March 17, 2012 - 10:16, by Steven Van de Craen
Categories: General, Windows 8, Windows Server 2008 R2
A few days ago I tweeted about having moved to Windows 8 Consumer Preview as main Operating System. So far still really happy with it.
My previous OS was Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V for virtualizing my SharePoint development environments. I had tweaked Windows Server as much as possible to be more of a desktop OS than server OS, but the fact remained that it just hadn’t optimized audio and video drivers. Surely they’re adequate to perform basic tasks, but there still was a little bit mouse and audio stuttering when a YouTube started playing, let alone playing a recent game such as Modern Warfare 3 or Skyrim. For those I kept a Windows 7 dual boot environment around.
Hyper-V 3.0
The main driver to move to Windows 8 for me was to have Hyper-V. Mind you that it’s not a straightforward path to migrate your Windows Server 2008 R2 images. I tried the export and import feature; it complained about not being able to use Saved State but it kindly asked me if it could delete that, I said yes. The import went fine but still I could start up a snapshot due to some obscure error. Perhaps this is a beta issue and will be fixed in RTM.
I decided to make a copy of the entire VMDISK folder and then just create new Virtual Machines in Windows 8, linking to existing disks (.vhd and .avhd). Nothing new here but note that you can use the “Edit Disk” functionality to merge a snapshot disk with its parent disk.
So I now had “base” images of all my machines in Windows 8 and booted them up. The next thing you’ll probably do is install the new Hyper-V Integration Tools in each virtual machine. This will upgrade the HAL in the VM.
Hyper-V networking has changed in 3.0 as well, using network bridging to overcome some issues from the past. This new Network Adapter will be seen as a new NIC in the VM as well, so you’ll have to reconfigure any static IP’s you had before.
A final thing is Windows Activation. Since you’re using a new HAL in the virtual machines, Windows will need to reactivate.
After that you can shut down the machines and make a base snapshot to start each new project on.
Note: the general experience might improve in the RTM version, but if you’re using Hyper-V then you’re probably tech savvy enough to migrate the more difficult way 
Metro
A lot has been said about the Metro UI already. In Windows 8 there are two UI modes: Metro and Desktop (as I call them). Metro is the thing for mobile devices, slates and is very slick and touch driven (even if you can still operate it with a mouse and keyboard). Desktop mode is what we all know from Windows 7 and before.
Applications come in two forms; either it’s a Metro app (downloaded through the App Store), or a Desktop app (every piece of Windows software that is known to man). You can have a split screen of two apps.
The Start menu has been removed in favor of the Metro Start Page.
A lot of the navigation now happens by moving the mouse to a screen corner
- Top Left will show the Metro Task Manager for app switching or dragging split screen
- Bottom Left (where the Start Menu used to be) jumps to the Start Page
- Top Right or Bottom Right will bring up the Settings Menu
Start Menu
I had the Windows 8 Developer Preview and there were some tools that allowed you to disable some Metro features so that you basically only had Desktop Mode (with Start Menu). It seems Microsoft is really pushing Metro and none of the tools to date allow this on the Consumer Preview.
I’m fine with using Metro since it’s a lot like my Windows Phone. I can get used to the Start Page by rearranging tiles, but in Desktop mode I do want my Start Menu back !!
ViStart to the rescue. Designed for Windows XP it renders the Vista or Win7 Start Menu with most functionalities you’d use it for. During some shutdowns it throws a buffer overrun or other error, but in general it works really great on Windows 8 and should Microsoft decide to permanently drop the Start Menu then this is your friend!
The road goes on
It’s been only a few days since I installed it. I’m very pleased with overall performing and hope it will remain stable. Should things go wrong then I have an image of my previous OS at hand.
March 1, 2012 - 16:31, by Steven Van de Craen
Categories: BIWUG, General, SharePoint 2010
Join SharePoint architects, developers, and other professionals on 28th April for the second Belgian ‘SharePoint Saturday’ event. SharePoint Saturday is an educational, informative & lively day filled with sessions from respected SharePoint professionals & MVPs, covering a wide variety of SharePoint-orientated topics. SharePoint Saturday is FREE, open to the public and is your local chance to immerse yourself in SharePoint!
SharePoint Saturday () is organised by BIWUG (), the Belux Information Worker User Group.
Extra details and registration information can be found here: http://bit.ly/spsbe2012.
See you there,
October 13, 2011 - 12:04, by Steven Van de Craen
Categories: General, SharePoint 2007, SharePoint 2010
If you happen to change the Windows Time Zone settings AFTER Central Administration has been provisioned, you will see that the time zone/date format is not updated in the administration pages:
Luckily, the fix is quite easy. You can just update the Regional Settings of the Central Administration site. Since this option is hidden from the Site Settings, you’ll have to navigate to it manually:
http://[centraladministration/_layouts/regionalsetng.aspx
Here’s a sample of setting it to Brussels time zone and Dutch Locale:
As you can see only the Time Zone is taken into account while format is still using US Locale. This only applies for certain Administration Pages such as Search Administration. The “Timer Job Status” page for example shows the specified (Dutch) format:
October 2, 2011 - 12:42, by Steven Van de Craen
Categories: BIWUG, General
BIWUG is announcing another session about SharePoint on Thursday October 27th 2011 in the Microsoft Belgium offices.
Agenda
18:00-19:00 Welcome with snacks
19:00-19:15 Introduction
19:15-20:15 SharePoint Governance (Speaker Patrick Sledz): Stop thinking about features features features when talking about governance.
When designing governance for a SharePoint implementation, a lot (not to say all) energy and words go out to technical stuff, SLA's and not to the things that define the business value. And the business value is not only a perfect technically tuned and performant SharePoint farm (if that even exists).
20:15-20:30 Break
20:30-21:00 The past, present and the future of BIWUG
During a seemingly quiet period, a lot has been going on behind the scenes. The result of all this secrecy will be revealed in the second part of the evening.
21:00-21:30 SharePint!
Of course there is also an opportunity to network, socialize and discuss the matter explained the previous hours... therefore SharePint!
Location: Microsoft Belgium Corporate Village - Bayreuth Building, Leonardo Da Vincilaan 3, 1935 Zaventem
Registration is now opened on the BIWUG site www.biwug.be
See you there !
September 27, 2010 - 22:00, by Steven Van de Craen
Categories: General
Another colleague of mine has started his blog on https://moss2007.be. And don’t be fooled by the host name, it’s for posts on SharePoint 2010 as well !!
Find them here and add them to your feed readers :)
Tom Van Rousselt: https://moss2007.be/blogs/tomvr
Sebastian Bouckaert: https://moss2007.be/blogs/sebastian
…And for me ? Well I’m still enjoying my new born and some paternity leave :) Will be blogging in the near future again, once my life settles a bit.
September 1, 2010 - 19:50, by Steven Van de Craen
Categories: General, SharePoint 2010, SharePoint Foundation 2010, SharePoint Server 2010
I decided to have a go on the SharePoint 2010 exams with little or no preparation and see how it’d go. The first three went smoothly. I have to admin I struggled somewhat with the PRO Administrator exam today, but cleared it nevertheless.
I’m a Certified SharePoint 2010 Developer and Administrator ! :D
July 24, 2010 - 12:40, by Steven Van de Craen
Categories: CKS, General
The smart people behind the Community Kit for SharePoint have released 3.0 of the Enhanced Blog Edition. Check out the improvements it brings: http://cks.codeplex.com/releases/view/28520
Cheers !
June 25, 2010 - 16:26, by Steven Van de Craen
Categories: General
There have been a lot of issues recently on the availability of my blog. This is because we’re currently cleaning out the server room with old servers and virtualizing them. In that process some of the IP addresses got mixed around and of course the ISA rules were not updated yet.
Apologies for that !
BIWUG | SPSaturday: wrap up
May 12, 2010 - 08:49, by Steven Van de Craen
Categories: General, Sandbox Solutions, SharePoint 2010, SharePoint Server 2010, SPF 2010
Last Saturday (8 May 2010) the first SharePoint Saturday event in Belgium took place. It was a day full of SharePoint 2010 aimed specifically at developers. As promised here’s the slide deck and demo files I used.
/Steven
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March 30, 2010 - 09:22, by Steven Van de Craen
Categories: General, SharePoint 2010, SharePoint Server 2010, SPF 2010
![SharePointSaturday[2]](/blogs/vandest/Lists/Posts/Attachments/136/SharePointSaturday2_3_52D58F2B.png "SharePointSaturday[2]")
BIWUG is organizing the first SharePoint Saturday in Belgium ever. It’s held in Hof Ter Elst, Edegem on the 8th of May 2010.
Topics include Visual Studio 2010 Tools, LINQ to SharePoint, Client Object Model, Sandbox solutions, Managed Metadata and WCF and REST in SharePoint.
I’ll be there presenting on Sandbox solutions, so feel free to drop in !
For more information and registration visit http://www.biwug.be.
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