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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Every now and then you need to refresh a machine into a known state, and the MDT Lite Touch Computer Refresh scenario does just that. The default behavior of that scenario is using USMT to capture user data and settings, but what if you simply want the refresh to happen without the USMT backup and […]

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This kit builds a complete ConfigMgr Current Branch 2111 infrastructure running on Windows Server 2022 and SQL Server 2019. This kit is tested on both Hyper-V and VMware virtual platforms, but should work fine on other virtualization platforms like Virtual Box, KVM etc.

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Here is a quick guide for moving (or merging) the ConfigMgr Content Library from one drive / volume to another using the Content Library Transfer tool (ContentLibraryTransfer.exe). Starting with ConfigMgr 1806, the Content Library Transfer Tool is included with the ConfigMgr installation. Prior to ConfigMgr 1806 you would have to download the ConfigMgr Toolkit to […]

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Recent versions of Windows 10, and Windows 11, have a default 10-day Limit to go back to previous version of Windows after an upgrade (stored in the Windows.old folder). The setting can be confirmed by running a simple dism command: Extend the 10-Day Limit Changing the setting can also be done with dism, the command […]

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I happen to like HP computers quite a bit, and the HP computers that happen to support HP Sure Recover are extra shiny. These machines, primarily models from 2018 and newer, have an extra flash drive on those machines that you can modify with your own payload. This extra flash drive, named embedded multi-media card […]

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Earlier this week I stumbled across an interesting thing with ConfigMgr 2107 clients (might be applicable to other versions too). I had a set of clients configured to use a default gateway, set via DHCP. But that router was turned off, so they could not access it. For the moment I did not worry about, […]

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Stumbled across an issue yesterday and figured it would be worth mentioning. In one of our ConfigMgr 2107 environments (possible the same for older versions), client push would fail with the following error: Download Update: A recoverable error has occurred. A retry attempt will be made. Error: 0x80200010, Description There are currently no active network […]

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If you tried to integrate MDT with a new installs of ConfigMgr 2103 or later you probably learned that the MDT console extension won't show by default, even after running the Configure ConfigMgr Integration wizard. This is because of a security change Microsoft did for console extensions. To allow for the MDT extensions, open your […]

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TL;DR To use MDT Lite Touch for Windows 11 upgrades you need to add the /eula accept parameter to setup. That's easily done by using the WindowsUpgradeAdditionalOptions task sequence variable in MDT. Continue to read for more details… Background If you try to use MDT Lite Touch to upgrade a Windows 10 machine to Windows […]

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Here is a quick example for using PowerShell to make changes in offline registry in a ConfigMgr task sequence. If using a different deployment solution simply replace the logic to locate the offline image.

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The rules engine in MDT is one of the most powerful ways of applying settings during OS Deployment. It uses INI files that it parses and converts to task sequence variables. For example, this morning I was tagged in a Tweet where a fellow deployment geek was asking about how to name computers based on […]

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