After 3 days of giving Longhorn (64 bit)  the “college try” as a primary desktop, I ran into some issues with applications (DVD burners) and drivers (sound cards) which made it tough to use as a desktop.   I have a server running Longhorn which is solid.   I am going to try installing Vista on this machine, if it works as well as my laptop it will scream!  The one cool thing I found sound card drivers for my laptop so everything is working with Vista Beta 2.   (Inspiron 6000).

Other misc things I found the SMTP service not being available when installing the “web server” role.   The SMTP service is listed under the ‘features’ section, I am not sure if it is a bug or not but the SMTP virtual directory was not listed in the IIS 6 (inetmgr6) MMC.  I registered the “smtpsnap.dll” (in c:windowssystem32inetsrv folder) and when I reopened IIS 6 manager the SMTP settings was listed.   I really like the “Server manager” tool, this is a nice (and new) tool that allows to install, manage “Roles” and features.  My hats off to Microsoft with Vista and Longhorn, this OS is on the right track.   Enough of just poking around the configuration, it is time to “look under the hood” and start figuring out the stuff that makes the OS tick!  Stay tuned, hopefully I can publish scripts / programs in the near future.  If you have good links or stories about doing advanced items in Vista / Longhorn, feel free to pass them along.  Cheers.

I’ve suffered the first setback with beta 2 / Longhorn.  My machine running as a domain controller / web server suffered a BSOD (blue screen of death) after loading the unix sub-system “feature”.  Here is the BSOD error.  “c000021A {fatal system error} The initial session process or system process terminated unexpectedly with a status of 0x00000000 (oxc00000fe 0x00100140).  The has been shutdown.”.  I was daring and tried loading Longhorn on a real machine.   Back to virtual server 2005 R2 for beta builds, it took 3 days to get this machine to load the OS.    ?

Other notes, my other machine running Longhorn finally loaded SQL Server 2005. I needed to un-install “sql server native client” which I believe is installed when .NET 2.0 is installed.   After this, I received one error when the installer was removing the sql server 2005 install files but the setup completed successfully.    Thanks to Paul Murphy (http://aspadvice.com/blogs/pmurphy/) informed on a list Trend has a beta version of anti-virus for Vista.  https://www.trendbeta.com/index.php?get=80. 

I’ve been reading up on IIS 7 and configuration settings, www.iis.net has good articles under the TechCENTER section.   Here are some other links I found with IIS 7 information.

• Community site (www.iis.net)


• MSDN homepage.


• Config settings


• http://www.microsoft.com/WindowsServer2003/iis/default.mspx

Tis was a short day I only had an hour or so to “geek” before doing family holiday things!  Happy Memorial Day. 

I was looking to install SMTP service and could not find under the “web server” role.   Here are the instructions in the help file.  Hope this helps.

How to Add Features to Your Server
In Windows Server “Longhorn” Beta 2, you can add most available features to your server by using the Add Features Wizard.

Adding Features to Your Server by Using the Add Features Wizard

Adding Features to Your Server by Using the Add Features Wizard
You can add the following features by using the Add Features Wizard.

• Windows Activation Service (WAS)
  
• Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) Server Extensions
  
• Desktop Experience
  
• Windows Clustering
  
• Windows Server Backup
  
• Line Print Remote Port Monitor
  
• Microsoft Message Queuing (MSMQ) Services
  
• Windows Network Load Balancing
  
• Remote Access Service (RAS) Client
  
• Remote Assistance
  
• Remote Procedure Calls over HTTP Proxy
  
• Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) Server
  
• Storage Manager for Storage Area Networks
  
• Simple TCP/IP Services
  
• Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications
  
• Telnet Client
  
• Telnet Server
  
• Windows Internal Database
  
• Windows Internet Name Service (WINS)
  
• Windows System Resource Manager (WSRM)
  
• Windows Foundation Components for WinFX
  
• Wireless Networking
  
• SQL Server 2005 Embedded Edition (Windows)
  
• iSNS Server
  
• Windows Search Service
  
• Indexing Service
  
• Bitlocker Drive Encryption

Open the Add Features Wizard in one of the following two ways.

To start the Add Features Wizard
In the Features Summary area of the Server Manager main window, click Add Features.

— or —

In the Customize this server area of the Initial Configuration Tasks window, click Add Features.

Note
The Initial Configuration Tasks window opens by default when a member of the Administrators group logs on to the computer.

Server Manager opens when the Initial Configuration Tasks window is closed. You can also open Server Manager by using shortcuts on the Start menu or in Administrative Tools.

Steve Schofield
Microsoft MVP – ASP/ASP.NET
ASPInsider Member – MCP

Lots of new things going on in my “geek” life, this is my first blog post using CS 2.1, it is awesome and lots of new features.   The same theme goes for Vista and Longhorn beta 2.   I plan on sharing my experiences with Longhorn and Vista.   I haven’t been this “geeked” over beta software since ASP.NET 1.0.  When I first got into IT work (11 years ago), I would install prety much any software on my primary workstation.  As most of you can guess, I rebuilt my main PC over and over.   The longer I’ve done IT work, the less I would install just anything on my primary workstation.  Call it experience or just trying to avoid a problem.  :))   Vista and Longhorn beta 2 are different,.  I was quoted back during pre-beta ASP.NET 1.0 days, it was “one of the most stable betas ever released by Microsoft”.  How times have changed, I’m so impressed with Vista and Longhorn that I am willing to install on my primary desktops.  All 3 workstations of mine are running beta OS software.  My primary workstation is an AMD 64 x2 with 2 gig of RAM.  For the first time, I am using 64 bit as my primary OS.   Talk about a change. ?  Here are some first impressions.

The Good!
Things are different, I am impressed the flexibility of being able to install certain “roles” and “features”.  Terminology is different in Longhorn/Vista which is taking time to learn after using Windows 2000/2003 and Windows XP for years.  I’m really excited about IIS 7, which is one of my primary focuses.  IIS 7 is a totally different than other releases.  For those who did not know, http://www.iis.net/ is a new community site released focusing on IIS.  I encourage you to check out the site.  Bottom line, things are different which is a good thing.  I enjoy surfing around at all the new icons in the control panel.  Here is a list of software so far installed on my desktop

• Visual Studio 2005
  
• SQL Server 2005
  
• Office 2003 / Frontpage 2003 (I need this for work)
  
• WS-FTP
  
• WinRAR
  
• Symantec AV 64 bit.
  
• MSDN Library.
  
• IIS 7 (all components)
  
• .NET 1.1 framework and SDK
  
• .NET 2.0 framework SDK

Software that did not install or having issues.

• Visual Studio 2003

MISC.

• My first machine installed great and the ‘dcpromo’ worked without any issues

The Challenging!

With anything new, there is bound to be changes.  How I am used to working is different with Longhorn / Vista.  Here is a list of things that didn’t work or seem challenging.  These are just my opinions, I know using beta software things have changed over previous releases but when you are used to doing it a certain way it takes a bit to adjust. ?

• Windows Explorer – I miss the tree view when navigating files and folders. There is a thing in the help file explaining how things have changed.  I’ve spent my share of time in the help section.
  
• Intel PRO/Wireless card did not work on my laptop with Longhorn.  I am primarily a server guy, Longhorn did not like my wireless card.  It would recognize the name but I couldn’t connect to the wireless network.  I searched Intel’s site and drivers were available during beta 1.  I’m assuming this will be the same for beta 2.  For the time, I installed Vista beta 2 which does work with my wireless NIC.
  
• How to add / remove programs.  This is different, I like the new “Server manager” to manage which Windows components are installed.  I’ve run into a couple issues when installing the “Web server” role ASP.NET and .NET Extensibility “Role service” didn’t install the first time around and required another attempt to install successfully.
  
• Use Windows “classic” folders option.  This is mis-leading, why say using classic menus when the skin does not include things like the Tree View.  Yes, I miss it but will adjust. 
  
• User account control – I think this is the right term, this is a new feature to not run as full administrative privileges.   To be continued on working with this feature.  So far the prompts are somewhat intrusive.  I wish there was a single option in the local security policy to “turn off UAC”
  
• Using the MMC console.  This is another change that I’m getting used to and how MMC snap-in’s.  Finding how to administer various services and features takes some looking for the right section.
  
• NIC drivers in general.  All my compaq and 3Com NIC’s do not work.  (my first experience of having perfectly good hardware not work.)

Steve Schofield
Microsoft MVP – ASP/ASP.NET
ASPInsider Member – MCP