Vista Delayed, SQL Server 2005 and other things

Just in case you missed it--Windows Vista is being delayed, with an estimated release of January 2007. MS is taking a fair amount of heat about this. I don't know their full reasoning, but I'd rather have them take the time to get the OS right rather than rush it just to make the Christmas sales cycle. Not that an OS makes a very good gift anyway.

How big/used/important is SQL Server 2005 for you? MS seems to be pushing it quite a bit, but how many people/companies are actually using it? Does it seem worth all the fuss?

What are your thoughts around ISA 2006 and Exchange 12 and Office 12? What do you know? What have you heard? Drop a line to the NZMCT.

Windows 2003 R2 has gone RTM!

R2 Press Release

 

Whoo-hooo!

 

This is a great upgrade/release.  The DFS and replication improvements rock, and the File Server, Print Server and quota management are finally worthy of use.

 

If you haven’t had a look at this, definitely go to the Windows R2 website and have a look around.

 

You won’t be disappointed.

 

James

 

Removing VMs

Did you ever notice how there is a "registervm" switch for Virtual PC but no removal equivalent?

Quick way to remove the registered vms:

del "%userprofile%\Application Data\Microsoft\Virtual PC\Virtual Machines\*.lnk"

enjoy!

James

Registering VPCs

Here's a quick and easy script to register all the vpcs in a given folder.

Caveats: For this to work, it must be in the same folder as the virtual pc settings files (xxx.vmc). It also works better if VirtualPC has already been started.

Option Explicit
Dim oFSO, oShellDim sVPCPath, sImage, sVM, sVPC, sCmd, sExtDim f, f1, fc

'Get Absolute Path
Set oFSO = Createobject("scripting.FilesystemObject")
sVPCPath = oFSO.GetAbsolutePathName("")

'Start Virtual PC
Set oShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
sVPC = Chr(34) & "c:\program files\microsoft virtual pc\virtual pc.exe" & Chr(34)
oShell.Run (sVPC & " -quiet")

'Build list of vmc files and register them
Set f = ofso.GetFolder(sVPCPath)
Set fc = f.Files
For Each f1 in fc
sExt = oFSO.GetExtensionName(f1)
If sExt = "vmc" Then
sCmd = sVPC & "-registervm " & Chr(34) & sVPCPath & "\" & f1.Name & Chr(34) oShell.Run (sCMD)
sCmd = ""
End If
Next

WScript.Echo ("All vpcs registered")

Welcome

to the NZ MCT blog of James Finley.

I work primarily as an MCT for Auldhouse Computer Training. I specialize in Windows Servers, Exchange and ISA. I also spend time with scripting, MOM and Virtual Server/Virtual PC.

Over time I'd like to turn this into a resource for the IT community in NZ. Please send me your links, recommendations, questions etc.

I can't promise that I'll have all the answers, but as the community grows, hopefully we'll gain the benefits of collective knowledge.

Cheers!
James