Windows 8 DNS resolution issues and IPv6

One small issue that I faced already a few times, is that the Windows TCP/IP stack does not seem to be able to properly resolve a DNS hostname (FQDN) despite that nslookup returns a perfectly fine result. The same system was running fine in the same network under Windows 7.

The solution was to disable IPv6 on the network adapters of the system. This is just another example of strange issues with IPv6 that find their origin in the fact that the IPv6 code is in fact used very intensively throughout the Windows components. That is also the reason why Microsoft recommends against disabling IPv6. Well.. it helped me anyway, and was easier than configuring IPv6 addresses for my DNS server :).

Upgrading Windows 7 Ultimate to Windows 8 Enterprise

Unfortunately, Microsoft does not support performing an in-place upgrade of a Windows 7 Ultimate installation to a Windows 8 Enterprise edition; Windows 7 Ultimate can only be upgraded to Windows 8 Professional (since Windows 8 does not come with an Ultimate edition). True, there might be little added value for a home user in Windows 8 Enterprise, but since it was the only version I had ready on a bootable USB stick, I tried to fool the installer to continue anyway.

This was surprisingly easy. It suffices to modify the "EditionID" and "ProductName" registry keys in the following location:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version

from "Ultimate" and "Windows 7 Ultimate" to "Enterprise" and "Windows 7 Enterprise" respectively, to let the installation proceed.