TechNet Events Bakersfield and Long Beach, California (4/3/2007 and 4/5/2007)

Good afternoon Southern California!

Thank you for attending the events last week. It was nice meeting you all and I look forward to the next time I get to go to the west coast! During the events you asked a lot of questions. You also provide lots of great comments during the sessions. Although some of those comments got you in trouble. :-)  (BTW Scott you still have 5 minutes no talking. hehe )

I also got to meet a lot of great folks. One person in particular was Richard Kelley. Richard runs the NPA (Network Professional Association) chapter for Orange County. This is a great user group focused on the needs of IT pros in Southern California. If you are not a member of the group I highly encourage all of you to join. You can learn more about the group here: www.oc-npa.org

We had a lot of great questions come up in both cites and without any more delay here are the questions.

Enjoy and please comment if I missed any or if you need more information!

Q: Where can I learn more about the SRT (startup repair tool)?
A:
Here is a good FAQ to give you an over view of the tool: https://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/5c59f8c1-b0d1-4f1a-af55-74f3922f3f351033.mspx

Q: What are the upgrade paths for the anytime upgrades in Windows Vista?
A:
By changing the key here are the paths you can upgrade to:

  • Windows Vista Home Basic to Windows Vista Home Premium
  • Windows Vista Home Basic to Windows Vista Ultimate
  • Windows Vista Home Premium to Windows Vista Ultimate
  • Windows Vista Business to Windows Vista Ultimate

To learn more take a look here: https://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/buyorupgrade/windowsanytimeupgrade/overview.mspx

Q: What is the WIM format and where can I learn more?
A:
The Windows Image format is a new technology designed to help delploy Windows Technologies. The WIM format is hardware agnostic, and unlike other imaging tools, you do not need a different image for each change in hardware. The only exception is there is a different image for 32 vs. 64 bit systems. You can learn more here: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsvista/aa905070.aspx

Q: Are there any compatible issues with Ghost and Vista?
A:
None that I could find, I did find an interesting blog post that discussed it here: https://www.chrissanders.org/?p=50

Q: Is there an adminpak.msi for Windows Vista?
A:
You can install the admin-pak on Windows Vista, however you will have to follow this KB to make it work: https://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/930056

Q: Is there a command prompt way to use previous versions?
A:
I could not find a way to restore with a command prompt. However with tools like Data Protection Manager you can restore files remotely from a server infrastructure.

Q: Can I list the variables that I have created in powershell?
A:
Yes you can. If you then run the Get-Variable cmdlet, you will see the remaining Windows PowerShell variables. Since there is also a variable Windows PowerShell drive, you can also display all Windows PowerShell variables by typing: 

              Get-ChildItem variable: (include the colon at the end).

You can also list environment variables by typing:

              Get-ChildItem env:

Q: What if the bit-locker key becomes corrupt?
A:
This is where you would need some kind of backup or recovery key. Here is a good whitepaper on using recovery keys in Active Directory: https://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsVista/en/library/ba1a3800-ce29-4f09-89ef-65bce923cdb51033.mspx?mfr=true

Q: Can you put the SRT (startup repair tool) on a bootable USB 2.0 device?
A:
I do not believe so, everything I found referenced either booting to DVD or CD.

Q: Where can I learn more about OneCare live?
A:
Windows Live OneCare is a online service of products that allow you keep your PC running at its speediest. OneCare even regularly backs up your important files. Windows Live OneCare PC care subscription service costs $49.95 (USD)* (MSRP) per year for up to three computers, offering you the value of protection and maintenance all in one solution. Right now, you can try the service for free by signing up for the free trial.

To learn more about one care live: https://onecare.live.com/standard/en-us/default.htm?sc_cid=ms_forefront

Q: What is the footprint of the Forefront agent?
A:
I could not find a lot of data on the client side agent other than it is a low priority process designed not impact performance. For a list of system requirements take a look here: https://www.microsoft.com/forefront/clientsecurity/sysreqs.mspx

Q: Can you scan Forefront clients remotely?
A:
Yes. To start a scan of managed computers:

  1. On the Dashboard tab, click the Scan Now button. The Scan Now dialog box appears.
  2. If you want to scan every computer Client Security manages, click Scan all managed computers.
  3. If you want to scan a single computer, click Scan a specific computer and then enter the name of that computer in the Name box.
  4. Select the type of scan you want to perform: Quick scan or Full scan.
  5. Click the Scan Now button. If you are scanning all managed computers, a confirmation message appears. Click Yes to start scanning all managed computers.
  6. For the next few hours, refresh the dashboard periodically to check for issues discovered by the scan.

Q: Is NAP (network access protection) available for Windows 2003?
A:
Not really, however Windows 2003 has Network Access Quarantine. Despite their similar names, Network Access Quarantine Control, a feature of Windows Server 2003, is very different from NAP. Network Access Quarantine Control allows network administrators to perform limited health enforcement, but only for remote access connections (dial-up or VPN). Here is a link with a good article comparing the two technologies: https://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/columns/cableguy/cg0705.mspx

Q: How do I turn on guided help?
A:
As most of you were heckling me as I looked for guided help in my production version of Windows Vista and after I showed this in my demo environment I began to wonder where is my guided help. Low and behold I found my answer. Guided help works in all versions of Windows Vista, however you need to enable the setting shown below (Include Windows Online Help and Support when you search for help):