A move to Windows 8 RTM (and VS2012 RTM), not too painful

First I thought I could do an in-place upgrade of my Windows 8RC PC, turns out you can’t (not sure if it would have been wise anyway) so it was format disk time. I had hoped for a seamless install of Windows 8, but it hung after detecting devices. It seems it was the ‘old problem’ down to Lenovo/Nvidia Optimus graphics drivers issues. So I checked my bios settings which were set to Nvidia Optimus mode disabled (the only way I could get the RC to install), and changed it to Optimus mode enable and the install all worked without an issue....

August 16, 2012 · 2 min · Richard Fennell

Moving podcast subscriptions with Zune

If like me you listen to many podcasts, then swapping the PC your Phone7 syncs to collect the podcasta is a real pain. The problem being as far as I can see Zune has no podcast subscription export/import, so you are left with a lot of copy typing to re-enter them. Whilst rebuilding my PC with Windows 8 today I have at least found a work around On your old Pc open you ‘c:user[user]My Podcasts’ folder (shown in Windows Explorer as the ‘Podcast’ folder)....

August 16, 2012 · 2 min · Richard Fennell

Visual Studio 2012 RTM and the ALM Rangers SIM Ship best practice guidance

Overnight Visual Studio and TFS 2012 became available on MSDN for download; I really pleased to say that the ALM Rangers also SIM shipped all our 2012 guidance at the same time. I have been working on two of the Ranger project for the past year and have to say I have learnt a lot working with such a great crowd of Microsoft and external TFS experts. Some stuff I learnt was about the 2012 release it is true, but there was plenty on working with a a globally distributed team with a whole host of logistical and time constraints....

August 16, 2012 · 1 min · Richard Fennell

TF900546 error on a TFS 2012 build

Whilst moving over to our new TFS 2012 installation I got the following error when a build tried to run tests TF900546: An unexpected error occurred while running the RunTests activity: ‘Unable to load one or more of the requested types. Retrieve the LoaderExceptions property for more information.’. This was a new one on me, and nothing of much use on the web other than a basic MSDN page. Turns out the immediate fix is to just restart the build controller....

August 9, 2012 · 1 min · Richard Fennell

At last my Nokia Lumia 800 gets its firmware upgrade to allow tethering

At last my Nokia Lumia 800 gets its firmware upgrade to allow tethering. The 8773 update seems to be made up of three updates, two operating system ones (which I managed to force down in the usual way), but this Nokia firmware one has taken weeks to get to me, forcing did not help. I had to wait. I don’t think I am alone in not being too impressed with the update process....

August 7, 2012 · 1 min · Richard Fennell