Test Layout

I have a test environment setup using Hyper-V. I regularly add and remove virtual machines from this Hyper-V host. When you delete a virtual machine in the Hyper-V Management console, it does not delete the files. You need to delete the files manually afterwards. A significant percentage of the time, I receive an Access Denied message when deleting the VM files. Even though the VM is deleted, I cannot remove the files.The happens because Hyper-V has locked the files. To unlock the files and allow the files to be deleted you can: Restart the Hyper-V host Restart the Hyper-V Virtual Machine Management service on the host

PowerShell 3.0 is now available for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 as an optional update in Windows Management Framework 3.0. Do not install this on your Exchange 2007/2010 servers or any workstations with the management tools for Exchange 2007/2010. Symptoms include the inability to install rollup updates and some cmdlets not functioning properly. The updates to avoid are: KB2506146 KB2506143 For more information, see The Exchange Team Blog:   http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2012/12/14/windows-management-framework-3-0-on-exchange-2007-and-exchange-2010.aspx UPDATE: Feb 11, 2013 Exchange 2010 SP3 has been released and enables support for running on Windows Server 2012. I have not yet tested it, but since Windows Server 2012 has PowerShell v3 installed, this SP should also allow PowerShell v3 to be installed on other versions of Windows Server. http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2013/02/12/released-exchange-server-2010-sp3.aspx UPDATE: Nov 27, 20...

My experience lately has been that many viruses/malware only infect the profile of the user that was logged on at the time of infection. This is due mostly to the security of the operating system and browser which generally limit activity to the user profile. However, even older XP machines with users running as a local administrator benefit when the malware assumes that it needs to infect the user profile rather than system files. If malware is limited to a profile, it makes removal of the malware much easier. Log off as the infected user and log on as a user that is not infected. If the malware is only in the user profile this is just as effective as scanning the hard drive externally from another computer. Today I had the pleasure of dealing with System Progressive Protection. It is very aggressive fake antivirus software. Once it is in the system, you can't run most tools because it blocks them. However, it was limited to the user profile. When I logged on as another user the s...

Shaw provides easy to find documentation for their consumer side POP email. The configuration for the business service is a little harder to come by. Configuration information: incoming and outgoing server: mail.shawcable.com username: your email address, including the domain outgoing port: 25 (587 is not supported)

Microsoft has published some Windows 8 Jump Start videos that are intended for IT professionals to overview new features of Windows 8. Basically, if you are already familiar with Windows 7, these videos highlight differences. You're not going to see basics of Windows. The videos available are: Tips and Tricks for IT Pros -  Mostly user interface stuff Windows 8 Deployment Access to Windows - Virtualization such as Windows To Go, VDI, and Client Hyper-V Anywhere Productivity - Multi-device management and roaming between them Windows Apps - Sideloading apps is in this one. Recovery and Security - Includes UEFI, Secure Boot, and the Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset (DaRT). Note: These are all relatively large videos to download. They range between 1.4 and 2.6 GB. Download the videos here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/jj687764.aspx

If you use Windows Small Business Server, you may not realize it has an odd quirk. When the DHCP server on an SBS server see communication from another DHCP server, the DHCP server on SBs shuts down. I suspect this it an attempt to be a good network citizen and get out of the way if DHCP is not required from SBS. Basically, in case you didn't know how to configure DHCP on your network SBS gets it out of the way. Unfortunately the times I see the DHCP server shut down in SBS is when a rogue DHCP server is introduced to the network. Typically this occurs when users bring in a home router to use as a wireless access point or a switch. They often don't realize that DHCP is enabled on these devices. How do you identify a rogue DHCP server? The most common symptoms of a rogue DHCP server on an SBS network are: The DHCP service on the SBS server stops. Computers are getting an incorrect IP address or DNS server How do you find the rogue DHCP server? If you are lucky you are aware of n...

Microsoft has published a number of videos online that discuss the new features in Windows Server 2012. For anyone already certified for Windows Server 2008, these videos would be a nice prep tool for the upgrade to Windows Server 2012 ( http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/exam.aspx?id=70-417 ). I still prefer written materials or a classroom for my learning, but these are a nice supplement. The videos are here: Windows Server 2012 Jump Start (01): Core Hyper-V Windows Server 2012 Jump Start (02a): Virtualization Infrastructure, Part 1 Windows Server 2012 Jump Start (02b): Virtualization Infrastructure, Part 2 Windows Server 2012 Jump Start (03a): Storage Architecture, Part 1 Windows Server 2012 Jump Start (03b): Storage Architecture, Part 2 Windows Server 2012 Jump Start (04): Continuous Availability Windows Server 2012 Jump Start (05a): Multi-Server Management, Part 1 Windows Server 2012 Jump Start (05b): Multi-Server Management, Part 2 Windows Server 2012 Jump Start (06a): Secur...