was a great set of tools and documentation called the Business Desktop Deployment kit (BDD). I loved this toolset, but it was a bit intimidating with the amount of documentation and guidence.

Things have changed significantly with the addition of a new checklist and wizard driven deployment toolkit now named the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT). Hey it deploys servers too! I decided we should take a closer look at the tools so I grabbed my camera and sat down with Michael Niehaus and Jeremy Chapman to talk about what has changed in the Vista deployment tool set and how the deployment tools really make it easy to get started in your Vista deployments.

For more information on Vista deployment check out the roundtable discussion hosted by Mark Russinovich:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsvista/cc307852.aspx?ITPID=epg0308

Or check out the Vista deployment website:
http://www.microsoft.com/deployment.