SHimmer45

a bit of a tool, i didnt specify the filename on the destination i just did the directory where the file goes. re-reading the MS guidance showed up my error...... whoops

MS i think did / do certify certain memory sticks / solid state memory cards for OEM's and they did release guidance for none OEM's to set this up for Hyper-V server. i looked at it and wasn't overly keen. however people do run ESXI off memory sticks without issues? all down to the amount of reads and writes for the longevity of the media

BlueScreenView is a nice tool which i have used to read minidump files in the fast, iirc it colour codes items for easier reading http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html

Dipping toe in water for the 1st time using group policy preferences to create/copy the files for controlling the Java whitelist's, running into an issue where im getting access denied errors when processing the preference, (preference is being created using the computer part of the preference) i have set up the source location share and permissions like i would for MSI deployment (authenticated users / Domain computer READ ACCESS) im assuming that its grumbling because it cant write into the WINDOWS folder where the java settings files are. anyone else had this issue

replace the disk and start a resync from disk management should be fine* *usual disclaimer about backups and the like apply

i expect so one still running a small SQL instance

in your task sequence pop the client KMS code in the answer file (not the KMS host key but the key that MS publish on their site) as the image is rolled out the Image will query your DNS for the details of your KMS server and activate - should all be silent and not need you to do anything after adding the key and setting up a KMS host if you dont already have one.

Dell Prosupport as usual is fantastic and they are sending out the install media which should be appearing today. they even phoned me yesterday to apologise for the slight delay in receiving it, not that i need to deal with them alot they always impress me with their customer service

im going to say that if your servers can support 2012 / R2 then moving to them makes sense, but there isnt anything wrong with running 2008 and gradually upgrading as you have funding. if you have a server running SIMS it must go onto a 64bit platform otherwise you might have performance issues if you have a high number of users in SIMS.

they are a good switch, despite the age

HP also did a stacking kit for these switches as well, i expect these will pop up on ebay. stacking kit part number is HP J4116A

@Norphy PM checked before i jump off the deep end going to speak to Dell Support as i can be the only pillock that has done this

filtering stops me from getting such tools was what i was leaning towards cant believe i have been such a plonker!

so if your dumb enough to setup a new powervault NX3200 server and then go on holiday and forget the local password that was set is there a way to restore it to factory defaults to run through the setup again. i dont have any install media (its running Storage Server 2012R2) im wading through the Dell documentation to see if they provide a guide for this

SOlUS3 has been ok for us, yes the UI at 1st glance is a little confusing, but so far it has worked as described. be interesting to see if this changes as we add more workstations to it on the run up to the next upgrade.

faststone provide some good utils for resizing pictures which will free up space not everyone needs to take pictures which are "4000x4000dpi" when they they are being added into a presentation. might be useful to look to see if you can archive off any material which is very old / not used but this is a little tricky sometimes, all down to how people are using their data. if offline files is setup and people are connecting laptops for example which have alot of personal stuff on them this wont help, your not responsible for personal data. As your upgrading in the summer id put some thought into if you want to start enforcing quota's / data de-duplication to make the space go further

MDT & WDS

redirection is fickle about permissions on the users directories https://4sysops.com/archives/folder-redirection-part-2-setting-up-your-file-server/

in WDS management on the left there should be a section for adding boot images. all you do is add the MDT boot.wim from your MDT setup, MDT stores its boot images in *mdtdirectory*\boot and either litetouchPE_x64 /_x86.wim depending on which arch you are using. takes a few minutes to do once its added the drivers should load, as the WDS server pushes the MDT image to the machine which contains your added drivers

we were advised against including it it images

if you exit to a command prompt and do ipconfig /all does it show a network card? id still say that the driver is not being installed, if you had added the driver to the workbench and updated the MDT boot image have you then added this updated imafe to the WDS server?

if you migrate your SQL i would recommend running the "house keeping" task capita suggest if you run into post upgrade performance issues which some school have suffered with.

the recommendation for full from capita imo is so that they are covered if a school installs express but then exceeds the database size limitations / complain about poor performance if you have alot of people running large reports. full SQL isnt that expensive and as 2012 is required for the next release id just install it

headless media box with a 4x HDD is my 1st thought looking at that

this is good, alot of other suppliers you have to ask for it and pay a few extra ££ for the privilege