x(perts)64

A useful KB (946932) just got posted on support.microsoft.com. It describes how to disable the User Account Control (UAC) prompt for a specific application, without disabling it for the machine as a whole. Now THAT's useful. There's no way I'm ever going to run with UAC off. But there are definitely a couple of applications where I find the UAC prompt really annoying, since I use them pretty often.

BTW, there's another way I like to use as well. I open a PowerShell window, as administrator, at the beginning of every session. I have my Profile.ps1 set to change the background colour to a dark red whenever I'm running from an elevated prompt, just so I don't use it unintentionally, and I have aliases set up in PowerShell to start some key applications that I know need elevation. Since I'm already elevated, I don't get prompted again. :)

Here's the code for my prompt and window colours, if you're interested:

if ($p.IsInRole([System.Security.Principal.WindowsBuiltInRole]::Administrator) -and ( $build -eq 6000 ))
{
$effectivename = "Administrator"
$host.UI.RawUI.Backgroundcolor="DarkRed"
clear-host
}else
{
$effectivename = $id.name
$host.UI.RawUI.Backgroundcolor="White"
$host.UI.RawUI.Foregroundcolor="DarkBlue"
clear-host
}

function prompt
{
    $host.ui.rawui.WindowTitle = " [" + $HostName + "] (" + $effectivename + ")"
    if ( $effectivename -eq "Administrator" ) {
    write-host ("[") -nonewline -foregroundcolor red
    write-host ($Hostname) -nonewline -foregroundcolor Magenta
    write-host ("]") -nonewline -foregroundcolor Red
    Write-Host ([string]$(get-location) +":") -foregroundcolor Green
    write-host ("PS >" ) -nonewline -foregroundcolor White
    } else
    {
    write-host ("[") -nonewline -foregroundcolor red
    write-host ($Hostname) -nonewline -foregroundcolor Magenta
    write-host ("]") -nonewline -foregroundcolor Red
    Write-Host ([string]$(get-location) +":") -foregroundcolor DarkGreen
    write-host ("PS >" ) -nonewline -foregroundcolor DarkBlue
# write-host (" >" ) -nonewline -foregroundcolor White
    }
    return " "
}

Charlie.

We've seen a few reports of BSODs in Vista with Nvidia chipsets and 4 or more GB of RAM. The stop code is 0xA and it's in Storport.sys. Well, a new KB is available. But before you start downloading and applying, please read the symptoms carefully and make sure they apply to you.

Charlie.

I've been running Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V virtualization for a while now. It has become my main virtualization environment. I've got 6 main VMs running on the HP ML350 G5 ProLiant server and another dozen or so that I bring up or down as needed. On the second HP server, I'm running Windows HPC Server clustering as Hyper-V VMs to see what's new and exciting there, but we'll have to wait a bit to talk about that.

Meanwhile, Ben Armstrong reports that a public download is available. Grab it! And read Ben's notes on installation. The latest RC1 release is included, and this version of Hyper-V includes support for installing on Server Core. YEAH!

Charlie.

Update: The command to install Hyper-V on a Server Core installation of this build is:

start /i ocsetup Microsoft-Hyper-V

Well, the Power Supply Saga continues. Not only did I get a replacement for my latest failed power supply, but in looking at the servers I have here, we determined that I had three others in the bad batch. How to tell? Look at your label on the power supply. You'll see Model: DPS-800GB and/or SPN: 403781-001, and it will say "Rev: 03M" up above that SPN. If you have that revision, and you don't have a little yellow or green dot on the label, call your HP rep and suggest it's time for a change. ;-) (I've only seen a yellow dot, but I'm told some repaired power supplies have a green one. IAC, the dot indicates that it has had the problem part(s) replaced or verified that it never had the bad part. )

So, what was HP's response to finding out I had three bad ones still? They sent me three new ones with postpaid return labels for the bad ones. But only after the senior server support person who contacted me first ordered them up, and tested them in his lab.

In an ideal world, I'd never have had a problem with these power supplies. But the reality is that I did, and so did many others. What is clear, however, is that HP is willing to do what it takes to make sure than they get the bad ones out of circulation and replaced with good ones. The ones I got back were either Rev: 05M or Rev: 06M. And all had that reassuring little yellow dot on the label.

Now, if I could only figure a way to upgrade this little server to the newest Xeon 54xx series processors. But that's a motherboard swap, I'm afraid. Too bad. But if you're in the market for a new ML350G5 today, I'd strongly suggest specifying one with the 54xx series processors. Not only will it support more RAM, but it will use that RAM better.

Charlie.