Thank you to those who attended our Panel Discussion Webinar: Deconstructing the Hyper-Converged Paradigm and congratulations to the winners of our drawing! Johnny from TriQuint – $100 Gift Card Tom from Stockport Council – £100 Gift Card William from Anderson Kill & Olick, P.C. – $100 Gift Card See below to watch the recording of the webinar. Watch Now>> ...read more

How do you navigate in a touch world without a touch device? I am glad you asked. This post will address that question in great detail but we will also look at all the other great things you can do with keyboard and mouse shortcuts. Read It, to understand what you have been missing. Bookmark it, to use as a reference while you get accustomed to the incredible power you still have at your finger tips without ever leaving home row! We will start off with what is new with Windows 8.1 but keep reading because there are probably plenty of other shortcuts that have been around for years and you simply were not aware of them. Lastly, if there are other shortcuts that you know about, please add a comment to share with the world. Most of what you know about using a mouse and keyboard with Windows has stayed the same, especially in the desktop. Here are some ways to use both new and familiar Windows features with a mouse and with keyboard shortcuts. Please also note that there are often multiple ways to perform the same action. I will be giving you more than one method to perform an action in some cases but in many cases there are more more ways to perform the same action… ...read more

I have been struggling with this for a while.  Excel puts the word (blank) on  a pivot table field if it does not have any data.  I want the field displayed without data.  I see in Excel 2013 there is a checkbox under Pivot Table options but I could not get it to work

 

I did however finally figure it out.  I could solve it using conditional formatting.  I many workarounds online in the forums but unfortunately, after a data refresh, the pivot would revert.  Using conditional formatting we do not have this problem.

1. Select the cells that you want to conditionally format [have a (blank) value] (you could select the entire column or even the table too if you want to do multiple columns [even if they do not have (blank) values)
2. On the Home Tab of the Ribbon Select Conditional Formatting
3. From the Dropdown, select New Rule

   

4. Select Format only cells that contain
5. In the drop down box box select Cell Value
6. in the second drop down box select equal to
7. In the third box type in “(blank)” without the quotes
8. Click the Format… Button

• On the Number tab; select Custom
• Then to the right, under the word Type: just type in 3 semi-colons “;;;”  without the quotes
• Click OK

  

• If you want to change anything later (like the range to select the entire column or entire table) you can click Conditional Formatting then Manage Rules
• Change the range to whatever you want the range to be and click OK
• If you want to delete the rule; click Delete Rule

  

• The final result will look like the following:
  

You could of course manually configure RDP to listen on different ports to allow connection from other standard or non-standard ports. In my case, I need to be able to RDP to an Azure Virtual Machine from a local school or customer office where the IT department has blocked port 3389. There is a new Virtual Machine Type in the Azure Image Gallery called “ Windows Server Essentials Experience Windows Server 2012 R2 ”. This machine already has Windows Server Essentials Experience role enabled so it is a simple matter to configure everything so someone can connect with HTTPS (via VPN) to an RDP Server. We will leverage this image for this Step-By-Step post. By default when you create a new machine the Windows Server Essentials Experience is not “configured” for Anywhere Access (VPN) functionalities and you have to Remote Control to the server to configure it. Therefore, I will be leveraging an artificial [Magic] “ port swap ” by managing end points for the server using the Azure End Points Configure screen to configure Windows Server Essentials Experience. These procedures will work for Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter as well. You only need to use the Essentials image if you need Anywhere ...read more

There are many options for migrating SQL databases to Azure. With the latest technology you can move just the database and log files, or you can move the entire system. You could move to Azure SQL Database or you could migrate to a VM running SQL Server. The methods that you chose to move will likely depend on what tools you are currently using, your experience with SQL Server and your SQL needs once the database is in Azure. To cover all of this would probably require a 30 part blog post which unfortunately, I do not have the time to write now. In this detailed article we will touch on many of these and provide Step-By-Step guidance for the most popular methods. If you are on the most recent version of SQL Server (2014) there are far more options available to you. Since many may not have that available to them, and migrating from 2014 is so super simple , I will spend most efforts on broader availability solutions. What is super simple you ask… Right-Click on the database you want to move; click Tasks and you have a boat load of options for getting your database moved to Azure. Including “ Deploy Database to Windows Azure SQL Database… ” or “ Deploy Database to a Windows Azure ...read more

In this post, I will teach you how to determine what user has administrative rights on the server as well as walk you Step-By-Step how to configure SQL Server to allow other users to login as Administrators to SQL Server. The generic message “Login Failed for User (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 18456)” means you entered invalid credentials when logging into SQL Server. In the below screen shot, I am logging into Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio with a user that does not have administrative permissions to connect to the server. You need to figure out what user does have rights to SQL server. Usually this is the user that you logged in with when you installed SQL Server or the user that is the default administrator on the computer. To get a list of users on the machine (Assuming Windows Server 2012 or above) Step-By-Step Launch Server Manager – Start – Click Server Manager In the upper right corner, click Tools, then Computer Management Expand Local Users and Groups (Under Computer Management-System Tools) then click Users Notice under Description… There is a Built-in account for administering… This is very likely an account that has access to SQL server. Try logging ...read more

It is always important to understand how our server workloads are doing.  Getting visibility into our systems allows us to proactively deal with future issues.  As an example, monitoring can let us know that we are running out of disk space on one of our volumes so we can order drives and get them install before a catastrophic event happens.  Monitoring can also alert us of future outages due to hardware failure.  I have been able to save downtime by catching through monitoring that a disk drive or disk controller is having problems.  Without monitoring we would not find out about these things until they fail completely and the service is brought down hard.  Though virtualization technology has changed our world for the better, it brought with it some unique challenges.  The biggest of which is probably that we have to use tools to understand our infrastructure.  No longer could we go “see” our “touch” our servers.  This problem is compounded even more as we move to the cloud.  Not only are these workloads not directly visible, they are not even in our data centers.  In the technology space, if we want to continue to grow we have to continue to learn and continue to solve problems. ...read more

In part 4 of our “ Modernizing Your Infrastructure with Hybrid Cloud ” series, Blain Barton and Keith Mayer tackle the topic of virtualization in a Hybrid Cloud environment. Tune in as they discuss how virtualization is no longer constrained to the physical capacity of an on-premise environment and then showcase some tools and techniques that are available in Microsoft Azure that can help assist your move to Hybrid cloud virtualization. • [1:26] What do you see as some of the differences or new opportunities that IT Pros need to consider when planning virtualization for a Hybrid Cloud environment? • [3:31] How do traditional IT Pro virtualization skills translate into Hybrid Cloud? • [5:05] When planning Hybrid Cloud virtualization, how should IT Pros approach it? • [8:01] You mentioned Azure Pack – what is that? • [10:51] If I already have an existing Hyper-V environment with custom VM templates defined, can I leverage them with Azure Pack? • [11:03] DEMO: Let’s see some of this in action Follow the series! Download Windows Server 2012 R2 Evaluation Start Your 30 Day Windows Azure Trial ...read more

Kevin Remde and Keith Mayer continue our series on “ Modernizing Your Infrastructure with Hybrid Cloud ” and in today’s episode they discuss various options for networking. Tune in as they go in depth on what options are available for hybrid cloud networking as they explore network connectivity and address concerns about speed, reliability and security. • [2:46] What components are involved in Hybrid Cloud Networking? • [5:30] What are some of the technical capabilities of Hybrid Cloud networking? • [9:25] Which VPN gateways are supported with Microsoft Azure? • [11:28] What are some of the common scenarios that customers are implementing for Hybrid Cloud networking? • [15:40] Besides Site-to-Site IPSec VPNs, are there any other connectivity options for Hybrid Cloud networking? • [20:10] DEMO: Can you walk us through the basic steps for setting up a Hybrid Cloud network? Follow the series! http://aka.ms/ModernCloud Download Windows Server 2012 R2 Evaluation Start Your 30 Day Windows Azure Trial ...read more

Create Firewall Rules in Windows 7 thru Windows Server 2012 R2 to allow RDP and ICMP traffic for you have to open “Windows Firewall with Advanced Security” control panel applet. You can get here by typing “firewall” in the search box near the start button and selecting it from the list (likely on top) or you can go to control panel. Tested on : Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Server 2018, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2 Start – Control Panel – System and Security – Windows Firewall – Advanced Settings Note: You could also get to control panel from the Windows-X drop down menu This will bring up the Windows Firewall with Advanced Security Screen. Click on Inbound Rules The easy way to allow Ping is to enable the existing ICMP rules. Enable ICMP (PING) Existing Rule(s) You could scroll down and select File and Printer Sharing (Echo Request – ICMPv4-in) – Right Click and Select Enable Rule (Notice you will have one for multiple networks, you can enable the only the Domain network if you are in a domain environment or enable both if you want to enable on private networks also. Notice there are ICMPv4 and ICMPv6. If you are using (or ...read more

In this detailed post and hands on lab (HOL) guide we will introduce Windows Azure backup and dive in deep with step-by-step instructions you can use to schedule a backup, perform a manual backup of your server and perform a test restore.The post assumes only that you have a server that you want to backup to Windows Azure.If you do not already have a LiveID/Microsoft Account and Windows Azure account, you can create them with the instructions in the prerequisites which will take about 20 mins.The remainder of the steps (including creating the self-signed certificate) will take less than 40 mins to complete.If you find this guide/post helpful please tweet… Tweet: Checkout @ITProGuru Backup Windows Server Using Windows Azure Backup Step-By-Step http://ITProGuru.com/azBackup What is Windows Azure Backup? Windows Azure Backup helps protect server data against loss and corruption by enabling backup to offsite cloud storage in Windows Azure . It provides a consistent experience configuring, monitoring, and recovering backups across local disk and cloud storage, integrating with the in-box backup program in Microsoft Windows Server or System Center Data Protection Manager. Windows ...read more

Kevin Remde and Dan Stolts continue our series on “ Modernizing Your Infrastructure with Hybrid Cloud ” with an overview on how to plan for a hybrid cloud storage solution using Windows Server 2012 R2 and Microsoft Azure. Tune in for this lively discussion on the many storage options available to you as well as discussions around performance, reliability and security. • [1:18] Let’s start with a quick summary of existing storage capabilities using modern infrastructure on-premises as supported by Windows Server 2012 R2 • [10:16] What is Azure Storage? • [11:17] Can you give us a quick overview of Azure Storage Architecture? • [12:30] In order to connect local systems to Azure Storage accounts, I have to think there is some kind of authentication required to make that happen securely. How is that done? • [16:00] What is Blob Storage? • [17:30] What are some common uses of Azure File Storage? • [18:18] Is Azure data reliable? • [21:10] Since we can access storage from Azure services or from our on-premises services, what kind of performance can we expect? • [23:17] I understand we can take snapshots of data in Azure. Can you ...read more

Have you seen this incredible tool. Microsoft hit a home run with this little gem. The Azure Cost Estimator Tool will allow you to scan a machine, a virtualization host or even an entire Virtual Machine Manager Network. The Azure (IaaS) Cost Estimator has been designed keeping in mind the need to provide the IT manager of next generation organizations the ability to quickly assess running cost of the existing on-premises workload on Azure. It is not just for on-premises though. If you have hosted servers or servers running on other cloud platforms like AWS, run a scan to see what you can save by moving them to Azure. The Azure (IaaS) Cost Estimator Tool does analysis on all the RUNNING computers including virtual machines (selectable) and spits out by machine a bunch of consumption statistics including: CPU Memory (GB) Memory Consumed % Disk (GB) Disk Consumed % Avg Disk Transactions (per min) Total Disk Transactions/30 days Avg Bandwidth (MB/min) Total Bandwidth (GB)/30 days Click a “ Get Cost ” button and another feat of software magic happens. It then takes that information, checks the prices on Azure (US) and calculates what ...read more

The Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit makes it easy to assess your current IT infrastructure for a variety of technology migration projects. This Solution Accelerator provides a powerful inventory, assessment, and reporting tool to simplify the migration planning process.  It … Continue reading → ...read more

Part 1: Creating SQL Server Virtual Machine on Windows Azure (using the new portal) Step-By-Step   1. Login to Windows Azure Portal   2. Click New in the lower left corner 3. Click SQL Se3rver 2014 Standard  4. Enter Host Name, … Continue reading → ...read more

I know you were happy with the great advancements in DR over the last few months including the recent announcement that you can now use Azure Site Recovery to synchronize and fail over Virtual Machines to Microsoft Azure.   The great … Continue reading → ...read more

Hyper-V Recovery Manager in Windows Azure was able orchestrate the recovery of a server from your primary datacenter to a secondary datacenter in the case of disaster.  The top feature request was to have this feature available to allow Site … Continue reading → ...read more

You can go directly to the new portal at http://portal.azure.com The production Azure (main) portal is http://portal.windowsazure.com Once you are on the new portal, you can switch to the Azure portal by clicking on Azure Portal from the HOME screen … Continue reading → ...read more

  In Windows Azure you can go to the Management Portal at http://Manage.WindowsAzure.com  In doing so, it will log you in to the default account or the account that is tied to your current live id.  If you have multiple … Continue reading → ...read more

  In the management portal scroll down in the Nav bar to Settings 1) Click Settings 2) click the Administrators Tab 3) Click Add 4) Enter the email address of the LiveID you would like to add as an administrator … Continue reading → ...read more

See the full Session Catalog at: http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2014#fbid= This is just a partial list of the Azure Content.  Many more Azure and many more topics available.   Transform the Datacenter: Making the Promise of Connected Clouds a Reality Elden Christensen, Brian … Continue reading → ...read more

Are you annoyed that you cannot play videos or use some of the cool windows tools like snipping tool with windows server?  Well, you can, they just have to be enabled before you can use them.  Below are instructions for enabling these features in Windows Server 2008 and in Windows Server 2012 (slightly different instructions)

 

What does the Desktop Experience feature include?

Desktop Experience includes the following Windows components and features:

• Windows Media Player
• Desktop themes
• Video for Windows (AVI support)
• Windows SideShow
• Windows Defender
• Disk Cleanup
• Sync Center
• Sound Recorder
• Character Map
• Snipping Tool

Note

Installing Desktop Experience does not automatically turn on any of the features it installs. After installation, you must manually enable any features that require configuration changes. For example, to use a desktop theme, use the Services snap-in for Microsoft Management Console to enable and start the Themes service, and then select the theme.

Download Free Windows Server 2012 R2 – Free Trial Download Free System Center 2012 R2 – Free Trial

 

Installing or uninstalling the Desktop Experience feature Windows Server 2008 & 2008 R2

You can install or uninstall Desktop Experience using the Initial Configuration Tasks Wizard or Server Manager.

To install Desktop Experience using the Initial Configuration Tasks Wizard

1. In the Customize This Server section, click Add features.

2. Select the Desktop Experience check box, and then click Next.

3. Complete the wizard by clicking Install.

To install Desktop Experience using Server Manager

1. Open Server Manager: click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and click Server Manager.

   Note

   You can also open Server Manager by typing the following at a command prompt:

   servermanager.msc

2. In the Features Summary section, click Add features.

3. Select the Desktop Experience check box, and then click Next.

4. Complete the wizard by clicking Install.

You can uninstall Desktop Experience at any time by using either method above to start the Add Features Wizard. When the wizard opens, clear the Desktop Experience check box, click Next, and then click Remove to complete the wizard.

Installing or uninstalling the Desktop Experience feature Windows Server 20012 & 2012 R2

The Desktop Experience feature in Windows Server 2012 is under the User Interfaces and Infrastructure feature. In order to install Desktop Experience feature, do the following steps:
Open Server Manager > Manage > Add Roles and Features.

You can skip the Before you begin page by just clicking Next.
In the installation type page keep the default Role-based or feature-based installation then click Next

In the Server Selection Page, Your current server should already be selected, if not, select the server you want to work with under SERVER POOL then click Next

Skip the Server roles page by clicking Next

In the Features page, scroll down (close to the bottom) expand User Interfaces and Infrastructure feature then turn on the checkbox for Desktop Experience. You will be prompted to install the required components or services "Ink and Handwriting Services" and "Media Foundation". Click Add Features.

In the Confirm installation selections page, [optionally] select Restart the destination server automatically if required. You will likely need to restart your server after installing and before using some of the desktop experience features.

 

Another way to add feature by using PowerShell: Add-WindowsFeature Desktop-Experience

Sysprep is a tool that is designed for system administrators, Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), and others who must automatically deploy an operating system on multiple computers. After you perform the initial setup steps on a single computer, you can run the Sysprep tool to prepare the sample computer for cloning.  However with the propagation of computers with Virtualization and Cloud, deploying computers has taken on a whole new meaning.  Sysprep is a free tool that comes with windows.  In modern operating systems it can be found on your windows computer in the %SystemRoot%\System32\Sysprep folder (usually c:\windows\system32\sysprep). It can also be found on the boot CD/DVD of the operating system like Windows XP under the \Support\Tools folder. What it actually does is cleans out the security information (aka SID) on the computer and prepares the computer for a first time boot.  Like a computer that you just got from a store.  This allows the image to be copied and run many times without having issues of having multiple of the same computers on the network.  Be Careful, the process will wipe out all security and identification information and boot information on any computer you run it on.

Download Free Windows Server 2012 R2 – Free Trial 

 

Run Sysprep on a computer (virtual or physical) but in my case I will be doing a virtual machine running on Hyper-V.

1. On a reference (VM) computer, install the operating system and any programs that you want installed on your destination computers.
2. Click Start, type cmd, and then click OK.
3. At the command prompt, change to the root folder of drive C, Type C: then type CD %SystemRoot%\System32\Sysprep
4. Now you can run the sysprep.exe file but let’s start by running the /h switch sysprep /h  which will pop up a help box.

   

5. Notice that you can run everything on the command-line which is how I normally use it.  However, there is a Graphical User Interface for the program that you will likely want to use until you get familiar with this tool.
6. Now, let’s run it again without any parameters… sysprep

   

7. Turn on the generalize checkbox. If you intend to transfer a Windows image to a different computer, you must run sysprep /generalize, even if the computer has the same hardware configuration. The sysprep /generalize command removes unique information from your Windows installation, which enables you to reuse that image on different computers. The next time you boot the Windows image, the specialize configuration pass runs. During this configuration pass, many components have actions that must be processed when you boot a Windows image on a new computer. Any method of moving a Windows image to a new computer, either through imaging, hard disk duplication, VM copying or other method, must be prepared with the sysprep /generalize command. Moving or copying a Windows image to a different computer without running sysprep /generalize is not supported.
8. You will want to Shutdown the machine when done (instead of restart).  If you restart, the out-of-box experience will run before you have a chance to copy the image.
9. If you are sure, you want to wipe out all of the security data on the machine, go ahead and click OK!
10. Sysprep does not capture the image it only prepares the machine to be captured.  If you are doing this in a virtual machine, the image becomes the .VHD or .VHDX file after you shutdown the machine, copy it or duplicate it at will.  If you are doing a physical computer, you will need an imaging tool, like ImageX, to capture an image of the installation.

 

Technologies Related to Sysprep

The following technologies are related to Sysprep:

ImageX

ImageX is a command-line tool that enables original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and corporations to capture, modify, and apply Windows images for rapid deployment. ImageX works with Windows image (.wim) files to copy directly to a destination computer, or it can work with other technologies that use the .wim files. Corporations that do not require the capture functionality or the low-level features included in ImageX can still use related technologies such as unattended installation, Group Policy, and Systems Management Server (SMS).

Windows Software Protection Platform (SPP)

Windows Software Protection Platform (SPP) reduces Windows piracy by ensuring compliance with the Microsoft Software License Terms. In previous Windows versions, this was known as Windows Product Activation (WPA). During product activation, the product key is matched with the individual computer on which the software is installed. It does this by validating the product key, and checks that it has not been used with more than the licensed number of computers.

Windows Setup

Windows Setup is the program that installs Windows or upgrades previous versions of Windows.

Unattended Windows Setup Answer File

The unattended Windows Setup answer file, typically called Unattend.xml, is the answer file for Windows Setup that is created by using Windows System Image Manager (Windows SIM). The answer file enables the configuration of default Windows settings, as well as the addition of drivers, software updates, and other applications. The answer file enables OEMs and corporations to customize Windows Setup tasks, for example, specifying disk configuration, changing the default values for Internet Explorer, and installing additional drivers.

Note

The single answer file replaces all the answer files that were used in previous versions of Windows (Unattend.txt, Winbom.ini, Oobeinfo.ini, and Sysprep.inf).

Windows System Image Manager

Windows System Image Manager (Windows SIM) provides you with the ability to customize Windows images. Windows SIM enables you to customize the settings in a Windows image. Based on your configurations, you can create an unattended Windows Setup answer file, typically called Unattend.xml. This answer file is used during Windows Setup to apply your configurations to Windows. In the answer file, you can specify changes to default operating system components and add additional software, such as out-of-box drivers or product updates.

 

Download Free Windows Server 2012 R2 – Free Trial 

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I found a great article I wanted to share.  If you use the Disk2VHD, be careful of SCSI and Raid controllers.  Test booting and running the VM before you blow away the original disk; you have been warned :} …

In previous posts, I have shown you how to export and import machines from one Hyper-V host to another (see post titled “Importing & Exporting Hyper-V VMs in Windows Server 2012 R2“). I have also talked about building new virtual machines from scratch. There are many scenarios where it makes a lot of sense to virtualize an existing system as is. In essence, you would convert a physical server to a VM (virtual machine). We call this a Physical-to-Virtual (P2V) migration. 

Read Full Article >>

In this post I discuss:

• What is a P2V Migration?
• Why would I ever want to do this?
• Different Methods for P2V Migration using Tools from Microsoft.
• Step-by-Step procedure for performing a P2V migration using System Center Virtual Machine Manager (part of the Microsoft System Center suite).

Read Full Article >>

 

Bob, Thanks for all you do to teach our technology community.  Great Stuff, keep it up!!!

 

Download Free Windows Server 2012 R2 – Free Trial 

Download Free System Center 2012 R2 – Free Trial

This session gives a brief overview of utilizing RemoteApp for Mobility and BYOD scenarios where IT can enable users to access corporate data and applications while ensuring compliance. With the new Microsoft Remote Desktop app, end users can access corporate applications from a variety of devices and platforms including iOS, Mac OS X, and Android, in addition to Windows and Windows RT.

In case you do not have your own azure account yet, you can get a free trial from http://aka.ms/IaaS. 

If you need help getting stated, check out Getting Started With Windows Azure–Step-By-Step Free Cloud Server Hours

 

video = 56 min

Download Free Windows Server 2012 R2 – Free Trial

Source: Azure Remote App Deep Dive