How To Build A Virtual PC: The Software

Really, the only thing I'm going to need to build a new Virtual PC is the Virtual PC software itself. You, too, can get a copy of that software right here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=04D26402-3199-48A3-AFA2-2DC0B40A73B6&displaylang=en


Oh, and once you get that downloaded and installed, you might want a copy of an OS. For my example, I'm going with Windows 7. You can get your own copy of that here:

Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate


After that, everything else is an application, and follows the same steps to load as the OS. I love that about the virtual PCs. :)

How To Build A Virtual PC

So, I recently had an adventure with Ubuntu 9.04.

Please don't misunderstand - I liked it, I really did.

However! What I found out is that there are just a few things that my daily workflow requires. These are largely application based. In no particular order, they are: MS Office, Synctoy, iTunes, and World Of Warcraft. Some of the things I liked about the Ubuntu experiment were: FFMpeg, Thunderbird's native integration, Ease of setup, Security, and the UI.

Some of the things I missed you can run in an emulation window, or even a virtual PC. However, mostly, I wasn't interested in emulating success, and decided to make the switch back to Windows.

In switching back, I find that although I CAN, I really don't want to be rebuilding my PC again anytime soon. That said, I do need a place to develop some software.

I am going to be building a Virtual PC to solve this problem.

I intend to load it with Windows 7, SQL Server 2008, and Visual Studio.

And no Ubuntu this time.

Activating Windows Server from the command line

Found the following over at
http://www.petri.co.il/forums/showthread.php?t=39459


How to Activate 2008 from command line
Open a command windows

slmgr.vbs -ipk "product key"

You should recieve a cscript success message

now run windows\system32\slui.exe

now just follow the normal activation instructions.


Use this to check activation state: slmgr.vbs /dli

MCTS: SQL Server

I passed my MCTS exam! 70-433, MCTS: Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Database Development

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Here's hoping for a fantastic 2010!

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays!

Enjoy the time off, whatever your plans!

Rebuilding a PC: Why?

How often should you rebuild your PC? What kicks it off for you?

Is it proactive? For example:

• Length of time since last key event
• Amount of data
• Previously determined OS attempt

Or is it reactive?

• Due to performance?
• Perceived slowness?
• Hardware failure?

The key is to know why you're doing it. Not all reactivity is bad (hardware failure, for example, you can't control or really prevent).

However, what if it's a server? How often do you rebuild things, even just the OS? Yes, I know up-time is king. I do.

However, if you can unlock more efficiencies through an OS upgrade, why don't you? Why not be proactive?