Aaron Tiensivu's Blog

Based on the thread here, DaemonTools does not work, but Pismo File Mount does and so does Virtual CloneDrive 5.4.1.4, although there are still some unresolved bugs with CloneDrive.

Go to the dedicated page located here. Of particular interest for LifeCam owners is that there is an updated version that works with 64-bit Windows 7. On an unfortunate note, there still isn't a 64-bit driver for the fingerprint reader.

Sick of the hassle of registering for a product key to download the ISOs?

Skip the middle man, go directly to the download links:

32-bit - X86: http://download.microsoft.com/download/6/3/3/633118BD-6C3D-45A4-B985-F0FDFFE1B021/EN/7000.0.081212-1400_client_en-us_Ultimate-GB1CULFRE_EN_DVD.iso

64-bit - X64: http://download.microsoft.com/download/6/3/3/633118BD-6C3D-45A4-B985-F0FDFFE1B021/EN/7000.0.081212-1400_client_en-us_Ultimate-GB1CULXFRE_EN_DVD.ISO

Thanks go out to Lifehacker for the links.

This has to do with the digital signatures of certain 3rd party drivers. The typical error message you will see after upgrade is: "Windows cannot verify the digital signature for the drivers required for this device. A recent hardware or software change might have installed a file that is signed incorrectly or damaged, or that might be malicious software from an unknown source. (Code 52)"

This will not happen if you do a fresh install of Windows 7 Beta build 7000 64-bit.

To workaround the issue for now, press [F8] on boot and disable driver signature checking if you need access in the short term before a fix is available.

Do you have iTunes installed? Most likely, it is the curse of GearASPIWDM that iTunes uses. You can fix this by uninstalling and reinstalling iTunes. Another way, if you don't burn CD/DVDs with iTunes, is to strip the filters off like I outlined here in 2006.

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 will be the next version of the Windows Server operating system from Microsoft. Building on the features and capabilities of the current Windows Server 2008 release version, Windows Server 2008 R2 allows you to create solutions that are easier to plan, deploy, and manage than previous versions of Windows Server.

Server 2008 R2 Beta Enterprise: TFGPQ-J9267-T3R9G-99P7B-HXG47
Server 2008 R2 Beta Standard: 2T88R-MBH2C-M7V97-9HVDW-VXTGF
Server 2008 R2 Beta Datacenter: GQJJW-4RPC9-VGW22-6VTKV-7MCC6
Web Server 2008 R2 Beta: GT8BY-FRKHB-7PB8W-GQ7YF-3DXJ6

Download from here.

The Windows Automated Installation Kit (Windows AIK) helps you to install, customize, and deploy the Microsoft Windows 7 beta family of operating systems.

After installing Windows 7, err on the side of safe and install KB 961367 to avoid a rare MP3 corruption bug. You can download the x86 version here and the x64 version here.

This might have installed already if you've done a Windows Update after installation.

Windows 7 Walkthrough: AppLocker
Learn how you can realize the security, operational, and compliance benefits of application standardization by using AppLocker.

Windows 7 Walkthrough: BitLocker and BitLocker to Go
Learn about enhanced BitLocker Drive Encryption functionality in Windows 7 and the and the new BitLocker To Go, which gives system administrators control over how removable storage devices can be used and the strength of protection required.

Windows 7 Walkthrough: Deployment Image Servicing and Management
Explore Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM), a new command-line tool for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

Windows 7 Walkthrough: Enterprise Application Compatibility
Explore enterprise application compatibility in Windows 7 with this video feature walkthrough.

Windows 7 Walkthrough: Problem Steps Recorder
Explore the Problem Steps Recorder in the Windows 7 operating system.

Windows 7 Walkthrough: User State Migration Tool
Explore the User State Migration Tool (USMT) for Windows 7, now part of Windows AIK.

Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7 enables IT administrators to manage roles and features that are installed on remote computers that are running Windows Server 2008 R2 (and, for some roles and features, Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2003) from a remote computer that is running Windows 7. It includes support for remote management of computers that are running either the Server Core or full installation options of Windows Server 2008 R2, and for some roles and features, Windows Server 2008. Some roles and features on Windows Server 2003 can be managed remotely by using Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7, although the Server Core installation option is not available with the Windows Server 2003 operating system.

This feature is comparable in functionality to the Windows Server 2003 Administrative Tools Pack and Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows Vista with Service Pack 1 (SP1).

Download it here.

Although the site is getting quite hammered right now, you can try to grab a copy here.

Update: Unfortunately, it looks like they are working on getting more bandwidth/horsepower for the download site. It looks like it is offline at the moment. (Evening of 1/9/2009)

Update #2: The links are back - try the page here.

Hot on the heels of the Windows 7 beta release are updated video drivers for Radeon cards:

ATI Radeon HD 4000 Series GPUs
ATI Radeon HD 3000 Series GPUs
ATI Radeon HD 2000 Series GPUs
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4000 Series GPUs
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3000 Series GPUs
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2000 Series GPUs
AMD 780G Chipset
AMD 780V Chipset
AMD 790GX Chipset

I also suspect you can still use the Mobility Modder to add in missing PCI IDs if your card seems to be unsupported.
You can download them from here.

As noted here, if you have a UPEK based fingerprint reader/biometric device, like those commonly bundled with Lenovo laptops, there are early native Biometric drivers available for Windows 7 that use the new Windows 7 framework. Very cool stuff! Currently, not all readers are supported, but a good majority are.

You can download the 32-bit/x86 drivers here and the 64-bit/x64 drivers here.

Easiest way to enable the Quick Launch toolbar is to set the following DWORD registry key to 1:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\QuickLaunchEnabled

A very complete explanation of the process with screenshots can be found on the Seven Forums here.

If you wish to re-enable the Add to Quick Launch context menu, you can still use the VBS script located here to restore that functionality. Also, thanks to the Seven Forums for the link!

The forums are open for business! You can check them out here. Feel free to ask questions and leave comments for fellow Microsoft MVPs, Microsoft employees and others.

If you see a user named "Aaron Tiensivu" on there, it is me.

(W7 Beta officially came out today too)

If you setup your OCS 2007 R1 using the Configuration container during Forest Prep, congratulations! You can skip this blog post entirely.

However, if you are migrating from LCS 2005 SP1 or OCS 2007 R1 using the default settings, read on.

Although it is marked as "optional" before upgrading to OCS 2007 R2, it is highly recommended to migrate the global settings to the Configuration container for a few important reasons.

The primary reason, at least from my standpoint, is that if you upgrade your Active Directory schema to OCS 2007 R2 before moving the global settings container contents to the configuration partition, you can no longer use the MigrateOCS.vbs script. You will be "stuck" with those settings moving forward.

The other reasons are primarily performance related, which the documentation for OCS 2007 R2 goes over.

To quote a section of the documentation:

In previous versions of Office Communications Server, the default container was the root domain System container. Although storing global settings in the System container has advantages, such as faster replication and fewer replicated copies, in centralized topologies, this approach might not perform as well in geographically distributed topologies if root domain availability is insufficient. It can also cause long service start time or long replication delays when you manage global settings.

The actual documentation for MigrateOCS.vbs can be, honestly, a little confusing. I used the LCSCMD.EXE from OCS 2007 R1 to make sure that I wouldn't accidentally put R2 specific entries into Active Directory.

Before performing the actual deletion of the RTC Service tree from the System container of Active Directory (step #7 - "DeleteSystemGlobalSettingsTree"), I took a snapshot of the LDAP entries in DN:

CN=RTC Service,CN=Microsoft,CN=System,DC=tiensivu,DC=local

The command I used was ldifde -f SystemContainerBackup.LDF -d "CN=RTC Service,CN=Microsoft,CN=System,DC=tiensivu,DC=local

Of course, replace tiensivu and local with your actual domain information.

I also took a backup of the OCS setup into an XML file using:
lcscmd.exe /config /action:export /level:global,machine,pool /configfile:OCSBackup.xml /poolname:Tiensivu

Why did I do this? The MigrateOCS script does not provide a back out procedure. If things really went south, I wanted a tangible way to restore my environment.

Noteworthy gotcha for OCS 2007 R1 mediation servers: If you attempt to test IM and web conferencing at step #6, to verify that the script worked properly, you will notice that your mediation servers will refuse to start up. They complained of duplicate entries in Active Directory. Strangely, the Front End servers and other server roles did not complain. Once step #7 completed, the mediation servers fired right up.

Noteworthy for LCS 2005 migrations: If you attempt to do step #3 (ForestPrep) for LCS 2005 SP1 without KB 911996 installed on the server, you will receive "Parameter is incorrect" errors from LCSCMD.EXE because pre-KB 911996 versions did not support storage in the Configuration partition. In addition to the ForestPrep, you also need to do a DomainPrep. This is not required for OCS 2007 R1. Confused yet? It had my head swimming too.

I also highly recommend running the script in "/verbose" mode so that you see all the progress of each step. It might seem overly chatty but it gives you a good idea of the overall process and how well things are replicating.