Windows Server 2012 Essentials HP Printer Unspecified Device

November 2, 2012 by 1 Comment

LogoI recently did a post about adding a Printer to an Essentials server, i thought i had covered all the bases, however i have seen several questions pop up on the forum regarding HP Printers appearing as unspecified devices when connected via USB. This presented me with a unique challenge as all my lab kit is on HyperV. However i do have a USB HP printer in the office, so i hooked it up with a long USB lead to a MicroServer, and set about trying to repro the problem.

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PowerShell, Make it do something useful!

October 29, 2012 by 10 Comments

powershell2xa4$users = ((Get-ADUser -filter * | where-object { $_.GivenName -ne $null }) | foreach{ $_.Name})
foreach ($user in $users)
{
        $FirstName = (Get-ADUser -filter {Name -eq $User} | foreach {$_.GivenName}).ToString()
        $SurName = (Get-ADUser -filter {Name -eq $User} | foreach {$_.SurName}).ToString()
        $DisplayName = ("$Firstname" + " " + "$Surname")
        $DisplayName
        Set-ADUser $User -DisplayName $DisplayName
        Set-ADUser $User -Description "User Created by Windows Server 2012 Essentials Dashboard"
}

You might be wondering what the hell that means?

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Windows Server 2012 Essentials : Add a Network Printer

October 24, 2012 by 30 Comments

LogoI have seen and heard of people struggling to install printer drivers in mixed x64 and x86 environments, it has been a problem for a long time now, probably as far back as XP x64, certainly it was an issue with SBS 2008.

The problem being in order to install a printer on the Server, you need the x64 bit driver, but on a client pc you may be on x86 (32Bit) Windows, so you need a different driver.

Essentials 2012 is no different. So, i thought i would just get an example together using a printer i have here in the office, an HP Laserjet 3055. This is a good example actually because when you install it to WSE12, it picks up a valid driver, but there is no equivalent driver for Windows client available from HP.

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On Prem Exchange Windows Server 2012 Essentials: The Script!

October 23, 2012 by 1 Comment

Exchange2A few months back, i posted up about how to deploy the On Premises Integration between WSE12 and Exchange.

powershell2xa4As part of that post i completely glossed over the method to install the Exchange Server promising to publish the PowerShell script i had written ‘soon’.

Today, my great friends, is that day.

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Enable DirectAccess on Windows Server 2012 Essentials

October 15, 2012 by 125 Comments

Logo

This post is now quite out of date and the instructions within are no longer reliable. Please refer to Microsoft’s own document online for the relevant steps.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj204618.aspx

One of the coolest improvements in Server 2012, is the simplification of DirectAccess. Not just the steps to enable it, but the requirements for your infrastructure to support it. In the past it was beyond most SMBs due to the need to have 2 consecutive public IPs a dedicated DA server, IP 6to4 translation capable equipment, and not to mention Windows 7 Enterprise, which few SMBs deploy. Moving into the 2012 line of products DA has become much more available to SMBs with the reduction in infrastructure requirements. Taking Essentials as an example, we can now run DA using just a standard Internet connected router, and with just our Essentials box as the DA endpoint.

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SBSC Event – Edinburgh 30th August

August 24, 2012 by 3 Comments

SBPI_UK_rgbI just wanted to let anyone in travelling distance of Edinburgh (that’s in Scotland, near Paris, for our American friends) I will be presenting a few slides on some of the technical aspects of Windows Server 2012 Essentials on Thursday the 30th August at Microsoft’s offices at Waverly Gate.

Alex Kureen from the Microsoft Partner Network will be presenting on the changes to the SBSC Competency and very kindly invited me along.

I believe the evening starts around 5pm, and is scheduled until 8pm. Being in Edinburgh i am hoping the night won’t end there and we may have the chance to sample some scotch in the bar!

More info on the event can be found on the SBSEdinburgh.net site.

Look forward to seeing you!

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Windows Server 2012 Essentials VPN without port 1723?

August 4, 2012 by 10 Comments

LogoUgh VPNS! Is what a lot of the MVPs said when we were told that VPN was being reintroduced as a feature on the Essentials SKU. No one uses VPNs anymore right? too insecure, too difficult to configure probably, doesn’t work in a hotel… or a star bucks. Read more of this post

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