MVP Summit 2012, great experience!

Can't believe the MVP Summit 2012 is already over. It went by in a flash but it was a great event. It was good to meet my fellow (RDS) MVP's in person as well as meeting people from the RDS product team!

There were lot's of sessions with the RDS product group and with my fellow (RDS) MVP's. Great discussions and very interesting topics. Some of the details discussed are under NDA of course, but there are a lot of new features introduced in the Beta compared to the pre-beta. Since Windows Server 8 Beta was released Wednesday those features are not under NDA anymore so expect some new blog posts coming up here on those subjects!

Apart from the sessions, many additional events were being held throughout the week, a welcome reception, product group dinner, a great closing party at the CenturyLink field stadium! It’s been an awesome week!

I want to thank Microsoft for great Summit!
Hopefully I will be here next year!

What’s new in Remote Desktop Services Windows Server 8 BETA

A new document was published in regard to what’s new in Remote Desktop Services Windows Server 8 BETA.

"...Applies To: Windows Server 8 Beta

[This topic is pre-release documentation and is subject to change in future releases. Blank topics are included as placeholders.]

 

The Remote Desktop Services server role in Windows Server® “8” Beta provides technologies that enable users to connect to virtual desktops, RemoteApp programs, and session-based desktops. With Remote Desktop Services, users can access remote connections from within a corporate network or from the Internet.

In Windows Server “8” Beta, Remote Desktop Services offers enhanced support for the following scenarios:

• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) deployments
• Session Virtualization deployments
• Centralized resource publishing
• Rich user experience with Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP)
  

Each of these is described in the sections that follow..."

You can check it out the full document here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh831527.aspx

New Article: Remote Desktop Server farms explained (Part 1)

My new article titled "Remote Desktop Server farms explained (Part 1)" on virtualizationadmin.com just got published.

"...Introduction
In this article, we will be taking a closer look at Remote Desktop Farms in Windows Server 2008 R2. A Remote Desktop Server farm consists of multiple Remote Desktop Session Host Servers. Why would you need a RDS Farm? What are the options? What are the scenarios? These are some of the questions we will answer in this article. There are of course also 3rd party tools available that work on top of and extend RDS farms, but in this article our main focus will be out-of-the-box Microsoft solutions..."
Read the complete article here: http://www.virtualizationadmin.com/articles-tutorials/vdi-articles/general/remote-desktop-server-farms-explained-part1.html

Next month a part II will be coming up, stay tuned.

MVP Summit 2012 coming up

Monday the 27th I’ll be heading to Bellevue / Redmond for the MVP Summit 2012! My personal schedule is planned, and with lots of great sessions it is promised to become a very existing week! It will be great to meet members of the product team(s) and other MVP’s in- and outside of my expertise!

As you hopefully understand nearly all of the MVP summit session content in under strict NDA, so unfortunately you won’t be reading blog post containing details about content provided at the Summit here. However, if I do run into information that is not under NDA and worth mentioning here, I’ll definitely write a blog on it.

In case you want to check out my MVP profile:
https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile=C1F3F2CC-DBFA-4C8E-BC50-EEBBA1A10BCE

"The system cannot find the file specified" error message when you print a document on a Windows Server 2008 R2-based terminal server

A new KB Article (with hotfix) was released regarding print issue when performing a printjob to a network printer from an application that hosts Internet Explorer 9 and that is compiled with the /TSAWARE:NO option on the terminal server.

 Article ID: 2646168 - Last Review: February 16, 2012 - Revision: 1.0
"The system cannot find the file specified" error message when you print a document on a Windows Server 2008 R2-based terminal server

"...Consider the following scenario:

• You establish a Remote Desktop Services session to a Windows Server 2008 R2-based terminal server that has Windows Internet Explorer 9 installed.
• You do not redirect a printer to the Remote Desktop Services session.
• You run an application that hosts Internet Explorer 9 and that is compiled with the /TSAWARE:NO option on the terminal server.
• You try to print a document to a network printer by using this application.

In this scenario, the printer does not print the document. Additionally, you receive an error message that resembles the following: The system cannot find the file specified..."

Source: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2646168/en-us?sd=rss&spid=14134

"Input Capture Window" shows on local desktop when you start Windows Remote Assistance as a RemoteApp

A new ("FAST PUBLISH") KB article was released by Microsoft today regarding running Windows Remote Assistance (msra.exe) as a RemoteApp hosted on a Windows Server 2008 R2. The article states that using applications like Windows Remote Assistance as RemoteApp is not a supported scenario in Windows Server 2008 R2.

Article ID: 2674002 - Last Review: February 15, 2012 - Revision: 1.0
"Input Capture Window" shows on local desktop when you start Windows Remote Assistance as a RemoteApp

"...When you start Windows Remote Assistance (msra.exe) as a RemoteApp hosted on a Windows Server 2008 R2, you may see an extra window showing up on the Taskbar with the title "Input Capture Window" on your workstation. Also the desktop is not redrawn correctly.

Using applications like Windows Remote Assistance as RemoteApp is not a supported scenario in Windows Server 2008 R2..."
Source: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2674002/en-us?sd=rss&spid=14134

Long logon time when you establish an RD session to a Windows Server 2008 R2-based RD Session Host server if Printer Redirection is enabled

Microsoft released a new KB article today related to long logon times on a RD Session Host based on Windows Server 2008 R2 in situations where Printer Redirection is enabled.

Article ID: 2655998 - Last Review: February 15, 2012 - Revision: 1.0
Long logon time when you establish an RD session to a Windows Server 2008 R2-based RD Session Host server if Printer Redirection is enabled

Consider the following scenario:

• You have a Windows Server 2008 R2-based Remote Desktop (RD) Session Host server in an Active Directory domain environment.
• You apply the Printer Redirection Group Policy setting to RD sessions that connect to the server.
• You repeatedly establish RD sessions to the server from a client computer that has multiple printers installed.

In this scenario, the logon time increases every time that you establish an RD connection. Additionally, the % Privileged Time count increases in the Svchost.exe process that hosts the User-mode Plug-and-Play Service (Umpnpmgr.dll) on the server. This behavior occurs every time that you log on, log off, or reestablish an RD session.

This issue occurs because the Remote Desktop Services Device Redirector service creates a new port every time that an RD session is established. However, the inactive ports are not recycled. Instead, the inactive ports for the redirected printers accumulate under the following registry key on the server: KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\DeviceClasses\{28d78fad-5a12-11d1-ae5b-0000f803a8c2}\##?#Root#RDPBUS#0000#{28d78fad-5a12-11d1-ae5b-0000f803a8c2}\

Source: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2655998/en-us?sd=rss&spid=14134