Roll Out New Configuration Manager Distribution Point with PowerShell

Here is a quick example how to install new Configuration Manager Distribution Point with PowerShell. As you see we have many options to expand this script. We can install Windows Server features, reboot it remotely, install additional software etc. It all depends how you wanna install and configure it. #Import the Module Import-Module $env:SMS_ADMIN_UI_PATH.Replace("\bin\i386","\bin\configurationmanager.psd1") $SiteCode = Get-PSDrive -PSProvider CMSITE #Change the connection context Set-Location "$($SiteCode.Name):\" #New DP Information $DistributionPoint = 'DP01.4demo4.com' $SiteCode = 'PS1' # Test the connection to server     Test-Connection `         -ComputerName $DistributionPoint # OPTIONAL - Install Windows Server Roles and Features     Install-WindowsFeature `         -Name [...]

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 [...]

Troubleshooting: An error occurred when creating the WSUS Signing Certificate (Secunia)

Lately I have been doing some Secunia integrations with System Center 2012 R2: Configuration Manager (SCCM/ConfigMgr 2012). When you are setting up the connector between Secunia CSI and WSUS one of the first things the wizard is asking you to do is to Configure a WSUS Self-Signed Certificate, the WSUS signing certificate is required to create and install local packages. Without it, only packages from Microsoft Update will be installed. How-ever this time I got this error when trying to 'Automatically create and install certificate'  during the Connector Wizard: An error occurred when creating the WSUS Signing Certificate Now this [...]

By |2015-10-20T20:14:46+01:00oktober 20th, 2015|Configuration Manager (SCCM), Security|1 Kommentar

How to: Create custom SQL- based Reports in System Center 2012 R2: Configuration Manager

A customer asked me  for a “how-to” on how to Create reports in SCCM 2012, so why not share with everyone. This post is not intended to show how to write or design queries, but show you have to create  a report based on a SQL query you might already have. Even-though we are skipping how to write SQL Queries for know, this post is still going to be a bit long. Time for that cup of coffee! First some requirements: You need to have an SQL Server instance for SCCM with SQL Reporting Services running You need to have [...]

Deploying Office 2016 with SCCM 2012

Follow this simple guide to get your Office 2016 deployment up and running with SCCM 2012 R2 First we need to download the Office 2016 Deployment Tool from Microsoft You can find it here Run the tool and install it to a location of your liking, I choose e:\temp\Office 2016 When you look in that folder you'll find a setup.exe and a sample configuration file. Download the content In order to download the Office 2016 installation files, we first need to create a download file So fire up your favorite text editor and enter the following <Configuration> <Add SourcePath="e:\temp\office2016\x64 EN" [...]

By |2015-09-29T23:52:47+01:00september 29th, 2015|Configuration Manager (SCCM)|21 Comments

IT Devconnections Enterprise Mobility and Identity BOF

During the BOF last week @ #ITDevCon i briefly talked about creating a couple of managed apps using PowerShell in ConfigMgr. Below are a few examples, open PowerShell ISE aas administrator and magic happens #Import Module Import-Module $env:SMS_ADMIN_UI_PATH.Replace("\bin\i386","\bin\configurationmanager.psd1") $SiteCode = Get-PSDrive -PSProvider CMSITE Set-Location "$($SiteCode.Name):\" #Create the Word Application New-CMApplication -Name "Word" #To create a iOS deployment type for the application Add-CMDeploymentType -ApplicationName "Word" -AutoIdentifyFromInstallationFile -IosDeepLinkInstaller -DeploymentTypeName "Word iOS" -InstallationFileLocation "https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/microsoft-word/id586447913?mt=8" -ForceForUnknownPublisher $True #Create the OneNote Application New-CMApplication -Name "OneNote" #To create a iOS deployment type for the application Add-CMDeploymentType -ApplicationName "OneNote" -AutoIdentifyFromInstallationFile -IosDeepLinkInstaller -DeploymentTypeName "OneNote iPhone" -InstallationFileLocation "https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/microsoft-onenote-for-iphone/id410395246?mt=8" -ForceForUnknownPublisher [...]

By |2015-09-22T23:54:47+01:00september 22nd, 2015|Configuration Manager (SCCM), Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS), Events|Kommentarer lukket til IT Devconnections Enterprise Mobility and Identity BOF

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 |2015-09-17T18:14:33+01:00september 17th, 2015|Configuration Manager (SCCM), General info, Powershell, Scripting & Development|Kommentarer lukket til Upgrade System Center Configuration Manager Console with PowerShell

Links from the ConfigMgr Visualization session @ SCU in Basel

Standard ConfigMgr reporting -Introducing to reporting in Configuration Manager - https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg682105.aspx -Channel 9 - http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/MMS/2013/UD-B338 Custom reports Add custom code and color scales like Excel - http://blogs.msdn.com/b/bobmeyers/archive/2009/07/31/add-excel-like-color-scale-conditional-formatting-to-your-reports.aspx Power Views and Power Queries Download Power Queries for Excel - http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=39379 Getting started with Power Queries - http://www.databasejournal.com/sqletc/getting-started-with-microsoft-power-query-for-excel.html  - https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Microsoft-Power-Query-for-Excel-Help-2B433A85-DDFB-420B-9CDA-FE0E60B82A94 Download Power View - http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26718 Getting started with Power View - https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh213579(v=sql.110).aspx - http://blogs.msdn.com/b/seanboon/archive/2012/07/30/visualizing-the-olympics-with-power-view-in-excel-2013-day-1.aspx Custom community dashboard Compliance -http://blogs.technet.com/b/gary_simmons_mcs/archive/2014/09/16/system-center-2012-r2-configuration-manager-software-update-compliance-dashboard-part-1.aspx Patch Management - http://blogs.technet.com/b/gary_simmons_mcs/archive/2013/12/09/creating-a-custom-report-for-system-center-2012-r2-configuration-manager-part-1.aspx Client Health - https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/SCCM-Configmgr-2012-SSRS-2863c240 A little of everything - http://blogs.technet.com/b/configmgrdude/archive/2015/01/06/creating-a-simply-dashboard-using-smsprov-log-in-configmgr-2012.aspx Professional dashboards Configuration Manager - http://www.coretech.dk Operations Manager - https://squaredup.com/ - https://www.savision.com/ 

By |2015-08-26T09:42:26+01:00august 26th, 2015|Configuration Manager (SCCM), Events|2 Comments

Cloud App discovery

A new feature in AD premium allows you to gather information about existing SaaS applications in your environment. The feature is called Cloud App Discovery and is part of your AD premium subscription. Here are the steps you need to take in order to get it working. Additional information can be found at Microsoft Technet   In your favorite browser navigate to https://appdiscovery.azure.com/ and click Get Started From the Cloud App Discovery pane click Create Click Settings, Management Agent and click Download – this will download the agent. The agent can be deployed thru Configuration Manager or any other SW [...]

By |2015-08-25T10:49:23+01:00august 25th, 2015|Azure|2 Comments

Deploying WIFI profiles with pre-shared secret to Android devices using ConfigMgr

Today I have spend some time creating and deploying WIFI profiles to Android devices and would like to share my experiences. To get started with Android and WiFi profiles I used this TechNet article https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn705842.aspx is almost correct, but there a few bugs in the XML example (as I see it, authentication and encryption). To get me all the way I combined the knowledge from the article with information from MSDN https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn705842.aspx and finally this super nice Android PSK Generator community tool - http://johnathonb.com/2015/05/intune-android-pre-shared-key-generator/  The Android XML configuration is really easy,just add the WiFI information into the Configurator and click [...]

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 [...]

Quick intro to Configuration Items in ConfigMgr with PowerShell

Configuration Items that I would like to export and import   Here are some command examples that we can use in Configuration Manager 2012 R2 CU4. #Import Module Import-Module $env:SMS_ADMIN_UI_PATH.Replace("\bin\i386","\bin\configurationmanager.psd1") $SiteCode = Get-PSDrive -PSProvider CMSITE Set-Location "$($SiteCode.Name):\" #Get all CIs $ConfigurationItems = Get-CMConfigurationItem #Total CIs $ConfigurationItems.Count #Get CIs only with specific keyword $ConfigurationItems = Get-CMConfigurationItem -Name "*CT - *" -ForceWildcardHandling #CI rules with 'CT - ' keyword - 12 CIs in this example $ConfigurationItems.Count #Export out CIs with 'CT - ' keyword foreach($CI in $ConfigurationItems){ Write-Output -InputObject "Exporting out $($CI.LocalizedDisplayName) CI" Export-CMConfigurationItem -Path "$env:USERPROFILE\Desktop\CI_Rules\$($CI.LocalizedDisplayName).cab" -InputObject $CI } #New CI folder [...]

By |2015-03-16T09:50:54+01:00marts 16th, 2015|Configuration Manager (SCCM), Powershell, Scripting & Development|Kommentarer lukket til Quick intro to Configuration Items in ConfigMgr with PowerShell

System Center 2012 ConfigMgr Dashboard– Because we want you to look smart

Do you know the feeling when it feels like you have lost your head and can’t find the information your need? You start browsing the 468 canned reports and quickly spend a couple of hours still without finding exactly what you need. @ Coretech we know the feeling, but instead of keep being frustrated we decided to do something about it. Our solution is a System Center 2012 dashboard where we can see all the information we need in an easy way. Our dashboard will provide you with information in 3 layers and 3 dimensions….it sounds smart and Yes, it [...]

By |2014-12-16T11:59:32+01:00december 16th, 2014|Configuration Manager (SCCM), General info|4 Comments

Why do my ConfigMgr clients not report having the new CU3 installed?

Recently I had to deploy CU3 to a lot of clients and I ran into a funny issue. After a couple of days I only saw about 10-15% of the clients reporting the new CU3 being installed although my CU3 packages seemed to be running fine and hitting almost 90% of all clients in the organization.   It turned out that our Heartbeat discovery was configured with the default settings which is “run every 7 days”.     The heartbeat discovery data generated on each client is only about 10-12 kb in size and contains information about the client version. [...]

By |2014-11-28T13:27:25+01:00november 28th, 2014|Configuration Manager (SCCM)|1 Kommentar

Links and downloads from SCU 2014 in Basel

Below is a list of the links and scripts that I used in my two sessions today on Compliance Management and Troubleshooting ConfigMgr. Compliance examples – download Configuration Manager Support Center: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=42645 Microsoft System center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager Toolkit: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36213 Optimizing ConfigMgr database: http://stevethompsonmvp.wordpress.com/2013/05/07/optimizing-configmgr-databases/ Background on maintenance task: http://stevethompsonmvp.wordpress.com/2013/04/19/how-to-determine-if-the-configmgr-rebuild-indexes-site-maintenance-task-is-running/ Configuring SQL Backup and recovery, includes link to demo: http://stevethompsonmvp.wordpress.com/2014/02/24/configmgr-2012-site-backup-and-recovery-overview/ Autmating the WSUS Cleanup process https://blog.ctglobalservices.com/kea/house-of-cardsthe-configmgr-software-update-point-and-wsus/ SQL PowerShell audit script http://stevethompsonmvp.wordpress.com/2014/05/19/powershell-sql-audit-script/ Splitting existing ConfigMgr database into multiple SQL files http://myitforum.com/cs2/blogs/jnelson/archive/2009/07/27/140199.aspx Pre-creating the database before installing Configmgr – download script SQL Script to for fragmentation on the SQL DB   Checking [...]

By |2014-09-19T18:30:27+01:00september 19th, 2014|Configuration Manager (SCCM), General info|4 Comments

ConfigMgr 2012 Evaluation version expired

So what actually happens when an evaluation version expires? You will notice a few things, like the ConfigMgr administrator console very clearly tells you it expired. As you can see from above you will still be able to open the console but only with Read permisions. Trying to perform actions via PowerShell will give you an error saying that you don’t have the proper permissions: Looking in the SMS provider log file (smsprov.log) you will also see errors indicating the lack of permissions. You will also notice that both the SMS Executive Service and Site Component Manager service is not [...]

By |2014-09-01T13:44:46+01:00september 1st, 2014|Configuration Manager (SCCM), General info|3 Comments

Follow up questions from my 3rd party software update webinar

As promised here are the follow up questions we didn’t time to cover during the 60 min webinar - https://www.brighttalk.com/webcast/8113/116381 Q & A from the webinar Q1 When you have applied an update for Flash e.g., how do you repair that version if the application gets broken? Repair so it reverts back to "old" version or can the updated version be repaired?A1 Traditionally you are deploying the applications from ConfigMgr and the updates thru CSI. Unless you update the application/package in ConfigMgr then you have to install the old version and upgrade it again. Another option is to republish the [...]

By |2014-08-21T16:32:01+01:00august 21st, 2014|Configuration Manager (SCCM)|Kommentarer lukket til Follow up questions from my 3rd party software update webinar

How to change Configuration Manager Hardware Inventory Schedule Client Setting

Today I tried to modify Hardware Inventory Schedule client setting and it didn't work. First I thought that I did something wrong or the cmdlet is broken. Here is the cmdlet Verbose output Then I thought that, lets disable the HW client setting and then enable the HW client setting with correct schedule and Bingo it worked correctly. #Step 1 $ClientSettingsName = 'HW Settings' Set-CMClientSetting -Name $ClientSettingsName -EnableHardwareInventory $false -Verbose -Debug #Step 2 $CMWeeklySchedule = New-CMSchedule -RecurCount 1 -RecurInterval Hours Set-CMClientSetting -InventorySchedule $CMWeeklySchedule -Name $ClientSettingsName -EnableHardwareInventory $True -Verbose -Debug If you compare the verbose outputs, then you will see the [...]

How to add Configuration Manager Distribution Point Remotely with PowerShell

If you are trying to add a Configuration Manager Distribution Point remotely you may end up with issue: WARNING: The self-signed certificate could not be created successfully Validation of input parameters failed. Cannot Continue Code example Invoke-Command -ScriptBlock { #Step 1 Import-Module $env:SMS_ADMIN_UI_PATH.Replace("\bin\i386","\bin\configurationmanager.psd1") #Step 2 $SiteCode = Get-PSDrive -PSProvider CMSITE #Step 3 Set-Location "$($SiteCode.Name):\" #Step 4 Add-CMDistributionPoint -SiteSystemServerName TestServer.corp.viamonstra.com -SiteCode $SiteCode.Name ` -ClientConnectionType Intranet -MinimumFreeSpaceMB 50 -PrimaryContentLibraryLocation Automatic ` -SecondaryContentLibraryLocation Automatic -PrimaryPackageShareLocation Automatic -EnablePxeSupport ` -SecondaryPackageShareLocation Automatic -CertificateExpirationTimeUtc ((Get-Date).AddYears(100)) -ErrorAction STOP } -ComputerName CM01.corp.viamonstra.com If you take same code and run it locally on your Primary Site Server, then it [...]

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

By |2013-10-15T14:50:00+01:00oktober 15th, 2013|Configuration Manager (SCCM), General info, Tools|12 Comments

Can you combine Get-WmiObject with ConfigMgr cmdlets? Yes, you can

Last week I discovered that you can create a Refresh Schedule with New-CMSchedule cmdlet and then you can easily use that object with Get-WmiObject cmdlet to query and modify for example Device Collection Refresh Schedule. Import-Module $env:SMS_ADMIN_UI_PATH.Replace("\bin\i386","\bin\configurationmanager.psd1") $SiteCode = Get-PSDrive -PSProvider CMSITE Set-Location "$($SiteCode.Name):\" $Schedule = New-CMSchedule -RecurCount 2 -RecurInterval Days $Collection = Get-WmiObject -Namespace "Root\SMS\Site_PS1" -Class SMS_Collection -Filter "Name='Windows 8.1 OSD'" $Collection.RefreshType = 2 $Collection.RefreshSchedule = $Schedule.psbase.ManagedObject $Collection.Put() You can create the Device Collection with correct Refresh Schedule but Set-CMDeviceCollection cmdlet does not allow to change the Refresh Schedule. $Schedule = New-CMSchedule -RecurCount 2 -RecurInterval Days New-CMDeviceCollection -Name "Windows [...]

By |2013-10-14T10:28:47+01:00oktober 14th, 2013|Configuration Manager (SCCM), Powershell, Scripting & Development|Kommentarer lukket til Can you combine Get-WmiObject with ConfigMgr cmdlets? Yes, you can

PoshCAT 0.2 version released

I just published PoshCAT 0.2 version and the changes are as follows: · New Client Actions o Desired Configuration Manager Cycle o Application Machine Policy Cycle o Application Global Evaluation Cycle o Install ConfigMgr Client o Get App-V Client Packages o Get App-V Client Configuration o Get App-V Client Version o Enable App-V Client Package Scripts o Get ConfigMgr Client Available Applications o Get Applied Group Policies o Refresh Group Policies o Get Free Disk Space · Alternate Credentials Support – you can specify only one account · Active Directory Connector · Better error handling · Separate folder for reports [...]

Building PoshCAT Part 3 – Enabling PowerShell Remoting through Group Policy for PoshCAT

You may want to read these posts before: · How to install PoshCAT · Building PoshCAT Part 1 – Create different Client Actions lists · Building PoshCAT Part 2 – Adding your own custom functions One of the most important thing you need to know before you start using PoshCAT is that it relies on PowerShell remoting. If you don’t configure PowerShell remoting on your computers, then the Client Actions will fail. In this post I will show how you can enable PowerShell remoting through Group Policy but you can also configure it manually. To enable PowerShell remoting manually you [...]

Building PoshCAT Part 2 – Adding your own custom functions

Last week I showed how you can create different Client Actions lists for different support groups in your organization and in this post I will show how you can add/create your own custom functions for PoshCAT So let’s assume that you would like to query applied Computer Group Policy objects. If you want that your custom function returns some kind of information, then it must return PSObject. Here is the function that I use in this example. This function queries only applied/enabled policies 1 Function Get-ComputerAppliedPolicies 2 { 3 $GPOPolicies = @() 4 $GPOQuery = Get-WmiObject -Namespace "ROOT\RSOP\Computer" -Class RSOP_GPLink [...]