Upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I upgraded my home machine from Windows XP Home Premium (SP3) to Windows 7 Home Premium. Here are some of my lessons learned:

1. Do your homework before you buy the software. You may think you already know whether your hardware is beefy enough to run Windows 7, but Microsoft has a tool to help you with this: Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor. You can find it at http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/downloads/upgrade-advisor. This tool will check your hardware, drivers, and software applications for compatibility. You can print out the report and use it to help you search for the drivers you’ll need after the upgrade. For example, the report tells you that Microsoft ActiveSync – which I use to sync my PC with my Windows Mobile Smartphone device – isn’t compatible with Windows 7. The report didn’t suggest how to get around this, but I searched the web and found that Windows Mobile Device Center is the Vista / Windows 7 equivalent to ActiveSync. Once I knew I could find a solution for apps or drivers that had known issues, I felt comfortable buying the software. The other helpful information I found was a tutorial on how to upgrade. You can find it at http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/help/upgrading-from-windows-xp-to-windows-7. I watched the video and printed out the tutorial. The tutorial does a good job of explaining that when upgrading from XP to Windows 7, the only option is a clean install (versus the true upgrade path that is available for Vista). This was fine with me, because one of my reasons for upgrading was to re-image my machine anyway. What I think the tutorial failed to emphasize strongly enough however was the need to use the Windows Easy Transfer utility, which leads to lesson #2…..

2. Use the Windows Easy Transfer utility tool. You can download it from http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/features/windows-easy-transfer. My plan was to perform my own backup in XP, then restore my .bkf files to my machine after upgrading to Windows 7. I decided to also use the Windows Easy Transfer (aka WET) tool just in case, and it was a good thing I did. I learned after upgrading, that Windows 7 doesn’t recognize .bkf files, nor is there a way to restore .bkf files, since you can’t restore a back-up file created for a different operating system. While I did have to download and install the Windows Easy Transfer utility to my XP instance, I didn’t have to on the Windows 7 instance. You access the Windows Easy Transfer option in Windows 7 by going to the Start button / Control Panel / Back up your computer (under System and Security group), then click the Windows Easy Transfer link in the bottom left corner. When I ran the WET tool from XP, my only option was to choose the drive I wanted to back up, without being able to cherry pick the directories. My concern was that all the “junk” I had collected over the years would be carried forward to my Windows 7 instance. What I didn’t know until I had to upload my data to Windows 7 is that the WET tool allows you to choose which directories and files to carry forward to the new instance. If I had known this up front I would have been much more comfortable using this tool.

3. Use native Windows functionality to create your system image. I had bought Norton Ghost 14.0 at the time I bought Windows 7 because I had planned to create a system image after loading up my software (but before loading my data) and had planned to use Ghost for this. When I went to install Ghost, I ran into compatibility problems. Apparently Ghost 15.0 is Windows 7 ready, but when I tried to install Ghost 14.0, I got errors. I was able to ignore the errors and eventually install the software anyway. When I got it installed, I ran Norton Update which apparently fixed my problem. The point here though it that I could have created the system image using the native back-up functionality in Windows 7 instead of spending $60 for Norton Ghost. Oh well. Post Script: the upgrade tutorial process instructs you to install your data before reloading any of your applications. I didn’t do this because I wanted my image to be “clean” without my data.

4. Use the compatibility mode for installing software that isn’t compatible with Windows 7. When I went to install the drivers for my HP OfficeJet J6480 All-In-One printer using the original CD, I got an error stating that the device was not compatible with Windows 7. I did a web-search and found a trick that I used more than once. Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the setup.exe file, then right click and select Properties. On the Compatibility tab, check the box for “Run this program in compatibility mode for” and choose Windows Vista. Also, check the box for “Run this program as an administrator”. Click Apply, then OK, then go ahead and launch the setup.exe file. 

 

This allowed me to install the drivers for my multi-function printer. I tried this trick for applications that threw errors and it worked on 2 out of 3.

5. Let Windows Update help correct driver problems. Although I had done my homework and had identified drivers with known compatibility issues and had downloaded them to a USB stick, I didn’t have to manually apply any of them. Once I got Windows 7 installed, it automatically started alerting me to driver issues and over the course of a couple hours was letting me know that new drivers were available for install via the Action Center. You’ll see the Action Center messages in the bottom right corner tray. Click on the flag to see alerts directing you to the Action Center.

Activating Office and Setting up External Networking on the VPC

The Problem

If you use the Microsoft Dynamics AX R2 VPC, you'll eventually run into issues when trying to use the Office tools. I ran into this the first time when trying to use the AX 2009 Excel Export Wizard. The export failed because it couldn't generate a writable Excel file. I figured out that it was because my Office suite hadn't been activated.

To activate Office on the VPC, you will need to be able to connect the VPC to the internet. This requires a configuration tweak to the VPC. Lachlan Cash addresses both these topics in his blog. The post that deals with setting up the external networking can be found here: http://blogs.msdn.com/lcash/archive/2009/07/21/setting-up-external-networking-on-the-demo-vms.aspx

What follows below is a write up based on his video, along with some notes of my own.

 

Setting up External Networking on the VPC

Go to the Settings panel for the VPC, then choose the Networking option. See below for the default settings.

You'll want to leave Adapter 1 set to Local only, and change Adapter 2 to whatever networking card you have on your PC. Lachlan recommends that you not use your wireless card.

Next, you'll want to start the VPC itself. Once the start up is complete, click Start (on the VPC) > Control Panel > Network Connections, then right-click on Local Area Connection 2 and choose Enable.

In Lachlan's video he simply enables Local Area Connection 2, but when I tried this I still wasn't able to get a connection from within the VPC. I had to disable Local Area Connection 1.

Lachlan also advises not to leave the connection enabled unless you need it, as you'll take a performance hit if you do.

At this point you should be able to open Internet Explorer and get to the internet. You can start up one of the Office applications and step through the activation screen. In my case, I used our firm's MSDN license for Office.

New Book: Inside Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 and Upgrade eBook

So I ordered a copy of "Inside Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009" put out by Microsoft Press and it came today. I was browsing through the Introduction section which mentions a companion eBook that is available for download. The eBook addresses upgrade considerations when moving to AX 2009 and it contains four chapters:

• Chapter 1: Introduction to Upgrade
• Chapter 2: Code Upgrade
• Chapter 3: Data Upgrade
• Chapter 4: Upgrade Additional Topics

I did a quick review of the content, and unlike the upgrade reference materials that are available on Customer Source and Partner Source (which are procedural in nature), the eBook address more of the theory and the "why" involved with an upgrade. If you're not extremely technical, it's a really good reference that will help you get your arms around the concepts involved in the upgrade.

You can download the eBook by going to http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/books/13345.aspx, and then scroll to the bottom of the page to find the link under the "Bonus Content" section. You'll need to download the .exe file which will run the installer to install the eBook.

As for the book itself, you an get it for much less than the $69.99 list price. I got it for around $45 through Amazon and it came (via U.S. mail) within the week I ordered.

Dynamics AX VPC R2 Modifications

Microsoft released an updated version of the Dynamics AX 2009 VPC image on July 17th entitled "R2" (Release 2), which is actually the third release of the VPC for AX 2009.

There are several new components on this release, which are documented here (as of this date, VPC R2 is only available on Partner Source):

https://mbs.microsoft.com/Cms/Templates/document/General.aspx?NRMODE=Published&NRNODEGUID=%7bFF81530A-D525-4C7E-970B-F5E8AD2650EE%7d&NRORIGINALURL=/partnersource/deployment/documentation/howtoarticles/presalesdemokitmdax2009.htm&NRCACHEHINT=Guest&wa=wsignin1.0

In VPC R2 however, there are some changes in the VPC configuration that users need to be aware of to effectively demonstrate or explore AX 2009 features. These changes are addressed in a 15 minute video done by Lachlan Cash which is available on his blog site (see the video on SRV-01):

http://blogs.msdn.com/lcash/pages/dynamics-ax-2009-demonstration-toolkit-refresh-2-setup-notes.aspx

The steps below were derived from Lachlan's video. I've transposed into written form here so that you and I don't have to re-watch the video over an over again :-)

Adjusting the Virtual Machine configuration file (.vmc file)

After running the AX-SRV-01 Refresh 2.part01.exe, which unpacks the .rar files to create the .vmc and .vhd files, you will need to configure the .vmc file.

In R2, Microsoft separated the SQL database and paging files onto a separate .vhd file for better overall performance. When you unpack the .rar files, you will now see two .vhd files -- AX-SRV-01 Hard Disk.VHD and AX-SRV-01_DB.VHD as shown below:

If you also downloaded the Lean Module related files and unpacked those as well, you will also have a third .vhd file, which is AX-SRV-01_APPS.VHD.

To configure the .vmc file, follow the procedure below prior to starting AX-SRV-01:

1. From your Start menu, open the Virtual PC console and run the New Virtual Machine wizard (choose the Add an existing virtual machine option) to point to the new .vmc file that was created after you ran the AX-SRV-01 Refresh 2.part01.exe executable file that came with the R2 download.


2. When you arrive at the settings page, you will need to map the Hard Drives as shown below. "Hard Disk 1" should be mapped to the AX-SRV-01 Hard Disk.VHD file, "Hard Disk 2" should be mapped to AX-SRV-01_DB.VHD, and if you plan to use the Lean Module, "Hard Disk 3" should be mapped to AX-RV-01_APPS.VHD.

Start Up Notes

• Upon start up of the VPC itself, you see a screen like the one below. The sound card has been enabled in R2, so the Hardware Wizard appears at start-up:

• If you don't need sound for your demo, you can cancel the wizard.

Modifications required to run Role Centers

By default, the Role Center functionality is disabled on start-up in R2. To enable Role Centers, follow these steps:

1. Once the VPC image is up and running, on the VPC itself, click Start --> Administrative Tools --> Services


2. Scroll to the bottom of the list and locate the service named World Wide Web Publishing Service. This service is required to enable the browser functionality.


3. Click either the Start link in the upper left area, or right-click on the service and select Start


4. Scroll toward the lower part of the list and locate the services named SQL Server Reporting Services (MSSQLSERVER) and SQL Server Analysis Services (MSSQLSERVER) . Start these services using the same method. These two services are required for the BI components on Role Centers.


5. Start the Dynamics AX 2009 application. You may need to click on the "refresh" icon in the upper right corner (see below) to get the Role Center page to load if it doesn't come up right away.

Additional Configurations to run the Lean Module

There are several additional configuration changes that you’ll need to make to run the Lean module. The sections below address these changes.

Once you have the VPC up and running, you'll want to check the drive mappings within the virtual machine itself. To do this, follow these steps:

1. On the VPC image itself, open Windows Explorer (Start menu > Windows Explorer)


2. Expand the My Computer node and note the drive letter mappings. You should have a C:\ drive, and an F:\ drive for the Database. See the figure below:


3. If you plan to run the Lean Module and have already configured the .vmc file as discussed above (i.e. Hard Disk 3 = AX-SRV-01_APPS.VHD), you will also have an additional drive labeled as "Apps". In the screen above, it is mapped to the E:\ drive. For the Lean module to work correctly however, it must be mapped to the G:\ drive, since this is where SQL has the Lean related database registered. To change the drive mapping, follow these steps:
   
   
   
   • On the VPC image itself, go to the Start menu > Administrative Tools > Computer Management
   
   
   • Under the Storage node in the left hand pane, click Disk Management. See below.
   
   
   • In the bottom right pane, right-click on "Disk 2" and select Change drive letter and Paths. Follow the wizard to change the drive letter to "G:"
   
   
   • For this change to take affect and allow the system to recognize the database on this drive, you will need to restart the SQL service. To do this, follow the steps in the section below.

Restarting the SQL Service and verifying connection to the Lean Database

1. On the VPC image, go to Start menu, Administrative Tools > Services


2. Locate the service labeled as "SQL Server (MSSQLSERVER)"


3. Either click the Restart link toward the top left area of the pane or right-click on the service and choose Restart.


4. More than likely, you'll have other key services running that will be affected by the SQL service restart. If so, click Yes to the prompt as shown below:


5. Once all the services have restarted, verify connection to the Lean Module database as follows:




• On the VPC image, click the Start menu, SQL Server Management Studio.


• On the initial screen, click the Connect button to connect to AX-SRV-01 as shown below:


• In the left-hand pane, expand the Databases node, then the AXLEAN node. If you can see the sub-nodes under the AXLEAN node (i.e. Database Diagrams, Tables, etc.), then the re-connection to the G:\ drive was successful. If you aren't able to expand the sub-nodes under AXLEAN, the system doesn't yet recognize the drive mapping change. See below:

Modifying the Dynamics AX Client Configuration parameters and starting other services

1. After completing all of the drive mapping changes above, you will also need to start the second AOS service and modify the client configuration file in order to utilize the Lean module.




• To start the second AOS, follow these steps:




1. On the VPC image, click Start > Administrative Tools > Services


2. Expand the Name column so that you can see the full name of the Services


3. Locate the service labeled as Dynamics AX Object Server 5.0$02-AX2. This is the service for the Lean module components. Note that there is also a service named Dynamics AX Object Server 5.0$01-AX593 -- this is the main AOS service.


4. Start the service by clicking the Start link or by right-clicking the service and selecting Start


2. To adjust the client configuration file, follow these steps:




• On the VPC image, click Start > Administrative Tools > Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 Configuration


• In the Configuration field, select AXLEAN if you want to run Dynamics AX 2009 with the Lean module enabled. If you wish to demo again later without the Lean module, you can come back to this utility and change the configuration setting to AX2009. Click OK to accept the change.

At this point you can launch the AX application from the desktop shortcut. Note the Lean module appears first in the left-hand navigation pane: