Category Archives: Windows 10

Windows 10

Windows 10 Update History

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Microsoft have finally put up a webpage to document what has been changed in each build of Windows 10 when the operating system is released.

Since the initial release of Windows 10, two updates have occurred. The details of each update have been documented here – http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10/update-history-windows-10

Fixes, Windows 10

Windows 10 Default Printer keeps changing

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A “new” feature in the latest cumulative update for WIndows 10 automatically sets the default printer to the last used printer. This setting is turned on by default. This means that every time you use a printer, this printer becomes the default printer for the system.

While this might be a nice feature to have, it can potentially cause a waste of paper and some potentially “difficult” situations when documents are unwittingly printed to the wrong printer. ie, that receipt for the surprise birthday gift, or the 100 page draft document that was supposed to be printed to the paper optimiser print driver.

Fortunately, we can turn off this setting.

  1. Open up Printers & Scanners. Tip: Click on the Start Menu, and type “Printers & Scanners” in the search box.
  2. In the Printers & Scanners settings page, turn off the setting “Let Windows manage my default printer“.

PrintersAndScanners

Fixes, SBS 2011, Server Essentials, SBS, Windows 10

Windows 10 support on Windows Server Essentials and Small Business Server

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The Essentials Server team have released a blog post to highlight which client versions are supported on currently supported Windows Server Essentials and Small Business Server 2011. The blog post can be read here – http://blogs.technet.com/b/sbs/archive/2015/07/23/client-connector-availability-with-windows-home-server-small-business-server-and-windows-server-essentials-for-supported-client-os.aspx

Basically, if you need to connect a Windows 10 client to Windows Server Essentials 2012 R2, which is probably the most common scenario, you will need to perform a manual client connector installation. A fix for the server is scheduled to be released on 17 November 2015.

Another common scenario would be the joining of the client connector for a Windows 10 client to Small Business Server 2011. In this case, 2 lines need to be added to the XML file on the server, which is located at C:\Program Files\Windows Small Business Server\Bin\WebApp\ClientDeployment\packageFiles\supportedOS.xml. Add the following 2 lines.

<OS Architecture="9" RequiredProductType="1" RequiredSuite="" ExcludedSuite="512" SPMinor="" SPMajor="" Build="10240" Minor="0" Major="10" Name="Windows 10, AMD64" id="9"/>
<OS Architecture="0" RequiredProductType="1" RequiredSuite="" ExcludedSuite="512" SPMinor="" SPMajor="" Build="10240" Minor="0" Major="10" Name="Windows 10, x86" id="10"/>
SBS 2011, Server Essentials, SBS, Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1

Windows 7, 8.1, 10, SBS and Essentials Client Conntector – What works, and what doesn’t

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The Essentials Server team have just published a blog post which gives you an at-a-glance look at what features are supported and not supported with the six current (and recently past) SBS and Essentials SKUs.

Read the blog post here – http://blogs.technet.com/b/sbs/archive/2015/07/23/client-connector-availability-with-windows-home-server-small-business-server-and-windows-server-essentials-for-supported-client-os.aspx

Windows 10

Windows 10 new License Terms

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ZDNet reviewed the new License Terms for Windows 10 and found no major surprises.

  • Activation and licensing status is as per previous versions of Windows.
  • Transfer rights. No changes. OEM copies are locked to the device, and retail copies can be transferred.
  • Downgrade rights. Users can downgrade to Windows 7 or 8.1 for as long as the earlier versions are within the support lifecycle.
  • Automatic Updates. The news here is that automatic updates will happen as dictated by Microsoft. Business users will have some management over this.
  • Office on Windows RT. No commercial rights will be assigned to the bundled/included free version.

The full article can be read here – http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-releases-new-license-terms-for-windows-10-no-surprises/ 

Windows 10

How to remove the Windows 10 upgrade icon from the system tray

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With the impending release of Windows 10 on 29 July 2015, users are beginning to see the free Windows 10 upgrade icon (for qualified versions), in their system tray. This could become an issue, should users upgrade to Windows 10 before some of their critical line of business applications are supported properly.

The good news is that this notification can be disabled so as not to tempt “itching” fingers from upgrading without proper consideration of the factors.

The steps are as follows (Thanks to Spiceworks, and the SBS Diva).

  1. From an elevated command prompt, run taskkill /f /im GWX.exe /T (wait about 30 seconds)
  2. Create a reg file (eg. create a file in Notepad, and save it as nowin10.reg) with the following contents.

    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

    [-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\GWX\shell\open\command]

    [-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ms-gwx\shell\open\command]

    [-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\GWX\shell\open\command]

    [-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\ms-gwx\shell\open\command]

    [-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WINEVT\Publishers\{18abebc9-83ec-435f-8f15-6d1e9187c999}]

  3. Run the Reg file and restart the computer

To reverse this process, you can create another reg file (eg. call it yeswin10.reg) with the following contents.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\GWX\shell\open\command]

@=”C:\\Windows\\System32\\GWX\\GWX.exe %1″

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ms-gwx\shell\open\command]

@=”C:\\Windows\\System32\\GWX\\GWX.exe %1″

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\GWX\shell\open\command]

@=”C:\\Windows\\System32\\GWX\\GWX.exe %1″

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\ms-gwx\shell\open\command]

@=”C:\\Windows\\System32\\GWX\\GWX.exe %1″

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WINEVT\Publishers\{18abebc9-83ec-435f-8f15-6d1e9187c999}]

@=”Microsoft-Windows-GWX-Ins”

“ResourceFileName”=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,\

00,6f,00,74,00,25,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,\

5c,00,47,00,57,00,58,00,5c,00,47,00,57,00,58,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,00,00,\

00

“MessageFileName”=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,\

6f,00,74,00,25,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,\

00,47,00,57,00,58,00,5c,00,47,00,57,00,58,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,00,00,00

“Enabled”=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WINEVT\Publishers\{18abebc9-83ec-435f-8f15-6d1e9187c999}\ChannelReferences]

“Count”=dword:00000002

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WINEVT\Publishers\{18abebc9-83ec-435f-8f15-6d1e9187c999}\ChannelReferences]

@=”Microsoft-Windows-GWX-Ins/Operational”

“Id”=dword:00000010

“Flags”=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WINEVT\Publishers\{18abebc9-83ec-435f-8f15-6d1e9187c999}\ChannelReferences\1]

@=”Microsoft-Windows-GWX-Ins/Debug”

“Id”=dword:00000011

“Flags”=dword:00000000

Features, HyperV, Useful Links, Windows 10, Windows Server

Windows 10 and Windows Server Previews

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If you want to have a play with the various new preview releases of Windows, here are the links to resources and information on where to download these previews.

If you have a MSDN or Microsoft Azure subscription, you can get them directly via the respective site portals.

Otherwise, here are the public links.