ThinkPad X1 and Windows 8

Posted on January 31, 2012 by Thomas Maurer

In the last days I got my new machine for work, a Lenovo ThinkPad X1. As usual I always want to work with the latest and greates technology, that’s why I have chosen to set up the ThinkPad X1 with Windows 8.

Even in Developer Preview state Windows 8 runs very stable and brings a lot of cool new features which I can use for my daily work. I love the new PowerShell versions and Internet Explorer 10. But the best and the biggest feature for me, is the integration of Hyper-V 3 in Windows 8. So I don’t have to use VMware Workstation or VirtualBox to run virtual machines on my notebook for testing or presentations. I also can simply use the VHD (or VHDX) format to play with virtual machines or even boot them via boot from VHD.

The downside of the Windows 8 Developer Preview is missing .NET framework 3.5, but I think the Windows 8 beta, which should be released by the end of February, should fix this.

Maybe some people have realized that I am a big fan of business style notebooks. And what would be better business design than the ThinkPad series. Lenovo tried to combine good old ThinkPad values with new design features, and in my opinion succeeded. I really like the ThinkPad design in this very slim chassis. It looks elegant and business “high-class”.

The build quality of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 is like you would expect it from a ThinkPad. It feels great and very robust. Keith Combs describes it in his review ”The ThinkPad X1 is build like a tank. It’s probably the most solid notebook I’ve ever had in my hands.” and I have to agree with him.

More information on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 here.

Install CentOS on Windows 8 Hyper-V

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Thomas Maurer

For some courses at KTSI we need a CentOS to test some Linux spesific things like Apache and other stuff. The good thing, Windows 8 got Hyper-V and Hyper-V supports CentOS.

With Version 3.2 oft the Linux Integration Services Microsoft fixed also a bug which occurred in Windows 8.

First download CentOS
Download the Linux Integration Services Version 3.2 for Hyper-V
Start Hyper-V Manager and create a new Virtual Machine
Install CentOS 6.x
Reboot the virtual machine
Login as root
Mount the Linux Integration Services ISO from step 2

Now run the following commands in the virtual machine

sudo mount /dev/cdrom /media
sudo /media/install.sh

After you the Installation is completed you have to reboot the virtual machine again
done

Hyper-V 3: Import and Export VMs with PowerShell

Posted on December 19, 2011 by Thomas Maurer

Aidan Finn (Virtual Machine MVP) just made a blog post about Hyper-V & PowerShell in Windows Server 8 and how you can enable Hyper-V via PowerShell in Windows Server 8. So this gave me the idea about doing a little more with PowerShell and Hyper-V 3.

I already did a blog post about how you can attach multiple VHDs to a SCSI Controller with PowerShell in Windows Server 8. In this post I will show how easy you can export and import a lot of Virtual Machines.

First you can run a Get-VM Test*, to check which VMs you will export.


Get-VM Test*

Now you can export the Virtual Machines


Get-VM Test* | Export-VM -Path "C:\VMs"

Now I removed the Virtual Machines in Hyper-V with Powershell (You could also add the -confirm parameter so you don’t have to press “y” for each VM.


Get-VM Test* | Remove-VM

And now you can import the Virtual Machines again


Get-Childitem "C:\VMs" -Recurse *.xml | Import-VM

I will post more about PowerShell in Windows 8 and Windows Server 8 (Hyper-V 3) in the next upcommig weeks. If you want know more about what new Hyper-V features and improvments are coming in Windows Server 8, you can read the following blog post: “Hyper-V: Version 3 kills them all”

My first year with Windows Phone

Posted on November 26, 2011 by Thomas Maurer

WinodwsPhoneMangoLogo

Exactly one year ago I got my first Windows Phone. Since then a lot has change and Windows Phone has really improved.

After the first update, called NoDo, I could leave my iPhone 4 behind and change to the HTC 7 Trophy. Of course the hardware was nowhere near the iPhone 4 but the Windows Phone OS was just great. Now one year later there is a lot of good Windows Phone hardware out there and the Windows Phone OS has improved with Mango.

I am sure there will be a lot more great Windows Phone stuff in the future.

PowerShell: Ping IP range

Posted on November 2, 2011 by Thomas Maurer

Some you need to know which IP in a specific range is already in use. With Windows PowerShell there is a simple way to ping a IP range.

You can use the .Net class System.Net.Networkinformation.Ping to do this.


$ping = New-Object System.Net.Networkinformation.Ping
1..254 | % { $ping.send(“192.168.100.$_”) | select address, status }

Windows Server 8 NIC Teaming

Posted on October 24, 2011 by Thomas Maurer

With the Developer Preview release of Windows Server 8 which Microsoft released at BUILD, Microsoft showed the new integrated NIC Teaming feature. Basically you could do NIC Teaming before but you had to use software and driver from network card or server vendors which was sometimes a little bit of a pain.

Now with the integrated NIC Teaming features in Windows Server 8 you can team network cards even if they are from different vendors. I am sure this will make lives of Hyper-V Engineers a lot easier.