Niall C. Brady at myITforum.com

Configuration Manager 2012 Survival Guide

nbrady — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 20:32:00 GMT

Microsoft have created a WIKI with some great content for Configuration Manager 2012, featuring videos, blogs, links, step-by-step Guides and more, check it out, and contribute if you can :-)

System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Survival Guide

How can I verify the CacheExpire timeout value on my PXE Service Point

nbrady — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:06:00 GMT

if you are getting the abortpxe.com error message you might want to adjust the CacheExpire value in the registry as detailed in the following post. A quick glance in the registry will reveal the value but you can also check what value is being used by examining the SMSPXE.log file and search for CacheExpire in the Log. Note that if you have several PXE Service Points (Configuration Manager hierarchy) that you'll need to make the change on each PSP that you want the CacheExpire value set to. Below is a sample of the CacheExpire value via a SMSPXE.log file:-

Loaded PXE settings from reg key HKLM\Software\Microsoft\SMS\PXE:
PXE Settings:
    IsActive: Yes
    SupportUnknownMachines: Yes
    MACIgnoreListFile: <empty>
    ResponseDelay: 0
    CacheExpire: 300
    HTTP Port: 8530
    HTTPS Port: 443
    IISSSLState: 0x0
    BindPolicy: Exclude <empty>
    TRK: <non empty>
    SiteSignCert: <empty>
    Root CA Certs: <empty>
    PXE GUID: 653697fc-53e6-4c32-9552-bfd5a1835623
    PXEPassword: <non empty>

The CacheExpire value above is set to 300 seconds, or five minutes. If your value is listed as 0 or 3600 then it's at the default setting of one hour, make your change in the registry and restart the Windows Deployment Service to see the change take effect. During testing you can set the value of the CacheExpire key to 60 (60 seconds = 1 minute). This will minimize PXE booting issues being caused by the SMS PXE cache. The default of the CacheExpire key is either 0 or 3600, both which are 3600 seconds (1 hour). After testing is complete, the value of this registry setting will need to be determined based on environmental conditions.

Note that each time WDS and the PXE Service Point is reinstalled the value of this key is reset back to 0.

For more info see: ConfigMgr 2007: Troubleshooting PXE Service Point Issues and WDS service not starting

using SCCM 2012 RC in a LAB - Part 14. Performing a side-by-side Migration from Configuration Manager 2007

nbrady — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 19:39:00 GMT

Some key points about migration.

Before you migrate any data from Configuration Manager 2007, you must first install and configure the System Center 2012 Configuration Manager hierarchy. You should not try to recreate or mirror your hierarchy from the source to the destination. Plan to only migrate what you need in the new hierarchy and focus on the new features and design of Configuration Manager 2012.

You cannot upgrade from SMS 2003 to Configuration Manager 2012, the only supported method is to migrate from SMS 2003 to Configuration Manager 2007 (in-place or side-by-side) and then perform a side-by-side migration to Configuration Manager 2012. Or, you could call it a day on SMS 2003 and start fresh with Configuration Manager 2012.

You cannot do an in-place upgrade from Configuration Manager 2007 to Configuration Manager 2012. If you want to migrate your data and objects from Configuration Manager 2007 to Configuration Manager 2012 then you have to perform a side-by-side migration.

Your source hierarchy (Configuration Manager 2007) must be at Service Pack 2 level.

You must specify the top level site of your source heirarchy (Configuration Manager 2007).

When System Center 2012 Configuration Manager gathers data, the following network protocols and ports are used: NetBIOS/SMB – 445 (TCP), RPC (WMI) - 135 (TCP), SQL Server - 1433 (TCP). As a result, ensure that they are not blocked between your source and destination servers.

To perform the migration, the account used in Configuration Manager 2012 console must be a member of the Full Administrator security role. This security role grants permissions to manage all migration operations, which includes the creation of migration jobs, cleaning up, monitoring, and the action to share and upgrade distribution points.

If you have mixed collections containing users and computers in Configuration Manager 2007, separate them into separate collections prior to the migration.

Site codes must be unique. You cannot re-use site codes from a source hierarchy (Configuration Manager 2007) to the destination hierarchy (Configuration Manager 2012).

When you migrate content, it is the compressed source files that migrate to System Center 2012 Configuration Manager.

We can migrate the following: Collections, Advertisements, Boundaries, Software distribution packages, Virtual application packages,Software Updates, Operating System Deployment, Desired Configuration Management, Asset Intelligence, Software metering rules.

Ok now that we are aware of the above, and after reviewing the pages on Technet for best practise advice, let's do a simple migration in our LAB. This LAB has a Configuration Manager 2007 server configured with a separate boundary from our Configuration Manager 2012 site boundaries. Both sites are within the same AD Forest. Both sites are standalone primaries. For this LAB we will migrate some Software Update items. Before doing so let's take a very quick look at what the software updates collection structure looks like in our Configuration Manager 2007 site.

Step 1. Specify Source Hierarchy
Perform the following on your Configuration Manager 2012 server as SMSadmin.

In the Administration workspace, expand Overview and select Migration, as we havn't migrated anything yet it's going to look pretty bland.

We need to specify the source hierarchy in order to establish a connection between the source (CM07) and destination (CM12) servers, so click on Specify Source Hierarchy in the ribbon.

when the wizard appears we need to specify the Top-Level Configuration Manager 2007 site server. So fill in those details.

Next we need to specify the Source site account to use to access the SMS Provider for that site server. The account needs read permissions on all source site objects. In our LAB we will specify the CM07Admin account which was the same account used to install that site server. So click on the Set drop down menu and select New Account.

Input your account credentials and click on Verify

Click on Test connection

make sure you see a successful connection before proceeding.

We will use the same account as the source site SMS provider account, so click on OK to exit this wizard.

after clicking ok you'll see a window informing you that it is gathering data from the source site

a few minutes later and it's done, close that window.

at this point we can now see that our migration summary window has populated with some information.

Note: You can start and stop the data gathering process by using the Gather Data Now, and Stop Gathering Data actions in the Configuration Manager console.

Step 2. Create a migration job
Perform the following on your Configuration Manager 2012 server as SMSadmin.

In the ribbon click on Create Migration Job

When the Migration Job wizard appears give it a name that is descriptive of what we are planning on migrating. Notice that in the drop down menu for Job Type we have three choices

Collection Migration
Object Migration
Objects modified after migration

In this case we are going to migrate collections, so we will name this migration job as follows:- Migrate Software Update Management Collections

Click next and a list of collections that can be migrated to Configuration Manager 2012 are displayed. As we are only interested in migrating our Software Update collections, let's select them. If you have advertisements associated with these collections (Deployment Management Tasks) then they will be migrated also if you select Migrate objects that are associated with the specified collections.

next we get to select objects that we want to migrate. Look through what is highlighted and decide if you really want to migrate it or not, this is a LAB so we'll let everything stay selected.

for Content ownership, specify which site in your Configuration Manager 2012 hierarchy will be the designated owner of the content, in our LAB we have standalone primaries so just click next.

next you can specify the Security Scope to be applied to the migrated objects, select the Default option. (I will return to Security Scopes in a separate Part).

if any collections need to be limited to All Systems or All Users then they'll appear here, we are ok so lets proceed.

On the Site Code Replacement screen you may see collections that are based on Queries that are limited to Site codes, we don't have any in this LAB so nothing appears, but if you have any queries like this in your LAB then you'll see those collections listed here. What it's telling you is that you'll have to edit the queries to point to the new site code.

and now you get to review the information, you can save it to a file (recommended) which is a plain text file that lists things that you should be aware of. Save the file, read it. Action it.

Next you can decide to run the migration job now (default) or schedule it until later. We want to migrate now so let's do that. Note that we don't want any new deployments being enabled after an advertisement is migrated so verify that setting is not selected (by default it is not selected). This will mean that you have to manually enable the deployments in Configuration Manager 2012, but that's ok isn't it.

click next at the summary and let the wizard do its work...then review the confirmation screen

Step 3. Monitor your migration job and resolve issues found.
Perform the following on your Configuration Manager 2012 server as SMSadmin.

In the console click on Migration Jobs and you'll see the status of our newly created migration job, in the screenshot below it is still running.

After a while it should complete, note that the status in our LAB says Failed. Before we find out why, let's review the information that the job shows us in the summary, in particular let's review the Object Migration Progress. We can see that it has migrated 2 objects, 7 failed and 3 were skipped.

Click on the Objects in Job tab to get specific information about the status of migration.

The objects that are skipped are empty collections (empty collections are NOT migrated). The failed objects are more interesting and you can select each object that has failed and read its corresponding message (by scrolling to the right) to find out what you need to do to fix it.

for example, the following message appears on one of the objects:-

Quote

The destination site has not yet synchronized the software update with UniqueID 5f8a1117-.....required for migration of the software update package. Ensure the software update point has been configured and the software updates are synchronized at the destination site.

Great, now we know what's wrong and how to fix it.

The message in this example is telling us that the products synched are not matching on the destination (it doesn't understand how to deal with them) so let's verify how our Products are configured on both sites, CM07 on the left, CM12 on the right, see the difference ?

They should both be identical prior to running the Migration Job, this is an important lesson for you :-)

So correct the problem, do a Software update sync on CM12 and run your migration job again. Repeat this process for each failed message until all messages have been actioned upon. Note that you will most likely have to go and Gather Data again particularly if the logs/messages tell you to do so. But once you've resolved the problems your migration should complete as per the screenshot below.

and here's what did get migrated, I may go into further details about migrations in a later post, notice the migrated Advertisments become Deployments.

another view in Software Library, Software Updates

don't forget to enable any Deployments that you want enabled

Finally, you can review the Migration Summary screen to get an overview of your total Migration Progress (you'll need to create more migration jobs to get the other objects if you want them

Troubleshooting note

You can review the migctrl.log and smsprov.log log files for more information about problems with your migration see screenshot below. They will give you more information about what is going on behind the scenes.

The original post is here on windows-noob.com.

using SCCM 2012 RC in a LAB - Part 13. using Role Based Administration to define permissions in the ConfigMgr Console

nbrady — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:06:00 GMT

Sites are no longer administrative boundaries. They were with Configuration Manager 2007.
You create administrative users for the hierarchy and assign security to them one time only.
You create content for the hierarchy and assign security to that content one time only.
All security assignments are replicated and available throughout the hierarchy.
There are built-in security roles to assign the typical administration tasks and you can create your own custom security roles.
Administrative users see only the objects that they have permissions to manage.
You can audit administrative security actions

What roles are included ?

The following 14 built in security roles are included:-

Operations Administrator
Full Administrator
Infrastructure Administrator
Security Administrator
Software Update Manager
Read-Only Analyst
Remote Tools Operator
Operating System Deployment Manager
Application Deployment Manager
Application Author
Application Administrator
Asset Manager
Endpoint Protection Manager
Compliance Settings Manager

Step 2. Implementing a custom security role.
Perform the following on your Configuration Manager 2012 server as SMSadmin.

In the ConfigMgr console, click on Administration and expand Security, click on Security Roles. The 14 built-in roles appear.

We want to create a custom security role to allow users assigned to that role to read Software Update Reports. As there is no option to create a blank new role, we must use the Copy function to create our new security role. Select the built-in Software Updates Manager role, right click and choose Copy.

When the Copy Security Role wizard appears, give the new role a name based on the function, you can name the new role as follows:- SUM Reports Reader it's also a good idea to fill in a Description of the role as per the screenshot below, notice all the predefined permissions assigned to the Software Updates Manager role appear selected in the Permissions pane. We will edit these to only leave those permissions that are required to run reports.

using the Customize the permissions for this copy of the security role, expand any permission not required and change it from YES to NO (you can double click on each one to change). For example, expand the Alerts permissions and set them all to NO as none of these permissions is required to read reports.

Configure the Permissions so the only the following are set to Yes

Site: Read

Software Updates: Read, Run Report

Click OK when done, the custom SUM Reports Reader role now appears in your console.

Step 3. Create a Global Security Group in Active Directory
Perform the following on your Active Directory Domain Controller server as Domain Administrator.

Now that we have created our custom security role, we want to assign users to that role. In Active Directory Users and Computers create a new Global Security Group called Software Updates Management Report Readers as per the screenshot below.

To create a new global security group, right click on Users, select New, Group.

Add some users to that group by selecting those users and right-clicking, choose Add to a Group

when the Select Groups wizard appears, type in the name of our security group and click on Check Names, click ok when done.

you've now added some users to the Active Directory security group called Software Updates Management Report Readers.

Step 4. Assign the Active Directory Security Group to our custom role
Perform the following on your Configuration Manager 2012 server as SMSadmin.

In the Administration pane, expand security and select Administrative Users.

In the ribbon click on Add User or Group

when the Add User or Group wizard appears select browse and search for our previously created Active Directory Security Group, type in Software Updates Management Report Readers and click ok

next we need to assign this group with our custom role, so select Add to add security roles, scroll through the list of roles and select our custom role: SUM Reports Reader as per the screenshot below

Click OK when done (leave the Assigned security scopes and collections as they are)

Our active directory security group is now assigned the custom SUM Reports Reader security role.

Step 5. Verify the custom role has the permissions we need
Perform the following on your Configuration Manager 2012 server as a member of the Software Updates Management Report Readers active directory security group.

We will now test our new custom role by starting the Configuration Manager console as a user which is a member of the previously created active directory security group. To do this right click on the Configuration Manager console icon in the system tray and hold down the shift key, then right click again (while holding down shift) on the new configuration manager console icon so that we can get a context based menu option called Run as Different User.

when the security credentials window appears, type in the credentials of a domain user that you have previously added to the Software Updates Management Report Readers active directory security group, click ok when done.

After a while, the Configuration Manager console will appear as it would if started by that user and you can immediatly see that it looks different, only the bits that are relevant to this user running Software Update reports are displayed in the console.

When you add (or remove) permissions from the role, this view will change however you should close and re-open the console to see the new view with the credentials of your desired user. We have already defined our permissions so lets select Monitoring and expand Reporting and then select Reports. Notice how only 48 software update related reports appear (in comparison to the 445 or so reports that a member of the Full Administrator security role would be able to view).

and below is what a Full Administrator would see in the same Reports pane

The difference in the number and type of reports available and what you can do/see in the Configuration Manager console is governed by Role Based Administration, cool huh ?

The original post is here on windows-noob.com

Two New Endpoint Protection Reports added to Configuration Manager 2012 RC2

nbrady — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:13:00 GMT

Up until recently, Endpoint Protection came with 4 built-in reports in Configuration Manager 2012.

AntiMalware Activity Report
Computer Malware Details
Top Users By Threats
User Threat List

As of RC2 there are now six built-in reports

AntiMalware Activity Report
Computer Malware Details
Top Users By Threats
User Threat List
Infected Computers
Dashboard

so what are the new reports about ? The fist new Endpoint Protection report shows a nice list of Infected Computers in a timeframe that you can select, you can verify what type of remediation was done via drop down menu and even search by Threat Name (see below).

Next we have the Dashboard Report, this report shows lots of nice graphs to give you a graphical view of overall Endpoint Protection status in the collection you selected, malware remediation status, Operation Status of Endpoint Protection clients, Definiton status on Computers (see below)

In other words, this report shows summaries of what you can see in the In-console monitoring Endpoint Protection Dashboard in the Monitoring node of the ConfigMgr Console.

all in all, very cool stuff, if you havn't yet started experimenting with Endpoint Protection in Configuration Manager 2012 then get started, it's a Blast !!

Troubleshooting USMT

nbrady — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:16:00 GMT

another quick post, if you are trying to troubleshoot USMT and want finer details about what is migrated (or not) then you should of course enable Verbose logging using /v:13

in addition, you can enable a Diagnostic mode by setting a variable called MIG_ENABLE_DIAG to be equal to a filename both on your Scanstate source and Loadstate Destination. To set MIG_ENABLE_DIAG as a system variable do as follows,

open a command prompt, and type set MIG_ENABLE_DIAG=<filename path>, eg:

set MIG_ENABLE_DIAG=C:\Windows\TEMP\MIG_DIAG.LOG

perform your scanstate or loadstate commands
review the newly created log in C:\Windows\TEMP

the resulting log file contains details about mappings, patterns, group names, and a whole lot more and is granular in detail, so if you want to find out why your custom USMT xml files are not doing what you told them to then enable this option and review the new log.

Note: make sure there is no space in between MIG_ENABLE_DIAG and the = sign.

Additonal note: you MUST set the verbosity level to /v:13 as otherwise it will not use the variable above and it will also not even mention the MIG_ENABLE_DIAG variable in scanstate.log, and as a result, no mig_diag.log will appear in your target folder.

cheers

niall

Related reading: USMT Log files, Technet - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd560780%28WS.10%29.aspx

When doing BitLocker, make sure your bios is up to date

nbrady — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 20:56:00 GMT

this is a very quick post as a reminder, if you are doing any BitLocker deployments it's a good idea to update the bios of your target computers prior to doing BitLocker operations,

while testing out my own BitLocker HTA I noticed an odd problem while doing a Refresh from Windows 7 BitLockered to Windows 7 BitLockered, even though in my previous testing things were working fine now on this laptop i was seeing an error I never saw before

"bitlocker drive encryption - the tbs service is not running and could not be started"

As a result of that error, BitLocker could not be enabled via a script which caused problems in my task sequence, the target hardware was a Dell Latitude E4200 with Bios version A08, I upgraded the same computer to bios A22 and the problem magically disappeared, here's a post via Technet to give you some ideas of updating the bios on Dell's via a task sequence

ok that's all for now

cheers

niall

Introducing: The BitLocker Frontend HTA

nbrady — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 23:03:00 GMT

The next logical step for the windows-noob.com FrontEnd HTA which I released back in April 2011 was to add support for BitLocker, and I've added it along with some bugfixes, a new clean look, and some new functionality.

What does it do ?

first of all what does this HTA do ? it allows you to PXE boot into Windows PE (yes, PE) and do three types of common scenarios for migrating your computers to Windows 7 with BitLocker.

backup old computer (full WIM backup locally, full wim backup to network, chkdsk, offline scanstate to Network folder
reinstall computer (reinstalls/refreshes Windows 7 on an Windows XP or Windows 7 computer and supports the following scenarios: where BL=BitLockered and UBL=Not BitLockered

XP>7 BL
XP>7 UBL
7BL>7UBL
7UBL>7BL
7BL>7BL
7UBL>7UBL

New Computer (new installation of Windows 7 with or without BitLocker).

In addition to the above you can do the following:-

computer associations in WinPE
auto-computername (using Michael Niehaus RIS style naming web service)
select a language to install during New Computer deployment
select regional settings during New Computer deployment
see the current computername and change it
Input a username and that user becomes the local administrator
show info relating to Computername, computername in SCCM, Serial Number, Model, IP address, Mac Address, UUID, Client Identity (GUID), Assigned Site Code, Resource known/unknown, Resource ID
supports SMP backup in addition to full wim local, full wim network, and offline mode in WinPE
detects if the hardware is Lenovo or Dell and has driver steps included for some common models (you have to download the driver packages yourself however)
detects and interogates the TPM/Bios on Dell and Lenovo hardware to prepare it for BitLocker
if no TPM found it disables the BitLocker Capability in the HTA
if virtual hardware detected, it disables BitLocker capability (however you can enable this just for testing)
has the ability to Notfiy the end user if the task sequence was successful or unsuccessful
creates a REG key to add succesful task sequence, creates a text file in c:\ to demonstrate successful task sequence

cool, yep, very cool.

Requirements:-

This is not for the faint hearted, you'll need to have the following working before attempting this:-

For the reinstall BitLockered computer scenario we need to get our BitLocker recovery key from an MBAM database described here
A good understanding of BitLocker, here's some guides i've written about it
MDT 2010 update 1 integrated with ConfigMgr Maik Kosters Web Services 7.2 installed - quick quide here
SCCM 2007 SP2 R2 or later
Implement Offline scanstate in WinPE as shown here
Install Language packs Offline using SCCM 2007 sp2

ok enough already give it to me !

Download the ZIP

here it is, download this and import the task sequence XML file, copy the WNB and BitLocker folders as sub-directories of a newly created MDT Files package. Update your MDT Files package and get started

The BitLocker HTA.zip (1.68MB)
Number of downloads: 1

Show me some screenshots

here's some screenshots:-

The Backup computer screen

The Reinstall Computer screen with BitLocker checkbox enabled

The New Computer Screen with the BitLocker checkbox unchecked

Show Info Screen

I'll post bugfixes and known issues shortly as they roll in, if you are in any way struggling with this then read the windows-noob.com Frontend HTA guide here please as it explains how to get this all working.

cheers !

niall.

original post here on windows-noob.com

Configuration Manager 2012 Guides

nbrady — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 20:57:00 GMT

Aside from the guides which you can find here on my blog I've put together an index of all the guides i've written so far for Configuration Manager 2012, this will make it easy for you to follow my lab guides with step by step instructions to get you up and running fast.

The index is available here and so far covers the following releases:- Beta 1, Beta 2, Release Candidate

enjoy !

cheers

niall

using SCCM 2012 RC in a LAB - Part 12. Updating an Operating System image using Offline Servicing.

nbrady — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 12:14:00 GMT

Microsoft Windows Vista SP2 and later
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 SP2 and later
Microsoft Windows 7 RTM
Microsoft Windows 2008 R2

DISM is used to inject the updates - Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM )

Note: At the launch of ConfigMgr 2012 Beta 2 Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 are not supported. They will be supported with Configuration Manager 2012 RTM.

Step 1. Review our current Captured WIM file.

Perform the following on your SCCM 2012 server as SMSadmin.

In the ConfigMgr console, expand the Software Library and then expand Operating Systems, select Operating System Images. This will contain our previously captured Windows 7 X64 WIM image. Select our Windows 7 X64 WIM image and note the four tabs which appear.

Click on the Update Status tab. This tab will list any updates that have been added to our image via Offline Servicing, we haven't completed any Offline Servicing on our WIM image yet so for this reason it will appear empty.

Note: Even though our Captured image has updates installed in it already, unfortunately the Update Status tab will not list udpates that are in the captured image unless those updates that have been added via Offline Servicing after the WIM image was added to ConfigMgr.

Step 2. Perform a Software Update Point Synchronization

Perform the following on your SCCM 2012 server as SMSadmin.

Before we perform Offline Servicing, we want to make sure we have the latest updates Synced. In Software Updates, All Software Updates. In the Ribbon, click on Synchronize Software Updates.

answer Yes to the Sync request

while it's syncing, using CMTrace, monitor the WsyncMgr.log file found in D:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\Logs, look for the Sync Suceeded line to be sure it's finished. If you have synced recently it will be quick.

Step 3. Start Offline Servicing

Perform the following on your SCCM 2012 server as SMSadmin.

Select our Captured Windows 7 X64 image and click on Schedule Updates in the ribbon

The Update Operating System Image Wizard appears, note that it automatically selects the architecture of your image (X64) and you can list all the updates it has found available to this Operating System. If you want you can sort by any of the column headings, for example click on Bulletin ID to see what are the latest Bulletin ID's being made available to Offline Servicing.

click next, and you are presented with the Set Schedule screen, this is great for ConfigMgr admins as it means you can decide when your server will do the Offline Servicing work (disk intensive) so for example you could schedule it to occur on Saturday evening when everyone is home. If you want to set a schedule click on Custom Schedule, however as we are in a LAB we will choose As soon as possible.

Note: Injecting updates into the WIM images offline is disk intensive so you should not perform this operation except when the server is 'at rest'. Also allow for free space on your Configmgr Server drive as the WIM image will be duplicated (backup copy created) during this process.

you'll be presented with a summary of Updates offered to the Offline Servicing Process

click next to continue and review the completion screen, the wizard is quick, the injection however takes time as you will see.

Step 4. Monitor the Progress with the OfflineServicingMgr.log file

Perform the following on your SCCM 2012 server as SMSadmin.

ConfigMgr 2012 introduced some new logs one of which is the OfflineServicingMgr.log file, open it in CMTrace so that we can monitor the progress of our Offline Servicing. You will note it mentions copying our current WIM image to a temporary folder called ConfigMgr_OfflineImageServicing, and it's at this point your ConfigMgr server will become slower to use (especially in a LAB as typically your hardware isn't that fast in a LAB and this is very disk intensive).

if you browse this temp folder in Windows Explorer you can see the WIM file and some other temp folders used for the CBS injection process (via DISM)

Note: make sure to close Windows Explorer or browse to a different folder than the one above as if you are browsing it during Commit, then the process will fail to delete the temp files/folders.

keep watching the log in CMTrace as it will tell you what percentage is done, for example, 25% of the copying is completed

once it's done copying the WIM file it mounts it to inject the CBS updates

and after some time it will check all available updates to see if they are applicable or not, each update will have an Applicability State which can be listed as any of the following:-

NOT_REQUIRED
INSTALLED
APPLICABLE
APPLICABILITY_CHECK_NOT_SUPPORTED

finally you can see how many updates are being applied to the mounted image

and then it commits those changes, verify that all is well in the OfflineServicingMgr.log file before continuing, note that in addition to unmounting the image (commiting changes) it then creates a backup copy of the original WIM file (with a file extension of BAK). Also look for the line saying Schedule Processing Completed, this notifies you that all is done.

Now Browse to where your original captured WIM file is stored and you should see the original WIM file is renamed to BAK and the new file (larger file as it has updates applied) is in it's place. If you need to keep the original file copy it elsewhere or give it a new name.

Step 5. Review our updated Image in the ConfigMgr Console.

Now that the OfflineServicing process is complete, lets examine the WIM file in Operating System Images (click refresh to update the display). You should see that the Scheduled Update Status says Successful, and that the Update Status tab lists the state applicability of the 78 updates it referenced in the OfflineServicingMgr.log file.

Right click on our Windows 7 X64 Enterprise image and choose Properties, click on the Installed Updates tab, here you can see when any updates were added via Offline Servicing (in our case, it was 9 updates and they are indeed listed in the Date Installed column.

Step 6. Update your image to your Distribution Points

The last part of this process is to update your newly updated image to our Distribution Points, this is not done automatically you must do it yourself, this means that the scheduled task can run (Offline Servicing) and when it's done, you have to review the changes made before you decide if you want to update the image to your DP's or not.

Select our image and click on Update Distribution Points in the ribbon

click ok When prompted

That's it, you've now injected Windows Updates (CBS) using a new feature in ConfigMgr 2012 called Offline Servicing, once the WIM image has completed updating to the DP's your Task Sequence will reference the New updated image and your Enterprise (LAB) will be using the most secure, most up to date image available.

The original post is here on windows-noob.com

using SCCM 2012 RC in a LAB - Part 11. Adding the Reporting Services Point role

nbrady — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 18:34:00 GMT

The reporting point has been deprecated

The Reporting Services point is the only site system role used for reporting in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager. For more information about the Reporting Services point, see the Reporting Services Point section later in this topic.

Full integration of the Configuration Manager 2007 R2 SQL Server Reporting Services solution

In addition to standard report management, Configuration Manager 2007 R2 introduced support for SQL Server Reporting Services reporting. System Center 2012 Configuration Manager has integrated the Reporting Services solution, added new functionality, and removed standard report management as a reporting solution. For more information about Reporting Services, see the SQL Server Reporting Services section later in this topic.

Report Builder 2.0 integration

System Center 2012 Configuration Manager uses Microsoft SQL Server 2008 SP1 Reporting Services Report Builder 2.0 as the exclusive authoring and editing tool for both Model and SQL-based reports. Report Builder 2.0 is automatically installed when you create or modify a report for the first time. For more information about Report Builder, see the Report Builder section later in this topic.

Subscription management

Report subscriptions in SQL Reporting Services enable you to configure the automatic delivery of specified reports by e-mail or to a file share at scheduled intervals.

Running reports

You can run System Center 2012 Configuration Manager reports in the Configuration Manager console by using Report Viewer or you can run reports from a browser by using Report Manager. Each method for running reports provides a similar experience.

Localized reporting

Reports in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager are rendered in the locale of the installed Configuration Manager console. Subscriptions are rendered in the locale that SQL Server Reporting Services is installed. When you author a report, you can specify the assembly and expression.

Reporting in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager provides a set of tools and resources that help you use the advanced reporting capabilities of SQL Server Reporting Services and the rich authoring experience that Microsoft SQL Server 2008 with Service Pack 1 (SP1) Reporting Services Report Builder 2.0 provides. Reporting helps you to gather, organize, and present information about users, hardware and software inventory, software updates, applications, site status, and other Configuration Manager operations in your organization. Reporting provides you with a number of predefined reports that you can use as is or that you can modify to meet your needs, or you can create custom reports.

The following topics on Technet help you to manage reporting in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager:

Step 1. Install the Reporting Services Point Role

Perform the following on your SCCM 2012 server as SMSadmin.

In the ConfigMgr console, click on Administration, Site Configuration, Servers and Site System Roles, right click on our server and choose Add Site System Roles

when the Add site system roles wizard appears click next and select Reporting Services Point from the list of available choices

you'll be asked to specify some Reporting Services settings, click on Verify beside database name

if all goes well it will be listed as Successfully Verified, now we need to configure a Reporting Services Point Account, and we will use the Active Directory User (called ReportsUser) which we created in Part 1 of this series in Active Directory Users and Computers.

* ReportsUser, a domain user for reporting services.

so for User Name click on the Set drop down menu and select New Account

when prompted for Windows User Account, enter the credentials of your ReportsUser account, you can use Browse to easily find the user in Active Directory

click next to install Reporting Services

click next at the summary and review the completion screen.

Step 2. Configure Reporting

Perform the following on your SCCM 2012 server as SMSadmin.

Now that the Reporting Services Point role is installed we need to do some configuration before we can view reports. In the Monitoring Space of ConfigMgr console click on Reports it will list 0 items.

On your ConfigMgr server, click on the start menu and right click on Internet Explorer, choose Run As Administrator, answer Yes to the UAC prompt.

enter the following URL http://sccm.server20...b.local/Reports obviously replace your server FQDN in the URL.

click on the Properties Tab followed by New Role Assignment

In Group or Username enter Server2008R2\ReportsUser and give the user the permissions you want

now we can see that the ReportsUser has all reporting roles, and as this is a LAB we should verify that SMSadmin has the rights to do everything, select the SMSadmin user and choose Edit,

click the Role checkbox so that we get all roles, and then click Apply, after editing both users we want them to have all permissions for Reporting services,

Note: This is a LAB so it's ok to configure Reporting this way, in production you would want to be more specific about what permissions users are granted.

exit from Internet Explorer, and browse Reports within ConfigMgr again, the Reports are listed and ready to be used, note that they are sorted by Category (and also below Reports are Category Folders)

Step 3. Viewing some Reports

Perform the following on your SCCM 2012 server as SMSadmin.

In the ConfigMgr console, expand reports, Select the All Collections report, right click it, choose Run,

a list of collections appears in the Report Viewer, you can drill down further into the report by clicking on All Systems

on one of your Windows 7 Client Computers, login as ReportsUser and start Internet Explorer, browse to http:\\sccm.server2008r2.lab.local\reports and select a report from the ConfigMgr_P01 database

Note: if the ConfigMgr_P01 database doesn't appear as a temporary measure you can add the ReportsUser to the Local Administrators group on your SCCM server, that's ok in a LAB, in production you'll want to configure your security accordingly and create Groups for Report Readers and Report Administrators.

Thats it ! Reporting Services Point is installed and in our next part we will look at our Endpoint Protection reports and monitor it real time both on the Server and Clients.

Original Post here on windows-noob.com

using SCCM 2012 RC in a LAB - Part 10. Using Prestart and Extrafiles to get more out of UDA

nbrady — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 21:51:00 GMT

x:\sms\bin\i386\copy cmtrace.exe c:\

Tip: As the CMTrace tool is now embedded in our boot images, you can automate the above by adding a step to your Build and Capture Task Sequence (or even your Deploy Task Sequence) as long as it occurs before the Setup Windows and ConfigMgr step, the code is xcopy "x:\sms\bin\x64\cmtrace.exe" "c:\" /E /C /I /Q /H /R /Y /S. Note: the path will change depending on what architecture boot image you are using !

after the image is applied the Virtual Machine wants to reboot, so type Exit in your console and the vm will reboot into Windows

and then Setup is installing devices and applying system settings

followed by another reboot, and then Setup is preparing your computer for first use, and this is where you need to be awake if you want to witness this part of the process, when you see the blue windows screen press F8 again and it's now at the Setup Windows and ConfigMgr step

type c:\cmtrace.exe and answer yes to make it the default logging tool, open the following file C:\_SMSTaskSequence\Logs\smsts.log

meanwhile on your SCCM server, open the following log file in CMTrace.exe,

D:\Program Files\SMS_CCM\Logs\MP_Status.log

and look for the following line:-

Quote

Mp Status: processing event: SMS_OSDUDA_StateMessageSent_ActionCompleteInfo, for machine: W72

that is the UDA state message being sent

meanwhile on the client we can see the UDA actions in in our SMSTS.log file (you may have to change the location of the SMSTS.log file to C:\Windows\CCM\Logs\SMSTSLog\smsts.log)

Quote

Creating User Affinity

Set Authenticator in transport
Report Body: <ReportBody><StateMessage MessageTime="20111114103250.000000+000" SerialNumber="1"><Topic ="server2008r2/testuser:OSDAuto" Type="1600" IDType="0"/><State ID="1">
....
Successfully Submitted the UDA state message for the user(s): server2008r2\testuser with mode 'Auto'

Meanwhile.. back in the ConfigMgr console, click on Assets and Devices, and select our Deploy Windows 7 X64 collection, in there you'll see our W72 computer, right click it and choose Edit Primary Users

you should see the following, Affinity Type=OSD Defined.

ok, now that you've seen what happens, close the CMtrace tool and the command prompt in your Deploy Windows 7 X64 session and let it finish it's job (it'll jump to the login screen very quickly)

so login and we can review some new logs !

Step 2. Review the Deployed Windows 7 X64 computer

Perform the following on your Windows 7 client as testuser.

Login to the desktop and start Internet Explorer and browse to the Application Catalog , review the My Devices tab, it should say:-

Quote

This computer is set as your primary computer. Your administrator might automatically install applications or make additional applications available to primary computers.

Next, using Windows Explorer, start up CMTrace.exe (located in C:\) and browse to C:\Windows\CCM\Logs, open the AppDiscovery.log file, as we can see it's logging about detecting wether Mozilla FireFox is installed or not and it reports msi application not discovered

next open C:\Windows\CCM\Logs\AppEnforce.log, you should see it referencing wether or not a user is logged on (we are logged on now, but if we had waited 30 minutes or so and then logged on it would have reported things differently), and how it tries to Enforce installing the app

cool stuff indeed, oh and if we minimise CMTrace what do we see ? yup the Firefox icon on the desktop, installed using User Device Affinity variables and by configuring our Deployment Type rules, cool huh ?

Step 3. Modify the boot wim to include prestart and Extrafiles

Perform the following on your SCCM 2012 server as SMSadmin.

Now that we've proven that we can use UDA to install apps for our Primary User, let's edit the task sequence to prompt us for a Primary User instead of forcing it via a collection variable. To do this we need to edit our boot.wim files first of all.

We need a few files, so please download the following zip file

Extrafiles.zip (1.05K)
Number of downloads: 0

and uncompress it to D:\Sources\OS\Extrafiles

In the ConfigMgr console, locate our Boot image (X86) and right click it, choose Properties

click on the Customization tab and place a checkmark in Enable Prestart Command, place another checkmark in Include files for the prestart command

click browse and browse to the UNC path of our Extrafiles

eg: \\sccm\sources\os\Extrafiles

in the command line type the following

cscript.exe get_SMSTSUdaUsers_via_Prestart.vbs

click apply and answer yes when prompted about distribution point update required

it starts to inject the changes

Tip: you can open the SMSProv.log to monitor the files being injected into your boot.wim files.

Step 4. Modify our Collection Variables

Perform the following on your SCCM 2012 server as SMSadmin.

In the ConfigMgr console, click on Assets and Compliance and locate our Deploy Windows 7 X64 collection, right click, choose properties, select the Collection Variables tab

remove the SMSTSUdaUsers variable we set earlier by highlighting it and clicking on the red X, answer yes when prompted.

Step 5. PXE boot and test the prestart command

Add a new virtual machine to our Deploy Windows 7 X64 collection (or delete the one we used previously, and then import it back again, verify it's in the collection after the import before pxe booting).

PXE boot and you'll get to the Task Sequence password screen..

press next and Voila, you get to see your Prestart command in action !

so enter the primary user name and click ok

and our SMSTSUdaUsers variable is now set via a Prestart command,

in the next part of this series, we will see how we can set this via the task sequence itself and also look at setting the Task Sequence Deployment ID via a variable to override what's targetted to our computer.

Original post here on windows-noob.com

using SCCM 2012 RC in a LAB - Part 9. Adding an Application, editing a Deployment Type, Copying the Deploy Task Sequence

nbrady — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 21:58:00 GMT

Applications contain the files and information necessary to deploy a software package to a computer or a mobile device. Applications contain multiple deployment types that contain the files and commands necessary to install the software. For example, an application could contain deployment types for a local installation of a software package, a virtual application package or a version of the application for mobile devices.
Requirement rules define conditions that specify how an application is deployed to client devices. For example, you can specify that the application should not be installed if the destination computer has less than 2GB RAM or you could specify that a virtual application deployment type is installed when the destination computer is not the primary device of the user.
Global conditions are similar to requirement rules but can be reused with any deployment type.
User device affinity allows you to associate a user with specified devices. This allows you to deploy software to a user rather than a device. For example, you could deploy an application so that it only installs on the primary device of the user. On devices that are not the primary device of the user, you could deploy a virtual application that is removed when the user logs out.
Deployments are used to distribute applications. A deployment can have an action which specifies whether to install or uninstall the application and a purpose which specifies whether the application must be installed or whether the user can choose to install it.
System Center 2012 Configuration Manager can use detection methods to determine if a deployment type has already been installed on a device by using product information, or a script.
Application management supports the new monitoring features in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager. The status of an application deployment can be monitored directly in the Configuration Manager console.
Packages and programs from Configuration Manager 2007 are supported in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager and can use some of the new deployment and monitoring features.
You can now deploy a task sequence on the Internet, as a method to deploy a script, for example, prior to installing a package and program. It is still not supported to deploy an operating system over the Internet.
Software Center is a new client interface that allows users to request and install applications, control some client functionality, and to access the Application Catalog, which contains details about all available applications.

Step 1. Create an Application

Perform the following on your SCCM 2012 server as SMSadmin.

Now we will create an application in this case FireFox, you can download an MSI of it from here (The files contained in this MSI are the official binaries with no modifications). Save the application in your package sources share (I have shared a root folder on D:\ called Sources with sub folders within, one is called Apps). Copy the downloaded FireFox MSI to a subdirectory of your sources\apps\msi share just like I have done in the screenshot below.

In the Configmgr Console, click on Software Library, Applications, in the ribbon click on Create Application

When the Create Application wizard appears click on browse then point it to the UNC of where the MSI is stored eg: \\sccm\sources\apps\msi\firefox\Firefox-7.0.1-en-US.msi

click next and you'll get to the Imported Information screen,

click next again to enter General Information about this application, verify that the installation switches are ok and click next

click next at the summary through to completion

Step 2. Edit the Deployment Type

Perform the following on your SCCM 2012 server as SMSadmin.

As we have selected the default values during the wizard, a Deployment Type has already been setup but we want to edit it so that this application only installs if a primary user has been associated with the device (UDA), so right click on the Application and choose Properties

the Applications properties are revealed, click on the Deployment Types Tab

select the Deployment type and click on Edit

the Deployment Type properties are revealed, click on the Requirements Tab

there are no requirements listed, click on Add

on the Create Requirement screen, select the Category drop down menu and select User, verify that it's set as below (primary device equals true)

click Apply

and click ok, then click apply and ok again to exit from the Deployment Type menu

Step 3. Create a Deployment for our Application

Perform the following on your SCCM 2012 server as SMSadmin.

Select the Firefox application and in the ribbon click on Deployment and select Deploy from the menu

when the Deploy Software wizard appears, browse to All Users for collection

for Content, click on Add and select our Distribution Point

next change the Purpose from Available to Required and place a checkmark in Deploy Automatically according to schedule whether or not a user is logged on

for User Experience set it to hide in software center and all notifications

click next through the rest of the wizard to completion (no other changes)

Step 4. Copy our Task Sequence

Perform the following on your SCCM 2012 server as SMSadmin.

We want to be able to both Refresh our computers (reinstall and migrate data) and do a New Computer installation, to do this we need another task sequence, so lets copy (duplicate) the one we have as we've already created one Deploy Windows 7 X64 task sequence, so select it right click and choose Copy

you'll be notified of the copy completion

Rename the First task sequence to Deploy Window 7 X64 - Refresh by right clicking on it, properties, edit the name

Now we need to edit the second Task sequence, right click it and choose edit

As this is a New Computer Task Sequence, we don't need to migrate data, so Disable the Capture Files and Settings group and the Restore User files and settings Group, click on the Options tab for each group and place a checkmark in Disable, click Apply.

Now we need to add a new step in the Install Operating system group just after Restart in Windows PE step, so select that step and choose Add from the drop down menu

select Disks, Format and Paritition Disk

so that it looks like so

Apply the changes and rename this task sequence to Deploy Windows 7 X64 - New Computer, so now we have two Deploy Task Sequences

Step 5. Deploy our new Task Sequence to the Deploy Windows 7 X64 collection

Perform the following on your SCCM 2012 server as SMSadmin.

To make the task sequence available to computers we need to Deploy it. In Software Library, select our Deploy Windows 7 X64 - New Computer task sequence and choose Deploy, point the wizard collection to Deploy Windows 7 X64

change purpose to Available, place a checkmark in Make available to boot media and PXE

click next through to completion

Step 6. Import a computer into the Deploy Windows 7 X64 collection

Perform the following on your SCCM 2012 server as SMSadmin.

We need a new Virtual Machine to be imported into ConfigMgr's database to add it to our Deploy Windows 7 X64 collection. In the ConfigMgr console, click on Assets and Compliance, Devices, and in the Ribbon click on Import Computer Information. If you havn't already created a Virtual Machine do so now, we need one with 1 gig of Virtual Ram and we need to know it's MAC address.

choose import single computer, filll in the computername and mac address (if you want to import multiple comptuers using a file follow this guide)

add it to our Deploy Windows 7 X64 collection

done

Verify it's in the collection (right click and choose Update Membership)

and after a few minutes there it is

Step 7. PXE boot the New Computer

Perform the following on your SCCM 2012 server as SMSadmin.

PXE boot the new Virtual Machine, and you should get to the familiar password prompt

and two new task sequences are ready for us, select Deploy Windows 7 X64 - New Computer

and there's that Format and Partition disk step in action

and our captured OS get's applied

In the Next Part we will review how Firefox get's deployed automatically to this computer based on the UDA variables we set, and we will review the logs involved and we'll edit our boot image to support prestart and add some extrafiles, these will be some VBS scripts to prompt for the UDA user instead of setting the variable on the collection as we really don't want all computers that get deployed to have one user as the primary user.

original post here on windows-noob.com

using SCCM 2012 RC in a LAB - Part 8. Deploying Windows 7 X64

nbrady — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 21:50:00 GMT

In Part 1 of this series we got our AD and SCCM servers ready, and then we installed System Center 2012 Configuration Manager as a standalone Primary site. In Part 2 we configured the SCCM server further by adding some Windows Server roles necessary for the following Configuration Manager 2012 functionality, Software Update Point (SUP) and Operating System Deployment. In Part 3 we configured the server further by Enabling Discovery methods and creating Boundary's and Boundary Groups. In Part 4 we configured Client Settings, Added roles and Distributed the Configmgr Client to our Computers within the LAB, then in Part 5 we enabled the Endpoint Protection Role and configured Endpoint Protection settings and targeted a collection called All Windows 7 Computers with these settings and policies. In Part 6 we configured our SUP further to Deploy software updates to our All Windows 7 Computers and Build Windows 7 X64 collections. In Part 7 we used the Build and Capture process to create our Base Windows 7 X64 wim image. In this part we'll use the captured image in our Deploy Windows 7 X64 task sequence and we'll set some User Device Affinity collection variables and use a USMT 4 package to migrate the users data using hardlinking.

Step 1. Create the USMT 4 package

Perform the following on your SCCM 2012 server as SMSadmin.

If you want to migrate data in a Deploy Task Sequence you'll need to have the USMT 4 package ready, so let's create it now so that we can access the necessary migration files in our Deploy Windows 7 X64 task sequence.

On your SCCM server in Windows Explorer, browse to C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\

Right click on the USMT folder and choose Copy,

select your sources folder (mine is on D:\) and paste the USMT folder in sources\os so that it's path is sources\os\usmt

In the ConfigMgr Console, select Software Library, Application Management, Packages, right click and choose Create Package.

fill in the details about the package, call it USMT version 4 and point to the UNC path of our newly copied files, \\sccm\sources\os\usmt

for Program Type select Do not create a program

Complete the Wizard

Step 2. Distribute the USMT package to our Distribution Points

Select the USMT package and click on Distribute Content in the Ribbon

for Content Destination, click on Add, select Distribution point, select our DP,

click through the rest of the wizard

Step 3. Import the captured Windows 7 X64 wim file

Perform the following on your SCCM 2012 server as SMSadmin.

In the Software Library, Operating Systems section of the Configmgr console, click on Operating System Images, you'll note that it is empty because we havn't imported any images yet. Right click and choose Add Operating System Image

browse to the UNC of where we captured the image in Part 7 and select the captured wim file

eg: \\sccm\sources\os\captures\windows7x64.wim

fill in some details about the image

click through the summary, progress to completion

Step 4. Distribute the image to the Distribution points

Perform the following on your SCCM 2012 server as SMSadmin.

We now need to distribute our imported image to our distribution points. Select Our Windows 7 Enterprise X64 image and in the ribbon above click on Home and then Distribute Content

when the Distribute Content Wizard appears, click next

to specify the destination, click on add and select distribution point

select our Distribution Point from the list

the DP appears selected

click next through summary/progress to completion

Step 5. Create the Deploy Task Sequence

Perform the following on your SCCM 2012 server as SMSadmin.

Now that we have added our captured operating system image to Configmgr, and distributed it to our dp's we want to create a Deploy Task sequence to Deploy the image. In Task Sequences, right click and choose Create Task Sequence.

choose to Install an existing image package

fill in some details about the image and click browse and select the X86 boot image, click next to proceed

now select the Windows 7 image by clicking on browse and set an administrator password, uncheck Partition and format the target computer before installing the operating system if you want to use hardlinking for User state migration, otherwise files cannot be stored locally

for the Configure the Network step, we want to join the domain so click on browse beside join a domain

and now we need to specify the user that has permissions to join the domain, i use the DomJoin user just or this task (create the user and delegate them enough permissions to add computers to the domain)

I'm not specifying an OU in this step, you can, but don't select the Computers Container if you do...

for the Install the Configuration Manager client step click on browse and select the client package from defintion we created in the last part

click next and for State Migration, select our USMT 4 package

change the setting to Save user settings Locally (this will mean we can use Hard Links)

for Include Updates select All Software Updates

and click next through to completion (we are not installing any applications at this point).

Step 6. Create a Deploy Windows 7 X64 collection

Perform the following on your SCCM 2012 server as SMSadmin.

In the ConfigMgr console, click on Assets and Compliance, select Device Collections, click on Create Device Collection in the Ribbon

fill in the collection details, call it Deploy Windows 7 X64, limit it to All Systems

click next through the wizard, we will not add any computers to it yet, and we will not create any queries.

Step 7. Create Collection variables

Perform the following on your SCCM 2012 server as SMSadmin.

We want to set UDA variables on our collection, so that a UDA user gets assigned as the primary user of computers deployed in this collection. We are doing this to show you that you can set a primary user to a device based on Collection Variables.

We could do this in other ways, for example using task sequence steps to set the variables or prestart commands or a frontend HTA, I will come back to this subject later, but for now, let's just see it in action by specifying the two variables below.

Right click on the Deploy Windows 7 X64 Collection and choose Properties

click on the Collection Variables tab, click on the yellow startburst and add a new variable called SMSTSAssignUsersMode, set the value to Auto and remove the checkmark from Do not display this value in the Configuration Manager console

do the same again for another variable called SMSTSUdaUsers, specify the user as domain\user

Step 8. Deploy our Task Sequence

Perform the following on your SCCM 2012 server as SMSadmin.

To make the task sequence available to computers we need to Deploy it. In Software Library, select our Deploy Windows 7 X64 task sequence and choose Deploy

select our Deploy Windows 7 X64 collection and click ok to the warning

change purpose to Available (this keeps it optional, Required is Mandatory ! and dangerous as a result), place a checkmark in Make available to boot media and PXE

click next through the task sequence, until distribution points, by Default it will be set to Download content locally when needed by running task sequence, you can get this to change to Access content directly by editing each package referenced in the task sequence and setting the Data Access tab for each package, place a checkmark in Copy the content in this package to a package share on Distribution points

click next through the wizard to completion.

In our next part we will create an Application, and create a deployment type for that application to only install if the Primary User is True for that device (User Device Affinity), we will then add a computer to the new collection, PXE boot it and watch the process from start to finish.

Original post here on windows-noob.com

How can I import computers into SCCM 2012 using a file ?

nbrady — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 10:32:00 GMT

if you want to import multiple computers in SCCM 2012 using a file then it's easy to do so, just make sure that your file is in CSV format and looks like so

In the sample screenshot above I have three machines listed with the Computername first (name), followed by the SMSBIOS Guid and finally the MAC Address. You can get the SMSBIOS Guid and MAC Address simply booting your chosen computer and monitoring the PXE boot process look for the details below (press PAUSE on your keyboard to make note of the values or simply pause the VM by pressing the appropriate button as in the HyperV sample below). You could also ask your Hardware Manufacturer to provide you this information in CSV format.

Now that you have the values add them to your MAC Addresses.CSV file (a text file in notepad or Microsoft Excel) open the ConfigMgr Console and click on Assets and Compliance, click on Devices, in the ribbon above select Import Computer Information

select the first option, Import computers using a file

point to your CSV file by clicking on browse, open

if your CSV file has headings at the top of the file then place a check mark in This file has column headings and then click next

look at the data preview, if anything looks incorrect you can go back or cancel, click next if it's all ok

next you can select the target collection, I want to add mine to the Build and Capture Windows 7 X64 collection so I click on Browse and select that collection, choose the one you wish

click next through to completion

you can then wait for normal discovery to pick up the new objects or force an update by choosing update membership on the chosen collection, answer yes whem prompted

refresh the collection and the computers appear (if you've just imported them, give it a couple of minutes before they appear)

original post > windows-noob.com