Whitepaper Title: VHD Getting Started Guide
File name: VHD Getting Started Guide.docx
Data Published: May 27, 2010
Language: English
File size: 1.13 MB
Pages: 82
Download URL: Click here

Description:
This guide provides an introduction to virtual hard disks (VHDs) in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. It includes an overview of technologies that you use to configure VHDs, as well as procedures to help guide you through deploying VHDs.

Contents:

• Virtual Hard Disks in Windows Server 2008 R2 & Windows 7
• What’s New in Virtual Hard Disks
• Getting Started with Virtual Hard Disks
• Introduction to Virtual Hard Disks
• How to Perform Common Tasks
• Appendix: Tools, Scripts and APIs
• FAQ: Virtual Hard Disks in Windows 7
• Power Management for Network Devices in Windows 7
• What’s New in Power Management for Network Devices

Source: Keith Combs’ Blog

The Kentucky Small Business Server User Group (KYSBSUG) meeting #74 last week on Hard Drive Recovery had a fantastic turnout! I’d like to thank all who attended and a special thanks to Craig Mayfield for a killer presentation!

Here are the links for the resources mentioned in the presentation:

• Streaming recording of the entire presentation (2 hours 4 minutes):
  http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/6366671
• Craig On-Site Computer Support – http://www.craigonsite.com
• Ubuntu – http://www.ubuntu.com 
• DD-WRT – http://www.dd-wrt.com 
• OpenWrt – http://openwrt.org 
• OpenDNS – http://www.opendns.com
• Lexington Microsoft User Group (LexMUG) – http://lexmug.ning.com
• DriveSavers – http://www.drivesaversdatarecovery.com
• Ontrack – http://www.ontrackdatarecovery.com
• Eraser – http://eraser.heidi.ie
• WipeDrive – http://www.whitecanyon.com/wipedrive-erase-hard-drive.php
• Active @ Kill Disk – http://www.killdisk.com
• DiskExplorer – http://www.runtime.org/diskexplorer.htm
• DriveImage XML – http://www.runtime.org/driveimage-xml.htm
• GetDataBack – http://www.runtime.org/data-recovery-software.htm
• SpinRite – http://www.grc.com/spinrite.htm
• BartPE – http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder
• StorageCraft Shadow Protect – http://www.storagecraft.com
• Acronis – http://www.acronis.com
• PC-3000 – http://www.pc3000.com
• DeepSpar Data Recovery – http://www.deepspar.com
• PCB Solution – http://www.onepcbsolution.com
• HDDGURU – http://hddguru.com
• Scott Moulton YouTube Hard Drive Videos
  http://www.youtube.com/user/SuperFlyFlippingA
• Scott Moulton’s Website
  http://www.myharddrivedied.com
• Technical Self-Employment Is A Fat Paycheck Waiting to Be Pocketed
  http://www.koozie.org/2004/10/freelance_tech_.html

I really hate carrying around physical CDs/DVDs for programs I use a lot. Normally I just convert all my discs into ISOs with the free ImgBurn program (which totally rocks) and then throw the ISOs onto my Toshiba 320 GB portable USB drive. Then when I’m on-site if I need a CD, I just mount the ISO with Virtual CloneDrive (also free, and also rocks) and launch the program.

That said, sometimes you still need a bootable CD/DVD. For instance, when you want to image a workstation or server with StorageCraft ShadowProtect and backup the entire machine to an external USB drive.  Unfortunately, that means carrying the disc with you in your tech toolkit, or carrying the ISO and burning a disc.

Here’s a better idea – Use one of those old 1 GB USB flash drives gathering dust in your drawer, and turn it into a bootable USB drive.

Now, before you say “not BartPE and the HP Boot Flash Utility again”, we’re not using those old school tools. This is as modern as modern gets – using a Windows 7 64-bit ultimate machine and no physical CDs.

Note: These instructions are assuming you have already purchased a licensed copy of ShadowProtect from StorageCraft, and are simply looking to turn a boot CD into a boot USB flash drive.

What You’ll Need

• ISO image of ShadowProtect or a ShadowProtect boot CD (471 MB)
• 1 GB or larger USB flash drive
• PeToUSB_3.0.0.7.zip (100KB)
• Windows 7 workstation (I used a 64-bit Ultimate box, but YMMV)

Step-by-Step Instructions to Create the Bootable USB Drive

1. Extract the downloaded PeToUSB_3.0.0.7.zip file into a folder on your desktop. You will see 3 files in there, but you only need  PeToUSB.exe
   
2. Insert the physical ShadowProtect CD into your drive, or if you’re using an ISO, mount the ISO using Virtual CloneDrive (or some other ISO program).
   
3. Insert your USB flash drive.
    
4. Right-click the PeToUSB program, and choose RunAs Administrator.
   
5. Select your flash drive from the pull-down menu.
   
6. Check Enable Disk Format and check Quick Format boxes.
    
7. Browse to the ShadowProtect CD location.
   
8. Click the Enable File Copy checkbox.
    

   Your settings should look similar to this:
   

9. Click Start. On the Continue screen click Yes.
   
10. On the Are You Sure You Want To Continue screen, confirm that the correct flash drive is about to be formatted, and click Yes.
    
11. The drive will be automatically formatted and the files will start copying.
    
12. When the format and copy are complete click OK.
     
13. Safely Remove the drive, you’re done!

Now you can boot a workstation off the USB, plug in a USB drive large enough to hold the backup images, and create a backup of that target machine. Or, for some P2V action, you can use the free VMware Player (89.9 MB) to spin up that SPF as a virtual machine.

Invitation – January 2010 KYSBSUG Meeting #71
Meeting Date: Wednesday January 20, 2010
Time: 6:30 PM Eastern
Location: Money Concepts
Address: 323 Townpark Circle, Suite 100, Louisville, KY 40243
Topic: “Password Security and Password Cracking”

Guest Presenter: Dana Epp, MVP (Enterprise Security)
Founder & President of Scorpion Software (makers of AuthAnvil)

Website: http://www.scorpionsoft.com/
MVP: https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Dana.Epp
Blog: http://silverstr.ufies.org/blog/

Description: Dana Epp is an industry-recognized expert in security and Microsoft MVP (2006-2010). Dana will talk about local and remote password security in SBS and SMB networks. He’ll also talk about topics such as two-factor authentication and tell you how you can implement this technology for your employees and customers.

Following Dana’s presentation, we’ll have a hands-on lab to demonstrate some of the tools on the market and methods to test (and break) passwords.

6:30 – 6:45 – Local events & introductions
6:45 – 7:30 – Dana Epp presentation (via GoToMeeting)
7:30 – 7:45 – Dana Q&A
7:45 – 8:20 – Hands-on Lab
8:20 – 8:30 – Door prize drawing and wrap-up

Door Prize: This month our door prize is an NFR copy of Windows 7 Ultimate.

If you’ve been wishing for some structured Windows Small Business Server 2008 training offered by Microsoft, wait no more.  Microsoft has announced a set of four hands-on labs for SBS 2008, and (it gets better) it’s free!

Title: Windows SBS 2008 Hands-On Labs for Partners
Release Date: 9/25/2009
Version: 2.0
Download Size: 12.5 GB

The courses available are:

1. Windows SBS 2008 Admin Console
2. Windows SBS 2008 Working with Clients
3. Windows SBS 2008 Installation
4. Windows SBS 2008 Migration from SBS 2003

The downloads are available from the Microsoft Connect site:

URL: https://connect.microsoft.com/directory/
Invitation Code: SBSP-62B6-K3TH

System Requirements:

• A machine that supports Hyper-V*;
      a server class** dual- or quad-core CPU is highly recommended
• 5 GB of RAM min. (6-8 GB would be better);
      SBS 2008 requires a minimum of 4 GB of RAM, 
      Parent partition (Hyper-V host) requires 1 GB
• 80 GB of free hard drive space;
      15 GB will be used initially but the VHDs could grow to a max. of 80 GB
• Optional – router that will function between the SBS server and the Internet/corporate network
• Optional – second physical network adapter to connect the SBS virtual machine to the router

Here’s a screen shot of the file downloads in the kit:

* Note: If you’ve never installed Hyper-V before, I’ve got a short video
(4:18 minutes) on YouTube demonstrating the installation.

** Server-class hardware is recommended, but not required since this is a HOL and not a production box. For example, here are my demo Hyper-V box specs:

• HP Compaq dc5800 microtower
• Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 2.33 GHz
• 8 GB RAM
• 1 ea. 149 GB SATA drive (OS)
• 1 ea. 1 TB SATA drive (ISOs and VHDs)
• Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise

To make sure that your machine supports Hyper-V (both in the BIOS and on the processor) check out the SecurAble download from GRC.com that tests hardware virtualization: http://www.grc.com/securable.htm

Props: Sean Daniel’s blog

This question comes up a lot:

“I have the free Adobe Acrobat Reader, but not Acrobat Professional – can I still create a password-protected PDF?
I don’t feel like paying $360 for Acrobat Professional
just for the ability to do encryption or password protection.”

The short answer is ‘yes’, but you’ll need another program to do it.

I recommend the FREE open source program PDF Creator 0.9.8 (16.8 MB).

Below are detailed instructions you can share with your employees and clients: 
– (Part A) PDF Creator program installation instructions
– (Part B) Creating the password-protected and encrypted PDFs
– (Part C) PDF opening instructions

PART A – PDF CREATOR INSTALLATION (Boring Part)

1. Download PDF Creator 0.9.8 from SourceForge
   http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/ 
2. Double-click the PDFCreator-0_9_8_setup.exe file and choose Run.
     
   (If User Account Control pops up in Vista or Windows 7, click Allow)
3. Select your language (English) and click OK.
   
4. When the setup Wizard launches, click Next.
   
5. Accept the license agreement, and click Next.
   
6. For Type of Installation, choose Standard installation, and click Next.
   
7. For Printer name accept the default of “PDFCreator”, and click Next.
   
8. On Select Destination Location, accept the default and click Next.
   
9. The installation will install the PDFCreator Browser Add On (annoying) but you can later uninstall via the Control Panel.
   Uncheck “Yahoo!” and click Next.
   
10. Under Select Components, accept the defaults and click Next.
    
11. On Select Start Menu Folder accept the default and click Next.
    
12. On Select Additional Tasks accept the defaults and click Next.
    
13. And then click Install and click Finish when the installation is complete.
    

Now that the PDF Creator program is installed, it’s time to convert a file into a password-protected PDF.

PART B – CREATING A PASSWORD-PROTECTED PDFs
(Interesting Part)

1. Make sure the document that you want to convert is CLOSED.
2. Right-click the icon of the document you want to convert, and choose
   Create PDF and Bitmap Files with PDFCreator from the pop-up.
   
3. At the “It is necessary to temporarily set PDFCreator as defaultprinter” prompt click Don’t ask me again checkbox and click OK.
   
4. The document will open and then close again, and you will be left with a PDFCreator 0.9.8 dialog box, as shown below.

   Click the Options button.
   

5. On the Options page, expand the Formats tab on the left.
   
6. Click the PDF icon on the left, click the Security tab on the right, and check the Use Security checkbox.
    
7. Choose the following:
   – Encryption level (40-bit or 128-bit)
   – Password to open (user password)
   – Password to change permissions (owner password)
   – Any other user restrictions you want to set
    
8. Hit Save on the bottom right of the Options page, and then Save again on the main PDFCreator 0.9.8 page (seen in Step 4 above). 
9. When the Save as dialog box comes up, give the file a name and
   click Save.
    
10. PDF Creator will pop-up a small animated splash screen…

    

    …and prompt you for the password you want to use to create your document. Enter the password twice and click OK.

    

11. If you leave the ‘Owner Password’ blank (which fine if you want to) you will get an additional dialog box letting you know that it’s blank.
    
    Click Yes to leave the Owner Password blank, or click No to go back and add an Owner Password.
12. Once the document is saved, it immediately tries to open in your preferred PDF reader (I use Foxit Reader) and prompts your for a password. Type the User Password and click OK.
    
13. You should now be able to see your password-protected PDF.
    

Congratulations – That’s a few hoops to jump through!

PART C – WHAT THE CLIENT / RECIPIENT SEES
(The most important part)

1. E-mail them the password-protected PDF document
2. They open the attachment and get prompted for a password 
   
3. Once they enter the password and click OK, the PDF opens.

RECAP

• Part A is just a one-time thing.
• Part B is every time you want to CREATE a password-protected PDF
• Part C is what the client (recipient) and does each time they want to OPEN the protected PDF.

Back in 2005 I was privileged to be one of the co-authors of “Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 Unleashed”. As I’m sure most authors can attest, working on a book is a very unique and eye-opening experience.  It takes a lot of time, work, testing, research and commitment to crank out a book, but in the end you have something tangible to show for all the effort. You make some great friends and learn something about yourself along the way too.

Then we skip forward several years and Eriq Neale invited me to be one the co-authors once again. This time the book was titled “Windows Small Business Server 2008 Unleashed.” I looked at the calendar and figured, “Wow, this is really awesome. We’ve got *tons* of time – the operating system isn’t even baked yet!” So I signed on. Interestingly, time moves quickly. Very, VERY quickly. And as SBS 2008 got closer to being finished and as work on the book continued, it seemed like every movie on TV was about an author with looming publishing deadlines or writer’s block like Duplex or Stranger Than Fiction. No pressure.

At any rate, as the book project moved along, you could really see it transform slowly from an idea, into an outline, to a rough draft, through revisions, technical and grammatical editing, screen shots, page layouts, and eventually all the way into a finished book. And while you’re writing and doing testing and research, the software itself (code named “Cougar”) changes. It goes through various builds, into private and public betas, Release Candidates and eventually it becomes the final RTM code for SBS 2008. Believe me, it’s a pretty long trip!

So, the writing has been done for a while, and now comes the waiting part. The book is being printed and shipped, but I haven’t held a hard copy in my hands yet. And today it was cool to get an email from Amazon.com that really hit home:

All of the sudden the book seems much more real.

Getting to this stage was a group effort, and I was just one person in a large team of folks that made this project happen. The whole team worked really hard through deadlines, daily responsibilities, lots of writing and zillions of emails.

The writers of this book include:

• Eriq Oliver Neale – Lead Author [SBS-MVP]
• Amy Babinchak [Forefront-MVP]
• Steven Banks [SBS-MVP]
• Tim Barrett [SBS-MVP] (me, yay!)
• Susan Bradley [SBS-MVP] The SBS Diva
• Dean Calvert [SBS-MVP] Who talked me into eating Vegemite
• Chris Hanna [SBS-MVP]
• Kevin James [SBS-MVP]
• Jeff Middleton [SBS-MVP]
• David Shackelford [Exchange-MVP]
• Kevin Weilbacher [SBS-MVP]

And here’s what’s in the book:

Table of Contents:

1. Welcome to Small Business Server 2008
2. Planning for the SBS 2008 Deployment
3. Installing and Configuring SBS 2008
4. DNS, DHCP, and Active Directory Integration
5. Internet Information Services 7.0
6. Remote Web Workplace and Other Remote Access Solutions
7. SharePoint and Companyweb
8. Exchange Management
9. Exchange 2007 Client Connectivity
10. Exchange Disaster Recovery
11. Group Policy in SBS 2008
12. User and Computer Management
13. Macintosh Integration
14. Additional Servers
15. Managing Workstations Through Group Policy
16. Monitoring and Reporting
17. Managing Server and Workstation Security
18. Backup and Disaster Recovery
19. IPv6 Overview
20. PowerShell
21. Advanced Installation Options

I’m sure I speak for everyone on the writing, editing and publishing teams when I say that we’re really proud of this book! And I’d like to send a special “thank you” to Eriq Neale and Acquisitions Editor Loretta Yates for letting me be on the team again,
and for not killing me when they wanted to.

We look forward to seeing the book hit the shelves and we’re certain that it will help people understand and support this amazing new operating system.

I hope you enjoy it!

Title: Windows Small Business Server 2008 Unleashed
Publisher: Sams Publishing; 1 edition (December 6, 2008)
ISBN-10: 0672329573
Paperback: 816 pages
Language: English
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Buy.com | InformIT / Sams

Thanks everyone who attended the KYSBSUG presentation on modding your wireless router with the DD-WRT firmware!

Here are the show notes from tonight. P.S. Don’t forget to reset your wired NIC TCP/IP settings back to automatic after you’re done flashing your router.

• DD-WRT main page
  http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
• Awesome “Supported Devices” list of routers you can flash to DD-WRT
  http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Supported_Devices
• DD-WRT Instructions for Linksys WRT54G / GL / GS / GX
  http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Linksys_WRT54G/GL/GS/GX
• Linking Routers wiki – covers Mesh, Repeater Bridge, Universal Wireless Repeater and WLAN Repeater
  http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Linking_Routers
• TFTP download (choose the “Client Application” one)
  http://www.tftp-server.com/tftp-download.html
• HotSpotSystem – Turn your WRT54G into a paid Wi-Fi hotspot
  http://www.hotspotsystem.com/
• Chillispot – Open Source Wireless LAN Access Point Controller
  http://www.chillispot.info/
• SMB Nation – Oct 4-6 Seattle, WA
  http://www.smbnation.com/
• FileZilla FTP Client (TFTP works better for flashing routers though)
  http://filezilla-project.org/
• Microsoft Groove 2007 60-day trial
  http://us1.trymicrosoftoffice.com/product.aspx?re_ms=oo&family=officelivegroove&culture=en-US
• Groove 2007 Video Tour
  http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/groove/HA101672641033.aspx
• SBS 2008 Unleashed Book
  http://www.amazon.com/Windows-Small-Business-Server-Unleashed/dp/0672329573

If I don’t see you at SMB Nation in Seattle next week, I’ll see you at the Oct KYSBSUG meeting (tentative date Wed Oct 15, 2008).

Whitepaper Title: Deploying Windows Mobile 6 with Windows Small Business Server 2003
File Name: SBS-WM6_122107.doc
Version: 3.0
Date Published: January 2008
Language: English
Download Size: 1.8 MB
Pages:  49
Download URL: Click here

Description:
Do you want to add Windows Mobile devices to your network? Is your network based either on the Windows Small Business Server 2003 (Windows SBS) server software with Service Pack 1 (SP1) or on Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2? If so, you can use the step-by-step instructions in this document to deploy devices that are powered by the Windows Mobile 6 software on a Windows SBS network.

Contents

• Step 1: Install ActiveSync 4.5 or WMDC 6.1
• Step 2: Enable Mobile Services for Users
• Step 3: Configure the Firewall and Web Services
• Step 4: Install a Certificate
• Step 5: Configure Windows Small Business Server
• Step 6: Configure Device Synchronization
• Step 7: Test the Deployment

Source: Sean Daniel’s blog

Are you interested in setting up a Windows Mobile device with SBS, but just haven’t gotten around to doing it?

If so, you’re not alone.  Next to Windows SharePoint Services, Windows Mobile devices are the most under-used killer technology in SBS.

This month our topic for the KYSBSUG meeting is a free hands-on lab / boot camp to get IT Pros and network administrators comfortable with testing, rolling out, and supporting Windows Mobile devices with SBS.

In addition to offering training on Windows Mobile 5 & 6, we’ll also provide resources for connecting Palm mobile devices (such as the new Palm Centro) and Apple iPhones with SBS. 

If you’re shy and have never used Windows Mobile devices before, this event is for you! We’ll take you from a-to-sync.   Or, if you’re already are a Windows Mobile pro, you’re still invited to attend, compare notes on local wireless carriers, help users with the labs, and be registered for the door prizes.

You are invited to register and attend in person!
Cost:  FREE

Event: KYSBSUG February 2008 Meeting (#47)
Topic: Windows Mobile Hands-On Lab / Boot Camp
Date: Wed Feb 20, 2008
Time: 6:30 PM Eastern – 9:00 PM Eastern
Location: Money Concepts
Address: 323 Townepark Circle
City St Zip: Louisville, KY 40243
Registration Required?: Yes
Invitees: IT Pros, Network Administrators, KYSBSUG Members & Geeks
Registration URL: http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=125230

Below is a list of what you’ll need to complete the lab.

Note: If you’re missing any of the pieces below to complete the lab, don’t worry. You’re still invited to attend to receive a copy of the simulator software and to see what pieces you need to put in place to properly configure a Windows Mobile device on your (or your customer’s) network. Just be sure to bring a flash drive.

IMPORTANT – You DO NOT need to have a Pocket PC or SmartPhone to complete this lab. We will provide attendees with a Windows Mobile emulator that runs on your PC. (We also have a Palm emulator as well).

To complete the lab you will need:

• Laptop PC (Vista or XP) with WiFi
• 1 GB of RAM
• 1-1.5 GB available hard drive space
• Remote access to an SBS server with RWW properly configured (CEICW already run & ports open in your firewall)
• An ‘A’ record pointing to your RWW site (such as remote.domain.com or server.domain.com)
• Administrator credentials for your SBS server
• AC powerstrip / surge protector or extension cord
• 1 GB or larger USB flash drive

OPTIONAL – If you DO decide to bring a SmartPhone or Pocket PC, please also bring:

• Your Windows Mobile device
• The charger / AC adapter
• The data cable / cradle
• Any software (CDs) that came with the phone
• An SD / Mini SD / Micro SD card (whatever your device takes)
• A card reader or adapter to read the SD card on your PC

There is already a lot of interest in this topic and seating is limited, so please register early to guarantee a seat.