Final Push Linkfest

Just a few more links to wrap up a delightful weekend.

• Native boot from VHD on a Windows XP computer – Mark Wilson’s blog – Mark has brilliantly worked out a solution to native booting that I haven’t seen yet.  Windows 7 allows you to Boot to VHD with just a modicum of effort and run your VHD system on the physical hardware layer rather than a virtualized one.  Then some clever folks figured out how you can Dual Boot Windows 7 on Vista via VHD file by swapping Vista’s boot manager file version with the one from Windows 7 which does support VHD booting.  I’ve been running Windows 7 RC x64 on both my and Lavie’s personal laptops for some time this way all the while preserving our existing Vista installs until Windows 7 final comes out.  I had hoped to do the same thing in keeping a native XP system in place and then boot Windows 7 from a VHD but XP didn’t seem able to be VHD booted under W7.  Mark’s solution doesn’t change my issue (Windows 7 as the base install and XP in the VHD being booted).  Instead he just simply reverses the equation.  Keep XP as the base install, do some freaky (but clever) boot chain-loading configuring.  This gets around both issues.  First the Windows 7 bootloader is forced upon the native XP system.  Then the Windows 7 VHD system is attached and set to be a native booting option. Finally the legacy (XP) boot settings are chained to the boot loader configuration.  Like I said, very clever and this solution method actually works.

• F-SECURE Releases New Rescue CD – CyberSec blog. According to the release notes, it is based on Knoppix and contains a minimal set of tools to off-line scan a system against malware/viruses. It also now contains a few tools to recover deleted files and messed up partitions and check the S.M.A.R.T data of the local hard-drive. DAT files can be accessed/updated using a prepped USB stick.  More Info from the F-Secure blog: What is F-Secure Rescue CD? and Rescue CD 3.11

• EraserDrop Portable - PortableApps.com. I love Heidi Eraser for secure file erasing and zero-ing out freespace on a drive. as well as the Eraser Portable version.  However it isn’t always the most convenient tool to use as you have to drag files into a schedule task, then run the task.  EraserDrop takes the nuissance out of it by displaying an icon on the desktop to which you just drag-drop-n-secure-erase your files on the fly.

• Sysinternals Site Discussion : Updates: Autoruns v9.56. “Autoruns v9.56: This update enables Autoruns to view registry entries that have permissions only allowing the System account access and fixes a bug that caused some rundll32-hosted entries to not display correctly.”

• Internet Evidence Finder – Updated – JADsoftware.  “Version 2.0.5 updates: Fixed bug where physical locations of located artifacts beyond 4GB were sometimes incorrect. IEF is also now compatible with Mount Image Pro! Tested/verified with version 3.26.522.” 

• Patch Registration Cleanup Tool – Microsoft Download Center. “Brief Description: On a computer that has a Windows Installer based product installed, you may receive an error while installing an update for the product and the installation of the update may fail.”  See KB976220 for more information.

• Microsoft SharedView – Version 1.0 Release – Spotted via Mark Wilson’s blog post SharedView: Free desktop sharing across the ‘net.  Take a look at the extensive release notes for a roundup of the bug-fixes and compatibility enhancements.  As Mark kindly noted, I’ve posted about it on GSD (Microsoft SharedView: OMG this is Free?!!!) and while it is no replacement for a dedicated remote control client solution (Remote Desktop or ShowMyPC), for collaboration efforts with several participants across networks, it works great.

• Deploying Windows® 7 Essential Guidance from the Windows 7 Resource Kit and TechNet Magazine – Microsoft Download Center. Stop right now and go download this resource PDF file.  Regardless on your feelings on Windows 7, it contains a smorgasbord of valuable information, all rounded up into a single volume!  For example, Chapter 6: Developing Disk Images, Chapter 7: Migrating User State Data, Chapter 9: Preparing Windows PE.  There’s a lot more in the other chapters as well, but if you know the terms Win PE, ImageX, or WIM you really should download and print out this resource collection.

• RELEASE: Windows XP Mode & Windows Virtual PC - Windows Live. Though these “final” builds do not yet appear publically available, they are now accessible with your TechNet access.  In the meantime if you don’t have a TechNet access, and you are running Windows 7, you can still play with Windows Virtual PC RC, Windows XP Mode RC, or the Windows XP Mode RC (N) which diTii.com explains in their Windows XP Mode RC (N) for Windows 7 RTM – Omits Windows Media Player 9 post,

“…creates a virtual envelope for Windows XP N, the version Microsoft created without Media Player 9 pre-installed, to appease the European Commission. But there's a very good reason Windows 7 users may want the (N) version over regular Windows XP Mode: There's no really good reason for most users to be virtualizing Media Player 9 anyway, since XP Mode's real purpose in Windows 7 is for running older Windows apps whose developers didn't make the transition to Vista. If you want to watch a movie, you've got Media Player 11 in Win7.”

Now you know!

--Claus V.