KB: The "New" option in the shortcut menu is missing for the root folder of a redirected drive in Windows Server 2008 R2 (2796764)

A new hotfix has been released (2796764) to fix the issue where the “new” option is missing in the context menu on a redirected drive using a Remote Desktop Session. Have been running into this issue too, glad that it’s fixed.

Root of a redirected drive:

Subfolder:

“…Consider the following scenario:

• On a client computer, you open Remote Desktop Connection and enable drive redirection.
• You create a Remote Desktop session to a computer that is running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2.
• You browse to the root folder of the redirected drive in the Remote Desktop session.
• You right-click an active region to display the shortcut menu.

In this scenario, the New option is missing on the shortcut menu…”

Source and download: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2796764/en-us?sd=rss&spid=14134

An enterprise hotfix rollup is available for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 (2775511)

A new KB article has been released today (2775511) that contains 90 hotfixes releases after Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, The Enterprise hotfix rollup!

“…This article describes a hotfix rollup for Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1)-based and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1-based computers. This hotfix rollup contains 90 hotfixes that were released after the release of SP1 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. These hotfixes improve the overall performance and system reliability of Windows 7 SP1-based and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1-based computers. We recommend that you apply this hotfix rollup as part of your regular maintenance routine and build processes for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 computers.
This hotfix rollup includes the following improvements:

• Improves the Windows Client Remote File System components. These components include the following:
• Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV)
• DFSN client
• Folder Redirection
• Offline Files and Folders (CSC)
• SMB client
• Redirected Drive Buffering Subsystem (RDB)
• Multiple UNC Provider (MUP)
• Improves the SMB Service and TCP protocol components. These improvements work together with other improvements to help improve the overall networking performance on Windows 7 SP1-based and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1-based computers.
• Improves the processing of Group Policies and Group Policy preferences. The performance of computers is improved after you install this rollup update on Windows 7-based computers that have several Group Policy preferences configured. Additionally, the network load and the domain controller usage may be reduced. We recommend that you install this hotfix rollup on every Windows 7 computer that has Group Policy preferences configured.
• Improves the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) components to reduce the CPU usage and to improve the repository verification performance…”

Source and download: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2775511/en-us?sd=rss&spid=14134

KB: Compatibility update is available for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012

A new KB article (790907 ) has been releases regarding application compatibility on Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8.

“…A compatibility update is a software update that improves the compatibility experience in Windows 8 and in Windows Server 2012. Microsoft regularly releases Windows compatibility updates to improve the overall user experience. This compatibility update is dated March 2013.…”

Source and download: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2790907/en-us?sd=rss&spid=16526

KB: Application compatibility update for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2: March 2013

A new KB article (2791765) has been releases regarding application compatibility on Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7.

“…The Windows application compatibility update is a software update that improves the compatibility experience in Windows 7 and in Windows Server 2008 R2. Microsoft regularly releases Windows compatibility updates to improve the overall user experience.
For more information, refer to the "Applications or devices that experience a change in behavior after you install this update" section and the "Applications and devices that are included in this update" section…”

Source and download: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2791765/en-us?sd=rss&spid=14134

Retrieve usernames for files in a User Profile Disks (UPD) share in VDI environments

User Profile Disks (UPD) is a new technique introduced in Windows Server 2012 to deal with profiles on VDI deployments for Session-Based deployments as well as Virtual Machine-Based deployments.  For more information on setting up UPD also see this TechNet Wiki:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/15304.installing-and-configuring-user-profile-disks-upd.aspx

If you have read through the wiki or have already been working with UPD you'll now that the files share that contains the UPD files (.vhdx files) are made up of the users Active Directory SID. To make it easier to identify what UPD file belong to what user, I created a simple PowerShell script that could help out.

Run the script from a PowerShell prompt and specify the parameter where the UPD files are stored.

NAME
    ShowUPDFolderDetails.ps1

SYNTAX
    ShowUPDFolderDetails.ps1 upd-path

EXAMPLE
    ShowUPDFolderDetails.ps1 \\sql01\upd

The output will look something like below and a export.csv file is also created containing the results.

You can find the file on Microsoft TechNet Gallery:
http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/Retrieve-usernames-for-a-94780a9e

RDV Team: Microsoft VDI vs. VMware View: Freedom of Choice

Adam Carter, the technical product manager for Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) wrote a great blog post on the overall value that session-based and virtual machine-based desktop deployment provides in response to a datasheet by VMware.

“…Our approach to VDI is fundamentally different from VMware’s, primarily because we believe in providing choices to our customers. Unlike VMware, Microsoft can deliver VDI functionality in 3 different ways:

• Session-based desktop deployment (Remote Desktop Session Host, formerly known as Terminal Server)
• Virtual machine-based desktop deployment using pooled virtual desktops
• Virtual machine-based desktop deployment using personal virtual desktops

As each solution has its pros and cons, a single console management experience for all three means that you can choose to mix and match experiences for your users depending on their needs…”

source: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/rds/archive/2013/03/06/microsoft-vdi-vs-vmware-view-freedom-of-choice.aspx

Microsoft TechNet Magazine article series on VDI in Windows Server 2012, now online!

As announced earlier on this blog I’m co-authoring a series of articles on VDI in Windows Server 2012 together with Kristin Griffin (also RDS MVP).

The series will start by covering an introduction to VDI, how to set up the basic deployment and will later on go into great detail on many post-deployment configurations to make the VDI deployment enterprise ready.

The articles will be published monthly on TechNet Magazine, and the first edition, called “Virtualization, VDI made easy” is now online at: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/jj992579.aspx