Lionel's configmgr blog

Windows 8 RTM Late October 2012

2012-07-09T22:36:57Z

And so it finally comes, and also together with Server 2012!

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-33642_7-57468574-292/windows-8-to-arrive-by-late-october-microsoft-says/?tag=FD.topheds

TechEd Amsterdam Day #1

2012-06-26T22:43:00Z

Greetings from Amsterdam! The 20th annual TechEd Europe has found its way to the vibrant bustling city of Amsterdam! What's even more awesome though is that this is my first time at TechEd!

Brad Anderson delivered the day's first keynote, also mentioning that Microsoft has acquired the office social networking site Yammer last night. A lot of the main focus was on the new era of the cloud and the new Operating System - Windows Server 2012.

With that, a demonstration was then conducted to show Hyper-V 3.0 in Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V performing more than a million IOPS per second on a single virtual machine. Things that were mentioned with regards to Hyper-V 3.0 and Server 2012 were amazing.

Server 2012 supports:

320 logical processors
4TB of memory.

With Virtualisation, it can support:

64 virtual processors
1TB memory per virtual machine.

In a speed demonstration, a 10GB file was moved in seconds using Windows Server 2012 and Hyper-V with a new feature that is called offloaded data transfer (ODX), which leverages native SAN capabilities within an array. That blew most of us away as the native copy was still struggling to complete even though it had a good head start!

After that, it was down to some lab work in a workshop with Wally: Migrating Configuration Manager 2007 to the new version 2012. Wally covered all the main considerations even though he had the sun in his face, and had the fire escape door alarm go off towards the end of the session. It was a pleasure to meet him in person finally!

Attended other random seminars throughout the day and by the end of it, I was totally immersed into the whole idea of TechEd. Information sharing, networking, learning, discovering with fellow professionals.

This sums up on a high level what I've seen so far, but stay tuned for more!

And I leave you all with this...

Microsoft Surface

2012-06-18T23:48:45Z

Will Microsoft re-revolutionize the way we work since the keyboard and mouse? Using the tablet as a computer, that is what everyone really wants to do with a tablet.

http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en/us/default.aspx

Stay Tuned...

TechEd Europe

2012-06-15T22:05:00Z

Guess what? I'll be there! Yes, TechEd 2012 - Amsterdam - and you wonder why I've been living in the Netherlands for the past few years!

It will be my first TechEd and am looking forward to the event! Am already sorting out that agenda CM2012-style!

Hope to meet you all there!

MSFT May 2012 Security Patch for Silverlight - MS012-034 KB2690729 is replaced by MS012-034 KB2636927

2012-05-10T14:14:00Z

Had a little discovery today when we realised possibly the fastest replacement of a KB Article ever, (almost instantly!).

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/security/bulletin/ms12-034

It appears that the following behaviour is experienced when you perform a manual installation of MS12-034 for Silverlight:

The critical update KB2636927 updates and patches all Silverlight 5 instances to 5.1.10411.0
The critical update KB2690729 updates and patches all Silverlight 4 instances to 4.1.10329

However, in WSUS, one observes this:

The critical update KB2636927 updates and patches all Silverlight instances as 1 entity (All versions) to 5.1.10411.0
The critical update KB2690729 is not available in WSUS.
On the MS12-034 security bulletin page, you will read that KB2690729 in MS12-034 is replaced by KB2636927.

This then means that any systems with Silverlight managed by WSUS would ultimately still need KB2636927, as it gets evaluated as still needing that since the 'older' KB2636927 has already been replaced. That might then suggest why there is only 1 'version' of Silverlight in SUP/WSUS. Therefore, do not be too alarmed if all systems with Silverlight 4 or below are upgraded to 5 after the application of May's security bundle via Configmgr!

System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SDK (Prerelease)

2012-04-18T09:04:00Z

For all of those interested, the ConfigMgr 2012 SDK is now available!

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh948960.aspx

Worth also knowing these features are now no longer supported.

Unsupported Features

The Configuration Manager console does not support the following features:

Wizard Creation

You cannot create wizards by using the existing Configuration Manager console framework. You also cannot modify or remove steps from the existing Configuration Manager wizards.

Modification of Core Configuration Manager Console Items

Do not change or remove items in the core Configuration Manager console XML, because this could break the Configuration Manager console. The core XML is stored in %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Configuration Manager\AdminConsole\XmlStorage\ConsoleRoot.

SMS 2003 IMMF Interfaces

The Configuration Manager console is built by using managed code and does not support the SMS 2003 IMMF interfaces.

Registry-Based Extensions

Registry-based extensions, similar to those available in SMS 2003, are not supported in the Configuration Manager console.

Microsoft Management Console SDK Extensions

Extensions written with the Microsoft Management Console SDK are not supported by the Configuration Manager console.

Logo for Windows 8!

2012-02-20T13:48:00Z

Hey, check this out! Certainly looks a little 'Metro-ish!'

http://asia.cnet.com/crave/microsoft-unveils-new-windows-8-logo-62213516.htm

MSFT Rereleases MS11-037 - KB2544893

2011-11-09T12:24:00Z

It's that tuesday of the month again! 1 key point to note is the reoffering of MS11-037. This rerelease only affects editions of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, as seen from the following Microsoft link and extract. As a form of best practice, support teams should clean up the old expired XP and Windows 2003 patches that were originally offered in June, since these are now replace on 8th November. The other remaining patches that are for Windows Embedded, Windows 7, Vista, Server 2008 and Server 2008 R2 etc remain unchanged from June.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/security/bulletin/ms11-037

Why was this bulletin rereleased on November 8, 2011?
Microsoft rereleased this bulletin to reoffer security update KB2544893 for all supported editions of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. The new offering of this update provides systems running Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 with the same cumulative protection that is provided by this update for all other affected operating systems. Systems running supported editions of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 will automatically be offered the new version of this update. Customers using these operating systems, including those who have already successfully installed the update originally offered on June 14, 2011, should install the reoffered update.

A run through of the infamous Windows Task Manager

2011-11-07T08:44:00Z

Hey chaps,

I've been silent a long while as a lot of things happened between August and now. Computer failing on me, internet problems at home and travels and holidays and all those madness in getting a new box to replace the failed one. I hope to get back on track with all the exciting CM2012 information we have obtained over the last few weeks with RC1. Also, on another note, we've managed to get Windows 8's Developer Preview onto a tablet. W8's something refreshing and chanced upon the following article on the MSDN Blog. It's worth a definite read as it speaks of the sentimental history in the tool we call Windows Task Manager. Windows 3.0 till Metro! Right, at least I enjoyed it! :)

A few of the features I like

Clean basic view with only the primary processes
Heat Map
New Grouping

Can be more but this is a good direction!

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/10/13/the-windows-8-task-manager.aspx

(p.s. and yes the action I use the most is to end tasks.)

There's something about "Side by Side" KB2507938... UPDATE!!

2011-08-17T23:08:00Z

Microsoft has addressed the issue now with the release of the August 2011 Security updates.

More details can be found in the original article, which has now been updated with a resolution.

http://wmug.co.uk/blogs/orientalcrusher/archive/2011/07/20/there-s-something-about-quot-side-by-side-quot-kb2507938.aspx

Epic Crash at home

2011-08-17T22:11:00Z

Dear Readers,

I must apologise first for not posting as much as I would have like to over the last few weeks. My Asus RoG Laptop went silent 2 weeks ago. It has to be sent back to Singapore for some urgent repairs and hopefully it wakes up again... In the meantime, here's a photo I found in my old XP AM2 system that I'm currently using. (Yes, Rob, it is XP, Windows XP...)

This was taken years back while working on a project in Indonesia. Yes, you see a Thales Security Appliance on top of a fridge. No need to guess where I was then, and yes I was in the kitchen that was converted into a make shift data centre of sorts...

2010 - 2011 YTD MS Security Bulletin Graphs

2011-07-20T07:35:00Z

The return of the graphs! I've done a quick and simple summary. Some interesting statistics to note is that for the first 7 months of 2011, 56 bulletins were released. In the same period last year, that was 43, so just an increase of...13 bulletins!

There's something about "Side by Side" KB2507938...

2011-07-20T06:21:00Z

Some knowledge in case you experience these issues.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2507938

After the installation of the security update, several windows adminstrators have noticed entries into event viewer that indicate that a SideBySide error has occured for conhost.exe whenever the command prompt window is opened. This only occurs on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. Although it may appear to flood the event viewer with multiple error 33s especially on servers utilising the command prompt, Microsoft has informed that this error does not affect the command prompt window functionality and can be ignored. Upgrading to Windows 7 SP1 is also a potential option if the situation permits.

UPDATE - 18 August 2011

This is now resolved by Microsoft when applying the August Security updates. The patch that fixes this is below:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2567680

Thou shall not assign your Configmgr Site Codes with these...

2011-06-03T13:58:00Z

Something we may forget when assigning a site code within our Configmgr hierarchy. Although Configmgr will install happily with these names, it is recommended to avoid using these Windows reserved names. There are many other combinations you can use anyway :)

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/279868

Install software updates action hangs on Windows 7 - UPDATE!

2011-05-18T09:33:00Z

I've updated the original entry (3rd Feb) now that MS has released a hotfix.

http://wmug.co.uk/blogs/orientalcrusher/archive/2011/02/03/install-software-updates-action-hangs-on-windows-7.aspx