MOC Lab Launcher Fixer for Windows 7

[download id="14"] Windows 7 has arrived, and everything is fine! We only have one problem. Many of the MOC Course Material is using the "Lab Launcher". The MSI for the "Lab Launcher" is not supported by Windows 7. To Fix this problem a Hack/Edit of the MSI is needed. Read this blog post for info about how to do it manually: http://tfl09.blogspot.com/2009/08/windows-7-and-virtual-server.html Big Thanks to Thomas Lee for the great tutorial!   I am facing the same problem as him a lot these days, and i usually did the Edit manually. Therefore i decided to make a small utility that [...]

Creating a search folder with all required security updates in Configuration Manager 2007

Having a list of all required updates can be very usefull. I this example I will create a search folder containing all required security updates. Open the Config Mgr. console, navigate to Computer Management, Software Updates, Update Repository, Search Folders Create a new search folder. In the search folder select Required and enter the numbers from 1 to 9 (don’t type any “ around the numbers) or type [^0] – both metods will work. Select Superseded and change the value to No Select Expired and change the value to No Select Update Classification and select Security Updates Name the Search [...]

By |2009-08-12T09:13:00+01:00august 12th, 2009|Configuration Manager (SCCM)|1 Kommentar

Deploy Adobe Flash Player Updates with SCUP 4.5

When deploying Adobe Flash Player updates with SCUP 4.5 you might run into a few problems with the installation of the update. My work around to fix that is by creating the update from scratch. In this post I assume that you have a working SCUP 4.5 environment up and running. The update being deployed is install_flash_player_ax.exe version 10.0.32.18 which can be downloaded from http://www.adobe.com/support/flash/downloads.html    Open SCUP and select Create Update Type: Update Title: Adobe Flash Player 10 10.0.32.18 Describtion: Something nice Classification: Critical Update Bulletin ID: APBB09-10 Vendor: Adobe Systems, Inc. Product: Adobe Flash Player 10 Click Next [...]

By |2009-08-09T09:42:58+01:00august 9th, 2009|Configuration Manager (SCCM)|15 Comments

Resizing a Microsoft Virtual Hard Disk (VHD)

Ever run into problems with a VHD that ran out of space?? I did just yesterday, and found a couple of solutions for that problem. Here are two ways of dealing VHD size issues . Methode 1: Using 3rd part tool “VDH Resizer” Download and install VHD Resizer. http://vmtoolkit.com/files/folders/converters/entry87.aspx Open VhdResizer and point to the file you VHD you want resized. Choose a location to put the new file, and choose a new size. The resizing process might take a while, but be patient, it will be worth the wait.   When the resizing is done start a the virtual pc [...]

Enable Integration features for Virtual PC Beta running server 2008

Running on Windows 7 it obvious you would use the new Windows Virtual PC Beta. There is a problem however, when you want to run a Server2008 virtual PC. The server it self runs great, and is much faster than Virtual PC2007, but like in Virtual server2005 Drag’n Drop is not supported. This Should basically not be a problem because the integration features gives you access to all the host machines drives (including USB).  Only problem is that it doesn't seam to work on Server2008. It might work at first, but after a couple of reboots the integration features suddenly [...]

OpsMgr 2007 (SCOM): Coretech Certificates Expire checker Management Pack – 0.0.0.1

Download: [download id="13"] Intro: This management packs can be used to check the expire date on all or specific certificates in the client/servers certificates store. It uses the event log on the local client, to alert the OpsMgr unit monitor . It is supposed to check once every day, and make a warning in the opsmgr if any certificates are close to the expire date. This is the very first version. It has been tested in my test environments, and will soon be tested in production. Please do not hesitate to report any bugs and please send suggestions for the [...]

Powershell – WMI: Working with Shares – Part 1: Creating a Share with Custom Permissions

Download Script: [download id="12"] Intro: Last week, i was teaching a Powershell course (MOC6434), when a student asked me, how to create a share with custom permissions via WMI. I tried to find an answer for him, but could not really find any examples, cmdlets or functions for it. I found some examples and help in vbscript, so i decided to make some powershell functions of my own. I Created these functions that uses the Win32_Share class of WMI. They support remote creation and multiple permissions. New-Share is for creating a share. New-ACE is for creating one or more ACEs [...]

Great!! – A new Operations Manager Course

A new 3 days Operations Manager (or Scom) course (# 50216)  is showing up around August - I think the first course will be around the beginning october - Please email me kra[@]coretech.dk regarding participating on this Course. Kurset vil naturligvis blive tilbudt gennem vores samarbejdspartnere, Teknologisk, Global Knowledge og Microworld. God sommer - Kåre Course Outline How the 'internals' of Operations Manager work and how to troubleshoot * Architecture * Operations Manager "Health Engine" * Troubleshooting * Troubleshooting discoveries and monitors * Troubleshooting health state changes * Troubleshooting the Operations Manager agent This module will explain management pack architecture and how to author a management pack * Architecture * OpsMgr Console vs Authoring console [...]

By |2009-06-21T22:58:16+01:00juni 21st, 2009|Operations Manager (SCOM)|40 Comments

Configuration Manager 2007 SP2 Beta changes

We all know that support is added for the latest operating systems: Windows 7 Windows Vista Sp2 Windows Server 2008 R2 Windows Server 2008 SP2 After some testing of the servicepack yesterday I discovered a few other very nice changes like policies being applied straight away (in the “old days” Config mgr SP1 and previous versions) policies were retrieved from the Management Point and were not effective until after 2 minutes. Some policies are now applied immediately like software policies and policies for Service Windows.  I might not be the biggest of all changes but it now allows to deliver [...]

By |2009-06-11T09:12:19+01:00juni 11th, 2009|Configuration Manager (SCCM)|1 Kommentar

Configuration Manager 2007 SP2 Beta released

The System Center Configuration Manager team would like to announce that the following has been released and available for download: Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 2 Beta This is the official Beta build for Configuration Manager 2007 SP2. New features: Refer to the SP2 Overview article posted on the primary Configuration Manager MSConnect site for all the new features and new supported configurations Hotfixes included in SP2 article can be found on the primary Configuration Manager MSConnect page. Deployment guides for BranchCache and the new AMT features are available in the download section. . The new OpsMgr07 R2 ConfigMgr07 Management [...]

By |2009-06-09T17:28:36+01:00juni 9th, 2009|Configuration Manager (SCCM)|Kommentarer lukket til Configuration Manager 2007 SP2 Beta released

List of hotfixes in Confiugation Manager 2007 (updated)

  Add Windows Windows 2008 SP2 and Vista SP2 support (Thanks to Jens-Ole for posting these): http://support.microsoft.com/kb/969991 Configuration Manager 2007 RTM Hotfix  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/970093 Configuration Manager 2007 SP1 Hotfix   954214 The SMS_Site_Component_Manager service stops unexpectedly when you try to install Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 1 or reinstall a specific component after an unsuccessful installation attempt 954474 System Center Configuration Manager 2007 blocked from deploying security updates 954716 The SMS_EXECUTIVE service of System Center Configuration Manager 2007 on a child site server may crash when it handles the .sha file and sends inventory data to its parent site 954718 You [...]

By |2009-06-09T11:07:00+01:00juni 9th, 2009|Configuration Manager (SCCM)|Kommentarer lukket til List of hotfixes in Confiugation Manager 2007 (updated)

Ups I deleted 1.000 computers in Config. Mgr console

Accindently deleting computer objects in the Config Mgr. console has happened in the past and it will most likely happen again in the future. This post will hopefully help you understand what’s going on in the background and how Configuration Manager recovers the deleted objects. Components involved On the site server the data loader component is responsible for loading inventory data (and other stuff) into the SQL database. The log file used is Dataldr.log On the client you should pay attention to the Inventory Agent which is responsible for gathering inventory data. The log file used is InventoryAgent.log What happens [...]

By |2009-06-04T10:55:32+01:00juni 4th, 2009|Configuration Manager (SCCM)|1 Kommentar

Try out Windows 7 without messing up your XP/VISTA installation

I just love Windows 7 RC… It runs much better than VISTA, and has lots of super nice features.  (Get it here http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/ ) One of these features is the ability to boot from a VHD, which actually means that I can run Win7 on my laptop, without having to reinstall my existing OS, mess around with partitioning or having to install some boot manager in order to run it a dual boot environment.  So what does this mean exactly!! Well for me it means that I can still have my Vista installed PC where I know my Microsoft training [...]

By |2009-06-03T13:59:53+01:00juni 3rd, 2009|OS Deployment, Windows Client|1 Kommentar

Links and other usefull information from this week MOC 6451 (updated 04/05-2010)

Websites: http://scug.dk/ – Danish System Center User Group http://www.microsoft.com/smserver/default.mspx - SMS 2003 homepage http://www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/en/us/default.aspx - System Center homepage http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/configurationmanager/ - Configuration Manager News groups http://www.microsoft.com/events/series/technetmms.aspx?tab=webcasts&id=42364 - Configuration Manager webcasts http://www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/configurationmanager/en/us/default.aspx - Config Mgr. homepage http://www.myitforum.com/ - Great community http://technet.microsoft.com/da-dk/configmgr/default(en-us).aspx http://technet.microsoft.com/da-dk/library/bb735860(en-us).aspx http://www.smsexpert.com/ - Information about MOF editing http://www.1e.com/ - Config Mgr. addons http://blogs.technet.com/configmgrteam/default.aspx – System Center Config Mgr. team blog http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/systemcenter/cm/ff597934.aspx – More online training on ConfigMgr. 2007 Deployment Sites: https://blog.ctglobalservices.com/osdeploy/ - Deployment Blog, author Michael Petersen http://blogs.technet.com/msdeployment/default.aspx - MDT Blog Tools: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/tools/scripto2.mspx - Scriptomatic http://sourceforge.net/projects/smsclictr - Config Mgr Client Center http://www.myitforum.com/myITWiki/SCCMTools.ashx - SCCM Right click tools and more http://www.myitforum.com/inc/upload/12336RegKeyToMOF.zip – [...]

By |2009-05-27T15:34:21+01:00maj 27th, 2009|Configuration Manager (SCCM)|Kommentarer lukket til Links and other usefull information from this week MOC 6451 (updated 04/05-2010)

Auto run action when a new user loges on / add setting to HKEY_CURRENT_USER

Ever wanted to set a registry key to automate some stuff for your users, only to find out that the key resides in HKEY_CURRENT_USER making it quit difficult to have it work for all users on the pc. You can of cause set this in your login script, but setting registry fixes is not really a job for the login script. During a deployment scenario, where only the administrator is logged in, we can obviously us the run once command from the registry, but that only run once on the computer, and not once pr. USER. We could also manipulate [...]

By |2009-05-25T10:05:34+01:00maj 25th, 2009|General info, OS Deployment|9 Comments

Disable the Windows Media Player wizard on first run

Ever get annoyed that your users have to run trough the media Player 11 wizard, the first time they launch the program. Well I do, and in general my customers do to.. The fix however is quit simple. All you have to do is set the AcceptedPrivacyStatement key to 1 in the registry, under HKEY_CURRENT_USER ___________________________________________________________________________________ Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\Preferences] "AcceptedPrivacyStatement"=dword:00000001 ____________________________________________________________________________________ The obvious problem of cause, is the fact that the key is under current_user, which means that the user needs to be logged on to windows, when the key is added..  This can be automated by [...]

By |2009-05-22T10:26:33+01:00maj 22nd, 2009|General info|Kommentarer lukket til Disable the Windows Media Player wizard on first run

FAQs and flowcharts about – Configuration Manager (updated)

This post contains some references to the Config Mgr. FAQS, Flow charts etc on Technet. Having access to these information from a single webpage has saved me a lot of time and hopefully it can save you some time as well. I will keep adding information to this post. You are also more than welcome to provide links to other useful resources. Hardware and Performance Configuration Manager 2007: Sample Configurations and Common Performance Questions FAQ Features Software Distribution: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb892803.aspx Discovery: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb892805.aspx Branch Distribution Points: http://blogs.technet.com/wemd_ua_-_sms_writing_team/archive/2008/07/27/faqs-for-branch-distribution-points.aspx SQL Reporting Services: http://blogs.technet.com/configmgrteam/archive/2009/05/14/faq-sql-reporting-services-integration-with-system-center-configuration-manager-2007-r2.aspx Flowchart and Super flows Software Updates: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb932171.aspx Software Updates Super flows: [...]

By |2009-05-20T09:05:50+01:00maj 20th, 2009|General info|1 Kommentar

Config. Mgr Report – List all Maintenance windows

Configuration Manager ships with a built-in report showing maintenance windows for a single computer. I have just done a few modifications to that report (added a few columns and removed the prompt). SELECT     TOP (100) PERCENT sw.Name AS [MW Name], sw.Description, sw.StartTime, sw.Duration AS 'Duration Minutes', sw.IsEnabled AS 'MW Enabled',                       dbo.v_R_System.Name0, dbo.v_R_System.Operating_System_Name_and0 FROM         dbo.v_ServiceWindow AS sw INNER JOIN                       dbo.v_FullCollectionMembership AS fcm ON sw.CollectionID = fcm.CollectionID INNER JOIN                      dbo.v_R_System ON fcm.ResourceID = dbo.v_R_System.ResourceID WHERE     (dbo.v_R_System.Operating_System_Name_and0 LIKE '%server%') ORDER BY [MW Name], dbo.v_R_System.Name0

By |2009-05-19T15:09:43+01:00maj 19th, 2009|Configuration Manager (SCCM)|3 Comments

The Serial number game

Just spend a frustrating (but interesting morning) at a customer site: Case: Config Mgr. installed on a Virtual Server, with a 3 month old backup. Config Mgr. DB installed on another server. Config Mgr. server was corrupted and a the very old backup was used. Symptoms: No changes made in the config mgr. console was successful. Nothing was written to the SiteCtrl.log file. SiteCtrl.log : SMS_SITE_CONTROL_MANAGER will ignore this record because it was already processed as part of an older delta site control file. Solution: Background and basic information about the serial numbers in Config Mgr If the serial number [...]

By |2009-05-11T15:12:33+01:00maj 11th, 2009|General info|5 Comments

FAQs and flowcharts about – Configuration Manager

This post contains some references to the Config Mgr. FAQS, Flow charts etc on Technet. Having access to these information from a single webpage has saved me a lot of time and hopefully it can save you some time as well. I will keep adding information to this post. You are also more than welcome to provide links to other useful resources. Hardware and Performance Configuration Manager 2007: Sample Configurations and Common Performance Questions FAQ Features Software Distribution: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb892803.aspx Discovery: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb892805.aspx Branch Distribution Points: http://blogs.technet.com/wemd_ua_-_sms_writing_team/archive/2008/07/27/faqs-for-branch-distribution-points.aspx Flowchart and Super flows Software Updates: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb932171.aspx Software Updates Super flows: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=d509a9f4-e397-4d0a-89bb-fa3d68b9e8be&DisplayLang=en Other useful links [...]

By |2009-05-09T09:06:12+01:00maj 9th, 2009|General info|Kommentarer lukket til FAQs and flowcharts about – Configuration Manager

Member of the System Center Influencers Program

Today I received a confirmation mail from the System Center Influencers Program. The program is a new initiative from Microsoft launched at MMS 2009. I looks like the program will help “us” in convincing the world about all the great features in Config Mgr. and other System Center products. I really look forward to see what the program has to offer and love to play my part in it. Greetings from the System Center Influencers Program! You have been invited to participate in this program on Microsoft Connect. Program Overview This program gives influencers—user group leads, MVPs, popular bloggers, and [...]

By |2009-05-06T03:39:09+01:00maj 6th, 2009|General info|Kommentarer lukket til Member of the System Center Influencers Program

MMS 2009 – Day 5

Last conference day at MMS is always a short day and this year was no exception. The last sessions I attended this year was: Troubleshooting OSD deployments with Johan Arwidmark. Once again Johan delivered a brilliant presentation as he ran through a operating system deployment while showing the various steps that goes on behind the scene. Configuration Manager 2007 Console Extensions with Greg Ramsey and Matthew Hudson who is also one of the developers behind some of the world famous “Config Mgr. Right Click Tools”. Developing extensions to console in Config Mgr. has changed a lot since SMS 2003. SMS [...]

By |2009-05-02T03:34:01+01:00maj 2nd, 2009|Events|Kommentarer lukket til MMS 2009 – Day 5

MMS 2009 – Day 4 Thursday

The conference started without a keynote so no new program announcements today. For that reason I thought I would start with some facts about the next Config Mgr. SP2. Config Mgr. SP2 Will be released 90 days after Windows 7 New Operating System Support Windows 7 Windows Server 2008 R2 Windows Server 2008 SP2 Windows Vista SP2 New and improved features Out of band management Intel Active Management Technology Integration - Version 2 Wireless Management: Wireless Profile Management (mobile ONLY) End Point Access Control: 802.1x support Persistent Data Storage: Non Volatile Memory or Third Party Data Store (3PDS) Access Monitor: [...]

By |2009-05-01T07:48:13+01:00maj 1st, 2009|Events|Kommentarer lukket til MMS 2009 – Day 4 Thursday