Hyper-V went RTM officially this morning.  Some fixes I've noticed already:

• Closing the Virtual Machine Connection window no longer yields a program crashed exception.
• VMs start, stop and save much more quickly than in RC1
• Machine Save State files are able to be used after the RTM upgrade (not so going from RC0 to RC1)

Press Release:
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2008/jun08/06-26hyperv.mspx

Download full RTM bits:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=F3AB3D4B-63C8-4424-A738-BADED34D24ED&displaylang=en

Vista SP1 x64 Management Console:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=88208468-0AD6-47DE-8580-085CBA42C0C2&displaylang=en
Vista SP1 x86 Management Console:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=BF909242-2125-4D06-A968-C8A3D75FF2AA&displaylang=en
Server 2008 x86 Management Console:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=6F69D661-5B91-4E5E-A6C0-210E629E1C42&displaylang=en

Here's a quick way to add Directory Service Restore Mode to the boot options menu in Server 2008.  From an elevated command prompt, execute the following commands:

• bcdedit /copy {default} /d "Directory Service Repair Mode"
• bcdedit /set {<GUID for new entry>} safeboot dsrepair

Where <GUID for new entry> can be cut and pasted from the results of the first command executed.  You can control menu timeouts from within System Properties.

Microsoft replaced NTBackup.exe with wbadmin in Windows Server 2008.  My first brush with this new program came with a necessary System State Backup prior to applying a schema mod to our Test Forest this morning.  Our Test Forest runs on virtual machines (Hyper-V), and we haven't been building these VMs with more than a system volume to date.  This came back to bite me this morning...  First I attempted to take System State Backup to a network drive, then to the local system volume.  Here's the output...

C:\Windows\system32>wbadmin start systemstatebackup -backuptarget: \\server\share.
wbadmin 1.0 - Backup command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2004 Microsoft Corp.

Starting System State Backup [6/16/2008 10:10 AM]
Retrieving volume information...

This would backup the system state from volume(s) Local Disk(C:) to \\server\share. Do you want to start the backup operation?
[Y] Yes [N] No y

Creating a system state backup to a shared network folder is not allowed. To store a system state backup on a shared network folder, first run the backup to a local volume and then copy the backup to the shared network folder.

C:\Windows\system32>wbadmin start systemstatebackup -backuptarget:c:
wbadmin 1.0 - Backup command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2004 Microsoft Corp.

Starting System State Backup [6/16/2008 10:18 AM]
Retrieving volume information...

This would backup the system state from volume(s) Local Disk(C:) to c:. Do you want to start the backup operation?
[Y] Yes [N] No y

ERROR - The location for backup is a critical volume.

Good times...  Turns out that Microsoft disabled the ability to save System State backups to the system volume (termed a "critical" volume here).  There is a fix for this in the form of a registry change.  The article is located here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/944530.  Note that to implement this change, you will need to create a new key under the HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\wbengine, as well as adding the necessary entry.  Simply adding the entry to the existing key will NOT achieve the desired behavior.

PS: Here's a spot on look at AD Backup and Restore in Server 2008: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc462796(TechNet.10).aspx

I've seen a lot of documentation out there about the "wuauclt /detectnow" option as a way to force XP's Automatic Updates or Vista's Windows Update to redetect updates.  This is especially useful during a Patch Tuesday cycle, when it's important to make sure that clients are behaving the way you would expect after approving new updates.  However I've had mixed (read: no) luck with "detectnow", so here's how I've forced the detection routine to get started.  The following instructions work on Vista - and should work on XP as well.

• Delete the computer from the WSUS console - it will readd itself during detection
• net stop "Windows Update"
• Delete the contents of the c:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution
• net start "Windows Update"
• From an elevated command prompt, execute "wuauclt /detectnow /resetauthorization"

Note - you may not be prompted immediately to install updates, but at this point when processing is complete (you can watch the updates download and the associated processes working on the new patches from within Task Manager) you should be able to open Windows Update from within Control Panel, and see that you have updates waiting to install.

This will force the Windows Update client to download all updates once again, but it will trigger the installation routine.  Probably not a good idea on production workstations, but this works great in a test environment.

For ISO creation (ripping from source media), as well as CD boot image extraction (useful when slipstreaming), I use IsoBuster, available here: http://www.isobuster.com/

For ISO mounting, I use SlySoft's Virtual CloneDrive, available here: http://www.slysoft.com/en/download.htm

For creating my own ISOs (not from a source CD/DVD), I have come to increasingly rely on a Windows Automated Installation Kit tool called OSCDIMG.exe.  This little gem can create ISOs of all kinds and flavors, and includes an option for creating a bootable ISO by including an extracted CD boot image.  It's quite fast and reliable, and can make ISOs out of WIM files with zero hassle.

With special thanks to Microsoft's Michael Greene on the Off Campus blog...

The Network and Sharing Center provides an extra set of "click throughs" on the way to setting an IP address in Vista.  Here's the quick and dirty way in:

Start -> ncpa.cpl

I remember it by thinking "Network Connections Physical Adapters".

The Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) for Vista were released this week.  The tools require Vista SP1, and allow you to manage Server 2008 and in many cases Server 2003.

Microsoft Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows Vista with SP1 (x86): http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=9FF6E897-23CE-4A36-B7FC-D52065DE9960

Microsoft Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows Vista with SP1 (x64): http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=D647A60B-63FD-4AC5-9243-BD3C497D2BC5

Release Candidate 0 of Hyper-V was released on March 19th.  Details about the release and instructions for installing it are available here: http://blogs.technet.com/jhoward/archive/2008/03/19/Hyper_2D00_V-RC0-release-is-available-for-download.aspx

Hyper-V RC0 Update (x64): http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=DDD94DDA-9D31-4E6D-88A0-1939DE3E9898

To manage Hyper-V RC0 from another 2008 or Vista management box, you'll need to install one of the following patches:

Windows Vista SP1 Management Tool for Hyper-V RC0 (x64): http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=450931F5-EBEC-4C0B-95BD-E3BA19D296B1

Windows Vista SP1 Management Tool for Hyper-V RC0 (x86): http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=BC3D09CC-3752-4934-B84C-905E78BE50A1

Update for Windows Server 2008 (KB949219) (x86): http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=B7464B44-821D-4A7C-9D9C-7D74EC14437C

I currently have a Hyper-V RC0 installation on a test machine running 2008 Enterprise x64 Server Core, being managed by a separate 2008 Enterprise x86 Full Installation workstation.  The new release of Hyper-V definitely brings a marked performance increase in both VM operation and in management.

NOTE: You must install the Hyper-V RC0 x64 update on any Server 2008 Guest OSes in order for the Integration Components to work.  They are built into the RTM 2008 OS, but they are not compatible with RC0 without the full upgrade.

This document from Microsoft on Server Core indicates that you can perform the following steps to enable read-only remote access to Device Manager on a Server Core installation:

• Device Manager. You must first enable the Allow remote access to the PnP interface policy setting. To do this, on a computer running Windows Vista or a full installation of Windows Server 2008, open the Local Group Policy Editor MMC snap-in, connect to the computer running a Server Core installation, navigate to Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Device Installation, and then enable Allow remote access to the PnP interface. Restart the computer running a Server Core installation.

The problem is this: I have been unable to find any way to open another computer's Local Group Policy via gpedit.msc.  I've looked at Windows XP, Vista RTM and SP1, and 2008 - all to no avail.  The solution is to create a domain-based GPO with the above setting, and then either reboot Server Core, or run gpupdate /force to force updated processing of Group Policy.  With this policy in place, you can successfully open a read-only view of Device Manager.

I don't recall when (if ever) gpedit.msc has been capable of opening another computer's Local Group Policy remotely, so if someone comes across a way to do this I'd appreciate hearing about it.

To install Hyper-V on a Server Core OS, execute the following two commands:

• BCDEdit /set hypervisorlaunchtype auto
• start /w OCSetup Microsoft-Hyper-V

The documentation for Hyper-V does not mention the BCDEdit step.  OCSetup will automatically perform the BCDEdit step normally, but it will only perform that operation after the first reboot following the Hyper-V installation.  If you don't perform the first step manually, it will take a second reboot in order to get the Hypervisor to load.  Thanks to MSDN's Mike Kolitz and his blog Virtual Varia for pointing this out.

Note: You may have to start the Hyper-V installation prior to running BCDEdit, as BCDEdit will throw an error if it realizes there is no Hypervisor to enable.  In such a case, fire up Task Manager and open a second command prompt, so you'll have somewhere to fire off the BCDEdit command prior to OCSetup's required reboot.