Hands On With MDGP 2018 RTM: Installing the .NET Prerequisite

Microsoft Dynamics GPMicrosoft Dynamics GP 2018 RTM has now been released. In this series of posts, I will be stepping through the installation of Microsoft Dynamics GP and additional products and then will move on to taking a look at the new functionality which has been introduced.

The series index for this series of posts is here and will automatically update as posts go live.

Before Microsoft Dynamics GP 2018 RTM, or any of the related additional products, can be installed there is one prerequisite which cannot be handled by the installer process. This is the .NET Framework 3.5 feature which is installed using the Add Roles and Features Wizard available via Server Manager on Windows Server or using Turn Windows features on or off accessible via Program and Features on Windows.

If the PC or server you’re planning to install Microsoft Dynamics GP 2018 RTM onto has an Internet connection, then the .NET can be installed simply by using the wizard. However, if, for whatever reason, you don’t have an Internet connection available, the install process isn’t quite that smooth.

On both server and PC you can do an offline install and I have blogged about this previously:

  1. Offline install on Windows.
  2. Offline install on Windows Server.

Both of the above posts were for previous versions of Windows, but both are still relevant for the later versions.

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Windows Suggestion: Allow choice of how many/which monitors RDP uses

WindowsI occasionally work from home (I don’t really like doing so as I prefer to keep work and home separate). My problem is that at home I have a four monitor setup (2 x 27″ @ 2560×1440, 1 x 23″ @ 1920×1080 and 1 x 19″ @ 1280×1024) and when I am connecting to work I want to use two of the monitors for the remote system I am connecting to and two for local programs or files.

However, the Windows remote Desktop Connection only allows you to use a single monitor or to mark a checkbox to use all monitors:

Remote Desktop Connection

I added a suggestion via the Windows Feedback Hub asking for this to be amended to allow a choice over the number of monitors to use. I’d appreciate it if people would up vote so we can get RDP enhanced/

Manually Activating Windows 10 Enterprise

Microsoft SQL ServerOne of the perks of being a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) is the fRee MSDN VisualStudio account. This gives access to pretty much all of Microsoft’s software for development and testing purposes.

The main pieces of software I use is Windows and SQL Server. Usually when writing blog posts about Microsoft Dynamics GP, I use Windows 2012 or 2012 R2, but occasionally I create a Windows client machine with Windows 10.

Usually these machines don’t last long enough to need registering, but I have lately been working on one or two projects which required a somewhat longer life than the free registration period. For Windows Server, this isn’t a problem as the server version of Windows registers online without problems. However, registering Windows 10 Enterprise is not so simple, as the Enterprise editions of Windows requires a Key Management Server to successfully register.

I have never configured one of these as my installations for development and testing are usually fleeting. Instead, there are a couple of commands which can be run which will allow Windows 10 Enterprise to be registered online.

The first command is where you install the KMS key:

slmgr.vbs /ipk {Windows 10 Enterprise Key}

slmgr.vbs /ipk {Windows 10 Enterprise Key}

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Windows 10 Lock Screen Doesn’t Show Background

Microsoft Dynamics GPI had my work laptop rebuilt recently after having numerous faulty components replaced. After the rebuild, the Windows lock screen remains black and doesn’t show the background image. I changed it to a static image rather than the Windows spotlight. Unfortunately, this didn’t resolve the issue.

The answer for fixing this is actually very simple, but not obvious. To correct the problem, open the System properties window by opening Windows Explorer and right clicking on This Computer and then clicking on Properties (or by pressing Win + Pause|Break).

Once the System window is open, click on Advanced system settings:

System

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Hyper-V Error Creating Virtual Machines

Hyper-VA while ago I was having problems with Hyper-V whenever I tried to start a VM after my laptop had been to sleep or after it was first started up.

That problem went away recently after I upgraded to Windows 10 by rebuilding the laptop. However, it seems the problem has migrated to whenever I try to create a new virtual machine:

The server encountered an error while creatng

New Virtual Machine Wizard

The server encountered an error while creating {server name}.

The operation failed.

An unexpected error occurred: Logon failure: the user has not been granted the requested logon type at this computer. (0x80070569).

The operation failed.

The Hyper-V Virtual Machine Management server encountered an under unexpected error: Logon failure: the user has not been granted the requested logon type at this computer. (0x80070569).

This is a lot less disruptive than the originally problem as I started VMs a lot more often than I create them. And fortunately, the fix is the same as last time, so the batch file I created can still be used.

Run the batch file and the VM can be created; and even better is that I can keep the New Virtual Machine Wizard open with all of the settings configured when I run the batch file. So if I forget to run the batch file before starting to create the VM, I don’t lose any work.

Windows 10 Technical Preview: Win+Tab and Virtual Desktops

WindowsThe Win+Tab key combination was introduced in Windows Vista and appears to have been removed in Windows 8, but is back in Windows 10.

The initial display is very like Alt+Tab which allows task switching, but also has an Add a desktop option:

Win+Tab

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Windows 10 Technical Preview: Start Menu Customisation

WindowsAs I covered in this post the Start menu is being reintroduced in Windows 10 and will include a side panel containing the live tiles previously used on the Start screen.

The image below shows the default layout of the Start menu when Windows is first installed:

Windows Start Menu

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Windows 10 Technical Preview: The Start Menu

WindowsWindows 10 is to see the re-introduction of the Start menu. The Start menu was initially introduced in Windows 95 and continued unchanged until it was given a makeover in the 2007 released Windows Vista.

This makeover saw the ability to conduct a search by simply starting to type after pressing the Windows button.

Windows 8 saw the removal of the Start menu and introduction of the Start screen; the start menu had occupied a small cramped area in the bottom left of the screen next to the Windows button, whereas the Start screen occupies the whole screen. The Start button was also removed and replaced with a hot corner in the bottom left from which to launch the Start screen.

Both of these choices proved to be very controversial and led for calls to reintroduce the Start button, which Microsoft did in Windows 8.1 although the Start screen remained.

Well, Windows 10 has had the Start menu reintroduced:

Start menu

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