Today I am featuring guest Blogger Jeremy Chapman from the Windows Product Team. To see more of Jeremy, view our latest VRT on Application Compatibility. To learn more, click here. Below is his interview with Jeff Wettlaufer from the System Center Team.

I recently interviewed fellow product manager, long-time friend and fellow “automator” of operating system deployment tasks, Jeff Wettlaufer, from the System Center team. He explained the new features in the recently released System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 2 Beta (let’s just call it “ConfigMgr07 SP2” for short), and how that will help with Windows 7 deployment and management.   

Jeremy: What is ConfigMgr07 SP2 and where do people get it?
Jeff: Thanks for having me and thanks for saying configmgr and not sccm for once… SP2 adds support for new operating systems – Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 and Windows Vista SP2 – along with exciting enhancements around Intel AMT integration. If you have the  Intel vPro hardware, there are many things we can do. Out of Box Wired/Wireless Management: Wireless Profile Management, End Point Access Control: 802.1x support, Access Monitor: Audit Log, Remote Power Management: Power State Configuration. You were at Microsoft Management Summit in May and already saw this, but we demoed waking Windows XP PCs up wirelessly and kicking off the deployment to Windows 7 using USMT and hard-link migration. Those machines were mid range Dell latitude laptops, and we migrated to Windows 7 with 4GB user data and apps in 18 minutes.

Jeremy: I saw that, it was amazing. There is a video of that on Microsoft PressPass. And I thought I was fast with 23-minute migrations from Windows XP on my computers. Let’s take a step back for a second. From the 10,000 ft level, how does ConfigMgr07 help with client management?

Jeff: A lot of people probably know about how ConfigMgr can help with their inventory, software update (patch) management, and application distribution - but you may not be aware of things like the ability to manage PCs over the Internet, in the ‘serverless’ branch, at home, on the road and wherever people work these days.  In addition, ConfigMgr can now deploy virtual applications in the same way as SMS and ConfigMgr have always delivered traditional physical formats.  We can stream apps to desktops, or deliver the apps locally in what’s called download and execute, so even mobile laptop users can use virtual apps.  There is a lot there and I’d encourage everyone to check out http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/configmgr/default.aspx

Jeremy: Explain Internet-based client management.

Jeff: A lot of people say that mobile workforce management is a key challenge they face today on the client. Laptops are outselling desktops and people are taking these on the road, home or otherwise not connecting to the corporate network very often. So with ConfigMgr, we can manage ConfigMgr clients when they are not connected to your company network but have a standard Internet connections. This feature has a number of advantages, including the reduced costs of not having to run virtual private networks (VPNs) and being able to deploy software updates to remote users while they are traveling or at home. 

Jeremy: Explain the new client hardware compatibility reports in HW inventory.

Jeff: We’ve updated the hardware compatibility reports in ConfigMgr to include the minimum bars for Windows 7 hardware compatibility, so you can see which machines in your environment are capable of running Windows 7 in a single view.  We did this for Vista, and we found it really helped organizations understand where they were at the hardware level.  We are taking that work forward to also help customers understand from their existing inventory of managed systems, which ones meet the minimum requirements before they start for Windows 7.  As well as helping understand the hardware side of readiness, we also are providing support for applications. In the past we have provided support for the Application Compatibility Toolkit through a connector, that brings the app knowledge right into the Admin console.  As ACT moves to version 6 for Windows 7, we will update the connector to support that effort.  The ACT data is a real hidden gem, in 1 view you can see your apps – and organize your testing to compare it in that 1 view to the vendor, the community, and even Microsoft.  This information can really help make the right decisions moving forward, and ConfigMgr can help migrate apps by supporting Application virtualization where needed.

Jeremy: How about the operating system deployment support.

Jeff: With any operating system deployment, you have to migrate user files off the old system, lay down a new OS, configure it with updates, packages and apps, then restore the user files and settings you migrated off in the first step. ConfigMgr can automate the whole process and do it without you having to visit the targeted PCs. I know you’ve got a lot of videos walking through the Lite Touch Installation process on the web, but ConfigMgr can even target the PCs for installation and kick off the process for you. Along the way we encrypt your user state, passwords and product keys, so it is more automated and enterprise-class.  ConfigMgr has built on the great work in deployment technology from the Windows gang, by embracing and integrating the tools usage like WinPE, USMT, BitLocker and more.  Our Task Sequencer helps to truly separate the hardware from the OS and application layers, by using the boot.wim and install.wim formats from Windows, and then providing a console UI experience to chain user data migration, applications and other settings. 

Jeremy: Are all the Windows 7 deployment enhancements like the image servicing in DISM (Deployment Image Servicing and Management), hard-link migration, and Multicast included in the ConfigMgr SP2’s OS deployment?

Jeff: Like you saw at MMS, we do support USMT in ConfigMgr07, including hard-link migration. The Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 Beta 2 extensions for SP2 enable hard-link migration without additional customization, or you can call the User State Migration Tool in a custom task to use the hard-link commands.  Multicast is also supported and since we use the Windows 7 deployment tools, dism.exe is leveraged as well.

Jeremy: When can we expect RTM release of SP2?

Jeff: We recently made the Beta available and the final version should be ready within 90 days of Windows 7 RTM. Everything depends on the customer feedback we get from the Beta though – quality is the priority.

Jeremy: Thanks Jeff. If you have ConfigMgr and want try to SP2 Beta, visit connect.microsoft.com, join the System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 2 Connection and download SP2.

Starting July 1st, 2009, when you launch Windows Live Movie Maker Beta you will be prompted to implement a software update which will extend the beta. You can download the software update here to continue to use the software without any interruption. If you choose not to install the software update, you will be unable to continue to use the Windows Live Movie Maker Beta.

The folks on the Windows Live Movie Maker Team are hard at work on “V1” which should be out sometime this year. For more information on the future of Windows Live Movie Maker, see this excellent blog post by Lead Program Manager Mike Torres from the Windows Live Team Blog.

I’m pretty excited for what they have in store for Windows Live Movie Maker!

Our friends over in the Solution Accelerators team just released the beta version of the Microsoft Assessment and Planning tool (MAP) 4.0.  Many of you have discovered just how valuable these Solution Accelerators have been, based on the feedback we receive.  We want to bring this particular release to your attention, since assessing your current environment is a critical first step to see how ready your organization is for a Windows 7 deployment.

In the case of the Microsoft Assessment and Planning tool, this agentless and scalable toolkit has the ability to discover all computers within Active Directory and workgroup environments. It performs key functions that include hardware and device inventory, hardware compatibility analysis, and generation of actionable, environment-specific IT proposals for migration to most major Microsoft technologies.

For more information, head over to Baldwin Ng’s team blog posting here.  You might already know Baldwin as our resident expert on the Springboard Performance and Hardware compatibility zone.

Over the weekend, some of you may have received an email from us reminding you that the Windows 7 Beta expires on August 1^st, 2009. In that email, we ask that if you are still on the Windows 7 Beta that you should consider moving to a “non-expired” copy of Windows such as the Windows 7 RC or Windows Vista because bi-hourly shutdowns will begin June 1st.

The Windows 7 Beta does expire on August 1st, 2009; unfortunately the date for when bi-hourly shutdowns will begin for the Windows 7 Beta was incorrect however.

Bi-hourly shutdowns for the Windows 7 Beta will begin July 1st, 2009 as we’ve stated both here in this blog post on May 5th and also in the Windows 7 RC FAQ.

We apologize for the confusion and inconvenience this may have caused.

I’ll be posting a reminder that bi-hourly shutdowns will begin for the Windows 7 Beta as we get closer to July 1st.

In the meantime, if you’re still on the Windows 7 Beta you should certainly look at giving the Windows 7 RC a try! You can register to download the Windows 7 RC here.

When a new version of Windows is released, people either upgrade their existing PC or purchase a new PC with the latest version of Windows already pre-installed. For the people who want to upgrade their existing PC, they are often faced with the question of whether their PC can run the new Windows version or not. As we announced last week, Microsoft plans to offer a tool that can be used to determine if a PC is able to run Windows 7– Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor.

A beta of Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor is now available to help people analyze their PC in preparation for a Windows 7 upgrade. Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor is a free tool that people can download as of today to help them determine if their PC is able to upgrade to and run Windows 7. The beta can be downloaded here (English only at this time).

Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor examines a PC’s processor, memory, storage, and graphics capabilities, identifies known compatibility issues with installed software and devices and finally provides guidance on how to resolve those issues if possible. Please also note: as previously stated on the E7 blog, Windows XP users are required to do a clean install of the Windows 7 RC as well as the final product. Only PCs with Windows Vista can be upgraded to Windows 7.

After running Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor myself, the initial results of my scan can be seen in the below screenshot.

The Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor measures a PC’s ability to upgrade to Windows 7 based on the following final system requirements for Windows 7:

• 1 GHz or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
• 1GB RAM (32-bit) / 2GB RAM (64-bit)
• 16GB available disk space (32-bit) / 20GB (64-bit)
• DirectX® 9 graphics processor with WDDM (Windows Display Driver Model) 1.0 or higher driver

In this screenshot, you can see how my PC has passed all the Windows 7 system requirements.

Before you run the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor Beta , be sure that you plug in any USB devices or other devices such as printers, external hard drives, or scanners that are regularly used with the PC you are evaluating. The screenshot below shows all the devices attached to my PC when I did the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor scan.

The Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor is easy enough for any PC user to use in evaluating the ability of a PC to install and run Windows 7.

It is probably fair to say that the Windows 7 builds that have been floating around on the Internet are very stable and that only a handful of minor errors have been reported yet. According to Neowin the latest two builds of Windows 7 that leaked to the Internet may damage mp3 files under certain circumstances.

The problem was first recognized by users who noticed that the first few seconds of their mp3 files had been cut off. Some thought it was related to bad crossfading first but it soon turned out that the data was not there anymore. Many users thought it was caused by Windows Media Player 12 but it turned out to be a global problem.

It does however only happen under the following circumstances: The first few seconds of a mp3 file will be cut in Windows 7 if the header of the mp3 file is larger than 16 Kilobytes and if meta data is written to the file. Some media players are able to automatically add missing meta data which is the most likely cause.

The changes are irreversible and it is advised to backup the mp3 collection before using them in the current builds of Windows 7. A Microsoft employee has confirmed the bug in the forum. According to his statement Microsoft is working on a hotfix for the problem.

According to him the public beta which will be released in early January will not be affected by the problem.