Personal note no 6: Create Local User and add to Local group
Personal note no 6: Easy way to add create a local account and add it to administrators as a part of a Task Sequence
Personal note no.5 : Make driver available for none admin user!
Staging driver in the driverstore, makeing it available for none admin user!
Power management trough the TS (No more automatic Sleep!)
I have a number of customers who wants to set the power settings trough the TS, as opposed to using GPO’s. I guess that makes sense if you want to allow you users to change the settings them self… By default windows 7 will set the following power options: Sleep/standby in 15 min on battery (DC), Sleep/standby in 30 min on Power (AC). Hibernation after 360 min on both AC and DC. Sleep/standby when lid is closed on laptop. Some of my customers do not want their machines to sleep or hibernate, unless the user makes this choice. this [...]
Configuration Manager 2012 Prestage content on Distribution Points
Highly inspired by this blog post I started to do me own prestage content testing. Prestaging has long been one of the main reasons (along with bandwidth control) for implementing a secondary site in Configuration Manager 2007. In configuration Manager 2012 both features has now been added to the distribution point. This more or less eliminates the need for a secondary site. Prestaging is a process that involves the distribution point, the package and a Commandline tool. Open the Distribution Point properties and select Enable this distribution point for prestaged content on the General tab. Now, navigate to the [...]
Personal note no 4: Pause a task sequence
Pause a task sequence for a specified number of seconds before continuing with the next step!
New Configuration Manager Client hotfix KB2509007–fixes issue with updates stops responding in a Task Sequence
As the title reveals “Task sequence that installs many updates stops responding on a System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP2 client” this hotfix is a nice one to have installed. The installation is a client hotfix and requires that you deploy the MSP file to the client during the OSD process. The hotfix will also update the client version, which might require you to update the existing client installation scripts. Installing the hotfix on the site server Open a command prompt and start the installation. The installation will prompt to create a new client patch package. Click Yes and start [...]
Updating the package source in Configuration Manager 2007
In my “Migrating from Configuration 2007 to Configuration Manager 2012” session at the System Center User Group meeting in Copenhagen last Friday, I demonstrated a tool to automatically update the package source in Configuration Manager 2007. As promised, this tool is now available for download. The background for the tool As we start migrating from CM2007 to CM2012 one of the requirements is that the package source used for packages must be a UNC. I have seen many site installations where the package source is either a local source on the site server or a UNC pointing to the site [...]
Set up a SCCM test environment in no time!
If you need a full blown Test environment, here is how to set that up in no time at all
There may be to many steps in the task sequence!
There may be too many steps in the task sequence Error caused by faulty MDT integration
Dude, where’s my Trace32 in Configuration Manager 2012
There is no Configuration Manager toolkit (yet). As with the previous versions of Configuration Manager and SMS you need a good log reader - unless you go the “Wally style” and use Notepad Configuration Manager 2012 Trace32.exe will ship with the product and can be found on the DVD in the Tools folder. Happy reading and look forward to see brand new friends in CM2012 like
Windows 7 SP1 with Configuration Manager 2007 R3
No, it’s not officially supported yet but that shouldn’t stop us from testing the new Windows 7 service pack 1
Install the Configuration Manager administrator console
Recently I had to prepare a “Configuration Manager Servicedesk kit”. In the kit I added the Configuration Manager console and Client Center. The installation had a few challanges: Creating and specifying Setup.ini during the installation Installing the correct version of Client Center - X64 or X86 – depending on the architecture. To solve the challenge I created a Task Sequence with these steps Use Toolkit package Gather Run Command "%_SMSTSOOO00127%\bin\i386\setup.exe" /Script "%_SMSTSOOO00127%\Setup.ini" (where OOO00127 is the packge id). Make sure you have created a package with the Configmgr. source files and that package is selected in the TS Install software, [...]
Getting a Hardcopy of the TS progress report.
I guess everyone uses the report showing how fare along a Task Sequence actually is, or if one of the steps has failed. But sometimes this report disappears after the TS finishes, so wouldn’t it be nice to always have it available afterword to see it one or more steps have failed, or to evaluate if an option acts like expected.. Well with a little help from one of my collages (Claus Codam) I created this routine to have that available, in by LOGS folder, and here is how. 1. Create a new user to use for reporting (in [...]
Making file copy easy.
I often run into questions concerning simple file copy during a SCCM/MDT Task Sequence. There are many ways to accomplish this, but it seams most people wind up using the good old XCOPY command, and in general there is nothing wrong with that. When copying from a DP though, you might run into problems when copying all files and folders in the root on your source, as that points to the root of X:\windows and not the root of the package specified.. Well to work around any issues I created a small VBS script, that takes care of the copying [...]
Coretech Auto Install Warning 1.0.3 – Freeware Update
Update for utility: Coretech Auto Install Warning 1.0.3 Fixes: New size for more text, possibility to change font size in config.
Specific updates installed
A common question in the forums is “How can I see who has this specific update installed”. One easy way to check that is by creating a DCM rule. Create a new DCM Baseline Click Theese software Updates must be present Select the needed updates and click OK Fiinish the wizard and assign the baseline to collection If you want to create a collection based on the non-compliant computers, check this blog post - https://blog.ctglobalservices.com/confmgr07/using-software-distribution-and-desired-configuration-management-to-fix-non-compliant-computers/
Create ISO using WAIK and OSCDIMG
To make an ISO file with a bundle of files, all you need is the Windows Automation Installation Kit WAIK. No need to pay for any 3rd party tool to do this. This Kit includes a tool OSCDIMG primarily used for making a bootable ISO of your WinPE, but can however also be use it to create a simple ISO file containing files, so you can access them trough CD mounting, in your Virtual environments. (or what ever you would need the files for) For this to work you must of cause have the Windows AIK installed on the [...]
Using Software distribution and Desired Configuration Management to fix non-compliant computers
Desired Configuration Management (DCM) is a feature in Configuration Manager which helps us tracing non-compliant computers. In Configuration Manager 2012 the feature also allows us to automatically remediate non-compliant computers. With Configuration Manager 2007 we can use a combination of DCM and Software Distribution to achieve the same functionality. In this example I will create a DCM CI that will report a workstation as non-compliant if Adobe Flash automatic update is enabled. To fix the problem, I have a script that will disable the check for new updates. The script will be deployed using a normal software package. Part I [...]
XMAS fun at Microsoft Denmark
Snow is falling all around us these days and December is just around the corner. This year Microsoft Denmark is celebrating X-MAS with a daily quiz and your chance to win some great prices. Check out Bjarne Dollerups blog for more information. One more thing, the “Julekalender” is in Danish :-)
Error extracting files from KB977384
I have seen a few Configuration Manager R3 installations failing when trying to create the Configuration Manager package and program. To fix that problem I extract the SCCM2007-SP2-KB977384-ENU.msi file like this: msiexec /a SCCM2007-SP2-KB977384-ENU.msi /qb TARGETDIR=D:\R3 The command will extract all files and place them in D:\R3. From this folder you can take the sccm2007ac-sp2-kb977384-x86-enu.msp file and create the configuration manager package manually.
November Newsletter from TrueSec
Be sure to check out the November newsletter from TrueSec. Get some nice, helpful and very useful tricks on Deployment, Security, Configuration Manager and much more. The newsletter is written by Marcus Murray (MVP on Enterprise Security), Mikael Nyström (MVP on Setup/Deployment), Johan Arwidmark (MVP on Setup/Deployment) and Kent Agerlund (MVP on ConfigMgr.)
Modifying the execution account after installing Configuration Manager R3
In a previous post I described how you create and configure an execution account for SQL Reporting Services and Configuration Manager R2. The execution account is a requirement for those who want to use the e-mail subscription feature. Due to changes in security the execution account does not have the needed permission to open the new Power Management reports. Instead you will get error messages like these: An error has occurred during report processing. (rsProcessingAborted) Query execution failed for dataset 'DataSet3'. (rsErrorExecutingCommand) The EXECUTE permission was denied on the object 'PowerManagementGetDayRange', database 'SMS_A01', schema 'dbo'. An error occurred during client [...]
Using TS variables when running a script under a different account.
One of the features available when running a Task Sequence in Config Mgr R2, is to run a command line as a different user, which can comes in handy in a number of scenarios. There is however a small but important thing to be aware of. When using this step to run a script, you will notice that you cannot use any of the “task sequence variables”, as they are not passed through to script. So if you need to use any of the TS variables in your scripts you will have to pass them to the script as arguments [...]
Collection for computers that failed to run an advertisement
Recently I got a question from a student who wanted to have two collections for each software deployment. 1 collection containing computer that ran the advertisement successfully; and 1 collection for those who failed. There can be several ways to solve this puzzle. In my example I look at the status messages coming from the client. In order to use this solution you first need to find the advertisement ID for the deployment. Navigate to the advertisement and make a note of the advertisement ID. In my example the advertisement ID is A0120005 Next create two query based collections and [...]