Today I am pleased to announce some new technologies to help developers and IT professionals make the transition to Windows 7.

For developers, we are announcing the public beta for the Platform Update for Windows Vista. The Platform Update for Windows Vista is a set of runtime libraries that makes it easy for developers to target both Windows 7 and Windows Vista. The Platform Update for Windows Vista includes:

• Windows Ribbon and Animation Manager Library: contains the Windows Ribbon API, a command framework that enables developers to quickly and easily create rich ribbon experiences in their applications, and the Windows Animation Manager API, an animation framework for managing the scheduling and execution of user interface element animations.
• Windows Graphics, Imaging, and XPS Library: components for developers to leverage the latest advancements in modern graphics technologies for gaming, multimedia, imaging and printing applications.   It includes updates to DirectX to support hardware acceleration for 2D, 3D and text based scenarios; DirectCompute for hardware accelerated parallel computing scenarios; and XPS Library for document printing scenarios.
• Windows Automation API: allows accessibility tools and test automations to access Windows user interface in a consistent way across operating system versions.
• Windows Portable Devices Platform: supplies the infrastructure to standardize data transfers between an application and a portable device, such as a mobile phone, digital camera, or portable media player.

Please note that the Windows Automation API will also be made available as a separate download for PCs running Windows XP.

The Platform Update for Windows Vista will be available to all Windows Vista customers through Windows Update, so developers leveraging these libraries in their applications can feel confident knowing it is broadly deployed. Third-party applications that require the Platform Update for Windows Vista can have Windows Update detect whether or not it is installed; if not, Windows Update will download and install it silently in the background. The ability for PCs to download this update can be managed by IT professionals Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) and other third-party desktop management tools. To participate in the public beta for the Platform Update for Windows Vista, click here.

For IT Professionals, we are also announcing the upcoming release of the Remote Desktop Connection 7.0 (RDC7) client for Windows XP and Windows Vista. RDC7 will allow users who connect to machines running Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 from Windows XP or Windows Vista to take advantage of features such as Windows Media Player redirection and true multi-monitor support.  For more information on RDC7, see this blog post on the Remote Desktop Services Team Blog.

The release candidate for the Windows Management Framework is also available. This is a collection of tools to help IT Professionals manage a mixed environment of Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP PCs and includes:

• Windows PowerShell 2.0
• Windows Remote Management 2.0
• Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS 4.0)

For specific details or to download the release candidate, click here.

We believe these tools and collection of libraries will be extremely useful to IT Professionals and Developers transitioning their organizations and applications to Windows 7. We expect to have the final versions of the RDC7 client, the Windows Management Framework, and the Platform Update available sometime in Q4 2009.

In a previous entry, guest blogger Sean Kearney shared a new feature in Windows Server 2008 R2 directory services called the Active Directory Recycle Bin.  Sean is back to show us how to recover those deleted objects.

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So you’ve done it.  We all have.  Deleted a user, group, OU by accident but thankfully you have 2008 R2 in place and the AD Recycle Bin enabled.  To recover now is a breeze!  Start by launching Powershell V2 on Server 2008 R2 and run the following command

GET-ADOBJECT –filter {name –like “missingitem*”} –includedeletedobjects | RESTORE-ADOBJECT

That’s it.  Nothing harder than that. Was that so hard?  The great thing, is as long as it’s an object in Active Directory, it’s protected by this new feature for 180 days.  Also, this just does restore the object.  It’s restores the object, its security, its trusts!

If you’d like to learn more about the Active Directory Recycle Bin, Check out these great resources on Technet.com

Active Directory Recycle Bin - Instructional Video on Technet Edge

I’ve done it, I know people who have done it, and I bet you have done it before as well.  Right-click an object in Active Directory Users and Computers and instead of clicking the properties link you accidentally hit delete.  Boom, gone and the only way to get it back is via a restore from backup.  Restart the DC, boots into Directory Services Restore Mode (DSRM), restore the system state backup and apply either a authoritative or non-authoritative restore.

Guest author, Sean Kearney, covers this new feature in Windows Server 2008 R2.

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One of the fantastic features provided in Server 2008 R2 is the new Recycle Bin for Active Directory.

I recognize that nobody here is going to intentionally mess up their own Active Directory.  But problems can happen.   A Junior technician misheard the phrase “Disable” with “Delete”, a malicious Administrator leaving the company, dumb luck.  Any number of problems can occur and this feature will save the day.

There are a few caveats to using this

• You must have the Domain functional level in Server 2008 R2 mode.
• You must enable the feature by using LDP.EXE or Powershell.
• It is managed and used 100% by Powershell.  There is no GUI version presently.
• Once enabled, you cannot disable it.  This is a one way trip folks
• The enabled Recycle Bin has a 180 day retention policy.

That’s it.  In Server 2008 R2, select the new Active Directory Powershell under Administrative Tools and type in the following command

GET-ADOPTIONALFEATURE –filter {name –like “*”}

You will be presented with a screen showing you

FeatureScope       : {Forest}
Name               : Recycle Bin Feature 
RequiredForestMode : Windows2008R2Forest 
IsDisableable      : False 
ObjectGUID         : 0599c1a6-6f8f-42d4-b9a0-ab2791d4719e 
ObjectClass        : msDS-OptionalFeature 
FeatureGUID        : 766ddcd8-acd0-445e-f3b9-a7f9b6744f2a 
EnabledScopes      : 
RequiredDomainMode : 
DistinguishedName  : CN=Recycle Bin Feature,CN=Optional Features,CN=Directory Service,CN=Windows NT,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=energized,DC=energizedtech,DC=com

Looking at the information above, there are no enabled scopes which confirms that the AD Recycle Bin is presently disabled. So to make all this useful, I guess we should turn it on.  So in the same Powershell Window key in this command

ENABLE-ADOPTIONALFEATURE ‘Recycle Bin Feature’ –score forest –target ‘domainfqdn’

You will get a prompt warning you that it will make the change.   Choose “Yes” if you wish to enable this feature or CTRL-C to abort. Once you’re done, it’s active.  To confirm, run the following command again

GET-ADOPTIONALFEATURE –filter {name –like “*”}

And you’ll get a similar response but note

FeatureScope       : {Forest}
Name               : Recycle Bin Feature 
RequiredForestMode : Windows2008R2Forest 
IsDisableable      : False 
ObjectGUID         : 0599c1a6-6f8f-42d4-b9a0-ab2791d4719e 
ObjectClass        : msDS-OptionalFeature 
FeatureGUID        : 766ddcd8-acd0-445e-f3b9-a7f9b6744f2a 
EnabledScopes      : {CN=Partitions,CN=Configuration,DC=energized,DC=energizedtech,DC=com} 
RequiredDomainMode : 
DistinguishedName  : CN=Recycle Bin Feature,CN=Optional Features,CN=Directory Service,CN=Windows NT,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=energized,DC=energizedtech,DC=com

You’ll see the “Enabled Scopes” is now covering the domain.

For more information see:

Active Directory Recycle Bin Step-by-Step Guide

PowerShell 2.0, included in Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2, includes a new Integrated Scripting Environment (ISE) which provides you with a GUI based tool to write your scripts and learn PowerShell.  To launch PowerShell 2.0 ISE simply drill down to Start –> All Programs –> Accessories –> Windows PowerShell.

Once that is launched you’ll see the ISE load and you are ready to begin.

The top portion, aka the Script Pane, is your scripting environment which allows you to write PS scripts.  The play and stop buttons are used to start and stop the running of a script.  The middle portion, aka the Output Pane, is where the script is executed and the results displayed.  Finally at the bottom is the Command Pane, where you can run individual Cmdlets and “one-liners”.  So besides a nice GUI editor why do I like the PowerShell ISE? 

• · ISE Features -  Tab completion, line numbering, indenting and the always useful search and replace.
• · Customizable ISE -  You can change the color, location and size of the various panes to suit your style.
• · Colored Syntax – Like other scripting environments different colors are used to highlight variables, strings, objects and Cmdlets.
• · Support for Unicode -  The PowerShell ISE supports Unicode.
• · Debugging.  I always make mistakes and the ability to set breakpoints, walk through the script step by step really helps find those errors.

If you are using Windows 7 or Server 2008 R2 give the ISE a try!  Compared to Notepad it is a dream to work with :)

The one thing I missed with Server Core was PowerShell.  While you can run PowerShell cmdlets and scripts remotely, at times it would have been nice to run it locally.  The reason PowerShell was not included was due to the lack of .NET in Server Core.  That changes in R2.

Windows Server Core 2008 R2 includes a subset of .NET which allows PowerShell, as well as other components like ASP.NET.  Specifically Server Core R2 includes:

• .NET 2.0
• .NET 3.0 and 3.5

• Windows Workflow Foundation (WF)
• Windows Communication Foundation (WCF)
• Language Integrated Query (LINQ)

Support for WoW64 if you are running 32 bit applications

Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) isn’t included but then with no GUI in Server Core it doesn’t really matter much.

There are a few commands you need to know to get it working in R2.

Install .NET 3.0 and 3.5

Start /w ocsetup NetFx3-ServerCore

Enable 32 bit support, run the above, then

Start /w ocsetup ServerCore-WOW64

 Start /w ocsetup NetFx3-ServerCore-WOW64

Enable PowerShell

Start /w ocsetup MicrosoftWindowsPowerShell

 

This isn’t what I want to be writing about. But a recent discovery compels me to do so. So, I’ve decided to make this an experiment, and beg your apologies that this will not have much technical merit despite the title.

After the last post, Set the Priority of a Process By Name Automatically, in Vista (which probably could have been named a lot better), I discovered that the post had made its way to some other sites. These sites appear to pull content from all over the web, package it up as their own, and toss ads all over it. One is lucky if the site even references the original author or links back to the original location of the post. It’s frustrating, to say the least. I’m all for distribution of knowledge and the like, but that’s taking it too far. Maybe I shouldn’t feel this way, but I (like others) put brain sweat and time into the work I do, and it would be nice if the source of the information would at least be cited if they’re going to republish it without the author’s consent.

So I visited two of these sites (which I have not yet decided if I will mention or not, for what I hope are obvious reasons) and attempted to leave comments. Of course the comments are moderated - don’t want any upset victims coming in and raising he. The comments were along the line of:

As the author of the original article referenced here, I kindly request that those interested in it please read it at MY blog, <a href=”http://mygreenpaste.blogspot.com”>My Green Paste, Inc.</a>

My site does not currently have ads, and I am NOT even considering ads at this time.

–«/\/\Øö±ò\/»®© (molotov)

Can you guess what happened? Yep - the comments were not approved, and were never published on the sites in question. I then attempted to leave another comment at each copy of my posting. This time, one site saw fit to allow the comment, and the other one did not. I suspected NO comments would have been allowed through either site, so I was a bit surprised. The comment was a bit ridiculous given the content of the posting, and rather generic; perhaps that’s why it was allowed. The comment was simply:

does this work for other os like XP or server 2003? 

Amazing. It was posted at 2008-01-31 2:37 GMT. The comment, like this post, is a part of the experiment. See, if I mention things that I mentioned in the previous post, like CpuPriorityClass, image file execution options, IoPriority, PagePriority, PerfOptions, powershell, priority, Process Monitor, setpriorityclass, Sysinternals, Vista, WorkingSetLimitInKB, Vista, Windows Vista, Windows Vista Ultimate, etc. (sorry to get carried away there), will this post make it to these sites as well? If so, wouldn’t that be somewhat funny? The comment falls in there, too - if the now published comment magically disappears from the copy of my previous post, won’t that be a bit odd?

I think I’ll have to start embedding a “this content originally from http://mygreenpaste.blogspot.com/” statement into the middle of each of my posts from now on. I’m sure I’ll forget, and I’ve probably only got one shot. That’ll make for some nice, flowing reading. We’ll see.

I do have some more thoughts about the Set the Priority of a Process By Name Automatically, in Vista topic that I expect to get out in my next post. I apologize for this distraction, and hope you’ll stay tuned…

BTW - I may also have a follow up to this fork in the saga as well.