Category Archives: Server 2008 R2

Goodbye SBS!

Microsoft announced today the next release of their Windows Server operating systems, and thus ended the branding and name Small Business Server. Read the announcement here – http://blogs.technet.com/b/sbs/archive/2012/07/05/windows-small-business-server-essentials-becomes-windows-server-2012-essentials.aspx. Also check out the new line up for Windows Server 2012 here – http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/windows-server/2012-editions.aspx.

Here is a brief history of SBS. Google “Small Business Server” for more information on this.

  • 22 Oct 1997. BackOffice Small Business Server 4.0 is introduced, based on Windows NT Server 4.0 SP3. Allowed 25 client licenses.
  • 24 May 1999. BackOffice Small Business Server 4.5 is released, based on Windows NT Server 4.0 SP4. Allowed 50 client licenses.
  • 21 Feb 2001. Microsoft Small Business Server 2000 is released, based on Windows 2000 Server. Allowed 50 client licenses.
  • 9 Oct 2003. Windows Small Business Server 2003 is released, based on Windows Server 2003. Allowed 75 client licenses.
  • 29 July 2006. Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 is released, based on Windows Server 2003. The main updates here included the introduction of Windows Server Update Services and expansion of the 18GB Exchange database limit to 75GB.
  • 21 Aug 2008. Windows Small Business Server 2008 is released, based on Windows Server 2008. Allowed 75 client licenses, and introduced a new Console for administration and management.
  • 13 Dec 2010. Windows Small Business Server 2011 is released, based on Windows Server 2008 R2. The product was split into a Standard and Essentials version, where the standard version carried forward the 75 client license limit as seen in past releases. The new Essentials version was introduced from the Windows Home Server codebase and included 25 client licenses built in.
  • late 2012/early 2013 (estimate). Windows Server 2012 Essentials will be released, based on Windows Server 2012. Includes 25 client licenses.

With the introduction of Windows Server 2012 Essentials, the Small Business Server brand name will be lost. Here are some screenshots of the administration console as it developed in SBS2000, SBS2003, SBS2008, SBS2011 Standard and Essentials.

For more information on Small Business Server features, go to www.microsoft.com/sbs. SBS2011 is available right now. This is your last chance to get a fully integrated server for small business which integrates on premise Email, collaboration, update services, remote web access gateway, and much more.

 

WSUS dies after installing KB2720211

Recently, there have been quite a number of cases where WSUS stopped working after a recent patch KB2720211 was deployed.

There is now a blog listing the common issues that arise, and how to fix them  – http://blogs.technet.com/b/sus/archive/2012/06/20/wsus-kb272011-common-issues-encountered-and-how-to-fix-them.aspx

 

WIM2VHD tool to convert images with support for Windows8 and Server 2012

A new tool has been released to quickly convert WIM images into VHD and the new VHDX format. The tool is completely written in PowerShell and also has a GUI. The file (Convert-WindowsImage.ps1 ) can be downloaded here – http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Convert-WindowsImageps1-0fe23a8f

The tool supports Windows 7, Server 2008R2 and above. Vista and Server 2008 are not supported.

 

Windows update cannot currently check for updates because the service is not running

I’ve noticed this issue cropping up more often recently. When you go to update Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2, the following message pops up.

When you check the Windows Update service, you find that it is indeed already started. Rebooting does not resolve the issue.

There does not appear to be a Microsoft fix for this. However, the following steps appear to resolve the issue.

1. Stop the Windows Update service. Open up services from Computer Management, or run SERVICES.MSC from the Run command. Then locate the Windows Update service. Right click and Stop the service.

2. Browse to C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\ and delete everything from this folder.

3. Start the Windows Update service, and all the folders will be recreated.

 

 

All About Multipoint

Windows Multipoint Server is a new server operating system from Microsoft produced along the same server platform as Small Business Server 2011 Essentials. It is a Windows solutions that allow multiple users, each with their own independent and familiar Windows experience, to simultaneously share one computer, providing a low cost, easy to manage alternative solution to the traditional computing scenarios where each user has their own computer.

Here is a link that serves as a central point of information to everything else produced by Microsoft regarding Multipoint : http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2532860

PowerShell Not Your Father’s Command Line

There is a great 31 part blog post on PowerShell that is in developement (part 23 of 31 at this moment). Everything you wanted to know about PowerShell and some great scripts that can be used.

The main landing page for the blog is here – http://blogs.technet.com/b/matthewms/p/powershell.aspx

Here are the titles.

Part 1 of 31: Why PowerShell?
Part 2 of 31: The Basics on How to Read PowerShell
Part 3 of 31: Where Did All the Good Cmdlets Go?
Part 4 of 31: Who Ya Gonna Call For Help?
Part 5 of 31: What’s in it for Devs?
Part 6 of 31: A Cmdlet By Any Other Name Would Be An Alias
Part 7 of 31: Conjunction Function PowerShell What Are Functions?
Part 8 of 31: Won’t You Take Me To Functiontown?
Part 9 of 31: Another Side of PowerShell Profiles
Part 10 of 31: PowerShell Protecting You From Yourself
Part 11 of 31: PowerShell Providers and You!
Part 12 of 31: PowerShell and The Registry
Part 13 of 31: The Provider Active Directory Style
Part 14 of 31: Sorry I’m Not Home Right Now, Walking into IIS Webs…
Part 15 of 31: ISE, ISE Baby…
Part 16 of 31: PowerShell Take Me Out To The Grid
Part 17 of 31: Who Wants to Manage Active Directory?
Part 18 of 31: So You Deleted A User…On Purpose
Part 19 of 31: Small Business Server, PowerShell, and Me
Part 20 of 31: Hanging with Hyper-V
Part 21 of 31: Knock Knock PowerShell Calling!
Part 22 of 31: Good PowerShell Things Come in Nifty Packages
Part 23 of 31: HUGE Announcements, Disagreements, Best Practices and A Party…Oh My!
Part 24 of 31: PowerShell Did What!?!? How to Mitigate Risk!
Part 25 of 31: Did You Know PowerShell Can Talk VMware?
Part 26 of 31: Start Spreading the News…
Part 27 of 31: It Takes a Community to Raise a Language
Part 28 of 31: What is the .NET Framework?
Part 29 of 31: Demystifying MSDN and PowerShell static syntax
Part 30 of 31: PowerShell Likes the Pretty Blue Eyes of Azure Too
Part 31 of 31: That’s a Wrap and We are Not Done Yet!

Extend Home Server “Vail” beta installation

The public beta for Windows Home Server codenamed “Vail” expires today. As a result, current installations will reboot hourly because the server would have moved into expiry mode.

Microsoft have provided a workaround to extend the expiry in the interim, until the next beta is released. This workaround is based around Windows 2008 R2 SP1 Release Candidate.

To extend the expiry, you can do the following:

  1. Install WS08 R2 SP1 RC on the server from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?familyId=c3202ce6-4056-4059-8a1b-3a9b77cdfdda&hash=2SduI20oa3rGcMvoU%2bPV1TVHUik%2f3CNeLRmMuOcJXzz13kgszkD2VWTIpb%2bAS0in9K12Sc14FpC3sdT4PNXCUw%3d%3d
  2. Logon on https://connect.microsoft.com/WindowsHomeServer with your connect credentials
  3. Click on Product keys (in the left hand side column)
  4. Click on Request a new product key
  5. Click on Get Key
  6. In Windows Home Server, open a command prompt
  7. Type “slmgr.vbs -ipk ABCDE-FGHIJ-KLMNO-PQRST-UVWXY” (where ABCDE.. is your new key as requested above)
  8. Type “slmgr.vbs –ato
  9. Reboot the server, and your beta timeframe has been extended.  You can check this by opening up a command prompt and typing winver

You can view the Microsoft information on this topic here – http://social.microsoft.com/Forums/en/whsvailbeta/thread/9d459f48-2e9e-4279-ade1-6d4d5e907e4c

The Windows Home Server Blog page is here – http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/b/windowshomeserver/