Kurt Shintaku's Blog

Microsoft is hosting a charity poker tournament at Microsoft in Playa Vista in partnership with The Peace Fund & Adrian Paul. (Duncan MacLeod of “The Highlander”)

The Peace Fund is about changing the lives of children in need around the world. All proceeds from this year’s event will go to fund top organization initiatives, putting your donations to work where support is needed the most.

COME PLAY POKER WITH CELEBS & POKER PROS!
One thing that’s fun about the 2015 Peace Fund Poker Tournament is that The Peace Fund & Adrian Paul have invited several dozen celebrities & professional poker players.  All participants in the tournament will be able to play along side some some fantastic names like Lou Diamond Phillips, the UFC’s Bruce Buffer, & my personal favorite, “Apollo Creed” himself, Carl Weathers. 

WIN A SEAT AT THE WSOP!
The tournament winner will win a seat at the World Series of Poker.

• DATE/TIME:
  September 26th, 2015
  Doors open at 11:00AM; Tournament starts at 1:00PM
   
• LOCATION:
  Microsoft Playa Del Rey
  13031 W. Jefferson Blvd, Ste 200
  Los Angeles, CA 90094
   
• REGISTRATION:
  http://www.peacefundpoker.org 

We’ve made available several advisories/documents that Gartner has written about Windows 10 at no cost to you.  Enjoy.

• Gartner, Skip Windows 8.1 and Move Directly to Windows 10
  With the release of Windows 10 set for 29 July 2015, end-user computing managers who plan to deploy Windows 8.1, but have not begun significant deployments, should redirect their efforts toward early deployment of Windows 10, rather than devoting resources to the superseded platform.
  Analyst: Stephen Kleynhans
  Published: June 15th, 2015
  http://www.gartner.com/technology/reprints.do?id=1-2JB68DD&ct=150710&st=sb
• How to Deal With Windows 10 Accelerated Updates on PCs
  Windows 10 brings significant changes for all users to the way the OS will be serviced and updated by Microsoft. End-user computing managers dealing with planning and implementing updates will need to revisit their processes to match the new update cadence.
  Analyst: Stephen Kleynhans
  Published: July 1st, 2015
  http://www.gartner.com/technology/reprints.do?id=1-2JGMWJE&ct=150715&st=sb
• Ten Things You Need to Know About Windows 10 for a Successful PC Deployment
  Windows 10 fundamentally changes how PCs and other devices will be used and supported in enterprises. These are the key items that CIOs and senior IT managers need to know about the OS.
  Analyst: Stephen Kleynhans
  Published: July 27th, 2015
  http://www.gartner.com/technology/reprints.do?id=1-2K3BA8O&ct=150728&st=sb
  (UPDATED 8/24/15: The correct URL has been attached above.  The original URL led to the paywalled version of this document.)

NOTE:  These are part of our new Windows for Business web site here at Microsoft.  Try it out!  There’s lots of good stuff there and we’ve now brought together all Windows web sites into a single view for the Enterprise:

• SITE: Windows for Business
  https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsforbusiness/

Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 10 lets IT administrators manage Windows Server Technical Preview from a remote computer running the full release version of Windows 10.

Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 10 includes Server Manager, Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-ins, consoles, Windows PowerShell cmdlets and providers, and command-line tools for managing roles and features that run on Windows Server Technical Preview.

Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 10 can be used to manage roles and features that are running on Windows Server Technical Preview, with the following exceptions:

• DHCP Tools. Dhcpmgmt.msc is not available in this release of RSAT, but equivalent Windows PowerShell cmdlets are available.
• IP Address Management (IPAM) Tools. IPAM tools are not available in this release of RSAT.
• Network Policy Server Tools. The NPS console is not supported on a Windows client-based operating system, and will be removed from future releases of RSAT.
• Routing and Remote Access Tools. Routing and Remote Access Tools that are GUI-based cannot be used for remote configuration in this release of RSAT, but the equivalent Windows PowerShell cmdlets are available.

Download the tools here:

• RELEASE: Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 10
  http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=45520

Our local Windows Client Tech, Chami Rupasinghe, wrote up the following table for your convenience.

Just announced.

As we discussed a few short weeks ago, Windows 10 is available for businesses, and we are seeing the excitement over the release continuing to build. To support the adoption of Windows 10 within organizations, we have published a great deal of content to http://technet.microsoft.com/Windows10 to help organizations with their planning and deployment efforts, and we expect to publish more each week.

A large number of our customers also use the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP), a collection of management and security technologies available as a subscription for Software Assurance customers that helps maximize the benefits offered by Windows. We are pleased to announce that the latest release of these technologies, MDOP 2015, is now available for download for volume license customers (as well as on MSDN) with complete support for Windows 10. Here are just a few of the enhancements (in addition to Windows 10 support) you can expect in this latest release:

…

Read more here:

• BLOG: Ready for Windows 10: MDOP 2015 and more tools are now available
  http://blogs.technet.com/b/windowsitpro/archive/2015/08/17/ready-for-windows-10-mdop-2015-and-more-tools-are-now-available.aspx

We’ve recently published some self-orchestrated training for end users of Office 365.  You can download them here.

Office 365 Training: Work like a network
Yammer is a private social network that gets you connected to the right people, share information across teams, and organize around groups. What’s more, using the Yammer network helps build a body of knowledge that’s instantly accessible by any coworker at any time and from any device. The Work like a network training deck introduces you to Yammer and shows you how you use Yammer to extend your social network.
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=47758

Office 365 Training: Get it done from anywhere
PC, Mac, tablet, phone? At the office, at home, or on the road. With Office 365, your settings and documents are always available – ready to pick up right where you left off. No matter where you are or what device you’re using. With Office 365, you can: • Create documents using your familiar Office Apps • Save your documents to the cloud using One Drive for Business, so the docs are available from anywhere • Access the docs from anywhere, with almost any device, laptop, tablet, or phone, PC, Mac, or Android.
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=47759

For more Office 365 training, visit:t

• The “Office 365 Learning Center”
  http://office.com/learnoffice365

Part of a series of specialized guides on System Center, this book is specifically designed for architects and cloud fabric administrators who want to understand what decisions to make during the design process and the implications of those decisions, what constitutes best practice, and, ultimately, what to do to build out a virtualized network solution that meets today’s business requirements while also providing a platform for future growth and expansion.

This second edition includes coverage of the Hyper-V Network Virtualization gateway, designing a solution that extends an on-premises virtualized network solution to an external (hosted) environment, details of how to troubleshoot and diagnose some of the key connectivity challenges, and a look at the Cloud Platform System (CPS) and some of the key considerations that went into designing and building the network architecture and solution for that environment.

• DOWNLOAD: Microsoft System Center Building a Virtualized Network Solution, Second Edition (Published: July 2015, 208 pages)
  http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/ebooks

We’re excited to announce that Exchange Server 2016 Preview is now available for download.

At Ignite, we introduced Exchange Server 2016 and demonstrated some of its capabilities. Now you can install the bits yourself and get hands-on experience with the newest member of the Exchange family. We’re eager to hear your feedback as we progress toward a final release later this year.

• BLOG: Announcing Exchange Server 2016 Preview!http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2015/07/22/announcing-exchange-server-2016-preview.aspx
• DOWNLOAD: Exchange Server 2016 Preview
  http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=48210

Posting this since it’s come up NUMEROUS TIMES. 

When you attempt to register a KMS host key and see the following message:

0xc004f015: The Software Licensing Service reported that the license is not installed.

… all this means is that you didn’t install the pre-requisite patch to allow your KMS service host to activate Windows 10 clients.  This is documented at:

• SUPPORT: Error 0xC004F015 when you try to activate Windows 10 Enterprise on a Windows Server 2012 R2 KMS host
  https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3086418

To remedy the situation, please install the patch referenced here:

• RELEASE: KMS Server Update for Windows 10
  https://kurtsh.com/2015/06/19/release-kms-server-update-for-windows-10/

I really love this video.  It nails some really great points.  I have some others I’d add from more of an insider’s view that I think would raise some eyebrows (like the ridiculous generosity the company has to assist people that are passionate about community service and donate their time & money to worthy non-profit causes) but I think this is solid representation of what it’s like here.

(And BTW, I was there the day they were filming the shot of the Product Fair at our Commons area… I think I was standing just to the right of 3D Microsoft sign!)