During this week there have been various reports about Windows 7 passing Windows XP in the U.S. The numbers used come from StatCounter a web analytics service. While Windows 7 has passed Windows XP in the U.S, we’re not yet there globally. Worldwide Windows 7 Deployment Status Source: Global Stats If you’re interested finding out [...]
Archive of posts filed under the Deployment category.
ReadTip: General (Windows) activation concepts (KMS/MAK)
A great article from Kevin Ledman – Microsoft Platforms Support, covering the following topics around Windows activation: What is KMS? What is MAK? What do you consider your ‘current operating systems? How do I know what I have available to me? I see both keys on the volume website, so I guess I have both [...]
ReadTip: Planning guide for Microsoft Office 2010
For anyone who is somehow involved in a Office 2010 deployment planning I strongly recommend reading the Planning Guide for Microsoft Office 2010. Microsoft just released an updated version. Don’t be shocked, the document counts 458 pages, but does contain a lot of useful and interesting information. And in case you aren’t aware already about [...]
ReadTip: Microsoft Office 2010 – Under the Hood Investments for Hardware and Performance
This whitepaper highlights the broad range of hardware supported by Microsoft® Office 2010 and describes the significant improvements in performance available in Office 2010. Results from internal testing by Microsoft are included to demonstrate the measurable performance gains users can experience when performing common tasks using different Office 2010 applications. These results indicate that in [...]
There’s no reason to wait for Windows 7 Service Pack 1
This week Microsoft released the Release Candidate (RC) of Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1. Some companies follow the rule of not deploying a new Windows operating system before the release of the first Service Pack, however for Windows 7 there is simply no need for postponing deployments because SP1 doesn’t add [...]
ToolTip: SMB BranchCache deployment Diagnosis script
Just found this SMB BranchCache deployment diagnosis script on MSDN Code Gallery. The Test-SMBBranchCache script is used to find common SMB BranchCache misconfiguration issues. It allows a user to verify the SMB BranchCache server or client configuration. When run on a server, it can test the state of a BranchCache-enabled network share. When run on [...]
Preparing the Bitlocker Partition
For the use of Bitlocker two partitions are required, this because pre-startup authentication and system integrity verification must occur on a separate partition from the encrypted operating system drive. Now let’s assume you started deploying Windows 7 with just a single partition, but a few months later your company decides to use Bitlocker Disk Encryption. [...]
Extracting CAB files from Microsoft Update Standalone Package (MSU)
When manually downloading a Microsoft Security Update or hotfix for Windows 7 (Vista) you typically get a file with an MSU file extension. A file with an MSU extension is a Microsoft Update Standalone package. Microsoft Update Standalone Packages are installed through the Windows Update Standalone Installer WUSA.EXE which is located in the C:\Windows\system32 folder. [...]
ReadTip: For IT professionals: Deployment guide for Microsoft Office 2010
Microsoft recently published a deployment guide for Microsoft Office 2010. The content in this book is a copy of selected content from the Office 2010 Resource Kit Technical library. Download the guide from here
XP Mode within the Enterprise
Last week I had a Windows 7 planning meeting with one of our clients and like in any other Windows 7 related meeting that i have had in the past months with other customers, the topic about XP Mode was brought up. It appears that when speaking about application compatibility, first thing people think of [...]
