One of my major hangups with vista is the ‘Search Bar’. When I first started using Vista I felt that Microsoft had done a great thing - They made it so I could launch my favorite program with one click instead of two.

I was quickly disappointed to find that when you type a word into the search bar it is nothing like the old Start->Run command bar window. It starts searching for the words you type in, and many times you need to wait…and wait…and wait some more.

Additionally if you are like me…and have an old habit of clicking start, then run, then type c:\ to open up your hard drive…you are in for lots of fun with the search bar. Depending on what it finds it will almost never open your hard drive in explorer.

I found a few quick ways to ease the pain. First of all you can simply hold the windows key + R to bring up the command line window. That is the easiest.

You can also get the run command back on the start menu. This can be done by right clicking on the start button, go to properties.

Move over to the “Start Menu” Tab and click customize.

Now scroll down. Find the option that says “Run Command” Make sure it is checked, and click OK.

Now the run command will be added as an extra button to the bottom of the start menu:

Now I can get to back to my familiar old ‘run’ command line.

So, it appears that the RC0 bits for Windows Server 2008 have been posted to the intarwebs (edit: perhaps I spoke too soon - the links still point to Beta 3, but will be updated shortly).  As I said in a previous post, the CTP release of the “Viridian” virtualization technology is included in this release of Windows Server.

Ben Armstrong has some good reminders for anyone who wants to try this out, so I would very much recommend that you go check his post before you proceed with the installation. 

Things to keep in mind:

• This is a preview release - the performance of this build is not anywhere close to what it will be at the RTM release of Windows Server virtualization.  
• Installing the CTP of “Viridian” will prevent you from upgrading to a newer build of Windows.  If you install “Viridian” CTP, there is no upgrade path - you must either clean install your server, or uninstall the “Viridian” CTP before you upgrade to a newer Windows build.
• “Viridian” requires you have a processor that has Hardware-assisted Virtualization (Intel VT or AMD Pacifica) present and enabled in the BIOS. On AMD machines we require that the processor stepping be >=F3 (or that F2 processors have BIOS support).  To determine what revision your processor is, check out the utility from www.cpuid.com.
• You also need to have NX (also known as XD for eXecute Disable) turned on in the BIOS. 
• “Viridian” is only available on x64 versions of Windows Server 2008. 

So, now that we’ve got all that out of the way, here’s how you install it.

1. Install Windows Server 2008 RC0 Full (I have no idea what we’re calling the non-Server Core version, so I refer to it as “Full”).
2. In Explorer, navigate to %SystemRoot%\WSV.  You should find two MSU files.
3. Double-click on Windows6.0-KB939854-X64.MSU.  This will install the Windows Server virtualization Management Tools in the Administrative Tools program group.
4. Double-click on Windows6.0-KB939853-X64.MSU.  This will stage Windows Server virtualization for installation on your server, and allow it to show up in the Role Management Tool.
5. Reboot the server.
6. If it’s not already open, click the Server Manager icon from the Quick Launch bar. 
7. The Roles Summary section should tell you how many Roles you have installed and how many Roles are available for installation. 
   If you have 17 Roles available, press the F5 key to refresh the list.  If you have 18, click Add Roles.
8. From the list of available Roles, put a checkmark in the box that corresponds to Windows Server virtualization, and click Next.
9. From here, the Role wizard should guide you through the rest of the process, and reboot your server when necessary.

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This software is an optional supplement to Microsoft Windows Server 2008. In Windows Server 2008 RC0, the Streaming Media Services role (which includes the latest version of Windows Media Services) and remote administration tools are not included in Server Manager. To get the new features and tools available in Windows Media Services for Windows Server 2008 RC0, such as the built-in WMS Cache/Proxy plug-in, you must obtain and run the appropriate Streaming Media Services role installer file on the updated platform.

These Microsoft Update Standalone Package (MSU) files install either 32–bit (x86) or 64–bit (x64) versions (as noted in the file names) of:

• Windows Media Services and the rest of the Streaming Media Services role in Server Manager, on “full” installations of Standard, Enterprise, Web, and Datacenter editions of Windows Server 2008 RC0.
• The Streaming Media Services Server Core role, on “Server Core” installations of Standard, Enterprise, Web, and Datacenter editions of Windows Server 2008 RC0.
• The Windows Media Services snap-in for Microsoft Management Console (MMC) on a computer that is running the Business, Enterprise, or Ultimate edition of the Windows Vista operating system.

News Source: www.microsoft.com

Yehaw! , today I pleased to announce the availability of Windows Server 2008 Release Candidate 0, and with it…the very first public release of Windows Server virtualization (codenamed Viridian).

You can download the bits today as part of our customer technology preview (CTP)program.

Not only does this milestone indicate that Windows Server 2008 is ready to march down the path to RTM….but it also is the first time WsV will be part of the code base and available to everyone. Now is the time for organizations to start testing with key virtuzliation scenarios…such as server consolidation….as well as getting ready for many of the other key features of Windows Server 2008.

With Windows Server virtualization CTP, customers will now be able leverage the scalability of hypervisor-based platform and features, including multi-processor guests, large memory allocation (more than 32 gigabytes per machine) and integrated virtual switch support that enables IT organizations to virtualize most workloads.

News Source: blogs.technet.com & www.microsoft.com

The Windows Vista Team Blog just announced that Vista SP1 beta has been released to a private group of beta testers on connect.microsoft.com. Also released are five ‘reliability packs’, which will ultimately be included in SP1, but will also be released earlier so your Vista experience is “the best we can make it”. Now the question is how long will it take for SP1 to reach the P2P sites? I’m guessing it’s uploading to one now, time to go hunting…

P.S. Here’s more talk about it from Brandon at the Windows Experience Blog.