Category: Windows

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Sep192018September 19, 2018September 21, 20181Commentby Thomas Maurer
Bag for Microsoft Ignite 2018

What’s in my bag for Microsoft Ignite 2018

Posted in Hardware, Microsoft, Microsoft MVP, Surface, Windows, Windows 10, Work

In a couple of days, I will board the plane and fly to the largest Microsoft Conference in the world – Microsoft Ignite 2018. I am very happy to travel to Microsoft Ignite 2018 in Orlando this year. In this blog, I will quickly share with you what I pack in my bag for Microsoft Ignite.

Microsoft Ignite is an annual conference for developers and IT professionals hosted by Microsoft. You can get the latest insights and skills from technology leaders and practitioners shaping the future of cloud, data, business intelligence, teamwork, and productivity.  I am really looking forward to it and meet other enthusiasts around Microsoft Cloud solutions. And of course, to connect and meet with members of the Microsoft Product Groups.

In the last couple of days, I am already preparing for the event. Besides checking out sessions and preparing side meetings, I am also packing my bag. One of the most important things for larger conferences like Ignite, is that you pack light. The conferences venue is huge, and your sessions and meetings maybe spread over the whole venue. You will walk a lot. It is important that you have good and comfortable shoes and save weight as much as possible, when packing your bag. And this is what I try this time.

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Sep172018September 17, 2018September 17, 20180Commentby Thomas Maurer
PowerShell Windows Server System Insights

Windows Server 2019 System Insights

Posted in Hyper-V, Microsoft, PowerShell, Windows, Windows Admin Center, Windows Server, Windows Server 2019

Currently Microsoft is releasing preview versions of Windows Server 2019 to the public. In one of the latest Windows Server Insider Preview builds, Microsoft released a new feature called Windows Server System Insights. The Windows Sevrer 2019 System Insights capability is a machine learning or statistics model that analyzes system data to give insight into the functioning of your Windows Server deployment. These predictive capabilities locally analyze Windows Server system data, such as performance counters or ETW events. This is helping IT administrators proactively detect and address problematic behavior in their Windows Server environment.

Windows Admin Center System Insights CPU Capacity forecasting

System Insights runs completely locally on Windows Server. All of your data is collected, persisted, and analyzed directly on your local machine, allowing you to realize predictive analytics capabilities without any cloud-connectivity. However, if you are using for example Azure Log Analytics (OMS), you forward the events created by System Insights to Azure Log Analytics, which than can give you a unified view about your environment.

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Sep152018September 15, 2018September 15, 20182Commentsby Thomas Maurer
Install SNMP Feature on Windows Server Core

Install SNMP on Windows Server Core

Posted in Microsoft, Server Core, Windows, Windows 10, Windows Server, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019, Work

If you run Windows Server as Core Installation, like Windows Server 2016 Core or any Microsoft Hyper-V Server edition and you want to use SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) on that system, you first have to install the SNMP feature on that Core Server. After that you can use the MMC to remotely connect to the services list on the Core Server.

Install SNMP on Windows Server Core

First lets see if the SNMP feature is installed, using PowerShell:

By default the SNMP feature is not installed. To install the SNMP feature on Windows Server Core, you can run the following command:

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Sep112018September 11, 2018September 11, 20182Commentsby Thomas Maurer
Windows Server FTP

Install FTP Server on Windows Server

Posted in IIS, Microsoft, PowerShell, Windows, Windows 10, Windows Server, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019, Work

Windows Server has IIS build in, which also offers a FTP server option. The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is still a very popular protocol that allows users to simply upload and download files. Of course today you have more modern options, however it is still very often used and a lot of legacy applications still support it.

In this blog post I wanna quickly go rough how you can install the FTP Server on Windows Server. I do this on a brand new Windows Server 2019 operating system, however it didn’t really change since early Windows Server versions.

Install FTP Server Feature on Windows Server

Install FTP on Windows Server using PowerShell

First you will need to install the FTP feature. I usually simply do that using PowerShell to install the FTP Server feature in Windows Server. You can also do that using the Server Manager. However, if you want to use PowerShell, you can use the following command:

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Aug242018August 24, 2018September 1, 20182Commentsby Thomas Maurer
Windows 10 Tablet Surface Go

Surface Go – My first Impressions and why I bought it!

Posted in Hardware, Hardware, Microsoft, Surface, Windows, Windows 10

I just received my Microsoft Surface Go. Yes, in Switzerland it was released just now, a couple of weeks after the US. The first review videos out there, did convince me that this is the right device I was looking for, but more to that later. In this short blog I want to give you a look at my first impressions of the Surface Go.

Why I bought the Surface Go

Microsoft Surface Go

First, let me tell you why I bought the Surface Go. I am a long time Microsoft Surface user, since the first Surface Pro. I went to several iteration of the Surface family and currently I am using a 15-inch Surface Book 2 and a Surface Pro. Surface Book 2, I like because of the power and screen size, and it is perfect for me to do some serious work. The Surface Pro is more less my light travel work devices to day.

As you know I spend a lot of time travelling at conferences or to customer for meetings. Every weight and space I can safe during traveling is basically a great thing. A lightweight device for doing some simple work like mail, browsing the web or working with office would be enough for most of the tasks. Another tasks I need my device a lot for is taking notes. Since I started to use OneNote, I never took notes on paper again. Most of my note taking I do with the Surface Pen. Especially during meetings, it is much nicer to take notes on an almost flat surface, instead of hiding behind a laptop. The Surface Pro and the Surface Go are prefect for this, since with the kickstand. They let you switch easily from taking notes with a pen, to using the keyboard.

Benefits I expect from the Surface Go

I think the Surface Go would have all these requirements and benefits:

  • Lightweight and small
  • Surface Pen support
  • Full Windows 10
  • Touchscreen and Keyboard with trackpad support
  • Great built quality like other Microsoft Surface Devices
  • Enough power to still do some simple work
  • LTE to be always connect

I know the Surface Go LTE version, comes later this year. I think this would be perfect, but with conference and travel season coming up, I didn’t want to wait. Let’s see if I upgrade later to the Surface Go LTE version. These always connected devices running Windows 10, cannot come soon enough.

My first impressions of the Surface Go

Surface Go Kickstand

Let’s talk about my first impressions of the Microsoft Surface Go. The most important part is obviously the formfactor. The Surface Go is crazy small and light. It really feels great in the hand and it seems to be the right size for a small and light travel device. It is almost cute if you put it to the 15inch Surface Book 2. The build quality is great as expected from Microsoft Surface hardware. The performance feels great for the tasks I am looking for. Microsoft Edge and Outlook and the other office apps feel fast and responsive.

The Surface Go also comes with a Surface Connect Charger, which is a great magnetic charging port. With that it can also easily connect with the Surface Dock and power my external monitor. However, the Surface Go also has a USB Type-C Port, and you can also charge the devices using a UBS charger.

I also got the Signature Type Cover, which is a smaller version of the Type Cover which comes with the Surface Pro. It is small but typing feels great. It takes only a quick moment to get used to it. Great is the huge glass trackpad which on the Type Cover.

Windows 10 Tablet Surface Go

I think this is the first Windows tablet I really can use as a tablet. With the size and weight, it is ideal to also use it as a tablet. For example the Surface Pro is only a little bit larger, but it makes a huge difference when you want to use it as a “portable tablet”. I found myself using Windows 10 in tablet mode a lot, and using the Surface Go in landscape and portrait mode.

Audio quality seems to be very good for a device in that price category. And the front facing stereo speakers make the difference to other tablets.

What I also really like is the great quality cameras which Microsoft has build in. If you record videos or if you do Skype for Business Calls and video meetings, the quality is way better than other tablets or even notebooks.

These were my first impressions of the Surface Go. Please let me know in the comments if you have any questions about it


Aug222018August 22, 2018August 22, 20181Commentby Thomas Maurer
Windows Server 2019

Windows Server 2019 – What is coming Next

Posted in Cloud, Containers, Docker, Hyper-V, Kubernetes, Microsoft, Nano Server, Server Core, Virtualization, Windows, Windows Server, Windows Server 2019, Work

A while ago Microsoft announced the next key versions Windows Server 2019 and System Center 2019. And a couple of weeks ago, at the Windows Server Summit, Microsoft was taking more about what is new in Windows Server 2019. Microsoft also talked a lot about the positioning of Windows Server and what we can expect in the future. With the news finally released to the public, I can start talking and blogging about the new features and investments. I decided to create a series of blogs, to show the world the great new features. This blog post here, should give you a high level overview about how Microsoft is investing in Windows Server 2019.

Windows Server – The Power behind the Intelligent Cloud and the Intelligent Edge

Intelligent Cloud and Intelligent Edge

Windows Server is not only powering the Intelligent Edge where you have a great Software-Defined Datacenter plaform running Hyper-V or Stroage Spaces Direct, or as application platform. It is also powering the Microsoft Azure Intelligent Cloud. Windows Server is running the foundation of the platform of Azure and also many many services running in Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Azure Stack. If the innovation happening in the Microsoft Public Cloud, we as customers also benefit from that.

Windows Server – Hybrid Cloud in the DNA

Windows Server Hybrid Cloud

Windows Server is a great platform and it runs where ever you are. If you run on-premises in your Software-Defined Datacenter running in on physical hardware or in virtual machines or on Azure Stack, Windows Server is your platform. If you are running in the Public Cloud, Windows Server is not only the platform powering Azure. Windows Server is also a great platform for you to run application in Microsoft Azure or other cloud services providers.

Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows Server

Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows Server Reserved Instances

The Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows Server is also a great option to run Windows Server workloads in the cloud. It allows customer to leverage the licensing they already have. This can bring down cost by a huge factor, and this together with Azure Reserved VM Instances up to 82%.

Windows Server 2019 – Innovation and Investments

Windows Server 2019 Investments

If we have a look at the investments done in Windows Server 2019, we can see that we can categorize them in 4 categories.

  • Hybrid Datacenter Platform
  • Security
  • Application Innovation
  • Hyper-Converged Infrastructure

Unique hybrid datacenter platform

Windows Server 2019 brings new functionality and features to extend your datacenter to Azure to maximize existing investments and gain new hybrid capabilities. To achieve this Microsoft brings improvements to Windows Server 2019 like built-in Azure Active Directory integration, Azure Backup, Azure Site Recovery, Storage Migration Services and many more.

Enhanced security capabilities

One of the key factors in today’s IT landscape is security. Microsoft started the journey by bringing enhanced security features to Windows Server 2016. With Windows Server 2019 Microsoft improves these security features of their server operating system. Microsoft adds new capabilities like Shield Virtual Machines for Linux, Exploit Guard, Encrypted Virtual Networks and under a lot of others. My favorite, the integration of Windows Defender Advanced Thread Protection or Windows Defender ATP.

Faster innovation for applications

With the Semi-Annual Channel releases of Windows Server, Microsoft already released some great investments to enable developers and IT pros. These allow them to create cloud native apps or modernize their traditional apps using containers and micro-services. In Windows Server 2019, Microsoft goes one step further and releases the SAC Improvement s like Linux Containers on Windows Server and the Windows Subsystem for Linux on Windows Server to the LTSC release. Microsoft also invest heavily to improve the container experience on Windows Server, by optimizing the container images for Server Core and Nano Server, a new Windows Container Image and better integration into orchestrators like Kubernetes and Service Fabric.

Unprecedented Hyper-converged Infrastructure

Microsoft is also improving your software-defined datacenter experience to achieve greater efficiency and security. With Windows Admin Center, Microsoft introduced a new web-based management UI which will be a perfect solution to manage your Windows Server 2019 servers. However, Microsoft is also investing in more hardware support like Storage Class Memory support. But also, on adding scale, resilience and performance improvements to your Storage Spaces Direct deployments. This includes improvements like Cluster Sets, improved performance for Mirror-accelerated parity volumes and much more.

In the next couple of days and weeks I will release some blog posts. These will covering the new features and improvements in Windows Server 2019 with a little more technical depth. And I am sure we will even have more to share after Microsoft Ignite. So ,stay tuned and follow my blog 🙂


Aug192018August 19, 2018August 19, 20180Commentby Thomas Maurer
Set Windows 10 Wallpaper Background

Windows 10 – How to set different wallpapers for multiple monitors in the Settings app

Posted in Microsoft, Windows, Windows 10

A lot of people have multiple monitors in their workplace setup today and want to use different Windows 10 Wallpaper per screen. This blog post is about how you can set different wallpapers for multiple monitors in Windows 10. I know there are already many articles and blog post out there covering this. But Microsoft changed this in the latest or next Windows 10 release, called Windows 10 1809 or codename Redstone 5 (RS5). Microsoft moved the settings menu from the Control Panel complete to the Windows Settings app. You want be able to use the classic Control Panel to change your wallpapers, and most how-to blogs did refer to that method. So here is how you can do this in the Windows 10 Settings app.

Setting a different wallpaper per Windows 10 is pretty easy now. Just open up the Windows 10 settings app. You can do this using the start menu or by pressing “Win” + “I”, which will also open the Settings app.

Windows 10 Settings

Now you navigate to Personalization and if not automatically selected, to Background. Here is very you can change the Windows 10 Desktop Wallpaper. Of couse there are many other ways to get here as well. For exmaple by doing a right click on the Desktop and select Personalization or usingd the command line:

Press “WIN” + “R” and run the following command:

Set the Windows 10 Wallpaper of different Monitors

Set Windows 10 Wallpaper Background

You are now in the right place to change the desktop background. First browse and open the pictures you want to use as your desktop wallpaper. If you just click on the Windows 10 wallpaper now, it will change the wallpaper on call screens. To only change it on one of the, simply right click it and select the monitor on which you want to change it. Setting different Windows 10 backgrounds per screen, has never been easier.



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    Thomas Maurer

    My Name is Thomas Maurer. Microsoft MVP. Work as a Solutions Architect and Technology Lead for itnetX, a consulting and engineering company located in Switzerland. I am focused on Microsoft Technologies, especially Microsoft Cloud & Datacenter solutions based Microsoft System Center, Microsoft Virtualization and Microsoft Azure.

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