Using Custom XML and Config Files with USMT and ConfigMgr
Using USMT In System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM / ConfigMgr) when performing an Operating System Deployment (OSD) can be a bit of a chore. The built in Task Sequence actions available for capturing and restoring user state only allow you to perform a very basic migration. Most of the time USMT requires quite a bit of tweaking to get right and once you’ve got everything working in a standalone script it can seem like a step backwards when you see the default ConfigMgr capture and restore actions. When using USMT in anger it...
read moreCreate a USMT Package in ConfigMgr
In System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM / ConfigMgr) when performing an Operating System Deployment (OSD) there is usually some form of user data and settings migration. This is often performed using the Microsoft User State Migration Toolkit (USMT). The first step in using USMT is to create the USMT tool ConfigMgr package. This post details how to create such a package for USMT 4. These instructions are for ConfigMgr 2012 but they are pretty much identical for ConfigMgr 2007 as well. First, get hold of the USMT 4 files....
read moreCreate a Windows 7 BitLocker Partition in ConfigMgr
In System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM / ConfigMgr) something I’ve done a few times is to create a BitLocker partition for Windows 7 during an Operating System Deployment (OSD) Task Sequence. I’ve seen the method used here a few times before but I wanted to document it for myself so that I can use it for an upcoming article on configuring BitLocker with TPM+PIN from ConfigMgr. These instructions are the same for both ConfigMgr 2007 and 2012. Edit your deployment Task Sequence and select the Partition Disk 0 node. By...
read moreConfigMgr 2012 SQL Database Collation
I just tried to update my ‘default’ installation of System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM / ConfigMgr) 2012 RC1 to RC2. I got a failure at the pre-req check stage stating that my SQL 2008 R2 database was using the wrong collation type and that installation couldn’t continue. It turns out that the default collation that I had used when I installed SQL 2008 R2 (a next…next…next…finish install) was no good. I’m not sure why ConfigMgr 2012 RC1 was happy with that configuration but RC2 certainly...
read moreMDT and ConfigMgr Build Drivers for Windows 7
When doing Windows 7 builds in either MDT 2010 or ConfigMgr 2007 you have to download and install a selection of drivers that are to be installed in your images. Some drivers are used for the WinPE boot image so that the boot image can access the local harddisk (a boot critical driver) and also drivers that allow the machine to connect to the network so that it can continue the MDT/ConfigMgr build process. I tend to use the latest versions of certain boot critical drivers direct from the main vendor (i.e. Intel and Broadcom) for my boot images...
read moreSetting a UK Keyboard in ConfigMgr 2007 OSD
In the UK, we actually get the US version of Windows 7 and Office 2010, so whenever I do any build engineering in either MDT or ConfigMgr one of the first things I need to customize are the regional settings. In particular the keyboard layout and location. There are many ways to achieve this ranging from manually making the change in a reference image or creating an unattend.xml file. In this post I will show how you can set regional settings for Windows 7 at deploy-time using ConfigMgr 2007 OSD and collection variables. This will allow you to...
read moreConfigMgr 2007 OSD Folder Structure
When configuring ConfigMgr 2007 Operating System Deployment (OSD) there are an endless number of applications, operating system images, operating system install files, drivers, source files, package files, temp files. Everytime I set it up I end up with a different structure so this blog post presents an example ConfigMgr 2007 OSD folder structure that can be used for general application and operating system deployment files. This post will be updated as I get better ideas and suggestions on how to organise things – but the main issue is...
read moreGet Selected Microsoft TechNet Library Content Offline
No-one can ever know everything they need to know about Microsoft products and techies will freely admit that they spend half their time checking resources such as Microsoft TechNet while working on a problem or design. Sometimes I need to go on to a site where I won’t have internet access. As anyone who relies on access to online resources will know, this can really slow things down and small questions (such as “is it port 60 or 67?”) can be frustrating. There is a free tool called Package This that can turn selections...
read moreApp-V Recipe: AutoIt v3
This blog post will show you how to sequence AutoIt using App-V 4.6 SP1 (the latest version at the time of writing). Now, AutoIt is probably the easiest application to sequence in the world and doesn’t really need a blog post describing how to do it. However, I intend to write some more posts around using App-V in System Center Configuration Manager (ConfigMgr) 2007 for deployment and upgrades so a nice easy to follow recipe for an application that is free should be useful. For sequencing I’ll be using Windows XP SP3 and...
read moreWindows 7 Aero Theme Not Enabled After Deployment
An issue I saw a number of times at customers was that the Windows 7 Aero theme was not enabled after deployment. I saw this numerous times in early workshops and pilots for customers and completely forgot about it until I saw the question asked again a few weeks ago. So here is a post describing the sort of symptoms you might see and how to workaround it. There are two main tools that people turn to when troubleshooting Aero: Running the ‘Find and fix problems with transparency and other visual effects‘...
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