Tag: virtual machine
October 09, 2009 by
Jason
The purchase of a record-breaking windows 7 operating system to make it faster, better one day before the start of the second series I share with you.
21. Presentation Nirvana. Press Windows+P to access the new Presentation mode, and easily turn on your projector and laptop screen at the same time. No more messing with vendor-specific utilities and arcane keystrokes. (Windows+X accesses the Mobility Center, with additional presentation options.)
22. Cut the Clutter. Press Windows+Home to minimize all but the current window, removing background clutter and letting you focus on that report your boss has been bugging you about.
23. Be a Mouse-Click Administrator. Windows 7 makes it easy to gain admin rights with a keyboard shortcut. Click on Ctrl+Shift on a taskbar-locked icon, and voila! You’ve launched it with appropriate admin rights.
24. Faster Installations. If your computer is capable of booting from USB, try this: XCopy the Windows 7 installation DVD to a sufficiently large USB drive, boot from that drive, and install Windows from there. It’s faster than a spinning platter.
25. Burn Discs with a Click. Or two; double-click an ISO file to burn it to your CD or DVD writer. Read More»
Posted in Windows 7 | 2 Comments »
October 05, 2009 by
Jason Redmond-based software company Microsoft released several months ago its own solution aimed at offering Windows 7 RC users the possibility to enjoy compatibility with the older Windows XP operating system, the Windows XP Mode. Available for download initially in a beta flavor, the RC iteration of Windows XP Mode is currently up for grabs for those who installed the RC version of Windows 7, and is bound to become final in the near future.
A recent post on the Windows 7 Team Blog states that Windows XP Mode was released to manufacturing on October 1 and that the final version of the solution is expected to become available for download as soon as Windows 7 hits the market, on October 22, to be more precise. The RTM version of this solution is meant to offer OEMs the possibility to include the XP Mode within the PCs they will bring to the market, the post also notes.
“Windows XP Mode is designed to provide small business and mid-sized businesses running Windows 7 Professional (or higher) the ability to run Windows XP productivity applications that may not be natively compatible with Windows 7. We expect many Windows XP applications to be compatible [with] Windows 7 however Windows XP Mode is meant to serve as an added safety net so small and mid-sized businesses can migrate and run Windows 7 without any road blocks. Windows 7 Professional is designed to meet the needs of small and mid-sized businesses,” Brandon LeBlanc describes the software solution. Read More»
Posted in Windows 7, Windows XP | 1 Comment »
September 02, 2009 by
Jason Customers testing the virtualization extensions of Windows 7, namely Windows Virtual PC and Windows XP Mode have been experiencing performance problems in scenarios in which sharing folders are enabled. Ben Armstrong, Program manager on the core virtualization team at Microsoft, revealed that the issues reported are connected with the latest development milestone of Windows Virtual PC and Windows XP Mode, namely the Release Candidate Builds. Fortunately enough, a hotfix is already available from the software giant.
“A number of users have seen performance issues using shared folders / having shared folders enabled with Windows XP Mode on the RC release of Windows Virtual PC. This can be addressed by installing this hotfix inside the virtual machine. Please note – this hotfix is for Windows XP and is installed inside the virtual machine, not in the host operating system,” Armstrong noted.
Knowledge Base Article 972435 doesn’t mention Windows XP Mode, a Windows 7 feature, which is available as a standalone download. However, the resources designed to help customers resolve “slow performance when you try to open a redirected drive on a remote computer through a Terminal Services session” applies to Windows XP Professional. And Windows XP Mode is indeed based on a free and pre-activated copy of Windows XP that is available for Windows 7. Read More»
Posted in Windows 7 | 2 Comments »
Redmond-based software giant Microsoft made available the release candidate flavor of Windows 7’s XP Mode add-on on Tuesday. The beta iteration of XP Mode was released on May 6, along with the beta variant of Windows Virtual PC, and the RC version comes as another step the company is taking towards launching the final iteration of the add-on. The new flavor has been designed to work both on the Windows 7 Release Candidate and on final Windows 7 RTM variants.
When available, starting October 22, Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate will run the final version of XP Mode, as Microsoft plans on releasing it around the same time. The new RC iteration includes a copy of Windows XP Service Pack 3, 450 MB in size, along with a Windows Virtual PC file of 5 MB. The XP Mode enables Windows 7 users to run Windows XP applications on Windows 7, and has been designed mainly for small/mid-size business users.
Scott Woodgate, director of Windows Enterprise and Virtualization Strategy, ZDNet reports, showed the tweaks Microsoft included in the new RC flavor of the add-on, such as an easier way to access devices from XP Mode, including USB drives or printers. The process now features fewer steps, and clicking on the Windows 7 icon will enable users to add devices. At the same time, there is a better integration with Windows 7. Read More»
Posted in Software, Windows 7 | 1 Comment »
Want a simpler way to test drive Microsoft’s next-generation federated identity technologies? Well, the Redmond company does offer customers virtual machines of codename Geneva for evaluation, in an effort to streamline as much as possible the testing process. Accompanying the Geneva Virtual Machines offered on the Microsoft Download Center are resources delivered to help consumers build and set up a test lab environment for the federated identity solutions. In this context, in addition to the VMs, the Geneva Server Federated Collaboration Step by Step Guide is also up for grabs from the software giant.
“The Geneva Server Federated Collaboration Step by Step Guide is intended for information technology (IT) professionals and system architects who want to implement secure collaboration between organizations using Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and “Geneva” Server. This guide provides a quick demonstration of the features, functionality, and interoperability capabilities of “Geneva” Server Beta 2, “Geneva” Framework Beta 2, and Windows CardSpace “Geneva” Beta 2. The instructions in this guide should take approximately 90 minutes or less to complete,” Microsoft informed.
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Posted in Computer | No Comments »
January 26, 2009 by
Jason Earlier this month, Microsoft made the Windows 7 beta available for anyone to download and test drive it. Unless you have a spare computer, it can be somewhat inconvenient to test out new operating systems on your main system. Although it is possible to dual boot Windows 7 with Vista or XP, you may still prefer to install it on a separate machine. VirtualBox is just the separate machine you’ve been looking for, and it’s free!
VirtualBox is a free and open source virtualization program. Essentially, it is like having a complete and separate computer within your computer. You can install any operating system on it, including Windows 7. The latest version of VirtualBox (2.1.2) has support for Windows 7, which makes it very easy and convenient to install.
First, you’ll want to download VirtualBox and install it. VirtualBox is available for multiple platforms: Windows, OS X, Linux, and Solaris. During the installation on a Windows system, you may receive a warning that untested software is being installed. Be sure to click continue when those boxes appear, as essential components for VirtualBox to function properly are being installed. Read More»
Posted in Windows 7 | No Comments »
January 07, 2009 by
Jason Following the downloading and deployment of over 1.5 million Beta copies of the Microsoft hypervisor-based virtualization technology in testing environments, Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V was released to manufacturing at the end of June 2008. However, even as early as the Release Candidate stages of the solution, the Redmond company was offering tools designed to integrate with Windows Vista computers, and to permit the remote management of Windows Server 2008 machines with the Hyper-V role. At the end of 2008, the software giant also made available for download management resources for the RTM version of Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V.
“This update package installs the management tools for the release version of Hyper-V technology on a computer that is running Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1). This update package includes the following items: the Hyper-V Manager Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in (the Hyper-V Manager MMC snap-in provides management access to servers that are running Hyper-V); [and] the Virtual Machine Connection tool (you can use this remote connection tool to establish an interactive session on a virtual machine host),” Microsoft informed. Read More»
Posted in Windows Vista | No Comments »
December 08, 2008 by
Jason In this post we are going to share with you the experience we had while trying to Install Windows XP on new laptop which has Windows Vista and how we achieved it virtually.
I bought a HP Pavallion notebook which had Windows Vista, and first thing I wanted was to make it dual boot with Windows Vista and Windows XP. I studied a lot of articles on Internet for installing Windows XP on new laptop. So I did a spilt-streaming of SATA drivers and Windows XP onto a same CD using nLite tool. The CD was able to start the setup, but as soon as the system restarted between, all was gone, it neither booted again with XP setup nor it had Vista on boot-loader anymore.
Finally I was back to face this reality that these new pieces of hardware are not happy to run Windows XP because of driver issues and other compatibility problems. I was disappointed with this for a week or so, after which I realized that we can do a Virtual Install with a tool from Microsoft. This tool is called Virtual PC, so I will tell you how I Installed Windows XP on Windows Vista without any trouble. Read More»
Posted in Windows Vista | 2 Comments »
December 04, 2008 by
Jason One of the several things I like to do to keep my Windows computer running efficiently as possible is to remove unnecessary programs or processes from running that I really don’t need (such as crapware).
The next type of optimization I usually perform is to see if there are processes that I do need, but don’t want them running all the time and wasting valuable resources that can slow down performance. The first place I usually look for these types of processes is Windows Services that are set to auto start during boot up.
Once I identify which service or set of services I don’t need running constantly in the background, I’ll create a simple batch file that can be clicked on to start them up quickly…when I need to have them running.
If you are not familiar where to look for Windows services, there are several ways to access the services console window. The quickest way is to click on Start \ Run and enter services.msc from the run box. Read More»
Posted in Computer | No Comments »
The latest version of a solution accelerator initially dubbed Windows Vista hardware Assessment is now available for download. The Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit is now at version 3.1 and has hit RTM stage. The latest build of the assessment and planning solution accelerator is tailored specifically to the most recent Windows client and server operating systems, namely Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2008 SP1/RTM, including the Hyper-V release. Version 3.1 is up for grabs straight from Microsoft, and is designed to streamline as much as possible the evaluation and planning phases of large scale software migration processes in complex IT infrastructures.
“Formerly known as Windows Vista Hardware Assessment, this new release is now packed with many new features such as: Hyper-V virtualization candidates assessment (+ improved virtual machines inventory); SQL server discovery and assessment; 64-bit installation support; and Desktop Windows Security Center assessment,” revealed Baldwin Ng, Senior Product Manager, Solution Accelerators Team. Read More»
Posted in Hardware, Software, Windows Vista | 1 Comment »
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