This week we are introducing a new Windows Live plug-ins website, which allows you to download and submit plug-ins for Windows Live Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, and Writer.

Source : Inside Windows Live

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Microsoft Security Essentials, released back in September 2009 as a free replacement for the subscription-based Windows Live OneCare, has been updated to version 2.0 today. The final release carries the build number 2.0.657 and includes new features such as:

  • Windows Firewall integration – During setup, Microsoft Security Essentials will now ask if you would like to turn the Windows Firewall on or off.
  • Enhanced protection for web-based threats – Microsoft Security Essentials now integrates with Internet Explorer to provide protection against web-based threats.
  • New protection engine – The updated anti-malware engine offers enhanced detection and cleanup capabilities with better performance.
  • Network inspection system – Protection against network-based exploits is now built in to Microsoft Security Essentials.

 

You can download Microsoft Security Essentials 2.0 at Microsoft Download Center.

Source : LiveSide.net

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I wanted to setup a virtual lab with a Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 server and a PXE client in Virtual Box. I finally got it to work !

The main problem is that the Intel PRO/1000 network card in VirtualBox does not seems to work with PXE (I dont know why) and the PCnet-FAST adapter is not supported (by default) in Windows PE (and no driver available in x64).

My solution is to simply define 2 network adapters in your virtual machine (the PXE client) :

mdt-1

PXE will use the first adapter (PCnet-FAST) and Windows PE will use the Intel PRO/1000 because it doesn’t know about the other one (no driver).

Here’s a step-by-step guide :

Ensure that the boot order of you VirtualBox machine allow it the boot from the Network :

mdt2b

You should also check that APIC is ON (Windows PE wont boot without it).

Boot you virtual machine, a screen like this should appear :

MDT-3

Open your "Windows Deployment Services” (WDS) console and approve the new pending device :

mdt-4

To avoid confusion in Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) I prefer to use the Computer UID instead of the MAC address to identify the computer (because we have two network adapters). To get the Computer UID at this stage, open “Active Directory Users and Computers” and display the properties of the new Computer object that WDS created when you approved the pending device.

mdt-5

On the Remote Install tab, copy the ‘Computer’s unique ID’ without the bracelets {}.

Open the ‘Deployment Workbench’ and create a new computer in the database (Advanced Configuration)

mdt-6

Enter a description and paste the ‘Computer’s unique ID’ in the UUID field. Complete the computer configuration the match your MDT setup (Assign a role or a TaskSequenceID).

That's it, reboot your virtual machine and your deployment should start.

Note : This article does not cover all your MDT/WDS setup, you have to install and configure those by yourself before using this solution. But if you used MDT before that should not be a problem.

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When it comes to building a virtual datacenter, perhaps no topic is as controversial as domain controller placement. Server virtualization has been around for a long time now, and with several mature virtualization products on the market, one would think that the ground rules for virtualizing network servers would have been firmly established by now. For the most part there are clear and concise guidelines for server virtualization. This is not necessarily the case when it comes to virtualizing domain controllers though. It absolutely amazes me how many different philosophies there are as to how domain controllers should be dealt with in a virtual environment. Since there are pros and cons associated with each of these different philosophies, I decided to take a critical look at domain controller placement in a virtualized environment.

Source : www.virtualizationadmin.com

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Thanks you all for your patience waiting for the full set of deployment walkthrough videos to be posted on TechNet Edge. As per my previous post, over the past few months I have been updating the deployment walkthrough videos and I am pleased to announce that the whole video series has now been posted. In all there are seven videos (around 10 hours of content) - you can see the full list of videos here or you can link to the individual videos below:

DEPLOYMENT PLANNING:

OFFICE DEPLOYMENT: IMAGE ENGINEERING AND SERVICING: IMAGE DEPLOYMENT:

Source : The Deployment Guys

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Visio shapes to use to create models of server deployment environments.

Download this zip file of Microsoft Visio stencils to create your own diagrams for models of server deployments. For examples of how the IT pro content publishing team for Microsoft Office 2010, Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, Microsoft Project Server 2010, Microsoft Search Server 2010, and Microsoft SharePoint Foundation used these shapes, see these pages:

Download details Visio shapes for SharePoint Server, Project Server, Search Server, and Office Posters

Source : Bink.nu

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Browse, edit, and create new code-snippets in rich UI without leaving your scripting IDE – this is what you can now do with the add-on just posted by Denniver here:

Source : Dmitry's PowerBlog: PowerShell and beyond

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