Generate computer names based on folder content

Last week I got an email from a fellow deployment geek wanting to generate computer names based on what files that were in a folder. Every time they deployed a machined they had a script that saved the machine name to a folder, and he wanted a routine that figured out the next available name. Well, here it is.

Update 2014-08-26: Added info about how to create the text file in the end of the deployment.

Preparing

For this to work you need to have a folder in your deployment share, named computers, with a similar content. As you can can see the folder holds names from computers already deployed, and the next available computer name should be MYPC0006, right?

Folder structure in the deployment share.

Solution

All that was needed was a short userexit script (VBScript) that enumerated the files in the folder, but because the FileSystemObject in VBScript does do sorting, I had to populate a list, and then sort that one. Below you find the GetNextComputerName.vbs script, and the CustomSettings.ini lines that calls it. You need to do is copy the GetNextComputerName.vbs script to your deployment share scripts folder, and modify your CustomSettings.ini file.

Note: You can obviously add code to also write the new name to the folder, but since they already have that function in place, I skipped that part.

The "code" in CustomSettings.ini.

[Settings]
Priority=Default

[Default]
UserExit=GetNextComputerName.vbs
OSDComputerName=#GetNextComputerName()#

The GetNextComputerName.vbs script.

Function UserExit(sType, sWhen, sDetail, bSkip) 
 
    UserExit = Success 
 
End Function
 
Function GetNextComputerName()
 
    oLogging.CreateEntry "------------ Initialization USEREXIT:GetNextComputerName.vbs -------------", LogTypeInfo
 
    Set list = CreateObject("ADOR.Recordset")
    list.Fields.Append "name", 200, 255
    list.Open
 
    For Each oFile In oFSO.GetFolder(oEnvironment.Item("DEPLOYROOT") & "\Computers").Files
      list.AddNew
      list("name").Value = oFile.Name
      list.Update
    Next
 
    list.Sort = "Name ASC"
 
    list.MoveFirst
    Do Until list.EOF
      sLastComputer = list("name").Value
      list.MoveNext
    Loop
 
    list.Close
     
    oLogging.CreateEntry "Last Computer Deployed was: " & sLastComputer, LogTypeInfo
    sNextNumber = Mid(sLastComputer,5,4) + 1
 
    GetNextComputerName = "MYPC" & right(sNextNumber + 10000,4)
    oLogging.CreateEntry "Next Computer Name is: " & GetNextComputerName, LogTypeInfo
     
    oLogging.CreateEntry "------------ Departing USEREXIT:GetNextComputerName.vbs -------------", LogTypeInfo
 
End Function

The next available computer name during deployment.

Here is how you configure the task sequence to write the new name, once it completes. Just add a Run Command Line action with the following command.

PowerShell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command "New-Item %DEPLOYROOT%\Computers\%OSDCOMPUTERNAME%.txt -type file"

Happy Deployment / Johan