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Officially download Windows 7 / Windows Server 2008 R2 Service pack 1 Beta Build 6.1.7601.16562

Mr. Spark (admin) — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 07:11:42 +0000

As many of the internet user knows that Windows 7 Service pack 1 has been leaked to Torrent sites. The leaked Windows 7 SP1 release has the build number 7601.16562.100603-1800 and it was originally distributed to select beta testers, and will expire in-between April – July 2011.

Users, who don’t like to download the leaked Service Pack 1 beta (7601.16562.100603-1800) from torrents and other file sharing sites, can now officially download Service Pack 1 directly from “Softpedia”.

Links :

Public Beta version of Windows 7 Service Pack 1 availability announced

Mr. Spark (admin) — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 06:04:45 +0000

Now no more wait, Microsoft has announced the imminent availability of public beta version of Service pack 1 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 at TechEd 2010 annual conference held in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA (June 7-10 2010).

” Today, at TechEd, we are pleased to announce that by the end of July we will be releasing the public beta of Service Pack 1 for Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7. ” - Microsoft Corporation

According to them expectation seems that we will be having SP1 Public Beta in the next one or two weeks.

Current assembly build tag for Windows 7/ Server 2008 R2 SP1 as follows :
6.1.7601.16562.win7sp1_beta.100603-1800 – actual build in win7sp1_beta branch
6.1.7601.16561.win7sp1_beta.100527-1447 – previous build
6.1.7601.16560.win7sp1_beta.100524-1800 – previous build
6.1.7601.16559.win7sp1_beta.100506-1349 – previous build

Notable changes in Windows 7 SP1 and Server 2008 R2 SP1 on both Client and Server Platform

Mr. Spark (admin) — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 08:06:00 +0000

According to my previous post, SP1 includes all previously released updates for Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 which contains the update patches for certain components of operating System.

Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 represents Microsoft’s continuing commitment to quality. While many of the updates contained in SP1 are available as individual downloads, the integration of these updates in SP1 enhances the ease of deployment for IT administrators. This functionality coupled with advanced new virtualization features such as Dynamic Memory and RemoteFX, demonstrates how SP1 continues to provide ongoing improvements that organizations have grown to expect from Microsoft.

Changes Specific to Windows 7 SP1

Additional support for communication with third-party federation services.

Additional support has been added to allow Windows 7 clients to effectively communicate with third-party identity federation services (those supporting the WS-Federation passive profile protocol). This change enhances platform interoperability, and improves the ability to communicate identity and authentication information between organizations.

Improved HDMI audio device performance.

A small percentage of users have reported issues in which the connection between a computer running Windows 7 an HDMI audio device is lost after a system reboot. Updates have been incorporated into SP1 to ensure that connections between Windows 7 computers and HDMI audio devices are consistently maintained.

Corrected behavior when printing mixed-orientation XPS documents.

Prior to the release of SP1, some customers have reported difficulty when printing mixed-orientation XPS documents (documents containing pages in both portrait and landscape orientation) using the XPS Viewer, resulting in all pages being printed entirely in either portrait or landscape mode. This issue has been addressed in SP1, allowing users to correctly print mixed-orientation documents using the XPS Viewer.

Changes Specific to Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1

Dynamic Memory
RemoteFX
Enhancements to scalability and high availability when using DirectAccess.

DirectAccess is a new feature in the Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 operating systems that gives users the experience of being seamlessly connected to their corporate network any time they have Internet access. In Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, improvements have been made to enhance scalability and high availability when using DirectAccess, through the addition of support for 6to4 and ISATAP addresses when using DirectAccess in conjunction with Network Load Balancing (NLB).

Support for Managed Service Accounts (MSAs) in secure branch office scenarios

SP1 enables enhanced support for managed service accounts (MSAs) to be used on domain-member services located in perimeter networks (also known as DMZs or extranets).

Support for increased volume of authentication traffic on domain controllers connected to high-latency networks.

As a greater volume of IT infrastructure migrates to cloud-based services, there is a need for higher thresholds of authentication traffic to domain controllers located on high-latency networks (such as the public Internet). SP1 allows for more granular control of the maximum number of possible concurrent connections to a domain controller, enabling a greater degree of performance tuning for service providers.

Changes Common to both Client and Server Platform

More efficient power consumption

SP1 introduces functionality that enables user-mode use of the invariant Time Stamp Counter (TSC). When utilized by application workloads such as SQL Server, the invariant-TSC provides a high resolution multimedia timer (necessary for functionality such as OLTP, data warehouse processing, and so on) at far greater power efficiency than previously available alternatives.

Change to behavior of “Restore previous folders at logon” functionality

SP1 changes the behavior of the “Restore previous folders at logon” function available in the Folder Options Explorer dialog. Prior to SP1, previous folders would be restored in a cascaded position based on the location of the most recently active folder. SP1 changes that behavior so that all folders are restored to their previous position.

Enhanced support for additional identities in RRAS and IPsec

Support for additional identification types has been added to the Identification field in the IKEv2 authentication protocol. This allows for a variety of additional forms of identification (such as E-mail ID or Certificate Subject) to be used when performing authentication using the IKEv2 protocol.

Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 KB List

Mr. Spark (admin) — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 15:34:30 +0000

Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) and Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) includes all previously released updates for Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7. Many of these updates are available to the public on the Microsoft Download Center and Windows Update, while others are only available to specific customers or partners. It is standard practice to include all of these updates in a Service Pack and as such they are included in Windows Server2008 R2 SP1 and Windows 7 SP1.

Download : SP1 Knowledge Base list

This document contains a list of these updates with links to their descriptive webpages on http://support.microsoft.com. There are other updates in Service Pack 1 which have not been released as updates and therefore are not presented in this list. This list is pre-release and is subject to change.

Getting to know all about Windows Registry

Mr. Spark (admin) — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 08:02:28 +0000

I was going through the Book “Windows 7 UNLEASHED , SAMS publication” that sneaked my attraction on very interesting chapter which was all about the registry. So i thought it would be better to rip out some content for our blog readers.

The Registry is a central repository Windows uses to store anything and everything that applies to the configuration of your system.

This includes all the following:

Information about all the hardware installed on your computer
The resources those devices use
A list of the device drivers that Windows 7 loads at startup
Settings that Windows 7 uses internally
File type data that associates a particular type of file with a specific application
Backgrounds, color schemes, and other interface customization settings
Other customization settings for things such as the Start menu and the task bar
Internet and network connections and passwords
Settings for Windows 7 applications such as Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer
Settings and customization options for many third-party applications

To launch the Registry Editor, select Start, type regedit into the Search box, and then press Enter. When the User Account Control dialog box shows up, enter your credentialsto continue.

Understanding Registry settings

If the left side of the Registry Editor window is analogous to Explorer’s Folders pane, theright side is analogous to Explorer’s Contents pane. In this case, the right side of theRegistry Editor window displays the settings contained in each key (so I’ll call it theSettings pane). The Settings pane is divided into three columns:

Name – This column tells you the name of each setting in the currently selected key(analogous to a filename in Explorer).
Type – This column tells you the datatype of the setting. There are six possible datatypes :

REG_SZ – This is a string value.

REG_MULTI_SZ – This is a series of strings.

REG_EXPAND_SZ – This is a string value that contains an environment variable name that gets “expanded” into the value of that variable.
For example,the %SystemRoot% environment variable holds the folder in which Windows 7 was installed. So,if you see a Registry setting with the value %SystemRoot%\System32\, and Windows 7 is installed in C:\Windows, the setting’s expanded value is C:\Windows\System32\.

REG_DWORD - This is a double word value: a 32-bit hexadecimal value arranged as eight digits.
For example,11 hex is 17 decimal,so this number would be represented in DWORD form as 0×00000011 (17). (Why “double word”? A 32-bit value represents four bytes of data,and because a word in programming circles is defined as two bytes,a four-byte value is a double word.)

REG_QWORD – This is a quadruple word value: a 64-bit hexadecimal value arranged as 16 digits. Note that leading zeros are suppressed for the high 8 digits. Therefore,11 hex appears as 0×00000011 (17),and 100000000 hex appears as 0×1000000000(4294967296).

REG_BINARY – This value is a series of hexadecimal digits.

Data—This column displays the value of each setting.

Getting know the Registry’s’ Root Keys :

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT – usually abbreviated as HKCR—contains data related to file extensions and their associated programs, the objects that exist in the Windows 7 system, as well as applications and their automation information. There are also keys related to shortcuts and other interface features.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER – usually abbreviated as HKCU—contains data that applies to the user that’s currently logged on. It contains user-specific settings for Control Panel options, network connections, applications, and more. Note that if a user has group policies set on his account, his settings are stored in the HKEY_USERS\sid subkey (where sid is the user’s security ID). When that user logs on, these settings are copied to HKEY_CURRENT_USER. For all other users, HKEY_CURRENT_USER is built from the user’s profile file, ntuser.dat located in %UserProfile%).
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE (HKLM) containsnon-user-specific configuration data for your system’s hardware and applications.
HKEY_USERS (HKU) contains settings that are similar to those in HKEY_CURRENT_USER. HKEY_USERS is used to store the settings for users with group policies defined, as well as the default settings (in the .DEFAULT subkey) which get mapped to a new user’s profile.
HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG (HKCC) contains settings for the current hardware profile. If your machine uses only one hardware profile, HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG is an alias for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001. If your machine uses multiple hardware profiles, HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG is an alias for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSetnnn, where nnn is the numeric identifier of the current hardware profile.

Download Patch to remove Hardware Virtualization Requirement to Run Windows XP Mode

Mr. Spark (admin) — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 19:22:20 +0000

According to my previous post Microsoft was thinking to add a support for Windows XP mode without hardware Virtualization in the next Service pack. But they released the patch to Remove Hardware Virtualization Requirement to Run Windows Virtual PC and XP Mode in Windows 7.

You may receive one of the following error messages when you try to start or configure any other virtual machine in Windows Virtual PC.

To overcome this error Microsoft has expanded the Virtualization technology with this patch to run XP Mode on non compatible hardware infrastructure.

Download - x86 | x64

Announcing Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 Service Pack 1

Mr. Spark (admin) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 17:42:04 +0000

Today Microsoft has announced Service pack 1 (SP1) for Windows 7 and Windows server 2008 R2. They didn’t enclosed more details about SP1 for windows 7 but they pointed the new important features in the coming Service pack of Windows Server 2008 R2 which primarily focuses to help organizations of all sizes increase flexibility, employee productivity and IT cost savings.

Microsoft RemoteFX will enable users of virtual desktops and applications to receive a rich 3-D, multimedia experience while accessing information remotely and Microsoft Dynamic Memory will allow customers to adjust memory of a guest virtual machine on demand to maximize server hardware use.

Microsoft remoteFX and Dynamic memory are not the standalone application of microsoft rather they will be shipped as the update package of Windows server 2008 R2 Service pack 1.

Windows XP Mode without hardware virtualization technology

Mr. Spark (admin) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 17:06:26 +0000

Today, During the Desktop Visualization Hour Webcast , Microsoft has talked about the investments around desktop virtualization technologies and solutions, including virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), to help organizations of all sizes increase flexibility, employee productivity and IT cost savings.

Within this session Microsoft outlined improvements that make it easier to access desktop virtualization. Like New technology agreement with Citrix Systems, features coming in Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 and about Windows XP mode.

Microsoft had included Windows XP mode in Windows 7 to access the backward compatible application in Windows 7 with the help of hardware visualization technology which force people to upgrade a new infrastructure to run the XP mode and leads to high drop on financial budget.

But now by having a eyes on IT cost savings, Microsoft has decided to give the support for Windows XP Mode that will no longer requires hardware virtualization technology.

This update is not available now but for more information which will go live later at Windows XP mode Homepage.

Download Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone

Mr. Spark (admin) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:34:56 +0000

Through MIX Microsoft has made the availability of Developer tools for Windows Mobile 7 application development. So what are you waiting for, Get started with the Windows Phone Developer Tools, Start creating today, and See your application in the Windows Phone Emulator.

Windows Phone Developer Tools includes:

Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone
Windows Phone Emulator
Silverlight for Windows Phone
XNA Game Studio 4.0 CTP

Download Links:

Developer Guide:

MSDN Code Samples.

Windows Phone 7 Series MIX sessions and Keynotes.

Welcome Windows Mobile 7 | The Next Generation Mobile phone series

Mr. Spark (admin) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:41:27 +0000

Finally we have got the li’l bit hope of windows mobile 7 release, today at Mobile World Congress 2010, Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer unveiled the next generation of Windows Phones, Windows Phone 7 Series.

“Today, I’m proud to introduce Windows Phone 7 Series, the next generation of Windows Phones,” said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer at Microsoft. “In a crowded market filled with phones that look the same and do the same things, I challenged the team to deliver a different kind of mobile experience. Windows Phone 7 Series marks a turning point toward phones that truly reflect the speed of people’s lives and their need to connect to other people and all kinds of seamless experiences.”

Key focus areas for Windows Phone 7 Series include:

World class Touch Experience – Rich gestures, responsive, intuitive, capacitive touch
Distinctive Visuals – Distinctive “Metro” UI with hardware accelerated graphics and animations
World Class Browsing – High fidelity with desktop browser, pinch, pan double-tap, multi-touch, actionable address and phone number support
Zune Marketplace Integration:
- Music – Zune touch experience, download via cell/ Wi-Fi, synchronize library with PC.
  - Photos – Integrated with Live Gallery, Synchronize with PC.
  - Games – XNA Gaming platform and integrated with PC and XBOX Live gaming.
  - Search - Single button press for search of device and web, location aware, voice, GPS, traffic, navigation integration.
- Tight Integration between Exchange and SharePoint.
- Office Mobile support and One Note over the air synchronization.

Links :

Windows Phone 7 series Homepage

PressPass Release