Category Archives: Windows

Windows 2008 R2 SP1 Release Candidate Available (and Windows 7 SP1 RC as well)

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Good news. Microsoft just released the Windows 2008 R2 SP1 Release Candidate. See  http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/sp1.aspx for more information. I’m downloading it from here here as I type this blog. You can also get a vhd image. That the RC is here is good news because it indicates they are making good progress and are on schedule. That would be just great as I have some beefy Hyper-V cluster plans with 32 core & 256 GB memory servers on my planning for 2011.

I was already very happy with the quality of SP1 Beta. I hope RC does an even better job and works out some issues. They can’t get this one wrong. I’ve been testing Dynamic Memory for a while now in the lab and I want to start using it it in anger for various scenarios. Microsoft can’t afford to make mistakes like the ones with Exchange 2010 SP1, which seemed to be rushed out of the door, or they’ll get the entire virtual server worlds on their backs and in that arena the fight is hard and no one is showing any mercy. I think that’s why they have announced if for the first quarter of 2011, it gives them time do do all quality assurances and get tons of feedback from the early adaptors programs to make sure they catch the mistakes before they go RTM. RemoteFX looks promising for the VDI crowd. That’s something they need to get that going. I for one have always tried to meet customers needs with what’s in the box. RemoteFX will help with that.

Windows 2008 R2: The system image restore failed. Error details: The parameter is incorrect. 0x80070057

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Note to self: read your own blogs on Windows 2008 R2 Native Backup :-). Yes people, Windows 2008 R2 Bare Metal restore to dissimilar hardware does work as long as you follow the rules and guidelines. Those are not super evidently documented but still, if I can find ‘m you can too! But today we lost some time because we didn’t head one of the rules that trip people up frequently. That rule is that the disk layout on the restore server can’t differ from the original one. I literally wrote “Pay close attention to the disk layout/ boot order as well, the restore doesn’t allow for variation from the original layout” in https://blog.workinghardinit.work/2010/01/27/using-windows-2008-r2-backups-to-go-virtual-2/. That means you need to simulate the same disk layout on the new hardware. If the new server has an extra disk, disable that one for the restore, if it has one less, add one. Another situation where the disk layout comes into play is when you boot from an USB stick with W2K8R2. If you leave it plugged in there during the restore the recovery will fail. Because if that extra attached disk isn’t the one containing the backup image you’ll get a very harsh error:

“The system image restore failed. Error details: The parameter is incorrect. 0x80070057”

image

Not very helpful in explaining but that generally means you’ve got a disk layout issue. In this case because you have the bootable USB stick attached. Once you’ve booted to the “Repair your computer” functionality, selected “Select a system image backup” and found your image to restore you should remove the bootable USB stick from the server if you’re not going to be doing an install. Beware of this! Typically when you boot from DVD or PXE you wouldn’t even notice but when using a bootable USB device with W2K8R2 you might forget that this changes the disk layout. So again, always pull the bootable USB stick from the server before you restore and you’ll be fine. Yes the recovery will work a soon as you’ve booted, you don’t need the media anymore so you can unplug it safely. You can even attach another USB disk in its place containing the backups if you only have one USB port available. That will work because the disk with the backup itself is never taken into consideration and won’t cause any issues with the restore.

So we’ll never forget to head our own warnings again (I hope). The good thing is we had some refresh training on restoring today and it’s all refreshed in our minds 🙂

Windows 2008 R2 SP1 Beta Install Gone Wrong: Service Pack Installation failed with error code 0x800f0818

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Today I was in the lab installing Windows 2088 R2 SP1 beta on the nodes of a test Hyper-V Live Migration Cluster. It went pretty well and quick on all nodes except for one. I got “An unknown error has occurred” and the details said Service Pack Installation failed with error code 0x800f0818. A quick search on the internet didn’t provide any applicable results.  Bummer. I really need all nodes on SP1 Beta. The CBS log didn’t reveal much either but the tool Microsoft advices to use when clicking on the link to get more information about the error helped out. The link sends you to http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows7/troubleshoot-problems-installing-service-pack and explains things to check, which is apart from anti virus tools and such inconsistencies in the Windows Servicing Store . It also points you towards the System Update Readiness Tool and provides a link http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows7/What-is-the-System-Update-Readiness-Tool. Click on the link to get more information on the use of it. Download the appropriate versions (in our case Windows 2008 R2 x64) and install the tool. This will check for any issues and repair them if possible. After that you can try to install SP1 beta again. But this didn’t work. What now? Well that tool creates a log named produced a log named CheckSUR.log  in the folder C:WindowsLogsCBS. This is something that is documented in http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=947821 a KB titled “Description of the System Update Readiness Tool for Windows Vista, for Windows Server 2008, for Windows 7, and for Windows Server 2008 R2”

So we went to look for the log and yes it was there.

In that log file at C:WindowsLogsCBSCheckSUR.log I found the following warning:

=================================
Checking System Update Readiness.
Binary Version 6.1.7600.20667
Package Version 8.0
2010-07-17 12:40

Checking Windows Servicing Packages

Checking Package Manifests and Catalogs
(f)    CBS MUM Corrupt    0x00000000    servicingPackagesMicrosoft-Windows-FileServices-BPA-Package-MiniLP~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~en-US~7.1.7600.16422.mum        Expected file name Microsoft-Windows-Rights-Management-Services~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~6.1.7600.16385.mum does not match the actual file name

Checking Package Watchlist

Checking Component Watchlist

Checking Packages

Checking Component Store

Summary:
Seconds executed: 371
Found 1 errors
CBS MUM Corrupt Total count: 1

Unavailable repair files:
servicingpackagesMicrosoft-Windows-FileServices-BPA-Package-MiniLP~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~en-US~7.1.7600.16422.mum
servicingpackagesMicrosoft-Windows-FileServices-BPA-Package-MiniLP~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~en-US~7.1.7600.16422.cat

Ah well we’ve dealt with issues like this before with Vista and Windows 2008 when files in the C:Windowswinsxs folder get corrupted. No sweat, especially since this is a lab and I have other servers available. The trick is to copy these from another Windows 2008 R2 server (those where a more recent version than the ones on the problematic server). Now to be able to do this you might need to take ownership of the folder and grant yourself full control so you can overwrite the files.

The default permissions on the Package folder.

An example of the default permissions of a file in the Package folder.

Afterwards you give ownership back to the original owner of the folder and files and take away your permissions to restore the original state of the server. The Local Administrator group is the default owner and the Trusted Installer is the one with Full Control permissions, so make sure that’s back in order.

But the main thing is using the System Update Readiness Tool and checking the log file resulted in me being able to find the root cause of the SP1 beta install issue and fix it. It’s a typical issue your see once with a service pack install. The solution is a bit convoluted and you need a good second machine to borrow the files from but in the end it’s not very complicated to fix.

So if you run into some issues during the Windows 2008 R2 SP1 Beta installation you know what to try so you to can enjoy testing Windows 2008 R2 SP1 just like me 🙂

Hyper-V 3 & Windows 8, Musings on Hypervisors & Crystal Ball Time

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I think Microsoft sales might be getting a head ache by the ever increasing speed by which people are looking and long for features in the “vNext” version of their products whilst they are still just getting people to adopt the current releases but I like the insights and bits of information. It helps me plan better in the long term.

A lot of you, just like me, have been playing around with Hyper-V since the betas of Windows 2008. As I run Windows Server tweaked to act en look like a workstation I wanted to move my virtualization solution on the desktop to hyper-V as well. I use Windows server as a desktop because it allows me to install the server roles and features for quick testing, screen shot taking, managing the lab, etc. during writing and documenting.

Now a lot of you will have run into some performance issues on the host related to the video card, the GPU. Ben Armstrong mentioned it on his blog and wrote Knowledge Base article on it (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/961661). He later provided more insight into the cause of this behavior in the following blog post http://blogs.msdn.com/b/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2009/11/16/understanding-high-end-video-performance-issues-with-hyper-v.aspx it’s a good write up explaining why things are the way they are and why this cannot be “fixed” easily.

For me this was a bummer as I had a decent GPU on my workstation and I sometimes do need the advanced graphic capabilities of the card.

So when the first rumors of about “Windows 8” & “Hyper-V version 3” hit the internet I was very happy to see the mention of Hyper-V being used in Windows 8 as a client hyper-visor virtualization solution. See http://virtualization.info/en/news/2010/07/first-details-about-hyper-v-3-0-appear-online.html, this link was brought to my attention by Friea Berg from Netapp on twitter (@friea). Now there is more to it than just my tiny needs and wishes. Integration with App-V and other functionality that integration of Hyper-V in “MiniWin” can offer, but have a look at the link and follow the source links if you can read French.

The thing is that Hyper-V in the client would mean that they will have fixed this GPU performance issue by then. They have to; otherwise those plans can’t work. As the code bases of Windows client and server run parallel it should also be fixed on the server side. We’re used to more rich functionality in desktop virtualization by VMware Workstation en Virtual PC. Fixing this also makes sense in another way. Microsoft could be moving forward on one virtualization solution both on server and the desktop and gradually phasing out Virtual PC. They can opt to provide richer functionality with extra features that might be unnecessary or even undesirable on a server but is very handy on a workstation or on a lab server. This is all pure speculation (crystal ball time) by me but I’m pretty convinced this where things are heading.

Combine this that by the time “Windows 8” arrives most hardware in use will be much more capable of providing advanced virtualization features and enhancements and in all aspects, things are looking bright. So no I can dream of affordable 32 GB laptops with dual 8 core CPUs with a wicked high end GPU running Hyper-V.

By the way VMware is also working on similar ideas to provide a true hypervisor on the desktop I guess as they seem to be abandoning VMware Server (no enhancements, not fixes, etc.) and I can also imagine them making VMware Workstation as true hyper-Visor to reduce the product line development and support costs. Pure speculation, I know, especially since the confusing message around off line VDI but never underestimate the ability of a company tho change its mind when practical for them. 😉

Someone at SUN Oracle must be smiling at all of this, especially as Virtual Box is getting richer and richer with memory ballooning, hot add CPU capability (I like this and I want this in Hyper-V), etc. unless Microsoft and VMware totally succeed in making hosted virtualization a thing of the past. In the type 1 hypervisor space they are consolidating what they bought. Virtual Iron (Xen) was killed almost immediately and the SUN xVM Hypervisor is also dead. Both have been replaced by Oracle VM (Xen).

So as everyone seems to have good type 1 hypervisors that are ever improving it might become less and less a differentiator and more of a commodity that one day will be totally embedded in the hardware by Intel and AMD. The OS and software vendors then provide the management, high availability features and integration with their products. And if that is the evolution of things where does that leave KVM (Linux) in the long run? Probably the world is big enough for both types. For the moment both types seem to be doing fine.

As I said, all of this is musings and crystal ball time. Dreaming is allowed on sunny lazy Sunday afternoons. Open-mouthed