Error Starting Virtual Machine On Client Hyper-V

Hyper-VI make a lot of use of virtual machines for both testing and demonstrating Microsoft Dynamics GP. As a company, when I joined, Perfect Image tended to use VMware (I’ll reserve comment, which I realise tells it’s own story), but more recently have started making more use of Microsoft Hyper-V, which is what I also use at home for testing and writing my blog and books.

After installing Hyper-V on my work laptop I created a virtual machine and clicked start. Unfortunately, I received the below error messages:

Hyper-V Manager

I did some digging around and found that although Hyper-V was installed, the hypervisor wasn’t running. Fortunately, the laptop I have does support Hyper-V and I only had to do one thing which was to enable the hypervisor by opening an elevated command prompt and type the following command:

bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype auto

Once I had run the command I was able to start the virtual machine without further problem; at least with Hyper-V.

What I found was that with the hypervisor running, I wasn’t able to start a VMware virtual machine. So a second command can be used to disable the hypervisor for those times when I need to use a VMware virtual machine:

bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype off

Hopefully, I’ll be able to complete the transition away from VMWare very soon and stop toggling from one to the other.

Error 778: It Was Not Possible To Verify The Identity Of The Server

WindowsTaking a slight diversion from my usual subject matter with this post. I was trying to connect to a clients system via VPN a short while ago when I received error 778:

Error 778: It was not possible to verify the identity of the server

Error 778: It was not possible to verify the identity of the server

I did a little digging and found that this error actually relates to the username and password being incorrect. I checked our records and found that the password had been reset since the last time I logged on; after entering the new details I was able to log in successfully.

It would be nice if the error message had been a little more descriptive of the actual problem, but at least it was a simple solution.

Remote Desktop Connection – An Authentication Error Has Occurred

Windowsthis is an off topic post which I’m posting mainly as a memory prompt for myself. I was working with a set of virtual machines the other day on my test server and received the following error when I tried logging in:

Remote Desktop Connection - An authentication error has occurred. The Local Security Authority cannot be contacted. Remote computer: azc-gp2013-wc-8Remote Desktop Connection
An authentication error has occurred.
The Local Security Authority cannot be contacted
Remote computer: azc-gp2013-wc-8

I logged onto the Hyper-V server and launched the VM from Hyper-V Manager and was able to log in without issue. I did some fiddling around and realised that my Domain Controller wasn’t accepting connection requests.

One quick reboot later and I was able to log into the VM without error.

System Requirements For Microsoft Dynamics GP 2015 Now Available

Microsoft Dynamics GPThe System Requirements for Microsoft Dynamics GP 2015 are now available from CustomerSource (login required).

The stand out items for me is that support has been dropped for several older versions of Windows, SQL Server and Office:

  1. Windows:
    • Windows XP all editions
    • Windows Vista all editions
    • Windows Server 2003 all editions
  2. SQL Server:
    • 2008 all editions (including R2)
  3. Office:
    • Office 2007

The only surprise on the above list is that some of the software listed as no longer supported was also listed as no longer supported with Dynamics GP 2013; in fact only SQL Server 2008 is new to the list.

Apart from the above retired software, the recommendations look pretty much the same as Dynamics GP 2013; Windows 8.1 and SQL Server 2014 have been added as supported.

Windows 10 Technical Preview: Win+Tab and Virtual Desktops

WindowsThe Win+Tab key combination was introduced in Windows Vista and appears to have been removed in Windows 8, but is back in Windows 10.

The initial display is very like Alt+Tab which allows task switching, but also has an Add a desktop option:

Win+Tab

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Windows 10 Technical Preview: Start Menu Customisation

WindowsAs I covered in this post the Start menu is being reintroduced in Windows 10 and will include a side panel containing the live tiles previously used on the Start screen.

The image below shows the default layout of the Start menu when Windows is first installed:

Windows Start Menu

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Windows 10 Technical Preview: Windows Search

WindowsWith the reintroduction of the Start menu, the ability to search is also available in the Start menu again, as it was in Windows 7. To search simply press the Windows button and type the name of the item you’re looking for:

Windows Start menu

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Windows 10 Technical Preview: The Start Menu

WindowsWindows 10 is to see the re-introduction of the Start menu. The Start menu was initially introduced in Windows 95 and continued unchanged until it was given a makeover in the 2007 released Windows Vista.

This makeover saw the ability to conduct a search by simply starting to type after pressing the Windows button.

Windows 8 saw the removal of the Start menu and introduction of the Start screen; the start menu had occupied a small cramped area in the bottom left of the screen next to the Windows button, whereas the Start screen occupies the whole screen. The Start button was also removed and replaced with a hot corner in the bottom left from which to launch the Start screen.

Both of these choices proved to be very controversial and led for calls to reintroduce the Start button, which Microsoft did in Windows 8.1 although the Start screen remained.

Well, Windows 10 has had the Start menu reintroduced:

Start menu

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Windows 10 Technical Preview: Installation

WindowsBefore taking a look at the new features in the Windows 10 Technical Preview, we need to first install it.

To do the install I created a new virtual machine in Hyper-V and added the downloaded iso image to the virtual optical drive.

When I started the VM, the installer automatically started and progressed to the language selection window.

As I downloaded the UK version, the language has defaulted to English (United Kingdom); if you need to change the language, do so now and then click Next:

Windows Setup

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