Tag: Windows

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Aug202018August 20, 2018August 20, 20181Commentby Thomas Maurer
AzCopy Azure and Azure Stack

Sync Azure Blob Storage with Azure Stack Blob Storage

Posted in Cloud, Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Azure Stack, PowerShell, Work

There are some scenarios where you want to sync Blob Storage on Azure with Blob Storage on Azure Stack. This easily be done using the AzCopy tool. AzCopy is a command-line utility designed to copy data to and from Microsoft Azure blob and table storage using simple commands with optimal performance. You can copy data from one object to another within your storage account, or between storage accounts in Azure as well as in Azure Stack.

You can get AzCopy on Windows and AzCopy on Linux. You should get at least AzCopy version 7.1.0. In my example I use the version 8.0.0 preview version, which also works fine. Make also sure that you have deployed a supported version of Azure Stack. Check out my blog about updating Azure Stack to get more information.

After the installation you will find the AzCopy.exe in the “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Azure\AzCopy”

How to Sync and copy files from Azure to Azure Stack

You can use AzCopy with Azure Stack as you would do in Microsoft Azure. To copy and Sync files you can use the following command. Be aware that synchronous data transfer between Azure storage and Azure Stack is not supported. There for you will need to specify the the /SyncCopy or –sync-copy parameter.

Of course this works in both directions and also between two different Azure Stack storage accounts.

You can find more about AzCopy on Azure Stack on the documentation page. If you have any questions feel free to comment on the blog post. There are other great storage tools which work great with the Microsoft Hybrid Cloud environment like Visual Studio or Azure Storage Explorer. These scenarios show perfectly how Microsoft built their hybrid cloud environment. Basically you can use the same tools, processes and knowhow in the Public Cloud as well as in your datacenter.


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.


Aug072018August 7, 2018August 13, 20180Commentby Thomas Maurer
Custom Hyper-V Quick Create VM Gallery

How to create a Custom Hyper-V Quick Create VM Gallery

Posted in Hyper-V, Microsoft, PowerShell, Virtualization, Windows, Windows 10, Windows Server, Windows Server 2019, Work

You might have seen that Hyper-V in Windows 10 got a new Quick Create Feature, this will open up a virtual machine gallery, which allows you to download different virtual machine images. For example the default image is a Windows 10 dev environment, which allows developers to quickly spin up a development environment with Visual Studio inside a Hyper-V virtual machine. If you want to create your own items in the Hyper-V VM Gallery.

To do that you simple have to do three things:

  • Create a virtual machine image (a .iso or compatible .vhdx file)
  • Create a gallery source (.json file) and create a gallery item (configuration inside the .json file)
  • Add the gallery source to the VM Gallery UI
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Aug032018August 3, 2018August 15, 20182Commentsby Thomas Maurer
Hyper-V Version 9.0

Windows Server 2019 and Windows 10 with new Hyper-V VM Version and UEFI

Posted in Hyper-V, Microsoft, PowerShell, Virtualization, Windows, Windows 10, Windows Server, Windows Server 2019, Work

If you are running the latest Windows Insider builds, for example in Windows 10 Build 17728 and you are running Hyper-V you will see two new improvements. These improvements are also in the latest Windows Server 2019 Insider Preview builds and will be available for production when Windows Server 2019 will be released.

Microsoft Hyper-V UEFI 2019

First Hyper-V UEFI now looks prettier and has more less the same still as other Microsoft devices like the Surface Book or the Surface Pro.

Hyper-V 2019 UEFI

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Jul312018July 31, 2018August 14, 20180Commentby Thomas Maurer
Microsoft Whiteboard

IT Pros – Check out the Microsoft Whiteboard App

Posted in Microsoft, Office, Office365, Web, Windows, Windows 10

A couple of days ago Microsoft announced that the Microsoft Whiteboard App is now generally available (GA). Obviously this is not just an IT Pro app, it can be used by anyone running Windows 10. The Microsoft Whiteboard App is designed to help you collaborate with others in real time using inking and replace physical whiteboards. Microsoft Whiteboard allows you to share and invite others to collaborate on a whiteboard over the web. It is not only available as an app on Windows 10, it is also available on the Surface Hub.

I started to use the Microsoft Whiteboard app heavily. Instead of using OneNote to draw during presentations and workshops, I now use the Whiteboard App. It helps me quickly to draw some technical drawings and do my interactive workshops.

The Microsoft Whiteboard

Microsoft New Whiteboard

The Microsoft Whiteboard provides you an unlimited whiteboard canvas. You can use a pen, like the Surface Pen, or you can just use your fingers to draw and edit stuff. You have different digital pens and drawing tools available. Form here you just can get started with what every you want to draw, note or plan.

Insert things into the Whiteboard

Microsoft Whiteboard Insert Pictures

You can not only draw and write on the canvas, you can also add different type of files like Images from your PC, Bing or take a picture directly from the whiteboard. You can also add text notes, which you easily can move around.

Microsoft Whiteboard Ink to Shape

Microsoft Whiteboard Ink to Shape

If you want to have some extended features, you can open up the settings and you have some other cool options for inking. Ink to shape basically recognizes what type of shape you want to draw and does automatically convert to the right shape. Even cooler is the Ink to table feature, which lets you quickly draw a table. This makes it easy to draw and quickly get to where you want to go.

Whiteboard Sharing

Microsoft Whiteboard Sharing

I already mentioned that you use the whiteboard to collaborate. You have two ways of sharing it, you can invite people from your Office 365 or Microsoft Account, or you can just simply share a web sharing link, to allow others to join your whiteboard over the web. You will be able to see in real time what the others are drawing.

I hope this gives you a quick overview about the Microsoft Whiteboard app, let me know what you think. You can get the Microsoft Whiteboard from the Microsoft Store for free.


Jul252018July 25, 2018August 14, 20180Commentby Thomas Maurer
Windows 10 Emoji

How to use Emojis in Windows 10

Posted in Microsoft, Windows, Windows 10

This is a very quick note because I really start to like this feature a lot. In Windows 10 you can easily use emojis by pressing the Windows Key + “.” and the emoji panel will show up.

I also used that feature to rename my audio devices in Windows 10 and add emojis to their name. 🙂


Jul212018July 21, 2018August 14, 20180Commentby Thomas Maurer
Flush DNS Cache with PowerShell

Flush DNS Cache with PowerShell

Posted in Microsoft, PowerShell, Windows, Windows 10, Windows Server, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019, Work

Awhile ago I wrote a blog post called PowerShell Networking Cheat sheet, where I put together several networking commands which can be replaced by PowerShell. One of the latest once I saw and a couple of people requested is how you flush the DNS cache using PowerShell. This would allow you to replace ipconfig/ flushdns with PowerShell. Guess what, Microsoft as now a PowerShell cmdlet for that.

Clear and Flush DNS with PowerShell

You can use the following command to clear the DNS cache on a Windows system using PowerShell

Show DNS Cache with PowerShell

There is also a PowerShell command to show you the DNS cache:

I hope this blog post and these commands are useful.



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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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