Jason Whitaker

Recently vie had a problem with email contacts sometimes receive email messages with a strange file attached, called winmail.dat. When they attempt to open this file, either it can't be opened at all, or it contains "garbage" data.

 
When an Outlook user composes and sends a message using Rich Text Format or HTML Format, Outlook automatically generates a file, winmail.dat, and attaches it to the end of the message. winmail.dat contains formatting information, in a human-unreadable form, that Outlook will use on the receiving end to display this email message correctly. Unfortunately

there are a lots of blogs that told me to change my email to plain text or change my firewall settings none of these solved my problem.

In the end (totally frustrated I decided to look at our Exchange install for the solution,  After digging for over an hour I found the MIME setting under Hub Transport role, I changed these to never use RTF and blow me, it started working, those users that could not receive the attachments suddenly were back OK.

Don’t know if this will help you as I’m not sure we had ever change this setting in the past but if it points you in the right direction....

To run Microsofts new Virtual machine software HyperV on your HP DL380 G5, you need to enable a couple of settings in the BIOS.

 

After yo installed the OS and updated via windows update, go ahead and add the HyperV role in the "Manage My Server" dialog box. Now, if you try to start HyperV at this point, it will start as normal and run fine until you try to fire up your new virtual machine. At this point you will get the following error: "Hypervisor is not running" This means that your processor does not support virtualization or that it is not enabled.

 

Great......

To fix the issue:

Reboot your server and go into the BIOS by pressing F9. Go to "Advanced options > Processor Options" and enable these two sub-options:

"No-Excecute Memory Protection" - Enable
"Intel(R) Virtualization Technology" - Enable

Save with F10 to save and exit.

Go back into Windows and start up your HyperV console. The error should now be gone.

 

:)

 

If you’ve ever worked a help desk and become extremely frustrated while trying to coax an end user into accurately describing the problem that has been encountered, you are going to love a new tool in Microsoft Windows 7 called the Problem Steps Recorder. When started, this new tool will essentially record each and every step a user takes and document the entire operation in both screen captures and step-by-step details. When stopped, the Problem Steps Recorder will save the recorded information as a compiled HTML file and package it up in a ZIP file that the end user can then e-mail to the help desk.

 

 

 

for a full catch up on this hidden gen please read the fll blog at HERE although it was written using the beta of Win7 nothing has realy changed and makes a good read.

 

 

 

Today Microsoft releae their Security Essentials suit that provides real-time protection for your home PC that guards against viruses, spyware, and other malicious software.

 

 

Microsoft Security Essentials is a free* download from Microsoft that is simple to install, easy to use, and always kept up to date so you can be assured your PC is protected by the latest technology. It’s easy to tell if your PC is secure — when you’re green, you’re good. It’s that simple.

Microsoft Security Essentials runs quietly and efficiently in the background so that you are free to use your Windows-based PC the way you want—without interruptions or long computer wait times.

Download LINK

About time Microsoft, but at first impressions this looks great, ive done the normal Viru$ testing and it seems to grab them all early, Even to the point of grabbing them from other AV applications.

 

 

 

(a)    High availability and live migration for managing a dynamic IT infrastructure

(b)    Support for 64 logical processors future proofing our customers to scale up with the hardware

(c)    Support for running up to 384 virtual machines with up to 512 virtual processors

(d)    Processor compatibility mode for live migration across different processor SKU’s from the same vendor

(e)    Hot add/remove virtual storage

(f)     Networking enhancements (VMQ, Chimney, support for Jumbo Frames)

(g)    Simplified management using sconfig

(h)    Boot from flash

Many thanks to Vijay Tewari.

 

One of the hidden gems in the new Windows BETA offering from Microsoft is one that allows you to boot from a VHD file.

Windows 7 Beta and Windows Server 2008 R2 Beta support booting into the OS from a VHD file attached to Virtual PC or Hyper-V.

Follow the simple steps below and be amazed how easy it is.......

 

Right-Click on “Computer” and select “Manage.” From there expand “Storage” and right-click on “Disk Management” and select “Create VHD.”

 

 

Select what VHD you would like to boot from and select the VHD size and click OK.

 

 

Once you have created the VHD file, boot your machine with the OS DVD in the drive and choose “Install Now,” then press SHIFT+F10 to get the command prompt. Type the following:

 

 

When you return to the installation procedure, you will see a 20GB partition.You will be warned that you cannot boot from this volume - ignore this message and continue the install.

 

When you boot up, it will make Windows 7 the default boot option. You can change this using bcdedit

 

This is a great way installing multiple copies of Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 on a machine or storage area network without creating multiple partitions

 

To give you an idea of where this could be use useful take a school that has hundreds of students PC's that could share the same VHD file that would be write protected and simply refreshed every time the machine is rebooted.  or a call center that used windows during the day for office based tasks and then swop's to Linux during the night for data mining....... the possibilities are endless, WELL done Microsoft!

 

Have a play and enjoy... I think you will be presently surprised how cleanly this works.

 

Jason

 

 

 

So you download the RSAT for Windows 7 BETA and then what?? 

 

Two simple steps to get the Hyper V and other tools from the RSAT activated.

 

Download the RSAT tools HERE

 

Then go to the Windows Features tool in Control Panel.

 

This blog post outlines a basic procedure for validating the health of your domain and is a good practice for iterative maintenance and an excellent pre-check before doing any potentially dangerous domain operations.

Before doing anything that might jeopardies the integrity of your domain, it is important to ensure that there are no outstanding health issues.  While important, doing this kind of check needn't be horribly complicated or take a lot of time.  It is important to do every time to be sure that you aren't replicating problems across your forest as you do domain maintenance.  This is especially critical before schema operations and domain migrations.  Using a few simple Microsoft tools in the Windows Resource Kit, the general health of the domain can be validated and much of the risk associated with the projects can be mitigated.

         Tools & Resources

DCDiag --  Basic Domain Diagnostics
NetDiag -- Domain Controller Network Diagnostics
REPLMon -- Replication Monitor
NETDom -- Domain and Trust Diagnostics

 Procedure Steps

Domain Controller Health Check

Preparatory Work

Update Server Documentation

Gather Inventory of domain controllers from the ADU&C | Domain Controllers node

Locate current documentation from client on AD structure

Locate current documentation from client of site/ core topology

Document name of every AD domain and Sub-domain

Document name and IP address of every Server

Document all trust relationships

Install Support Tools

Server

Log on to the server with Server Administrator privileges

Insert the windows 2000/2003 disk into the CD drive

Navigate to CD:\\tools\Support Tools

Run Setup.exe

Preparatory Work Completed

 

Verify Health of the Domain

Create Log Directories for all Diagnostic Files

Create a Logs Directory at the root of C:\ on the server as C:\Logs

Verify DNS function with NSLOOKUP

Drop to a Command Prompt

At the Command Prompt, key in 'Nslookup' <enter>

Resolve each replication partner

Resolve every AD domain and Sub-domain

Fix any failed resolutions

Verify replication function and topology with REPLMON

<ServerName>

Navigate to Start | Programs | Administrative Tools | Support Tools | Replmon

Select the server (<ServerName>) in the Monitored Servers

Select Action | Server | Generate Status Report

When Prompted, specify the file name as c:\Logs\<ServerName>-DDMMYYYY.log

in the Report Options, select all of the reporting options

Click OK

Verify DC health with DCDIAG /verbose on each domain controller

<ServerName>

Drop to a Command Prompt

Key in 'DCDIAG /s:<ServerName> /v  /c > c:\Logs\ServerName-DCDIAG-DDMMYYYY.log' <enter>

Wait as the Diagnostic completes

Fix any errors displayed

Run DCDIAG /s:<ServerName> /fix

Repeat the diagnostic

Verify network connectivity health with NETDIAG /verbose

<ServerName>

Drop to a Command Prompt

NETDIAG /v > C:\Logs\<ServerName>-NetDiag-DDMMYYYY.txt

Wait as the diagnostic completes

Fix any errors displayed

Run Netdiag /fix

Run the NETDIAG diagnostic again

Verify all trusts with NETDOM

<ServerName>

Open a  Command Prompt

Type in 'NetDom query /verify' <enter>

Verify that all trusts are working and responding to the stored passwords

Fix all errors before continuing

Repeat for each additional Controller

 

As a last point ALWAYS run a backup before completing any form of AD work and if not and it all goes wrong, expect your P45, and rightly so.

 

More great resource blog's HERE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For those of you waiting to get your hands on a copy of the upcoming version of Windows 7, it seems that beta 1 will be released on January 13 2009.

 

If you’ve seen some of the new facy features already, then here are some tips on how to get some of those features on existing versions of Windows.

 

In case you’re wondering, Windows 7 is currently scheduled to be released to manufacturing at around the June/July 2009 timeframe.

Microsoft will also be releasing Vista SP2 in April 2009.