Every Windows product has a lifecycle. Knowing key dates in this lifecycle helps to make informed decisions about when to upgrade or make other changes. Source: Windows Lifecycle Fact Sheet
End of support
Client OS // Latest update or SP // End of mainstreem support // End of extended support
Windows XP SP 3 April 14, 2009 April 8, 2014
Windows Vista SP 2 April 10, 2012 April 11, 2017
Windows 7 SP 1 January 13, 2015 January 14, 2020
Windows 8 Windows 8.1 January 9, 2018 January 10, 2023
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Datacenter Edition (32-Bit x86)
3/5/2006
7/13/2010
7/14/2015
4/14/2009
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Datacenter Edition with Service Pack 2
3/13/2007
Review Note
Review Note
Support ends 24 months after the next service pack releases or at the end of the product's support lifecycle, whichever comes first. For more information, please see the service pack policy here .
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition
3/5/2006
7/13/2010
7/14/2015
4/14/2009
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition with Service Pack 2
3/13/2007
Review Note
Review Note
Support ends 24 months after the next service pack releases or at the end of the product's support lifecycle, whichever comes first. For more information, please see the service pack policy here .
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition (32-Bit x86)
3/5/2006
7/13/2010
7/14/2015
4/14/2009
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition
3/5/2006
7/13/2010
7/14/2015
4/14/2009
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard Edition (32-bit x86)
3/5/2006
7/13/2010
7/14/2015
4/14/2009
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard x64 Edition
Whether you're a novice or an experienced administrator, you'll need management tools to simplify your daily tasks. VT Technology Management Utilities for Hyper-V (vtUtilities) are an easy to use all-in-one suit that provides out of the box solution for setting up and maintaining virtualization environments based on Microsoft Hyper-V Server.
vtUtilities are easy to download, deploy and use, don't require expensive hardware, eliminate the need for System Center, Virtual Machine Manager and RSAT, can be used to manage Hyper-V from Windows 7 and Windows 8 and support all recent versions of free/core Hyper-V Server (Hyper-V Server 2008, 2012, 2012 R2).
Easy to navigate GUI provides a view into the performance of the virtual environment, lets you start, stop, create and interact with virtual machines. With vtUtilities you can change and read VM's settings, see host and guests performance data, configure virtual networks and virtual hard disks, create snapshots, configure, start and monitor replication.
vtUtilities deliver GUI for:
Replication
Guest Migration
VHDX
Virtual Fibre Channel Adapters
Virtual Network Management including the management of virtual connections and bindings
Virtual Switch
File System Views and Operations
vtUtilities also implement GUI allowing connecting to the Virtual Machine Console. This is an important factor when managing or troubleshooting virtualization environments on GUI-less hosts when local management utilizing command line interface (PowerShell) or remote management is difficult or even not feasible.
Besides managing capabilities for virtual machines created using past versions of Hyper-V, vtUtilities deliver every essential solution to manage free Hyper-V Server 2012 R2:
Generation 2 Virtual Machines
Virtual Hard Disk and Storage Quality of Service
Hyper-V Replica Enhancements Including Support for Extended Replication
Hyper-V Virtual Networking Enhancements
Extended Replication Monitoring
Gen 2 VMs
Common Scenarios for Using vtUtilities:
vtUtilities can be installed locally on a Hyper-V Host and deliver GUI with functionality level similar to Microsoft Hyper-V Manager, while it can run on environments where Hyper-V Manager is not supported such as core installations of Windows Server and standalone free Hyper-V Server.
vtUtilities can be used for remote management of different versions of Hyper-V from a single application, adjusting to the features supported by managed version. (Hyper-V on Windows Server 2008 R2 / 2012 / 2012 R2 as well as Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 / 2012 / 2012 R2). With vtUtilities you can manage Hyper-V Server 2012 R2 while still having a full access to Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2012
vtUtilities allow local and remote management of Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 and Hyper-V Server 2012/ 2012 R2 not only from Windows 8 / 8.1, but from Windows 7 as well (otherwise, proper server administration without System Center requires Windows 8 because the administration tools don't run on Windows 7).
Diagnostic and Troubleshooting with vtUtilities:
vtUtilities enable an easy access to Hyper-V event logs and virtual machine jobs history. Clicking on 'Hyper-V Events' button next to host drop-down box or using 'Tools|Hyper-V Event Log' menu will open a dialogue that allows further filtering and ordering of Hyper-V events as shown on screen below. This functionality is available for local and remote Hyper-V hosts and is especially convenient for diagnostic on Core installation of Windows Server or standalone Hyper-V Server.
vtUtilities even further simplify diagnostic of Hyper-V environment by providing access to the virtual machine job execution history with a possibility to cancel asynchronous jobs on Windows 8 hosts as shown below:
Real Time Monitoring of Hyper-V Hosts and Guests with vtUtilities
Effectively monitor your virtual infrastructure by visualizing virtual machines health, performance, storage and memory usage. vtUtilities have a very small memory footprint and do not consume any resources on managed Hyper-V servers when they are not running.
Resource Monitoring
vtUtilities do not extend a potential attack surface on managed Hyper-V hosts and do not install or require any additional components
Installation
vtUtilities run only on 64-bit version of Windows.
Virtualization Platform: Microsoft Hyper-V
It is recommended that you download and read the latest version of the User Guide prior to installing vtUtilities.
Download and run vtUtilities bootstrapping executable that will guide you through the installation process. You will be able to start vtUtilities from a command console by typing ‘vtUtilities’ on the Windows Server core and the Hyper-V Server intstallations after that.
The best of TechEd and MMS at TechEd North America in Houston, TX ( 05/12/2014 - 05/15/2014 )
Microsoft announced new services and updates, promoting "cloud-first, mobile-first" strategy.
Most of the announcements are Azure - related, such as:
Antimalware for Azure
Azure Site Recovery
Azure Nerworking Enhancements
Azure RemoteApp
Azure Files
Some other announcements include:
Simplified Cloud Storage
Private Connections to the Cloud
Office for iPad Remote Management from Windows Intune
A categorized listing of 215 Microsoft Twitter Accounts representing official Microsoft products, teams, projects and initiatives along with widely recognized influential personal Twitter Accounts of individuals who work at Microsoft. This list includes accounts that tweet in multiple languages and in multiple regions around the world: Official Microsoft Twitter Accounts - A comprehensive reference
MVMC is a Microsoft - supported, stand - alone solution for the IT Pro who wants to convert VMs and disks from VMware hosts to Hyper -V hosts and Windows Azure
From the Download Center:
MVMC can be deployed with minimal dependencies. Because MVMC provides native support for Windows PowerShell®, it enables scripting and integration with data center automation workflows such as those authored and run within Microsoft System Center Orchestrator 2012 R2. It can also be invoked through the Windows PowerShell® command-line interface. The solution is simple to download, install, and use. In addition to the Windows PowerShell capability, MVMC provides a wizard-driven GUI to facilitate virtual machine conversion.
New Features in MVMC 2.0 MVMC 2.0 release of MVMC includes the following new features:
Converts virtual disks that are attached to a VMware virtual machine to virtual hard disks (VHDs) that can be uploaded to Windows Azure.
Provides native Windows PowerShell capability that enables scripting and integration into IT automation workflows. Note The command-line interface (CLI) in MVMC 1.0 has been replaced by Windows PowerShell in MVMC 2.0.
Supports conversion and provisioning of Linux-based guest operating systems from VMware hosts to Hyper-V hosts.
Supports conversion of offline virtual machines.
Supports the new virtual hard disk format (VHDX) when converting and provisioning in Hyper-V in Windows Server® 2012 R2 and Windows Server 2012.
Supports conversion of virtual machines from VMware vSphere 5.5, VMware vSphere 5.1, and VMware vSphere 4.1 hosts Hyper-V virtual machines.
Supports Windows Server® 2012 R2, Windows Server® 2012, and Windows® 8 as guest operating systems that you can select for conversion.
Standard MVMC Features
In addition to the new features previously identified, MVMC provides the following functionality:
Converts and deploys virtual machines from VMware hosts to Hyper-V hosts on any of the following operating systems:
Windows Server® 2012 R2
Windows Server® 2012
Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1
Converts VMware virtual machines, virtual disks, and configurations for memory, virtual processor, and other virtual computing resources from the source to Hyper-V.
Adds virtual network interface cards (NICs) to the converted virtual machine on Hyper-V.
Supports conversion of virtual machines from VMware vSphere 5.5, VMware vSphere 5.0, and VMware vSphere 4.1 hosts to Hyper-V.
Has a wizard-driven GUI, which simplifies performing virtual machine conversions.
Uninstalls VMware Tools before online conversion (online only) to provide a clean way to migrate VMware-based virtual machines to Hyper-V. Important MVMC takes a snapshot of the virtual machine that you are converting before you uninstall VMware Tools, and then shuts down the source machine to preserve state during conversion. The virtual machine is restored to its previous state after the source disks that are attached to the virtual machine are successfully copied to the machine where the conversion process is run. At that point, the source machine in VMware can be turned on, if required. Important MVMC does not uninstall VMware Tools in an offline conversion. Instead, it disables VMware services, drivers, and programs only for Windows Server guest operating systems. For file conversions with Linux guest operating systems, VMware Tools are not disabled or uninstalled. We highly recommend that you manually uninstall VMware Tools when you convert an offline virtual machine.
Supports Windows Server and Linux guest operating system conversion. For more details, see the section “Supported Configurations for Virtual Machine Conversion” in this guide.
Includes Windows PowerShell capability for offline conversions of VMware-based virtual hard disks (VMDK) to a Hyper-V–based virtual hard disk file format (.vhd file). Note The offline disk conversion does not include driver fixes.
Microsoft released Windows Server 2012 R2 Update at BUILD conference. Windows Server 2012 R2 Update doesn't have any new features, but includes cumulative roll-up, bug fixes and a range of enhancements,such as EMIE, AD fix for Office 365 and UI enhancements. "After the update is installed, the following features are present:
Internet Explorer 11 now includes an “Enterprise Mode.” This mode is available if you disable Enhanced Security Configuration and provides better compatibility for sites designed for Internet Explorer 8, along with tools to manage which web apps use it. You can specify a list of web apps to render dynamically in Enterprise Mode, avoiding compatibility problems with web apps written for older versions of Internet Explorer. For more information, see the Internet Explorer 11 FAQ for IT Pros or TechNet documentation.
The user interface includes buttons for Search and Power on the Start page. If you install the Desktop Experience feature, other changes introduced with Windows 8.1 Update will also be visible. For details, see What's new in Windows 8.1 Update and Windows RT 8.1 Update. The specific Windows 8.1 features installed when you install Desktop Experience have not changed from those in Windows Server 2012 R2 (seeDesktop Experience Overview).
Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) has added the capability for an administrator to enable signing in with an alternate login ID that is an attribute of the user object in Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS). This enables customers to adopt Azure Active Directory without modifying on-premises User Principal Names (UPNs). It also allows users to log in to the computer using an Office 365 email address instead of a UPN. This change does not affect the Active Directory schema. For more information, see Configuring Alternate Login ID.
The update includes all other updates released since Windows Server 2012 R2 was released."
Microsoft suggests running Msinfo32.exe to confirm the update's installation. It should report a hardware abstraction layer of "6.3.9600.17031," if successful.
Edge Show 97 - Generation 2 Virtual Machines in Windows Server 2012 R2: In this episode Symon interviews John Howard, a Senior Program Manager on the Hyper-V Team, to discuss the features and benefits of Generation 2 Virtual Machines in Windows Server 2012 R2. Generation 2 Virtual Machines offer a variety of security and configuration benefits, taking advantage of the latest advances in hardware and driver virtualization.
Edge Show 97 - Generation 2 Virtual Machines in Windows Server 2012 R2:
On Wednesday, 04/02/2014 Microsoft announced major updates to Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012 R2, and Windows Phone. Windows 8.1 Update and Windows Server 2012 R2 Update are available for download on MSDN and TechNet today (with automatic updates beginning April 8).
Quote:
Here is what is included in Windows Server 2012 R2 Update:
Cumulative roll-up – Windows Server 2012 R2 Update includes all of the previously-released monthly roll-ups, individual updates, and security updates released since RTM.
Bug fixes – In response to customer and partner feedback, this update includes a range of performance and reliability improvements.
Enhancements – A range of enhancements are also included in the update including:
Enterprise Mode for Internet Explorer (EMIE). This is focused on delivering better compatibility for server line of business applications.
Active Directory fix for Office 365, to enable sign-on using an Office 365 email address. This would also make the RDS end user experience the same as on Windows 8.1 Update.
User interface. On a typical server installation, end users will see a Search and a Power button on the modern Start page.
After the update is installed, the following features are present:
Internet Explorer 11 now includes an “Enterprise Mode.” This mode is available if you disable Enhanced Security Configuration and provides better compatibility for sites designed for Internet Explorer 8, along with tools to manage which web apps use it. You can specify a list of web apps to render dynamically in Enterprise Mode, avoiding compatibility problems with web apps written for older versions of Internet Explorer. For more information, see the Internet Explorer 11 FAQ for IT Pros or TechNet documentation.
The user interface includes buttons for Search and Power on the Start page. If you install the Desktop Experience feature, other changes introduced with Windows 8.1 Update will also be visible. For details, see What's new in Windows 8.1 Update and Windows RT 8.1 Update. The specific Windows 8.1 features installed when you install Desktop Experience have not changed from those in Windows Server 2012 R2 (see Desktop Experience Overview).
Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) has added the capability for an administrator to enable signing in with an alternate login ID that is an attribute of the user object in Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS). This enables customers to adopt Azure Active Directory without modifying on-premises User Principal Names (UPNs). It also allows users to log in to the computer using an Office 365 email address instead of a UPN. This change does not affect the Active Directory schema. For more information, see Configuring Alternate Login ID.
The update includes all other updates released since Windows Server 2012 R2 was released.
