Microsoft has announced preview version of whole new System Center 2012 R2 suite.
You can download evaluation version together with Windows Server 2012 R2 preview here
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/system-center/system-center-2012-r2.aspx
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/windows-server/windows-server-2012-r2.aspx
One new/old thing about File and Printer Sharing.
If you have Windows server 2012 Core or Hyper-V 2012 server you can face problems where you want to open admin shares on server. If you type \\servername\c$ you will receive error message that you can’t reach this share.
This is because File and Printer sharing is disabled by default in Windows Server 2012 and in Hyper-V 2012. To enable File and Printer Sharing in command prompt you must type:
netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group=”File and Printer Sharing” new enable=Yes
After this you will be able to reach admin shares on Windows Server 2012 Core and Hyper-V 2012.
This is applicable also to Windows Server 2012 with GUI.
When I try to activate Windows 8 enterprise I receive DNS error. This was very strange to me because I normally could open web pages in same time.
This was happened because Windows 8 enterprise by default try to activate itself using KMS
So I found workaround on Microsoft web pages and here it is
First you must run Command Prompt as Administrator (right click in lower left corner of the screen)
Then in command prompt you have to type slmgr.vbs –ipk your_product_key
Hit Enter an then you will receive this message: Installed product key your_product_key successfully.
When you check your windows activation you will see that your copy of windows is activated now
NOTE your product key should look a like xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx, where x could be any number or character
One colleague ask me to help him with detailed steps how to configure VPN on server 2008 R2 and how to configure Windows XP and Windows 7 clients. So here it is.
Configuring VPN start with adding server role for RRAS.
Just follow next two pictures what to choose
Wait for wizard to finish, and then you will get this picture
Now you have role installed. You must configure and enable RRAS
When you click on option Configure and Enable RRAS new wizard will start. Just follow the wizard in next 5 pictures.
NOTE: You MUST have two NIC configured, one for internal use (LAN) and one for external use (WWW)
I prefer to choose IP address range and number of possible connecting clients son next picture will shown how to do that
If you have AD infrastructure configure your RRAS like this
After this you will get this picture and click Finish
Now your Server have successfully configured RRAS. 
Go to network and sharing center and choose option set up a new connection or network
Choose option Connect to a workplace
For previously described configuration of RRAS option Use my Internet connection (VPN) will be right choice.
Type your DNS name of RRAS server or public IP address, and follow steps in next three pictures.
Additional option as authentication protocols can be founded in properties of your VPN connection. Most commonly used is already checked.
On Windows XP go to Network Connections and click Create a new connection
A wizard will start. Follow next three pictures.
Choose name for your VPN connection
Type DNS name or public IP address of your previously configured RRAS (VPN) server
Well done you are configure client for VPN access. Now you need to type your username and password before connect.
Steps for configuring additional authentication protocols (if needed) is described in next two pictures. At first you must click Properties.
I hope that this is helpful
BR
D.
If You want to upgrade Your Domain Controller from Windows server 2008 R2 to Windows 8 server on a single machine this is not possible
I was trying to upgrade my Domain Controller for test from Windows server 2008 R2 to Windows 8 server using full installation but I receive error
This is not compatibility issue, this is not supported.
In next few days I will try to add Windows 8 server as additional domain controller, and then move FSMO roles to Windows 8 DC.
I will describe all of this on my blog
Currently I’m pretty confused with this. Why Microsoft is not supported old fashion way of upgrade? Because of DP version or something else is not compatible?
Usually when You install SCCM 2012 client after few minutes device appear in console view. But what if device wont show after couple restarts? (couple days)
I don’t know why this error occurred but, this is steps for resolving problem.
At first, you must check connectivity to SCCM 2012 server. If connectivity is ok and you can reach server by its name do this.go to tab SITE
go to tab SITE
Write number of assigned site and press Find Site
You will receive notification that Configuration Manager has successfully find site to manage this client
Check General tab again now it looks like this
Notify that you still don’t have “Client certificate” and “Connection Type”
But after few minutes everything is fine
Your client is now visible in your SCCM console and you can manage it.
It could be pretty tricky to install Hyper-V 2008 R2 SP1 on IBM x346 with Adaptec controller. If didn’t want to throw away my old server so I decided to install Hyper-V on it to create testing environment.
I do this with colleague of mine, and we faced with problem. Hyper-V wont install on IBM x346. Why? Server asked for driver….
I think that driver is so old that Hyper-V don’t have it in its drivers database, and You can’t install it using ServerGuide CD.
What were we do.
After spending hours trying to install Hyper-V on IBM x346 with Adaptec u320 SCSI controller, finally we have solution.
My colleague Luka Gros spend finds x64 driver for Adaptec SCSI controller. He found it on this link.
After downloading, you must extract this driver and burn it on CD
Steps what we are do after that is:
booting from Hyper-V 2008 R2 SP1 and starting installation
when asked for driver change CD to one with driver and click Browse
find driver on CD and click Next
change CD to installation CD again and finish your installation
Hyper-V is installed and running fine now
P.S.
If You need to manipulate with physical HDD on your Hyper-V, MMC console will return error “RPC server unavailable”.
To avoid this run this command with elevated privileges:
netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group=”Remote Volume Management” new enable=yes
Thanks to Luka Gros
We all heard that one of many features in Windows server 2008 R2 is Managed Service Account.
Prerequisites for that is domain functionality raised to Windows Server 2008 R2
Most common mistake is that you will create managed service account using Active Directory Users And Computers snap-in. You will not.
Either if you are created account in Managed Service Accounts container it is still user account. To make it work you must give user rights “logon as a service” and “logon as a bat job”.
To create Managed Service Account you must use Power Shell. Creating service accounts is not so complicated. You can create it using simple script
New-ADServiceAccount –name (desired name of account).
Of course before you must “tell” powershell to use Active Directory module. Syntax for this is:
Import-module ActiveDirectory
And before that you must have installed feature:
Active Directory module for Power Shell
I’ve described this reversed with reason.
Most common is that you first load module to Power Shell and then start wit Your managed service accounts.
When you are created service account you need to install it on server where You want to use it. Syntax is:
install-ADServiceAccount –identity “(name of service account)”
To install account you must “run as administrator” Power Shell or you will receive error.
REMEMBER: You must have ONE managed service account per server. This is the big difference between managed service account and former virtual account.
Now you are ready to use managed service account with specific services
For more on this topic you can contact this link
If you need to do some reports in active directory best tool for use is DSQUERY which is part of Remote Server Administrative Tools
First common query is how to list all computers spreaded in different Ous
And here it is:
dsquery computer
As dsquery shows first 100 results option for showing more is:
dsquery computer –limit 1000
This will show first 1000 computers in your active directory. If You have more than 1000 computers just change number.
If You need this for some reports You can put results in a text file and later on import it to excel
Syntax for this is:
dsquery computer –limit 1000 >computers.txt
If You need to know which computer is running which OS syntax will be:
dsquery * domainroot -filter "(&(objectCategory=computer)(operatingSystem=Windows XP*))"
OR
dsquery * domainroot -filter "(&(objectCategory=computer)(operatingSystem=Windows Server*))"
For those who wants to know what service pack is on those OS:
dsquery * -scope subtree -attr "cn" "operatingSystem" "operatingSystemServicePack" -filter "(&(objectclass=computer)(objectcategory=computer)(operatingSystem=Windows XP*))" -limit 100000
Last two syntax is announced on sheenaustin.com
Dubravko Marak Blog 