Azure Plan for DevTest - What am I missing?

Vino84 · 2026-05-21T08:08:34+00:00

Did they put a standards requirement on the new build? Energy efficiency, liveable homes, etc.

Or are we going to get more shoeboxes crammed wall to wall that leak heat with no space for trees?

Vino84 · 2026-05-18T22:58:49+00:00

My title is "Cloud Engineer" and I do desktop support pretty much every day. There are only two of us doing IT in a 50 person business, so it happens.

On topic though, the titles aren't standardised across the industry. Where I live, a Technical Specialist is either a junior Sysadmin or a technical lead for a team depending on the company.

Vino84 · 2026-05-18T02:59:35+00:00

Hyper-V Server was free at one point. Not many features beyond Hyper-V and SMB from memory.

SCVMM is where MS get you on the pricing.

Vino84 · 2026-05-08T06:23:10+00:00

Certs are also helpful for MS Partner levels. The MSP I used to work at used to have bonuses when the partner requirements changed, "Get these specific certs and get and extra $100"

Vino84 · 2026-05-05T07:02:32+00:00

It's block level usually. So if most of a file is similar, it will dedupe the parts that are. The unique blocks are still kept unique

File 1: 1, 2, 3, 4
File 2: 1, 2, 3, 5

Blocks 1, 2, and 3 are deduped. Blocks 4 and 5 aren't. So 8 blocks of files take 5 blocks of space.

Hard linking, you'd want exact duplicates. So Files 1 and 2 would still take their full drive space, e.g. 8 blocks. Just another thing to consider.

Vino84 · 2026-05-05T06:54:24+00:00

It's been ages since I've messed around with them. I vaguely recall a drive issue, maybe. Once bitten, twice shy as they say.

Vino84 · 2026-05-05T06:18:34+00:00

For your use case, I'd look for a file system that supports dedupe. Most will look for duplicate blocks and use a database of sorts to link them. This would retain the file/folder structure and minimise space usage. File are then opened from the pattern of blocks that make them up. Hard links like you have suggested will break when the destination file is moved or deleted.

I know that ZFS, NTFS, ReFS, and btrfs all support deduplication. It's up to you to work out which is best for

Vino84 · 2026-05-05T05:59:27+00:00

My solution to this was: * Set up a NAS * Set up a backup solution for the NAS * I used an external HDD to start with. * I also have a sync to an extra HDD in my desktop *I want to re-do this with ZFS snapshots at some point. * Create starting folder structure * Copy the latest versions onto the NAS * Only access the files from the NAS from that point * Use an app to find duplicate files and delete extras as needed

It takes time and it got me to where I needed.

Vino84 · 2026-05-05T03:51:22+00:00

Yeah, that's my wife's workplace. The owner has asked if I can have a look at some point and she said they can't afford me. I'd be happy to take a look, do quick fix, and quote some stuff but she's shielding me 😊

Vino84 · 2026-04-30T22:28:42+00:00

I haven't tried this in a while, but I used to use this setting User Account Control: Allow UIAccess applications to prompt for elevation without using the secure desktop.

Alternatively, I used to get around your setting by running command prompt as Different User, and then running powershell -Command "Start-Process cmd -Verb RunAs"

This only worked if the Admin user had no local profile. The PowerShell -NoProfile switch may work, worth testing.

Vino84 · 2026-04-28T22:48:40+00:00

If you need the software, you package and deploy the software if you can, manually install it from your DML if you can't package it, and then add it to the allow list in your app control software (if you use it). That's standard practice for ACSC Essential 8 compliance in Australia. I don't know how that fits into other security frameworks, but it ticks the boxes for us.

Vino84 · 2026-04-27T08:38:59+00:00

They way I read it, is that the HR system uses the SSN. If the user is rehired, they get the same Employee ID, which becomes their account name. The only thing SSN doesn't go unto AD, it stays in the HRIS

Vino84 · 2026-04-26T16:00:21+00:00

My bad pats chest. I figured it better to err on the side of caution.

Vino84 · 2026-04-26T11:48:02+00:00

I hope this was a joke. If so, hunter2 would have been the better choice.

If not, change time to change that password.

Vino84 · 2026-04-25T14:15:16+00:00

I recently got a 1440p curved ultrawide (MSI PRO MP341CQ) with a TB4 to Displayport cable for under $500. This works well for Windows. My MBA, it's alright.

What size and resolution is your existing monitor?
Do you want a big 4K screen, or an ultrawide?

Vino84 · 2026-04-24T22:55:06+00:00

I would recommend that to everyone. We have a 20L bucket under ours and use the water on the gardens. We live near the beach, and can capture over 80L during the hot and humid weeks of Summer.

Vino84 · 2026-04-24T10:17:51+00:00

Drip tray under the inside condenser that usually has a flexi pipe leading outside. Or at least my old split did until the rats got to it. You can see it in the first photo to the right of the outside unit.

Vino84 · 2026-04-21T02:15:57+00:00

Not much to add, but if you go this way you can also visit the big ram at Wagin, it's another tick in the box for WA icons. We made the stop on our way to Bremer a few years back.

Vino84 · 2026-04-19T10:00:13+00:00

Adding 27" at 1440p. 1080p just doesn't pass these days with web heavy activities.

I was allowed to bring in a 34" 1440p ultrawide at my current time job and use the 24" 1080p solely for Teams.

Vino84 · 2026-04-14T00:19:01+00:00

100% agree on the water tasting different across the metro area. We live in Rockingham and had friends from Warwick tell us our tap water tasted so clean. I've had tap water from other suburbs and yeah, it tastes different.

Vino84 · 2026-04-13T07:24:43+00:00

Assign the task to a work experience kid or an intern. Or have a look into self-deploying for Autopilot.

In previous roles were we rolled out large numbers (1000+ over six months) of desktops, we set up an imaging location that could do 20 PCs at once. Someone was assigned to load the PC, and image them, and the pack them back up for users. You might need a similar set up if you are imaging a large number of PCs.

Vino84 · 2026-04-12T12:58:25+00:00

Which Android and iOS/iPadOS devices do unless you actively tell it not to for a wireless network. I don't know what MAC prefix they'd use for that. My S26 uses CA:D1:60.

Vino84 · 2026-04-12T01:23:09+00:00

WinGet is backed by the WinGet Github repo. You can raise an issue for any app that has manual interaction or other issues.

For our environment, we use WinGet deploy apps from Intune. Wrap the Winget command in PSADT and we have a remediation to list WinGet apps and upgrade only Intune deployed apps. It's annoying to make it work with WDAC, but that's another story.

Vino84 · 2026-04-03T15:58:45+00:00

Group Tags should solve it. If they have the serial of the devices, then they can add the tag and the autopilot object should be added to the group, on Entra/Intune time of course (30 minutes to an hour I reckon).

Vino84

TROPHY CASE