Summary of what Windows To Go (WTG) is
In short, Windows To Go is a Windows 8 Enterprise feature that allows you to boot and run Windows 8 from a USB flash drive (USB stick).
Potential reasons and scenarios for using Windows To Go
There are many potential reasons and scenarios for using Windows To Go, but here are some of them from the top of my head:
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Tags: Apple, BitLocker, boot, boot from usb, Bring Your Own Device, BYOD, dual boot, dualboot, encryption, Enterprise, flexible workspace, flexible workspace environment, Hyper-V, hyper-v server, mac, Microsoft, personalized desktop, removable, removable disk, SanDisk, SanDisk Extreme, Server 2012, test, USB, USB 2.0, USB 3.0, usb boot, USB Flash Drive, USB stick, Windows, Windows 8, Windows 8 Enterprise, Windows Server, Windows Server 2012, Windows To Go, WTG
In yesterday’s post I described that for my purposes it was still necessary to run VMware Workstation sometimes despite having Client Hyper-V installed on my Windows 8 machine.
What you have to keep in mind though, is that you’re already running a hypervisor when you have Client Hyper-V installed in Windows 8. Installing and running VMware Workstation might cause problems. So unfortunately you cannot run them at the same time. This is also true for other virtualization products like by example virtualbox.
As a workaround you can either uninstall or (temporarily) disable Hyper-V. When you want to switch between Hyper-V and VMware Workstation it is ofcourse best to just temporarily disable Hyper-V.
In this forum post, a couple of methods are described to (temporarily) disable Hyper-V. It includes creating a seperate boot menu entry to boot with Hyper-V disabled and modifying the setting either through registry or a command. All methods do require a reboot however.
PS:
- This kind of configuration is ofcourse not supported and should only be used for testing purposes in non production environments.
- Depending on both your hardware and what your planning to do, you might also want to consider:
- Running VMware ESXi from a USB stick
- Running Windows 8 from a USB stick with Windows To Go (WTG).
- It should also work on Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 and up, but I haven’t tested it.
Tags: Citrix, Citrix XenServer, Client Hyper-V, ESXi, home lab, Hyper-V, Hyper-V 3.0, hypervisor, Microsoft, multiple hypervisors, nested esxi, nested hypervisor, Server 2012, test lab, virtualbox, virtualization, VMware, VMware ESXi, VMware ESXi 5.1, VMware Fusion, VMware vSphere, VMware vSphere 5.1, VMware Workstation, VMware Workstation 9, Windows, Windows 2012 Server, Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, Windows To Go, workstation, WTG, XenServer
On a regular basis Microsoft and its partners host Free IT Camps. In the past I’ve blogged about them because I really think they’re a good way to quickly get up-to-date on products and technologies. Besides that it’s also a good way to get to know other people.
On the Microsoft Events website you can see which future events are available and not just IT Camps events.
Also should you not be able to attend an IT Camp, for Server 2012 you can also use IT Camps On-Demand.
Tags: Event, Events, Free, IT Camp, IT Camps, IT Camps On-Demand, Learning, Microsoft, Microsoft Events, Microsoft IT Camp, Microsoft IT Camps, MS IT Camp, MS IT Camps, study
Last sunday I warned about a major vulnerability in Java.
It wasn’t expected that Java would come have an update available this quickly, but it is good that they did. So be sure to update to Java 7 Update 11 : http://java.com
Tags: Apple, chrome, Cisco, firefox, Google, google chrome, IE, Internet Explorer, Intrusion Prevention System, IPS, IPS signature, Java, Microsoft, Microsoft IE, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla, mozilla firefox, MS IE, Oracle, OS X, plug-in, plug-ins, plugin, plugins, security, security issue, Signature, US-CERT, vulnerability, Windows, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Vista, Windows XP
Microsoft Virtual Academy (MVA) is hosting 3 virtualization related Jump Starts in January and February:
- Introduction to Hyper-V Jump Start (January 24th, 2013)
- Microsoft Virtualization for VMware Professionals Jump Start (January 30th, 2013)
- Microsoft Tools for VMware Migration and Integration (Late February)
I’ve attended a couple of Jump Starts including those of Office 365, Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 already and I think it’s a great way to quickly get up-to-date about a subject. Also there’s a great team of people working behind the scenes to answer questions and provide more detailed resources. Other attendees often also share their experiences and provide valuable insights.
The links above provide include a course outline and a link to register for the Jump Start.
I hope to see you there.
Tags: Cloud, Free, high availability, Hyper-V, hypervisor, ICT, Introduction to Hyper-V Jump Start, jump start, Learning, Microsoft Virtual Academy, Microsoft Virtualization for VMware Professionals Jump Start, MVA, networking, Private Cloud, Public Cloud, storage, System Center, System Center 2012, virtualization, VMware, VMware vSphere, VMware vSphere 5.1, Windows, Windows Server 2012
[EDIT 14-01-2013]
Oracle release Java 7 Update 11 to fix this security issue. Be sure to update: http://java.com/
[EDIT]
Normally when I read about security vulnerabilities, I don’t really get a sense of urgency.
With the current Java vulnerability however, I do feel like people have to act quick because there are so many respected companies and even countries actively taking action:
Apparently this vulnerability is actively being exploited already and Oracle hasn’t released a Java fix yet. You might want to consider a combination of the options below:
Personally I like the way FireFox is handling the issue because it blocks by default, but allows users to easily override this behavior for specific sites. Also I’m getting quite fed up with all these Java security vulnerabilities lately 😦
I’d like to know what you’ll be doing. Have you or are you going to disable Java ? Which methods will you use ? Why ?
Tags: Apple, chrome, Cisco, firefox, Google, google chrome, IE, Internet Explorer, Intrusion Prevention System, IPS, IPS signature, Java, Microsoft, Microsoft IE, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla, mozilla firefox, MS IE, Oracle, OS X, plug-in, plug-ins, plugin, plugins, security, security issue, Signature, US-CERT, vulnerability, Windows, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Vista, Windows XP
As a passionate ICT person, I work with multiple virtualization products including Microsoft Hyper-V and VMware vSphere.
At home I’m running Server 2012 with Hyper-V in my home lab and even though it works perfectly, I miss the option to be able to run multiple other hypervisors beneath it like by example multiple Hyper-V, VMware ESXi or Citrix XenServer instances.
With VMware products like VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation you can enable this with only a couple of minor adjustments as described in these great articles:
For me personally, I’ll stay with my Hyper-V based home server and my Windows 8 Client with Client Hyper-V installed. For testing purposes however, I’ll have to use VMware Workstation 9 on my Windows 8 machine. (even though I have Client Hyper-V installed). This way I can still run other hypervisors when needed.
I still hope though that Microsoft will add a similar feature to Hyper-V in the future.
Tags: Citrix, Citrix XenServer, Client Hyper-V, ESXi, home lab, Hyper-V, Hyper-V 3.0, hypervisor, Microsoft, multiple hypervisors, nested esxi, nested hypervisor, Server 2012, test lab, virtualization, VMware, VMware ESXi, VMware ESXi 5.1, VMware Fusion, VMware vSphere, VMware vSphere 5.1, VMware Workstation, VMware Workstation 9, Windows, Windows 2012 Server, Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, workstation, XenServer
In yesterday’s post I described how you could extract Office 2003 updates. When they are extracted however, they still need to be slipstreamed into the package. I also created this script to automate the slipstreaming.
Basically for each extracted patch (.msp) file, it runs msiexec with the correct parameters. So if you have other msi packages that need multiple patch (.msp) files applied to it, you could use this script as a foundation as well.
Tags: automation, extract, msi, msieexec, msp, Office 2003, patch, patch file, Powershell, Script, Scripting, slipstream