Extended Remote Desktop

Recent requirement which i had was to extend my Remote Desktop console to my secondary monitor. initially i tried to expand it by dragging and resizing the remote desktop console, but it never worked out. however i remembered somewhere that it’s possible to do it with the RDC(Remote Desktop Connection) version 6.1. RDC 6.1 comes bundled with Windows 7, and also included on the following O/S applied with service packs mentioned below

Windows Vista/Windows Server 2008 – Service Pack 01

Windows XP – Service Pack 03

Windows 7/Windows Server 2008 R2 – included by default

there are many other features introduced by 6.1 but i will only be highlighting one specific feature which i discovered recently.

it is the ability to span remote desktop across multiple monitors

this requires following components in place for it to work

-RDC 6.1

-All monitors should have the same resolution

-Monitors need to be aligned side-by-side

there are two ways that you can accomplish this task. one way would be to run mstsc with the /span parameter

eg – mstsc /span

or else you could configure your RDC settings to span across multiple monitors

as you can see above i have selected the option “Use all my monitors for the remote session”

when i connect to the remote computer it will extend remote desktop console across all my monitors

Step by Step – Bitlocker To Go

 

If you are running on windows 7, then Bitlocker To Go is something you should definitely try out

Let see how we can configure Bitlocker To Go

Requirements

You need to be running on Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2

A USB Pendrive

Step by Step on how to configure

Open My Computer. Right click on the USB device and it should come up with an option “Turn on BitLocker”

Once “turn on Bitlocker” is selected it will open up the Bitlocker drive encryption Window

Once the initial scanning is done, it will provide you with two options. First option is whether to use a password to unlock the device and the other is by using a smart card

I’m going to go ahead by selecting to use a password to unlock the device. Next we should decide how we are going to store the recovery key. Recovery Key is very important incase if you lose the password or have difficulty in remember it, only way to get access to data within the pendrive would be use the recovery key. Recovery Key Storage has two options. You can print it out and store in a safe location or else you can save it as a text file. This is a mandatory step and it’s not possible to go further without selecting an option. I have decided to save as a file

After that it displays a summery. And all you have to do is click on “start Encrypting”

Time taken for the encryption depends on the size of the pendrive

After a while you should receive the following message and you have successfully completed Encrypting your pendrive

Next let’s see what happens when you plug your encrypted device on to Windows 7

As soon as you plug the device it will prompt you to enter the password.

Once you enter the password only you will be able to access data available on the pendrive

Windows 7 RC1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 RC1 Released for Technet and MSDN Subscribers

Yesterday (30-04-2009), Microsoft released the new RC1 build (7100) of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 for Technet and MSDN subscribers. However general public release will be on 5th May 2009.

some of the improvements over the Beta version

-DirectAccess User Experience

-User Account Control

-AppLocker

-System Partition Size

-Network Troubleshooting

Download Links for Technet And MSDN Subscribers

MSDN subscribers

TechNet Plus subscribers

Windows 7 Beta Expires on 1st August 2009 and Windows 7 RC will expire on 1st June 2010.

 

some useful links

Release Notes

Things to Know

Windows 7 Feature Walkthroughs

Service Pack 2 Released for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista

Microsoft has released service pack 2 for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista

You may visit the link below for notable changes on Service pack 2

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd335036.aspx?ITPID=sprblog

You may download Service Pack 2 via Windows updates or by using Technet/MSDN Subscriptions

Windows Search

Windows Instant search is a very useful feature that comes with windows and also with some applications such as Outlook and OneNote. it really saves alot of time when searching. Those days when we want to search for a while it takes awhile and the results come up with nothing. then we narrow down the search criteria and search again. but now with the instant search, we don’t have to wait any more. while we type indexing service will search and show the results. that’s why its called “Instant Search”. i use the instant search feature frequently on outlook to locate my emails. sometimes i use the instant search which is now embedded to Widows explorer to find files. yesterday i did a search on my Windows 7 to find a document, and i was amazed it was able to read the contents inside the files as well. but this is not a unique feature of Windows 7. it’s just that i haven’t noticed that something is possible on Windows Vista. Vista also has the same capability but the indexing service has to be turned on. so finally i learned that it’s possible to search within the files through Windows Search. my next question was, why can’t i search within PDF and OneNote. Most of the articles that i have are on OneNote and PDF. but searching within those two file formats are not enabled by default. to enable it, you need to download something called an “ifilter” in other words indexing filter. ifilter works as a plugging for Windows Search and Windows Desktop Search to index content within a document.

initially i thought it’s not possible to index content within PDF and OneNote documents. but then i did a research and found that there are pluggings that we can use to enhance the capabilities of Windows Search.

so i downloaded the Microsoft Ifilter which supports indexing contents for the following file formats

.docx, .docm, .pptx, .pptm, .xlsx, .xlsm, .xlsb, .zip, .one, .vdx, .vsd, .vss, .vst, .vdx, .vsx, and .vtx.

you can download it from the link below

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=60c92a37-719c-4077-b5c6-cac34f4227cc&DisplayLang=en

and also its possible to download the ifilter plugging from Adobe as well for FREE to index PDF documents

http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=2611

Windows 7 Build (7000)

Finally i made it …I’m on Windows 7 build 7000. it took me two days to download the 3GB ISO file. and then i installed it on a test pc first to see how stable it is with the applications i use. these are some of the problems that i have with the current build. but the solutions are out there, it’s just a matter of time

Adobe PDF Driver didn’t get installed

Nero 9 doesn’t get installed

Chrome doesn’t get installed

but I’m not bothered …as long as Outlook, IE, and Virtual PC is working, that is enough for me to survive. so i backed up my user profile using WET(Windows Easy Transfer) and then formatted my office notebook. loaded Windows 7 on to that and then restored my profile. everything is working smooth. at the moment I’m installing software and fine tuning my system. i will post more about Windows 7 in my future posts

Windows 7 + Windows Server 2008 R2

Microsoft just announced the availability of Windows 7 Beta which Is the next generation Microsoft Client Operating System, and also Windows Server 2008 R2 beta which is the next version of the Windows Server operating system from Microsoft built on Windows Server 2008

Windows 7 Beta or Windows Server 2008 R2 Beta can be downloaded using a TechNet Subscription or a MSDN Subscription from today onwards

More information on Windows Server 2008 R2

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/r2.aspx

More information on Windows 7

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/default.aspx

Windows Server Core

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Code name: Longhorn consists of 8 editions. Each and every edition can be installed in two different ways which is the Server Core and the GUI installation. Server core is the new installation option which is included by Microsoft in this version of windows

Server core installation method can be deployed to support a single role or multiple roles. By using the server core installation it’s possible to optimize performance for the server roles you’re running because by default none of the services or any server roles get installed. After the installation what you basically get is a command prompt, also note that there’s no Graphical User interface installed when the server core installation method is used. Even if you connect to a server core installed server via RDP you will still get only the command prompt. But it’s possible to monitor using the computer management console remotely by using another server. When talking in terms of security which is a very critical aspect of a good network infrastructure, Server core installation will reduce the attack possibility since only certain server roles what is required by the administrators are installed in the server, also there’s no GUI shell

Another benefit of the server core installation is that it reduces the number of patches since only specific roles are running. Also the server core installation will only take 1.5GB of hard disk space but the full installation will take up to 5.5GB from disk space. Also the server core installation doesn’t support any sound adapters, because the audio stack is not included in the server core installation. Also note that it doesn’t contain any of the printer drivers unlike other Server operating systems. When the server core is configured as a print server you need to manually install the printer drivers from the cd

When deploying Windows Server 2008 it comes to a screen where you could choose between the Server core installation and the server installation with the GUI shell. Server core configuration could be done manually or by using an unattended file. The only difference is that you have to mention server core on your unattended file. Other than that it’s similar to an ordinary unattended file. Also note that if you have specified any features which are not available on the server, the unattended setup will not crash. It’ll still get installed but it’ll contain some extra registry keys e.g. – : some security features mentioned for IE 7, since IE7 is not available on the Server Core installation it’ll just get added to the registry

When deploying windows server core you should consider these facts

· Only a fresh new installation is supported

· It’s not possible to upgrade for a previous version of windows

· After installation Windows Server Core, it’s not possible to upgrade to the GUI Shell and also vice-versa

 

Now let’s look at how to do some of the initial configurations

• Change Password: – net user administrator *
• Activation : slmgr.vbs script can be used. Also it’s possible to activate remotely
• Configure IP: – netsh interface ipv4
• Join a domain:- Netdom

How to add Server roles

Server roles can only be added by using the command line by using the Ocsetup

Start /w ocsetup %packagename%

Also note that you can’t install active directory using ocsetup command

Only way to promote the domain controller is to use a dcpromo unattended file

Dcpromo /unattended:unattendedfile

 

When IIS 7 Server roles is installed unlike other roles it runs on reduced functionality. The following functions are not available on the IIS 7 server core installation

• · Management Service and the GUI tools
• · ASP.Net
• · Powershell Cmdlets

 

These are the server roles available in the server core installation

• · Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
• · File
• · Print
• · Active Directory
• · Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services
• · Media Services
• · Domain Name System
• · Internet Information Service 7
• · Windows Virtualization Service

 

Also the following options are also available

• · WINS,
• · Failover
• · Clustering,
• · Subsystem for UNIX-based applications,
• · Backup,
• · Multipath IO
• · Removable storage management
• · BitlockerDrive Encryption
• · SNMP
• · Telnet Client
• · Qos

It’s been a while :-0

Folks

i’m writing again in my blog after a long time..

Things were bit messy when i started working @ Tech Distribution and i didn’t have time to write on a blog…poor time management i should say but what to do

i just want to make a note that ITPRO FORUM was merged with SLGEEKS and now the forum is up and running..this my dear friends, is the ONLY IT forum in sri lanka..i’m really happy see that the forum is working again

feel free to visit using this link

http://itproforum.lk

That’s all for now..hope to write soon

After A/L :-)

I passed another mile stone in my life..

I finished my A/L’s last Monday…

talking about the exam..like most exams this one was also tough

anyway no point thinking about that coz it’s over and I’m done with it now

since my a/l’s are also finished I thought of moving on to the NEXT STEP…

I applied for few jobs and guess what..I got one

From tomorrow I’ll be working at TECH DISTRIBUTION (http://www.techdisti.com/SriLanka/index.php)

also i made a virtual lab using VMWare..10 XP Clients and 4 Servers…so it’s time to practice now

Going to start with Active Directly and then move on to DNS..i have forgotten most of the stuff since last 6months i spent doing Mathematics and Accounting