Monthly Archives: April 2013

Apr 30 2013

Windows Server 2008 R2 & Windows 7 Clear Up winsrx folder

 

After a period of time Windows operating systems begin to fill the disk space on the system drive… this is because of all the Windows Updates that you should be applying… The WinSRX folder lives inside the Windows folder on the root drive…. One of the steps to clear out the temporary Windows update files is to run the following command in an elevated command prompt:

DISM /online /Cleanup-Image /SpSuperseded
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Apr 30 2013

Install and Configure Windows PowerShell Web Access in Three Easy Steps

 

Windows PowerShell Web Access Gateway Architecture



Windows PowerShell Web Access is a new feature in Windows Server 2012. It is an IIS application that provides a Windows PowerShell console in a web browser. The IIS application acts as a gateway between the web browser and the machines that you can connect to in your environment. These machines should have Windows PowerShell remoting enabled.

The following is all done from an elevated PowerShell window of the Windows 2012 server you want to install PWA on.


1. Import the Server Manager PowerShell module and install the Windows PowerShell Web Access feature


Import-Module ServerManager

Install-WindowsFeature -Name WindowsPowerShellWebAccess -IncludeManagementTools


2. Install the Web Application in IIS


Install-PswaWebApplication [-UseTestCertificate]

Add the -UseTestCertificate parameter if you don’t already have an SSL certificate installed on the server. This will install a self-signed SSL certificate that will expire in 90 days.


To use an existing SSL certificate, make sure it is configured in Bindings on the Website to use that certificate.



3. Configure Authorisation Rules


Add-PswaAuthorizationRule -UserName domain\username -ComputerName * -ConfigurationName *

This Authorisation Rule will allow the specified account to connect to any computer with any configuration name.

If you are installing on a workgroup server substitute the computer name for domain.


That’s all there is to it!

You can access Windows PowerShell Web Access from Internet Explore using the following URL: https://servername/pswa

Windows PowerShell Web Access Login

Enter your user name, password, and the computer name you want to connect to and then click Sign In.

Windows PowerShell Web Access

A Windows PowerShell window will open in your IE browser, connected to the computer you targeted.

As mentioned above, the target computer must have Windows PowerShell remoting enabled. You can do this by running the following command from an elevated PowerShell prompt:

Enable-PSRemoting -Force


Apr 30 2013

How to Convert Hyper-V VHD Disks to VHDX

Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V offers a new virtual disk type called VHDX. VHDX virtual disks have many benefits, including larger maximum disks up to 64TB, protection against data corruption, and improved alignment of the virtual hard disk format to work well on large sector disks. Seehttp://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh831446.aspx for more information about the VHDX disk type.


You can convert existing older format VHD disks to the new VHDX format using the Hyper-V Manager console. This process will create a new VHDX disk and copy the data from the existing VHD to the new disk. At the end of the procedure you will have two disks, the original VHD disk and a new VHDX disk with the same contents. You can safely delete the original VHD disk once you have confirmed that the new VHDX disk is fully functional.


Here are the steps to convert an existing VHD disk to a VHDX disk:

  • Shut down the VM that is accessing the disk, if necessary. You cannot convert a disk that is in use.
  • Open the Hyper-V VM settings, navigate to the hard drive you wish to convert, and click the Edit button, as shown below:
  • The Edit Virtual Hard Disk Wizard will start. Select Convert from the Choose Action page and click Next.
  • Select the VHDX disk format and click Next.
  • Choose whether the new disk should be fixed size or dynamicallyexpanding. Note that this gives you the opportunity to change disk types from the previous disk type. Click Next.
  • Select the name and location for the new VHDX disk and click Next.
  • Review the summary and click Finish to create the new disk. This may take a few minutes depending on the size of the VHD and the speed of your hard drive(s). The size of the new VHDX disk will be slightly larger than the original VHD disk.


  • The last step is to mount the new VHDX disk to the Hyper-V VM. Note the new VHDX extension.

Once you have started up your VM with the new VHDX disk you can safely delete the old VHD disk.