This weekend I stumbled across an issue when trying to mount a driver package (WIM file) in WinPE via the Mount-WindowsImage cmdlet, part of the Dism PowerShell module from WinPE. The error that was shown was: Mount-WindowsImage : The 'Mount-WindowsImage' command was found in the module 'Dism', but the module could not be loaded. The […]

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Here is a PowerShell script that adds driver fallback to MDT Lite Touch. Meaning, when there is no matching model the task sequence falls back from the total control method, and uses the drivers based on PNP detection from a generic driver fallback selection profile. This script is only invoked if there were no matching […]

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While not officially supported, PowerShell 7 seems to play somewhat nicely in WinPE. Here is a short script that adds it into WinPE build 10.1.22000.1 (Windows ADK for Windows 11 21H2) or WinPE build 10.0.22621.1 (Windows ADK for Windows 11 22H2). Update July 2, 2022: Added code to support PowerShell Gallery, set screen resolution and […]

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Every now and then you may find that the PowerShell cmdlet for what you are trying to do is simply missing, or that the one that does exist are missing features compared to the command line tool equivalent, or that the PowerShell cmdlet simply have a bug(s) that renders a parameter useless. Such as an […]

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Here is a guide for create a DaRT recovery media that allows for resetting the admin password of a Windows 10 machine. In this case it was a Windows 10 20H2 machine, where the admin password was not known, and the machine was in a workgroup mode too. DaRT Background DaRT, or the Microsoft Diagnostics […]

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You probably noticed that Microsoft release a new version of Windows ADK for Windows 11 last month (May 2022), the 22H2 version. One major change in this version compared to the 21H2 version of the kit is that x86 boot images are no longer included. In this post you learn about what this means for ConfigMgr and MDT Lite Touch environments.

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Windows Autopilot is pretty great… when it works. But the last few months there has been more issues with the Windows Autopilot service than I have fingers to count with, so here is a post on setting up a backup plan for enrolling devices automatically into Intune during deployment, without Autopilot. The Plan The Autopilot […]

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For those of you that likes to install ConfigMgr automatically, please note that starting in ConfigMgr 2203, you must also specify two of the keys in the SABranchOptions section: SAActive and CurrentBranch. If you fail to do so, the setup will fail with the following error: ERROR: Error reading branch status. SAActive and CurrentBranch needs […]

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Per request, here are the links we shared during our camping sessions at MMS 2022 in Minneapolis. Camping sessions at MMS are private sessions you can book for 15-20 minutes with Microsoft or your favorite speakers and MVPs. Thank you everyone that joined our sessions / Johan and Andrew The Links AAD/Autopilot CleanupJos Lieben – […]

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Here is a step-by-step quick guide on building the perfect Windows 11 21H2 reference image using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 8456.

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Starting with Windows Server 2019 someone at Microsoft apparently thought it was a great idea to make the various application-windows borderless, making it really hard to see the windows. Below is an example of two File Explorer windows overlapping, the arrow pointing to the top border of the window in front. The Fix via PowerShell […]

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Here is a step-by-step quick guide on building the perfect Windows 10 21H2 reference image using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 8456.

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Here is a collection of resources I found useful when learning about setting up, and troubleshooting, Windows Autopilot Hybrid Join. First, why you may want not to 🙂 Deliver us from Hybridhttps://call4cloud.nl/2021/03/deliver-us-from-hybrid Second, resources for setup and troubleshooting Configure Autopilot Hybrid Azure-AD and ADDS Domain Joinhttps://www.thelazyadministrator.com/2020/01/16/configure-autopilot-hybrid-azure-ad-and-adds-domain-join/ Trying out Windows Autopilot User-Driven Hybrid Azure AD Join […]

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Earlier today I stumbled across that the SQL Server 2019 Evaluation Media just refused to download its installer files. When launching the SQL2019-SSEI-Eval.exe file, it immediately failed with the error: Oops… A required file could not be downloaded. This could mean the version of the installer is no longer supported. Please download again from the […]

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Last week I stumbled across a good deal on Amazon for a batch of refurbished Dell OptiPlex 7050 Micro machines. The machine was from the i7 SKU, and they came with 32 GB RAM and a nice Samsung EVO NVMe SSD. My thought was them being a great edition to my existing fleet of 7040's, […]

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A friendly tip when searching smsts.log files is to search for the following string: Or simply search for the action name, like in the below case: Download BIOS Package

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Starting with Windows Vista, Microsoft added two tools that allows for installing and updating drivers online, meaning in the running Windows operating system. The tools are pnputil.exe and pnpunattend.exe. Here is a quick guide on how they work. TL;DR While pnputil.exe offers more features, it sometimes fails (hangs) when updating a larger set of drivers […]

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During our Microsoft Intune trainings this year, one of the most frequently asked questions has been on how to force a reinstall / rerun / redeploy – whatever you like to call it – of an application deployed to Windows 10 or Windows 11 PCs. Well first of all, the correct Intune term is not […]

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While most of my daily consulting work is around automating everything around Systems Management and OSD, there is a good old tool that still works remarkably well if you have a single device that you need to update BIOS and TPM on, and don't want to hunt down the vendor tool and find the latest […]

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Below you find links from Dell, HP, and Lenovo models that are tested for Windows 10. Extra thanks to Mike Terrill for sending me the HP and Dell links. Note #1: Just because they are tested it may not mean they are still supported by the vendor, or haven't passed their End of Life (EOL) […]

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