Located in each of the Technical Learning Centers, the Hands-on Labs gave Tech Ed 2006 attendees a chance to play with a variety of Microsoft products.
As the sign says, the labs in this area focus on Microsoft server and client technologies.
Dispite the crowds, I had no trouble finding and empty seat at this Client Hands-on Lab.
Within each area, tables are setup for specific technologies–these computers were running client labs.
Each lab station consists of a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and lab manual. The labs appeared to run on Microsoft Virtual PC and used a custom GUI interface developed by HynesITe, Inc.
Oon the left, each lab had a section for lab notes, a lab browser, and a task list. In the main lab pane on the right, were the virtual machines–some labs required more than one–and the electronic lab documentation.
From here, I can login to the first virtual machine–a Windows XP client–and start the lab. Since this is a virtual PC I had to use Right-Alt-Del instead of the familiar Ctrl-Alt-Del.
This lab also created a Windows Server 2003 virutal machine for me to work with.
This lab was designed to showcase Vista‘s new management features.
The lab workbook contained the same information as the lab‘s eletronic documentation.
Before beginning the lab, I had to disable the Windows Search Service on this Vista machine. According to one of the lab “instructors”, the Windows Vista Search Service was attempting to index the C: on the actual computers on which the labs where running. This made the virtual machines too slow to use.
The Windows Search Service Warning was also in the lab notes.
Here is the detailed information about the error message I received.
Bill Detwiler is the Editor for Technical Content and Ecosystem at Celonis. He is the former Editor in Chief of TechRepublic and previous host of TechRepublic's Dynamic Developer podcast and Cracking Open, CNET and TechRepublic's popular online show. Previously, Bill was an IT manager in the social research and energy industries. He has bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Louisville, where he has also lectured on computer crime and crime prevention.
