• Follow the instructions above to open a "Command Prompt" window, then type each of these commands, ending each one with the Return key:
  slmgr /ipk XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX
  slmgr /ato
  where the "X"s are replaced with the serial number you just noted down.
• Close the window by clicking on the "X" in the top right corner of the window.

Tags: Windows, Windows 7

Tags: Windows 7

This will walk you through a very polished Windows 7 installation, including the basic software tools that most people need, along with all the configuration settings required to make Windows 7 nicer to use.

A bit of it is specific to our network, ecs.soton.ac.uk, but most of it is generally useful.


Boot off Windows 7 Enterprise DVD
Choose English (United Kingdom)
Custom install
Advanced drive options, delete all partitions
Leave it to install

User account
  - Username "User"
  - Computer name: "Dell " + the model number
  - Password "password"
Updates
  - Use recommended settings
Time Zone
  - UTC
Wireless Network (if presented)
  - Use ECS-WLAN, tick "Start this connection automatically"
  - Work Network

Start / Computer / Properties
  - / Advanced / Computer Name - Change suffix to ecs.soton.ac.uk
  - / Remote - Untick Allow Remote Assistance Connections

ECS VPN
  - staffvpn.ecs.soton.ac.uk
  - Name "ECS vpn"
  - Allow other people to use
  - Don't Connect
  - No username or password, leave all blank

Start Menu Properties
  - Power button: Hibernate
  - Untick "Store and disp... and the taskbar"
  - Customize
    - Control Panel - menu
    - no Default Programs
    - no Music
    - no Open submenus when I pause
    - no Pictures
    - yes Run Command
    - System Administrative Tools on All Programs menu
  - Toolbar tab
    - no Lock the taskbar
    - Notification area: customise and Always show all icons

Control Panel / Personalization
  - Window color / Advanced Appearance settings
    - Border Padding = 0
    - Active Title Bar = minimum allowed
  - Desktop background
    - Picture location = Top Rated Photos
      - Untick all except penguins
  - Left-hand pane / Change desktop icons
    - Hide all

Control Panel / Action Center
  - Left-hand pane / Change User Account Control settings
    - Change to bottom level + 1

Control Panel / Autoplay
  - no Use AutoPlay for all media and devices

Control Panel / Folder Options
  - Navigation Pane / yes Show all folders
  - View tab
    - Hidden files and folders - Show hidden files
    - no Hide Empty Drives
    - no Hide Extentions
    - no Hide protected operating systems files

Control Panel / Internet Options
  - Home page = https://secure.ecs.soton.ac.uk/community/
  - Search / Settings...
    - Find more search providers...
      - IE8
        - yes Use Suggested sites
        - yes Use express settings
      - Search the gallery for "google"
      - Search with Google United Kingdom
        - Add to Internet Explorer
      - Google Search Suggestions
        - Add to Internet Explorer
        - yes Make this my default
        - yes Use search suggestions
      - Close IE
    - yes Prevent Programs
  - Tabs / Settings...
    - no Warn me when closing multiple tabs
    - yes Always switch to new tabs
    - yes Always open pop-ups in a new tab
  - Security tab
    - Custom level
      - Display mixed contents = Enable (just over half way down)
  - Programs tab
    - HTML Editor = Notepad

Control Panel / Power Options
  - Require a password on wakeup
    - When I press the power button = hibernate, Shut down
    - Change settings that are currently unavailable
      - Don't require a password
  - Choose when to turn off the display
    - Plugged in = never, never, never

Control Panel / Programs and Features
  - Turn Windows features on or off
    - Printing and Document Services
      - no Internet Printing Client
      - no Windows Fax and Scan
    - no Remote Differential Compression
    - no Tablet PC Components
    - yes Telnet Client
    - no Windows Gadget Platform
    - no XPS Services
  - Restart later.

Control Panel / User Accounts
  - Change your picture
    - Choose the kitten

Restart Windows.

Start Windows Explorer
  - Organise / Layout / Menu bar
  - find Recycle Bin / Properties
    - no Display delete confirmation dialog

Firefox
  - www.mozilla.com
  - Standard Install
  - yes Launch on completion
  - Don't import anything
  - Tools / Options
    - Main
      - Home page = https://secure.ecs.soton.ac.uk/community/
    - Tabs
      - no Warn me when closing multiple tabs
      - yes When I open a new tab
  - Quit Firefox
  - Quit and restart IE
    - When it asks about being default browser
      - no Always perform this Check
      - Click "No" button
    - Right-click on Favorites bar and untick the Favorites bar

Thunderbird
  - www.mozilla.com
  - Standard install
  - Do not run at end of install

VLC
  - www.videolan.org
  - run when installation finished
  - allow to check for updates and use internet
  - Quit

Adobe Acrobat Reader
  - Button on right side of www.adobe.com
  - Scroll down the download page and untick all "Also install"s
  - Allow the add-on to install
  
Adobe Flash Player
  - Button on right side of www.adobe.com
  - Scroll down the download page and untick all "Also install"s
  - At end of installation manager, Firefox will start and need to install Flash plug-in.
  - Rinse and repeat to install Flash Player in both IE and Firefox.
  - Quit Firefox and IE

Office 2010
  - Install from DVD
  - Thump the big Install button

Restart Windows.

Office serial number
  - Start Microsoft Word.
  - File / Help / Change Product Key (middle of right side)
  - Get activation code from https://secure.ecs.soton.ac.uk/kb/entry/68/
  - Customize
  - Enter "Electronics and Computer Science", "ECS", "University of Southampton"

Virus Scanner
  - Use IE to go to www.microsoft.com/securityessentials
  - Download and install
    
Putty
  - Google for "putty" and download Windows installer
  - Install from the installer
  - Add C:\Program Files\PuTTY or C:\Program Files (x86)\PuTTY to the PATH environment variable

Device drivers
  - Open Device Manager
  - Check for unknown devices
  - If mouse is just a PS/2 mouse, get Vista driver from www.synaptics.com
  - Dell Mini 12 Vista drivers often work on a Windows 7 Dell Mini 9
  - You can only download 1 driver at once from Dell!
  - Download any drivers necessary from www.dell.co.uk to make all unknowns vanish
  - Install ControlPoint if necessary to make fingerprint reader work

Control Panel / Folder Options
  - View tab, yes Don't show hidden files, folders or Drives

Control Panel / Windows Update
  - Get updates for other Microsoft products
    - Agree and install
  - Check for updates
  - Optional Updates
    - Don't install Windows Live Essentials or any Language Packs
  - Install all other updates
  - After updates are complete, retry if any failed
  - Restart Windows
  - Check for updates again and install all new updates (there will be some)
  - Rinse and repeat until no new updates are found

Control Panel / System
  - Change product key (right at the bottom)
  - Get activation code
    - Staff: https://secure.ecs.soton.ac.uk/kb/entry/68/
    - Students: Microsoft e-Academy
  - That will activate Windows
  - System Protection (left pane of window)
    - Configure... / Delete

Taskbar
  - Right-click on Windows Media and IE in the taskbar and "unpin"
  - Firefox and Outlook
    - Right-click on them in the Start menu
    - Pin to taskbar
  - Make order (left to right) Start, Firefox, Outlook, Windows Explorer

Start Menu
  - Right-click Firefox and "Pin to Start Menu"
  - Right-click Outlook and "Pin to Start Menu"

Clean Up
  - Control Panel / Internet options
    - Browsing history / Delete... / tick all boxes
  - Firefox
    - Tools / Clear Recent History... / Everything
  - Desktop
    - Delete all icons, files and directories
  - Filesystem
    - Delete C:\Dell, C:\savwsa, C:\PerfLogs
  - Temporary Files
    - Delete contents of C:\Windows\Temp, C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Temp
  - Windows update
    - Start / Administrative Tools / Services
    - Stop "Windows Update"
    - Delete the whole of C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution
    - Start "Windows Update"
  - Start menu
    - Right-click on each icon, select "Remove from this menu" for most
    - Leave only Getting Started, Connect to a Projector, Microsoft Word
  - Recycle Bin
    - Empty Recycle Bin

Control Panel / Windows Update
  - Get updates for other Microsoft products
    - Agree and install
  - Optional Updates
    - Right-click on each Language Pack and "Hide update"
    - Okay and close window

Restart the PC

Setting the Default User
  - Create a new administrator account "User 2"
  - Logout from "User"
  - Login as "User 2"
  - Set Folder Options to view hidden files and folders
  - Rename "C:\Users\Default User" to "Default User.old"
  - Copy C:\Users\User to "C:\Users\Default User"
  - Set the "hidden" property on the "Default User" directory
    - Just the directory, not the files and directories within it
  - Logout from "User 2"
  - Login as "User"
  - Delete the account "User 2" along with all its files
  - Set Folder Options to not view hidden files and folders


Backup system image to external hard disk (Control Panel / Backup and Restore / Create a system image), having checked there is no "WindowsImageBackup" dir in the root directory. If there is, first move it back to its home in a sub-dir if present. Backup will create a new "WindowsImageBackup" directory in the root directory of the external disk.

You're done!

Tags: Dell

• Create a folder (e.g. Lib) in the Windows 7 machine where the vSphere client is installed (%ProgramFiles%\VMware\Infrastructure\Virtual Infrastructure Client\Launcher\).
• Obtain a copy of %SystemRoot%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\System.dll from a non-Windows 7 machine that has .NET 3.5 SP1 installed. Copy this file into the folder created in Step 1.
• In the vSphere client launcher directory, open the VpxClient.exe.config file in a text editor and add a <runtime> element and a <developmentMode> element within the <configuration> element. Save the file.

• <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
  <configuration>
  ...
  <runtime>
  <developmentMode developerInstallation="true"/>
  </runtime>
  </configuration>
  

• Create a batch file (e.g. VpxClient.cmd) in a suitable location (e.g. Desktop). In this file add a command to set the DEVPATH environment variable to the folder where you copied the System.dll assembly in step 2 and a second command to launch the vSphere client. Save the file.

• SET DEVPATH=%ProgramFiles%\VMware\Infrastructure\Virtual Infrastructure Client\Launcher\Lib
  "%ProgramFiles%\VMware\Infrastructure\Virtual Infrastructure Client\Launcher\VpxClient.exe"
  

Tags: vSphere, VMware, Windows 7

Tags: Upgrade, Beta, RC