All things R2 Essentials, all in one place. If you’re looking to avoid domain joins, I've written up the exact client connector installation steps. My Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials system is handling daily backups of 12 PCs in my extended family, since January 2014. It's humming along as a VM a…
Since I started TinkerTry back on June 1, 2011, I've posted 416 posts. Most of these are technical bits. Despite those numbers, I admit I only have time to write-up a small percentage of my various little, and not-so-little, tech projects. The articles I focus on are those where Google is of no…
Once or twice a year, even in the Windows Home Server 2011 days, I'd get a nasty, scary backup database warning. No idea why it happens, but I do have about a dozen machines backing up daily, some at home, some remotely via VPN. That's roughly 3TB of space needed for just my Client Computer Backups…
Ok, this is kind of a big deal, there are 20 interesting fixes in this Feb 13 2014 surprise update rollup. And the list of OSs affected by this February 13th release is pretty long as well. Article ID: 2919394 - Last Review: February 13, 2014 - Revision: 2.0 Applies to Windows RT 8.1 Windows 8.1…
So, let's step back and think about this. When configuring a new Virtual Machine under VMware Player, Workstation, or ESXi, you are faced with the question of what size you want your virtual drive to be. The size of the C: drive that your guest operating system will "see," once it formats…
[June 10 2014 Update - be sure you use Chrome Canary 32 bit download, to avoid incompatibility with VMware Client Integration Plugin] If you happen to prefer Chrome over Firefox, like to have a lot of tabs open, and rarely need to reboot, you will likely need to restart Chrome fairly often. Lately,…
The last time I was able to join "The Home Server Show" podcast as a guest was episode 155, back in October 2011. A lot has changed since then, with David McCabe in new digs, with fancy gear and great audio and video. It was great fun to be a part of the discussion, as we dove into…
So, you got yourself a shiny new Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials VM. You run ATTO Disk Benchmark 2.47, only to discover some of the VM's drives are on datastores that aren't quite up to speed. Worry not! Just use Storage vMotion, and the Advanced option, to take care of it. No downtime required, fo…
On December 2nd, 2013, Anthony Bartolo published this sweet and simple guide to activating disk performance counters here, also pictured below. This diskperf function goes back to Windows NT in 1995. Because of the slight overhead imposed by turning on these counters, Windows Server variants …
Have you done the free Windows 8.0 to Windows 8.1 upgrade, then noticed your iCloud Control Panel has stopped updating your Photo Stream? Even on the latest Apple iCloud Control Panel 3.1, the issue doesn't just go away. Somebody named "Alex leong" noticed this problem, and asked the…
Connect to Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials without affecting your DNS, staying in workgroup mode To find this article and registry setting easily when you're out and about, just type TinkerTry.com/connect which brings you back to this article. Please bookmark/share! When you install the R2 co…
I've been given the opportunity to be a Senior Contributor at aNewDomain by renowned author Gina Smith: co-founder with John C. Dvorak of the scitech and geek culture site aNewDomain, Gina's now-legendary team includes some of the top writers, editors, photojournalists, techpros and artists in the w…
Ever found yourself with a Windows system that just won't let you browse the local network? If you're on a public connection, like at an airport or hotel WiFi, you'd expect this behavior, a good thing. If you're on a wired or WiFi connection at home, Windows may sometimes mysteriously wind up with …
support.microsoft.com/kb/2862551 The "DNS auto-detect and configure" feature turns on after Connector is installed on clients. This feature tries to find the server that is running Windows Server 2012 Essentials, and then uses the server’s address as the client's DNS address. This may c…
If you have a home lab, it's likely you already discovered how handy it can be to have VMware Converter in your virtual tool bag. Want to take an ancient laptop, and wish to breath new life into for occasional use as a VM instead? Wishing you could resurrecting that slow "spinny" drive …
In this article with video walk through, you'll learn exactly how to create a Windows 8.1 Profession 64 bit template, using an ESXi 5.5 Virtual Machine Version 10. The ginormous 8TB size for the C: drive in the VM shows off the vSphere 5.5-only features, including the VM's EFI BIOS setting to allow …
I have 2 Yoga 13 laptops in my extended family, one purchased in October 2012 at first release, and another in November 2012. Both have been pretty smooth sailing with Windows 8, although the orientation sensor has been oddly more problematic on one than the other, despite using the same drivers.…
At the recent Home Server Show / SurfaceGeeks Meetup 2013 in Indianapolis, we clearly had a good time, but we also learned stuff. Good, interesting stuff. I've personally been tasked with creating fancy bootable media since the mid 90's. Remember floppy drives? This was largely for classroom and…
Mar 12 2014 Update, see also ESXi 5.5 Update 1 info, just released Mar 11 2014: TinkerTry.com/download-vsphere-5-5-u-1-lab original article appears below. Do you have an efficient and affordable home "vZilla" system of your own, that's got some RAM, and a yearning to juggle many…
: The executable is digitally signed and the signature should state: "Akeo Consulting" (v1.3.0 or later) "Pete Batard - Open Source Developer" (v1.2.0 or earlier) Rufus: Reliable USB Formatting Utility (with Source), read the introduction, FAQ, and support forum. Completely free, an…
My W520 laptop now has Windows 8.1 installed, which is running VMware Workstation 10 to run a VM of Windows 8.1 on an 8TB GPT C: drive, using just 8GB actual storage. Follow? Now that the RTM (Release To Manufacture) 8.1 code has been released to MSDN/TechNet quite by surprise yesterday, I've been…
Today, Microsoft pleasantly surprised the world by getting Windows 8.1 out to current MSDN and TechNet subscribers, early than expected. Excellent, I'm ready, with VMware ESXi 5.5 (likely the GA code) already running in my home lab. Of course, I just had to see how the hypervisor and this shiny new…
Today marks the release of a new revision of VMware Workstation. This family of products is now in its 13th year, and I have quite the library of VMs built up over that period of time. Most of my VMs have been moved to my dedicated-for-virtualization vZilla Core i7 that's running ESXi 5.5 24x7, but t…
This is big news today. I'm fortunate to have an active, corporate bulk MSDN subscription through April of 2016. But those with TechNet-only aren't likely to be terribly happy about today's news. Microsoft to shut down TechNet subscription service Ed Bott, Jul 1 2013 Summary: One of the best s…
TinkerTry - PCs, EVs, home tech, efficiency and more, including virtualization. My opinions here, not my employer's.
Paul Braren, MCSE in 1998, VCP #2681 in 2005, vExpert 2014 to 2024, Veeam Vanguard Emeritus, 2015 to 2019.
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After 6 successful years testing then shipping well over 1,000 Xeon D Bundles, Wiredzone had to stop selling them in mid-2021 due to cost, supply, and logistics challenges. So far, Xeon D-1700/2700 (Ice Lake D) was a minor refresh for 2023, with Xeon D-1800/2800 (Granite Rapids D) refresh looking a little better for 2024. More cores, but still just PCIe Gen4 and DDR4. Looking ahead, I'm glad it's Pat Gelsinger at Intel's helm. I'm also grateful to have had the honor of working at VMware when Pat was the CIO there. I'll leave it at that, given the whole Broadcom thing.
Easily update VMware ESXi at TinkerTry.com/easy-update-to-latest-esxi
