2 weeks with Hyper-V

I'd like to share my experience with Hyper-V. I've been using it for 2 weeks now in a production environment.


My setup:


Server:

• HP Proliant DL140 G3
• Intel Xeon 5160 (Dual-core 3 GHz)
• 9 GB RAM
• 2x 73 GB SAS drive in RAID1 (hardware RAID)
• Dual 1 GB/s NIC
• Windows Server 2008 x64 Standard

(At first I had only 5 GB RAM, but I ran short and I installed another 4 GB.)

VMs:

1. Windows 2003 Server (x86) with 512 MB for DC, GC, DNS, DHCP
2. Windows 2008 Server (x64) with 1 GB for WSUS 3.0 SP1 x64
3. Windows XP Pro (x86) with 512 MB for FTP server (Serv-U) and Sybase Anywhere server
4. Windows 2003 Server (x86) with 2 GB for Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager (SEPM)

I also installed CA ARCserve 12.0 on the host OS. The server uses about 5.6 GB RAM (out of 9) and CPU utilization is low.

My conclusion: Hyper-V is ready for prime time even though in beta. Don't forget that you need a NIC for management so at least 2 NICs are required. (I'd like to have 3 to connect one to the DMZ but my server doesn't have a free slot because of the SAS adapter for the tape backup.)

Also do not cut on RAM, you need to add up the RAM allocated for all VMs, the host OS and any apps on the host.

Windows Desktop Search returns nothing in Outlook 2007

If WDS (3.01 or 4.0) returns no search results in Outlook 2007, shutdown Outlook, run fixmapi.exe (usually in the Windows\system32 folder) then rebuild the WDS index.

The cause is usually the installation of Exchange management tools.

Windows XP SP3 available through Windows Update Catalog

If you want to download XP SP3, go to http://catalog.update.microsoft.com/ and type xp sp3 in the search field. It is available there and dated May 6th 2008.

Office 2007 SP1 requires Windows Installer 3.1

If you install XP SP2 on a computer, then Office 2007, then you try to installed the uncompressed* version of Office 2007 SP1, you will get an error message saying that the package cannot be opened.

It is because the MSP files need Windows Installer 3.1 to run properly. Go to Windows Update, install Windows Installer 3.1, and you can install Office 2007 SP1 after.

* : to uncompress the SP1 files from the downloadable version, run the file with the /extract:"path" command line switch.

How to remove WDS through logon script

On our network, like many others, Windows Desktop Search 3.01 was installed on all XP computers even though I never approved it in WSUS.

To remove it through logon script add this line to the script:

%windir%\$NtUninstallKB917013$\spuninst\spuninst.exe /quiet /norestart (on one line)

Credits to Kurt Falde from the WSUS newsgroup for the tip.

Enabling SATA Native Mode after XP Install

If you want to enable SATA Native Mode on your computer AFTER installing Windows XP follow this procedure.

For whatever reason, you may have installed Windows XP on your new laptop with SATA Native Mode disabled in the BIOS. Once XP is installed, enabling it in the BIOS will result in a BSOD upon loading Windows because XP doesn't have the correct drivers.

Enabling SATA native mode will give you a slight performance increase and slightly increased battery life.

• Download the Intel Matrix Storage Manager software for your computer from the manufacturer's web site
• Run it, by default it will save some files to C:\ before it runs setup and tells you that the software is not supported (alternatively you can uncompress the files to a temporary folder with a compression software like 7-Zip)
• Now open up a command prompt, go to the folder where the files were extracted and run the following command to extract the driver files: "setup -A -P"path of the extracted files" (without the quotes and there may be a space or not between -P and the path, depending on your version of the driver)
• Accept the license agreement, it extracts some files. The files you're interested in are now in a "Driver" subfolder of the original folder and include the following :iaahci.cat, iaahci.inf, iastor.cat, iastor.inf, iastor.sys, TXTSSETUP.OEM
• Now go to Device Manager, under IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers you should see something like : Intel 82801GBM (ICH7-M Family) Serial ATA Storage Controller
• Right-Click on that and select Update Driver
• Say no to connecting to Windows Update to search, hit Next
• Select Install from a list or specific location (Advanced), hit Next
• Select "Don't search. I will choose the driver to install", hit Next
• Select Have Disk
• Browse to the Driver folder and highlight the iastor.inf file, hit Open
• Select OK
• Now you should have a list of controllers. **WARNING** Selecting the wrong controller for your computer will prevent it to boot, causing BSOD. Make sure you select the right controller for your particular computer ! See this thread on HP forums for the controller inside some laptops: http://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-HP-ProBook-Compaq-Slate/Enabling-SATA-Native-Mode-after-XP-Install/m-p/695231/highlight/true#M104270
• You'll get warned that installing the device driver is not recommended, click Yes to continue installing
• Click Finish
• Click Yes to restart your computer
• When your computer boots up, you need to to enter the BIOS. Change SATA Native Mode to Enabled, save changes and exit.
• After you log into Windows, your computer will find the "new" hardware. Wait until you get the popup message to restart your computer, say Yes to restart one last time.

Credits to Jamie Rybarczyk from HP support forums for this procedure.

Information store does not mount when you restart an Exchange 2003 server

Microsoft KB875427 says " The installation of Exchange on a domain controller may affect the performance of that domain controller. In some scenarios, this performance effect prevents the Exchange-related services from starting successfully when you start the computer. In these scenarios, you must manually start the Exchange-related services. "

I had one of these servers. Its shut down time was really long (15 minutes) and after restart the information store service did not start automatically.

I found out that the problem was that this server was the only GC (global catalog) server in the affected site. It is KB829361 that gave me a clue. Adding the GC role to another DC at this site solved the problem.

Edit to answer a question:

To add a Global Catalog in your domain:

• Start Active Directory Sites and Services
• Sites - Site your Exchange server is in - Servers - DC you want to become GC -NTDS Settings
• Right-click NTDS Settings - Properties and check "Global Catalog"

Monitor the "Directory Service" event log of the server to validate that it becomes a GC. It may take a while depending on your domain size.

Install IE7 on non-genuine (not) Windows XP

Sometimes when I try to install IE7 on Windows XP SP2, my OS is detected as "non-genuine" by WGA, even though it has been installed with the CD key that is on the sticker on the machine.

I could phone Microsoft to solve the problem, but I found an easy way to bypass WGA and install IE7 anyway.

Here it is: http://fmshaon.blogspot.com/2006/10/how-to-install-internet-explorer-70.html

Thanks Ferdous Mahmud Shaon for the tip.

Error when you upgrade to Office 2007 from 2003

I encountered the "The windows installer service cannot update one or more protected windows files" error upgrading some computers to Office 2007 from 2003.

Event viewer reveals the culprit: the fp4autl.dll file is missing. Just copy it from another computer and put it in %SystemDrive%\program files\common files\microsoft shared\web server extensions\40\bin\ and restart the installation.

The "common files " folder can be different if you use a non-english Windows XP. E.g. on a french XP it is "fichiers communs".

Thanks to http://blogs.developerfusion.co.uk/blogs/thushan/archive/2006/11/25/1493.aspx for the tip.

Profile vs GPO based logon scripts

Since Windows 2000 server and Active directory, there is 2 ways of running logon scripts for users, one profile-based "à la" NT, one GPO-based.

There is some pluses and some minuses to migrate your profile-based scripts to GPO-based scripts:

Advantages of Group Policy based scripts:

1. The script runs hidden, so there is no chance for the user to terminate it before completion


2. When you create a new user, you only have to put it in the right OU for the logon script to run
3. You do not only have a logon script, but also logoff, startup and shutdown scripts.


4. One of these days, Microsoft will remove support for legacy i.e. profile-based scripts and you will be ready for that

Disavantages of Group Policy based scripts:

1. If you want to have a script for a single or a few user(s) you have to create an OU just for them


2. They are not available to not AD-aware clients

Where are these settings located ?

• GPO-based scripts are in Active Directory Users and Computers aka ADUC, right-click on your domain or OU, Properties, Group Policy tab, Add a Group Policy Object or edit an existing one. Startup/shutdown scripts are under Computer Configuration, Windows Settings, Scripts and logon/logoff scripts are under User Configuration, Windows Settings, Scripts.
• Profile-based scripts are in ADUC, right-click an user and select Properties, Profile tab and enter the script in the Logon script field. The script may be a batch file (.bat or .cmd) or an executable. It must reside in the NETLOGON share of your domain(s) controller(s).