I just wanted to quickly mention that there was a hotfix released that adds support for Windows 8/Server 2012 into WSUS 3 SP2. You will need to install this to every WSUS server or any server that is hosting a Software update point for SCCM. I have been able to confirm that the issues are resolved on both stand alone WSUS server and SCCM 2007 with the hotfix.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2734608
The new additions to the Win 8 GUI are really nice when working with a touch compatible display. However when you are using the old Mouse and keyboard, it can be a pain to always have to put your mouse in the corners to pull these up. Luckily there is a new set of Keyboard shortcuts in Win 8 to help access these. I have also included a list of shortcuts that were introduced in Win 7 or vista that still work in Win 8. I have ordered the list based on how useful I consider them to be.
Windows Key + X: Brings up an awesome menu with shortcuts to most commonly used tools and control panel applets to manage the system. This is a nice update from Win7 which would
Windows Key + C: Opens the default right sidebar menu (I think they are called charms?)
Windows Key + I: Opens Win8 settings menu
Windows Key + W: Search for settings
Windows Key + F: Search for files
Windows Key + K: Bring up the Devices screen
Windows Key: Brings up the start menu. Anything you type will be searched for by default. This is a great fast way to launch programs or files
Mark Russinovich is the founder of Winternals and the creator of the Sysinternals suite of free computer troubleshooting tools. His company Winternals was purchased by Microsoft along with the suite of Sysinternal tools. I strongly recommend checking out his “The Case of the Unexplained” TechED presentation series. The presentations cover advanced computer troubleshooting scenarios with the sysinternal tool suite. It will revolutionize the way you troubleshoot computer issues
The Case of the Unexplained 2008
Microsoft has dropped support for both Virtual PC and Windows XP Mode in Windows 8. Windows XP mode was added to Windows 7 as a temporary feature to ease transitions from XP. Now that most software has caught up it is no longer necessary to offer this feature. However if you used Virtual PC for a test environment or if you still need to run Windows XP for some legacy applications you are not out of luck. Windows 8 Pro now has the same fully featured “Client hyper-v” as Server 2012.
Hyper-v has a much richer feature set than Virtual PC
To enable hyper-v on Windows 8
Microsoft created a new set of imaging tools for the windows vista release. The new WIM format is a powerful tool that can be useful to any power user. From the admin trying to simplify the deployments in his environment to the average guy looking for a free way to take flexible images of his home machine. In this set of articles I am going to cover how to take full advantage of these new tools
Before we begin you will need to install the following
Preparing the WinPE CD to work with WIM images
Launch the WinPE Tool Command Prompt(found in the “windows aik” folder in the start menu)
Then run the following command
copype.cmd x86 O:winpe
I am using O:winpe as an example. This should be the path where you want to put your WinPE files. The target folder must not exist as it will get created in the process.
Now we are going to want to add the Imagex application to the WinPE IMG.
copy “c:Program filesWindows AIKToolsx86imagex.exe” O:winpeISO
Octopus is a program that allows you to run, view and control multiple applications simultaneously over a network or on a single computer. Though Octopus can be used for nearly any application and configured many ways, this article will focus on running two instances of a game, in this case World of Warcraft, on a single computer.
Getting Started
The following steps assume that you already have an installed copy of Octopus (version 1.3.2 is used for this demonstration) and World of Warcraft. You will also need two active World of Warcraft accounts, and while it is entirely legal to own and play multiple WoW accounts, it is not legal to buy, sell, trade or even use another account other then your own.
NOTE: Vista users may need to launch this as administrator if there appears to be problems with Octopus not saving configuration settings properly.
