The Windows 7 driver store includes a small collection of drivers for legacy devices, mostly older printers, modems, scanners, infrared ports, PCMCIA controllers, and other oddball devices that don’t use Plug and Play connections. As you might suspect, Windows will not automatically set up such devices, and you’re rolling the dice if you find one of these old but still worthwhile devices and try to install an old driver.

But what if the device in question is valuable to you and can’t be easily replaced by a newer, supported one? Then by all means give it a try. Download the most recent hardware drivers you can find (ideally, for Windows XP or Windows Server 2003), and then use the Add Hardware wizard to complete the hardware setup process. Follow these steps:

1. If you’ve found a downloadable driver package or a CD that came with the device, look for a Setup program and run it. This option places the driver files on your hard disk and simplifies later installation steps.

2. Connect the new hardware to your computer. In the case of an internal device such as an add-in card, turn off the computer, add the device, and then restart.

3. Open Device Manager, select any item in the list of installed devices, and then click Add Legacy Hardware on the Action menu.

4. Click Next to skip past the Welcome screen. On the next wizard screen, choose how you want to select the device to be installed.

• For printers, network cards, modems, and other devices that can be detected mechanically, choose Search For And Install The Hardware Automatically (Recommended). After you click Next, the wizard quickly runs a detection module that searches for anything on its list of non–Plug and Play devices. If it finds the new device, it installs the driver automatically, and your work is finished. If the wizard doesn’t find any new hardware, you’ll be prompted to click Next and look manually.
• If you have a driver on a disc, skip the detection process. Choose Install The Hardware That I Manually Select From A List (Advanced) and click Next.

5. From the Common Hardware Types list, select a hardware category (or the inclusive Show All Devices category) and click Next.

6. From the master list of available drivers, select the device manufacturer and the correct model. Click Next to continue. Follow the prompts to complete the wizard.

What are Remote Server Administration Tools and where can I get them?

Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7 are a package of administration tools add-ons that allow IT administrators to manage roles and features that are installed on computers that are running Windows Server 2008/2008 R2, and Windows Server 2003, from a remote computer that is running Windows 7.

Note: RSAT is similar in concept, although not in function and method of installation, to what was known as the “Adminpak” in Windows Server 2003/XP days, which could be found in the %systemroot%\system32 folder of the server (or downloaded separately – see links below).

Another important note: This version is NOT compatible with Windows Vista. To install and use RSAT on Windows Vista (if you’re one of the few that actually have Vista… LOL), you’ll need to use Vista’s specific version.

Download details: Microsoft Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows Vista:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=9FF6E897-23CE-4A36-B7FC-D52065DE9960&displaylang=en

RSAT for Windows 7 includes support for remote management of computers that are running either the Server Core or full installation options of Windows Server 2008 R2, and for some roles and features, Windows Server 2008. See download links below.

Note that some roles and features on Windows Server 2003 can be managed remotely by using Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7, meaning you can use tools such as Active directory Users and Computers, DNS or DHCP management tools and so on, but not all tools will work against Windows Server 2003, and even if the tool works, there might be specific functions that will not function. Therefore, in order to manage a Windows Server 2003 network, use either a Windows XP-based workstation, or use RDP to connect to the remote servers and manage them directly, if possible.

Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7 can be installed on computers that are running the Enterprise, Professional, or Ultimate editions of Windows 7, and they run on both x86- and x64-based editions of Windows 7. they can them be used to manage roles and features that are running on either the Server Core or full installation options of the x64-based Windows Server 2008 or 2008 R2 operating system.

Some of the tools included are Server Manager, Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS) Tools, Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) Tools, Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) Tools, DHCP Server Tools, DNS Server Tools, File Services Tools, Hyper-V Tools, Terminal Services Tools, BitLocker Password Recovery Viewer, Failover Clustering Tools, Group Policy Management Tools, Network Load Balancing Tools, SMTP Server Tools, Storage Explorer Tools, Storage Manager for SANs Tools, Windows System Resource Manager Tools.

Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7 should not be installed on a computer that is running the Windows Server 2003 Administration Tools Pack or Windows 2000 Server Administration Tools Pack. Prior to installing the RSAT package, please make sure that you first remove all versions of Administration Tools Pack or Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows Vista SP1 from the computer before you install Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7. Furthermore, only one copy at a time of Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7 can be installed on a computer. Before you install a new package, remove any existing copies of Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7. This includes any copies that are in different languages.
To download RSAT for Windows 7, use these links:

Note that you need to choose either a 64-bit or a 32-bit version NOT based upon the OS version of your servers, but based upon the OS version of your Windows 7 workstation(s).

64-bit version of RSAT for Windows 7 (222.1 MB):
http://download.microsoft.com/download/4/F/7/4F71806A-1C56-4EF2-9B4F-9870C4CFD2EE/amd64fre_GRMRSATX_MSU.msu

32-bit version of RSAT for Windows 7 (215.1 MB):
http://download.microsoft.com/download/4/F/7/4F71806A-1C56-4EF2-9B4F-9870C4CFD2EE/x86fre_GRMRSAT_MSU.msu

Please note that the above links are for the RTM versions, and not for the smaller sized RC versions!
How to Install Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) on Windows 7

After downloading either the 64-bit or 32-bit version, based upon your needs, you will then install it on any Windows 7 system that will be used to remotely manage your servers.

Note: In order to use RDP to manage your servers you do not need to install anything! The RSAT package will allow you to connect to the servers on your network as though you were using one of the tools on one of your servers, and allow you to perform all the management tasks on your network.

Another very important note: The RSAT package uses local network connections and, in most cases, the RPC protocol, but NOT just RPC, also a large bunch pf protocols and Firewall settings. This protocol is not easily passed through a Firewall (although it can be passed, it’s all a question of configuration). Therefore, if the Windows 7 workstation used to manage the servers is INSIDE the SAME physical LAN, you will probably not have any issues connecting to the servers and managing them. However, if the Windows 7 workstation used to manage the servers is OUTSIDE the physical LAN, and connecting to the servers through some sort of WAN connection AND through a Firewall, you will probably not be able to connect to the servers. In this case, what most administrators will do is either use RDP to connect to these servers, or, when possible, use some sort of VPN or SSL-VPN connection to the network.
Getting back to the topic of this article, here are the complete instructions:

You must be either a member of the Administrators group on the computer on which you want to install the Administration Tools pack, or you must be logged on to the computer by using the built-in Administrator account.

1. Double-click the downloaded file to start the Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7 Setup Wizard. Follow all the steps through the installation (basically it’s “Next” all the way to the “Finish” button…)

2. Next, click Start, click Control Panel, and then click Programs. In the Programs and Features area, click Turn Windows features on or off.

If you are prompted by User Account Control to enable the Windows Features dialog box to open, click Continue.

3. In the Windows Features dialog box, expand Remote Server Administration Tools. Select the remote management tools that you want to install. Click OK.

If the Start menu does not display the Administration Tools shortcut you will need to configure it:

* Right-click Start, and then click Properties.
* On the Start Menu tab, click Customize.
* In the Customize Start Menu dialog box, scroll down to System Administrative Tools, and then select Display on the All Programs menu and the Start menu. Click OK. Shortcuts for snap-ins installed by Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7 are added to the Administrative Tools list on the Start menu.

Reinstalling or removing individual Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7

If a remote administration tool was removed from a computer that is running Windows 7, you can install it again by performing the following steps.

To reinstall individual remote administration tools:

1. Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click Programs. In the Programs and Features area, click Turn Windows features on or off.

2. In the Windows Features dialog box, expand Remote Server Administration Tools.

3. Select the remote management tools that you want to install, or clear the check boxes for any tools that you want to remove. Click OK.

Removing the complete Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7 pack

Again, you must be either a member of the Administrators group on the computer from which you want to remove the Administration Tools pack, or you must be logged on to the computer by using the built-in Administrator account.

You can remove the complete Administration Tools pack from a computer by using the Uninstall a program utility in Control Panel.

1. Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click Uninstall a program in the Programs area.

2. Click View installed updates.

3. Select Update for Microsoft Windows (958830).

4. Click Uninstall.

I had to recently perform an export of a bunch of virtual machines off a Windows Server 2008 host running Hyper-V when I came upon an error. Out of the many virtual machine guests running on that particular server, I managed to export most of the VMs, however when trying to export 3 of them, I got this error:

An error occurred while attempting to export the virtual machine.

Failed to create export directory.

Failed to create export directory with the name ‘D:\Backup\OIT2003DEV2 (73) \Virtual Hard Disks’ with error ‘The system cannot find the path specified.’(0×80070003): OIT2003DEV2 (73)  (FC56A6B8-2046-4670-9DAA-D72203098CFB)

Note: I have not tested this on an SP2 machine, so it may very well be that this error is fixed in SP2 or even in R2.

Luckily, I have also managed to work around this issue. Read below.

Steps to reproduce the problem:

In Hyper-V Manager, I right-clicked the virtual machine. Note that the VM was in shut-down state, and currently it did not have any snapshots associated with it.

I chose “Export”, and then browsed for a location for the exported VM. I have made sure that there was plenty of disk space available for the eport operation. File path wasn’t complex, and it even did not have spaces in it.

I then clicked on the “Export” button, and behold, the error appeared.

The Solution:

I have searched the Internet for a documented solution, but have yet to find one. Because the VM has worked well and without an error, I was confident that there wasn’t an issue with the VM’s hard disks. So I was just about to grab the VHD files of the VM, and create a new one using the old VHDs of the “bad” VM.

However, since there were other VMs waiting to be exported on the host, I figured that I should somehow mark the “bad” VM and flag it for action after I was done with the other VMs. So, I clicked on the VM’s name, and I simply added a few characters to the VM’s name. In this instance, I added “—” to the name.

After finishing the exporting of the other VMs, I returned to the “bad” VM. Just out of curiosity I tried to export the VM again.

Behold, somehow the addition of the “—” to the VM’s name has somehow “fixed” the export issue.

I do not know why the VM was “bad” in the first place and what has caused it to fail the export operation. I do not know why it got fixed, but it did. I just tried it with 2 more similarly troubled VMs, and it works.

Hope this helps someone.