Microsoft released Windows 8 Release Preview & Server 2012 Release Candidate on 31st May 2012, which is the pre-RTM version of Windows Client & Server Operating systems, going to be available later this year. You can download both Client & Server operating systems using links below
Download Windows 8 Release Preview http://aka.ms/win8rp
Download Windows Server 2012 Release Candidate http://aka.ms/ws2012rc
Finally most eagerly anticipated Windows 8 next release has been announced by Microsoft. This is the second public release of Windows 8 after releasing Windows 8 Develop Preview edition was announced on 29th February 2012.
I have already downloaded Windows 8 Beta and I’m going to have a look at installation process in this blog post. if you haven’t yet downloaded Windows 8 beta, you can download from TechNet Evaluation Center by accessing following link
Download windows 8 Beta –> http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/hh670538
After downloading required media files, let’s get started with the installation. When you boot from Windows 8 Beta media you will first see new Windows 8 Boot logo
After it loads up you will see Windows Server 8 Beta Setup
You can select Language / Time format and the keyboard method and proceed with the installation
Next installation prompt, we can select available editions. At the moment, there’s only Datacenter Edition available in the beta which provide you with two options to select either GUI version of the Operating System or Core version. I have selected GUI version of the Operating System. we will look at later how we can switch back and forth from GUI to Core using Windows 8.
Next prompt we have Licensing terms which needs to be accepted to proceed further
There are two types of installation options available which is Upgrade and Custom Installation. since I don’t have any operating system installed, I will select Custom Installation method
Next we need to select a partition for installation. once we are done selecting a partition then the setup process will begin installation
Once installation completes, we need to set administrator credentials before logging-in to the system.
Once we have set Administrator credentials, we can now log-in to the system
we can now see our very first preview on Windows Server 8 Beta Desktop Experience
When you login using Administrator account, it will automatically run Server Manager which allows you to configure your server.
We will evaluate and look at more features on Windows Server 8 Beta on future posts
Microsoft recently released a free desktop gadget for TechNet/MSDN users which offers a convenient way to access forums and take advantage of forum support right, from your desktop. This tool has many features and functionalities which I have listed below as an introduction to this tool.
First, let me introduce how this gadget will look like after getting it installed from Microsoft Download Center (http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=27747)
Desktop Gadget Interface
Search Feature on TechNet Desktop Gadget
First feature that I’m going to write about is the Search capability which is available with this tool. In the search field, a user can specify any search keywords which will do a search within TechNet forums and provide results in a web page as shown below.
Desktop Gadget Options
Next let me talk about gadget options which are available on this Desktop Gadget. If you select Options it will open Gadget options menu which provide below mentioned configurable options. These options are related to thread Updates and also favorite forums selection helps you to identify forums in which you can post questions using “Ask a Question” button.
We need to select favorite forums using “Choose your favorite forums”section. This will help you to Post questions in relevant forums and also you can use favorite forums to view feed updates from “Thread Updates” section.
I will configure few forums as my favorite forums and also leave the option “Show updates from my favorite forums”. We will come back to this section and see what will be the result if we select “Show updates from my threads” by providing a Display Name.
If I now select Thread updates button, we can see all updated thread from my favorite forums and this is an easy way to keep updated about questions or activities in favorite forums.
Let’s jump back to Options and see what results we get if we set the option to “Show Updates from my Threads
After selecting “Thread Updates” I can see all the threats which we have replied or subscribed easily within the gadget.
Ask a Question
After selecting favorite forums, I can now go ahead and post questions in my favorite forums using TechNet Desktop Gadget.
After selecting a forum in which I need to post, gadget will open a web page which will allow me to post a query directly in to the forum.
Priority Support
Priority Support is an option which is available for TechNet/MSDN Subscribers, which provides two business days response time by Microsoft Engineers. For more information relating to Priority Subscriber support please visit (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/ms788697.aspx)
Forum FAQ
Forum FAQ provides frequently asked questions for Forum users which now can be easily accessed using this Desktop Gadget Tool
Please find below link to download TechNet/MSDN Desktop Gadget from Microsoft Download Center.
In this article, let’s look at how we can use PowerShell to manage your Office 365 environment. before moving forward, you need to first download & install Office 365 cmdlets.
Download Links
After installing Online Services Module, we can run Online Services Module from the start menu –> Programs –> Microsoft Online Services
Once you open PowerShell Online Services module it will import Online Services modules in to PowerShell
As the first step, we need to get connected to our Office 365 account and for that we need to use “Connect-MsolService” cmdlet
soon after you will be prompted to enter your user credentials which you are using to Administrate Office 365 account
after entering your credentials, you will successfully get connected to your Office 365 account. Now you can administrate your Office 365 account using Powershell
let’s try with “Get-MsolUser” cmdlet and see whether we can get a list of users whom I have created.
find below reference link to get information about more PowerShell cmdlets which are available for you to administrate your Office 365 Account.
http://onlinehelp.microsoft.com/en-us/office365-enterprises/hh125002.aspx
Today I’m getting to demonstrate how a new user can access Office 365 Outlook Web App to get check emails and also get connected using Lync.
Step 01 -> visit https://portal.microsoftonline.com
Step 02 –> Use Office 365 Username & Password to login to Office 365 Portal
Step 03 –> After successfully logging in to Office 365 Portal, navigate to “Outlook” section to access your emails (Outlook Link highlighted in Yellow)
![clip_image002[4]](http://thenrml.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/clip_image0024.png "clip_image002[4]")
Step 04 –> Select your time zone – in this example I have selected UTC+5:30 which is the time zone for Sri Lanka
![clip_image002[6]](http://thenrml.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/clip_image0026.png "clip_image002[6]")
Step 06 –> Access your Inbox
You will notice that you are also logged in to LYNC which you can use to IM with your colleagues.
Microsoft recently launched a new website for private cloud, virtualization solutions and system center solutions. This website will help you find relevant information from Microsoft Web destinations including TechNet, MSDN and many more making this site a single point of contact to get latest information for Server & Cloud Platform updates.
find below link to access this new web site
Exchange Team has release a new rollup for Exchange 2010 SP1. this is the 5th rollup since Exchange 2010 SP1 was released. You can find below essentials links for more information about this rollup.
Description of Update Rollup 5
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2582113
Download link for Update rollup 5
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=27193
