Posts Tagged ‘microsoft’

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Minisforum MS-A2 Windows Server 2025 Driver Fix Minisforum MS-A2 Series Part 13 Ultimate #homelab

Monday, August 18th, 2025

Minisforum MS-A2 Windows Server 2025 Driver Fix Minisforum MS-A2 Series Part 13 Ultimate #homelab

In this episode of the Minisforum MS-A2 Ultimate #homelab series, I walk you through fixing missing drivers in Windows Server 2025 on the MINISFORUM MS-A2. From troubleshooting Device Manager issues to installing the AMD chipset drivers, PSP device, SMBus controller, GPU drivers, and Microsoft Pluton driver, this video will help you get your MS-A2 running smoothly on Server 2025.

 

Along the way, I also highlight some community contributions, share key tips like disabling power saving mode, and test the latest AMD Software: PRO Edition 25.Q2 for GPU support.

What you’ll learn in this video:

How to fix missing drivers in Windows Server 2025 on the Minisforum MS-A2
Which drivers are required: AMD PSP, SMBus, GPU, Microsoft Pluton
Why you must disable power saving mode for stability
How to install AMD Software: PRO Edition 25.Q2 for GPU support

Special thanks to the community:

LoCo (Scott Fell) for the T-shirt
Jason Macialek
Mark Howell

Perfect for homelab enthusiasts, VMware users, and anyone testing Windows Server 2025 on Minisforum MS-A2.

 Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more VMware + homelab content from Hancock’s VMware Half Hour!

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Posted in All, computing, ExpertsExchange, Hancock's VMware Half Hour, vExpert, Virtualisation, Virtualization, VMware | Comments Off on Minisforum MS-A2 Windows Server 2025 Driver Fix Minisforum MS-A2 Series Part 13 Ultimate #homelab

Part 55: HOW TO: Check if you have compromised your VMware ESXi 7.0 Hosts if you have added them to Microsoft Active Directory

Monday, November 25th, 2024

This video was created in response to Experts Exchange members asking the question “have I compromised my ESXi host be adding to AD?”

In this video presentation which is part of the Hancock’s VMware Half Hour I will show you HOW TO: Check if you have compromised your VMware ESXi 8.0 Hosts if you have added them to Microsoft Active Directory.

In this video demonstration the ESXi servers are ESXi 8.0.3, which have the “fix” detailed below

Secure Default Settings for ESXi Active Directory integration

To demonstrate the differences between a compromised and non-compromised server, I have deliberately changed the default settings on esxi002.cyrus-consultants.co.uk, so the server can be compromised.
HOW NOT TO: Compromise your VMware vSphere Hypervisor ESXi 5.1, 5.5, 6.0, 6.5, 6.7, 7.0, 8.0 by adding to Microsoft Active Directory

On the 29th July 2024, Microsoft discovered a vulnerability in ESXi hypervisors being exploited by several ransomware operators to obtain full administrative permissions on domain-joined ESXi hypervisors.

this publication is here – https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2024/07/29/ransomware-operators-exploit-esxi-hypervisor-vulnerability-for-mass-encryption/

VMware vExperts – Christian Mohn wrote about it here – VMware vSphere CVE-2024-37085 – A Nothing Burger

and Bob Plankers goes into more detail here – Thoughts on CVE-2024-37085 & VMSA-2024-0013

Please have a read of these publications.

Broadcom have issued updates and fixes to vSphere 7.0 and 8.0, and VCF 4.x and 5.x only. There is no security update for 6.7.

https://support.broadcom.com/web/ecx/support-content-notification/-/external/content/SecurityAdvisories/0/24505

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Posted in All, computing, ExpertsExchange, Hancock's VMware Half Hour, vExpert, Virtualisation, Virtualization, VMware | Comments Off on Part 55: HOW TO: Check if you have compromised your VMware ESXi 7.0 Hosts if you have added them to Microsoft Active Directory

Part 8: HOW TO: Install VMware Tools for Windows on a VMware Windows virtual machine on a VMware vSphere Hypervisor 7.0 (ESXi 7.0) Host Server

Thursday, August 29th, 2024

In this video, I will show you HOW TO: Install VMware Tools for Windows on a VMware Windows virtual machine on a VMware vSphere Hypervisor 7.0 (ESXi 7.0) Host Server, using the VMware Host Client. The virtual machine has Windows Server 2019 installed.

For more guidance and a step by step tutorial with screenshots, which supports this video, please see the following article which this video is based on HOW TO: Install VMware Tools for Windows on a VMware Windows virtual machine on a VMware vSphere Hypervisor 7.0 (ESXi 7.0) Host Server

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Posted in All, computing, ExpertsExchange, Hancock's VMware Half Hour, Uncategorized, vExpert, Virtualisation, Virtualization, VMware | Comments Off on Part 8: HOW TO: Install VMware Tools for Windows on a VMware Windows virtual machine on a VMware vSphere Hypervisor 7.0 (ESXi 7.0) Host Server

Part 9: HOW TO: Create your first Linux Virtual Machine Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Server on a VMware vSphere Hypervisor 7.0 (ESXi 7.0) Host Server

Thursday, August 29th, 2024

In this video, I will show you HOW TO: Create your first Linux Virtual Machine on a VMware vSphere Hypervisor 7.0 (ESXi 7.0) Host Server. The Linux Distribution we will install is Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Server Edition.

For more guidance and a step by step tutorial with screenshots, which supports this video, please see the following article which this video is based on HOW TO: Create your first Linux Virtual Machine on a VMware vSphere Hypervisor 7.0 (ESXi 7.0) Host Server

This was the original article I wrote over 10 years ago, and I reference it in the video.

HOW TO: Tutorial Video – Install VMware Tools for Linux on a VMware Linux virtual machine

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Posted in All, computing, ExpertsExchange, Hancock's VMware Half Hour, vExpert, Virtualisation, Virtualization, VMware | Comments Off on Part 9: HOW TO: Create your first Linux Virtual Machine Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Server on a VMware vSphere Hypervisor 7.0 (ESXi 7.0) Host Server

Part 7: HOW TO: Create your first Windows Virtual Machine on a VMware vSphere Hypervisor 7.0 (ESXi 7.0) Host Server

Wednesday, August 28th, 2024

In this video, I will show you HOW TO: Create your first Windows Virtual Machine on a VMware vSphere Hypervisor 7.0 (ESXi 7.0) Host Server, the Windows OS we will install is Windows Server 2019.

For more guidance and a step by step tutorial with screenshots, which supports this video, please see the following article which this video is based on HOW TO: Create your first Windows Virtual Machine on a VMware vSphere Hypervisor 7.0 (ESXi 7.0) Host Server

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Posted in All, computing, ExpertsExchange, Hancock's VMware Half Hour, vExpert, Virtualisation, Virtualization, VMware | Comments Off on Part 7: HOW TO: Create your first Windows Virtual Machine on a VMware vSphere Hypervisor 7.0 (ESXi 7.0) Host Server

Return to HDCD it only took me 10 years! (Part 2!)

Monday, July 20th, 2020

I’ve recently been reminded after installing my new “balls” or Cambridge Audio “Puds” on my DAC – see here – S700 Isomagic DAC “puds” – rubber balls!,  that these outboard DACs (digital to audio converters) have the HDCD chip manufactured by  , which Microsoft purchased all those years ago. This chip decodes the HDCD information. My Arcam Alpha 5 DAC does not have this technology but roll forward 10 years, and some vintage DACs do have this ability to decode HDCD. But it is unlikely that we will ever see this technology incorporated in modern-day DACs, because rumours are that Microsoft requires a payment of $400,000 for the license!!!

and after Googling about HDCD, I found this – 10 Years ago, I blogged and wrote about HDCD, as a reminder it’s here –Hidden information on some Music Compact Discs – HDCD

I had forgotten!

It has also been removed from Windows media player in Windows 10, so it looks like the only way to play HDCD content, is on a vintage DAC!

Why Microsoft purchased the technology, not to use it, and to price it out of the market, when digital audio content is now on the rise Hi-Res Walkmans, e.g. Sony NW-A50 Hi-Res Walkman® Portable Audio Player, USB DACS, FLAC and lossless audio are on the rise again.

When we ripped to MP3, we were trying to make the rip as small as possible, to conserver storage space on our hard drives, my first MP3 player had only 128MB storage cards, today storage is cheap, and we are now ripping to lossless formats, e.g. FLAC, DSD, DSF.

In this modern-day when recording studios record to digital media and not analogue tapes, not sure why HDCD encoding is not used more, other than the lack of equipment to play it!

You need to have a CD Player that can decode HDCD or an HDCD encoded digital file. The CD I’m playing is “Brothers In Arms [2005 – 20th Anniversary Edition]”

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HOW TO Publish from Microsoft Word to WordPress

Monday, February 8th, 2016

I’ve wanted to publish/write articles for Andysworld! For many years, directly from Microsoft Word (offline), and then hit a button to publish. I never noticed that Microsoft Word has this incorporated!

You select:-

  1. File > New
  2. Blog Post > Create

  1. Select your Account (blog)
  2. Select a category
  3. Type something.
  4. Hit Publish

Simply! Done!

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Windows 10 – What does Andysworld! think!?

Thursday, August 13th, 2015

A bit late to the party, played and tested many of the earlier Beta, Previews, and RTMs, but this is the first time, I’ve got to install the Enterprise version, yes virtually, because that’s all I do these days, Virtual, Cloud etc So here are some pretty pictures, and the first thing you’ll notice, is this is highly optimized, and uses much less resources on previous Microsoft OS, it’s actually quite nippy compared to other OS hogs, this test was conducted with a single vCPU and 2GB RAM – WOW, only 2GB of RAM, when most laptops, these days, have 8 and 16GB….

windows-10-000164

windows-10-000165

So, what does Andy, really think…… well personally I still like Windows 2000 Professional, Vista was okay, and this is the Desktop of Choice for my Office, but I resist to move to Windows 8, and I have Windows 7 on my Admin Workstations, Windows XP, 2000 on most of the laptops, Sony DUO has Windows 8.1…, and my gaming rig has Windows 8.1 Pro.

will I be upgrading, not at present…

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Mircosoft and Me!

Wednesday, August 20th, 2014

and most of you that know me, are probably saying, I thought he was a fan of VMware!

so one of my Article’s ends up on Microsoft Technet UK Blog, as I’m now a member of the Microsoft Technical Community Council.

technetukblog

Here’s the article on Microsoft Technet UK Blog

Migrating 2008 R2 Hyper-V VMs to 2012

(oh, and there’s a recent photograph of me as well, proudly wearing the Microsoft Technical Community Council shirt!)

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Two Days at Lotus F1 Team courtesy of Microsoft & @lotus_f1team @1MikeyT @TechNetUK

Thursday, April 10th, 2014

All work and no play, makes jack a dull boy so I was told when I was a little boy!, I had the opportunity to visit the Lotus F1 Team at Enstone, Oxfordshire for a Microsoft IT Camp on the 8th and 9th April 2014, the days were entitled

Day 1: – Managing the Data Center with Windows Server and Microsoft System Center
Day 2: : Journey to the Cloud with Windows Azure: Microsoft IT Camp

Here are a sample of some photographs I took, there are 141 more here hosted at Google.

Two days, I will remember of a long time, I had an excellent time, and learnt some golden Microsoft nuggets, to take back to the Office, so it was not all about the cars!

Thanks to Guys and Gals at UK Technet, and Michael Taylor @ Lotus F1 Team for two great days.

Lotus F1 Team

My fat arse on a Lotus F1 Racing Car!

Andy on a Lotus F1 Racing Car!

lotusf1rachingcar

Lotus F1 Team Forumla 1 Raching Car

Lotus F1 Team Formula 1 Racing Car

Lotus F1 Team Steering Wheel

Lotus F1 Team Steering Wheel

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Posted in All, car, computing | Comments Off on Two Days at Lotus F1 Team courtesy of Microsoft & @lotus_f1team @1MikeyT @TechNetUK

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