SCCM

Creating a Cloud Distribution Point with Windows Azure and ConfigMgr 2012

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This week I decided to start with Windows Azure. One of the biggest reasons for that, was that I knew that with ConfigMgr 2012 SP1, which is currently still in BETA, it is possible to create a Cloud Distribution Point based on Windows Azure. So that’s what I decided to start with this week. Prerequisites First I started with figuring out how exactly Windows Azure works. It’s actually quit easy to set-up, but after another good look at ConfigMgr 2012 I figured that it’s not even necessary to do anything within Azure. The following things are a prerequisite for creating a Cloud Distribution Point: Create a Windows Azure subscription. Create a certificate for the management of Windows Azure. Add the management certificate to Windows Azure. …

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How to perform an action directly after the task sequence is finished with ConfigMgr 2012

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Last week I already did a post about a new task sequence variable and this week my post will be about another new task sequence variable. This one will probably be used a little less, but can be very useful in some specific situations. Think about situations where an action needs to be performed directly after the task sequence is finished, without impacting the status of the task sequence. In this post I will use a situation where I want the machine to shutdown at the end of the task sequence, as an example. Configuration Just like last week, the configuration is actually very easy and it’s just more about knowing that the task sequence variable exists. This is another new task sequence variable in …

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How to apply the default install.wim of Windows 7 to C:\ with ConfigMgr 2012

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It’s already known that the default install.wim of Windows 8, by default, applies to C:\, but wouldn’t it be great if there was this same functionality for Windows 7? That way there is no need for a Build and Capture task sequence anymore to maintain a thin image. Applying the default image to C:\ in combination with offline servicing of updates will do the trick. Well… I’ve got good news! In this post I will show how to apply the default install.wim of Windows 7 to C:\! Configuration The configuration is actually very easy, it’s more about knowing that it exists. ConfigMgr 2012 SP1, which is currently still in BETA, brings a set of new task sequence variables. One of these variables can be used …

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Using the power of Orchestrator to move a computer to a different OU via ConfigMgr 2012

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The power of Orchestrator 2012 to automate actions is getting bigger and bigger, as the community for it grows and by that the number of Integration Packs (IPs). Of course there are also IPs for ConfigMgr, from both Microsoft itself and the community (via CodePlex). Besides that there wasn’t a real integration between ConfigMgr and Orchestrator, yet, but with MDT 2012 Update 1 a really nice new cool feature was introduced. This feature is the Execute Runbook –step during a Task Sequence. It gives anyone, with or without real programming skills, more robust options during a Task Sequence, as long as an IP exist for the action anyone wants to perform. Just remember, lots of these IPs are created by the community. So deliver useful …

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Managing User Data and Profiles with ConfigMgr 2012

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This week I want to devote a post to something new in ConfigMgr 2012 SP1, which is still in BETA, called User Data and Profiles Configuration Items. These configuration items contain settings that can manage folder redirection, offline files and roaming profiles via ConfigMgr 2012! This means that another Group Policy setting is coming to ConfigMgr. Prerequisites Even though this sounds, to me, really promising for the future of ConfigMgr, there is a small catch. That small catch is the second bullet of the prerequisites, following now: Configuration Manager 2012 Service Pack 1 Windows 8, or Windows Server 2012 Configure Enable User Data and Profiles to Yes in the Compliance Settings, via either Default Client Settings or a Custom Client Device Settings (see picture). Configure …

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Deploying Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 8 with ConfigMgr 2012

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This week I want to devote a post to deploying the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) for Windows 8 using ConfigMgr 2012. Even though the installer is only available as a Windows Update Standalone Installer, in my opinion it should be deployed using the application model in ConfigMgr 2012. This gives me the possibility to show some basics about the manual applications in ConfigMgr 2012 and more specifically, about the Detection Rules and the Requirements. In a step-by-step way I will go through the wizards of creating and deploying an application. During this I will give some extra explanation with the step about the Detection Rule, as it has to be manually created and there are many options for that. RSAT for Windows 8 can …

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Configuring Collection Membership Evaluation in ConfigMgr 2012

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The title for this small post sounds like a huge configuration, but it’s not. It’s just one setting. In this post I will show how to change it and, maybe more important, what it does. In ConfigMgr 2012 every collection has a checkbox Use incremental updates for this collection. This option is to periodically scan for only new or changed resources from the previous collection evaluation and update the collection membership with only these resources. This is what in ConfigMgr 2007 R3 was called Dynamically add new resources. The biggest difference is that now the interval can be configured. Configure To configure the interval navigate to Administration > Overview > Site Configuration > Sites. Now select the Site and click Settings > Configure Site Components …

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Reporting about all the different OS Deployment Versions with ConfigMgr 2012

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One of the biggest challenges with OS Deployment is keeping track of all the different deployments and everything that changed between the deployments. This post will focus on the first part, keeping track of all the different deployments. I will do that by showing a way to write information to the registry, creating a hardware inventory for those registry keys and building a report on the inventory data. For the second part, keeping track of all the changes, take a look at this great post of Maik Koster. Create registry keys The first thing is to create a script that will write information about the deployment to the registry. As a deployment is much more then just the image, we need information about the task …

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Migrating to Windows 8 by using hard-links with ConfigMgr 2012

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After the release of Windows 8 last week we can already start thinking about migrating. When I’m thinking about migrations I always like the computer-refresh scenario’s where we can use hard-links. In this post I will show a basic task sequence to capture user files and settings, either offline or online, with help of hard-links. I already showed the basics of that in an earlier post last year when ConfigMgr 2012 was still in Beta. Since then the Wizard screens have not changed so I will not show that again, but  I will show some more information about what happens. Prerequisites To support migrating to Windows 8 we need ConfigMgr 2012 SP1 (which is currently still CTP) in place with at least the following packages: …

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Add HTA-Support to a Boot Image with ConfigMgr 2012

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With ConfigMgr 2012 lot’s of things got simplified. One of those things is adding extra components to the Boot Images. Before it was possible to add these extra components by either using the MDT integration, or manually running DISM. Now it’s possible to do this from the console! Of course, in the background it’s still DISM that does the action. In this post I will show an example of how to add HTA-Support to a Boot Image with ConfigMgr 2012. Of course the same steps apply to adding any of the optional components to a Boot Image. In the ConfigMgr Console browse to Software Library > Overview > Operating System > Boot Images, right-click a Boot Image and click Properties. In the Properties, select the …

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