Finally a new post!

I know it has been a long time since I blogged so don't start ;)

Have you ever installed a 64-bit OS for personal use? If not, think twice!
I just got my new Dell machine, dual-core 4GB RAM and all sorts of goodies (but NO fancy graphics card, it will only be used as a test machine for servers). Ok, I ordered it with XP 64-bit from Dell, but I forgot to order the darn wireless card. So I thought you could call Dell, tell them that you just ordered a new machine from them and give them the specs...
How stupid was I!!!! First they say that they have no wireless card that support 64-bit, so I told him there was an option during the "configure my computer" wizard that had an option for a wireless card. He says, NO we don't have any wireless cards that supports 64-bit.

Now I'm getting a bit worried, so I (during the time I was on the phone with him) ran through the wizard again and did some screen shots and sent them to him. He says that it is impossible, which forced me to ask him:
"So you have a NIC that customers can order with the wizard that will not work when the computer arrives?"

His answer:
"Yes, but people should know what they order"

Which I replied to:
"But I had to tell you what a 64-bit OS is! And you are selling these things!"

He replied:
"You need to call another NIC supplier."

So, I went to MS website and scrolled through the HCL for 64-bit XP, and guess what! There is a Dell card that will work! But unfortunately the Dell website actually lists 2 NICs with the same name and on the HCL the one that is NOT manufactured by Dell is the one that will work on 64-bit. (The name on Dell's website is 1450)

Conclusion:
You get the correct hardware from the HCL, the company that sells them have 2 NICs available with the same name and NO specs so you can't tell which one is supported or not!

Guess what, I will not order a Dell NIC, I will find another manufacturer on the HCL and order from them......


BTW - Next post will be DFSR in R2....

Ok, back to work now :)

Back from South Africa...

I'm back in Sweden, but in less than 6 hours it is take off heading to Brisbane, Australia. After a couple of days work I'm off again to Santiago, Chile for a couple of days and then I'm heading for London, UK.
So, what am I doing during these short stays you might wonder.... Well, in Johannesburg, South Africa we realized that we wasn't told the whole truth about the environment... Let's just say new forests and domains was discovered so we thought that it would be better if myself and Wolfgang, who is responsible for Exchange, would be the ones going to the major locations and do some discovery work, i.e. run our scripts to find out the details and the truth about the environment.

So what we will be doing the next 12 days is a trip around the world... And people were impressed by doing it in 80 days.... :)

Windows - the story

A friend of mine just sent me this link about the story behind Windows. I don't know if it is the absolute truth, but it sure is fun :)

...it has been a long time since I posted

Yes, I know I haven't been posting for a while. It's been crazy with all the travels and work, so I honestly just haven't had any time for it.

This morning I received an e-mail confirming a new contract, basically I will be travelling the next 18 month doing a massive forest/domain consolidation/migration. Hopefully I will have time to post some interesting things that will be discovered during this work and post it here. At this point I have no knowledge about exactly how big it is, but I do know we are talking about 100s of DCs... Which will be some good fun :)

At the moment my schedule looks like this:

- Feb 28 thru March 3 in Germany
- March 11 thru March 16 in Germany
- March 18 thru April 27 in South Africa

After that I will know more about what needs to be done and also the travel plans for the next few months...

...Oh if you are interested I will post a few "findings" I did when I had to do LCS troubleshooting which is very interesting/strange/goofy...

Advanced AD Troubleshooting and Theory

The dates for my course are now available at Cornerstone's website. Contact Cornerstone if you want to attend.

Jesper's new blog

It is up, and you'll find it here.

Sad day for MS/Good day for Jesper.

As you might know, Jesper M. Johansson is leaving Microsoft. He's a buddy and whatever makes him (and his family) happy makes me happy! Good luck with the new job!

As a MS employee he has been (to me):
- A good friend.
- Known as a "know-how" person.
- He's respected amongst his peers.
- His presentation skills are great (I wish I was half as good).

Future (knowing Jesper):
- A good friend.
- Known as a "know-how" person.
- He's respected amongst his peers.
- His presentation skills are great.
- Don't stop reading his blog! He will continue posting useful things.
- He will stay on top of his area.
- He will not leave the "security business"

When the new URL is known to his blog, I will post it.