I found a helpful stackoverflow answer that explained how to Delegate OpenID to Google. Then, I found an OpenID Delegate Plugin for WordPress. It didn’t use the openid2 link names, so I updated the plugin slightly so it provides both the old tags and the new ones; you can download my version 0.2.

I started by disabling the Windows Update service. Even though that turned out not to be the problem, I stand by that. There’s no reason to have a service running when we’re going to run the updates manually.

It seems the IP Helper (iphlpsvc) service was the culprit. Some web searching suggests it’s used for 6to4 (or Teredo) tunneling. We’re not interested in host-tunneled IPv6 connectivity; eventually I want native IPv6. So, I just disabled the service. The guest’s idle CPU usage seems to hover around 1% now.

Make sure the client and server are both in the same domain and that you’re logged into the client with an account in the Domain Admins group. Other scenarios can supposedly work, but this is the easiest starting point. This requires the server to be joined to a domain. For that, Greg Shields’s Beginners Guide to Server Core in Windows Server 2008 is helpful. Alternatively, you can promote it to a domain controller.

Then, login to the server locally (or with remote desktop) and run the following in a command prompt:
Dism.exe /Online /Enable-Feature /FeatureName:NetFx2-ServerCore /FeatureName:MicrosoftWindowsPowerShell /FeatureName:ServerManager-PSH-Cmdlets /FeatureName:BestPractices-PSH-Cmdlets

Reboot the computer when prompted and then start powershell and run two more commands in there:
powershell
  Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned
  Configure-SMRemoting.ps1 -force -enable

That article covered up automatic Windows Updates. However, I don’t like automatic updating on servers. I prefer to the have the servers download the updates so applying them is quick, but I want a person to actually click the button to install them. This way, they can test after the updates and if something does break, we know that someone changed something. There’s not much worse than something breaking out-of-the-blue when it was running fine. Now, problems from Windows Updates are extremely rare, but not impossible.

My web searching yielded several references to the WUA_SearchDownloadInstall.vbs script. I tested it out and initially had some trouble because I forgot to run it under cscript, even though that’s clear from the instructions. So I decided to wrap it with a batch file. Being an Ubuntu guy, I decided to call it apt-get. Then I decided to actually implement the basic apt-get calling convention (apt-get update ; apt-get dist-upgrade) my colleagues and I are used to. (In truth, being Ubuntu users, it’s “sudo apt-get …”.)

So I present to the world my little apt-get.bat script. Drop it (and the aforementioned WUA_SearchDownloadInstall.vbs script) into C:\Windows\System32 and you’re set.

* I really wish Windows Server 2008 R2 was called Windows 2009 Server**. The “R2″ naming is really annoying as people tend to treat them like they’re basically the same, which they aren’t.
** That’s not true. I really wish it was called Windows 7 Server.

Update 2010-05-04: I modified the apt-get.bat script to set the Windows Update service to only run on demand and stop it after an upgrade (or dist-upgrade).

The basic idea is to use the virtio devices from the initial installation to avoid all the work and hassles involved with changing the drivers later. This avoids mistakes which can lead to an unbootable guest or “Local Area Connection 2″ annoyances. There are two big problems, however. Finding the latest drivers is not easy (unless you pay for RHEL, which might make it easier). I’m not even sure the ones used here really are the latest, but they seemed to be the latest I could fine. Second, the limitations of the virt-manager + libvirt + KVM stack mean you can’t connect both an installation CD (image) and a virtio driver CD. Only one virtual CD is allowed by some level in that stack; I’m not sure which one or why.

1. Download the virtio drivers. The copy I used was virtio-setup-200908.iso as linked from an article titled
   Preview of Redhat 5.4 Windows Virtio Drivers Part 1 from Haydn Solomon’s blog.
   wget http://linux-kvm.net/sites/default/files/virtio-setup-200908.iso
2. Download a copy of my convert-iso-to-floppy script which uses mkfs.msdos to create a floppy image and copies the files from the virtio .iso file using loopback mounts, which is explained by untitledfinale.wget http://coderich.net/downloads/convert-iso-to-floppy
3. Make the script executable.chmod +x convert-iso-to-floppy
4. Run the script. ./convert-iso-to-floppy virtio-setup-200908.iso
5. Create a new virtual machine as you normally would for a Windows guest, stopping just before clicking Finish.
6. If you have a new enough version of virt-manager, you can check the “Customize configuration before install” checkbox. Otherwise, click Finish, stop the virtual machine, open the details, reconnect the CD (or other installation media) if necessary, and reconfigure the guest to boot off the CD (or other installation media).
7. Delete the IDE disk device and re-add the storage as a Virtio disk.
8. Change the NIC’s device model to virtio.
9. Add the image that convert-iso-to-floppy created (which will be named the same as the iso, but with an .img extension) as a virtual floppy device.
10. Set the floppy to be readonly for safety. (This is optional, but it makes me feel better.)
11. Switch to the console view, run the virtual machine, and start the installation as normal.
12. When the disk configuration step comes up, no disk will be detected. This is normal.
13. Click Load driver…
14. Windows will automatically search the virtual floppy drive and find the drivers.
15. Select the virtio block storage and virtio network drivers for the Windows version being installed, using the control key to select multiple items as always.
16. Click Next.
17. Proceed with the installation as normal.
18. Delete (or disconnect) the floppy device, as desired.
19. Reconfigure the boot options, if necessary, as desired.
20. Disconnect the CD device, if necessary and desired.

I’m not sure why…other than Mark Shuttleworth seems to love copying Apple.

However, this change made me realize one thing… I never use the menu from the title bar. I use it on the task bar a lot (for “Close”, “Always On Top”, “Move to Another Workspace”, and “Always on Visible Workspace”, in that order of frequency), but not from the title bar. This is a random observation, nothing more.

And remember, EULAs are not enforceable. Slashdot screams this EVERY time APPLE or MS has one. It cuts both ways, Slashdot. – Anonymous

The GPL explicitly says you don’t have to agree to it to use the software. It only comes into play when you distribute copies of the software, which is something unambiguously covered by copyright law everywhere. The majority of people here arguing that argue EULAs are invalid are not suggesting that they should be able to *distribute copies* of Mac OS X or Windows.

They’re saying you can’t have a transaction that looks like a sale in every way, but when you open the box, it says you have to agree to another contract (that you can’t negotiate or change) which says that your transaction was not a sale and that you agree to all sorts of draconian conditions. Plus, EULAs often purport to apply in such a way that you have to agree to the agreement before you see it. Imagine you buy a car, but the car’s key is inside a box with tape that says, “If you break this tape, you agree to be bound by the agreement within.” The agreement inside the box says you didn’t actually buy the car, you’re just leasing it and thus you’re not allowed to figure out how the car works, so you must bring it into the dealership for work. This is what (the majority of, as there are always some crazy folks) the “EULAs are not enforceable” comments are about.
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Wait for this gem: “’cause there ain’t nothin’ like the sound of a cooler slushin’ on the bed of your truck.”

Now I actually enjoy a lot of country music, but wow. I just can’t get over how truly bad this line is, both in terms of lyrics and sound.

I understand his push for “GNU/Linux” a lot more now. It’s one thing to talk about credit–there I disagree, because I don’t want to call it “GNU/Linux/X/GNOME/OpenOffice.org”. However, he made the point that calling the distro “Linux” points all the attention towards Linus, who isn’t pushing software freedom. I hadn’t thought about that before.

On a side note, RMS pronounces it “GNU slash Linux” or “GNU plus Linux”, where I think “GNU Linux” is a totally more reasonable… After all, nobody pronounces the slash in “and/or”.