RTM of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

As you’ve no doubt heard by now, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 reached RTM today.   More info on that at the Windows 7 & Windows Server 2008 R2 Team Blogs.   So what does this mean for me?   Well, I’m thrilled about the new version of Hyper-V, the new version of Media Center, and especially Direct Access.   What else does it mean to me?   Over the next few weeks I’ll be spending some time at home doing some new OS Installs.   I’ve got 2 virtualization hosts that will now need Windows Server 2008 R2 so that I can setup Live Migration with Hyper-V, my Media Center PC needs to be rebuilt with Windows 7 so that I can take full advantage of the new HDHomeRun digital TV tuners that arrived today, my work laptop and old work tablet need to be reinstalled at Windows 7, and my wife has decided that the 7+ year old computer she is running has finally gotten too slow, so I’m going to be ordering her something and installing Windows 7 on it as well (once it hits the Company Store).

I’m booked solid for 8 of the next 10 weeks.   The next 4 weeks in Portland Oregon, a week not currently dispatched, a week in Boise Idaho, a week not currently dispatched (with the Company Meeting this week and then a family camping trip the following weekend), 2 more weeks in Portland, then a week in Lima Peru.   I’m sure I’ll find time somehow to get all of those OS installs done somehow.   I’ll likely be doing installs while I’m home between trips, then configuring the machines remotely in the evenings from my hotel.

But before all that can start, I still have to finish out this week.    I’m attending a training class this week on Microsoft Forefront Protection Suite (formerly known as Microsoft Forefront Codename “Stirling” ).   Since Forefront Client Security is one of the technologies that I support, this week on what is coming in the next version is a good thing for me.   But I’m not much of a morning person, and traffic between my house and the training room on the Redmond Campus has been horrible.   It has taken me an average of more than 90-minutes to get there in the mornings and about 90-minutes each evening to get home.   This might not be so bad, except that the class starts at 8AM.   Did I mention that I’m not a morning person???

In between everything else, I’ll also try to update this blog with more tech info on what I’m doing, what is new, and what you should be doing (or not doing, depending on the particular thing).  To start off that line of thinking…Remember, Windows Server 2008 R2 is 64-bit only, so only x64 and Itanium versions are available.   If you’re not already installing x64 editions of Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008, you need to be whenever possible.   x64 gives you much greater limits on Paged Pool memory, Non-Paged Pool memory, and System Page Table Entries.   If you’re running a DC, File Server, or pretty much anything else, you should be doing it on x64.   Exceptions to this would be things that do not run on x64 (Exchange 2000/2003, ISA 2006, SQL 2000, etc.), but for things that do (File Servers, DCs, SQL 2005, Exchange 2007, etc.) you should be giving x64 a shot and enjoy the benefits of x64.   For more about why you should be running x64 instead of x86:   https://blogs.technet.com/cotw/archive/2008/04/07/symptoms-lack-of-free-system-page-table-entries-ptes-system-wide-delays-i-o-request-failures-and-low-on-paged-pool-memory-and-or-non-paged-pool-memory-on-32-bit-windows.aspx