Surface Pro 4 or Surface Book phantom touches

A couple of days ago one of our docked Surface Pro 4 (SP4) units started to experience what looked like an ongoing touch in the middle between the two screens near the bottom.

A reach over to the SP4 and a touch to figure out where the phantom touches were happening brought about the discovery that it was near the bottom righthand corner of the touch screen.

Weird.

Okay, so pull it off the dock, give it a good screen cleaning, and for good measure blow it out since it's been sitting there for a while.

It seemed okay but the problem came back.

A reboot would not fix it either.

So, in to the Microsoft Store we went today. The tech took it into the back for a few minutes then came back and said it's good to go.

What was done? They have a calibration tool there at the store to recalibrate the touch screen.

Since that was done the SP4 has been behaving. We'll see, but let's hope it's all good.

• Microsoft KB 3165497: Surface Pro 4 or Surface Book experiences "phantom" touch input on the screen

As it turns out, the task run by the Microsoft Tech is in the above KB article.

So, if experiencing phantom touches download and run the calibration tool found in that article.

UPDATE 2018-09-10: They came back. :(

As  an FYI, this time around instead of hugging one side of the screen we had a line of touches running across the screen.

So, instead of heading back to the store we ran through the hotfix e-mail process and ran the utility.

The phantom touches disappeared again. We'll see for how long.

Philip Elder
Microsoft High Availability MVP
MPECS Inc.
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book
www.commodityclusters.com
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Some thoughts on Windows Server 1709 and Where to Find It

We were looking for the new Software Assurance benefit based download of Windows Server 1709 in Microsoft's Volume Licensing Service Center.

It took a bit to realize that the download was not tied into "Windows Server 2016" and it's available downloads.

The following two items show up in search for "Windows Server":

When we click through and try to download either one they both point to the same download:

Keep in mind that 1709 is a Server Core only option and receives updates every six months. Plus, the service life of each release is 18 months.

That means that adopting the Semi-Annual Channel (SAC) release of Windows Server would require a significant investment in both testing prior to deployment and in deploying the OS on a regular basis.

Keep in mind that Software Assurance is required for access to SAC.

Is it of value? For those businesses that are looking to adopt newer/better features via quicker cadence then yes, there is value in it.

For those that are looking for long-term stability in their deployments then the Long Term Service Branch/Channel (LTSB/C) is the way to go.

For us, we are in a "Wait and see" mode as our focus is currently Storage Spaces and Hyper-V along with Storage Spaces Direct clusters.

As far as SAC being a Server Core option only we don't have a problem with that now do we? ;)

Realistically though, there may be a lot of really neat features and abilities that may only appear in the SAC branch of Windows Server as we go along. That has yet to be seen, but given Microsoft's push to add value to Software Assurance over the last number of years one can comfortably wager that there will be extra value in that branch of the OS.

Philip Elder
Microsoft High Availability MVP
MPECS Inc.
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book
Our Cloud Service
Twitter: @MPECSInc

Microsoft Groove to Spotify Move

When Microsoft announced the discontinuation of the Groove Music Pass there was a lot of dissappointment around here.

Groove offered the ability to check out all sorts of music over the years without having to fork out a buck or two on a song that ended up not being listened to.

With the ability to download music to four different devices for offline listening it was a really good value for the money.

So, off we go into the migration from Groove to Spotify.

First off, this was one of the smoothest transitions ever experienced. Everything moved over without a hitch. It took a bit but nothing was lost in the process!

Score one for Microsoft and Spotify!

Score two for Spotify: The $15/Month Premium Family Plan for up to five folks under one roof was the clincher.

We were looking to obtain two more Groove Music Pass accounts. One for my wife and the other for our daughter. That would have been expensive!

A couple of settings in the Spotify app to take note of after upgrading to Premium:

• Settings - Music Quality: Enable High quality streaming (Premium only)
• Settings - Social: Disable Automatically make new playlists public
• Settings - Social: Enable Private session

The last two are personal preference but as a rule we will make sure our kid's apps are set up this way.

Philip Elder
Microsoft High Availability MVP
MPECS Inc.
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book
Our Cloud Service
Twitter: @MPECSInc

Windows 7, 10, and Skylake?

There’s been a lot of furor and FUD around Windows 7 on the upcoming Skylake platform being blocked or not?

Has anyone seen a revision to the x86 instruction set? We certainly haven’t. We’d most certainly have seen something somewhere about it.

There most certainly has been changes to the processor’s periphery in additional instruction sets for various tasks the CPU would perform in a given era. The Intel/AMD platforms are littered with their various efforts over the last two decades.

The only way we see something like this happening, where an OS won’t run on a certain platform, is by hard coding that into the OS. In the case of Windows 7, that would mean backporting a patch of some sort. Folks would figure out RPQ what patch caused the hard-code and that would be the end of that for many.

We realize Microsoft wants folks to move to Windows 10. There’s a huge revenue opportunity to be had there.

However, surreptitiously going about it with sneaky ads, involuntary downloads to users computers, delivery of the OS to ADDS based environments unannounced (coming to a domain near you), and any other clandestine methodology will, and is, do a lot of harm.

Pushing, pulling, and dragging folks who are kicking and screaming to be left where they are is not a good way to go about it.

[/.25c]

Philip Elder
Microsoft High Availability MVP
MPECS Inc.
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

What’s New in Windows v.Next

Here are some resources relative to what may be in the next version of Windows. Note that this list is by far nowhere near complete and rather feature focused.

• Microsoft TechNet Forum for Technical Preview
• TechNet: What’s New in Hyper-V in Windows Server TP
• TechNet: What's New in Storage Services in Windows Server TP
• TechNet: What’s New in Failover Clustering in Windows Server TP

One can download the Windows 10 TP RSAT here.

Here are some quick snips of Windows Server TP:

Okay, so we’ve gone back to a “traditional” Start Menu format.

The Start Menu right click options:

I’m not convinced. :(

There are a number of us out here that actually _did_ like the Metro style Start Menu.

From what we understand there is a way to toggle between this style and the Metro style but it has not become a priority to figure out yet as we are somewhat buried with projects at the moment.

Here is a PowerShell Get-WindowsFeature output:

Display Name                                            Name                       Install State
------------                                            ----                       -------------
[ ] Active Directory Certificate Services               AD-Certificate                 Available
    [ ] Certification Authority                         ADCS-Cert-Authority            Available
    [ ] Certificate Enrollment Policy Web Service       ADCS-Enroll-Web-Pol            Available
    [ ] Certificate Enrollment Web Service              ADCS-Enroll-Web-Svc            Available
    [ ] Certification Authority Web Enrollment          ADCS-Web-Enrollment            Available
    [ ] Network Device Enrollment Service               ADCS-Device-Enrollment         Available
    [ ] Online Responder                                ADCS-Online-Cert               Available
[X] Active Directory Domain Services                    AD-Domain-Services             Installed
[ ] Active Directory Federation Services                ADFS-Federation                Available
[ ] Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services     ADLDS                          Available
[ ] Active Directory Rights Management Services         ADRMS                          Available
    [ ] Active Directory Rights Management Server       ADRMS-Server                   Available
    [ ] Identity Federation Support                     ADRMS-Identity                 Available
[X] DHCP Server                                         DHCP                           Installed
[X] DNS Server                                          DNS                            Installed
[ ] Fax Server                                          Fax                            Available
[X] File and Storage Services                           FileAndStorage-Services        Installed
    [X] File and iSCSI Services                         File-Services                  Installed
        [X] File Server                                 FS-FileServer                  Installed
        [ ] BranchCache for Network Files               FS-BranchCache                 Available
        [ ] Data Deduplication                          FS-Data-Deduplication          Available
        [ ] DFS Namespaces                              FS-DFS-Namespace               Available
        [ ] DFS Replication                             FS-DFS-Replication             Available
        [ ] File Server Resource Manager                FS-Resource-Manager            Available
        [ ] File Server VSS Agent Service               FS-VSS-Agent                   Available
        [ ] iSCSI Target Server                         FS-iSCSITarget-Server          Available
        [ ] iSCSI Target Storage Provider (VDS and V... iSCSITarget-VSS-VDS            Available
        [ ] Server for NFS                              FS-NFS-Service                 Available
        [ ] Work Folders                                FS-SyncShareService            Available
    [X] Storage Services                                Storage-Services               Installed
[ ] Hyper-V                                             Hyper-V                        Available
[ ] MultiPoint Services                                 MultiPointServerRole           Available
[ ] Network Controller                                  NetworkController              Available
[ ] Network Policy and Access Services                  NPAS                           Available
[ ] Print and Document Services                         Print-Services                 Available
    [ ] Print Server                                    Print-Server                   Available
    [ ] Distributed Scan Server                         Print-Scan-Server              Available
    [ ] Internet Printing                               Print-Internet                 Available
    [ ] LPD Service                                     Print-LPD-Service              Available
[ ] Remote Access                                       RemoteAccess                   Available
    [ ] DirectAccess and VPN (RAS)                      DirectAccess-VPN               Available
    [ ] Routing                                         Routing                        Available
    [ ] Web Application Proxy                           Web-Application-Proxy          Available
[ ] Remote Desktop Services                             Remote-Desktop-Services        Available
    [ ] Remote Desktop Connection Broker                RDS-Connection-Broker          Available
    [ ] Remote Desktop Gateway                          RDS-Gateway                    Available
    [ ] Remote Desktop Licensing                        RDS-Licensing                  Available
    [ ] Remote Desktop Session Host                     RDS-RD-Server                  Available
    [ ] Remote Desktop Virtualization Host              RDS-Virtualization             Available
    [ ] Remote Desktop Web Access                       RDS-Web-Access                 Available
[ ] Volume Activation Services                          VolumeActivation               Available
[ ] Web Server (IIS)                                    Web-Server                     Available
    [ ] Web Server                                      Web-WebServer                  Available
        [ ] Common HTTP Features                        Web-Common-Http                Available
            [ ] Default Document                        Web-Default-Doc                Available
            [ ] Directory Browsing                      Web-Dir-Browsing               Available
            [ ] HTTP Errors                             Web-Http-Errors                Available
            [ ] Static Content                          Web-Static-Content             Available
            [ ] HTTP Redirection                        Web-Http-Redirect              Available
            [ ] WebDAV Publishing                       Web-DAV-Publishing             Available
        [ ] Health and Diagnostics                      Web-Health                     Available
            [ ] HTTP Logging                            Web-Http-Logging               Available
            [ ] Custom Logging                          Web-Custom-Logging             Available
            [ ] Logging Tools                           Web-Log-Libraries              Available
            [ ] ODBC Logging                            Web-ODBC-Logging               Available
            [ ] Request Monitor                         Web-Request-Monitor            Available
            [ ] Tracing                                 Web-Http-Tracing               Available
        [ ] Performance                                 Web-Performance                Available
            [ ] Static Content Compression              Web-Stat-Compression           Available
            [ ] Dynamic Content Compression             Web-Dyn-Compression            Available
        [ ] Security                                    Web-Security                   Available
            [ ] Request Filtering                       Web-Filtering                  Available
            [ ] Basic Authentication                    Web-Basic-Auth                 Available
            [ ] Centralized SSL Certificate Support     Web-CertProvider               Available
            [ ] Client Certificate Mapping Authentic... Web-Client-Auth                Available
            [ ] Digest Authentication                   Web-Digest-Auth                Available
            [ ] IIS Client Certificate Mapping Authe... Web-Cert-Auth                  Available
            [ ] IP and Domain Restrictions              Web-IP-Security                Available
            [ ] URL Authorization                       Web-Url-Auth                   Available
            [ ] Windows Authentication                  Web-Windows-Auth               Available
        [ ] Application Development                     Web-App-Dev                    Available
            [ ] .NET Extensibility 3.5                  Web-Net-Ext                    Available
            [ ] .NET Extensibility 4.5                  Web-Net-Ext45                  Available
            [ ] Application Initialization              Web-AppInit                    Available
            [ ] ASP                                     Web-ASP                        Available
            [ ] ASP.NET 3.5                             Web-Asp-Net                    Available
            [ ] ASP.NET 4.5                             Web-Asp-Net45                  Available
            [ ] CGI                                     Web-CGI                        Available
            [ ] ISAPI Extensions                        Web-ISAPI-Ext                  Available
            [ ] ISAPI Filters                           Web-ISAPI-Filter               Available
            [ ] Server Side Includes                    Web-Includes                   Available
            [ ] WebSocket Protocol                      Web-WebSockets                 Available
    [ ] FTP Server                                      Web-Ftp-Server                 Available
        [ ] FTP Service                                 Web-Ftp-Service                Available
        [ ] FTP Extensibility                           Web-Ftp-Ext                    Available
    [ ] Management Tools                                Web-Mgmt-Tools                 Available
        [ ] IIS Management Console                      Web-Mgmt-Console               Available
        [ ] IIS 6 Management Compatibility              Web-Mgmt-Compat                Available
            [ ] IIS 6 Metabase Compatibility            Web-Metabase                   Available
            [ ] IIS 6 Management Console                Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console          Available
            [ ] IIS 6 Scripting Tools                   Web-Lgcy-Scripting             Available
            [ ] IIS 6 WMI Compatibility                 Web-WMI                        Available
        [ ] IIS Management Scripts and Tools            Web-Scripting-Tools            Available
        [ ] Management Service                          Web-Mgmt-Service               Available
[ ] Windows Deployment Services                         WDS                            Available
    [ ] Deployment Server                               WDS-Deployment                 Available
    [ ] Transport Server                                WDS-Transport                  Available
[ ] Windows Server Essentials Experience                ServerEssentialsRole           Available
[ ] Windows Server Update Services                      UpdateServices                 Available
    [ ] WID Connectivity                                UpdateServices-WidDB           Available
    [ ] WSUS Services                                   UpdateServices-Services        Available
    [ ] SQL Server Connectivity                         UpdateServices-DB              Available
[ ] .NET Framework 3.5 Features                         NET-Framework-Features         Available
    [ ] .NET Framework 3.5 (includes .NET 2.0 and 3.0)  NET-Framework-Core               Removed
    [ ] HTTP Activation                                 NET-HTTP-Activation            Available
    [ ] Non-HTTP Activation                             NET-Non-HTTP-Activ             Available
[X] .NET Framework 4.5 Features                         NET-Framework-45-Fea...        Installed
    [X] .NET Framework 4.5                              NET-Framework-45-Core          Installed
    [ ] ASP.NET 4.5                                     NET-Framework-45-ASPNET        Available
    [X] WCF Services                                    NET-WCF-Services45             Installed
        [ ] HTTP Activation                             NET-WCF-HTTP-Activat...        Available
        [ ] Message Queuing (MSMQ) Activation           NET-WCF-MSMQ-Activat...        Available
        [ ] Named Pipe Activation                       NET-WCF-Pipe-Activat...        Available
        [ ] TCP Activation                              NET-WCF-TCP-Activati...        Available
        [X] TCP Port Sharing                            NET-WCF-TCP-PortShar...        Installed
[ ] Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS)      BITS                           Available
    [ ] IIS Server Extension                            BITS-IIS-Ext                   Available
    [ ] Compact Server                                  BITS-Compact-Server            Available
[ ] BitLocker Drive Encryption                          BitLocker                      Available
[ ] BitLocker Network Unlock                            BitLocker-NetworkUnlock        Available
[ ] BranchCache                                         BranchCache                    Available
[ ] Canary Network Diagnostics                          Canary-Network-Diagn...        Available
[ ] Client for NFS                                      NFS-Client                     Available
[ ] Data Center Bridging                                Data-Center-Bridging           Available
[ ] Direct Play                                         Direct-Play                    Available
[ ] Enhanced Storage                                    EnhancedStorage                Available
[ ] Failover Clustering                                 Failover-Clustering            Available
[X] Group Policy Management                             GPMC                           Installed
[ ] IIS Hostable Web Core                               Web-WHC                        Available
[ ] Ink and Handwriting Services                        InkAndHandwritingSer...        Available
[ ] Internet Printing Client                            Internet-Print-Client          Available
[ ] IP Address Management (IPAM) Server                 IPAM                           Available
[ ] iSNS Server service                                 ISNS                           Available
[ ] LPR Port Monitor                                    LPR-Port-Monitor               Available
[ ] Management OData IIS Extension                      ManagementOdata                Available
[ ] Media Foundation                                    Server-Media-Foundation        Available
[ ] Message Queuing                                     MSMQ                           Available
    [ ] Message Queuing Services                        MSMQ-Services                  Available
        [ ] Message Queuing Server                      MSMQ-Server                    Available
        [ ] Directory Service Integration               MSMQ-Directory                 Available
        [ ] HTTP Support                                MSMQ-HTTP-Support              Available
        [ ] Message Queuing Triggers                    MSMQ-Triggers                  Available
        [ ] Multicasting Support                        MSMQ-Multicasting              Available
        [ ] Routing Service                             MSMQ-Routing                   Available
    [ ] Message Queuing DCOM Proxy                      MSMQ-DCOM                      Available
[ ] Multipath I/O                                       Multipath-IO                   Available
[ ] MultiPoint Connector                                MultiPoint-Connector...        Available
[ ] Network Load Balancing                              NLB                            Available
[ ] Peer Name Resolution Protocol                       PNRP                           Available
[ ] Quality Windows Audio Video Experience              qWave                          Available
[ ] RAS Connection Manager Administration Kit (CMAK)    CMAK                           Available
[ ] Remote Assistance                                   Remote-Assistance              Available
[ ] Remote Differential Compression                     RDC                            Available
[X] Remote Server Administration Tools                  RSAT                           Installed
    [ ] Feature Administration Tools                    RSAT-Feature-Tools             Available
        [ ] SMTP Server Tools                           RSAT-SMTP                      Available
        [ ] BitLocker Drive Encryption Administratio... RSAT-Feature-Tools-B...        Available
            [ ] BitLocker Drive Encryption Tools        RSAT-Feature-Tools-B...        Available
            [ ] BitLocker Recovery Password Viewer      RSAT-Feature-Tools-B...        Available
        [ ] BITS Server Extensions Tools                RSAT-Bits-Server               Available
        [ ] Failover Clustering Tools                   RSAT-Clustering                Available
            [ ] Failover Cluster Management Tools       RSAT-Clustering-Mgmt           Available
            [ ] Failover Cluster Module for Windows ... RSAT-Clustering-Powe...        Available
            [ ] Failover Cluster Automation Server      RSAT-Clustering-Auto...        Available
            [ ] Failover Cluster Command Interface      RSAT-Clustering-CmdI...        Available
        [ ] IP Address Management (IPAM) Client         IPAM-Client-Feature            Available
        [ ] Network Load Balancing Tools                RSAT-NLB                       Available
        [ ] SNMP Tools                                  RSAT-SNMP                      Available
        [ ] WINS Server Tools                           RSAT-WINS                      Available
    [X] Role Administration Tools                       RSAT-Role-Tools                Installed
        [X] AD DS and AD LDS Tools                      RSAT-AD-Tools                  Installed
            [X] Active Directory module for Windows ... RSAT-AD-PowerShell             Installed
            [X] AD DS Tools                             RSAT-ADDS                      Installed
                [X] Active Directory Administrative ... RSAT-AD-AdminCenter            Installed
                [X] AD DS Snap-Ins and Command-Line ... RSAT-ADDS-Tools                Installed
            [ ] AD LDS Snap-Ins and Command-Line Tools  RSAT-ADLDS                     Available
        [ ] Hyper-V Management Tools                    RSAT-Hyper-V-Tools             Available
            [ ] Hyper-V GUI Management Tools            Hyper-V-Tools                  Available
            [ ] Hyper-V Module for Windows PowerShell   Hyper-V-PowerShell             Available
        [ ] Remote Desktop Services Tools               RSAT-RDS-Tools                 Available
            [ ] Remote Desktop Gateway Tools            RSAT-RDS-Gateway               Available
            [ ] Remote Desktop Licensing Diagnoser T... RSAT-RDS-Licensing-D...        Available
            [ ] Remote Desktop Licensing Tools          RDS-Licensing-UI               Available
        [ ] Windows Server Update Services Tools        UpdateServices-RSAT            Available
            [ ] API and PowerShell cmdlets              UpdateServices-API             Available
            [ ] User Interface Management Console       UpdateServices-UI              Available
        [ ] Active Directory Certificate Services Tools RSAT-ADCS                      Available
            [ ] Certification Authority Management T... RSAT-ADCS-Mgmt                 Available
            [ ] Online Responder Tools                  RSAT-Online-Responder          Available
        [ ] Active Directory Rights Management Servi... RSAT-ADRMS                     Available
        [X] DHCP Server Tools                           RSAT-DHCP                      Installed
        [X] DNS Server Tools                            RSAT-DNS-Server                Installed
        [ ] Fax Server Tools                            RSAT-Fax                       Available
        [ ] File Services Tools                         RSAT-File-Services             Available
            [ ] DFS Management Tools                    RSAT-DFS-Mgmt-Con              Available
            [ ] File Server Resource Manager Tools      RSAT-FSRM-Mgmt                 Available
            [ ] Services for Network File System Man... RSAT-NFS-Admin                 Available
            [ ] Share and Storage Management Tool       RSAT-CoreFile-Mgmt             Available
        [ ] Network Controller Management Tools         RSAT-NetworkController         Available
        [ ] Network Policy and Access Services Tools    RSAT-NPAS                      Available
        [ ] Print and Document Services Tools           RSAT-Print-Services            Available
        [ ] Remote Access Management Tools              RSAT-RemoteAccess              Available
            [ ] Remote Access GUI and Command-Line T... RSAT-RemoteAccess-Mgmt         Available
            [ ] Remote Access module for Windows Pow... RSAT-RemoteAccess-Po...        Available
        [ ] Volume Activation Tools                     RSAT-VA-Tools                  Available
        [ ] Windows Deployment Services Tools           WDS-AdminPack                  Available
[ ] RPC over HTTP Proxy                                 RPC-over-HTTP-Proxy            Available
[ ] Simple TCP/IP Services                              Simple-TCPIP                   Available
[X] SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support                   FS-SMB1                        Installed
[ ] SMB Bandwidth Limit                                 FS-SMBBW                       Available
[ ] SMTP Server                                         SMTP-Server                    Available
[ ] SNMP Service                                        SNMP-Service                   Available
    [ ] SNMP WMI Provider                               SNMP-WMI-Provider              Available
[ ] Soft Restart                                        Soft-Restart                   Available
[ ] Telnet Client                                       Telnet-Client                  Available
[ ] TFTP Client                                         TFTP-Client                    Available
[X] User Interfaces and Infrastructure                  User-Interfaces-Infra          Installed
    [X] Graphical Management Tools and Infrastructure   Server-Gui-Mgmt-Infra          Installed
    [ ] Desktop Experience                              Desktop-Experience             Available
    [X] Server Graphical Shell                          Server-Gui-Shell               Installed
[ ] Windows Biometric Framework                         Biometric-Framework            Available
[X] Windows Defender                                    Windows-Defender               Installed
    [ ] GUI for Windows Defender                        Windows-Defender-Gui           Available
[ ] Windows Internal Database                           Windows-Internal-Dat...        Available
[X] Windows PowerShell                                  PowerShellRoot                 Installed
    [X] Windows PowerShell 5.0                          PowerShell                     Installed
    [ ] Windows PowerShell 2.0 Engine                   PowerShell-V2                    Removed
    [ ] Windows PowerShell Desired State Configurati... DSC-Service                    Available
    [X] Windows PowerShell ISE                          PowerShell-ISE                 Installed
    [ ] Windows PowerShell Web Access                   WindowsPowerShellWeb...        Available
[ ] Windows Process Activation Service                  WAS                            Available
    [ ] Process Model                                   WAS-Process-Model              Available
    [ ] .NET Environment 3.5                            WAS-NET-Environment            Available
    [ ] Configuration APIs                              WAS-Config-APIs                Available
[ ] Windows Search Service                              Search-Service                 Available
[ ] Windows Server Backup                               Windows-Server-Backup          Available
[ ] Windows Server Migration Tools                      Migration                      Available
[ ] Windows Standards-Based Storage Management          WindowsStorageManage...        Available
[ ] Windows TIFF IFilter                                Windows-TIFF-IFilter           Available
[ ] Windows Volume Replication                          WVR                            Available
[ ] WinRM IIS Extension                                 WinRM-IIS-Ext                  Available
[ ] WINS Server                                         WINS                           Available
[ ] Wireless LAN Service                                Wireless-Networking            Available
[X] WoW64 Support                                       WoW64-Support                  Installed
[ ] XPS Viewer                                          XPS-Viewer                     Available

The addition of Windows Defender as a regular part of the install leaves us a bit of cause for pause. We generally do _not_ put A/V endpoint clients on servers since the endpoints actively working with the data are the weak links in the chain. Plus, we sanitize all incoming mail to further reduce attack vectors.

We shall see if we run into a situation where servers go offline after an update due to the A/V client eating its own. We’ve seen A/V vendors of all stripes go through this problem thus reaffirming our position.

There’s a lot to learn folks. No doubt. There are most certainly new bits within the various Roles and Features as mentioned in the initial and very incomplete bullet list.

This time around we are being buoyed up by a wave of enthusiasm and support from within Microsoft itself. So, ride the wave and get to know the OS our solution sets will be built on soon!

Oh, and one more thing. We are working with really early release bits. That means that everything above may be wiped out in a single stroke of the pen/keyboard. Just because it’s there now does not mean that it will be there in the next release bits we see or in RTM for that matter!

Philip Elder
Microsoft Cluster MVP
MPECS Inc.
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

Chef de partie in the SMBKitchen ASP Project
Find out more at
Third Tier: Enterprise Solutions for Small Business

Microsoft: Excitement Rekindled

Back in the day, heh ;) , I was privileged to work with the SBS team both prior and post MVP award.

Many of us in SBS Land can remember just how active the team was around SBS 2003 RTM/R2, SBS 2008 Standard/Premium, and finally SBS 2011 Standard.

By the latter product release much of the old guard had moved on but the new team and us SBS MVPs had a strong business relationship.

The key here is in the relationships and communication levels we were experiencing with the teams.

For must of us both within the MVP realms but also in the public that came to a full-stop when development of the then Windows Server 2012 pre-release cycle became better known.

We were all held in the dark. This situation continued with the 2012 R2 development cycle.

Silence. Dead Silence *insert sound of crickets here*

For those of us both within the MVP community and outside the MVP community that are truly passionate about the clients we serve, the products we work with, and just all-around geeking out about tech the silence was deafening and deadening.

Tie that into the seemingly endless “Death to the IT Pro” messages coming out of Microsoft over the last number of years and there were a lot of flames snuffed out these last two product release cycles.

Change for the Good

One thing is for certain: Something has changed at Microsoft.

While I most certainly cannot provide “insight” into Microsoft’s motivations for the recent change I can most certainly say that the change is welcome. Big Time!

We now have a public release of Windows vNext bits. We have forums to discuss these bits.

For many of us MVPs we have, and I can’t say “unprecedented” given previous experience, an amazing amount of information flowing from our product teams.

The conversations we’ve been having with the team(s) lately have been refreshing. Yes, they’ve been listening to us.

And, I’ll make no bones about it, I feel very excited about this upcoming product release like I had been with the then new versions of SBS Standard!

So, hat’s off to you in Microsoft whoever you are that allowed the floodgates of communication, shared tech passion, and business relationships to happen again!

And thanks to the Microsoft Teams that have been sharing your product excitement. It is refreshing and invigorating for us to experience and work with!

We both stand to benefit greatly from this “new” openness from Microsoft.

Oh, and Cluster is definitely key to our company’s future. ;)

Philip Elder
Microsoft Cluster MVP
MPECS Inc.
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

Chef de partie in the SMBKitchen ASP Project
Find out more at
Third Tier: Enterprise Solutions for Small Business

Microsoft Fails Long Term Open Licensing Customers with Office for iPad O365 Requirement

We received an inquiry from one of our clients about obtaining Office for their iPad. Obviously the paid version is required in order to edit Office documents.

We fired an e-mail off to our licensing contact at Synnex Canada and received the following:

The clear-cut answer is that Microsoft has seemingly set up a requirement for Open License customers to double pay.

How is that?

Well, in the case of our clients they have been on Open Value Agreements for quite a few cycles in some cases. When OVL hits the third renewal (years 7-9) the SA Only costs bring the overall cost of that license and SA close to the OEM costs.

For clients that have regular refresh rates of about 36 months for their equipment this makes sense on so many levels.

So, our clients have already purchased their Office Professional Plus or Office Standard licenses and are on SA Only for them.

To get Office for iPad for their devices there is no SKU to add to their existing agreement. They would have to purchase an Office 365 subscription either personally or for the organization in an O365 MidSize Business plan which on Open Value is $200/Year/User.

Ouch.

It looks like we've just been double billed.

IMNSHO this decision of Microsoft's to force the Office 365 subscription for existing Open License clients is very poorly thought through.

This situation really begs the question as to whether Open License is a valued proposition going forward as Microsoft further segments products into the subscription side to force businesses that have already paid for their licenses to pay yet again ... and again ... and again.

Hopefully Microsoft will come up with something to remove the double billing.

Philip Elder
Microsoft Cluster MVP
MPECS Inc.
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

Chef de partie in the SMBKitchen ASP Project
Find out more at
Third Tier: Enterprise Solutions for Small Business

A couple of Published Articles and an ASP Document Published

While we have been quite busy I have managed to put some aside to do some writing.

•   Windows Server News: Restoring a Windows Phone
• I walk through how to get a Windows Phone right back to where it was before the previous one pancaked on the floor!
• The Microsoft ID associated with the phone is priceless.
• Experts-Exchange: Some Hyper-V Hardware and Software Best Practices
• An aggregate of may posts on this blog, Yahoo Groups, and other locations.

I have also posted the first of many documents to the SMB Kitchen ASP Project that we use for our ongoing day-to-day business here:

This document is the foundation on which we manage all of our clients. We track _everything_ in this document. It gets posted to a SharePoint library with versioning enabled for major and minor versions as well as mandatory check-out and check-in.

Soon to come will be some of the quote templates we use to cost out or IT Solution Sets for our clients.

Philip Elder
Microsoft Cluster MVP
MPECS Inc.
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

Chef de partie in the SMBKitchen ASP Project
Find out more at
Third Tier: Enterprise Solutions for Small Business