Read more here: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2012/08/01/releasing-windows-8-august-1-2012.aspx

Josh Bryant

Cybersecurity Product Leader and internationally recognized Speaker at several Information Security conferences and events with over 26 years of experience as a proven leader in Cybersecurity, Product Management, Threat Hunting, Incident Response, IT Management, IT Architecture, IT Operations, IT Engineering, and Messaging Systems, on a global scale, across a diverse set of industries in both the Public and Private sectors.

192.168.2.21:30040

The post Windows 8 released to manufactures, and general availability announced. first appeared on Fix The Exchange!.

I suppose that means it is now official, what was previously known as the Windows Server 8 Beta, will be called Windows Server 2012.

Josh Bryant

Cybersecurity Product Leader and internationally recognized Speaker at several Information Security conferences and events with over 26 years of experience as a proven leader in Cybersecurity, Product Management, Threat Hunting, Incident Response, IT Management, IT Architecture, IT Operations, IT Engineering, and Messaging Systems, on a global scale, across a diverse set of industries in both the Public and Private sectors.

192.168.2.21:30040

The post Windows Server 2012 Release Candidate now available! first appeared on Fix The Exchange!.

Read the Press Release here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/Press/2012/May12/05-31Windows8RPPR.aspx

Learn more about the Windows 8 Release Preview here: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/release-preview

Download it here: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/download

Josh Bryant

Cybersecurity Product Leader and internationally recognized Speaker at several Information Security conferences and events with over 26 years of experience as a proven leader in Cybersecurity, Product Management, Threat Hunting, Incident Response, IT Management, IT Architecture, IT Operations, IT Engineering, and Messaging Systems, on a global scale, across a diverse set of industries in both the Public and Private sectors.

192.168.2.21:30040

The post Windows 8 Release Preview is here! first appeared on Fix The Exchange!.

As part of my initiative to "Do IT the Microsoft way", I set about switching over from VMware ESXi to Hyper-V.  After installing Hyper-V Server 8 Beta, I noticed it seemed to boot a lot faster.  This gave me the idea to have my own little "Smoked by Hyper-V Server" challenge.
 

For this challenge, I used the exact same server, and timed how long it took to boot, starting with the server completely powered off, and ending when a logon screen became available.   The server used was an old Intel Core 2 Duo 6400 2.13GHz with only 4GB of RAM, and three 80 GB SATA hard drive. 

VMWare ESXi 4.1 Boot time: 6 minutes and 23 seconds.

Hyper-V Server 8 Beta Boot time: 59 seconds.

Both of these are FREE bare metal hypervisors.  As you can see, even on those very old hardware, Hyper-V Server boots almost 6x faster than ESXi!

Josh Bryant

Cybersecurity Product Leader and internationally recognized Speaker at several Information Security conferences and events with over 26 years of experience as a proven leader in Cybersecurity, Product Management, Threat Hunting, Incident Response, IT Management, IT Architecture, IT Operations, IT Engineering, and Messaging Systems, on a global scale, across a diverse set of industries in both the Public and Private sectors.

192.168.2.21:30040

The post Smoked by Windows Hyper-V Server 8 Beta. first appeared on Fix The Exchange!.

The 4 faces of Windows Server 8 are:

1. Server Core
2. Minimal Server Interface
3. Server with GUI
4. Desktop Experience

You can read all about them and how to switch between them, in this TechNet article: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh831786.aspx

Today I'm going to take you through a visual walk through of each mode, and tell you a little about each one.

1. Server Core

Server Score started with Windows Server 2008.  It's a stripped down command line only install option, that has some limitations.  One of the benefits of this install mode is a smaller footprint that helps enhance security, and consumes fewer resources.   Windows Server 8 adds some new features to the Server Core install mode, like the ability to switch back and forth between it and the other available modes.

2. Minimal Server Interface

This mode can currently only be accessed by issuing a few commands as outlined in the aforementioned article, and shown in the screen shot below.

After a reboot, you're now in Minimal Server Interface mode, which gives you Server Manager,  MMC, and a subset of the Control Panel, in addition to everything you already have available in Server Core mode.  This should hopefully allow a few extra applications to run that may not work at all in Server Core mode, while still reducing the overall footprint of of the server.  It also lets you manage a few things directly from the console, where you would have only been able to do it remotely before.

3. Server with GUI

Server with GUI can be accessed either by choosing this option at the time of install, or by issuing the commands outlined in the aforementioned article, as demonstrated in the screen shot below.

After entering the Server with GUI mode, you now have a desktop with task bar and system tray.

You also get the new Metro Start screen by pressing the Windows key.

This mode is a little closer to what you would have seen on a normal install in previous versions of Windows Server, with the obvious exception being the replacement of the Start button and menu with the new Start Screen.

4. Desktop Experience

The final mode is the Desktop Experience, currently this mode can only be accessed by issuing the commands outlined in the aforementioned article, as demonstrated in the screen shot below.

After entering the Desktop Experience mode, you now get the Start Screen right away instead of the Desktop.

As you can see a few extra applications are added as well.   I'm sure this mode is intended to be a little closer to what you would see on the desktop version of Windows 8, but it's not quite there yet, it doesn't have near as much available on it as the Windows 8 Consumer Preview did.  Most of that stuff isn't needed (nor does it belong) on a Server anyway.   I can only see this mode being of real interest to those IT Geeks out there that insist on running a Server O/S as their desktop.  I've worked with plenty of people that like to do this, and even been guilty of it myself in the past.

You are also given the option of personalizing your desktop, as shown in the screen shot below.

Interestingly enough, if you set your theme to "Aero", then remove the Desktop Experience, the Aero look stays, even though the ability to change it is not present in any of the other modes.

Josh Bryant

Cybersecurity Product Leader and internationally recognized Speaker at several Information Security conferences and events with over 26 years of experience as a proven leader in Cybersecurity, Product Management, Threat Hunting, Incident Response, IT Management, IT Architecture, IT Operations, IT Engineering, and Messaging Systems, on a global scale, across a diverse set of industries in both the Public and Private sectors.

192.168.2.21:30040

The post The 4 faces of Windows Server 8 first appeared on Fix The Exchange!.

Here are some screen shots showing the new look of the Consumer Preview:

First boot now has a fish…

New color and logo for the install…

You're not asked to enter a product key.

You can now choose a background color.  In the Developer Preview you were stuck with the green.

Logging in…

Start screen has quite a few new apps on it compared to the Developer Preview.

The Pinball FX2 caught my eye… it was too slow and not playable inside my VM.

The Messaging App is basically the new MSN Messenger or Live Messenger, whatever they're calling it these days.

The People app lets you connect to several social networking and E-mail Services.

Maps is powered by Bing… big shock there right?

The Video app looks pretty cool, lets you buy or rent movies.

The weather app is still beautiful.

I could probably take a million more screen shots, but it's a lot more fun if you download, install, and try it out for yourself, so I'll leave it at that.   Enjoy!

Josh Bryant

Cybersecurity Product Leader and internationally recognized Speaker at several Information Security conferences and events with over 26 years of experience as a proven leader in Cybersecurity, Product Management, Threat Hunting, Incident Response, IT Management, IT Architecture, IT Operations, IT Engineering, and Messaging Systems, on a global scale, across a diverse set of industries in both the Public and Private sectors.

192.168.2.21:30040

The post How-To: Install Windows 8 Consumer Preview on VMWare Workstation 8 first appeared on Fix The Exchange!.

The Windows 8 Consumer preview is available for download here.

It is available in 5 different languages, including English, Chinese, French, German, and Japanese.   The 64-bit ISO is 3.3GB and the 32-bit ISO is 2.5GB.   Product key is on the download page.

Josh Bryant

Cybersecurity Product Leader and internationally recognized Speaker at several Information Security conferences and events with over 26 years of experience as a proven leader in Cybersecurity, Product Management, Threat Hunting, Incident Response, IT Management, IT Architecture, IT Operations, IT Engineering, and Messaging Systems, on a global scale, across a diverse set of industries in both the Public and Private sectors.

192.168.2.21:30040

The post Windows 8 Consumer Preview available today! first appeared on Fix The Exchange!.

Microsoft has made quite a few changes to the Task Manager for Windows 8.  In a very detailed post on the MSDN Blogs, Microsoft goes over a little bit of the history of the Task Manager, from the "Task List" in Windows 3.0, to the new Task Manager in Windows 8.   There's plenty of screen shots, and detailed explanations of not only what changes have been made, by why they were made.

Check out the article here: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/10/13/the-windows-8-task-manager…

Josh Bryant

Cybersecurity Product Leader and internationally recognized Speaker at several Information Security conferences and events with over 26 years of experience as a proven leader in Cybersecurity, Product Management, Threat Hunting, Incident Response, IT Management, IT Architecture, IT Operations, IT Engineering, and Messaging Systems, on a global scale, across a diverse set of industries in both the Public and Private sectors.

192.168.2.21:30040

The post Check out the new Windows 8 Task Manager. first appeared on Fix The Exchange!.

UPDATE: If you came here because the Windows 8 Consumer Preview was released today (02/29/2012), this guide is good for this new release too!  There are a few cosmetic changes to the install, but everything is essentially the same.
 
You will need:

• VMware Workstation 8 (30-day Free Trial available, $99 to upgrade from version 7, $199 to buy new)*.
• Windows 8 Developer Preview UPDATE: Or Windows 8 Consumer Preview (Free download!)**

*This will NOT work on Workstation 7, if you haven't already, you need to upgrade before continuing.  If you don't want to upgrade, the Windows 8 Developer Preview will install on VirtualBox 4.1.2, which is free.
 
**I used the top download, Windows Developer Preview with developer tools English, 64-bit (x64).
 
 
Step 1: Create the Virtual Machine

From the VMWare Workstation 8 home screen, click "Create a new Virtual Machine" or hit "CTRL+N".

Select "Custom (advanced)" then click "Next".

Select "Workstation 8.0" then click "Next"

Browse to the location you saved the Windows 8 Developer Preview .iso file, select it, and click "Next".

Select "Microsoft Windows" then select "Windows 7 x64" in the "Version" drop down box, and click "Next".
Note: If you're trying to install the 32bit version, just select "Windows 7".  The Windows 8 Developer Preview isn't even a Beta version yet, so don't expect to see it in this list anytime soon.

There's no key, and we won't be using the "Easy Install" feature, so just click "Next", we'll turn the "Easy Install" off later.

Give your VM a name, and click "Next".

1 CPU and 1 Core are fine, you can give it more if desired.  Click "Next".

2 GB of RAM is recommended for 64bit, if you're installing 32bit, use 1GB.  Click "Next".

Choose a network type, I like to use "Bridged", and click "Next".
 
Select "LSI Logic SAS" and click "Next".

Select "Create a new virtual disk" and click "Next"

Select "SCSI" and click "Next"

The recommended minimum is 20GB, specify a size, select "Store virtual disk as a single file" and click "Next".

Accept the default and click "Next".

Uncheck "Power on this virtual machine after creation", and click "Finish".

Step 2: Remove the Floppy from the VM.

Edit the VM Settings for the VM you just created.

Select "Floppy" then click "Remove".

Note: If you do not do this, the installation will fail.

Step 3: Power on the VM and install Windows 8 Developer Preview.

Install boot screen:

Select your language and click "Next".

Click "Install now".

Check the "I accept the license terms" box and click "Next".

Click "Custom (advanced)".

Select the disk and click "Next"

This screen takes approximately 10 minutes to complete.

Give your PC a name and click "Next"

I used the express settings.

You can logon with your "Windows Live ID" if desired.   If you don't want to, or don't have one, click "Don't want to log on with a Windows Live ID?".

If you're not going to use a "Windows Live ID" Click "Local account".

Create a user name and password, then click "Next"

That's it!  Now you can play around with Windows 8 without worrying about breaking anything.   You'll probably want to install the VMware Tools, click the "Desktop" square before telling Workstation 8 to install the tools.   If you get an error message about the "Easy Install", power the VM off, edit the settings, and remove the Floppy drive.  Sometimes it adds itself back in there after the install, even though we removed it beforehand.

Josh Bryant

Cybersecurity Product Leader and internationally recognized Speaker at several Information Security conferences and events with over 26 years of experience as a proven leader in Cybersecurity, Product Management, Threat Hunting, Incident Response, IT Management, IT Architecture, IT Operations, IT Engineering, and Messaging Systems, on a global scale, across a diverse set of industries in both the Public and Private sectors.

192.168.2.21:30040

The post How-To: Install Windows 8 Developer Preview on VMware Workstation 8 first appeared on Fix The Exchange!.

Notice how it suggests you search for the error online.

Josh Bryant

Cybersecurity Product Leader and internationally recognized Speaker at several Information Security conferences and events with over 26 years of experience as a proven leader in Cybersecurity, Product Management, Threat Hunting, Incident Response, IT Management, IT Architecture, IT Operations, IT Engineering, and Messaging Systems, on a global scale, across a diverse set of industries in both the Public and Private sectors.

192.168.2.21:30040

The post Windows 8’s new “BSOD” first appeared on Fix The Exchange!.