These days I've been studying an RMS environment and I wanted to test some clients withouth having to create an SCP because I didn0t want that all the clients I had in my environment to connect to the RMS server. So there's a little trick you can useon your clients in order to have them connected to the RMS.

In Office 2007 applications, you can do the following registry trick, just create the keys.

Location:HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Common\DRM
String:CorpLicenseServer
Value:< http://url.to.rms/_wmcs/Licensing>

Location:HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Common\DRM
String:CorpCertificationServer
Value:<http://url.to.rms/_wmcs/Certification>

*NOTE* change the 12.0 to an 11.0 of you are using Office 2003 **

or these keys for global RMS supremacy on the machine:

Location:HKLM\Software\Microsoft\MSDRM\ServiceLocation\Activation
Reg_Sz: default
Value:<http://url.to.rms/_wmcs/Certification>

Location:HKLM\Software\Microsoft\MSDRM\ServiceLocation\EnterprisePublishing
Reg_Sz: default
Value:<http://url.to.rms/_wmcs/Licensing>

Useful link: http://blogs.technet.com/rmssupp/archive/2007/07/13/rms-testing-rms-without-modifying-the-ad.aspx

I've been mounting a scenery with App-V on HyperV and Windows Server 2008... but as I were installing I got this error:

"Error 25120. The installation program was unable to create the required IIS Virtual Directory”

So it seems we have to install the IIS 6 Metabase Compatibility, IIS 6 Management Console and IIS Management Scripts and Tools in order to be able to install.. so by following the next steps, you should get the work done.

To install the IIS 6.0 Management Compatibility Components by using the Windows Server 2008 Server Manager

1. Click Start, click Administrative Tools and then Server Manager.

2. In the left navigation pane, expand Roles, and then right-click Web Server (IIS) and select Add Role Services.

3. On the Select Role Services pane, scroll down to Management Tools and select IIS Management Scripts and Tools, then scroll down again to IIS 6 Management Compatibility.

4. Select the check boxes for IIS 6 Metabase Compatibility and IIS 6 Management Console.

5. Click Next from the Select Role Services pane, and then click Install at the Confirm Installations Selections pane.

6. Click Close to leave the Add Role Services wizard.

 

But after this, when I got to the management console, I couldn't connect, I kept having this Error 0000C801. But again, I solved this issue by installing the Role of Windows Authentication in IIS7.

Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5 Release Candidate Availability!

A new release candidate for Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) is now available!!  Along with building new features, the team has been working hard to bring the product into compliance with Microsoft shipping standards.  TAP customers will be expanding their deployments to thousands of production users with this release to help validate the product’s full feature set, as well as performance and scalability.  Major highlights include:

· HTTP streaming. We now support streaming virtual applications from an IIS server (v6 or v7). This will provide dramatic performance and scalability improvements for customers with large App-V deployments.

· Re-designed Sequencer.  Simplifies the process and reduces the complexity of creating virtual application packages. There is now a single wizard for creating a new package and advanced settings have been put into an optional screen.

· Dynamic Suite Composition (DSC) for MSI packages allows the flexibility to control virtual application interaction. Administrators wanting to consolidate virtual environments, and enable faster, easier administration, can use the product’s Dynamic Suite Composition, which sequences and manages packages for middleware applications separately from the main application.

· Seamless integration with SCCM 2007 R2. Allows customers to easily deploy virtual applications through the SCCM 2007 R2 infrastructure and scale their deployments.

· Client cache improvements. The maximum size of the client cache has been increased to 1 TB.

· Improved Manageability. Integration and support for VSS writer, MOM Pack, ADM template

· Accessibility. The product is now Section 508 compliant, bringing App-V in line with other Microsoft products.

With this release we will also deliver:

· The Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5 Planning and Deployment Guide

· Upgrading to Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5 FAQ

The RC Candidate is available publicly via Microsoft Connect -http://connect.microsoft.com
For more information please visit http://www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/softgrid/default.mspx
App-V Blog (Full Announcement) - http://blogs.technet.com/softgrid/default.aspx

Congratulations team!!

Good isn't it?

Microsoft finally released Messenger TV in 20 countries: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, India, Malasia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philipinnes, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom.

This means that in many countries of the world, besides Portugal, there are also many other countries like Japan and United States out.

Still the service may be found in many languages and the portuguese is present (but the brazilian-portuguese).

So you can visualize this serviço and use it, click here or add the contact MessengerTV@live.com.

Are you having difficulties in downloading updates from WSUS and need to improve efficiency?

Just use the one the commands below that is more suitable to you.

1.
Click Start, click Run, type one of the following commands, and then click OK.
If you are using WSUS 2.0 with a MSDE or WMSDE database that was created by a default WSUS installation, type the following command:

%programfiles%\Update Services\tools\osql\osql.exe -S %Computername%\WSUS -E -b -n -Q "USE SUSDB update tbConfigurationC set BitsDownloadPriorityForeground=1"

If you configured WSUS 2.0 to use an existing installation of Microsoft SQL Server, type the following command:

%programfiles%\Update Services\tools\osql\osql.exe" -S %Computername% -E -b -n -Q "USE SUSDB update tbConfigurationC set BitsDownloadPriorityForeground=1"

If you are using WSUS 3.0 with a Windows Internal Database that was created by a default WSUS installation, type the following command:

%programfiles%\Update Services\Setup\ExecuteSQL.exe -S %Computername%\MICROSOFT##SSEE -d "SUSDB" -Q "update tbConfigurationC set BitsDownloadPriorityForeground=1"

If you configured WSUS 3.0 to use an existing installation of SQL Server, type the following command:

%programfiles%\Update Services\Setup\ExecuteSQL.exe" -S %Computername% -d "SUSDB" -Q "update tbConfigurationC set BitsDownloadPriorityForeground=1"

2.
Restart the Update Services service. To do this, follow these steps:

a.
Click Start, click Run, type services.msc, and then click OK.

b.
In the Services dialog box, right-click Update Services, and then click Restart.

School District Uses Virtualization to 'Kid-Proof' 10,000 Student PCs

You can read an excerpt of the article here:

The small IT staff of the Kent School District in Kent, Wash., has discovered a way to nearly kid-proof the thousands of notebook PCs it’s phasing in for all grade levels.

The district uses the notebooks simply as a repository for groups of applications that are virtualized using the Microsoft Application Virtualization software (formerly SoftGrid). Each application is packaged with Microsoft’s virtual runtime, stored on a server, and then downloaded to a notebook or desktop PC when a student logs on and clicks the corresponding icon. On a notebook, the package runs in a protective virtual “bubble,” instead of actually being installed on the PC.

That means district IT staff largely avoid the plague of application conflicts, changes, DLL snafus, and all the other software-based problems that are routine for large laptop deployments. Because the PCs share a common, standard Windows XP software image, spares can be stored at every school. If a student’s laptop stops working for any reason, he or she can swap it for a spare, fire it up, download the virtualized application set and get back to work.

Sidestepping the typical hardware and software support burden is critical to the district’s ambitious goal of equipping all students in grades 7-12 with a laptop PC that could be taken home. But to truly realize the notebook’s potential, district officials realized they also had to revamp the curriculum to make use of it, and train and support teachers to exploit both. The expanded laptop program got under way with an extensive pilot in September 2005.

Click to see: Diagram of Kent Schools use of virtualization

Currently there are about 10,000 computers for 27,000 students in 40 buildings spread over 72 square miles just south of Seattle. Of those machines, 3,000 are notebooks, the rest desktops. The district will be adding up to 2,500 notebooks per year until it reaches the target goal of 15,000 for the upper grades, says Thuan Nguyen, the district’s director of information technology. All are currently running Windows XP, but the district will be shifting to Vista in 2009.

Do you want to make a game and don't know where to start? Take a look at the new Popfly Game Creator! It's a new module to create casual games on Silverlight, starting from scratch to the 18 available templates. The system is complete and good enough though it's in a starting phase. Take a look at:

www.popfly.com

More at John Montgomery's blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/johnmont/archive/2008/04/30/the-new-popfly-game-creator.aspx

Watch some videos by Adam Nathan, showing how to create a game from scratch. 

Create a new game!

Some games with almost any code

Letter from Steve Balmer to Jerry Wang: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/may08/05-03letter.mspx

The question, what's next?

1. What you need:

a) Your need a Memory Stick Pro Duo formatted by your PSP (with at least 512MB). Some full length movies can take up a lot of memory space so aim to get as much memory as you can afford.

b) Computer or Laptop (An average pc or laptop will do)

c) USB cable, preferably USB 2.0

d) Some MP4 movies or films to put on your PSP device (You can get these from your own DVD collection or you can download from the internet. There are many movie download sites online.)

2. Getting started:

Connect your computer to your PSP using the USB cable and press the 'X' on your PSP. Your computer will recognise the new connection and assign it a new removable drive. If this is the first time you're connecting your pc to your PSP your pc may first install some new drivers to support the connection.

3. Prepare your movies

If you already have the movies on your pc, put them in one folder where you can easily find them. If you don't already have the Mp4 movies you can download them from the internet. Make sure they are all in MP4 format. There are a number of mp4 movie converters that you can find online. Some are free. Go to any search engine and do a search for mp4 movie converters.

4. Copy the movies and put them on your PSP.

On your computer, browse to the removable USB drive corresponding to your PSP and navigate to the PSP folder. Create a folder called 'MP_ROOT' and inside that folder create another folder and name it '100MNV01'. This is the folder where you'll put your mp4 movie files. Now copy the movie files from your computer to the '100MN01' folder on your PSP. The mp4 movie files should be named in the format 'M4V00000.MP4' where 00000 can be any number. For example, M4V00001.MP4 or M4V00012.MP4 are fine but M4VJAMESBOND12.MP4 and MyBestMovie.MP4 are not.

5. Watch the Movies on your PSP

First disconnect your PSP from your computer. Then on your PSP navigate to your 100MNV01 folder and select it to display all the movies that you have copied to your PSP. You can now select and watch any mp4 movie you want on your PSP.