Jake Kappus.comCertified Geek, Dad, MMA fan, and ocassional Pro Wrestler

Another weird Windows 7 thing I’ve run across this morning. While trying to install Office 2007 Standard from CD, the install would stop with a “Cannot find proffing.en.us” error. I would browse to it and see it there. I would browse to it in the installer and it would be there, but it would not continue the install. There’s not many resources yet on this from what I could find, so I tried manually typing in the path starting with F:\Proofing.en-us\Proof.en (F being my CD drive) and going backward. It finally continued the install after typing in just F:\. Strange.

I had to rebuild my laptop today after bringing a customer’s 3Com phone system down by merely plugging my laptop into their HP Procurve switch. Very strange, but I didn’t see anything in a sniffer trace or in diagnostics on my NIC. So I decided to rebuild my work laptop with Windows 7 64 bit…I’ve been bragging about it on my home laptop where I only really surf and watch streaming video, so I figured why not really test it.

So far I have not been able to mount an iso with any utility. Magic Iso corrupted explorer.exe so bad that I had to rebuild it again. Pismo didn’t seem to work either, even with the compatibility wizard.

I still hate the new “Mac-like taskbar. I think computer challenged people are going to have problems with it. At least the dock on the Mac has an arrow indicating the application is open and not just sitting there.

Ever since I started working with the Vista/Server 2008 platform, I’ve always complained that changing an IP address was way more difficult than it should be.  It’s at least 4 clicks to get to the IPv4 properties! 

I’m playing with Windows Server 2008 R2 which is built on the Windows 7 code base (6.1.7000), and in my VM I decided to change the IP address before making it a DC and lo and behold there it is.  The most beautiful thing I’ve seen since the “Fisher Price” interface in XP.   A direct link in the Network and Sharing Center to the IP properties screen.  How beautiful is that?

One click on Local Area Connection and you get the Connection Status properties.

It’s not one click magic, but I’ll take two clicks any day.  I literally hugged my laptop after seeing this which is still making my wife look at me funny.  

I’m firing up a new R2 domain to do lab out some domain migrations to R2.  Here’s hoping ADMT works!  More to come!

I should be getting ready to head to Minnesota this weekend, but I snuck down to the office to read email instead.  *evil smile*   Not only is the Windows 7 Beta public, but the Windows Server 2008 R2 Beta is out as well. 

I haven’t had time to read over all the changes, but the BIG noticable one so far is the new Active Directory Recycle Bin.  NO MORE AUTHORITATIVE RESTORES!!!  That’ll make those senior admins that have bumbling junior admins happy.  I’ll write more about it when I get a chance to play with it. 

Want it?  Get it here.

Use these evaluation keys to extend your trial until August 1 where this install will self destruct.  Mission impossible style!

Server 2008 R2 Beta Enterprise: TFGPQ-J9267-T3R9G-99P7B-HXG47
Server 2008 R2 Beta Standard: 2T88R-MBH2C-M7V97-9HVDW-VXTGF
Server 2008 R2 Beta Datacenter: GQJJW-4RPC9-VGW22-6VTKV-7MCC6
Web Server 2008 R2 Beta: GT8BY-FRKHB-7PB8W-GQ7YF-3DXJ6

Note:  The Windows 7 Beta download site apparently was so hammered yesterday that it’s down right now.  Glad I got mine from MSDN during the CES keynote when I could. 

So, I’m watching Steve Ballmer’s CES keynote, and during the Windows 7 demonstrations, my laptop, running Windows 7 BSOD’s.

I never laughed so hard in my life (over techie stuff anyway).  Derrick Stone trying to start a fight with me naked in the MVWA locker room was WAY funnier.

So I reconnect and some guys are singing about making love…weird.

I just learned a valuable lesson.  Ebay may be cheaper, but definitely may not be a better deal in the long run.

I purchased a “new” 85W power adapter for my 2006 model MacBook Pro 15″ about a month ago to revive my dead Mac.  I was happy as a clam until it too died a horrible death.  I contacted the seller…in China, whom after almost 3 weeks of haggling and complaining, finally agreed to refund my money.

So this afternoon I visited the local Happy Mac store here in Wausau and picked up a brand new one.  Lets hope this one doesn’t die on me.  If i does, I’m confident they’ll take care of me.

So, even though I’m a Microsoft zealot, I still love my Mac.

I’m sitting here surfing the net tonight, and discovered that Microsoft is webcasting Steve Ballmer’s CES keynote live.  Rumor has it he’ll be announcing the public beta of Windows 7 release (so much for being the cool guy on the block).

It got me thinking…  Why isn’t mounting ISO’s a native feature yet?  You can mount a VHD and even boot from one in Windows 7, but not an ISO.  I’m sure it’s a no brainer to implement, and would make our lives as IT people so much easier.  I’ve been using MS’s Virtual CD tool on the x86 platform, but no x64 bit version exists (from what I can tell).  So I have to find alternatives such as Magic ISO and others on those systems.

I know this isn’t the forum, and maybe I’ll use the official feature request channels for this one, but I can’t be alone in thinking this!   Or am I?

Discuss among yourselves….