Serverity

The Windows key performs a wide variety of functions in Windows 7. Here are a handful of the most useful ones:

• Win+h - Move current window to full screen
• Win+i - Restore full screen window to normal size / minimize window if not full screen
• Win+Shift+arrow - Move current window to alternate screen
• Win+D - Minimize all windows and show the desktop
• Win+E - Launch Explorer with Computer as the focus
• Win+F - Launch a search window
• Win+G - Cycle through gadgets
• Win+L - Lock the desktop
• Win+M - Minimize the current window
• Win+R - Open the Run window
• Win+T - Cycle through task bar opening Aero Peek for each running item
• Win+U - Open the Ease of Use center
• Win+Space - Aero Peek the desktop
• Ctrl+Win+Tab - Open persistent task selection window, roll mouse over each icon to preview item and minimize others

Some Windows applications still require the use of 32bit ODBC drivers, even when they are 64bit themselves. Unfortunately there is no way to configure this within the "Data Sources (ODBC)" settings of the Windows "Administrative Tools". What you have to do is enter the following command:

c:\windows\SysWOW64\odbcad32.exe

What is that? This interface looks exactly the same, but you will discover the difference quickly... All those legacy 32bit ODBC drivers that you were missing are available now, but what a shame... the 64bit versions are gone! Your applications have the same problem: They either see the 32bit or the 64bit DSN's, but never both. This means, if you want to use an ODBC connector from IIS, e.g. you will have to set IIS to 32bit as well. You can achieve that with this command:

cscript %SYSTEMDRIVE%\inetpub\adminscripts\adsutil.vbs SET W3SVC/AppPools/Enable32bitAppOnWin64 1

In my humble opinion Windows Server Core 2008 is a highly overrated product. But to make long story short, you can use it with the following roles:

• Active Directory Directory Services (AD DS (Domain Controller))
• Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS (aka ADAM))
• DNS server
• DHCP server
• File server
• Print server
• Windows Media Server
• Terminal Services
• IIS 7 (without ASP.NET support)
• Windows Virtualization (Hyper-V)

With Windows Server Core 2008 R2 release you will have three additional roles to choose from:

• Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS)
• File Server Resource Manager component (File Services role)
• A subset of ASP.NET (Web Server role)

The following features are available:

• Failover clustering
• Network load balancing (NLB)
• Subsystem for UNIX-based applications
• Backup
• Multipath I/O
• Removable storage
• BitLocker drive encryption
• Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)
• Windows Internet Name Service (WINS)
• Telnet client

New features in the R2 release are:

• A subset of .NET Framework 2.0, 3.0, and 3.5
• Windows PowerShell (including cmdlets for Server Manager and the Best Practices Analyzer)
• Windows-on-Windows 64-bit (WoW64)
• Configure a Server Core installation by using Server Manager
• No more removable storage feature

Thank you, Microsoft, for adding the PowerShell to Windows Server Core! To be honest, the first release of Server Core seemed more like a bad joke to me. Were we really supposed to put this into production? A service console oriented OS without professional scripting support?

Today you can build a solid server system with Windows Server Core 2008 R2. Especially the combination of a Read-Only Domain Controller, DHCP/DNS/WINS services and BitLocker technology integrates nicely for remote offices. Unfortunately the BranchCache feature from the original R2 release is not available in server core for obvious security reasons.

Windows Deployment Services (WDS) are the preferred way to install Windows operating systems. WDS allows you to capture the following kinds of images using the Windows Image (.wim) format:

• Boot Image: Windows PE 2.0 is the new boot image format and it presents you with a boot menu that contains a list of images that users can install. The standard boot images included with Vista and Server 2008 are located on the installation media at \Sources\boot.wim.
• Capture Image: This launches the WDS capture utility instead of Set-up. The reference computer previously prepared with Sysprep boots into a capture image and becomes the host from which an image is created, and then saves the image as a .wim file.
• Discover Image: This forces the client computer to start in WDS mode to discover the WDS server. This is meant for computers that are not
  PXE-enabled.
• Install Image: The standard install image included with Vista and Windows Server 2008 is located on the installation media at \Sources\ install.wim.

Link: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc748933(WS.10).aspx

The Windows AIK (Automated Installation Kit) adds support for the following technologies concerning OS deployment:

• OS support for Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2008 / 2008 R2
• Server Manager Command-Line Tool (install and remove Windows Server 2008 roles, role services, and features)
• Installation of 64-bit versions of Windows from a 32-bit preinstallation environment
• UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) support (BIOS successor)

OS deployment with WDS and AIK can get pretty complex, if you want to deal with it professionally. Here is quick overview of the tools included in Windows AIK:

USMT
The "User State Migration Tool" is needed for migrating user settings and data for a large number of computers.

SIM
The "Windows System Image Manager" is one of the key tools in Windows AIK. It is used to create unattended installation answer files.

ImageX
Use ImageX for capturing, creating, modifying and applying WIM (Windows Image) files.

Sysprep
The classic tool for preparing Windows installations for disk imaging and delivery.

DISM
Use the "Deployment Image Servicing and Management Tool" to customize Windows images in a variety of ways, e.g. add or remove 32-bit and 64-bit device drivers, language packs, Windows features and updates. DISM replaces some legacy tools including Package Manager (Pkgmgr.exe), the International Settings Configuration Tool (Intlcfg.exe), and the Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) command-line tool (PEimg.exe).

DPInst
Add non-boot critical drivers during Windows Setup using the Driver Package Installer.

PostReflect
The boot critical driver projection tool can be used to reflect all boot critical device drivers out of the driver store in an offline Windows image.