You can now download WSUS 3.0 at Microsoft Connect. It looks like the final release of WSUS 3.0 (Windows Server Update Services) is just around the corner. We have been working with Microsoft’s patch management solution since the availability of SUS and were always quite satisfied with it. I never liked its user interface, though.

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You can now download KMS for Windows Server 2003 SP1 (x86 and x64). The KMS can be used to activate Vista in corporate networks that have more than 25 clients. Until now, the KMS host was only available for Vista.

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VMware Workstation 6.0 Beta 3 (build 39849) has been available for some days now. I tried it today on a Vista host because VMware Workstation 5.5 runs quite unstable there. Since version 6.0 promises Vista support, I was hoping that I could use the Beta instead of version 5.5.

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On Tuesday, I downloaded the Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK). I am not sure since when it became already available, but it was not before Monday. Now, it seems that Microsoft removed it from the Web. The reason probably is that its setup program contains a bug.

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You probably know that the C:\Documents and Settings folder doesn’t exist anymore in Vista. It was replaced by the C:\Users and C:\ProgramData. Vista uses symbolic links pointing to these new folders for compatibility reasons. However, many guides still refer to the old folder structure. There is a simple trick for using the old folder name in Windows Explorer, though. This way you can find configuration files easier.

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I like Vista. Really! Some of its new features are very nice! I only wonder, when will the final version of Windows Vista be available? Wait a minute! Didn’t Microsoft just release it? Yeah, they did. Still I continue to wonder, when the final of Windows Vista will be available.

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Update: Microsoft removed the WAIK download.
The Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) is now available for download. It contains all important tools for deploying Windows Vista: ImageX, Windows System Image Manager (Windows SIM), Windows PE, and many more. The DVD image also contains the Windows Deployment Services (WDS) and the WinPE Language Packs.

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Since running VMware Workstation 5.5 on my Vista PC with a duo core CPU, I always get this message “Your host’s BIOS does not have valid NUMA information” whenever I start a virtual machine and my host system is blocked for some minutes. The message also refers to two knowledge base articles (document ID 938 and 1236). Since I know that many of my readers are moving to Vista with duo core CPUs these days, I will post the solution to the problem here.

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Joe Wilcox from Microsoft Watch interviewed David Lazar, director of Microsoft’s Genuine Windows initiative, about “Vista’s validation approach“. Did you know that Vista has to phone home every 180 days to reassure that you really, really paid your debts to Microsoft? This is what I call paranoia.

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The final of VMware Converter 3.0 is now available for download. I reviewed VMware Converter 3 Beta sometime ago. I liked the tool, but it was a bit unreliable. The final seems to work better, although, I only converted one machine using VMware Converter 3 Starter Edition.

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