This guide works 100% for Vista & Windows 7 unlike most of the guides out there. I have seen many sites/blogs that have “Install Vista from USB guide” but either with incomplete steps or not working guide. I have also seen some guides that don’t’ use proper commands in this guide. After spending many hours I have come up with this 100% working guide.

I just did this method on one of my friends machine and installed the new Windows 7 BETA. The main advantage is that by using USB drive you will be able to install Windows 7/Vista in just 15 minutes. You can also use this bootable USB drive on friend’s computer who doesn’t have a DVD optical drive.

The method is very simple and you can use without any hassles. Needless to say that your motherboard should support USB Boot feature to make use of the bootable USB drive.

Requirements:

*USB Flash Drive (Minimum 4GB)

*Windows 7 or Vista installation files.

Follow the below steps to create bootable Windows 7/Vista USB drive using which you can install Windows 7/Vista easily.

1. Plug-in your USB flash drive to USB port and move all the contents from USB drive to a safe location on your system.

2. Open Command Prompt with admin rights. Use any of the below methods to open Command Prompt with admin rights.

*Type cmd in Start menu search box and hit Ctrl+ Shift+ Enter.

Or

*Go to Start menu > All programs > Accessories, right click on Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.

3. You need to know about the USB drive a little bit. Type in the following commands in the command prompt:

First type DISKPART and hit enter to see the below message.

Next type LIST DISK command and note down the Disk number (ex: Disk 1) of your USB flash drive. In the below screenshot my Flash Drive Disk no is Disk 1.

4. Next type all the below commands one by one. Here I assume that your disk drive no is “Disk 1”.If you have Disk 2 as your USB flash drive then use Disk 2.Refer the above step to confirm it.

So below are the commands you need to type and execute one by one:

SELECT DISK 1

CLEAN

CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY

SELECT PARTITION 1

ACTIVE

FORMAT FS=NTFS

(Format process may take few seconds)

ASSIGN

EXIT

Don’t close the command prompt as we need to execute one more command at the next step. Just minimize it.

5. Next insert your Windows7/Vista DVD into the optical drive and check the drive letter of the DVD drive. In this guide I will assume that your DVD drive letter is “D” and USB drive letter is “H” (open my computer to know about it).

6. Maximize the minimized Command Prompt in the 4th step.Type  the following command now:

D: CD BOOT and hit enter.Where “D” is your DVD drive letter.

CD BOOT and hit enter to see the below message.

7. Type another command given below to update the USB drive with BOOTMGR compatible code.

BOOTSECT.EXE /NT60 H:

Where “H” is your USB drive letter. Once you enter the above command you will see the below message.

8. Copy your Windows 7/Vista DVD contents to the USB flash drive.

9. Your USB drive is ready to boot and install Windows 7/Vista. Only thing you need to change the boot priority at the BIOS to USB from the HDD or CD ROM drive. I won’t explain it as it’s just the matter the changing the boot priority or enabling the USB boot option in the BIOS.

Note: If you are not able to boot after following this guide means you haven’t set the BIOS priority to USB. If you got any problem in following this guide feel free to ask questions by leaving comment.

Update: If you are looking for something with a nice friendly GUI, use the easy-to-use guide to create a bootable USB to install Windows 7 using official tool.

As we reported earlier, Microsoft released a free tool called Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool to help you install Windows 7 on all netbooks in simple steps.

Although you can refer the how to install Windows 7 from USB guide to do the same, this tool simplifies the job. Here are the five simple steps that you need to follow to create a bootable USB flash drive to install Windows 7 from USB device:

Note: You need a USB flash drive with a minimum of 4 GB of free space. And also please backup your data from USB first.

1. Download Windows 7 USB/DVD Tool and install it.

2. Run the program, browse to your Windows 7 ISO image using the Browse button.

3. In this step, you need to select your media type. As we are here to create a bootable USB, simply click on USB device button.

4. Select your USB flash drive from the drop down box and click on Begin copying button.

5. The Windows 7 USB/DVD tool will take a few minutes to complete the procedure.

6. You are done. You can now use this USB on any machine that can boot from USB to start installing Windows 7.

I must admit, it seems like an odd choice to have a module like the Bulk Email module setup to be an admin only module.  I recently had a need to make this feature available to a group of people and I could not set them up as Admin users.  So after doing a little digging (google is just an amazing tool), I stumbled across an extremely simple and elegant solution (thanks to the fantastic design of DNN).

Open up your favorite SQL Tool and connect to the DotNetNuke Database (for me this is SQL Management Studio)

Execute the following statement:

UPDATE desktopmodules SET isadmin = 0 WHERE friendlyname = 'Bulk Email';

That's it! Just reload your webbrowser and if you are logged into your DNN site, you will now see the Bulk Email module available to add to any page

1. Go to Control Panel and open Network and Sharing Center.
2. Click on Set up a new connection or network.
   
   
3. Select Connect to a workplace then click on Next.
   
   
4. Select Use my internet connection (VPN)
   
   
5. Type the IP address or computer name where you wish to connect and your connection name under the Destination name field.
   
   
   
   
   1. If connecting on a local resource or a LAN computer, you can type its computer name or IP address. The computer name shown here is taken from the previous tutorial Virtual Private Network (VPN) - Enable Incoming VPN Connections.
   2. If connection to a computer behind a router and DNS is enabled using the computer’s name, put that in the Internet address field. If no DNS has been configured, type in your router’s IP address.
   3. This section allows you to enable the use of a smart card, allow other users of your computer to access this connection and an option to disable immediate connection upon finishing the client setup.
6. Enter a User name and password that has been granted access to the host computer. If you put a check mark on the Show password field, it will display your password instead of dots. You can also choose to save your password and enter a Domain.
   
   
   
   
   1. If you did not put a check mark on Don’t connect now, just set it up so I can connect later in Step 5, you will see a Connect button. Clicking on Cancel will discard all your settings. Clicking on Connect initiates the connection and you will see the following screens
      
      
      
      Then…
      
      
      
      NOTE: Upon successful connection, you will be prompted to classify the VPN connection as a Home, Work or Public Connection.
   2. If you did place a check mark on Don’t connect now, just set it up so I can connect later in Step 5, you will see a Create button. Clicking on Cancel will discard all your settings. Click on Create.
7. To connect to using the created VPN connection, you can either right-click on the Network icon in the system tray and select Network and Sharing Center or go to Control Panel and open Network and Sharing Center, and click on Connect to a network.
   
   
   
   
   1. This will bring up a window on the lower right hand corner of your monitor, just above the system tray. Click on VPN Connection and a Connect button will be shown. Click on Connect.
      
      
8. Connect VPN Connection windows appears. Clicking on Connect initiates the connection. Clicking on Properities allows you to modify the VPN Connection Properties as well as configure connection sharing.
   
   

Tip: To create a short-cut of the VPN connection you’ve created to your Desktop

1. open Network and Sharing Center and select Change adapter settings,
   
   
2. As you see our created VPN connection is now shown here
   
   
3. Right-click on VPN Connection and select Create Shortcut. You will be prompted to create the shortcut to the desktop instead.
   
   

   

   
    

In Firefox

1. In the Address Bar, type: about:config and either press the ENTER key on the keyboard or click on the GO button
   
   
2. On some machines you may get the warning message shown below.  If you follow our steps, you will NOT void your warranty
   
   
3. When the new page appears with the configuration settings, In the Filter bar, search for NTLM and the result will show 3 entries. The one you need is NETWORK.AUTOMATIC-NTLM-AUTH.TRUSTED-URLS. Double-click the NETWORK.AUTOMATIC-NTLM-AUTH.TRUSTED-URLS entry to open the Enter string value window
   
   
4. When the Enter the string value window opens, type the portal URLs that you wish to access automatically, separated by a comma. Note:  If you want to set it up for the entire domain, just enter .yourdomain.com
   
   
5. When you are finished, click OK.
6. You should now be able to nagigate to an NTLM protected website and access it without being prompt for credentials (as long as you current have access to it)

http://blogs.msdn.com/vijaysk/archive/2008/02/11/using-windows-server-2008-as-a-super-desktop-os.aspx

http://blogs.msdn.com/vijaysk/archive/2008/02/11/using-windows-server-2008-as-a-super-desktop-os.aspx

http://www.win2008workstation.com/win2008/installing-custom-gadgets

 http://blogs.technet.com/yungchou/archive/2008/06/25/adding-vista-sidebar-and-aero-to-windows-server-2008-desktop.aspx

http://www.savilltech.com/docs/win2008desktopos.htm

http://www.win2008r2workstation.com/win2008r2/sidebar

Windows_Sidebar.7z (3.81 mb)

Here are a few great articles on adding support for having sample data within Blend and Visual Studio 2010

http://karlshifflett.wordpress.com/2009/10/21/visual-studio-2010-beta2-sample-data-project-templates/

http://karlshifflett.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/ddesigninstance-ddesigndata-in-visual-studio-2010-beta2/

http://www.robfe.com/2009/12/the-curious-case-of-the-designdata-msbuild-target/

I just deployed the Office Web Applications 2010 Beta. I followed the deployment document Microsoft has provided: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=4AC8442D-0974-4902-84FE-1ADE382AB2A1&displaylang=en, but I ran into an error in the Activate the Office Web Apps services and feature by using Windows PowerShell chapter.

This is what the document says in the Create the service applications and the service application proxies paragraph:

After the service instances have been started, the service applications and the service application proxies which connect the Web front-ends to the service applications must be created. Create the service applications and the service application proxies by running the following script:

$appPool = Get-SPIisWebServiceApplicationPool –Name “SharePoint Web Services Default”
New-SPWordViewingServiceApplication –Name “WdView” –AppPool $appPool |
New-SPWordViewingServiceApplicationProxy –Name “WdProxy”
New-SPPowerPointServiceApplication –Name “PPT” –AppPool $appPool |
New-SPPowerPointServiceApplicationProxy –Name “PPTProxy”
New-SPExcelServiceApplication –Name “Excel”
-SPIisWebApplicationPool $appPool |

There are three errors in this script:

1. The -Name parameter is invalid for the Get-SPIisWebServiceApplicationPool command. This should be -Identity.
2. The -AppPool parameter is invalid for the New-SPWordViewingServiceApplication, New-SPPowerPointServiceApplication and New-SPExcelServiceApplication commands. This should be –ApplicationPool.
3. The New-SPExcelServiceApplication is missing a command after the pipe (|).

I skipped the New-SPExcelServiceApplication command, cause my Excel Services Application Service was already created during the Farm Configuration Wizard. So the correct script is:

$appPoolName = "SharePoint Web Services Default"
New-SPWordViewingServiceApplication –Name "WdView" -ApplicationPool $appPoolName | New-SPWordViewingServiceApplicationProxy –Name "WdProxy"
New-SPPowerPointServiceApplication –Name "PPT" -ApplicationPool $appPoolName | New-SPPowerPointServiceApplicationProxy –Name "PPTProxy"
New-SPExcelServiceApplication –Name "Excel" -SPIisWebServiceApplicationPool $appPoolName

If you are looking for a single complete script that handles it all -- here you go

$machinesToActivate = @( gc env:computername )

$serviceInstanceNames = @("Word Viewing Service", "PowerPoint Service", "Excel Calculation Services")
foreach ($machine in $machinesToActivate) {
	foreach ($serviceInstance in $serviceInstanceNames) {
		$serviceID = $(Get-SPServiceInstance | where {$_.TypeName -match $serviceInstance} | where {$_.Server -match "SPServer Name="+$machine}).ID
		Start-SPServiceInstance -Identity $serviceID 
	} 
} 

$appPoolName = "SharePoint Web Services Default"
New-SPWordViewingServiceApplication –Name "WdView" -ApplicationPool $appPoolName | New-SPWordViewingServiceApplicationProxy –Name "WdProxy"
New-SPPowerPointServiceApplication –Name "PPT" -ApplicationPool $appPoolName | New-SPPowerPointServiceApplicationProxy –Name "PPTProxy"
New-SPExcelServiceApplication –Name "Excel" -SPIisWebServiceApplicationPool $appPoolName

$webAppsFeatureId = $(Get-SPFeature -limit all | where {$_.displayname -eq "OfficeWebApps"}).Id
Get-SPSite –limit ALL |foreach { Enable-SPFeature $webAppsFeatureId –url $_.URL } 

And for a bonus if you want to enable the new Developer Dashboard in SharePoint 2010, here is the powershell script to do it

$svc=[Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPWebService]::ContentService

$ddsetting=$svc.DeveloperDashboardSettings

$ddsetting.DisplayLevel=[Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPDeveloperDashboardLevel]::OnDemand

$ddsetting.Update()

And here is the STSADM command
stsadm -o setproperty -pn developer-dashboard -pv OnDemand

Some additional information can be found here

SQLite is one of those gems in the development community. When you need a small, lightweight, fast, and FREE embedded database there is nothing better out there.  To top it off, the guys at PhxSoftware have done an absolutely fantstic job of creating a complete ADO.NET 2.0 data provider for SQLite.  The only downside right now is that it has not been updated for .NET 4.0 and Visual Studio 2010.  That said for those of you chomping at the bit to work in the latest and greatest there is no need to fear as we have a work around to get you up runnng.

If you are gettting this exception:

System.IO.FileLoadException: Mixed mode assembly is built against version 'v2.0.50727' of the runtime
and cannot be loaded in the 4.0 runtime without additional configuration information.

There is a solution that was first pointed out by Jomo Fisher. All you need to do is to include this snippet in the application config file:

<startup useLegacyV2RuntimeActivationPolicy="true">
    <supportedRuntime version="v4.0"/>
</startup> 

Now, that said if you really want a native version it is possible as apparently recompiling the project and targeting .NET 4 works

1. In order to compile sqlite.net with vs2010 beta 2 you can convert the 2008 solution. Before you convert the project files, you will need to remove the compact framework targets or the conversion will fail telling you that the compact framework is not supported.
2. After the projects are converted set the targeted framework to .net 4

I could not get the netmodule to compile in vs2010 (it complained that the OutputType was not supported) but the netmodule will build when build from the command line with msbuild. The rest of the projects compile fine.

To get the designer to compile you will need to add a file called source.extension.vsixmanifest.The next thing I encountered was a System.TypeLoadException (Inheritance security rules violated by type). This could be solved by adding the following line to System.Data.SQLite/AssemblyInfo.cs

[assembly: SecurityRules(System.Security.SecurityRuleSet.Level1)]

There are some more minor changes to the project files to get it to compile but in the end it compiles with .NET 4 support and works without workarounds when used from .NET 4.

CDBF from WhiteTown

cdbfwgui.zip (2.29 mb)

DBFViewer from cooolutils

DBFViewer.exe (1.62 mb)

And a nice shell extension for getting quick information about a DBF file

cdbfinfo.zip (341.77 kb)