Interesting article of new features offered in Windows Server 2012 from Tech Republic “10 compelling reasons to upgrade to Windows Server 2012”
I’m very interested in the following five from this list:
1: Freedom of interface choice (server core vs. GUI)
6: Hyper-V Replica
7: Improvements to VDI
8: DirectAccess without the hassle factor
10: Simplified licensing
APC has released a newer version of their PowerChute Network Shutdown for ESXi 5. They also have provided a script to be used with PCNS to shutdown the virtual machines before the host is shutdown.
Clean Shutdown of Virtual Machines using PowerChute Network Shutdown in a HA Cluster Environment..
Gabes Virtual World has an excellent walkthrough for auto-deploying ESXi hosts.
vSphere 5 – How to run ESXi stateless with vSphere Auto Deploy – Gabes Virtual World.
A quick walkthrough to setup ESXi image via autodeploy:
VMware Auto Deploy « Virtual Network Design.
Some good information here:
When you install Windows with a single license product key, you have 30 days during which you must activate that installation of Windows.
There is no limit to the number of times that the Sysprep command can run on a computer. However, the clock for Windows Product Activation begins its countdown the first time Windows starts. You can use the sysprep /generalize command to reset Windows Product Activation a maximum of three times. After the third time that you run the sysprep /generalize command, the clock can no longer be reset.
When you run the sysprep /generalize command, the activation clock will automatically reset. You can bypass resetting the activation clock by using the
SkipRearmsetting in the Microsoft-Windows-Security-SPP component. This enables you to run the Sysprep command multiple times without resetting the activation clock. For more information about this setting, see the Unattended Windows Setup Reference (Unattend.chm).
This blog post makes me want to use Internet Explorer again! Great fix!
Blog of an IT Admin.: Group Policy – Changing Default Search Provider in IE 7, 8 and 9.
Finally found this solution for profile problems.
How to Fix Temporary Profile in Windows 7.