One thing I don’t like about SWV is the hassle it is to import anything, I really hate having to navigate through the browse window to import a layer or to have to open a command prompt and type out the full path to the layer. Thankfully there’s an easy solution to this problem that, if you’re lazy like me, you’ll find quite useful and that’s making a quick change to the registry to allow for a layer to import by double clicking on it.

1. With SWV installed navigate to KEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SVSAdmin.Document.Layer\shell\Open\command
2. Delete the command value
3. Change the (Default) to C:\Program Files\Symantec\Workspace Virtualization\svscmd.exe import -p %1 (or where ever SVScmd is installed)

Now this uses SVScmd so a command window will open to report the import status, so if you want something different you can create a quick VSscript, ran using wscript, to make an import happen in the background (with no command...

One of the issues with running two versions of Microsoft Office at the same time, with one in the base and one in the layer, is the MSI repair that gets launched when you switch between versions.  This is happening because Office is trying to change the file associations for you so the version that was just launched has ownership.

With SWV 6.1 we introduced layer isolation, which can be defined as what can or cannot see the layer and what the layer can see, well this works for many situations but sometimes you need something more granular which will let you specify specific things that are isolated, Jeremy discussed this in his article on using SWV 6.1 to virtualize different versions of Java, which is what we need for Office. 

To get around the MSI repair all you need to do is create a new Multi-Size registry value named...

Microsoft has realesed the Internet Explorer 8 MUI Pack for Windows Server 2003 SP2.  The Internet Explorer 8 MUI is a set of language-specific resource files that may be added to the English version of Windows with the OS MUI pack and Internet Explorer 8 installed. The Internet Explorer 8 MUI allow users to view the user interface (UI) in a different supported language. This also allows large corporations to roll out the same worldwide image by using a single install job.
Internet Explorer 8 MUI pack for Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 is available for download as two MUI packs.

- Internet Explorer 8 MUI pack applicable to Windows XP x86 and Windows Server 2003 x86, for the following languages:

• Arabic, Chinese (Traditional), Chinese (Hong Kong), Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian,...

A new important feature in Windows 7 is the Windows XP Mode.  This function allows to run Windows XP based application without any hardware and software compatibility issues.

You can find more details on the article Secret No More: Revealing Windows XP Mode for Windows 7  ( WithinWindows.com )

XP Mode consists of the Virtual PC-based virtual environment and a fully licensed copy of Windows XP with Service Pack 3 (SP3). It will be made available, for free, to users of Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions via a download from the Microsoft web site.

Also watch the video test on Youtube at the following link : Windows 7 RC - Testing Virtual Windows XP (XP Mode)