Windows Power Essentials Tips & Tricks
February 14, 2014 6 Comments
Listening to the ‘Home Server Show’ podcast recently, the conversation inevitably steered towards Client DNS on Essentials. It reminded me that i had written a script last year, to manage the UR3 feature of Essentials 2012 that being ‘DNS AutoDiscovery’ but never actually shared it.
I uploaded it to the TechNet Gallery today.
February 14, 2014 225 Comments
I had a support case this week where it became apparent to me that there is no quick and easy way to test Essentials Servers for Configuration errors. Manually working through IIS or Certificates is prone to human error, as was proved to me, by me missing certain key things.
Uncharacteristically i decided to write a PowerShell script to save me from this sort of embarrassment in the future, and make me look really good next time i need to troubleshoot an Essentials Server.
You can download the tool from here, and am very interested to hear how it works for you.
If you have already downloaded it, i have updated the tool so you should download it again!
January 30, 2014 36 Comments
Congratulations on the purchase of your brand new Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials Server. I’m sure she will give you years of trouble free.. er.. serving.
No doubt one of the features that attracted you to Essentials R2 over its predecessor was the unique way it can be licensed in Hyper-V. No?
Regardless of that, you may well be familiar with the Client PC Backup Service that comes as part of this OS. You may also know that you create a USB key to boot the client PC from in order to launch Bare Metal Restore. Something i documented with real aplomb on YouTube.
However, if you have decided to virtualise your Essentials server – how are you going to get that USB disk plugged in? Assuming you do already have a USB key what if your NIC is not supported?
December 4, 2013 13 Comments
Are you new to managing an OS other than Small Business Server?
If so you may be forgiven for thinking that that ‘MyBusiness’ OU Structure present in SBS for as long as i have worked with it, is the norm for an Active Directory domain. Indeed if you go into Group Policy Management and find those OUs missing, you might think… er.. ‘this is broken!’
November 13, 2013 Leave a comment
Another quick announcement – November UR for 2012 R2, Windows RT 8.1 & Windows 8.1 includes no fewer than 15 fixes for issues that will also affect Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2887595
The most interesting fix to those deploying Essentials R2 may be:
KB 2898803 All client backup settings are removed after you start the Windows Server Essentials Management Service in Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials
November 11, 2013 5 Comments
A question came up in the Essentials Forum recently which prompted me to build quite a large lab, and not even manage to repro the issue. The issue affects both the Essentials Role and the SKU., but it does not appear to affect R1.
The symptoms were, that a user of the Domain Admins was unable to open the Dashboard, being greeted instead with this error..
September 17, 2013 45 Comments
In conversation with some Microsoft folks recently we found out about some, what ill call, small print, in the EULA of Essentials and Essentials R2.
If you had previously purchased Server 2012 Standard, and exercised down grade rights to install a copy of Essentials, you may be surprised to learn that ‘to the letter of the law’ you would therefore be required to purchase Server CALs and more expensively RDS CALs if you intended to use the RWA feature to remote access client computers.
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