14 DAY TRIAL // An upgraded version of the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment tool has been made available for download from Microsoft. The company's Worldwide Partner Conference 2007 was the stage for the unveiling of Windows Vista Hardware Assessment 2.0 tool designed to evaluate machines for their capacity to run Windows Vista and the Office 2007 System. The tool will evaluate readiness for both Vista and Office 2007 by assessing the hardware configuration and device compatibility. Baldwin Ng, Product Manager, Microsoft Solution Accelerators Team explained that the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment Tool 2.0 will a solution accelerator complete with inventory, assessment, and reporting capabilities.
"Step 1 - Network Inventory: Windows Vista Hardware Assessment 2.0 connects securely and remotely from a networked PC and reaches out to each PC on the network, whether they are in an Active Directory domain/forest or in a peer-to-peer/workgroup environment. Hardware and device data were collected through the WMI protocol (Windows Management Instrumentation) and other Windows networking protocols all without deploying any software agents on the individual PCs. Step 2 - Compatibility Analysis: By analyzing the hardware and device data from each computer, Windows Vista Hardware Assessment 2.0 can assess your existing computers' hardware compatibility and device compatibility for Windows Vista and 2007 Microsoft Office. It also offers hardware upgrade recommendations if required for each PC," Ng explained.
The final step involves the tool generating 2 readiness assessment summaries. The reports will be delivered both in Word and Excel formats and will offer a complete perspective over the machines that will run Vista and Office 2007 and will also inform about the computers in need of upgrades.
"Enterprise-Scale Scanning - Scan up to 25,000 computers per domain/workgroup in every scan (Note: multiple scans are possible for larger networks). Office 2007 Hardware Assessment - Assess PCs for hardware compatibility with 2007 Microsoft Office. Customized Inventory using Active Directory - Choose computers of specific organizational units (or OU's) within an Active Directory domain/forest where the inventory would be conducted. Customized Inventory using Flat-File Import - Target a specific set of computers for the inventory and assessment by importing a specific flat file of computers (such as computer host names, NetBIOS names, or Fully Qualified Domain Names - FQDN)," Ng added revealing the new features added in version 2.0.