Microsoft Hyper-V – Change VMs MAC Addresses

This is a tricky one…

I found out that some of mine Virtual Machines in different host machines were getting the same MAC Address.

With some research I found out the problem was using the same image (WIM) for deployment, that has already Hyper-V role installed.
After a little googling I’ve noticed that this is a problem that a lot of people are complaining.

So…there are to approaches to take here:

Creating new images
When creating new images for deployment, just delete the following keys before sysprep the machine:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Virtualization\MaximumMacAddress

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Virtualization\MinimumMacAddress

Already Installed Machines
For this one, run the vbscript published at TechNet Forums:
Script to reset VM MAC Addresses 

After running the script don’t forget to restart the virtual machines.

 

Hope this helps some people like it really helped me!

Technorati Tags: hyperv,hyper-v,mac,vbscript,windows

Problem Steps Recorder Tool – Command-Line Syntax

Introduced at Windows 7, Microsoft Problem Steps Recorder Tool (PSR), it’s a nice utility that let’s you take print screens / screenshots a littler further.

With this tool you can record what’s happening on your screen and get also some more info like, where did you clicked, what happened when you clicked, etc.
All that it’s then compiled on a very small file so you can send it through an e-mail for example.

Now…
Imagine you need to launch PSR through a command-line with certain configurations.
Here’s the syntax you can use:

psr.exe [/start |/stop][/output <fullfilepath>] [/sc (0|1)] [/maxsc <value>]
             [/sketch (0|1)] [/slides (0|1)] [/gui (o|1)]
             [/arcetl (0|1)] [/arcxml (0|1)] [/arcmht (0|1)]
             [/stopevent <eventname>] [/maxlogsize <value>] [/recordpid <pid>]

/start	:Start Recording. (Outputpath flag SHOULD be specified)
/stop	:Stop Recording.
/sc	:Capture screenshots for recorded steps.
/maxsc	:Maximum number of recent screen captures.
/maxlogsize	:Maximum log file size (in MB) before wrapping occurs.
/gui	:Display control GUI.
/arcetl	:Include raw ETW file in archive output.
/arcxml	:Include MHT file in archive output.
/recordpid	:Record all actions associated with given PID.
/sketch	:Create slide show HTML pages.
/slides	:Store output of record session in given path.
/output	:Store output of record session in given path.
/stopevent	:Event to signal after output files are generated.

PSR Usage Examples:

psr.exe
psr.exe /start /output fullfilepath.zip /sc1 /gui 0 /record <PID>
    /stopevent <eventname> /arcetl 1
psr.exe /start /output fullfilepath.xml /gui 0 /recordpid <PID>
    /stopevent <eventname>
psr.exe /start /output fullfilepath.xml /gui 0 /sc 1 /maxsc <number>
    /maxlogsize <value> /stopevent <eventname>
psr.exe /stop

Notes:
1.    Output path should include a directory path (e.g. '.\file.xml').
2.    Output file can either be a ZIP file or XML file
3.    Can't specify /arcxml /arcetl /arcmht /sc etc. if output is not a ZIP file.

 

Get more info about PSR at:
TechRepublic - Explore the Problem Steps Recorder in Windows 7

Technorati Tags: problem steps recorder tool,psr,troubleshooting

PingInfoView – Multi-Ping Application

Do you have a large number of machines that you just don’t know if they exist anymore?

Or…at least, you need to know if they’re still alive or have any network access?

Do you just need to ping a machine to know if it’s responding?
Well, just get a list of computernames ou ip addresses and let Ping Info View do it for you.

This fine tool has a lot of options like, ping within x to x seconds, export to various formats, etc.

Just take a look at Nirsoft’s PingInfoView

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/pinginfoview.gif

Technorati Tags: pinginfoview,nirsoft,multiping