Category Archives: Windows
Problems with RDP Connections on Windows Server 2008 R2
Overview Recently we came across a nasty issue when remotely connecting to Windows Server 2008 R2 machines via RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol). In this case, these servers were actually Domain Controllers and not full featured terminal servers, but we’ve seen issues with these as well. Failing to use RDP to these servers caused the administrators […]
Windows 8 Syncs Settings Across Devices Using Live ID
In a typically detailed post on the Building Windows 8 blog Monday, the Windows 8 team underlined the advantage of using a Windows Live ID to sign into different Windows devices. According to Katie Frigon, the group program manager of the You-Centered Experience team at MS, doing so will let users have “a truly personal […]
VM Backup – Backing up Virtual Machines with Windows Server 2008 R2 & Hyper-V
Overview Virtual machines are basically made of files. They contain configuration files, virtual hard disks, snapshot files and saved state files. While running computers are virtual machines can benefit from virtualization, a lot of thought needs to be taken in order to protect the contents of the virtual machines and the VMs themselves, so that […]
Fix “RPC Server is Unavailable” Error in Windows Server 2008 R2 Remote Disk Management
One of the coolest features of the Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Manager application, is the fact that you can now remotely connect to a server running Windows Server 2008 R2, and manage roles, features, services, disks and other aspects of the remote server. This was not possible in Windows Server 2008. The steps needed […]
Enabling Remote Management in Windows Server 2008 R2
Windows Server 2008 R2, unlike Windows Server 2008 RTM, has a nice feature that allows you to remotely manage it, from another server or from a Windows 7 workstation, by using Server Manager. Note: Windows Server 2008 RTM also has remote management capabilities. You can easily manage these servers by using almost any MMC Snap-In. […]
Quickly Defragmenting Partitions in Windows 7
When you make frequent writes and deletions from your hard disk, your disks will become fragmented with time. Fragmentation means that files are not consistent and not contiguous, and thus fragmentation of the disks will result in lower I/O performance. While in NTFS performance degradation is a lot lower than it was in FAT or […]
The Ultimate Guide to Installing Windows 7
So, you’re ready to install Windows 7? Read on to get guidance on how to approach this installation and make sure your copy of Windows 7 is properly installed. Planning the Installation As with any OS installation, we must first plan the installation process. When you run the Windows 7 Setup program, you must provide […]
Free Tool to Manage Windows Server 2008 R2 Core with a GUI: Visual Core Configurator
As you probably know by now, in Windows Server 2008, the Server Core installation provides a minimal environment for running specific server roles, which reduces the maintenance and management requirements and the attack surface for those server roles. In Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2, Server Core installation does not include the traditional […]
Windows Recovery Environment (RE): The Solution When A Computer Won’t Boot
Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) is an extensible recovery platform based on Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE). When the computer fails to start, Windows automatically fails over into this environment, and the Startup Repair tool in Windows RE automates the diagnosis and repair of an unbootable Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 or Windows […]
Manage Windows Server 2008 R2 Core with SCONFIG
As you probably know by now, in Windows Server 2008, the Server Core installation provides a minimal environment for running specific server roles, which reduces the maintenance and management requirements and the attack surface for those server roles. The Server Core installation option of Windows Server 2008 and R2 provides the following benefits: Reduced maintenance […]
