Category Archives: Windows

How to turn on client hyper-v in Windows 8

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In Steven Sinofsky’s this blog – Bringing Hyper-V to “Windows 8”. He talks about that Windows 8 will support virtualization on the "client" OS.  This is very helpful for developers as they typically have the need to setup additional test environment on their PC.

How to turn on client hyper-v in Windows 8

First, make sure your system meets the client hyper-v virtualization requirement, you have 64bit windows 8 OS and SLAT available on CPU.

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  1. Control Panel –> Programs
  2. Turn Windows Features On or Off
  3. Check Hyper-V, Click Ok

Note: If your system does not have the required virtualization support, the client Hyper-V feature will be greyed out. To check if your CPU is SLAT-capable, check this How to tell if your CPU Supports SLAT.

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The other cool thing is you can turn hyper-v on even if you are booting from VHD. This behavior is same server Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 R2.

Windows 8 Developer Preview Key

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To install Windows 8 Developer Preview you do not need a product key for activation. However, you would be asked to enter a product key while re-installing Windows 8 Developer Preview Key.

If you need to reinstall Windows Developer Preview or use the Reset functionality, you might be asked to enter this product key:

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If you’re running a server version of Windows Developer Preview, you can use this product key:

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The key is provided by Microsoft employee BillFill in msdn forum. You can find the BillFill’s post here

Windows 8 Shortcut Key Combination

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Here is a list of new shortcuts specific to Windows 8. You might it useful when you are in Windows 8 new Metro style UI. For me I found WinKey + C and WInKey + I really helps a LOT

Key Functionality
WinKey + spacebar Switch input language and Keyboard layout
WinKey + O Disable screen orientation
WinKey + Y Temporarily view the desktop
WinKey + Enter Launches Narrator Dialog
WinKey + PageUp Snap Metro style apps to left
WinKey + PageDown Snap Metro style apps to right
WinKey + C Opens Charms bar
WinKey + I Opens Settings charm
WinKey + K Opens Connect charm
WinKey + H Opens Share charm
WinKey + Q Opens Search pane
WinKey + W Opens Settings Search app
WinKey + F Opens File Search app
WinKey + Tab Cycles through Metro style apps
WinKey + Z Opens App Bar

How to install DotNet 2.0 or 3.5 on Windows 8

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Windows 8 Developer Preview includes the 2.0, 3.5 and 4.5 versions of the .NET Framework. However, only 4.5 is available for immediate use after a clean install. The versions 2.0 and 3.5 of the framework are not installed by default. If you open the Add/Remove Windows Features dialog you’ll see the “Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5.1” listed, but disabled.

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To install DotNet 2.0 or 3.5 on Windows 8,

  1. Go to Control Panel – Programs
  2. Turn Windows features on or off
  3. Check ‘Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5.1′
  4. Click OK.

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Capture Single Monitor Screenshot on Dual Monitors

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When you hit PrintScreen key,  windows will take screenshot on the monitor and copy it to clipboard. But if you have dual monitors setup, you will find screenshot of both monitors are captured. You might wonder how to just capture the single screenshot on the monitor you are working on.

The answer is ALT + PrintScreen. Note that it will take screenshot of the active monitor on your desktop, the one has keyboard/mouse focus.

In addition, you can use CTRL + ALT + PrintScreen to capture the active dialog box or menu on your desktop.

IE9 Go to an intranet site for a single word entry in the address bar

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Unlike IE8, in IE9, if you type an intranet site name in the address bar without http, IE9 will redirect you to the bing search page with the site name as keyword. IE9 also recognize you might want to go to an intranet so there is prompt pop up ask if you want to go to internal site.

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This means one more click for many users. You can enforce IE 9 to go to intranet site directly for single word entry by following these steps.

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Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1 ISO download

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After Microsoft releases Windows 7 / Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 to public, Microsoft now provides single evaluation media ISO for Windows Server 2008 R2 with Service Pack 1 for free download. To download the official ISO just access http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/dd459137.aspx and logon with your windows live ID.

Or use this Direct Download Link

File Name:  7601.17514.101119-1850_x64fre_server_eval_en-us-GRMSXEVAL_EN_DVD.iso

File Size: 2.9GB

And don’t forget to checkout this tip Exceed Windows Server 2008 R2 Trial Period

SQL Server 2005 The full-text search service cannot start

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After you install SQL Server 2005 RTM on windows server 2008, the full-text search service cannot start. This is because the full-text search service depends on the NTLMSSP (NTLM Security Support Provider) service but the NTLMSSP service does not exist on Windows Server 2008.

To resolve this problem, simple install SQL Server 2005 SP3

SQL Server 2005 SP3 can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=ae7387c3-348c-4faa-8ae5-949fdfbe59c4

Syspreped Windows 7 fail with "Windows could not finish configuring the system"

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After you have installed a Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2, install and configure windows features, install your own app, and then run sysprep command to create an image that is ready to be deployed. When you boot windows for the first time,  it might comes up with following message at the windows setup stage "Setup is starting services" window.

Windows could not finish configuring the system. To attempt to resume configuration, restart the computer.

After you restart the system, you might keep getting the same error.

This is usually caused one of windows features installed or configured not supported by sysprep. The workaround is move the configuration to post setup scripts.