VmWare Workstation 6 Beta on vista as host

Just to say it's better than a beta from my experience :)
It's a bit slower than usual due to the debug option but stable and working !
No more memory leak!

Dell M1210 & video projector

I couldn't investigate further, but Vista became crazy after plugging a video projector on my laptop...
The screen rotated 90° counterwize ! No way to put it back with the video projector plugged in...
So strange ! My nvidia driver is the previous - last one.

Drivecrypt 3.8 & Vista: I love it

just to say Drivecrypt 3.8 is working great on my Laptop with Windows Vista RTM :)

MS TechDays 2007/PARIS: I have been there !

I went two half day to the TechDays 2007 :)
I subscribed to:
-Deploying IPSEC
-Tools and methods for security
-Quest Tools to manage SQL (Longhorn A-Z was full)
-Deploying Exchange 2007 at Microsoft

that's cool !
And now waiting for the webcasts :)

Microsoft Windows Mobile Device Center Driver for Windows Vista final

Microsoft Windows Mobile Device Center Driver for Windows Vista final is out !
Also available in French/ francais ! :)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=fr&FamilyID=83d513ea-9df9-4920-af33-3a0e2e4e7beb

Acrobat Reader & Vista issue

if you have issue with opening PDF in vista, especially through Internet explorer,
there is a new version of Acrobat Reader, version 8.

putting workstation in quarantine area: the easy way

I just answered a guy on activedir that would like to block all new workstation by default. The goal is to prevent users from playing with workstation until they are secured by GPO / antivirus / inventory tools...

The way i propose is globally:
-redirect all new workstation joining the domain to a new ou (let's say quarantine). This can be done direclty with windows 2003 AD thanks to redircomp.exe

-On the quarantine OU, create a new gpo that will only allow encrypted traffic communication.
As only these stations will be set up to encrypt traffic, they won't be able to communicate with servers and others stations.

The tricks are:
-If using dhcp, allow unencrypted trafic with the dhcp servers or the workstation won't get dhcp address (and won't be able to communicate with AD and so to catch the change of OU later)
-Allow unencrypted communication with DC so to be able to catch GPO change to stop ipsec traffic.

If a workstation doesn't stop using ipsec or doesn't catche the GPO change:
-stop the windows ipsec service
-issue a gpupdate /force
-reboot

The only way for users is to be administrator and to stop the ipsec service manually. This can be enforced by GPO (and more if specifying a small GPO/ipsec refresh interval time)

hope it will help you !

VmWare Workstation and Vista as host

I am using VmWare Workstation 6.0 beta on my Vista RTM (host guest).

Working greats !
No more issue with disk freezing the OS for a while.

Searching vmware Visio stencil for free ?

Update: (ALL in one VSD File)
http://gollum123.free.fr/vmware.VSD

Enjoy!


have a look at this great site (but seems broken)
http://www.vmguru.com/files/10/visio/default.aspx
Thanks to them !

considering username rename ?

If you are considering renaming users Samaccountname, you should at least care about:

• Outlook will prompt for the location of OST and maybe PST if in the profile
• ActiveSync on Windows mobile will need to be set up with the new username
• If using roaming profile, you will need to rename all users folders (so you need access to them which is by default prohibited with XP SP2)
• If redirecting My Documents, you will need to rename all folders to match.
• Update logon script if network mapping is based on the username
• You may clean up all profile on all station or at least rename them.

You should use Admodify which will do all the job on the AD side.

You should always test amont a significant numbers of users first to check against application troubles after renaming accounts. Applications like Vmware VirtualCenter always display the last used username.

GFI Faxmaker 12 + Exchange 2003 cluster

hello all,

For those that will install GFI Faxmaker 12 on an Exchange 2003 Cluster:
DO NOT INSTALL THE COMPONENT PART ON THE EXCHANGES NODE CLUSTER.

The smtp connector won't be created and then creating it manualy will NOT WORK.
You will have to remove the gfi component and then create the whole smtp connector by hand.

Google module dedicated to Microsoft

I love Google:
http://www.google.com/microsoft

This page only search on Microsoft related sites...
THIS HEAVILY ROCKS

OpenSTA on Vista

I can't make it works.
1/It doesn't know IE7 as a browser, only IE5;IE6 and netscape.
2/It doesn't compile scenario
...
too bad!

Vmware On Vista RTM

hello,

i finally still use vmware on vista.
I created a VM (XP) with the smallest hard drive possible and with 4M of Ram.
When i start it, my hard drive goes mad during 5 minutes (laptop).
Then the vm start, i stop it.
Then i can use vmware as on an XP host, everything works fine.

improve Vmware on Vista Host

I finally do not stop trying on Vmware Workstation..
Some clues:
-Before firing the setup, put it in Windows XP SP2 compability mode, this avoid a blue screen during driver install.

-If you have UPS or a notebook, you can turn on disk cache performance, which isn't checked by default (even on notebook!).

Mostly, vmwks is VERY slow when you fire the FIRST VM. Then, after 5 minutes of blackout (vista host is frozen), everything goes back to life as normal. Anyway how many VM you start/shut, the cost is on the first only. Until you reboot ! Life to Hibernate mode :)

Another clue: The more the First VM you power on has, the longer will be the frozen time...
Just need to fire the first VM with the least ram possible. You can then shut it, put back the good amount and go ahead..

Virtual Server 2005 R2 & Vista IIS7 nightmare

hello,

many websites says to install IIS7 on vista to get the Virtual server 2005 web admin site working.
What they don't say is that you can't install VS2005 before IIS7 (without taking the web site component).
If so, you MUST first remove the whole Virtual Server 2005 R2, correct or not IIS7, then install VS again.

You must also enable basic authentication both on the web site AND virtual folder.

Vmware not compatible with vistas as host

hello,

I tried 5 or more times to make Vmware Workstation 5.5.3 or even the Vmplayer working on my Vista RTM US.

I always take a blue screen on the host caused by vmx64.sys or something like this.

I give it up until an official version supporting Vista.

I could not manage to install the Virtual Center client either.
The simple remote console is working anyway.

Vista & Drivecrypt plus pack update

hello,

i just got in touch with Securstar support, DCPP 3.8 support vista RTM.
I just installed it :)

I am on Vista RTM!

hello,

just to say i am on Vista RTM + office 2007 since they came out on MSDN.

big differences:
-bye ActiveSync, life to "Mobile device center"

downside:
-Checkpoint VPN isn't working right now
-alchool 120% make bluescren, hard to get it away
-Drivecrypt plus pack doesn't work
-Bitlocker is only working on the system volume, and need a TPM module.

goodside:
Much faster than XP
Much more stable
Windows Mobility Center

need to batch resize photos on windows?

If you need to resize 80 photos like me on Windows (those on Linux will use xv), i found a great freeware (a true one):Visualizer Photo Resize

You can get it here