Windows 11 is looming on the horizon and many are wondering where the journey will take them. In this article I will look at the changes to the life cycle / WaaS (Windows as a Service) and the changes for businesses.
Microsoft infrastructure
Everything about the Microsoft infrastructure. It doesn’t matter whether it’s local on the client, on the server or in the cloud.
New lifecycle information on Windows 11 and Office 2021
Now that Windows 11 is officially available, the support dates are also known. Therefore, I have extended the life-cycle diagrams to include Windows 11 and Microsoft Office 2021.
Windows 11 Installation – First Look
In this article I show the manual Windows 11 installation and the first insights. The version used is from the Beta Channel, the Windows 11 Enterprise 21H2 (OS Build 22000.194) version. Since Windows 11 is already installed on my test hardware via in-place upgrade, I use a Hyper-V VM for this. It is absolutely necessary to use a VM of the 2nd generation. SecureBoot and the TPM must also be activated in the VM, otherwise the installation will fail.
BIOS Password managing with Dell Command | Monitor and workspace One
Today I will write me first English private Blog to share with you my project experience.
My learning since a couple of years are everyone is talking about BIOS passwords as part of security but in real life the most BIOS password will be set one time and never change in the time of using the device. With modern work and more mobility, it would be more and more complicated to change BIOS settings because not all devices are in your own network. I will show you in this blog how you could set a BIOS password on a device by PowerShell and Configuration Service Provider (CSP). All scripts are free, and you could use this own your risk without support.
Key Management Service (KMS) Client Serial Numbers [Updated 2021]
The KMS Client serial numbers help you only if you have a KMS Server or use Active Directory based activation. Read more about KMS in our article KMS Overview. This may not yet be translated.
Looking for regular serial numbers for Windows 10, Windows 7, Microsoft Office 2013 or Office 2016? The affiliate links will lead you to Amazon 😉
Update: Now with Windows 10, Windows Server 2016, Office 2016
Update 2: Now with Windows 10 LTSB 2019, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server SAC, Office 2019
Update 3: Now with Windows Server 2022
Automatic Virtual Machine Activation (AVMA) with Windows Server Datacenter (Update)
Behind the feature “Automatic Virtual Machine Activation” is a function in Microsoft Windows Server 2012R2 Datacenter, Microsoft Windows Server 2016 Datacenter and Microsoft Windows Server 2019 Datacenter for Hyper-V, but it works only with the Datacenter Edition activated. With this feature, all supported Windows Server operating systems since Microsoft Windows Server 2012R2 can be automatically activated by the Hyper-V host. But only up to the own version, which means that a Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter Hyper-V cannot activate Windows Server 2016. The limitation of this feature to the Datacenter Edition is due to the unlimited Virtual Windows Server Guests covered by the Datacenter License. The advantage is that it is now easier to assign the license to the corresponding datacenter license during a software audit on the AVMA license key.
List of different Group Policy Templates (Updated)
Active Directory group policies, also called Group Policy Object (GPO), are one of my core topics. I have a lot to do with this in various projects and as a Microsoft trainer. As a result, I have accumulated a number of templates and links. This link collection should make your search a little easier. Only templates of the respective manufacturers or projects are listed here. I have deliberately avoided third-party guidelines.
German Federal Office for Information Security (German BSI) security recommendations for Windows 10
The German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) has published new documents on Microsoft Windows 10 and how to secure it. I looked at the BSI security recommendations for Windows 10 before I wanted to report on them. The background to this is that in the past, publications in this direction were sometimes more than outdated when they were published or they were very superficial.
Intune packaging made simple
I like to work with installation wrappers for packaging. It doesn’t matter whether it’s Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) or Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (MECM) or the Microsoft Deploment Tollkit (MDT), I have also used them for Microsoft Intune packaging.
Software management with Chocolatey
This time it is about a so-called “freemium” software management solution. Feemium is made up of the two words “Free” and “Premium” and means that the software can be used free of charge, but certain functions cost extra. With mobile apps, this also means banner ads and annoying video commercials, but that is not the case here. This article is exclusively about the free version.
