Running Windows from a USB flash drive

Posted on By Mark Wilson
This content is 16 years old. I don't routinely update old blog posts as they are only intended to represent a view at a particular point in time. Please be warned that the information here may be out of date.

I’ve titled this post as “Running Windows from a USB flash drive” because the same principles should be equally applicable to all Windows 7-based operating systems (and even Vista if the Windows 7 bootloader is used) but my specific scenario was based on Hyper-V Server 2008 R2.

I got this working a few hours after Windows 7, Server 2008 and Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 were released to manufacturing but I was still using release candidate code – fingers crossed it still works with the final release!

Boot from VHD is a fantastic new technology in Windows 7/Server 2008 R2 and derivative operating systems and I’ve often wondered if it’s possible to use it to run Hyper-V from a USB flash drive (just like the “embedded” version of VMware ESXi offered by some OEMs). Well, as it happens it is – and this post describes the steps I had to take to make it work.

First of all, I needed to create a virtual hard disk and install an operating system onto it. As Keith Combs noted, there are various ways to do this but only one is supported; however there is also a handy video on TechNet which takes you through the steps of creating a VHD and booting from it.

Using the TechNet video as a guide, I issued the following commands from the command prompt to create my virtual hard disk and apply an image from the Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 release candidate DVD:

diskpart
create vdisk file=driveletter:\virtualharddisk.vhd maximum=15000 type=expandable
select vdisk file=driveletter:\virtualharddisk.vhd
attach vdisk
list disk

(make a note of the disk number.)

select disk disknumber
create partition primary
select partition 1
active
format fs=ntfs quick
assign
exit

(note the drive letter for the newly mounted VHD.)

imagex /info dvddrive:\sources\install.wim

(identify the correctentry.)

imagex /apply dvddrive:\sources\install.wim /check imageindex vhddrive:\
diskpart
select vdisk file=driveletter:\virtualharddisk.vhd
detach vdisk
exit

At this point, Hyper-V Server had been imaged into my new VHD, which could then be copied to the USB flash drive.

Next, to load the VHD from the Boot Manager, I edited the boot configuration data (which is what would be required in a standard boot from VHD scenario); however, as I found later, a different set of actions is needed for booting from the USB flash drive.

bcdedit /copy {current} /d “Hyper-V Server 2008 R2”
bcdedit

(make a note of the GUID for the newly created entry.)

bcdedit /set {guid} device vhd=[usbdrive:]\virtualharddisk.vhd
bcdedit /set {guid} osdevice vhd=[usbdrive:]\virtualharddisk.vhd
bcdedit /set {guid} detecthal on
bcdedit /set {guid} description “Hyper-V Server 2008 R2”

It’s worth understanding that the use of drive letters (which are transient in nature) does not cause a problem as the BCD Editor (bcdedit.exe) extracts the data about the partition and saves it in the BCD store (i.e. it does not actually save the drive letter).

After rebooting, Hyper-V Server loaded from my USB flash drive and ran through the out of box experience. At this stage I had Hyper-V Server running off the flash drive but only if my original Windows installation (with the boot manager) was available and, as soon as I removed the hard disk (I wanted to be sure that I was booting off the flash drive with no other dependencies), then the whole thing collapsed in a heap. Thanks to Garry Martin, I checked my BIOS configuration and made sure that USB device boots were enabled (they were not) but I then spent about a day playing around with various BCD configurations (as well as various attempts to fix my BCD with bootrec.exe) until I stumbled on a post from Vineet Sarda (not for the first time, based on the comments that include one from yours truly a few weeks back!) that discusses booting from VHD without a native operating system.

Following Vineet’s example, I booted my system into Windows 7 (I could have used the Windows Recovery Environment), reformatted the USB flash drive before copying my VHD image back onto it, and issued the following commands:

diskpart
select vdisk file=usbdrive:\virtualharddisk.vhd
attach vdisk
list volume
exit

(note the drive letter for the newly mounted VHD.)

bcdboot vhddrive:\Windows /s usbdrive: /v

(i.e. copying the BCD from the operating system image contained within the VHD, to the physical USB drive. Note that, when running on a live system it is important to specify the target drive for the BCD in order to avoid overwriting the live configuration.)

I then shut down the system, removed the hard disk and booted from the USB flash drive, after which the Windows Boot Manager loaded an operating system from within the VHD.

Looking at my BCD configuration (shown here for reference), I can see the source of my many hours of confusion – the Boot Manager resides on the physical media (my USB key – which was allocated drive D: in this case) and loads an operating system from the virtual disk that is given another drive letter (in this case C:):

Windows Boot Manager
——————–
identifier              {bootmgr}
device                  partition=D:
description             Windows Boot Manager
locale                  en-us
inherit                 {globalsettings}
default                 {current}
resumeobject            {27f66313-771a-11de-90bb-00037ab36ab6}
displayorder            {current}
toolsdisplayorder       {memdiag}
timeout                 30

Windows Boot Loader
——————-
identifier              {current}
device                  partition=C:
path                    \windows\system32\winload.exe
description             Hyper-V Server 2008 R2
locale                  en-us
inherit                 {bootloadersettings}
osdevice                partition=C:
systemroot              \windows
resumeobject            {27f66313-771a-11de-90bb-00037ab36ab6}
nx                      OptOut
detecthal               Yes

It took a while to boot (my flash drive was a freebie is not the fastest in the world) but, once loaded into memory, Hyper-V Server seemed to run without any noticeable delay. I figure that, as long as the workload is stored on another disk this should not present any problems and, given suitably fast flash memory, it ought to be possible to improve boot times as well. Running a full Windows operating System (e.g. Windows 7) in this manner is an entirely different matter – very few USB flash drives will be able to stand the constant writes and further testing would be required.

Now that I have Hyper-V Server running from an inexpensive USB flash drive with no reliance on my PC’s internal hard disk, all I need to do is inject the correct network drivers and I will have a virtualisation solution for colleagues who want to run a full hypervisor on their corporate notebooks, without deviating from the company’s standard client build.

Additional information

The following notes/links may provide useful background information:

Getting ready to deploy Windows 7 on the corporate desktop

Posted on By Mark Wilson
This content is 16 years old. I don't routinely update old blog posts as they are only intended to represent a view at a particular point in time. Please be warned that the information here may be out of date.

With Windows 7 (and Server 2008 R2) now released to manufacturing and availability dates published, what does this really mean for companies looking to upgrade their desktop operating system? I’ve previously written about new features in Windows Server 2008 R2 (part 1 and part 2) but now I want to take a look at the Windows client.

Whilst I still maintain that Windows Vista was not as bad as it was made out to be (especially after service pack 1, which contained more driver resolutions and compatibility updates than security fixes), it was a classic case of “mud sticks” and, in the words of one Microsoft representative at a public event this week:

“Windows Vista maybe wasn’t as well received as [Microsoft] had hoped.”

The press was less harsh on Windows Server 2008 (which is closely related to Vista) but, with the new releases (Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2), reaction from the IT press and from industry analysts has been extremely positive. In part, that’s because Windows 7 represents a “minor” update. By this I mean that, whilst Vista had deep changes (which contributed to it’s unpopularity) with new models for security, drivers, deployment and networking, Windows 7 continues with the same underlying architecture (so most software that runs on Vista will run on 7 – the exceptions are products that are deeply integrated with the operating system such as security products – and hardware that runs Vista well will run 7 Windows 7 well).

Indeed, under Steven Sinofsky‘s watch, with Windows 7 Microsoft has followed new approach for development and disclosure including:

  • Increased planning – analysing trends and needs before building features.
  • Providing customers and partners with predictability – a new operating system every 3 years.
  • Working on the ecosystem – with early partner engagement (ISVs and IHVs have plenty of time to get ready – including a program for ISVs to achieve a “green light” for application compatibility – and the other side or the coin, for those of us looking for suitable hardware and software, is the Ready Set 7 site.).

Having said that Windows 7 is a minor update, it does include some major improvements. Indeed, some might say (I believe that Mark Russinovich was one of them) that if you got back to a previous product version and miss the features then it was a major release. In no particular order, here are of some of the features that Microsoft is showing off for Windows 7 (there are many more too):

  • Superbar amalgamates the previous functions of the Taskbar and the Quicklaunch bar and includes larger icons to accommodate touch screen activities (Windows 7 includes multitouch support).
  • Live preview of running applications (not just when task switching but from the superbar too).
  • Jumplists – right click on a superbar icon to pin it to the superbar – even individual files.
  • No more Windows sidebar – gadgets can be anywhere on the desktop and are isolated from one another so if they crash they do not impact the rest of system.
  • Aero user interface improvements: Aero Peek to quickly look at the desktop; Aero Snap to quickly arrange windows such as when comparing and contrast document contents; Aero Shake to minimise all other open windows.
  • The ability to cut and paste from document previews.
  • The ability to deploy a single, hardware agnostic image for all PCs.
  • Group policy improvements to control USB device usage (no more epoxy resin to glue up USB ports!).
  • BitLocker To Go – encrypt the contents of USB sticks, including the ability to read the contents from downlevel operating systems based on a one-time password.
  • Integrated search shows where results come from too (e.g. Programs, OneNote, Outlook, etc.) and only indexes in quiet time. Search Federation extends this to include SharePoint sites and other corporate resources.
  • DirectAccess, point to point authentication for access to corporate resources (e.g. intranet sites) from anywhere including intelligent routing to identify corporate traffic and separate it from Internet-bound traffic avoid sending all traffic across the VPN.
  • BranchCache – locally cache copies of files, and share on a peer-to-peer basis (or, as my colleague Dave Saxon recently described it, “Microsoft’s version of BitTorrent”).
  • AppLocker – create whitelists or blacklists of approved software, including versions.
  • Problem Steps Wizard – record details of problems and send the results for diagnosis, or use to create walkthrough guides, etc.
  • Action Center – one stop shop for PC health.
  • User Access Control (UAC) warnings reduced.

All of this is nice but, faced with the prospect of spending a not-inconsiderable sum of money on an operating system upgrade, features alone are probably not enough! So, why should I deploy a new Windows operating system? Because, for many organisations, the old one (and I mean Windows XP, not Vista) is no longer “good enough”. It’s already on extended support, lacks some features that are required to support modern ways of working, was designed for an era when security was less of a concern and will be retired soon. So, if I’m an IT manager looking at a strategy for the desktop, my choices might include:

  • Do nothing. Possible, but increasingly risky once the operating system stops receiving security updates and manufacturers stop producing drivers for new hardware.
  • Stop using PCs and move to server based computing? This might work in some use cases, but unlikely to be a universal solution for reasons of mobility and application compatibility.
  • Move to a different operating system – maybe Linux or Mac OS X? Both of these have their relative merits but, deep down, Windows, Linux and Mac OS X all provide roughly the same functionality and if moving from XP to Vista was disruptive from an application compatibility standpoint, moving to a Unix-based OS is likely to be more so.
  • Deploy a new version of Windows – either Vista (which is not a bad way to get ready for 7) or 7.
  • Wait a bit longer and deploy Windows 8. That doesn’t leave a whole lot of time to move from XP and the transition is likely to be more complex (jumping forward by three operating system releases).

Assuming I choose to move to Windows 7, there are several versions available but, unlike with Vista, each is a superset of the features in the version below (and Enterprise/Ultimate are identical – just targetted at different markets). For businesses, there are only two versions that are relevant: Professional and Enterprise – and Enterprise is only available as a Software Assurance (SA) benefit. If you don’t have a suitable volume licensing agreement, Professional the only real choice (saving money by buying Home Premium is unlikely to be cost-effective as it lacks functionality like the ability to join a domain, or licensing support for virtualisation – and purchasing Ultimate Edition at full packaged product price is expensive).

There are some Enterprise/Ultimate features that are not available in the Professional Edition, most notably DirectAccess, BranchCache, Search Federation, BitLocker, BitLocker To Go, and AppLocker. Some of these also require a Windows Server 2008 R2 back end (e.g. DirectAccess and BranchCache).

In Europe, things are a little more complicated – thanks to the EU – and we’re still waiting to hear the full details of what that means (e.g. can an organisation deploy a build based on E Edition outside Europe, or deploy a build within the EU based on a “normal” editions sourced from outside Europe and remain supported).

The other variant is 32- or 64-bit. With the exception of some low-end PCs, almost every PC that we buy today is 64-bit capable, 64-bit drivers are available for most devices (I’ve had no problems getting 64-bit drivers for the Windows 7 notebook that I use ever day) and many 32-bit applications will run on a 64-bit platform. Having said that, if all the PCs you buy have between 2 and 4GB of RAM, then there is not a huge advantage. If you are looking to the future, or running applications that can use additional RAM (on hardware that can support it), then 64-bit Windows is now a viable option. Whilst on the subject of hardware, if you are considering Windows XP Mode as a possible application compatibility workaround, then you will also need hardware virtualisation support and hardware DEP. Steve Gibson’s Securable utility is a handy piece of freeware to check that the necessary features are supported on your hardware.

Whilst on the subject of virtualisation, there are four options (from Microsoft – third party solutions are also available):

  • The much-hyped Windows XP Mode. Great for small businesses but lacks the management tools for enterprise deployment and beware that each virtual machine will also require its own antivirus and management agents – which may be potentially expensive if it’s just to run one or two applications that should really be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century.
  • Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualisation (MED-V). This is the former Kidaro product and appears to be a good solution for running legacy applications isolated at the operating system level but it still involves managing a second operating system instance and is part of the Microsoft Desktop Optimisation Pack (MDOP) so is only available to customers with SA.
  • Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V). A popular solution for application-level isolation but requires applications to be repackaged (with consequential support implications) and also only available as part of MDOP.
  • Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI). Whilst the concept may initially appear attractive, it’s not an inexpensive option (and without careful management may actually increase costs), Microsoft’s desktop broker (Remote Desktop Services) is new in Windows Server 2008 R2 and, crucially for partners, there is no sensible means of licensing this in a managed service context.

The main reason for highlighting virtualisation options in a Windows 7 post is that Windows XP Mode is being held up as a great way to deal with application compatibility issues. It is good but it’s also worth remembering that it’s a sticking plaster solution and the real answer is to look at why the applications don’t work in the first place. Which brings me onto application compatibility.

Even for those of us who are not developers, there are three ways to approach application compatibility in Windows 7:

  • Windows 7’s Program Compatibility wizard can be used to make simple changes to an application’s configuration and make it work (e.g. skip a version check, run in compatibility mode, etc.)
  • Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) 5.5 contains tools and documentation to evaluate and mitigate application compatibility issues for Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Update, or Windows Internet Explorer (e.g. shims to resolve known issues) – there are also third party tools from companies like ChangeBASE.
  • Windows XP Mode. For those applications that simply refuse to run on Windows 7 but certainly not a solution for organisations trying to shoehorn Windows 7 onto existing hardware and upgrade at minimal cost.

After deciding what to move to, deployment is a major consideration. The Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) and Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) have both been updated for Windows 7 and can be used together to deploy a fresh operating system installation together with applications and migrate the user data. There is no in-place upgrade path for Windows XP users (or for Windows 7 customers in Europe) and I was amazed at the number of Microsoft partners in the SMB space who were complaining about this at a recent event but a clean installation is the preferred choice for many organisations, allowing a known state to be achieved and avoiding problems when each PC is slightly different to the next and has its own little nuances.

I think I’ve covered most of the bases here: some of the new features; product editions; hardware and software requirements; application compatibility; virtualisation; deployment. What should be the next steps?

Well, firstly, although the release candidate will work through to June next year, wait a couple of weeks and get hold of the RTM bits. Then test, test, and test again before deploying internally (to a select group of users) and start to build skills in preparation for mass deployment.

As for the future – Microsoft has publicly committed to a new client release every 3 years (it’s not clear whether server releases will remain on a 2 year major/minor schedule) so you should expect to see Windows 8 around this time in 2012.

Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 released to manufacturing

Posted on By Mark Wilson
This content is 16 years old. I don't routinely update old blog posts as they are only intended to represent a view at a particular point in time. Please be warned that the information here may be out of date.

After much anticipation, Microsoft has announced that Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 have been released to manufacturing (RTM). The build numbers are is 7600 and 7200 respectively and my post yesterday highlighted the dates when partners and customers will be able to get their hands on the software.

Congratulations to the Windows client and server teams on shipping two great operating system releases. They have their own blog posts on the subject (Windows client and server). I’ll be writing more Windows 7 (and Server 2008 R2) content over the coming days and months so stay tuned!

(System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 has also RTMed to coincide with will be released within 60-days with support for the new version of Hyper-V contained within Windows Server 2008 R2 and Hyper-V Server 2008 R2.)

[Update: edited SCVMM text to correct previous misinformation (which came from Microsoft PR!)]
[Update: removed erroneous reference to build 7200 (also sourced from Microsoft PR!)]

Windows 7 RTM… nearly there

Posted on By Mark Wilson
This content is 16 years old. I don't routinely update old blog posts as they are only intended to represent a view at a particular point in time. Please be warned that the information here may be out of date.

We’ve known for a while now that Windows 7 release to manufacturing (RTM) will be in the second half of July and we’re well into that timeframe now. Some people expected an RTM announcement at last week’s Worldwide Partner Conference and, looking at the Windows 7 events that are lined up for the next couple of weeks in the UK, I’d wondered if it might be last Friday or yesterday but still no news.

All of that is kind of irrelevant really as, a few minutes ago, the Windows Team Blog carried a post which tells us when to expect to get our hands on the RTM code.

General availability remains 22 October 2009 but here are some of the other key dates:

  • Approx 2 days after official RTM – OEMs will receive Windows 7 RTM software images.
  • 6 August 2009 – Windows 7 RTM English available to Microsoft TechNet and MSDN subscribers.
  • 7 August 2009 – Windows 7 RTM English available to Volume License customers with Software Assurance (SA) – other languages to follow within a couple of weeks.
  • 16 August 2009 – Windows 7 RTM English available to Microsoft Partner Program Gold/Certified Members via the Microsoft Partner Network (MPN) Portal.
  • 23 August 2009 – Windows 7 RTM English available to Microsoft Action Pack Subscribers.
  • 1 September 2009 – Windows 7 RTM available to Volume License customers without SA.
  • By 1 October 2009 – non-English versions of Windows 7 RTM available to Microsoft Partner Program Gold/Certified Members, Microsoft Action Pack Subscribers, Microsoft TechNet subscribers and MSDN subscribers.
  • Around 22 October 2009 – Windows 7 pre-orders shipped.

For beta testers looking for a discount… that was the pre-order offer (that sold out so quickly last week) and there will be no free licenses (unlike for some of the Vista beta testers a few years back). There will also be a family pack for Windows 7 Home Premium in certain markets allowing for installation on up to 3 PCs.

From these dates I think we can say that RTM is imminent. For those who are running the release candidate, it will continue to function until 1 June 2010 (with periodic reboots starting three months earlier) but rebuilding onto RTM code is recommended in order to become licensed and supported.

No new definitions or updates are available for Forefront Client Security? Try Microsoft Update

Posted on By Mark Wilson
This content is 16 years old. I don't routinely update old blog posts as they are only intended to represent a view at a particular point in time. Please be warned that the information here may be out of date.

I’ve seen this problem before on my Windows 7 machines but I thought it was a Windows 7 issue… now I’ve experienced it in a Windows XP virtual machine and so I thought I’d blog it here.

After installing Forefront Client Security (FCS) (the next version of which will be known as Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010), Windows complains that it’s antivirus protection is out of date (and it is – the definitions date back to 2006) but Forefront says there are no updates.

No new definitions or updates are available for Microsoft Forefront Client Security

To resolve this, visit Windows Update and elect to use Microsoft Update instead. After the update settings are changed, FCS works out that there are some downloads available (and directs you to the Microsoft Update Catalog) but if you ignore that and let Microsoft Update run its course, FCS is updated automatically and no further intervention is required.

Twitter: finally, I think I understand

Posted on By Mark Wilson
This content is 16 years old. I don't routinely update old blog posts as they are only intended to represent a view at a particular point in time. Please be warned that the information here may be out of date.

I’m not really very big on “social networking”. That might sounds strange for a blogger but when I started writing this blog it was really an easy way for me to store my notes and a few links on the web. In fact, had I known about del.icio.us back then, I’d probably never have started the blog and would just have posted links up there. Hang on… I do have an account at delicious… is that social networking? Ah. I do Flickr too. That’s another one. Sometimes I scrobble at last.fm – so that’s another. I’m also on LinkedIn and occasionally seen on Facebook (which I detest… so really it’s just a place where my Twitter feed gets republished as my status and friends comment on it – whereas once upon a time we might have had a con-ver-sa-tion) and ah… that means I do Twitter too (actually I have two Twitter accounts… the one that feeds Facebook and another other for the geeky stuff).

Thinking about it, maybe I am into social networking after all!

Twitter logoTwitter was the one that mystified me for the longest. I just didn’t “get” it. I’d heard people banging on about it on podcasts and it just seemed to be a way of blogging the minutiae of the day (“I had Muesli for breakfast”, etc.). Then I signed up and figured it was like a big public SMS service combined with a direct message capability (a bit like e-mail?)… I still didn’t see what the fuss was about.

I started to understand where Twitter could add some value just over a week ago, when I was enjoying a meal in a local café and noticed that, in addition to free WiFi (I know where I will be going now when the kids are too noisy and I want to get some work done!), they were twittering their specials @muchadocafe. I guess the idea is that people can follow them, think “that sounds nice” and come over for a bite to eat at lunchtime. Nice idea. Shame they seem to have stopped posting updates.

The penny finally dropped last Monday when I was watching the live stream of Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference keynote presentation and the site was showing Twitter updates with the #wpc09 hashtag. All of a sudden I realised that, in real time, I could see the comments (or “tweets”) that other people were creating and understand what they thought about the content. That was pretty cool. So cool in fact that I signed up for my second account (the one with the geeky stuff on it). Now I can tweet the little things that aren’t really worth blogging (if you visit the website you may notice that I have the 5 most recent tweets on display in the right-hand sidebar – thanks to Anders Ross’s article on 10 Twitter hacks for your WordPress blog). I also use Twitterfeed to tweet my new blog posts for people that don’t subscribe to the RSS… and that should drive some traffic to the website. No wonder Microsoft has got so into Twitter recently – it’s a great site for creating marketing buzz.

I can understand why no-one has really managed to adequately explain Twitter to me before (not even the video I linked to when I originally signed up) – it’s something you have to see in action to get your head around but, now I’ve “got it”, I think I might be hooked. Oh dear!

As for the rise in popularity for the plethora of social networking sites that exist today… I can see where they have their place in modern society but I have to disagree with Microsoft’s Viral Tapara, who tried to indicate the importance of such sites at a recent event by commenting that people used to wish one another happy birthday with a card and today they do it on Facebook. Absolutely not. In the same way that ending a relationship by text is insincere and socially unacceptable, there are still some social activities that have to take place in the real world. As my friends and colleagues know only to well from someone who has refused to embrace SMS and instant messaging as effective forms of communication, sometimes there is no substitute for picking up the phone or meeting face to face.

Follow markwilson.it on Twitter @markwilsonit

Linking to filtered Document Library views in SharePoint

Posted on By Mark Wilson
This content is 16 years old. I don't routinely update old blog posts as they are only intended to represent a view at a particular point in time. Please be warned that the information here may be out of date.

I’ve been doing a lot of work in SharePoint recently – nothing very technical, just Site Administrator stuff customising the basic SharePoint site structure to meet the requirements of my particular project. One of the things that my team wanted to do was to create a diagram with clickable links to views on the document library (it’s taken some time to “educate” them that folders are not a good way to go and that they need to think about searches with appropriate views and filter – think Google, not file share – but in some cases the same document was filed three times in different folders so that it appeared in a logical hierarchy!).

I was playing around with this and noticed that the URL structure for a given filtered view was petty easy to work with. So, for example:

http://servername/sites/site/Document%20Library/Forms/viewname.aspx?FilterField1=columnname&FilterValue1=value

We can even extend it further if required with &FilterField2 and &FilterValue2 (&FilterField3 and &FilterField3, etc.).

Using this we can link directly from documents and external applications/sites to a filtered view on the entire document library, giving the equivalent of a folder view (i.e. just a small group of documents) but generated dynamically and avoiding the creation additional views that need to be maintained.

Defining custom presence states for Office Communicator 2007 R2

Posted on By Mark Wilson
This content is 16 years old. I don't routinely update old blog posts as they are only intended to represent a view at a particular point in time. Please be warned that the information here may be out of date.

Late last year I wrote a blog post about defining custom presence states for Microsoft Office Communicator. Unfortunately, when I updated my client to Office Communicator 2007 R2, the custom presence states stopped appearing.

One of my colleagues told me that by default, Office Communicator 2007 R2 doesn’t support reading the custom presence information from a local file and that it has to come from a secure web server. I tried that without success (using Windows Live SkyDrive to serve the file as HTTPS) but the fix that eventually worked for me was to add another registry key – a DWORD value for EnableSIPHighSecurity (set to 0), in the same location as the CustomStateURL:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Communicator]
@=""
"CustomStateURL"="file:///C:/Users/username/Documents/presence.xml"
"EnableSIPHighSecurityMode"=dword:00000000

Whilst I’m revisiting this topic, it’s probably worth highlighting a couple more resources:

Google Calendar Sync’s Outlook version check means it won’t work with the 2010 technical preview

Posted on By Mark Wilson
This content is 16 years old. I don't routinely update old blog posts as they are only intended to represent a view at a particular point in time. Please be warned that the information here may be out of date.

Yesterday I wrote about how I love Outlook 2010. I still do. Sadly Google Calendar Sync is coded to check for the version of Outlook in use and it doesn’t like version 14.

Error: Google Calendar Sync supports Microsoft Outlook 2003 and 2007 only. Your version is 14.0.0.4006.

Oh well… guess that’s the price I pay for living at the cutting edge of IT!

Windows 7 UK pricing… and what does E Edition really mean for IT Pros?

Posted on By Mark Wilson
This content is 16 years old. I don't routinely update old blog posts as they are only intended to represent a view at a particular point in time. Please be warned that the information here may be out of date.

A few weeks ago, Microsoft announced the pricing for Windows 7 and, much to the disappointment of those looking for a a cheap upgrade like Apple’s $29 OS X 10.6 “Snow Leopard”, retail copies of Windows 7 will cost about the same as for Windows Vista (pretty much).

Although the European prices originally looked steeper, for the time being (and at least until the end of 2009), European customers will get a full packaged product at the price originally intended for upgrades. Quoting Bill Veghte, Senior Vice President for Microsoft’s Windows Business in a letter to the Financial Times:

“We typically offer two Windows versions to retail customers: a full version for use on any computer and an upgrade version – at a lower price – that can only be used on computers that are already licensed for Windows. In light of recent changes we made to European versions of Window 7, we will not have an upgrade version available in Europe when we release the new operating system. Therefore, we’ve decided to offer the full version of Windows 7 to all customers at the lower upgrade price. In the future we may have an upgrade offering of Windows 7 available in Europe, and at that time we would revert to differential pricing of the full and upgrade versions, as we have in the rest of the world. This means that we will always have the lower upgrade pricing available for European consumers who are already licensed for Windows.”

For many business, the advertised prices for Windows are of little conseqence as only a small number will buy a full packaged product version – OEM licenses are available for System Builders and Volume Licensing is available to businesses with more than 5 seats. Over in consumer-land things are a bit different though – I understand that Apple is cross-subsiding its operating system with its hardware sales but a multi-PC edition of Windows 7 Home Premium (similar to the 3-install Office 2007 Home and Student Edition) would have been a reasonable thing to expect from Microsoft. It, seems they didn’t think so, regardless of their statements about “economic resets”.

As expected, there is a Windows 7 Upgrade Option Programme that started on 26 June 2009 and ends with Windows 7 general availability on 22 October 2009. It’s important to understand that, even though Microsoft is offering the upgrade free of charge, PC makers may charge a fee to send media to customers.

Windows 7 Home Premium E Edition
Customers also get a limited time opportunity to pre-order Windows 7 with a special price. For volume license customers, Windows 7 will be available from 1 September 2009 with a 15-35% limited time promotional discount based on license volumes and geographic location (as announced by Bill Veghte at the Worldwide Partner Conference keynote). In addition, starting today (15 July 2009), until 9 August 2009 (or while stocks last), UK customers can pre-order Windows 7 Home Premium E Edition for £49.99 or Windows 7 Professional E Edition for £99.99 (there have been similar deals in other countries). The UK retailers for this offer are:

  • Microsoft Store.
  • Argos.
  • Amazon.co.uk.
  • Comet.
  • Currys.
  • Dixons.
  • Ebuyer.com.
  • Play.com.
  • Littlewoods.
  • John Lewis.
  • Micro Anvika.
  • PC World.
  • Staples.
  • Tesco.

Windows 7 Professional E Edition
Note that this is for the E Editions (I’m really annoyed about this whole E Edition nonsense). When they were announced, I wondered how it would affect those of us trying to put together Windows 7 images for deployment in several geographies (will we need one image for Europe and another for the rest of the world?) and, based on the editions available for pre-order, it seems that Microsoft really will only ship E Edition to European Union member countries. Not just an optional N Edition as with XP and Vista (and 7) for No Windows Media Player (or Nobody bought it!) but a compulsory E Edition for Everyone has to fall in line with the EU’s stupid vendetta against Microsoft.

I’m still trying to get some answers from Microsoft about how I can create a build image for global deployment as I’m not 100% certain that creating a global build based on US media will be acceptable from a support or licensing perspective…

Other points for European users to be aware of include that:

  • Because there is no upgrade from Windows Vista to the E edition of Windows 7 you’ll need to back up all of your files and settings, install the operating system, then re-install your files, settings, and programs. And, because the E editions of Windows 7 do not contain a web browser, Microsoft’s advice is:

    “Please get a browser from Microsoft or a third party and have it on a CD/DVD or another device so it’s ready to install after the Windows 7 installation is complete.”

    (Failing that, there’s always a command line FTP client!)

  • I’ve not seen a reference to this anywhere else but CNET is reporting that:

    Unlike the rest of the world, everybody in Europe gets to install 7 E on more than one machine, providing it’s not running on more than one machine at a time, and we don’t have to pay extra for the privilege, unlike our non-European cousins.

    (I’m not convinced about that one…)

Frankly, E Edition is a mess. If the EU thinks that this aids competition then it can only be as a result of all the ensuing chaos and confusion… hopefully Microsoft and the EU can resolve their differences soon.

[Updated @15:17 to acknowledge that there is an N edition for Windows 7]