Earlier this afternoon I got a question in my YouTube channel, where a fellow deployment geek wanted to know if it was possible to create a WinPE image that had support for both x86 and x64 boot images. E.g. a dual-boot boot image (my own wording). My first thought was to respond and say: No […]
Article originally posted on https://deployvista.com, my previous blog. First If your goal is to very quickly have a nice fully automated Windows 7 setup, including drivers, application etc. – This article is not for you. If that's your goal, you should download the free Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) and use that as your deployment solution. […]
Here is a script that helps you find drivers in ConfigMgr 2012 that are not associated with a driver package. Very useful if you need to some house cleaning in the drive repository. Credit goes to Kaido Järvemets for awesome logic in the script!
On the final day of IT/Dev Connections in Las Vegas we have a superior workshop on ConfigMgr 2012 SP1 / R2. It’s a full day, technical content, tips and tricks, presented by me (Johan Arwidmark) and Kent Agerlund. IT/Dev Connections The conference is running from September 30 – October 4. To register, point your favorite […]
Earlier today a ConfigMgr Admin reached out for help regarding their reports in ConfigMgr 2012 SP1. They could run the reports fine from within the ConfigMgr console, but when they tried to view them in the web browser, they got the error: "The underlying connection was closed: An unexpected error occurred on a send." Investigation […]
There are many techniques available to find drivers and certify a new hardware model. Here follows the method I normally use. As an example I'm certifying the good old ThinkPad T420 from Lenovo for Windows 7, but you can follow this method for any Lenovo model or Windows operating system. The overview steps are the […]
Here is a stored procedure you can use to generate computer names in MDT 2012/2013, with or without ConfigMgr 2012. Download the sample files The stored procedure assumes that you have installed the MDT 2012/2013 database, and works like this: If they computer name is in the database already (known), it will assign that name […]
Here is a quick PowerShell example that shows you how to create a deployment share using PowerShell. For those of you that are MDT savvy, you know that MDT has a View Script button option that allow you to see what PowerShell commands that MDT executes. Unfortunately, MDT sometimes lies to you, and the workbench […]
Internet Explorer 10 was released for Windows 7 in February 2013, and like the previous versions you can create a customized IE 10 application using the Internet Explorer Administration Kit (IEAK). You then configure MDT to install that application as part of your reference image build. Here is a guide that walk you trough the […]
This post was contributed by Joseph Moody from http://deployhappiness.com ——- When I first discovered the MDT database, I was immediately impressed by the power. Instead of having to support multiple task sequences or not skipping certain items in my CustomSettings.ini, I could let the MDT database dynamically assign settings. As my organization relied on the […]
A bit nerdy maybe, but the fact that Windows Server 2012 R2 detects the server grade SSD's and creates a two-tier storage solutions is nothing short of shiny! This is a screenshot from configuring storage one of our Hyper-V hosts running Windows Server 2012 R2 Preview.
NOTE: This Hydration kit has been updated, you probably want to use this one instead:The Hydration Kit for System Center 2012 R2 is available for downloadhttps://deploymentresearch.com/Research/tabid/62/EntryId/149/The-Hydration-Kit-for-System-Center-2012-R2-is-available-for-download.aspxHere is a download that builds a complete Configuration Manager 2012 R2 Preview infrastructure, running on Windows Server 2012 and SQL Server 2012 SP1, in either Hyper-V or VMware. Note: […]
For the last ten years or so, VB Script wrappers have been popular due to the fact they have been available by default in the platforms. Now, in a time where most companies deploy either Windows 7 or Windows 8, there are other options, like PowerShell (PowerShell is King!).
Earlier today the MDT 2013 preview was released on Microsoft Connect. So what's really new in this release? First of all, Ronni Pedersen blogged about some of the changes during TechEd in New Orleans. You find his full blog post here: http://www.ronnipedersen.com/2013/06/microsoft-deployment-toolkit-2013-overview. Shorthand from Ronni's blog is that MDT 2013 preview adds support for the […]
When enabling the (great) monitoring feature in MDT you create a service that runs in the background. However, if you have a C:\Temp folder on your server (only then), that service will start to log a lot of information to C:\Temp\WCF.log. 5 GB per day has been reported. My recommendation is (thanks to Anders Ahl […]
Quick post of a new ConfigMgr 2012 SP1 driver import script by my friends in Coretech: Download link: / Johan
Here is a quick summary of the changes in Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (Windows ADK) for Windows 8.1. Both MDT 2013 and ConfigMgr 2012 R2 requires Windows ADK for Windows 8.1. Windows ADK 8.1 is available for download here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=39982 Note: If you try to run the adksetup.exe to download Windows ADK 8.1 on […]
Here are the sample VBScript and PowerShell wrappers / scripts I was using in the Building the Perfect Windows 8 Image (WCA-B305) session at TechEd 2013 in New Orleans. Download Link The download contains script for: Installing Visual C++ 2012 runtime (VBScript) Create Subnets (PowerShell) Create new Virtual Machines, deploy them, and delete them (PowerShell) […]
Here are the slides and scripts from the PRC05 (Simplify and Maximize System Management with Microsoft System Center 2012 SP1 – Configuration Manager: Notes from the Field) Download the slides Download the scripts Thanks for attending, Johan and Kent
Earlier this week I had the good fortune of visiting a customer which had developed their own custom frontend for the MDT database. It works pretty much like the MDT Web Frontend written by Maik Koster, but this one is updated for the MDT 2012 Update 1 database tables (Works with MDT 2012 Update 1 […]