Windows Server 2008 R2 Security Baseline released

The Windows Server® 2008 R2 Security Baseline is a new addition to the security baselines released earlier this year that can be used in combination with the Security Compliance Manager tool. The security baseline for Windows Server 2008 R2 provides you with free Microsoft-recommended solutions to meet today's security challenges. In combination with best-practice guidance and the Security Compliance Manager tool, the baseline is designed to help you plan, deploy, and monitor the security of Windows Server 2008 R2. This release also includes a settings pack for Windows Server 2008 R2, enabling you to define baselines that include settings outside the scope of the security baselines from Microsoft.

To learn more, visit the TechNet Library: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=200483

New users can access this baseline by visiting the Microsoft Download Center to download the Security Compliance Manager tool: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=113939

Existing Security Compliance Manager tool users can access this baseline by clicking the Tools menu, and then clicking Check for Baselines.

Security Compliance Manager Baseline Beta Review Program

If you have not yet provided feedback on the previously announced beta baseline release for Microsoft® Office 2010, or the new settings packs for Windows® 7 and Windows® Internet Explorer® 8, join the Security Compliance Manager Baseline Beta Review Program: https://connect.microsoft.com/InvitationUse.aspx?ProgramID=5758&InvitationID=SOL-D2BR-VFJ2&SiteID=715

The Security Solution Accelerators team is developing new baselines and settings, all of which are designed to help your organization plan and deploy security baselines with ease and confidence. These new baselines and supporting best-practice guidance are available as part of the Security Compliance Manager Baseline Beta Review Program. The scope of this program includes security baselines for Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, Office 2010, SQL Server® 2008, SQL Server® 2008 R2, and Windows Server 2008 R2; and settings packs for Windows 7 and Internet Explorer 8.

The beta releases in this program are formatted to be imported for use in the Security Compliance Manager tool, which released in early 2010. This powerful tool provides guidance to work with other tools and features of Microsoft products to help you plan, deploy, and monitor your security baselines. The tool enables you to access and automate all of your organization’s baselines in one centralized location, balancing your needs for security and functionality.

To learn more about the Security Compliance Manager tool, visit the TechNet Library: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=113940

To download the tool, click here: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=182512

Please send any questions or comments to the Solution Accelerators Security Team: Secwish@microsoft.com.

Uninstall and Remove Software in Safe Mode in Windows

If you have installed software on your computer and for any reason it gives you issues, the best thing to do is to uninstall it. Period. But what happen if such a piece of software keeps restarting your Windows operating system or worst, disables certain services so that you won’t be able to performs some important operation anymore ? In this case Windows will help you with a special feature called Safe Mode.

Basically, in Safe Mode you will be able to troubleshoot your computer in order to fix issues. However, if you need to uninstall and remove some software, you have to know that this kind of “limited state” Mode has the Windows Installer Service completely disabled. Let’s see how to turn it on and uninstall everything… even in the Safe Mode configuration. Windows Installation Service is responsible for the installation and uninstallation procedure.

If you try to access it in Safe Mode you will get the following message: “The Windows Installer Service could not be accessed. This can occur if the Windows Installer is not correctly installed. Contact your Support Personnel for assistance”. The following tutorial will teach you how to turn the Windows Installation Service in Safe Mode:

1. Click Start

2. In the Search field, type regedit and press Enter.

3. Locate the following registry key: HKLM\ SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\ Control\SafeBoot\ Minimal\

4. Right-click on the Mininal key and from the menu select New – Key. Now name the new key MSIService and change the value to Service by double-clicking it.

5. If you are in the Safe Mode with Network Mode, repeat the above steps for the following registry key: HKLM\ SYSTEM#92;CurrentControlSet\ Control\ SafeBoot\Network\

6. The newly created MSIService will make available the Windows Installation Service in Safe Mode. However, I want to remind you that it is necessary to turn the new service on.

7. To do it, exit regedit, click Start and in the Search field type: services.msc and press Enter.

8. From the list, locate Windows Installer. Right-click it and select Start.

9. If the procedure to turn on Windows Installer doesn’t work try this one:

10. Click Start.

11. In the search field, type cmd. Do not press Enter.

12. Right click the Command DOS icon and click the Run it as Administrator link.

13. In the command prompt, type net start msiserver.

At the end of the whole procedure do not forget to restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 Launched

Today during the keynote address at the High Performance Computing Financial Markets Conference, Microsoft Corp. announced the immediate availability of Windows HPC Server 2008 R2. Providing a comprehensive and integrated high-performance computing (HPC) solution at a low cost of ownership, this server offers new capabilities for powerful analysis and is ready for the toughest technical computing workloads in business, academia and government.

“This release of Windows HPC server is a key step in our long-term goal to make the power of technical computing accessible to a broader set of customers, with capabilities across the desktop, servers and the cloud,” said Bill Hilf, general manager, Microsoft Technical Computing Group. “Customers in all industries can use Windows HPC Server as a foundation for building and running simulations that model the world around us, speeding discovery and helping to make better decisions.”

Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 Technical Advancements

Customers rely on Windows HPC Server clusters to run a wide variety of mission-critical applications, from simulating financial markets to fighting disease to building next-generation vehicles. Their feedback has driven important advancements in Windows HPC Server 2008 R2.

A comprehensive and integrated solution. With Windows HPC Server, customers have an end-to-end HPC platform and do not need to spend additional time and money to piece together multiple technologies. It provides a streamlined experience for administrators and users because it is interoperable with the Microsoft IT infrastructure many customers have invested in and use today, such as Active Directory, SharePoint Server, Microsoft System Center and Microsoft Office.

A fast and cost-effective solution. Public software vendor and open source benchmarks¹ show that Windows HPC Server performance equals that of Linux. Recent research demonstrates that Windows HPC Server is 32 percent to 51 percent less expensive than Linux-based HPC systems over five years.²

New capabilities for more powerful analysis and computation. HPC Services for Excel 2010 in Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 reduces calculation time of huge, complex spreadsheets by orders of magnitude. For example, calculation of a workbook with 1,700 records dropped from 14 hours to less than three minutes. In addition, customers can now turn spare processor cycles on Windows 7-based workstations into desktop compute clouds that expand the capacity of Windows HPC Server clusters.

Growing application support. Hundreds of technical computing applications currently run on Windows HPC Server 2008 R2, with a sixteenfold increase over the past two years. Forty partners announced their support of the Windows HPC platform today.

Extending HPC to the Cloud

The cloud is a key pillar of Microsoft’s Technical Computing initiative. At the High Performance Computing Financial Markets Conference, Microsoft demonstrated how customers will be able to burst HPC workloads from their on-premises datacenters to the cloud for elastic, just-in-time processing power. In the near future, the company will release an update to Windows HPC Server that allows customers to provision and manage HPC nodes in Windows Azure from within on-premises server clusters.

Parallel Development Simplified

Continue: Microsoft Pushes Its Technical Computing Initiative Forward With Windows HPC Server 2008 R2

Updated Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Available

It seems an updated version of the Service Pack 1 Beta for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 has been made available today on the Microsoft Download Center.

Download the Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 Beta from Microsoft Download Center.

Microsoft delivers temporary fix for critical Windows flaw

Microsoft released a temporary "Fixit" workaround on Tuesday, to protect Windows users against a critical unpatched Windows Shell vulnerability.

Microsoft issued a security bulletin on Friday to warn customers of a 0-day exploit involving the Windows Shell. The vulnerability is caused due to an error in Windows Shell when parsing shortcuts (.lnk). The flaw can be exploited automatically by executing a program via a specially crafted shortcut. Certain parameters of the .lnk are not properly validated on load, resulting in the vulnerability. Microsoft says it has "seen only limited, targeted attacks on this vulnerability."

On Tuesday the software giant issued a Fixit solution for customers, to help prevent attacks attempting to exploit this vulnerability. Applying the fixit will remove the graphical representation of icons on the Task bar and Start menu bar and replace them with white icons without the graphical representation of the icon.

Before:

After:

For the exploit to be successful it requires that users insert removable media (when AutoPlay is enabled) or browse to the removable media (when AutoPlay is disabled). According to Microsoft's advisory, exploitation may also be possible via network shares and WebDAV shares. Microsoft states that the exploit affects all Windows versions since Windows XP, including Windows 7. However, unsupported versions of Windows 2000 and Windows XP SP2 are also affected by the flaw. Applying Microsoft's Fixit will prevent the vulnerability from being exploited.

Microsoft is still investigating reports of limited, targeted attacks. The company's next patch Tuesday isn't scheduled until August 10 but an out of band security update has not been ruled out.

Unlock all editions from Windows 7 ISO image (x86 and x64)

1. Download any Windows 7 RTM ISO image from MSDN or TechNet websites. Say we have Ultimate edition.

2. Use 7-zip to extract that ISO to a particular folder and go to Source folder and look for ei.cfg file.

EI.cfg is a Windows Setup-specific configuration file used to determine what edition and license will be used during installation. This file replaces PID.txt and is located on the product media under the Sources folder in Windows Vista DVD

To get desired edition-

3. Use Notepad to edit and save this file by change desired EditionID. Valid EditionIDs are:

• Ulimate
• Professional
• HomePremium
• HomeBasic
• Starter

To get all editions-

4. Just delete the file and finally create the bootable ISO and burn your unlocked disc.

Applies To:

• Windows 7 family(x86 and x64)
• Windows Server 2008 R2 family(x86 and x64)

Changes In Windows 7 & Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 Beta

Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 includes previously released updates and delivers a number of powerful new features for Windows Server 2008 R2 for virtualization and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI).

Here are some notable changes in the beta of Service Pack 1:

Changes specific to Windows 7:

# Additional support for communication with third-party federation services

# Improved HDMI audio device performance

# Corrected behavior when printing mixed-orientation XPS documents

Changes specific to Windows Server 2008 R2:

# Dynamic memory

# Microsoft RemoteFx

# Enhancements to scalability and high availability when using DirectAccess

# Support for Managed Service Accounts in secure branch office scenarios

# Enhancements to Failover Clustering with Storage

# Support for increased volume of authentication traffic on domain controllers

connected to high-latency networks

Changes common to both client and server platforms:

# Change to behavior of Restore previous folders at logon functionality

# Enhanced support for additional identities in RRAS and IPsec

# Support for Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX)

Source: Notable changes in SP1 document.

Free Download Windows Server 2008 R2 (180-Day Trial)

Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise Edition evaluation copy with 180-day trial VHD images are available to download from Microsoft.

Evaluating any version of Windows Server 2008 R2 software does not require entering a product key, however will require activation within 10 days. Failing to activate the evaluation will cause the licensing service to shut the machine down every hour. Once activated, the evaluation will run for 180 days. After this time, you will need to uninstall the evaluation software and reinstall a fully-licensed version of Windows Server 2008 R2.

The only catch is that this installation requires Hyper-V, you will need to have a base install of Windows Server 2008 (x64) or Windows Server 2008 R2, running Hyper-V. You can find more details about using Windows Server 2008 R2 VHD with Hyper-V here.

Download Windows Server 2008 R2 VHD

Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Beta Coming in July 2010

Finally Microsoft has announced the availability of public Beta version of SP1 for Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 at Tech-Ed conference.

According to Microsoft:

The public beta of Service Pack 1 for Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 will be released by the end of July.

SP1 will be a joint release for both Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7.

SP1 will not contain any new features that are specific to Windows 7 itself. For Windows 7, SP1 will simply be the combination of updates already available through Windows Update and additional hotfixes based on feedback by customers and partners.

From the server side, two key new features have been included:

Dynamic memory is an enhancement to Hyper-V in R2 and allows IT administrators to pool all the memory available on a physical host and dynamically distribute it to virtual machines running on that host as necessary. That means based on changes in workload, your VMs will be able to receive new memory allocations without a service interruption.

RemoteFX is the latest addition to Microsoft’s desktop virtualization stack. Using this new feature in Windows Server 2008 R2, you’ll be able to deliver an even richer and more user-transparent desktop virtualization experience. RemoteFX functions independently of any graphics stack and supports any screen content, including rich content like Silverlight or Flash. It also enhances the end-user’s hardware experience with support for USB redirection. Because it uses virtualized graphics resources, RemoteFX works on a wide array of target devices, which means you can deploy it over both thick and thin client hosts and a wide variety of network configurations.

How to Install the Windows Phone Developer Tools on Windows Server 2008

Microsoft MSDN Blogger, Aaron Stebner, has an "unofficial" (use at your own risk) method to install the Windows Phone Developer Tools CTP on Windows Server 2008.

How to install the Windows Phone Developer Tools on Windows Server 2008:

1. Download the Windows Phone Developer Tools CTP Refresh web bootstrapper and save it to your hard drive

2. Extract the contents of the setup package by running vm_web.exe /x and choosing a path to extract to

3. Go to the folder you extracted to in Step 2 and open the file baseline.dat in Notepad

4. Look for the section named [gencomp7788]

5. Change the value InstallOnLHS from 1 to 0

6. Change the value InstallOnWin7Server from 1 to 0

7. Save & Close baseline.dat

8. Run Setup.exe from the folder you extracted to in Step 2

Microsoft Releases Updates for Windows Vista, Server 2008 and 7 to Support Secure Digital (SD) Cards Larger Than 32 GB

Microsoft has released updates for Windows Vista, Server 2008 and 7 to support Secure Digital (SD) cards that are larger than 32 GB.

Actually Windows Vista, Server 2008 and 7 contain a bug which appears when you try to connect a SD card larger than 32 GB. Windows can't calculate the correct size of the SD card.

In Windows, the capacity of SD cards that are equal to or lower than 32 GB is calculated correctly. However, for SD cards that are larger than 32 GB, the high bits are shifted incorrectly by 6 bits instead of 16 bits. Therefore, the capacity is calculated incorrectly.

Windows Vista and Server 2008 users can request for the update using following link:

Request Hotfix for Windows Vista and Server 2008

Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 users can download the update using following links:

Download Update for Windows 7

Download Update for Windows 7 (64-bit)

Download Update for Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-bit)

Download Update for Windows Server 2008 R2 (IA-64)

New Microsoft Common Engineering Criteria (CEC) program website live

The Microsoft Common Engineering Criteria (CEC) program establishes a set of engineering requirements across all Microsoft server products. The goal of the CEC program is to reduce the overall total cost of ownership (TCO) through improved integration, manageability, security, reliability, and other critical infrastructure attributes that are expected by our customers.

What is the vision for common engineering criteria?

Our vision is that all Microsoft server software follows a consistent set of engineering and quality standards with the goal of reducing the TCO for our customers. The CEC program provides a set of standards to enable the “Better Together” experience for Microsoft server products.

All server products are evaluated against common engineering criteria. The process includes integrating the CEC program into the product development life cycles, incorporating executive reviews at major milestones, and publishing progress reports before each product launch.

Since the start of this initiative in 2003, the list of compliant products has grown every year. As of January 2010, all Microsoft server products comply with the common engineering criteria.

What are our customers’ highest priorities?

Customers tell us that they want server products to minimize IT costs and complexity, maximize uptime, deliver new business value, and allow them to be confident in their Microsoft investment. The CEC program addresses these needs.

What are the common engineering criteria, and which products meet them?

For more information, you can read an overview about the common engineering criteria or download a document that explains the CEC program in detail. You can view the CEC scorecards and filter them by product or by technical area.

CEC Overview Read a description of the common engineering criteria and the technical areas that they apply to.

CEC Program Details Read a detailed description of the Microsoft Common Engineering Criteria program.

CEC Scorecards by Product Look up scorecards for the Microsoft server products that you own or are planning to deploy.

CEC Scorecards by Technical Area Look up scorecards for an individual criterion that extends across all Microsoft server products.

Microsoft Servers Common Engineering Criteria Home

Windows Media Services 2008 for Windows Server 2008 R2

This Microsoft Update Standalone Package (MSU) file installs the latest version of Windows Media Services for the Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system.

This software is an optional supplement to the Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system. In Windows Server 2008 R2, the Streaming Media Services role (which includes the latest version of Windows Media Services) is not included in Server Manager. To obtain Windows Media Services for Windows Server 2008 R2, you must run the Streaming Media Services role installer file on the platform.

Download details Windows Media Services for Windows Server 2008 R2

Deploying Personal Virtual Desktops Guides

Deploying Virtual Desktop Pools by Using Remote Desktop Web Access Step-by-Step Guide

Deploying Personal Virtual Desktops by Using RemoteApp and Desktop Connection Step-by-Step Guide

Deploying Virtual Desktop Pools by Using RemoteApp and Desktop Connection Step-by-Step Guide

Recover Windows Password

Forgetting your password in Windows can be troublesome at the least. Windows Vista and 7 have a place to backup your password and make a recovery disc, but that usually hasn't been done. Most people don't think they will forget a password. Of course, there comes a time in your life when your brain doesn't rememberwhat it used to, as you get older.... Or, you just forget a password after you try to set it to something hard to guess!
Here are a couple programs that can find or reset your password in any Windows NT based operating system (From Windows NT, 2000 - 7). You need to have the computer physically available, meaning you cannot do this over the network to try and "hack" a password.

1. Ophcrack
The first program, and often called "the best", is a very fast and easy to use password cracker. I've used the boot disk often enough with excellent results. There is also another version that can run on the local machine if you happen to lose the password of a different user, but still have access to another local user.

Download: http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/
Ophcrack is a free Windows password cracker based on rainbow tables. It is a very efficient implementation of rainbow tables done by the inventors of the method. It comes with a Graphical User Interface and runs on multiple platforms

2. Offline NT Password & Registry Editor
The second program is another boot disk that is quite a bit smaller of a download and can fit on a floppy if needed. It works good, but has a few more caveats and is text based, rather than a GUI, like Ophcrack. This is also available on the UBCD (available: http://www.ultimatebootcd.com), if you want a more feature rich CD for fixing a lot of other PC problems.

Download: http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/bootdisk.html
I've put together a single floppy or CD which contains things needed to edit the passwords on most systems. The CD can also be installed on a USB drive, see readme.txt on the CD.

Either one of these programs will recover or reset your password in Windows. If you have any others you've had experience with, or have any suggestions, please feel free to comment!

Windows Server 2008 R2 to Phase Out Itanium

Windows Server 2008 R2 will be the last version of Windows Server to support the Intel Itanium architecture.  SQL Server 2008 R2 and Visual Studio 2010 are also the last versions to support Itanium. 

Current support for Itanium remains unchanged.  Each of these products represent the state of the art of their respective product lines.  Each fully support Itanium, support the recently-released Itanium 9300 (“Tukwila”) processor, and Microsoft’s support for these products will continue – following the Microsoft Support Lifecycle Policy.  Mainstream support for Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-Based Systems (and R2) will end, in accordance with that policy, on July 9, 2013, while extended support will continue until July 10, 2018.  That’s 8 more years of support.

Why the change?  The natural evolution of the x86 64-bit (“x64”) architecture has led to the creation of processors and servers which deliver the scalability and reliability needed for today’s “mission-critical” workloads.  Just this week, both Intel and AMD have released new high core-count processors, and servers with 8 or more x64 processors have now been announced by a full dozen server manufacturers.  Such servers contain 64 to 96 processor cores, with more on the horizon.

Windows Server 2008 R2 was designed to support the business-critical capabilities these processors and servers make available.  It supports up to 256 logical processors (cores or hyper-threading units), so it’s ready for the ever-increasing number of cores.  It supports technologies such as Intel’s Machine Check Architecture, which allow for the detection and correction of bit-level hardware errors.  And NEC just published a new world record TPC-E benchmark for online transaction processing of 3,141.76 tpsE on a system with 8 x64 processors – a result more than 50% higher than the previous record.

Microsoft will continue to focus on the x64 architecture, and it’s new business-critical role, while we continue to support Itanium customers for the next 8 years as this transition is completed.

Windows Server Division WebLog  Windows Server 2008 R2 to Phase Out Itanium

Update FTP 7.5 for IIS 7.0 in Vista SP2 And Windows Server 2008 SP2

An FTP 7.5 update is currently available to customers running Internet Information Services 7.0, designed to resolve issues in which the directory listing for sites with over 50 virtual directories function incorrectly. Microsoft is offering two refreshes, tailored to the flavors of FTP 7.5 for IIS 7.0 supported by the company. Both updates are currently offered to customers free of charge through the Microsoft Download Center. (Update for FTP 7.5 for IIS 7.0 (KB977751) (x64) and Update for FTP 7.5 for IIS 7.0 (KB977751) (x86

“Consider the following scenario: you are running FTP 7.5 in Internet Information Service (IIS) 7.0.You create an FTP 7.5 site. You create more than 50 virtual directories under the FTP 7.5 site. You log on to the FTP 7.5 site. In this scenario, the FTP 7.5 site directory listing does not function correctly,” Microsoft stated.

The updates offered by Microsoft are designed specifically for Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) or Windows Server 2008 SP2. Of course, both operating systems need to first have FTP 7.5 installed on top of the two operating systems mentioned above. The software giant included FTP 7.5 by default on both Windows 7 and in Windows 2008 R2, but offers IIS 7.0 and FTP 7.5 separately for Vista and Windows Server 2008. According to the Redmond company, customers running FTP 7.5 for IIS 7.0 on top of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 are not affected by this issue.

FTP 7.5 for IIS 7.0 in Vista SP2 “provides a robust, secure solution for FTP in a Windows environment. This new FTP service was written specifically for Windows Server 2008 and enables Web authors to publish content more easily and securely than before, and offers both Web administrators and hosters better integration, management, authentication and logging features,” Microsoft revealed.

FTP Service 7.5 for IIS 7.0 is available for download here.

Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition x64 (Full Install) VHD

Want to give Windows Server 2008 R2 a test drive without having to do a full install on one of your machines? Then grab a pre-configured VHD with the entire system on it.

Download and evaluate Windows Server 2008. You’ll have the opportunity to try new and improved features and functionality of Windows Server 2008 free for 60 days. To find out more about Windows Server 2008, please visit the product homepage.

Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition x64 (Full Install) VHD

Free Windows Small Business Server 2008 Demos and Virtual Labs

Microsoft is making it extremely easy for customers to test-drive Windows Small Business Server 2008. A number of demos and virtual labs can be accessed online completely free of charge, courtesy of the SBS 2008 and TechNet Teams. According to Eric Ligman, Global Partner Experience lead Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group, Microsoft has taken the decision to make the resource available in order to help small businesses that lack the necessary hardware infrastructure test Windows Small Business Server 2008. At the same time, the online demos and virtual labs simplify testing because no deployment is required. Small business users can simply fire up the demos or virtual labs in their browser.

“I’m very excited to announce the availability of three virtual labs now available for you to use on TechNet! These virtual labs are: Migration from SBS 2003, Administration Console, Working with Clients. In addition to these virtual labs, we also have some demos available for you to download as well, including: SBS 2008 Administration Console, SBS 2008 Installation, SBS 2008 Migration from SBS 2003 and SBS 2008 Working with Clients,” Ligman stated.

At the start of this month, Microsoft announced that it would be discontinuing the future development of Windows Essential Business Server (EBS). However, this decision only impacts midsize businesses that were running EBS. The promise from the software giant is that the discontinuation of Windows Essential Business Server will have no impact on Windows Small Business Server.

“This decision not to ship future versions of EBS does not come lightly and will not impact any other Windows Server products and solutions, including the next version of Windows Small Business Server (SBS). As a matter of fact, we are working hard to build the next version of SBS and look forward to a second decade of success with this award winning small business offering,” a member of the Windows Essential Business Server Team noted. “There is a tremendous amount of talent and expertise on the EBS product development team and Microsoft is committed to transitioning members of the EBS product team to work on other projects within the Microsoft Server and Cloud division.”

Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

Today during our online Desktop Virtualization Hour event, we’ll be talking a little bit about Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

For Windows Server 2008 R2, SP1 will be introducing two new desktop virtualization features: Microsoft RemoteFX and Dynamic Memory. These features are designed to meet the increasing needs of our customers as they utilize virtualization in their environments with Windows Server 2008 R2. You can read more about RemoteFX and Dynamic Memory on the Windows Server Division WebLog.

For Windows 7, SP1 includes only minor updates, among which are previous updates that are already delivered through Windows Update. SP1 for Windows 7 will, however, deliver an updated Remote Desktop client that takes advantage of RemoteFX introduced in the server-side with SP1 for Windows Server 2008 R2.

Continue At Source: windowsteamblog.com