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New Announcements in Microsoft Desktop Virtualization

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Microsoft has an announcement on their Press site with regards to new features with Desktop Virtualization. As I travel across Saskatchewan this week doing the Windows 7 Deep Dives, one of the topics is Windows XP mode within Windows 7.  Windows XP mode had required hardware virtualization to work correctly. That left me in the cold on my little Toshiba laptop. It works great but lack virtualization technology which meant that I couldn’t run Windows XP mode. As part of the release today, they have announced that you won’t need Virtualization Technology to use Windows XP mode.

This is a good change. It allows those who would like to go upgrade to Windows 7 but have applications that need Windows XP the ability to upgrade and continue to keep the apps running in an XP environment. For me, its more about being able to demo the Windows XP mode than actually utilizing it, all my applications work under Windows 7.

The full press release can be found at: http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/press/2010/mar10/03-18DesktopVirtPR.mspx

I Got Some Tail in Ottawa (Hyper-V Course, Day 1)

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I headed down to this evening and picked up a Beaver Tail for Tracey and I to split.  I am in Ottawa on my Hyper-V course and Tracey has come along for some rest and relaxation. Supper was wonderful and the walk around town was nice as well.

The Hyper-V course I am taking is 6422A – Implementing and Managing Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V at CTE Solutions. It is part of their Microsoft Skills Week promotion they had going on. So far it has been pretty good. I am already using Hyper-V in the production environment at work, but I was looking to expand on my skills a little more. A lot of times when we learn things on our own, we learn what we need to know and don’t get to know some of the other features which can help us out. By taking the course, I find myself picking up new things and getting ideas for how I can better support my environment.

So far, I am Day 1 of 2 (the course was compressed into a 2 day course from 3). Our first day saw us creating Virtual Machines, creating VHD disks for use later. We also learned about snapshots. remote administration and high availability. Tomorrow we will learn about physical to virtual migrations, using Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) and Powershell scripts for use on Hyper-V.

Free Hyper-V Certification for TechNet Plus Subscribers

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If you are a TechNet Plus subscriber, you should have received an email yesterday or today letting you know about a great offer that Microsoft is putting out with regards to Server Virtualization.

Your TechNet Plus subscription will get you a code for the Microsoft E-Learning Collection 6319: Configuring Hyper-V in Windows 2008. Once you go through this course, take a screenshot of your completed status and email that to [email protected]. If you are one of the first 200 people to do so, you will get a free exam voucher for 70-652: TS Windows Server Virtualization, Configuring.

I am kicking myself a little bit; I used one of my own vouchers I had to book the 70-652 exam in April after I complete my upcoming course.  (I booked two exams actually) I literally just posted about this yesterday, it was the post about my Hyper-V training I am taking in Ottawa. I have luck like that sometimes but then sometimes I get lucky, so I guess it evens out.

Just to recap:

  • Complete the E-Learning
  • Take a snapshot of the course completed and email it to Microsoft
  • Receive a free exam voucher