Based on my experiences in the field, including a successful Windows 7 Rapid Deployment Program, I have to say the compatibility story for Windows 7 is surprisingly positive. First of all the number of applications experiencing compatibility issues has been very low so far, and for those that have had issues the solutions have been quick and easy.

In addition to the programs that Mary-Jo mentioned there is another that is specifically geared to application compatibility remediation: Microsoft’s Application Compatiblity Factory (ACF) Program. This program, provided using Microsoft Partners, focuses on using the Application Compatibility Toolkit 5.5 to quickly assess and remediate compatibility issues across the enterprise. It’s a great way to put a box around the scope and scale of potential effort required for an organization’s Windows 7 migration.

Here are some additional links to ACF materials:

• Microsoft ACF Introduction
• About ACF Handout Card

Out of all the programs mentioned, ACF is the most targeted at compatibility remediation. Talk to your Microsoft representative to find a local partner that can provide the service. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised (and relieved) to find out the reality of your compatibility issues instead of worrying about what you think you might encounter when migrating to Windows 7.

When you get to the point “To add RDP protocol permissions to a virtual machine” in Step 2: Installing and Configuring Virtual Machines you’ll quickly realize the command-lines included don’t work on Windows XP:

wmic /node:localhost RDPERMISSIONS where TerminalName="RDP-Tcp" CALL AddAccount "contoso\rdvh-srv$",1
wmic /node:localhost RDACCOUNT where "(TerminalName='RDP-Tcp' or TerminalName='Console') and AccountName='contoso\\rdvh-srv$'" CALL ModifyPermissions 0,1
wmic /node:localhost RDACCOUNT where "(TerminalName='RDP-Tcp' or TerminalName='Console') and AccountName='contoso\\rdvh-srv$'" CALL ModifyPermissions 2,1
wmic /node:localhost RDACCOUNT where "(TerminalName='RDP-Tcp' or TerminalName='Console') and AccountName='contoso\\rdvh-srv$'" CALL ModifyPermissions 9,1

After a bit of searching I found various PowerShell and VB Scripts to configure the settings but none seemed to work as-is. Also, PowerShell wasn’t available on the Windows XP images I was using and I didn’t have the freedom to add it. I tried to simplify the things and ended up with the following two scripts to configure the RDP protocol permissions on Windows XP. You need to replace %DOMAIN% and %ACCOUNT% with the Remote Desktop Virtualization Host domain and computer account name, i.e., “CONTOSO” and “RDHV-SRV$” as per the proof-of-concept documentation. Note the first occurrence has a single backslash but the second one has two. Copy them into a .vbs file and execute them by double-clicking or with cscript from the command-prompt.

set objWMI = GetObject("winmgmts:\\.\root\cimv2")
set colItems = objWMI.ExecQuery("Select * from Win32_TSPermissionsSetting")
for each objItem in colItems
   intRC = objItem.AddAccount("%DOMAIN%\ACCOUNT%", 1)
   if intRC then
      WScript.Echo "Error adding " & strAccount & " to " & _
                   objItem.TerminalName
   else
      WScript.Echo "Successfully added " & strAccount & " to " & _
                   objItem.TerminalName
   end if
next

set objWMI = GetObject("winmgmts:\\.\root\cimv2")
set colItems = objWMI.ExecQuery ("Select * from Win32_TSAccount Where AccountName='%DOMAIN%\\%ACCOUNT%'")
for each objItem in colItems
    intRC = objItem.ModifyPermissions(0,True)
    intRC = objItem.ModifyPermissions(2,True)
    intRC = objItem.ModifyPermissions(9,True)
    if intRC then
       WScript.Echo "Error setting permissions for " & strAccount
    else
       WScript.Echo "Set permissions for " & strAccount
    end if
next

Download Configure_XP.vbs

1. Open the Local Group Policy MMC (Start –> Run –> “gpedit.msc”

2. Configure the required settings.

3. Copy the contents of C:\Windows\System32\GroupPolicy to wherever you want to keep the source Group Policy settings.

4. Copy the contents back onto the system you want to have the same settings, including your reference system if you’re building an image.