I recently got myself a Belkin Wireless FSD7050 USB adapter for my Windows Server 2008 R2 test machine.

After installing the latest drivers from Belkin, the adapter is detected by Windows, but refuses to ‘enable’.

This is because wireless networking is disabled by default in Windows Server 2008 R2. To enable it, go to Server Manager > Features > Add Features > and add the Wireless LAN Service.

Also applies to: Windows Server 2008

Exchange Server 2010 SP1 Beta incorporates a number of feature updates including archiving and discovery enhancements, a faster Outlook Web App (OWA), upgraded mobility features, and several improvements in the management UI. The SP1 beta is available to the public and can be downloaded today.

Recently, Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 3 was also made available to customers in 11 languages for both 32 and 64 bit. As highlighted in the recent post on the Exchange Server Team Blog,  this service pack was created in response to strong customer demand for Windows Server 2008 R2 supportability for Exchange Server 2007. In addition to the newly supported OS, this service pack also provides updates to a number of core components and the reintroduction of the password reset functionality within OWA for customers using Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

As part of the Partner Academy, there will be a two-day course on “Inside Windows Server 2008 R2” scheduled for 5th & 6th January 2009 at New Horizons, Doha.

The course will begin tomorrow at 9:00 AM. Attendees are requested to arrive on time. This is going to be an in-depth training on the new features in Windows Server 2008 R2, which was released along with Windows 7 in 2009.

Please note: This training is open only to Qatar partners who have registered and completed payment towards Partner Academy.

 The big day is on 15th of December, 2009.

This is the day that we’re officially launching Windows 7 in Qatar. The email invites to IT Pros had gone out a few weeks ago and we’ve had an overwhelming number of people who have registered to attend this event. This launch event is going to be one-of-a-kind – with an unconventional but exciting theme. If you’ve registered, you are surely in for some *very* exciting stuff. I don’t want to spoil the surprise – you’ll see soon

The 16th of December will see the launch of Windows 7 in the academic sector. I will be present at the venue on both days, so this will be an excellent opportunity to network with you readers. Some of my managed partners like Mannai Computer, Information & Communication Technology WLL (ICT), EBLA, Qatar Datamation Systems, will also have spaces at the venue, where they will showcase our technologies and their offerings.

We have some awesome speakers talking about Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Phone, xbox, and a host of other new technologies. Alongside other presenters, I will be speaking at the event on the 16th.

See you there!

Microsoft had initially planned not to have Exchange Server 2007 supported on Windows Server 2008 R2. However, in response to feedback from customers worldwide, things have taken an interesting change–

Exchange Server 2007 will soon be fully supported on Windows Server 2008 R2!

The Microsoft Exchange Team is working on an update for Exchange Server 2007 that will enable full support for Windows Server 2008 R2. Watch the Exchange Team Blog for latest information on this update.

This is an excellent example to prove that we do listen to customers.

I wanted to run Windows Server 2008 R2 in a dual boot configuration on my Windows 7 RTM laptop – so that I can demonstrate Windows Server 2008 R2 features to partners when required.

This gave me an opportunity to use the new “Boot from VHD” feature on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. Essentially, I would have Windows 7 on my laptop on one partition on the raw disk. The remaining space on the RAW disk (in my case 15 GB) will be allocated to a partition containing a VHD (Virtual Hard Disk) file, that can be mounted to boot the computer off the VHD file. I will be installing Windows Server 2008 R2 on this VHD file.

Here’s how I went about doing it.

Since I did not have any unallocated space on my hard drive, I used the “shrink” option on drive C in Windows 7 (Computer Management) to get some free space – and got 15 GB unallocated as seen in the above screenshot.

Next, I popped in the Windows Server 2008 R2 DVD.

At the Welcome screen above, I press SHIFT+10 to launch the WinPE console.

Once you get the WinPE console, use DISKPART to prepare a partition for the Windows Server 2008 R2 VHD:

1. Type ‘DISKPART’ to launch the utility
2. Type ‘LIST DISK’ to see the list of physical disks in your machine.
3. Type ‘SEL DISK 0’ assuming you have only 1 physical disk installed
4. Type ‘CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY’ to create a primary partition out of the free space
5. Type ‘FORMAT FS=NTFS QUICK’ to quick-format the new partition on NTFS format
6. Type ‘LIST VOL’ and look at what you’ve done . Notice the asterisk next to the new partition (in my case, it’s Volume 3).
7. Type ‘ASSIGN’ to assign the next available drive letter to the selected partition.
8. Type ‘LIST VOL’ again to see what drive letter was assigned (in my case, it’s E)
9. Now for the magic: ‘CREATE VDISK FILE=E:\FILENAME.VHD MAXIMUM=15000 TYPE=EXPANDABLE’ – this creates a dynamically expandable VHD file filename.vhd on the new volume with a maximum size of 15000 MB. Keep the maximum size lesser than the size of the partition.
   
10. Notice that once you finish this command, Windows 7 detects virtual hardware “Microsoft VHD HBA” and installs it. 
    
11. Type ‘SELECT VDISK FILE=E:\filename.vhd’
12. Type ‘ATTACH VDISK’ to attach the VHD disk.
13. Type ‘CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY’ to create a primary partition inside the VHD.
14. Quick format the partition on NTFS by issuing the ‘FORMAT FS=NTFS QUICK’ command
15. Assign a drive letter V: on this volume ‘ASSIGN LETTER=V:’
16. LIST VOL to see what you’ve achieved.

• Volume 1 and 2 were pre-existing Windows 7 volumes
• Volume 3 (E:) is the disk that we created to store the VHD file
• Volume 4 (V:) is the virtual disk inside the virtual machine (uses space on E:)

Type EXIT DISKPART to close the utility and close the WinPE session.

Next, continue with the Windows Server 2008 R2 installation from Windows 7. Do not choose the upgrade option, choose the New Installation option.

Choose to install Windows on the partition you just created.

When installation is complete, and you restart your computer, a boot loader menu appears, where you can choose to boot Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2.