One of the interesting features of the new Windows 7 / Windows Server 2008 R2 is the possibility of performing an offline domain join of computers with the command line tool djoin.exe. Here, offline means that there is no network connection to the Active Directory at the time when the client joins the domain. I tried the tool and was a little disappointed because its handling in large environments seems to be a bit cumbersome to me. In this post, I will give you a short introduction into djoin’s usage and in my next post, I will discuss possible usage scenarios.

Requirements

Djoin comes with every Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 installation. You don’t have to raise the functional level of the Active Directory domain to Windows Server R2, and you don’t need an R2 domain controller since djoin also works with earlier domain controller versions. Because Djoin requires administrator privileges, you have to use the tool on an elevated command prompt. Of course, you also need an account that has sufficient rights to create domain computer accounts.

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Well, as we move from theory to practise, our first batch of Windows 7 machines has been deployed and rolled out into the production environment, and so far so very, very good. Microsoft has done a very impressive job with its newest suite of client and server products, and our deployment is being managed end-to-end with no third-party products required.

I thought this would be an opportune time to document some of the problems I’ve encountered so far in the build of our Windows 7 Standard Operating Environment (SOE). Given that we are moving from a Windows XP/Novell Netware environment, there are a whole raft of changes happening as well as having to deal with problems which were lurking behind the scenes, and that’s what I’ll talk about today.

One of our critical line-of-business applications is an authoritative administration/HR system, with a locally-installed GUI application which talks back to a SQL database. The database is hosted on SQL Server 2005 SP3 x64 which sits on a Windows Server 2003 SP2 x64 system. We started noticing that on the Windows 7 machines, the local GUI took forever to talk back to the SQL database. There were no error messages (irritatingly) but performance was so slow as to be unusable.

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Windows 7 Federated Search is a new feature that allows users to search remote repositories using Windows Explorer. In earlier Windows versions, the repository has to run Windows Search, but thanks to the support of OpenSearch in Windows 7, you can now integrate any website or web service into your desktop search environment.

To demonstrate how easy it is, I have created an OpenSearch connector for 4sysops. After you have downloaded the OSDX file (right click to save the file), you have to double click it. Windows will ask you if you want to add this search connector. Of course ! Windows Explorer will then display a new shortcut named “4sysops”in the Favorites section in the navigation pane. To search 4sysops, you can now use the Windows Explorer if you click on this icon.

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These days there are quite a few types of computers which don’t have an optical drive built in. For the average user this is no great loss. Today Software is downloaded and not bought on a CD or DVD anymore. Also the CD has lost its popularity for exchanging data, people use the Internet or USB sticks. However, there is one big drawback for PCs without optical drives: For installing an OS you need to boot from the installation media. Without an optical drive you run into problems, because USB sticks aren’t bootable by default and installing from a network is quite a hassle.

So you either have to buy an external DVD drive or you make your USB stick bootable and copy the ISO image on it. As nobody wants to spend 60 bucks on buying an external DVD drive just for installing their shiny new OS most prefer the second option. Manually making the USB stick bootable is a pain though. Fortunately there are some applications available which exactly do that for you.

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Many people are playing with Windows 7 these days, and so new tips to make your work more efficient are popping up every day on the web. In this post, I will share the seven tips I found most useful for my work with Windows 7.

1 Drag and drop to the command prompt

Daniel Petri discovered that drag and drop to the command prompt is back in Windows 7. This allows you to copy a file’s path to the command prompt.

2 Pin files to a taskbar button

Paul Thurrott mentioned this tip. To associate a file with a certain application, you can drag and drop its icon to the corresponding taskbar button. You can then open this file from the app’s Jumplist.

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In my last post, I discussed the typical arguments when it comes to the question of whether it is justified to skip Windows 7. Today I will put forward three somewhat unusual arguments that are, in my view, even more decisive.

My last argument was that the new Windows 7 features will increase overall user productivity. However, the mere practical effect of the new features is only one side of the coin when it comes to productivity. On the other side is the often underestimated user motivation.

5 Motivation

It is true that some users are reluctant to learn new things and hope to keep their current OS as long as possible. But I’m guessing they’re not the most productive ones in your organization anyway. On the other hand, those users who are open to changes probably will have Windows 7 on their private PCs soon. It will certainly have a negative effect on their motivation, if you give them outdated equipment at work. Would you want to work in an office with furniture that hasn’t been replaced for the last 20 years?

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According to a recent survey, 60% of all businesses plan to deploy Windows 7. This is good news. It’s not just because of the positive press Windows 7 received; it probably is mostly because many organizations have skipped Vista and now have to purchase new PCs. However, I suppose if this survey were about Vista the result would have been that 40% of business already plan to skip Vista. Anyway, this article is for the “skippers” who try to get out of the way of new Windows versions the way captains try to avoid icebergs.

1. Security

The number one reason for deploying Vista was certainly security. Regular readers will probably start rolling their eyes, moaning “not again.” But when it comes to security, one can’t wag one’s finger too often. It is important to point out that according to new data from Security Essentials users, it is not just that XP is much more vulnerable than Vista; it appears that Vista is even more vulnerable compared to Windows 7. I wasn’t surprised to learn that, of all infected PCs, 52% were running Windows XP and only 32% Vista. But the fact that only 17% run Windows 7 seems to be surprising at first because Windows 7 and Vista are not that much different. One could object that this data is from Microsoft. Of course, they want to make their latest offspring look as good as possible. However, I think, this big difference can be partly explained by the fact that many of the Windows 7 machines were just installed and did not have enough time to get infected. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that Windows 7 is the most secure Windows OS. I am positive that long-term data will prove this.

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When Windows 7 was still in beta, I asked 4sysops readers about their opinion on the new taskbar in Windows 7, a.k.a. Superbar. At the time I wrote the article, I was not really convinced of the value of this new feature, but I needed more experience. Using such a feature on test systems is quite different from working with it in a productive environment. I have been using Windows 7 on my laptop for a while, and my final verdict about the Superbar stands now. I also want to share how I use the Windows 7 taskbar.

I think, this is an important topic, especially for IT pros, because we usually work with many applications simultaneously and switch between tools all day. Hence, finding the best method to switch tasks can increase your productivity significantly, even if the time needed to change from one tool another is only a second. These seconds add up over a long work day. Even more important is the fact that switching quickly between applications is essential for keeping your focus. If you need two seconds or more to switch between apps, then this will certainly have a negative effect on your concentration and will tire you out quickly.

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Putting on a show as big as Microsoft Tech.Ed is no mean feat. Preparing a convention venue for a few thousand demanding and IT-savvy delegates, not to mention three days’ worth of technically-intense presentations, sessions and labs, involves months of preparation and the combined efforts of many teams.

The focus of the 2009 round of Tech.Ed events is centred strongly around Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 – Microsoft’s major product releases this year. Microsoft Australia were looking for way to give Tech.Ed delegates as good an experience with Windows 7 as possible, so early this year an idea was floated to give each attendee a netbook (to have, not just to borrow) with Windows 7 preloaded. As if staging the event was not difficult enough, now the infrastructure had to accommodate an additional 2500 machines, using software which was not yet available in its final form.

A project of this scale would challenge any IT team, so how have Microsoft achieved it? I chatted with three of the main organisers and technical managers with Microsoft Australia responsible for making sure that this year’s Tech.Ed Australia netbook extravaganza will go off without a hitch.

Andrew Coates is a Developer Evangelist with Microsoft Australia and is the content owner for Tech.Ed Australia 2009.

Nick Hodge is an evangelist with Microsoft Australia and is responsible for bringing many aspects of Tech.Ed Australia 2009 together

Jorke Odolphi is an Infrastructure Architect Evangelist with Microsoft Australia, and is responsible for the technical infrastructure behind Tech.Ed.

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Using keyboard shortcuts allow you to work more efficiently. Windows has quite a few hotkeys, and it obviously doesn’t make sense to memorize them all. But I recommend skimming over the all available shortcut keys and choosing the ones that seem to be useful for you. I just copied the list from Windows 7 help.

The advantage of the list here is that you can perform a full text search over all keyboard shortcuts without having to expand all sections first. The first section contains all new shortcuts in Windows 7. I have stolen this list from Technet. The article there is about the beta version, but I suppose not much has changed since then.

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I suppose quite a few IT pros are now downloading Windows 7 RTM from Technet and Windows 7. When I started the download yesterday, download speed was extremely slow. It was only 20 KB/sec. After I received some tweets from people located in the US reporting that their download speed is more than ten times as fast, it occurred to me that Microsoft must have limited the bandwidth to Europe. Perhaps someone in Redmond is still annoyed about the European Commission? But then messages from other parts of Europe started pouring in, indicating that other people experienced quite different download speeds.

Finally, Lukas Beeler enlightened me. The download speed depends heavily on the download manager. Akamai’s download applet is much faster than the Microsoft File Transfer Manager. I then downloaded Windows 7 at 700 KB/sec. I am relieved to know that Microsoft has no intentions of cutting off Europe from the IT world.

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Windows 7 RTM is now available on Technet and MSDN. It is time for every IT pro to learn about the new features. In this post, I have collected all 4sysops articles that review or discuss new Windows 7 features. You will also find tips on how to manage Windows 7. The first list gives you an overview of all the new features. The articles in the other categories describe a particular feature in more detail. Whenever I publish a new article about Window 7 in the coming weeks, I will update this page. If you think that an important feature is missing, please tell me!

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It appears the European Commission and Microsoft are close to an agreement in the web browser-bundling antitrust case. I reported last week in the 4sysops news section that there probably will be no Windows 7 E without Internet Explorer in Europe. Instead, Microsoft will offer a Ballot Screen that allows users to choose a web browser. The Ballot Screen will also be displayed on already installed Windows XP and Windows Vista computers. This article summarizes the most important facts about the Ballot Screen.

Obviously, Windows 7 without a browser would have meant too much hassle for PC manufacturers, software vendors, and customers. It is also possible that the European Commission wouldn’t have accepted Microsoft’s proposal to deliver Windows 7 in Europe without any web browser. I have already outlined my view about this bizarre antitrust case before. I think Microsoft made the right decision, not because we need more competition in the browser market, but because a special European Windows 7 edition would have caused too much trouble. I am now waiting until Symantec & Co. will want a Ballot Screen for desktop firewalls, antimalware software, backup software, etc.

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Those of you who can’t wait to get their hands on Windows 7, might be interested to hear that a Microsoft blogger posted the Windows 7 RTM CRC and SHA-1 checksums. The article is in German and I didn’t find a corresponding English post. I just copied the hash codes at the end of this article. Somehow I think this was just an independent initiative of a Microsoft employee even though a major German news site puts it as if Microsoft officially published the Windows 7 RTM hash sums. Let’s see how long this blog post stays online.

You probably saw this odd competition on many blogs in the last couple of weeks. Almost every day they reported about a new leaked Windows 7 RTM ISO image. Even though I am also very curious about Windows 7, I usually don’t download software through torrent sites. The risk is too high to install software that contains viruses, rootkits or botnet code. If you have the correct checksum, then you are safe. But usually it is not worth the hassle. After the 30 days grace period has ended or after you have rearmed Windows 7 three times, you need a valid product key anyway.

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This short video was taken yesterday in Atlanta at Microsoft’s internal Global Exchange (MGX) conference. I found it interesting because it demonstrates nicely that Microsoft indeed has got its mojo back. One can sense how enthusiastic Microsoft’s employees are about the positive feedback that Windows 7 has received. Just in case you are wondering who the third guy is who gives the signed DVDs to Steven Sinofsky (President Windows Division); it is Kevin Turner (Chief Operating Officer). Also interesting: 5000 engineers have been working on Windows 7. Does anyone know the number of engineers that worked on Apollo 11?
Windows 7 Sneak-Peak from MGX