TechAgility

Just a brief update as to some of the changes that I have discovered in WES 2011 CTP2 (as opposed to the original CTP) – this was simply built on a default VM Template based on Windows 7.

Also some useful reference links:

• Windows Embedded Standard 2011 CTP2 New Features and Changes
• Discovering Windows Embedded Standard 2011 – What is different to WES 2009? – Part 1
• Choose the Right Windows Embedded Operating System
• HORM in Windows Embedded Standard 2011 CTP

Please review the screenshots below (sorry about the quality, I’ll redo them this week)

• There are additional Templates (including Thin Client) that seem to have most of what people would need to get themselves started
• The Summary page then indicates anything that’s not there – in this case the VMware Drivers were missing – I just ignored this and moved on, once completed it appears to have managed to find it and installed it
• Disk Footprint
  • This is a huge improvement on the first CTP – Minimal install used to be 650Mb, and just adding Explorer ONLY saw it jump to 2.6Gb
  • Estimated OS footprint was listed as 1946Mb for the Thin Client template
  • After installation it appeared (at least in the VM as only 1.57Gb)
  • To be fair – there does not appear to be too much installed by default though?
• It looks just like Windows 7 – seriously
• So without even telling it what HW I have just check out the listing from Device Manager – only two items were not sorted!!
• No drivers were installed or referenced by me – I just let the wizard do its thing and here it is with the Internet working
• One curious thing I noted was that there is no RUN command, or Search function in the Start Menu, not that this is a bad thing on an intended Thin Client?
• I was able to check that both FBWF and EWF is installed by default
• As things stand I’d say this is a huge leap forward by Microsoft from the disk space point of view as it now looks quite likely that with some judicious pruning then a relatively useful Image can be created to simply act as the dedicated Client Device for Citrix, VMware VDI instances
• If you’d like to get your own copy of the Image Builder Wizard (IBW) then log on to connect.microsoft.com to download

So after thinking on this some more I had the following thoughts?

• This is essentially Windows 7 “super lite” and appears to be pretty much compatible with everything
• It’s so easy to build a new runtime it no longer needs a developer to create bespoke instances?
• Comes with the choice of enabling either Enhanced Write Filter (EWF) or File Based Write Filter (FBWF) to protect the base image
• A “Thin Client” install is only 1.5G in size – well down from the standard Windows 7 with Office reaching more like 20Gb
• Sure – the terms of the EULA specifically prohibit the *install* of Full MS Office Products
• But that doesn’t preclude any Application Streaming or Virtualization efforts?
• At only USD$90 a runtime version, and only 1.5Gb – will this be *THE* VDI base OS of choice?  
• It’s small, light, cheap AND it is non-persistent straight out of the box – it’s certainly worthy of some consideration?

written by dcaddick

So it’s hardly a surprise that Citrix have decided to “Announce” the long awaited HDX-3D “high quality user experience” protocol enhancement in the early hours prior to the start of the VMworld conference? Pardon me for being something of a sceptic, but it seems that this might have more to do with the fact that Teradici are expected to release the Software only version of their PCoIP protocol stack in Public Beta at this event?

I’ve had a look around the MyCitrix.com site and from what I can see there is no new components as the latest update was the addition of the Feature Release 1 update of the XenDesktop Agent component back on the 5/1/09? I’d be more than happy to be proved incorrect, but I’d imagine that if Citrix had actually posted this new component up on the web site as an available download then they’d be making sure it was “in your face”?

I’m pretty well acquainted with RGS and it’s capabilities, so I’m quite keen to get my hands on both of these new technologies and give them a going over to find their strengths and weakness’s.  One of the biggest issues/problems is that the visual quality that is delivered is subject to “peoples perceptions” and as such can be quite difficult to comparisons? One persons “great”, can be another persons “rubbish”?

I’ll be at Microsoft’s TechEd 09 on the Gold Coast here in Australia next week (on the HP Stand) and I’m hoping to be able to do live demonstrations and comparisons of RDP6, RDP7 and RGS so that Customers can see for themselves why implementing the correct Remote Protocol stack can be crucial depending on their particular circumstances.

Citrix Enhances Market Leading HDX Technology for High-Definition Virtual Desktops

Mon Aug 31, 2009 3:01am EDT

Breakthrough New HDX 3D Technology Enables Citrix XenDesktop to Deliver High-End
Professional Graphics in Real-Time over Any Network
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(Business Wire)--
Today Citrix Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CTXS), announced a new breakthrough addition
to its market leading HDX Technology, ensuring a high-definition virtual desktop
experience even for the most demanding high-end professional graphics
environments. The new HDX 3D technology, available as a feature of Citrix
XenDesktop, delivers a rich, high-definition desktop experience applications to
users in any location, over any network. Combined with the full portfolio of HDX
technologies in XenDesktop, the new HDX 3D capability allows organizations to
leverage talent globally, while still housing data centrally, assisting in
real-time collaboration among disperse design teams while still ensuring the
security of critical intellectual property. HDX 3D is part of an extensive range
of HDX technologies from Citrix that go well beyond a single protocol to address
potential problems in all parts of the IT infrastructure, from the datacenter,
to the network, to the device. Combined with the company`s groundbreaking HDX
Adaptive Orchestration technology, XenDesktop can also dynamically adapt to
changes in the environment by applying the best technologies for each unique
user scenario (see http://hdx.citrix.com for more detail).

Citrix Enhances Market Leading HDX Technology for High-Definition Virtual Desktops | Reuters

written by dcaddick

Some while back one of my US based colleagues passed on some advice about checking out some details on how to get the best out of Wireshark

For anyone interested in getting their feet wet using Wireshark the network protocol analyzer.  This knowledge can be useful to have when dealing with network anomalies.

www.chappellseminars.com/s-wireshark101.html

Download the latest 1.2.1

As you may or may not know this was originally called Ethereal, and then morphed in to Wireshark, and has recently had quite a number of improvements and has moved from ver. 0.9 to now 1.2 plus in the last few months. There has been quite a number of additions including the ability to graph throughput etc from within the tool, as well as it now supporting GeoIP DB’s so that you can carry out extensive mapping of where the packets are going to or coming from.

http://wiki.wireshark.org/HowToUseGeoIP

Running Windows 7?

If you are running Windows 7 – then do be aware that the WinPcap driver (the component that does the sniffing) will fail to install by default – but if you modify the executable to run in Vista SP1 compatability mode then all should be fine – as detailed below:

I’ve just downloaded WinPcap 4.1 beta5 from here: WinPcap, the Packet Capture and Network Monitoring Library for Windows Set the compatibility mode to Windows Vista (right click on the installer executable then select Properties; on the Compatibility tab, check "Run this program in compatibility mode for", select Windows Vista SP1 from the dropdown list, then finally click OK =)) and it will install as it should.
For me it worked flawlessly so far.

Further reading

I then followed this up a bit further and noted that after a recent Sharkfest event there were a number of presentations made by a chap called Ray Tompkins (CEO of Gearbit) and these are available at:

At Sharkfest 2009 gearbit presented 3 sessions::
Finding the Latency:
How Protocols Work:
Wireshark Charts & IO Graphs:
OSTU – Wireshark IO Graph for Response Time Analysis:
Understanding the Need for Protocol Analysis: HYPERLINK
OSTU – Wireshark Case Study: Benchmark Test
OSTU – Wireshark TCP Stream Graphs
OSTU – Wireshark Capture Filters
OSTU – Wireshark Display Filters
OSTU – Identifying Zero Window with Wireshark

If you do find that you have to dig in on a Customers Site to start doing some serious troubleshooting around Networks then I would seriously recommend the first two presentations in PDF format as they do appear to explain things in a very simple and matter of fact way.

Wireless Issues:

Now this should in no way be any sort of substitute for a proper Wireless Survey, but when you find that you are up against some issues then try using inSSIDer as a very good starting point? And it works on Windows 7 straight out of the box

written by dcaddick

If installing Citrix XenDesktop Receiver on any HP Thin Client with Windows XPe *prior* to the most recent release (Build 710) you may get an error, even after removing the original Citrix Client, that it is unable to install because of a previous Citrix Client install still exists…  I didn’t really waste any time on looking for the root cause as to whether it’s caused by the Uninstall routine of the preinstalled Citrix Client or other components…

Here’s the way I got it to work manually:

• Log on as Administrator
• Uninstall the Citrix Program Neighborhood client
• Delete the registry key HKClassesRoot\Software\Microsoft\Installer\Products\086B4262CB2…. (I didn’t write it all down)
             Search for “Citrix” in RegEdit, It’ll be very near the top
• Install Desktop Receiver Embedded Edition v11.10

The other alternative would be to re-image the device before you start with the most recent release?

And to set the the device to load the logon web page directly, set the registry entry:

• HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\WinLogon
• Shell = c:\progra~1\intern~1\iexplore.exe –k http://<ddc>/Citrix/DesktopAppliance

written by dcaddick

So I have been asked a few questions regarding FBWF (File Based Write Filter) in the last few days and thought this might also be useful to others?

By default in XP Embedded there is a component called EWF (Enhanced Write Filter) that acts as an overlay to catch actions that require write access like the Cache for the browser and these are discarded during a reboot. As an Admin you can set up the XPe system as you like and then COMMIT the changes to the flash memory via Command Line or using the icon in either the system tray or the Control Panel.

The main difference between the older EWF mechanism and the newer FBWF is that the EWF is pretty much an “All or Nothing” affair, where as with the FBWF you protect the entire partition and can then selectively “punch holes” in the protection based on Files, Directories or Registry entries to allow persistent write access to the Flash Memory so that these changes will be committed and maintained.

Example of setting FBWF via Command Line:

fbwfmgr /enable
fbwfmgr /addvolume c:
fbwfmgr /addexclusion c: “Program Files\Citrix”
fbwfmgr /addexclusion c: “Program Files\Citrix\ICA Client”
fbwfmgr /addexclusion c: “Program Files\TeemNT”
fbwfmgr /addexclusion c: “windows\system32\ccm”
fbwfmgr /addexclusion c: “windows\system32\ccmsetup”
fbwfmgr /addexclusion c: “windows\system32\wbem”
fbwfmgr /addexclusion c: “Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop”
fbwfmgr /addexclusion c: “Documents and Settings\User\ntuser.dat”
fbwfmgr /addexclusion c: “Documents and Settings\User\ntuser.dat.log”
fbwfmgr /addexclusion c: “Documents and Settings\User\Desktop”
fbwfmgr /addexclusion c: “Documents and Settings\Administrator\Desktop”
fbwfmgr /addexclusion c: “Documents and Settings\User\Application Data\ICA\Client”
fbwfmgr /addexclusion c: “windows\system32\config”
fbwfmgr /addexclusion c: “windows\bginfo.bmp”
fbwfmgr /addexclusion c: “RegfData”

As you can see from the above this was to allow the Thin Client to continue to be Write Protected, but at the same time allow the Users to effectively save their settings and have this maintained between reboots.

Anyhow, just one important point……  IF you need to punch in some RegFilter exclusions so that some registry keys “stick” between reboots then it is absolutely mandatory that you have a file exclusion for : fbwfmgr /addexclusion c: “RegfData” because this is how the data is “saved” and it then gets injected in to the registry after the reboot has settled down – Does this make sense?

For the registry entry below you can see that the first two are in the image by default because they look after the TSCal and Domain membership, but after that I was adding additional Reg keys for information that I wanted to be persistent between reboots – my earlier comment was that you needed the additional file to be excluded at “fbwfmgr /addexclusion c: “RegfData”” so that these keys will actually work, as the data is stored using RegfData and then “injected” on the next reboot.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesRegFilterParametersMonitoredKeys]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesRegFilterParametersMonitoredKeys]
“ClassKey”=”HKLM”
“FileNameForSaving”=”MSLic.rgf”
“RelativeKeyName”=”Software\Microsoft\MSLicensing”

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesRegFilterParametersMonitoredKeys1]
“ClassKey”=”HKLM”
“FileNameForSaving”=”MacAcc.rgf”
“RelativeKeyName”=”Security\Policy\Secrets\$MACHINE.ACC”

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesRegFilterParametersMonitoredKeys2]
“ClassKey”=”HKLM”
“FileNameForSaving”=”TeemNT.rgf”
“RelativeKeyName”=”Software\Pericom\TeemNT\Sessions”

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesRegFilterParametersMonitoredKeys3]
“ClassKey”=”HKLM”
“FileNameForSaving”=”TtNTCon.rgf”
“RelativeKeyName”=”Software\Pericom\TtNTConWiz”

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesRegFilterParametersMonitoredKeys4]
“ClassKey”=”HKLM”
“FileNameForSaving”=”Citrix.rgf”
“RelativeKeyName”=”Software\Citrix”

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesRegFilterParametersMonitoredKeys5]
“ClassKey”=”HKCU”
“FileNameForSaving”=”ControlPnl.rgf”
“RelativeKeyName”=”Control Panel”

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesRegFilterParametersMonitoredKeys6]
“ClassKey”=”HKLM”
“FileNameForSaving”=”Print.rgf”
“RelativeKeyName”=”System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print”

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesRegFilterParametersMonitoredKeys7]
“ClassKey”=”HCC”
“FileNameForSaving”=”ScreenRes.rgf”
“RelativeKeyName”=”SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Video”

I have also found another article stating how it is possible to get FBWF working on XP Pro, and although I haven’t tested this it certainly looks like a much simpler way of achieving effectively the same thing as SteadyState? But I would consider modifying the registry components below to CurrentControlSet instead of ControlSet001?

Guide to using FBWF on Windows XP Pro

---

Hi there. my first post, hope its of use to people here. I am using FBWF on a standard Windows XP Pro installation (SP3 RC1 to be exact). Finding no guide available online, I thought I’d write this one.
–EDIT–
Quick note for those of you who don’t know what FBWF is. It is very similar to EWF, but FBWF (file based write filter) offers some important advantages. FBWF uses less ram (you can reclaim ram overlay space when you delete files), you can also commit on the fly (without restarting or disabling), and have persistent (write through) folders that write straight to the drive (so you can have a persistent My Documents for example).
–EDIT–
You will need the following files from the XPe feature pack 2007 trial.
fbwf.sys fbwfdll.dll fbwflib.dll fbwfmgr.exe
If you’re not sure how to extract these files, please see the “New EWF + MinLogon and CF instructions” thread by SFiorito.
1.Copy fbwf.sys to WINDOWSsystem32drivers
2.Copy all other files to WINDOWSsystem32
3.Add the following to your registry (it’s probably easiest to copy it into an empty txt file, rename it to fbwf.reg, and load)

Code:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMControlSet001ServicesFBWF]
"Start"=dword:00000000
"Type"=dword:00000002
"ErrorControl"=dword:00000001
"ImagePath"=hex(2):73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,44,00,
  52,00,49,00,56,00,45,00,52,00,53,00,5c,00,66,00,62,00,77,00,66,00,2e,00,73,
  00,79,00,73,00,00,00
"Group"="FSFilter System Recovery"
"DisplayName"="File-Based Write Filter"
"Description"="File-Based Write Filter driver"
"DependOnService"=hex(7):46,00,6c,00,74,00,4d,00,67,00,72,00,00,00,00,00
"DebugFlags"=dword:00000000
"EnabledOnAllSkus"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMControlSet001ServicesFBWFFBA]
"EnablePostFBA"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMControlSet001ServicesFBWFInstances]
"DefaultInstance"="Fbwf Instance"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMControlSet001ServicesFBWFInstancesFbwf Instance]
"Flags"=dword:00000000
"Altitude"="226000"

4.Reboot

5.Go to your command prompt, and type in the following commands.

fbwfmgr /enable

fbwfmgr /addvolume X:

fbwfmgr /setthreshold S

X is the drive you want to protect (most will want to protect c. S is the size you want your ram drive to be in MB(mine is 256).

6. Reboot, and your done!

There are 4 other commands in fbwfmgr you may want to play with. /setpreallocation 1 reserves the ram space (I.E does not dynamically change with the amount of actual used space). /setcompression 1 compresses the date to save more ram space, but at the cost of CPU time. /overlaydetail tells you what files are being stored in ram, and how much ram space is being used. /addexclusion X: “persistentfolder” enables write through on the folder X:persistentfolder.

For those used to EWF, unfortunately there is no way to commit all data, and each file has to be committed manually with the following command /commit X: “windowsfile.exe”

I hope I haven’t left anything out! Hopefully this guide will be usable and somewhat clear…and if it breaks your puter, well, I’m sorry

Update:

For those wanting to try some testing I have uploaded the FBWF files here

written by dcaddick

Deciding which Thin Client is good for you?

So you are considering a Desktop Refresh in your organization? Are you aware of the impending "Tipping Point" where the difference between PC’s and Thin Clients is about to become blurred?

Traditional Thinking:

Traditional thinking around Thin Clients focus’s on the matrix between a choice of Hardware at a good, better and best level and the choice of O/S that is used which is typically  WinXPe, WinCE or Linux – this then prompts the decision maker to ask and/or answer the following questions:

• Do you want to use these devices with a VPN Client?
• Do you want to use these devices with an SSLVPN?
• Do you want to use these devices with Web Based Applications running from a Local Browser?
• Do you want to use these devices with a limited set of USB Devices?
• Do you want to use these devices with an unlimited set of USB Devices?
• Do you want a highly secure Device?
• Do you want a device with as small an image as possible?
• Do you want a very dumb device that is essentially "set and forget"?
• Do you want a Device that is capable of running an AV Client?
• Do you want a Device that is capable of running additional Win32 Applications as part of the default image?

The last one sounds crazy but – apparently we have a client that has a 2Gb image with a locally installed version of Oracle Client – but this will clearly mean that the Customer needs a heavy weight Hardware and WinXPe.

Any requirement that relies heavily on a local browser accessing Web based applications really needs heavy hardware to handle the XML and Java processing loads, as these can be significant.

As far as VPN’s go this will almost invariably start enforcing the decision towards WinXPe – certainly from the case of Citrix’s Access Gateway when you have Security looking to make use of the End Point Analysis – although if you are considering using the Enterprise Edition then you can consider using Linux based Thin Clients.

If you are looking for broad USB support, then again you need to consider looking very hard at WinXPe as this offers the broadest support for a myriad of USB devices with very little effort by the local admin.

I guess it’s not surprising in light of this that WinXPe is the most predominant choice of O/S for Thin Clients, although there are some significant benefits to using a Linux core if you are not hampered by the above constraints

Blurring of the Lines?

So what do I mean by the "coming tipping point between the PC and the Thin Client"?

Well ask yourself if you want a PC that is locked down? or do you want a "Pre Locked Down" Device in the same manner as the Traditional Thin Client? Surely the TCO and ROI figures stack up, and if the device is already effectively locked down nicely then surely that is less effort that the IT Dept. has to put in to get it to where they want it to be?

The main stumbling block is that under the licensing arrangement with MS – any device using XP embedded is barred from being able to have a local installation of Office – so that pretty much precludes going much further with that right?

Well when you look around the market place today there are plenty of examples of 4, 8 and 16Gb flash or storage devices – so clearly it is possible to have a Thin Client/PC that has enough storage to run XP Pro? Surely that does away with the limitation preventing the installation of Office?

So when I thought about this further it’s quite clear with the advent of BartPE and Microsoft’s own WinPE that both the XP Pro and the Server 2003 O/S’s are capable of booting and running from a "read-only" image? So that just leaves the concept of applying an "Enhanced Write Filter" to XP Pro and we are nearly there? 

If we fast forward to say….  2010, it’s not unreasonable to think that you might have a choice of storage in a new Laptop – do you want 100Gb plus with a regular hard drive, or do you want longer battery life with a faster boot time with a 16/32Gb Flash storage unit? Now you join this with a low power Intel Core 4 Duo 2.7Ghz manufactured at 32nm that only takes 14 watts and …………….   so now tell me again why we aren’t going to see a blurring of the lines between Thin Clients and PC’s?  )

I think that sooner rather than later we are going to see a niche market of PC’s being designed and built with lower CPU’s, smaller RAM, less Power and less storage than Thin Clients – and at the same time we will start to see Thin Clients with more storage, RAM, higher CPU’s than the same PC’s

Conclusion:

So when we reach this point, the main decision to make is no longer based on Hardware at all but on whether you want to have your local IT Admin do the locking down, or buy a unit pre-locked down that you add a few Mission Critical apps to and then image away?

Please let me know if you have any feedback?

written by dcaddick