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A week after using Windows 7 on my office laptop, I start to like the changes on Start Menu. For example, I am using Remote Desktop Connection a lot, so when I click on Start menu, I see the recent history of servers I connect to.
This is application related, it will work on Internet Explorer, Microsoft Office applications, etc. When you click on the application, you will see a small right arrow, click on the right arrow or hover over it will give you a list of the most recent history of documents you opened with this application.
Example, on my Windows Live Writer, the Recent list displays the blog articles that I am writing.
It has been a real busy week with Windows 7 RTM and with Windows 2008 R2 releasing soon, there are so many new features to try out. Well, as work requires, I have the opportunity to try setup Redhat Linux 5.3 on Hyper-V with the new release of Linux Integration Components v2 RC2.
The LinuxICs are available for download on http://connect.microsoft.com. The Linux Integration Components Readme.pdf which is packaged with the LinuxIC download provides are very good detailed explanation of the installation process.
I am doing a full pictorial of a installation of RHEL5.3 onto a Hyper-V server and I got the mouse to work too.
Create the Virtual Machine
First, you need to create a Virtual Machine.
Give it 1GB of memory for GUI features.
We will need network to work so that we can get yum updates.
You configure a hard disk size for your VM.
Map the RHEL iso image to DVD drive for installation.
And we are just about ready to start. DO NOT start yet, as we need to add a legacy network adaptor at this moment.
Add a Legacy Network Adaptor to your Virtual Machine hardware.
Connect this Legacy Adaptor to your bridged network that have internet connectivity as we need YUM UPDATE.
Now, fire up the machine and start installation.
You will need to enter your Installation Number here to be able to get YUM UPDATE.
You need to setup networking here.
In previous RHEL versions we have to install XEN Virtualization components, with this new LinuxIC and RHEL 5.3, DO NOT choose Virtualization. Now we can use a regular Linux Kernel and not a Xen Kernel. Please select Software Development.
Complete the wizard and we are ready to start installation.
Reboot once installation completes.
Let’s verify the network are ok by issuing “ifconfig eth0”. Check that you have a working IP address.
With network connectivity, we should now do a “yum update” to get the latest updates from your linux sources.
When you completed the update, reboot the machine by issuing “reboot” command.
Once the system boots up, verify that we have the required packages installed by issuing “yum install kernel-devel” and “yum install gcc” command.
Now we are ready to install the Linux IC. Insert the LinuxIC iso into the DVD drive and copy the contents to /opt/linuxic directory. You can issue the commands below.
mkdir /mnt/cdrom
mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom
mkdir /opt/linuxic
cp /mnt/cdrom/* /opt/linuxic/ –R
cd /opt/linuxic
Having copy the content to /opt/linuxic, issue the command “./setup.pl drivers” to install the Linux Integration Components. Please do a reboot once installation completes.
Now that we have installed the Linux IC, I suggest we remove the legacy network adaptor and connect virtual network to the default Synthetic Ethernet network adaptor.
Let’s verify that the Linux ICs are working by issuing “/sbin/lsmod grep vsc”.
Then verify the Synthetic Ethernet adapter is working by issuing “ifconfig seth0”
The final step is to get the mouse working. Download the mouse support for Linux under Hyper-V from Citrix Project Satori http://www.xen.org/download/satori.html.
Mount the ISO and copy its contents to /opt/mousedrv.
Do a “yum install xorg-x11-server-sdk” to install xorg-x11-server-sdk package.
Then run “./setup.pl” from /opt/mousedrv/ directory.
Here we have it, Redhat Linux 5.3 installed on Hyper-V with Linux Integration Components installed and mouse working too.
Windows XP Mode is one cool piece that you must have on Windows7. I download and installed it on my Windows 7 notebook and likes what I see.
What is Windows XP Mode?
Windows XP Mode provides a virtual Windows XP environment for Windows 7. It works with Windows Virtual PC and loads up an intelligently pre-configured Windows XP machine that runs on your Windows 7 so perfectly that you would thought that you are running on Windows XP.
This screenshot shows my Windows XP mode, Internet Explorer is running fine and my local and mapped network drives are there too.
Features
Windows XP mode was the easiest virtual machine setup I ever did. Setup was simply to download Windows XP mode and start it!!
Direct access to USB and other plug and play devices, and files on your host is possible now. Plus you also get folder integration between host and guest, clipboard sharing and Printer redirection.
The best part that I like is Windows XP Mode allows you to publish and launch applications installed on virtual Windows XP directly from Windows 7 Desktop as if they were installed on Windows 7.
I installed Putty on Windows XP Mode virtual machine and it appears on Windows 7 as a Windows XP Mode Applications. It runs like it was installed on Windows 7 too.
So Windows XP Mode will allow more people to upgrade to Windows 7 because it allows them to run Windows XP applications.
Having tested Windows 7 installation using clean install method previously, now I decided to do an upgrade of my daily work notebook to Windows 7. I decided that my Dell VOSTRO 1400 with 4GB of memory is good enough for the upgrade path. And choosing the upgrade path will saved me the efforts to reinstall most of my applications and migration of my documents.
So let me share with you my experience in upgrading my Vista to Windows 7 Ultimate! A few key points in my opinion would be Antivirus programs, hardware, existing applications on your computer and drivers for your hardware.
So on 6 August 2009, I downloaded the RTM copy of Windows 7 and immediately started working on the upgrade which I have been planning. :)
The Windows 7 setup wizard will greet you when you load the DVD into your DVD drive. Now, do not hit the Install now button immediately. I would suggest your backup your important data first as a good habit. Once backup is done, you still can’t click on the Install now button. haha.
I would suggest your check your hardware, drivers, applications and antivrus program before your start installing Windows 7. Please click on Check compatibility online to do a check on your system first.
This will bring you to a page to download Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor Beta. The upgrade advisor will check your hardware (disk space, memory, etc) and the applications on your system.
If you have antivirus programs, please uninstall them now to avoid any problems during setup. There might be programs that might not function well on Windows 7, you might want to check for the latest version.
The Upgrade Advisor will also check that all your device drivers are available. Do a search on the manufacturer’s support site for any unsupported drivers.
Please download and install Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor beta.
Accept the license agreement and start installation.
Once installation completes, click on Start Check to begin checking your system.
When the compatibility checks are completed, you will be presented with a report. If you see warnings or errors, then tackle them before you proceed with the installation of Windows 7.
Only when the report are clear of any warnings or errors, then you are good to go ahead with your Windows 7 installation. Good luck and have fun!
You can now download the release candidate 2 of Linux integration components for Hyper-V from connect site.
https://connect.microsoft.com/SelfNomination.aspx?ProgramID=1863&pageType=1&SiteID=495
These integration components support the following versions of Linux:
The Linux ICs are necessary to get the optimal performance from your Linux Virtual Machines. These are the Linux drivers for VMBus and for our VMBus based network and storage devices.
Windows Virtual PC RC and Windows XP Mode RC installers are available on http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=140344.
There are numerous feature improvements and I strongly believe you will be interested in these improvements.
· Granular drive sharing
In the settings on the virtual machine, you can select specific host computer drives to share with the virtual machine.
· Manage USB devices with virtual applications
While running virtual applications, you can manage USB devices by using the Virtual Applications icon on the task bar.
· Windows XP Mode tutorial
A Windows XP Mode RC tutorial, which introduces the product features, is displayed during Windows XP Mode Setup.
· Jump list for virtual applications
Right clicking on the virtual application icon for Windows XP Mode, on Windows 7 taskbar, displays a jump list that allows one to easily launch virtual applications from the taskbar.
· Faster Windows XP Mode Setup
Windows XP Mode Setup completes more quickly than in Windows XP Mode Beta.
· Compact differencing disks
You can compact the differencing disks to decrease the file size.
· Ability to install Windows XP optional components
Windows XP optional components can be installed in Windows XP Mode RC without prompting for Windows XP media.
· Ability to choose a location to store virtual machine files for Window XP Mode RC
When you are setting up Windows XP Mode RC, you can choose where to store all virtual machine files for Windows XP Mode RC. The default path is: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows Virtual PC\Virtual Machines\.
· Option to turn off and discard changes when Undo disk is enabled for a virtual machine
An additional option is available when you are turning off a virtual machine: Turn off and discard changes. This option will delete the current Undo disk, and turn off the virtual machine.
I am starting a new blog on http://sgwindowsgroup.org/blogs/bernard
Watch this blog space!!
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