Brian A. Randell

This Blog Has Left the Building

brianr — Mon, 11 Apr 2005 13:26:00 GMT

Well, I've been very quiet due to tons of work (this is a good thing).

But, I've got things I want to say, so we finally setup a blogging engine over at MCW Tech. You'll find my new blog there. I'll still blog about SQL Server related items (and much more since it's on our site). I want to say a big thank you to Donny and Doug for providing this little bit of space.

My new blog is at [0]. Also, I finally convicned Ken Getz to start a blog [1]. He's always got something to say. :-D

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[0] http://www.mcwtech.com/CS/blogs/brianr/
[1] http://www.mcwtech.com/CS/blogs/keng/

Virtual PC & Virtual Server Additions Cheat Sheet

brianr — Tue, 01 Feb 2005 00:40:00 GMT

I have a large collection of Virtual PC and Virtual Server images that I use for testing betas such as SQL Server 2005, Visual Studio 2005 and more. One issue that can come up is ensuring that an old image is running the latest version of the additions.

To make it easy for myself going forward, I built this cheat sheet:

Product	Version (File Name)	Additions Version
Virtual PC 2004	5.3.0.582 (Virtual PC.exe)	13.040
Virtual Server 2005	1.1.465.0 (vssrvc.exe)	13.206
Virtual PC 2004 SP1	5.3.582.27	13.306

The Additions are contained in an ISO file that gets boot strapped when you choose to install the Additions. Here are the file details:

Product	Additions File	Size	Date/Time Stamp
Virtual PC 2004	VMAdditions013040.iso	25,536 KB	10/22/2003 4:00 AM
Virtual Server 2005	VMAdditions.iso	26,316 KB	7/14/2004 10:43 AM
Virtual PC 2004 SP1	VMAdditions.iso	26,354 KB	8/3/2004 3:56 PM

To check the version of your additions, do the following:

In Virtual PC, select Action | Properties from the main window.
Note: Virtual PC 2004 reports the Additions version as 13.40.
However the ISO file lists the version as 13.040 which makes more sense considering the Virtual Server and Virtual PC SP1 version numbers.
In Virtual Server, access the Administration Web Site. Once the VM is running, the status will be visible on the main page.

Given the choice, you should run the latest version of the Additions. You can use a newer set of the Additions on an older version of the product. That said, you don’t’ want to run an image under Virtual Server if you’re running the 13.040 version of the Additions.

Finally, I have noticed one odd behavior when running a newer version of the Additions on an older version of Virtual PC 2004. I have a Windows 2003 image with the 13.306 Additions installed. If I run it under Virtual PC 2004, the video resolution is not persisted between full shutdowns. Not fatal, just annoying. Your mileage may vary.

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Virtual PC 2004 SP1 Problems with Laptops and SpeedStep

brianr — Fri, 24 Dec 2004 12:55:00 GMT

Ted Neward posts that he's having trouble with Virtual PC 2004 SP1.

My guess is Ted is running it on his IBM ThinkPad T42p. My suggestion? Turn off the SpeedStep feature of the processor in the BIOS. (You can also just try setting your power management settings to Always On). You can verify that your processor is running full speed by downloading Intel's Processor Identification Utility here [0].

There seems to be some issues with laptops and SpeedStep and the SP version of Virtual PC. I also seen reports of problems on Virtual Server with laptops.

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[0] http://support.intel.com/support/processors/tools/piu/

I'm not the first, but wahoo, new SQL Express with XM!

brianr — Fri, 03 Dec 2004 14:08:00 GMT

I've not had a chance to download it yet, but SQL Express Manager (XM) [1] for SQL Express is now available. You'll need the newer SQL Express bits [0] to install XM.

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[0] SQL Express bits – http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=66120BE8-826A-482A-8264-B1836F28FD79&displaylang=en

[1] SQL Express Manager bits – http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=8f92556a-6c3b-47d2-9929-ecdc5a4d25ae&displaylang=en

Virtual PC 2004 SP1 and/or Virtual Server 2005 Install Warning

brianr — Thu, 14 Oct 2004 15:35:00 GMT

Who should read this:

Anyone with Virtual PC 2004 (without SP1) installed.

Issue:

If you install Virtual Server 2005 or Virtual PC 2004 SP1 onto a machine that has existing guest machines with saved state, you will not be able to restart the virtual machine guest with the saved state.

Solution

BEFORE installing completely shutdown all of your guest machines and either merge the saved state into your VHDs or discard the saved state.

Is this documented?

Yes, in the readme file.

End of line.

Virtual PC 2004 SP1 is available.

brianr — Thu, 14 Oct 2004 15:27:00 GMT

Mike Gunderloy beat me to this [0], but SP1 is now available for download [1] now.

You'll really want to get this version if you're trying to run Windows XP SP2 as a guest.

Other reasons are the pre-compactor to help you shrink dynamic disks and a plethora of bug fixes.

However, contrary to some public speculation, the service pack DOES NOT include USB support for guests.

End of line.

[0] http://www.larkware.com/Articles/TheDailyGrind480.html

[1] http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=b07c9ef0-265a-4237-ae3b-25bc8937d40f&displaylang=en

Virtual Server 2005 now on MSDN Subscriber Downloads

brianr — Thu, 14 Oct 2004 15:24:00 GMT

Well, after a bit of delay, Virtual Server 2005 is available as a “Special Offer” to MSDN Subscribers.

From [0]:

For a limited time, all active MSDN Universal and MSDN Enterprise subscribers can download Virtual Server 2005 Standard and Enterprise Editions from MSDN Subscriber Downloads, located in the Special Offers folder.

Now, I'm not quite sure how long the limited time is or why it's a special offer, but I'd say, get it while it's hot. No sure if it will show up in the monthly mailers.

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[0] http://msdn.microsoft.com/subscriptions/

Virtual Server 2005 vs. Virtual PC 2004

brianr — Fri, 01 Oct 2004 22:59:00 GMT

OK, it's October 1st, did you get order your copy of Virtual Server yet? Supposedly today is the first day of General Availability. What that really means, I’m not quite sure since I get most of my software from my two MSDN subscriptions. I'm sure many of you too are waiting to see when/if it's available on MSDN while others who have used the beta might be looking for copies to buy for production use.

In either case, I wanted to post a few differences between the two products. The biggest difference is purpose.

Virtual PC is designed primarily for running desktop operating systems & applications in interactive mode. Can Virtual PC run server operating systems? Yes. Will Microsoft support you? No.

Virtual Server is designed to run server operating systems & server applications in daemon mode.

Other differences:

Virtual PC supports sound. Virtual Server does not.
Virtual Server provides support for SCSI disks (guest drives). Virtual PC does not.
Virtual Server exposes a COM api (with .NET PIAs) for extensibility. Virutal PC does not.
Virtual PC supports shared folders with the host. Virtual Server does not.
Virtual Server supports running guest without an interative session (a daemon). Virtual PC does not.

Well that's a start for now.

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Write Windows Code? Buy this Book.

brianr — Tue, 21 Sep 2004 11:13:00 GMT

Keith Brown's new book is out in dead-tree format.

Go buy a copy. While you wait, you can read it online.

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Virtual Server 2005 is almost here.

brianr — Thu, 09 Sep 2004 11:23:00 GMT

eWeek [0] let the cat out of the bag a bit early it seems.

Virtual Server 2005 is Virtual PC 2004's big brother designed to run server operating systems and applications.

Pricing doesn't seem too bad. $499 for the standard edition. However, the machine you run it on in production does require a valid Windows 2003 Server license.

Note, you can run Virtual Server 2005 on Windows XP Pro if you're doing development work.

I'll post some more entires over the next couple days about why one vs. the other.

[0] http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1644226,00.asp

End of Line.

Longhorn feature cuts

brianr — Fri, 27 Aug 2004 14:20:00 GMT

Looks like WinFS is a goner, Avalon has features cut, but Avalon will run on XP and Windows 2003 just like Indigo.

Read about it here. Makes me a bit glad I've been too busy to play with WinFS.

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SQL Server 2005 Beta 2 is Live!

brianr — Mon, 26 Jul 2004 08:21:00 GMT

At msdn.microsoft.com in SUBSCRIBER downloads!

Get it while it's hot!

Edits:

Added link to MSDN
Yes this is Beta 2 of Yukon (it's new name is SQL Server 2005)
It's the developer edition (MSFT has not broken down what SKUs will be available)

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Xen == X# == Comega;

brianr — Wed, 14 Jul 2004 10:30:00 GMT

Looks like Microsoft Research picked up the ball and has released a version for people to play with.

Site is here [0], download is here [1].

Thanks to BobB at DM for the heads up.

[0] http://research.microsoft.com/Comega/
[1] http://www.research.microsoft.com/research/downloads/default.aspx

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VB + SQL Express Fun

brianr — Fri, 09 Jul 2004 06:49:00 GMT

My article for MSDN Online is up at here on managing a music collection with Visual Basic Express and SQL Server Express Beta 1.

FYI, I used earlier builds than Beta 1 to write it but the code was run against Beta 1 (hence the dely in posting).

It's not complete yet so ideas are welcome. And yes, you need to install the included DirectX Managed Runtime interfaces to get things to run/compile.

Remember it's a sample built on pre-release software. :-D

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Give Me a Break (Warning non tech rant).

brianr — Wed, 07 Jul 2004 11:48:00 GMT

I swear I am so sick of our business & the US government's BS.

Read this on MSNBC.

Summary:

Company says “We won't sell your information.“ in privacy policy.
Company changes mind. Doesn't tell customers.
Company $ells Information to marketers including Name, Addresses and Phone numbers of adult customers. In addition, they sold meta-data about children in the household.
FTC says “Bad Company.“ Only fines them $4,600!
Company admits no wrong doing.

$4,600? No wrong doing? Give me a friggin' break.

When are we going to stop accepting this crap. Hooked on phonics. I really doubt it.

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