For various reasons, I need to use OpenVPN at the university to be able to connect to the internet when I’m connected to a wired connection.
I don’t like OpenVPN on Windows, primarily because it’s a software created for *nix systems and doesn’t run very well under Windows so it needs a lot of configuration under certain circumstances and so on.
Nevertheless, OpenVPN works by creating an IPv4 Point-to-Point connection using a /30 subnet between the server and the client so, for instance, if the server, on the Point-to-Point connection, has the address 192.168.2.1, the client will have 192.168.2.2, the subnet itself will be 192.168.2.0 and the broadcast address will be 192.168.2.3.

If you’re using Oracle VirtualBox or VMWare Player, you can simply configure the network adapter of the virtual machine to manage a NAT themselves. If the host has internet access, guest operating systems will be able to connect via a NAT hidden to (but usually customizable by) the user.

But what if you’re using Hyper-V? Hyper-V has been designed for datacenter operations on Windows Server, where dedicated physical routers would manage routing, NAT etc.
This brings a lot of really cool features like directly connect a virtual machine to a FCoE SAN or managing virtual switches and other stuffs, as expected from an enterprise-class hypervisor.

Supposing that, like me, you’re running Windows 8 / 8.1 with Hyper-V on a laptop (I need it for the Windows Phone 8 emulator) and you’re connecting using some kind of PtP connection, like OpenVPN or a simple PPPoE modem, you need to configure a NAT on your system.
This despite the fact that you won’t always need it, that will not work for every wireless or wired connection you’re gonna use and that there is a really big problem ahead, but let’s talk about this later.

Creating a NAT for your virtual machines it’s pretty easy.
Just open the Hyper-V management console, create a new virtual switch connected to an internal network (call it “Hyper-V NAT” or something like that), then open the Control Panel, open Network Connection and Sharing Center and enable the Internet Connection Sharing for the PtP connection you’re using and select as the “domestic network” the “Hyper-V NAT” adapter.

By doing this, Windows will enable packet forwarding, will set the IP address of the “Hyper-V NAT” adapter to 192.168.137.1/24 and will enable a DHCP & DNS service on the same adapter.
Virtual Machines connecting via the “Hyper-V NAT” adapter will automatically get their network configuration and will be able to surf the web (and usually download several hundred MBs of updates on their first run).

Seem easy, huh? Well, it is. You can also change the switch to which a VM is connected when it’s running, so if you’re moving to a place when your PtP connection is not needed you can simply connect the VM to another virtual switch.

That’s fine, really fine, until someday you need to share the 3G/4G connection of your Windows Phone 8 with your laptop.
How does it work? Easy. Your WP8 device turns into a wireless router with a built-in DHCP & DNS service.
The Wi-Fi adapter IPv4 address of your WP8 device is set to 192.168.137.1/24 and your laptop will get the network configuration automatically by your phone.
Right?

NO.

Your wireless adapter is set as the following:
IPv4 address: 192.168.137.2 ( or .3, or .42, etc. automatically assigned by DHCP of your Windows Phone)
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0 (or /24, by DHCP)
Default Gateway: 192.168.137.1 (by DHCP)

but your “Hyper-V NAT” adapter is set as the following:
IPv4 address: 192.168.137.1 (automatically set by Windows Internet Connection Sharing service)
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0 (or /24, always assigned by Windows ICS service)
Gateway: none (or 127.0.0.1, but it doesn’t matter).

That’s not gonna work. What your WP doesn’t know is that it’s telling your laptop to use itself as gateway.

The easy workaround is to disable the “Hyper-V NAT” adapter when you’re tethering your connection to your laptop, and that works.

Or, you can choose to solve this problem, by telling Windows ICS to use a different subnet to share the connection.
Because 192.168.137.0/24 is not really an “exotic” subnet, I decided to use the 172.31.137.0/24 subnet (yes, /24, not that you can select a different netmask anyway).
To change these values, you need to manually edit the Registry’s values located in Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SharedAccess\Parameters.
Change ScopeAddress, ScopeAddressBackup and StandaloneDhcpAddress accordingly to your needs.

Try to select a subnet you’re almost sure you’ll never use and you should be fine until IPv4 will be deprecated (HAH!).

Have fun!

Bye

Exactly one month ago I received my Acer Iconia W510, because of a partnership between Acer and Microsoft, which I want to thank both one more time.
The Iconia W510 features a brand new Intel Atom Z2760 “Clover Trail” SoC with 2 GiB RAM and a 32 GB SSD.
With a 1366×768 10″ multitouch display and a detachable keyboard it’s one of the first platforms where Windows 8 can show its full potential.
Following a rather new tradition, the Iconia has been named Harrier and has joined my main pool of computers, composed by Hornet ( my laptop ) and Raptor ( my workstation ).

I started working on x86 system in 1994 and didn’t have any occasion to work on other platforms until 2008 when I got my first, used, UltraSPARCv9 workstation. I still was a Windows user nevertheless and as such I always had x86 ( and x64 ) systems to run the various version of Windows I used during the last 19 years.

As a result, I was very interested about the new Windows RT operating system for ARM SoCs.
I had the opportunity to try it and, even with the limitation of not being able to install any desktop application, there is still a desktop, there are still both command prompt and PowerShell that can run with administrative privileges, there are the usual command line utilities like netsh and a lot of other things which make Windows RT a “complete” operating system.
Not to mention Windows RT comes with Office H&S 2013.

Windows on x86 hardware nonetheless is another story, especially if you are a Power User like me.
For instance, this is my home’s wokspace. The W510 fits nicely on the left of Raptor‘s main screen.

Being able to run the full range of 32 bit applications for Windows in the world is priceless. There are scenarios where the need to install software like PuTTY or OpenVPN, for instance on UNIX or *nix-based workplaces, overcome the capabilities of any Windows RT device.
I installed Visual Studio on my Iconia last week and now I’m able to do much of the work I already do on my laptop or my workstation. Of course I can’t run the WP8 emulator, but I can still write down some ideas into code anywhere I am ( with the help of Visual Studio’s IntelliSense ).

One thing that was really unexpected is the battery life. It’s amazing. I can use it for two whole days without the need of charging the two batteries ( one in the unit, one in the detachable keyboard ).
I was really surprised, considering that my dad’s Intel Atom based netbook, running Windows 7, could at least last 6 to 7 hours, maybe 8 with an aggressive energy-saving policy.
The idea to put another battery pack in the keyboard was excellent. When using the Iconia with the keyboard, or while using the keyboard as a stand, the internal battery will be depleted last, when there’s no more charge in the keyboard’s battery.

The screen is large enough to be used for productivity tasks while, having a 16:9 A/R, it’s little less suited for reading fixed A4 documents. On the other end is comfortable enough to read e-books or other contents with a variable layout, better suited for portrait orientation on a 16:9 screen.
The minimum screen brightness is low enough to not strain your eyes while reading. BTW, if reading during nighttime without any other light source, it’s better to switch to a white on black, or even a grey on black color scheme if the app / website allow this.

Design’s fairly good, a little scratch-prone IMHO. I would have put a regular USB port on the side of the unit instead of a microUSB one. The keyboard has another USB port so there is a total of two ports.
A male microUSB to female USB-A dongle is bundled with the device, so this isn’t a big issue, but personally I hate dongles since time of PCMCIA network card ( because there’s some magic around them that make them disappear sooner or later ).

The embedded NFC and Bluetooth could be a good option to attach a mouse without sacrificing one of the two precious USB ports, while BitLocker can use the integrated TPM module to securely encrypt data.

The really big drawback of the unit Acer sent me are the only 32 GB of internal storage that leave really little space for documents and personal data once App and other software ( like Visual Studio Express or Office standard ) start being installed.
There is a microSD slot that accept cards up to 32 GB ( 64 GB cards are unsupported  ), so data, music, pictures, etc. can be stored there.

I had some stability issues during the first week that were greatly reduced with the following driver updates.
I haven’t had one since the last driver update of January 13.

Overall, being my first tablet, I’m pretty satisfied of it. Of course I have different needs from standard users. I wouldn’t have cared if the Iconia would have weighted 1 lbs more or would have been 1/4″ ticker but maybe having a mSATA SSD instead of the one soldered on the mainboard.

In the end, I think the Acer Iconia W510 is a very good product, because before being a tablet, is a PC.
That means, when choosing a tablet, that the Iconia ( as well as the other “Clover Trail” based tablets ) has no restrictions on any App’s store or market, can be fully integrated in a business / enterprise environment when running Windows 8 Pro ( like mine ) and can be connected to any device with available drivers for Windows 8 / 7 or Vista.

Many friends of mine are starting to consider this product a good balance between a high-end netbook and a mid-range tablet. Of course high-end x86 tablets offer more, but with an higher price. Acer itself produces the Iconia W700 which belong to another class of products.
After a single month some things start to be addictive: this a sign that the product is good!

Again, many thanks to Microsoft Italy and Acer Italy for this amazing Iconia W510.

Bye

Being a Microsoft Student Partner simply means I like most of Microsoft’s technologies and products because they work the way I expect them to work, my expectations based on a 17 years old experience with Microsoft’s products.

For instance, as far as other desktop OSs can arrive, nothing, in my opinion, beats Windows 7 nowadays.
MacOS X is a very good OS, but as long as it’ll run only on Apple hardware, I’ll never gonna use it.
GNU/Linux-based distros like Red Hat, Ubuntu, Fedora, OpenSUSE, Debian, etc. are today very good OSs, but there’s an overall lack of agreement between developers and, even worse, an incompatibility issue between licenses that lead to a “reinvention of wheel” time after time ( the Big example: ZFS and btrfs ).

So, while I usually like Microsoft products, sometimes I think that some little or big decisions have been made without thinking too much to a certain part of the users.

My first criticism was about Windows Phone 7, that is a really good mobile OS for the average user. But as long as I want to: sync my contacts with Outlook rather than Windows Live, join a domain, run native C++ applications and other things, Windows Phone 7 is not a choice for me. I’m still fine with Windows Mobile 6.x.

But MetroUI caught my attention when I first tried the developers’ preview of Windows 8 some days ago.
The concept behind MetroUI is the “unification of the user experience”, a marketing expression used instead of “users are getting more and more lazy and they don’t want to bother about what’s under the hood” ( meaning they don’t care what they’re using: a mobile phone, a desktop computer, an ATM or a washing machine ).
Many people think touchscreens were one of the biggest revolution in the late ’00s market. Probably they’re the same people whose jaw drops on the floor when I tell them my first experience with a touchscreen was in 1994, in a ship command bridge on a green phosphor CRT monitor used to manage the course ( Yeah, I actually steered a 200 yards-long ship ). By the way, they’re right if considering only the consumer market.
The idea of unifying the UI between “handy” devices ( mobile phones and tablets ) is hardly new and, most important thing, it works. After all, they’re similar and they’re expected to work in a similar way.
But, in my opinion, if the differences between a mobile phone and a tablet are like the differences between a car and a van, those between a tablet and a PC are more like those between a GA aircraft and an airliner.
They’re not similar, they’re not expected to be used in the same way. I don’t expect to find a manifold pressure gauge in the cockpit of a Boeing 737 ( or an ATR-42 or an Airbus A380 ) in the same way I don’t expect to find a FMS console in a Cessna 172 ( or in a Piper PA28 ).

Saying that I don’t like MetroUI would be wrong. I just think that MetroUI has no reason to be the default UI on a desktop OS. I also think that standard utilities should remain non-Metro applications. I find unacceptable that the remote desktop connection client is available only as a MetroUI application on a desktop machine, as I find wrong not giving the user the option to actually kill the application, even by some abstruse key combination, I don’t care, and not just suspending it.
For seventeen years I closed an application in Windows by clicking on the top left ( top right starting with Windows 95 ) corner button of the application window, or by pressing Alt + F4. In MetroUI I can’t quit application like this. I find it a bit ( well more than just a bit ) disappointing.

In the end, considering that there’s a lot of research behind the dvelopment of an operating system ( and Microsoft really care about what users think, or wouldn’t have released Windows 8 Developer Preview publicly ), what I’m starting to think is that average users are beginning to be afraid ( I could have used the word “tired”, but I didn’t ) of the keyboard as well as, following Windows 95, users started to be afraid of the command line.

What I’d really like, as a power user, as an enthusiast and as an experienced user, is a choice. As there are six versions of Windows 7, I’d like the Professional and Enterprise versions of Windows 8 use explorer as the default UI instead of MetroUI.
We will wait for the beta versions to see what will appens.

Bye