September 2006

Microsoft announced Release Candidate 2 of PowerShell earlier this week, a new command-line shell and task-based scripting technology that provides comprehensive control and automation of system administration and management of applications that run in Windows. Windows PowerShell helps accelerate automation and is easy for organizations to learn and to use. The final product is supposed to be released at the end of 2006.

Download
In this release, there are several downloads available depending on your operating system and system configuration. The following files are available for download from the Microsoft Download Center:

• Windows PowerShell 1.0 RC2 for WindowsXP-x86
• Windows PowerShell 1.0 RC2 for WindowsXP-x64
• Windows PowerShell 1.0 RC2 for WindowsServer2003-x86
• Windows PowerShell 1.0 RC2 for WindowsServer2003-x64
• Windows PowerShell 1.0 RC2 for WindowsServer2003-ia64

Please visit Microsoft’s KB Article 925228 for a detailed information about the package downloads and configuring PowerShell in your target machine.

More Info
Windows PowerShell allows Windows administrators to be more productive by providing system administration utilities, consistent syntax, and improved navigation of common management data such as the registry or Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI).The Windows PowerShell language is intuitive and supports your organization?s existing scripts and command line tool investments. Exchange Server 2007 and System Center Operations Manager 2007 will leverage Windows PowerShell to provide improved command line automation.

Links
Blog of Windows PowerShell Team

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Microsoft has released the Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Beta. “Visual Studio 2005 shipped in November of 2005 and this Service Pack incorporates fixes that we have addressed since that release”, announced Microsoft today. Following are the type of fixes you will find in this beta service pack:

• The Hotfixes and General Distribution Release Updates released between Visual Studio 2005 Release to Market and the end of the Service Pack customer beta period.
• Any fixes addressing security issues categorized by the Microsoft Security Response Center as “Critical”, “Important” or “Moderate”.
• Fixes for product reliability and stability issues, including those reported by customers via the Product Feedback Center, and the crashes most frequently reported via Watson.
• Fixes for common “eligible” functional issues reported by customers via the Product Feedback Center. “Eligible” functional issues are those that do not require breaking changes, architectural changes, or Design Change Request level feature work and that do not create unacceptable product quality risk and/or cost of implementation.
• Fixes for the top customer and supportability issues as reported by Customer Support Services.

Somasegar’s WebLog mentions VS2005 is triggered to make itself compatible with Windows Vista. Such a support will be announced in the coming months. Presently, VS2005 SP1 will run on Vista but may likely have some compatibility issues. Visual Studio .NET 2002 or Visual Studio .NET 2003 support will be dropped as development environments on Windows Vista however, you can continue to use Visual Studio .NET 2002 or 2003 on Windows XP to develop applications that can run on Windows Vista.

Download VS 2005 SP1 Beta

NOTES

• While installing on Vista, if you get “Error 1718. File was rejected by digital signature policy”, follow KB 925336 for a successful installation.
• Custom Actions under UAC in Vista

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As published in blog of Windows PowerShell Team, a small number of slots are available for ISV’s or Enterprise Developers to attend the Windows PowerShell & Microsoft Management Console (MMC) ISV Workshop (Building Next Generation Command Line and GUI Applications on Windows) on October 9 & 10th, 2006. This is a free two-day event located on the Microsoft Campus, Redmond, WA.

Designed especially for Independent Software Vendors and Enterprise Developers and Architects, this is a great opportunity to obtain in-depth briefing on cutting-edge Windows and .NET management technologies. Invites are non transferable and registration acceptance is based on space availability.

FAQ’s about the event:

Q: Is this technical or marketing content?
A: Content is technical including presentations by MS Architects and Program Managers.

Q: Who normally would attend this event?
A: Application Architects and Developers working at a software company developing .NET or planning to develop .NET applications.

Q: Am I limited to just two attendees?
A: No, if your company’s registration is accepted, each organization is guaranteed at least 2. You may register for additional people, on a first come, first serve basis.

Q: Is there any charge for this workshop?
A: No. Breakfasts, lunches, snacks and one dinner will be included as well as one giveaway.

Q. If I have questions, who should I contact?
A. For questions, contact Scott Ottaway: sottaway@microsoft.com

Find more details and the in depth registration procedure at Windows PowerShell Team Blog.

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The history of UAC, User Account Control, dates back to as early as Windows 95 Operating System. With the ‘intense’ requirement in the corporate world to have employees their own ‘user profile’, Microsoft implemented profiling concept many years earlier however reaching Windows Vista, the concept has taken a major and bold changes. Introduction of Windows Installer Technology and it’s continuing evolution makes UAC as one of the secure form of application installation and management services.

Robert Flaming, product manager at Windows Installer Team, has recently published a series of articles relating and concerning “User Account Control and Windows Installer”. His articles discusses some of the very important concepts that are MUST to understand to create applications in Windows Vista. Windows Installer 4.0 is the latest version available and currently only compatible with Windows Vista.

Flaming’s articles (ascending order):

Added October 01, 2006:

• UAC in MSI Notes: Answers to questions in comments from earlier blog posts.
• UAC in MSI Notes: What are the Hurdles in Windows Vista Logo compliance related to UAC and MSI?
• UAC in MSI Notes: How do I get one credential dialog for a multiple package install?
• UAC in MSI Notes: Easier for my current custom installer to support UAC than switch to MSI?
• UAC in MSI Notes: How to Build Packages that work for both Standard User and Per-Machine?
• UAC in MSI Notes: Is “this” intentional? If so, why?
• UAC in MSI Notes: Do I need to consider “this” when I’m designing for UAC in MSI? Generally, no.

Added September 30, 2006:

• UAC in MSI Notes: how do I troubleshoot UAC in MSI via the log?
• UAC in MSI Notes: How do I get the shield on the advertised shortcut?
• MSI in UAC Notes: When General Custom Action Mitigation Fails
• MSI in UAC Notes: Should I write my installer as a Standard User install? If yes, how?
• MSI in UAC Notes: Read the Friendly Manual

Earlier Posts:

• MSI in UAC Notes: O Whitepaper, Where Art Thou?
• UAC in MSI Notes: Challenges for a Beautiful Custom Action
• UAC in MSI Notes: My “Four Square” Diagram
• UAC in MSI Notes: The NoImpersonate Bit Mistake
• UAC in MSI Notes: Modifying System in InstallExecuteSequence outside of Script
• UAC in MSI Notes: Modify System with InstallUISequence Custom Action
• UAC in MSI Notes: The AdminUser Mistake
• UAC in MSI Notes: Credential Prompt and Permissions
• UAC in MSI Notes: The “Saw Tooth” Diagram
• UAC in MSI Notes: A Relief Providing Framework
• UAC in MSI Notes: Jagged Edge to User
• UAC in MSI Notes: Just Like Managed Installs
• UAC in MSI Notes: Conficting Definitions of Per-User
• UAC in MSI Notes: How I Root Cause The Problem
• UAC in MSI Notes: Introduction

These articles should be helpful and ‘may be’ the key discussions of forth coming Webcasts at MSDN about Designing Application Installations for UAC with Windows Installer 4.0 in Windows Vista scheduled on Wednesday, October 18, 2006 10:00AM Pacific Time. If you have any concerns reading these articles and would like to understand more about UAC features in Vista and ‘know-hows’, you can follow the link and register for the event.

NOTES
Robert Flaming is adding a series of articles in the same list once in a while. They will be updated here once available with update date stamp of this article.
Original Post: September 24, 2006
Edited Post: October 01, 2006

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