Get rid of Visual Studio Setup Projects as they will be discontinued in future

Buck Hodges informs us that there will be no Visual Studio setup projects (vdproj) in future versions of VS.

Future versions of Visual Studio will not include the Visual Studio Installer project templates. To preserve existing customer investments in Visual Studio Installer projects, Microsoft will continue to support the Visual Studio Installer projects that shipped with Visual Studio 2010 per the product life-cycle strategy. […]

Related Links:

• Comparison: Choosing a Windows Installer Deployment Tool
• Supported and recommended alternative: WiX & Votive

How to Remove Windows Server 2008 R2 Serivce Pack 1 (SP1) Backup Files

Warning: As a result of removing the backup files you will not be able to uninstall SP1 anymore.

Steps:

1. Make sure the "Desktop Experience" is installed.
   (Note that if you need to install it, it requires a restart and it takes some time to install on the next boot)
2. Run "Disk Cleanup" (cleanmgr.exe)
3. Click on "Clean up system files"
   
4. Select "Service Pack Backup Files"
   
5. Click "OK" to start the cleaning (it can take quite some time, but will give you ~ 1-2 GBs)

Sending e-mail via command line

using SendMail.exe

Download: SendMail.exe (ZIP)

How to assign "Allow log on locally" rights to a Domain Controller

The Microsoft Knowledge Base has an answer (KB 234237):

1. Run mmc
2. Add Group Policy Management snap-in
3. Browse to your domain, right-click and click Edit
4. Open the path Default Domain Controllers Policy\Computer Configuration\Windows Setting\Security Settings\Local Policies\User Rights Assignment
5. Edit Log On Locally settings

Using Host Headers in IIS7 / Why is the host headers text box disabled?

If you want to run two sites on the same port you will need a Wildcard Certificate. Eath site will be assigned a different host header (= URL) in IIS (e.g. site1.yourdomain.com and site2.yourdomain.com).

What if the host name text box remains disabled although I have a Wildcard certificate?

The friendly name of the Wildcard certificate needs to start with an "*" (e.g. *.yourdomain.com) as you can read here.

You can still use the command line though to set the host headers appropriately.

How to grant permissions to the Network Service account of another machine?

1. Create a security group in Active Directory
2. Add the computer account to the group (DOMAIN\MACHINENAME$)
3. Grant permissions to the newly created security group.

Updated: Visual Studio 2010 Image Library

Make sure you check out the new Image Library that gets installed with Visual Studio 2010. It was updated and contains many great-looking icons and images that are free to be used even in commercial software.

Link: Install the Visual Studio Image Library

Source: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/visualstudio/archive/2010/03/29/tips-and-tricks-visual-studio-2010-image-library.aspx

Certified as Professional Scrum Developer Trainer

"A fool with a tool, is still a fool."

TFS is a great tool, but still it doesn't tell you how to do things. To close the missing gaps you need practices and a framework (like Scrum). Luckily, Scrum.org and Microsoft started the Professional Scrum Developer Program (PSD), which trains people in all three topics.

An ideal combination:

Additionally this will be the only official course on Visual Studio 2010 team features and Team Foundation Server 2010 autorized by Microsoft (no MOC courses).

Since this summer, I 'm certified as Professional Scrum Master (PSM) and as one of the Professional Scrum Developer Trainers (PSDT) that will be teaching the course.

 

Links:

• Learn more about Scrum Developer
• Attend a course
• Get certified as Professional Scrum Developer through the PSD assessment

Lookup .NET Format Strings

{0:N2} – N2 stands for a number with 2 decimals.

I wish I could remember all those – if you can't, look them up at:

• Formatting Types (this is the root chapter for all of the links below and many more)
  The most important ones are probably:
• Standard Number Format Strings
• Standard Date and Time Format Strings

IIS7 FTP service: How to enable/disable logging

It's easy… well, if you know where to look…

Step 1: Open "FTP Logging" settings

Step 2: Click "Disable" on the panel on the very right.

Download Tip: Create Regular Expressions in a snap

I have almost no clue about Regular Expressions, but still I can create even pretty complex RegEx patterns in a snap and therefore can impress collegues with those (almost non-existant) skills.

How do I do that, you will ask?

Well, I use Expresso Regular Expression Tool

It's free (although you have to register after a period to receive your free registration code) and helped me a lot. Highly Recommended!

SOLVED: The provided URI scheme 'http' is invalid; expected 'https'. Parameter name: via

You receive the error message:

The provided URI scheme 'http' is invalid; expected 'https'.
Parameter name: via

… while using WCF to connect to an endpoint.

Probably you are trying to send a a username and password to authenticate although the connection is not secure (no HTTPS).

This modified binding should help:

<binding name="UserPasswordBinding">
security mode="TransportCredentialOnly">
transport clientCredentialType="Basic" />
/security>
/binding>

.NET Framework 4 Client Profile available through Windows Update

Beginning June 22, 2010 the .NET Framework 4 is available through WIndows Update to ease deployment.

The whole framework? No, only the "light" version, so called "Client Profile", which contains the features to develop a client application, including:

Common language runtime (CLR)

ClickOnce

Windows Forms

Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF)

Windows Communication Foundation (WCF)

Entity Framework

Windows Workflow Foundation

Speech

XSLT support

LINQ to SQL

Runtime design libraries for Entity Framework and WCF Data Services

Managed Extensibility Framework (MEF)

Dynamic types

Parallel-programming features, such as Task Parallel Library (TPL), Parallel LINQ (PLINQ), and Coordination Data Structures (CDS)

Debugging client applications

It does not include (meaning you still need to install the full .NET Framework 4.0 to use those features), for example:

ASP.NET

Advanced Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) functionality

.NET Framework Data Provider for Oracle

MSBuild for compiling

Now, it's on Windows update, will it install automatically?

It depends on the Windows Update settings, "the .NET Framework 4 Client Profile is released as a recommended update that may be installed automatically on Windows Vista and Windows 7. The Client Profile is released as an optional update for Windows XP. In Windows XP, you must manually run WU and select the .NET Framework 4 Client Profile".

.NET Framework 4 Client Profile:

• Recommended Update on Windows Vista/7
• Optional Update on Windows XP

Full .NET Framework 4:

• Optional Update on Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008 and on Windows Server 2008 R2

More Information?

• Description of Windows Update – Update Levels
• MIcrosoft Knowledge Base: The .NET Framework 4 Client Profile is available on Windows Update (KB 982670)
• MSDN Library: .NET Framework Client Profile

When using Remote Desktop the keyboard layout always defaults to EN (English)

You…

• use a different keyboard layout than EN (English)
• use Remote Desktop to connect to another machine
• the default keyboard/input language is set to EN (regardless of your user settings)

… then this is your solution:

On the machine you connect to run the following .REG file:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout]
"IgnoreRemoteKeyboardLayout"=dword:00000001

Download: IgnoreRemoteKeyboardLayout.zip

Solution: Internet Explorer detected as mobile device

Problem description:

"Internet Explorer redirects to mobile layout web site"
"Some websites are connecting to mobile version"
Why am I getting mobile sites? I'm using my desktop PC!

Solution: (as found in this thread)

1. In the Windows registry navigate to the following key:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\5.0\User Agent\Post Platform
2. Remove the entry "Creative AutoUpdate v1.40.01"
3. Close all Internet Explorer windows.

Background:
Some websites are scanning the user agent string for the word "PDA", unfortunately the word "Update", contains PDA. Thus, those websites present their mobile versions instead.