Managed World

I recently came across a bunch of stuff done by Daniel Moth, a Developer Evangelist for Microsoft UK. If you are a managed developer and want to see the new stuff you can leverage on Vista, be sure to check out his stuff.

If you want to digest some of these new features in Screencast format, be sure to check out some of these screencasts that Daniel Moth has also done:

• Windows Error Reporting and WinQual
• Application Recovery and Restart
• Restart Manager
• Developing a Gadget

Enjoy! And thanks go to Daniel for all of these :).

Rob Atkinson recently blogged some screenshots from a new tool from NeoSmart called EasyBCD. What is EasyBCD? Directly from the horse's mouth:

EasyBCD is NeoSmart Technologies' multiple award-winning answer to tweaking the new Windows Vista bootloader. With EasyBCD, almost anything is possible. Setting up and configuring Windows boot entries is simple, and there is no easier way to quickly boot right into Linux, Mac OS X, or BSD straight from the Windows Vista bootloader - on the fly, no expert knowledge needed!

EasyBCD is geared for users of all kinds. Whether you just want to add an entry to your old XP partition or want to create a duplicate for testing purposes; if you're interested in debugging the Windows Kernel or hectuple-booting your seven test operating systems, EasyBCD is the key.

Automated MBR and BCD backups, boot sector restore kits, support for a dozen+ operating systems, detailed configuration of all boot entries, and award-winning guaranteed technical support is what makes EasyBCD stand out - all for free!

Give it a shot!

Hello everyone, and welcome back to  the “Feature Of The Week” newsletter. In this week’s edition of the “Longhorn Server Feature of the Week”, we will be taking a look at a new feature in Vista and Longhorn Server: the Restart Manager.

What is the Restart Manager? The primary reason software updates require a system restart during an installation or update is that some of the files that are being updated are currently being used by a running application or service. The Restart Manager enables all but the critical system services to be shut down and restarted and guarantees that blocking DLLs and resources are unloaded. This frees files that are in use and allows installation operations to complete.

Using the Restart Manager DLL, an installer can use the Restart Manager to register files that should be replaced during the installation of an application or update. Then during a subsequent update or installation, the installer can use the Restart Manager to determine which files cannot be updated because they are currently in use. Installers can direct the Restart Manager to shutdown and restart applications or services based on the file in use, the process ID (PID), or the short-name of a Windows service.

What scenarios does this enable? The Restart Manager API can eliminate or reduce the number of system restarts that are required to complete an installation or update.

Notes – Applications that use Windows Installer, version 4.0, for installation and servicing automatically use the Restart Manager to reduce system restarts. Custom installers can also be designed to call the Restart Manager API to shutdown and restart applications and services.

Resources

• Documentation
  • Windows SDK
  • Using Restart Manager
  • Guidelines for Application and Services

Hello everyone, and welcome back to  the “Feature Of The Week” newsletter. This week, we take quick dive into some of the enhancements that have been made to Windows Error Reporting (WER) in Vista and Longhorn Server.

What is Windows Error Reporting (WER)? Windows Error Reporting enables users to notify Microsoft of application faults, kernel faults, and unresponsive applications. Microsoft can use the error reporting feature to provide customers with troubleshooting information, solutions, or updates for their specific problems. Developers can use this infrastructure to receive information that can be used to improve their applications.

What’s new in Windows Error Reporting? Windows Error Reporting isn’t actually new to Vista and Longhorn Server. However, there are some pretty cool enhancements to Windows Error Reporting that you can find in Vista and Longhorn Server. Developers can use the new API to create reports for many types of events, not just applications crashes and hangs. Also, developers can now create custom reports, customize the reporting user interface, and submit reports to Microsoft. Using Windows Quality Online Services, they then can access their report data, create solutions, and deliver these solutions to their users.

Resources

• Documentation
  • Windows SDK
  • WerReportCreate
  • WerReportSubmit

Hello everyone, and welcome back to  the “Feature Of The Week” newsletter. This week, we will be looking at the robust replacement for boot.ini in Windows Vista and Longhorn Server: Boot Configuration Data.

What is Boot Configuration Data? Boot configuration data (BCD) provides a store that is used to describe boot applications and boot application settings. The objects and elements in the store effectively replace Boot.ini. The data in the store can be managed by a command-line utility, bcdedit.exe, or using the classes implemented by the WMI provider.

How does Boot Configuration Data work? When you start your computer, the first code that executes is the BIOS. The BIOS reads the master boot record (MBR) from the boot device and transfers control to the boot code stored in the MBR. The boot manager reads the boot entries from the Boot Configuration Data store so they are available to the loader and displays a boot menu to the user. The boot environment provides a native API for primitive graphics and other system support. Boot applications are pieces of code that are located on a boot device and run in the boot environment.

The following are examples of application objects:

• The Windows Boot Manager

• The Windows OS Loader

• The Windows Memory Tester

Example – Now, with the absence of the boot.ini file, this is how you would enable Kernel debugging on a system as a boot option: “bcdedit /debug true”

Resources

• Documentation
  • Windows SDK

Hello everyone, and welcome back to  the “Feature Of The Week” newsletter. This week, we will take a short little peek at the new Windows Remote Management infrastructure in Vista and Longhorn Server.

What is Windows Remote Management? Windows Remote Management (WinRM) is the Microsoft implementation of the WS-Management protocol, a standard SOAP-based, firewall-friendly protocol that allows hardware and operating systems from different vendors to interoperate.

The WS-Management protocol specification provides a common way for systems to access and exchange management information across an IT infrastructure. WinRM and IPMI (Intelligent Platform Management Interface), along with the Event Collector, are components of the Windows Hardware Management features.

What scenarios does this enable? Using WinRM scripting objects, the WinRM command-line tool, or the Windows Remote Shell command line tool, you can obtain data from local and remote computers. You can also obtain hardware data from WS-Management protocol implementations running on non-Windows operating systems. WinRM can also supply standard WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation) data, but it handles remote connections via the SOAP-based WS-Management protocol rather than DCOM.

Resources

• Documentation
  • Windows SDK