It's those little things- or how the heck to activate Windows 8 Enterprise

Hi there and happy holidays!

So I'm building the VMs I'll be using to write my part of the SharePoint 2013 Inside Out book for O'Reilly/MSPress. I've decided to go the full 2012/Windows 8 route, even though that isn't a specific requirement.

To that end, I'm installing Windows Server 2012, SQL Server 2012, and Windows 8.

While installing Windows 8 (Enterprise, 64 bit from TechNet, since this is for screenshot purposes and not production), I was not prompted to enter a product key. I thought that was odd, but okay, maybe I'd be prompted after I set up my desktop.

But no.

Instead, I went to the Action Center and saw that *some key* was used to *try* to activate my installation of Windows 8, but it wasn't anything I'd typed in.

Turns out that Windows 8 will try to "helpfully" activate by using a generic key that will inevitably not work. That makes it function for about 90 days, then expire.

I guess they are assuming that most people will get Windows 8 pre-installed on their machines, and therefore they won't need to activate. Otherwise, OEMs probably have a special process they do. As for the rest of us? I don't know. Yet another thing to log in the "What were they thinking?!" column.

Anyway- I simply clicked the Activate button to activate the installation- assuming that I'd be prompted to enter my product key.

I wasn't.

Instead it simply failed to activate with error code 08x8007007B.

After googling a little, I discovered that you can force it to let you enter your own product ID key, by opening the SLUI window, and specifying page 3 manually.
(SLUI is the Windows Activation window)

To do this, go to RUN from the start screen, and in the RUN field type SLUI 3
(it is very important that you put the space in between the SLUI and the 3)

That should open the Windows Activation window on the "Enter a product key to activate Windows" page.

From there you can enter your Product Key and activate your copy that way. Now, I have my key from TechNet, but I am not sure how you get the key for a consumer copy of Windows 8, as I believe Microsoft doesn't give out the stickers to put on the bottom of laptops or PC's anymore.

As I am expecting a delivery of a new, custom built laptop later this week, I will let you know because I bought it with Windows 8 Pro installed. Expect a video of the unboxing by next week, and at that time I'll see how exactly I am to reinstall Windows 8 if I need to. Hopefully this SLUI 3 trick helps, but if it doesn't, I will let you know.

Stay tuned...

About those SPC12 labs-- Necessary instructions so the Hands-On Labs work for you online

Hi there!

I'm back from the SharePoint Conference 2012, and wow am I am tired. I didn't get to do all the things I wanted to do, and want to apologize to all the people I expected to see while I was there. I just spent too much time in the labs this year. I promise not to do that in the future.

Speaking of the Hands-On Labs from the SharePoint Conference. For those of you who were there, you know that we had our fair share of problems in the labs, which resulted in the labs being up and down in terms of availability.

And because of that, everyone assumed they'd just do the labs online.

AND YOU CAN!

Yes, the labs are completely available (you should be a paying SharePoint Conference customer, of course) online from the MySPC link on the SharePoint Conference 2012 site. Just log into MySPC, click the Hands-On Labs tab, then the hands on lab link. That will take you to a site where all the labs are listed in a page very, very reminscent of the one used in the hands-on labs all week. Keep in mind that the labs should be available to you to use for the next two months or so. Feel free to try them, show them to coworkers, etc. That's what they are there for. [EDIT: The labs will be available for three months online, so until Feb. 15th, 2012. Extra time is good.]

EDITED TO ADD: A link has been added to the Hands-On Labs page off of MySPC that lets you download all of the lab manuals in one zip file. So for those of you who were looking for the lab manuals by themselves- they're there now. Woo hoo!

The Lab Menu page for the SPC 2012 Hands-On Lab online environment

Unfortunately, some of the small problems that plagued us proctors in the labs are still there for the online labs. So to that end, because you gentle folks, using the labs online, won't have a proctor behind you to help you at your computer at home or the office, here are some very important tips.

--------------------------------------
ADDITIONAL EDIT: It looks like the labs that require an Office 365 online account require you to create your own FREE 30-day TRIAL of Office 365 Mid to Enterprise size business, Plan E3 first (click this link to sign up).

If a lab manual says "Start on the site collections page of the SharePoint admin center (for example, https://-admin.sharepoint.com/)." or anything else related to a your_tenant site- use your Office 365 trial account's tenant address for "your_tenant".

In other words, the lab will not work when it requires that address to continue, unless you have signed up for a free trial or have an Office 365 enterprise account. That's the only way to have a tenant-admin.sharepoint.com site that can definitely do all the things the lab wants to do (as far as I know, please comment below if a lower version of Office 365 can be used). My apologies. I had hoped that issue would have been addressed before those labs went online.

The labs I've noticed that need an Office 365 account are: HOL006 and HOL007. These are developer labs. There may be more I haven't seen yet. So do not fear. If you want to do those labs, just sign up for the trial version of the E3 edition of Office 365 yourself- then you can do any of the labs that refer to Office 365 without issue.

I've also noticed that some of the labs open with the remnants of someone else's lab already there. Sorry about that. Apparently they are recycling existing VMs for the online labs too. If you find that you start a lab, and there are windows already open in your SharePoint VM (whichever that is, more on that in item 2 below), just close the windows that are open. If you cannot save a file, project, or whatever with the name the lab suggests in the manual- try it again, but add a number the the end of the file name (like a "1" or "23" or something like that). That should help make the file name unique. Otherwise your labs should work fine, no harm done.
-------------------------------------------

1) When you select a lab from the list and click Start Lab, it will open a bunch of VMs conveniently located under tabs. You don't need to use all the VMs for your lab, you'll be logging into only one of them- the others are used for other labs or are just needed in the background, like the domain controller. There are buttons to the right of the tabs. The one that you really need to know is the RECONNECT button (looks like a green arrow pointing at a server icon). More on that below.

An example of the VM page after you Start Lab. Note the first tab is Lab Menu (so you can get back to the lab menu list page), and the RECONNECT button on the far right of the tabs

Keep in mind that the VMs will open for the lab, but the LAB MANUAL will not. To open the lab manual, go back to the lab menu page (the first page you were on when you went to the lab site, it is under the Lab Menu tab on the left if you're in the VMs), and click the little link that says "To open the lab manual, click here" that shows up at the bottom of the lab list when you select a lab (you can see it in the first image in this post). Clicking the "here" link will open the manual into a different browser window. Every time you select a lab, the option to open it's manual shows up in the box below the lab list, just click the here link. Clicking the link also will refresh the manual window, should you need to.

Also- if you want to keep your VMs open and just go to the next lab, you can go back to the Lab Menu, select the next lab you want to do, and just open the manual for that lab there. You don't really have to End Lab on the VMs you're using to start a new lab. Just a tip for you to save time.

2) The lab manuals never explicitly say WHICH VM you should actually log into to do your lab. I don't know why, since that's a pretty big deal. And this is where a little glitch in the labs shows up:

-- For the labs that are IT PRO focused (they're usually labs numbered HOL021 or higher, the VM set ends with a "Lync" tab)- you should log into the server that has SharePoint 2010 installed on it. The server that has SharePoint and SQL installed on it is mistakenly under the DC tab. I know, crazy right? There was a mix up where the SP and DC tabs were switched, so the Domain Controller is under the SP tab, and the SharePoint server is under the DC tab. I'd assumed it would be fixed before the labs went online.

So to use the HOL for IT Pros, make sure you log into the VM that is under the DC tab. Always check to make sure that SharePoint is installed on the VM you're working on before you start working.

--For the labs that are DEVELOPER focused (they're the labs numbered from HOL001 to HOL020, the VM set ends with a Win8 tab). SharePoint may be installed in the VM under the WIN8 tab. Please make sure it has SharePoint and the developer tools you need to do the lab before you get started.

3) Sometimes the remote desktop access to the VM you're on can get disconnected. It's okay. If the VM you are working on goes black and says it is disconnected, just click the little button to the far right of the VM tabs that looks like a green arrow pointing at a server (you can see it in the second image in this article).

This is the RECONNECT button, and will reconnect you to your VM's desktop. No fear, the VM is happily chugging along in the background, unaware that you can't see it. Nothing in your lab has been lost or delayed. It just lost your desktop connection for a moment. We are going across the internet, you know.

If you get a dialog box saying one of the other VMs in your set disconnected, don't worry about it. You don't really need desktop access to those VMs, they'll run just fine without you connecting to their desktops remotely.

4) As far as I know, even if the manual tells you to hit F5 on your keyboard, such as in Visual Studio, do not hit F5 on the keyboard. That will likely refresh your connection to the lab site itself, kicking you out of the lab. It is best, if you need to refresh, compile, or whatever you would use F5 for, do it using a button on the toolbar, or select it in on of the menus in the menu bar of the application (such as Internet Explorer) in the VM you are working on. Just an FYI to save you the time of having to start over if you get kicked out.

I hope you get to use the labs like crazy, and if you have questions, feel free to ask in the comments of this article. (mind you, I was trained to support the lab environment, not to memorize every lab manual available, so I might not be able to answer all step by step questions)

Thanks to all of you who attended the SharePoint Conference, especially those dearhearts that had issues using the labs while I was there. I'm here for you bro. ;P

SharePoint Foundation 2013 release version is available for download today!

Hi there folks,

So I'm back from SEF 2012 in Stockholm Sweden (really great people, really great city, really great coffee...).

While I was there I presented two sessions on the public preview beta version of SharePoint Foundation 2013.  I had some issues, as you would expect with a beta, but I pretty much was able to do what I needed to.

Ironically, the day after the event ended, SharePoint Server 2013 RTM version (the public release, final product version) became available for download on TechNet and MSDN.

Woah Wow... (think scooby doo noise) Sad timing, but at least it will give people a chance to check it out before SharePoint Conference in mid-November.

But, despite the Server version being available for download since 10/24/2012-- SharePoint FOUNDATION RTM version was NOT available for download anywhere.

Until today.

So for those of you wanting to try out SharePoint Foundation 2013 for yourself, maybe because you're considering upgrading, maybe because you are considering taking the plunge and using SharePoint in your organization, or maybe because you're considering getting certified or learning to consult in SharePoint and want to get your feet wet using the free, foundational, less complicated product first, before trying to tackle all those complicated service applications and additional features of the paid for version.

For whatever reason you might want to get your hands on SharePoint Foundation 2013-- the release version is available for download today.

SharePoint Foundation 2013:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35488

Here's the language packs for SPF 2013 as well:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35492

Oh, and in addition, the rather gimped, but still useful for workflows SharePoint Designer 2013 is also available for download today:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35491

Little things about SharePoint Foundation 2013

Hi there everybody. Long time no see. I've been super, ultra busy working this year (especially this summer), and haven't had time to indulge in my usual pasttimes quite as much as I'd like.

Right now I am preparing to go to Sweden and present two sessions at the SEF 2012 event in Stockholm. Both of my sessions are about SharePoint Foundation 2013(most of the sessions at the event are about SharePoint 2013 actually, I guess everyone's excited).

To that end there are a few quirks I'd like to point out about SharePoint Foundation 2013, particularly the Public Preview version (which is the version I'm using since the release version doesn't come out until after I get back from SEF).

So on to some notes:

- When installing SharePoint Foundation 2013 preview-- I chose not to use the 2012 versions of SQL and Server at this point. One new thing at a time, thanks.

To that end-- Server 2008 R2 must have:

• Service pack 1 installed and all updates to this point

I'm using SQL 2008 R2, Enterprise. SQL requires:

• MaxDOP set to 1 (In SQL Server Mgmt Studio, right click the server icon in Object Explorer pane, go to it's properties. In the properties box, click on Advanced in the select a page area, change value of Max Degree of Parallelism to 1)

Then after you install the SharePoint Foundation 2013 prerequisites you need to download and install:

• KB 2554876
• KB 2708075
• KB 2472264

After you finish the install, if you choose to do a complete, farm installation, you will need to configure services. There are many, many more service applications than before. The configure your farm wizard will want to use the same service account for all of them, and any databases it creates will have long GUIDs in the name. Despite that, for your first try, you might want the wizard to do the configuration for you just to see things working. Later you can change the service accounts in Central Administration (or in powershell if you'd like). And even later, when you do another practice installation, you can chose to not use the wizard
New Services:

• Secure Store (yay, now you can use it for BCS)
• Search (only one though, you can have several search service applications like you can for Server)
• App Management (to be used to manage the installation of "Apps" in the farm, requires EXTENSIVE set up outside of the service application itself)
• State Service
• Lotus Notes Connector (ironically, in case you need to search lotus notes implementations)

There is also Distributed Cache service and Request Management, which are carry overs from Server 2010 and are used by Search, so they have ended up in SharePoint Foundation 2013 as well. You can't really configure them as service applications, you can only start or stop them as services. Distributed Cache service takes up A LOT of RAM, and if you only have one SharePoint Foundation 2013 server in your farm, you can safely turn it off. Request Management doesn't need to be started unless you have multiple SharePoint Foundation servers in your farm, because it helps manage which server answers which client request (kind of a SharePoint aware task load balancer).

Remember that SharePoint Foundation 2013, specifically because of the practically infinite increase in Search services, require almost 4 times the RAM that it needed for the 2010 version. And this is not a joke. My VM of SPF 2013, with no users using it, just sitting idle, need 4GB of RAM to function. So when they say it needs 8 GB of RAM, it is not an idle threat. It uses huge, huge amounts of RAM. Especially if you set search to do continuous crawls.

"Continuous crawls, what's that," You say? Ah, that's the point of my new "SharePoint Foundation 2013 and how search grew up" session. :)

Added a new page to this blog: LiveCast Presentations...

Howdy everyone!

I've added a new page with a Livestream widget on it to my blog called LiveCast Presentations. That's where you can go to join in on my Livestream presentations most weeks. The date and time varies depending on my attendees' schedules, so check my twitter feed @cacallahan, or join my Facebook group  "Callahans SPF 4 Admins Events".

Now, for some backstory as to why I created the page, apparently out of nowhere...

I've been doing a lot of free, live, online webinars and livecasts for my SPF 4 admins group on Facebook. The "channels" I've been using to do these sessions changed over time. I started by using the LiveMeeting account that Microsoft gave me as an MVP. But, the moment I didn't get renewed at the beginning of 2011, all of my recordings (about 7 of them, really good ones I was proud of) were deleted. There was no way to download the recordings locally (or to record a copy locally while broadcasting).

That left me distrustful of using LiveMeeting. People had kindly offered to let me use accounts on their servers, but none let me control my recordings, which left me grateful but uneasy. I decided to explore other options just in case.

But since I have to use free offerings (none of these session generate any income), that left me with a lot of work and experimentation to find a product that wasn't LiveMeeting, but would be good enough for all of my users to use, without the interface (or its advertising) being too distracting.

I started with a product called "Freebinar," which worked pretty well, and was very dependable. I could also download the recordings to a local drive for backup, which I appreciated. Then it had a change in management, "direction," whatever, and was "rebranded" as "Anymeeting." They made changes to their service, that made it, in my opinion, harder to use. In addition, it just didn't seem as dependable as before. However, Anymeeting did (still does) have some really, really great features like customizable invitations, registration pages, and surveys. I just had issues with crashes while I was trying to teach stuff.

During all this, I had been messing with Livestream, a site that hosts live streaming events. The learning curve is a little steeper, the software a little more challenging, and it's primarily for broadcasting- so no webinar focused mechanisms like invitation mailing lists, registration pages, or surveys. Also, the advertising can be annoying. (Think hulu, or the many videos you see on sites that have ads you have to watch before you can see the show)

I really wanted to make Anymeeting work, but I did have a Livestream page just in case. Then one day, mid-session, when I couldn't get screensharing to work in Anymeeting, I simply had my viewers join me at my Livestream page. I set up a different microphone, started the encoder, and simply started streaming from my laptop. The attendees could chat using the livestream chat window, like they were doing with Anymeeting anyway. The video and audio quality seemed pretty good, and overall it was a success. It automatically recorded a local copy as well as one for the site. I can also have much more control over the video and audio quality (although that's still a work in progress)- which is an improvement over Anymeeting.

I have been using Livestream for a number of sessions now, and I think I really like how it works, despite the loss of some cool features. My attendees seem to be able to become comfortable with the interface pretty quickly, and I think the quality of the video streaming has improved, and the recording quality seems to be better too (although I am not sure of that, not enough people have given me feedback on that yet).

Now, I mentioned being annoyed, personally, by the advertisement that sometimes is shown in the video area before you get to watch the presentation. I have been messing with blocking ads and cookies and stuff because of the whole Google is being evil thing lately, and discovered that if you use an adblocker, like adblock plus I use as an extension in Firefox, then you don't get any ads in the video (I thought it just blocked ads on pages, silly me)- so ad problem solved.

Because I plan on doing more work in livestream, I thought I'd make it easy for my audience to access my streams. 'Create a page that I had more control over than the Livestream page-- or at least a page my audience can use more easily if they choose. Thus I've added a page to this blog, and stuck the code for a Livestream widget pointing to my streams on it. I will keep you updated on how it's going here on the home page, but at least now you know why this blog has a listing on the top, right side that is titled "Pages" and only lists Home and LiveCast Presentations. Please let me know if you're interested in any particular topic, I'm always wondering what people might need.

And feel free to check out the presentations I've already recorded at http://www.livestream.com/callahanspf4admins or click the Videos button in the widget on the LiveCast Page to be taken to my Livestream channel's video library.

TechDays San Francisco. Nifty small conference everyone should attend.

Howdy,

I don't know about you, but for me, money's just getting tighter these days. I can afford to attend fewer and fewer events. Despite their being the best way for me to connect with other IT professionals; meeting readers, meeting other industry experts, speakers, and trainers, I just can't afford to go to all of the events I used to, year after year.

Now I have to pick and choose.

As for information, training, insider tips, and simply finding someone qualified, that I can trust, to ask questions and get real answers-- I now mostly depend on the internet. Which, as all of you know, can be hit or miss.

I wish I were independently wealthy. I wish I could go to every industry event out there. Go to every party, every session, every mixer-- but I can't.

So, this year, I am going to go to TechEd. I will be (hopefully) volunteering again to staff the hands-on labs. Hopefully, I will also get to staff the labs at the SharePoint Conference later in the year. And, hopefully, I will be selected to speak at the SEF event in Stockholm, SE again in November.

I didn't get to go to SPTechCon, or the MVP Summit. I won't get to go to SPCincy, or WPC (Worldwide Partner Conference). I'm going to have to skip a number of SharePoint Saturdays too. Times are tough.

So, when I find a bargain, I like to pass it along. I am going to be speaking at a small, community driven, two day event in San Francisco call TechDays, run by the PacIT Pros (Pacific IT Professionals user group) in a couple of weeks. This two day event is going to be jam packed with the very people who do keynotes and incredible sessions at TechEd and other high profile events. People like Stephen Rose, Mark Minasi, Darren Mar-Elia, and Joey Snow.

Mind you, this is a Microsoft topics event, like TechEd, so the sessions won't just be about SharePoint  but will cover content from Windows Server 2008 R2 and the upcoming Server 8, IIS 7.5, DNS, MDOP, Deployment, Exchange, Linux, Hyper-V, System Center, Forefront, PowerShell, and even SharePoint (thanks to yours truly). This is the time to get some insight into those products you need to know about, while you're working day in and day out with SharePoint. Each speaker is doing two sessions about their favorite subjects, so you know they'll be good.

Ever attend a large conference and wish you had a chance to talk to the speaker, but there were too many other people around and not enough time? Maybe you attended a session at TechEd given by one of the people listed to speak at TechDays, and had a question you wanted to ask during the session, but the room was packed with hundreds of people and there was no way to get noticed before the session ended?

Well, now's your chance. That's the point of these smaller, shorter, cheaper events. They have the same great, experienced, professional speakers, at a fraction of the cost. And you aren't away from home for a whole week. And you get excellent, useful, sessions to learn about all kinds of Microsoft products from people you can trust. People who know what they are talking about.

The site for the event is: http://techdays.org/techdays-sf-sessions/
The date of the two day event is March 22nd and 23rd.
The cost for two, session packed days is just $400 (that's sessions from 9:00am to 5:00pm, with a meet and greet party the first night- when does anybody get two days of real expert training for just 200 dollars a day?!).
The location will be the Microsoft Office in downtown San Francisco at 835 Market Street, Suite 700, San Francisco, CA 94103.
The hotel that PacIT pros has a group rate with is Diva Hotel, within super easy walking distance from the event (I've really grown to love those Personality Hotels in San Fran. Ask me about Hotel Union Square. Adorable!).
There are a whole lot of seats still available. So quickly click the link to the event and sign up before it's too late.

I would dearly love to see you there. I am currently checking to see if Wiley can send me some free books to give away. So this may also be a rare chance to get a free copy of my Mastering Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 book (and get it signed), since I'm not going to be out speaking at as many events this year.

TechDays San Francisco- like bow ties, being there is cool. :)

Blacking out the site in protest against SOPA

For my 6 followers, I wanted to give you all a heads up. I will be blacking out this blog for a day in support of those who feel that SOPA and PIPA are too restrictive and are being considered by/voted on by/could be enforced by those who don't understand the internet. These laws, if they pass can cause (will likely cause) damage to the democracy of published content on the internet and free speech there. Please consider signing one (or every one) of the many petitions out there against these laws.

If you don't like the fact that so many useful or interesting sites are going black- then imagine what could happen if these laws were enacted. It would be very likely that they would either have to go offline or be censored so tightly as to be useless. Although every single bit of content in my blog entries is my own (as is evidenced by the typos), all it would take is a comment linked from somewhere that a big company didn't like and all my content, all my work to give you information, would be gone. So, in protest, I might as well black it out now. Please consider the ramifications of these laws and any like them when you vote for your politicians. Those that think this will be effective against pirates are too deep in the pockets of their corporate masters to realize that it will only be effective in stifling the constituents that actually vote for them.

You need a government for the people, by people- not for corporations, by corporations. We all do. Please help us keep the internet safe. Protest against SOPA and PIPA while we still can.

Thank you,
CA Callahan