General info – CTGlobal

System Center Configuration Manager Toolkit Package Download Very Slow

Recently I built a new ConfigMgr/SCCM environment for a customer. I installed the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit and created an MDT integrated task sequence in SCCM. The deployment task sequence that I created was very slow, it took at least a couple of hours to load. I noticed that the toolkit package was taking approximately 30 minutes to download. The site server was running Symantec antivirus and I had not yet configured any antivirus exclusions. This was a simple sign server environment therefore I add the exclusions listed in this article on the site server. In a more complex environment the [...]

By John Marcum|2017-08-07T02:46:00+01:00august 7th, 2017|Configuration Manager (SCCM), General info, OS Deployment|2 Comments

Configuration Manager Current Branch upgrade stuck in downloading

Managing Configuration Manager is like operating a high-speed train with new monthly updates to the Technical Preview build and 3 yearly updates to the production build. No matter how smooth and easy the upgrade process has become, an upgrade is still an upgrade and things can go wrong (read: backup/snapshot first). With the release of Technical Preview 1705 (and now also found in production build 1706), the Configuration Manager Update Reset Tool - CMUpdateReset.exe were released. The tool will assist if you experience issues with new upgrades/hotfixes stuck in download. You’ll find the tool in .\microsoft configuration manager\cd.latest\smssetup\tools. I recently [...]

By Kent Agerlund|2017-07-30T15:18:06+01:00juli 30th, 2017|Configuration Manager (SCCM), General info|12 Comments

A couple of nice little OSD tweaks in ConfigMgr 1702

ConfigMgr 1702 have a wealth of new features and client management improvements. This one might not be the reason you upgrade, but it’s still nice and worth a blog post. With 1702 you can customize your task sequence information and control what’s being displayed to the end-user. in this example you should notice a few changed in software center. Looking at my Upgrade task sequence, I now have information about download time/size and restart. when I start the task sequence, I have interesting information from my IT department telling me why the company is upgrading to Windows 10 All of [...]

By Kent Agerlund|2017-03-28T15:39:25+01:00marts 28th, 2017|Configuration Manager (SCCM), General info, OS Deployment|Kommentarer lukket

Q&A from the Flexera & Coretech webinar

Could you please tell me how many days can I use the trial version of Dashboard? Looks very useful for my SCCM infra. Also please let me know how to opt for dashboard after the trial period.First a huge thanks for all attending the webinar, as promised he are a list of the questions that we didn’t have time to answer during the webinar. Q: We already use Flexera for compliance. Is "Patching" included in it OR is it a separate module? A: Patching is integrated in the standard CSI solution. You can either patch using WSUS or integrate with [...]

By Kent Agerlund|2017-01-26T12:17:24+01:00januar 26th, 2017|Configuration Manager (SCCM), General info|Kommentarer lukket

Default Site-Boundary-Group and boundaries

The purpose of the Default Site-Boundary-Group is to service clients that are not served by any other boundary group (that being local boundary group or neighbor boundary group). However in ConfigMgr 1610 there has been some confusement around the fact that you can add boundaries to the Default Site-Boundary-Group . I’ve been asked a couple of times if we should add all boundaries to the Default Site-Boundary-Group since the group is automatically configured for Site assignment. My take on that is NO, don’t use the Default Site-Boundary-Group as you don’t really control it. You will also notice that you can’t [...]

By Kent Agerlund|2017-01-23T13:34:33+01:00januar 23rd, 2017|Configuration Manager (SCCM), General info|3 Comments

ConfigMgr Software Update scanning failed with OnScanComplete with error=0x80244017

Scanning, deploying and installing software updates should be a walk in the park, and most of the times it is. But (luckily) sometimes we run into issues that we haven’t seen before. Like in this case where clients stopped scanning for software updates in ConfigMgr 1602. What I have learned in my years working with ConfigMgr is that software update issues often are caused by older version of the Windows Update agent, configuration change on the WSUS server(s) or a change in the infrastructure. The challenge is to figure out is what category your issues falls into. Normally, it’s fairly [...]

By Kent Agerlund|2016-04-24T12:19:29+01:00april 24th, 2016|Configuration Manager (SCCM), General info|2 Comments

Android OS version not on the requirement list

Managing mobile devices can be different compared to managing traditional computers for many reasons. One of them being the lack of control with operating system versions on the devices. We simply don’t control when Android and iOS devices are being upgraded and as such we don’t control what version users are using. That can be a challenge when you are using requirement rules on your web applications (and other deployment types). In the illustrations below it’s easy to see that we have a bunch of Android 6+ versions and looking at the requirement rules for the web apps you’ll see [...]

By Kent Agerlund|2016-04-19T09:23:35+01:00april 19th, 2016|Configuration Manager (SCCM), Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS), General info|10 Comments

Win PE Peer caching in ConfigMgr Current Branch

There are so many reasons for migrating your environment to ConfigMgr CB (current branch), one of them being the new content management feature – Win PE Peer caching. To me it’s important to understand what the feature is bringing to the table, and what it is not. Win PE Peer caching is introduced to save bandwidth by sharing content already present on your local network. Those who are familiar with the ConfigMgr ecosystem, know that solutions to support that has been around for years. Solutions like OneSite from Adaptiva, Nomad from 1E and custom BrancheCache from 2Pintsoftware. This blog post [...]

By Kent Agerlund|2016-03-30T21:29:42+01:00marts 30th, 2016|Configuration Manager (SCCM), General info, OS Deployment|10 Comments

Configuring backup in ConfigMgr Current Branch

With the introduction of Configuration Manager Current Branch (CB), the game of backup has changed slightly. A SQL backup is still valid for restoring the database, but re-installing ConfigMgr CB must be started by running setup.exe from the cd.latest folder. I know most of you are backing up the virtual machine (which is good), but that should not prevent you from not stop you from backing up SQL and Configmgr. You have two options: Create a SQL maintenance plan and include a custom step to backup cd.latest SQL backup Pros Support for compression Better scheduling job E-mail notifications No ConfigMgr [...]

By Kent Agerlund|2016-01-29T14:09:51+01:00januar 29th, 2016|Configuration Manager (SCCM), General info|18 Comments

Silent install Java 8 Update 71 and 72 with SCCM

In my last post about silent / unattended installation of Java 8 Update 66, we followed the new guidelines for how to install Java 8 silently by Oracle. The problem with that method is that it works when you try to run your script locally with administrator privileges it will work fine, but when you run the same script through SCCM / Configuration Manager, it will fail. And just to confuse you even more, it will only fail for the 32-bit version of java, not the 64-bit, even though you use the exact same method. This problem have been reported [...]

By Casper Lillegård Madsen|2016-01-25T14:03:04+01:00januar 25th, 2016|Configuration Manager (SCCM), General info, Packaging & Installation, Scripting & Development|18 Comments

Why cmtrace is a man’s best friend when deploying Win 10 1511 upgrades using Configuration Manager

ConfigMgr 1511 is a great Win10 management tool, and so far the only real enterprise management tool I have seen when it comes to deploying Win 10 1511. There is a minor UI issue that might make you freak out. When downloading the upgrade our Download Software Updates Wizard is not really moving although everything runs smoothly in the background. The trick is to open Patchdownloader.log - if you can find it – it’s located in %temp% if you started the download directly from the server. Notice that the log file is updating like a charm. Happy upgrading

By Kent Agerlund|2016-01-13T10:02:33+01:00januar 13th, 2016|Configuration Manager (SCCM), General info|Kommentarer lukket

Windows 10 Servicing in ConfigMgr 1511

Playing around with Windows 10 Servicing in ConfigMgr 1511 is kind of cool. But having said that; you might want to know the consequences of creating custom servicing plans. A servicing plan is basically an automatic deployment rule with a twist. The twist being (right now), you are unable to filter on the updates being downloaded. Regardless of the Windows 10 versions and languages the servicing plan will always download all 256 Windows 10 versions. Each version is about 2 GB….do the math. Contentlibrary will explode in size, if you selected all remote distribution points; the Network team will not [...]

By Kent Agerlund|2016-01-12T01:37:56+01:00januar 12th, 2016|Configuration Manager (SCCM), General info|25 Comments

Windows WI-FI profiles

Currently working on an Enterprise Mobility project, and thought I should share a little trick. In the project; we are deploying WI-FI profiles to Windows 10 devices. Some WI-FI profiles use SCEP/NDES certificates while others are configured using a pre-shared secret. When working with Windows WI-FI profiles, the only way to add a pre-shared secret to the profile is by creating a custom XML file. An easy way to create the WI-FI profile XML file; is to create the profile on a Windows 10 computer and then export the profile. To do that, use the steps below: To list all [...]

By Kent Agerlund|2016-01-10T06:19:40+01:00januar 10th, 2016|Configuration Manager (SCCM), Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS), General info|Kommentarer lukket

December 2nd: Part 2: Uninstall Java (or any other software) with ConfigMgr Compliance Baselines

It's December 2nd and Christmas is just around the corner! Yesterday Jakob kicked off the Coretech December Calendar with a great post about "Triggering a webhook from a SharePoint workflow using Out-of-the-box Activities" (Check out his blog post here: http://bit.ly/1N16fte). That was the first, this is the second post in the Coretech blog series that will continue until December 24th - Christmas Eve! :) In Part 1 (http://bit.ly/1PlnDPr) I explained how you can utilize ConfigMgr Compliance Baselines for uninstalling software like Java, Adobe etc. with the help of PowerShell and WMI. Well in Part 1 we used the Win32_Product class which is not recommended [...]

By Marius A. Skovli|2015-12-02T14:08:00+01:00december 2nd, 2015|Configuration Manager (SCCM), General info, Powershell, Scripting & Development|7 Comments

Get the latest post from the Coretech blog the moment it is published

Add the CTGlobal blog as an RSS Feed in Outlook Staying up to date is important as IT evolves and changes so rapidly. For the employees of Coretech, blogging about the products we work with and solutions we create or discover is a great way to stay current. Where we at the same time build a information database where others, both inside and outside of Coretech, can benefit from. This is key for us in Coretech and in this post I will show you how you can get the latest posts from the Coretech Blog the moment the post is [...]

By Marius A. Skovli|2017-08-22T10:05:11+01:00november 30th, 2015|General info|Kommentarer lukket

Part 1: Uninstall Java (or any other software) with ConfigMgr Compliance Baselines

Compliance Items and Compliance Baselines in ConfigMgr is so powerful! And with some PowerShell magic you can almost use it to do anything you like on a Windows based computer – Only your imagination that will be the showstopper! Here I will show how you can uninstall software using WMI and Compliance Items in SCCM. However, it is important that you read the following articles as the uninstallation process uses win32_product WMI class which is known for its evilness. Thanks to Kaido, Jürg and Torsten for pointing this one out. A updated post as been created using a better and more [...]

By Marius A. Skovli|2015-11-25T14:19:41+01:00november 25th, 2015|Configuration Manager (SCCM), General info, Powershell|9 Comments

Upgrade System Center Configuration Manager Console with PowerShell

Since Service Pack 1 was released to SCCM 2012 R2 I have been upgraded several environments. A couple of customers wanted me to create a PowerShell script to uninstall existing ConfigMgr Console and install the new updated version with the latest cumulative updates and hotfixes. If you create a package to distribute it with SCCM make sure you point the Data source to the location of the Client installations files, Script, KB3084586-msp and kb3074857-msp. Installation command for the program will then be: PowerShell.exe -file "script.ps1". Remember to set PowerShell execution policy to "Bypass" under Client Settings. This will not affect [...]

By Marius A. Skovli|2015-09-17T18:14:33+01:00september 17th, 2015|Configuration Manager (SCCM), General info, Powershell, Scripting & Development|Kommentarer lukket

Automate Signature And Status Reports With PowerShell – Windows Defender (.txt file)

What you will be able to after reading this blog: Get the latest information about "your" Signature- & Anti Virus reports in Windows Defender and make it into a text file. How to automate it, so it will run every day and give you a status report with time and date. Being able to look at what time and date the latest updates have been completed. First of all, we have to create a folder/directory where the status reports can be stored in. Open up PowerShell in administrative mode and run this script only by copy-paste: $path="C:\" New-Item .\AVStatusReports -ItemType [...]

By Alexander Gundelack Jensen|2015-09-15T11:15:56+01:00september 15th, 2015|Configuration Manager (SCCM), General info, Operating Systems, Powershell, Scripting & Development, Security|2 Comments

PowerShell Script That Creates A Folder And A Shortcut On Your Desktop

Basic example of a script that creates a folder in your Local Disk "C" and then makes a shortcut on desktop so you have easy access to the folder. First of all, open your powershell as administrator and make sure you are at a place where you are able to create folders such as the C:\ drive. PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> cd .. PS C:\WINDOWS> cd .. PS C:\> And now you are able to run the script! - Copy and paste what is written below $path = "C:\" New-Item .\EpicFolder -ItemType Directory -Force $wshshell = New-Object -ComObject WScript.Shell $desktop = [System.Environment]::GetFolderPath('Desktop') [...]

By Alexander Gundelack Jensen|2015-09-14T14:21:32+01:00september 14th, 2015|General info, Powershell, Scripting & Development|Kommentarer lukket

Troubleshooting with Remote Desktop Connection – Solving the issues

Problems like: Cannot connect to the machine Not able to sign in on the machine / user / server Security is blocking my connection Quote: "To sign in remotely, you need the right to sign in through Remote Desktop Services. By default members of the Administrators group have this right. If the group you're in does not have the right, or if the right has been removed from the Administrators group, you need to be granted the right manually." I will now help you with some troubleshooting. Basically there's no fast way of doing it, but every time you've done [...]

By Alexander Gundelack Jensen|2015-08-17T09:34:49+01:00august 17th, 2015|General info, Operating Systems, Personal, Windows Client|4 Comments

ConfigurePXE blocks contentdistribution after SCCM 2012 R2 SP1 upgrade

Just finished another SCCM 2012 R2 SP1 upgrade, this time with a very “interesting” outcome. The site was a single primary site with close to 100 distribution points. The upgrade process went somehow smooth, primary site server was upgraded without any issues, except the management points had to restart before the SMS bootstrap service would successfully configure the components. For a while everything seemed like a normal upgrade, the site component manager was running and initiating the installation of the remote site systems. But after a little while, we discovered that the content distribution didn’t distribute new content. A look [...]

By Kent Agerlund|2015-07-11T18:03:28+01:00juli 11th, 2015|Configuration Manager (SCCM), General info|1 Kommentar

Windows Phone 8.1 devices keep prompting for sign in to the Company Portal

I have been working on another mobility project the last couple of months. this project started as a hybrid SCCM/Intune project using “old” SCC 2012 R2 platform, a couple of weeks ago we migrated the platform to the latest service pack in order to get all of the new hybrid mobile features in place. The project have support for Android, iOS and Windows phones 8.1 devices. In the beginning the company portal was deployed to the Windows Phones using the Windows Phone trial certificate (not supported, but it works). That part worked as expected for many months, but using the [...]

By Kent Agerlund|2015-07-01T10:47:13+01:00juli 1st, 2015|Configuration Manager (SCCM), Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS), General info|Kommentarer lukket