Windows Power Essentials Tips & Tricks
January 14, 2013 Leave a comment
A question popped up on the Windows Server 2012 Essentials forum about Transmog scenarios, and whether a Transmog to 2012 Data Center edition would work. I suggested that i saw no reason why that wouldn’t work. I was wrong.
December 6, 2012 2 Comments
A lot of people have asked what is the difference between Server 2012 Standard and Essentials, and then the difference again when an Essentials box is transmogged. I don’t know of any official resource available from Microsoft that answers this question, so i made a little chart. This is just based on the ‘Windows Features’ built into the underlying OS and does not include the Essentials ‘Value Add’ features like Client PC Backup, the RWA and so on. Read more of this post
October 24, 2012 30 Comments
I 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.
July 11, 2012 66 Comments
Yes, you heard me right. Hopefully by now the news of the end of development, shall we say, of SBS 2011 Standard has settled in, and you are ready for how to tackle the void left in the market. I know many partners and folks are talking about alternatives, Kerio, Hosted 
Exchange or any number of other solutions, but i wanted to demonstrate how easy it is to setup the OnPrem (OP) integration with an Exchange server, and how it is possible to access both, using 1 single public IP address.
I have no idea how much it would actually cost to do in production though!
July 11, 2012 4 Comments
Congratulations on your new download of the Windows Server 2012 Essentials Beta.
I am going to walk through the process of installing the beta, it’s really very simple, just as easy in fact as installing SBS 2011 Essentials.
July 5, 2012 Leave a comment
If you are interested there is now a public beta of ‘SBS8’ or Windows Server 2012 Essentials.
I am certainly not the best person to ask for a reasoned business argument about why the loss of SBS Standard is good or bad thing. Read more of this post
July 4, 2012 1 Comment
An announcement has finally been made about the future plans for the SBS Product lines.
In 2011 the SBS Product team launched a new version of SBS, SBS Essentials, this was the first product in the SBS line not to include Exchange , it also was missing other components like SharePoint and WSUS.
The concept for this product was that it would integrate tightly with Cloud providers. At this time, many could see the writing on the wall for On Premises SBS with Exchange…
If you have been patiently waiting for the next release of Small Business Server Standard, with the Windows Server 2012 Operating System updates, sadly, you will be disappointed to learn that this SBS 2011 Standard is the last planned release of the Small Business Server Standard product SKU.
Let me clear that up, and say that there are currently no plans for any future Windows Operating System to include an Integrated Domain Controller, Exchange Server, SharePoint Server or WSUS Server.
The Premium Add-on (PAO) Component will also not be refreshed. SQL Server 2012 does not have a Small Business edition, meaning that they apparently cannot include that.
Which seems a little odd to me, as SQL 2008 for SMB, was just a modified version of SQL Standard that would only install in an SBS Domain.
SBS 2011 Standard will remain available through various channels until Q4 of 2013.
For those of you thinking about Software Assurance..
http://download.microsoft.com/download/WS2012_Licensing-Pricing_FAQ.pdf2
Q.36: If you have Software Assurance on Small Business Server 2011 Standard edition, you will receive one Windows Server 2012 Standard edition license and one Exchange Server Standard 2010 license.
This grant will be reflected upon your agreement renewal; however you are entitled to use the granted product upon availability.
The product you all know and love as Small Business Server 2011 Essentials, will be rebranded and refreshed onto the Windows Server 2012 platform.
The new name is Windows Server 2012 Essentials.
I haven’t decided whether i will call it WSE, or WES, but i think we should come to some agreement as it might get confusing. Of course WSE could be Storage Server Essentials, which, at this point at least, remains untouched. WES rolls off the tongue a little easier than WSE, but could perhaps give the false impression the name is Windows Essentials Server, i may play it cool and type WSE, but speak ‘Dub-S-E’ ; Dub being short for W of course, but then that could lead people to think that i mean SSE (DUB S, double S) which in turn could lead people to think i mean WSSE, and by that point i think people will have lost interest. You may well now be asking yourself why drop SBS in the first place, i mean, just look at the mess the last paragraph has ended up in!
There will not be a new version of Home Server. WSE has incorporated ‘Media Streaming’ it will now also act as a Domain Controller in your home, which is what apparently all that great feedback has told Microsoft you guys want.
Now, the SBS MVPs and Home Server MVPs have suggested this may be a little off the mark, but we are assured that the surveys have told them they are right.
We are also aware, but cannot confirm, the survey sample was 12 companies in Hong Kong.
If all of that is too much for you to take in, i sympathise! Just remember SBS Standard would want you to be happy, it would want you to move on..
More details surrounding WES will no doubt appear over the coming weeks.
More Resources..
http://www.windowsserveressentials.com
http://msmvps.com/blogs/bradley/
http://www.nogeekleftbehind.com
http://www.nci-technologies.co.uk/blog/
http://blogs.technet.com/b/sbs/
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/windows-server/2012-editions.aspx
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/sbsserver
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