Power. Shell Basics: Console Configuration . The more you work in that environment, the more likely you'll want to customize the console to meet your individual development style. For example, you might want to expand the buffer size or change the font and background colors. To configure these and other types of settings, Power. Shell provides several methods that are easy to use. You can set the console properties directly from the command window, run Power.

Power. Shell Basics: Console Configuration . The more you work in that environment, the more likely you'll want to customize the console to meet your individual development style. For example, you might want to expand the buffer size or change the font and background colors. To configure these and other types of settings, Power. Shell provides several methods that are easy to use. You can set the console properties directly from the command window, run Power.

Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 SP1 and SP2, and Windows Server 2003 R2 retired content. The content you requested has already retired. It's available to.

Shell commands that configure these settings, or add scripts to your Power. Shell profile so that the settings are automatically applied at startup. Keep in mind that modifying the registry is neither the most flexible nor the easiest method for customizing the Power. Shell console. Furthermore, it needs to be approached with great care. For example, if you run Power. Shell by double- clicking the powershell. The same goes for launching Power.

CCBoot enables iSCSI boot Windows XP, Vista, Win7 diskless, so it's also known as diskless boot software. Diskless boot Windows with CCBoot makes it easily and. The name is similar, but RDM is way more powerful since it does not only support RDP connection. Commands in Windows 7. The command prompt that has been in previous versions of Windows is still with us and is not much changed fron Windows Vista.

Shell from a shortcut you created for the executable or launching Power. Shell from the Windows command prompt. In most cases, you'll see a small command shell window with a black background and gray font, as shown in Figure 1. In this case, the console window is larger with a blue background and gray font, as shown in Figure 2. It's different because the Power. Shell installation process sets up the Start menu shortcuts with the configuration settings necessary to modify the console environment.

The build in winvnc service is replaced by an external service. Vista require an isolation between the service and the desktop application. Threats and Countermeasures Guide: Security Settings in Windows Server 2003 and Windows Vista Security Options. Factory Settings or Factory Defaults usually refers to performing a restore or a reset of your computer to its original configuration as it first was when it was.

To access those settings, click the Power. Shell icon in the top- left corner of the console window and click Properties to open the Properties dialog box. Figure 3 shows the Options tab. Here you can configure settings related to cursor size and command history. You also have two important editing options: Quick. Edit Mode and Insert Mode.

The Quick. Edit Mode option lets you use your mouse to copy and paste commands in the Power. Shell console. The Insert Mode option inserts new text into a line rather than overwriting it. Although these options are somewhat limited, you do have a few choices for size and style.

The buffer size determines the width (number of characters) and height (number of lines) in your buffer. Your buffer size can be the same size or larger than your window size, but it can't be smaller. Many administrators find it handy to increase the buffer size, particularly the height.

That way, they can preserve many more commands during a session and refer to them as needed by simply scrolling up or down. The window size determines the width and height of the actual console window. Again, this can't be larger than the buffer size. The window position determines where the console should be placed on your desktop, based on the top- left corner—or you can let the system position the window for you. The easiest way to choose a color is to select a category option (e. Screen Text), then click a color in the color bar.

If you know the specific Red Green Blue (RGB) value associated with a color, you can enter those numbers, but be aware that this will affect other items that share the same base color, resulting in some rather bizarre effects. Luckily, you can view your changes in the preview windows to see what impact your changes are having on the console.

Your changes will be applied immediately. Figure 7 shows what the Power.

Shell console looks like if you enlarge it, change the background to white, and change the text to black. For example, if you launch Power. Shell from the Start menu, change the property settings, and relaunch Power.

Shell from the Start menu, your changes will be preserved. However, if you then launch Power. Shell from a shortcut you created for the executable, your changes won't be reflected.

To make your changes persist regardless of how you launch Power. Shell, you have to take other steps, the first of which is to learn how to script your configuration settings. Although Power. Shell is often referred to as an interactive management console, you're still primarily writing and running scripts, even if they do interact with other systems.

With Power. Shell, you can script just about anything, including settings that affect the Power. Shell console. Being able to control your settings through scripts provides an easy way to apply the same settings to multiple instances of the Power. Shell console, whether they're on the same computer or different computers. You can save your settings in a script file and run it whenever you want the settings applied to your workspace.

Or better still, you can save your settings in a profile file (which is covered in the next section) so that the settings are applied whenever you open Power. Shell, no matter whether you open it by clicking the executable, a shortcut for the executable, or a shortcut on the Start menu. Scripting also lets you to access settings not available through the console's properties, such as the colors used for warning messages.

Objects form the basis for much of the scripting you do in Power. Shell, even if it's not obvious that's what you're doing. Objects provide a structure for representing data within Power. Shell. The structure is made up of properties, methods, and other members that you can access during your Power. Shell session. One of the members of the Get- Host object is the UI property, which is a special type of property associated with its own object, derived from a Microsoft . NET Framework class. The UI object, in turn, includes the Raw.

UI property, which provides access to the specific console properties. As it turns out, Power.

Shell provides a built- in variable—$host—for accessing the Get- Host object. That means you can use the $host variable to access the UI and Raw.

UI properties. You access the console's properties through the Raw. UI object. Let's look at an example to help make sense of how all this works.

The following command creates a variable named $console and assigns an instance of the Raw. UI object to that variable: $console = $host. UI. Raw. UI Notice that the Raw. UI object is accessed by first specifying the $host variable, then specifying the UI property, followed by specifying the Raw. UI property. By assigning the $host. UI. Raw. UI command to the $console variable, the variable is created as a Raw.

UI object type, which gives you access to the console's properties so that you can configure them. You then follow this with an equals sign (=) and the new color, enclosed in double quotes.

In this case, the foreground color is being set to black and the background color is being set to white. The easiest way to make your screen presentable is to run the following command to clear the screen and start with a clean prompt: Clear- Host Now let's look at another Raw. UI property: Buffer. Size. As the name suggests, this property lets you set the buffer's width and height. However, this is another one of those special properties associated with its own object, so the best strategy is to define a variable to hold the object.

You can then access the properties from that variable, as shown in this example: $buffer = $console. Buffer. Size$buffer. Width = 1. 30$buffer. Height = 2. 00. 0$console. Buffer. Size = $buffer First, you create the $buffer variable to hold the Buffer.

Size object. Then, you use that variable to set the Width and Height properties, similar to the way in which the foreground and background colors were set previously. However, you must take an additional step, which is to assign the settings in the $buffer variable to the actual Buffer. Size property of the Raw. UI object. You then set the Width and Height properties, just as you did for the Buffer. Size object. Finally, you assign the $size variable to the Window. Size property of the Raw. UI object. Note that when setting the window size, it can't be larger than the buffer (as mentioned earlier) and it can't be larger than what your system will support.

If you receive an error that the window width or height can't be more than a specified size, adjust your code accordingly. The Get- Host object also supports the Private. Data property, which itself is associated with an object.

The Private. Data object includes a number of properties specific to the font and background colors used for console responses such as error and warning messages. Then, you use the variable to access several of the object's properties in order to set their colors. This is basically the same approach used to set the Foreground. Color and Background. Color properties of the Raw. UI object. You define simple assignments, without having to assign the $colors variable back to the Private. Data property, as you did with Buffer.

Size and Window. Size. Now let's test the new format by running a few commands.

The following commands generate several types of messages that should be displayed in the colors you configured previously: Write- Output . The Write- Output cmdlet generates a regular message in the default background color and font. The other three cmdlets generate the types of messages reflected in their names.

Figure 8 shows what your console should look like after you generate these test messages. You can save them to a script file and call that file when necessary.

Or you can cut and paste the script into the console and run the commands that way. In either case, you must access your script file whenever you want to apply the configuration settings to the console. A better approach is to save the script to one of the Power. Shell profile files. However, a full discussion of Power. Shell profiles is beyond the scope here. So, let's just set up the profile file that applies to the current user.

To do so, simply run the command: $profile The variable will return a fully qualified filename, such as C: \Users\Administrator\Documents\Windows. Power. Shell\Microsoft. Power. Shell. However, just because the $profile variable points to this file, it doesn't mean the file exists. Therefore, the next step is to run the command: Test- Path $profile The Test- Path cmdlet checks for the existence of the file.

Windows Vista - Wikipedia. Windows Vista (codenamed Longhorn. Development was completed on 8 November 2. On 3. 0 January 2.

It was succeeded by Windows 7, which was released to manufacturing on 2. July 2. 00. 9 and released worldwide for retail on 2. October 2. 00. 9. New features of Windows Vista include an updated graphical user interface and visual style dubbed Aero, a new search component called Windows Search, redesigned networking, audio, print and display sub- systems, and new multimedia tools such as Windows DVD Maker. Vista aimed to increase the level of communication between machines on a home network, using peer- to- peer technology to simplify sharing files and media between computers and devices. Windows Vista included version 3.

NET Framework, allowing software developers to write applications without traditional Windows APIs. Microsoft's primary stated objective with Windows Vista was to improve the state of security in the Windows operating system. In light of this, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates announced in early 2. Criticism of Windows Vista has targeted its high system requirements, its more restrictive licensing terms, the inclusion of a number of, then, new DRM technologies aimed at restricting the copying of protected digital media, lack of compatibility with some pre- Vista hardware and software, longer boot time, and the number of authorization prompts for User Account Control. As a result of these and other issues, Windows Vista had seen initial adoption and satisfaction rates lower than Windows XP.

It was originally expected to ship sometime late in 2. Windows XP and Blackcomb, which was planned to be the company's next major operating system release.

Gradually, . In some builds of Longhorn, their license agreement said . Many of Microsoft's developers were also re- tasked to build updates to Windows XP and Windows Server 2. Faced with ongoing delays and concerns about feature creep, Microsoft announced on 2. August 2. 00. 4, that it had revised its plans.

For this reason, Longhorn was reset to start work on componentizing the Windows Server 2. Service Pack 1 codebase, and over time re- incorporating the features that would be intended for an actual operating system release. However, some previously announced features such as Win. FS were dropped or postponed, and a new software development methodology called the Security Development Lifecycle was incorporated in an effort to address concerns with the security of the Windows codebase, which is programmed in C, C++ and assembly. Longhorn became known as Vista in 2. During this period, Microsoft was fairly quiet about what was being worked on, as their marketing and public relations focus was more strongly focused on Windows XP, and Windows Server 2.

April 2. 00. 3. Occasional builds of Longhorn were leaked onto popular file sharing networks such as IRC, Bit. Torrent, e. Donkey and various newsgroups, and so most of what is known about builds prior to the first sanctioned development release of Longhorn in May 2. After several months of relatively little news or activity from Microsoft with Longhorn, Microsoft released Build 4.

Internet around 2. February 2. 00. 3. As an evolutionary release over build 3. An optional . The incorporation of the Plex theme made blue the dominant color of the entire application. The Windows XP- style task pane was almost completely replaced with a large horizontal pane that appeared under the toolbars.

A new search interface allowed for filtering of results, searching of Windows help, and natural- language queries that would be used to integrate with Win. FS. The animated search characters were also removed. File metadata was also made more visible and more easily editable, with more active encouragement to fill out missing pieces of information.

Also of note was the conversion of Windows Explorer to being a . NET application. Most builds of Longhorn and Vista were identified by a label that was always displayed in the bottom- right corner of the desktop.

A typical build label would look like . Higher build numbers did not automatically mean that the latest features from every development team at Microsoft was included. Typically, a team working on a certain feature or subsystem would generate their own working builds which developers would test with, and when the code was deemed stable, all the changes would be incorporated back into the main development tree at once.

At Microsoft, a number of . The name of the lab in which any given build originated is shown as part of the build label, and the date and time of the build follows that. Some builds (such as Beta 1 and Beta 2) only display the build label in the version information dialog (Winver). The icons used in these builds are from Windows XP. At the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (Win. HEC) in May 2. 00. Microsoft gave their first public demonstrations of the new Desktop Window Manager and Aero.

The demonstrations were done on a revised build 4. A number of sessions for developers and hardware engineers at the conference focused on these new features, as well as the Next- Generation Secure Computing Base (previously known as .

Also at this conference, Microsoft reiterated their roadmap for delivering Longhorn, pointing to an . Internally, some Microsoft employees were describing the Longhorn project as .

It offered only a limited subset of features planned for Longhorn, in particular fast file searching and integrated graphics and sound processing, but appeared to have impressive reliability and performance compared to contemporary Longhorn builds. Allchin went on to explain how in December 2. Brian Valentine and Amitabh Srivastava, the former being experienced with shipping software at Microsoft, most notably Windows Server 2. Future Longhorn builds would start from Windows Server 2. Service Pack 1 and continue from there. This change, announced internally to Microsoft employees on 2. August 2. 00. 4, began in earnest in September, though it would take several more months before the new development process and build methodology would be used by all of the development teams.

A number of complaints came from individual developers, and Bill Gates himself, that the new development process was going to be prohibitively difficult to work within. As Windows Vista. By approximately November 2. In the end, Microsoft chose Windows Vista as confirmed on 2. July 2. 00. 5, believing it to be a .

That's what Windows Vista is all about: . In September of that year, Microsoft started releasing regular Community Technology Previews (CTP) to beta testers from July 2. February 2. 00. 6.

The first of these was distributed at the 2. Microsoft Professional Developers Conference, and was subsequently released to beta testers and Microsoft Developer Network subscribers. The builds that followed incorporated most of the planned features for the final product, as well as a number of changes to the user interface, based largely on feedback from beta testers. Windows Vista was deemed feature- complete with the release of the .

Beta 2, released in late May, was the first build to be made available to the general public through Microsoft's Customer Preview Program. It was downloaded by over five million people. Two release candidates followed in September and October, both of which were made available to a large number of users. The UEFI 2. 0 specification (which replaces EFI 1. Microsoft's announcement, no firmware manufacturers had completed a production implementation which could be used for testing. As a result, the decision was made to postpone the introduction of UEFI support to Windows; support for UEFI on 6.

Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2. UEFI would not be supported, as Microsoft does not expect many such systems to be built as the market moves to 6. Because a release to manufacturing (RTM) build is the final version of code shipped to retailers and other distributors, the purpose of a pre- RTM build is to eliminate any last . Thus, it is unlikely that any major new features would be introduced; instead, work would focus on Vista's . In just a few days, developers had managed to drop Vista's bug count from over 2.

September to just over 1. RC2 shipped in early October. However, they still had a way to go before Vista was ready to RTM.

Microsoft's internal processes required Vista's bug count to drop to 5. RTM. During a demonstration of the speech recognition feature new to Windows Vista at Microsoft's Financial Analyst Meeting on 2. July 2. 00. 6, the software recognized the phrase . After several failed attempts to correct the error, the sentence eventually became . On 1. 6 November 2.

Microsoft made the final build available to MSDN and Technet Plus subscribers. Laptop users report, however, that enabling Aero shortens battery life. A search box appears in every Explorer window. The address bar has been replaced with a breadcrumb navigation bar. Icons of certain file types in Windows Explorer are . The preview pane allows users to see thumbnails of various files and view the contents of documents. The details pane shows information such as file size and type, and allows viewing and editing of embedded tags in supported file formats.

The Start menu has changed as well; incorporating an instant search box, and the All Programs list uses a horizontal scroll bar instead of the cascading flyout menu seen in Windows XP. Gadgets can also be placed on the desktop. IE7 in Windows Vista runs in isolation from other applications in the operating system (protected mode); exploits and malicious software are restricted from writing to any location beyond Temporary Internet Files without explicit user consent. Windows Media Player 1. Microsoft's program for playing and organizing music and video.

New features in this version include word wheeling (incremental search or .