LEDBAT with ConfigMgr = Pure Love? – By Daniel Olsson

Here is a new post by guest blogger Daniel Olsson @danielolsson100 covering a quite exciting network feature in Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016. Please note that even though LEDBAT was announced already back in July 18, 2016 by the Windows Networking Team. You need to request assistance to enable LEDBAT from either Microsoft or a Microsoft Partner working with that team. That being said, take it away Daniel (and thanks). / Johan

NSCUG November 10, 2017 Meetup – Video recordings and Slides

Here are the video recordings and slides from the Naperville System Center User Group (NSCUG) second meetup, November 10, 2017.

Fix – Asus external Blu-Ray/DVD external drive not working after upgrading to Windows 10 v1709

Just noted today that my trustworthy Asus external Blu-Ray/DVD external drive (model sbc-06d2x-u) didn’t work after upgrading from Windows 10 v1607 to Windows 10 v1709.

Building a Windows 10 v1709 reference image using MDT

Here is a step-by-step quick guide on building the perfect Windows 10 v1709 reference image using MDT 8443 and Windows ADK 10 v1709. If you are looking for a Windows 7 version of this guide, check this post: https://deploymentresearch.com/521/Back-to-Basics-Building-a-Windows-7-SP1-Reference-Image-using-MDT-2013-Update-2 

Upgrading MBAM 2.5 SP1 with the June 2017 servicing update

In order to support Windows 10 v1703, your MBAM 2.5 SP1 server should have the June 2017 servicing update installed.

Command line options for Software Center

In SCCM CB 1706 there is a new feature that allows you to direct link an application to Software Center by pasting a link into your browser. This can be achieved by clicking the “Share” icon when you have choose the application you want to link to.

Automate DHCP Server Configuration via PowerShell

Here is a quick sample on using PowerShell to create static reservation in DHCP for a given virtual machine. This is for a typical Hyper-V Lab scenario, and it was my better half, @AdaptivaAmi, who requested it 🙂

Dynamically select OS Image in the MDT Lite Touch Task Sequence

Earlier this week I got a question on how to have a single MDT Lite Touch task sequence support a dynamic selection of OS Image.

How to run Microsoft Network Monitor in WinPE

In this guide you learn how to run the Microsoft Network Monitor in WinPE, for example for advanced debugging of OS Deployment issues. This guide is based on the following KB article from Microsoft: http://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4034393/how-to-get-network-captures-from-a-task-sequence-in-windows-pe. But I’ve added some clarification steps, as well as PowerShell scripts to make the process easier (and automated).

Moving the ConfigMgr Current Branch database to another server (as in back to the primary site server)

For the tenth time or so this year, I was tasked with moving a ConfigMgr database away from a remote SQL server to where it’s supposed to be: At home! E.g. on the same virtual machine as the primary site server. Why you ask? Because it’s better 🙂 This article is based on a great […]

How to Get Started with Microsoft Intune in a Few Simple Steps

Naming Logs folder in MDT after date and time

Earlier this week on twitter I got a question on how to name the logs folder in MDT after date and time. Here is how:

Setting up a FTP Server in the cloud – Microsoft Azure vs. Amazon Web Services

This week I’ve been volunteering at an event called DreamHack, which is the largest digital festival in the world. I’ve been volunteering for this event quite many years, and this time around I was editing videos and providing support to one of the teams. During the event we learned that we needed to upload some video-material, and even though we obviously could have used OneDrive, Dropbox, etc. to share the content, I decided this was a good opportunity, and a real use case, for the cloud. Simply spinning up a VM with a FTP server for the week, and then turn off the VM once we were done at the event. Worth mentioning is that we needed to transfer 2 – 3 TB of data to/from multiple machines running multiple OS platforms during the event.

PSScriptPolicyTest script gets blocked by AppLocker in the event log. Why and what are those files?!

If you are using AppLocker (which you should) and have enabled the function “MSI and Scripts” in AppLocker to whitelist only signed PowerShell scripts you will get some errors in the event log even though your scripts are signed. Checking the event viewer log for AppLocker events you will see that the logged on user tried to run 2 different scripts starting with __PSScriptPolicyTest and the extensions .ps1 and psm1. The full name is something like  __PSScriptPolicyTest_bavjba32.xjg.ps1 where the name is __PSScriptPolicyTest_..ps1/psm1

Using File Screen to block Ransomware like WannaCry on server shares – Part 2

In Part 1 we used the script New-FSRMServer.ps1 to set up a File Screen server from scratch, this part will describe how to update the settings.

New ConfigMgr cmdlets in TP 1705

There are 106 new cmdlets in ConfigMgr, below you find the complete list:

Reducing Network Impact – One Guide to rule them all

This is what you always wanted to know: The Uber-Guide on how to reduce network impact for not only your Windows 10 deployments, but basically everything that relates to transfer large amounts of data over the network.

Using File Screen to block Ransomware like WannaCry on server shares – Part 1

There has been a lot of talk of the WannaCry malware last couple of weeks and I will try to describe how you can add another layer of security between a infected computer and your central file storage. There is already a few write-ups within this area, most of them only use the File Screen service to block users from creating new files with know extensions or renaming existing ones. This is a good start but it does not actually prevent the user (or the malware running in user context) from deleting all the files on your servers.

Setup BITS for ConfigMgr Current Branch

When using ConfigMgr in distributed environments, there are times when you want to limit how much bandwidth a client is using when downloading content. In all fairness, when having techniques like Peer Cache, and BranchCache at your disposal, you may get away by not limiting the bandwidth, but for most distributed environments you probably want to configure BITS to control how much bandwidth that is used over the WAN links. BITS is after all the component that is used for the actual downloads.

Using the Unified Write Filter (UWF) feature in Windows 10

In the Windows 10 Enterprise (including LTSB) and Windows 10 Education editions, you can enable the Unified Write Filter (UWF) feature to prevent changes to the hard drive. This is particular useful for kiosk-type scenarios, or classroom environments where you don’t want enthusiastic students to install software etc. on to the machines 🙂