Innovative Technology Weblog

Last month me and some collegues went to MMS2008 in Las Vegas were I saw a cool demo of Group Police Preferences. The name Group Policy Preferences did ring a bell with me and suddenly I remembered. A few weeks before MMS I saw a Windows Update that was called Group Policy Preferences Client Side Extensions, but I did’nt know what it was.

So now that I’m a few weeks back home I finaly had some time to play with it on my Demo Domain that I setup last week using CoreConfigurator. To use Group Policy Preferences you must have a few things in place:

• A Windows Server 2008 or Windows Vista SP1 machine (only needed for managing Group Policy Preferences)
• RSAT Installed on the management machine
• Deployed the Group Policy Preferences Client Side Extensions to your Desktops/Servers (XP SP2 or higher)
• Active Directory

Note : You don’t need a 2008 DC or Windows Vista SP1 client to use Group Policy Preferences !!

On the left screenshot you can see all the different options that can be managed using Group Policy Preferences. There ar too much settings to show them all on this blog, but I realy like to show you some nice things. I made some screenshots of some common things you normaly do in loginscripts or kix scripts, but that are now possible in Group Policy. (click on the images to see it full size)

With Group Policy Preferences it is easy to map networkdrives. Not only you can map a drive for all users in a generic user policy, but it is also  possible to target this mapping to no more then 27 targeting rules. (Image on the right)

Most common is to map a network share based on group membership or IP subnet. This way way it is possible to map a share witf for example application data to a server that is on the same geographical location as the user without the need of using DFS or site loginscripts.

An other example is setting up how users (or administrators) see their files in Windows Explorer. In this screenshot I set it up so that the user will see the file extentions for known files and also shows hidden & system files, this is a setting that most admins will set if they logon to a new machine. This is also the power of Group Policy Preferences, the most settings an administrator will have to manualy do if he is building a new image for deployment can be managed by Group Policy Preferences.

As you can imagine there are hundreds or maybe thousends of possibilities that you use in solving those anoying problems you usely have to solve using scripts or other tools.

Next thing I have to do is migrating my loginscript at home to Group Policy Preferences.

Have fun with it.

Erik Luppes

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“You are kidding arent you ?

Are you saying that this linux can run on a computer without windows underneath it, at all ? As in, without a boot disk, without any drivers, and without any services ?That sounds preposterous to me.

http://talkback.zdnet.com/5208-12355-0.html?forumID=1&threadID=31199&messageID=579806&start=-9530

Today Microsoft has resleased Windows Dreamscene to all Windows Ultimate customers. To install Dreamscene simply run Windows Update.

As most of you already know, Windows DreamScene transforms your desktop from a static wallpaper image into a full-motion video. In conjunction with Stardock, we’re pleased to also offer a number of cool, new animated DreamScene desktops, including “Aurora�. Additionally, you can use your own videos as DreamScene desktops or visit Stardock’s Dream.WinCustomize.com website to download Stardock’s DeskScapes (an add-on to DreamScene) as well as a collection of fabulous content created by Stardock and members of the Ultimate community.

More @ Source

Microsoft decided not to include a copy of the old WinHlp.exe in the Windows Vista RTM and wanted some time to update/redo it for security reasons.  Not a bad idea..

See the breif  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/917607 article for more information.

But it appears that the updating work is over and it is now available for all those older .HLP files you can’t open on Vista unless you copy over your old Windows XP version..

Download it here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=6ebcfad9-d3f5-4365-8070-334cd175d4bb

|\\arco..

Found this interesting list of possible hotfixes that could be included in the upcoming SP1.
http://vistasp1.net/

Also makes a good list of patches to try out if you run into issues or strange behavior.

|\\arco..

There has been a lot of fuss about Microsoft’s virtualization licensing and distribution policies. The biggest player in this market (and properbly the most affected), VMware, is pissed and posted a whitepaper with their 7 complaints.

 VMware seven objections are:
1) Microsoft offers top virtualization support for only premier-level support customers, inherently limiting the ability for many customers to get technical support for competitive virtualization platforms;2) Microsoft’s “restrictive terms” on the use of published virtual machines, or appliances, is unfair to users. Microsoft, VMware claims, restricts use of VHD formatted virtual machines to Microsoft Virtual Server and Virtual PC only;

Does this mean we can put virtualization in the same category as the browser and the mediaplayer?…..

Last evening i noticed that there was an Windows Ultimate Update available, so i said to my self lets check it out.

What was the updatescreen telling me ??

Sorry for the Dutch but it’s saying that there is 1 Ultimate Extra available.

For those that allready missed what I am talking about, DreamScene gives the user to put a movie as a wallpaper. For example a watterfall scene of 5 seconds and then looped so it looks like the water keeps on flowing. Windows Vista has the abbility to do this with allmost no use of resources.

I’m using the x64 of Windows Vista Ultimate, and i know Microsoft released 2 different versions of Dreamscene, a 32-bit and a 64-bit, my guess is that both are on Windows Update tonight.

The download is 21Mb in size and does need a reboot to get active.

Have Fun out there

Grtz Erik

P.S. Want to se aa little demo of DreamScene ? Look at this short YouTube video:

Microsoft Key Management Service for Windows Server 2003 is part of Microsoft Windows Volume Activation 2.0. It allows enterprise users to host Key Management Service on Windows Server 2003 to enable activation of Windows Vista using Key Management Service (KMS) Key.

Key Management Service for Windows Server 2003 enables deployment of Windows Vista using current and released server operating system. It uses the Windows Vista KMS key provided through Microsoft’s Volume Licensing System portals (MVLS, eOpen). The KMS host can be activated using either online or offline methods. It uses the same interfaces and tools as KMS on Windows Vista including:
• Software Licensing API, WMI interfaces, error codes, logging events
• SLMGR.VBS and KMS Management Pack for Microsoft Operations Manager

Download here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=81d1cb89-13bd-4250-b624-2f8c57a1ae7b&DisplayLang=en

|\\arco..

For those involved with Vista deployments and looking at using BitLocker with BDD/LiteTouch you probably need to look at the updated BDEHDCFG.EXE tool:
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=930063

It basically provides a way to automatically resize your existing partition and add a new partition for BitLocker and make it the active partition, called a “split-load” configuration. 

Part of the Windows Vista Ulimate Extras as well:
http://windowsultimate.com/blogs/extras/archive/2007/01/07/bitlocker-and-efs-enhancements.aspx

|\\arco..

Enhansoft created a SQL Query that will help you detemine the number of workstations with issues deploying Vista.

Or you could use the GSA Isn’t that right Rob?

Regards,
Stefan Stranger
http://weblog.stranger.nl