Change default Windows 8.1 wallpaper, color scheme and lock screen background
Changing default wallpaper, but still allowing user to set their own.
Dealing with Jailbroken/Roted devices in ConfigMgr 2012 R2 & Intune
As you enroll a mobile device into Intune/ConfigMgr 2012 R2, inventory data will automatically be uploaded to the ConfigMgr database. One of the data being collected is the Jailbroken/rooted condition. In the below example the device is being detected as a jailbroken device. One of the many benefits of using Intune as the MDM solution is the integration with System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager. Once data is in the database we can use the entire ConfigMgr engine to manage the device. MDM devices in ConfigMgr can be managed using the Application Model and the Compliance Management feature. Especially the [...]
ConfigMgr 2012 R2 and Windows Azure Cloud Distribution Point
In order to use a Windows Azure distribution point, you need a few things like a Windows Azure account, Access to internal DNS, a couple of certifcates and 45 minutes. The Azure distribution point can act as a fallback distribution point for your Windows clients and do support most content type. To calculate the cost for each Azure distribution point, checkout this Azure calculator http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/pricing/calculator/?scenario=full. What a Cloud-Based Distribution Point do not support ·Apple MAC OS X clients UNIX clients 3rd party Software updates thru the Windows Update feature Windows Updates Streamed Applications Task Sequences that are NOT configured [...]
Installing ConfigMgr R2 2012 client for Mac OSx
Earlier this week Microsoft released a new ConfigMgr R2 2012 Mac OSx client. Althoug it has been possible to enroll Mac OSx 10.9 clients without this new client, I still recommend a client upgrade. How to install the new client Download the new installer from: ConfigMgr 2012 R2 Mac Client Run the ConfigmgrMacClient.msi on a Windows machine. The installer will extract a dmg file in C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager For Mac Client. Copy the Macclient.dmg to a Mac OSx client that has an existing ConfigMgr client installed (can be the old SP1 client). Open a Terminal [...]
Configuration Manager Support Center
Microsoft just released a Configuration Manager Support Center tool in beta on connect.microsoft.com. The Support Center is perfect for troubleshooting clients and collecting client data. There is two tools and some PowerShell cmdlets in the support Center. The data collection tab in the support center, will allow you to collect data from a client (local and remote) and store the information in a zip file. The zip file can be opend in the Support Center Viewer for troubleshooting. A view of the local content on a client from the Content tab Viewing and changing log settings from the Logs tab. [...]
Community tools from System Center Universe 2014
These are some of the tools the I used in my demonstraiton @SCU 2014 in houston Remember to hug your community contributers today!!! Infrastructure and Client Management Johan Arwidmark ConfigMgr R2 Hydration Kit - http://www.deploymentresearch.com/Research/tabid/62/EntryId/113/The-Hydration-Kit-for-ConfigMgr-2012-R2-is-available-for-download.aspx Mikael Nyström System center Hydration Kit - http://deploymentbunny.com/2013/01/04/hydration-kit-v3-is-out/ Startup Script -http://blog.configmgrftw.com/?page_id=349 Right Click tools - http://psrightclicktools.codeplex.com/releases/view/104529 Right click took - http://myitforum.com/myitforumwp/2012/09/21/sccm-rctools/ Client Center - https://sccmclictr.codeplex.com/ David’s Inventory Script PowerShell - http://www.david-obrien.net/2014/01/30/update-inventory-script-makes-configmgr-life-easier/ Garth’s Inventory Script vbSript - http://www.enhansoft.com/pages/downloads.aspx CM12Healthcheck toolkit - https://www.rflsystems.co.uk/sccm-2012-r2-healthcheck-toolkit/ ConfigMgr 2012 Registration Request - https://configmgrregistratio.codeplex.com/ PowerShell Right Click tools - https://blog.ctglobalservices.com/kaj/sccm-client-actions-tool-powershell-edition-aka-poshcat/ RegkeyToMof - http://myitforum.com/cs2/files/folders/proddocs/entry152945.aspx Now Micro Right Click tools - Http://nowmicro.com/RCT ConfigMgr 2012 [...]
Coretech HTA
The main idea with this HTA is to assist small and medium sized organizations with an easy way to implement a custom OSD solution without having any developer or HTML skills. The HTA solutions can be used when booting directly into WinPE and to prestage computers. Why; You might ask, Why, do Coretech create this tool instead of using the built-in tools in Configuration Manager or using the UDI wizard in Microsoft Deployment Toolkit? The answer is straight forward. We often run into customers who do not have the knowledge it takes to build custom solutions or use the UDI [...]
Dealing with reboot pending clients in Configuration Manager 2012
Guess most of you are struggling with troubleshooting software update compliance and installing applications in Configuration Manager 2012. What I have found, is that clients in a reboot pending state often is the root cause to the problems. In previous posts I have described how you can use tools like Coretech Shutdown Utility to automatically restart computers that has been in a reboot pending state for X number of hours/days. The information about the reboot pending state is stored in WMI Root\ccm\ClientSDK namespace as illustrated here with the Coretech WMI & PowerShell explorer: Identify reboot state using PowerShell Launch PowerShell [...]
NIC 2014 – Deck and links from my ConfigMgr Community session
Once again, to all who has ever contributed to the community – We salute you – keep on working and know that you are making a difference for 1000’s of IT pros “out there”. Download deck Just some of the community tools: Infrastructure and Client Management Johan Arwidmark ConfigMgr R2 Hydration Kit - http://www.deploymentresearch.com/Research/tabid/62/EntryId/113/The-Hydration-Kit-for-ConfigMgr-2012-R2-is-available-for-download.aspx Mikael Nyström System center Hydration Kit - http://deploymentbunny.com/2013/01/04/hydration-kit-v3-is-out/ Startup Script -http://blog.configmgrftw.com/?page_id=349 Right Click tools - http://psrightclicktools.codeplex.com/releases/view/104529 Right click took - http://myitforum.com/myitforumwp/2012/09/21/sccm-rctools/ Client Center - https://sccmclictr.codeplex.com/ David’s Inventory Script PowerShell - http://www.david-obrien.net/2013/06/20/huge-powershell-inventory-script-for-configmgr-2012/ Garth’s Inventory Script vbSript - http://www.enhansoft.com/pages/downloads.aspx CM12Healthcheck toolkit - https://www.rflsystems.co.uk/sccm-2012-r2-healthcheck-toolkit/ ConfigMgr 2012 Registration Request - [...]
Configure Coretech Application E-Mail Approval tool to always use the fallback mail
As you can read in this blog post – we recently released a new version of our E-Mail approval tool. One of the new features in the tool is to configure a fallback address. You can either specify a Manager as the approver or a fallback group like Servicedesk. In order to configure the tool to always use the fallback address follow these steps: Open C:\Program Files (x86)\coretech\Coretech Application Approval Service Edit the CM_AppReqListen.exe.config.xml file Find the Section in called <setting name="UseManager" serializeAs="String"> Change <value>True</value> to <value>False</value> Save and close the file Restart the Coretech CM Application Request Listener service
Coretech Application E-Mail Approval Tool
A little over a year ago we released the first version of our Application E-mail approval utility. Ever since our first release we have received lots of positive feedback and ideas to new features. Most of the ideas are implemented in this new release. Thanks for all the feedback and please keep it coming. This blog post will explain how you can install CTAA (Coretech Application Approval tool) – Download Additional blog posts will follow and explain how you can customize the tool. Why the need for this utility The idea with this utility is to integrate a “real approval [...]
Configuration Items and Baselines, Using Scripts (Powershell Example)
In the previous blog post i used file and registry settings for my Configuration Item. Another way to define your Configuration Item setting are scripts. And in CM2012 we have 3 scripting options: JScript PowerShell VBScript (The same goes for the use of scripts in Detection Methods when we create Application Deployment Types.) Since the new colour fashion in scripting today is blue, i guess the popular choice would be PowerShell. On a serious note – PowerShell is now everywhere, just ask my buddy Kaido Järvemets. And in this example i will be checking for a setting on the [...]
Configuration Items and Baselines, Example: SCEP Client Compliance
This example will show you a way to get compliance data from your clients regarding the System Center Endpoint Protection 2012 Client. Now, I'm aware that we through CM2012 reports and console views already have good tools to monitor the client states in regard to SCEP - but lets say you have another antimalware product and would like some compliance info from the clients inserted into CM2012 that you then can use to create reports etc. The principals are the same. First of all you will need to create configuration Items in the CM2012 Console - these items will hold [...]
Automate importing and creating driver packages in SCCM 2012 R2
I take that you are familiar with drivers and manually creating driver categories and driver packages in Configuration Manager. Here I will show you how you can optimize the process by running a very need little PowerShell script called ImportDrivers.ps1 (main developer is Claus Codam). There are a few prerequisites that needs to be in place before the script will work. Driver source has to be 3 levels deep like this example (Make\Model\OS). The driver source is where you store the original driver packages from the vendor. You need to create a Driver packages folder (where ConfigMgr will import [...]
How to run Secunia CSI scanning without installing the CSI agent
Lately I have done a lot of Secunia CSI installations. One of the questions that keeps coming up is “what client scanning options do we have, if we do not install the CSI agent locally?”. You basically have three options as described below. Software Inventory You can use ConfigMgr Inventory and gather information about *.EXE, *.OCX and *.DLL files. This process will get the job done although you are gathering much more information than CSI requires. This method requires that the Site Server (where you installed CSI) have access to the Cloud based database hosted by Secunia. Network scanning Perform [...]
Coretech WMI & PowerShell Explorer Part II
As mentioned in my previous post (using the WMI feature of the tool) we have recently released a new tool – the Coretech WMI and PowerShell Explorer. For information about downloading and installing the tool checkout this blog post from Kaido Järvemets. The second main feature of the Coretech WMI and PowerShell Explorer is the PowerShell module. The intention with this module is to help you get started with Microsoft PowerShell and especially System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1 and PowerShell. The feature can be used to import custom PowerShell modules as well as built-in PowerShell modules. Once imported you [...]
Coretech WMI & PowerShell Explorer–Using the WMI feature
Earlier today Coretech released a brand new tool that we call Coretech WMI and PowerShell Explorer. For information about downloading and installing the tool checkout this blog post from Kaido Järvemets. The tool has two main features, a WMI and a PowerShell explorer. This blog post will explain how you can use the WMI feature. Working with Coretech WMI and PowerShell Explorer Connect to the local computer Root\Cimv2 Namespace Launch the Coretech WMI and PowerShell Explorer as Administrator. From the upper left corner, expand the Menu and click Connect. In the Connect dialog box, type the Namespace or use the [...]
Where are my Software Update state messages
My experienced ConfigMgr 2007 administratos are wondering how it can be that Software Update compliance reports are not showing states like “Waiting for Maintenance Windows” but only Enforcement State unknown or Compliant. The answer to that question can be found in the State Message detail settings for the software update deployment. By default only Error and success messages are reported. Example 1 – using the default software update state details settings: Example 2 – Software Update deployment configured to send all state messages : Controlling the state message detail level The correct way to configure the state message [...]
Error when running Application reports in ConfigMgr 2012
During the SQL Reporting Services site system role, SCCM automatically create a login in SQL and assign the required permissions to the account that you have specified. However I have seen several times that the account do not have the permissions required to run some of the Application reports. When running the Software Distribution - Application Monitoring > All application deployments (advanced) report I get the following error An error has occurred during report processing. (rsProcessingAborted) Query execution failed for dataset 'FirstMatchingAppOrCollection'. (rsErrorExecutingCommand) The EXECUTE permission was denied on the object 'fnGetSiteNumber', database 'CM_PS1', schema 'dbo'. To solve the [...]
Coretech Distribution Point Utilization Monitor
Ever wanted to see how much content is being downloaded by each ConfigMgr. client and from where? Then look no further, the Coretech Distribution Point utilization monitor will give you the answers. The tool has a server portion with a database and a client that you install on all distribution points. Once a day the client (agent on the Distribution Point) will collect information from the IIS log files, convert the files to a CSV format and copy them to the server. The server uses a scheduled task in Windows to import all data into the database. Once in the [...]
Slide deck from Birds of a Feather “BOF08 PowerShell – Examples from the Real Word”
First, a huge thank to all of you who decided to spend a Wednessday evening in Las Vegas with Kaido and I – we hoped for 20 and 4 times that number showed up. The slide deck from BOF sessions are not available on http://www.2013mms.com/ You can download our slide deck from the BOF08 PowerShell – Examples from the Real Word session here
Deploy Windows 8 Enterprise x86 on a UEFI x86 device using SCCM 2012 SP1
New Toys For The Boys Don’t we all love new toys, especially the ones that require an occasional recharge. The latest thing I got my hands on is the Lenovo Tablet 2, a very nice 10” tablet thing, with a couple of nice add-ons, like a docking station, Bluetooth keyboard and a pen like stylus. But what I really like about it is that it runs a full version of Windows 8 x86, which means that I can deploy its OS over and over again So I fired up my SCCM Console to do exactly that … The Drivers [...]
Getting ready for MMS 2013
It’s that time of year again – MMS in Vegas. This year I’ll be (co)-hosting 6 sessions – if you still have an empty slot in your schedule please consider one of these Managing Third Party Updates with System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1 - Sunday, April 7, 5:00 PM - 6:15 PM Kent Agerlund, Lawrence Garvin The session will provide you with tips and tricks to solve the daily challenges around patching your environment with Microsoft and non-Microsoft updates. You will learn how to design and configure a Software Update solution that will be easy to manage and yet [...]
PowerShell – How to do WMIClass CreateInstance but WITH credentials
Today I was building a script to create system resources in SCCM 2012 and part of the task was to add these resources to a set of collections. The script will use from the SCCM server when finally implemented but for now I was using my laptop for editing and debugging. When I came to the point where I had to create the actual membership rules for the collections I ran into a hurdle that puzzled me. The WMI object I had to create was the SMS_CollectionRuleDirect, which often is done using this simple PowerShell snippet: $ruleClass = [WMICLASS]"\\$($server)\root\sms\site_$($sitecode):SMS_CollectionRuleDirect".CreateInstance() And [...]