Windows Vista Team Blog : Featured News, Release-to-Market

Essential Tool for the Job - Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit 3.1 for Windows Vista (RTM Announcement)

Baldwin Ng — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:53:00 GMT

RTM Announcement - Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit 3.1

Hello,

It's been a few months since I last blogged about the Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit 3.1 - formerly known as WVHA or Windows Vista Hardware Assessment. Today, I'd like to announce the RTM release of this tool with new capabilities including desktop security assessment, Hyper-V virtualization assessment, and more.

As you know, many of the IT pros out there like you are now spending a lot of time planning for Windows Vista deployments. But many question and challenges remain:

Are my existing PCs compatible to Windows Vista when it comes to Hardware and Device Compatibility?
Will my PCs have BIOS issues after the upgrade to Windows Vista?
Which of my PCs are ripe for an upgrade to Windows Vista? (e.g. CPU too old so it's time to replace them; or just add 512MB system memory and the PCs would be Windows Vista capable!)
What kind of software has been installed?
Are all of my PCs secure? Is Windows Security Center installed? Do they have Anti-Virus or Anti-Malware software installed? How about Windows Firewall settings?
What about application virtualization readiness?

The MAP Toolkit 3.1 is designed to address all of these desktop-side issues from a single tool! The MAP Toolkit is a platform of tools that combines the strength of agentless discovery and report generation capabilities from the previous generation (Windows Vista Hardware Assessment). The pie-chart below is part of an auto-generated readiness report from the MAP Toolkit and it illustrates the level of hardware readiness for Windows Vista upgrades across the desktop infrastructure.

As a matter of fact, if you view the latest MAP Team RTM blog post from yesterday, you will find that the MAP Toolkit 3.1 also havs many server-side and virtualization features including a Hyper-V virtualization candidates assessment and SQL Server discovery!!

Download Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit 3.1 RTM Version
Read documentation about MAP operations on TechNet
Learn tips and see video demos on MAP Team Blog
Join MAP Fan Clubs on TechNet Forum or Facebook
Very importantly, download other Windows Vista Solution Accelerators like the MDT Toolkit, Windows Vista Security Guide and more as well!

Cheers!
Baldwin Ng (Sr. Product Manager, Microsoft Solution Accelerators - Virtualization Lead)

Microsoft Readying Customers with New Assessment and Deployment Tool for the Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista SP1 Launch!

Baldwin Ng — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 11:43:00 GMT

Hello IT Pros!

February 27 is a big day. Windows Server 2008 will be officially launching in Los Angeles with Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO, kicking off in just a few hours.

In support of this very important technology milestone as well as the Windows Vista SP1 release, the Microsoft Solution Accelerators Team has just released the third-generation of the agent-less infrastructure assessment platform called Microsoft Assessment and Planning Solution Accelerator 3.0 (or simply MAP). Through the use of remote WMI calls and secure inventory engines, the MAP tool enables you to quickly inventory a wide variety of networks (AD-managed, IP ranges, and workgroups), securely assess IT environments of servers, desktops, applications and devices, and auto-generate specific and actionable reports and proposal documents in a matter of hours.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE BLOG POST...

GO HERE TO DOWNLOAD MICROSOFT ASSESSMENT AND PLANNING (RTM BITS)

Thank you,

Baldwin Ng (Sr. Product Manager, Microsoft Assessment and Planning)

Microsoft Released New Version of the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment tool

Baldwin Ng — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 08:09:00 GMT

Hi Folks,

Windows Vista and 2007 Microsoft Office are here! And, you are probably thinking that it's time to take advantage of these 2 great technologies. But, you need to get answers on a few practical questions first:

Would my existing PCs run Windows Vista and 2007 Microsoft Office? Should I buy new ones or upgrade them instead?
Would my devices still work? Would most of the device drivers be available from Windows Vista installation DVD and/or Microsoft Windows Update site?

Well, I have good news for you! Today, our team is happy to announce the availability of the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment 2.0 tool at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2007. This network-wide readiness assessment tool is designed to make it easier for Microsoft partners and customers to determine their existing PCs' readiness for Windows Vista and 2007 Microsoft Office. It's a great tool to accelerate migration and deployment planning for Microsoft customers and partners.

How it Works?

Step 1 - Network Inventory:

Windows Vista Hardware Assessment 2.0 connects securely and remotely from a networked PC and reaches out to each PC on the network, whether they are in an Active Directory domain/forest or in a peer-to-peer/workgroup environment.
Hardware and device data were collected through the WMI protocol (Windows Management Instrumentation) and other Windows networking protocols all without deploying any software agents on the individual PCs.

Step 2 - Compatibility Analysis:

By analyzing the hardware and device data from each computer, Windows Vista Hardware Assessment 2.0 can assess your existing computers' hardware compatibility and device compatibility for Windows Vista and 2007 Microsoft Office. It also offers hardware upgrade recommendations if required for each PC.

Step 3 - Readiness Reporting:

Windows Vista Hardware Assessment 2.0 offers the auto-generation of 2 readiness assessment reports: a summary report in Microsoft Word and a detailed spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel.
The Summary Report provides business decision makers with a high-level view of percentage of existing computers that can run Windows Vista and how many more computers can take advantage of Windows Vista with minor level of memory, hard drive and other upgrades.
The Detailed Spreadsheet Report provides technical decision makers with a detailed view of the information they need to plan for a desktop deployment/migration.

What's New with Version 2.0?

Backed by popular demand, we have added many features in this release:

Enterprise-Scale Scanning - Scan up to 25,000 computers per domain/workgroup in every scan (Note: multiple scans are possible for larger networks)
Office 2007 Hardware Assessment - Assess PCs for hardware compatibility with 2007 Microsoft Office
Customized Inventory using Active Directory - Choose computers of specific organizational units (or OU's) within an Active Directory domain/forest where the inventory would be conducted
Customized Inventory using Flat-File Import - Target a specific set of computers for the inventory and assessment by importing a specific flat file of computers (such as computer host names, NetBIOS names, or Fully Qualified Domain Names - FQDN)

What is the IT community saying about Windows Vista Hardware Assessment? Visit these blogs to find out more.

Where Should I Start?

Download the tool today and see how it can benefit your Windows Vista and 2007 Microsoft Office migration planning
Sign up for one of my July webcasts on TechNet and Partner Readiness web sites
Look for the 6-language localized version that will go live in the coming weeks that will enable you to create readiness assessment reports in your own language including French, German, Japanese, Korean, Latin American Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese
Tell your success story using the tool and email us at: wvha-tap@microsoft.com
Subscribe to our RSS feed and stay tuned for my future blog posts where I will share with you our customers' success stories and what's new at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2007
Check out the Windows Vista Business Value Assessment Tool if you are a Microsoft Partner - you'll be amazed how powerful this ROI tool is! (IT Blogger, James Senior, gives you the inside scoop HERE!)
Visit the Solution Accelerators home page to download other great Windows Vista tools including Windows Vista Security Guide, Data Encryption Toolkit and Business Desktop Deployment 2007

See you next time...

Baldwin Ng (Sr. Product Manager, Microsoft Solution Accelerators)

wvhafdbk@microsoft.com

Windows Vista Hardware Assessment Guidance Pages now available in 8 new languages

Baldwin Ng — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 07:23:00 GMT

Hi all,

We are happy to announce the availability of Windows Vista Hardware Assessment guidance pages in 8 new languages in addition to the already-available US English version. The list of localized web sites is listed below, please click the individual link to visit your language of choice:

For more information about Windows Vista Hardware Assessment v1.0, you may also visit the original blog post last month:

http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2007/02/20/windows-vista-hardware-assessment-1-0-released.aspx

Baldwin Ng (Product Manager, Solution Accelerators Team - baldwin.ng@microsoft.com )

Application Compatibility Toolkit 5.0 Released

Peg McNicol — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 00:41:00 GMT

Hi I'm Peg McNicol, the product manager for application compatibility in Windows Vista.

In the midst of all the excitement around the general availability of Windows Vista, it's almost strange to talk about IT Pro & developer tools, but if you are an IT Pro, or developer, this should be pretty exciting too. Today the final version of the Application Compatibility Toolkit 5.0 was released. If you are already familiar with ACT 5.0 make sure you download the new bits and the refreshed product guide here. If you want to learn more about the tools and resources around application compatibility for Windows Vista - please visit our TechNet site.

For people new to ACT, it is a single toolset that can help detect, diagnose, and mitigate compatibility issues found in Windows Vista. I think the single coolest feature of this tool is that you can deploy it in your current environment, Windows 2000 or Windows XP and get an inventory of your applications and see how they'll work with Windows Vista. Other highlights include the Standard User Analyzer (SUA) tool; there have been many changes made to improve overall security and reliability in Windows Vista, and this tool looks for possible issues resulting from those changes for users running as Standard Users, which is what every user in a business environment should be in this new paradigm we’ve delivered. There’s also the new Internet Explorer 7 Test Tool to test apps for use with the latest version of Internet Explorer, and the Setup Analysis Tool which detects any issues your setup packages might have with installing on Windows Vista. Finally, IT Pros can use the new and improved Compatibility Administrator to pull compatibility fixes from a database of existing fixes and apply them to apps one-by-one, or in predefined groups.

Overall, this toolkit is going to be a huge timesaver for the IT Pro community and a great resource for developers to analyze and test their apps. Even if you are just starting to think about planning or deploying Windows Vista, you should download ACT 5.0 and start taking an inventory of your current environment so can scope your workload and be ready to go when the time is right for your company.

Download ACT 5.0 now