Category: 1322

I’ve been associated with the Dutch Networking User Group (NGN) for almost five years now. I’ve been speaking at their events and have helped others achieve the same goal. NGN has recently joined forces with the Dutch Platform for IT Professionals (Ngi), and an old tradition has been dusted off: We’re organizing a Windows Server-themed … Continue reading "I’ll be speaking at Ngi-NGNs ‘Systems Management: Beyond Control’ event"

I’ve written before on Active Directory-based Activation. This new activation method allows domain-joined Windows 8 clients, Windows 8.1 clients, Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2-based member servers to be activated and deactivated automatically based on their domain membership. I’m very fond of this feature. However, for many enterprise organizations, Active Directory-based Activation is … Continue reading "KnowledgeBase: Update adds support for Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 clients to Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 8, and Windows Server 2012 KMS hosts"

At the same time Microsoft released the Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 bits to TechNet and MSDN subscribers, they also released the Release Notes for Windows 8.1 on a page on the Microsoft Download Center. On this page you can a document (*.docx format) with the critical issues, that have currently been identified, … Continue reading "KnowledgeBase: Important Issues in Windows 8.1 (Release Notes)"

Today, Microsoft has released a document, detailing the Best Practices for Securing Active Directory Domain Services. The document contains 22 best practice recommendations to assist organizations in enhancing the security of their Active Directory installations. By implementing these recommendations, organizations will be able to identify and prioritize security activities, protect key segments of their organization’s … Continue reading "Best Practices for Securing Active Directory"

Windows Deployment Services has a long-standing tradition of being part of the Windows Server Operating System. What used to be Remote Installation Services (RIS), became Windows Deployment Services (WDS) in Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2. Windows Deployment Services (WDS) has ties to Active Directory, as I’ve blogged about earlier. In Windows Server 2012, however, … Continue reading "Active Directory-related changes to Windows Deployment Services in Windows Server 2012"

When your organization is looking to implement Windows Server 2012-based Domain Controllers, your Active Directory environment needs to meet certain requirements. Two of these requirements are the domain functional level and forest functional level. In this blogpost I’ll explain the required domain and forest functional levels for the specific implementation steps.

A lot of people have an opinion on the Offline Domain Join (ODJ) functionality in Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2012 Active Directory, Windows 7 and Windows 8. Of course, everyone is entitled to an opinion, but sometimes fact checking is useful for a discussion. To this point, I have captured the top … Continue reading "Top 5 myths on Offline Domain Join"

When you build test environments regularly, at some point you’ll want to fill your Active Directory quickly. If, for instance, you have a data set with Organizational Units (OUs), user accounts and groups, you’ll want to quickly import this data. If, on the other hand, in your business you’re allowed to use the user information … Continue reading "PowerShell, LDIFDE, CSVDE and Protection from Accidental Deletion"

Windows 8 offers many advantages compared to Windows XP, Windows Vista and even Windows 7. However, to take full advantage of all the new features in Windows 8, the hardware you run it on needs to be equipped with specific hardware.

I’ve written before on Active Directory-based Activation. This new activation method allows domain-joined Windows 8 clients and Windows Server 2012-based member servers to be activated and deactivated automatically based on their domain membership. I’m very fond of this feature. However, for many enterprise organizations, Active Directory-based Activation is beyond their reach for numerous reasons.