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If you really want to evaluate or run testing on a server with Windows Server 2008 R2 installed. There are two workarounds.

Re-arm windows

Type in the following from an elevated command prompt:

slmgr.vbs –rearm

This will reset the activation expiration and the machine is good for another 30 days. You can do this up to 3 times and get 120 days free trial in total.

Or you can

Use Windows Server 2008 R2 Editions 180day Evaluation Key

Windows Web Server 2008 R2 = KBV3Q-DJ8W7-VPB64-V88KG-82C49
Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard = 4GGC4-9947F-FWFP3-78P6F-J9HDR
Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise = 7PJBC-63K3J-62TTK-XF46D-W3WMD
Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter = QX7TD-2CMJR-D7WWY-KVCYC-6D2YT

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There is a workaround to remove the Earlier Version of Windows option from the boot up screen so that it will boot straight into Windows 7 instead of asking users to choose which OS or waiting for 30 seconds and boot into Windows 7.

1. Click on Start, All Programs, Accessories.
2. Right click on Command Prompt and choose Run as administrator.
3. Type the following command and press enter. Be sure to include the brackets around “{ntldr}”.

Bcdedit /delete {ntldr} /f

You should see a message The operation completed successfully after that, then restart your computer, you will not see Earlier Version of Windows boot option any more and now your computer will boot directly into Windows 7.

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1. Click Start, click All Programs, and then click Accessories.
2. Right-click on the Command Prompt and then select Run as Administrator.
3. Once the Command Prompt has opened, type following command and then press ENTER.

   netsh winsock reset

4. Close the Command Prompt and restart the machine.

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To manage Hyper-V machines remotely from Win 7, following these steps:

1. Install Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7, download here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=7d2f6ad7-656b-4313-a005-4e344e43997d&displaylang=en
2. Go to Start > Control panel Under Programs, click on Get programs
3. On the left panel, click on Turn Windows feature on or off
4. On the feature list, expand Remote Server Administration roles > Role Administration Tools, mark Hyper-V Tools, then click OK
5. Go to Administrative tools > Hyper-V Manager, launch it
6. Now you can manage Hyper-V virtual machines from your windows 7 box.

Update

Feb 25, 2011 -  You can manage virtual machines with the Windows 7 version of the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT), although you cannot configure RemoteFX or Dynamic Memory settings with this version. The SP1 version of RSAT is not available as this time, so to manage those settings on a virtualization server running Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 with SP1, use a server running Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1.

Apr 24, 2010 – RSAT does not work on VISTA. For VISTA, you should install MMC Management Snapin instead.

• Vista SP1 x64 – Download in install Hyper-V Remote Management Update for Windows Vista (KB952627) X64
• Vista SP1 x86 – Download in install Hyper-V Remote Management Update for Windows Vista (KB952627)

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1. Install latest Web Platform Installer 2.0 from Microsoft download site

2. Launch Web Platform Installer 2.0, click Windows Application tab and check WordPress, the PHP option will be automatically selected

The cool thing here is that Web Platform Installer 2.0 is smart enough to know all the dependencies for WordPress and it will automatically download and install all the required components for you. Take my Win7 system as example, Web Platform Installer will download and install MySQL 5.1 and PHP 5, it also configures IIS settings prior to WordPress installation.

3. Click Install to start the installation.

4. Input root password for MySQL administrator when you are asked to.

5. Web Platform Installer will download and install all necessary dependencies seamlessly.

6. Once Installation is done, Web Platform Installer will ask your input for an one time site configuration.

• In Step 1, Web Site drop down,
  • If Default Website is selected, Web Platform Installer will create local WordPress site using http://localhost/wordpress
  • If New Website is selected, Web Platform Installer will create local WordPress site using http://localhost/
• In step 2, you can get security keys for http://api.wordpress.org/secret-key/1.1/ for Unique Key for Passwords, Unique Key for Secure Passwords, Unique Key for Authentication, Unique Key for Secure Authentication.

7. Click Continue and now you should see a WordPress installed successfully screenshot:

8. Click Launch WordPress link and you will see the famous file minute WordPress installation process. Have fun!

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The use msiexec to uncompress MSI file, you need to open a command line and run type following:

msiexec /a <YourPackageFullPath> TARGETDIR=<ExtractedMSIFullPath>

Replace <YourPackageFullPath> with full path of MSI file, <ExtractedMSIFullPath> with the target folder you want MSI files to be extracted to.

For example, to extract c:\setup.msi, run following command:

msiexec /a c:\setup.msi TARGETDIR=c:\ExtractedMSI

The uncompressed setup.msi and all files along with fold structures will be extracted into  c:\ExtractedMSI

Note: For Vista/Win7 with UAC turn on, the above command needs to be run from elevated command prompt.

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1. Restart your machine, and press F2 at boot (or whichever key is necessary) to enter BIOS setup
2. Under Performance > set Virtualization to ON
3. Under Performance > set VT for Direct I/O Access to ON
4. Save & Exit BIOS
5. Restart computer

For HP Systems

1. Restart your machine, and press F2 at boot (or whichever key is necessary) to enter BIOS setup
2. Under OS Security > set Intel Virtualization Technology (VTx) to ON
3. Under OS Security > set IO Virtualization to ON
4. Save & Exit BIOS
5. Restart computer

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My Network places -> Search Active Directory -> Find: Computers, Enter Computer name: “FOOBAR”, Click “Find Now”, Select Result, Right Click “Manage” -> Local Users and Groups -> Groups -> Administrators -> (Find who is an admin on the box).

Another method is to open dsa.msc in MMC and Select “Advanced” View, then lookup computers and look at the Security tab.

The tool, srvinfo.exe, is also useful for learning info about a machine.

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1. USB Key
2. Windows Automated Installation Kit
   http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=696DD665-9F76-4177-A811-39C26D3B3B34&displayLang=en

Steps to create the Bootable USB Key:

Important note: This set of commands assumes your USB key is detected as disk 1, you should double check that by doing a list of the disks before cleaning it. If you have multiple hard drives you need USB disk # in command 2.b)

1. Install the Windows Automated Installation Kit on a workstation.
2. On the workstation, with the USB key plugged in, run the following

   a. diskpart
   b. select disk 1
   c. clean
   d. create partition primary
   e. select partition 1
   f. active
   g. format fs=fat32
   h. assign
   i. exit

3. From the Start menu select “Windows PE Tools Command Prompt”
4. In the command window run:  copype.cmd x86 c:\winpe_x86
   Note: 64bit version can be created by changing x86 in the above to amd64
5. In the command window run the following:  xcopy c:\winpe_x86\iso\*.* /s /e /f e:\
   Note: Change c: to reflect the drive your files on and e: to be your USB key.

Now you have a bootable WinPE USB key.

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