Category: Apple

Windows 10 Insider Preview 14316 – Error 0x8007001f

I have been trying to upgrade to the lastest Windows 10 Insider Preview release 14316 for several days now. My machine setup is a Bootcamp version of Windows 10 Pro on a Retina Macbook Pro (rMBP). After following the posts online about how to join the Fast ring to get the update and enabling Developer Mode to be able to install Ubuntu on Windows (whoa is that cool) and checking for updates I was a little perplexed as to why the update did not just happen. So further digging found that I should just leave my rig booted to Windows 10 Pro overnight and hope that the build would install.

To my pleasure, this morning when checking for updates I was finally able to install Windows 10 Insider Preview 14316. Or so I thought. The installation errored out several times with the same error code of: “Windows 10 Insider Preview 14316 – Error 0x8007001f.” A few reboots and other troubleshooting including turning the Fast ring to Slow and rebooting several times did not work. I even did a Disk Cleanup of system files so that the installation would start over with a full download in hopes that the error was simply a corrupted installation. Still the same error.

I decided to try my luck and power the Bootcamp partition up with VMware Fusion. On my first try of installing the update everything went well and the partition rebooted virtually. All seemed well so I decided to power down the rMBP and power back into the Bootcamp Windows 10 Partition with Insider Preview release 14316.

The machine booted fine and everything went well. I then followed postings on how to enable Windows Features including Ubuntu on Windows. Further more I was able to get to a bash prompt within Windows 10 on Ubuntu. Way cool. I might come back and share some links of steps, but figured a quick write up was in order in case others are having the same issue. VMware Fusion saved the day. I am still not sure why the build would not install while booted using Bootcamp as it could be something like the drivers uses, but in the end I found a way to play with the new Windows 10 Insider Preview 14316 without getting Error 0x8007001f.

Upgrading VMware vCenter Log Insight to 1.5

The upgrade to VMware vCenter Log Insight 1.5 from a previous version (mine was 1.0.4-1169900) was fairly simple. First I had to grab the bits and was happy to see an rpm available for the upgrade. While the download was small (59MB) it made me think about how to install the rpm to the virtual appliance. I had never SSH’d into the machine so immediately I fired up Terminal on OSX and gave it ago. The admin username and password did not work immediately so I gave root a try with the same password and was again a failure. The cowboy in me was annoyed that I had to then look at documentation (somewhat kidding about being annoyed, but also wish these darn appliances just had an update section (think vCAC 6.0)). In the documentation I found Upgrade and within that I found the documentation for setting the root password to enable SSH. I would have to state that coming up with a root password was probably the most frustrating part of the installation as it needed to be more complex than my standard lab password (I like simple in the lab). Following the documentation for upgrading the appliance from the VMware Documentation Center was rather straightforward. Enjoy the updated appliance and hopefully we can find some new features in the future.

Update: after the upgrade I have done a little digging around and found that VMware has made it much like vC Ops in that in the future upgrades will be done by .pak files. This is a welcome addition to make the future much like vC Ops, but dang I wish there was an auto update feature like that of vCAC 6.0 Also to note, the Integration piece is broken into two parts for vSphere and vC Ops.

Microsoft Surface is confusing and it helps Apple to hurt CIOS.

Last week I spent time with vendors telling stories about Microsoft Windows 8 and tablets. They told stories about how CIOs do NOT want Apple iPads in their business and that the CIOs are excited to finally get rid of iPads and install tablets running Windows for various reasons. Their reasoning included security and feature set, noting that iPads do not have features included like a stylus. Those that know me know that biting my tongue hurts because I must do it very hard when hearing comments like this. I know about two people that enjoy stylus input on mobile devices and personally cannot think anyone really wants that type of input for mobile devices. There are some people that enjoy taking notes on a tablet and believe that the stylus is the way to do this as it gives the user a more pen like feel to input.

My belief is that that the manufacturers of tablets, now including Microsoft, are going to implement this very badly at first and hurt their companies further. In my opinion the path to tablets in the business has been forged by Apple and being embraced by Citrix the best through their Receiver application . Delivering applications, desktops, and the ability to use GoToMeeting on the iPad is huge. Citrix is making the best play here so far and I am sure their will be a similar application for Windows 8 that will play well with the “Surface” like devices. I say Citrix is making the best play because I think VDI through tablets is not a great user experience. I believe Citrix can provide the best end user experience through XenApp published applications and through XenDesktop. Obvious to techies that publishing applications to the XenDesktop machines users will also have access to here is the best approach. I believe VMware to be far behind the curve of end user accessibility through tablets, but don’t count them out as many new projects are on the Horizon.

Those that know me know that I am an Apple “fanboy,” but am not being a “fanboy” here. I think that Microsoft could have a great product in Windows 8, but think that the manufacturing of devices to compete with the iPad by adding hardware isn’t the answer. The answer lies in simply copying what Apple has done (hopefully without lawsuits) and working hard with partners to give end users the best user experience.

VMware vSphere Administration using Fusion on iMac

I had a frustrating time a while back trying to do VMware vSphere admin work on an iMac. I run a Windows 7 VM using VMware Fusion. The issue I ran into was building nested VMware ESXi hosts and pressing F11. Pressing F11 natively turns up the volume, and does so also while in the Windows 7 VM. I thought to press the FN key with F11 to find out now my windows all disappear taking me to the desktop (probably some OS X term that I should know since people call me a fanboy, but not coming to mind now). I solved the issue initially by booting my MacBook Air to a BootCamp’d version of Windows 7 and doing the install there as it was quick and dirty. Today after pressing many key combinations I finally figured out the magic. After work I decided to start working on the build of a lab for Indy VMUG Demo Days 2012. I would really like to put together a lab to show off the vSphere Replication piece of VMware Site Recovery Manager 5. I think the technology to migrate to a new datacenter with unlike hardware on the other end is valuable. Well building this lab requires a few nested ESXi hosts and will require a few presses of F11. The magic key combination is COMMAND + FN + F11.

*update* it was brought to my attention to use the menu and follow Virtual Machine > Send Key > F11. For some reason or other my memories are of it not working. I will have to try it again this evening. Other articles out there say to use FN + F11, which I believe works on the Bluetooth keyboard, however with my iMac I use the full keyboard and it does not work and requires COMMAND + FN + F11

*update 2* I have verified that using the Virtual Machine > Send Key >  F11 does in fact work. I prefer the keystrokes, but to each his own.