Category Archives: Windows

How To Install A Domain Controller In Windows 8 Server Consumer Preview

Posted on 17th April 2012 by Ian Grieve

At the start of this year I did a post on how to install a domain controller in Windows Server 2008 R2 (and I think the method would work back to 2003 as well). However, with the release, albeit of the Consumer Preview, of Windows 8 Server (Windows Server 2013 on release?) that post is out of date.

I say it is out of date because when I tried to run it I got the following message;

Active Directory Domain Services Installer - The Active Directory Domain Services Installation Wizard is relocated in Service Manager. For more information, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=220921

So for those of you who, like myself, are preparing a test environment using Windows 8 Server Consumer Preview, SQL Server 2012, Management Reporter 2012 for Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 (when it arrives) here is a walk through of creating a domain controller on Windows 8 Server Consumer Preview. Please note this is not a guide that should be used on a production environment; it is solely intended for creating a demo or test environment; I am a Microsoft Dynamics GP specialist, not a Windows Active Directory one.

Continue reading →

Posted in Dynamics, GP, Management Reporter, Microsoft, Windows, Windows 8 | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Windows 8 Consumer Preview Available

Posted on 1st March 2012 by Ian Grieve

Microsoft Windows 8Windows 8 Consumer Preview now available for download.

Windows 8 Consumer Preview Available

Yesterday, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, Microsoft announced the availability of the Windows 8 Consumer Preview.; full details at the Building Windows 8 blog.

I’m in the process of downloading it so I can see what improvements have been made since the Developer Preview and will post any thing of interest.

Posted in Microsoft, Windows, Windows 8 | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

How To Install Management Reporter – Server Prerequisites

Posted on 4th January 2012 by Ian Grieve

I’ve done quite a few posts on bugs and other problems recently, so I thought it about time to do a few How To posts; I opened last week with a post on how to install a domain controller and I’ve decided to follow up with a post on how to install Management Reporter. Or at least I intented it to be a post about Management Reporter but I then realised how many screenshots I’d taken and decided to break it down into several posts; the first of which will cover the server prerequisites. Continue reading →

Posted in Dynamics, Management Reporter, Microsoft, Windows, Windows Server 2008 R2 | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

How To Create A Domain Controller

Posted on 28th December 2011 by Ian Grieve

The release of Management Reporter brought several advantages over FRx; x64 compatibility, replacement of the Access database with SQL Server and a modern client among them. However, one of the downsides is that Management Reporter requires a domain to be available for both the installation and running.

Where FRx could be run on any PC or laptop regardless of the operating system, Management Reporter can only be run on a server OS. This means that the Business Development Managers, and I, need either a laptop with Windows Server 2008, or better the R2 version, installed or we need a VM with the same. To make everyday life easier I opted for the latter as I can install it once and then copy the VM between machines.

I am a Microsoft Dynamics GP consultant by training, certification and experience but I don’t have a huge amount of experience with Active Directory. I am the most knowledgeable here about installing GP and Management Reporter though, so it falls to me to do the setup of the demo systems and I figured I might as well do the full monty rather than getting someone else to install the operating system and then passing it back to me.

To this end I needed to learn how to install and configure Active Directory Domain Services (ADDS) and I thought it best to document here for anyone else interested and also for my own future reference. Continue reading →

Posted in Dynamics, FRx, GP, Management Reporter, Microsoft, Windows, Windows Server 2008 R2 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Making A Drive Available Over The Remote Desktop Connection

Posted on 2nd November 2011 by Ian Grieve

I needed a colleague to backup and copy a clients Microsoft Dynamics GP System and Company database back to our systems remotely out of standard working hours.

While I may have used FTP or similar if I had control of all software installed on the server, in this case the best way of doing this was to just use the Remote Desktop Connection and a local drive made available and copy the backups to this drive over the connection.

However, the colleague who was going to do this for me out of hours is not from an IT background like I am. He’s one of those Mark Polino laments the absence; a qualified accountant who has moved into a role as a Microsoft Dynamics GP consultant.

As he’s not from a technical background, there are some things I take for granted which he does not know of. I therefore documented the process of making a drive available over the RDP connection for him and I thought I’d post it up here as I thought it might be useful to others. Continue reading →

Posted in Dynamics, GP, Microsoft, Windows | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Happy Birthday, Windows XP!

Posted on 25th October 2011 by Ian Grieve

Microsoft Windows XPWow, time flies. Windows XP was released to the retail channel exactly ten years ago today.

XP has remained popular through the years, but in Windows 7 a worthy successor appeared. The future looks bright with Windows 8 on the horizon (and currently green in the Developer Preview).

Posted in Microsoft, Windows, Windows XP | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 R2 On Windows 8 Developer Preview

Posted on 16th September 2011 by Ian Grieve

Microsoft Dynamics GP
Microsoft Windows 8Well, I’ve just finished installing SQL Server 2008 R2 and Microsoft Dynamics 2010 R2 on the Windows 8 Developer Preview and GP is exactly like it is on Windows 7. Continue reading →

Posted in Dynamics, GP, Microsoft, SQL Server, SQL Server 2008, Windows, Windows 8 | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Windows 8 Developer Preview’s Blue Screen of Death

Posted on 15th September 2011 by Ian Grieve

Microsoft Windows 8Before instaling the Windows 8 Developer Preview onto my laptop I first tried installing it into a virtual machine.

It was doing this install which introduced me to the “user friendly” BSOD;

Windows 8 Blue Screen of Death

Posted in Microsoft, Windows, Windows 8 | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Windows 8 Developer Preview First Impressions

Posted on 15th September 2011 by Ian Grieve

Microsoft Windows 8As mentioned, Windows 8 Developer Preview now available for download here which I have done.

First impressions are very positive. Overall it’s snappy and easy to use and I do like the look of the Metro UI; I’ve seen it on colleagues smartphones and always quite liked the look of it but I did wonder how well it would translate onto a desktop. The answer appears to be very well. Continue reading →

Posted in Microsoft, Windows, Windows 8 | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Windows 8 Developer Preview Downloaded And Installed

Posted on 15th September 2011 by Ian Grieve

Microsoft Windows 8As mentioned, Windows 8 Developer Preview now available for download here. I’ve just installed it on an old laptop (an Acer Aspire 9301 WMSi with 4GB RAM).

I’ve not bothered with screenshots of the install as it is very much the same as Windows 7; and was as smooth an install as Windows 7 as well. Continue reading →

Posted in Microsoft, Windows, Windows 8 | Tagged , , | Leave a comment