February 2009 - Posts
USMT version 3, no longer migrates printers in Windows XP by default. USMT 2.6 did do this type of migration. In order to migrate printer and network drives, you need to create a custom.xml file.
Here is an example of the information you need. Remember that your http line needs to contain the filename at the end, so in this case the file would be custom.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<migration urlid=http://www.microsoft.com/migration/1.0/migxmlext/custom>
<!-- This component migrates the printers and network drives -->
<component type="System">
<displayName>Printers and Network Drives</displayName>
<role role="Settings">
<rules context="UserAndSystem">
<include>
<objectSet>
<pattern type="Registry">HKCU\Printers\* {*}</pattern>
<pattern type="Registry">HKCU\Network\* {*}</pattern>
</objectSet>
</include>
</rules>
</role>
</component>
</migration>
(make sure to change { to [, } to ] formatting issue)
Here is a link to the tools Wiki on MyITForum, lots of great tools for SMS 2003. I use most of these tools everyday to do my job, as most of them make daily tasks easier to accomplish. Definitely make sure to check out Client Center.
http://www.myitforum.com/myITWiki/SMS2003ToolsUtils.ashx
Another thing I’ve been working on lately is creating a group policy that controls the performance settings and visual effects of Windows XP. I have most of the registry settings identified that I needed to tweak and I’m controlling the settings through Group Policy using Policymaker. Finding Policymaker these days is difficult from what I’ve seen. Policymaker allows you to control virtually any registry setting through Group Policy without having to create a custom adm template, which I hate doing. One thing to note is that these settings are user based, not computer based. Sadly. I will say that I’ve had some interesting results controlling these settings through a GPO, but it does seem to work, most of the time :)
Here are the majority of settings:
[HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VisualEffects]
;0 = Let Windows choose what's best for my computer
;1 = Adjust for best appearance
;2 = Adjust for best performance
;3 = Custom
"VisualFXSetting"=dword:00000003
[HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ThemeManager]
;Use visual styles on windows and buttons (0=off 1=on)
"ThemeActive"="1"
[HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
;Use common tasks in folders (0=off 1=on)
"WebView"=dword:00000001
;Show translucent selection rectangle (0=off 1=on)
"ListviewAlphaSelect"=dword:00000001
;Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop (0=off 1=on)
"ListviewShadow"=dword:00000001
;Use a background image for each folder type (0=off 1=on)
"ListviewWatermark"=dword:00000001
;Slide taskbar buttons (0=off 1=on)
"TaskbarAnimations"=dword:00000001
[HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics]
;Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing (0=off 1=on)
"MinAnimate"="1"
[HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop]
;Show window contents while dragging (0=off 1=on)
"DragFullWindows"="1"
;Smooth edges of screen fonts (0=off 2=on)
"FontSmoothing"="2"
;Smooth scroll list boxes
;Slide open combo boxes
;Fade or slide menus into view
;Show shadows under mouse pointer
;Fade or slide tooltips into view
;Fade out menu items after clicking
;Show shadows under menus
;(All off = 90,12,01,80 All on = 9e,3e,05,80)
"UserPreferencesMask"=hex:9e,3e,05,80
“UserPreferencesMask” Is tricky because it’s a combination of all the settings, depending on what you pick, you will create a different hex. I don’t have all the various hex’s identified and this is the one setting I’ve had the most trouble tweaking.
Here is a screenshot of PolicyMaker controlling the settings in the GPO:
Policymaker allows you to set how you want to handle the registry keys, which is nice. (Create, Replace, Update, Delete)
One of the things I’ve always hated about media player is the validation and first time configuration that new users have to go through to launch it. Here are the registry settings you need to set in order to “pre-configure” media player. Once you set these settings through a GPO, then media player will open upon the first launch. This will work whether you have MP in your image or if you have an administrative install you are pushing down after the fact.
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\Preferences]
"AcceptedEULA"=dword:00000001
"FirstTime"=dword:00000001
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsMediaPlayer]
"GroupPrivacyAcceptance"=dword:00000001
I’ve seen this issue show up a on a few refreshes if the users have custom add-ins to excel. Not sure of the exact cause per-say and how to avoid it quite yet, but at least it’s a simple issue to resolve. If the users are getting a “c:\program.xls” cannot be found, followed by a bunch of other excel errors, then you need to go to the HKCU registry and modify a few things. If you look at the errors you’ll see what is going on, basically the path is getting cut off and producing multiple errors.
Here are some examples:
One solution that works is to do a detect and repair in office and discard any settings. this will “kill” any add-ins and thus resolve the issue. However, rather than resetting office settings, here is a solution for this error and similar errors… this way you fix the issue without losing user data…
Open regedit.exe and go to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\E xcel\Options
For each Addin that has a Name of "OPEN#"; for example, OPEN, OPEN1, OPENn. You will want to make sure the Addin’s have double quotes ("") around the Addin path.
Once you do that, open excel again, and the errors should be gone.
-Chris